January 23, 2025 • 27 mins
It's a mid-season five check-in with a little Q&A!
Jenna and Kevin are back to answer a lot of good, gleeking fan questions, including one that made them gasp! The duo also share their thoughts on season five so far, the performances that have surprised them, Jenna's thoughts on not being in the second half of season five, and what they would say to their season one selves!
Plus, there's a new member of the Glee family - Jenna's baby boy! And, oh boy, does she have a story to tell. It’s a bundle of joy!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to and That's what you really missed podcast. Wow,
Hello Kevin. I'm smiling so hard. This is the first
time we recorded in like two months. It feels like yesterday,
Like we never laughed. You guys also may not know
we ever left.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
We banked all those episodes because I was preparing for
my maternityly, which I'm still on technically.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
This is just that we're just popping in.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
We're popping in. The world has changed. My life has changed,
The world has changed, La has changed. A lot has happened.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Jenna.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
We recorded our last episode together, and you thought you
were going to have several weeks before. That's right, you
had a baby.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
I thought I did, and then my water broke like
in a movie.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Like twenty four hours later.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Black.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, that's right. It was very quickly after that that happened. Yeah,
like twenty four hours It's right.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
You No, it's just this podcast is so important to
you that you just had to hold out long enough
to finish the last record.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
So well, Graham knew, he was like, I had a
hold on until Jenna finishes all her episodes and then
I can make my entrance into the world. What a
sweet boy, sweet sweet man. I can't believe the time
has flown so quickly. But it's good to see you
amidst the devastating factors that have happened recently to our city.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, it's nice to have some semblance of joy or positivity.
So seeing your face, getting a chat with you is
actually a very needed bright spot in this city that
we love and have lived in for a very long time.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Yes, and we are great. I'm happy. Wow.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Like I said before we started recording, I have brain
fog from pregnancy and postpartum, So if I don't make sense,
We're not even going to edit it out. We're just
gonna go with it, because this is who I am forever.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Finally, even.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I have a zero brain power. I can't read. I'm
I'm the new Liah Michelle. I can't read. I'm just kidding.
Liah can read. I also can read partially. We're happy
to hear from you, guys. This is Q and A.
Ask me anything. We're going to check in. This is
(02:34):
mid season five ish, and you guys never fail to
improcess with the amount and the quality of your questions.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Oh my god, there are so many questions and it
feels good. This is I'm glad, this is like how
we're getting back into this because I love doing these.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I know. Should we just dive in, Kevin, Yeah, let's
just go for it.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Someone said top songs of the season so far, and
there have been some incredible songs, obviously. I'm We've talked
about I'm a sucker for more than a feeling America
and still haven't found what I'm looking for, right same.
Gloria was a big surprise. Really love Gloria, Love.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Gloria, Rhythm Nation, the performance and that whole thing was so.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Good, Brave.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I really enjoyed Breakaway, Breakaway whenever I call you friend, Jenna,
you know.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Oh man, yeah, is there some biggers in here? Applause,
Oh of course, Kevin, one of your favorites. Somebody asked,
what would you say to your younger self at the
first shooting.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Day of lie Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
It's actually a really good question.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I would just say, oh my god, hold on, strap
your seatboat real tight, get ready, just trying to be.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
More present.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
When you can, just like try.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, I think that's a big thing. That's I think
if we could tell our little selves, like everything and
more that you could have ever imagined is going to
happen through this journey, right, and so like just soak
it up. Yeah, like, don't worry about anything. It's You're
going to get to experience a lot, no great things,
(04:32):
So just enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Would either of you write books? I've read choosing Glee, Jenna,
but would you ever write a novel or a memoir?
I'm too scared, I think I am. I will leave
the writing to the professionals. Chris Golfer, mm hmm, that's
not me, you know. Chris always threatened with a tell
all one day.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
I hope he does it.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, and I hope he does too, Hi, somebody else.
Could Glee be adapted to a Broadway musical? And if so,
what's the premise?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
We've kind of.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Talked about this before, But I think that would be
a cool adaptation because.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
It just it's like the concert, but.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
With more of like a story through line, like there
could be a story within it.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, Like I mean it could. It could be. It
could be a sort of like a snapshot into the
moments leading up to a competition, right, you know, or
like maybe we lose a couple of members, we have
to find new member. I don't know that sounds kind right.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I'm not a writer, but it does need that camp,
you know, feeling to it well.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Like six, I think is like a really great example
of it's like it feels like a concert, but you're
still learning. There's a there's a storyline through it, but
it's not a traditional storytelling format.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
I didn't see six though, like's what you said.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Though it's similar to like the Glee concert, and it's
so entertaining.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I think, be great. I would love to see that actually,
even more than you know what I dare I say,
even more than a reboot right now. Almost prefer to
see like just a show that's like a totally different story.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
There's a lot of questions about how we're feeling about
season five thus far, because we got all those warnings.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Again, we've talked about this, like separating the experience from
the viewership, like or from the viewer perspective.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
We were going through so much that.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Like part of it I blacked I will a lot
of it I like blacked out from my mind, I
like dissociated yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I also think.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
It's getting better as we go. I progress on and
we're finding our feet together, like our legs again.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Correct, And I do think it provides some needed levity
and a dark time in the show where it's just
sort of a little chaotic, a little big, a little
extra campy. But I think that's fine and I've adjusted
to that and I'm enjoying it.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, I appreciate these these like setting expectations for us
from you guys, because it really does help.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Us enjoying it more.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Because I had to be completely honest, my expectations going
into this season were quite low for a multitude of reasons.
