March 26, 2024 • 46 mins
Ellie and Scott are joined by actor, writer and stand-up, Chris Grace. Chris shares his love of rugby. We learn about the origins of the sport, how to commit yourself to a hobby, and Chris’s shocking stance on Wordle. Plus, Ellie shares her love of children’s piano concerts.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
No, no, no, no, no, no. Tokay.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Scott, Hey, Ellie, this is Scott Eckert and I'm Ellie Kemper.
This is our iconic podcast Born to Love. Every week
we have a guest on the show come on and
talk about something anything in the world that they love. Scott.
It could be pizza. It could be skydiving.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It could be spaghetti.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It could be lasagna.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It could be bungee jumping.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It could be ricotta, cheese bake. It could be.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Anything, anything in the world at all. Like Ellie said, today,
we have a good friend of mine, comedian actor Chris Grace,
a good friend of yours, good friend of ours. Thank
you old school comedy friend Chris Grace talking to us
about rugby, something that I do not know a lot about.
Do you know a lot about rugby, Ellie?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I know very little about rugby. I know that it's
a vigorous and rigorous game of brawn and strength and
requires a lot of cardiovascular health.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
It's just toughness, I think, just raw to I was
about to say one of the manliest games, but then
I realized, I think that's gendered in a negative way,
and in fact, there are many women's rugby teams. My
sister was a rugby player, So.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Your sister that surprises me.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
I think professionally, Ellie, she was not a professional, a
recreational rug recreational rug r R.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Okay, she was an R squared. No, I understand the type.
I'm eager to talk to Chris about this so we
can learn more about.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It before we get to him, though, Ellie, was there
anything this week that you loved?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Oh, Scott, I had a really great highlight this week.
My son, who is seven years old, has been taking
piano lessons for a year, and I don't know how
to judge if he's good or not. I mean, he plays,
he goes to his lessons. He was able to memorize
three songs.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Memorize that seems that seems hard. Even don't the pros
don't they use like don't they don't they have paper
music or iPads or something.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yes, Scott, all of the pros are unable to memorize music.
But my son, after one year, was able to commit
to memory Tricky Traffic.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
That was the name of his song, How does Tricky
Traffic go?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Dot Do do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do
do Do? It's actually a really great song.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
It's a great song title. I'll tell you that much.
Tricky Traffic, Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Even for renowned
music caters such as myself. I think I might be
won over by Tricky Traffic. Dot d.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Dunt du dun dun dun dun d. So he was
able to put his talent and hard work on full
display at the annual piano recital this year, and Scott,
I have. I mean, this won't surprise you. I haven't
been to a student's piano recital in probably decades. Probably
(03:14):
the last one I attended was my own.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
You didn't go in your twenties, like just so low.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I mean, I tried to get in. They asked for
proof of you know, relation to the child performer, and
I had done so I was turned away again and again,
but this time I had the birth certificate with me,
I had the paper copy of Tricky Traffic, and I
was let in the gates. Scott. This was I'm sure
any parent or caregiver out there can relate to the
(03:43):
feeling of being nervous on behalf of your kid, because
I just I thought, oh, what if he makes a
mistake and gets upset or remembers this terrible moment for
the rest of his life. This could be scarring. It
was the opposite of all of those things. First of all,
my son not nervous in the least. I'm not sure
(04:03):
if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But
second of all, it is his performance. I mean, he
made mistakes, but that's part of it. What he did
was he went back and corrected them.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
The mistakes, they're not mistakes, they're he's putting some sauce
on the hot dog.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Oh absolutely, that's what a mistake is. It's sauce on
a hot dog. And he had plenty of it. So
not only was it a love just about watching, you know,
my child work hard at something and reap the benefits
of his hard work, but it is also about watching
all of these students play. I was so the music
was beautiful, Scott. It ranged from tricky traffic to I
(04:41):
don't know, Beethoven's fifteenth Opus Sonata in G and it
was beautiful and it was so lovely to watch this
variety of skill and talent and personality. Frankly, everyone had
a different personality up there at that piano. Some were quirky,
(05:03):
some were funny, some were very serious.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
What was his personality at the keys?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
He was pretty businesslike. He he sort of.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Got a dumb Yeah, no, I respect that. Yeah. He
lets the music speak for itself. He's not gonna mean
he's not one of the flashy guys.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
That's what it is. He's just the vehicle, you know
what I mean. So he's like, I'm not gonna I'm
not gonna get in there and put my own stamp
on it. I'm gonna let the music do its thing,
and he did. I will say this. By the last performer,
I had tears in my eyes, and it was because
the music was so beautiful. So it was really just
a lovely, lovely experience. It was great to see my
(05:45):
son in it, and it was wonderful to see all
of the students play, and the music itself was really beautiful.
So Scott, all in all, it was a love of
the week. I'm not gonna go back and take piano
lessons to perform and a recital. The love wasn't that strong,
but it really was a highlight.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
That sounds delightful, Elie. I'm never going to have that
experience because my kids don't play piano. But I can.
I do think that I can share in the pride
and joy of seeing your children accomplish something wonderful, even
if it's not piano. I have a question for you.
Have you kept up since your would you say that
you were able to play the piano today?
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, I would say that, and I would so you.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Could play Tricky Traffic if we just if we gave
you the Sheep music, you could play it.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I could, but I wouldn't because I would not want
to one up my son.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Well, of course, of course, could you just like at
a party, because this is something that I've only rarely
had occasion to see. But when it's happened universally blown
away party trick there happens to be a piano if
somebody sits down and just starts playing.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Oh no, I can't do that.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I have my friend from one of my actually my
best friend from high school. His father was a pianist professionally,
and he obviously studied piano from a very young age,
and he could just sit down and I don't even know.
I want to keep the verb I want to keep
using is strum. But that's what you do with a guitar.
He can just really tickle. That's right. He could tickle
those but more than tickle, he can massage the keys.
(07:19):
It's fantastic. I like improvise on the keyboard. It's a
skill that I have a deep respect for, even though
I don't like music.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It is mysterious to me, beyond belief. I don't have
that skill. I can play three songs that I've remembered
from piano lessons thirty years ago, but I couldn't just
sit down and say has that sound again and then
like play by ear. I can't do any of that.
I share your awe and admiration of people who could
I have. My parents are good friends with a guy
(07:50):
like that. It's amazing. It's got enough about piano and onto.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Aught to our guest, who is himself quite a talented musician,
and ask him if he knows how to tickle those keys.
I bet he does. His name is Chris Grace. He
is an actor, a writer, a stand up and a
very close personal friend of mine and Deli's. He's appeared
on Superstore, broad City, Stumptown, and the brand new After
(08:16):
Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson, which is streaming on Paramount Plus.
You can check him out. Chris is an acclaimed musical
comedy performer and a staple of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival,
where he premiered his critically acclaimed one man show Chris
Grace as Scarlett Johansson. Really funny guy here to talk
(08:36):
about rugby. I can't wait to welcome him. So stick around.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Hey, everybody, we are back, as promised with a very funny,
very talented, very good friend of ours, Chris Grace.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Hi, Chris, Hello. I don't know what was promised, but
I hope to deliver.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I can only hope you don't drop your end of
the promise.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Was it promised I would speak in rhyme the whole
time or something?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yes, yes, that was the promise, and I hope you
deliver so you don't disappoint our listeners.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I will say that I was eager for you to
join us, Chris, in part because you are one of
the most omni talented, yes or omni interested people. I know,
not to call you out or anything, but like you
do go down rabbit holes pretty intensely, and just an
enormous variety of subjects. So just one that I remember
(09:46):
is that when we used to do comedy shows, together,
we got into ping pong, and like the whole community
kind of got into ping pong for a hot second,
and you ended up watching like day's worth of championship
ping pong, and like got a professional Olympic ping pong
coach and purchased a ping pong shooting machine. So yeah,
(10:07):
you're just like you know a lot about a lot
of stuff, Isn't that true?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
That is true. Thank you for calling me out on it.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
By the way, that news to me, Chris, I didn't
know that. That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Well, I do tend to get into topics. I go
down rabbit holes, as you said, and I also sometimes
will sort of like recruit other people into these things.
I don't think I was the only one that got
us into ping pong, but there was. We had a
literally live show ping pong tournament as a show at
the theater, which I believe. Did you win or come
(10:42):
in second? Maybe?
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I love believe the championship, Chris, please show let's shout out.
Ryan didn't deserve to. I wilted under the pressure, I think.
But some of the other things what you were just
like every single time I see you, you seem to
be have a sort of new obst session.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I'm so envious I've gotten into bowling at one point,
I got into a variety of video games that I've
gotten into. I will say, what's fun about a lot
of these pursuits is, for example, something like ping pong,
it's not hard to hire a coach that went to
the Olympics into you can get that. You can get it.
(11:24):
You can hire a coach for fifty dollars a lesson,
And especially I was living in New York at the time,
and like, it's not that hard to get like a
really good bowling coach or whatever. And I really enjoy
like learning about stuff. So a lot of times what
would happen is I would get into these things and
then sort of find myself like deeper involved than anyone
(11:45):
else and just be like, oh, you're not into this
as much as I am.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
In total envy right now because Chris, I don't want to.
