Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you were listening to hear
Speaker 1: the thing from My Heart Radio. You may know the
Speaker 1: name Amanda Clutes from the daily social media dispatches she
Speaker 1: released while her husband, Nick Cordero, Broadway star and Tony nominee,
Speaker 1: battled COVID in early a fight he sadly lost in
Speaker 1: July of that year. But she did not take these
Speaker 1: events lying down or spend her time idly after his passing.
Speaker 1: Amanda Clutes is a woman of boundless positivity and innumerable talents.
Speaker 1: She's a dancer, fitness entrepreneur, and television co host of
Speaker 1: The Talk on CBS. Clutes was also a contestant on
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars, and she's the author of Live
Speaker 1: Your Life, My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero.
Speaker 1: All of this on top of being a single mom
Speaker 1: to her young son Elvis, to what had Frankly, Amanda
Speaker 1: Clutes is a force. I wanted to know how this
Speaker 1: Broadway veteran and longtime New York resident made her transition
Speaker 1: to Sonny, Los Angeles. I had spent some time out here.
Speaker 1: I had done the national tour straight out here. I
Speaker 1: had done the national tour of Young Frankenstein through um
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. I had done two productions at the Hollywood Bowl,
Speaker 1: so I had spent some summer weeks over in the
Speaker 1: summer here, so and ironically had always wanted to live
Speaker 1: in l A. And then you know, um, the weather,
Speaker 1: the lifestyle, but always just seemed like, you know, one day,
Speaker 1: I think I'd love to live in Los Angeles. But
Speaker 1: then when I got pregnant and we were living in
Speaker 1: New York, and my fitness business was thriving in New
Speaker 1: York and Nick was unemployed. He could not get a
Speaker 1: job to save his life. So our income relied on
Speaker 1: my fitness business. As I was pregnant, and then my
Speaker 1: mom and dad lived across the hall from us, and
Speaker 1: my sisters, Yes, and my sisters were down the streets.
Speaker 1: So in the city, in the city. What were your
Speaker 1: parents doing in the city because you were pregnant, they
Speaker 1: came to stay with you. Yeah, and my sister had
Speaker 1: a baby too. You know, they're retired and they wanted
Speaker 1: to be close to their daughters and their new grandchildren.
Speaker 1: And you know, from being a parent, like you need help.
Speaker 1: And so I was like, Nick, I don't think this
Speaker 1: is the right time to move. You know, you're unemployed.
Speaker 1: All of our income is here. Everybody you know that
Speaker 1: could possibly give you a job is here. You don't
Speaker 1: know anybody in l A. But he was so insistent
Speaker 1: on wanting to do music and needing to be in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles for music, and so it got to the
Speaker 1: point where, you know, we kept fighting about it, and
Speaker 1: I knew, because I know my husband, I was like,
Speaker 1: if I don't let him do this, you know, we
Speaker 1: gotta try. We can always go back to New York.
Speaker 1: New York is always here, you know, New York never changes.
Speaker 1: And so I thought, you know, okay, we just we
Speaker 1: give a shot. And I was hoping, you know, wouldn't
Speaker 1: work out and we would move back to New York.
Speaker 1: Why why that's interesting. I thought you said you wanted
Speaker 1: to be there, I know, but just with with a
Speaker 1: child and being close to family, I just was thinking,
Speaker 1: you know, I just hope that we go out to
Speaker 1: l A, figure out that it's not the right time
Speaker 1: at the moment, and we get to come back to
Speaker 1: New York. And your parents relocated there permanently, um, pretty
Speaker 1: much not. They didn't sell their home in Ohio, but
Speaker 1: they had rented for a year an apartment, and then
Speaker 1: we're going to renew their lease. Nick and I found
Speaker 1: our apartment in a building that used to be a
Speaker 1: women's dormitory and they were converting it into apartments. So
Speaker 1: we found this apartment, and the landlord had no idea
Speaker 1: what he had, but you know, I've been in I
Speaker 1: was in New Yorker for eighteen years at that point,
Speaker 1: and I was like, Nick, we're getting this apartment right now.
Speaker 1: And the one across the hall was also being renovated.
Speaker 1: And I was like, and my mom and dad they're
Speaker 1: getting that apartment. They don't know it, but they're getting
Speaker 1: that apartment. And it was so dirt cheap you would
Speaker 1: not even believe for a two bedroom to bath on
Speaker 1: sixty Central Park West. And so my parents luckily were
Speaker 1: able to rent out the place across the hall from us.
Speaker 1: So that's where we were. Your parents now they're back
Speaker 1: in Ohio. They went home. Well, when COVID happened, you know,
Speaker 1: they went they went home. Yeah, they got out of
Speaker 1: their lease and and drove back to Ohio. But you
Speaker 1: were a visitor there. You were a visitor in l A.
Speaker 1: You know, I visited then I went out there for
Speaker 1: like a pilot season in the eighties, and then I
Speaker 1: lived out there. I had an address out there for
Speaker 1: thirty years, and I lived out there, and I was
Speaker 1: one of the great l A haters of all time.
Speaker 1: And then I hated because I hated driving. In New York.
