Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central now, Arianna de Bose, welcome to.
Speaker 2: The Data Show.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: I don't think I was supposed to put my hands.
Speaker 1: No, we're we're talking. What are you talking about?
Speaker 3: Yeah, but welcome to It's really good to have you here,
Speaker 3: especially now. Like you know, some people, if their Broadway
Speaker 3: efficionados have seen you. You know you've you've been just
Speaker 3: I think you've been grinding at this thing in Broadway
Speaker 3: with ten years right where you've done everything, every.
Speaker 1: Different type of production.
Speaker 3: You're a consummate performer, singer, dancer, actress, everything all in one.
Speaker 3: But it feels like this is your moment, like you
Speaker 3: know where the overnight success comes together after ten years.
Speaker 3: It feels like that's that moment. Doesn't feel the same
Speaker 3: way for you.
Speaker 4: I hesitate to say it, but yes, why do you hesitate?
Speaker 4: Because I'm really enjoying it, like I'm having fun. I
Speaker 4: don't want it. I want it to go away. You know, moments,
Speaker 4: they're moments, they're like they're fleeting ephaneral No.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no at all, Like COVID is a moment,
Speaker 3: but look how long it's going.
Speaker 1: For you know what? You're not wrong?
Speaker 4: Yes, so I'm just whatever it is, however anyone interprets it.
Speaker 4: I'm just enjoying whatever this is while it lasts, because
Speaker 4: it's been really fun. It's not every day you get
Speaker 4: to make a movie with Steven Spielberg and what you're
Speaker 4: asked to execute, it's actually.
Speaker 1: Something you do.
Speaker 4: I was like, Oh, I have to do other kinds
Speaker 4: of homework, but the bones of what this job is
Speaker 4: I got that.
Speaker 3: I love that great. I love that, and I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, it's also unique to be in a position
Speaker 3: where you're having fun, the audience is having fun watching
Speaker 3: you have fun, and then the critics are having fun
Speaker 3: as well. Like that's the perfect combination of what you'd
Speaker 3: like in arts, you know. Because Screen Actors Guild nomination, right,
Speaker 3: Golden Globe winner, congratulations, thank you, right, thank you very
Speaker 3: Like it just feels like you're in this world.
Speaker 1: NAACP Award as well. I should mention it. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's also another nomination.
Speaker 4: I was really honored by by. I'm honored by it all.
Speaker 4: I'm very grateful for the opportunities to be seen, especially
Speaker 4: for artists of color, Like it feels like we're all
Speaker 4: starting to have a different kind of moment right now,
Speaker 4: and most of our work is not only being seen
Speaker 4: but considered invalued in different ways. That's really the heart
Speaker 4: of why I'm so excited.
Speaker 3: I think it's an honor for anyone who gets to
Speaker 3: talk to you because of what you're doing in all
Speaker 3: of the mediums you're doing it in.
Speaker 1: Like Triple threat gets throwing around a lot.
Speaker 3: You know, people are like, oh, Triple you're a singer,
Speaker 3: you're a dancer, but you really are that, you know.
Speaker 1: SNL was one of the best examples.
Speaker 3: Congrats by the way, Yeah, thank you, I thank you.
Speaker 4: I had a lot of fun on that show.
Speaker 1: You look like you did.
Speaker 3: You did so well that Like I've seen people crush
Speaker 3: it on SNL. I have seen very few people crushed
Speaker 3: to the point where people watching or like where's her SNL?
Speaker 1: No, that would be fun, people like when is Irana
Speaker 1: doing her own thing? Well?
Speaker 5: That cool.
Speaker 4: I'm actually not so shy about the fact that I
Speaker 4: really want to bring the like Variety showback, like I
Speaker 4: really want to do it. So if anybody wants to
Speaker 4: hit me up on that cool cool.
Speaker 3: It seems like to me you are soon becoming the
Speaker 3: puzzle piece that everyone is going to have to figure
Speaker 3: out how to fit around.
Speaker 4: That's cool. I've never been I've never had that.
Speaker 1: No, I've ever had that.
Speaker 3: I genuinely feel like that is what you're very quickly becoming.
Speaker 1: I mean, West Side Story is.
