Interview: Laura Bell Bundy on Collaborating with her Broadway Friends for 'Skits-O-Frenic'

Laura Bell Bundy has had three distinct careers, each of which most performers would die to have on its own. Depending on your particular fandom, you either know her as the Tony-nominated star of hit musicals HAIRSPRAY and LEGALLY BLONDE, or as the country music artist behind the singles "Giddy On Up" and "Two Step," or as a cast member of TV shows like HART OF DIXIE and ANGER MANAGEMENT. While her career could already be described as eclectic, Bundy recently added another unconventional line to her resume with last month's launch of Skits-O-Frenic, a YouTube channel dedicated to original comedy, music, drama, and dance, from Bundy and her collaborators Tiffany Engen and Brooke Engen.

The new site is a creative playground for Bundy, who likens Skits-O-Frenic to a modern day variety show, complete with sketch comedy, musical performances, and guest stars, including some of her best Broadway friends.

"It's so much fun, it really is," Bundy said. "I've always loved those classic variety shows, and when you watch Carol Burnett, she's having more fun than the audience. I always wanted to have that, but it doesn't seem like today's audiences really go for that classic style on television. So I wanted to create something that was more in alignment with how young people get their content; which is digital shorts, and YouTube, Funny or Die, but to also add in the elements of music and dance, because that's some of the stuff that I love to do."

The channel launched on October 22nd, and will release a new video every Wednesday through January, each week bouncing between the site's four genres. Bundy's ANGER MANAGEMENT co-star Charlie Sheen helped kick-off the site by flipping the table (not literally) on Bundy in the premiere episode. To celebrate the first week, Bundy and company released one video from each category that included everything from a comically hypocritical yoga instructor, to duck commanders doing Shakespeare, to a bluegrass cover of Shawn Mendes' hit song "Stitches," to a completely choreographed dance routine in a real-life fast-food drive-thru between the order menu and the pick-up window.

"It really is anything goes" Bundy said. "I could be going down the street and see something out of my window, and go 'Oh my God, that would be a hilarious sketch,' or, 'It would be a really good idea to do a jazz cover of this heavy metal song.' So, it really truly is a blast."

Skits-O-Frenic's most recent video features Broadway's Cheyenne Jackson in the first installment of "Broadway Bus Stop." Bundy teases that she will be bumping into plenty of other musical theatre favorites while waiting for the bus in future episodes.

"I'm thrilled for people to see this 'Broadway Bus Stop,'" Bundy said. "It will be a regular, on-going thing; Kerry Butler's done one, Shoshana Bean's done one, we're gonna do a Christmas one. I'm real thrilled about that as a webseries in general for us."

One thing that Bundy hopes for the site is that other performers will see it as an opportunity to explore aspects of their creative lives that they might not get to in their traditional jobs, and so far, her theatre friends seem to be very excited about the possibilities.

"I want Skits-O-Frenic to also be a place where friends of mine who are creative are able to have an opportunity to do music they've never been able to do, (to) choreograph pieces, (to do) sketch comedy," Bundy said. "Marissa Winokur and I are going to do something called 'Nemi-sisters' together.

"Cheyenne's doing more sketches with us, Marissa's been in one, but she's gonna be in more. My friends in the Broadway community actually seem (to be) the most enthusiastic; those friends, and my friends from HART OF DIXIE. Everybody who has a musical theatre background is really contributing creatively to this, and I am so pleased."

Bundy and the Engen sisters, both of whom have extensive theatre experience, have collaborated on off-the-wall content before, with their previous videos amassing over 4 million views across various online platforms. Brooke can currently be seen as Regina in the Las Vegas company of ROCK OF AGES, and Tiffany just took over as Lauren in the First National Tour of KINKY BOOTS.

"Tiffany and Brooke Engen and I have been friends for eight years, we all did LEGALLY BLONDE together," explained Bundy. "We developed COOTER COUNTY, which was this f*cked up modern-day HEE-HAW webseries, which all took place in this small town and we played all the characters.

"We did REAL HOUSEWIVES OF COOTER COUNTY and TAMPONS AND TIARAS, which is like TODDLERS AND TIARAS, but with older girls. We really loved COOTER COUNTY, but we wanted to broaden it out, and do sketches that weren't just small town, Southern humor. We wanted to do every day, situation comedy, and we also wanted to have more music."

Bundy said that the Engens are her "sisters in music, dance, and comedy crime," and that the site's fourth founder, Elyse McKenna, brings a savvy business perspective to the team. While this is McKenna's first purely creative project, she met Bundy while working on digital marketing campaigns for her country music career. McKenna's vision has already proven to be invaluable to the site's creation.

