Speaker 1: And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2: And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 3: Welcome to and that's what really miss po calss.
Speaker 1: Today we have Kevin McHale.
Speaker 2: And Jennashkowitz, but more importantly, we have star, superstar, world traveler,
Speaker 2: world famous Chris Olsen.
Speaker 1: He's incredible.
Speaker 3: He's just so nice, so nice, and oh what a
Speaker 3: joy to chat with, so open, so fun. I feel
Speaker 3: like I have like musical theater camaraderie with him. But
Speaker 3: then like he's such a big glee fantee, which is
Speaker 3: so fun.
Speaker 2: He's an og gleek. That's right, That's right, Yeah, he's
Speaker 2: he's this week's gleek of the week. Really, I mean
Speaker 2: he's gleek of the year.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 1: I know that didn't rhyme.
Speaker 2: But it's a wonderful, lovely long talk with Chris Olsen.
Speaker 2: So strapping and enjoy. Here is the week of the week.
Speaker 1: Chris olsaid, Hi, Chris, let's begin. Where do we start?
Speaker 4: Wait?
Speaker 1: The fact that you and Darren recently was really funny.
Speaker 2: I was jealous. I DMed him and I was like,
Speaker 2: excuse me, well, I bare you.
Speaker 4: You know I have been waiting outside both your homes,
Speaker 4: just knocking on the doors waiting to be let in.
Speaker 4: And then Heather and Darren came to my rescue, so
Speaker 4: I said, okay, I'll hang out with you guys. First.
Speaker 4: They're very nice, so sEH, they are very nice. It's
Speaker 4: it was. It was such a lovely day promoting their pod.
Speaker 4: That's right, look at you.
Speaker 2: You're really just helping out the Glee crew and the pods, which.
Speaker 4: Is so crazy to me because as a young young
Speaker 4: child that was maybe one or two when the show
Speaker 4: came out, it really it was everything to me, but
Speaker 4: the jokes aside, it really was. I was I was
Speaker 4: trying to remember or think about all of the memories
Speaker 4: I have just as a viewer of the show, and
Speaker 4: there truly are so many. Like I remember watching Tina
Speaker 4: sing True Colors, which was your first song, right, correct, yeah, right,
Speaker 4: I know. We were my whole family was in South
Speaker 4: Carolina visiting my grandma, and all she had was this
Speaker 4: tiny little television, Like by tiny, I mean like literally
Speaker 4: maybe like nine inches, like it was small, and we
Speaker 4: we tuned into the episode and I remember you saying
Speaker 4: the song at the end, and it was such a
Speaker 4: huge deal because I was such like an I loved
Speaker 4: an underdog or someone who liked.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you you were someone the character who got ship
Speaker 3: on sure right, yes, the underdone and.
Speaker 4: You had you truly hadn't said like I feel like
Speaker 4: everyone had had a song at that. It's just like
Speaker 4: maybe the actress doesn't sing. I don't know, Oh she
Speaker 4: could sing. She could sing.
Speaker 1: That's funny though.
Speaker 4: We discovered that. And obviously Kevin, when you dance for
Speaker 4: the first time after finally, Yes, that was huge for
Speaker 4: my family as well. I went to an all boys
Speaker 4: school and I would I know, I know, I went
Speaker 4: to an all boys school. It was like a religious
Speaker 4: school as well. But I found a few people and
Speaker 4: I remember, like the first year that Glee was very big,
Speaker 4: I would go and I had Spanish. Every morning I
Speaker 4: would go into my Spanish class and this group of
Speaker 4: four of us would sit in the back and recap
Speaker 4: the episode from the night before.
Speaker 2: Sweet.
Speaker 4: Yes, it was like it was like a little safe space.
Speaker 4: I am surprisingly still the only one who turned out
Speaker 4: gay from all of that, but that is very surprising,
Speaker 4: I know, I know. So we just had some allies
Speaker 4: in the room.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess, building community in a religious school.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was like you had to find your people.
Speaker 4: But I remember it was it was huge. We would
Speaker 4: listen to the songs walking in between classes, but then
Speaker 4: pause them whenever we were walking by a group that like,
Speaker 4: we couldn't be.
Speaker 2: So funny.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you where did you grow up?
Speaker 4: I grew up in the DC area. I grew up
Speaker 4: in Maryland, but I went to my school was in
Speaker 4: d C. Which was which was nice. But it's definitely
Speaker 4: like half of the kids parents are politicians. So it's
Speaker 4: very like during the presidential elections, like we are debating
Speaker 4: in class and people are like, well, my dad is
Speaker 4: working for blah blah blah blah, and you're like, oh.
Speaker 2: Terrifying, But I still have my opinions.
Speaker 4: Right, and like, my dad doesn't believe in gay marriage,
Speaker 4: so neither do I, and it would It was just
Speaker 4: a it was a very intense environment. So we needed,
Speaker 4: you know, a special musical show to get us through
Speaker 4: all of that, to build bridges, you know, to build bridges.
Speaker 4: And if you know they were egally was tackling the
Speaker 4: real issues too, you know they were.
Speaker 2: Right even when nobody asks for.
Speaker 4: It, when nobody asked for it, when sometimes maybe different
Speaker 4: things were being said, maybe it was a very interesting
Speaker 4: way to go about some It's a.
Speaker 1: Very pcy way to put it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, How do you guys, how do you guys?
Speaker 4: I mean, you've obviously the pod speaks about the show
Speaker 4: in so many ways, but how do you guys in
Speaker 4: your day to day life if someone is bringing it up,
Speaker 4: how do you guys, you know, talk about it? Speak
Speaker 4: back to these people, whether fans or just people who
Speaker 4: have come in contact with the show, like, what is
Speaker 4: the response.
Speaker 2: I do feel like there's been a shift in the
Speaker 2: past couple of years because I feel like during the
Speaker 2: beginning of the pandem when the show sort of became
Speaker 2: like a weird thing on TikTok and people were discovering
Speaker 2: You're like, oh, look how outdated this is. But there's
Speaker 2: now sort of this I feel like a collective understanding,
Speaker 2: like with any show it was of a time, sure,
Speaker 2: and so I do feel like that sort of preface
Speaker 2: is sort of now expected, right, Like we don't really
Speaker 2: have to talk about it in that way, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I feel like that has been a shift in
Speaker 2: the past couple of years where yes, as a community,
Speaker 2: as humans, we understand that some things did not maybe
Speaker 2: age well, but at the time. Now you can sort
Speaker 2: of look back at and be like, well, it was
Speaker 2: great in this way, and it was fun and funny
Speaker 2: in this way because I think for a while I
Speaker 2: was like, yeah, we shouldn't have done that.
Speaker 4: Right, But you all were quite young, just like reading
Speaker 4: these scripts, and it was like, you know, so many
Speaker 4: people's like really big first job that you're like most
Speaker 4: all of us, Yeah, right right, I can't I'm not
Speaker 4: going to say this line, like I just won't do that,
Speaker 4: Like that's it exactly.
Speaker 2: Didn't even cross our minds.
Speaker 3: Were Yeah, we were in the time, right, We're in
Speaker 3: the capsule of the time, and it didn't really phase
Speaker 3: us in some ways. And then obviously it was a
Speaker 3: personal dig or personal.
Speaker 2: That's all we cared about.
Speaker 4: More.
Speaker 2: We didn't really care about the macro Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: progressive movement that we were sort of shuttling in.
Speaker 4: Right, was it? Like, I mean I know that the
Speaker 4: show went on for a while, but within those like
Speaker 4: especially season one, were you walking in like being like
Speaker 4: this is so much fun, I'm so excited about all
Speaker 4: of this. Yeah, Like, what was there a moment that
Speaker 4: it became slightly stressful? Yes?