Speaker 3: Few films get remade with as much pressure as this
Speaker 3: one has had. You are playing a role that is
Speaker 3: arguably one of the most important roles in not just
Speaker 3: film history, but then like in the history of so
Speaker 3: many Latina actresses, where they go like this was this
Speaker 3: was it? You know, this was the Rita Marino moment
Speaker 3: that changed film for a lot of people.
Speaker 1: It had an influence in your life, Yes.
Speaker 2: It did.
Speaker 4: And I saw it when I was gosh, I guess
Speaker 4: about like six or seven, you know, and I didn't
Speaker 4: understand who she was, but I understood she's sort of
Speaker 4: looked like me, and I wanted to dance just like her.
Speaker 4: And then not until my adulthood did I really understand
Speaker 4: the full spectrum of what West Side Story did for
Speaker 4: her and what she came to mean to our community.
Speaker 4: But then also the struggles that she faced after winning
Speaker 4: an Oscar. You know, it's like she became the first
Speaker 4: Latina to win an Oscar and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: there was no work, so she had to find other
Speaker 4: ways to expand her career, and I as it makes
Speaker 4: me very sad that that was her experience, but also
Speaker 4: when you look at her breadth of work, she showed
Speaker 4: you that Latinas are not We don't just do this,
Speaker 4: we do this, and that's really cool. I mean, I
Speaker 4: think specifically related to West Side Story, my being after Latina.
Speaker 4: That makes me especially proud of what I've been able
Speaker 4: to accomplish because we really are not represented on screen.
Speaker 4: And I don't think that any more film is a
Speaker 4: perfect film, but I do think the fact that we
Speaker 4: that my inclusion in this film works, we're the beginnings
Speaker 4: of getting it right.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 4: And if Stephen can do it one of the greatest
Speaker 4: directors of all time, because he is, then I think
Speaker 4: everybody else can.
Speaker 3: He's one of the greatest directors of all time. But
Speaker 3: you said you said no to him when he asked
Speaker 3: you two lines.
Speaker 4: Well, the audition, I did, but that was simply because
Speaker 4: I had found out about this audition very very last minute.
Speaker 4: I was on Broadway at the time. I was playing
Speaker 4: down a summer, which was a very challenging role. For me,
Speaker 4: and leading a company takes a.
Speaker 3: Lot out of you.
Speaker 4: And I don't make a habit of going into a
Speaker 4: room with any one in it and being unprepared.
Speaker 1: Do you no?
Speaker 4: Like no?
Speaker 1: But if I likes that's the difference.
Speaker 3: If I walked into a room and Steven Spielberg was
Speaker 3: in the st Let's say I walked into the elevator
Speaker 3: in this building, and then it was Steven Spielberg, and
Speaker 3: then he.
Speaker 1: Said, Trevor, I need you to read these lines. I
Speaker 1: just start reading the lines. I start reading them. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be like, no, Steven Spielberg, I have and prepare.
Speaker 3: I would just read you said you said no.
Speaker 4: I said no because I wanted. I was like, this
Speaker 4: is I'm not prepared to show you a viable interpretation
Speaker 4: of this character. And I would rather do that than
Speaker 4: I'd rather give you something that's usable than give you
Speaker 4: something that's like, oh my god, thank you so much
Speaker 4: for coming in and next, like I wanted. If I
Speaker 4: was going to do it, it already took a lot
Speaker 4: of guts for me to walk into the room because
Speaker 4: I didn't actually believe that i'd ever be considered for
Speaker 4: the job. I'd alone get the job. Then I was
Speaker 4: going to do it and do it well.
Speaker 1: In a way.
Speaker 3: I feel like you saying no to doing it incorrectly
Speaker 3: and wanting to do it your way and the best
Speaker 3: way possible. Is part of your character, like, that's that's
Speaker 3: who it is in West Side.
Speaker 4: Story, it is that is who she is at her heart,
Speaker 4: And I think a lot of my character is like
Speaker 4: there are different bits of me within them, and that
Speaker 4: is the part of me that is Anita.
Speaker 3: So before I let you go, I'd love to talk
Speaker 3: about one of the most just like amazing moments in film,
Speaker 3: and that is when a character who has created a
Speaker 3: moment in history comes back to the film. Obviously, I'm
Speaker 3: speaking about Rio Marino, who comes back in West Side
Speaker 3: Story playing a different role, but comes back as an
Speaker 3: executive producer, and then you're in a scene with her.
