Speaker 1: Hey there, fan Ritos, Welcome back to a brand new
Speaker 1: episode of How Rude Tanner Ritos. Today, we have a
Speaker 1: guest that we are so excited to talk to. You
Speaker 1: know him as Derek from Full House or Waldo from
Speaker 1: The Little Rascals. It's Blake mcgiver ewing. Blake isn't just
Speaker 1: a talented actor. He's a director, a composer, a singer,
Speaker 1: a vocal coach, a personal trainer. I mean, the list
Speaker 1: just goes on and on, and we can't wait to
Speaker 1: catch up with him and talk about Full House and
Speaker 1: everything beyond. So let's welcome Blake.
Speaker 2: Yayyay, Hey, Hello.
Speaker 1: We were just admired in your headshot on your profile picture.
Speaker 1: You'll great, yes, yes, Oh my gosh, it's so good
Speaker 1: to see you.
Speaker 2: So good to see both of you. My goodness.
Speaker 1: I know it's been a few years. We saw you
Speaker 1: briefly on Fuller House, which is great to have you
Speaker 1: back on the show.
Speaker 2: That was so fun, so fun.
Speaker 3: But were you back for the wet Was it the
Speaker 3: wedding episode that very last episode? Yeah, yeah, yeah, the
Speaker 3: wedding Okay, the wedding episode, yeah yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Know, yeah, I know. We got to have a lot
Speaker 4: of people come back for that one. That was really fun.
Speaker 1: Danny was trying to find a minister, I think, and
Speaker 1: so you were like auditioning with jazz hands.
Speaker 4: Right, that's right. Yeah, yeah, he was doing the Yankee
Speaker 4: Doodle moment.
Speaker 2: Yes, and I came in with tap shoes like I
Speaker 2: would of course, darn y.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they were like, could you tell you like, I'll
Speaker 4: bring the tap shoes. Yeah, I got it, I got
Speaker 4: it handled.
Speaker 1: Do fans ask you to do the Yankee Doodle Boys
Speaker 1: song or any any of those things when you're out.
Speaker 2: In about absolutely, yes, I get requests for it. Also,
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, this is this is the time
Speaker 2: of year where I like start to hunker down like
Speaker 2: like a cold war b you know, my fourth is
Speaker 2: coming this season. Yeah, the memes start coming, the.
Speaker 3: Memes yeah yeah, yeah, you can't the whole yeah.
Speaker 2: The hat, the suit, the whole business, all of it.
Speaker 4: I mean, it was fabulous.
Speaker 1: It was so great. But yes, we understand is former
Speaker 1: child actors what that is like when that follows you around.
Speaker 3: For the host, like, yeah, it takes there's like the
Speaker 3: the in between period of like oh no, not again,
Speaker 3: and then you're.
Speaker 4: Like you know there's a meme of me.
Speaker 3: It's a mean people know what it is like, people
Speaker 3: are like, yep, I know what that means.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Yeah. Honestly, it as an honor and I'm
Speaker 2: glad that it still brings people joy.
Speaker 4: Right, it absolutely does.
Speaker 3: Now, speaking of uh, Andrew sort of said it too
Speaker 3: on your Instagram bio. It states you're a recovering child actor,
Speaker 3: which I know we can all relate to.
Speaker 1: Yes, I might steal that.
Speaker 4: That's fantastic, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely please steal it. Yeah, I feel like we're
Speaker 2: all in recovery always. We're not. Yea, it's a lots
Speaker 2: but yeah, but you know, people ask me about it
Speaker 2: all the time and I'm like, no, it's not a
Speaker 2: negative thing. It's just like there's a constant process of recovery.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I was lucky that I wanted to do it. My
Speaker 2: parents didn't push me.
Speaker 3: Into it, and you know, we all you were one
Speaker 3: of those kids you're kind of like me. You know
Speaker 3: that you came out and you were like, let's go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, very that And since both my parents were in
Speaker 2: show business, they didn't care at all. They were like, well,
Speaker 2: if you're going to do it, just don't embarrass you know,
Speaker 2: just just do it, yeah, do it well, well be
Speaker 2: good at least be good at it. But it's so
Speaker 2: funny because you become a teenager, you become a you know,
Speaker 2: an adolescent, and it doesn't matter. There is still there
Speaker 2: is still a life learning curve and so that it's
Speaker 2: really it's more about that. It's like we recover in
Speaker 2: our own way.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think, you know, sort of the.
Speaker 3: You have to there's a whole extra layer of getting
Speaker 3: through that, that thing of being known as something for
Speaker 3: a child, most people don't have to like shake off,
Speaker 3: you know, a career at thirteen, you know, and be
Speaker 3: like who am I now? You know, so like it
Speaker 3: And it's at a time I always said it like,
Speaker 3: it's at the time when you're really trying to figure
Speaker 3: out who you are anyway, and now you're be pretending
Speaker 3: to be somebody else, but other people think you're this.
Speaker 3: You know, it's just a it does create I think
Speaker 3: some layers of like self identity that take a little
Speaker 3: bit more to get through.
Speaker 2: Really absolutely, it's it's it is an identity crisis of
Speaker 2: a sort. And I always try to explain to people,
Speaker 2: you know, when you have your mid career crisis at
Speaker 2: like eighteen, right, Yeah.
Speaker 4: I would call it my quarter life.
Speaker 3: Crisis because I'm like, I was about, like, I don't know, fourteen, fifteen.
Speaker 4: Years and I was like, what is my life?
Speaker 2: What am I doing?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: And anytime you anytime you run into another former child
Speaker 1: actor from the nineties, it's like you have this like
Speaker 1: your own language and it's like one big fraternity sorority
Speaker 1: where it's like, oh yeah, I can relate to that too.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I can relate to that.