Speaker 2: Yes, lots, yeah, yeah, It was absolutely fun, especially when
Speaker 2: you're filming something in the public hasn't seen it yet, right, right,
Speaker 2: And because this was, like you said, most of our
Speaker 2: first experiences doing this, we had built like a really
Speaker 2: it felt like a safe space with the crew, the cast,
Speaker 2: everyone in production. It felt like a really beautiful community
Speaker 2: because you are making this really joyous and absurd thing
Speaker 2: and so everyone sort of bought into that. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: you're just going there performing these songs for your crew members,
Speaker 2: the camera people, the sound people, and we were having
Speaker 2: the time of our lives. Like we're getting paid to
Speaker 2: go act like clowns and paid morning we'd ever been
Speaker 2: paid before.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like we were on a massive.
Speaker 3: Budget, you know, film in Hollywood or a TV show
Speaker 3: in Hollywood. We were all really broke. But yeah, there
Speaker 3: was a turning point when the show started to hit,
Speaker 3: the songs started to hit the charts, people started to
Speaker 3: get really famous, Like it all hit at once, and
Speaker 3: then you couldn't turn your head without seeing us somewhere, right,
Speaker 3: And I think, you know, it's like Hollywood, they build
Speaker 3: you up and then they wait to like pull you
Speaker 3: back down.
Speaker 4: My god.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we had, you know, we had now we
Speaker 3: had fans who were writing in and you know, voicing
Speaker 3: their opinion on these characters and on these storylines. So
Speaker 3: we're all very affected by the external forces that are
Speaker 3: making the show what it is in so many ways.
Speaker 3: And so yeah, and then the the stress of like
Speaker 3: writing the show is just the three of them writing
Speaker 3: the show for the first two seasons or three seas,
Speaker 3: four episodes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and.
Speaker 3: Then like to add the music in, which had never
Speaker 3: been done before. It was so we were so exhausted
Speaker 3: and you don't know how to say no. You can't
Speaker 3: speak up for yourself or you'll just get weird.
Speaker 2: And I think that was on every level too, where
Speaker 2: opportunities and I think you can probably relate to this, Chris,
Speaker 2: like your life the past couple of years, where all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, all these opportunities are throwing themselves at you.
Speaker 2: And I feel like for us when we hadn't none
Speaker 2: of us had worked that much prior to this, like
Speaker 2: how do you say no? And so all of a
Speaker 2: sudden launching this position. And I think that goes to
Speaker 2: the directors, the writers, the creators, and the cast, like
Speaker 2: we just yes, yes to everything. If we have any time,
Speaker 2: we have to do this because who knows how long
Speaker 2: this is going to last. Who knows who's gonna care
Speaker 2: about us in six months? So and I think that
Speaker 2: happens on the show level too, where people care. Oh,
Speaker 2: people are saying this thing, Maybe we'll write that into
Speaker 2: the show and send us everywhere to perform everywhere and
Speaker 2: do it that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: Right, But not about us, more about you.
Speaker 4: I just I'm truly such a fan, so I just
Speaker 4: want to I have all of the questions for you
Speaker 4: guys too. But yeah, I mean off of what you
Speaker 4: were saying as well. I still definitely struggle with saying
Speaker 4: no to so many things because even though I guess
Speaker 4: I've been on like on social media and doing the
Speaker 4: stuff that I've been doing for like three and a
Speaker 4: half years now, it's still but like that in the
Speaker 4: grand scheme of life, if still you have no idea
Speaker 4: how much longer that's going to be after that, you know,
Speaker 4: Like though, I always say yes to things because I'm like,
Speaker 4: ride the wave while you can, and keep it going
Speaker 4: while you can, to the point of even if I
Speaker 4: am literally barely fitting things in, I'm going to make
Speaker 4: it work somehow, because yes, there's going to be a
Speaker 4: lot of stress, and yes, it might be at the
Speaker 4: expense of like exhaustion, but sometimes it feels really good
Speaker 4: to get those things done. And then you reach a
Speaker 4: point where you're like, Okay, now I really need to
Speaker 4: try to take a break, but sleep sleep. But then
Speaker 4: I struggle with giving my like literally structuring a break
Speaker 4: for myself and then being in the break and not
Speaker 4: knowing how to relax.
Speaker 2: Yeah, do you feel guilty? Yes, like I sometimes I
Speaker 2: would get where like if I say no to something
Speaker 2: like riddled with guilt of like oh yes, either the
Speaker 2: experience or financially or if you have a couple of
Speaker 2: days to yourself, like well I could be I know
Speaker 2: all the things it took turning down to have this time.
Speaker 4: Right, No, one hundred percent. I like I went on
Speaker 4: a really long vacation for the month of June and
Speaker 4: the like within the first few weeks of the vacation
Speaker 4: every day that I was on that vacation, and what's
Speaker 4: what's I guess kind of different of my work versus
Speaker 4: like if I were on a show, is I can
Speaker 4: do it all myself. If I want to create something,
Speaker 4: I can just do it right here and it's on
Speaker 4: my phone. So every day on that vacation. I kept thinking, like,
Speaker 4: I need to earn this day of vacation somehow, so
Speaker 4: I better like make a good video or I better
Speaker 4: do this. And then it was like, no, the whole
Speaker 4: point of this was that I have worked a lot,
Speaker 4: so I have earned the vacation, so I rest a
Speaker 4: little bit. But I just kept thinking, no, I need
Speaker 4: to earn it. And then there's the whole thing of
Speaker 4: you know, I've I've worked many other jobs as well,
Speaker 4: so I'm like, it's not why are you telling yourself
Speaker 4: you need a break from like make a video for
Speaker 4: a day or something like that. That's the easiest thing
Speaker 4: you could ever do. And then so you just it's
Speaker 4: this cont cycle of now that I'm doing the thing
Speaker 4: that I really love, it doesn't mean it's not still work.
Speaker 4: But I hear the past version of myself that's like,
Speaker 4: it isn't work. What are you talking about? Get up,
Speaker 4: do the thing, create something.
Speaker 1: It's not that hard.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, but you created the work within it.
Speaker 2: Like if it started out as something that was fun
Speaker 2: and that you love doing, and now it is work
Speaker 2: because you have responsibilities to I'm sure brands and whatever
Speaker 2: whoever is paying you to do the thing sometimes outside
Speaker 2: of like what you're doing yourself, and that is scary
Speaker 2: when you're completely in control of doing whatever you want
Speaker 2: on yourself because there's nobody to put it off on.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's the other thing, like if I you know,
Speaker 4: like with with a show like Lee, you have the
Speaker 4: you're like, yeah, the writers that was.
Speaker 2: We can't. Our schedule says we can't do this because
Speaker 2: we're contractually bound to be here, right, so we can't
Speaker 2: go do those things.
Speaker 4: Yes, it's I mean, and I can I do. It's
Speaker 4: not one hundred percent myself. I obviously have a lovely
Speaker 4: group of people behind me who are who support all
Speaker 4: of these things that I do. But yeah, it is.
Speaker 4: It's it all happens essentially like in my apartment or
Speaker 4: whenever I'm home. And I think that that is another
Speaker 4: just like weird part about it that I've tried that
Speaker 4: when I talk to friends who are on shows, there's
Speaker 4: that slight like disconnect not between us, but between someone
Speaker 4: who's on a show versus someone who's doing social media.
Speaker 4: Is like people are just seeing me on their phone,
Speaker 4: so it feels like I'm like one of their friends.
Speaker 4: I'm told which which I completely appreciate, and that's what
Speaker 4: I love about it. But there's when when someone's on
Speaker 4: a show, there's so much more structure to it, and
Speaker 4: there's even more structure of how people are receiving you,
Speaker 4: and they're receiving you as a character unless it's a
Speaker 4: reality show. But if it's a reality show, there's receiving
Speaker 4: you in one hour increments once a week, and they
Speaker 4: can't they're not going to change that unless all the
Speaker 4: producers are changing it. So it's it's just a it's
Speaker 4: and it's a relatively new job, so we're all just
Speaker 4: figuring it out as we go. But it is quite
Speaker 4: the anomaly that I think will continue to grow and
Speaker 4: evolve in the ways that all of these things do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't imagine.
