Speaker 1: And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2: And Kevin An iHeartRadio podcast. Welcome to You, and that's
Speaker 2: what you really miss podcast. Mister Shoe. We got him.
Speaker 2: He's here. We finally got him. He's here, he's here,
Speaker 2: locked and loaded. We have a long talk and it's great.
Speaker 2: It was just so nice to catch up. You know.
Speaker 2: That's the best part of this, isn't it, of course
Speaker 2: a reunion. It is genuinely like I got you, now
Speaker 2: get You've got you in my grasp just a FaceTime
Speaker 2: and then we're recording it exactly a really great interview. Really,
Speaker 2: I'm honest and wonderful. So we'll let you just listen
Speaker 2: to it now and you don't have to listen to
Speaker 2: our voices anymore. Well, kind of hi, friends, it's good
Speaker 2: to see you.
Speaker 1: It's so good to see you.
Speaker 2: You know, you look wealthy. I'm looking at you. You
Speaker 2: look rested, and I feel like and you look rested.
Speaker 2: You look that's like wealth You look good.
Speaker 1: Yeah good, I like that, you know. I feel I
Speaker 1: don't feel yeah, I do feel wealthy. I feel rested.
Speaker 1: I don't know about rested, but like my heart is happy.
Speaker 1: I my family's great. Yeah, I feel really, really good.
Speaker 1: So thank you for noticing.
Speaker 2: Well, it's so nice to see you. Thank you for
Speaker 2: hanging with us clowns.
Speaker 1: Thanks for inviting me. I didn't even invited me. I
Speaker 1: was gonna say, like, it's about timey inviting, but you
Speaker 1: have invited me before and I.
Speaker 2: Just have a few times. No, that's okay. It's hard
Speaker 2: to get a hold of you, but you always respond,
Speaker 2: which is so nice. And before we get into the
Speaker 2: glee of it all, you're doing Chicago in Japan and
Speaker 2: did the whole announcement in Japanese, which was mind blowing.
Speaker 2: It was really impressive. I saw it. I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: of course he did. Like I was shocked, and also
Speaker 2: it was zero person shocked. At the same time, I
Speaker 2: was like, if anybody can figure this out.
Speaker 1: Uh, you know, I thought to make a bigger impact
Speaker 1: in terms of ticket sales, especially when like you're in
Speaker 1: a culture that they do speak English a lot there,
Speaker 1: but there's you know, a predominant probably most of them
Speaker 1: don't speak English. So yeah, I wanted to speak to
Speaker 1: the people. So I called my friend Charlie Okumura who
Speaker 1: lives in Tokyo, and him and his wife kind of
Speaker 1: put I said what I wanted to say, and they
Speaker 1: kind of like put it together for me. I sent
Speaker 1: it back to them and they're like, no, this is
Speaker 1: what you can. They basically gave me work for a word,
Speaker 1: like how to pronounce it and stuff, and so it.
Speaker 2: Was very convincing. I feel I thought you were going
Speaker 2: to say like, oh, yeah, I've been learning, I've been
Speaker 2: learning the language, and like I've been working on it,
Speaker 2: because it was very good. I mean from what I
Speaker 2: the little we know, but well, yeah, I mean but awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you. I mean, you know, I love language,
Speaker 1: you know, doing that light in the Piazza show on Broadway,
Speaker 1: like how to speak how to speak Italian. I just
Speaker 1: love immerse myself in language is such a beautiful challenge.
Speaker 1: But then you get to challenge yourself in trouble when
Speaker 1: you actually have a good accent and you start can
Speaker 1: speak a few words. Then people just start like talking
Speaker 1: to you like yes, sorry, sorry, Oh.
Speaker 2: Have you spent a lot of time in Japan before?
Speaker 1: Yes, I have. Actually I do a lot of concerts
Speaker 1: in Japan. Yeah, it's been. It's it's a lovely market
Speaker 1: for me, I think for all of us. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, Glee was well, very well received over there,
Speaker 1: so you know, that opened up a lot of places
Speaker 1: to go and to perform. So I'm gonna be doing
Speaker 1: that show. And for me, that show is kind of
Speaker 1: to see where I'm at in terms of live performances again,
Speaker 1: because it's been a while and since twenty fifteen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so for me, it's just to kind of say, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know, I wanted to give myself a big break
Speaker 1: to you know, be there for this, you know, pivotal
Speaker 1: time in my children's lives. But for right now, I
Speaker 1: feel this call to go back to the stage, and
Speaker 1: I just don't want to jump right into a Broadway
Speaker 1: show and be like, oh, this is a lot. So
Speaker 1: I thought it would be a good, like kind of
Speaker 1: stepping stone to yeah, see how I feel about it.
Speaker 2: I have a feeling we know what that's going to
Speaker 2: be for you, but I do. I do love it.
Speaker 2: But it's smart. It's a smart move. But that's awesome.
Speaker 2: It's very exciting. Okay, mister Shoe, it's been a while
Speaker 2: and everybody's been asking for you, and so we just
Speaker 2: I think we have to talk about Glee.
Speaker 1: Okay. I just want to preface this my memory is horrible,
Speaker 1: and you might spark some memories. I'll be like, oh
Speaker 1: yeah and stuff, but yeah, yeah, I am. I'm really
Speaker 1: interested to where this conversation is going to go.
Speaker 2: So you know, yes, I think it's important for everyone listening,
Speaker 2: mostly for us because our memories are also not good.
Speaker 2: So it makes me feel seen.
Speaker 1: You talk about this all the time, you know, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sure.
Speaker 2: We're reminded, but it's it's so don't feel bad if
Speaker 2: you don't remember things because we do not I won't. Yeah, Okay,
Speaker 2: we're watching things like that. We're into season three now
Speaker 2: and there have been full scenes for the first time
Speaker 2: where like I am speaking or singing and I have
Speaker 2: no recollection of being there zero and it is.
Speaker 1: I saw when that started kicking in for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like every day is the same. We don't know
Speaker 2: what's going on anymore, and you're just like shooting once
Speaker 2: like yeah, yes, yes, have you watched any Glee since
Speaker 2: you since we finished?
Speaker 1: Oh I haven't.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm still triggered by don't Believing though for sure
Speaker 1: forever since the end of time? Uh No, but I haven't.
Speaker 1: I'm actually waiting my son, Reveel, who's six years old
Speaker 1: now having the experience of seeing me being recognized in him,
Speaker 1: kind of knowing me as a famous person. It's so weird.
Speaker 1: It's so I mean, I hate it. I hate it
Speaker 1: because it's like, you know, I want you to love
Speaker 1: me for me as as your papa. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't want you to be influenced by any these and
Speaker 1: that's kind of like why I wanted to get out
Speaker 1: of Los Angeles as well. So it's it's it's weird
Speaker 1: kind of navigating that as a parent. But it's still,
Speaker 1: you know, as you all know, it's probably it's still
Speaker 1: very much a part of people's stores and upbringings and
Speaker 1: the zeitgeist and all that.
Speaker 2: Are you recognized a lot more? Because I feel like
Speaker 2: when I leave LA, I'm recognized way more than I
Speaker 2: am with in LA. People actually come up to me.
Speaker 2: Here everyone's you know, sort of jaded or used to
Speaker 2: seeing people who are on TV, So like, does it
Speaker 2: happen I feel like it must happen to you a
Speaker 2: lot more there.
Speaker 1: Where I live, it it actually doesn't. Everyone's very respectful.
Speaker 1: I can see like the acknowledgment of it, but rarely
Speaker 1: do the people come up and say anything to me.
Speaker 1: It's usually the most I get it is overseas. H.