But like I'm now like, okay, I can I can
get into this. I can get into this, like you
take it for what at phase value, for what it is,
you know.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
I love the dynamic of the relationship with the people
who listen and have watched the show and then telling
us what to expect. It has been such a saving
grace and getting to like run into so many people
this past year, and what I love is that they're
a part of the conversation where it feels like anybody
(08:01):
we run into they're in on it and they're like,
I know you're dreading season five, Yes, and in person
are telling us things to look out for, and it's
really helpful and I really enjoy it. It also feels
like we know all of you and you know us,
and there's something to talk about and we're sort of
all in this together.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
And I also like that.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
It feels like the people who love the show are
protecting it in that way.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yeah, because like, yeah, it's not great, but here's something
the on board. Yeah, and we still love it and
we still watch it, and some people really like it.
I've met a couple of people who love season six.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's so interesting. I'm looking forward to that. With that comment,
somebody asked, how do I feel, Jenna, how do you
feel about not being in the back half of season five. Well,
at the time, I was thrilled. I needed a break,
I needed to walk away. It was time. It was
so exciting, Like if I can exclasee you like, having
(09:01):
like a life at all was like so exciting at
that time, right because you had we had worked for
so many years. From this perspective, I'm excited because I've
never really seen the rest of it, so I'm excited
to watch it and like recap it with you guys,
(09:24):
and and then there's also a part of it that
like when I would come back, I feel like I
missed stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I'm like, I'm not in on the joke as much anymore.
And I was like sad about that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Because when you're eating set for as long as we
were every day, those little jokes and like weird things
happened very quickly.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yes, and the relationships change, and it's just obviously like
it never changes, but it also changes a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So, yeah, you know, did you have a least favorite
accessory that your character had or someone.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Else the spider that's Friday necklace.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
The glasses became an issue your favorite thing, oh, because
sometimes I just didn't. They were my real glasses, and
so they had to stay. Like I would wear them
on and off, and props hated that I would take
them home and they had backups that were not weird,
(10:25):
like the prescription and the whole thing. It just became
sort of a pain in the ass because then I
was wearing contacts.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
I always remember when you had the prop classes and
I would know, I guess you have your proper classes
on because your eyes would look like in a fish Girl.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I'm wearing them more this season. This is the first
season where I'm really going, like in the middle of episode,
I'm switching back and forth and I see them, I'm like, oh,
there go. I'm I have such horrible eyesight that my glasses,
the prescription shrinks like my eyes and everything within the lens.
So when I don't wear them, everything just looks magnified.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Funny. I wish you guys good with Sina, you'd just
be looking up at me. I Like, it's just so weird.
It's so weird.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
You would always lose it. It was the best part.
Were you able to choose your seat in the glee
club most of the time.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Most of the time, there were some directors that would
come and be like Tina here, already here, Rachel here,
you know, Brittany here, and you're like, oh, But oftentimes
we knew our characters and our storylines better than they
did coming in, like in the later time, and so
we'd be like, oh, I can't sit next to this person,
(11:45):
but I should be sitting next to this person.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Like I feel like we all kind of took that
upon ourselves to like make those choices or be responsible.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And some directors also would be like, you know, eighty
percent of us could go where we wanted, and then
they had the stories that were really important. They'd like
you hear you, hear.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
You, hear yes exactly, Oh this is fun. What do
you love about each other? Two thousand and eight versus
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Oh my god, I don't two thousand and eight. It
was just I think two thousand and eight. We were
all very much of like the same frame of mind
coming into this where yes, we were all so open
(12:32):
and just happy. It was like an even playing field, right,
like we were all like six seven eight nine on
the call sheet. Yes, the four of you, me, Amber,
and Chris were all together for like that first week,
and we Chris is obviously younger, You and Amber were older,
but we all felt similar.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Same playing field. We were like green enough, but had
like we had all kind of like done some stuff
to get us there.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
And then and.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Chris is an old soul, so it was well, I
mean he was writing brilliant things before. Yeah, and then
now everybody's just gone on to their own path, Like
everybody's on their own path, and we always come back
to each other but like everybody's got their own stuff,
(13:24):
and the jokes that we make and the way that
we talk to each other, it's just very knowing, a
little bitter, humorous, older mature, Like we all know what
we learn from that experience, and we all know where
we are at because of it, and like there's just
(13:44):
like this knowing quality to the way that we talk
to each other.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Now it's nice to see how also, like everybody is
so secure in themselves. Everyone's like a fully formed version
of themselves. When you're you know, eighteen to early twenties,
who are you? You're a plato, You're trying to figure
it out, And this show show did nothing but mold
(14:07):
us and make us strong and resilient. Yes, and you know,
like learning to speak up for ourselves. Like we learned
all those things through this experience and all seeing the
wonderful like creative things people have done. And I think
being on a show, I know this sounds corny, but
(14:28):
being on a show that really was about underdogs, we
were all those people in real life to an extent,
whether or not it matter with our character, but like
we'd all been the weirdo creative person who likes the
niche things and so being able to be celebrated for
(14:51):
that and being on a show that celebrated that and
then connect us with people like you who are listening
who may identify with that and also appreciate those things.