Speaker 3: I'm curious, like because it's so I mean, you're choosing
Speaker 3: to give people so much of you, right, like personal you,
Speaker 3: especially for you like an avocate of mental health, and
Speaker 3: then like posting your therapy session.
Speaker 4: Sure, so cool.
Speaker 3: I would never do that because I'm not brave enough.
Speaker 3: But like it's so great and they're they're awesome, but
Speaker 3: like what, well, first, I want to know what your
Speaker 3: therapist thinks about this, and like how you got her
Speaker 3: to like say yes. But then also like do you
Speaker 3: feel like sometimes there's too much you're giving, like you know,
Speaker 3: because you're choosing what to show people, and then they
Speaker 3: feel like sometimes perhaps they deserve it all.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, way totally. That is a consistent like push
Speaker 4: and pull, because it honestly depends on the day of
Speaker 4: how much I'm willing to share or not willing to share.
Speaker 4: But with the therapy videos I had recorded, like therapy
Speaker 4: back before any of these videos happened, like before I
Speaker 4: posted any of them, because I do think it can
Speaker 4: be it's kind of like a form of journaling in
Speaker 4: a way you can like you you are able to
Speaker 4: reprocess everything that you said and processed in a new
Speaker 4: way afterwards, especially if it's like I have therapy two
Speaker 4: weeks later, or if there's been a break in therapy,
Speaker 4: I'm able to kind of remember what was happening in
Speaker 4: that moment. But the video came as an idea, like
Speaker 4: during one of them, after I'd had kind of like
Speaker 4: a funny session. And I think there's a lot of
Speaker 4: people who think therapy is consistently deep. You're always crying,
Speaker 4: and it's always something that is like near trauma, and
Speaker 4: I'm like, it is. There are probably some people who
Speaker 4: really have to process a lot, and that's a beautiful
Speaker 4: journey for them. But I've been in therapy since I
Speaker 4: was like twelve, so it's been like eleven. I'm not
Speaker 4: twenty three, I'm twenty five. It's been like.
Speaker 2: Matth is hard.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been like thirteen years of all of that. Wow, Yeah,
Speaker 4: that's correct. So there are sessions that are just like
Speaker 4: this funny thing happened to me, and let's process that,
Speaker 4: or like here's here's a very lighthearted thing. And I
Speaker 4: still get deep in most of my sessions, but I
Speaker 4: felt like there was a way to show the world
Speaker 4: some of these funny moments. And I don't do it
Speaker 4: every week. There are moments that my therapy sessions are
Speaker 4: very personal and I don't share those. And also, my
Speaker 4: therapy is an hour long and those videos are about
Speaker 4: a minute long, so it's really only these shots snapshots
Speaker 4: of them. But I felt like it could be nice
Speaker 4: to share something and to destigmatize the frightening part of
Speaker 4: therapy that I think people can be scared of. But
Speaker 4: I started on the app just sharing absolutely everything, and
Speaker 4: I was like, in a relationship at the time, and
Speaker 4: I thought, it's so fun to just share, and the
Speaker 4: fact that people are loving it makes me love it.
Speaker 4: And they're loving like our love.
Speaker 2: Positive reinforcement, right, like, oh my god, let me why
Speaker 2: not keep doing this?
Speaker 4: And you truly just it. I think with everyone in
Speaker 4: the field, all of my friends, we're also doing this.
Speaker 4: It's always just a learning experience until you get to
Speaker 4: your limit. So I reached a point, reached a point
Speaker 4: in the relationship where we weren't very happy, but we
Speaker 4: were still trying to share these happy moments because wanted
Speaker 4: the positive reinforcement, and that caused such a strain on
Speaker 4: like me personally, but also the relationship. And then even
Speaker 4: after that, like into me being single, trying to figure
Speaker 4: out how much I want to share and if someone
Speaker 4: says I would rather you not share that story, making
Speaker 4: sure that I'm respecting that as well, and like I
Speaker 4: am in a new relationship for the first time after
Speaker 4: that last relationship and now knowing I'm not going to
Speaker 4: be sharing it in the way that I once did,
Speaker 4: I think is just very It's very comforting to me
Speaker 4: and to the other person who I mean, he's been
Speaker 4: very gracious and being like, I'm following your lead, like
Speaker 4: whatever you want to do, but just knowing that now
Speaker 4: after going through the learning experience of for I'm going
Speaker 4: to keep that part of myself private, but that doesn't
Speaker 4: mean I'm not going to share other things that are
Speaker 4: a part of my life. And of course I think
Speaker 4: it's just it's always just some like personal gauge with yourself,
Speaker 4: because sometimes you can feel like you want to share
Speaker 4: the craziest story of your life, and then other times
Speaker 4: you're like, I'm going to keep it surfaced today and
Speaker 4: just do something like that, which I think. I mean,
Speaker 4: I'm curious to hear your guys perspective too, after like
Speaker 4: being on a show and you're playing a character, but
Speaker 4: then people are suddenly so interested in your personal lives
Speaker 4: as well, Like what is that like to how did
Speaker 4: you decide in those moments of like what you wanted
Speaker 4: to share, especially when like people then wanted to know
Speaker 4: the interpersonal relationships of you and other cast members, and
Speaker 4: it's like, how do we keep the integrity of the
Speaker 4: show without Now I'm rambling, but you guys get you
Speaker 4: understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: You were talking about how people really feel like you
Speaker 2: because you're in the palm of their hands all the time.
Speaker 2: It even felt like for us, I think anybody who's
Speaker 2: on a TV show that is on once a week
Speaker 2: or now streaming whatever, we already felt like people thought
Speaker 2: they knew us because we were in their homes every
Speaker 2: single week, twenty two hours a year sort of thing. Yes,
Speaker 2: but yours as a whole. I can't even like we
Speaker 2: met each other last summer, yes, and Ken in France.
Speaker 4: It was just a casual.
Speaker 2: I was telling Jenna, like, I felt like I knew
Speaker 2: you and you just have the most normal conversation.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Like I was like, oh, we talked like old trends.
Speaker 2: But I think that happened and I've made a lot
Speaker 2: of great friends off of social media because I do
Speaker 2: think either algorithmically or things you're into, you connect to
Speaker 2: the people who have a lot of shared interests naturally.
Speaker 2: And so I was like, well, that was just one
Speaker 2: I'm just one person. I can't imagine the amount of
Speaker 2: people you interact with on a day to day basis
Speaker 2: or who feel like I did, like, yeah, I can
Speaker 2: talk to him, right, Because I do think there is
Speaker 2: a level for people. I guess that were in our
Speaker 2: position where they know they don't know you. Yes, you
Speaker 2: are playing a character.
Speaker 4: So there are a.
Speaker 2: Couple layers to get through of disconnect right between are
Speaker 2: the real us and the people there may be a
Speaker 2: fan of yeah, but then there's even.
Speaker 3: More curiosity, right because they do spend you know, every Thursday.
Speaker 3: They were in their living room and their pajamas with
Speaker 3: their you know, cat and their ice cream and like
Speaker 3: watching us, feeling like they know us. And then they
Speaker 3: see you on the street and they call you Tina
Speaker 3: and already and they're like, oh my god, you can walk.
Speaker 3: And so there's this like exciting mystery about it. We
Speaker 3: were on the show when Twitter. We were in the
Speaker 3: recording studio when we learned about Twitter, and so we
Speaker 3: all signed up, and so we were pre Instagram. Like
Speaker 3: I remember my first Instagram. I think I was shooting
Speaker 3: a snack and I posted like the lunch the lunch tray. Wow,
Speaker 3: And so you're like, what is this thing?