Speaker 1: You walk, you a taxi, no uber back then, but
Speaker 1: you don't take the subway. Obviously, everybody took the subway.
Speaker 1: And I didn't like to drive. I hated to drive.
Speaker 1: And I've made peace with l A. I don't hate
Speaker 1: it anymore. But uh, when you're there, it's a quick
Speaker 1: commute to the studio. Oh it's the best. Critical, It's critical.
Speaker 1: And I didn't even realize how critical that was. I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: this job, at the talk, I feel like, was just
Speaker 1: you know, a gift, such a blessing. I mean, I
Speaker 1: I can take my son to school and then I
Speaker 1: go to my job. I get to talk to really
Speaker 1: fun people and be in a great community every day,
Speaker 1: and then I, you know, I'm home in the afternoon
Speaker 1: for my son after he gets home from school. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's exactly, it's laughable to talk. Come wants to talk,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, that's all I've done today, I don't
Speaker 1: want to talk anymore. I don't want to tell me.
Speaker 1: How was your day? Yeah, what's going on? Baby? What happened?
Speaker 1: How's pre school? Tell me about Yeah, tell me all
Speaker 1: about it. When you get this job, you hadn't done
Speaker 1: anything like this before, correct, No, not really. I mean
Speaker 1: the casting director at the talk reached out to my
Speaker 1: friend who contacted me, and I said, I'll hand them
Speaker 1: over to my manager at the time, and and then
Speaker 1: they came back and said, we're going to test her
Speaker 1: for ten episodes. And you know, at the time, they
Speaker 1: were looking for Marie Osmond's replacement. And so it came
Speaker 1: out of nowhere. It literally came out of nowhere. Now
Speaker 1: I had I had done some hosting stuff. I was
Speaker 1: a dessert critic for six years of my life in
Speaker 1: New York City, and I had filmed some pilots for
Speaker 1: hosting dessert shows with Food Network. A dessert critic. Yeah,
Speaker 1: could you like stick your spoon into a lot of
Speaker 1: key line pies? And I don't know exactly kidding. No,
Speaker 1: I was sent desserts. I was sent to restaurants all
Speaker 1: over the world and reviewed dessert It was a good job.
Speaker 1: It was not a bad job, and I balanced it
Speaker 1: out with teaching fitness and being on Broadway. So it
Speaker 1: was you know, I you know, joked that I would
Speaker 1: have my cake and eat it too, and that was,
Speaker 1: you know, all good. So you've done some hosting, yeah,
Speaker 1: but I mean, don't you think alec when you do
Speaker 1: I mean I did Broadway for seventeen years, and mean
Speaker 1: when you do that, it kind of prepares you for
Speaker 1: anything in life in a way. I mean you get
Speaker 1: to a point where you know you're at an audition,
Speaker 1: can you do this, and you just say yes. You know,
Speaker 1: You're like yes, because you realize you gotta learn on
Speaker 1: the spot. You gotta say yes in order to get
Speaker 1: a job, and you just got to learn and teach
Speaker 1: yourself as you go. So I mean when the talk
Speaker 1: reached out, I was I was super excited and nervous,
Speaker 1: but also kind of like, you know, I I had
Speaker 1: done morning shows, I had done talk shows. I had
Speaker 1: done talk shows for Broadway from my fitness business, So
Speaker 1: it wasn't like, yeah, and I had worked with because
Speaker 1: of Broadway. I had worked with a lot of celebrity
Speaker 1: celebrity directors. You know, it wasn't necessarily something that was
Speaker 1: very foreign to me. You know, it didn't feel like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, what am I doing? This is? You know,
Speaker 1: it just felt kind of like a new home. They
Speaker 1: were auditioning a lot of people, I know, like Rumor
Speaker 1: Willis was another UM person that they were looking closely at,
Speaker 1: and you know, she looks nothing like me, so I
Speaker 1: didn't know what they wanted. And Elaine welter Roth, who
Speaker 1: who eventually got the job as well, they were auditioning
Speaker 1: her a lot too, and she's a beautiful black woman.
Speaker 1: So I was really unsure and I shocked when I
Speaker 1: got the job. I really was, Yeah, you did the
Speaker 1: ten episodes I did, and how they go? Well? I
Speaker 1: ended up doing fifteen, so I felt like they did great.
Speaker 1: Have that many doubts about it, Bob, I'm not so sure.
Speaker 1: She really can't talk very well. It's called the talk,
Speaker 1: by the way. She can't talk No. But you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, you just you never feel like you can
Speaker 1: be certain that you got the job until you get
Speaker 1: the call that you got the job. And it was
Speaker 1: so funny because I'm not used to this TV world.
