Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
You're listening to the Mistress of None podcast with Aaron Harks.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Mistress of None. We have been on hiatus, and I can't think of a better way to come out of my little holiday retirement than to speak with the one and only.
Bonita's on.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Hey. I'm thinking this is a great way for me to, like, enter the new year to speak with the one and only Erin Harkus. Come on.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: The mutual beneficial aspect of this. But honestly, I just have to say, it's so funny. Every time I hear or say your name, I hear that iconic announcer's voice from tv next. Bonita's on. Like, it just rolls off like it's one word or something like that.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: And I'll tell you a fun story. Umpteen years ago, I'm gonna sw. We go soon. Yes. We go grad, and one of the girls and I did theater also. And her. The friend of mine, her name was Nora o' Day still. She's in Syracuse, still performing. She said to me one day, she goes, you've got the curse, too. You were born with it. I'm like, excuse me? She goes, like me, you have a stage name. Benita's on.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: You know, I wouldn't call that a curse, though. She meant it.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: I think it kindly kind of. You know how theater people have all kinds of.
So if you say it that way, it's like you never say the name of that show backstage. Those of you in theater, you know, if not, text me. I'll let you know.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: Well, yeah, we'll figure out a little bit more about theater, because most people obviously know you as a news person.
Like, you're very iconic in the capital region as that. So finding out this extra layer about you as an actor is also fascinating. But we finally got to meet in person at the circus, of all things.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: How perfect.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: I know, but you were walking by, and then, like, you looked at me and pointed, and you came over, and I was like, oh, shit. Bonita knows who I am. I went home that day. I told my husband. I was like, bonita Zahn knows me. I was, like, very flattered by that. So I'm glad that we're able to.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Sit and talk, because my pops would say, it's the good girl group.
[00:02:11] Speaker A: Right?
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: And then to see you again, like, knowing that, you know, all these other people that we have in common is just. That's my favorite thing.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: It's the good girl group.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: It exactly is. Whenever I meet somebody, and then I realize that I know them, like, tangently through people like Angelique Powell here at the Blake Annex. It's always like, okay, I'm in. I'm talking to the right person. For sure, you're in.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: Good.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: So you have been away from news for how long?
[00:02:35] Speaker B: 4 and a half years.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: Four and a half years. And what has that been like?
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Busier than all get out.
I love when people say to me, so how's retirement? I'm like, what? I didn't retire. I pivoted.
So for starters, I'm still writing. I've got a couple of writing gigs. I've got a couple hundred words every week in the Times Union, Live Smart. It's something I've been doing with St. Peter's Hospital.
They don't pay me. I'm not a shill for them. It was just part of a big, bigger project that's gotten smaller. I write for them every week. I write for the Hudson Mohawk Roadrunners, their magazine, the Pacesetter. I write for the AAA magazine, their digital magazine. 1, 2, 3. I feel like there's something I'm missing.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: You want to write for Metroland?
[00:03:24] Speaker B: I could.
[00:03:24] Speaker A: I'd love to.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: I would love to. I love that. So I'm doing that. I also got my national certification as a health and wellness coach. I started doing that while I was still working at 13. I knew I was going to leave. You know, you got to know when to hold them and when to fold them. And I knew the time was coming to fold them. And a lot of my contemporaries had already left.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: And I thought about coaching for a long time. Health and wellness, of course, because I'd been the health coach. A reporter got my certification in February of 21. I met with the folks from Capital Cardiology. I didn't work with them through TV and said, look, this is what I'm doing. Would you ever. Before I finished my pitch, they said, when can you start?
[00:04:04] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: Unbeknownst to pretty much everyone, they were building out a wellness.
I'll call it a wellness center. It's a little bit different. They kept my secret.
We kept the deal in February, and they kept my secret till May of that year. Told them at 13. I left the end of May.
I took a month to pass my tests.
