High Times With Laraine Newman

From the July 1978 issue of High Times comes an interview with Laraine Newman by Harry Wasserman and Carol Ryder. In honor of Ms. Newman’s birthday, March 2, we’re republishing it below:

Laraine Newman’s first job as a paid performer came when she was a teenager; she appeared in a summer theater program in the parks of her native Los Angeles. Later, she studied mime with Marcel Marceau in Paris and took classes in theater at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1972, she joined Groundlings, an L.A.-based improvisational group.

From these humble beginnings Laraine Newman has become the sex/comedy symbol of a generation, a peer of such mighty entertainers as John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin and Bill Murray. Every week on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, millions of people watch in hypnotized hilarity as Laraine fulfills her role as the heir of Imogene Coca and Carol Burnett… read more >