Speaker 1: And so when my manager and lawyer called me and
Speaker 1: they downplayed it at first, and then they told me
Speaker 1: that I got the job, and I of course was
Speaker 1: super excited. And then afterwards I ended up calling Zach
Speaker 1: Braff and he goes, Amanda, just a heads up, Hollywood,
Speaker 1: if your lawyer and your manager calls you, it's always
Speaker 1: a good side. As I go, okay, I was like,
Speaker 1: I didn't know that. He was like, you always thought
Speaker 1: your lawyer on the phone. He's like, that's a good
Speaker 1: side of the deal, Amanda Clutes. If you enjoy conversations
Speaker 1: with vibrant talk show hosts, check out my episode with
Speaker 1: Rosie O'donnald. The club owner called me again, Richie and said,
Speaker 1: come back. Why don't you come back? You were good
Speaker 1: that first night. And so I come back and I
Speaker 1: do sign fields act almost verbade him and I get
Speaker 1: off stage and Ritchie and a bunch of other comics
Speaker 1: are standing around said, wod you get that material? I said,
Speaker 1: this guy named Jerry who was on MERV Griffin yesterday.
Speaker 1: They go, You're not allowed to do that. I'm like,
Speaker 1: why not? You have to write your own jokes and like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, strikes and doesn't write her own song?
Speaker 1: Didn't did you do well? Did the audience like of course?
Speaker 1: And they didn't you hear those? Because they were laughing
Speaker 1: jokes a joke. I have to write the jokes and nuts.
Speaker 1: To hear more of my conversation with the versatile Rosie
Speaker 1: O'donnald go to Here's the Thing dot org. After the break,
Speaker 1: Amanda Clutes reveals the musical theater role from her days
Speaker 1: in Ohio that sealed her fate. I'm Alec Baldwin and
Speaker 1: you're listening to Here's the Thing. Amanda Clutes, best telling
Speaker 1: author and fitness entrepreneur, landed a hosting gig on CBS
Speaker 1: as The Talk in January. We spoke about the enormous
Speaker 1: amount of prep work that goes into making a daily
Speaker 1: television show. The day breaks down. We start with an
Speaker 1: eight thirty AM zoom with the cast and our producers.
Speaker 1: They kind of run through, you know, we talk about
Speaker 1: topics before we get into the interviews of the celebrities,
Speaker 1: so we run through those topics and as soon as
Speaker 1: that end, then we are on calls pretty much until
Speaker 1: we walk out on set with other producers about the
Speaker 1: guest we have on what they're promoting, what we're talking about,
Speaker 1: and we're on meetings up until so I'm getting here
Speaker 1: and makeup done. But I'm on meetings up until I
Speaker 1: walk out on stage, so you feel very very prepared. Now.
Speaker 1: The night before, your inboxes flooded with emails and links
Speaker 1: to the screeners. If there is somebody that's promoting a book,
Speaker 1: we got that book last week, so it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's up to you to do your intelligence. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, the good thing I will say about the
Speaker 1: talk is that it's fun that there's five of us,
Speaker 1: because it does take the pressure off of feeling like
Speaker 1: you have to know everything or you have to prepare everything.
Speaker 1: It it's nice to be able to bounce off of
Speaker 1: each other like a real conversation would if you were
Speaker 1: sitting at home with a group of friends. So that
Speaker 1: does help. But the more you're educated, obviously, the better
Speaker 1: for you. Does Amanda cludes come to Hollywood to do
Speaker 1: the talk show and someone else is deciding how you
Speaker 1: wear your hay, what clothes you wear, how much makeup
Speaker 1: you wear. Is there a lot of hands on there
Speaker 1: or you're on your own? No, I have a whole team,
Speaker 1: which is thank god, and they're doing everything for me
Speaker 1: while I'm on these producer calls. But I mean, I
Speaker 1: definitely have say, and what I wear and what I
Speaker 1: look like? No one holding up something with some little
Speaker 1: bo peep costume and going and you're going, now I'm
Speaker 1: walking unless they are, And then I go, absolutely no,
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not wearing that today. What else have
Speaker 1: we got? It's interesting, how you know? When I first started,
Speaker 1: it was the last gasps of an old Hollywood. I
Speaker 1: remember doing the movie Hunt for Red October. We shot
Speaker 1: ane and I was in a chair and four men
Speaker 1: that were producers and executs from Paramount were standing there
Speaker 1: talking about what Claire roll number beaver I needed to
Speaker 1: have my the brown of my hair. Four men were
Speaker 1: sitting there smoking cigarettes. It all smoked back then in public,
Speaker 1: and they were like, I think it's forty seven, franc
Speaker 1: I'm gonna we go with number forty seven, Beava forty seven.
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know, Jerry, thirty nine looks right.
Speaker 1: I think we should go with shade light at thirty nine.
Speaker 1: And I'm sitting in a chair going I had no idea.
Speaker 1: It was really like this. I feel like I'm Clark Gable.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're all talking about they're all getting all
Speaker 1: hot and bothered about my hair color and I mean,
Speaker 1: I kind of love that. Though all my friends moved
Speaker 1: to l A in the nineties, some in the eighties,
Speaker 1: like me. I started going out there in eighty three
Speaker 1: for the first time, when I was very, very very young,
Speaker 1: and but eventually all through the eighties and into the nineties,
Speaker 1: all my friends left New York and all my friends
Speaker 1: are there. I got more friends in l A than
Speaker 1: I do in New York. Is that the same for you? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know, well, I think COVID too. There was such
Speaker 1: an exodus of people in New York. But I think
Speaker 1: that was another reason I was really terrified about moving
Speaker 1: to l A, especially being a new mom and knowing
Speaker 1: that like life as like a young couple isn't the same.
