Lisa Ann Walter ‘Purposefully Over-Sexualized’ Herself During Her Stand-Up Comedy Career: ‘I’m Not Going to De-Sex Myself’

Victoria EdelWed, May 27, 2026 at 6:32 PM UTC

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Lisa Ann Walter in 2004 (left); Lisa Ann Walter in March 2026 (right)
Credit: Brian ZAK/Gamma-Rapho via Getty; Emma McIntyre/Getty -

Lisa Ann Walter opened up about how she "purposefully over-sexualized" herself during her time as a stand-up comedian, despite advice to be more buttoned up

The Parent Trap star said that she got most of her early roles because of her "smoking body"

Walter also reflected on how she finally learned to embrace being funny and sexy

Lisa Ann Walter is never going to dim her light.

The Abbott Elementary star appeared on the May 27 episode of the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast hosted by Ted Danson. During the conversation, Danson, 78, mentioned to Walter, 62, that his character on Cheers, Sam Malone, was considered by critics to be “sexy,” which he felt uncomfortable with.

The comedian said that, as a viewer at the time, he was “killing it” and was absolutely “selling” sexy, even if he couldn't connect with that feeling. Then, Walter reflected on her own relationship to being “sexy.” She said she knows “for a fact” that when she was a stand-up comic in the early ‘90s, being seen as sexy was “the reason that I got the offers to star in shows.”

Lisa Ann Walter in 2002
Credit: Amy Graves/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

She noted that there are parts where that didn't come into play, perhaps most notably her role as Chessy in the 1998 film The Parent Trap. But, she said, “On other projects that I've done, the character is supposed to be very sexy.”

She said she “purposefully over-sexualized” herself, particularly when she was doing stand-up, even though women were told they weren't supposed to. “I was literally told, ‘Don't wear a short dress. Don't show cleavage. Wear something that covers your body, or they won't hear your words.' ”

Walter was having none of it. She said, “This is part of the package. It's part of the power. I'm not going to de-sex myself because you can't hear me. This is part of who I am. And I never had that problem.”

She jokingly added that, actually, “a couple of times” she did have a problem with audience members hooting and hollering, but she had “funny lines to hit them back with, heckler responses.”

Walter also remembered that once she was performing for “a bunch of bachelor parties” who were “losing their minds,” so she decided to give in. “I was just like, ‘Now I don't have to work so hard.' I just turned around three times. I was like, ‘Go ahead. Just 10 minutes of material I don't have to do,' ” she said.

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Walter, whose debut comedy special It Was an Accidentpremiered on Hulu this month, admitted, “I never felt like that sexy person. Although I was told years later, ‘Part of the reason why you got those job offers is your just smoking body.' I never thought of myself as that.”

Lisa Ann Walter in 'Abbott Elementary'
Credit: Gilles Mingasson/Disney

She remembered back when she was an acting student and studying at Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage. She was talking about her performance with her teacher.

“He said, ‘What happened to the girl who came in day one and bent over at the waist and was having everybody laugh, and you were in high heels and wearing something hot pink and you had everybody laughing about your big ass? Where's that girl?' ” Walter recalled. “And I went, ‘This is drama. We're doing Tennessee Williams.' ”

Anderson wanted her to tap into something else. “He said, ‘Do you think you're fat?' I was like, ‘Yes.' He was a little bit heavy. He said, ‘Do you think you're sexy?' I was like, ‘No, maybe.' He's like, ‘Do you think you're funny?' I was like, ‘Yeah,' ” the actress shared.

Then he asked her the same questions about himself. “ ‘Do you think I'm funny?' I said, ‘Uh-huh.' He goes, ‘Do you think I'm fat?' I was like, ‘Oh, dude, come on.' ‘Do you think I'm sexy?' I was like, ‘Well, we all kind of do,' ” she continued.

The teacher told her, “You are all those things and all the other things that you've ever thought about yourself, and you are an actor, so use it. All of it. Always.”

Walter is also currently starring in the off-Broadway musical Heathers, playing guidance counselor Ms. Fleming and Veronica's mom. She has starred on Abbott Elementary since 2021.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”