Speaker 2: Too, absolutely. And I feel like we were so lucky,
Speaker 2: you know I did. I did a lot of like
Speaker 2: episodic work on other shows at the time, and every
Speaker 2: time I did another show, I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: our set is so we are so lucky. I just
Speaker 2: always felt that way special place.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it really, it really was a special place. Everyone
Speaker 3: that has come on the show and has done interviews
Speaker 3: have been like that was just it wasn't like any
Speaker 3: place else to work, And yeah, it just wasn't. We
Speaker 3: were very an Emisodic can be a grind, like it's
Speaker 3: a long days, and sitcom is kind of a well
Speaker 3: oiled machine that you just you know, jump on the
Speaker 3: treadmill for a week and then hop off for a
Speaker 3: couple of days.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, and dropping into somebody else's rhythm is so
Speaker 2: so difficult.
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, especially as a kid.
Speaker 3: But you know, you and Taj and Journey Smallett when
Speaker 3: she came out, you know, you guys did such a
Speaker 3: great job with it, you know, just kind of like
Speaker 3: adapting and fitting right in and becoming part of the
Speaker 3: you know, part of the kid crew.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was such a delight.
Speaker 1: Michelle really did have outstanding friends, Like just looking did
Speaker 1: Nico Hughes like you said, like, yeah, all of yourself? Wow, dang,
Speaker 1: she had some really talented friends.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, heavy hitters from the start yep, straight out of
Speaker 3: the room. Right, So speaking straight out of the room,
Speaker 3: when did you know you wanted to be an actor?
Speaker 3: I imagined probably pretty soon after that, as was for
Speaker 3: some of us.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I knew. I knew pretty pretty early on.
Speaker 2: I started, you know, seeing around the house dancing at
Speaker 2: the TV, and my mom was like, it sounds like
Speaker 2: a little better than just you know, kid humming, So
Speaker 2: maybe I should explore this. And my mom coming from
Speaker 2: a variety TV back she was on The Dean Martin Show,
Speaker 2: so she came to LA in the sixties and danced
Speaker 2: for Dean Martin for his entire variety show. So a
Speaker 2: huge career and so hilariously. She was like, she thought, well,
Speaker 2: since since she came from dance, She's like, if I
Speaker 2: put him in dance first, he might lose interest because
Speaker 2: it takes so much discipline, so much well the dance.
Speaker 2: The only dance teacher she knew here in LA was
Speaker 2: a former teacher of hers from Houston that had a
Speaker 2: studio out in See Me Valley whose name was Patsy Swayze.
Speaker 2: That Swayze like literally Patrick's mom whow And so Patrick's
Speaker 2: mom taught me to dance essentially amazing And the very first,
Speaker 2: the very first time I ever did like a patriotic thing,
Speaker 2: like any The very first incarnation of Yankee Doodle was
Speaker 2: a dance competition that was at the Beverly Garland.
Speaker 4: Hotel Dance Competition, right.
Speaker 2: And I was too young to compete, So she had
Speaker 2: me do this little dance routine for the audience while
Speaker 2: the judges were tabulating between act Yes, and that was
Speaker 2: the first time I sang Yankee Doodle Dandy. And the
Speaker 2: director of Star Search was one of the judges, and
Speaker 2: he approached my parents right after and said, will your
Speaker 2: son audition for the next season of Star Search? And
Speaker 2: that's how Yankee Doodle got from the ballroom.
Speaker 3: To Oh my gosh severly Garland through Stars Star Search.
Speaker 2: And then it was the Full House producers seeing me
Speaker 2: do it on Star Search that wrote the episode about
Speaker 2: the patriotic show. And then I came in an audition
Speaker 2: cold because they didn't know if I could act or
Speaker 2: talk or.
Speaker 4: You're great Yankee doo o.
Speaker 2: We don't know about the kids sing on TV.
Speaker 1: I remember that's important.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So it was a really quick I mean not quick
Speaker 2: because it was years, but but it felt like a
Speaker 2: really fast trajectory on this one song brought me.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, let's be fair, you were what eight,
Speaker 4: So I.
Speaker 3: Mean it really wasn't years, It wasn't relatively fast.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pretty fast.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, so was Full House your first acting job
Speaker 1: then or how did that go from? Did you do
Speaker 1: anything between Star Search and Full House?
Speaker 2: I did? I did one. I was I was in
Speaker 2: a movie called Calendar Girl with Jason Priestley Jerry O'Connell. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and I played young Jerry O'Connell. In the flashback. Oh
Speaker 2: my god, it's just all yeah, yeah, right, so I
Speaker 2: did I had done that and that was so that
Speaker 2: was kind of the first time on a film set.
Speaker 2: And then but yeah, first sitcom experience was was full house.
Speaker 1: Man, Oh, your parents must have been so proud.
Speaker 4: That so great? And how old were you were you? What?
Speaker 2: Seven?
Speaker 4: Eight?
Speaker 2: I think I was seven when I that first that Yankee.
Speaker 2: Do I believe I was seven? Yeah, because I think
Speaker 2: I was on the show seven eight nine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you said you auditioned cold, Like, do you
Speaker 3: remember the process of auditioning or was it.
Speaker 4: One of those things where you're like, I don't know.
Speaker 4: It just kind of blends into other auditions that I did, but.
Speaker 2: That one blends in. What I do remember is how
Speaker 2: quickly I went from my last like reading with producers
Speaker 2: to the table because like the episode was already going,
Speaker 2: oh yeah. And so what I do remember is walking
Speaker 2: into the table because of course I watched the show,
Speaker 2: So walking into the room with all of you sitting there,
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, this is legit, Like, this is
Speaker 2: it I have I have arrived at this conference table
Speaker 2: and there they all are, and I'm like, I just
Speaker 2: don't mess it up.