Speaker 1: I don't know what that is, but yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: mostly overseas, but here like small town. It's cool.
Speaker 2: That's nice. Now, I can't remember we watched the pilot
Speaker 2: together back in the day. You we came over Lee
Speaker 2: and I and we all watched it together in between
Speaker 2: waiting to be picked up and shooting the pilot. Can
Speaker 2: you remember, though, you guys are watched shooters. Yeah, but
Speaker 2: I can't remember. Did you have what was your audition
Speaker 2: process like or did you just get offered?
Speaker 1: No? I definitely didn't get offered the role. So my
Speaker 1: audition process was just a regular audition. I was doing
Speaker 1: so specific on Broadway at the time, and I just
Speaker 1: got an audition. I went in the room to put
Speaker 1: myself on tape, and so they would send all the
Speaker 1: tapes to LA and I sang on the straight relive
Speaker 1: of course, my go to song, and then I did
Speaker 1: the scenes and from there, I you know, Ryan and
Speaker 1: Brad and Ian and some other producers. They came to
Speaker 1: New York to have like the New York audition. I
Speaker 1: think I was doing a play called Naked Girl in
Speaker 1: the Appian way and it was this. The woman playing
Speaker 1: my mother in the show was this brilliant actress named
Speaker 1: Joe Clayburg and she was nominated for oscars and stuff
Speaker 1: back in the day, but she took a long hiatus
Speaker 1: to raise her kids. I don't know if you know
Speaker 1: Lily Rabe is one of her daughter. She's a she's phenomenal.
Speaker 1: She's she's passed now, but she's She was someone who
Speaker 1: was like really like the figure of my life. But
Speaker 1: she had worked closely. I forget what she and Ran did,
Speaker 1: but I can't even she said the story, but she said,
Speaker 1: when you go into the audition, just flirt with Ryan.
Speaker 1: I was like, what me, And She's like, you know,
Speaker 1: just just just flirt, just just be you, just be flirty.
Speaker 1: And so that was my like going in. I just
Speaker 1: felt like I'm just gonna, like, you know, just like
Speaker 1: give him compliments, you know, and stuff and it and
Speaker 1: it totally worked. He was like he was just like
Speaker 1: loving what I was doing. Uh yeah, he was like
Speaker 1: I remember one thing, he complimented my shoes. He was
Speaker 1: really my shoes, like we're like these motorcycle boots or something.
Speaker 2: And we know.
Speaker 1: Of course, when I said, oh, those are.
Speaker 2: That's a big compliment.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't think he's ever called me on anything
Speaker 1: else in my life, but but the boots were a
Speaker 1: big part of it.
Speaker 2: Okay, So yeah.
Speaker 1: And then from that AUDI, I had a really good
Speaker 1: feeling about about it, and they flew me. I think
Speaker 1: I was the only one that flew in from New
Speaker 1: York for this for the network test. And I remember
Speaker 1: before I went into the room, you know, I kind
Speaker 1: of my agent was kind of saying that I was
Speaker 1: the guy, but you never want to know that at
Speaker 1: the time. It's some pressure on you. But Ryan came
Speaker 1: and had a conversation with me before I tested, and
Speaker 1: he said, this is yours to lose. He's like, he's like,
Speaker 1: we all want you, but this is yours to lose.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if that was exactly the exact phrasing,
Speaker 1: but that I was the guy.
Speaker 2: Just don't get up because we want you to yea.
Speaker 1: And I I believe I was shaking, but I I,
Speaker 1: you know, I have a lot of obviously live performance experience,
Speaker 1: so I went in there. I felt pretty good about it,
Speaker 1: and uh, but it been in my head. I kind
Speaker 1: of I remember saying, I bet you he's saying this
Speaker 1: to every person who's auditioned for this part. And I
Speaker 1: think there was two other guys in there as well.
Speaker 1: But that's how I tricked myself to be he's just smart.
Speaker 2: Smart.
Speaker 1: But yeah, then I auditioned, I went, oh, oh, so
Speaker 1: you know, I think you know the story. But between
Speaker 1: my first audition and that network test, I learned how
Speaker 1: to play some over the rainbow in the mm hm
Speaker 1: that was that was kind of like my new audition song.
Speaker 1: Uh and and of course that didn't help them. My
Speaker 1: fingers were like cold, my oh.
Speaker 2: God, that was another challenge to it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I didn't really set myself up but but but it
Speaker 1: was but it was right and then I went down
Speaker 1: I remember going down the parking garage at I think
Speaker 1: it was at Disney the Words where the uh the
Speaker 1: test was and then uh my agent called me and
Speaker 1: I got it like right away.
Speaker 2: Whoa that was quick?
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank god. It was like the waiting is that.
Speaker 2: I think mine took like two hours to hear and
Speaker 2: it was two hours it was. Yeah, mine was like
Speaker 2: ten minutes because they had to get in touch with
Speaker 2: the other person to tell them they didn't get it.
Speaker 2: First I was with him. I was with him, Yeah,
Speaker 2: with the other person, yes, because we were all flying
Speaker 2: back to New York. So who it was, I'll text
Speaker 2: you right now. Yeah. What's crazy is is he's so
Speaker 2: so talented. I'm sure working so much more chalm like
Speaker 2: it was. It was a full because now he's like
Speaker 2: doing he's got his own journey exactly, exactly. Yeah, he's
Speaker 2: got his own journey. Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So that was that was basically it. And then uh
Speaker 1: and then there was like a while to wait until
Speaker 1: we actually started shooting it, and I remember it was
Speaker 1: it was challenging for me because yeah, I wasn't South
Speaker 1: Pacific and I had to get out of the show.
Speaker 1: I had to ask the producers to let me out
Speaker 1: to the show to shoot the pilt, which was a month.
Speaker 2: And that's amazing.
Speaker 1: It was amazing, you know, Lincoln Center, they were so incresible.
Speaker 2: So nice, I got it. Some people have never let
Speaker 2: you out though, Like I was also in Spring Awakening
Speaker 2: at the time, and thankfully Jim Carnahan, who cast it,
Speaker 2: was casting Spring on this side, so or it was
Speaker 2: like so they were all includes about it. But that's
Speaker 2: lucky us. Few you also were, you were twenty nine
Speaker 2: when you got it because you turned thirty right at
Speaker 2: like the last day, the last day of the pilot,
Speaker 2: which is crazy to think you're basically right where we
Speaker 2: are now, Like that is mind blowing. Like I don't
Speaker 2: know I was twenty, but you because I think you
Speaker 2: played our teacher. I automatically looked at you like you
Speaker 2: were like you were, yes, like you were at least
Speaker 2: twenty years older than me, right, not that like we
Speaker 2: all treat each other as equals, like we're all around
Speaker 2: the same age. But it felt like I looked up
Speaker 2: to you in that way, like you and you are
Speaker 2: my elder. I have to like follow you. That's crazy.
Speaker 2: I'm five years older now than you were when you
Speaker 2: started the show. I huh, I'm going to go. You
Speaker 2: guys carry on.
Speaker 1: Well that makes you feel better. I'm fifteen years older
Speaker 1: than that day.
Speaker 2: So look at you. You got a family smashing it.
Speaker 2: We had Ryan on this show and he said that
Speaker 2: the role of mister Shoe was originally written with Justin Turner.
Speaker 2: Did you know that?
Speaker 1: I didn't know that. No, I never knew that piece
Speaker 1: of information.
Speaker 2: So we all found that up together. Yeah, yeah, did
Speaker 2: you think that was true?
Speaker 1: Or was that like like he wanted to like to get.