"I was actually going to make Skits-O-Frenic a live show," Bundy confessed. "Go to performing arts centers and do a live variety show. I still want to do that, but (McKenna) suggested that it could be a digital platform as well."

While Bundy says that the goal of the channel is to have fun creating content that they enjoy, she admits that there is a sense of pride, especially looking back, at the fact that this project was completely conceived and executed by four talented, creative women.

"As women, we can't sit around and complain that there aren't roles for us, we have to create those roles ourselves," Bundy said. "We have to exercise our own creativity, because no one is going to do it for us, except for us; kind of like 'If you build it, they will come.'"

As Bundy has done more and more creating on her own, whether in her music career, or online, she has developed a mantra that has become synonymous with her webseries network.

"I started LBB TV, and I called it 'Little Bit B*tchy TV,' because 'b*tches get $h!t done,'" Bundy said. "At the end of the day, if you want something done, you give the task to women. They get it done."

Bundy, who is currently on the mend after heart surgery, is still getting things done, despite having to take it easy for the next few months. Her doctors were able to perform the surgery without opening her chest, which significantly cuts down the rehab time. In fact, on Wednesday, Bundy was in NASHVILLE to attend the CMA Fanfest, and get a bit of filming done as well.

"I am feeling great. I had a hole in my heart my whole life, and it got to the last couple of years and the doctor said it would probably be a good time to patch it up," Bundy explained. "I'm still taking it easy a little bit right now, for the first month or so, and I can't do any super strenuous stuff for a couple of months, but I'm good."

While she recuperates, there is plenty to keep Bundy busy. Through her work with COOTER COUNTY, and now with Skits-O-Frenic, she has learned that while she loves being on stage, there are other elements of production that she enjoys as well.

"One thing that I'm learning is that I love being a producer; I absolutely love it," Bundy said. "I'd like to do a lot more of (it) and keep getting better, so that when I decide that I want to have a family and just get fat, I can produce and show my kids tapes of LEGALLY BLONDE, and be like, 'Look how thin your mother was!'

"I don't think I'll ever want to stop performing, to be honest," Bundy said, "but the inspirational moment of having an idea and seeing that idea come to life... that whole process to me is such a miraculous process, and it's addictive."

While Bundy is currently enjoying wearing many different hats and juggling multiple responsibilities with Skits-O-Frenic, an eventual return to the New York stage has become much more likely in recent years.

"Over the last year and a half, I've gotten the bug," Bundy said. "Since I left, I've pretty much been tied up with record label deals or a television show contract, which kept me from going back and doing a show. This is kind of the first time in many years where I'm available and able to do it, and have my heart patched up. So, I would really love to find something. I miss New York."

Despite all of the many, different things that Bundy has done since she traded in her character shows for cowboy boots, the rush of performing on a Broadway stage is still something that means a great deal to the actress.

"There is nothing like performing live on stage, and there will never be anything like that for me, no matter what," Bundy said. "There will never be anything like playing a character, and feeling that character transform from beginning to middle to end every night. That process to me is just so fulfilling."

Until a project brings her back to New York, fans can get their LBB fix in upcoming videos. Bundy is especially excited about two of Skits-O-Frenic's recurring musical features; "Smoking Bluegrass," which will reimagine currently trending hits with all-new, bluegrass versions and videos, and "Throwback Betty," a Bundy character who covers heavy metal and classic rock songs with jazz interpretations and 50s-inspired music videos. Of course, she also enjoys subversive, gorilla comedy as well.

"The other thing I love is just walking around in character. I love walking around as Shocantelle Brown (COOTER COUNTY's most viral star... in more ways than one)," Bundy said. On Wednesday, she attended CMA Fest as another Cooter County resident, Euneeda Biscuit, for an upcoming video. "It's just so much fun. It's very BORAT, and I like that. I like f*cking with people."

Whether it's reimaging songs or ambushing unsuspecting pedestrians, Bundy feels like Skits-O-Frenic is giving her a chance to live out childhood dreams.

"I was a little girl who couldn't take my eyes away from watching Carol Burnett, or a musical movie, and then I became an adult who never grew up," Bundy said. "I never have forgotten the way that it feels to be a young person playing, and to be a young person excited to entertain.

"Skits-O-Frenic is not about money to me, it's actually draining my bank account at this point, but it really is about pure expression; like I'm a little kid and now I'm doing all these stupid little play sketches that my friends can watch."

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Check out the hilarious "Namastacey," starring Tiffany Engen:

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Photo and Video Credit: Skits-O-Frenic