Speaker 1: And we're like, oh, are you guys closed, and he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can't be in the zoo or I know, you
Speaker 1: guys missed the animals, but like I understand, Like he
Speaker 1: was like, I understand why you're here, but yeah, it
Speaker 1: really can't be doing that. Hey, my name is Alex
Speaker 1: Oustetter and I'm an actor and I love to sneak
Speaker 1: into zoos.
Speaker 2: Hi everybody, and welcome to Off the Beat. If you're
Speaker 2: wondering who this is speaking to you right now, well
Speaker 2: it's me your host, Brian Bumgartner. Today, as you just heard,
Speaker 2: I have a talented young actor on the podcast, Alex Newstetter. Well, okay,
Speaker 2: he's older now, but he started very very young, at
Speaker 2: just five years of age. Now, I'm told that back
Speaker 2: in the day, Alex was a very cute kid, so
Speaker 2: cute in fact, that his mom's friend said, well, he's
Speaker 2: a cute kid and photogenic, and that little comment ended
Speaker 2: up getting him into modeling and commercial work as a kid,
Speaker 2: which then became more and more dramatic by the year. Now, well,
Speaker 2: he's a full blown star and also a delightful person.
Speaker 2: Next time you tell a kid that they're cute, you
Speaker 2: should probably check in a few years later and see
Speaker 2: what they did with that information. They might be just
Speaker 2: like Alex. Alex Well, he's an incredible talent. I've been
Speaker 2: a fan of his for quite a while. He played
Speaker 2: Homer in Meg Ryan's directorial debut film Ithaca. He played
Speaker 2: Bram in another great great series, Colony on USA, and
Speaker 2: well personal favorite, he played Billy in American Rust Now
Speaker 2: season two. Just out a American Rust Broken Justice on
Speaker 2: Amazon freebe go and check that out. But let's just
Speaker 2: see what Alex has to say for himself, shall we.
Speaker 2: Here He is my new best friend, Alex Newstetter. Bubble
Speaker 2: and Squeak.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: Bubble and Squeak. I know Bubble and Squeak. I cook
Speaker 2: get every month lift over from the ninety four.
Speaker 1: What's up, Alex? How you doing, Brian Cool?
Speaker 2: I'm doing well. How are you?
Speaker 1: I'm doing great. I'm doing great.
Speaker 2: I'm excited to talk to you today. I have to
Speaker 2: say this, I was a big American Rust guy season one.
Speaker 2: I was a big American Rust guy. Excited uh for
Speaker 2: season two and and to talk about all of that.
Speaker 2: But it's very nice to meet you.
Speaker 1: Oh likewise, thank you. I've been a huge fan of
Speaker 1: the office and and you doing Kevin and like, I'm
Speaker 1: such a fan, so I was. I'm really stoked to
Speaker 1: be able to meet you in chat.
Speaker 2: So well, that's nice. You'll find out soon enough, I'm not.
Speaker 2: I'm not very nice, So it'll it's gonna it's gonna
Speaker 2: be awkward. It's gonna be it's I'm gonna make you uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: But where are you now? Are you? Are you in California?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm in Los Angeles right now?
Speaker 2: All right, Well, thanks for stopping by you. Uh, you've
Speaker 2: been in Los Angeles a long time. I understand. Now
Speaker 2: I've got a crack research team that has looked into
Speaker 2: every aspect of your being. You were born in Kansas,
Speaker 2: is that right?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Kansas City, Kansas City, Kansas, Shawnee mission to be precise,
Speaker 2: I understand you started in the business at a really
Speaker 2: young age, but you were also interested in sports as
Speaker 2: a kid. Is that right?
Speaker 1: Definitely? Yeah. I was a bit of a jock. Like
Speaker 1: I think one thing that my parents did well was
Speaker 1: like push me into everything. So I kind of tried
Speaker 1: a bunch of like anything I could. Like I danced
Speaker 1: for a while, I played all the sports like baseball, basketball, football, soccer, tennis,
Speaker 1: you name it. And then I kind of also just
Speaker 1: randomly started doing like some theater and some little acting
Speaker 1: stuff as well, and that was kind of my first
Speaker 1: segue into it when I was like six.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so what I read is this, at age five,
Speaker 2: someone said to your mom that you were cute and
Speaker 2: photogenic and she signed you up for an agency in
Speaker 2: Kansas City. Is that right?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really good research.
Speaker 2: Did you like it as a kid? Was it just
Speaker 2: an activity or did you enjoy doing it?
Speaker 1: I think, honestly, I don't think I really knew what
Speaker 1: I was doing. I think it was more of just
Speaker 1: like a hey, try this out, see what you think.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't even fully an agency. It was like
Speaker 1: a middleman agency to try and connect you with another agency.
Speaker 1: So I remember trying out for this like runway thing
Speaker 1: when I was five or six, and it actually brought
Speaker 1: me to LA and I did Runway for like as
Speaker 1: a six year old, which is crazy. I remember there
Speaker 1: was one where I know it's wild and then in
Speaker 1: the audience it's called IMTA and in the audience there's
Speaker 1: a bunch of agents and managers like scouting, and I
Speaker 1: tried it for like two or three minutes or two
Speaker 1: or three months rather, and I actually got close to
Speaker 1: a couple. Like Zathura was a movie that I auditioned
Speaker 1: for and I think I met Jon Favreau for it
Speaker 1: and it was close and I was like, but then
Speaker 1: I was like, what am I doing here? I want
Speaker 1: to go see my friends and play sports. And I
Speaker 1: wasn't like I need to do this at that age, so.
Speaker 2: Right, but now runway. So I have an image in
Speaker 2: my head of what that means. Is it is that?
Speaker 2: What it is like, you're like you're wearing clothes or
Speaker 2: you're fashion you're walking back back and forth.
Speaker 1: It's the term. It's the It's like you walk it
Speaker 1: down and you go to the right and you pose,
Speaker 1: and then you go to the left and you pose
Speaker 1: and and I was like what is this? And I
Speaker 1: remember the day before I had a big palleck. I
Speaker 1: still have a big caalock and it was driving me
Speaker 1: crazy and I just cut it off with scissors. So
Speaker 1: I had a crazy like I looked crazy.
