July 29, 2024 • 28 mins
Welcome to another exciting episode of Merman Mondays! Join your hosts, Alexis Babini and Andrew Grau, as they dive deep into the world of Disney and Pixar's latest hit, Inside Out 2. This episode is packed with emotions, tour stories, and behind-the-scenes fun with the entire Little Merman band.
In this spoiler-filled discussion, the band members share their heartfelt reactions to Inside Out 2, including the new emotions introduced in the film and the impactful scenes that moved them. From exploring anxiety and embarrassment to the artistry behind the film's cinematography, this episode offers a comprehensive look at why this sequel has resonated with audiences worldwide.
But that's not all! The Little Merman band also recounts their recent show in Van Wert, Ohio, sharing their favorite moments and fan interactions. From spontaneous stage appearances to nostalgic sing-alongs, the band's tour stories add a delightful layer of fun to this episode.
Don't miss out on the laughs, insights, and heartfelt moments in this special episode of Merman Mondays. Whether you're a Disney fan or a lover of live music, this episode is sure to leave you smiling.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Music.
(00:10):
Welcome to the Merman Mondays podcast, the podcast where the Little Merman share
behind-the-scenes tour stories, discuss popular Disney content,
and celebrate Disney's musical legacy.
I am your host, Alexis Babini, founder of the Little Merman Band,
and joining me is our co-host, Andrew Grau.
Thanks, Alexis. Whether you're a longtime fan or first-time dreamer,
(00:34):
The Little Merman is the country's premier Disney tribute band,
bringing the magic of Disney music to life with live performances across the U.S. and the world.
Our mission with this podcast is connect with our fans on a deeper level,
give a behind-the-scenes glimpse at touring in an indie rock band,
and share on the joy that is Disney content and culture.
(00:54):
Today is a bit of a spoiler episode. If you haven't seen Disney and Pixar's
latest smash hit, Inside Out 2.
But if you're one of the millions that have, today's all about feelings.
We'll be sure to have some of our tour-vention ends and proper tour tastes also,
so stay tuned to find where you can connect with us and get deeper into the band lore.
(01:15):
Well, before we go the distance, we're still a touring band and some shows are
coming up, so let's get down to business.
Hello, Murpham, your kindly editor.
Music.
(01:43):
Music.
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More information like ticket links or RSVP links can be found on our website
at the little mermen.com slash tickets.
So while my cohost is busy taking a picture of us on tour, we're also on tour
and you have a very special reflective episode about inside out to with the
(02:40):
entire little merman band.
The whole band is here. We just played a fantastic show in Van. We're at Ohio.
Quinn's wearing a cowboy hat. We're in a hotel room in the Best Western.
We're in a Comfort Inn. Who knows where we are? I don't know where we are.
I don't know what's happening.
Some of us have seen Inside Out. I think everybody but two of us here have seen Inside Out.
(03:03):
So for the listeners, let's talk about the show, though, right? Well, yeah, of course.
I mean, listen, we're here to talk about Inside Out, too, but we can also talk
about the show. That's why we're here. It was a great show, Van Wert, Ohio.
We had a blast. This is now our third year playing Van Wert,
So we feel like we've gotten a kind of feel for the town, the crowd and our sound people.
Everyone crushed it. And let's play it. Let's play a fun game.
(03:24):
How about everybody goes around and introduces themselves and say one fun thing
you liked about the show. I will start. Alexis here, of course.
And my highlight today was seeing a little girl, Raz Growl, when he sang the Muppet song, Manamana.
I stepped into her imagination and I feel like in her mind, she saw you speaking this alien language.
(03:48):
And then she and she looks at you and like she was like we don't know what you're
saying we don't so that was my favorite part you got razzed by like a nine-year-old
dude all right who's next who's next.
We're going to edit that all. That's great. We, okay. Favorite part.
(04:10):
Favorite part today was during Let It Go.
This girl, did you see the girl come on? Oh, yeah. Yeah, she came on stage.
This girl came on stage. But she was in character, like, at the beginning of
the song. She's like, the snow goes.
Like, she was, like, looking at the little girl with the Minnie Mouse shirt.
Oh, cute. Yeah. So she was, that was one of my favorite parts, yeah. All right.
(04:32):
So I don't know this. Oh, hi, it's Melinda. Episode three. Can I do it? Yeah.
I have my app ready at all times. Oh, my favorite. There was a lot of fun memories
from this particular show. Van Wert really, like, turned it up.
But I think, I don't know if I had seen this before. We did Circle of Life.
(04:53):
And Alexis encouraged the crowd to, like, pick up their babies like Simba. And people did it. Yeah.
No, I don't think so. And people, like, really, like. That's a bit.
People like leaned in and also Ryan picked up one of our inflatable fish and did it as well. Nice.
That was my favorite part. So for our listeners, we have, we do the song Circle of Life.
(05:13):
And right before the final chorus, I say like, guys, this is the part of the
show where we invite you to hold up your little ones like baby Simba on Fry Rock.
Classic bit. It's better than singing like you're an animal.
Who's next? Hi, I'm Quinn. I haven't been on the podcast. No episodes yet.
Thank you. My favorite part of the show today was personally,
(05:38):
I mean for me, I think it was probably the fact that I nailed Belle for the
first time. You nailed Belle.
I thought you were nailing me. You always nail me.
But secondly, I'm glad someone mentioned
the moms like holding up their children because that
was absolutely incredible yeah yeah very fun
time cool what's up yo not on an
(06:01):
episode yet ryan here ryan slack i put my
phone down to charge slat slat boy all right and my
favorite part of vanguard as it is every year
it's my third year doing it is the kids inevitably line up
along the front of the stage just standing there
staring up staring at you eyes aglow yeah
and i when we first went on stage
(06:23):
today they weren't doing that i was like oh maybe they said something
this year but then i would say by you know mid sets second set yeah there they
were all out their post fantastic heck yes luckily there's been at least four
of us that have seen the movie and two of us that have not so if you are like
(06:44):
one of the non-millions that have not seen this movie.
