Cheri Oteri says Judge Judy once set her up with her son — and unknowingly influenced her into buying an expensive purse.
The “Saturday Night Live” alum, 59, shared the hilarious tale on Wednesday’s episode of the “Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef” podcast, saying her famous Barbara Walters impersonation is what first caught the court-show queen’s attention.
“Judge Judy called my manager and said, ‘You tell your client that I said she almost got me!’” Oteri shared, describing the intimidating reality star (real name: Judy Sheindlin) as “a doll.”
It was during Oteri’s five-year run on “SNL” (from 1995 to 2006) that she first crossed paths with Sheindlin.
“I met her at some event in New York, and she came up to me, and she was so cool,” the comedian explained. “And she goes, ‘Can I give my son your number?’ I’m like, I’m not going to say no. I’m like, ‘Judy, I don’t know. Listen, if it didn’t work out, you’re the last person I want to piss off.’ And she goes, ‘Nah, I’m not like that. You know, it’ll be OK.’”
And it was! Giggling, Oteri revealed she “went out” with one of Sheindlin’s three sons, whom she did not name, “a few times.”
She told host David Yontef that he was “good looking” but their romance was cut short due to distance.
“I was going to Los Angeles for the summer, and he was in New York,” she said, explaining that their casual tryst simply fizzled. “It couldn’t have ended any better.”
Oteri went on to share another hysterical story involving Sheindlin, 79, that ended with the comedian dropping about five times more than she wanted to spend on a designer handbag.
“One time, I saw her in a department store, and she was so cool,” the comedian said. “And she goes to me, ‘What are you looking for?’ And I go, ‘Uh, a handbag.’ And she goes, ‘Let me look with you.’”
Oteri said the impromptu shopping spree made her so “nervous” that she thought to herself, “Let’s just pick anything out so this can be over with.”
Trying to keep her cool while speeding up the purchase, she said she pointed to a random Bottega Veneta bag that Sheindlin just so happened to love.
“She goes, ‘Oh, that’s gorgeous. You’re getting it,’” Oteri recalled, saying the salesman soon informed her that it was $1,000.
“I go, ‘Sweet baby Jesus!’ And [Sheindlin] didn’t blink an eye!” she said. “And I’m just like, ‘I don’t think I ever spent more than maybe $200 on a handbag’ … [But] I had no choice! So I gave him my credit card.
“I remember going back to ‘SNL’ with the bag, and our wardrobe guy says to me, ‘Is that Bottega Veneta?’ And I go, ‘Uh huh.’ He looked at me like, ‘Wow, you have good taste!’ And I go, ‘No, Judge Judy made me buy it.’”
After telling a few others about how the purse came to be hers, Oteri said she decided to drop the spiel and take ownership of the pricey purchase.
Years later, when Sheindlin was getting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006, she called her up and personally requested her presence at the event.
“I was like, ‘What?’” Oteri recalled thinking. But of course, she went.
The comedian said the man at the podium who was emceeing the ceremony started rattling off all the famous faces who were there.
“And he goes, ‘Oh, we’ve got a lot of celebrities out to support her.’ And he’s just naming all these famous people. And, like, he’s done. And then he leans in and [goes], ‘And Cheri Oteri is here!’” she recalled.
“I’m like, ‘This f–king chick is the coolest badass. I mean, it was amazing. It was. She’s just everything, you know?”
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