March 21, 2023 • 46 mins
Welcome back to the Crown & Anchor, Greyhounds! In this episode Marisa and Brett have a conversation about Ted Lasso and musical theatre with Marylee Fairbanks.
Marylee Fairbanks is a producer and performer who is known for her work in the first touring production of the musical Ragtime and the show I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change – which is the second-longest-running off-Broadway musical in American theatre history.
In addition to her work on stage, Marylee is the co-producer and co-host of the Stages Podcast alongside her longtime friend and Broadway star Stephanie J. Block, who has starred in megahits like Wicked, The Cher Show, and Into the Woods.
Given her subject-matter expertise, we invited Marylee on the show to chat about Ted Lasso and musical theatre. We also talked a lot about how Ted Lasso the show fosters connection, community, and empathy in ways that mirror many classics of the musical theatre genre and how creativity is still absolutely necessary – even in times of seeming scarcity.
More extensive show notes can be found on our website: http://www.tedlassopod.com/marylee-fairbanks-musical-theatre-ted-lasso
Richmond Til We Die is an episode-by-episode conversation about the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso, where we explore the characters, their relationships to each other, and how they're able to make us laugh until we can hardly breathe one moment and then feel with the deepest parts of our hearts the next. When you're here, you're a greyhound.
Marylee Fairbanks is a producer and performer who is known for her work in the first touring production of the musical Ragtime and the show I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change – which is the second-longest-running off-Broadway musical in American theatre history.
In addition to her work on stage, Marylee is the co-producer and co-host of the Stages Podcast alongside her longtime friend and Broadway star Stephanie J. Block, who has starred in megahits like Wicked, The Cher Show, and Into the Woods.
Given her subject-matter expertise, we invited Marylee on the show to chat about Ted Lasso and musical theatre. We also talked a lot about how Ted Lasso the show fosters connection, community, and empathy in ways that mirror many classics of the musical theatre genre and how creativity is still absolutely necessary – even in times of seeming scarcity.
More extensive show notes can be found on our website: http://www.tedlassopod.com/marylee-fairbanks-musical-theatre-ted-lasso
Richmond Til We Die is an episode-by-episode conversation about the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso, where we explore the characters, their relationships to each other, and how they're able to make us laugh until we can hardly breathe one moment and then feel with the deepest parts of our hearts the next. When you're here, you're a greyhound.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:12):
Welcome to the Crown and Acre Grahams. This is Richmond Till We Die,
a conversation about the Apple TV Plusshow ted Lasso, where we explore the
characters, their relationships to each other, and how they're able to make us
laugh until we can hardly breathe onemoment and then feel with the deepest parts
of our hearts the next. I'mMarissa and I can't get a man with
(00:35):
a gun. I'm Brett and I'ma Joe with just one aim, and
that aim is to introduce our guest. But before I do, I just
want to share a quick update aboutwhat the next couple of months are going
to look like for our pod.Longtime fans of the show will likely already
know that we don't publish our episodeconversations until the entire season has aired.
(00:55):
That means we won't begin dissecting seasonthree episodes until the beginning of June at
the early. We have several reasonsfor doing this, but perhaps the biggest
is that we feel we can bringmore focus and clarity to our episode discussions
after we've grasped the scope of theentire season. But not to worry,
you'll still be getting new episodes fromus over the next twelve weeks or so
to tide you over. In fact, we have some incredible interviews lined up
(01:18):
with other super fans of the show, including podcasters, former and current pro
soccer players, journalists, reporters,activists, and more. We're also going
to be chatting with several ted Lassocast and crew members, so be sure
to keep us in your podcast feedso that you don't miss out on any
of that ted Lasso goodness. Okay, back to my introduction. Our guest
today is the wonderful and charming MaryLee Fairbanks. Mary Lee is a producer
(01:42):
and performer who has known for herwork in the first touring production of the
musical Ragtime and the show I LoveYou Your Perfect Now Change? Brett,
did you know that I actually sawMary Lee and I Love You Your Perfect
Now Change over twenty years ago,not until just now, there you go.
In addition to her work on thestage, Mary Lee is the co
producer and co host of The Stagespodcast alongside her longtime friend and Broadway star
(02:07):
Stephanie J. Block, who hasstarred in shows like Wicked, The Share
Show, and Into the Woods,which Brett, did you know? I
also saw Stephanie j block in intothe Woods. I did know that you
saw Stephanie. That was just theWoods. That was just like a couple
months ago. But whatever, justname dropping. On the Stages podcast,
Mary Lee and Stephanie invite fellow Broadwaystars onto the show to share their stories
(02:30):
and chat about the ways that creativityand art can be pathways to empathy,
connection, healing, and community.Past guests of the show include Jason Alexander,
Jesse Tyler, Ferguson, Shoshanna beanLeashants, Mandy Gonzalez, Andrew Reynolds,
Kiala Settle, and my all timefavorite and voice crush, Gavin Creel.
(02:51):
Given her subject matter expertise, weinvited Mary Lee on the show to
chat about ted Lasso and musical theater. We also talked a lot about how
the show fosters connect community and empathyin ways that mirror many classics of the
musical theater genre. So Greyhounds pleasejoin us in giving a warm welcome to
mary Lee Fairbanks. Mary Lee Fairbanksto stage, Mary Lee to stage.
