Deborah Paulmann (makeup artist SNL 84-89, 2000-05; Conan 2000 - 2019)

Published: Aug. 5, 2023, 1 p.m.

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Deborah Paulmann joined me to discuss starting work in the makeup industry; not liking working in a salon; trying to get in the union; Bert Ruff; how the rules are different now; make-up is a dying art on the internet; SFX Youtubers; microblading; starting free lancing for Barbara Armstrong in 1978 and working exclusively at NBC for five years (1984 - 1989); going to As the World Turns, One Life to Live, then Another World, came back to NBC in 2000 and stayed to 2010; first regular job at NBC was Phil Donahue; sees a mother / mother-in-law feud in the makeup chair; Live at 5 allows her to makeup Bette Davis; memorable working moments with Steven Tyler, Seth Green, Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Downey, Jr.; Chuck Scarborough; starting SNL at the end of the '84-'85 season; doing makeup for extras in the original era; crawling on the ground on air to retrieve a prop for Nora Dunn; Kevin Meaney and her getting locked in the makeup closet and missing his cue; working with Louis Zakarian on SNL and Conan; working with Pamela Stephenson as Joan Collins, Cindy Lauper, Madonna, and Billy Idol; various hosts; young stars brought their makeup teams who couldn't do prosthetics; some favorite people Jon Bon Jovi, Richard Gere, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Rosie O'Donnell, Martha Stewart, Paget Brewster; memories of working with Norm MacDonald, Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, and Darrell Hammond; meeting the SNL host on Thursday's Conan; Jennifer Lopez white towels; working with SNL cast members Will Forte, Fred Armisen. Tiny Fey, Victoria Jackson, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, and Kevin Nealon; dealing with showbusiness legends Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Bob Newhart, George Burns, and handsy Milton Berle; doing the makeup nightly for Conan O'Brien, Andy Richter, and Max Weinberg; going to HD; Gwyneth Paltrow seeing her legs on HD for the first time; Conan going on TV on the road not done up by her and it going bad; getting paid by Conan for the year NBC wouldn't let him work and the writer's strike; David Letterman unleashes the monkey cam on Live at 5.

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