Listen via: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Podcasts | More Platforms
Laraine Newman has spent five decades bouncing between sketch comedy, film, and a staggering list of animated characters, but The Sisters Grimm gives her a particularly strange playground. The original Saturday Night Live cast member returns as Relda Grimm for Season 2 of the Apple TV series, adapted from Michael Buckley’s books about two sisters navigating a world where fairy tales are very much alive. Speaking with Kyle Meredith, Newman discusses why the show’s mix of comedy and genuine scares keeps her hooked, how easily she can slip back into Relda’s voice, and the unlikely path from studying mime to becoming one of animation’s most recognizable voices. Listen above or wherever you get your podcasts.
Related Video
Newman admits she came into The Sisters Grimm with virtually no knowledge of its literary life or the fanbase surrounding it. She didn’t even know Buckley’s books existed when she began the series, though she’s now interested in digging into them for the extra character detail they can provide. What did grab her immediately was the show’s willingness to get a little weird and dark. “For me, it’s really the comedy and the horror, the scary stuff,” she says. “That’s always going to hook me in.” Returning for Season 2 proved considerably easier than discovering the source material. Relda’s voice, Newman jokes, is already waiting for her: “It’s in my trunk that I open up and it’s like, ‘Ooh, oh, there she is.’”
That instinctive approach extends to the rest of her acting process. Asked how deeply she lives with a character away from the microphone, Newman deadpans, “Kyle, I’m a very superficial person. I’m not deep. I have no depth.” The conversation eventually loops back to one of the stranger chapters of her early career: studying mime after seeing Marcel Marceau perform when she was 16, and later studying with Marceau himself. Newman loved seeing comedy created without words, but abandoned the form once she felt mime had “gotten cute.” As for whether all that physical training eventually informed her acting, she has a much more practical answer: “No. But it makes me very good at Pilates.” Presented with the idea of a punk-rock or metal version, Newman says, “It’s certainly viable, as far as I’m concerned, as long as it doesn’t go into whimsy.”
Listen to Laraine Newman talk about The Sisters Grimm Season 2, her career in voice acting, studying mime with Marcel Marceau, and more in the new episode above or by watching the video below. Keep up on all the latest episodes by following Kyle Meredith With… on your favorite podcast platform; plus, check out all the series on the Consequence Podcast Network.
