When I video-call Lisa Ann Walter, she’s in the middle of making a banana cake to serve alongside the curry she’ll soon prepare for Sunday dinner, a standing tradition at her house. “Very regularly, there’s a rotation of something with red sauce,” Walter says of her menu. “Sunday red sauce is Nana’s recipe, it’s tradition.
It just really moves me when my kids come to the house and as soon as they open the door, they’re like, ‘Ah, it smells like Sunday.’” For the actor, comic and mother of four, this is her “favorite day of the week,” a day when she can watch NFL football and run errands and spend time with “whichever kids are are in town.” And it’s a brief respite from work — she plays street-smart second-grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti on ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and is currently on tour performing her comedy show.
Here’s a play-by-play of her ideal day in L.A. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
7 a.m.: ’ Sleep in ’ When stand-up was my main job, I was getting in from gigs in Manhattan at 4 in the morning.
I had [young] kids so I would wake up early but then I would take a nap all afternoon. Since doing a TV show where I’m generally in the chair at Warner Bros. by 5 in the morning, I sleep in a little bit, but I’m usually up by 7, maybe 8.
I’ve always been a nighttime person, even when I was a kid. I would be late for school so often. It would drive my mother crazy.
7 :15 a.m.: .