The ink was just about dry when I walked in. And then exactly a year after, I found out that I had passed my national boards also.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: So I don't work for them. Capital Cardiology. I'm independent, my own practice. I work with them because you know what, Erin I don't want to be owned anymore.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: I appreciate that. Yeah.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: Long way to get to the punchline of the story.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: I knew where you were going, but I don't mind the long way. That's what we want folks to learn a little bit more what the they might not know about. Bonita's on, and it's fun.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: And there's another friend of mine. We had worked at another company for a short time. She's also nationally certified, and we have through last winter and a little bit this winter run, group coaching for women. And we always thought that they would set the agenda. Now they want you to set the agenda. And it's great.
And it's really been nice looking to perhaps do something like that through capital. And of course, I'm acting and directing.
So now you're all caught up. And I do my own toilets. My own windows. No, I hire for windows.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: But okay, fair. Wait inside and outside.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: No, I hire all the way around for that.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: All right, well, you know what? You deserve that, I think.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Right, everybody?
[00:05:32] Speaker A: Yeah. I've had my house cleaned professionally a couple of times, and every time I just end up feeling really guilty.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: I don't at all. You know, that's one of my talks, is self care.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: Okay. So if you need a little self care, you know, we're gonna have.
[00:05:45] Speaker A: We're gonna have to talk about that a little bit when we. When we shut down.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Now, the health and wellness, that's personal to you. And I meant to, like, double check this before we went on, but I'm just gonna ask because I didn't do my homework. You are a breast cancer survivor, if I'm not mistaken. Okay.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: So six years ago, I was very blessed. Very, very early.
Doc says I want to take another look. I was going for mammogram. Annual mammogram, my ladies. It was a wrinkle. It wasn't even a. So I was really, really lucky. No history. I'm in the registry from 9 11. I was at ground zero.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: I spent some time down there right after. On 9 13. I was on ground at ground zero. Just volunteering and helping channel 13. Oh.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Okay. It's fine. Life moves fast.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: And breast cancer is one of those. So I suspect it was my exposure down there. Wow.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: I know that you've worked on some events with my friend Jen McMullen, who is also a two time.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: Survivor as well. And so I've seen you again tangently through these women.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: Great.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: Yeah, she is. She said that she did an event with you at the AG many, many years ago.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Yes, we did.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: Well, she. She wanted me to ask, and I told her I would ask if you remembered the camel toe joke.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: Okay.
She said she.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: It was hers, not mine.
[00:07:07] Speaker A: I know it was hers. I know you have a little more.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Class, so I stand up for those who don't know. That's why I was doing the event. I did stand up.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Are you keeping track? This is acting advocacy, stand up writing.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: Life is short. Take it all in. What is it? Life's a buffet and most poor schnooks are starving. Oh, honey.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Oh, I love that.
[00:07:27] Speaker B: I could have blown the quote, but it's pretty close.
[00:07:28] Speaker A: That's fine.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: But, yeah, we did that. And I like doing stand up. But then I went back to school to get my doctorate, and there's not, you know, with comedy, you are writing all the time.
There's no space.
And I couldn't go back to school and write. Yeah, but you'll love this. So some guy had been following me, apparently, and he must have come to. I don't know. I did. I think 10 or 12 gigs. And you work in routine. You're working a joke. He says to me, you know, you really need some new material. I heard that already. Oh.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: And I'm like, wait, wait, wait. A man said this to you?
[00:08:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: I'm having a hard time believing that.
Yeah.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: Same nothing. And I'm like, dude, you need to get out of town. Yeah. You know, there are comedians, as you well know, who will work a joke for a year.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: More than a year, right?
More than a year. That's all part of it. But if you go see a band and they're playing their album, are they changing it up?
[00:08:32] Speaker B: No. And that's okay? Yes.
Oh. No question.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: Well, I mean, I'm just astonished that a man would come up to a comedian, a female comedian, and offer them this unsolicited advice like that. I am floored. This is the first I've ever heard of this type of behavior.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: If you take me down that street, we're not getting off it.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: All right.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: As I said, I grew up on Long island, so there's a little bit of salt in my language. Although I don't do blue on stage.
[00:09:03] Speaker A: That's fair. Well, you know what? We should. I bet you and I could come up. Me, you and Jen have a show together. And I asked my routine. I bet you do.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: I need to. I wrote it for an audition. I auditioned last year for the show Joan at Barrington Stage. It's About Joan Rivers.