I mean, I shouldn't underestimate myself, but my interest wanes
so quickly I'm like, oh, yeah, I want to really
instigate this and get better at this thing. And then
by Tuesday I'm like, wait, what was it? And I
just I don't know, it's not an attention deficit thing.
It's more a lack of work ethic maybe. And so
(12:11):
I am envious of you of your abilities to sustain
interest and energy in new pursuits.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
So is this podcast like basically modeling the ability to
be interested in something?
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
For you?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah. So I have people come on and I'm like,
how do you learn to love something so much? And
you yeah, exactly right. And so if you, as the guests,
have exhibited an ability to sustain interest in something, then
you get a spot on our show.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
You know what you need? You need some quick early
wins in whatever the new thing is.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yes, Oh it's great. You mean to sort of like
sweeten the pot.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
It's it's tough if you have a new interest and
it's like months before you have a good experience in it.
You need something.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Nice. Yeah, Like if you're okay, I'm going to get
into mysteries now, Well, this is hard to how do
you classify a win in mystery novels? But if you
read something really really I don't know, enjoyable, and then
you switch to like, you know, more quality mysteries. I
don't know why I picked mysteries. It just popped into
my head. But but you have to have that spring in.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Your step if you cold decided to like get into
Russian literature, let's say, yeah, I feel like that might
be a tough one.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
To like, that's just it. You need some really good
short stories, some like really short good checkof short stories
or something.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Before you check offs, check off the nose. You could
do that while it's a christ.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Are you into Russian literature? Is that another of your
of your.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
No, but I do know that there's a there's oh no,
the Sneeze'm sorry, it's called the sneeze. Check Off's the sneeze.
That is a short story of my checkof.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Does it involve like any like cool recipes or celebrity
gossip early wind?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
It involves a guy at the theater. I believe his
boss is in front of him, and he accidentally sneezes
on his boss's head.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
I don't mind that, I do repercussions. Do have my attention? Yeah,
the sneeze.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
All right, we have to reconvene to discuss Chekhov's the nose.
It's the sneeze, the sneeze. Yeah, the sneeze, the nose. Regardless,
I've gotten us off on a horrible tangent, so.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It's not horrible at all.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
You're here to discuss one of your encyclopedic hobbies or
interests is rugby. Can you tell us all about it?
How did you get into rugby? What is the unique
appeal of that sport to you?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Rugby is like my favorite sport to play by far
uh and it is one of my favorite sports to
watch In terms of watching, it's up there with NBA
basketball probably.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, I guess I have to understand the rules because
basketball is so clear and rugby, Chris, Can I just
say before you enlighten me, when I imagine rugby, all
I imagine and I know this is an audio medium,
but I just imagine usually men with their backs turned
holding a football like ball, and they're just like making
(15:27):
their way through a crowd. And that's how I think
of rugby.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah, I mean that's not incorrect. But are you imagining
them all wearing like leatherhead strap helmets and they're.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Covered in mud? It's always buddy, Yeah, I mean that's
not incorrect.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I will say, just to get you in on the
ground floor of rugby, it is the sport that is
most similar to long form improv.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You've got justify that.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
What So in rugby there's what you're talking about is, yes,
there's a lot of like chaoti just sort of physical
clashing going on rugby, but there are these like frameworks,
mental frameworks for like how the game is supposed to proceed,
and we call them phases. So like if you're running
the ball and you get tackled and you go to
(16:15):
the ground, then in rugby there's a structure for like
how the next movement of the offense starts. And what's
weird is it's not like a referee doesn't blow a
whistle and you stop. Like in football, we have another
first down, second down, third down. In rugby there's this
weird agreement by both teams that like this is how
we're going to get to the next phase, which is
called a ruck in rugby. But anyway, like we all
(16:38):
agree to do a certain thing and then somebody else
can run the ball for a little while, or we
can kick it, or we can pass it. But like
some of it is just agreements between the two teams,
and then there's some element of like how much do
I try to breach this gentleman's agreement that we've formed,
and so it's so free form that when you're playing
in a rugby pitch is what the field is called.
(17:01):
It is like improv in the sense that you can
actually just go do whatever you want in rugby, like, yes,
your team has positions, you have strategies about you should
be here, you should be there, but you could go
in an uninterrupted, like eleven minute period of just like
playing with no interruptions from the referee. And one of
(17:23):
the main things in rugby is supporting each other. So
it is a very common thing you say when you're
carrying the ball, Like if Ellie's carrying the ball and
I'm running beside Ellie, this sort of supporter, I'll say
with you to let you know that I'm behind you
like that. I'll right near you as you're running, I
really shout, like with you, with you, with you, with you,
with you, like that to let you know that I'm there.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
You are not even slowly, you are steadily and quickly.
I think switching our minds about not that I had
a preconceived notion, but that's such a beautiful sentiment. It's
why we all three of us are improvisers, and we
all love improvising, largely for that reason, I think this
sort of teamwork selflessness.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I have a question practically when you're running next to
someone saying with you, with you, with you, with you,
it is in service of what, like you're gonna just
smash into people. The thing that the thing that terrifies
me about rugby is it does seem like it seems
very violent and quite frankly painful.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
It is violent.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Wow, oh I didn't know that. How so that you're
knocking into people.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
You're yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it is violent. There's a
lot of collisions, there is there's very at most like
lightly protective gear to where.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Why is it like, are you a wimp if you.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
A helmet? No, it's just well, actually it's I think
it's not allowed because like if you wore like a helmet,
a full on a helmet, I believe in the NFL
the helmet's actually cause a lot of damage to other people.
So in rugby you might wear like kneepads sometimes or
what's called a scrum cap, which I would wear that
because I was in what's called the pack and I'm
(19:10):
making a gesture with my hands where two teams would
collide like this in a scrum yep, and because of that,
your heads are scraping against each other. So I would
wear a scrum cap to protect my ears because I'm
an on camera talent.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Oh, we can't have those ears scratch.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
I can't have cauliflower ears. No, no, no, no, you
know in the Expendables five or whatever.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You're you're up for that, right, you're up for rolling again.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yes, I'm taking over stillone's role in Expendables five.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
So wait a minute. I feel that I was lad.
I was not misled on purpose, but because I know
it's a little about rugby, and my first like experience
of it via Chris, was that we're all in this together,
and we're coming in on the back line, and I'm
with you. I'm with you, and now I'm my eyes
have been opened, and I didn't I guess I didn't
realize how violent it came.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Well that's why. Well, first of all, i'll show you
on you guys can see on camera.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
He's showing us what his forearm.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
I don't know if you can see that. See how
there's a line right here.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
His forearm has a horrible scar.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I don't see it though, Chris, to be honest with you,
but it could just be because it's grainy. The video
is grainy.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
That's where I broke my arm playing rugby. Okay, and
that was really the last time that I played full
on contact rugby. This was two thousand and fifteen.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Oh so you're an adult.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I started it as an adult.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Okay, Okay, Yeah, So I.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Started playing rugby because I was looking. I was in
New York, and I was looking for some kind of
like physical activity to do, and I wanted to socialize
and meet other homosexuals.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Like me, and so rugby met all of those goals
I played.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
I did a couple of things as as previous mentioned.
I was in a gay bowling league where I ended
up diving so deep that no one else cared was
diving so deep.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Literally.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
I for the end season tournament in that gay bowling league,
I got gifts for the rest of my team that
were wooden bowling pins signed by Walter Ray Williams, who
at the time was considered the best bowler of all time.
Basically like as if I had gotten Michael Jordan's signature
on a little memorabilia type thing, gave them to my team.
(21:30):
No one on my team even knew who he was.
No Chris, and I was like, screw you guys. So
then I also I went to a wrestling group for
a little while. Wrestling is really hard, like cardio wise,
like I almost threw up.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
I can't even I mean it's a feat of human
strength and endurance. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
And then I ended up playing with the Gotham Knights,
who are a gay and ally rugby team in New
York who still exists, and a lot of life long
friends made in that group. So I played with them,
and I basically plaid from them from like two thousand
and eight through when I moved to LA But we
went and won the Bingham Cup, which is the there's
(22:13):
a huge tournament for gay rugby teams, and that was
in Minneapolis, and we won that two thousand and ten
or twelve. My gosh, So you guys were good.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
We were good.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
I mean it was really exciting. Like I honestly, it's
funny because I'm like, the exact moment when we won
that final game is still like one of the peak
moments in my entire life, I believe you.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
And I am yet again finding myself finding envy running
through my veins because I didn't even realize, like after
high school and college and everything. You can join a
team and experience the joy of hard work in victory
and teamwork well into your thirties, and I haven't felt
(22:58):
that in use.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
You haven't felt a human bond.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
That's that thread that connects the fabric of humanity all
for that thread.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Wait, what about all the improv shows you've done? You
didn't feel it through any of this?