Speaker 1: I wonder if that if that was a lot of
Speaker 1: pressure for you.
Speaker 3: Was there any moment that you shared with her where
Speaker 3: you were like, Okay, this is my thing that I've
Speaker 3: sort of inherited.
Speaker 1: From her, and I have the opportunity to turn it
Speaker 1: into what I want.
Speaker 4: We spoke briefly at the beginning of the process, but
Speaker 4: she was very supportive. Thank God, she made me feel
Speaker 4: very comfortable and just encouraged me to bring everything that
Speaker 4: made me unique to the character and just gave me
Speaker 4: permission in her own energetic way to fly. And now
Speaker 4: the scene you're talking about is it's deep, heavy subject matter,
Speaker 4: and so I sort of shifted into just focusing on
Speaker 4: who the characters were. I'm playing the truth of the
Speaker 4: characters because if I had actually thought about, all right,
Speaker 4: now you're going to yell at Rido, Reno, I don't
Speaker 4: think anybody if it hadn't been me, I don't think
Speaker 4: anybody would have been comfortable with that.
Speaker 3: Well, you know what you did it you looked more
Speaker 3: than comfortable. I mean, you're just sailing. And congratulations on
Speaker 3: the award, Congratulations on the nominations and everything that you're
Speaker 3: going to achieve.
Speaker 1: Man, thank you for joining me on the show.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, James caught in finally, finally, so
Speaker 2: happy to be here.
Speaker 3: So I am beyond excited to have you here because
Speaker 3: like you have come in and genuinely changed in many
Speaker 3: ways the people perceive not just late night but television
Speaker 3: because I remember when you started on the.
Speaker 1: Show, everyone was like, Oh, who's this guy?
Speaker 3: He's starting at like twelve thirty seven at night, and
Speaker 3: what's this thing going to be? And overnight you took
Speaker 3: what was once considered a fringe time slot and turned
Speaker 3: it in to the biggest explosion thanks to your ideas,
Speaker 3: including carpool karaoke.
Speaker 1: Have like like.
Speaker 3: Has has that changed the way you see the medium
Speaker 3: as a whole?
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 6: I think we always thought that's what we were we
Speaker 6: were going to do. When we were we were going
Speaker 6: to try to you know, we didn't know that we
Speaker 6: would it would happen. We had no idea that it
Speaker 6: would or could happen as quickly as it did. But
Speaker 6: our I mean essentially, my ego won't allow me to
Speaker 6: recognize that I'm making a show.
Speaker 2: That airs at twelve thirty seven at night. Right.
Speaker 6: If I think about that too long, I'll just really
Speaker 6: get depressed.
Speaker 2: So we were like, well.
Speaker 6: There's nothing we can do about that, so we can
Speaker 6: hang on. Wait the internet will use that, and so
Speaker 6: we only really think abo our show as not really
Speaker 6: being in a time stot. We think of it as well,
Speaker 6: it launches at that time and people can find it
Speaker 6: whenever they want to, whether that's years down the line
Speaker 6: days or the next morning on their journey to work,
Speaker 6: lunch break, whenever. It's the kind of wonderful thing about
Speaker 6: making shows like this right now, in this particular time.
Speaker 3: Definitely, And here's the thing, it's not just about time.
Speaker 3: I think it's also about place. You know, your show
Speaker 3: was one of the first that really blew up on
Speaker 3: an international level the same way. Everywhere you went people
Speaker 3: were talking about Copple Karaoke to had the sense of
Speaker 3: what you know, a rap battle was, and the whole
Speaker 3: vibe had changed when you when you were making Copple
Speaker 3: Karaoke to a lot of people don't know this. You
Speaker 3: guys struggle to get people on that show.
Speaker 2: Oh we couldn't get anybody. Yeah, we couldn't get.
Speaker 1: Now everyone was like James, when am I coming on
Speaker 1: your show?
Speaker 2: Kind of lovely? But we couldn't.
Speaker 6: I mean, honestly, we I really, I really always believed
Speaker 6: in the idea. I always thought, oh, okay, this is
Speaker 6: a I think this is a good idea.
Speaker 2: Yes, but there's it's quite an interesting game. Actually, you
Speaker 2: can play with the audience.