There's spoilers. So let's get into it. We're talking Disney and Pixar's best
sequel since Toy Story 2.
This is the greatest, most successful animated film of all time.
We just found out as of a couple of days ago. Give us kind of a top down.
Like we're talking like, what was your overall impression?
What did it make you feel? Were there any moments that really spoke to you?
(07:05):
And then we can kind of discuss a little bit the deeper stuff.
I was lucky enough, speaking of our tour family, speaking of today's magic,
I got to see Inside Out 2 with our two princesses here tonight.
I went to the movies with Chelsea and Melinda, some of Melinda's friends.
And we had such a fun time, you guys. And then Mel and I, we caught up,
(07:26):
we watched Inside Out 1 just to refresh in the world of Riley.
Talking about the feelings, talking about the emotions.
Yeah, no, I'm a tough guy. I didn't cry at all. Just kidding.
I shed many, many tears. I'm a sensitive boy.
And Inside Out number one leads us into number two. We have the theme of number
one being the emotion of sadness. How you need to embrace sadness.
(07:48):
And number two is sort of, we have these new emotions.
Anxiety comes into the picture. Embarrassment. What are some of the new ones? Envy.
Envy. We have a small cameo from Nostalgia. That was very funny.
I think the one, you know, kind of top-down looking at it, I think it's,
they did it again. because the first movie I saw, it's just like,
(08:10):
I did not think that they were going to be able to make a Pixar movie about
children's emotions at the end of this.
They did it again where this speaks on so many other levels than just,
you know, the surface level of like, this is sadness, this is embarrassment.
Like, for me, one of the biggest realizations was I've never had ennui.
I've actually had negative ennui.
I've never been chill in my entire life. But that was by far my absolute favorite emotion.
(08:35):
Okay, so I want to talk about my time in the Inside Out universe.
I have so many things I want to share, so I'm going to try and organize our thoughts here.
But basically when Inside Out 1 came out, I snuck into NYU for a very private
screening for their animation students.
Like a friend of a friend is like, hey, at this time, the director of Inside
Out 2 is going to screen this.
(08:56):
And so I basically like flashed not a student ID.
I, you know, I went to Berkeley. I didn't go to NYU many years ago.
So just picture for me and like standing out like a sore thumb in a class with
all these animation students like
in the back and Pete doctor did a whole slideshow of like the first film.
And he only showed us like maybe like the first 20 minutes, but he talked about
his actual daughter growing up as a dad and just seeing what your kids going
(09:20):
through, like in our emotions and like, what does this mean?
And like, maybe like if there was a world about these emotions and just like.
I was completely blown away. So just like I had this very kind of like special look to that first film.
And then also just like, you know, in this band on stage, we're out here playing
our favorite Disney songs for nostalgic adults, talking about nostalgia and
(09:43):
all the little children at the show tonight that we were just talking about
going through these emotions for the first time.
So I feel like in a really cool way, I sort of have like a front seat to Inside Out 2.
So what you're saying is you broke the law.
And now they're the fbi is going to knock
down your door because you lied and
cheated your way into something but it was very beautiful yeah but i think that
(10:07):
i'm i'm actually more excited to see what they're going to do with kind of like
i mean i know that's a weird thing to say after i just saw this movie but i'm
curious to see what they're going to do with like you know even further adolescence
because puberty and then adolescence still keeps going until you're about like
in your 20s, what that next thing is,
because, you know, I didn't think that I would, you know, scream cry the way I did at the first one.
(10:28):
I will say the one disappointment was I was ready. I was actually fully primed
for a cry that day. I was very ready for a good cry.
And there was a mom with two daughters next to me, and they sat the two little
girls next to me. Fine. No problem.
Right when I knew I was supposed about to cry, little girl next to me just kept
doing up and down with the reclinable seats.
(10:51):
Like, it was to the point where I don't say stuff at movie theaters.
I'm not that person. I understand not everyone ever, but I was ready for a cry
and I was denied that because someone just was like, I was bored with this emotion. I was like, okay.
Sorry, sorry, this is a two hour movie, but it was so great.
I think what I liked about it more than anything, you know, kind of diving further
(11:15):
into the emotions is like,
yeah, you know, a lot of self reflection when you watch this movie,
because you start to think, oh, do what's my center for anger?
What's my center for fear? What's my center for, you know, now,
like, what's my center for anxiety?
Anxiety as someone who you know clinically has
anxiety there's a lot of the stuff that i didn't
(11:37):
think that they were gonna when i heard about the movie i didn't think they were
gonna be all actually encapsulated and they did such a great job
with that i will say though how many
people do you think tried to watch this movie and they didn't feel any
emotion like wait am i a sociopath am i a serial killer is
this that's the test if you watch if you
watch inside out and you don't cry what to
your killer straight to jail right to jail right
(11:59):
to jail jay jay and mel what did you think about the movie
oh i loved it it was just like i don't
know it felt like looking at this whole idea of emotions
with with a fresh set of eyes because i i honestly didn't remember a whole lot
about the first one but i loved it i'm a big crier i love crying in movies and
and in other places the subway i've been there on also subway teen bus um also
(12:23):
yeah wendy's he's wearing I'm wearing a cowboy hat right now.
So I said RV. Also, also Shake Shack.
I don't know if I ever cried. Okay, we digress. No, I loved it.
I feel like, God, Pixar just doesn't miss.
Chelsea, what'd you think? I really loved it. Yeah, the anxiety part was really real. It was cool.
And it was funny because like, I thought that she was gonna.
In the beginning, I was like, on anxiety side, I was like, yeah.
(12:46):
And I was like, oh, because you're an anxious person, Jay.
But then, yeah. Oh, my God. And I was like, oh, yeah, she's a bad guy.
Yeah, I shouldn't act like that. Duh.
This sort of introspection is kind of what this is for, like for kids to be
able to talk to the parents.