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Nothing physical close. You're right, improv is the closest type. Come.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
You were as robotic as that mailer demon is on
my computer.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
But that is there is something I mean that is
that's a really really satisfying feeling. I would think to
celebrate the victory like that. It was.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I mean, we won and I just started bawling, like
on the on the pitch. And then I think the
next year we lost and I also started crying like
it was part of just like this physical exhaustion, yes,
plus the exhilaration or defeat or whatever, but anyway, like
it was, it was so much fun. And like a
(23:56):
side note, there's lots of hot guys in rugby, so
that's another thing. Part of it is like bonding with
other people. Part of it's bonding with other people that
have similar interests as you. Like, No, I mean, don't
cut it out, OK, I think this. I don't know.
(24:19):
I don't know what rating your podcast is, but there
is there's also an undercurrent thing of like a lot
of gay people feel a little shut out from sports
growing up because sports for guys, I think sports is
very like is such a macho and at least in
when I was growing up, can be a homophobic place.
So but there's still a lot of gay people that
(24:40):
might actually like to play sports. So a lot of
these when we talk about a lot of these gay sports,
that's what it's about. But yeah, Also, rugby has fifteen
positions on the field, and because there are so many
different requirements of each position, there's literally a position for
everybody type. And this is for men and women and
(25:02):
non binar or whatever. If you want to play rugby,
there's a spot for you on a rugby team, no
matter what your size or shape.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Oh see, that's great. I you know, certain sports I
think require or or you might excel at a certain
sport if you're naturally I don't know, gymnastics, don't you
have to be short for example, something like this. So
that's great to know about rugby. I always have my
idea of rugby and tell me if am I off
did it originate in England? Am I making that up?
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I think so.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I believe that the myth is that they were playing
soccer slash football and some boys at a like private
school picked up the ball and started running with it.
I believe that's the legend of how rugby starts.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Oh you go catch me ont in my hose, And for.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
All I know, I think it might have even started
at a private school called rugby. There is a interesting
culture because rugby is a very violent sport, but it
is kind of a associated with like private schools. Like
if you watch like the Rugby World Cup, there's a
lot of professional class people in the teams. So it's
(26:10):
like not in like England or Australia or South Africa,
but like the Argentinian national team that competes pretty strongly
at the World Cup has people on it that's like,
oh yeah a full time he's an architect, and this
guy's a dentist and they also play rugby at the
international level.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
But I want to answer Scott's question about if Ellie's
running and me and Scott are next to you, saying
with you what we do so somebody, Eventually Ellie's legs
will tire and she will get tackled. Maybe maybe maybe.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
I mean Ellie is quite a runner, that's the one
thing we really really know about her. So her legs
are not going to get tired.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
They're not going to get tired for at least a day,
but anyway after that day of running.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
So then you are if it is a legal tackle,
you are brought to the ground and then you have
like a couple seconds when you are able to push
the ball towards us your teammates. While that's happening, Scott
and I are going to form a rouck over you.
That means we're going to, like Quiver's tackled you, We're
going to push that person off of you, and we're
(27:17):
going to make basically like a little triangle over you.
That's why Scott and I need to be there for support,
because we need to be really close to you when
you hit the ground because if we're really far away
from you, the person that tackled you can get up
and just take the ball from.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
You when you broke your arm, Chris, was it on
a legal play or was there some funny business.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
No, it was a legal tackle by a very high
energy small man. I was carrying the ball, so imagine
and I've got the ball in front, I've got my arm.
This is the arm that broke, and his head hit
me in the arm. But here's the crazy part is
that he hit me with such force that you know
(28:00):
in your arm, you've got your foe arm. You've got
two bones. He broke the inner inside bone. I don't
really know how it happened, but the amount of force
that was put into the outside bone transferred and the
inside bone snapped. Oh my gosh, I've had I've had
a dislocated rib. That was terrifying.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
How do you rib?
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Oh? This is exciting. So imagine the scrum I described before,
where two sides are interlocking and your head's go like this.
Imagine I'm one of the front ones, because that was
what it's called a prop. Now there's people behind you
pushing very large tall men in the back are pushing
you left or right, forward or back. So imagine if
you were in the front and the guys in the
(28:45):
back pushed so hard that the front person me, my
feet came off the ground and then my torso was
torqued over itself to where and my feet weren't touching anything,
so I couldn't control anything. But basically my upper body
was bent in on itself to the point that a
rib snapped out of its sucking.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Oh god, And how do you feel that? That's one
of those things that you just have to like, uh,
make sure you don't bend the wrong.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Way, right, Yeah, that all you do is you wrap
it up and you're just like, don't just try to
be still for a month or something like that. That
was the most terrifying moment I've had in rugby because
I couldn't control it, and I like then the play
kept going and I was like on the ground being like,
I'm having trouble breathing.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Oh So, on the one hand, it is funny to
me Chris sort of, and this discussion begins with it's
a wholesome way to feel support. Oh and also you
can dislocate your ribs and shatter your forearm.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Yeah, I mean it's also similar to improving.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
I mean, I've had my nose broken four times on
the improv stage.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
You know what. I will relate rugby to like the
reason I love it so much is related to my
acting career, Yes, because in rugby, I am a prop.
Prop is the big guys in the front. Like as
soon as I walk onto a rugby practice, they're like, oh,
you're going to be a prop. But my favorite position
(30:20):
is actually fly half, which is a position where you
wouldn't necessarily put me in the fly half position, there
is a lot of running, but there's a lot of
fun creative decision making. So when I was saying, like
the players are often deciding what play to run, often
it's the fly half that's like deciding this. So like
once you start to see like, oh, strategy, the really
(30:41):
fun part of rugby is actually like when something happens
and you're like, oh, if we do this and then this,
like two plays from now, we can score on the
left side because of whatever, this defender like got out
of position and he's not going to be able to
workover in time. So as relates to my acting career,
something I've realized lately is I think that I'm actually
(31:02):
I actually have the temperament of a leading man in
a character actor's body. So like basically people want me
to go into projects and be the person that's in
one scene that's like throws the singers and whatever. But
just like like James Gandolfini when he ended up in Sopranos,
(31:22):
was in a lead part for like a decade, right
for six seasons or whatever, and that's when he really shined.
That's how I see rugby.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Oh yes, yeah, well so yet again another great life
metaphor perfect.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Can I pitch you on how to get into rugby? Yes,
go to any it's called the pitch. Go into any
international rugby's squad, the roster, and pick a player that
you think is hot. I'm going to pick from Australia's
(31:58):
team right now, Blake shoots, who's a loose head prop?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Then you find like I believe they have rugby games
on Peacock right now, you find out what other teams
that player plays for, and you just pick one and
you start following that team and you start, okay, I
would say root for that team. Then later I discovered
that I would say that to like Australian people, and
that means something else for them, we're saying root means
something else. But like just that's a perfectly valid way
(32:24):
to get into rugby. Go like, pick a player that
you like. Yep, pick a arbitrarily, pick a team that
you like and start watching. And in rugby, the like
officials and the commentators are actually pretty good about explaining,
like what's happening.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
That's my pitch, Listen. I always think when it comes
time for big championships and sports showdowns, I think, oh,
I wish I were rooting for a team in the
American sense, rooting for a team, and you've You've just
given me a way in. So thank you for that, Chris.
And if you have a minute, we would love for
you to stick around and play a game that we
always play with our guests called love it or load It?
(33:00):
Are you able to play with us? Yeah, all right,
stick around. We'll be right back. We're back, guys. We're
here with Chris Grace. We have been talking rugby and
(33:21):
now we're turning our attention to a game called love
It or Loathe It. Now, Chris, this is a game
where we are going to lob items at you. Maybe
it'll be a food, maybe it'll be an activity or
a book. You have to tell us if you love
that thing or you loathe that thing. Please note there
can be no in between. You're either all in or
(33:42):
you're all out. Okay, and it's not rapid fire. You
have time to explain.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Okay, it's a medium fire.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
It's medium, yes, okay. Chris first item, love it or
loathe it?
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Wordle oh. I think I'm gonna say loathe it. Yeah,
because while it was cute, it was cute when it started.
It was cute. The guy made it. The New York
Times bought it. It's hard to believe that the Times
(34:17):
bought it for a million dollars. Like I think that
you could code this up in like a day or two.
It doesn't. It's crazy. I don't understand why the New
York Times bought it. But I think I'm gonna say
loathe it because I do play a word all pretty often.
But I just, first of all, I think the keyboard sucks,
(34:39):
the little online the virtual keyboard. I think they've got
the enter button on the wrong side or something. There's
something weird about that interface. But there's something I loathe
about the like your own internal monologue about like, well
what am I going to start with today? I'm going
to start with plaid today, or like it just seems
it makes me feel small.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
I think I understand Chris, I don't disagree with you.
I don't play wordle. I maybe looked at it once,
so I'm not I don't say any authority, but anything
that's popular, I'm skeptical of.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Wow, that is a bad philosophy to have, Ellie. Anything
that's popular is usually popular for a reason. Now, in
the case of wordle, I was into it briefly and
then it ground me down, and I don't like it.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
I was gonna say, isn't isn't the Office one of
the most popular sitcoms of all time?
