“Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!”
It’s been almost 40 years since audiences last heard the chant that signaled the start of a new Laverne & Shirley episode. The hit sitcom, a spinoff of Happy Days, starred Penny Marshall as Laverne DeFazio and Cindy Williams as Shirley Feeney, best friends and roommates employed as bottle-cappers at the Milwaukee-based Shotz Brewery.
While some Hollywood stars don’t want to be associated with past roles of their youth, this certainly isn’t the case for Williams, who is touring her show Me, Myself & Shirley across the U.S. throughout 2022. The tour includes a three-show stop at Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St. in New Hope, on Saturday, April 23, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday, April 24, at 2 p.m. She last appeared at the Playhouse in 2019’s Middletown alongside Grease icon Didi Conn.
Ahead of her local return, The Times caught up with Williams, who expressed excitement over bringing the new one-woman event to audiences.
Me, Myself & Shirley was conceived in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic by Williams and producer Charles H. Duggan, who felt the world would need some laughter once those dark times subsided. Over the course of 90 minutes, Williams shares entertaining tales, secrets and video clips from her vast career as an actress, some of which will be fresh information for even her most diehard followers.
“We wanted to write something that we could take on the road that would be fun, uplifting and mirthful,” said Williams.
Given its title, much of Me, Myself & Shirley is dedicated to Williams’ years on the sitcom. However, she promises a few hilarious surprises.
“For instance, my audition for Star Wars as Princess Leia. I have my audition tape, which is really bad,” she said with a laugh. “There’s a lot of stories that the audience will be happily surprised with.”
Williams credits Duggan for creating the structure of the show, which she said “just starts out with a bang,” and securing rarely-before-seen footage.
“He found all of these wonderful film clips that I had forgotten about, like the Donny & Marie show,” she said. “It’s fun to reminisce, but the best is when the audience is having fun with it. It’s sort of an exchange. If I was in the audience, would this make me smile? Would this make me laugh? Would this entertain me? And so that’s what we were aiming toward.”
Naturally, many Me, Myself & Shirley attendees are longtime Williams fans who grew up avidly watching Laverne & Shirley.
However, Williams feels honored to also see younger generations in the crowd. She reflected on two young girls who sported matching Laverne and Shirley T-shirts. At another show, during the Q&A session held at the end, a child wanted to know all about Boo Boo Kitty, Shirley’s stuffed cat friend.
When asked her opinion on why Laverne & Shirley continues to be adored by all ages so many years later, Williams didn’t hesitate — it serves as an escape to a simpler era.
“Laverne & Shirley was set in a time of innocence. There was no real sarcasm and all the real jokes were on the characters themselves, not at the expense of anyone else. And there wasn’t such a thing as bringing politics into comedy. We would never have thought of it,” she said. “For the comedy to work, the joke had to be on us. Everybody related to it and could say, ‘Oh, I’ve done that!’ That was the fun of it, that we’re all in this together.”
Williams, 74, can’t wait for the tour to get underway. Despite meeting countless fans over the years, it never gets old.
“It really is a privilege to do that, to meet different people,” she said. “I always find that people are all kind and good at heart, especially Laverne & Shirley audiences. Because we were a sitcom and we came into everyone’s living room, they would always treat us like family. I just loved it. And so in turn, I treat the audience like family. It’s a very familial thing. It’s not like I was in Silence of the Lambs and that’s my fan base. People who watched our show just loved to have fun and laugh, and it’s a privilege when those people come.”
For those who plan to attend Me, Myself & Shirley, Williams provided some important advice: “Go to the restroom first because there’s no intermission!”
Tickets range from $45 to $125 and can be purchased at MeMyselfandShirley.com.
Samantha Bambino can be reached at sbambino@newspapermediagroup.com