Speaker 2: The reverse engineered that Maybe no, but I would believe that.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was hot at the time. But how
Speaker 1: old was he? Well, yeah, I guess he and I
Speaker 1: are kind of He's like a couple of years younger
Speaker 1: than me.
Speaker 2: But yeah, but and look, you guys are like, you know,
Speaker 2: similar types. Like it would make you know, but I
Speaker 2: think the move to like not go with Justin Timberlake
Speaker 2: was like or else Clee would have never been what
Speaker 2: it is.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: That's that's a great point.
Speaker 1: In Jenna, like because it was you know, the show
Speaker 1: was because nobody knew who any of us were.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you had just In there would have
Speaker 2: been like the Justin show, you know, It's just it
Speaker 2: would have been a totally different vibe.
Speaker 1: And then to think about like what we went through
Speaker 1: on that show and how the trajectory of his career
Speaker 1: would have changed, like we would we wouldn't have known
Speaker 1: the Justin we know today been able to put out
Speaker 1: all you.
Speaker 2: Know You're So album. So that's interesting too, right, Lucky
Speaker 2: for us it was, you you know, like it would
Speaker 2: have been such a different I can't imagine the show
Speaker 2: without anybody that was I'm sure everybody says that when
Speaker 2: they do their projects or whatever, but like it all
Speaker 2: just we know it worked. Like you can't go back
Speaker 2: and be like, oh, what if this person did like
Speaker 2: well and it worked exactly became like phenomenon that I
Speaker 2: did with all of those pieces that were in it,
Speaker 2: and if one person was not there, especially you, you
Speaker 2: were like the anchor of that whole. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: in so many ways, like it went beyond just you
Speaker 2: being mister Shoe. It was like you were the sort
Speaker 2: of like adult in the room. To us.
Speaker 1: Always say that because I, you know, knowing what I
Speaker 1: know now about television and like being number one on
Speaker 1: the call sheet and like the leadership role that you
Speaker 1: would want that person to have. I feel like I
Speaker 1: let people down because I didn't I didn't know any
Speaker 1: of that stuff back then and I didn't know what
Speaker 1: it meant to be. But at the same time, like
Speaker 1: there was so many egos in that in that you
Speaker 1: know world that I don't feel like stepping in and
Speaker 1: trying to lead the company in a positive way would
Speaker 1: have been very beneficial to anyone, because you know, there
Speaker 1: they were like fighting back against that. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: I think if I was going into this now, I
Speaker 1: think I would have done things a little differently.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I don't think you. I mean I didn't
Speaker 2: feel it down by you. And also because you were
Speaker 2: in the adult role, which was a little bit different,
Speaker 2: like within the group, like Corey did take on that
Speaker 2: role in a way where you were kind of seen
Speaker 2: as like the adult and kind of like a father figure,
Speaker 2: if you will. I mean, it's weird to say that
Speaker 2: now because we know we're all like similar, very close
Speaker 2: in age, but you know, like a father figure and age,
Speaker 2: and you kind of had your like your own trajectory
Speaker 2: and journey on the show, and then you know, we
Speaker 2: had us on the other side of the room and
Speaker 2: we're going through a completely similar and yet different experience,
Speaker 2: And so I think you're right, like it maybe not
Speaker 2: would have not been beneficial in a way that was
Speaker 2: like is he preaching at us? Is he talking? You know,
Speaker 2: like there was some inequality that kind of Corey had
Speaker 2: with us that also helps in him leading by example
Speaker 2: and leading in the ways that he did. But I
Speaker 2: felt like you're still a leader when you stepped in
Speaker 2: the room, like there was an energy that like we
Speaker 2: looked to you on an off screen But I'm just curious,
Speaker 2: like looking back on your experience now the show and
Speaker 2: being the adult, like what was that like for you
Speaker 2: And do you have different reflections on it now being
Speaker 2: so from it.
Speaker 1: On being the adult in the show or just being
Speaker 1: on the show in general.
Speaker 2: I think being on the show in general, well, it's.
Speaker 1: Interesting, like like spitball. And since we're talking about this,
Speaker 1: I felt like in the beginning and the way the
Speaker 1: show was kind of pitched to me was that it
Speaker 1: was it was kind of mister Schuster's journey and like
Speaker 1: like it was like in the first few seasons, it
Speaker 1: was it was a lot more adults, you know, and
Speaker 1: then the shows the show changed to be something else.
Speaker 1: But for me, I felt like I wanted to be
Speaker 1: involved with with everyone, and you know, we all would
Speaker 1: sit in video village. We all had like you know,
Speaker 1: it was a million cast chairs all the time. But
Speaker 1: then slowly, I just I'm kind of like I'm an
Speaker 1: only child. I like my alone time. I slowly, as
Speaker 1: you all know, started like to to distance myself from
Speaker 1: the kids, and you know, I would always be in
Speaker 1: mister Shoe's office and that's where you are, like in
Speaker 1: my own kind of space. And I was also you know,
Speaker 1: I was trying to do other stuff. I mean, like Chris,
Speaker 1: you know, he was writing books and books while he
Speaker 1: was doing there. I was going off every like two weekends,
Speaker 1: like going off doing my solo concerts, and you know,
Speaker 1: it was I don't know, I was just stressed. God that, like,
Speaker 1: our bodies are not designed to go through that kind
Speaker 1: of pressure. I mean, we had a full time job,
Speaker 1: more than a full time job, and then our job
Speaker 1: was promoting the show, and on top of that, trying
Speaker 1: to get one foot in front of the other and
Speaker 1: your your own reality and your own life and you know,
Speaker 1: your relationship with yourself, with your friends, those are kind
Speaker 1: of and then you know, going off and do these
Speaker 1: concerts on the weekend, and then I don't know, I
Speaker 1: all the energy, the positive energy that was put into
Speaker 1: us from that show was so beautiful, and I wanted
Speaker 1: to give that back to the people because I so
Speaker 1: appreciated like them and fans and wanted to kind of
Speaker 1: live in that and to be you know, filled with
Speaker 1: gratitude for that. But I don't know, And then there
Speaker 1: was all this other stuff too, you have, like these
Speaker 1: news speeds coming out like bashing the way you're playing
Speaker 1: your character, or you know, people trying to tear you down,
Speaker 1: and you know, that got interesting, and I found myself
Speaker 1: like building this armor, you know, and trying.
Speaker 3: To to.
Speaker 1: But not but trying to protect myself and not completely
Speaker 1: shutting out my friends and family and everyone, and and
Speaker 1: all of this has had a huge impact on my life. Oh,
Speaker 1: some super high highs, but also some really devastating lows.
Speaker 1: I mean, something I'd never really talked about but on
Speaker 1: the show was like I really like was so stressed,
Speaker 1: like broke into like the craziest psoriasis.
Speaker 2: That I know, but it was it was like I
Speaker 2: didn't know who Wow, Yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Think it was just everything building up and and for
Speaker 1: me that was just like the physical manifestation of just
Speaker 1: like what I was feeling I think inside. And it
Speaker 1: got to the point. I remember there was a few
Speaker 1: episodes in particular, like I remember watching it back at
Speaker 1: the time and being like, oh my god, like they
Speaker 1: had to do so much. I remember, because it was
Speaker 1: like the siris was everywhere in my body but my
Speaker 1: face was okay, but then it slowly started coming to
Speaker 1: my ears and then on my eyelids, and then Kelly Mitchell,
Speaker 1: the makeup artist. You know, she she did her best
Speaker 1: to like cover it up, but at the end of
Speaker 1: every day she had to take it all off and
Speaker 1: like skin would come off the backup so painful and
Speaker 1: oh gos it makes me like get emotional. It was
Speaker 1: just it was like, so, yeah, it was really challenging. Wow,
Speaker 1: Like it was like I loved the experience and I
Speaker 1: appreciate it for what it was, but it was it was.