Speaker 3: But I was.
Speaker 1: I did it, and I was like, Okay, this is cool.
Speaker 1: I didn't really have the self awareness to be like
Speaker 1: super freaked out about it. I don't think at that age.
Speaker 2: So what about your mom and dad? Like were they
Speaker 2: were they into it?
Speaker 3: Was?
Speaker 1: This?
Speaker 2: Was this fun for them? I mean, obviously this is
Speaker 2: meaning someone's going with you. They're not sticking. You want
Speaker 2: to plane at age five or six and to go
Speaker 2: to La Like, are they are they? Are they enjoying
Speaker 2: this as well?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think my mom was into it just because
Speaker 1: she knew that I had an interest.
Speaker 3: I was like this.
Speaker 1: I wasn't like saying I don't want to do this,
Speaker 1: you know, And so she was super supportive. And we
Speaker 1: brought our dog with us, who stayed at a like
Speaker 1: a holiday inn for like two or three months, and
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, and like deep Burbank, Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: an adventure for sure, But yeah, they were. She was
Speaker 1: super supportive. My dad stayed home and yeah, once I said,
Speaker 1: it was like time we went straight back to Kansas City.
Speaker 2: Right. Do you mentioned you had a passion for sports
Speaker 2: as well? You played baseball and we're pretty good at baseball.
Speaker 2: Did you ever consider going into the sports room. Talk
Speaker 2: to me about the decision, and I know your whole
Speaker 2: family ends up moving to Los Angeles. Talk to me
Speaker 2: about the decision to actually turn this from like a
Speaker 2: hobby into something that you really wanted to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think if I didn't come to LA Baseball
Speaker 1: or probably baseball most likely would have been what I
Speaker 1: would have really tried to go after, because I've played
Speaker 1: that super competitively all the way through, and my dad
Speaker 1: was a coach for a lot of my childhood, so
Speaker 1: it was just like something we always did. I was
Speaker 1: thinking about this the other day, like I had a
Speaker 1: question my dad asked me when I was like twelve,
Speaker 1: because I essentially I got like a pursued from a
Speaker 1: manager in Kansas City. I was like passing her in
Speaker 1: the hallway and she's like, where are you going? And
Speaker 1: she invited me to go to her seminar and I
Speaker 1: was leaving another seminar and I was like I just
Speaker 1: want I'm starving, I want to go home. This is
Speaker 1: you know, and then she like pursuing me. I went
Speaker 1: to the seminar. I did it, and it became a
Speaker 1: thing where became really serious all of a sudden, where
Speaker 1: she was like, hey, I would love to like represent you,
Speaker 1: and I was like twelve thirteen, I didn't Still I
Speaker 1: don't think really knew what I was like signing up
Speaker 1: for what I was doing. And I feel like my
Speaker 1: parents and I are kind of we kind of send it.
Speaker 1: We're a little crazy sometimes where like if we have
Speaker 1: an opportunity, let's just see how this goes. We can
Speaker 1: always come back and why not try it if it's
Speaker 1: something that you actually want to do. And at that
Speaker 1: time I had gotten in the feed or more. I
Speaker 1: had done a couple like super indie horror films in
Speaker 1: Kansas City, and I was like, this is fun. I
Speaker 1: enjoyed it, but I think at that time I still
Speaker 1: didn't really know. But I remember we were I was
Speaker 1: playing tennis with my dad and he just asked me
Speaker 1: in the car. He's like, hey, like, do you actually
Speaker 1: want to go do this? This is the kind of
Speaker 1: the moment where you make that decision. And I was
Speaker 1: thinking about it, and it's like jump taking the leap
Speaker 1: of faith. You kind of you have no idea what
Speaker 1: that other side looks like. And I was kind of
Speaker 1: just like, yeah, let's let's try it.
Speaker 3: Let's go.
Speaker 1: And then at first it was like a slow move out,
Speaker 1: and then after about six months we fully committed, brought
Speaker 1: all the dogs and the family, and then it took
Speaker 1: me like three or four years to really get a project.
Speaker 1: So it was a lot of no's, like hundreds of no's,
Speaker 1: and getting so close to all these things, and I
Speaker 1: was like, what is this? What is going on? And
Speaker 1: I didn't even really know what I was doing until
Speaker 1: I actually worked on a project and like did a
Speaker 1: proper project which was called Ithaca that I did this project,
Speaker 1: and then I was like, this is what I want
Speaker 1: to do. I fully cooked because it's such a different process,
Speaker 1: you know, like auditioning versus actually working.
Speaker 2: Right, I mean it just occurred to me, and you're
Speaker 2: obviously way younger, but it's hard for me to remember,
Speaker 2: know the consciousness there in Kansas City. You know, I've
Speaker 2: got a lot of friends, a lot of pretty good friends.
Speaker 2: And at one point during the podcast here I started
Speaker 2: to make a joke like what are people putting in
Speaker 2: the water in Kansas City? Because you've got like especially
Speaker 2: and you didn't even necessarily go this route, in fact,
Speaker 2: you quite specifically didn't. But in terms of comedy, I mean,
Speaker 2: you've got Paul Rudd, you have Eric stone Street, Rob Wriggle,
Speaker 2: Dave Keckner, Jason Jason Sadekas. Right, So when you're growing
Speaker 2: up and you're even so I mean this sort of
Speaker 2: is like going backwards a little before you actually moved
Speaker 2: to LA, Like, are you aware of these guys, some
Speaker 2: of them and gals that that are from Kansas City.
Speaker 2: Are they coming back or agents or whatever people you're
Speaker 2: meeting or do they have some awareness of them being
Speaker 2: on edel or whatever else? Are you aware of that
Speaker 2: when you're a kid.
Speaker 1: I think I really got more aware of it kind
Speaker 1: of right when I was moving out, and okay, when
Speaker 1: I moved out because my parents were like loved modern
Speaker 1: family and all that. And I also like worked with
Speaker 1: one of the guys who was best friends with Eric
Speaker 1: stone Street. He like took his head shots and stuff,
Speaker 1: and so we were connected in that way. So I
Speaker 1: didn't know about them, but I I was kind of
Speaker 1: removed from from it a little bit. I didn't know
Speaker 1: a ton about all the actors. But yeah, it's pretty
Speaker 1: crazy how funny they all are and kind of how
Speaker 1: many came from.