Speaker 2: And these filters. I remember being like pach and I
Speaker 2: guess I'll take a picture of the table.
Speaker 3: Salmon, right right. But I think because of that and
Speaker 3: they don't know who you are exactly, social media was
Speaker 3: a way in for them to learn about you, and
Speaker 3: in some ways it felt like a gift. In some
Speaker 3: ways it felt like a complete flaw on the system,
Speaker 3: because the gift is like, I can share what I
Speaker 3: want with you, I can connect with my fans, I
Speaker 3: can learn more about them and who's who's watching and
Speaker 3: who's listening and who's a fan of me personally. But
Speaker 3: then then, like what I was asking you, it feels
Speaker 3: like sometimes they feel like they they deserve it all,
Speaker 3: Like there's no boundary whatsoever when we are choosing what
Speaker 3: to share and what not to. Like, my husband is
Speaker 3: not he's not an actor. He is you know, you know,
Speaker 3: affiliation with the entertainment industry. He doesn't like social media.
Speaker 3: He doesn't go on it, so I'm nervous post him
Speaker 3: and he wants approval and he wants to see things
Speaker 3: before they go up because that's not his thing. This
Speaker 3: is in his world right, And then we chose to
Speaker 3: not post my daughter's face for safety reasons. I just said,
Speaker 3: I'm not I'm not doing that, And so there is
Speaker 3: this like push and pull. But because of the mystery,
Speaker 3: it's like people want to know more and they want
Speaker 3: more because they don't know you exactly. They don't they
Speaker 3: know the character.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I will say, like it is very I do
Speaker 4: feel like there's people feel extremely comfortable coming up to
Speaker 4: me in public, which is great, and I think, I
Speaker 4: mean that's can be a lovely time. Obviously, there are
Speaker 4: sometimes when I'm like having a day and I'm like okay,
Speaker 4: all right, where like I gotta I gotta like bring
Speaker 4: it up. And it's it's because it's almost like I
Speaker 4: have to play a character of myself in some ways,
Speaker 4: because when I'm making videos, I have a lot of energy.
Speaker 4: Those are my like I'm I'm ready, I'm performing in
Speaker 4: this video. You know, Like there's many most of the
Speaker 4: time I'm lower energy than I am in the videos,
Speaker 4: and I think tons of people really understand that. But
Speaker 4: there are moments, there are definitely moments when people feel
Speaker 4: very comfortable and it can get to a place of
Speaker 4: it's that parasocial relationship that's talked about a lot these days,
Speaker 4: where someone is sharing something that like I wasn't ready
Speaker 4: to take on for them, but I you know, but
Speaker 4: I'm also gonna do my best to hold the space
Speaker 4: because I'm not going to make someone feel bad for
Speaker 4: sharing that something like really affected them in a good
Speaker 4: or bad way, but like those same people sometimes will
Speaker 4: tell me a story about like because if I'm friends
Speaker 4: with a musician, they'll be like, oh, I saw that person,
Speaker 4: but I was too scared to go up to them,
Speaker 4: or I saw that actor, but I was too scared
Speaker 4: to go up to them. I don't think people are
Speaker 4: really too scared to come up to me because they
Speaker 4: feel like they know me. But if they saw and
Speaker 4: I am not comparing myself in like fame level standing
Speaker 4: of these people, but if they saw like a Tom
Speaker 4: Cruise or like a Meryl Streep out there, they're not
Speaker 4: going to run up because it's like, oh that is
Speaker 4: not like they don't even have social media. You know
Speaker 4: that there are characters to them and these people love them,
Speaker 4: but they don't know how they speak or talk or
Speaker 4: like kind of go about things in their daily life.
Speaker 4: So I feel like there's a little bit more of
Speaker 4: a barrier, which I think is is that there's no
Speaker 4: like wrong way to go about it, and I would
Speaker 4: love to I think maybe have that barrier at some point,
Speaker 4: but also I still very much enjoy the way that
Speaker 4: I have gone about it as well. Yeah, I think
Speaker 4: it's just now with the social media becoming such a thing.
Speaker 4: Those walls have been stripped down a lot because people
Speaker 4: are sharing so much about their everyday.
Speaker 2: Lives, right, and it takes a special type of personality,
Speaker 2: I think, to have that perspective that you have where
Speaker 2: I think you could throw people really terribly, but also
Speaker 2: you know, to recognize like, oh, this is with success,
Speaker 2: this has happened. Sure, I mean, and sometimes you're gonna
Speaker 2: have bad days. I'm not gonna be in the mood,
Speaker 2: but right, you know.
Speaker 4: I have to remind myself that though most days, like
Speaker 4: there are days or if if I start feeling uncomfortable
Speaker 4: because I can like feel someone taking pictures in public
Speaker 4: or something like that, which is like yes, people should
Speaker 4: ask people to take a photo. Or if I'm walking
Speaker 4: through somewhere and I feel whispers and people talking about me,
Speaker 4: it's like I literally have to remind myself like, no
Speaker 4: one is trying to no one is out to get you.
Speaker 4: Like that too, Yeah, like they're excited. These people are excited.
Speaker 4: But I think it probably goes back to if I
Speaker 4: want to like therapize it, it goes back to like
Speaker 4: childhood and maybe me like walking through the halls and
Speaker 4: feeling like I hear bullies talking about me. I'm like,
Speaker 4: any whispers about me must be bad. But now we
Speaker 4: have to like reframe those somehow.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, if you figure out how can you just think
Speaker 4: it's just constant reminders? Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 1: It's so true. You went to Bosting in servatory.
Speaker 4: Oh I did, I did it. Yes, I am a
Speaker 4: musical theater student. I am a theater kid. As a singer,
Speaker 4: I do occasionally sing yes on social media as well.
Speaker 3: But you singing bathtubs, it's one of my favorite videos.
Speaker 3: You guys sound great. I also have to know how
Speaker 3: many times you guys, how many times you guys tried
Speaker 3: that one, because you looked I know that feeling when
Speaker 3: you get it at the end and you're so excited.
Speaker 1: I knew that's great.
Speaker 4: It's definitely a lot. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we're singing, we're
Speaker 4: it's you got to get it perfect, you know.
Speaker 1: Like that.
Speaker 4: So yeah, but I've been I've been a theater kid
Speaker 4: for like my whole life, a big of it, like
Speaker 4: I have. I half live in New York, so every
Speaker 4: time I'm there, I'm seeing shows. Often. I went to
Speaker 4: a boarding school. I was gonna say, you saw Alex
Speaker 4: now I sure did. Oh, I sure did. And have
Speaker 4: you guys seen Alex yet? Yes? Oh my god, it's
Speaker 4: like stupid independently owned. It's just it's just insane. And
Speaker 4: to be able to do that eight times a week and.
Speaker 2: Also be like I can't and then comes out to
Speaker 2: the stage and then does that exact thing. No, are
Speaker 2: you's a boarding Yeah? I interrupted you.
Speaker 4: No, no, no, But I saw Alex but yes, I
Speaker 4: went to boarding school for musical theater as well. Speaking
Speaker 4: of Alex, I was also a fan of the Glee
Speaker 4: Project back in the day, like Lee was. I, Oh,
Speaker 4: I had just made for you, I had merch. I
Speaker 4: went to the tour, Yeah I did. Did you go
Speaker 4: to the DC show? I I think so. Yeah, that
Speaker 4: was a fun one. I didn't know what tone.
Speaker 2: No, I don't know if I can't remember that one.
Speaker 3: Kevin's impressibly good at remembering the tour in particular, like
Speaker 3: the shows and the cities and what the show.
Speaker 2: I don't know what one city, I can't remember the show.