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Skeptical? I don't buy it.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
What's a popular thing you like, Ellie? I bet most
of the things you like are popular. I I mean,
I don't know. Running. Run is not popular? Ice cream?
Speaker 2 (35:46):
I like ice cream?
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Running is popular.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Running.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
I would say running is probably one of the earliest
sports we ever had ever since that saber tooth tiger.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
We're not going to get into a running debate. I
will concede that running is very popular.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
No, Scott, please, I don't have any niche interests. I
only love things that are mainstreaming Marble. Let's speak clear.
But I'm not a fan of Wortle. All right, Chris,
that was the right answer.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Chris, love it or low that Scotland. Oh love it,
and you spend a great deal of time there, but
more than pretty much anyone I know, because of the
Edinburgh Fringe festival.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Right, I've been to ten Edinburgh fringes. I love Scotland.
If I had to move out of the country, I'd
probably move to the UK in some form in Scotland
would be definitely be under consideration for moving to.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
What is your favorite part about it?
Speaker 3 (36:36):
I mean, for me, it is the Edinburgh Fringe. I've
been to the Fringe a bunch. But even beside that, like,
it's such a great country, It's got so much history,
It's physically beautiful. My main complaint is that it's a
little damp. It's on the damp side.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
But damn right, yeah, now I've never been. I've never
been to Scotland myself. How similar to the movie Braveheart
is it?
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Braveford is actually a documentary about the Edinburgh Fringe. I
don't know if you knew that.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
So, I mean they're very theatrical with that face paint. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
Oh, and they love when you go there and try
to do their accent. They just love that.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
They think it's all right, another correct answer, Chris. Okay,
now for our next question, love it or low that
the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Ooh, Ellie, are you in the MCU.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Oh the fact that you called it the MCU.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
No, I oh, my gosh. I don't want to jeopardize
any potential employment. But I love it.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
I mean I love comic books too, Like I grew
up reading comic books.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
So what so what why the disparity, right word? Why
the difference?
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Yeah, I mean because they're kind of because they're just
they're boring. I mean, you know what, My favorite, actually,
my favorite movie in the MCU is Avengers Infinity War,
which ends in a deliciously dark way that I was like,
that's great and like that. Yeah, don't fix it.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Chris, you have one of the most fascinating to me
relationships with sort of nerddom because you are super into
comic books. You will share comic books that you enjoy.
You and I will go and see sort of coded
as nerdy movies, like we went to see The Last
Jedi on opening night.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
I think we saw Infinity War together.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
I think we probably did. And yet a lot of
these things that you keep sampling you really don't like.
One of the things I seem to remember you saying
is that you were like growing up in an era
where they only made westerns and you hate westerns, but
you keep seeing them, so it's something I respect.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Yeah, I guess I keep waiting for. Well, I do
like the potential of the form. I guess. I just like,
there was a scene in one of those Avengers movie
where Hulk was smashing Okey over and over like it's
it's some hilarious scene. Yeah, and I was just like,
so nothing is happening, Like we're just smashing people into
(39:11):
the ground and like there's no consequence whatsoever. I just
found it, you know, off putting. I haven't seen unless
unless someone wants to put me in it, and then
I think it's great.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
It's the best there ever was. Yeah. No, I understand
both sides of that coin. And also, guess what extremely
popular the MCU and you're skeptical. Guess who're skeptical?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Love it or loathed? Chris Texas, Oh my gosh, this
is a tough one.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
I'll say. I'll say love it, give us.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Tell us, tell our listeners. Now you're from Texas, I
grew up.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
In Houston, Texas. I still have family in Houston. I
will be in Texas this year, multiple times this year
and next year. I love the food in Texas. They're
there is a lot about Texas that is like culturally
like embedded in me, like like I don't like a
lot of people say, like, oh, you don't really have
a Southern or Texas accent, which I don't think I do,
(40:10):
but actually do rhythmically have a lot of Texas accent
in my like in the in the prosody of how
I speak, right, But you know, so I would say
that I love Texas, you know, and I also I
love the politics there. I don't see what's actually I
actually don't see why I would say loath that in
(40:31):
any way. I think it's going great.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
No, it's very It's there's no nuance. I mean, it's
it's just a very like, uh, profound love that.
Speaker 3 (40:39):
You have for all aspects, yes, yes, just unmitigated, unequivocal
love for every aspect of Texas, including all of its
elected officials.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
And and Alex Jones.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah you like, yeah, all right then.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Chris love it or loathe it? Pink the same the
singer Pink.
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Oh, well, I'll say love it because I have no
reason to loathe it. I am cursorally familiar with Pink
and liked everything I heard from Pink, so I love it.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
I have to be honest. I put Pink on there
because I selfishly I'm on a Pink streak. I've always
enjoyed Pink when she comes on the radio or on
the dance floor, whatever it is. But I you know, I, well,
I do Peloton and there was a Pink ride and
it was all Pink, and I thought, one is, where's
this woman been? I mean, she's been out there? Where
(41:36):
have I been?
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Pink is also one of my husband's favorite performers. And
also I've heard that at concerts she like gets in
a trapeze and flies over the audience or something, or
she does a lot of crazy like she's on wires
and doing and still singing.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
So that's insane. I've heard about that from the Peloton instructor.
But that that sounds I mean, my love is thirty
days old, but I I would love to see that way.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Was the Peloton instructor Pink?
Speaker 2 (42:05):
She yes, it was a ride led by Pink and
she was on a trapee that's the right answer, Chris.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
Last one, Chris loved to loathed pink the color.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
Oh, I love pink the color. Yeah, you know what
I think as as as the three of us were
all people in our thirties, I will say.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
That I'm forty three. He was. I literally thought he
thought that, so I wanted and then I thought, well, okay,
and then I didn't. Never mind, Sorry, Chris say that again.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
No, No, it's fine. We'll keep keeping the fact that
you ruined the bit.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Ellie.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Yeah, I think that.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (42:46):
I love wearing bold colors, like and I actually love
pink stuff. And now whenever I buy, like a random
new piece of clothing, I'll often like, if I'm choosing
between two, I'll pick the brighter one.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
So can I ask, is that how much of your
love of pink was influenced by Barbie this year and
the pink oo or did you already like pink? Because
I'm very I think I was in.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
I was in before it was cool. I think there's
a certain there's a certain amount of gay coating with
the color pink as well, uh and pride colors. So
I love all that stuff. I'm very much a gen
X basic gay that anything with rainbow Pride colors on
I will buy.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
And I know in the last couple of years I've
been made to feel bad because it's corporate, uh pride
culture or whatever. But I'm still just like a bait.
I still come from the time when like the idea
of wearing like pride colors was still like kind of
transgressive and kind of like not the most comfortable thing
(43:49):
to do, so like I love doing that stuff still.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Yeah, you won the game, Chris, Oh all of the
correct answers.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
Congratulations Chris. Thank you so much for taking the time
to come on and talk with us about rugby and
to play love It or Load It. We wanted to
give you a chance to plug anything that you're working on,
any projects, anything at all that you might want to mention.
Speaker 3 (44:13):
Speaking of Texas, I will be in Texas for the
Austin Sketch Festival May twenty sixth, I believe, and I'll
be doing my new Edinburgh friend show, which as of
this recording has not been written. Oh so that'll be exciting,
get on that.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
Wait, how do you have a spot without a show? Oh?
Speaker 3 (44:36):
You know, that's just the way I am. I just
remember well, it is one of you know, I don't
know if you relate to this, but the like you,
you book a deadline for yourself to get yourself to
do something, and that's it worked last year. I had
a good show at Edinburgh last year, and hopefully it'll
work this year.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Trust me, it'll work. I'm just impressed that you have
a spot there. Whatever, you got it done, and you'll
get it done again, and maybe Scott I will go
out to see it.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
I lost and I love an excuse. Everybody loves everything
about Texas.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
Chris, thank you so much for coming and talking with us,
both as a performer and as a friend. It was
I'm using that modification wrong. It was great to see
you both as a performer and as a friend. Is
that the right of freezing? We loved having you.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
It sounded so warm. That sounded so warm, the way
you said it, the way that you were barely stringing
the English words together.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
That's true because I thought, both as a performer and
a friend, I like seeing you. But that sounded like
I was the performer in the front. You're the performer
in there right right right.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
Thank you for having.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
Me, Thanks for listening to Born to Love. We'll be
back next week with brand new things that we love.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
We want to hear from you. Leave us a review
in Apple Podcasts and tell us what you love. We
might even ask one of our guests in an upcoming
love it or Love It?
Speaker 1 (45:56):
Born to Love is hosted and created by Ellie Kemper
and Scott Eckert.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Executive producer is Aaron Coffman. Our producers are Sina Ozaki
and Zoe Danklab.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Born to Love is part of Will Ferrell's Big Money
Players Network in collaboration with iHeart Podcasts. Special thanks to
Hans Sonny
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Rachel Kaplan and Adriana Cossiano, Michael Fails, Alex Korl, and
Baheed Frazier
No, no, no, no, no, no. Tokay.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Scott, Hey, Ellie, this is Scott Eckert and I'm Ellie Kemper.