That does something I think too like psyche in terms
of like empowerment, and then gives us that foundation to
be able to like go chase the creative things that
we've always pursued because we know people support it. And yeah, yeah,
(15:13):
it's nice to see people like secure in that. Yeah,
everybody's grown into all of their like their weirdness, their confidence,
all of it is just maximalized.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
You just like take You're like, this is who I am.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Yes, you know it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
There's also something that I love about, like when I
talk to David about our group, which he's now obviously
so integrated and knows everybody and has his own relationships
with everybody and understands my time with the show, but
like whenever people talk about us during that time, like
(15:50):
he didn't know me during that time, and He'll always
be like, god, they I know they know you from
a totally a whole other life time of stuff, like
and like they know me back in a totally different
phase of my life in a totally different mindset. It
was just like, it's just so strange to think there's
(16:12):
and then to have those people still be in my life.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yes, special, you know it's hard. I have that with
Austin where I'm like, I'm like, I know you missed
this entire, really life changing event for me, and it
probably feels a little crazy because they'll never know us
in that capacity.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
I know, but you heard of it.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah, Like these people are going to be around for forever, so.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
You need to get to know exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I love this, not a question, but season five teen
is such a diva and I love her so much.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Agreed.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Okay, so if Tina and already had a podcast, what
would it be about? So if there was a reboot,
you know that we'd all have podcasts or be trying
to have podcasts. What would our podcast be?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I think we'd have separate ones.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Arties would be on filmmaking for sure.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, I think I'd be maybe one of those guys
on TikTok totally like that, reviews movies that's great and
things like that. I think that's maybe what my I
think my podcast i'd probably interview writers and producers and directors.
I'd like to do that in real life.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
So great.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I feel like yours would be like business advice. Tina's
would be she'd be one of those like, here's what
you need to know about crypto.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
But the funny thing is that would be Tina now,
if it was Tina back then. Tina back then would
have a podcast being like trying to be a star.
Do you know she's like still Delulu in that world
where she's going to pursue this and she wants this
like everybody else in the.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Glee club, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
She like though it would be gossipy, like it would
turn into like you would have blind items about like
celebrities and things. It's because you weren't becoming a star.
You would just tear down other people.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
That's actually great. I love that. That would be really fun.
Tina is do Moi's exactly or dumois?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Is it? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I think so, MOI.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
The Long Island jumped out.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Are you excited for season six? It's honestly one of
my favorites. It really brings Lee back to its roots.
This is so fascinating what I keep hearing, I know
and my brain cannot get there. So I'm excited. We're excited, Kevin.
Would you have wanted Artie to be queer selfishly, Yes,
(18:49):
but I don't think that really makes sense for Artie
because I always want to play a queer character.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
But right now, Artie, Artie was not.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
How did you this is a good one. How did
you deal with intimacy on the show? Was there an
intimacy coordinator? No, we were pre all of that. We
did not live through this time. There was nothing. There
was nothing, nothing about mental health, nothing about intimacy. It
was just it was like throwing it to the wolves.
(19:22):
Get it done, literally, get it done. I would have
loved it an intimacy coordinator. Not that our show was like
the on the CW where we you know you truly
you don't have like these massive new sex scenes, but
like for us, it would have been nice to have
(19:43):
people looking out for actors in that way where it
feels choreographed, like the choreograph of dance like it just
there's more comfort to it. I mean, I've worked on
other things that should have had an intimacy coordinator and didn't,
and that really didn't benefit anybody. So good question, you know,
(20:04):
who's become an intimacy coordinator. It's Kelly, Yes, which is
just like the greatest brilliant.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
It makes so much sense a.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
People person a particular everybody.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Feel comfortable, yes, a protector absolutely, and like if anybody
can set a tone on a set and can make
me feel safe and protected, Telly, it is like I've
never heard it.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
So smart of.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Him to to train for that and to start doing that.