Speaker 2: And there's something in the water there and it's like
Speaker 2: and you know, and by the way, I have all
Speaker 2: the respect of the world, lots of friends in Kansas City,
Speaker 2: but it's not something that jumps into your mind. You
Speaker 2: don't think like, oh, Kansas City, hot bed for Hollywood talent,
Speaker 2: But as it turns out, it's something something's happening there,
Speaker 2: that's for sure. You talked about your first experience on Ithaca,
Speaker 2: which I want to talk about in a minute, but
Speaker 2: you had some, as you mentioned early experiences as a kid,
Speaker 2: a couple of projects, Albino Farm, Last Breath. So when
Speaker 2: you're on set, does it feel to you then like
Speaker 2: you're just playing? And I say that, like you know
Speaker 2: again more sort of like oh, this is an activity
Speaker 2: I'm doing, This is cool? Or do you start to
Speaker 2: have an experience working with older actors or whatever that
Speaker 2: you start to feel sort of the depth of what
Speaker 2: you're doing.
Speaker 1: I think for those two films specifically, I was ten,
Speaker 1: and I remember the Albino Farm one felt more like
Speaker 1: play okay because it was it was such a small
Speaker 1: role at the beginning. But I remember auditioning for Last
Speaker 1: Breath and kind of just playfully auditioning for it, and
Speaker 1: then I remember the director like actually saying, hey, like
Speaker 1: what you just gave me is like a three in
Speaker 1: terms of intensity, Like I want you to actually like
Speaker 1: put yourself into this and really no, like encapsulate what
Speaker 1: is actually going on in this situation and give me
Speaker 1: like a tender give me, give me the full intensity
Speaker 1: that you can. And that was I feel like maybe
Speaker 1: the first time that I was like, oh, this is
Speaker 1: this is play, but it can be a lot more serious.
Speaker 1: You know, it can get a lot more intense than
Speaker 1: you know, just joking around. But yeah, I would say
Speaker 1: the part talking more about like working with actors and
Speaker 1: the depth was ithaical for me because that was when
Speaker 1: I got to see Sam Shepard and I didn't know
Speaker 1: much about him, but then I watched his work before
Speaker 1: and his plays, and I was just like, this guy
Speaker 1: a legend.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mentioned Ithaca. You play Meg Ryan's son in Ithaca.
Speaker 2: Obviously this you brought it up a couple of times.
Speaker 2: This is like your most important sort of first role.
Speaker 2: Tell me about getting that role and then the reception
Speaker 2: that the film and your work got after.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I was at the point kind of
Speaker 1: in my career. I had like just turned sixteen, and
Speaker 1: I was I had like three years of nose. I
Speaker 1: felt very pretty lost with like what I was doing.
Speaker 1: Because I moved like my whole family out to Kansas,
Speaker 1: city essentially, like it felt like there was a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure and I really didn't have much to show
Speaker 1: for it, and so I kind of I was it
Speaker 1: was like I had gotten two little things before that
Speaker 1: that kind of made it seem like, Okay, I can
Speaker 1: do this, like I can book projects, but right it
Speaker 1: really wasn't until this project that I kind of I
Speaker 1: remember telling my mom before because I had to go
Speaker 1: to New York to read with Meg, that you know,
Speaker 1: if I don't get this, like I might just take
Speaker 1: a break for a bit, because there had been so
Speaker 1: many whereas between me and another guy, and and like
Speaker 1: you can only take that so much, I feel like
Speaker 1: at that age, especially when all the questions are being asked,
Speaker 1: like what do you want to do? And if what
Speaker 1: you're trying so hard to do is kind of failing
Speaker 1: in front of you, it was tough. So I remember,
Speaker 1: I remember I said that to her, and then she
Speaker 1: gave me this like dog tag that was her dad's
Speaker 1: dog tag from World War two.
Speaker 2: Oh wow.
Speaker 1: And so for me, that like connected it so much
Speaker 1: to what this movie was about, which was it was
Speaker 1: on the home front of World War two, and it
Speaker 1: became a lot more personal to me. And I had
Speaker 1: always kind of felt this connection to him, even though
Speaker 1: I never got to meet him, and so I wore
Speaker 1: that into the audition. I did the audition, and like
Speaker 1: thirty minutes later, I'm eating lunch in the hotel and
Speaker 1: I get a call saying that I booked it like
Speaker 1: that quickly, and then that Meg wanted to have pie
Speaker 1: with me that afternoon, and so I go like from saying,
Speaker 1: if I don't get this, I'm done. And then like
Speaker 1: a couple hours later, I was having pie with her
Speaker 1: and one of the other producers.
Speaker 2: You're eating pot. This is what she She invites you
Speaker 2: to pie. Well, I guess she can't invite you to
Speaker 2: a drink. Coffee is even a little awkward if you're sixteen.
Speaker 2: So she invites you to pie, and then what do
Speaker 2: you talk about? What kind of pie did you get?
Speaker 2: First off? What kind of pie was it?
Speaker 1: I'm an apple pie guy. I love out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not a warm fruit I don't I'm not
Speaker 2: I don't do warm fruit. But anyway, like pie, p
Speaker 2: can boom nailed. It came right out, okay, apple pie?
Speaker 2: And so what are you do you start talking about
Speaker 2: the work or is she just trying to get to
Speaker 2: know you a little bit.
Speaker 1: It starts a bit as just trying to get to
Speaker 1: know and kind of familiarize ourselves, but then it's then
Speaker 1: it's talking about the work pretty quickly, and she just
Speaker 1: made me feel really comfortable. She gave me a bunch
Speaker 1: of movies she wanted me to watch, specifically, like East
Speaker 1: of Eden, like a lot of James Dean, early Brando,
Speaker 1: like a lot of the classics that I at the
Speaker 1: time hadn't familiarized myself with, and some things that she
Speaker 1: was really pulling from inspiration wise and music. And then
Speaker 1: it was kind of maybe a week or two before
Speaker 1: we actually started filming, I was we just read the
Speaker 1: script together in a coffee shop and went over it
Speaker 1: and kind of just really like dove more into it.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that.
