Laurie Metcalf

Episode notes

(Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

Laurie Metcalf is a veteran actor. In the late 1970s, while she was in college, she and a few of her classmates started putting on plays at a Unitarian Church in Deerfield, Illinois.

The theater, called Steppenwolf, became one of the most acclaimed theatre companies in the US. Those classmates included people like Gary Sinise, John Malkovich, and Tracy Letts.

You almost definitely know Laurie from TV’s Roseanne. For nine years she played Jackie, Roseanne’s sister on the show. These days, she’s starring in The Conners, the ABC produced spinoff of the show. The Conners is wrapping its 7th and final season right now.

When we spoke, Laurie had been nominated for an Academy Award for her starring role opposite Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird – the fascinating, beautiful coming of age film directed by Greta Gerwig.

On the latest episode, Laurie gets into her performance in Ladybird and time working with Greta Gerwig. She also got into her time as a founder of Steppenwolf – and , of course, we talk about her role on Roseanne and The Conners.

This interview originally aired in February of 2018.

In this episode...

Jesse Thorn

Host

Kevin Ferguson

Senior Producer

Jesus Ambrosio

Producer

Richard Robey

Maximum Fun Producer

Daniel Huecias

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Daniel Arón Speer

Video Editor

Hannah Moroz

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Guests

Laurie Metcalf

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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