This is our iconic podcast Born to Love. Every week
we have a guest on the show come on and
talk about something anything in the world that they love. Scott.
It could be pizza. It could be skydiving.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It could be spaghetti.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It could be lasagna.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It could be bungee jumping.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It could be ricotta, cheese bake. It could be.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Anything, anything in the world at all. Like Ellie said, today,
we have a good friend of mine, comedian actor Chris Grace,
a good friend of yours, good friend of ours. Thank
you old school comedy friend Chris Grace talking to us
about rugby, something that I do not know a lot about.
Do you know a lot about rugby, Ellie?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I know very little about rugby. I know that it's
a vigorous and rigorous game of brawn and strength and
requires a lot of cardiovascular health.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
It's just toughness, I think, just raw to I was
about to say one of the manliest games, but then
I realized, I think that's gendered in a negative way,
and in fact, there are many women's rugby teams. My
sister was a rugby player, So.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Your sister that surprises me.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
I think professionally, Ellie, she was not a professional, a
recreational rug recreational rug r R.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Okay, she was an R squared. No, I understand the type.
I'm eager to talk to Chris about this so we
can learn more about.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It before we get to him, though, Ellie, was there
anything this week that you loved?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Oh, Scott, I had a really great highlight this week.
My son, who is seven years old, has been taking
piano lessons for a year, and I don't know how
to judge if he's good or not. I mean, he plays,
he goes to his lessons. He was able to memorize
three songs.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Memorize that seems that seems hard. Even don't the pros
don't they use like don't they don't they have paper
music or iPads or something.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yes, Scott, all of the pros are unable to memorize music.
But my son, after one year, was able to commit
to memory Tricky Traffic.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
That was the name of his song, How does Tricky
Traffic go?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Dot Do do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do
do Do? It's actually a really great song.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
It's a great song title. I'll tell you that much.
Tricky Traffic, Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Even for renowned
music caters such as myself. I think I might be
won over by Tricky Traffic. Dot d.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Dunt du dun dun dun dun d. So he was
able to put his talent and hard work on full
display at the annual piano recital this year, and Scott,
I have. I mean, this won't surprise you. I haven't
been to a student's piano recital in probably decades. Probably
(03:14):
the last one I attended was my own.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
You didn't go in your twenties, like just so low.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I mean, I tried to get in. They asked for
proof of you know, relation to the child performer, and
I had done so I was turned away again and again,
but this time I had the birth certificate with me,
I had the paper copy of Tricky Traffic, and I
was let in the gates. Scott. This was I'm sure
any parent or caregiver out there can relate to the
(03:43):
feeling of being nervous on behalf of your kid, because
I just I thought, oh, what if he makes a
mistake and gets upset or remembers this terrible moment for
the rest of his life. This could be scarring. It
was the opposite of all of those things. First of all,
my son not nervous in the least. I'm not sure
(04:03):
if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But
second of all, it is his performance. I mean, he
made mistakes, but that's part of it. What he did
was he went back and corrected them.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
The mistakes, they're not mistakes, they're he's putting some sauce
on the hot dog.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Oh absolutely, that's what a mistake is. It's sauce on
a hot dog. And he had plenty of it. So
not only was it a love just about watching, you know,
my child work hard at something and reap the benefits
of his hard work, but it is also about watching
all of these students play. I was so the music
was beautiful, Scott. It ranged from tricky traffic to I
(04:41):
don't know, Beethoven's fifteenth Opus Sonata in G and it
was beautiful and it was so lovely to watch this
variety of skill and talent and personality. Frankly, everyone had
a different personality up there at that piano. Some were quirky,
(05:03):
some were funny, some were very serious.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
What was his personality at the keys?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
He was pretty businesslike. He he sort of.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Got a dumb Yeah, no, I respect that. Yeah. He
lets the music speak for itself. He's not gonna mean
he's not one of the flashy guys.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
That's what it is. He's just the vehicle, you know
what I mean. So he's like, I'm not gonna I'm
not gonna get in there and put my own stamp
on it. I'm gonna let the music do its thing,
and he did. I will say this. By the last performer,
I had tears in my eyes, and it was because
the music was so beautiful. So it was really just
a lovely, lovely experience. It was great to see my
(05:45):
son in it, and it was wonderful to see all
of the students play, and the music itself was really beautiful.
So Scott, all in all, it was a love of
the week. I'm not gonna go back and take piano
lessons to perform and a recital. The love wasn't that strong,
but it really was a highlight.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
That sounds delightful, Elie. I'm never going to have that
experience because my kids don't play piano. But I can.
I do think that I can share in the pride
and joy of seeing your children accomplish something wonderful, even
if it's not piano. I have a question for you.
Have you kept up since your would you say that
you were able to play the piano today?
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, I would say that, and I would so you.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Could play Tricky Traffic if we just if we gave
you the Sheep music, you could play it.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I could, but I wouldn't because I would not want
to one up my son.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Well, of course, of course, could you just like at
a party, because this is something that I've only rarely
had occasion to see. But when it's happened universally blown
away party trick there happens to be a piano if
somebody sits down and just starts playing.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Oh no, I can't do that.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I have my friend from one of my actually my
best friend from high school. His father was a pianist professionally,
and he obviously studied piano from a very young age,
and he could just sit down and I don't even know.
I want to keep the verb I want to keep
using is strum. But that's what you do with a guitar.
He can just really tickle. That's right. He could tickle
those but more than tickle, he can massage the keys.
(07:19):
It's fantastic. I like improvise on the keyboard. It's a
skill that I have a deep respect for, even though
I don't like music.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It is mysterious to me, beyond belief. I don't have
that skill. I can play three songs that I've remembered
from piano lessons thirty years ago, but I couldn't just
sit down and say has that sound again and then
like play by ear. I can't do any of that.
I share your awe and admiration of people who could
I have. My parents are good friends with a guy
(07:50):
like that. It's amazing. It's got enough about piano and onto.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Aught to our guest, who is himself quite a talented musician,
and ask him if he knows how to tickle those keys.
I bet he does. His name is Chris Grace. He
is an actor, a writer, a stand up and a
very close personal friend of mine and Deli's. He's appeared
on Superstore, broad City, Stumptown, and the brand new After
(08:16):
Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson, which is streaming on Paramount Plus.
You can check him out. Chris is an acclaimed musical
comedy performer and a staple of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival,
where he premiered his critically acclaimed one man show Chris
Grace as Scarlett Johansson. Really funny guy here to talk
(08:36):
about rugby. I can't wait to welcome him. So stick around.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Hey, everybody, we are back, as promised with a very funny,
very talented, very good friend of ours, Chris Grace.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Hi, Chris, Hello. I don't know what was promised, but
I hope to deliver.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I can only hope you don't drop your end of
the promise.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Was it promised I would speak in rhyme the whole
time or something?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yes, yes, that was the promise, and I hope you
deliver so you don't disappoint our listeners.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I will say that I was eager for you to
join us, Chris, in part because you are one of
the most omni talented, yes or omni interested people. I know,
not to call you out or anything, but like you
do go down rabbit holes pretty intensely, and just an
enormous variety of subjects. So just one that I remember
(09:46):
is that when we used to do comedy shows, together,
we got into ping pong, and like the whole community
kind of got into ping pong for a hot second,
and you ended up watching like day's worth of championship
ping pong, and like got a professional Olympic ping pong
coach and purchased a ping pong shooting machine. So yeah,
(10:07):
you're just like you know a lot about a lot
of stuff, Isn't that true?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
That is true. Thank you for calling me out on it.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
By the way, that news to me, Chris, I didn't
know that. That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Well, I do tend to get into topics. I go
down rabbit holes, as you said, and I also sometimes
will sort of like recruit other people into these things.
I don't think I was the only one that got
us into ping pong, but there was. We had a
literally live show ping pong tournament as a show at
the theater, which I believe. Did you win or come
(10:42):
in second? Maybe?
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I love believe the championship, Chris, please show let's shout out.
Ryan didn't deserve to. I wilted under the pressure, I think.
But some of the other things what you were just
like every single time I see you, you seem to
be have a sort of new obst session.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I'm so envious I've gotten into bowling at one point,
I got into a variety of video games that I've
gotten into. I will say, what's fun about a lot
of these pursuits is, for example, something like ping pong,
it's not hard to hire a coach that went to
the Olympics into you can get that. You can get it.
(11:24):
You can hire a coach for fifty dollars a lesson,
And especially I was living in New York at the time,
and like, it's not that hard to get like a
really good bowling coach or whatever. And I really enjoy
like learning about stuff. So a lot of times what
would happen is I would get into these things and
then sort of find myself like deeper involved than anyone
(11:45):
else and just be like, oh, you're not into this
as much as I am.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
In total envy right now because Chris, I don't want to.