Speaker 1: I was really worried about what you hear. You know,
Speaker 1: you're lonely in l A. If you don't live by
Speaker 1: your friends, you never see them. People make plans say
Speaker 1: you know, everyone's fake and phony. And for some reason, Alec,
Speaker 1: I don't know why, I have found just like the
Speaker 1: best community here, especially the Laurel Canyon community, my neighbors,
Speaker 1: my friends here. I have a really, really wonderful group
Speaker 1: of people around me. Amanda, are you saying you're smoking
Speaker 1: a lot of pot making every night? Is that what
Speaker 1: the Laurel Canyon thing is? Is that what you say?
Speaker 1: Do you know what? I wish? I could tell you
Speaker 1: that I don't smoke pot I have tried. It doesn't
Speaker 1: it puts me right to sleep, So it's not something
Speaker 1: for me. But you know, yeah, I have a little
Speaker 1: bubble here, he said. And I do love the sunshine
Speaker 1: and my lemon trees. And I just bought a vintage Broncos.
Speaker 1: So I was gonna ask you, what car are you driving?
Speaker 1: Did you buy one of what I call the Kevin
Speaker 1: Bacon Broncos. I don't know what's Kevin Bacon Bronco. Kevin
Speaker 1: does a thing for oh May's for charity. When you
Speaker 1: give the money, you're registered in the raffle. You give
Speaker 1: the money to be in the raffle, and you get
Speaker 1: like this, like super tricked out Bronco with like you know,
Speaker 1: novelho blankets or the other fabric on the see all
Speaker 1: those craziness, and I call the guy who makes him.
Speaker 1: I find that who he is. I call this number.
Speaker 1: He picks up the phone. I said, Hi, I'm Alec Baldwin.
Speaker 1: I see this thing with Kevin. He's like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we did that car. Yes, sir, we did that car.
Speaker 1: It's a man. That car is so really awesome. I said, now,
Speaker 1: do you make any more with this, like a one
Speaker 1: off with the charity thing with Kevin? Are you making No. No,
Speaker 1: we have a production line and we're doing the cars.
Speaker 1: I said, Wow, that's amazing. So what are they running
Speaker 1: for these cars? If you're selling these cars, what are
Speaker 1: they running for? He was like, they weren't in About
Speaker 1: on the low one like too sixty and behind about
Speaker 1: And I literally like this little child like looking at
Speaker 1: a toy in the window on fifth them and like
Speaker 1: I'm like, Schwarts. I'm like, do you mean two sixty dollars.
Speaker 1: He's like, yes, yes, yes, that's exactly what I mean.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh wow, wow, I don't want
Speaker 1: to bronco that, but you gotta trick that Bronco. Well,
Speaker 1: it is not that pensive, that's for sure. I found
Speaker 1: a guy in Long Beach that found one for me
Speaker 1: in Atlanta and he is making it tricked out for me,
Speaker 1: but not that tricked out. It's just tricked out so
Speaker 1: that I don't break down on the side of the
Speaker 1: road because I have no business owning a vantage car.
Speaker 1: I have no business owning any season of the show.
Speaker 1: Are you in now? I'm in season two, So yeah,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say it's season two tricked out. You
Speaker 1: have a different car Season five, Season five, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be like solid gold steering wheel diamonds. There's a season
Speaker 1: five car for all of us. But you've got a
Speaker 1: lot of good pals out there. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: really do in a great mix of people. You know,
Speaker 1: people in the business, people not in the business, people
Speaker 1: in the music business, lots of good people. I have
Speaker 1: a great support system, if you don't mind my asking.
Speaker 1: So when Nick passed away or his parents alive, his
Speaker 1: mother is he lost his dad three years before, So
Speaker 1: his poor mom lost her husband and then lost her son.
Speaker 1: How many other kids does she have? She has two
Speaker 1: other kids that live very close to her, So that's
Speaker 1: thank god. You stay in touch with her. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: have a family FaceTime every Sunday where we get on
Speaker 1: and and we face time. But you know, they're in Hamilton's, Canada, Ontario,
Speaker 1: so it has I haven't seen them since she left
Speaker 1: after he passed, but hopefully we'll be able to see
Speaker 1: each other soon. What are you falling in love with
Speaker 1: out there? What do you love? My favorite place in
Speaker 1: the entire world the Hollywood Bowl. I could literally go
Speaker 1: there every single night, weather permitting, and sit and watch
Speaker 1: whatever they're doing, whether it's a movie, the orchestra concert.
Speaker 1: I love that place so much. I wish I had
Speaker 1: my own seat there that was like the Amanda Cluses
Speaker 1: could be arranged at that Season five s from for
Speaker 1: I'm Getting my Own box Season five where it's did
Speaker 1: it Now? My own parking spot too, Dodger Stadium and
Speaker 1: the Hollywood Bowl. There you go. That's that's my favorite though.