Speaker 3: Oh you couldn't not anymore than we were always messing up.
Speaker 1: Have you seen the show at that point? Were you
Speaker 1: a fan? Did you watch the huge?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I was already watching it every week.
Speaker 3: Okay, so that was because this was like season five,
Speaker 3: so this was this was the height.
Speaker 2: Of Yeah, you guys were at the peak.
Speaker 1: We were well established by that point.
Speaker 4: Oh yes, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how intimidating to walk into that table read and be.
Speaker 2: Like, there's right literally and you do.
Speaker 4: I mean, do you remember what your first day on
Speaker 4: set was?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 4: Do you remember coming to set?
Speaker 2: I do I remember coming set? I remember sort of
Speaker 2: hilariously reconnecting with Mary Kate Nashley because one of my
Speaker 2: best childhood friends went to preschool with them. Oh okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: that little preschool on Colfax right down the way. And
Speaker 2: so we had been to like some birthday parties together
Speaker 2: and like socialized, you know, very you know, as briefly
Speaker 2: as you do when you're a.
Speaker 4: Kid, but still you're like, oh, I know you.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's like I've met you before. This is
Speaker 2: not weird. And then yeah, and then just uh, realizing
Speaker 2: how quickly because I had done a bunch of on
Speaker 2: stage work and so realized. I was so nervous the
Speaker 2: first couple of days, but realizing how much a camera
Speaker 2: blocking rehearsal was just just like a rehearsal, the same
Speaker 2: as doing a play, and I was like, great, cool, Yes, the.
Speaker 3: Move from like live theater to sitcom is kind of
Speaker 3: their sort of cousins.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they totally are. And joel's Wick was the director
Speaker 2: of the first episode, that Yankee Doodle episode, and so
Speaker 2: it was great. It was just like, oh, I know
Speaker 2: this guy, this guy, I knows me. We get it,
Speaker 2: Like it was just immediately easy. He made it so
Speaker 2: fun and casual.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Joe really did. And he was so great at
Speaker 3: working with kids, Like as crazy as he was in
Speaker 3: like his little you know, just running around, you know what,
Speaker 3: but like he just he was there was such love
Speaker 3: about him that you were like whatever, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, Like he just wanted things done, and he
Speaker 3: wanted his brain moves nine thousand miles an hour.
Speaker 1: And he knew what he wants. He knows exactly what
Speaker 1: he wants and.
Speaker 2: That was the thing that made it so easy jumping
Speaker 2: in because it was like there was no margin for confusion.
Speaker 2: It was like no, no, no, here are the parameters, here's
Speaker 2: what he wants, here's what we're trying to get to.
Speaker 2: So it was like there was no fear. It was
Speaker 2: just kind of like just everybody's diving in together, which
Speaker 2: felt really cool.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah for sure.
Speaker 3: Now you you guys had kind of a little crew
Speaker 3: in Michelle's classroom. It was like you, Miko, Journey, and Taj.
Speaker 2: Right, uh huh, and.
Speaker 4: You guys were all.
Speaker 3: Like in the same class that's all in the.
Speaker 1: Amazing Did you hang out when you weren't on stage
Speaker 1: or were you just in school the whole time or
Speaker 1: what was that dynamic?
Speaker 2: We we did our school hours altogether in that in
Speaker 2: those rooms up.
Speaker 3: Behind Ashley, Mary Kate had their own because they were
Speaker 3: like five years younger than us, So we were like
Speaker 3: I was upper elementary and you were like early high
Speaker 3: school and then the younger kids were yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we all did our school hours together every day,
Speaker 2: even though we were all at different schools.
Speaker 4: Right, so much fun. Yeah, the school room is like
Speaker 4: the place of bonding.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's so. Who was was well it wasn't Adria.
Speaker 1: Who was this? Do you remember your studio teacher?
Speaker 2: Because Adrian was there. I definitely remember remember Adrian was there, I.
Speaker 3: Think still working with Ashley Mary Kate, but I don't
Speaker 3: think she was the teacher at that point.
Speaker 4: I don't know. Was it Rhonda's sister she take over
Speaker 4: as their teacher at one point?
Speaker 1: Remember who had over for the little kids? I can
Speaker 1: only remember MiNet.
Speaker 3: Throw some fan rito it out there is like I
Speaker 3: have the entire production casting crew list for a season.
Speaker 2: I can tell you.
Speaker 3: Someone started and stopped right yeah, and what car they
Speaker 3: got to drive on everything. Do you have any favorite
Speaker 3: memories from like full House working with all the kids
Speaker 3: and having fun like or do you just sort of
Speaker 3: remember getting to come to work and it being a
Speaker 3: good place to work.
Speaker 2: It was always yeah, I mean the overall was it
Speaker 2: was always a great place to work. It was always
Speaker 2: a relief I was. I was basically in regular school
Speaker 2: throughout my working life, so it was always coming in
Speaker 2: and out, and I just remember feeling so relieved when
Speaker 2: I'd get you know, that Monday would just be like ah,
Speaker 2: you know, showing up at work was just like, oh great,
Speaker 2: I know what, I know how this is going to go.
Speaker 2: I know how fun this is going to be. I
Speaker 2: love these people. I love laughing with these people. You know,
Speaker 2: we we have a goal. I'm a very goal oriented person.
Speaker 2: I loved that. I loved that final producer run because
Speaker 2: it really felt like a show with high stage, you know,
Speaker 2: like we had to we had to prove that those
Speaker 2: jokes were worth it. Yeah, exactly, And that was so
Speaker 2: fun and exciting. And then tape day always just felt
Speaker 2: like a you know, a big party. It is.
Speaker 3: It's like a weird circus and you're like, but also,
Speaker 3: this is my job, but there's like a circus going on.
