Kate Flannery On Performing At The Café Carlyle
Actress Kate Flannery didn't get her big break until she landed the part of Meredith on The Office at age 40.
After working for years as a waitress in New York, Flannery is performing a show with actress Jane Lynch at the Café Carlyle called "Two Lost Souls." The duo sings their favorite Broadway songs and even goes back to the 1960s to sing some classics. Flannery and Lynch have been performing at the iconic New York Cabaret hot spot for the last week and Kate still can't believe she gets the opportunity to do so.
"It's been like someone hit me in the head with a sandbag and I'm having a dream," said Flannery in an interview with CBS Local. "Jane and I have been singing together for four years. We've played some great places and we've played some not so great places. This is the mecca, this is it and we actually get to stay at the hotel."
Flannery and Lynch first met each other 30 years ago while they were up and coming performers at The Second City in Chicago. At that time, Flannery also crossed paths with people like Stephen Colbert, Steve Carrell and Tim Meadows. Kate would eventually work with Carrell on "The Office", but it took her a long time to finally break through on a big show.
"I got The Office when I was 40 and it was probably the right time for me," said Flannery. "I actually kept my restaurant job through the first season of The Office. It was a long road from The Second City to The Office, I waited tables for a long time. It was like 13 years later."
Flannery's story is one that features incredible persistence. The actress and musician got the opportunity to voice a part for Saturday Night Live in the 2000s after she auditioned and didn't get selected to the show years before.
"I auditioned for SNL in like 1991 and didn't get it. At first I thought that was it and that I blew it," said Flannery. "I auditioned for the Dana Carvey Show later on and didn't get it, but the producer Robert Smigel remembered me and I booked the part with SNL years later."
Flannery's show at The Café Carlyle runs through Saturday night and tickets begin at $125 tonight and $150 tomorrow night.