Speaker 1: It was really challenging. It was hard to put our
Speaker 1: bodies through, you know, sixteen hours a day and then
Speaker 1: you know all the other stuff we had to do
Speaker 1: on top of it. And not like woe is me
Speaker 1: because it was so totally big opportunity, but but yeah,
Speaker 1: we were all there. It was it was like it
Speaker 1: was like a war. You know.
Speaker 2: I think that's something like I never thought about from
Speaker 2: your perspective, even though we are like not too far
Speaker 2: off in age for me to you at least that
Speaker 2: decade of lived experience and like you have worked a lot,
Speaker 2: you've been on stage, you are able to view the
Speaker 2: success or like what it means, the value of it,
Speaker 2: the pressure of being number one on the call sheet.
Speaker 2: I your perspective was probably so much different than ours
Speaker 2: in a way because we were sort of like these
Speaker 2: asshole kids who were like, this show is super successful,
Speaker 2: we're all super famous, and like this is hard. Where
Speaker 2: you saying like you did sort of like create those
Speaker 2: you created that alone time, that actual space for yourself
Speaker 2: to try to like get your head right to also
Speaker 2: then capitalize on what's happening on the weekends and going
Speaker 2: to these concerts. It's such like a thirties mindset of
Speaker 2: let me value this experience for what it is and
Speaker 2: also the meaningfulness of it, retain and like take on
Speaker 2: that responsibility of the mantle of what this is and
Speaker 2: what it means to me and what it means to people.
Speaker 2: And I don't think that was something that we necessarily
Speaker 2: I think we did to an extent to the best
Speaker 2: of our abilities. But hearing you say that, I do
Speaker 2: think you probably understood it in such I don't know,
Speaker 2: a deeper way than we were able to at the time.
Speaker 2: And like seeing that come out through like the psoriasis,
Speaker 2: and we're because you're always like this, if anyone knows you,
Speaker 2: you're always so calm, so chill, and it's like nothing's
Speaker 2: affecting you. But at the end of the day, like
Speaker 2: you are at the top of the sheet and like
Speaker 2: this is it became this gigantic, gigantic thing. So of course,
Speaker 2: and like to get any to get a job period
Speaker 2: in the entertaining business is like a great thing. It's hard,
Speaker 2: and then you like you end up on this you
Speaker 2: get the job, You get the job, and like you
Speaker 2: get the part on the job, and it's like you
Speaker 2: originally knew like the show was supposed to be like
Speaker 2: Will's Journey, So it's no wonder that that happened and
Speaker 2: that like you felt that. It's just you know, it's
Speaker 2: interesting to have to look back and like, of course
Speaker 2: I didn't think about what your experience was, like you,
Speaker 2: it's interesting you.
Speaker 1: Say that stuff that have hearing you say that brings
Speaker 1: up some other things for me, just like I A, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Like I love the first two seasons because I felt
Speaker 1: like I had so much stuff. I felt like I
Speaker 1: had so much, like just juicy stuff to like get
Speaker 1: like sick my teeth into as an actor, as a singer,
Speaker 1: and then and then uh, then the other seasons it
Speaker 1: kind of became like I was the exposition of the show. Like,
Speaker 1: this is what the show is going to be about
Speaker 1: this episode, and this is what we're going to do. Everyone,
Speaker 1: like in my big speech I have in the beginning.
Speaker 2: We used to laugh about those because you'd come in
Speaker 2: it would have a huge dialogue about nothing.
Speaker 1: It could be like connect to it. I was awful
Speaker 1: at memorizing it because I no connection to it. And
Speaker 1: then all of you were just not paying attention at
Speaker 1: all and maybe not everyone's stuff.
Speaker 2: And I just like, yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was challenging. It was really challenging. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: And and and I don't I don't know if you
Speaker 1: two know this, but I I actually was trying to
Speaker 1: get off the show really yeah. In season five, I
Speaker 1: h I asked to be like, be off the show
Speaker 1: because I was just like I'm I'm I'm no longer
Speaker 1: being like used and like you know, yeah in the
Speaker 1: way I wanted to and and no disrespect to the show,
Speaker 1: but I was just like, I was just like I
Speaker 1: I And also we are at a height. I was like,
Speaker 1: maybe if I get off the show, I can go
Speaker 1: do something else to a movie or and they they
Speaker 1: agreed to let me off the show, and then Corey
Speaker 1: passed and then they said they couldn't do it because
Speaker 1: you know, the two main guys on the show.
Speaker 2: Of course.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, So yeah, it was it was interesting, interesting time.
Speaker 2: How did that affect you?
Speaker 1: I obviously I understood. I was like, yeah, I get it,
Speaker 1: and you.
Speaker 2: Know, trying to.
Speaker 1: To reconcile my own you know, wants and selfish needs
Speaker 1: with the grief of losing an amazing friend. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of just mixed emotions and stuff. But
Speaker 1: but I'm a professional. I showed up, I didn't get
Speaker 1: my job, and it was a good pancrease.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think I think we all felt that
Speaker 2: way at some point in our not that you know,
Speaker 2: we were number one on the call sheet and you know,
Speaker 2: we're told this this story is about you. You know,
Speaker 2: this show is your journey, but like we all felt underutilized,
Speaker 2: I think at some point in this show, because exactly
Speaker 2: there's a lot of a lot of please there's a
Speaker 2: lot of storylines, there's a lot of Yeah, there was
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff to do, and.
Speaker 1: I think I think I took it or so like
Speaker 1: I was bad and that's why my storyline kind of went.
Speaker 1: But then I look at the demographic of the what
Speaker 1: the show ended up being. You know, it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: they don't want to see mister shoots.
Speaker 2: I want to see so I mean, right, right, is
Speaker 2: that why you secretly have held a grudge against me
Speaker 2: because I started rapping more than you did.
Speaker 1: Didn't even I would pass that torch happily. You know.
Speaker 2: It was like no, no, please, no, I can't do this,
Speaker 2: Like why do we have to wrap? We are not rappers.
Speaker 2: This is you were the two last rappers of the crew,
Speaker 2: which is saying a lot.
Speaker 1: I thought it was a one off for me. I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, great, you know me too.
Speaker 2: They're like, oh, you guys could do it. Though. It's
Speaker 2: like sometimes that is a thing there was sometimes you
Speaker 2: didn't want to show things you could sort of do
Speaker 2: because they would just have you do it all the time.
Speaker 2: That's right, Like this is something I can do behind
Speaker 2: the scenes to make people laugh, but this is something
Speaker 2: I need to do in front of millions of people.
Speaker 1: This would be a special talent on my resume that
Speaker 1: I never wanted to use.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I also maybe lied about yes exactly, don't
Speaker 2: make me do exactly hulu hooping.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I definitely.
Speaker 2: Yeah. There was the one episode where you did you
Speaker 2: pulled out every tool, you did thong song and you
Speaker 2: were break like you were sliding around. I remember seeing
Speaker 2: you that episode where like Emma is talking about getting
Speaker 2: married and you're helping her and you rapped, you sang,
Speaker 2: you did eighteen different styles of dance. You swing, swing,
Speaker 2: danced with with Jane you did. It was like the
Speaker 2: craziest episode. We were like where was Matt this whole
Speaker 2: episode and you were like in the rehearsal studio because
Speaker 2: you literally were in every number doing something different, like like, oh,
Speaker 2: Matt can do everything, so we're just gonna have to
Speaker 2: do everything in this one episode, which which.