Totally, man. Like they went to therapists, they went to a lot of psychologists,
and they really like tried to flesh this out with the findings and the information that we have.
(13:08):
I was, when you're just talking about your own situation, I was just thinking
about the quote from the movie,
how like like the fear emotion fear who
was uh played by tony hale big fan big
fan and so so i
think anxiety says like fear keeps you safe from the
things you can see and anxiety keeps you safe from the things you can't
see yeah and then when you're
(13:30):
talking about how like you know obviously like we've never been teenage
girls but like i remember puberty and i
remember thinking that like this is this is like a high
stakes scenario like the the plot of this movie she goes
to hockey camp and and stuff gets weird with her
friends and that's kind of it but when you're in that movie it's like
it feels so high stakes and i remember like everything yeah
(13:50):
i was at summer camp and i and i was it was like such like well this is like
life-changing event and it's like oh yeah alexis went to summer camp that summer
and you know had his first kiss and just like you know it's just like when you're
when you're an angsty like teenager and just like You brought me back to that, even though,
you know, from the outside, never having that exact perspective.
(14:12):
And also, like, every interaction holds so much weight. Like,
whatever she's trying to impress the cool girl, like the team captain of...
Of the hockey team she wants to get onto. Every single interaction,
she's like analyzing it.
But we don't find out if she makes the team, right? Doesn't it end with like
a kind of creative analysis? She smiles. She smiles though.
She smiles pretty hard. But I want to talk about how they did the panic attack.
(14:33):
Yes. I started to have a very small panic attack when that happened.
And I've talked to the people that have anxiety and they said, yeah, that same thing.
Yeah. The anxiety character, which is Maya Hawk.
I read that she auditioned for this backstage at like Epcot,
like over Zoom or something.
Thing and it was this brush thing and the casting director like was
brought to tears just because she like embodied this character
(14:54):
of anxiety sounds like an anxious like recording yeah
that makes sense that sounds the most anxious way to do any audition i would
never do that i'm just imagining she's like in in the in the back of like spaceship
earth in the back so i'm sorry the wi-fi is not really good i don't have a good
connection but like i'm gonna try it anyway but like I was like,
(15:14):
don't judge me too hard. You're hired, pastor.
She's booked. Did I get the part? You booked it.
Okay, so I checked this out on YouTube. There's a variety interview with the cinematographer.
It's this guy named Adam Habib and Jonathan Pytko. I might be pronouncing that wrong.
So they're talking about the different cinematography used in this exact scene
that you're talking about, Grau.
(15:35):
Just like the technology has come so
far that like like the the shakiness of
the camera outside outside of her anxiety the way they framed the lighting all
this stuff is so like it's so well thought out and so compelling that every
shot in this movie is just like it's just so artful and i was just really struck
(15:55):
um because again you know we're out here in this band trying to bring our
songs to life and we're trying to make compelling creative choices and bring
an audience in and have this be this interactive thing. So like.
Yeah, I was just really touched. The cinematography of the inside world versus
the outside world is just like when you're not inside your brain, it's like really scary.
(16:18):
And like the way that the shots are framed is different. And then when you're
inside, it's cozy, but it's also just like very more cartoony.
Let me tell you one of the most poignant things that I felt from the whole movie
was when Joyce said, maybe as you get older, you feel a little less joy,
but I'm still going to like get in there.
That was my guideline. there yeah and that was
(16:39):
when the girl did the up and down on the on the recliner very
like next to us like very rapidly so when we went
to see it it was quiet another like poignant
moment and some child goes sucks to be
you oh my god when we
went to the theater yes the kid behind us was like
heckling the movie and it was hilarious thing was
(17:00):
it toad kid i was like sniffling no i
know when it was when she got rid of anxiety or something
she was like it's next to be you because then after that
like anxiety came back and then joy had to figure out and then
she was like no like this kid was so invested and just
like so vocal about it so that kind of brings me to another thing i want to
talk about because this movie is such a hit now and like there's been two of
(17:21):
these that children are going to bowling alleys and they're seeing all the bowling
balls and being like oh that's a lot of core memories because it kind of looks
like oh my god isn't that crazy Wait, I love that.
The sound that they make when they clink together. It's so satisfying.
It's so satisfying. We watched the special features when we rewatched the first one.
(17:41):
And they used like real, that sounds so dumb.
They used like real marbles. Yeah, but that's like. Well, now you can like get
a sound bite. No, no, no. But that's like nothing's better than just like fully.
They curated these specific sounds.
And it's just so fascinating. They didn't just go on YouTube and Google freaking clink.
Stay late tony got the clink in the studio he really got the real clink tony
(18:02):
dumperino tony dumperino that's a that's a later dump some clinks in that don't
get that wait another another,
jesus sort of in lieu of the anxiety attack that they like visualize so beautifully
the sarcasm yes like a little that was so funny that was so funny brilliant
it's when we're yelling across We think you guys are so great at your job.
(18:25):
And they're like, we think you guys are so great at your job.
Yeah, that was. And it's as someone as someone that like loves being sarcastic. What?
Me? What? Yes, I get it. I just like, yes, I did. I got it. I got it.
You were sarcastic about him being sarcastic. Does that cancel out the sarcasm? No.
(18:49):
Are we, we're sort of sitting across the sarcasm. Never. You have to go deeper.
Grau, you're such a good friend.
Thank you. Grau, you're such a good friend. All right.
So any other things about Inside Out 2? Inside Out 2. I was disappointed that
I didn't, I wasn't able to cry because a child I would kind of ruin that, but it.
Blame the kids. For me, like the biggest thing about Inside Out,
(19:12):
like the first one was Bing Bong, that whole series.
I and I and I had never projectile teared before, but I cried so hard.
I actually had tears that flew out on and hit my knees.
Right. What do you got about Inside Out 1? Inside Out 1.
One of the things I found so fascinating about it when they show the inside
of Riley versus her parents.
(19:35):
The emotions are very different. Is that like your dad and her mom? Yeah.