Speaker 2: I don't remember the show. And no offense to Philadelphia,
Speaker 2: I have no memory.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I remember Phill Yeah. The tour was pretty
Speaker 4: life changing as well. I just remember, like Stan, I mean,
Speaker 4: the entire thing was just like my whole childhood live
Speaker 4: and then. But I do remember specifically like when Amber
Speaker 4: singing ain't no way, oh my god, it was. I
Speaker 4: just I hadn't had a spiritual experience like that before,
Speaker 4: and I had it. I had it nice, we had
Speaker 4: it every night. It was.
Speaker 2: You made a TikTok about how Glee was setting unrealistic
Speaker 2: expectations of like talent in high school, and I have
Speaker 2: to say I'd never really thought about it from the people,
Speaker 2: the perspective of people walking down the hallway and then
Speaker 2: hearing someone like Amber singing.
Speaker 4: I mean all of you guys though, and with like
Speaker 4: a full band as well, Like it was the arrangements
Speaker 4: just magically coming together. Obviously it was a TV show
Speaker 4: elevated reality. But if that happened in any school, it
Speaker 4: would be national news every day, no one. I mean,
Speaker 4: it just would be absolute insanity because in most schools
Speaker 4: you have like one or two people who are like
Speaker 4: a star and they're but even then they're singing with
Speaker 4: a piano and bad acoustics, Like it's not Gregs. Yeah,
Speaker 4: that little rectangle classroom, y'all had had the best acoustics
Speaker 4: in the world. Somehow it was.
Speaker 1: I mean there was real budget.
Speaker 4: Zero budget, and the shows that you got, I mean,
Speaker 4: like Rocky Horror was so insane.
Speaker 2: Can't afford to get a bus for already to get
Speaker 2: to Nationals, but we can build an entire set with
Speaker 2: two stories with an elevator.
Speaker 1: I will say though I did go.
Speaker 3: I went to a Catholic high school on Long Island,
Speaker 3: but it was performing arts and people went to the
Speaker 3: Catholic school even though they weren't like because of the
Speaker 3: musical theater program. So we had like people coming out
Speaker 3: of there. We have Rockets coming out of there. We've
Speaker 3: got multiple Broadway people coming out of there that I
Speaker 3: feel like my school was the closest to Glee that.
Speaker 4: You were going to get probably and you were on
Speaker 4: Broadway as a child, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I did The King and I when I was nine,
Speaker 3: and then I was like, I'm gonna make it and
Speaker 3: do it, do this as an adult. And then I
Speaker 3: Bookspring Awakening, so I got to do that with the
Speaker 3: original Broadway cast for a while, and then and then
Speaker 3: I got to do Waitress after Glee. So I've gotten
Speaker 3: to do like a show within every decade.
Speaker 4: Did you enjoy like a comparative Broadway versus a TV show.
Speaker 4: I know they're so different, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I know, but it was a dream to be able
Speaker 1: to sing and perform on TV.
Speaker 3: That was like because I went to mary Mount Manhattan,
Speaker 3: like college, I did a BA in theater minor musical theater,
Speaker 3: and like for me, I was going to be on
Speaker 3: Broadway for the rest of my life.
Speaker 2: That was my goal.
Speaker 1: I was going to be some foster and that was it.
Speaker 3: But I think to be able to do both was
Speaker 3: amazing because TV has the money and the schedule and
Speaker 3: like the the you know, the refutation, yes, and Broadway
Speaker 3: like you can always go back for a few months
Speaker 3: and do it right, and so because it's so grueling
Speaker 3: and then we're going to get Kevin to do it
Speaker 3: at some point. But it's so grueling and it's so
Speaker 3: strange and different and the yes you must and the
Speaker 3: instant gratification that you get from an audience and energy,
Speaker 3: like I picked that over TV any day.
Speaker 4: Sure, But I totally understand that, like when you get
Speaker 4: a degree in theater, you're not getting it to be
Speaker 4: like and no, I'm gonna make bank like and now
Speaker 4: I'm ready, like love it. Yeah, you do it because
Speaker 4: you love it because the end goal for most of
Speaker 4: us is like get on Broadway and make the Broadway minimum,
Speaker 4: which is very hard to live on in New York.
Speaker 4: Like it's possible. Yeah, it's like, it's not like we're
Speaker 4: going to I mean, I think when you're little and
Speaker 4: you have that dream, you're like, I'm going to be
Speaker 4: a star, I'm gonna be famous all of this stuff.
Speaker 4: But then when you find out the reality, you're like, Okay,
Speaker 4: as long as I can somehow work professionally, I will
Speaker 4: be happy.
Speaker 1: And yes, it's so true.
Speaker 4: I was ready to, like, I mean, there was a
Speaker 4: point even with Broadway too. There the amount of competition
Speaker 4: that you have of to even get in the door
Speaker 4: is so insane, and I think there there have been
Speaker 4: so many times I've been so ready to just give
Speaker 4: up on entertainment in general because it is such a
Speaker 4: hard door to get through. And if social media hadn't
Speaker 4: happened in the way that it did for me, I
Speaker 4: think I probably it probably would have been a very
Speaker 4: different life because it is so easy to get that
Speaker 4: just kicked out of you if you're not given the opportunity.
Speaker 4: And that's the tough thing about acting in theater and
Speaker 4: all of that stuff is someone has to give you
Speaker 4: permission to do what you want, whereas with so many
Speaker 4: other things, obviously you're getting hired. But like you can
Speaker 4: work your way up in a corporate ladder, right, you
Speaker 4: can work your way up doing anything Broadway. You could
Speaker 4: be taking classes, you could be doing all of the stuff,
Speaker 4: and you just might not get hired because you don't
Speaker 4: know the right person or you don't know all of
Speaker 4: that stuff. And I think it's just such an interesting
Speaker 4: industry that like mainstream isn't really clued in on, but
Speaker 4: the entertainment we all know how insane it is for
Speaker 4: someone to just like make their debut or to be
Speaker 4: like backs left, like the stage left in the back,
Speaker 4: but they're like doing the thing. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 4: yeah yeah.
Speaker 3: And then you have like the lifers who like go
Speaker 3: into Lion King and Aladdin and stay forever. They're like,
Speaker 3: I'm on my tenth here, and you're like, girl, get it.
Speaker 2: People have been in Chicago for like twenty years.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they're gonna die on that stage now.
Speaker 3: Yeah right, I'm curious, Like because you went to a conservatory.
Speaker 3: They're so intense, so intense, and then like was the
Speaker 3: goal Broadway? Like was the goal to be famous? Like
Speaker 3: what was the goal for you? And then to become
Speaker 3: so huge on social media? What was that like pivot
Speaker 3: for you to go like, okay, this is my life now.
Speaker 4: It was really strange. I think yes, initially the goal
Speaker 4: was like be on Broadway or it really was just
Speaker 4: be able to maybe make a living as a performer
Speaker 4: in some way. I was also while I was there,
Speaker 4: I was like training to be a group fitness trainer
Speaker 4: because I was like, that's going to be my job
Speaker 4: as a fallback job. Yeah, I was like I got
Speaker 4: to do something too. I mean, there are so many
Speaker 4: people who like work in and obviously are this food
Speaker 4: industry or like fitness or something like that. So I
Speaker 4: was like, Okay, I'll try doing that. But it was
Speaker 4: halfway through my junior year that the pandemic happened, and
Speaker 4: so I was then we were pivoting to online musical
Speaker 4: theater classes. So I was in a room like smaller
Speaker 4: than this one I'm in right now, like with a chair,
Speaker 4: trying to do ballet like the chair was my bar,
Speaker 4: or like doing a monologue like and I mean it's like,
Speaker 4: I guess it's kind of like a self tape but
Speaker 4: like singing a song but to like all of my
Speaker 4: classmates on Zoom, and it's just, oh, it is not
Speaker 4: It felt all of my creativity in school had left me.