Speaker 1: Was I think worked out for me because I think
Speaker 1: that was my submission episode for These in Golden Globes,
Speaker 1: which I got nominated for, so I think that.
Speaker 2: Was worked right. It works right well. You were being
Speaker 2: utilized and you could show all the different things that
Speaker 2: you could do, and that was so cool and really yeah,
Speaker 2: really awesome. Do you feel like the armor Do you
Speaker 2: feel like the armor that you put up that you
Speaker 2: created during Glee? I feel I feel that. Do you
Speaker 2: have you had like corrective experiences in the industry. Do
Speaker 2: you feel like you have corrected that or do you
Speaker 2: feel like you've taken that with you and feel more guarded,
Speaker 2: Like what is that like for you now?
Speaker 1: I think I've just recently, in the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: kind of come on the other side of that. And
Speaker 1: I think it's thanks to you know, talking to professionals
Speaker 1: and doing the work and on myself and finding because
Speaker 1: I think the insecurity has come from a place of
Speaker 1: not enoughness, not feeling like enough. I feel a lot
Speaker 1: more self love than I've felt in a long time,
Speaker 1: and you know, I feel and also just just experiencing,
Speaker 1: you know, how people come up to you and you
Speaker 1: know this is a big moment for those people, and
Speaker 1: it's almost easier to just be like yeah and just
Speaker 1: go with it, be nice and cordial for like a
Speaker 1: couple of seconds, and then be on your way. And
Speaker 1: then instead of being like, oh no, I don't really
Speaker 1: feel like taking a picture, and then they feel bad
Speaker 1: about the experience, you feel bad about the experience. So
Speaker 1: it's just I think, just going through life and learning
Speaker 1: what it's all about. But yeah, I think I think
Speaker 1: the armor has definitely gone down. But also with the
Speaker 1: armor going down, I'm more of a realist about the
Speaker 1: situations that I'm putting myself into and knowing what to expect,
Speaker 1: because you know, I've been in since situations where I
Speaker 1: just didn't think things through and and it turned out
Speaker 1: bad for me. So I think I just need need
Speaker 1: to go into situations a little more prepared for what
Speaker 1: I'm walking into. And I think that goes the same
Speaker 1: thing in life. But I think I do that a
Speaker 1: lot more.
Speaker 2: You also got to do two really cool things. You
Speaker 2: got to sing one of your own songs on the
Speaker 2: show and you got to direct. How are bost of
Speaker 2: those experiences for you? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Wow, Well, singing one of my own songs on the
Speaker 1: show was really cool, like a really just great experience.
Speaker 1: I was just so you know, tied to the music
Speaker 1: I was creating for myself and and and it just
Speaker 1: also testament too because you know, that's the song was
Speaker 1: so personal to me. But the brilliance of the writers
Speaker 1: and how they just incorporated any song into the show
Speaker 1: when it's your song, You're like, oh wow, yeah like that,
Speaker 1: you know, it was it was, it was, It was
Speaker 1: really interesting, and directing was a phenomenal opportunity and what
Speaker 1: a great experience. And I I think I became a
Speaker 1: better actor and a better uh better teammate overall in
Speaker 1: terms of how everything runs and how every cog in
Speaker 1: the machine, every department has its own kind of thing,
Speaker 1: and I had I got to connect with all these
Speaker 1: different departments and and seeing and especially our show because
Speaker 1: everything was so last minute. Seeing the professionalism of people
Speaker 1: like when they're under the under pressure like that was
Speaker 1: really incredible to see. I wish I had the full
Speaker 1: experience of it, because you know, a typical director will
Speaker 1: go in and have like at least a week to prep.
Speaker 1: On our show, we didn't get They're not starring, you know, right, no,
Speaker 1: But then you know a lot of people didn't didn't
Speaker 1: get the scripts until like the day of shooting, so
Speaker 1: there was no prep telling it. But the advantage I had, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the advantage I had was I knew all the crew. Everyone,
Speaker 1: I had my back. I felt so supportive even with
Speaker 1: the cast, like everyone was just like, how can we
Speaker 1: help you win? And and yeah, I learned a lot
Speaker 1: about just also writing and because one of the main
Speaker 1: are the biggest takeaways was from Ryan when we had
Speaker 1: a meeting before and he said, uh, the biggest part
Speaker 1: of directing is the transition from the end of a
Speaker 1: scene to the beginning of the next scene and how
Speaker 1: you tie those two together. And that has been just
Speaker 1: like instrumental in even just acting of how I do it.
Speaker 1: And I'm doing some writing and stuff these days, so
Speaker 1: that like just little kidments have really carried through from
Speaker 1: the experience. I don't know if I'd want to do
Speaker 1: it again. I don't know if I was like I
Speaker 1: want to be, if I really was going to be
Speaker 1: invested in directing, I would want to, you know, learn
Speaker 1: the lenses and learn the angles, and I want to
Speaker 1: be Alfonso. You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So but.
Speaker 1: That's that's like a whole nother lifetime of you know,
Speaker 1: in the world.
Speaker 2: Totally yes, Yeah, but you were. I mean, we just
Speaker 2: watched that episode one. It was great, and there were
Speaker 2: you can also see like your stamp on it, or
Speaker 2: there were some extra like pushions and whips of like
Speaker 2: really funny shit and shot in a way that hadn't
Speaker 2: been done before on the show. And then do you think, Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I've had that conversation with my friends who are
Speaker 2: directors too about if I get asked if I want
Speaker 2: to direct, and I see the exact same thing, you
Speaker 2: just said, however, you pick all that shit up along
Speaker 2: the way, right, and you surround yourself with people who
Speaker 2: do know what they're doing, and if you have like
Speaker 2: the vision for it, and all that is to say
Speaker 2: that if you you know, don't stop yourself if you
Speaker 2: want to keep doing it, because I think you were
Speaker 2: naturally quite good at it, and.
Speaker 1: I think like anything we saw, yeah, like you see,
Speaker 1: like we saw enough bad directors and we saw enough
Speaker 1: great director to be for me to feel like, oh
Speaker 1: I can I can at least be in the middle
Speaker 1: of somewhere, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I felt.
Speaker 1: Confident in that and yeah, and like I don't I
Speaker 1: don't want to like to my own horn as a director,
Speaker 1: Like there was a lot of hand holding in.
Speaker 2: That experience, I mean, a perfect place to do that. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 1: That's why I wanted to do it right. It felt
Speaker 1: like my back totally. Yeah. But I feel though for
Speaker 1: those guest directors that just go into procedural shows and Okay,
Speaker 1: here's everyone who knows each other so well, and.
Speaker 2: You're supposed to be the captain of the ship. Yet
Speaker 2: you're coming into some on somebody else's ship, you're driving
Speaker 2: somebody else's ship. Basically, you don't know.
Speaker 1: Mister Shuster, you don't know like how I was directed
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 2: This thing exactly. Yeah. Yeah, A good guest director is
Speaker 2: it's a very It's a specific skill as a director
Speaker 2: to come in to somebody else's house and be collaborative
Speaker 2: yet still be a leader. Yes, walk that tightrope. I
Speaker 2: am in charge, but I'm also respectful of what I
Speaker 2: don't know, and like you all who are here every day,
Speaker 2: like that seems like an unwinnable feat. But we we,
Speaker 2: like you said, we worked with some great directors who
Speaker 2: were amazing at that. It's amazing to see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I don't know if we were the easiest
Speaker 1: cast to.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm sure we were not. It's a really nice
Speaker 2: way of putting it, Maddie. And there were a lot
Speaker 2: of us, and you're adding musical numbers on top of it.