That's Cal McLaughlin from Twin Peaks, by the way. That's her dad.
Twin Peaks. David Lynch, shout out. From Texas and the City.
Oh, gosh. David Lynch, shout out. Oh, my gosh. Speaking about Texas and the
City, we saw Cynthia Nixon. Yeah, we saw Cynthia Nixon last weekend.
And I was like, Seth, I marched behind you during the queer march. And she's like, what?
(19:58):
Our listeners will be delighted to know that Cynthia Nixon pumps her own gas.
That's all I'm going to say. And she was super sweet. She was so nice.
Okay, final thing about Inside Out 2 is that... It's soggy.
I told some of the band this last week. So we are changing our band name.
We're no longer Little Mermin. We're called the Inside Outsiders.
And after we're going to wear Inside Out costumes, we have to switch costumes after every song.
(20:23):
So who's ever angry on one song has to play angrily. And then we switch costumes every song.
So then it's like the drum, you know, Quinn's going to be banging on the drums so angrily.
And then, you know, if you're Joy, you got to sing the song joyfully.
But then. Sounds like a good experience for the audience.
Actually, if that worked, that would be so good for us. That would be incredible.
Just for us. And our listeners. You heard it here first.
(20:45):
I think the coolest thing about both movies, Inside Out 1 and Inside Out 2,
is just kind of the overarching theme that all these emotions can coexist.
Right, and balance each other out. Yeah, like they're multifaceted creatures,
and you can feel happiness and sadness at the same time.
In the first one, that's a whole big thing when sadness touches the core memories,
(21:06):
and they turn blue and yellow, and it's like, that's such a human experience.
Experience it's so smart and like you know the other thing
i was going to say about inside at one is that the way in
the parents minds the emotions are much
more balanced they're all kind of sitting at a table together yeah
focus on the same goal in riley's brand they're
all kind of like tripping over each other and fighting each other and
(21:29):
trying to take control and it's really interesting when you
put it that way it makes so much i really am glad everyone's been
been here for this because you know it's uh it's an emotional hang that's what
we have however now we get to go into one of our favorite segments ever and
since we have a lot of people here this might stretch out the episode a little
bit we're going into tour van Van Janams!
(21:50):
Music.
Van Janams! Woo!
Funny bits and silly shenanigans in the little memento van again.
It's time for Tour Van Janams.
Ooh, yeah!
(22:11):
Here we are, Tour Van Janams. We were going to get into some stuff.
I had some stuff planned out.
I just want to say Spaghetti Man. We did bring that up on our Tour Debrief and
Spaghetti Man has now come back in such a way that it's actually been kind of an issue.
As the prophecy was foretold in the song, he's come back. Yeah, that's right.
The song was born on this podcast, by the way. Spaghetti Man was just a voice.
(22:33):
We had the Spaghetti Man episode with me and Growl.
And like late that Sunday night, it's like, look, it's Merman Monday tomorrow.
I was inspired and I wrote Spaghetti Man. And it has since gone out into the
world. And now Spaghetti Man appears on our shows.
Two times on the show today, we just all went like, whoa!
Yeah spaghetti man's a state of mind yeah it's like
(22:56):
margaritaville um i will say i will say
a big a big i was a big fan of a
bit that quinn and i had last weekend of where we just went like we were talking
about pokemon blue and pokemon red and because i was playing pokemon and we
were just like talking like your bros like pokemon yeah and we just like kept
(23:17):
doing that To the point where we're both like,
oh, we have to stop this or otherwise it's going to infect our entire lives
and it's going to infect our entire lives.
If you see anything that's red on the side, we're like, what color is that?
Red. What color is that? Red.
Yeah. Red. Yeah. Wait, no, this could work in the show because we ask the audience for colors.
(23:38):
We do the song Colors of the Wind and we paint the colors together. With Bob Ross.
And yeah, so now someone could just be like, like yeah did
you nail that i got a good chanel yeah okay what do you got chan the picture
you took of me and mal sleeping my parents do that to each other they send pictures
(24:01):
of like if my dad falls asleep so that i thought that was silly because we're both like.
But there's this girl i worked with once uh an irish girl and she would be like
because i'd like take a nap was when i worked on the ship and she'd be like
(24:22):
did you drool she would always ask me and she was like oh that's the best sleep,
did you drool anytime i take a nap if you drool it's better sleep than if you're
not I feel like that's why I'm kind of like unhinged or in an uncomfortable
position, like in a tour van. Yeah, kind of.
(24:42):
But no, I mean, I usually sleep. It was a shenanigan getting us while we're sleeping, sir.
I'm a great sleeper in the back. It's just like when I'm co-pilot,
I got to stay up for Quinn. You're quite quiet.
What, when I'm in the back? In the van. What? When you're sleeping.
Yeah. That's when you're quiet in the van.
Oh, my God, where's she at? the music the playlists your playlists are always
(25:05):
a shenan what are you talking about I play your normal music,
oh no have you guys talked about this that's always a shenanigan yeah,
Alexis with I never end a shenanigan this is the regular version this is this
is the regular version of this song have you heard this I remember my first
experience it was coming back I don't know I think it was coming back from my
first gig and I was like somebody hands me the aux it's like oh sure Alexis
(25:26):
and then all the people in a band who's been in it long and I was like no don't give,
It was like the weirdest mashup you've ever heard.
All right. So happy birthday song sung in the national anthem.
And that's, that's what it has. Well, that's your, yeah.
Music.
(27:01):
Write a new song because we just did one alright anyways hold on hold on we
can't time it back alright everybody that was absolutely nuts we did not get
to a tour taste today that's fine you just got,
alright we came in like a train so join us on patreon for exclusive content
(27:24):
bonus episodes behind the scene highlights a lot of stuff that's getting edited
out of this episode I'm I'm going to actually save for Patreon and it's going to go in and it's worth.
Visit patreon.com slash the little merman all or the, yeah, the little merman
all one word to become a part of the merfam and enjoy all the extra perks we have to offer.