It's brilliant. Luckily for us, we were all very close
and so like when we all had to like kiss
this stuff, like, okay.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Whatever, it's fine, exactly thankfully. Yeah, a tour, would you
have rather done it as yourselves or in character? We
did talk about this going into the tour, Like Ryan
discussed it and when he was first thinking about what
the tour was going to look like, he's like, do
you guys do it in character?
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (21:01):
I think I'm to where we had a little bit
more or we took more liberties to play, like kind
of pull back the curtain, break the fourth wall more.
Like I certainly felt like when you're talking to the
when we were talking to the crowds, I was Jenna
and then you like click into Tina for like the performances.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Right, Yeah, that's actually I think that's that's right, as
much as I would have wanted to be myself performing
those numbers, as myself would have felt weird. Yeah, and
it's different. We weren't exactly those characters and how we
perform is different, and so it would have been a
little strange. And also I think people weren't showing up
(21:46):
to see us. They were showing up to see the characters.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Exact right, like people that they know and watch all
the time. Is the distribution of lines even between the
three girls and tell him and who's sings what part? Yes,
it is quite distribute, distribute. No, we're not going to
play it for you. We'll send you the lyric sheet
(22:10):
and you can have AI do it.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
That's really funny.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Oh god, what is Amber's run?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
That's actually very.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Who is someone you want to interview that you haven't yet?
There's a lot of people. I would love to have
ge quinneth On at some point, Skyler on at some point.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Not Bomar.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yes, I'd also like to have some modern family people
because I would like to talk about we got our
experiences coming up at the exact same time.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
We were just so in it with them, Yes.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And so I and I see Jesse all the time.
I've talked to Jesse about coming on. I think he
will come on at some point, but it would be great,
like talk to Sarah, like it would be really. I
love all of them. They're all the best, hardest dance
number routine to learn.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
I had a really hard time learning Somebody to Love
because I came in. I originally was not in it
because I played guitar and they put me in late
and for some reason, because you all knew it and
I had to like adapt to it, I could never
wrap my head around it.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
So like when we did Oprah, I was so panicked
in my head struggling. Yeah, I didn't know where I
was supposed to be at what time.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
It's those ones where like you had it wasn't like
do go at your level, free form, rock out, feel
it how you want to feel it kind of thing.
It was the ones that had to look uniform that
were the hardest for us. And like like last last
Name was really hard because that was also early on
(24:03):
in the show where like we hadn't figured out what
level we were at as somebody who love.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yes, that's right, and the other one. Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
So we started now in this season doing redoing songs
like in hundred right where we're like bringing back songs,
keep holding on having to relearn that was actually atrocious.
It was so hard we were so it was just ridiculous.
It was ridiculous. So those are hard. It was like
bringing things back that were many many years.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Ago, anything that was earlier on, because our brains were
like learning how we all learned as a group. And
so later on when you hear us talk about like,
oh we learned this entire competition on the day, we
could sort of do that because your brains work different
ways muscle memory. At this point in filming, did you
(25:01):
enjoy what you were creating as a group. Oh, that's
a nicely worded question. I have. I think we were
all a little not in the best place mentally, and
so I watching it now, I'm just I admire how
(25:24):
hard the writers and the crew were working to like
put together you know, the same show that we were
doing and like find the joy and the comedy and
these big fun numbers. Because I think for us it
was hard. It wasn't really super enjoyable to be there,
(25:47):
and I think that influenced how we viewed everything we
were filming. Like watching it now, I'm very proud of
like the numbers and everything that we were doing this season.
At the time, I remember thinking, you know, as you've
heard us say, like we all thought it was so bad,
but I think we were just completely sad and jaded
and grieving, and so we didn't know how to, you know,
(26:10):
properly process what was going on.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Somebody asked what Travel rowan song would Glee have covered
and who would sing it? Because you know, we would have.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Done, honestly the whole album everything on Midwest Princess. Yeah,
like it would have been a full episode totally. And
there have been tiktoks and Twitter threads about people assigning
numbers to people and they're all so good and I'm
a little mad that I can't.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
See it well in Travel just stick talking all the
time about Glee. I'm like, please come on our show.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Even during Christmas. She like apologized to Glee fans for
saying that a Glee Christmas episode was bad.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
I can't it's so cool. We have to wrap there
because there's just there's so many. We have to do
another one of these at some point. Thank you so
much for writing in so quickly with such great questions.