(03:14):
Please thank you guys for having me. Yeah, we're so excited that you
are here to chat about ted Lassoand musical theater and some other fun stuff
too. We already know that youare a fan of the show. So
first things first, what about theshow hooked you? What did you love
about it, Why did you decideto start watching it, and what made
you stick with it? Well,you know, it's funny. I didn't
(03:36):
start watching it for the musical theaterat all. I have a teenage son,
and when you have a teenage son, you're always searching for some way
to hang out and connect, andso one of the things we do is
find shows and binge them. SoI had heard about the show and everybody
was talking about how wonderful it was, and so I said to my son,
(03:57):
well, let's just give it ashot. You know, I figured
sport he might like. I Thisis probably not popular to say, but
I don't like sports. I don'twatch sports ever. Um. I grew
up with two older brothers who playedhockey, and I spent my childhood in
hockey rinks. And in the seventies, right, we didn't have phones,
(04:18):
we didn't have any video, wehad nothing to entertain ourselves, and not
one but two brothers played So Ispent my weekends in hockey rinks as a
little kids, following them around totournaments and oh my god. And then
after the games we'd spend the restof the day in the emergency room,
you know, for the broken armor the stitches. I mean, so
(04:41):
growing up, I was like,no, no, there will be no
sports. I never watched them onTV. Never. I remember when I
started dating my husband, like,you're not into sports, are you?
Because I just And when I hada son, I was like, look,
here's the thing. He can't playhockey. I don't care if he
begs me, he can't. Ican't. I can't spend my time in
hockey rinks. Thank goodness, he'snot into hockey. He is a boxer.
(05:03):
But so I didn't. I didn'twatch it for any of the sports
at all. I just had heard, well, I loved Jason Szadakis,
and so I thought, okay,let's give it a shot. And then
we loved it. We binged itso fast that we were kind of bummed
because we ran out. We watchedboth seasons. I was like, oh
no, so so yeah, Ireally really love it. I love the
(05:28):
spirit of the show. I sortof feel like the world needs shows like
this, you know, the thingsthat remind us, how we're all the
same and not so different. AndI think that's that's why I loved it.
Was there a particular moment in theshow for you that you were like,
Oh, I'm definitely gonna stick withthis. No, it was right,
(05:49):
it was right off the top.I just loved it. I loved
the characters, and what I lovedabout them was nobody ended up being as
they seemed when you first met them. So you meet these characters and you
make assumptions about them, and Ithink that's on purpose. It's based on
how they dressed or how they presentthemselves, and so you think they're going
(06:11):
to be one thing, and theyall turn out to be completely different than
the assumptions that you made. AndI think that's really special about the show.
I feel like it's a commentary onthe state of the world too,
and so I love that they kindof played with that a little bit.
And I think too, for youknow, theater artists, people who desire,
(06:32):
you know, character development. Youknow, that's sort of what drew
me in as well, because youwant those characters that aren't just you know,
one note or one dynamic. Youwant to sort of take them on
a journey and get to know them. So one of the characters that,
of course I'm obsessed with, butmainly the person and not the character.
Hannah watting him. So, didyou know much about her career in musical
(06:56):
theater before this? No, becauseshe really didn't do a lot of way.
She only did spam a lot.I think most of her most of
her career was in the West End. Right, So she's like amazing,
she's she can say, I mean, she's so. She's just so appealing
and perfect and strong, and shecan sing like an angel. So now
(07:19):
I have followed everything she's done.I you know, went on the deep
dive and watched everything about her righton YouTube. Yeah, she's so,
She's just awesome, just awesome.Yeah. I think I watched the Shaky
Kim video of her singing Send inthe Clowns about once a week, just
from my own personal fortitude because it'snot good Ford therapy. So he watches
(07:42):
that. You what I wanted tosay about the characters too. I remember
UM seeing an interview with UM allthe guys who wrote for Sid Caesar,
which were like the greatest of thegreats, right, those TV writers.
It was Neil Simon and his brotherand mel Brooks. I mean, these
were the guys that sort of CarlReiner, they formed television and I remember
(08:07):
hearing them in an interview talking aboutwhen they were first getting into those writers
rooms and what it was like.And they never wrote to the joke.
They always wrote to the character.And I think the difference between really good
TV now is some of the sitcomieshows that you watch, pretty much anyone
(08:28):
in the cast could say the joke, you know, the quote joke,
and it would be it would justfall as the joke. But character driven
shows, you understand the characters sowell and you come to love them so
much that you anticipate their reaction inthe scene. And it's not about the
joke. It's about putting these charactersthat we now know and can predict what
(08:54):
they're going to say or think,putting them in the scene, and that's
what makes the joke, instead ofwriting out a joke. And I was
always so struck by that, Andthen you look for shows that can fit
into that. I mean, likeAll in the Family that you know,
you knew what Archie Barker was goingto do before he did it, before
he said the joke, and soI think these shows that and there aren't
(09:15):
that many of them, but theones that are like this, like ted
Lasso, where the characters are sodrawn out and you learn something about them
every week, that's what makes theshow so special, I think. And
to your point, like they canthey can write a joke in the context
for a character like Roy Kent.Just a simple grunt in a different context
is going to draw a certain typeof lap for a certain type of reaction
(09:37):
out of the characters and the viewersbecause of the detail that they've put into
writing a character like that. Yeah, that's an actor's dream show, I
think, to be on a show. And it really sounds like it too,
Like anytime we've talked to the cast, like everyone seems to have so
much fun making the thing, andI think that that shines through in the
(09:58):
in the final product, like youcan see like these people are joyfully creating
something together and it's just on topof that, like it makes you feel
happy. It makes you like thereare definitely some ups and downs, but
it makes you it leaves you withthe overall feeling of like, ah,
I have been my cup has beenfiled or something. Yeah. Yeah,
I think that's right. So kindof staying with our ted Lasso feel good
(10:22):
musicals theme, there are many musicaltheater references. I would say many in
a show that is primarily ostensibly basedon a professional men's soccer team. So
what were some of the like favoritesof yours or like one that you found
particularly deep cut? Like of theseveral references that we've had, did you
have a favorite. I love theRoy Scheider one where you know, you
(10:46):
think he's talking about Jaws, buthe's talking about all that jazz. Love
that that was early too, thatwas like first or second episode. But
I mean, I love any showthat's gonna do little musical theater reference.
Like the other show that does ita lot too, is The Newsroom.
Yes, we love always always droppingin musical theater, his musical theater.