I mean, I shouldn't underestimate myself, but my interest wanes
so quickly I'm like, oh, yeah, I want to really
instigate this and get better at this thing. And then
by Tuesday I'm like, wait, what was it? And I
just I don't know, it's not an attention deficit thing.
It's more a lack of work ethic maybe. And so
(12:11):
I am envious of you of your abilities to sustain
interest and energy in new pursuits.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
So is this podcast like basically modeling the ability to
be interested in something?
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
For you?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah. So I have people come on and I'm like,
how do you learn to love something so much? And
you yeah, exactly right. And so if you, as the guests,
have exhibited an ability to sustain interest in something, then
you get a spot on our show.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
You know what you need? You need some quick early
wins in whatever the new thing is.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yes, Oh it's great. You mean to sort of like
sweeten the pot.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
It's it's tough if you have a new interest and
it's like months before you have a good experience in it.
You need something.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Nice. Yeah, Like if you're okay, I'm going to get
into mysteries now, Well, this is hard to how do
you classify a win in mystery novels? But if you
read something really really I don't know, enjoyable, and then
you switch to like, you know, more quality mysteries. I
don't know why I picked mysteries. It just popped into
my head. But but you have to have that spring in.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Your step if you cold decided to like get into
Russian literature, let's say, yeah, I feel like that might
be a tough one.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
To like, that's just it. You need some really good
short stories, some like really short good checkof short stories
or something.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Before you check offs, check off the nose. You could
do that while it's a christ.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Are you into Russian literature? Is that another of your
of your.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
No, but I do know that there's a there's oh no,
the Sneeze'm sorry, it's called the sneeze. Check Off's the sneeze.
That is a short story of my checkof.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Does it involve like any like cool recipes or celebrity
gossip early wind?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
It involves a guy at the theater. I believe his
boss is in front of him, and he accidentally sneezes
on his boss's head.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
I don't mind that, I do repercussions. Do have my attention? Yeah,
the sneeze.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
All right, we have to reconvene to discuss Chekhov's the nose.
It's the sneeze, the sneeze. Yeah, the sneeze, the nose. Regardless,
I've gotten us off on a horrible tangent, so.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It's not horrible at all.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
You're here to discuss one of your encyclopedic hobbies or
interests is rugby. Can you tell us all about it?
How did you get into rugby? What is the unique
appeal of that sport to you?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Rugby is like my favorite sport to play by far
uh and it is one of my favorite sports to
watch In terms of watching, it's up there with NBA
basketball probably.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, I guess I have to understand the rules because
basketball is so clear and rugby, Chris, Can I just
say before you enlighten me, when I imagine rugby, all
I imagine and I know this is an audio medium,
but I just imagine usually men with their backs turned
holding a football like ball, and they're just like making
(15:27):
their way through a crowd. And that's how I think
of rugby.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah, I mean that's not incorrect. But are you imagining
them all wearing like leatherhead strap helmets and they're.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Covered in mud? It's always buddy, Yeah, I mean that's
not incorrect.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I will say, just to get you in on the
ground floor of rugby, it is the sport that is
most similar to long form improv.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You've got justify that.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
What So in rugby there's what you're talking about is, yes,
there's a lot of like chaoti just sort of physical
clashing going on rugby, but there are these like frameworks,
mental frameworks for like how the game is supposed to proceed,
and we call them phases. So like if you're running
the ball and you get tackled and you go to
(16:15):
the ground, then in rugby there's a structure for like
how the next movement of the offense starts. And what's
weird is it's not like a referee doesn't blow a
whistle and you stop. Like in football, we have another
first down, second down, third down. In rugby there's this
weird agreement by both teams that like this is how
we're going to get to the next phase, which is
called a ruck in rugby. But anyway, like we all
(16:38):
agree to do a certain thing and then somebody else
can run the ball for a little while, or we
can kick it, or we can pass it. But like
some of it is just agreements between the two teams,
and then there's some element of like how much do
I try to breach this gentleman's agreement that we've formed,
and so it's so free form that when you're playing
in a rugby pitch is what the field is called.
(17:01):
It is like improv in the sense that you can
actually just go do whatever you want in rugby, like, yes,
your team has positions, you have strategies about you should
be here, you should be there, but you could go
in an uninterrupted, like eleven minute period of just like
playing with no interruptions from the referee. And one of
(17:23):
the main things in rugby is supporting each other. So
it is a very common thing you say when you're
carrying the ball, Like if Ellie's carrying the ball and
I'm running beside Ellie, this sort of supporter, I'll say
with you to let you know that I'm behind you
like that. I'll right near you as you're running, I
really shout, like with you, with you, with you, with you,
with you, like that to let you know that I'm there.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
You are not even slowly, you are steadily and quickly.
I think switching our minds about not that I had
a preconceived notion, but that's such a beautiful sentiment. It's
why we all three of us are improvisers, and we
all love improvising, largely for that reason, I think this
sort of teamwork selflessness.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I have a question practically when you're running next to
someone saying with you, with you, with you, with you,
it is in service of what, like you're gonna just
smash into people. The thing that the thing that terrifies
me about rugby is it does seem like it seems
very violent and quite frankly painful.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
It is violent.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Wow, oh I didn't know that. How so that you're
knocking into people.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
You're yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it is violent. There's a
lot of collisions, there is there's very at most like
lightly protective gear to where.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Why is it like, are you a wimp if you.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
A helmet? No, it's just well, actually it's I think
it's not allowed because like if you wore like a helmet,
a full on a helmet, I believe in the NFL
the helmet's actually cause a lot of damage to other people.
So in rugby you might wear like kneepads sometimes or
what's called a scrum cap, which I would wear that
because I was in what's called the pack and I'm
(19:10):
making a gesture with my hands where two teams would
collide like this in a scrum yep, and because of that,
your heads are scraping against each other. So I would
wear a scrum cap to protect my ears because I'm
an on camera talent.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Oh, we can't have those ears scratch.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
I can't have cauliflower ears. No, no, no, no, you
know in the Expendables five or whatever.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You're you're up for that, right, you're up for rolling again.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yes, I'm taking over stillone's role in Expendables five.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
So wait a minute. I feel that I was lad.
I was not misled on purpose, but because I know
it's a little about rugby, and my first like experience
of it via Chris, was that we're all in this together,
and we're coming in on the back line, and I'm
with you. I'm with you, and now I'm my eyes
have been opened, and I didn't I guess I didn't
realize how violent it came.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Well that's why. Well, first of all, i'll show you
on you guys can see on camera.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
He's showing us what his forearm.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
I don't know if you can see that. See how
there's a line right here.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
His forearm has a horrible scar.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I don't see it though, Chris, to be honest with you,
but it could just be because it's grainy. The video
is grainy.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
That's where I broke my arm playing rugby. Okay, and
that was really the last time that I played full
on contact rugby. This was two thousand and fifteen.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Oh so you're an adult.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I started it as an adult.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Okay, Okay, Yeah, So I.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Started playing rugby because I was looking. I was in
New York, and I was looking for some kind of
like physical activity to do, and I wanted to socialize
and meet other homosexuals.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Like me, and so rugby met all of those goals
I played.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
I did a couple of things as as previous mentioned.
I was in a gay bowling league where I ended
up diving so deep that no one else cared was
diving so deep.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Literally.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
I for the end season tournament in that gay bowling league,
I got gifts for the rest of my team that
were wooden bowling pins signed by Walter Ray Williams, who
at the time was considered the best bowler of all time.
Basically like as if I had gotten Michael Jordan's signature
on a little memorabilia type thing, gave them to my team.
(21:30):
No one on my team even knew who he was.
No Chris, and I was like, screw you guys. So
then I also I went to a wrestling group for
a little while. Wrestling is really hard, like cardio wise,
like I almost threw up.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
I can't even I mean it's a feat of human
strength and endurance. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
And then I ended up playing with the Gotham Knights,
who are a gay and ally rugby team in New
York who still exists, and a lot of life long
friends made in that group. So I played with them,
and I basically plaid from them from like two thousand
and eight through when I moved to LA But we
went and won the Bingham Cup, which is the there's
(22:13):
a huge tournament for gay rugby teams, and that was
in Minneapolis, and we won that two thousand and ten
or twelve. My gosh, So you guys were good.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
We were good.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
I mean it was really exciting. Like I honestly, it's
funny because I'm like, the exact moment when we won
that final game is still like one of the peak
moments in my entire life, I believe you.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
And I am yet again finding myself finding envy running
through my veins because I didn't even realize, like after
high school and college and everything. You can join a
team and experience the joy of hard work in victory
and teamwork well into your thirties, and I haven't felt
(22:58):
that in use.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
You haven't felt a human bond.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
That's that thread that connects the fabric of humanity all
for that thread.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Wait, what about all the improv shows you've done? You
didn't feel it through any of this?