We really appreciate it. We really appreciate you on the
ride with us this season five ride.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
We love you. Good to be back, kisses, that's what
you really missed.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Thanks for listening and follow us on Instagram at and
that's what you really miss pod Make sure to write
us a review and leave us five stars. See you
next time.
And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to and That's what you really missed podcast. Wow,
Hello Kevin. I'm smiling so hard. This is the first
time we recorded in like two months. It feels like yesterday,
Like we never laughed. You guys also may not know
we ever left.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
We banked all those episodes because I was preparing for
my maternityly, which I'm still on technically.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
This is just that we're just popping in.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
We're popping in. The world has changed. My life has changed,
The world has changed, La has changed. A lot has happened.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Jenna.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
We recorded our last episode together, and you thought you
were going to have several weeks before. That's right, you
had a baby.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
I thought I did, and then my water broke like
in a movie.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Like twenty four hours later.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Black.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, that's right. It was very quickly after that that happened. Yeah,
like twenty four hours It's right.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
You No, it's just this podcast is so important to
you that you just had to hold out long enough
to finish the last record.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
So well, Graham knew, he was like, I had a
hold on until Jenna finishes all her episodes and then
I can make my entrance into the world. What a
sweet boy, sweet sweet man. I can't believe the time
has flown so quickly. But it's good to see you
amidst the devastating factors that have happened recently to our city.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, it's nice to have some semblance of joy or positivity.
So seeing your face, getting a chat with you is
actually a very needed bright spot in this city that
we love and have lived in for a very long time.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Yes, and we are great. I'm happy. Wow.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Like I said before we started recording, I have brain
fog from pregnancy and postpartum, So if I don't make sense,
We're not even going to edit it out. We're just
gonna go with it, because this is who I am forever.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Finally, even.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I have a zero brain power. I can't read. I'm
I'm the new Liah Michelle. I can't read. I'm just kidding.
Liah can read. I also can read partially. We're happy
to hear from you, guys. This is Q and A.
Ask me anything. We're going to check in. This is
(02:34):
mid season five ish, and you guys never fail to
improcess with the amount and the quality of your questions.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Oh my god, there are so many questions and it
feels good. This is I'm glad, this is like how
we're getting back into this because I love doing these.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I know. Should we just dive in, Kevin, Yeah, let's
just go for it.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Someone said top songs of the season so far, and
there have been some incredible songs, obviously. I'm We've talked
about I'm a sucker for more than a feeling America
and still haven't found what I'm looking for, right same.
Gloria was a big surprise. Really love Gloria, Love.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Gloria, Rhythm Nation, the performance and that whole thing was so.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Good, Brave.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I really enjoyed Breakaway, Breakaway whenever I call you friend, Jenna,
you know.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Oh man, yeah, is there some biggers in here? Applause,
Oh of course, Kevin, one of your favorites. Somebody asked,
what would you say to your younger self at the
first shooting.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Day of lie Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
It's actually a really good question.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I would just say, oh my god, hold on, strap
your seatboat real tight, get ready, just trying to be.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
More present.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
When you can, just like try.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, I think that's a big thing. That's I think
if we could tell our little selves, like everything and
more that you could have ever imagined is going to
happen through this journey, right, and so like just soak
it up. Yeah, like, don't worry about anything. It's You're
going to get to experience a lot, no great things,
(04:32):
So just enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Would either of you write books? I've read choosing Glee, Jenna,
but would you ever write a novel or a memoir?
I'm too scared, I think I am. I will leave
the writing to the professionals. Chris Golfer, mm hmm, that's
not me, you know. Chris always threatened with a tell
all one day.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
I hope he does it.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, and I hope he does too, Hi, somebody else.
Could Glee be adapted to a Broadway musical? And if so,
what's the premise?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
We've kind of.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Talked about this before, But I think that would be
a cool adaptation because.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
It just it's like the concert, but.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
With more of like a story through line, like there
could be a story within it.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, Like I mean it could. It could be. It
could be a sort of like a snapshot into the
moments leading up to a competition, right, you know, or
like maybe we lose a couple of members, we have
to find new member. I don't know that sounds kind right.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I'm not a writer, but it does need that camp,
you know, feeling to it well.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Like six, I think is like a really great example
of it's like it feels like a concert, but you're
still learning. There's a there's a storyline through it, but
it's not a traditional storytelling format.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
I didn't see six though, like's what you said.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Though it's similar to like the Glee concert, and it's
so entertaining.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I think, be great. I would love to see that actually,
even more than you know what I dare I say,
even more than a reboot right now. Almost prefer to
see like just a show that's like a totally different story.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
There's a lot of questions about how we're feeling about
season five thus far, because we got all those warnings.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Again, we've talked about this, like separating the experience from
the viewership, like or from the viewer perspective.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
We were going through so much that.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Like part of it I blacked I will a lot
of it I like blacked out from my mind, I
like dissociated yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I also think.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
It's getting better as we go. I progress on and
we're finding our feet together, like our legs again.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Correct, And I do think it provides some needed levity
and a dark time in the show where it's just
sort of a little chaotic, a little big, a little
extra campy. But I think that's fine and I've adjusted
to that and I'm enjoying it.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, I appreciate these these like setting expectations for us
from you guys, because it really does help.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Us enjoying it more.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Because I had to be completely honest, my expectations going
into this season were quite low for a multitude of reasons.