(27:48):
Please follow the little merman, the band that this is all based on and the
little merman on IG all one word.
You can find Alexis at Alexis Babini. You can find me at groww underscore music.
We hope you have enjoyed our stories and discussions.
Don't forget to subscribe and follow us on all those platforms we just mentioned.
(28:10):
And we'd love to hear your feedback on Patreon.
So please leave us a comment, send us a message. And until next time,
remember to dream, believe, and achieve.
See you next Monday. Don't run!
Music.
(00:10):
Welcome to the Merman Mondays podcast, the podcast where the Little Merman share
behind-the-scenes tour stories, discuss popular Disney content,
and celebrate Disney's musical legacy.
I am your host, Alexis Babini, founder of the Little Merman Band,
and joining me is our co-host, Andrew Grau.
Thanks, Alexis. Whether you're a longtime fan or first-time dreamer,
(00:34):
The Little Merman is the country's premier Disney tribute band,
bringing the magic of Disney music to life with live performances across the U.S. and the world.
Our mission with this podcast is connect with our fans on a deeper level,
give a behind-the-scenes glimpse at touring in an indie rock band,
and share on the joy that is Disney content and culture.
(00:54):
Today is a bit of a spoiler episode. If you haven't seen Disney and Pixar's
latest smash hit, Inside Out 2.
But if you're one of the millions that have, today's all about feelings.
We'll be sure to have some of our tour-vention ends and proper tour tastes also,
so stay tuned to find where you can connect with us and get deeper into the band lore.
(01:15):
Well, before we go the distance, we're still a touring band and some shows are
coming up, so let's get down to business.
Hello, Murpham, your kindly editor.
Music.
(01:43):
Music.
(02:19):
More information like ticket links or RSVP links can be found on our website
at the little mermen.com slash tickets.
So while my cohost is busy taking a picture of us on tour, we're also on tour
and you have a very special reflective episode about inside out to with the
(02:40):
entire little merman band.
The whole band is here. We just played a fantastic show in Van. We're at Ohio.
Quinn's wearing a cowboy hat. We're in a hotel room in the Best Western.
We're in a Comfort Inn. Who knows where we are? I don't know where we are.
I don't know what's happening.
Some of us have seen Inside Out. I think everybody but two of us here have seen Inside Out.
(03:03):
So for the listeners, let's talk about the show, though, right? Well, yeah, of course.
I mean, listen, we're here to talk about Inside Out, too, but we can also talk
about the show. That's why we're here. It was a great show, Van Wert, Ohio.
We had a blast. This is now our third year playing Van Wert,
So we feel like we've gotten a kind of feel for the town, the crowd and our sound people.
Everyone crushed it. And let's play it. Let's play a fun game.
(03:24):
How about everybody goes around and introduces themselves and say one fun thing
you liked about the show. I will start. Alexis here, of course.
And my highlight today was seeing a little girl, Raz Growl, when he sang the Muppet song, Manamana.
I stepped into her imagination and I feel like in her mind, she saw you speaking this alien language.
(03:48):
And then she and she looks at you and like she was like we don't know what you're
saying we don't so that was my favorite part you got razzed by like a nine-year-old
dude all right who's next who's next.
We're going to edit that all. That's great. We, okay. Favorite part.
(04:10):
Favorite part today was during Let It Go.
This girl, did you see the girl come on? Oh, yeah. Yeah, she came on stage.
This girl came on stage. But she was in character, like, at the beginning of
the song. She's like, the snow goes.
Like, she was, like, looking at the little girl with the Minnie Mouse shirt.
Oh, cute. Yeah. So she was, that was one of my favorite parts, yeah. All right.
(04:32):
So I don't know this. Oh, hi, it's Melinda. Episode three. Can I do it? Yeah.
I have my app ready at all times. Oh, my favorite. There was a lot of fun memories
from this particular show. Van Wert really, like, turned it up.
But I think, I don't know if I had seen this before. We did Circle of Life.
(04:53):
And Alexis encouraged the crowd to, like, pick up their babies like Simba. And people did it. Yeah.
No, I don't think so. And people, like, really, like. That's a bit.
People like leaned in and also Ryan picked up one of our inflatable fish and did it as well. Nice.
That was my favorite part. So for our listeners, we have, we do the song Circle of Life.
(05:13):
And right before the final chorus, I say like, guys, this is the part of the
show where we invite you to hold up your little ones like baby Simba on Fry Rock.
Classic bit. It's better than singing like you're an animal.
Who's next? Hi, I'm Quinn. I haven't been on the podcast. No episodes yet.
Thank you. My favorite part of the show today was personally,
(05:38):
I mean for me, I think it was probably the fact that I nailed Belle for the
first time. You nailed Belle.
I thought you were nailing me. You always nail me.
But secondly, I'm glad someone mentioned
the moms like holding up their children because that
was absolutely incredible yeah yeah very fun
time cool what's up yo not on an
(06:01):
episode yet ryan here ryan slack i put my
phone down to charge slat slat boy all right and my
favorite part of vanguard as it is every year
it's my third year doing it is the kids inevitably line up
along the front of the stage just standing there
staring up staring at you eyes aglow yeah
and i when we first went on stage
(06:23):
today they weren't doing that i was like oh maybe they said something
this year but then i would say by you know mid sets second set yeah there they
were all out their post fantastic heck yes luckily there's been at least four
of us that have seen the movie and two of us that have not so if you are like
(06:44):
one of the non-millions that have not seen this movie.
There's spoilers. So let's get into it. We're talking Disney and Pixar's best
sequel since Toy Story 2.
This is the greatest, most successful animated film of all time.
We just found out as of a couple of days ago. Give us kind of a top down.
Like we're talking like, what was your overall impression?
What did it make you feel? Were there any moments that really spoke to you?
(07:05):
And then we can kind of discuss a little bit the deeper stuff.