Speaker 1: I love that Bowl because I love that old Hollywood feeling,
Speaker 1: like when you were telling your story of shooting that
Speaker 1: movie with the directors, and I mean I would. I
Speaker 1: wish I could go back in time and be there.
Speaker 1: I think that's why I love studio lots, because you
Speaker 1: drive onto a studio lot and you immediately feel like
Speaker 1: you're in the nineteen fifties or something. I love it.
Speaker 1: So I love the Hollywood Bowl. It's my favorite. What
Speaker 1: was it like for you? You grew up in what
Speaker 1: town in Ohio? Ohio? Can'ton Ohio? Are you a football fan? Yeah.
Speaker 1: The Football Hall of Fame was five minutes down the
Speaker 1: street from where I grew up, and you grew up there, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's where I grew up. And I moved to New
Speaker 1: York at eighteen years old. Why because what was the
Speaker 1: theater thing? If you as a child, you know, it
Speaker 1: wasn't really I started dancing when I was twelve. When
Speaker 1: I started looking to it, Yeah, musical an arts middle school.
Speaker 1: And then when I got into high school, I started
Speaker 1: doing musicals and I fell in love with singing and
Speaker 1: acting and being on stage. And I was Adelaide and
Speaker 1: my senior performance of Guys and Dolls, and that just
Speaker 1: sealed the deal for me. And I told my parents
Speaker 1: I gotta, you know, go to school for musical theater.
Speaker 1: And auditioned for a school in New York called AMA
Speaker 1: American Musical and Dramatic Academy and got in, and I
Speaker 1: convinced them I don't know how to drop me off
Speaker 1: in New York City at eighteen years old and let
Speaker 1: me go to school to be on the think did
Speaker 1: they just believe in you? I definitely fought for it,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. I Mean, when I want something, I'll
Speaker 1: fight for it. But um, you know, I was. I
Speaker 1: was one of five kids. I have a younger sister,
Speaker 1: so I was basically the baby for a while. I
Speaker 1: think by the time they had already put three people
Speaker 1: through college, you know, normal four year colleges. I think
Speaker 1: by the time I was begging and pleading to go
Speaker 1: to New York and be on Broadway, they kind of
Speaker 1: they were tired. They were tired, were tired of you,
Speaker 1: Like down the hallway. It's like that movie Little Voice
Speaker 1: down the hall Way. They can hear you going. I
Speaker 1: was born in a in the Plymouth Theater in Pocatello, Idaho.
Speaker 1: But seriously, I think about that now, and I think
Speaker 1: about like Elvis coming up to me and going, mom,
Speaker 1: I want to move to New York and be on Broadway.
Speaker 1: And at the you know, I also said be a
Speaker 1: Radio City Rocket, and you know, I would look at
Speaker 1: him like, no, no, you don't. Is it weird how
Speaker 1: we do that? I said to my kids. They were like,
Speaker 1: I want to be an actor. I'm like, man, we
Speaker 1: gotta have a few drinks. I know you're only five.
Speaker 1: We need to have a few drinks. Even break out
Speaker 1: a package of camel lights, puff a couple of cigs,
Speaker 1: have a couple of cocktails, and we're gonna talk it over.
Speaker 1: Now you get to New York and you became a
Speaker 1: roquet how quickly? Well, I first did the national tour
Speaker 1: of forty two straight. That was my job. I got
Speaker 1: two days before I graduated school. So my parents, luckily,
Speaker 1: we're like, oh my gosh, well, you know, this is
Speaker 1: is a pretty good story. The Broadway show was revived
Speaker 1: and it was a huge hit. It won the tone
Speaker 1: me and well Jerry are about to the original. This
Speaker 1: was two thousand, yeah, two thousand, I think it was
Speaker 1: on Broadway. Two thousand two was when I graduated, and
Speaker 1: it was a massive hit. I saw it front row
Speaker 1: because at the time there were student tickets. I saw
Speaker 1: it twelve times in the front row, and of course
Speaker 1: just you know, every time with my eyes open and
Speaker 1: my jaw dropped and saying I want to do this.
Speaker 1: And I auditioned and I got cut, and I auditioned
Speaker 1: and I got cut and the third audition. You know, luckily,
Speaker 1: with dance auditions, especially once you know the combo, you
Speaker 1: get cut. But you know what there, You know what
Speaker 1: that combination is going to be the next time you
Speaker 1: come in. So by the third time I went in,
Speaker 1: I knew what I had to do, and I rehearsed
Speaker 1: myself every single night leading up to that audition in
Speaker 1: my bathroom with my tap shoes on. You bet you.
Speaker 1: I rehearsed myself that combination in my small little bathroom,
Speaker 1: and so by the time I walked into that audition,
Speaker 1: my third time's a charm. I nailed the tap audition.
Speaker 1: And then luckily, you know, this was for the first
Speaker 1: national tour of a CEDA contract where they basically we're
Speaker 1: paying us next to nothing, but it was still equity.
Speaker 1: So I got my equity card, and so I got
Speaker 1: the job. I was getting paid next to nothing because
Speaker 1: it was a SEDA d contract, but it was equity.