Yes, totally, totally. SoI love all the shows that hide those
(11:09):
little musical theater easter eggs, youknow. But I like that he did
obscure things to like you know,Gergeman funny face, you know, like
most people won't know, yeah whothat is, But I don't know,
but I think, you know,I think the essence of the show is
musical theater. Yes, I reallydo. I don't think it's about sports
(11:30):
as much as it is about theunity of musical theater. You know.
Maybe that's just because that's how Ithat's the lens through which I see my
whole world, right, so dowe well? And I think for for
those of us who are attuned tothose types of story beats and that that
style of storytelling, like it's soeasy for us to identify those plot points
(11:50):
or those story beats, right,Like it feels like these seasons that we've
had that one has kind of focusedmajorly on the development of Rebecca and then
one is really focused majorly on negativedevelopment of Nate. Like you sort of
had these two contrasting arcs. Butyou know, it was easy for me
to kind of, you know,put that into like to imagine, like
(12:11):
this could be a musical like this, like the arcs that are here,
the the I wants, like thesebig numbers, they always have like a
heavy hitting episode right before the end, like they're structured even in a similar
way. You know, yeah,yeah, yeah, just like it's really
true, and it's funny because youknow, I mean, when you think
of sports, it's like it's verytribalistic, you know, it's people want
(12:33):
want to have an affiliation with something. It's usually um, you know,
I mean, there's always a winnerand a loser that you're and it's it's
aggressive and it's so so to bringthe sweetness of musical theater and the you
know, almost sappy sugariness of musicaltheater into that atmosphere, I think is
(12:54):
just really brilliant, you know,because you have all of these aggressive sports
guys knowing these references like you know, his the silent the coach who hardly
ever speaking beard. Yeah right,So that like the fact that he just
comes out with them cracks me upbecause just like it's not the guy you
(13:15):
expect is going to know, youknow, Gershwin, Right. So I
just love that. I think it'ssuch a great little twist in the show.
Yeah. Well, we we've talkeda lot on our show, both
in our episode discussions and with someof our guests about the ways in which
Ted Lasso the show sort of subvertsor flips masculinity on its head, like
you're taking this hyper masculine expression ofprofessional exactly and through the writing, not
(13:43):
only just like what is said,but the way it's delivered, and the
characters that deliver it, like yousaid, like they're doing something really interesting
too. What does it look likefor a bunch of what we must assume
are sort of like cis Head presentingmen to kind of embody like this whole
version of them elves where they areprofessional athletes, where they are professional coaches,
(14:03):
but yet like they're going to talkabout Gershwin, they're going to talk
about and they're talking about the Jetsand the Sharks, right, you know,
they're talking about well and exactly exactlyand even Roy taking yoga class with
yes, yes, all of thesethings that are not typically male. Right.
So that like my son, likeI said, he's a boxer and
I'm constantly trying to get him intoyoga, and the only way I can
(14:24):
do it is to sort of say, well, how good it is,
how much better it'll make him asa boxer, right, because you have
to kind of do it as likefrom the male perspective um. And I
love that. I love that theytake what could be you know, quote
typically male behaviors and they flip iton the head where you never expect these
things to come out of them,And that I think I think it's a
(14:46):
really brilliant piece of writing and anda brilliant little trick that they use in
the show that really works, andthe lines are delivered convincingly enough that someone
or someone's in that writer's room areparticularly well versed in musical theater totally,
like someone who I don't know whoit is. I know Jason has a
commented on it, but I don'tknow if it's just bred Goldstein or all
(15:07):
of them, Like there's just someonein there really knows their stuff. Well,
it's funny. I wonder if it'sa Saturday Night Live thing because now
the other two from Saturday Night Liveare doing the schmigadoon I love we Love
can't wait for schoo we just yeah, I can't wait. Yeah. So
maybe it's um maybe at the inthe because they're always doing little musical bits
(15:31):
on Saturday Night Lives. So itcould be that just the culture in those
writing rooms is very much that,you know, part of just the proximity
to Broadway, like I mean,if you're living and working in New York
with all those other creative folks,like right right, yeah, totally.
So is there a musical theater referencethat you would love to see happen in
season three. Yeah, Kimberly aKimbo, Yeah obviously. Yeah, it's
(15:56):
hilarious, and you know, it'skind of the same to feel good show
like Ted Lasso is. It's thatyou got to have a dream, you
gotta believe that eternal optimism that nomatter what happens, you keep coming back
to it. It's it's got alot of parallels and it's hysterically funny.
But well, I feel like I'msurprised that um Ted and Company have not
(16:21):
made um This is a little bitof a deep cut, but stay with
me. They have not made areference to the Goo Goo Dolls song Iris
yet that I can remember on theshow. And that is like on the
website for Kimberly A Kimbo, Likethat's in her like senior picture, like
or her yearbook quote is like fromGoogle Dolls. And I was like,
that could almost be a sideways referenceif only they had done it, because
(16:41):
I'm like, I just feel likeTed and Beard like they all know,
like they know the Google Dolls,Like I'm just surprised that the reference hasn't
popped. I haven't done any Sondheimyet either, which that's a little shocking.
I mean, well, I meanI guess west Side, but yeah,
there's just a lot of um,there's a lot of Ted seems like
someone he's so wholesome, he's mostof his references are just going to be
golden Golden Age musicals. Yeah youcan't, really, yeah, you can't
(17:06):
voting Sweeney, Todd, Rogers,BLUs, Learner, and Low. So
yes, well, I want togo to some of your some of your
creative endeavors that we mentioned in theintro. But you mentioned Kimberly A Kimbo
because you and the Broadway Icon Leshaunshave co founded a production company that is
(17:26):
staging that. Correct. Oh no, no, no, um we Leshauns
and I started Team of Productions rightas COVID hit, So we founded it
and then COVID hit and everything justdied. And during COVID she started doing
some work with M. David Stoneand it was David that brought her into
(17:48):
Kimberly A Kimbo. I'm just aninvestor in Kimberly Kimbo and that's through Leshots.