But like I'm now like, okay, I can I can
get into this. I can get into this, like you
take it for what at phase value, for what it is,
you know.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
I love the dynamic of the relationship with the people
who listen and have watched the show and then telling
us what to expect. It has been such a saving
grace and getting to like run into so many people
this past year, and what I love is that they're
a part of the conversation where it feels like anybody
(08:01):
we run into they're in on it and they're like,
I know you're dreading season five, Yes, and in person
are telling us things to look out for, and it's
really helpful and I really enjoy it. It also feels
like we know all of you and you know us,
and there's something to talk about and we're sort of
all in this together.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
And I also like that.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
It feels like the people who love the show are
protecting it in that way.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yeah, because like, yeah, it's not great, but here's something
the on board. Yeah, and we still love it and
we still watch it, and some people really like it.
I've met a couple of people who love season six.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's so interesting. I'm looking forward to that. With that comment,
somebody asked, how do I feel, Jenna, how do you
feel about not being in the back half of season five. Well,
at the time, I was thrilled. I needed a break,
I needed to walk away. It was time. It was
so exciting, Like if I can exclasee you like, having
(09:01):
like a life at all was like so exciting at
that time, right because you had we had worked for
so many years. From this perspective, I'm excited because I've
never really seen the rest of it, so I'm excited
to watch it and like recap it with you guys,
(09:24):
and and then there's also a part of it that
like when I would come back, I feel like I
missed stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I'm like, I'm not in on the joke as much anymore.
And I was like sad about that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Because when you're eating set for as long as we
were every day, those little jokes and like weird things
happened very quickly.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yes, and the relationships change, and it's just obviously like
it never changes, but it also changes a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So, yeah, you know, did you have a least favorite
accessory that your character had or someone.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Else the spider that's Friday necklace.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
The glasses became an issue your favorite thing, oh, because
sometimes I just didn't. They were my real glasses, and
so they had to stay. Like I would wear them
on and off, and props hated that I would take
them home and they had backups that were not weird,
(10:25):
like the prescription and the whole thing. It just became
sort of a pain in the ass because then I
was wearing contacts.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
I always remember when you had the prop classes and
I would know, I guess you have your proper classes
on because your eyes would look like in a fish Girl.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I'm wearing them more this season. This is the first
season where I'm really going, like in the middle of episode,
I'm switching back and forth and I see them, I'm like, oh,
there go. I'm I have such horrible eyesight that my glasses,
the prescription shrinks like my eyes and everything within the lens.
So when I don't wear them, everything just looks magnified.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Funny. I wish you guys good with Sina, you'd just
be looking up at me. I Like, it's just so weird.
It's so weird.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
You would always lose it. It was the best part.
Were you able to choose your seat in the glee
club most of the time.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Most of the time, there were some directors that would
come and be like Tina here, already here, Rachel here,
you know, Brittany here, and you're like, oh, But oftentimes
we knew our characters and our storylines better than they
did coming in, like in the later time, and so
we'd be like, oh, I can't sit next to this person,
(11:45):
but I should be sitting next to this person.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Like I feel like we all kind of took that
upon ourselves to like make those choices or be responsible.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And some directors also would be like, you know, eighty
percent of us could go where we wanted, and then
they had the stories that were really important. They'd like
you hear you, hear.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
You, hear yes exactly, Oh this is fun. What do
you love about each other? Two thousand and eight versus
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Oh my god, I don't two thousand and eight. It
was just I think two thousand and eight. We were
all very much of like the same frame of mind
coming into this where yes, we were all so open
(12:32):
and just happy. It was like an even playing field, right,
like we were all like six seven eight nine on
the call sheet. Yes, the four of you, me, Amber,
and Chris were all together for like that first week,
and we Chris is obviously younger, You and Amber were older,
but we all felt similar.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Same playing field. We were like green enough, but had
like we had all kind of like done some stuff
to get us there.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
And then and.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Chris is an old soul, so it was well, I
mean he was writing brilliant things before. Yeah, and then
now everybody's just gone on to their own path, Like
everybody's on their own path, and we always come back
to each other but like everybody's got their own stuff,
(13:24):
and the jokes that we make and the way that
we talk to each other, it's just very knowing, a
little bitter, humorous, older mature, Like we all know what
we learn from that experience, and we all know where
we are at because of it, and like there's just
(13:44):
like this knowing quality to the way that we talk
to each other.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Now it's nice to see how also, like everybody is
so secure in themselves. Everyone's like a fully formed version
of themselves. When you're you know, eighteen to early twenties,
who are you? You're a plato, You're trying to figure
it out, And this show show did nothing but mold
(14:07):
us and make us strong and resilient. Yes, and you know,
like learning to speak up for ourselves. Like we learned
all those things through this experience and all seeing the
wonderful like creative things people have done. And I think
being on a show, I know this sounds corny, but
(14:28):
being on a show that really was about underdogs, we
were all those people in real life to an extent,
whether or not it matter with our character, but like
we'd all been the weirdo creative person who likes the
niche things and so being able to be celebrated for
(14:51):
that and being on a show that celebrated that and
then connect us with people like you who are listening
who may identify with that and also appreciate those things.