Speaker 1: Was a crazy experience, and like after doing that, I
Speaker 1: got fully hooked on being on set every day and
Speaker 1: the connections you make, and it was just something so
Speaker 1: special that I really got it and it felt so
Speaker 1: personal and so meaningful because it really made me feel
Speaker 1: more connected to that era. And I don't know, period
Speaker 1: pieces are so cool, especially where we filmed them. It
Speaker 1: was in Petersburg, Virginia where it always feels it feels
Speaker 1: like going back in time anyway, and then you have
Speaker 1: the right forties, you know, clothing on, and yeah, it
Speaker 1: was really it is really amazing.
Speaker 2: I'm always fascinated to talk to people like you who
Speaker 2: started as a child actor. And what I mean by
Speaker 2: that is that you know, I was acting, but for
Speaker 2: me it was theater. You know. I wasn't like the
Speaker 2: film and television business, like, I never did that. And
Speaker 2: I think what's particularly interesting to me about you is
Speaker 2: you never did the like kids acting thing.
Speaker 3: And I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't even know if that if that phrase makes sense,
Speaker 2: but you know Disney or Nickelodeon or Mickey Mouse fun House, No,
Speaker 2: I couldn't make a Mouse club. You seem to have gravitated. Now.
Speaker 2: A lot of times it's like, well that's you asked
Speaker 2: this question, and people are like, oh, that's that was
Speaker 2: the job I got. Like I, But I'm wondering if
Speaker 2: for you did you gravitate towards these more adult projects.
Speaker 2: Was that interesting for you? Or if Disney had called,
Speaker 2: maybe you would have hung out with Britney Spears or whatever.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I remember always trying to do the
Speaker 1: like I think that's probably why I didn't book anything
Speaker 1: for three years, because I was under sixteen and there's
Speaker 1: like legal things that they want you for the hours
Speaker 1: and all that, and I would try. I would on
Speaker 1: so many Disney, shake it Up, you name it, and
Speaker 1: I just I couldn't do it, Like it was just
Speaker 1: so over I remember like having a reading with my
Speaker 1: manager and she was like, Hey, can we just read
Speaker 1: this before you go in? And I was like reading
Speaker 1: it like seriously. I was like into it, and she's like,
Speaker 1: she's like, what do you And then I think she
Speaker 1: realized in that moment that like that's not really my strength,
Speaker 1: you know. I couldn't just I wasn't great at that.
Speaker 1: I think I've always gravitated towards like deeper, darker roles,
Speaker 1: even as a kid, which is weird.
Speaker 3: I think it's just.
Speaker 1: I really like exploring like the depths of like what
Speaker 1: I can feel, and I feel like those other shows
Speaker 1: are very surface level in a lot of ways, not
Speaker 1: that they're not good, but just they're just they're different.
Speaker 1: And I really was after traumatic stuff, and there's not
Speaker 1: a lot in that age range that's available to really
Speaker 1: dive deep and like if it makes me feel strong
Speaker 1: and feel a certain way, like, that's what I'm going after.
Speaker 1: I want to go like exploring emotionally essentially.
Speaker 2: Well, one, that's awesome too, It's totally understandable. I mean, look,
Speaker 2: if at age sixteen, you're eating pie with Meg Ryan
Speaker 2: to do play her son in her movie, and you're
Speaker 2: talking about these things and you're wearing the dog, I
Speaker 2: mean that feels like an amazing experience that you had
Speaker 2: and very meaningful. And yeah, I mean that it makes
Speaker 2: sense that it would be tough for you to then
Speaker 2: like sing the Mickey Mouse song or whatever. And again,
Speaker 2: not that there's anything wrong with the Mickey Mouse song it,
Speaker 2: but you're but you had had shifted in a different direction.
Speaker 2: Speaking of which colony, did you get colony because of
Speaker 2: this film or was this just coincidental timing wise?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I had just filmed that Ithaca and
Speaker 1: it was my second audition back essentially I booked, so
Speaker 1: it hadn't come out yet, but it was like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, it feels like the industry is very momentum based,
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, they love when you're when you just
Speaker 1: got off a project, you're going into a new one,
Speaker 1: or maybe we can fit you before another one. It's
Speaker 1: kind of one of those. So I feel like I
Speaker 1: auditioned in front of the creators and I told them
Speaker 1: about this movie, and I think they they were just
Speaker 1: really excited about it. And but yeah, that happened right
Speaker 1: after and then that was essentially like a three year
Speaker 1: process for me with that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well it's I think it is momentum. I mean,
Speaker 2: what you say is true, but it's also that you know,
Speaker 2: it's very hard unless you have incredible discipline. Well, it's
Speaker 2: like in sports, you know, have you been playing, have
Speaker 2: you been in the gym, have you been have you
Speaker 2: been working out? Are you prepared? Is your body ready?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: And it's hard to simulate even if you even if
Speaker 2: you do work hard, it's hard to simulate the like
Speaker 2: on set experience. It's not brain surgery, but you know
Speaker 2: that pressure, that intensity of being on set, of doing
Speaker 2: your work and having you know, one hundred and however
Speaker 2: many people watching you and hoping you don't screw it
Speaker 2: up so we can make our day and all of
Speaker 2: those things. And so it makes sense to me, right
Speaker 2: like that, you go from that, you're tuned up and
Speaker 2: you're ready, and a lot of times that can breed
Speaker 2: other work as well.
Speaker 1: Right, totally, Yeah, I think that's a really good point.
Speaker 1: I also think the industry is so like hurry up
Speaker 1: and wait and it's and then when they're ready, it's like,
Speaker 1: all right, now you have to go. And I feel
Speaker 1: like in a lot of ways that's I always connected
Speaker 1: it always with like sports and baseball, and like you said,
Speaker 1: just being prepared for the moment and then when it's there,
Speaker 1: you got to just let it go and go after it.