So she's a lead producer. Well, she's a co producer, okay
on that. So we're looking intoa few a few new shows that we're
going to start bringing in in thenext couple of years. She and I
under Teama. Yeah, okay,So thank you for clearing up my confusion
about your involvement with Kimberly A Kimbo. But one thing that you do produce
(18:12):
is your podcast called Stages Podcast.You are co producer, executive producer,
and co host with your longtime palStephane J. Block. So, stephan
and I we did Will Rogers Folliestogether, I would say thirty years ago.
We were in the middle of Branson, Missouri with Pat Boone in the
(18:32):
lead Wow, and I was BettyBlake and she was Zi's fave and we
shared a dressing room and we literallywe were We were the odd couple,
you know. Her half of thedressing room was completely in order, everything
tidy, not a thing out ofplace, you know, and folded just
right. And my side of thedressing rooms like crap everywhere, bras hanging
(18:55):
from door handles, like pictures juststuck on the walls like and I don't
know how she survived me. Wewere so different and when the show ended
we loved each other though. Wegot along so well and when the show
ended. For a long long time, we used to write letters, you
know, because it was before theirwork computers, it was before there was
any of that stuff. And wehave these handwritten letters that we used to
(19:18):
write. And she would always signher handwritten letters with like hearts and flowers
and you know, butterflies and kisses, and I would sign mine, You're
such a freak, I love you. And that's how I would sign all
my letters to her. And wejust stayed friends for years. They said,
while were we lost touch because againthere was no internet. We kind
(19:40):
of lost each other somewhere along theway and then hooked up again. And
I was a little older than her, so I would sort of I got
married first, I had my kidfirst, and so when she was stepping
into those parts of her life,she would kind of call me and be
like, so let's talk about this, you know. And so then when
COVID hit, they had a littleone, and they moved out to California
(20:02):
because she had family out there andthey wanted their daughter views to be able
to go to school outside. Andshe would she would send me Marco polos,
you know, Marco Polos were kindof coming and I was like,
what is this Marco polo thing?And so we would go back and forth,
and she was struggling, and Iwas struggling in my own way.
At one point, I have fourdogs because I have issues and I can't
(20:26):
stop rescuing dogs. All of themgot mange. And so she would call
me and she was complaining about somethingand I would just Marco polo her back
and look in the camera, gomange and hang out. And so one
day I just said, you know, Steph, we should do a podcast.
We should talk to all of ourfriends because I'm sure they're all struggling
(20:47):
because everything creative has just been pulledout from underneath them, and we should
talk about it, like how doyou get through that? What do you
discover when when creativity is gone?Right? You know, there's a concept
in yoga where I wish I couldremember the name of it off the top
of my head, and I can't, but it's the essence of it is
to be without. So you pushall the air out of your lungs and
(21:10):
you create a vacuum, and yousee if you can sit inside the vacuum.
Because we're so unaccustomed to ever beingwithout, but there's a lot of
peace to be found in those places. And I said, why don't we
discover that? Like what happens whenwe're without our creative feed? How do
we discover it inside that vacuum forourselves? And how does it make you
(21:32):
grow? And you know, let'stalk. We have so many friends,
like, let's talk to them,like for real, not what are you
working on? Not oh what showare you in? But where are you
in your life? And how didyou get there? And what was your
biggest failure? And what did youlearn and how did it make you better?
And so she was like, let'slet's do it. And so she
(21:52):
called me a couple of days laterand said let's call it stages. And
I was like, oh, okay, I love it. And then I
said to her, look, ifyou're serious, give me three weeks and
I will get it all set up. And I tend to get hyper focused
on things, and so hung upthe phone. And three weeks later,
I had contracts drawn up and ourfirst three guests scheduled, and I had
(22:14):
a theme song written by a coupleof composers and I had figured out how
to edit, and I was like, well, let's do it, and
we just jumped in. And thatsummer we went to Africa together because my
husband works in Rwanda, so Igo to Rwanda a lot. And I
brought her and her child and herhusband to Africa and we did interviews there.
We talked to a guerrilla doctor andartists and Africa, and it was
(22:37):
just it just sort of snowballed intothis wonderful thing that was so surprising how
much we both ended up loving it. Where it was just something to sort
of fill the space and learn somethingabout ourselfs and it turned out to be
this It's like a gift for meand for both of us, I think,
(23:00):
And yeah, and we just gotpicked up by iHeartRadio, so we're
with them now, and so it'sjust it's just turned out to be such
a great, great thing that Iadore. Well. I was going to
say props on the name, becauseI love the sort of like double meaning
of it, like stages, becausemost of you, both of you,
and a lot of the folks thatyou talk to are professional stage performers in
(23:22):
some way or other. And it'salso about like the stages of life.
Like what's the line of the themesong is like love the stage. You're
in or something. What is lovewhere you are now? Love where you
are now? Right? Like,yeah, and I'd love that you get
to talk to people from kind ofacross the gamut. You have folks some
of the you have some very wellestablished what I would call Broadway A listers
(23:44):
who have appeared on the show.One of whom it would be Britt's absolute
voice crush, Gavin Creel. Oh, okay, I we talk about Gavin
Crerel. First episode was incredible.She is dreamy, Oh yeah, dreamy
retweeting and he's so kind and sweetand I just fell in love with him
(24:04):
out But you know, I haveto say, there are so many guests
I hang up and I'm just like, I just love them. Jason Alexander
was one of them. I saidto my husband, I'm telling you,
he was so surprising, what ajoy he was and how kind and deep
and I just I can't even gogo on and like Showshana Bean was another
(24:26):
one who I was totally surprised.It's just how cool and awesome she is.