Speaker 1: I got my equity card and I was on tour
Speaker 1: at twenty years old. Amanda Clutes, if you're enjoying this conversation,
Speaker 1: tell a friend and be sure to follow. Here's the
Speaker 1: thing on the I Heart radio app, Spotify or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. When we come back, Amanda Clutes
Speaker 1: shares with us the challenges and surprising silver linings of
Speaker 1: being a single parent. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening
Speaker 1: to here's the thing. Before Amanda Clutes was a Broadway
Speaker 1: a dancer, she was a Radio City rockette. The world's
Speaker 1: most iconic precision dance company made a big impression upon
Speaker 1: her at a young age. We took a lot of
Speaker 1: family trips to New York as kids, and one of
Speaker 1: the times that we went to New York, the Rockets
Speaker 1: were doing their Easter Show, which this is taking us
Speaker 1: back to like six right. He took us to the
Speaker 1: Easter Show. In the minute that curtain went up and
Speaker 1: I saw them, you know, live, because I had watched
Speaker 1: the Rockets every Thanksgiving morning on you know, the Macy's
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving Day parade. I was like, this is what I
Speaker 1: want to do. But you also have to realize I'm
Speaker 1: five ten and I was a dancer, so you know,
Speaker 1: I looked at them on TV and I identified with them.
Speaker 1: I was like, I could do that. I could be
Speaker 1: her driving a bucket of golf balls for you. Nothing. Well,
Speaker 1: it was again, it was a hard audition. I auditioned
Speaker 1: twice before I got the job. Again, I'm a third
Speaker 1: time's kind of charm kind of girl, I guess, but
Speaker 1: I mean it was There's nothing like being a Radio
Speaker 1: City get at Radio City Music Hall performing that Christmas show.
Speaker 1: I mean it was you know, my whole family was
Speaker 1: there opening night, and that's just iconic. You know, not
Speaker 1: too many people can say that they were a Radio
Speaker 1: City Rocket. Well, there's when I would do shows on Broadway,
Speaker 1: and I remember when there were not all of them,
Speaker 1: certainly and certainly in every performance, but there were times
Speaker 1: I would get so emotional. Yeah, we take the curtain
Speaker 1: goal and I thought I was going to burst out crying. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I thought, how many more of these do I
Speaker 1: have left? But this shows that the show is not
Speaker 1: going to run forever. I did shows where I had
Speaker 1: a limited run. I'd be like, you know, all in
Speaker 1: after like twenty weeks or whatever, twenty five weeks, and
Speaker 1: I would and just the tradition, the glory. When I
Speaker 1: did my last performance, I did street Car named Desire
Speaker 1: and we did the last show, I was sobbing. I
Speaker 1: mean I went in my room. I sobbed. I said,
Speaker 1: I'm never going to play this guy again. I'm already
Speaker 1: too old to play him. I was thirty four, Brandon
Speaker 1: was twenty four, you know, and I thought to myself,
Speaker 1: I'm too old. I'll never play the Sain. I thought, God,
Speaker 1: this has been the opportunity of a lifetime. It's crazy, right,
Speaker 1: Why do you think Broadway hits like nothing else? And
Speaker 1: yet like the thought of going back and doing a
Speaker 1: Broadway show, I'm like, no, no, I can't really, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think I think about eight shows
Speaker 1: a week, and I think about missing dinners and missing holidays,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I'm like, I don't know how I
Speaker 1: did that. I don't know how I did that. That
Speaker 1: includes you owe everything to Broadwastadway and you're out there like, oh,
Speaker 1: You're like, you're like Brando now brand the Broadway. Then
Speaker 1: he got up there on mom Holland Drive. You'd be
Speaker 1: careful or you're gonna be three pounds in the mom
Speaker 1: on the phone with your lawyer all day. I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: I know. That's what I'm saying. I look at my
Speaker 1: Broadway years and I want I do the same thing.
Speaker 1: I want to cry at some of those memories and
Speaker 1: the people, and I love it and I miss it.
Speaker 1: Yet the thought of going back and doing it is like,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I couldn't do on a show
Speaker 1: on broad Bay in September. You are congratulations social media
Speaker 1: is how it was first introduced to you. Because obviously
Speaker 1: what happened with your husband and I was just I mean,
Speaker 1: like like countless millions of people around the world. Everybody
Speaker 1: was very just chattered by all that and how prolonged
Speaker 1: it was and so forth. But social media has is
Speaker 1: a big arrow in your quiver, correct. I mean you're
Speaker 1: you're very active on social media in terms of your emotions. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I am. You know, it started with running a fitness
Speaker 1: company over Instagram. You know, that's how I started using Instagram.
Speaker 1: I have seven hundred and some thousand, but you know,
Speaker 1: I mean that's how I was running my fitness company.
