-How are you?
-I'm terrific. -I'm so happy to have you here.
-I had a power breakfast this morning --
oatmeal and sardines --
so I've been just going all day long.
-That's so smart. A good way to pace out your day.
-Well, you know, you need your omegas.
-You need your omegas. -Any way you can get them.
-It shows. -Right? I'm glowing.
-When I saw you backstage, I knew that
there were more omegas than normal.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Thank you. Yeah. Yeah.
-So, this -- For those who haven't seen "Pose,"
it takes place in the '80s and '90s in New York.
-Right. -The LGBT ballroom scene.
And you play a nurse who is dealing with people
who have -- Through the AIDS crisis.
-Yes, that's right. That's right.
-How did you get -- How did you find your way into this role?
-Well, I was actually on a flight from LAX to Kennedy
and I ran into Judith Light, who's a friend of mine.
-Yeah.
-And she was sitting in business,
and I was back in coach, 'cause I never pay for myself
to fly business, unless, you know, a gig is paying.
-Right. You'll fly business. -Oh, gladly. Yeah.
So, on the way out, I ran into her and Steven Canals,
who's one of the creators, and Our Lady J,
who is a fabulous trans writer and actor and musician,
who works on "Pose," as well.
And, so, we were on the escalator going down.
You know, JFK has two sets of escalators.
And I was schmoozing with them and having --
you know, also afraid I was going to
fall down the escalator, but that's a sidebar.
They didn't know that.
And, so, by the time we got to baggage claim, I said,
"What have I got to lose?"
I said, "Hey, listen, you know, if there's anything
that works for me in terms of a character, think of me.
You know, I'd love to do something on 'Pose.'"
A week later, I got cast as Nurse Judy.
So it just goes to show you, if you hang out at
the baggage claim --
-Yeah. That's where a lot of people find their next job.
You were living in New York at that time.
-Yes. Living and doing my first one-woman show,
"Without You I'm Nothing," at the Orpheum Theatre
for six months.
-Which must have been an incredibly exciting time
to be in New York City.
-Everybody came to the show. I mean, it was amazing.
You know, from -- I mean, John Kennedy came,
John Kennedy Jr.
You know, which, I mean, tragically,
he's not with us anymore.
But people of that caliber and then just great downtown artists
and groovy people.
And, you know, the AIDS crisis was sort of
ramping up during that time.
But, you know, there was so much synergy
and so much creativity in the city,
'cause you could still live here then.
You know, it wasn't all built up like, you know,
Hudson Yards and all these crazy $20 million condos.
"Oh, yeah, I just bought a place for $10 million.
You know, 869 square feet."
So, you know, there was a lot of stuff happening.
So, then, like 30 years later, you know,
to be cast in this role and be with these
incredible trans actors and actresses
who are just so talented --
Mj Rodriguez and Indya Moore and the whole cast.
You know, 'cause back in those days,
you know, everybody who was trans was marginalized.
They would never in a million years have been cast
in a mainstream television show.
So I try to, like, you know, let the kids in on
what it was like then.
They just look at me and go, "You're boring me."
-Yeah. Does it -- I mean, it must be
looking at the art scene now and what it feels like
to be an artist in New York, because it was all word of mouth
then, obviously, before social media.
Like, even the people that found their way to your show,
it must have just been that they heard it was
a show worth seeing.
-You know, you'd read the newspapers.
You know, it was kind of the --
you know, "Rolling Stone" and all the great, you know,
free papers of the time.
"The Village Voice." -Yeah.
-And, you know, you just picked up the phone
and called people back then,
which was such a great, you know, concept.
-You've been in New York for a long time.
Are you one of those New Yorkers now who have had
the same neighbors for a long time?
Do you know your neighbors well?
-No, I think of myself sort of the mayor of Chelsea.
-Okay, yeah.
-Matter of fact, I just called in a 311 emergency
because there's a building on the end of the street
where they were doing some reconstruction,
but people were bringing their garbage,
so I called 311 and said it's a health hazard.
You know, there's rodents. There's flies.
So they came and they cleaned it up.
I was very proud of myself.
-Do they know you when you call 311?
Are they like, "Hi, Sandra"? -No, no, no.
They say, "Would you like to remain anonymous?"
I said, "No, but I'm going to."
I said, "Nothing would make me happier than for you to know
that Sandra Bernhard is trying to clean up this city."
[ Cheers and applause ]
Where Bill de Blasio won't, I thought I would step in.
-Yeah. -Sidebar.
But, anyway, so, I have this neighbor --
you know, she's wonderful.
Her name is Renee, and she lives in a government-funded building,
which is in the middle of all these
great brownstones on my street.
And every time I walk past her, she goes,
"Hey, Sandy, when you gonna be on TV again?"
So, she's asked me like three times a day,
so I have to, like, kind of give her my rundown.
So, then they did a really nice profile on me recently
in "The New Yorker" about "Pose."
And, so, we went to visit this, you know, place,
and they interviewed Renee a little bit.
So, I ran into Renee last week.
She goes, "Hey, Sandy, did you see the nice piece
on me in that magazine?"
And then, as an afterthought,
'cause then she thought maybe I'd feel bad,
she goes, "When are you going to be on TV again?"
I said, "Thanks for nothing, Renee."
-Do people come up to you in the street,
especially if you're the mayor of Chelsea?
Do you get approached?
-Well, in a very nice, casual way.
You know, the other day, I was walking my dog, George.
We all have dogs in New York City.
My rescue. And I was turning on my block.
And every time I cross the street,
if somebody's making a left, I'll stop and hold out my hand,
because, you know, people in New York don't always stop
for you when you have your dog.
And, so, the guy turned the corner.
He slowed down. I got nervous. I thought, "Oh, God.
I don't want to have some sort of, like, you know,
dust-up with somebody."
But he was a very, very cool guy.
He rolled down.
He goes, "Honey, I would never run you over.
What's happening, Sandy? You're a great actress."
I said, "It's just my dog I was worried about.
Thank you, baby."
It was just, like, this great New York moment.
-New York City. There it is. -You know.
-Best city in the world. -The best.
-Well, and one of the reasons it's the best
is someone like you being here.
And thank you so much for making time for us tonight.
What a delight. -I'm so glad to be here.
-Sandra Bernhard, everybody.