Yeah, there's Gavin Creel though,come on, well, I think
that's one of the things like thatreally makes doing this project for us really
fulfilling. Is that there are there. I mean, I'm always like excited
about every guest we talked to,and then almost always I come away from
(24:48):
a conversation with a guest thinking,you know, I'll think back to those
episodes about something someone said and I'llbe like, man, like, that
was just such a good conversation.And that's one of the reasons I love
this medium, and I love thatyou sort of you'all sort of have a
theme where you're talking with creative folks, and so I think that really jives
with the ted Lasso fandom, atleast a large portion of it, because
the show is generative, Like Ithink it's one of those shows that makes
(25:11):
people want to create. You know, there's so many little like fan things
that people have made, whether it'smedia like we do or actual physical things
like shirts or key chains or crochet, like there's just all sorts of really
neat stuff that the show produces.And that's true with a lot of fandoms.
But I feel like there's a reallyspecial community that has grown organically from
(25:33):
ted Lasso in that way, andit's it's just allowed us to really connect
with a lot of folks that havereally can connect it to their disciplines in
such interesting and creative ways. Youknow what I think it is. I
think the thing about ted Lasso isit, like I think we might have
touched on this a little earlier,is it. It focuses on all the
ways that we're alike. Yes,you know it, and it does so
(25:56):
in a really honest way that showsvulnerability in the characters and forgiveness in the
characters. And I think next seasonis going to be a lot about forgiveness
when we dive into Nate. Yeah, I hope so really a little irritated
with Nate, yes, but yeah, I think that's what it is.
(26:18):
I think I think the country hasbeen so divisive for so long, and
I think people are exhausted by division, and I think, um, shows
like ted Lasso that reminds us thatwe're all the same, We're all one,
you know. Um. There's thisreally interesting concept where I've talked about
(26:41):
it on my podcast before, butI think it's relevant. When you look
at a field of aspen trees,it's not separate trees. If you can
look at a grove, it's onetree. It's one root system, and
it's such a powerful root system thatif there's a forest fire, it can
(27:03):
wipe out the whole growth, butif there's one shoot remaining, it can
go in and regenerate the entire grovefrom one little shoot through that root system.
But the other side of that isif one of those shoots gets like
a sooty fungus, it'll go intothe root system and wipe everything out.
And in yoga terms, the highestchakra is the one that is supposed to
(27:30):
remind us of that connection all thetime. And shows like ted Lasso made
a conscious decision of what they're goingto feed into that root system yep.
And then there are shows that makea conscious decision for profit or a more
profit right when they put something negativeout into the world. And so I
(27:51):
love shows that dare to be vulnerableand honest and show how we're alike and
feed something really positive into that rootsystem because we all really need that.
Yeah, I'm glad you touched onthat. I'm you know, Yes,
lots of things have been so divisive, and especially with COVID, was a
(28:14):
really big struggle for creative people.And you can maybe imagine for people like
us who live in the middle ofthe country, especially when you don't necessarily
fit with the majority philosophical minority.Yes, you know that that can be
really isolating and difficult, and soI think this project for us, and
(28:37):
really sort of the niche that isted Lasso fandom on the Internet, was
really therapeutic for us because there issomething you know, drawing attention to kindness
and empathy and understanding and trying tomeet people where they are and understanding that
you know, people are acting outof a place of hurt or other things.
And I think, like as asa creative myself, you know,
(29:03):
always trying to understand motivations behind thingsrather than just acts themselves. Right,
And so I know you all talkwith your guests on your show about art
and creativity and sort of how theycan be pathways into healing a community.
Right. So I know you've touchedon a little bit, But do you
see some more of those threads leadingback to ted Lasso or what do you
(29:26):
really want to see with forgiveness?I guess in season three, like I
said, I'm really kind of madat Nate, but I think that the
show talks a lot about those connections. I mean, I think the show's
the shows that every character has givenan example of fearlessness right where and forgiveness
(29:48):
where Ted He's fearless enough to lethis wife go, let his family go,
because it was better for her thanit was for him. And you
know, Roy Kent is so fearlessto show his soft side with Keily and
his little niece and to step intowhat's next after leaving such a legendary career,
(30:11):
you know, right, And ittakes a certain amount of fearlessness to
believe, you know, in thebig sign that he has up on his
wall, especially when all the signstell you not to right. It takes
it takes that kind of courage tosay, no, I know what the
truth is in my heart, youknow. Yeah, I mean look at
Keily too. She's facing fears allthe time. She's the most fearless one
(30:33):
of them all. I think,Yes, I think Keily might be my
favorite. She your favorite? Yes, definitely my legage. I definitely saw
someone in post say that they weresetting her up for her own spin off
called even Keilely because she has herlife together so much, and I was
like, I would watch it.But see that's what I mean too.
When you first see that character,you have no idea, like you just
think, especially in the first episodeshe played as like such a wag.
(30:57):
She played she looks so like sortof vapid and one dimensional, and then
all of a sudden your mind isblown and you're like, oh, yeah,
kills the coolest as Christian has putit on our show, like Kiely
sees the matrix like she just she'sgot she she understands things like on a
on an instinctual level that a lotof the characters don't. I think I
(31:18):
don't know anyway. I forget whereI was going with all of the fearless
talk and stuff. But but II think, um, I think it's
such a great show, and Ido think it's what like the world needs
now more things like that. Yeah, I want to switch gears a little
bit, or at least transition tosomething that we've touched on but haven't fully
(31:41):
explored. So you are like aregistered yoga instructor. Correct. Yeah.
When my when I had my son, I didn't have the kind of career
where like Leashants or Stephanie, Icould stay in New York and sort of
get shows on broadways as readily asthey could. I was always on the
road, and I had seen toomany examples of you know, kids in
(32:06):
hotel rooms with one eight hundred babysittersand you know, and I just knew,
being an Italian that I wouldn't trustanybody. But you're Italian too,
Yeah, I wouldn't trust anybody toI mean, to watch my kid.
I just wouldn't. My mom andmy husband, that's who watched my kid.