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Nothing physical close. You're right, improv is the closest type. Come.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
You were as robotic as that mailer demon is on
my computer.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
But that is there is something I mean that is
that's a really really satisfying feeling. I would think to
celebrate the victory like that. It was.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I mean, we won and I just started bawling, like
on the on the pitch. And then I think the
next year we lost and I also started crying like
it was part of just like this physical exhaustion, yes,
plus the exhilaration or defeat or whatever, but anyway, like
it was, it was so much fun. And like a
(23:56):
side note, there's lots of hot guys in rugby, so
that's another thing. Part of it is like bonding with
other people. Part of it's bonding with other people that
have similar interests as you. Like, No, I mean, don't
cut it out, OK, I think this. I don't know.
(24:19):
I don't know what rating your podcast is, but there
is there's also an undercurrent thing of like a lot
of gay people feel a little shut out from sports
growing up because sports for guys, I think sports is
very like is such a macho and at least in
when I was growing up, can be a homophobic place.
So but there's still a lot of gay people that
(24:40):
might actually like to play sports. So a lot of
these when we talk about a lot of these gay sports,
that's what it's about. But yeah, Also, rugby has fifteen
positions on the field, and because there are so many
different requirements of each position, there's literally a position for
everybody type. And this is for men and women and
(25:02):
non binar or whatever. If you want to play rugby,
there's a spot for you on a rugby team, no
matter what your size or shape.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Oh see, that's great. I you know, certain sports I
think require or or you might excel at a certain
sport if you're naturally I don't know, gymnastics, don't you
have to be short for example, something like this. So
that's great to know about rugby. I always have my
idea of rugby and tell me if am I off
did it originate in England? Am I making that up?
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I think so.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I believe that the myth is that they were playing
soccer slash football and some boys at a like private
school picked up the ball and started running with it.
I believe that's the legend of how rugby starts.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Oh you go catch me ont in my hose, And for.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
All I know, I think it might have even started
at a private school called rugby. There is a interesting
culture because rugby is a very violent sport, but it
is kind of a associated with like private schools. Like
if you watch like the Rugby World Cup, there's a
lot of professional class people in the teams. So it's
(26:10):
like not in like England or Australia or South Africa,
but like the Argentinian national team that competes pretty strongly
at the World Cup has people on it that's like,
oh yeah a full time he's an architect, and this
guy's a dentist and they also play rugby at the
international level.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
But I want to answer Scott's question about if Ellie's
running and me and Scott are next to you, saying
with you what we do so somebody, Eventually Ellie's legs
will tire and she will get tackled. Maybe maybe maybe.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
I mean Ellie is quite a runner, that's the one
thing we really really know about her. So her legs
are not going to get tired.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
They're not going to get tired for at least a day,
but anyway after that day of running.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
So then you are if it is a legal tackle,
you are brought to the ground and then you have
like a couple seconds when you are able to push
the ball towards us your teammates. While that's happening, Scott
and I are going to form a rouck over you.
That means we're going to, like Quiver's tackled you, We're
going to push that person off of you, and we're
(27:17):
going to make basically like a little triangle over you.
That's why Scott and I need to be there for support,
because we need to be really close to you when
you hit the ground because if we're really far away
from you, the person that tackled you can get up
and just take the ball from.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
You when you broke your arm, Chris, was it on
a legal play or was there some funny business.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
No, it was a legal tackle by a very high
energy small man. I was carrying the ball, so imagine
and I've got the ball in front, I've got my arm.
This is the arm that broke, and his head hit
me in the arm. But here's the crazy part is
that he hit me with such force that you know
(28:00):
in your arm, you've got your foe arm. You've got
two bones. He broke the inner inside bone. I don't
really know how it happened, but the amount of force
that was put into the outside bone transferred and the
inside bone snapped. Oh my gosh, I've had I've had
a dislocated rib. That was terrifying.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
How do you rib?
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Oh? This is exciting. So imagine the scrum I described before,
where two sides are interlocking and your head's go like this.
Imagine I'm one of the front ones, because that was
what it's called a prop. Now there's people behind you
pushing very large tall men in the back are pushing
you left or right, forward or back. So imagine if
you were in the front and the guys in the
(28:45):
back pushed so hard that the front person me, my
feet came off the ground and then my torso was
torqued over itself to where and my feet weren't touching anything,
so I couldn't control anything. But basically my upper body
was bent in on itself to the point that a
rib snapped out of its sucking.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Oh god, And how do you feel that? That's one
of those things that you just have to like, uh,
make sure you don't bend the wrong.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Way, right, Yeah, that all you do is you wrap
it up and you're just like, don't just try to
be still for a month or something like that. That
was the most terrifying moment I've had in rugby because
I couldn't control it, and I like then the play
kept going and I was like on the ground being like,
I'm having trouble breathing.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Oh So, on the one hand, it is funny to
me Chris sort of, and this discussion begins with it's
a wholesome way to feel support. Oh and also you
can dislocate your ribs and shatter your forearm.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Yeah, I mean it's also similar to improving.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
I mean, I've had my nose broken four times on
the improv stage.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
You know what. I will relate rugby to like the
reason I love it so much is related to my
acting career, Yes, because in rugby, I am a prop.
Prop is the big guys in the front. Like as
soon as I walk onto a rugby practice, they're like, oh,
you're going to be a prop. But my favorite position
(30:20):
is actually fly half, which is a position where you
wouldn't necessarily put me in the fly half position, there
is a lot of running, but there's a lot of
fun creative decision making. So when I was saying, like
the players are often deciding what play to run, often
it's the fly half that's like deciding this. So like
once you start to see like, oh, strategy, the really
(30:41):
fun part of rugby is actually like when something happens
and you're like, oh, if we do this and then this,
like two plays from now, we can score on the
left side because of whatever, this defender like got out
of position and he's not going to be able to
workover in time. So as relates to my acting career,
something I've realized lately is I think that I'm actually
(31:02):
I actually have the temperament of a leading man in
a character actor's body. So like basically people want me
to go into projects and be the person that's in
one scene that's like throws the singers and whatever. But
just like like James Gandolfini when he ended up in Sopranos,
(31:22):
was in a lead part for like a decade, right
for six seasons or whatever, and that's when he really shined.
That's how I see rugby.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Oh yes, yeah, well so yet again another great life
metaphor perfect.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Can I pitch you on how to get into rugby? Yes,
go to any it's called the pitch. Go into any
international rugby's squad, the roster, and pick a player that
you think is hot. I'm going to pick from Australia's
(31:58):
team right now, Blake shoots, who's a loose head prop?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Then you find like I believe they have rugby games
on Peacock right now, you find out what other teams
that player plays for, and you just pick one and
you start following that team and you start, okay, I
would say root for that team. Then later I discovered
that I would say that to like Australian people, and
that means something else for them, we're saying root means
something else. But like just that's a perfectly valid way
(32:24):
to get into rugby. Go like, pick a player that
you like. Yep, pick a arbitrarily, pick a team that
you like and start watching. And in rugby, the like
officials and the commentators are actually pretty good about explaining,
like what's happening.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
That's my pitch, Listen. I always think when it comes
time for big championships and sports showdowns, I think, oh,
I wish I were rooting for a team in the
American sense, rooting for a team, and you've You've just
given me a way in. So thank you for that, Chris.
And if you have a minute, we would love for
you to stick around and play a game that we
always play with our guests called love it or load It?
(33:00):
Are you able to play with us? Yeah, all right,
stick around. We'll be right back. We're back, guys. We're
here with Chris Grace. We have been talking rugby and
(33:21):
now we're turning our attention to a game called love
It or Loathe It. Now, Chris, this is a game
where we are going to lob items at you. Maybe
it'll be a food, maybe it'll be an activity or
a book. You have to tell us if you love
that thing or you loathe that thing. Please note there
can be no in between. You're either all in or
(33:42):
you're all out. Okay, and it's not rapid fire. You
have time to explain.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Okay, it's a medium fire.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
It's medium, yes, okay. Chris first item, love it or
loathe it?
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Wordle oh. I think I'm gonna say loathe it. Yeah,
because while it was cute, it was cute when it started.
It was cute. The guy made it. The New York
Times bought it. It's hard to believe that the Times
(34:17):
bought it for a million dollars. Like I think that
you could code this up in like a day or two.
It doesn't. It's crazy. I don't understand why the New
York Times bought it. But I think I'm gonna say
loathe it because I do play a word all pretty often.
But I just, first of all, I think the keyboard sucks,
(34:39):
the little online the virtual keyboard. I think they've got
the enter button on the wrong side or something. There's
something weird about that interface. But there's something I loathe
about the like your own internal monologue about like, well
what am I going to start with today? I'm going
to start with plaid today, or like it just seems
it makes me feel small.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
I think I understand Chris, I don't disagree with you.
I don't play wordle. I maybe looked at it once,
so I'm not I don't say any authority, but anything
that's popular, I'm skeptical of.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Wow, that is a bad philosophy to have, Ellie. Anything
that's popular is usually popular for a reason. Now, in
the case of wordle, I was into it briefly and
then it ground me down, and I don't like it.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
I was gonna say, isn't isn't the Office one of
the most popular sitcoms of all time?