Speaker 6: If everybody in the audience, if everybody, now just in
Speaker 6: your own mind, don't stay out loud, just and you
Speaker 6: do it, Travor, just think of a think of a
Speaker 6: recording artist, a living recording artist. Has everybody got one?
Speaker 6: They said, no, it's not a lie. It's true, absolutely truth.
Speaker 6: And so then we we And it was just a
Speaker 6: chance meeting with Mariah Carey's publicist, and she was about
Speaker 6: to put some new dates on in Vegas, and and
Speaker 6: I showed her a clip of me doing it in
Speaker 6: a sketch with George Michael that I'd done at home
Speaker 6: for Comic Grade, and and she she loved George Michael.
Speaker 6: And Miay was like, if it's good enough for George,
Speaker 6: it's good enough for me. And and that was it.
Speaker 6: And nobody thought that it would ever become the thing
Speaker 6: that it's kind of become.
Speaker 2: But it's kind of it's crazy.
Speaker 1: It really is amazing.
Speaker 3: I mean it's gone from just being musicians to politicians.
Speaker 3: I mean, Michelle Obama has done it.
Speaker 2: You know, Yeah, you've.
Speaker 1: Been in a car.
Speaker 3: I mean, everybody from looking look at this list, Paul McCartney,
Speaker 3: you know you you've had Tom Hanks on the show,
Speaker 3: You've had everyone.
Speaker 1: It's become this thing that is larger than life.
Speaker 3: The next step you don't realize you and the Pope
Speaker 3: in the popemobile. Oh man, and you just you can
Speaker 3: only sing the one songs.
Speaker 2: I would love man do it. If he's watching and
Speaker 2: I think you.
Speaker 6: And if he's not watching this, he'll be watching the
Speaker 6: Tony's on Sundays, so we're talk We're really good.
Speaker 2: I would love nothing more than to do with that.
Speaker 3: That's That's something that I've loved about your show is
Speaker 3: that it really is an expression of all of your talents, right,
Speaker 3: So a lot of people were surprised. I remember, like
Speaker 3: the first few times Carple Carrier, he really blew up.
Speaker 3: People were like, well, James Coringak can almost sing, and
Speaker 3: it's like, no, no, he can really sing, which has
Speaker 3: shock people because there's some artists who've come in and
Speaker 3: been like I'm gonna sing with this funny guy and
Speaker 3: they're like, wait, wait, he's hitting the notes. You sing
Speaker 3: better than some people, and then you have to dial
Speaker 3: it down. I won't say who, but you do. And
Speaker 3: that's why you have won Tony. It was because you
Speaker 3: are an actor. Yes, we know you as a host,
Speaker 3: but you're an actor. You're a performer, and you've loved theater.
Speaker 1: Your whole life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'd never really hosted.
Speaker 6: I used to host a show back in the UK,
Speaker 6: which which you came in actually, but that was my
Speaker 6: only real time hosting anything. But really, what I'd ever
Speaker 6: do is being plays or I would I would write,
Speaker 6: you know, sitcoms and things in the UK.
Speaker 2: I never thought that I would.
Speaker 6: It never even enter my brain in the same way
Speaker 6: that I don't think get into yours in any ways,
Speaker 6: A daily show in America it feels too far away.
Speaker 2: It feels too far.
Speaker 6: It's out of reach somehow, you know. And I think
Speaker 6: we both had that feeling when because we essentially got
Speaker 6: announced basically the same time, right, and then.
Speaker 1: It was both who the hell are these guys? Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: I remember this.
Speaker 2: And we both had to really deal with that. Yes,
Speaker 2: But yeah, I don't.
Speaker 6: I would love to go back and act at some
Speaker 6: point and go and do a play again every time
Speaker 6: I come here to New York, and you know, I
Speaker 6: try and go to the theater as much as I
Speaker 6: can and go tonight and I miss it.
Speaker 2: I miss it hugely.
Speaker 6: But at the same time, I feel in no place
Speaker 6: where I want to stop this kind of glorious journey.
Speaker 2: That I'm on at the minute. I love it. I
Speaker 2: love that.
Speaker 6: I don't know what I've done to sort of deserve
Speaker 6: such memories, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: That's how it feels every day. Really, that's beautiful.