Speaker 4: I was like, Okay, this feels horrible. It just feels
Speaker 4: like work and not not work that I'm like interested
Speaker 4: in doing right now, especially like doing a scene with
Speaker 4: someone through zoom.
Speaker 1: Oh God.
Speaker 4: So I downloaded TikTok halfway through, because not halfway through
Speaker 4: in April, so like a month after the world kind
Speaker 4: of shut down, and was like, let me just see
Speaker 4: what's going on on here, and.
Speaker 2: There's nothing else to do.
Speaker 4: There was nothing else to do. And then I found
Speaker 4: it was a way I could be creative and have
Speaker 4: a little bit of creative outlet. And then I like
Speaker 4: summer happened and I kept making videos over the summer,
Speaker 4: and at the very end of the summer, right before
Speaker 4: the start of my senior year, I started gaining a
Speaker 4: following and I was like, Okay, maybe there's something here
Speaker 4: that I can do to finish out school. It's probably
Speaker 4: not gonna it's not gonna last forever, but we'll see
Speaker 4: what we do, and then it just kept kind of
Speaker 4: growing in different ways and I kept finding new ways
Speaker 4: to have fun and be creative on there. And so
Speaker 4: that also, I think like reinvigorated my love for performing arts,
Speaker 4: and it made me realize that I could do it,
Speaker 4: because I think there I had, I was so close
Speaker 4: to giving up on all of it because auditioning I
Speaker 4: had just done, I think a month before the pandemic.
Speaker 4: I had just taken a megabus at twelve am from
Speaker 4: Boston to New York for the Hairspray Tour open call dark, yeah,
Speaker 4: very dark. I was in line in front of Pearl
Speaker 4: Studios at four am. My audition ended up happening at
Speaker 4: three pm, so I had been there for eleven hours
Speaker 4: and then had to immediately get on a train back
Speaker 4: to Boston to do rehearsal for the Drowsy Chaperone that night,
Speaker 4: where I was in the ensemble. So it was it
Speaker 4: was it's like you grind it, Yeah, it's grind. There's
Speaker 4: like grind. No, there's almost no gratification from it until
Speaker 4: like the very end. It is such delayed gratification, which
Speaker 4: I think is really wonderful to work work for for
Speaker 4: a lot of things in your life, but there was
Speaker 4: like near no gratification. Ended up making it pretty far
Speaker 4: in those hairspray rounds and then everything shut down and
Speaker 4: the Hairspray Tour didn't even They did end up emailing
Speaker 4: me like two years ago being like, would you still
Speaker 4: be interested? And I was like, I don't know if
Speaker 4: I can do that.
Speaker 2: I'm crawling back to me. I'm actually busy.
Speaker 4: Oh I'm so busy right now. But wow, there I had.
Speaker 4: I was. I was very close to giving up on
Speaker 4: all of it. And I think getting a platform and
Speaker 4: getting that positive reinforcement, especially on videos where I started singing,
Speaker 4: or videos where I was like talking about, you know,
Speaker 4: my past and performing, made me realize like, yeah, that's
Speaker 4: definitely something I want to do and want to experience
Speaker 4: at some point in my life. And it feels closer
Speaker 4: than it was when I was just in school doing nothing, sure,
Speaker 4: because but it can be hard when you're in a
Speaker 4: conservatory or in a program where there are so many
Speaker 4: talented people and there aren't just so talented people in
Speaker 4: your program. There are talented people around the whole world. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and there's almost always someone who can do what you're doing.
Speaker 4: Do a little bit better or a lot better, And
Speaker 4: it's so easy to talk yourself out of it, right
Speaker 4: you're like, oh, well, there are three million people here
Speaker 4: that are way better than me.
Speaker 2: Why am I even doing this?
Speaker 4: Right exactly? And that doesn't mean that, you know, for
Speaker 4: people who are listening, that doesn't mean that that means
Speaker 4: you give up, because if they're doing it better, you
Speaker 4: can do it differently, or you can offer a completely
Speaker 4: different perspective on it.
Speaker 2: But find your own way in like you're like, now
Speaker 2: you said, it feels closer, like you are founding a
Speaker 2: different way to approach.
Speaker 4: It right right, Like it's you know, it can be
Speaker 4: hard for all of us who are not connected in
Speaker 4: the industry already from like birth, And I know it
Speaker 4: can be a little discouraging when there are so many
Speaker 4: people who you see, especially with social media. So many
Speaker 4: of these people who are successful on social media are
Speaker 4: so young, and I can't imagine and being like a
Speaker 4: sixteen year old or like even younger and seeing someone
Speaker 4: else my age making millions of dollars moving to LA
Speaker 4: and being like that is what my life should be like,
Speaker 4: because it's not. And I'm honestly so glad that my
Speaker 4: life wasn't like that at sixteen, and that most of
Speaker 4: the stuff happened at twenty two, which is still young.
Speaker 4: But I think just having that's a big difference of
Speaker 4: all of that. How old were you both when the
Speaker 4: show started twenty three?
Speaker 3: I was twenty three, twenty or twenty, yeah, twenty and
Speaker 3: twenty three. Rispolfer was eighteen nineteen, eighteen, yeah, eighteen.
Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, that's all of those ages are so
Speaker 4: young to be like thrust into that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I do think like because it was an ensemble, we
Speaker 2: were all young, there was a lot of shared experience
Speaker 2: and like protectiveness, So I do think, yeah, we had
Speaker 2: that that benefit of relying on each other and that
Speaker 2: shared like, oh, we're all going through this together, right,
Speaker 2: And we had.
Speaker 3: A boss again like you said, like we had you know,
Speaker 3: the studio to answer to. There were executives and you know,
Speaker 3: producers who were all there to kind of guide the
Speaker 3: way for you versus like, you know, people like you
Speaker 3: who are hitting it like overnight, gaining this huge following
Speaker 3: and then going.
Speaker 1: Like would I do with this?
Speaker 2: Because now you're running like a business. Yeah, like you're
Speaker 2: running your brand, which is like you weren't taught how.
Speaker 4: To do that. No, And it's a learning literally.
Speaker 2: Going to school for you know, performing arts three and
Speaker 2: a half years ago and then yes, all of a
Speaker 2: sudden and no one.
Speaker 4: I mean it's impossible to like learn the business of
Speaker 4: any of these things without being in it. Like I mean,
Speaker 4: even when you make mistakes, because you're learning as you go, right,
Speaker 4: like down to the mundane things about like doing your
Speaker 4: taxes as like a performer is like am I going
Speaker 4: to go to jail because I'm not doing any of
Speaker 4: this like correct? But yeah, I like running the brand
Speaker 4: of me, running my coffee brand, flight fuel, Like there
Speaker 4: are so many even just the business of like figuring
Speaker 4: out how I'm going to next like create the next
Speaker 4: video or work with the next person that I want
Speaker 4: to work with. I think, Yeah, it's a lot of
Speaker 4: figuring it out myself. Being able to ask for help,
Speaker 4: I think is a really important thing, and but giving
Speaker 4: myself so much grace along the way that like if
Speaker 4: I'm not doing something perfect or if I could improve
Speaker 4: on something, just knowing that like that is okay that
Speaker 4: I didn't do it right the first time. Neither of
Speaker 4: my parents are in the industry, like a lot of
Speaker 4: my friends, my age aren't doing the exact same thing
Speaker 4: that I'm doing. So I'm really like just taking it
Speaker 4: day by day and learning along the way, but allowing
Speaker 4: myself to give give grace when it's not the perfect thing.
Speaker 3: Well, you're doing damn good, So thank you. Okay, So
Speaker 3: let's let's just talk about Glee for a second, because
Speaker 3: I want to know about your some of like your favorites, like,
Speaker 3: tell me about so much.