And so I decided, Okay,I'm going to be home for a
(32:29):
few years with this boy, andwhat else do I really love? And
I love yoga nice. So whileI was pregnant with him, I got
my raiki certification so he'd get allthat mojo. And then once he was
born, I got my yoga certificationsand started teaching. And it was a
great way to get out of thehouse and be in control of my own
schedule and yet get to be homewith him and not be on the road
(32:51):
and not be traveling. And Idid a few little you know, commercials
or little show here, a littleshow there. But but we didn't live
in New York because all of hiscousins were here in Massachusetts, and I
wanted him to be raised with cousins, especially being in only so uh yeah,
so I stepped away for a whileand stepped into um learning a lot
(33:12):
about yoga. And I've been studyingthe Chakras for probably ten years before that
anyway. So yeah, so itjust seemed like the perfect thing to do
where I could have some control overmy world and my schedule and be at
home with my son. And likeyou mentioned, we know that Roy Kent
is very into doing yoga with agroup of moms who have no idea who
(33:35):
he is. So one day RoyKent could stroll into your yoga studio.
And you know the sad thing issome local uh you know, Bruins or
Celtic Star could walk into my yogavass and I would have no idea.
Well, so what you're saying isthat storyline is completely plausible that Roy Kent
could go to I just I don'tI just don't know. I have a
(34:00):
funny story about when I was incollege, I got this internship with the
guys who would bring all the camerasand all the equipment into the Boston Garden.
And this is when the Boston Gardenwas like the Old Garden, and
it was when the Celtics were likeLarry Bird, and you know that dream
(34:20):
team, and I used to goand sit at the table right on the
floor, and I'd have the headsetsand I'd grew up the commercials and the
interviews and this and that, andI didn't know who any of these guys
were, could not have cared lessabout any of it. My friends wanted
to kill me. It could belike, I can't believe you're sitting on
(34:40):
the sidelines. I'm like, Idon't even watch the game. So my
brother said that one day he waswatching like a best of Larry Bird video
and he said, Larry Bird's runningdown the court. Everybody's on their feet,
they're screaming, they're all going insane, and the camera pans and you're
at the table up and through amagazine. I wanted to climb through the
(35:05):
television and strangle you. And Iwas like, I just couldn't be bothered.
That drop didn't last long. Yeah, that's amazing, very well.
So, Yeah, any Celtics playercome sit in my yoga room and I
wouldn't know who the hell they were. That is good to know, to
be confirmed the plausibility of that,brilliant. I feel so much more connected
(35:28):
to you to as well, knowingyou're an Italian. My maiden name is
Georgettie. So nice, mine's graffio. Yeah, nice, I don't know
what it is about, Like whenItalians find out someone else's Italian. It's
just like, I don't know.It's a sisterhood based yeah, the pride.
It's like when Texans find out there, Oh, Bret goal um Well,
(35:53):
And one more thing I wanted tomention about your your expertise in yoga
is that you often relate things inyour episodes with guests like you. There
are lots like you have done today, There are there are practices in yoga
that you can pull out and kindof relate to those stories that they tell.
Yeah. One of the favorites Ithink was maybe in the episode with
Leashants you talked about and you maydo this in multiple episodes, but you
(36:16):
mentioned the idea of sun culpa andyou sort of like, we're suggesting I'm
not sure if I'm using this termright, but like a sun kulpa for
her or for someone. And Iwas wondering, is there a character on
ted last I maybe explain what asun coulpa is? And then is there
a character on ted Lasso that youwould like to adopt a son copa.
(36:37):
A sun Kalpa is sort of likea New Year's resolution in a way,
except um New Year's resolutions sort ofhint that we're not good enough, right,
so you have to give up chocolateor give up alcohol, or lose
weight or be better or you know, so that in itself implies that you're
(37:00):
not enough, You're not good enough, and you have to do something to
be better. A son Kalpa isbased on the knowledge that you are enough,
You are already whole, and thateverything you desire already exists in the
world and all you need to dois call it to your life. So
I wrote an article called a Revolutionand Resolutions, and I lay it out
(37:22):
like in seven steps, like howyou set us on colpa. And one
of the first steps is is thatit's a packed between you and your spirit.
So you actually don't discuss your soncoppa with anybody. And one of
the reasons you don't is because whenyou so, if I were going to
say to you, my son Kalpais to get into great shape this year,
(37:46):
and your reaction is, oh mygod, you already look amazing,
Right, I've already gotten what Ineeded. So now I don't do the
work to get to the goal rightbecause I'm getting the feedback that I want.
So you don't. You don't discussyour son kalpas a. It's a
private pact between you and your spirit. And so one of the things that
(38:06):
it sort of asks of you isevery action that you do, does it
further your sun kopa or does ittake away from your sunkopa? And if
in the moment it takes away,it's okay. As long as that's a
conscious choice. You're aware of yourchoice. You're not mindlessly doing things that
to undermine whatever yr sounkopa is.And the other thing about it is it
(38:28):
has to be written in the positivepresent tense because simply by saying I want
to or I will or you knowthis will happen, what that's signaling is
that you want it because you don'thave it, or it will happen because
it hasn't happened for you yet.So the law of the universe is like
attracts like. So if you putnegative out, negative is all that you
(38:54):
can receive. So all sun kalpasare written in the positive present tense.
So you know, I am spendingmy time with like minded friends who are
creative and supportive and love me unconditionally. Not I'm going to find new friends
that are creatively right. So it'spositive, present tense, and then you
(39:17):
have to make space in your bodyand your mind and your spirit and in
your home even to welcome those thingsin. So it's about letting go of
clutter, letting go of things thatdon't work for you anymore. So somen
colpers are deeply personal. So Idon't know if I could set Yeah,
no, it doesn't seem like Icould. We could only speculate about someone's
(39:37):
son. Well, when you weretalking about that, it made me think
of sort of the work that Rebeccadid and last the second season, especially
where she became a much healthier versionof herself. And she did that by
embracing a support system, Like shewent from being very alone, completely isolated,
right, angry and angry and sadness, yes, all of the things,
(40:00):
to just that little bit of thatlittle that fence that Ted Lasso said
he hopped over was just enough forher to open herself back up and to
allow these people who care about herto support her, like whether it's Ted
and Beard, the players, SamHiggins, like you have all these folks
around her now, keyely, Yeah, how could I forget? You know,
(40:20):
like so and now just being opento that, like you see the
joy back in her life and sortof the full right. And she's not
doing this team in the negative tobring revenge upon her ex husband who's a
dick, but she's doing it becauseshe loves these people around her and wants
them to succeed. Yeah, ohman, Yeah, And see that's the
beauty of the show too, riteis that they of course they built in
(40:43):
the drama of her sort of sabotagingeverything, but then how she sees the
good and then chooses the good,you know. And the other thing too
is them just by Ted having hisbeliefs sign up there shows me that he,
you know, he might not alreadyknow what a sun calpe is.