Speaker 1: I mean it's free marketing. Sometimes I can't believe that
Speaker 1: Instagram exists in that way. I mean I was running
Speaker 1: a whole company without having to spend a dime on marketing,
Speaker 1: and so yes, I I do. I owe a lot
Speaker 1: to that platform. And then you know, with Nick, I
Speaker 1: mean the community and the support that I received, the
Speaker 1: medical advice, the advice on Elvis and everything. I mean,
Speaker 1: the help. It was crazy. And you're gonna ask you
Speaker 1: as a single mom. You you mean, people look at
Speaker 1: you and they say, here's this gorgeous talented, you know
Speaker 1: many things, and some people look at you and go
Speaker 1: and she's a single mom. That's a big identifier. If
Speaker 1: you like what you endure to now you have your
Speaker 1: son would have been some of the special things you've
Speaker 1: had to adapt to for that in terms of raising
Speaker 1: your child. And what's I don't want to say advice,
Speaker 1: but what are some observations you have for other single
Speaker 1: moms who are working moms like you? You know, I
Speaker 1: think one of the because I love to find a
Speaker 1: blessing or silver lining in everything, because you know, obviously
Speaker 1: I didn't ever expect to be a single mom or
Speaker 1: raise Elvis on my own. But you know, the bond
Speaker 1: that Elvis and I have it is it's crazy. It's
Speaker 1: really crazy. I mean we are so we're best friends.
Speaker 1: And he I think, because thank you, he's the particle
Speaker 1: collider with the two of you. It's crazy. He looks
Speaker 1: like the two of you. Yeah, he does, he really
Speaker 1: really does. He's a he's a good mega mix. But
Speaker 1: you know, he he's a really chill kid. And I
Speaker 1: think it's because in our house it's just him and
Speaker 1: I and I play music a lot in the house,
Speaker 1: and you know, there's there's no other. I am the
Speaker 1: voice of reason, I am the boss. I am you know,
Speaker 1: he plays well by himself. He's very independent because he
Speaker 1: recognizes when I'm doing something that he goes and does
Speaker 1: something else. He's I think, an old soul because of
Speaker 1: a lot of this and the fact that you know,
Speaker 1: I've pretty much been a single mom since Nick went
Speaker 1: into the hospital, so he was ten months old, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, we just communicate really well together. It's very beautiful.
Speaker 1: It's sad. Obviously, I wish Nick was here, and and
Speaker 1: there's times where I I longed to look over in
Speaker 1: him and see him playing with his dad and what
Speaker 1: that would look like and what they'd be doing. And
Speaker 1: you know, I think for single moms, another single mom
Speaker 1: said this to me, and I'll never forget it because
Speaker 1: it's sometimes hard to put into words how you feel
Speaker 1: sometimes and it no one sees the times that you're
Speaker 1: just struggling, whereas when your partner is there, they see
Speaker 1: the struggle and they go, honey, I got it. Take
Speaker 1: a minute, go shower, I got Elvis, go breathe take
Speaker 1: a second. I got it. And when you're a single mom,
Speaker 1: nobody's there to help you with those situations and so
Speaker 1: nobody sees it. And it's really tough because sometimes you
Speaker 1: just are like I wish I could take a shower
Speaker 1: without a toddler opening up the shower curtain every two
Speaker 1: seconds and dumping his toys in the bath, or you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, or just like you're trying to get out
Speaker 1: of the house and you know, something spills and there's
Speaker 1: nobody there to help you. I have six kids, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, so I don't do anything I want to do,
Speaker 1: but I dream about. Now to two quick things. I
Speaker 1: assume the Dancing with the Stars is a different animal.
Speaker 1: Here you are a professional dancer and you're a rocket,
Speaker 1: and you've been dancing your whole life, and then you're
Speaker 1: on Broadway. And then I thought to myself, well, it's
Speaker 1: dancing with the stars, like the difference between Olympic wrestling
Speaker 1: and professional wrestling. Is it dancing that you were used
Speaker 1: to or what adjustments did you have to make to
Speaker 1: do that show. Here's the best analogy I've discovered and
Speaker 1: how to how to how to understand this? So Alec Baldwin,
Speaker 1: you are a NFL quarterback, all right, You're really good
Speaker 1: at it. You know what you're doing but on Sunday
Speaker 1: they hand you a golf ball and a club and
Speaker 1: they say, you are going to go up against Tiger
Speaker 1: Woods next Sunday. You have to be ready. We're gonna
Speaker 1: give you the outfit. We're gonna give you the course,
Speaker 1: and you have to you have to go, and you
Speaker 1: play a whole whole game. The whole world's gonna judge you,
Speaker 1: and everyone's going to vote on how well you did. Alright, ready, great,
Speaker 1: go And then you're like, I have a week and
Speaker 1: you're like yes. And then on that Sunday they hand
Speaker 1: you a basketball and they go, okay, great, Now, next
Speaker 1: Sunday you're gonna be playing in an NBA game against
Speaker 1: Lebron James. Here's your uniform and here's the basketball. You
Speaker 1: have a week to learn how to be an NBA player.
Speaker 1: And you're like, no, no, no, I don't play basketball.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you play football, Yeah, but I don't play basketball.
Speaker 1: This is a whole different set of skills. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: Let's go. You have a w referring to the style
Speaker 1: of yeah, and just how how I can be a
Speaker 1: dancer and I can be a Broadway dancer. But they
Speaker 1: put ballroom shoes on you and tell you to tango.