[00:09:21] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: Now I'm never gonna get cast at Barrington Stage. I love you guys, but I know my name's not Big, but I'm still showing up to audition for you. Okay.
And I wrote. How do you audition for Joan Rivers?
[00:09:34] Speaker A: I see it.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: So I wrote a routine.
I wrote a. It was about a two and a half minute routine. The piano player was wetting himself. So I knew I did. Okay.
[00:09:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: And I really. It needs a little bit, but two and a half minutes, as you know, is about right for a portion.
Now I need something else to walk into. So let's. Let's talk.
As Jo can we talk?
[00:09:58] Speaker A: I could see that though, especially since your voice is a little raspier than usual. But I mean, like, you have the same.
You have the same.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: It's a rhythm.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: Yeah. You have the same rhythm as her, for sure. Like, I could see that. That happening.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: The three of us.
[00:10:11] Speaker A: Oh my God.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Three sort of blondes.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I mean, none of us are really blonde. Right.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: Giving away the secrets, girl.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: Okay. So for. For time purposes, I think feel like this is going to be part one of many. I think we're going to have.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: I'm happy to come back.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: A lot to talk about.
[00:10:31] Speaker B: I'll even bring you a coffee next time.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: Oh, all right. You're. You're hired. Can you come back tomorrow?
I think I've had enough today.
I definitely want to make sure that. Because you are. I, I don't. I'm obviously not going to, you know, pigeonhole you into one role, obviously. And somebody like me who gets that you have very many hats. But acting, I feel like be like one of your more favorite things to do. Would that be accurate?
[00:11:00] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: Okay. And that's. No, that doesn't mean to hurt the feelings of writing or any of the other things.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: I spent over 40 years covering death, doom and destruction. That's how I know the world. I met phenomenal people who were in very challenging situations and some of them have stayed in my life through the years. And that's great.
But one cannot spend their life only dining on that.
And as creative as that is, the writing, the paring down, the sharing of information in a way that the audience gets it viscerally.
One still needs another outlet.
[00:11:44] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: And for me, it's always been theater.
[00:11:47] Speaker A: That's awesome. And I'm glad that you have that. I actually saw a post that John Gray made a couple other days where he was talking about. He doesn't realize that people don't think about what toll that's got to take on you to just constantly be good and bad news.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: It's funny.
That post came up and John's one of my former TV husbands.
[00:12:05] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: I had a feeling and I wrote to him.
We had a. It's our conversation.
But you don't really realize the impact until you leave.
You know, it has had an impact. But then when you are out and you're not in the newsroom where everybody has a sort of shared zeitgeist about what that world is and now you're with the rest of the world and you realize how differently you see the world and your responses.
And I joke that I have to learn. I had to learn how to be with people again. I bet I know that sounds.
[00:12:43] Speaker A: No, it makes total sense because you, you can't be a actual human when you're doing a job like that. You have to shut some things off.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: I always said you put the switch in the middle.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:56] Speaker B: You don't want to shut off your humanity so much that you don't connect. But if your humanity is open too far, you can't get through the story. After 9 11, my switch was open.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: I would watch commercials and cry.
I really had to work my switch back to a place where I could serve the community. Yeah.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: I mean, what a, what a tightrope walk. My God. My husband is a firefighter, first responder. And so I know it's like there's got to be this level where you just have to. But I mean, he's not front facing public. I'm not saying that it's harder to work in news than it is to be a firefighter in case he's listening. But you know, he can be, he can be a bastard most days and that's fine. But like, imagine like as a performer myself, and I would say this to people, I'm like, you don't know what kind of day I had. Sometimes I really have to check it at the door to come up and perform for you. So like, sorry if you didn't catch me in the best mood. But to be on the news, especially the stuff that you have to like talk about. So I'm glad that I brought up that particular story and I'm glad that you're still in touch with John because I'm sure you've got to be a support system to one another in a roundabout way.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: We are, you know, and you're right. And beauty, kudos to you. Your day stops the moment you step on the stage because they're not coming to hear your drama.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: They're coming to see the performer and that's what you owe them. That's your gig. That's your compact with them.