Speaker 2: I mean, they remember our names. That's like a win
Speaker 2: right there. It's like they called us by our name,
Speaker 2: our first name. That's a lot of people most of
Speaker 2: the time, remember oh gosh, oh my gosh. Ah. Yeah,
Speaker 2: where the this is? After season two when you said
Speaker 2: that you're the adult storyline seemed to dwindle in comparison
Speaker 2: to Actually, so we got questions from fans, and Hitchcock
Speaker 2: brought in and he said, how do you feel when
Speaker 2: many of the adult actors on Lee were not featured
Speaker 2: as much? So as his question, that's my own how
Speaker 2: when that actually started to happen in real time? Like,
Speaker 2: could you tell there was sort of this shift? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Absolutely, there was definitely a drop off. I mean it
Speaker 1: was you know, I felt, like I said before, I
Speaker 1: felt like, is it something I'm doing that I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm not showing up and and giving the performances that
Speaker 1: that are worthy of me having more scenes. But I
Speaker 1: knew the audience of the show, and I knew where
Speaker 1: the ship was kind of being directed and and tailored to.
Speaker 1: So that was really short lived. But honestly, I I
Speaker 1: appreciated the time off. I had a lot more time myself,
Speaker 1: So I was like not mad at it. Right, it
Speaker 1: was I feel like Glee had its top or its
Speaker 1: explosion into the into the world, and then slowly I
Speaker 1: think it started to come down off off its you know,
Speaker 1: away from the sun.
Speaker 2: And there's a direct correlation. There was less mad and
Speaker 2: there was less success. So maybe that's maybe that's what
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 1: No comment on that one, but no. But I honestly
Speaker 1: and that was like when my relationship with my now
Speaker 1: wife started to kind of intensify. And so for me,
Speaker 1: it was it was like the perfect storm was like great.
Speaker 2: Timing and right, yeah, it's not bad at it.
Speaker 1: And I was able to go off and do like
Speaker 1: more gigs and I even I think I did a
Speaker 1: movie in there somewhere.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it was you did. Yeah, you're expecting that's right.
Speaker 2: It's funny because for people who don't know, like, you know,
Speaker 2: those musical numbers they take like seven hours, you know,
Speaker 2: on a good day, like it's a seven hour formula.
Speaker 2: You shoot it, and all the different camera angles are
Speaker 2: pretty you know, set in their ways. But when Matt
Speaker 2: was not in the numbers and doing the mister shooting
Speaker 2: where he's sitting in the back of the auditorium watching,
Speaker 2: they would call you in, you know, to get ready
Speaker 2: and to come in and you know, shoot your stuff.
Speaker 2: And sometimes we'd be behind the ca you know, in
Speaker 2: front of the camera onto you and sometimes we'd be like, oh,
Speaker 2: Matt's here, he's in his trailer, he's been here for
Speaker 2: seven hours, and you just be waiting. Yeah, that is brutal.
Speaker 2: Did you just learn like, oh, I mean, like we
Speaker 2: all kind of knew, You're like, this might be a
Speaker 2: really long day. I don't need to be here. How
Speaker 2: did you fill your time making albums or not? Right?
Speaker 2: Oh my god?
Speaker 1: How did I fill my time?
Speaker 4: I don't just I just I became a good napper.
Speaker 1: I'm not an Apple at all, but I came and
Speaker 1: became a good napper on that show. I think I
Speaker 1: was playing I was playing music. I had my in
Speaker 1: there and I was I was like, that's when I
Speaker 1: really started to kind of get into that instrument. I'm
Speaker 1: looking back, I was like, oh gosh, I wish I
Speaker 1: had filled my time was so much more productive. Like Chris.
Speaker 1: I'm so envious of Chris, like the way he just
Speaker 1: kind of did his back there. But I I do
Speaker 1: have to say, I'll tell you my longest time waiting
Speaker 1: in the trailer room. Oh god, eighteen hours.
Speaker 2: No, I gotta leave it. Wait, Can I guess the episode?
Speaker 1: Yep?
Speaker 2: Was it Super Bowl?
Speaker 4: Yep?
Speaker 1: In Long Beach? You're student stuff in the field and
Speaker 1: stuff all day. I waited eighteen hours and then they said, oh,
Speaker 1: we don't need you. No, I did it didn't even
Speaker 1: use me.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, Oh my god. I think there were
Speaker 2: a lot of times like to what Jenna was saying that,
Speaker 2: I think he was probably waiting not seven hours, but
Speaker 2: like twelve on the regular because we'd see you, probably
Speaker 2: for blocking in the morning, and if we had two
Speaker 2: musical numbers or there was like another seat, like you'd
Speaker 2: only see at the beginning of it and at the
Speaker 2: end of it, and they like, have you go away,
Speaker 2: and then it would be a full day would happen?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, I became better at asking to Lee because
Speaker 1: I didn't live very far from the studio, so I
Speaker 1: was like you just I'm you know, five miles away.
Speaker 1: Just give me a head like an hour heads up,
Speaker 1: and I'll be back.
Speaker 2: That is nice to Eventually we built that rapport with
Speaker 2: the eighties and things trusted that we could come back.
Speaker 2: Some of us, yes, yes, not the ones who transfer
Speaker 2: how to go pick up because they slept through their
Speaker 2: alarm in the morning. Did that ever happen to either
Speaker 2: of you? No, No, it never happened to me. It
Speaker 2: was always such a huge fear of mine. Though. Okay,
Speaker 2: so we've been rewatching the show, and like you and
Speaker 2: Sue in those first three seasons are just it is
Speaker 2: pure communic goal that I mean, all of it. But
Speaker 2: I think we have to talk about you your experience
Speaker 2: working with Jane, because you guys have such incredible chemistry.
Speaker 2: The you're so far on the end of you know,
Speaker 2: the spectrum, on each end of the scale, like it
Speaker 2: really it just works so beautifully. But tell us about
Speaker 2: working with Jane And how did you not laugh like
Speaker 2: all the time? Did you just get used to it?
Speaker 2: Comedic legend makes you think.
Speaker 1: I did laugh all the time. I was laughing. I
Speaker 1: ruined so many times because I'm not old.
Speaker 2: Together, Okay, okay, good to know I was laughing like.
Speaker 1: All of the Yeah, she was a godsend, Like I mean,
Speaker 1: just like we became like really really close on that show,
Speaker 1: and we still we don't talk as much, but like
Speaker 1: we still you know, communicate every now and then. And
Speaker 1: I just I love that woman. And and for me,
Speaker 1: as you guys like looked at me as the adult
Speaker 1: and you know, the kind of that figure she was
Speaker 1: that for me, and she was that person I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I need to like look up to her and see
Speaker 1: what she's doing and and and yeah, so I I
Speaker 1: I loved working with her, and I don't know what
Speaker 1: it was, but I made it my mission because I
Speaker 1: was always, you know, looking up takes and laughing. It
Speaker 1: was my mission to make her do that in a scene.
Speaker 1: And finally, I don't know which what episode was or anything,
Speaker 1: but it finally happened and she and I broke her
Speaker 1: and I was like, yes, I'm so proud of myself.
Speaker 1: It was like such a moment of like a complishment.
Speaker 5: I was just like, yes, yeah, wow, but like there's
Speaker 5: a deep love for that woman, and uh, and I
Speaker 5: know she feels it too, Like we we just really
Speaker 5: respected each other.
Speaker 1: And yeah, we became really tight on the show, and
Speaker 1: it was one of those things where you know, we
Speaker 1: would hang out outside of the show, going to dinner
Speaker 1: with her, and I wanted to ask her a lot.