Speaker 1: It's not the same thing, so that that's the best
Speaker 1: way to describe it. And you know, some people will
Speaker 1: be like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: but really try to put yourself in those shoes, and
Speaker 1: and then you try to, and then you can sort
Speaker 1: of understand. Well, when I look at you and I've
Speaker 1: seen you online, when you turned up on that show,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, it's perfect. So that's
Speaker 1: perfect because those shows you need to have some positivity.
Speaker 1: Warmth thought to myself, My god, you're so buoyant. You
Speaker 1: went through this thing, and the world watched you go
Speaker 1: through this thing, and you shared what you wanted to share.
Speaker 1: This is my opinion, my observation, and you didn't share
Speaker 1: what you didn't want to share. And I guess I
Speaker 1: mean your your buoyancy, your positivity is one of your
Speaker 1: calling cards. And people really admire how you've come out
Speaker 1: of this. You know, and you want to live, you
Speaker 1: want to keep living. What do you want Elvis to
Speaker 1: know most about Nick? Mm hmm. You know, I think
Speaker 1: you know, Nick had so many different colors to him,
Speaker 1: and I hope that he'll learn all about those colors.
Speaker 1: I was listening to a podcast and um, the guy
Speaker 1: that was being interviewed, he said that he lost his
Speaker 1: mom at age one, and so then my ears immediately
Speaker 1: peeked up because Elvis was one. And he said, the
Speaker 1: interesting thing about when you lose a parent at such
Speaker 1: a young age is that every time somebody tell as
Speaker 1: you a story about your mom or your dad. For Elvis,
Speaker 1: that's how you learn about the person. He said, So
Speaker 1: I've come to put together the image of my mother
Speaker 1: just based on all these stories from all the different
Speaker 1: people in her life. And I was like hit by
Speaker 1: a tongue of bricks because I was like, Wow, that
Speaker 1: will be Elvis one day. He'll learn about his dad
Speaker 1: through stories from me, through stories from his grandma, stories
Speaker 1: from his friends. And you know, I can't tell the
Speaker 1: same stories that his best buddy from Toronto is going
Speaker 1: to tell him, you know what I mean, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have completely different stories, and I just my greatest hope
Speaker 1: is that he learns all of those stories, because that
Speaker 1: truly was Nick. He was such a kaleidoscope of talent
Speaker 1: and people and personality and charisma. It just he you
Speaker 1: couldn't pin him down. And I think That's what made
Speaker 1: him so talented and loved by so many people. You know,
Speaker 1: he was a rock star, and then he was also
Speaker 1: you know, fucking awesome, you know, actor on Broadway or
Speaker 1: on Law and Order or Blue Bloods or you know,
Speaker 1: all the things he did. I want him to know
Speaker 1: all those people. And you know, of course, my biggest
Speaker 1: fear is that by the time he gets to eight,
Speaker 1: I'm to forget things. You know, like you you worry
Speaker 1: that you forget you know, or what you will forget. Well,
Speaker 1: I sympathize because I had so many kids late in
Speaker 1: life and so much of my career is behind me.
Speaker 1: And my greatest fear is like I'm gonna be in
Speaker 1: a wheelchair and my people can be like, here's my dad.
Speaker 1: I mean, like drooling on myself with a blanket. They're
Speaker 1: gonna this is my dad. He played Trump on TV.
Speaker 1: He was Trump. That's all they're going to remember. Let
Speaker 1: me just tell you something. I'm a fan. I watched
Speaker 1: you go through what you went through. I thought, here's
Speaker 1: this woman who's struggling with this really painful situation, and
Speaker 1: I am so inspired by you. Thank you, Alex. It
Speaker 1: seems to me that there are other communities that respond
Speaker 1: in kind. But there are a few though, like the
Speaker 1: Broadway theater community in terms of rallying around there kindred spirits.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure you were really just enveloped in a
Speaker 1: lot of care when that was all happening. Correct, Oh
Speaker 1: my god, yeah, I mean, you know, I don't think
Speaker 1: that I even realized how amazing the Broadway community was
Speaker 1: until that happened. And it was like this instant you know, family,
Speaker 1: even shows that Nick and I weren't even a part of,
Speaker 1: you know, reached out to me to try to help.
Speaker 1: And then the shows that you are a part of,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know, like they really do become
Speaker 1: family members. Like just where when above and beyond I mean,
Speaker 1: still to this day are going above and beyond to
Speaker 1: help me and Elvis if we ever need anything. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's so special. You know. I've had people who I'm
Speaker 1: very close with who passed away. And my dad died
Speaker 1: when I was twenty five, and I was very close
Speaker 1: to my dad, and I friend, my friend said to me,
Speaker 1: he said, remember it was life is for the living.
Speaker 1: You got to keep going. And I admire you. I
Speaker 1: admire you for how you've carried on and pressed on
Speaker 1: and kept going. Thank you so much, Amanda Clutes. This
Speaker 1: episode was produced by Kathleen Russo, Zach McNeese, and Maureen Hoban.
Speaker 1: Our engineer is Frank Imperial. I'm Alec Baldwin. Here's the
Speaker 1: thing is brought to you by iHeart Radio