Cheri Oteri says Judge Judy once set her up with her son — and unknowingly influenced her to buy an expensive wallet.
Shared the hilarious story on Wednesday’s episode of the podcast “Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef,” the 59-year-old “Saturday Night Live” said her famous Barbara Walters impersonation caught the queen of the court show’s first attention.
“Judge Judy called my manager and said, ‘Tell your client I said she almost got me!'” shared Oteri, 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 an event in New York, and she came up to me, and she was so cool,” the comedian explained. ‘And she says, ‘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. Look, if it doesn’t work out, you’ll be the last person I want to piss off.’ And she says, ‘No, I’m not like that. You know, it’ll be fine.’”
And it was! Giggling, Oteri revealed that she “went out a few times” with one of Sheindlin’s three sons, whom she didn’t name.
She told host David Yontef that he “looked good” but their romance was cut short because of the distance.
“I went to Los Angeles for the summer, and he was in New York,” she said, explaining that their casual rendezvous just hissed. “It couldn’t have ended better.”
Oteri shared another hysterical story about Sheindlin, 79, that ended with the comedian dropping about five times more than she wanted to spend on a designer handbag.
“I saw her in a department store once and she was so cool,” said the comedian. ‘And she goes to me, ‘What are you looking for?’ And I go, ‘Uh, a handbag.’ And she says, ‘Let me watch with you.’”
Oteri said the impromptu shopping made her so “nervous” that she thought to herself, “Let’s just pick one so this can be over.”
Trying to keep her cool while speeding up the purchase, she pointed to a random Bottega Veneta bag that Sheindlin loved so much.
“She says, ‘Oh, that’s beautiful. You get it,'” recalled Oteri, who said the salesperson quickly told her it was $1,000.
“I’m going, ‘Dear baby Jesus!’ And [Sheindlin] didn’t blink an eye!” she said. “And I’m like, ‘I don’t think I’ve 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 tailor said to me, ‘Is that Bottega Veneta?’ And I go, ‘Uh huh.’ He looked at me like, ‘Wow, you have good taste!’ And I say, ‘No, Judge Judy let me buy it.’”
After telling a few others how the wallet became hers, Oteri said she decided to drop the story and take ownership of the expensive purchase.
Years later, when Sheindlin received 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 remembered thinking. But of course she went.
The comedian said that the man onstage guiding the ceremony started rattling all the famous faces who were there.
“And he says, ‘Oh, we have a lot of celebrities who support her.’ And he just calls all these famous people And 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 awesome. It was. She’s just everything, you know?’