Speaker 3: But the Tony is like an expression of a wall
Speaker 3: that you've adored for a long time. This is your
Speaker 3: second time hosting. Yeah, what's impressive is that you're doing
Speaker 3: the Tonys and you've done the Grammys. It feels like
Speaker 3: you have more fun at the Tonies. The Grammys are fun,
Speaker 3: but it feels like you have more fun at the Tones.
Speaker 1: Oh what makes them special?
Speaker 2: Well, everybody wants to be there.
Speaker 6: That's that's the first real big difference between the Grammys
Speaker 6: and the Tony because everybody wants.
Speaker 2: To be there, and they're thrilled that they're all doing this.
Speaker 2: No one's going I didn't win, what, you know.
Speaker 6: So it's a very very supportive community, that entire community
Speaker 6: of Broadway. They are These are a load of people
Speaker 6: who have squeezed into twelve blocks, yes, back to back theaters,
Speaker 6: and they know each other and they're friends. And these
Speaker 6: are people who eight times a week like, look, you
Speaker 6: think you work hard, I think I work hard.
Speaker 2: But like when you're doing a play or.
Speaker 6: A musical eight times a week with one day off,
Speaker 6: that is absolute graft. And the reason I want to
Speaker 6: host the Tonys, and the reason I want to really
Speaker 6: try and make it the best show I can is
Speaker 6: I believe that per square meter, there is no room
Speaker 6: on earth that holds as many talented people as that
Speaker 6: room does. And it's a show where and I think
Speaker 6: you just want to celebrate these people who are so gifted,
Speaker 6: they are so talented that they put on a show
Speaker 6: every day. And in a world where we are living
Speaker 6: increasingly on our phones and tablets, iPads, all those things,
Speaker 6: we are all searching for a live, collective experience and
Speaker 6: experience to be together. And these are the people that
Speaker 6: provide that. So we're really going to try and make
Speaker 6: the best and biggest show we can.
Speaker 2: I mean it's terrifying. I've had real moments this week.
Speaker 6: Where I thought, oh, I should have just left it
Speaker 6: the one I did with Hamilton and that was a
Speaker 6: real success.
Speaker 2: You know, I should have just gone out there.
Speaker 6: But I really hope we're going to do it, only
Speaker 6: going to stop at nothing to make it a celebration
Speaker 6: of a group of people that I think at the
Speaker 6: absolute minimum deserve to be celebrated on television at least
Speaker 6: one second.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you this, I've never seen James Cordon not
Speaker 3: do something at one hundred and ten percent.
Speaker 1: So it's going to rock Man.
Speaker 2: We'll see the hotel. So thanks.
Speaker 3: My guest tonight is Pula Surprise winning playwrights Michael R.
Speaker 1: Jackson.
Speaker 3: He's here to talk about his smash hit new musical,
Speaker 3: A Strange Loop, which is currently nominated for eleven Tony Awards.
Speaker 1: Please welcome Michael R. Jackson.
Speaker 5: Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1: Mister Michael R. Jackson.
Speaker 7: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3: Before we get into the show that you have created
Speaker 3: that is getting everybody buzzing, Let's talk about the name.
Speaker 7: Let's talk about it.
Speaker 1: How many people do you disappoint when.
Speaker 5: You show up?
Speaker 3: I mean, like not now obviously maybe now it's more
Speaker 3: like as a part, but like Michael R. Jackson, people
Speaker 3: just see Michael Jackson.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 7: I think like I always get people to perk up
Speaker 7: a little bit when I want to hear, like my
Speaker 7: name precedes me.
Speaker 1: You just show mister mister Jackson. And then the was
Speaker 1: the R always was always there.
Speaker 7: I'm assuming I kind of dropped it in there. Distinction. Well,
Speaker 7: that's on Facebook. I'm the living Michael Jackson.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 3: It's the only other person who I think has is
Speaker 3: Michael B.
Speaker 2: Jordan.
Speaker 7: That's right, right, Why he interned all my children. I
Speaker 7: interned all my children when he was like a kid
Speaker 7: working there. It's really weird.
Speaker 2: There's a connection. Look at it.
Speaker 3: All the famous names people going on to create their
Speaker 3: own famous things, and that's exactly what you've done. A
Speaker 3: strangely congratulations eleven Tony Award nominations and.
Speaker 5: Hive.