So that stuff stays at the door. It doesn't mean it goes away. You put it right back on when you walk off. Maybe.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: And I found that standup is lonely.
[00:14:37] Speaker A: Yes, it is.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: It's not like theater where there's a camaraderie. I found that, you know, everybody would show up and you'd all say hi and everybody went in their corner and ran the routines and then you did your thing.
It's lonely. Yeah. And that's hard too. If you haven't had a day that's really supported you.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: When I have, When I have a sad day, that's definitely hard to do comedy. When I have an angry day, I am the best comedian in the world. Like, because I'll come in. Like I had one time, like I got a flat tire and it was in the rain, of course, and I looked very nice and I didn't. After we got the tire changed and I was on my way and I was running late and it was at uph, luckily. Teddy Foster.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Goddess. I walk in. I luckily had a change of clothes in my car. They weren't stage clothes, but it was a change for me to change into because they had a dryer there for my dress. I was soaked to the bone. Hair was. Whatever it was. They threw my in the dryer. I shoved a chicken sandwich down my throat. And I go out on stage and I'm so mad from the whole thing that it was one of the best sets I ever had my whole life. Yeah. Because my husband was luckily nearby and able to stop and help me. But. But I go, I couldn't find the jack. And he goes, well, he's like, it's in the garage.
And I said, why is it in the garage? And he goes, cuz when we were doing that thing, we took it out and you never put it back in. I go, but you knew that it wasn't in the car. I said, so you were trying to like teach me a lesson by not paying attention and putting it back in the car. I was like. And I knelt down. I go, how's that lesson working out for you, buddy? Like fuck you.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: Yeah. So I said that on stage and everybody went nuts. And then I just had a really good set. So it's, you know, the environment can help, but it can also hurt.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: It's tough.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: It's tough. People don't understand. They just know they've paid for that performance. They haven't really paid for the person.
[00:16:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: If that makes.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: Oh, it does. It definitely does.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:41] Speaker A: But you have. You have one particular project that's coming up as an actor right now.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: Is that so I've got an interesting. Right now I am directing at. No, that's okay. I just had the good fortune to direct for the Black Theater Troupe of upstate New York. I did their last show. I just stopped by to see the man, which was wonderful because Remy runs the place.
[00:17:04] Speaker A: I just talked to him earlier today and Brandon heard me on the phone with him the other day and he was like, who was that that you talked to Remy?
[00:17:12] Speaker B: If you've got a bad day, you call Remy.
[00:17:13] Speaker A: He's the Most amazing.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Sunny 1-800-dial- Remy.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Go on.
[00:17:17] Speaker B: Right. So I worked with him and now I'm directing for Albany Civic Theater. The Roommate. I can't perform there anymore because I'm equity now. I have been union for a number of years. I used to perform there. People joke. Oh, yeah, I see the pictures. It looks like a girl in her hairstyles.
So the Roommate is a two person, two women.
Really interesting show about who we think we are, what we think we can do, where we go.
Can we change? Can we not change.
Come see it.
Then after that, I definitely know I'm doing crybaby. I'm playing Mrs. Vernon Williams. This is a lot of fun. There's an 11 o' clock singing number at the end. 11 o' clock is the big number.
The show's got a solo and it's mine.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. We haven't mentioned yet that she sings as well.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: I mean, I sound better than this. And then I'm going back out to Massachusetts to the Majestic Theater. We'll be doing a quick hit, two weeks of Sheer Madness, which we did two years ago.
The first set show up at the Lake George Dinner Theater.
Sheer Madness is the longest running non musical in the country.
It was written.
It's an adaptation of a German play. It wasn't funny. It was German play.
Please, are there any German comedies?
Somebody's gonna let me know.
The Spiegel can be fun. No, I'm sorry.
[00:18:46] Speaker A: Please let us know. Please, please let us know.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: You see, it happens. Yes, but the play was Schneer and Schnit and they turned it into a comedy.
Marilyn Abrams and Bruce Jordan and they had done a lot of performing up there. Anyway, it made them wildly successful. It's been performed in 100, like 50 countries.