Speaker 2: There's a full yeah, but there's also a show happening.
Speaker 2: And it was very it was very weird and in
Speaker 2: a cool way at getting to do some some cool things,
Speaker 2: like when we did that soccer episode and we were
Speaker 2: out at the polo field out at were Rogers. Yeah
Speaker 2: yeah yeah. And just like being the goalie and being bad,
Speaker 2: like getting to be bad at sports on purpose was
Speaker 2: so fantastic for me. Every every year at Pride, I
Speaker 2: post the screen cap of me holding the rainbow goalie.
Speaker 1: My face is like, oh yes, classic, I love that.
Speaker 1: Oh man, I love it.
Speaker 4: Oh god, I forgot about that soccer episode.
Speaker 1: We're not there yet, We're still we just started. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so we're not quite there yet.
Speaker 4: We haven't met your character yet but soon.
Speaker 2: Derek hasn't come, but did just.
Speaker 4: Meet Teddy, so it's not not long, not far.
Speaker 1: Were you like Derek as a little kid, was or
Speaker 1: was he vastly different than than your own person.
Speaker 2: I think there were a lot of similarities. You know.
Speaker 2: I was very, very precocious and very you know, able
Speaker 2: to speak my mind and think, well, why shouldn't things
Speaker 2: just be like that? You know. I feel like he
Speaker 2: was always just kind of telling Michelle, like, well, why
Speaker 2: don't you just do it like? You know? And I was.
Speaker 2: I was kind of a bossy kid, nice and so yeah,
Speaker 2: it was. It was very close. It was not until
Speaker 2: I did some other roles where I really became the villain,
Speaker 2: became the battie, and that was like, that was further
Speaker 2: away from the truth. But you know, they were all
Speaker 2: they were all kind of precocious and in their own way.
Speaker 2: But yeah, Derek, Derek and I always feel I always
Speaker 2: think when we were doing Fuller House, so I was
Speaker 2: always thinking about, like, oh, where is Derek, Like I
Speaker 2: hope he's teaching high school theater in San Francisco.
Speaker 3: I was gonna say, he hasn't left San Francisco.
Speaker 4: No, no, no, no, he is.
Speaker 3: He's well connected in the community, yes, and yeah he's teaching. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he's definitely teaching theater at some like kind of like
Speaker 3: avant garde Conservatory San Francisco, so.
Speaker 2: Aggressive, like yeah, feeds into a art like yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: See, this is such a missed opportunity not having Michelle
Speaker 1: come back for fuller, Like we could have had so
Speaker 1: many backstories with Derek and Teddy and all of them.
Speaker 1: It would have been so great to see where it
Speaker 1: would have.
Speaker 2: Been fun to see. Yeah, where are they now of
Speaker 2: that great.
Speaker 3: Chi That's what We'll just do the spinoff with Michelle,
Speaker 3: and we'll just do the spinoff of Michelle's Friends.
Speaker 4: It'll be in the same in the same universe.
Speaker 1: Full of Michelle's friends without Michelle, full of Michelle's right
Speaker 1: apartment next door, full of Michelle's friends.
Speaker 2: Right single camera, very gritty Francis. Yeah, yeah, totally different.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like referent Yeah. Now, you were nine when
Speaker 3: you did The Little Rascals, and actually Mary Kate were
Speaker 3: also in.
Speaker 4: The Little Rascals, So what was that like when you guys.
Speaker 3: Got to all work together on a movie which is
Speaker 3: such a different vibe.
Speaker 2: That was the biggest blessing that they said yes to
Speaker 2: that cameo, because that was one of the reasons why
Speaker 2: I was allowed to do the movie, because I was
Speaker 2: under contract with full House.
Speaker 4: But they would let them go to do it yes.
Speaker 2: And they absolutely could have refused, like but by the
Speaker 2: way the contract went, they could have said absolutely not
Speaker 2: when I got cast in Little Rascals, but they had
Speaker 2: offered this cameo for the slumber party scene with Darla
Speaker 2: to Mary Kate Nashley. And because they said yes, they
Speaker 2: were like, oh, well, this is just great for the show.
Speaker 2: Like We're all like these are these are the kids
Speaker 2: that are like working right now, and great, this looks great.
Speaker 2: And I remember there were two episodes that would would
Speaker 2: conflict that that were already scripted that Derek was already
Speaker 2: meant to be in, and one was one was the
Speaker 2: Talent Show at the Smash Club, and one was the
Speaker 2: Go was a Go Kart Race, And I was like, well,
Speaker 2: there's also a go kart race and a talent show
Speaker 2: in this movie. I'm like, so I'm gonna stick with
Speaker 2: the talent show. I'm gonna keep singing on full House
Speaker 2: because I'm gonna get to do the go kart.
Speaker 4: Like what do I want?
Speaker 3: What's my special skill and where do I want to
Speaker 3: put it?
Speaker 2: And that was when Catherine Zaremba, the Redhead girl that
Speaker 2: was also in our that came later like after the
Speaker 2: taj Journey, you know, era, but still with us all.
Speaker 2: She came one season later. We that's when we sang
Speaker 2: don't go Break in My Heart in.
Speaker 1: The that is classic one of my fa good So.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So it was like the gamble and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm going to pass up on the full
Speaker 2: house go go kart race? Do the movie one love it? Did?
Speaker 4: Wait? Did we do a full house go cart race?
Speaker 2: There was a go kart episode.
Speaker 1: It was Michelle's storyline, so we were yeah, yeah, it's hysterical. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember you and that little redhead up there. You
Speaker 1: were just like little adults, like miniature adults.
Speaker 3: It was like it was like Captain and to Neil
Speaker 3: shutdown totally, yeah.
Speaker 2: Totally, And Dave had on those Elton John glasses and
Speaker 2: it was great.