Speaker 3: I had the pleasure of seeing this production and I
Speaker 3: can't even explain it to people, but you know what
Speaker 3: I love about it is it makes me seem cool
Speaker 3: when I recommend it. You know, no, no, no, because
Speaker 3: you know, in this world there's not many things you
Speaker 3: can recommend to people that'll have them leaving feeling like
Speaker 3: you're so cool because you told them to go. Everyone
Speaker 3: I tell to see this goes and sees it, and
Speaker 3: then they're like, Trevor, oh, thank you.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, yeah, that's what I do.
Speaker 3: Did you know when you finished creating this show, did
Speaker 3: you know that it was going to be the hit
Speaker 3: that it is.
Speaker 7: Not even close like it was like not on my
Speaker 7: vision board even a little bit. So it was really exciting.
Speaker 1: But you took twenty years to write it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, all most Yeah, that's wild.
Speaker 1: George R. R. Martin would be like, yeah, I know, that's
Speaker 1: like it's.
Speaker 3: Like a I would love to know that, like where
Speaker 3: this idea came from, because I don't want to give
Speaker 3: anything away for the audience, because part of the joy
Speaker 3: of this show is that you won't really know what
Speaker 3: it's about and you'll just be in a story.
Speaker 1: But what we can tell people is it is a.
Speaker 3: Story of a gay black man who is in the
Speaker 3: world of theater and he's in the world of being
Speaker 3: black and in the world of being gay. But it
Speaker 3: comeing too and every gay black fat Yes, and you
Speaker 3: talk about that.
Speaker 1: In the show.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: One of the funniest shows I've ever seen. One of
Speaker 3: the most poignant shows I've ever seen. People crying, people
Speaker 3: laughing like that. I see why I took twenty years.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it just started off. You know, I
Speaker 7: was about twenty three years old. I'm forty one now,
Speaker 7: and I had just graduated from undergrad playwriting NYU. I
Speaker 7: didn't know what I was going to do with the
Speaker 7: BFA degree. I was living in this old lady's bungalow
Speaker 7: style house in the middle of nowhere Jamaica, Queens, which
Speaker 7: if you live in New York, that's like all the
Speaker 7: way to the end of the year or the f
Speaker 7: train and then you take a bus that's like ten
Speaker 7: minutes to get to the house. It was crazy and
Speaker 7: so and I was just like, didn't know what I
Speaker 7: was going to do with my life. And so I
Speaker 7: started writing this monologue called why I Can't Get Work,
Speaker 7: and it was just about, you know, a young black
Speaker 7: a man walking around New York wondering, my life is
Speaker 7: so terrible. So and from and sort of the show
Speaker 7: sprang from that sort of primordial soup.
Speaker 3: I didn't know that it was. It was true that
Speaker 3: you worked at as an usher at The Lion King.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I worked at when The Lion King used to
Speaker 7: be at the new Ancesterdam Theater, and I worked there
Speaker 7: for five years. I did like four years of Lion
Speaker 7: King and a year of Mary Poppins, and then I
Speaker 7: did a couple of years later a seasonal sin of
Speaker 7: The Laddin. So I ran through the whole Disney pantheon.
Speaker 3: Was there anything that was there anything that you saw
Speaker 3: where you were like, I don't ever want to see
Speaker 3: this again in the Broadway show, so I'm going to
Speaker 3: create something differently. Or was this something you show that
Speaker 3: inspired you that made you want to create the show
Speaker 3: the way you did?
Speaker 7: What was kind of both? It was a strange loop.
Speaker 1: Ooh, I like what you're okay?
Speaker 7: Okay? Yeah, Like you know, you're standing in the back
Speaker 7: of the theater, you're ringing the bells, you're watching audience
Speaker 7: a night after night after night, show after show, you
Speaker 7: get a little bored. And but luckily, you know, I
Speaker 7: was there with my thoughts and just sort of thinking
Speaker 7: through the show. I used to have the stuff the playbills,
Speaker 7: and sometimes I would write little ideas for that would
Speaker 7: go into the show on the back of the inserts
Speaker 7: for like today I'm dis understudies in or whatever, and
Speaker 7: I would collect them and note in all my pocket
Speaker 7: when I got home. But so it's wild like but
Speaker 7: I again, I never expected that anything would come of it,
Speaker 7: But I just was doing it to sort of keep
Speaker 7: myself saying, what do you.