Speaker 1: I feel like I asked her more questions than I
Speaker 1: did anyone else. I'm just curious about her journey, and
Speaker 1: you know, she's very self deprecating and just like doesn't
Speaker 1: think she's as amazing as she is, but she's. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's someone I really look up to and have learned
Speaker 1: a lot in my life from her.
Speaker 2: I remember one of our first scenes with her because
Speaker 2: we did not get to work with her, especially in
Speaker 2: the beginning, very often. And after that scene, I was
Speaker 2: so it was like a terror because I didn't want
Speaker 2: to like this comedic legend. Yeah, I didn't want to
Speaker 2: miss it the scene and the other half was like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, I'm on the edge of bursting out
Speaker 2: with laughter this entire time. Yes, And my only thought
Speaker 2: walking away from that was, how does Matt do this
Speaker 2: every day? Like every day all of your scenes. It's like,
Speaker 2: how does he do this? I am intimidated and I
Speaker 2: want to burst on the scenes with laughter all at once. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And there were those episodes were filled with you guys
Speaker 2: where she would be saying the most asinine shit, like
Speaker 2: would go off the rails, and you guys would be
Speaker 2: at each other's throats like this is the best thing ever.
Speaker 2: And I don't know how you get through any scenes.
Speaker 1: I think it, you know, I'm just recalling now. It
Speaker 1: did get easier for me because I knew her so
Speaker 1: well and I knew how she would say the lines.
Speaker 1: I knew how she.
Speaker 4: Would deliver it because Jane Hading and some rhythm. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 4: she's a rhythm, but you know, obviously she does go
Speaker 4: off that rhythm. She's not like just some like but
Speaker 4: and then that's when she did that. That's when it
Speaker 4: would get me because I was expecting something else.
Speaker 1: But and this is not good for me to say
Speaker 1: as an actor, because I was expecting her to say it.
Speaker 1: No actor was saying. I was just there listening.
Speaker 2: But after one hundred episodes and kind of had to do.
Speaker 1: I think you protect the take. Yes, I start doing
Speaker 1: that because I didn't want to keep ruining the takes.
Speaker 1: So I did start to develop her rhythm inside of
Speaker 1: my head to prepare myself to not laugh.
Speaker 2: No, that's a good that, that's a really you have
Speaker 2: to there has to be some mechanism, yes, otherwise how
Speaker 2: do you get anything done? You can kill someone with
Speaker 2: just a look. That is the funniest shit I've seen today.
Speaker 1: I get the intimidation thing, though there was for a
Speaker 1: while I was really intimidated by her. But it works
Speaker 1: because that's her character.
Speaker 2: Obviously, right, which is also hilarious because she is like
Speaker 2: the softest, nicest.
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone in Hollywood has a bad thing
Speaker 1: to say about Jane Lynn.
Speaker 2: No, there's no way. And that's the reason why she
Speaker 2: has eighty jobs at once always, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1: She'll say, I'm never working.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's okay, Shane. Sure, and she takes care of
Speaker 2: all those animals. This sweet sweet lady, sweet sweet human.
Speaker 2: Should we do some of these fan questions? There were
Speaker 2: a lot of questions for you, Matt, oh boy. Okay,
Speaker 2: we obviously are not going through the hundreds of questions.
Speaker 2: Here's one. At what point did the hair jokes stop
Speaker 2: feeling like jokes?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 1: Pretty early on? You know, it's funny. I've had such
Speaker 1: a journey with in my own life with my hair.
Speaker 1: My hair used to be stick straight and blonde, like
Speaker 1: super blonde, stick straight, And when I went through puberty,
Speaker 1: that's when it started curling up. So I didn't know
Speaker 1: what to do with it. And for years I was
Speaker 1: just like trying to like manage these curls that just
Speaker 1: came out of nowhere, and I hate I used to
Speaker 1: wear depth gel jelly, yeah, like hold your hair, and
Speaker 1: then I I got into lubraderm like the body.
Speaker 2: I'll never forget that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that was kind of my thing. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: it never really bothered me, because you know, I love
Speaker 1: my hair. I think it was more Ryan Than because
Speaker 1: he didn't have hair. He was just kind of like
Speaker 1: keep going. He would say that he was very jealous
Speaker 1: of my hair.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yeah, you did have great hairy He was
Speaker 2: just playing at you. He's saying, here you go, Maddie.
Speaker 1: I think there's a little contempt there from from Ryan.
Speaker 1: But but I don't think it ever lost. It's it
Speaker 1: might have lost. It's like kind of luster with the
Speaker 1: audience because there was a.
Speaker 2: Lot of hair jokes. I never got one of my fa.
Speaker 1: They say they were always fucking hilarious though, so I was.
Speaker 1: It was great.
Speaker 2: I was like, where is Ian coming up with this?
Speaker 2: It's like, get out your thesaurus of hair jokes. Truly. Also,
Speaker 2: the funny thing was it was like your hair always
Speaker 2: looked nice, Like she'd say this crazy stems, like his
Speaker 2: hair looks normal, perfect, And yeah, I like that. She
Speaker 2: hated it so much, but there was something wrong, Yes,
Speaker 2: exactly she was. If you actually had bad hair and
Speaker 2: then they were picking on it, it would have been
Speaker 2: that wouldn't have been funny, though exactly exactly someone wanted
Speaker 2: someone just wrote anything about working with Jama.
Speaker 1: I mean how long you got exactly? Uh, just the
Speaker 1: the kindest, most open hearted, beautiful and respectful not only actor,
Speaker 1: but just human being. I think I know she is
Speaker 1: just she wears her heart er sleeve. She's so thoughtful,
Speaker 1: she cares about the work, she cares about the person
Speaker 1: she's working with, and she is just you know, Honestly,
Speaker 1: if I if I missed one person from that show
Speaker 1: the most, it would probably be her. Like I don't
Speaker 1: keep in touch with her very often, but I yeah,
Speaker 1: I loved working with her. Every time I saw that
Speaker 1: we had seen together. I think I put more attention
Speaker 1: into those scenes because I know I knew that she
Speaker 1: would always show up, and I really wanted to make
Speaker 1: those scenes just as dynamic and as strong as as
Speaker 1: can be because she I mean, she comes off as
Speaker 1: a little you know on the show, like a little
Speaker 1: ditzy little but she is. She was so present and
Speaker 1: so in character and so just like she would just
Speaker 1: give it every time. So I felt like I had
Speaker 1: a really solid co partner to work off of.
Speaker 2: So she made it look so effortless.
Speaker 1: People talked to her every.
Speaker 2: Now and then, Yeah, because I'm obsessed with her, like
Speaker 2: she's an excuse to see her. Two funny as people
Speaker 2: I've ever met she's yeah, yeah, it's like you wouldn't
Speaker 2: necessarily think it's exactly she says some crazy shit, but
Speaker 2: you're right. She's really sweet and it makes for a
Speaker 2: really good actor and a good scene partner because she's
Speaker 2: so giving, she's you know, and she she brings out
Speaker 2: the best in everybody, so you could definitely tell like
Speaker 2: rewatching those scenes. I think the adult scenes stick out
Speaker 2: to us more now because you know, back in the
Speaker 2: day you're watching like, oh, what did we do and
Speaker 2: what clowning were we doing in this number? And you
Speaker 2: know you're watching yourself. But to rewatch it through the
Speaker 2: lens of in the space and time that we've had,
Speaker 2: you're like, oh, wow, I get it, Like it was
Speaker 2: really it's really profound and different and exciting for us
Speaker 2: to watch it now.
