I chatted with comedienne and actress Caroline Rhea about her role on “Sabrina” and her love of Astrology.
Q: How did you get into Astrology?
My mother was very intuitive. She would call me saying “I’ve had one of my dreams!” and I would respond “Stop calling me!” ::laughs:: My best friend Pam, who is an Aquarius, got me into it. I always say that I had an emergency C-section so I wouldn’t give birth to a Scorpio. ::laughs:: It’s funny, I can figure couples out very quickly. I think a stand up show is like a team effort..a dinner party so to speak. I like to interact and find out more about each audience. The shows can be very immature. Not heavy, not dark. I like casino’s because it’s the one place where strangers actually talk to each other. You’re rooting for each other, but against each other as well.
Q: Was it hard working with animatronic cat on “Sabrina The Teenage Witch?”
Oh yeah, especially those first few seasons. That cat looked like an alcoholic bunny. Nick Bakay was voicing Salem right there on set. He’s one of the funniest human beings in the world. Instead of staring at this weird puppet, we would be staring at Nick. They would always yell “LOOK AT THE PUPPET!” We were having full fledged conversations with a puppet by Season 3. Out of all the actors on the show, Salem had the most work done.
They brought in a real cat to film Salem walking and running of course. They got the real cat to move by holding tuna or cat food at the end of a long spoon. The cat would be SALIVATING. I would say by the end of Season it was trained.
Q: Do you have any favorite memories of set?
We often laughed HARD. There was on episode where Zelda and I had cast a smile spell, so we couldn’t stop smiling. They made us a prosthetic, but it didn’t work very well. We both said “You do know we can smile on our own, right?” We laughed hysterically, with the prosthetic on.
It didn’t occur to me until years later WHY our last name was Spellman, ya know, SPELL, and Salem was called Salem. We always thought we were Jewish, Shalom! ::laughs::
You WERE my favorite aunt on that show..
And see, I’m absolutely OK with that. I have a weakness in my heart for those people who grew up watching. I have NO problem with people in their twenties calling me Aunt Hilda. I recently had a young man who was balding come up to me, actually. ::laughs::
I would get these hilarious fan letters when I was on that show. My favorite was a little girl who wrote “Dear Caroline, my name is Mary. How’s the acting coming?”
Q: If you could have one super power, what would it be?
Oh gosh. Something to do with time travel. I would love to keep revisiting my daughter growing up.
Q: Are you excited about your show this week in Baltimore?
I totally am! The first time I was there was in 1985. I drove there, for fifteen minutes, from Montreal. My friend drove the rest of the way. It was LITERALLY a thousand degrees. I remember getting to our destination, hitting the intercom and saying ‘WATER.’ I love Baltimore a lot..you smash your food with mallets!
Caroline headlines Horseshoe Casino Friday, February 5th at 8pm!
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