Speaker 3: Think you have taken away from this? You know, I
Speaker 3: saw so many people in the audience who were touched
Speaker 3: for different reasons. You know, if people grew up in
Speaker 3: a religious family, I saw them connecting with the show
Speaker 3: in a different way. If people you know, had had
Speaker 3: issues with their identity growing up, maybe they were bullied,
Speaker 3: maybe they struggling today, it doesn't matter what it was.
Speaker 3: You're looking for work in America, you know, you're just
Speaker 3: trying to get by, You're trying to find friends, love.
Speaker 3: All of these themes are touched on, and I watched
Speaker 3: people in the audience feel something. I watched everyone walked
Speaker 3: out just making sounds. That's when you know, no one
Speaker 3: no one said anything. Everyone was just like hmm ah ah.
Speaker 2: It was beautiful.
Speaker 3: But then I wondered what you got by creating this,
Speaker 3: Like for yourself, did it change anything in your world?
Speaker 7: I mean, I guess for me, the best part of
Speaker 7: the show has been actually talking to people after when,
Speaker 7: like when it lets out, because what I've been finding
Speaker 7: is that for some people people the show is a
Speaker 7: mirror and for other people the show is a window,
Speaker 7: and that seeing people there together experiencing the same thing
Speaker 7: but through those two different lenses has been creates a
Speaker 7: really powerful energy that sort of goes up onto the state,
Speaker 7: goes to the actors on stage, and they send it
Speaker 7: back and it really brings the audience into the loop
Speaker 7: at the show of the character's mine that we're in
Speaker 7: as we're watching.
Speaker 3: You, you had a great I forget that was the
Speaker 3: phrase you called it.
Speaker 1: You said it was like a it was a big gay.
Speaker 7: Big black and queer ass American Broadway show.
Speaker 2: I love that. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1: You know, you know what I loved about that? Yeah
Speaker 1: it was.
Speaker 3: But what you just said, I've seen some shows where,
Speaker 3: you know, if an audience is less a from New York,
Speaker 3: they really get the show. If they're not from New York,
Speaker 3: maybe they don't enjoy it as much, or if the
Speaker 3: audience is black, maybe they get it more or less.
Speaker 3: This was one of those shows where everyone was enjoying
Speaker 3: it from from a different.
Speaker 7: There's a lot of different reference points sort of in it,
Speaker 7: because that's kind of what it's like to be a person.
Speaker 7: You're made up of all of your reference points, your history,
Speaker 7: your different memories, everything. And so the main character, Usher
Speaker 7: that's his name, he loves a lot of different things
Speaker 7: and he hates a lot of different things. And so
Speaker 7: my sort of hope was by exposing the audience to
Speaker 7: that everybody can sort of meet Usher and the show
Speaker 7: wherever they are and they can take from it what
Speaker 7: they need to, and that the show is sort of
Speaker 7: promoting a spirit of inclusion for anybody who decides to
Speaker 7: come in and stick it out.
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody's sticking it out. I will tell
Speaker 1: you no, no, genuinely, no.
Speaker 7: There's some difficult moments for some people.
Speaker 3: But you know what that's I think that's what made
Speaker 3: it so amazing is it's not difficult for the sake
Speaker 3: of being difficult.
Speaker 7: It's difficult, it's not it's not gratuitous, it's.
Speaker 2: Not at all.
Speaker 3: And I've seen shows where audiences go, I'm uncomfortable, but
Speaker 3: here it was people experiencing the discomfort that somebody else
Speaker 3: may be living through.
Speaker 7: Yeah, because that's what the character and I am trying
Speaker 7: to do. It's we're trying to get the audience to
Speaker 7: feel what it's like to walk in the skin that
Speaker 7: they may not be, either that they don't feel familiar with,
Speaker 7: or that they feel familiar with but feel unseen, unheard,
Speaker 7: or misunderstood.
Speaker 1: It's phenomenal.
Speaker 3: It's one of the funniest most intelligent, just everything.
Speaker 1: This is that you put.
Speaker 3: I hope you in every single Tony Award that you're
Speaker 3: nominated for.
Speaker 1: Congratulation. Everyone needs to go watch the show. Thank you
Speaker 1: for being here.
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