M. That's I was also thinkingabout that when you were talking about it
(41:04):
too. Yeah, he already healready knows how to manifest those things.
It's clear right because he manifested,He manifested a team out of nothing,
right out of a lot of division, manifested this unit. And it ties
back to something that y'all talk abouton your show often, is like how
one of the one of the thingsthat always strikes people when they start Ted
(41:28):
Lasso season one is the way thatTed is not afraid of intimacy, of
of you know, of relationships andthat how that inherently can build community and
he does that, and y'all talkabout proximity as a way to sort of
generate understanding and empathy and to buildrelationships, and so that was just something
(41:51):
that really struck me listening to severalof your conversations, is you know,
they're in a they're in a soccerspace, so it's not necessarily a creative
space maybe as much as like artisticcreative endeavor, but in the same way,
like there's this community around this thingthat as those relationships are built,
Like, vulnerability is so so important, and that's really like the thing that
Ted Lasso the character does is hesort of makes vulnerability okay, and then
(42:16):
like all the ways that people reactto that are very interesting. It's really
interesting though, is that he's notthat vulnerable when he's first coming on and
coming in and meeting people, rightLike, he yeah, first in the
room. He wants to bring otherpeople together, he wants other people to
be vulnerable, but he doesn't revealanything about himself, which is why he
has his panic attack. And theneventually when he gets into see the therapist,
(42:37):
which I also love that they aremaking it so discussable, you know
that, yeah, therapy is great, and yes people have panic attack,
you know. But anyway, hedoesn't start out ever showing his own vulnerability.
He comes to that much later.He sort of forces it out of
(42:58):
other people, almost deflecting so thathe doesn't have to show his Yeah,
it's like he sort of he sortof like um takes a shortcut by using
that proximity and kind of like hewill get up in someone's business, making
them uncomfortable enough to then be vulnerable, whether they meant to or not.
And then he's at least emotionally intelligentenough to know how to use that as
(43:19):
a way to ultimately have like apositive outcome. But yes, there are
certainly things about the way that hedoes that, now that we know more
about him from season two and sortof his what he's wrestling with on the
inside, that made that It certainlycomplicated it and made it more you know,
some of the aspects of it moretroubling, But you see the net
gain of it as the people aroundhim have opened up to one another.
(43:42):
Right right, Yeah, we lovedTed. We do. One of the
things I love about your podcast isthat you end every discussion with like five
quick questions, and one of theones you almost always ask, if not
always, is if you were anail polish, like what or would it
be? And what would you callit? Like? What quirky name would
you give the nail polish? SoI'm wondering is there a character as you
(44:06):
ponder that question that you post toyour guests, is there a character that
strikes you as would have a cutesy, funky, quirky nail polish named after
them? And what would it belike? Um? Well, I mean
I want to do Keilely because Ilove Keily, but I could do any
one of them. If you aregreat, Keyley, I would say Keily
(44:27):
would be It would definitely be likePink and Sparkly, because that's what Kiely
does write the Pink and Sparkley.But I think we would call it badass
Barbie. Oh she seems like aBarbie when you meet her, but she's
not. She's a badass. Yes, I'm buying that nail polish tomorrow.
I love that. Yeah, MaryLee, thank you so much for coming
(44:49):
on and chatting about one of ourfavorite shows with us. Thank you for
asking how nice I love talking musicaltheater anytime, anytime. Yes, thank
you so much. It was apleasure to meet you and just to you
know, talk about being vulnerable andcreativity and how we can make the world
a better place, even you know, in this strange medium that's microphones and
(45:10):
computers. No, I know,I love it. I love it.
I think it's a great way toconnect with people. Well, thanks Mary
Lee, take care, Thanks guys, bye, and that is our show.
We had a blast chatting ted Lasso, musical theater, yoga, and
Gavin Creel with Mary Lee. Youcan find links to her podcast, her
(45:34):
website, social media, her writing, and more in the show notes.
We'll be back soon with more tedLasso goodness, but you can keep the
conversation going with us on Twitter andInstagram in the meantime. Our handle on
both is at ted lassopod. Thisepisode of Richmond Till We Die has brought
to you by Jenn and Kerosene Productions. It was produced by me and Marissa.
If you're joining the podcast, pleasetake thirty seconds to subscribe to our
(45:55):
feed and give the show a fivestar review on Apple Podcasts or a five
star rating on Spotify. Heck,if you're feeling generous, you could even
do both. And as always,we appreciate all the ways y'all share your
love and support for the pot.Okay, I'm Brett signing off for Marissa
and mary Lee. Thanks for listening. Until next time, Cheers y'all.
(46:23):
Ninety ninety nine Chords
Welcome to the Crown and Acre Grahams. This is Richmond Till We Die,
a conversation about the Apple TV Plusshow ted Lasso, where we explore the
characters, their relationships to each other, and how they're able to make us
laugh until we can hardly breathe onemoment and then feel with the deepest parts
of our hearts the next. I'mMarissa and I can't get a man with
(00:35):
a gun. I'm Brett and I'ma Joe with just one aim, and
that aim is to introduce our guest. But before I do, I just
want to share a quick update aboutwhat the next couple of months are going
to look like for our pod.Longtime fans of the show will likely already
know that we don't publish our episodeconversations until the entire season has aired.