That does something I think too like psyche in terms
of like empowerment, and then gives us that foundation to
be able to like go chase the creative things that
we've always pursued because we know people support it. And yeah, yeah,
(15:13):
it's nice to see people like secure in that. Yeah,
everybody's grown into all of their like their weirdness, their confidence,
all of it is just maximalized.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
You just like take You're like, this is who I am.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Yes, you know it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
There's also something that I love about, like when I
talk to David about our group, which he's now obviously
so integrated and knows everybody and has his own relationships
with everybody and understands my time with the show, but
like whenever people talk about us during that time, like
(15:50):
he didn't know me during that time, and He'll always
be like, god, they I know they know you from
a totally a whole other life time of stuff, like
and like they know me back in a totally different
phase of my life in a totally different mindset. It
was just like, it's just so strange to think there's
(16:12):
and then to have those people still be in my life.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yes, special, you know it's hard. I have that with
Austin where I'm like, I'm like, I know you missed
this entire, really life changing event for me, and it
probably feels a little crazy because they'll never know us
in that capacity.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
I know, but you heard of it.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah, Like these people are going to be around for forever, so.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
You need to get to know exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I love this, not a question, but season five teen
is such a diva and I love her so much.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Agreed.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Okay, so if Tina and already had a podcast, what
would it be about? So if there was a reboot,
you know that we'd all have podcasts or be trying
to have podcasts. What would our podcast be?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I think we'd have separate ones.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Arties would be on filmmaking for sure.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, I think I'd be maybe one of those guys
on TikTok totally like that, reviews movies that's great and
things like that. I think that's maybe what my I
think my podcast i'd probably interview writers and producers and directors.
I'd like to do that in real life.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
So great.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I feel like yours would be like business advice. Tina's
would be she'd be one of those like, here's what
you need to know about crypto.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
But the funny thing is that would be Tina now,
if it was Tina back then. Tina back then would
have a podcast being like trying to be a star.
Do you know she's like still Delulu in that world
where she's going to pursue this and she wants this
like everybody else in the.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Glee club, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
She like though it would be gossipy, like it would
turn into like you would have blind items about like
celebrities and things. It's because you weren't becoming a star.
You would just tear down other people.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
That's actually great. I love that. That would be really fun.
Tina is do Moi's exactly or dumois?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Is it? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I think so, MOI.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
The Long Island jumped out.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Are you excited for season six? It's honestly one of
my favorites. It really brings Lee back to its roots.
This is so fascinating what I keep hearing, I know
and my brain cannot get there. So I'm excited. We're excited, Kevin.
Would you have wanted Artie to be queer selfishly, Yes,
(18:49):
but I don't think that really makes sense for Artie
because I always want to play a queer character.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
But right now, Artie, Artie was not.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
How did you this is a good one. How did
you deal with intimacy on the show? Was there an
intimacy coordinator? No, we were pre all of that. We
did not live through this time. There was nothing. There
was nothing, nothing about mental health, nothing about intimacy. It
was just it was like throwing it to the wolves.
(19:22):
Get it done, literally, get it done. I would have
loved it an intimacy coordinator. Not that our show was like
the on the CW where we you know you truly
you don't have like these massive new sex scenes, but
like for us, it would have been nice to have
(19:43):
people looking out for actors in that way where it
feels choreographed, like the choreograph of dance like it just
there's more comfort to it. I mean, I've worked on
other things that should have had an intimacy coordinator and didn't,
and that really didn't benefit anybody. So good question, you know,
(20:04):
who's become an intimacy coordinator. It's Kelly, Yes, which is
just like the greatest brilliant.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
It makes so much sense a.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
People person a particular everybody.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Feel comfortable, yes, a protector absolutely, and like if anybody
can set a tone on a set and can make
me feel safe and protected, Telly, it is like I've
never heard it.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
So smart of.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Him to to train for that and to start doing that.