Speaker 2: You played bram in Colony, fascinating show, a ton of
Speaker 2: great press and acknowledgment on that. One of the things
Speaker 2: that I found you. No, I don't I don't want
Speaker 2: to get in trouble with anybody here, but I do
Speaker 2: have to say I like science fiction, but I do
Speaker 2: at times have a problem well, and I'll say science
Speaker 2: fiction and horror at times, when you see the monster,
Speaker 2: it's not quite as scary as what it could be
Speaker 2: in your mind. This is just me, and I thought
Speaker 2: that Colony did a fantastic job of making it feel
Speaker 2: very very scary without too much seeing yeah, seeing the
Speaker 2: monster that was that was in control. Talk to me
Speaker 2: about that show. You you enjoyed your experience on that show.
Speaker 1: I did. I. I think that show really taught me
Speaker 1: a lot. I feel like the first season I was
Speaker 1: pretty lost in terms of like what I was doing
Speaker 1: and how to actually be a professional actor, Like I
Speaker 1: learned really quickly, like TV is way different than film
Speaker 1: and you only have two takes. Sometimes I was showing
Speaker 1: up thinking it was, you know, going to be a
Speaker 1: little bit more playful, experimental like try, and it was,
Speaker 1: you know, a machine. And I think the first season
Speaker 1: really showed me that, Like when we got the second season,
Speaker 1: I needed to have a totally different approach to what
Speaker 1: I was doing and what I was coming in every
Speaker 1: day with. I mean, the whole premise is I think
Speaker 1: even now it's it's kind of crazily relatable in a
Speaker 1: weird way, just everything kind of collapsing like so quickly,
Speaker 1: and some of the parallels to just you know, all
Speaker 1: the UFO activities that we're seeing now and all this
Speaker 1: stuff that has so much so many parallels, you know,
Speaker 1: And I think that was something that was really exciting
Speaker 1: to be a part of and something that I'm fascinated with.
Speaker 1: So I love that storyline and those plot lines. And
Speaker 1: then I also loved the just the idea of like
Speaker 1: what happens when you only have your family to rely on,
Speaker 1: and the family it's so split, you know. I think
Speaker 1: like there's you can make the reference politically nowadays with
Speaker 1: people's household just being split on their own, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think there's so many parallels that made that
Speaker 1: show so great and relatable. And also I really liked
Speaker 1: that they, like you said, just didn't show the Beast,
Speaker 1: didn't show the aliens, like conjures up so much more
Speaker 1: in your mind, and the mind is really what wanders,
Speaker 1: and that's the fear that that gets you more more
Speaker 1: likely than not. But yeah, I think it was just
Speaker 1: a big learning experience for me that show.
Speaker 2: So first off, it's not just television versus film, there
Speaker 2: is a different perspective. But also for you your first real
Speaker 2: experience working on a character over a progression of time,
Speaker 2: which is very different. I can speak to it very clearly.
Speaker 2: There are things about the character that have not been
Speaker 2: written yet that continue to evolve and change your character
Speaker 2: as you're working on it. Did you find that exciting
Speaker 2: or was that difficult for you? It sounds like difficult
Speaker 2: in season one and you started to figure some stuff out.
Speaker 1: It was it was difficult, I did, yeah, because I
Speaker 1: didn't know where it was going, and I didn't I
Speaker 1: didn't I hadn't grasped the concept yet of fully creating
Speaker 1: the character without knowing what the end was going to
Speaker 1: be for that character, you know, because when you're on
Speaker 1: a show, you have the whole script and you know
Speaker 1: what the arc is or you kind of know where
Speaker 1: it could be going or how you want to play that.
Speaker 1: And when we were getting scripts like a week before
Speaker 1: we could start filming, it was like, oh, there's this.
Speaker 1: So I think in a way it was like discovery
Speaker 1: on the fly, which made it really exciting. But also
Speaker 1: I don't think I was equipped enough, right. I just
Speaker 1: don't feel like I in that first season I connected
Speaker 1: enough that as I as much as I wanted to,
Speaker 1: you know, especially coming off like Ithaca and how I
Speaker 1: felt connected to that, it felt like a totally different process.
Speaker 1: But it was something that I really I think I
Speaker 1: did pick up on quickly, and I learned best by
Speaker 1: doing things and by like failing and learning from my failures.
Speaker 1: So for me, that was that was kind of the
Speaker 1: way I think I learned that on that show, especially
Speaker 1: that first season.
Speaker 2: Several more months ago, I had the pleasure of getting
Speaker 2: to know and talking to on this podcast, Sarah Wayne
Speaker 2: Kelly's who he's spent a lot of time with. She
Speaker 2: is the best, right, What was your experience like? And again,
Speaker 2: you know you're starting, you know, you're starting with Meg
Speaker 2: Ryan and hanging around Sam Shephard and so forth, but
Speaker 2: now you have an experience where you're spending multiple years
Speaker 2: with a cast of actors. Just talk to me a
Speaker 2: little bit about your experience working working with her A
Speaker 2: real professional?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's what I learned, was how to
Speaker 1: be a professional with watching her and Josh and Peter
Speaker 1: and Tory and all the amazing actors on that show.
Speaker 1: I think there's so much more material and watching day
Speaker 1: in and day out, Like I just tried to be
Speaker 1: a sponge as much as I could. I probably I
Speaker 1: didn't say much the first season. I feel like I
Speaker 1: think I was like scared and removed from everybody, and
Speaker 1: I was just like, this is crazy, and so I
Speaker 1: was really just trying to watch what they were doing
Speaker 1: and see how they carried themselves and how they interacted
Speaker 1: and what their focus was. And I picked up on
Speaker 1: her like rituals that she would have that would help her,
Speaker 1: and I think that helped me develop my own process
Speaker 1: and see what was working for me. And one time
Speaker 1: in the first season that Josh specifically mentioned something to
Speaker 1: me that really opened up my mind a bit, which
Speaker 1: was I was giving a bunch of notes kind of
Speaker 1: every take from one of our directors, and Josh came
Speaker 1: up to me and he said, hey, man, like you
Speaker 1: know what you're doing. You know your character at this
Speaker 1: point more than anybody, Like, you know, take take it,
Speaker 1: but you don't have to bend everything if it's not
Speaker 1: feeling right to you. And I feel like that was
Speaker 1: something that was eye opening because it made me have
Speaker 1: more confidence kind of in the character and in what
Speaker 1: I was doing. And I think that's something I really
Speaker 1: love I learned from them is they all knew what
Speaker 1: they were doing, and they came in confident and they
Speaker 1: didn't need five takes to get there. They needed one
Speaker 1: or two and they were there. So, Yeah, she's she's amazing.
