Ken Reid and Tracy Lords

TOPICS:
image

This week Ken welcomes to incredible actor, singer, author and all around impressive human Traci Lords to the show.

image

Ken and Traci discuss the long road to making this episode happen, Ken’s Twitter banter, how Ken amuses Traci, if social media is bad or good, the toxic nature of society, love/hate relationships, how sometimes things are stupid and suck, insults, knowing how to take a selfie, how filters change the world, how life is a show, being a good person, being an introverted extrovert, how the access to celebrity has changed Hollywood, reality TV, how having a name can give you opportunities but also can hinder your growth as an artist, being a musician, having the freedom to fail, Radioactive Records,  Perry Farrell, Moby, After Hours at Lollapalooza, the wisdom of age, self promotion, public pressure, stand up, Bob Saget, swimming as fast as you can, the importance of a hair toss, how Traci has been in TV Guide at least 21 times, The Tommyknockers, Crybaby, Married…with Children, the freedom of the 90s, inappropriate sitcoms, Roseanne, ensemble casts, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sandra Bernhardt, being shocked how high your voice was in your 20s, getting thrown in the deep end of being in front of a live audience, layers of panic, being so happy when you first book gigs, being more calm about it now, how acting is a blue collar profession, never Googling yourself, Hollywood poor, how amazing John Waters is, playing Tim Blake Nelson’s wife, getting to play a Karen, finding that comedy works for you, trying to take the best roles offered to you, playing a fortune teller on MacGyver, Wiseguy, having your lines from gigs 30 years ago burned into your brain, the secret to learning lines, studying at The Actor’s Studio, Joanna Cassidy, being on an airplane with Farrah Fawcett, Charlie’s Angels, the paparazzi, all the contraptions you have to have when you have a newborn, why you should always say yes to working with John Waters, Patty Hearst, how John Waters’ sets are like a family, First Wave, Francis Ford Coppola, working on Black Mask II in Thailand for Tsui Hark, being in a movie and having no idea what is going on, Excision, Nicole, Her Ex & the Killer, Providence, how weird working during and semi-post pandemic has been, loving actors who disappear in parts, figuring out what you want to do and what you want to spend your time doing, realizing life is short, Scooby Doo, doing voice over, cartoon characters, having a home studio, watching Game of Thrones twice while eating hot wings and pizza every  night, how Scooby Doo goes so well with ice cream, Love Boat, being on a cruise with Charro and Tony Danza, and never wanting to go on a cruise again even though it’s just eating and sex.

image

I’m Ken Reid, a stand up comedian from Boston, MA and a life long television fan. I’ve been twice nominated as the Best Stand up in Boston and I have been featured on Comedy Central, NPR, Nerdist, and MSN. I own every issue of TV Guide. Each week a guest chooses an issue at random, picks their viewing choices from that week and the show is our discussion of the tough viewing choices of our past. We get into stories about growing up, people’s relationship with television, some cultural/media studies dissection and I spit out a lot of trivia.

Note: The Ken Reid TV Guidance Counselor Podcast is rated PG-13 and may contain mild language.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.