I was lucky enough, speaking of our tour family, speaking of today's magic,
I got to see Inside Out 2 with our two princesses here tonight.
I went to the movies with Chelsea and Melinda, some of Melinda's friends.
And we had such a fun time, you guys. And then Mel and I, we caught up,
(07:26):
we watched Inside Out 1 just to refresh in the world of Riley.
Talking about the feelings, talking about the emotions.
Yeah, no, I'm a tough guy. I didn't cry at all. Just kidding.
I shed many, many tears. I'm a sensitive boy.
And Inside Out number one leads us into number two. We have the theme of number
one being the emotion of sadness. How you need to embrace sadness.
(07:48):
And number two is sort of, we have these new emotions.
Anxiety comes into the picture. Embarrassment. What are some of the new ones? Envy.
Envy. We have a small cameo from Nostalgia. That was very funny.
I think the one, you know, kind of top-down looking at it, I think it's,
they did it again. because the first movie I saw, it's just like,
(08:10):
I did not think that they were going to be able to make a Pixar movie about
children's emotions at the end of this.
They did it again where this speaks on so many other levels than just,
you know, the surface level of like, this is sadness, this is embarrassment.
Like, for me, one of the biggest realizations was I've never had ennui.
I've actually had negative ennui.
I've never been chill in my entire life. But that was by far my absolute favorite emotion.
(08:35):
Okay, so I want to talk about my time in the Inside Out universe.
I have so many things I want to share, so I'm going to try and organize our thoughts here.
But basically when Inside Out 1 came out, I snuck into NYU for a very private
screening for their animation students.
Like a friend of a friend is like, hey, at this time, the director of Inside
Out 2 is going to screen this.
(08:56):
And so I basically like flashed not a student ID.
I, you know, I went to Berkeley. I didn't go to NYU many years ago.
So just picture for me and like standing out like a sore thumb in a class with
all these animation students like
in the back and Pete doctor did a whole slideshow of like the first film.
And he only showed us like maybe like the first 20 minutes, but he talked about
his actual daughter growing up as a dad and just seeing what your kids going
(09:20):
through, like in our emotions and like, what does this mean?
And like, maybe like if there was a world about these emotions and just like.
I was completely blown away. So just like I had this very kind of like special look to that first film.
And then also just like, you know, in this band on stage, we're out here playing
our favorite Disney songs for nostalgic adults, talking about nostalgia and
(09:43):
all the little children at the show tonight that we were just talking about
going through these emotions for the first time.
So I feel like in a really cool way, I sort of have like a front seat to Inside Out 2.
So what you're saying is you broke the law.
And now they're the fbi is going to knock
down your door because you lied and
cheated your way into something but it was very beautiful yeah but i think that
(10:07):
i'm i'm actually more excited to see what they're going to do with kind of like
i mean i know that's a weird thing to say after i just saw this movie but i'm
curious to see what they're going to do with like you know even further adolescence
because puberty and then adolescence still keeps going until you're about like
in your 20s, what that next thing is,
because, you know, I didn't think that I would, you know, scream cry the way I did at the first one.
(10:28):
I will say the one disappointment was I was ready. I was actually fully primed
for a cry that day. I was very ready for a good cry.
And there was a mom with two daughters next to me, and they sat the two little
girls next to me. Fine. No problem.
Right when I knew I was supposed about to cry, little girl next to me just kept
doing up and down with the reclinable seats.
(10:51):
Like, it was to the point where I don't say stuff at movie theaters.
I'm not that person. I understand not everyone ever, but I was ready for a cry
and I was denied that because someone just was like, I was bored with this emotion. I was like, okay.
Sorry, sorry, this is a two hour movie, but it was so great.
I think what I liked about it more than anything, you know, kind of diving further
(11:15):
into the emotions is like,
yeah, you know, a lot of self reflection when you watch this movie,
because you start to think, oh, do what's my center for anger?
What's my center for fear? What's my center for, you know, now,
like, what's my center for anxiety?
Anxiety as someone who you know clinically has
anxiety there's a lot of the stuff that i didn't
(11:37):
think that they were gonna when i heard about the movie i didn't think they were
gonna be all actually encapsulated and they did such a great job
with that i will say though how many
people do you think tried to watch this movie and they didn't feel any
emotion like wait am i a sociopath am i a serial killer is
this that's the test if you watch if you
watch inside out and you don't cry what to
your killer straight to jail right to jail right
(11:59):
to jail jay jay and mel what did you think about the movie
oh i loved it it was just like i don't
know it felt like looking at this whole idea of emotions
with with a fresh set of eyes because i i honestly didn't remember a whole lot
about the first one but i loved it i'm a big crier i love crying in movies and
and in other places the subway i've been there on also subway teen bus um also
(12:23):
yeah wendy's he's wearing I'm wearing a cowboy hat right now.
So I said RV. Also, also Shake Shack.
I don't know if I ever cried. Okay, we digress. No, I loved it.
I feel like, God, Pixar just doesn't miss.
Chelsea, what'd you think? I really loved it. Yeah, the anxiety part was really real. It was cool.
And it was funny because like, I thought that she was gonna.
In the beginning, I was like, on anxiety side, I was like, yeah.
(12:46):
And I was like, oh, because you're an anxious person, Jay.
But then, yeah. Oh, my God. And I was like, oh, yeah, she's a bad guy.
Yeah, I shouldn't act like that. Duh.
This sort of introspection is kind of what this is for, like for kids to be
able to talk to the parents.
Totally, man. Like they went to therapists, they went to a lot of psychologists,
and they really like tried to flesh this out with the findings and the information that we have.