Speaker 1: Always been super impressed with her. And then in the
Speaker 1: third season she got she got to direct us, so
Speaker 1: that was special too, and really cool to see how
Speaker 1: that process worked and how hard she worked on that.
Speaker 1: It is just inspiring that fire is still lit and
Speaker 1: I love to see that.
Speaker 2: Several other film and television appearances which then brought you
Speaker 2: to American Rust. Now this wasn't your character, but I
Speaker 2: got to tell you American Rust has been coming up,
Speaker 2: and not just because by the way, which we're going
Speaker 2: to talk about season two Broken Justice just out here
Speaker 2: within the last month. Okay, before we talk about you there,
Speaker 2: there's a scene in American Rust which is discussed in
Speaker 2: or amongst my friend group, my family has been since.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if you've checked out Baby Reindeer yet,
Speaker 2: there is a there is a scene you haven't seen
Speaker 2: it yet. Okay, there's a scene in Baby Reindeer which
Speaker 2: then now is making this this scene from American Rust
Speaker 2: one of the most I don't even know what you call.
Speaker 3: It chilling.
Speaker 2: Awkward scenes in television ever, the lowing scene from American Rus.
Speaker 2: I mean the way, the time that they took and
Speaker 2: when they got there. Yeah, I don't even know. I
Speaker 2: don't really have a question. I'm just telling it. It's
Speaker 2: just talking. I just had to tell you that in
Speaker 2: or around my friends and family group occasionally people low. Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm just saying that. I'm just saying that there is
Speaker 2: there's a sound that happens, and everybody knows what we're
Speaker 2: referring to. Go yeah, And I guess it kind of
Speaker 2: doesn't get any more iconic than that. I mean that
Speaker 2: it's sort of as simple as that, Yeah, you're gonna
Speaker 2: if you're gonna low. And by the way, if you're
Speaker 2: listening right now and you don't know what I'm referring to,
Speaker 2: you don't even you might not even know what lowing means.
Speaker 2: But once you see it, you never forget it.
Speaker 3: Never.
Speaker 1: I actually have a really funny story about Lowing, about
Speaker 1: Lowing when we first read that script, because because we
Speaker 1: were all living together, me David who plays Isaac, and
Speaker 1: Julie who plays Lee, because COVID happened like two days
Speaker 1: before we started the first season, and so we got
Speaker 1: shut down and everyone, like I had just driven out
Speaker 1: from LA, they had just come from New York, they
Speaker 1: didn't have places to go back to. I didn't, you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't want to go back to LA. So we
Speaker 1: stayed in Pittsburgh and hunkered down and we had just
Speaker 1: kind of met, so we essentially started like just hanging
Speaker 1: out and living together, and it was maybe a month
Speaker 1: in that we got those scripts, which I think I
Speaker 1: forget which episode it was, and we were like, let's
Speaker 1: read the scripts.
Speaker 2: I think it was like read it out loud together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's just read it out loud together. We had
Speaker 1: all the time in the world, you know, we were
Speaker 1: just hanging out at that.
Speaker 2: So the whole cast, not not the whole cast, but
Speaker 2: just the three of you and you would read different
Speaker 2: parts or whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we would exactly like we would just read the
Speaker 1: opposite parts right at the time. And yeah, so we
Speaker 1: were reading the script and I remember it's me. I
Speaker 1: was reading The business Man, okay, and we started reading
Speaker 1: through it and I'm like looking back at Dave, I'm like,
Speaker 1: what is going on? And we just had to stop
Speaker 1: for a minute and like put our hands in our heads.
Speaker 1: We're like, what is going on? This is the craziest
Speaker 1: thing I've ever read. And uh, it was. It was
Speaker 1: live to do that in real time, to see the reaction.
Speaker 3: And but yeah, that's you were a part of it.
Speaker 2: You were a part of the lowing. You you were
Speaker 2: you were the first reader of the lowing exactly. Wow,
Speaker 2: congratulations on that. I don't know if you'll ever beat that.
Speaker 2: Quite frankly, I mean, there is the lowing. Wow. So
Speaker 2: you're in Pittsburgh. I'm done with the lowing now. I
Speaker 2: just I had to tell you. It's just it's a thing.
Speaker 2: It's like a thing. So you so you go out
Speaker 2: to start COVID shuts everything down, now are they? And
Speaker 2: I'm not getting into your your business. I'm just sort
Speaker 2: of fascinated by it. So the other two folks, they've
Speaker 2: given up their apartments in New York probably or they're
Speaker 2: sub letting them. Yeah, and you've come from LA and
Speaker 2: La is not a place to go back to. So
Speaker 2: are they paying for you to stay there? Or you
Speaker 2: guys are just now you're just three actors living in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So they paid for like half of it because
Speaker 1: I had like an X amount that we were supposed
Speaker 1: to get for the that would have covered the whole thing.
Speaker 1: And then they're like, well, because all this happened, we
Speaker 1: can only cover half of it essentially.
Speaker 2: So of like your rent.
Speaker 1: Rent Yeah, because I essentially signed like a six month
Speaker 1: because I was going to be there for six months.
Speaker 1: So David and I ended up staying for six months,
Speaker 1: just in Pittsburgh during the beginning of COVID, and so
Speaker 1: like we got like weirdly enough, we got all of
Speaker 1: us got super close because it really felt like life
Speaker 1: imitating art a bit. We started exploring Pittsburgh that like
Speaker 1: there was no restaurants to really go to at that time,
Speaker 1: so we were just we were like hunkered down really
Speaker 1: like bonding, getting close and just like you know, figuring
Speaker 1: things out. The coolest thing I'd say we did is
Speaker 1: we snuck into the Pittsburgh Zoo multiple times.