Speaker 1: You're making me want to go back and start watching it.
Speaker 2: I know. I mean those first few seasons too were
Speaker 2: just like it's it's really really great and the work
Speaker 2: is really really good. Everybody really was giving it, So
Speaker 2: let us know if you do.
Speaker 1: I will.
Speaker 2: Somebody asked, what do you miss the most about playing Will?
Speaker 1: Jeez? I know there's there's been like a lot of
Speaker 1: backlash for that character, you know, in terms of of
Speaker 1: his proximity to the students and all this stuff.
Speaker 2: And of course that's a different time, no.
Speaker 1: But I I I think at the time it did
Speaker 1: take that personally. But yeah, so you're I'm an actor
Speaker 1: showing up, saying my lines and being directed in a
Speaker 1: way in a certain way. So I didn't like what
Speaker 1: the character became, I guess. But for me, I think
Speaker 1: the thing I loved most about Will, what I think
Speaker 1: was his proximity to to the kids. Because for me, personally,
Speaker 1: I had like great mentors in my life and people
Speaker 1: that I just really you know, I knew them personally,
Speaker 1: like I knew their their kids. I went to their
Speaker 1: kids baptisms and all these these things, and they were
Speaker 1: just like really just I was really involved in their
Speaker 1: lives and them in mind. And I feel like that
Speaker 1: was Will Shuster, you know, even just cared so much. Yeah,
Speaker 1: out a a lens of twenty twenty four, where we are,
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm like I said, I don't remember show
Speaker 1: that well, but I'm sure some of this stuff was
Speaker 1: a little probably creepy. But yeah, I come from a
Speaker 1: time where, you know, having mentors meant so much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, really.
Speaker 1: I was really proud of that, of being a mentor,
Speaker 1: and I think in the beginning I really wanted to
Speaker 1: be a mentor to all of you as well in
Speaker 1: real life until I got scared. Oh but yeah, so
Speaker 1: I uh yeah, I think the mentorship role was something
Speaker 1: that I really connected to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hear that. Do you your favorite guest star?
Speaker 1: Oh that's a really tough one.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think GP for me would would be my favorite.
Speaker 1: Gwyneth Paltrow. Yeah, I just loved her.
Speaker 2: You guys are great together. Yeah. It was really good.
Speaker 1: But I mean I have so like, Okay, Kristen would
Speaker 1: be the top. Ye yeah, you know, yeah, I was
Speaker 1: really lucky with guest stars. I feel like I really
Speaker 1: got to like have some great scenes with with guest stars.
Speaker 2: Yes, and yeah, you got to do all of this
Speaker 2: stuff with the guest stars. Well, somebody asked about dream On.
Speaker 2: It's like, you know Neil Patrick too, Like you guys,
Speaker 2: it's like unreal, so good.
Speaker 1: That was fun. I just remember him. He was like
Speaker 1: hosting the Emmys that year.
Speaker 2: He was so like, what am I doing? It was
Speaker 2: so any hosts like the Oscars the night before or something.
Speaker 2: He did the Oscars yeh was it the Oscars. It
Speaker 2: was Oscars Emmys and we all went to the parties
Speaker 2: and then we showed up to work the next day.
Speaker 2: He's like glowing and we're all like, oh, he has
Speaker 2: like monologues and he's like, I'm not going to get.
Speaker 1: This sorry, sorry guys in advance.
Speaker 2: And then he won an Emmy. He's like, remember when
Speaker 2: I didn't remember my life?
Speaker 1: That's why I'm getting emmything because he won the Emmy
Speaker 1: for that episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh my gosh, he.
Speaker 1: Was so great at it. And yeah, that that number
Speaker 1: in particular was one of the highlights. But also like
Speaker 1: like Jama was is just like one of those giving
Speaker 1: people and just and we have gone on to like
Speaker 1: have just an amazing friendship. And you know now she's
Speaker 1: married to Brad and like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we love them. Yes, so yeah, it's great. Now
Speaker 2: she's family. She's family forever. Okay, so we ask everybody
Speaker 2: at the end of the episode, Oh.
Speaker 1: Geez, one of these questions. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2: We're a self health podcast. No, I'm kidding, we should
Speaker 2: not be giving advice. No, what is the feeling that
Speaker 2: Glee leaves you with.
Speaker 1: Connections going out?
Speaker 3: So I'm dead.
Speaker 1: It is so mixed. I don't have a single answer
Speaker 1: for that question. Like I said, it was the highest
Speaker 1: of highs and the lowest of lows. But when I
Speaker 1: look back at it, and I'm so proud. I'm proud
Speaker 1: of the impact that we had in society. I'm proud
Speaker 1: of all the things that we did for so many
Speaker 1: communities that were underserved or underrepresented. The show opened people's
Speaker 1: eyes to diversity, to people who weren't the status quo,
Speaker 1: who looked different, who acted different, and and I feel
Speaker 1: like it was the beginning of such a revolution. And
Speaker 1: for me, that is so beautiful to have been at
Speaker 1: the kind of nucleus of that whole, you know thing.
Speaker 1: So I can't look back and be you know, I
Speaker 1: can complain about being overworked and you know, blah blah
Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah blah. But just like the impact,
Speaker 1: that's the thing that will will stand the test of time.
Speaker 1: And for me, I think that is that's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1: Because most shows, most TV shows do not have an impact.
Speaker 1: They're they're binge worthy, they're fun, they're you know, you
Speaker 1: might learn something, But there's there are a few and
Speaker 1: far between shows that have like a cultural impact and
Speaker 1: a societal people. So yeah, I love, I love being
Speaker 1: a part of that legacy.
Speaker 2: Beautiful, well said. Thank you for taking the time to
Speaker 2: chat with us. This is it was just a podcast. No, no, no,
Speaker 2: don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. If you
Speaker 2: see anything on line, it's a lie.
Speaker 1: Oh I can't wait wait to see what sound bites kids.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me and whatever. Glad we just
Speaker 1: to catch up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm so good to see you. Thank you for
Speaker 2: spending so much time with us. It's very sweet of you. Pleasure,
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Love.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let me too.
Speaker 1: Bye.
Speaker 2: Wow. Matt Mattie mo Mattie Morrison, mister shoot himself. You know,
Speaker 2: what a joy, what a joy. He's a kind he's
Speaker 2: a kind, soul calm. So yeah, it was very enlightening
Speaker 2: to hear his his experience and for him to be
Speaker 2: so honest about it, you know, because I think we
Speaker 2: kind of, like he said, we separated around season four,
Speaker 2: five six, like we didn't really see that much of
Speaker 2: Matt and so you know, it was like we didn't
Speaker 2: we didn't get the insights like we used to. We
Speaker 2: didn't you know, we didn't get him as much and
Speaker 2: I think we were so bogged down in our day
Speaker 2: to day that we weren't. It wasn't like we had
Speaker 2: time to even like hang out with him outside of work. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you'rest we were hanging out with whoever we were with
Speaker 2: shooting well, I'm so grateful for Maddie to come and
Speaker 2: share his experience. And I hope you guys can show
Speaker 2: the episode and remember when you're talking about Shoe that
Speaker 2: Matt is not Shoe. You don't hate Maddie. People don't,
Speaker 2: though we can, but just just to be safe, you know,
Speaker 2: people are very good about separating the two. I just
Speaker 2: want to state it. Thank you, Matt Morrison, our mister
Speaker 2: Shoe forever for joining us and that's what you really missed.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening and follow us on Instagram at and
Speaker 2: that's what you really miss pod. Make sure to write
Speaker 2: us a review and leave us five stars. See you
Speaker 2: next time