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Skeptical? I don't buy it.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
What's a popular thing you like, Ellie? I bet most
of the things you like are popular. I I mean,
I don't know. Running. Run is not popular? Ice cream?
Speaker 2 (35:46):
I like ice cream?
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Running is popular.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Running.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
I would say running is probably one of the earliest
sports we ever had ever since that saber tooth tiger.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
We're not going to get into a running debate. I
will concede that running is very popular.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
No, Scott, please, I don't have any niche interests. I
only love things that are mainstreaming Marble. Let's speak clear.
But I'm not a fan of Wortle. All right, Chris,
that was the right answer.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Chris, love it or low that Scotland. Oh love it,
and you spend a great deal of time there, but
more than pretty much anyone I know, because of the
Edinburgh Fringe festival.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Right, I've been to ten Edinburgh fringes. I love Scotland.
If I had to move out of the country, I'd
probably move to the UK in some form in Scotland
would be definitely be under consideration for moving to.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
What is your favorite part about it?
Speaker 3 (36:36):
I mean, for me, it is the Edinburgh Fringe. I've
been to the Fringe a bunch. But even beside that, like,
it's such a great country, It's got so much history,
It's physically beautiful. My main complaint is that it's a
little damp. It's on the damp side.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
But damn right, yeah, now I've never been. I've never
been to Scotland myself. How similar to the movie Braveheart
is it?
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Braveford is actually a documentary about the Edinburgh Fringe. I
don't know if you knew that.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
So, I mean they're very theatrical with that face paint. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
Oh, and they love when you go there and try
to do their accent. They just love that.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
They think it's all right, another correct answer, Chris. Okay,
now for our next question, love it or low that
the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Ooh, Ellie, are you in the MCU.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Oh the fact that you called it the MCU.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
No, I oh, my gosh. I don't want to jeopardize
any potential employment. But I love it.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
I mean I love comic books too, Like I grew
up reading comic books.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
So what so what why the disparity, right word? Why
the difference?
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Yeah, I mean because they're kind of because they're just
they're boring. I mean, you know what, My favorite, actually,
my favorite movie in the MCU is Avengers Infinity War,
which ends in a deliciously dark way that I was like,
that's great and like that. Yeah, don't fix it.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Chris, you have one of the most fascinating to me
relationships with sort of nerddom because you are super into
comic books. You will share comic books that you enjoy.
You and I will go and see sort of coded
as nerdy movies, like we went to see The Last
Jedi on opening night.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
I think we saw Infinity War together.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
I think we probably did. And yet a lot of
these things that you keep sampling you really don't like.
One of the things I seem to remember you saying
is that you were like growing up in an era
where they only made westerns and you hate westerns, but
you keep seeing them, so it's something I respect.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Yeah, I guess I keep waiting for. Well, I do
like the potential of the form. I guess. I just like,
there was a scene in one of those Avengers movie
where Hulk was smashing Okey over and over like it's
it's some hilarious scene. Yeah, and I was just like,
so nothing is happening, Like we're just smashing people into
(39:11):
the ground and like there's no consequence whatsoever. I just
found it, you know, off putting. I haven't seen unless
unless someone wants to put me in it, and then
I think it's great.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
It's the best there ever was. Yeah. No, I understand
both sides of that coin. And also, guess what extremely
popular the MCU and you're skeptical. Guess who're skeptical?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Love it or loathed? Chris Texas, Oh my gosh, this
is a tough one.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
I'll say. I'll say love it, give us.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Tell us, tell our listeners. Now you're from Texas, I
grew up.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
In Houston, Texas. I still have family in Houston. I
will be in Texas this year, multiple times this year
and next year. I love the food in Texas. They're
there is a lot about Texas that is like culturally
like embedded in me, like like I don't like a
lot of people say, like, oh, you don't really have
a Southern or Texas accent, which I don't think I do,
(40:10):
but actually do rhythmically have a lot of Texas accent
in my like in the in the prosody of how
I speak, right, But you know, so I would say
that I love Texas, you know, and I also I
love the politics there. I don't see what's actually I
actually don't see why I would say loath that in
(40:31):
any way. I think it's going great.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
No, it's very It's there's no nuance. I mean, it's
it's just a very like, uh, profound love that.
Speaker 3 (40:39):
You have for all aspects, yes, yes, just unmitigated, unequivocal
love for every aspect of Texas, including all of its
elected officials.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
And and Alex Jones.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah you like, yeah, all right then.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Chris love it or loathe it? Pink the same the
singer Pink.
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Oh, well, I'll say love it because I have no
reason to loathe it. I am cursorally familiar with Pink
and liked everything I heard from Pink, so I love it.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
I have to be honest. I put Pink on there
because I selfishly I'm on a Pink streak. I've always
enjoyed Pink when she comes on the radio or on
the dance floor, whatever it is. But I you know, I, well,
I do Peloton and there was a Pink ride and
it was all Pink, and I thought, one is, where's
this woman been? I mean, she's been out there? Where
(41:36):
have I been?
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Pink is also one of my husband's favorite performers. And
also I've heard that at concerts she like gets in
a trapeze and flies over the audience or something, or
she does a lot of crazy like she's on wires
and doing and still singing.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
So that's insane. I've heard about that from the Peloton instructor.
But that that sounds I mean, my love is thirty
days old, but I I would love to see that way.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Was the Peloton instructor Pink?
Speaker 2 (42:05):
She yes, it was a ride led by Pink and
she was on a trapee that's the right answer, Chris.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
Last one, Chris loved to loathed pink the color.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
Oh, I love pink the color. Yeah, you know what
I think as as as the three of us were
all people in our thirties, I will say.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
That I'm forty three. He was. I literally thought he
thought that, so I wanted and then I thought, well, okay,
and then I didn't. Never mind, Sorry, Chris say that again.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
No, No, it's fine. We'll keep keeping the fact that
you ruined the bit.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Ellie.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Yeah, I think that.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (42:46):
I love wearing bold colors, like and I actually love
pink stuff. And now whenever I buy, like a random
new piece of clothing, I'll often like, if I'm choosing
between two, I'll pick the brighter one.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
So can I ask, is that how much of your
love of pink was influenced by Barbie this year and
the pink oo or did you already like pink? Because
I'm very I think I was in.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
I was in before it was cool. I think there's
a certain there's a certain amount of gay coating with
the color pink as well, uh and pride colors. So
I love all that stuff. I'm very much a gen
X basic gay that anything with rainbow Pride colors on
I will buy.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
And I know in the last couple of years I've
been made to feel bad because it's corporate, uh pride
culture or whatever. But I'm still just like a bait.
I still come from the time when like the idea
of wearing like pride colors was still like kind of
transgressive and kind of like not the most comfortable thing
(43:49):
to do, so like I love doing that stuff still.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Yeah, you won the game, Chris, Oh all of the
correct answers.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
Congratulations Chris. Thank you so much for taking the time
to come on and talk with us about rugby and
to play love It or Load It. We wanted to
give you a chance to plug anything that you're working on,
any projects, anything at all that you might want to mention.
Speaker 3 (44:13):
Speaking of Texas, I will be in Texas for the
Austin Sketch Festival May twenty sixth, I believe, and I'll
be doing my new Edinburgh friend show, which as of
this recording has not been written. Oh so that'll be exciting,
get on that.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
Wait, how do you have a spot without a show? Oh?
Speaker 3 (44:36):
You know, that's just the way I am. I just
remember well, it is one of you know, I don't
know if you relate to this, but the like you,
you book a deadline for yourself to get yourself to
do something, and that's it worked last year. I had
a good show at Edinburgh last year, and hopefully it'll
work this year.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Trust me, it'll work. I'm just impressed that you have
a spot there. Whatever, you got it done, and you'll
get it done again, and maybe Scott I will go
out to see it.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
I lost and I love an excuse. Everybody loves everything
about Texas.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
Chris, thank you so much for coming and talking with us,
both as a performer and as a friend. It was
I'm using that modification wrong. It was great to see
you both as a performer and as a friend. Is
that the right of freezing? We loved having you.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
It sounded so warm. That sounded so warm, the way
you said it, the way that you were barely stringing
the English words together.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
That's true because I thought, both as a performer and
a friend, I like seeing you. But that sounded like
I was the performer in the front. You're the performer
in there right right right.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
Thank you for having.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
Me, Thanks for listening to Born to Love. We'll be
back next week with brand new things that we love.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
We want to hear from you. Leave us a review
in Apple Podcasts and tell us what you love. We
might even ask one of our guests in an upcoming
love it or Love It?
Speaker 1 (45:56):
Born to Love is hosted and created by Ellie Kemper
and Scott Eckert.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Executive producer is Aaron Coffman. Our producers are Sina Ozaki
and Zoe Danklab.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Born to Love is part of Will Ferrell's Big Money
Players Network in collaboration with iHeart Podcasts. Special thanks to
Hans Sonny
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Rachel Kaplan and Adriana Cossiano, Michael Fails, Alex Korl, and
Baheed Frazier
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