Speaker 2: It was closed, but you guys just snuck in.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So we went on this hike and where the hike
Speaker 1: was it was kind of near our house. I was
Speaker 1: like looking on my maps, I'm like, whoa, the zoo
Speaker 1: is like just right up this hill. And we went
Speaker 1: we started walking. There's like no fence. There's a tiny
Speaker 1: little plastic fence or something that we just could push
Speaker 1: down and hop over. And We're like, there's no encampment here,
Speaker 1: like this is there's not lions that we're about to
Speaker 1: walk into, right, And so at first it was like
Speaker 1: very like a little intense, but I was there's no
Speaker 1: way because a lion could have jumped over that little fence.
Speaker 1: So I was like, we're good. And then we just
Speaker 1: walked in and like, wow, there's no one here. There's
Speaker 1: still animals. So we just started like perusing the zoo.
Speaker 2: Were there zoo keepers there?
Speaker 1: That there's one zoo keeper. And on our way back,
Speaker 1: we're just walking and we're like, oh, there's a there's
Speaker 1: a zoo keeper just like coming towards us and we're
Speaker 1: walking and we just kind of like walked past him.
Speaker 1: We're just like play cool, you know, just like we're
Speaker 1: at the zoo. He's like, guys, where you go? What
Speaker 1: are you doing? You can't be here? And we're like, oh,
Speaker 1: are you guys closed? And he's like, yeah, you can't
Speaker 1: be in the zoo or I know you guys missed
Speaker 1: the animals, but like I understand, Like he was like
Speaker 1: I understand why you're here, but yeah, it's really can't
Speaker 1: be doing that. I'm gonna get in trouble. And we're like, oh, shoot,
Speaker 1: we're so And this was like four hours into the
Speaker 1: to your experience. Yeah, like we were like it was crazy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well not to like so that sounds like colony
Speaker 2: or something like suddenly you're just there at an abandoned zoo.
Speaker 2: You have one person who's taking care of the animals
Speaker 2: and you guys are just hanging cause. I think that
Speaker 2: I like a good zoo. Don't get me wrong. I
Speaker 2: don't always love having to fight into the front of
Speaker 2: the fence to be able to see what's going on
Speaker 2: at the zoo. But to be able to sit and
Speaker 2: hang out and just like watch the gorillas or whatever.
Speaker 2: That sounds incredible.
Speaker 1: It was, man, it really was. There was also a
Speaker 1: section where it was a bunch of goats and you
Speaker 1: had the you did. We were in the encampment with
Speaker 1: all the goats and we're like, there's no one here.
Speaker 1: This is the craziest. Like we were like hanging out
Speaker 1: with the goat and they were they were so happy
Speaker 1: because they hadn't seen anybody. It was, you know, they
Speaker 1: were essentially an isolation to it felt like like so
Speaker 1: we were like getting them wiled up and it was crazy.
Speaker 1: There was maybe like half the animals were there, and yeah,
Speaker 1: there was lions there. I feel like they looked a
Speaker 1: lot like pretty sad actually, because there wasn't that interaction
Speaker 1: with the people. Maybe like there wasn't They were just
Speaker 1: kind of fully by themselves in these encampments.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that was a wild experience.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that's unbelievable. I love that. So you
Speaker 2: would just go hang out the zoo, you were hanging
Speaker 2: out with these and so then back to work. After
Speaker 2: six months, you're still not filming, is that right? So
Speaker 2: then you then you leave Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, then I leave and I drove back. I made
Speaker 1: a big road trip out of it because I had
Speaker 1: I got my dog. I brought my dog back to
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh with me during the middle of the pandemic just
Speaker 1: because I needed the dogg Oh, and then I drove back,
Speaker 1: made a road trip out of it. And that was
Speaker 1: really amazing too, because at that time it hadn't gotten
Speaker 1: crazy where everybody was road tripping and doing the parts
Speaker 1: and all that, so it was still pretty empty.
Speaker 3: So that was that was amazing.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you've ever heard this before or not,
Speaker 2: but mister Rogers was filmed in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3: Oh I didn't know that.
Speaker 2: Oh you didn't know that. Oh that was me. That
Speaker 2: was me being a smart alec. Anytime you're in Pittsburgh,
Speaker 2: they're like, did you know you're in the entertainment industry?
Speaker 2: Mister Rogers was and I was like, oh, really, wow,
Speaker 2: And then I think I've heard that ten thousand times
Speaker 2: although you lived there six months and you didn't know,
Speaker 2: so I should I should just shut it. I was
Speaker 2: a big fan of the show. You get to work
Speaker 2: with two of My Face where it's Jeff Daniels, Mara
Speaker 2: Tyranny plays your mom, and then it's canceled, it goes away,
Speaker 2: it's dead for like years. Yeah, and now it's back. So,
Speaker 2: first off, how did it feel were you? Were you
Speaker 2: happy with the show? Were you proud of the show?
Speaker 1: I was, I think I mean, obviously I can always
Speaker 1: nitpick my stuff to to death, but I was proud
Speaker 1: of it. Ultimately. I think I think what we were
Speaker 1: trying to go for and the story we were trying
Speaker 1: to tell was really dark and and twisted. And I
Speaker 1: mean it's based off the book the first season, and
Speaker 1: I absolutely loved the book, and so I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 3: I was really proud of it.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm intentionally not trying to give it away
Speaker 2: because if you haven't checked out season one of American Rust,
Speaker 2: you should. And so it's over, and then you think
Speaker 2: it's over, and then Amazon says, hey, let's let's go again.
Speaker 2: Uh just released this month American Rust colon Broken Justice,
Speaker 2: which is season two. How was it for you to
Speaker 2: revisit Billy after after several years?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It was really exciting because it felt
Speaker 1: like we had a big plot of story that needed
Speaker 1: to still be unwinded and explained. And I think the
Speaker 1: Wave season one ended, there was so many storylines that
Speaker 1: hadn't been wrapped up yet that it just kind of
Speaker 1: felt like we needed to wrap this and explain what happens.
Speaker 3: And so it was.
Speaker 1: It was a release. It was definitely a rollercoaster because
Speaker 1: it got canceled and and you know, I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: I can I'm going to move on to something else,
Speaker 1: Like I'm going to try and clear this out of
Speaker 1: my cash, out of my brain and just like move
Speaker 1: onward career wise. And then it gets real brought back
Speaker 1: up and and I think it was cool to like
Speaker 1: get back into that headspace and dive back into that
Speaker 1: character and kind of see where the creators wanted to
Speaker 1: take the storylines. I think they brought a bunch of
Speaker 1: interesting ideas and things for me to work on and
Speaker 1: play with. And PTSD was something that was really prevalent
Speaker 1: for my character in this season and the physical ailments
Speaker 1: and it's kind of how it juxtaposes the character in
Speaker 1: the first season is really fun to play.