So we're going back out to there and in the meantime, I'm going to audition. Keep your fingers crossed, kids. I may. In between all that, right after room eight, I'm hoping to get cast up at Fort Salem Theater in Ripcord. Ooh, to the Tor women who. They're crazy. It's crazy stuff. So we'll see.
[00:19:30] Speaker A: Now do you have all of this information in like any one particular place if somebody were to look. Okay, Is there a Bonita Zahn dot com?
[00:19:38] Speaker B: Actually there is. It's Bonita Health coach dot com.
[00:19:41] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: Is my website.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: Should we make a splash page of all of your.
[00:19:45] Speaker B: We'll have to do that.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: I can help you with that.
[00:19:48] Speaker B: Oh, I'd love it.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: Okay, good.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: Because, you know, my website's up there and then it just sits.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: Okay, let's. That's project one. That's what we're gonna do.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: I know. There's Bonita Health coach.
That's my. I think he said I gotta go back and look.
[00:20:01] Speaker A: That's okay. But after we get done with this, I'll make sure that I have the dates and stuff so that we can share it with you. Of course. That's the whole point.
[00:20:09] Speaker B: You gotta come be my guest for roommate.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: I would love that. That sounds like an amazing play. So that's the one that you're directing, Right? Okay.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: And that's at Albany Civic Theater and We open on the 13th of February.
[00:20:21] Speaker A: 13Th of February. Albany. It's Valentine's Eve. Pretty sure my husband doesn't have plans for us that weekend, so I think I'll be free to come to the.
[00:20:30] Speaker B: Dude, bring her to the theater.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: Was that passive aggressive enough? He's not listening.
Well, that. So is that like, you know, if you had one takeaway, one tag at the end, that would be what you would want people to come to.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: And then we come to everything. Well, of course, but come to that first.
[00:20:44] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: You know, there's so much local theater. You may. You're familiar with the craft festival that went up last year and there were some growing pains and I'm involved with them now. And there is so much local theater.
[00:20:57] Speaker A: There really is.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: And you get to pick and choose. Just go to something. Yeah, just go to something.
[00:21:04] Speaker A: We have a pretty up to date theater calendar on our website. Is that correct? How are the dates looking on there? Pretty full.
Yeah.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: So much stuff.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: We always. We encourage people to make sure that all of our calendar events are updated. And we figured out a way to show the Theater. So that, like, the start date and the end date, it just. It shows up every single day.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: We got a link because I do the podcast Everything Theater with another actor, Ellen Cribbs, who's fabulous, and we try to get that stuff up, but it's, you know, she's a mom with two kids and works, and I'm a dog mom.
[00:21:34] Speaker A: Well, this is. This is what I do. And so let me. Let me help you guys. Whatever it takes for us to make sure that we have our finger to the pulse. Yeah, this is. This is part one of many, many parts for certain. I. Yeah, I knew that it would be.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: I'm on your team, girl.
[00:21:50] Speaker A: I'm on your team.
[00:21:51] Speaker B: Thank you, team.
[00:21:53] Speaker A: I will say something else, too, that my husband got in my head.
[00:21:57] Speaker B: Don't go to the song.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: Is it. So you've heard it before?
Okay. All right, we're not gonna do it then. I'll tell Brandon when we cut.
I thought it was clever. And then I was like, you know what? Everything clever has probably been done before the heat is. Okay. All right. I wasn't gonna say it, but, I mean, if we could co op that song and just make you a whole brand. Bonita Zahn da na na na na bonita.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: So I'm much more fun in real life than I ever was on television.
And as I'm fond of saying in tv, I wore my pantyhose up to here because I could have gotten into a lot of trouble. And Jim Cainbrick, my longest running and last TV husband, who I still. We still. The couples get together.
[00:22:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:41] Speaker B: Jim is brilliant. And that he and I never got caught on air.
There's a God.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: That's all I'm going to say.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: All right.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: Because he is brilliant and fun.