Speaker 2: Well you For example, you said you go to the
Speaker 2: gym and listen to Glee songs.
Speaker 4: I will, so I think, so do you have right? Well?
Speaker 4: And I think you maybe it responded to my story
Speaker 4: last year about because Glee cast was my number five
Speaker 4: for in my Spotify wrapped of Artists. I was like,
Speaker 4: what are you doing? But it really depends on it
Speaker 4: depends on my like mood. I brought up Rocky Corps
Speaker 4: because I do listen to the Rocky ho or Hma.
Speaker 4: What is the title of that album? Yeah, oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: so that is the one I listened to the live
Speaker 4: album often. Total Eclipse of the Heart is one of
Speaker 4: my favorites. It's just oh the Christmas albums, Oh my God,
Speaker 4: like I and I really did. I'm a cliche and
Speaker 4: I'll own it. Like I learned so many classics and
Speaker 4: so much music from the show Glee, Like there were
Speaker 4: so many songs that I did not know, so many
Speaker 4: Journey songs specifically I did not know before like tuning
Speaker 4: into the show. But I love that obviously the Britney
Speaker 4: Spears songs. I remember, I would do a I would
Speaker 4: just perform a dance to Toxic the Glee version for
Speaker 4: like my friends at any time. I think that's how
Speaker 4: most people you.
Speaker 2: Were popular, is what you're saying.
Speaker 4: What sure? Yeah, yeah, I think like most people work
Speaker 4: for you. It didn't. I in retrospect, I think maybe
Speaker 4: people were making maybe making a little fun of me
Speaker 4: during that, But I I think I that's probably how
Speaker 4: most people found out I was gay. Also Bad Romance
Speaker 4: the Glee version, and Naya Rivera does a growl like
Speaker 4: I mean she at anytime she's saying, it's just absolutely incredible.
Speaker 4: But it is River Deep, Mountain High. I mean I
Speaker 4: just like, yeah, it's it's almost like all of the
Speaker 4: all of the memories fled back. There are so many.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 4: You asked like a specific question, and did I.
Speaker 3: Give you Jim your Jim Glee playlist my gym? Do
Speaker 3: you have like a playlist for Glee for the gym?
Speaker 4: There there's not a specific playlist because I will go
Speaker 4: through the als and I know there are certain ones
Speaker 4: that I really like. The music Volume four, Volume three
Speaker 4: obviously has a lot of those ones that I was
Speaker 4: hitting on the power of Madonna. Yeah, it does a
Speaker 4: lot for me.
Speaker 2: You're in there.
Speaker 4: Deep, this is I'm no, no, no, no, it is.
Speaker 2: It's love that in twenty twenty two, Glee cast was
Speaker 2: number five on his Spotify and it's.
Speaker 4: It's it's funny because like I don't pop, they're bops
Speaker 4: and I don't really realize I'm listening to it as
Speaker 4: much as I am, but I sure am.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think it's always fun for us because we don't
Speaker 2: know we have songs that we're fans of right amongst
Speaker 2: the Glee songs, and like hearing about experiences people going
Speaker 2: to the tour or what songs they like are really
Speaker 2: interesting because we can't have that perspective, of course, what
Speaker 2: people actually like out there in the wild.
Speaker 4: Yes, I mean the Proud Mary also was one that
Speaker 4: you guys are all in wheelchairs during that number.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I recently saw this article, by the way, that
Speaker 2: someone had been an article of like the eleven worst number.
Speaker 1: No, do you see crowd? Mary was in that.
Speaker 2: Well, it wasn't about this, they said the version was good.
Speaker 2: It was the context of us all being wheelchairs.
Speaker 4: Sure.
Speaker 3: Sure, But of all the things that that Glee did,
Speaker 3: I think that's the least offensive because we were we
Speaker 3: were rallying around already for support versus a billion other
Speaker 3: things we're doing. Speaking of that unhinged storylines, like, were
Speaker 3: there any of your favorite or your your least favorite?
Speaker 1: Like unhinged storylines?
Speaker 4: Oh, I mean this isn't This wasn't one of my
Speaker 4: least favorites. But I do remember almost crying when the
Speaker 4: moment happened when Mercedes has an eating disorder and starts
Speaker 4: seeing people as food in the cafeteria and then Quinn
Speaker 4: has a conversation with her about what it was like
Speaker 4: eating for two. I remember playing it back for my
Speaker 4: mother because I thought it was so impactful. Yeah, I
Speaker 4: was like, mom, this is beautiful.
Speaker 2: The show's changing lives.
Speaker 4: It was like, Quinn is I mean, this is like,
Speaker 4: oh gods, God bless.
Speaker 1: It was a really good scene, though, I have to
Speaker 1: say it was beautiful.
Speaker 4: I mean, there were a lot of moments in the
Speaker 4: show that even if the storyline was a little questionable,
Speaker 4: like they were hitting an overall positive message, you could.
Speaker 2: See where they were coming from.
Speaker 4: I could totally see where they were going. But I remember, yeah,
Speaker 4: during that like specific scene, like Amber is sitting in
Speaker 4: the nurse's office and Quinn is like when you're eating
Speaker 4: for two it's and I was just like, that is
Speaker 4: my little teenage life was changed. And I also just
Speaker 4: met Diana for the first time, also in France, and
Speaker 4: I am obsessed with her in so many ways.
Speaker 2: She just she's like rainbows.
Speaker 4: She was also like so unbelievably she's just like her.
Speaker 4: Her vibrations are so I guess you would call that vibes,
Speaker 4: but she's just You're You're immediately like chill, You're calm.
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh my god, like I need your aura
Speaker 4: around it always.
Speaker 3: But she'll just like break down into like a dance
Speaker 3: in the middle of like anywhere, and You're like, yeah.
Speaker 4: I'm obsessed, and I'm obsessed with that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So that was definitely a storyline that I felt stuck
Speaker 4: with you.
Speaker 1: I felt my favorite seems to shoot.
Speaker 3: We like getting in those costumes, like stop laughing. It
Speaker 3: was really one of our favorites, right, Like it will
Speaker 3: go down in history.
Speaker 4: I also just the whole production of Glease. I think
Speaker 4: it was impactful. It will always always hit for me.
Speaker 1: That one's farther in my memory, but we're going to
Speaker 1: get there at some point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, for sure, I think because I wasn't
Speaker 2: in it. Again, don't have really any recollection. Yeah, if
Speaker 2: I wasn't immediately involved, the memory is not good.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah. And just the entire scene of like vocal
Speaker 4: adrenaline doing Bohemian rhap City during the birth, I think
Speaker 4: is maybe one of the best shot scenes in television history.
Speaker 1: Agreed.
Speaker 2: I it's so absurd that it worked somehow.
Speaker 4: Oh my, I mean, like Quinn's screaming and while it's
Speaker 4: all it's just like the musicality of giving birth, while
Speaker 4: also the performance is happening at the same time. No, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 4: Like it's oh my god. Yeah, I was changed.
Speaker 2: They don't make TV like that anymore, do they.
Speaker 4: They don't. They never did before. Right, that was the
Speaker 4: only time it ever happened.
Speaker 2: If there was a reboot of Glee and you were
Speaker 2: on it. What would you want to sing?
Speaker 1: Oh, go queshtym, it's big.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I personally hate getting this question, so
Speaker 2: good luck.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that is that is really tough.
Speaker 3: Like what okay, so Tina, I give you an example, Tina,
Speaker 3: we decided would be doing like Lavender Haze or Mastermind.
Speaker 4: Oh oh yeah.
Speaker 1: So you can pick a tailor.
Speaker 4: It would it would definitely be a too. I don't
Speaker 4: feel I would be too scared to do a Beyonce one.
Speaker 4: I feel like I could just never do it. Justice.