Speaker 1: It was wonderful, classic full house moment. Oh I love it.
Speaker 1: That's so funny.
Speaker 3: Oh man, and you do a lot of voice acting too, right, Like,
Speaker 3: that's kind of something that you've been continuing doing.
Speaker 4: What what what? Where would we recognize your voice?
Speaker 2: I got to do quite a bit in those years
Speaker 2: following Full House and Little Rascals, I did. I was
Speaker 2: on the Disney series Recess for many many season actually
Speaker 2: the whole the whole show. And then I did the
Speaker 2: last few seasons of Hey Arnold. I was the final
Speaker 2: I was the final voice of Eugene, the one with
Speaker 2: the like the hair that looks like yeah, which and
Speaker 2: we did a hilarious musical episode of of that.
Speaker 4: Oh amazing, like it was the show.
Speaker 2: And then a ton of you know, a ton of
Speaker 2: in between, you know, quick quick things. I did random
Speaker 2: boy is in Tarzan, I did random voices in Anastasia,
Speaker 2: you know, through.
Speaker 4: Throughout some fun Disney.
Speaker 2: Stuff, fun Disney stuff, Yeah, some really really cool UH
Speaker 2: did some Warner Brothers stuff. Got to do the Animaniacs
Speaker 2: and Pinky in the Brain. And there was a history
Speaker 2: recap show called Hysteria that we did with Chrese Summer,
Speaker 2: who's just such an icon of yeah and so like.
Speaker 2: To get to work with her was like.
Speaker 4: The pinnacle I've worked with her brother. Oh okay, Rainbow, oh.
Speaker 3: Amazing, who was in an one of the movies I
Speaker 3: did for Hallmark.
Speaker 4: So yeah, again like how cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we're in Canada like and he was like,
Speaker 3: oh yeah, I think my sister.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it's always small interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, less less than six degrees of separation, always
Speaker 2: sure for.
Speaker 3: Those of us that worked in that period and are
Speaker 3: still where we're like, we're we're dragging ourselves through it.
Speaker 2: You know, we're doing it. We're doing it.
Speaker 4: Which do you.
Speaker 3: Like voice acting and like singing or on stage on camera?
Speaker 3: Which what is your favorite, uh sort of way to perform?
Speaker 4: Do you like live theater or I think I always.
Speaker 2: Go back to live theater because it's where I started,
Speaker 2: and it's for me. It's that it's it's been there
Speaker 2: at every point of my career and it's kind of
Speaker 2: what informs all of the different work that I do.
Speaker 2: I started directing a lot of musical theater after college,
Speaker 2: and that's kind of been that's kind of been what's
Speaker 2: kept me in my artistic passions in between amazing the
Speaker 2: bigger projects or the you know, the more commercial projects,
Speaker 2: and so that's that's been I will always go back
Speaker 2: to it. There is something so divine to me about
Speaker 2: the exchange, the energetic exchange with an audience and performance.
Speaker 2: And I love so many types of theater. I just
Speaker 2: spent two weeks in London and saw everything from like
Speaker 2: the most heart wrenching, you know, experimental type theater to
Speaker 2: like clueless the goal and enjoyed it all, you know,
Speaker 2: like I really do. I am such a fan of
Speaker 2: the work. I'm a fan of theater and I love
Speaker 2: doing it, I love supporting it, and it is always
Speaker 2: going to be my heart and soul.
Speaker 1: What were some of your favorite productions that you directed?
Speaker 1: Can you pick a favorite?
Speaker 2: Gosh, it's it's it's hard to pick a favorite. But recently,
Speaker 2: right after the right after we started theater again after
Speaker 2: the pandemic, I got asked to be an associate professor
Speaker 2: at the University of Mississippi. Of all places, in their
Speaker 2: Opera department, you direct a production of The Light in
Speaker 2: the Piazza, which I don't know if you know the show,
Speaker 2: but it's a very intimate, small show and we were
Speaker 2: doing it in this giant performing arts hall that they
Speaker 2: have at the university. I mean it's literally where one
Speaker 2: of the presidential debates happened.
Speaker 4: It's like it's a giant, right, and it's like.
Speaker 2: And this is like a you know, a cast of ten.
Speaker 2: But it was so incredible and I love the piece
Speaker 2: so much. And when the hoser, Adam Gettle, heard about
Speaker 2: what we were doing with it, and he was very
Speaker 2: excited that this you know, southern kind of you know,
Speaker 2: historically conservative area was putting on this this fully color
Speaker 2: blind cast of his very Italian, very nineteen fifties piece.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 2: He came down and we got to spend a week
Speaker 2: with him, and he that's amazing, and he got to
Speaker 2: see you know, we got to talk about like why
Speaker 2: I loved the show and my take on it and
Speaker 2: all of that, and it was just it was such
Speaker 2: a beautiful, special kind of thing for a show that
Speaker 2: he doesn't get done very often. You know, it's it's
Speaker 2: fairly niche, but it's just such a brilliant piece of theater.
Speaker 2: And to get to do it in that way and
Speaker 2: presented it to an area of the country that definitely
Speaker 2: didn't see the national tour right, right, you know, it
Speaker 2: was really cool.
Speaker 4: Oh, I love that.
Speaker 1: Did you have any connection to that area.
Speaker 2: Or you I do I have some family family there.
Speaker 2: I have some family that lived down in Oxford, where
Speaker 2: the town where the universe he is, that have connections
Speaker 2: to the university. So I didn't completely come out of nowhere,
Speaker 2: but it was a really really neat, really really neat experience.
Speaker 1: Awesome.
Speaker 3: So, speaking of opera, like, do you do operatic vocal
Speaker 3: coaching or is it like I mean just I mean
Speaker 3: vocal coaching sort of is all sorts.