It's brilliant. Luckily for us, we were all very close
and so like when we all had to like kiss
this stuff, like, okay.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Whatever, it's fine, exactly thankfully. Yeah, a tour, would you
have rather done it as yourselves or in character? We
did talk about this going into the tour, Like Ryan
discussed it and when he was first thinking about what
the tour was going to look like, he's like, do
you guys do it in character?
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (21:01):
I think I'm to where we had a little bit
more or we took more liberties to play, like kind
of pull back the curtain, break the fourth wall more.
Like I certainly felt like when you're talking to the
when we were talking to the crowds, I was Jenna
and then you like click into Tina for like the performances.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Right, Yeah, that's actually I think that's that's right, as
much as I would have wanted to be myself performing
those numbers, as myself would have felt weird. Yeah, and
it's different. We weren't exactly those characters and how we
perform is different, and so it would have been a
little strange. And also I think people weren't showing up
(21:46):
to see us. They were showing up to see the characters.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Exact right, like people that they know and watch all
the time. Is the distribution of lines even between the
three girls and tell him and who's sings what part? Yes,
it is quite distribute, distribute. No, we're not going to
play it for you. We'll send you the lyric sheet
(22:10):
and you can have AI do it.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
That's really funny.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Oh god, what is Amber's run?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
That's actually very.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Who is someone you want to interview that you haven't yet?
There's a lot of people. I would love to have
ge quinneth On at some point, Skyler on at some point.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Not Bomar.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yes, I'd also like to have some modern family people
because I would like to talk about we got our
experiences coming up at the exact same time.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
We were just so in it with them, Yes.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And so I and I see Jesse all the time.
I've talked to Jesse about coming on. I think he
will come on at some point, but it would be great,
like talk to Sarah, like it would be really. I
love all of them. They're all the best, hardest dance
number routine to learn.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
I had a really hard time learning Somebody to Love
because I came in. I originally was not in it
because I played guitar and they put me in late
and for some reason, because you all knew it and
I had to like adapt to it, I could never
wrap my head around it.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
So like when we did Oprah, I was so panicked
in my head struggling. Yeah, I didn't know where I
was supposed to be at what time.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
It's those ones where like you had it wasn't like
do go at your level, free form, rock out, feel
it how you want to feel it kind of thing.
It was the ones that had to look uniform that
were the hardest for us. And like like last last
Name was really hard because that was also early on
(24:03):
in the show where like we hadn't figured out what
level we were at as somebody who love.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yes, that's right, and the other one. Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
So we started now in this season doing redoing songs
like in hundred right where we're like bringing back songs,
keep holding on having to relearn that was actually atrocious.
It was so hard we were so it was just ridiculous.
It was ridiculous. So those are hard. It was like
bringing things back that were many many years.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Ago, anything that was earlier on, because our brains were
like learning how we all learned as a group. And
so later on when you hear us talk about like,
oh we learned this entire competition on the day, we
could sort of do that because your brains work different
ways muscle memory. At this point in filming, did you
(25:01):
enjoy what you were creating as a group. Oh, that's
a nicely worded question. I have. I think we were
all a little not in the best place mentally, and
so I watching it now, I'm just I admire how
(25:24):
hard the writers and the crew were working to like
put together you know, the same show that we were
doing and like find the joy and the comedy and
these big fun numbers. Because I think for us it
was hard. It wasn't really super enjoyable to be there,
(25:47):
and I think that influenced how we viewed everything we
were filming. Like watching it now, I'm very proud of
like the numbers and everything that we were doing this season.
At the time, I remember thinking, you know, as you've
heard us say, like we all thought it was so bad,
but I think we were just completely sad and jaded
and grieving, and so we didn't know how to, you know,
(26:10):
properly process what was going on.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Somebody asked what Travel rowan song would Glee have covered
and who would sing it? Because you know, we would have.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Done, honestly the whole album everything on Midwest Princess. Yeah,
like it would have been a full episode totally. And
there have been tiktoks and Twitter threads about people assigning
numbers to people and they're all so good and I'm
a little mad that I can't.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
See it well in Travel just stick talking all the
time about Glee. I'm like, please come on our show.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Even during Christmas. She like apologized to Glee fans for
saying that a Glee Christmas episode was bad.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
I can't it's so cool. We have to wrap there
because there's just there's so many. We have to do
another one of these at some point. Thank you so
much for writing in so quickly with such great questions.
We really appreciate it. We really appreciate you on the
ride with us this season five ride.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
We love you. Good to be back, kisses, that's what
you really missed.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Thanks for listening and follow us on Instagram at and
that's what you really miss pod Make sure to write
us a review and leave us five stars. See you
next time.
Host
Jenna Ushkowitz
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com