Speaker 2: That's how I feel, too, even though I would want
Speaker 2: to do that, but I couldn't touch it.
Speaker 4: Right right, Like maybe like I would do some poppy
Speaker 4: moment like blank Space or entirety of Harry Styles last time. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I could also like I would probably do like a
Speaker 4: one direction song. I would want to do a group
Speaker 4: number though, because I feel like my favorite things to
Speaker 4: watch were You're Guys's group numbers because they were just
Speaker 4: so so yeah right right, Like, let me do something
Speaker 4: like that where it's like a heartwarming moment. But I
Speaker 4: would also just want to, like I don't know, serve
Speaker 4: and do something really fierce, like like wearing the costumes
Speaker 4: that you guys did during Bad Romance, like give me
Speaker 4: something like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that was an intense.
Speaker 3: We met the fan, by the way, I like a
Speaker 3: really big fan recently who bought like a ton of
Speaker 3: auction items from the show and he.
Speaker 1: Was like, I have your bubble costume and he has
Speaker 1: my polish. Oh my god, I think his name is Steve.
Speaker 4: The bubble costume. I mean that was like one of
Speaker 4: the best as well, Like it was what a costume
Speaker 4: to wear.
Speaker 1: It was a lot, but it was great.
Speaker 4: Yeah. At the end of the day, you guys were
Speaker 4: I mean I would assume so you guys were singing
Speaker 4: all of your backing vocals as well. No, no, no, okay.
Speaker 3: We would do the occasional background if you were doing
Speaker 3: a lead vocal. So if you go to the recording
Speaker 3: studio and you know, like Bad Romance, I went and
Speaker 3: record it, and then like they would have me do
Speaker 3: backgrounds on the court, like they would kind of push
Speaker 3: to the top. But no, like somebody to love, none
Speaker 3: of our background vocals.
Speaker 2: Also, none of us are.
Speaker 3: We had an amazing team that Tim Davis, who was
Speaker 3: like our music extraordinary. He would go and he would
Speaker 3: do sessions with his like set background of vocalists and
Speaker 3: they were unbelievable.
Speaker 2: And the singers so yeah, they could learn it, they
Speaker 2: could hear it once. They would teach them all these
Speaker 2: crazy harmonies and just do it where if we were
Speaker 2: doing it, and we did sometimes more for a season,
Speaker 2: we did do more backgrounds, but then with the schedule
Speaker 2: there was not time because we went to the studio
Speaker 2: and record a full song in like forty five minutes
Speaker 2: the leads.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean you guys must have been in the
Speaker 4: studio like almost daily for some of these things. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but became such a sort of a conveyor belt
Speaker 2: situation where you were the hop in do your thing,
Speaker 2: yeah wow, and you had those studio singers also each
Speaker 2: of us have each of them played us. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: then they would do our demo vocals. So then we
Speaker 2: also learned each other's voices in that way, so then
Speaker 2: we could go in and lay down our leads quicker
Speaker 2: because one week if we had time learned it beforehand.
Speaker 2: But also they usually sing it in a style that
Speaker 2: our voices.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So would there be times here going into the
Speaker 4: studio like not really knowing the song and you're like, well,
Speaker 4: I've got to turn this out right now? Oh yeah? Wow? Yeah?
Speaker 1: There as played again, played again, played again.
Speaker 2: Which ruins us for any if you're doing music post gally,
Speaker 2: Like my expectation now is so I'm like, okay, a
Speaker 2: full song.
Speaker 1: I'm singing this all the way through.
Speaker 2: Right, We're doing word by word please.
Speaker 3: There was one song that we didn't get approved, like
Speaker 3: the artist didn't approve it, and we fully recorded the
Speaker 3: whole thing and it's great, but it it was a
Speaker 3: different producer than our normal producers. He's like, do you
Speaker 3: want to sing the whole thing like all the way
Speaker 3: through once? And I was like, just like, unheard of
Speaker 3: what's great? Love the way you lie that.
Speaker 4: All the way through? Yes?
Speaker 1: Oh some of it.
Speaker 4: Some of it approved because take a Bow is an
Speaker 4: episode two or something.
Speaker 3: So we think eminem or just the actual version of it.
Speaker 3: I think they had final approval heard or like no,
Speaker 3: thank you. But it ended up being that was shake
Speaker 3: it out, not check it out, shake wa check it
Speaker 3: out or check it off?
Speaker 1: Chake it out?
Speaker 4: Oh okay, yeah yeah, so it ended.
Speaker 1: Up being working out because I love that song.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that happened very It wasn't very often that
Speaker 3: like things didn't get put in, Kevin, did you have
Speaker 3: any numbers that, like you recorded that didn't make it
Speaker 3: end like I did?
Speaker 1: Tell him didn't make it in?
Speaker 2: I did one I did, And I'm actually going to
Speaker 2: text Adam after this to ask if they have it
Speaker 2: because I wanted to hear it. It was a mashup.
Speaker 2: It was I think it was Lady Gaga an Usher,
Speaker 2: I think it was. It was like pure pop orgasm.
Speaker 2: Oh pause, DJ got us fall in love again, and
Speaker 2: I think just dance.
Speaker 1: I remember that. Okay, Yes, I.
Speaker 2: Need to find it. I've talked about it before, but
Speaker 2: I really need to find it. Somebody has to have
Speaker 2: it somewhere that.
Speaker 4: We're done on that show. We're also just next level
Speaker 4: like someone like you, someone like I mean, that's that's
Speaker 4: number one, right, It's just incredible. You know.
Speaker 2: What I do love is talking to people now so
Speaker 2: many years removed and what songs are sort of like
Speaker 2: living in the world still of what everybody universally understands
Speaker 2: if like rumor has it, someone like you, somebody like you.
Speaker 4: Someone like you, someone like you, someone like you.
Speaker 2: We all loved it, we knew it was great, but
Speaker 2: I feel like now we all understand how good it
Speaker 2: really is, right, because I think we were turning out
Speaker 2: songs every week, that it was this onslaught of new
Speaker 2: music all the time, right, and now like the cream
Speaker 2: has risen to the.
Speaker 4: Top of which songs were like Run, Joey Run, Oh
Speaker 4: my gosh.
Speaker 3: People love it, I will say, like the Gleeks fandom
Speaker 3: like loves it for some culty reason and I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't get it. Kevin gets it more than I do.
Speaker 4: But I just think it's camp. It's camp. It is camp.
Speaker 2: At the end of it is like I feel like
Speaker 2: it is the perfect example of what Glee is.
Speaker 3: No, that's not right, because it's insane insane, but it's
Speaker 3: more insane than normal Glee. Like there's a better.
Speaker 2: Is there a better version? I don't know. I think I'm.
Speaker 4: Going to be honest. I never listened to the original
Speaker 4: version of that song, and or do you need to?
Speaker 4: I haven't heard it the Glee version of it. Only
Speaker 4: ever heard that. Yeah, I mean walking on Sunshine and
Speaker 4: Halo Too is pretty insane. That's kind of just a
Speaker 4: wild number that happens.
Speaker 1: Absolutely crazy. Yeah, fun but fun.
Speaker 2: Chris, you have been overly generous with your time with this, I.
Speaker 1: Know we're not going to keep you on this.
Speaker 4: This is so much the fastest hour of my life. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I can't believe. Thank you so much, Thank you talking
Speaker 4: about everything. Yes, I could go on. We'll have to
Speaker 4: do this again.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Chris. It was so nice having you much sitting.
Speaker 2: Out and so we can rub it in Heather endurance faces.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, we gotta do we gotta throw it back
Speaker 4: that way. Great, you're the best.
Speaker 1: Thanks Chris.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening and follow us on Instagram at end
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Speaker 2: write us a review and leave us five stars. See
Speaker 2: you next time.