Lea Michele leaves Funny Girl audience in stitches thanks to “reading” line

7 September 2022, 19:48

Watch Lea Michele rehearse for Funny Girl

By Rachel Michaella Finn

"At Lea Michele’s FUNNY GIRL debut and the audience LAUGHED and GASPED when she delivered the like ‘I haven’t read many books’."

Lea Michele reportedly got an unexpected laugh out of the audience during the opening night of her run in Funny Girl on Broadway, thanks to one specific moment in the show, when her character Fanny Brice says that she hasn't "read many books".

Some viewers in the audience took to Twitter to say there were audible laughs and gasps from the crowd after the former Glee star, who recently squashed a long-standing internet rumour that she can’t read, delivered the line.

Lea responded to the bizarre internet rumours that she was illiterate just a few days earlier, saying to the New York Times: “I went to Glee every single day; I knew my lines every single day. And then there’s a rumour online that I can’t read or write? It’s sad. It really is. I think often if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn’t be the case."

Now, one tweet in particular from Lea’s opening night has gone viral, saying that the audience burst into laughter at the line.

READ MORE: Lea Michele is replacing Beanie Feldstein in Funny Girl and the memes are out of control

Twitter user @bequietjoe wrote: “At lea michele’s FUNNY GIRL debut and the audience LAUGHED and GASPED when she delivered the like ‘I haven’t read many books’.”

In a recording that was shared online, Lea can be heard saying the line, after which a few members of the audience laugh before others join in and start whooping.

Other social media users seemed to confirm the incident with one person writing: “I have been sent audio of Lea Michele as Fanny Brice saying ‘I haven't read too many books’ on her opening night of Funny Girl as the audience BURST into confused laughter. I say they go with it and add an official hold for laughter until it dies down in coming weeks”.

Another added: “Lea Michele’s character in Funny girl said ‘I haven’t read very many books’ and the whole theater laughed omfg”.

Someone else agreed, saying: “I heard through the grapevine that little miss lea michele opened tonight in Funny Girl and when she said the line “i don’t read many books” the audience ate that shit up”.

The strange internet rumour that Lea can’t read seems to date back to 2017, when One More Thing podcast hosts Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman joked that Lea couldn't read and then developed an actual conspiracy theory based on old interviews and videos of Lea.

But after the rumours got out of hand and Lea herself hit back at them, Jameela Jamil also got involved and claimed the ‘can’t read’ memes were “elitist’ and “ableist”.

Taking to Instagram (Sep 4), Jameela wrote: "I see a lot of people claiming a certain actress can't read... and then laughing at her. Whatever your issue with someone, and I don't know this woman, or anything about her, but laughing at the idea of *anyone* not being able to read makes YOU look like a prick. An elitist, ableist bore. It's embarrassing for you, not them."

READ MORE: Lea Michele responds to claims that she was racist to her Glee co-stars

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