Speaker 4: But is that like a specialty of yours or do
Speaker 4: you do a lot of opera singing?
Speaker 2: It is? I don't do it. I don't personally do
Speaker 2: a lot of opera singing. It is it is. I
Speaker 2: was trained after kind of funny enough I did. I
Speaker 2: did this in reverse, so like after Full House and
Speaker 2: after Star Search and all of the singing on TV
Speaker 2: and movies. Then when my voice changed, I went to
Speaker 2: really study, Like I studied MARQUEESI, I studied Belconto, and
Speaker 2: I studied Belconto and yeah, and did all the little
Speaker 2: quirks and so sort of like learn learned all of that,
Speaker 2: then studied with a teacher that taught me how to
Speaker 2: teach the methods. Yeah, yeah, it became very important to
Speaker 2: me I fell into I fell into coaching backwards. I
Speaker 2: was helping friends get ready for their college auditions for
Speaker 2: conservatory programs. Okay, yeah, And because I had done so
Speaker 2: many musical theater auditions, it was very easy for me
Speaker 2: to be like, what do you got, I'll cut it
Speaker 2: to sixteen thirty two bars? Do this, do this, do that.
Speaker 2: And one of my friends one day said, you know,
Speaker 2: you should like do this, and I'm like, I'm I'm eighteen.
Speaker 2: Nobody's going to pay me to like coach them, and They're.
Speaker 4: Like, right, they might, they might.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so yeah, I've had a roster of vocal
Speaker 2: students ever since.
Speaker 4: Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1: That's that's impressive.
Speaker 3: I always loved I always loved going to uh singing lessons. Well,
Speaker 3: I loved going to singing lessons. That is the practicing
Speaker 3: in between as a teenager. And I was like, oh yeaheah.
Speaker 2: The in between could be a drag.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 4: But now of course I'm like, why didn't you listen
Speaker 4: to your mother? You should have practiced more every day?
Speaker 3: Right, yeah, thank of what you could have done? And
Speaker 3: you you composed music as well? I do, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: do your renaissance man. You do a lot of things.
Speaker 4: Very proud of you.
Speaker 2: I thank you. I you know, I I just like
Speaker 2: to I love to create and whatever avenue, you know.
Speaker 2: I just I found that in our very weird and
Speaker 2: tumultuous business, the best thing that we can do as
Speaker 2: creatives is to just keep creating, whether it's for a
Speaker 2: large audience, small audience. You know, I feel so grateful
Speaker 2: that I had these crazy, you know, opportunities as a
Speaker 2: kid that we're seen by so many people. But I
Speaker 2: try to take the work that I do now that
Speaker 2: I know is not as not as big, not as huge,
Speaker 2: not as commercial widely commercial, but take the same amount
Speaker 2: of care in what I put out, even if it's
Speaker 2: just personal things. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, it's you know, I find sometimes when like again,
Speaker 3: the more commercial work or whatever slows, You're like, Okay,
Speaker 3: I just have to throw myself into creating something, comedy,
Speaker 3: writing this, whatever it is. Just I have to do something.
Speaker 3: You're like, I don't even care if anybody sees it.
Speaker 3: I don't care of it, Like I just I have
Speaker 3: to do it otherwise I'm gonna go crazy. Yep.
Speaker 2: And I think you know, as you both know, when
Speaker 2: when we into the sometimes into the throes of our business,
Speaker 2: and it becomes so much more about the other stuff
Speaker 2: and not the art itself, and we get so bogged
Speaker 2: down in that. I think, just constantly creating, at least
Speaker 2: for me, it keeps me so much more optimistic and
Speaker 2: it keeps me, yes, for sure, it keeps me in
Speaker 2: a positive headspace. It keeps me in a grateful headspace
Speaker 2: and not in a just like oh, what's the next thing.
Speaker 4: I just always feel like it. It just keeps.
Speaker 3: The momentum going if you're you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 3: it's that the Newtonian principle like a.
Speaker 4: Body, you know, a body of rest will stay.
Speaker 3: Arrest, but a body emotion will continue emotion. So it's
Speaker 3: like if I'm just working those creative muscles and doing
Speaker 3: and be and also like going and doing a friends
Speaker 3: show or doing whatever, like you said, you never know
Speaker 3: when you're going to do a show and someone's.
Speaker 4: There and it's like.
Speaker 3: Hey, would you want to do star search? You know whatever,
Speaker 3: like and things happen. So it's like it's kind of
Speaker 3: that weird little uh thing about being creative and creating
Speaker 3: work is that you sometimes literally created out of thin air.
Speaker 2: I still teach once a week a dance class for
Speaker 2: a small group of people here and just right here
Speaker 2: in the valley. And it's like, my youngest student is nineteen,
Speaker 2: my eldest student is eighty three, and it's just a
Speaker 2: Broadway cardio class and it's literally just for an hour,
Speaker 2: like easy, easy, easy routines, yea, and just for an hour,
Speaker 2: we just enjoy the music and like the love of
Speaker 2: musical theater. And it's not about getting the steps right.
Speaker 2: It's not about it being hard, it's not about it.
Speaker 2: It's literally just about the love of it. Ah.
Speaker 1: I love great idea. Wow, that's fantastic.
Speaker 4: I love that. I remember brought what we used to
Speaker 4: do because I did musical theater.
Speaker 3: If I went to Osha and did musical theater, and
Speaker 3: I remember that was always one of my favorite dance
Speaker 3: like sort of sections was when.
Speaker 4: We did a lot of the like Broadway character work.
Speaker 3: It was just so fun to you know, it was
Speaker 3: just such a differ way to like dance, you.