Speaker 2: So now that's that's awesome and an incredible challenge to
Speaker 2: essentially be playing the same guy but have it be very,
Speaker 2: very different. Congratulations on that. I encourage everybody to go
Speaker 2: check out O season one if you haven't. There's more
Speaker 2: than one thing, but there's some things you don't want
Speaker 2: to miss in season one, and then check out Broken Justice.
Speaker 2: And now you got a big new project coming up.
Speaker 2: It ends with us. You play alongside Blake Lively and
Speaker 2: Justin Baldoni. How is it like working with them? Are
Speaker 2: you excited about it?
Speaker 1: I am really excited about it. So my character is
Speaker 1: like the young version of Young Atlas, and so that's
Speaker 1: who is like working with Blake, So I didn't Actually
Speaker 1: I haven't even met Blake yet.
Speaker 3: You haven't.
Speaker 1: I haven't. I haven't met Blake. So I just really
Speaker 1: worked with Justin. You was our director as well as
Speaker 1: you start stars in it, and it was just me
Speaker 1: and Isabella Ferrara, who plays young Millie, and we did
Speaker 1: it like right before the strike, and they actually told us, oh, sorry,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to wait till after this, right right
Speaker 1: before and we're like what, So they canceled and then
Speaker 1: the next day the next morning, we're like, just kidding,
Speaker 1: you're working on Monday. And so we had I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: amazing to get to go. So we had two weeks
Speaker 1: and that was kind of all my filming was.
Speaker 3: It was two weeks for that.
Speaker 1: Right before the strike, so we were really lucky to
Speaker 1: do it before that happened. But it was really fun project.
Speaker 1: I like, the book is is really.
Speaker 2: Really Have you read Colleen Hoover's novel?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's amazing. That was really part of the
Speaker 1: A big part of the prep for me was I
Speaker 1: needed to read that and see really what is going
Speaker 1: on here, especially the young version which I was playing.
Speaker 1: And I also was really fascinated with Maine. I hadn't
Speaker 1: been to that part of the country. So I was
Speaker 1: already in New York and I had my little tear
Speaker 1: job trailer that I camp out of a lot, and
Speaker 1: I just drove up and explored Maine in a kadia
Speaker 1: and kind of just wanted to get a sense of
Speaker 1: what that landscape was, the people, the energy. Never had
Speaker 1: lobster before so out there never No, wasn't a big
Speaker 1: fish guy Kansas. We don't have a lot of fresh fish.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I guess that's true. Did you end up
Speaker 2: bunking with some of your mates and hanging out for
Speaker 2: six months in Maine during the strike like you did?
Speaker 2: Coke sneak into a zoo there in Maine or a
Speaker 2: marine biologist slayer anything?
Speaker 1: No, nothing that exciting for me.
Speaker 2: Damn been a good story, just so you know for
Speaker 2: next time, Alex.
Speaker 3: Another one.
Speaker 2: Well that win is it out?
Speaker 1: It's out? I think in August. I think August ninth,
Speaker 1: maybe something around. They just changed it.
Speaker 2: Oh, they just changed it. Yeah. You know, the strike
Speaker 2: didn't help us in the movie business. I don't know
Speaker 2: if you've heard that or not. It didn't.
Speaker 1: It did.
Speaker 2: It made things a little more up in the air
Speaker 2: than normal.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it did it.
Speaker 1: Also, I feel like there was such a bottleneck of
Speaker 1: things that needed to come out that they were like,
Speaker 1: all right, we're just gonna hold off on creating anything
Speaker 1: new for as long as we can.
Speaker 2: Right, you're working on anything exciting now?
Speaker 1: Right now? Project wise, it's back to auditioning. I got
Speaker 1: some things that I'm I'm really interested in, so we'll see.
Speaker 1: Hopefully I have good news soon. I've just been playing
Speaker 1: a lot of music lately and rock climbing and keeping
Speaker 1: myself active with hobbies and trying to get better whatever
Speaker 1: I can.
Speaker 2: You are awesome one to watch, two, delightful to talk to.
Speaker 2: I have been enjoyed you and everything I've seen you
Speaker 2: in thus far. I can't wait for the new project.
Speaker 2: And good luck and come back and chat anytime you're Alex.
Speaker 1: You're good at this, man, this is this is awesome.
Speaker 1: I love to chat with you.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I'm good at it, but I
Speaker 2: tell you what, I enjoy the hell out of it.
Speaker 2: I really do. And having the opportunity to meet guys
Speaker 2: and gals like you. That was a weird way to
Speaker 2: say it. I really enjoy it. So thank you for
Speaker 2: taking the time. And I hope everybody checks out season
Speaker 2: two and then writes in about the lowing. All right,
Speaker 2: all right, thanks man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thank you, man, I appreciate you, Alex.
Speaker 2: Thank you for coming on. Very very nice meet you
Speaker 2: and getting to chat with you today. Also, I know
Speaker 2: you're a big KC guy, So good luck to your
Speaker 2: Chiefs this year. You got great things coming ahead in
Speaker 2: your career, Alex, I just know it, So stop back anytime.
Speaker 2: And to my listeners, well you have great stuff ahead too,
Speaker 2: so you stop back anytime and check out American Rust,
Speaker 2: Broken Justice now out on Amazon freeby next week. Well,
Speaker 2: guess what if you come back here, I'm going to
Speaker 2: deliver you something. I'm going to deliver you another fan
Speaker 2: freaking fantastic episode with another well pretty stupendous guest. So
Speaker 2: until then, have a great week.
Speaker 1: Off.
Speaker 2: The Beat is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner,
Speaker 2: alongside our executive producer Lang Lee. Our senior producer is
Speaker 2: Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and
Speaker 2: Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and
Speaker 2: our intern is Ali Amir Sahim. Our theme song Bubble
Speaker 2: and Squeak, performed by the one and only Creed Bratton