[00:22:52] Speaker A: I'll bet. I had. I had a few. I go on WTN often with Bryan Peterson, who's a good friend of mine, and we're still trying to find the tape. There was one time where we were having this whole conversation about my sneakers, and I'm always like, I shut down the F bombs the second I walk in the studio.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: Because pantyhose.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: Exactly. And so, like. But there was one where he was like. And I was just about to swear, and they were like. Like that. And so we're both laughing and it was like, all right, we got first Friday coming up. But I get it. I get it to an extent. So.
So you heard it here first. The opening of Roommates at the Civic Theater on February 13th.
Hopefully by the time you listen to this, we will have bonitazon.com up and running with all of the dates and all of these wonderful things that you're doing.
They should all live in one place, I think. And I would love to help you with that.
[00:23:41] Speaker B: I really appreciate that.
I get a little sidetracked.
[00:23:46] Speaker A: That makes sense. But like I said, this is what I do, so that's how my brain works. Well, thank you very much.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: Very well. And you know, I knew the first go round with Metroland. I knew Peter. Yeah.
And for you to take the reins and not just resurrect it, but to resurrect it, to recreate it with a freshness and a forward vision.
All I can say is, wow.
Really, wow. The area needed it, needs it. It's such a resource for everyone.
Bravo.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: Thank you.
Thank you. I usually like to end on a compliment, so that works for me.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: Do it.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: No. Thank you so much, Benita. And I love that now we have an excuse to keep working together. So I love it so much.
You can find out more on themetroland.com we're definitely going to be following up with.
I'm gonna write that. Can we produce that song later, Brandon? All right. Thank you so much for meeting with us.
[00:24:48] Speaker B: What a treat. Really. Everybody, have a great new year. Go out, be crazy, be creative, have.
[00:24:53] Speaker A: Fun, and go see theater.
[00:24:54] Speaker B: Lots of lots and lots of comedy.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: And comedy. Well, I'm hardly performing, but we're going to put on our show together. That's going to be a show.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: Oh, it is.
[00:25:02] Speaker A: Oh, boy.
[00:25:03] Speaker B: Help us.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: All right. I might get you to drop one F bomb.
[00:25:06] Speaker B: No. Okay, quick aside before you go. So I don't do blue, was my line. And I don't do blue because they paid me to say penis and vagina on television. I didn't need to sit to do blue.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: Okay. That is fair. Okay, well, thank you for using the actual words and not like pee pee and hoo hoos, you know?
See, I consider blue. I don't think of blue as swearing. I think of blue as, like, the really, like, dirty stuff. So it's all about interpretation. So when I get hired for, like, a corporate thing, I'm like, you need to be very certain what you're asking me, because I'll get hired to mc, which I know you're no stranger to. And they'll go, feel free to throw some of your comedy in there. I'm like, have you watched my comedy?
[00:25:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:48] Speaker A: You really want me in this corporate setting to start talking about, you know.
[00:25:52] Speaker B: You'Re just a Funny girl.
[00:25:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Now see, we're off on a whole nother tangent.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: Yeah. But I'm like, watch just one of my clips and tell me if you still want me to do that. Peter right here, he asked me to do that for one of the. One of the United Way events.
[00:26:07] Speaker B: Right.
[00:26:07] Speaker A: And I was like, I don't think you know what you're asking.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: No, you want. You need the, the button down version. Yes.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: But I usually know what they mean.
[00:26:15] Speaker B: So I'm going back to complimenting you. Thank you. Thank you so much for what you're doing for the community. Thank you. You're so busy and then to have seen this and reimagined it for now, poof.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: Well, the necessity was because I myself as a performer needed it and so I just spread it out to. To help others. I was like, I always say I've been like, like a marketing expert for one client for this long and so I have all this know how and I'm really tired of that one client. So let me help all these other.
[00:26:44] Speaker B: People just need more friends. That's cool.
[00:26:46] Speaker A: I don't know about that, but I'm glad that I have a new one in you. Thank you so much, Benita. This has been the mistress of with the Metroland and we will be back next time. We'll see you soon.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: Bye.
[00:26:57] Speaker A: Bye.
You're listening to the Mistress of None podcast with Aaron Harks.