(13:08):
I was, when you're just talking about your own situation, I was just thinking
about the quote from the movie,
how like like the fear emotion fear who
was uh played by tony hale big fan big
fan and so so i
think anxiety says like fear keeps you safe from the
things you can see and anxiety keeps you safe from the things you can't
see yeah and then when you're
(13:30):
talking about how like you know obviously like we've never been teenage
girls but like i remember puberty and i
remember thinking that like this is this is like a high
stakes scenario like the the plot of this movie she goes
to hockey camp and and stuff gets weird with her
friends and that's kind of it but when you're in that movie it's like
it feels so high stakes and i remember like everything yeah
(13:50):
i was at summer camp and i and i was it was like such like well this is like
life-changing event and it's like oh yeah alexis went to summer camp that summer
and you know had his first kiss and just like you know it's just like when you're
when you're an angsty like teenager and just like You brought me back to that, even though,
you know, from the outside, never having that exact perspective.
(14:12):
And also, like, every interaction holds so much weight. Like,
whatever she's trying to impress the cool girl, like the team captain of...
Of the hockey team she wants to get onto. Every single interaction,
she's like analyzing it.
But we don't find out if she makes the team, right? Doesn't it end with like
a kind of creative analysis? She smiles. She smiles though.
She smiles pretty hard. But I want to talk about how they did the panic attack.
(14:33):
Yes. I started to have a very small panic attack when that happened.
And I've talked to the people that have anxiety and they said, yeah, that same thing.
Yeah. The anxiety character, which is Maya Hawk.
I read that she auditioned for this backstage at like Epcot,
like over Zoom or something.
Thing and it was this brush thing and the casting director like was
brought to tears just because she like embodied this character
(14:54):
of anxiety sounds like an anxious like recording yeah
that makes sense that sounds the most anxious way to do any audition i would
never do that i'm just imagining she's like in in the in the back of like spaceship
earth in the back so i'm sorry the wi-fi is not really good i don't have a good
connection but like i'm gonna try it anyway but like I was like,
(15:14):
don't judge me too hard. You're hired, pastor.
She's booked. Did I get the part? You booked it.
Okay, so I checked this out on YouTube. There's a variety interview with the cinematographer.
It's this guy named Adam Habib and Jonathan Pytko. I might be pronouncing that wrong.
So they're talking about the different cinematography used in this exact scene
that you're talking about, Grau.
(15:35):
Just like the technology has come so
far that like like the the shakiness of
the camera outside outside of her anxiety the way they framed the lighting all
this stuff is so like it's so well thought out and so compelling that every
shot in this movie is just like it's just so artful and i was just really struck
(15:55):
um because again you know we're out here in this band trying to bring our
songs to life and we're trying to make compelling creative choices and bring
an audience in and have this be this interactive thing. So like.
Yeah, I was just really touched. The cinematography of the inside world versus
the outside world is just like when you're not inside your brain, it's like really scary.
(16:18):
And like the way that the shots are framed is different. And then when you're
inside, it's cozy, but it's also just like very more cartoony.
Let me tell you one of the most poignant things that I felt from the whole movie
was when Joyce said, maybe as you get older, you feel a little less joy,
but I'm still going to like get in there.
That was my guideline. there yeah and that was
(16:39):
when the girl did the up and down on the on the recliner very
like next to us like very rapidly so when we went
to see it it was quiet another like poignant
moment and some child goes sucks to be
you oh my god when we
went to the theater yes the kid behind us was like
heckling the movie and it was hilarious thing was
(17:00):
it toad kid i was like sniffling no i
know when it was when she got rid of anxiety or something
she was like it's next to be you because then after that
like anxiety came back and then joy had to figure out and then
she was like no like this kid was so invested and just
like so vocal about it so that kind of brings me to another thing i want to
talk about because this movie is such a hit now and like there's been two of
(17:21):
these that children are going to bowling alleys and they're seeing all the bowling
balls and being like oh that's a lot of core memories because it kind of looks
like oh my god isn't that crazy Wait, I love that.
The sound that they make when they clink together. It's so satisfying.
It's so satisfying. We watched the special features when we rewatched the first one.
(17:41):
And they used like real, that sounds so dumb.
They used like real marbles. Yeah, but that's like. Well, now you can like get
a sound bite. No, no, no. But that's like nothing's better than just like fully.
They curated these specific sounds.
And it's just so fascinating. They didn't just go on YouTube and Google freaking clink.
Stay late tony got the clink in the studio he really got the real clink tony
(18:02):
dumperino tony dumperino that's a that's a later dump some clinks in that don't
get that wait another another,
jesus sort of in lieu of the anxiety attack that they like visualize so beautifully
the sarcasm yes like a little that was so funny that was so funny brilliant
it's when we're yelling across We think you guys are so great at your job.
(18:25):
And they're like, we think you guys are so great at your job.
Yeah, that was. And it's as someone as someone that like loves being sarcastic. What?
Me? What? Yes, I get it. I just like, yes, I did. I got it. I got it.
You were sarcastic about him being sarcastic. Does that cancel out the sarcasm? No.
(18:49):
Are we, we're sort of sitting across the sarcasm. Never. You have to go deeper.
Grau, you're such a good friend.
Thank you. Grau, you're such a good friend. All right.
So any other things about Inside Out 2? Inside Out 2. I was disappointed that
I didn't, I wasn't able to cry because a child I would kind of ruin that, but it.
Blame the kids. For me, like the biggest thing about Inside Out,
(19:12):
like the first one was Bing Bong, that whole series.
I and I and I had never projectile teared before, but I cried so hard.
I actually had tears that flew out on and hit my knees.
Right. What do you got about Inside Out 1? Inside Out 1.
One of the things I found so fascinating about it when they show the inside
of Riley versus her parents.
(19:35):
The emotions are very different. Is that like your dad and her mom? Yeah.
That's Cal McLaughlin from Twin Peaks, by the way. That's her dad.
Twin Peaks. David Lynch, shout out. From Texas and the City.
Oh, gosh. David Lynch, shout out. Oh, my gosh. Speaking about Texas and the
City, we saw Cynthia Nixon. Yeah, we saw Cynthia Nixon last weekend.
And I was like, Seth, I marched behind you during the queer march. And she's like, what?
(19:58):
Our listeners will be delighted to know that Cynthia Nixon pumps her own gas.
