Lauren Lapkus Might Haunt You in a Restaurant One Day

Turn off the lights and prepare to get spooked—actor and comedian Lauren Lapkus (Orange Is the New Black, Crashing) is the host of the new paranormal podcast Haunting.

The show features actual ghost stories told by the people unfortunate enough to experience them and bookended by Lapkus hosting as the late influencer Therésa. For anyone who gets scared easily (me), Therésa’s interjections are a welcome dose of comic relief that keep you from getting too frightened. Lapkus is known for her character work on her former podcast ​​With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus, in which she played a different person in every episode, and so Therésa feels like a natural fit for her. 

So how does a dead influencer end up hosting a podcast from beyond the grave? Well, Therésa is stuck in purgatory due to some classic unfinished business, though she’s still quite vague about how she actually died. Her pithy commentary is punctuated every now and then by a grunt from her demonic producer, Len, and the ghost stories themselves are pretty damn creepy. Only two episodes into the Glass Podcasts and iHeart Podcasts-produced show, and we’ve already heard about Ouija board adventures gone wrong, a former homeowner who just won’t leave despite having died, the ghost of a mother-in-law, and more. 

We caught up with Lapkus over email to chat about what drew her to Haunting, how she feels about the horror genre, and who she’d spook if her spirit ended up wandering the earth. 

Paste Magazine: What made you want to host Haunting?

Lauren Lapkus: After meeting with the awesome people at Glass Podcasts it was a no-brainer. They came up with such a brilliant idea by pairing these genuinely unsettling stories with a completely ridiculous host in Therésa, a dead influencer. It’s a really fresh take on the horror podcast genre, and iHeartPodcasts has such a huge reach that it feels like a winning combination. And Aleah Welsh’s writing is so funny! It has been so much fun making this show!

Paste: Have you always been a fan of ghost stories?

Lapkus: Ghost stories really freak me out!! I have to listen to the stories on Haunting in broad daylight with extra lights on, surrounded by friends and family. When I was a kid I had a babysitter who read me and my brother Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark and she followed the stage directions in the book to scream and shut the lights off during the story. That was scary as hell! I honestly can just think about the cover of that book and I start to feel anxious. I was about to google it to jog my memory about some of the stories, but I was too afraid I’d see something I don’t want to see, and I’m about to go to bed soon and can’t risk getting a nightmare right now.

Paste: Comedy and horror are strange bedfellows, but work surprisingly well together. Why do you think that is?

Lapkus: Comedy and horror both build tension that needs to be released, either with laughter or screams. And both genres depend on an element of surprise to keep the audience on their toes. In Haunting, the comedy from Therésa helps bring the listener’s heart rate back down, lightens the mood, and then gets them ready to be scared all over again. It’s my ideal horror podcast because I really need a break from being scared! 

Paste: What’s your favorite horror movie?

Lapkus: Scream! I have seen that movie a million times. It should come as no surprise (based on my previous answers) that most horror movies are a little too spooky for me, but I will indulge my horror-loving husband from time to time. I love The Craft… and Hocus Pocus is a must-watch every Halloween. That’s a perfect comedic horror movie!

Paste: Can you give us any hints about how Therésa died (and will we ever find out)? Or about her unfinished business?

Lapkus: Some things are better left unsaid… and Therésa would literally kill me if I told you how she died. Let’s just say it was humiliating and it’s not on my Top Ten list of Ways I’d Be Okay With Dying. 

Paste: If you, Lauren, ended up as a ghost, who would you haunt and what would you do to them?

Lapkus: I’d be more of a “fly on the wall” type ghost rather than your typical spooky scary ghost. I just want to watch people live their lives and hear what they talk about when they think nobody’s listening. I’d post up at a restaurant and eavesdrop on some dates, check in on a few of the more mysterious people in my life and see wtf they do all day, and cap it off by comparing notes with other chill ghosts. Sounds pretty fun, actually!

New episodes of Haunting are available each Tuesday. Listen on iHeartRadio and everywhere podcasts are heard.

Clare Martin is a cemetery enthusiast and Paste’s assistant comedy editor. Go harass her on Twitter @theclaremartin.