Speaker 2: Know, oh yeah, oh yeah, it's my favorite. It's all
Speaker 2: all that character driven work, all that fossy stuff, all
Speaker 2: that Michael Bennett stuff. It's yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And an eight year old. Your hats off to the
Speaker 1: eighty three year old. It's fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we get, we get it's it really is. When
Speaker 2: I opened it up, I was like, I want this
Speaker 2: to be all ages, and then it really has become
Speaker 2: all ages.
Speaker 4: That's amazing. I love it. I just want to be
Speaker 4: that eighty three year old lady still dancing around.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, what I mean you've been again, Like you said,
Speaker 3: you've been in this business. We kind of touched on it,
Speaker 3: but what do you think would be the one piece
Speaker 3: of advice that you would give someone who maybe started
Speaker 3: young in this business and like wants to keep going.
Speaker 2: For me, I always go back to when you know,
Speaker 2: when people ask me about like what do you You've
Speaker 2: done various things in various corners of the business, and
Speaker 2: what what would you suggest, I always go, You've got
Speaker 2: to look back inside and find whatever that initial spark is,
Speaker 2: you know, whatever that passion thing, whatever, that very first
Speaker 2: thing that made you feel like, you know, it's a
Speaker 2: little different for all of us, but for me, it
Speaker 2: was like what it made me feel like, I've got
Speaker 2: to perform, I've got to be on stage, I've got
Speaker 2: to sing, i have to dance. I have to act,
Speaker 2: you know, whatever that little thing is, and it it
Speaker 2: could be, it could be less specific than that. But
Speaker 2: if you can find that and replicate that feeling, or
Speaker 2: at least try to replicate that feeling, that will keep
Speaker 2: that momentum going. Like you've got to keep that fire burning.
Speaker 2: It's like when that fire goes out, then then all
Speaker 2: the chaos comes in.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: We always have to go back to, Okay, what what
Speaker 2: is this gift that needs to be shared for it
Speaker 2: to resonate and to give back to others. And that's
Speaker 2: because that's what we do. You know, we hold it,
Speaker 2: we reflect exactly, and so finding the joy and the
Speaker 2: love in that and what what is the passion moment
Speaker 2: that made you start that in the first place? Always
Speaker 2: going back to that, and I've had I mean, huh,
Speaker 2: there have been times where I have lost Like, there have.
Speaker 3: Definitely been times when you're like, I just don't I
Speaker 3: don't know what I need to do right now, but
Speaker 3: I think it might be just a little nothing and
Speaker 3: we were going to figure this out.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. This last fall, I was up in Rochester,
Speaker 2: New York, in a two hundred and fifty seat theater
Speaker 2: and I did a month run of the show The
Speaker 2: Boy from Oz and I. It was one of those
Speaker 2: dream roles that you thought that I thought, like, I'm
Speaker 2: never going to get to do this, like it's such
Speaker 2: a nobody does it. It's like so like it's like
Speaker 2: that's it was like Hugh Jackman and then no one
Speaker 2: like you know, and this this regional theater company up
Speaker 2: there asked me to come do it, and I was like, yes,
Speaker 2: I'm saying yes. I've never even been to Rochester, am
Speaker 2: I right, I'm saying yes. And I went up and
Speaker 2: had like the most soul fulfilling, one of the most
Speaker 2: soul fulfilling artistic experiences of my life with that cast
Speaker 2: up there.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 2: And it was just brilliant being able to tell that
Speaker 2: story for a month, you know, a magical month of
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh right, And that was one
Speaker 2: of those moments for me. I was like, oh right,
Speaker 2: this is why I do this, right. You know, when
Speaker 2: you're when you're in the throes of the story and
Speaker 2: you start to hear the sniffles and you start to
Speaker 2: see the tissues come out, and I'm like, oh, this
Speaker 2: is this is the divine moment.
Speaker 3: You know, this is when you feel that impact, You're like, oh,
Speaker 3: it's the grind of the auditioning and the social media
Speaker 3: and the thing.
Speaker 4: You're like, oh, this is I can't do.
Speaker 3: But you know, somebody goes, hey, do you want to
Speaker 3: come tap dance on the stage, and You're like, oh
Speaker 3: my god do I Yes?
Speaker 2: On my way right now? Right?
Speaker 1: Is there a dream role that you've never been able
Speaker 1: to play but have always wanted to play?
Speaker 2: That's a great question. I there there are a few.
Speaker 2: This the the one that like that just like stays
Speaker 2: with me always hilariously and I'm almost aging into the
Speaker 2: right to the right era for it. But I've been
Speaker 2: joking with my my friends that I'm trying to enter
Speaker 2: my valgeon period. I really, I just really want to
Speaker 2: do the le Miss somewhere some way, somehow like that
Speaker 2: is that is a bucket list Okay for me? Okay's
Speaker 2: manifest So I'm like, I'm in the sweet spot now.
Speaker 1: Okay, we'll manifest it right here?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's it? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Oh cool?
Speaker 4: I love Well.
Speaker 3: Do you have any other amazing projects or shows or
Speaker 3: anything that you want to plug while you're here to
Speaker 3: let people know where they can find your amazing performances.
Speaker 2: That's very kind of you. I post pretty much right now.
Speaker 2: I'm just posting on Instagram, so you'll see. That's kind
Speaker 2: of where that's kind of my central hub, so you
Speaker 2: can follow me there for all of the all of
Speaker 2: the updates. I am working on something that sadly I
Speaker 2: can't talk too specifically about, but I am. I am
Speaker 2: in production, in pre production for an immersive musical here
Speaker 2: in Los Angeles that will hopefully expand to other cities.
Speaker 2: It's a very interesting project and it's it's really cool
Speaker 2: and there's some historical fiction involved, and there's audience interaction,
Speaker 2: and it's it's a type of show, type of look
Speaker 2: at a show that's never been done before in this way.