That's all I'm going to say. And she was super sweet. She was so nice.
Okay, final thing about Inside Out 2 is that... It's soggy.
I told some of the band this last week. So we are changing our band name.
We're no longer Little Mermin. We're called the Inside Outsiders.
And after we're going to wear Inside Out costumes, we have to switch costumes after every song.
(20:23):
So who's ever angry on one song has to play angrily. And then we switch costumes every song.
So then it's like the drum, you know, Quinn's going to be banging on the drums so angrily.
And then, you know, if you're Joy, you got to sing the song joyfully.
But then. Sounds like a good experience for the audience.
Actually, if that worked, that would be so good for us. That would be incredible.
Just for us. And our listeners. You heard it here first.
(20:45):
I think the coolest thing about both movies, Inside Out 1 and Inside Out 2,
is just kind of the overarching theme that all these emotions can coexist.
Right, and balance each other out. Yeah, like they're multifaceted creatures,
and you can feel happiness and sadness at the same time.
In the first one, that's a whole big thing when sadness touches the core memories,
(21:06):
and they turn blue and yellow, and it's like, that's such a human experience.
Experience it's so smart and like you know the other thing
i was going to say about inside at one is that the way in
the parents minds the emotions are much
more balanced they're all kind of sitting at a table together yeah
focus on the same goal in riley's brand they're
all kind of like tripping over each other and fighting each other and
(21:29):
trying to take control and it's really interesting when you
put it that way it makes so much i really am glad everyone's been
been here for this because you know it's uh it's an emotional hang that's what
we have however now we get to go into one of our favorite segments ever and
since we have a lot of people here this might stretch out the episode a little
bit we're going into tour van Van Janams!
(21:50):
Music.
Van Janams! Woo!
Funny bits and silly shenanigans in the little memento van again.
It's time for Tour Van Janams.
Ooh, yeah!
(22:11):
Here we are, Tour Van Janams. We were going to get into some stuff.
I had some stuff planned out.
I just want to say Spaghetti Man. We did bring that up on our Tour Debrief and
Spaghetti Man has now come back in such a way that it's actually been kind of an issue.
As the prophecy was foretold in the song, he's come back. Yeah, that's right.
The song was born on this podcast, by the way. Spaghetti Man was just a voice.
(22:33):
We had the Spaghetti Man episode with me and Growl.
And like late that Sunday night, it's like, look, it's Merman Monday tomorrow.
I was inspired and I wrote Spaghetti Man. And it has since gone out into the
world. And now Spaghetti Man appears on our shows.
Two times on the show today, we just all went like, whoa!
Yeah spaghetti man's a state of mind yeah it's like
(22:56):
margaritaville um i will say i will say
a big a big i was a big fan of a
bit that quinn and i had last weekend of where we just went like we were talking
about pokemon blue and pokemon red and because i was playing pokemon and we
were just like talking like your bros like pokemon yeah and we just like kept
(23:17):
doing that To the point where we're both like,
oh, we have to stop this or otherwise it's going to infect our entire lives
and it's going to infect our entire lives.
If you see anything that's red on the side, we're like, what color is that?
Red. What color is that? Red.
Yeah. Red. Yeah. Wait, no, this could work in the show because we ask the audience for colors.
(23:38):
We do the song Colors of the Wind and we paint the colors together. With Bob Ross.
And yeah, so now someone could just be like, like yeah did
you nail that i got a good chanel yeah okay what do you got chan the picture
you took of me and mal sleeping my parents do that to each other they send pictures
(24:01):
of like if my dad falls asleep so that i thought that was silly because we're both like.
But there's this girl i worked with once uh an irish girl and she would be like
because i'd like take a nap was when i worked on the ship and she'd be like
(24:22):
did you drool she would always ask me and she was like oh that's the best sleep,
did you drool anytime i take a nap if you drool it's better sleep than if you're
not I feel like that's why I'm kind of like unhinged or in an uncomfortable
position, like in a tour van. Yeah, kind of.
(24:42):
But no, I mean, I usually sleep. It was a shenanigan getting us while we're sleeping, sir.
I'm a great sleeper in the back. It's just like when I'm co-pilot,
I got to stay up for Quinn. You're quite quiet.
What, when I'm in the back? In the van. What? When you're sleeping.
Yeah. That's when you're quiet in the van.
Oh, my God, where's she at? the music the playlists your playlists are always
(25:05):
a shenan what are you talking about I play your normal music,
oh no have you guys talked about this that's always a shenanigan yeah,
Alexis with I never end a shenanigan this is the regular version this is this
is the regular version of this song have you heard this I remember my first
experience it was coming back I don't know I think it was coming back from my
first gig and I was like somebody hands me the aux it's like oh sure Alexis
(25:26):
and then all the people in a band who's been in it long and I was like no don't give,
It was like the weirdest mashup you've ever heard.
All right. So happy birthday song sung in the national anthem.
And that's, that's what it has. Well, that's your, yeah.
Music.
(27:01):
Write a new song because we just did one alright anyways hold on hold on we
can't time it back alright everybody that was absolutely nuts we did not get
to a tour taste today that's fine you just got,
alright we came in like a train so join us on patreon for exclusive content
(27:24):
bonus episodes behind the scene highlights a lot of stuff that's getting edited
out of this episode I'm I'm going to actually save for Patreon and it's going to go in and it's worth.
Visit patreon.com slash the little merman all or the, yeah, the little merman
all one word to become a part of the merfam and enjoy all the extra perks we have to offer.
(27:48):
Please follow the little merman, the band that this is all based on and the
little merman on IG all one word.
You can find Alexis at Alexis Babini. You can find me at groww underscore music.
We hope you have enjoyed our stories and discussions.
Don't forget to subscribe and follow us on all those platforms we just mentioned.
(28:10):
And we'd love to hear your feedback on Patreon.
So please leave us a comment, send us a message. And until next time,
remember to dream, believe, and achieve.
See you next Monday. Don't run!
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