Speaker 4: So we're there. I'm a history nerd.
Speaker 1: I mean, yes, yeah, please let us know, let us
Speaker 1: know when you can, when you can talk about it,
Speaker 1: please les.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So that's that's that's on the horizon. So that's that's
Speaker 2: going to be My summer is just Oh, I love it.
Speaker 4: I love what's your Instagram handle for people that don't.
Speaker 2: Know, it's at Blake McIvor. My first and middle name
Speaker 2: B L A K E M.
Speaker 1: C I V E R got it's so cool.
Speaker 3: Ya Well, Blake, this has been so much fun to
Speaker 3: have you on the show.
Speaker 4: I am so glad that we got to talk to you.
Speaker 3: I mean, you're you're just you've always been an incredibly
Speaker 3: talented human. I mean when you were a kid, you
Speaker 3: kind of blew everyone away with just how like great
Speaker 3: and theatrical and.
Speaker 4: Amazing you were.
Speaker 3: And I'm just it's really awesome to see that you
Speaker 3: have continued it and that it is something that you're
Speaker 3: so passionate about and love so much. Because that, you know,
Speaker 3: some people walk away go, yeah, I don't want that
Speaker 3: was the thing I did when I was a kid,
Speaker 3: and then there's those of us that are like, this
Speaker 3: is what I do, this is who I am.
Speaker 1: Wanted to do this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, thank you both so much. It's this has
Speaker 2: made my heart so full and happy to get to
Speaker 2: see your faces and talk to you and catch up.
Speaker 2: This has just been a delight.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 3: Well, keep us posted on the The Vague Project because
Speaker 3: because that's seriously, it.
Speaker 4: Sounds really fascinating.
Speaker 3: And I love live theater and I love interesting different
Speaker 3: live theater, so that.
Speaker 4: Sounds funny interaction like yes.
Speaker 2: Right, yes, I'll tell you about it as soon as
Speaker 2: I can.
Speaker 4: Okay, it sounds good. Thank you so much for joining
Speaker 4: us US today.
Speaker 3: We really appreciate it, every one.
Speaker 4: Oh that was so great.
Speaker 1: Sam, Like I knew we had talked to him during
Speaker 1: that season of Fuller, but.
Speaker 4: He's just the best.
Speaker 1: He's just the really is exactly so Derek would grow
Speaker 1: up to be, you know.
Speaker 4: Exactly if you have the same hair. He does have
Speaker 4: the same hair. And I mean that in the best right,
Speaker 4: Like just got you great follow you thick hair.
Speaker 1: Yeah, got hair envy for sure, good hair, yep.
Speaker 3: But so great to see him and so amazing and
Speaker 3: wonderful to see like how much he loves what he does.
Speaker 4: Still it's contagious.
Speaker 1: And his excitement for you know, musical theater, the business,
Speaker 1: in creativity in general, it's it's infectious. It's really kind
Speaker 1: of like, yeah, yeah, that's true.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: And and I think, yeah, there's the there's a lot
Speaker 3: of us that got into this business and people like
Speaker 3: do your parents want you to do it? And you're
Speaker 3: like no, I we came out and we were like
Speaker 3: I have I just want to do with like a performance,
Speaker 3: you know, And and yeah, he is just one of
Speaker 3: those people, and I never knew his mom did the
Speaker 3: Dean Moon.
Speaker 4: I had no idea.
Speaker 1: I mean, it makes sense, you know, the apple doesn't
Speaker 1: fall far from the tree, but I didn't.
Speaker 4: I do remember her.
Speaker 3: I remember her in the stands when he would do
Speaker 3: Yankee Doodle Bori interviews dancing, she would be dancing along,
Speaker 3: yes and yeah, which blessed you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: She I mean she probably choreographed it, right, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, at first I thought, oh, she's just being a
Speaker 1: stage bomb, but no, she's.
Speaker 3: Actually she's like, no, this is my number that I choreographed.
Speaker 3: Don't screw it up. Yeah that's so great. But yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: the apple did not fall far from the tree in
Speaker 3: that one. Love What a what a great interview that is.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, that's going to wrap up our interview with
Speaker 3: Blake mcgivory.
Speaker 4: You and you guys.
Speaker 3: Blake is such an incredible human being and we were
Speaker 3: so excited to have him on the podcast.
Speaker 4: It was just really really great.
Speaker 3: So go check out his instagram, make sure that you
Speaker 3: follow him, and also make sure that you're following the
Speaker 3: podcast on whatever platform you're listening to it.
Speaker 4: Follow us on Instagram at Howard Podcast.
Speaker 3: Uh and You can also send us an email at
Speaker 3: howarud Tanner Ritos at gmail dot com. Uh and yeah,
Speaker 3: we'd love to hear your comments, your thoughts, your questions.
Speaker 3: We might do another fan Question episode one of these days,
Speaker 3: so we'll get more at those. And yeah, also visit
Speaker 3: our merch store Howard Meerch dot com. We've got some fun.
Speaker 4: Shirts up there. We're uh, I think we're coming up
Speaker 4: with a new design for something.
Speaker 2: Yes, we did.
Speaker 4: We still have the special do we still have the
Speaker 4: special T shirt from the Well, yeah, it's pre order
Speaker 4: so you can oh, that's right.
Speaker 1: It is crull ship in a few weeks after you
Speaker 1: order it.
Speaker 3: Okay, got it, So yeah, you can still do that
Speaker 3: but Howard Merch dot com. And in the meantime, we
Speaker 3: plan on seeing you guys next time because we love
Speaker 3: you fan Arritos. So remember the world is small, but
Speaker 3: the house is full of tap shoes, so many tap shoes.
Speaker 4: That was that was my That was me so great,
Speaker 4: that's me tap dancing. Okay,