(00:55):
That means we won't begin dissecting seasonthree episodes until the beginning of June at
the early. We have several reasonsfor doing this, but perhaps the biggest
is that we feel we can bringmore focus and clarity to our episode discussions
after we've grasped the scope of theentire season. But not to worry,
you'll still be getting new episodes fromus over the next twelve weeks or so
to tide you over. In fact, we have some incredible interviews lined up
(01:18):
with other super fans of the show, including podcasters, former and current pro
soccer players, journalists, reporters,activists, and more. We're also going
to be chatting with several ted Lassocast and crew members, so be sure
to keep us in your podcast feedso that you don't miss out on any
of that ted Lasso goodness. Okay, back to my introduction. Our guest
today is the wonderful and charming MaryLee Fairbanks. Mary Lee is a producer
(01:42):
and performer who has known for herwork in the first touring production of the
musical Ragtime and the show I LoveYou Your Perfect Now Change? Brett,
did you know that I actually sawMary Lee and I Love You Your Perfect
Now Change over twenty years ago,not until just now, there you go.
In addition to her work on thestage, Mary Lee is the co
producer and co host of The Stagespodcast alongside her longtime friend and Broadway star
(02:07):
Stephanie J. Block, who hasstarred in shows like Wicked, The Share
Show, and Into the Woods,which Brett, did you know? I
also saw Stephanie j block in intothe Woods. I did know that you
saw Stephanie. That was just theWoods. That was just like a couple
months ago. But whatever, justname dropping. On the Stages podcast,
Mary Lee and Stephanie invite fellow Broadwaystars onto the show to share their stories
(02:30):
and chat about the ways that creativityand art can be pathways to empathy,
connection, healing, and community.Past guests of the show include Jason Alexander,
Jesse Tyler, Ferguson, Shoshanna beanLeashants, Mandy Gonzalez, Andrew Reynolds,
Kiala Settle, and my all timefavorite and voice crush, Gavin Creel.
(02:51):
Given her subject matter expertise, weinvited Mary Lee on the show to
chat about ted Lasso and musical theater. We also talked a lot about how
the show fosters connect community and empathyin ways that mirror many classics of the
musical theater genre. So Greyhounds pleasejoin us in giving a warm welcome to
mary Lee Fairbanks. Mary Lee Fairbanksto stage, Mary Lee to stage.
(03:14):
Please thank you guys for having me. Yeah, we're so excited that you
are here to chat about ted Lassoand musical theater and some other fun stuff
too. We already know that youare a fan of the show. So
first things first, what about theshow hooked you? What did you love
about it, Why did you decideto start watching it, and what made
you stick with it? Well,you know, it's funny. I didn't
(03:36):
start watching it for the musical theaterat all. I have a teenage son,
and when you have a teenage son, you're always searching for some way
to hang out and connect, andso one of the things we do is
find shows and binge them. SoI had heard about the show and everybody
was talking about how wonderful it was, and so I said to my son,
(03:57):
well, let's just give it ashot. You know, I figured
sport he might like. I Thisis probably not popular to say, but
I don't like sports. I don'twatch sports ever. Um. I grew
up with two older brothers who playedhockey, and I spent my childhood in
hockey rinks. And in the seventies, right, we didn't have phones,
(04:18):
we didn't have any video, wehad nothing to entertain ourselves, and not
one but two brothers played So Ispent my weekends in hockey rinks as a
little kids, following them around totournaments and oh my god. And then
after the games we'd spend the restof the day in the emergency room,
you know, for the broken armor the stitches. I mean, so
(04:41):
growing up, I was like,no, no, there will be no
sports. I never watched them onTV. Never. I remember when I
started dating my husband, like,you're not into sports, are you?
Because I just And when I hada son, I was like, look,
here's the thing. He can't playhockey. I don't care if he
begs me, he can't. Ican't. I can't spend my time in
hockey rinks. Thank goodness, he'snot into hockey. He is a boxer.
(05:03):
But so I didn't. I didn'twatch it for any of the sports
at all. I just had heard, well, I loved Jason Szadakis,
and so I thought, okay,let's give it a shot. And then
we loved it. We binged itso fast that we were kind of bummed
because we ran out. We watchedboth seasons. I was like, oh
no, so so yeah, Ireally really love it. I love the
(05:28):
spirit of the show. I sortof feel like the world needs shows like
this, you know, the thingsthat remind us, how we're all the
same and not so different. AndI think that's that's why I loved it.
Was there a particular moment in theshow for you that you were like,
Oh, I'm definitely gonna stick withthis. No, it was right,
(05:49):
it was right off the top.I just loved it. I loved
the characters, and what I lovedabout them was nobody ended up being as
they seemed when you first met them. So you meet these characters and you
make assumptions about them, and Ithink that's on purpose. It's based on
how they dressed or how they presentthemselves, and so you think they're going
(06:11):
to be one thing, and theyall turn out to be completely different than
the assumptions that you made. AndI think that's really special about the show.
I feel like it's a commentary onthe state of the world too,
and so I love that they kindof played with that a little bit.
And I think too, for youknow, theater artists, people who desire,
(06:32):
you know, character development. Youknow, that's sort of what drew
me in as well, because youwant those characters that aren't just you know,
one note or one dynamic. Youwant to sort of take them on
a journey and get to know them. So one of the characters that,
of course I'm obsessed with, butmainly the person and not the character.
Hannah watting him. So, didyou know much about her career in musical
(06:56):
theater before this? No, becauseshe really didn't do a lot of way.
She only did spam a lot.I think most of her most of
her career was in the West End. Right, So she's like amazing,
she's she can say, I mean, she's so. She's just so appealing
and perfect and strong, and shecan sing like an angel. So now
(07:19):
I have followed everything she's done.I you know, went on the deep
dive and watched everything about her righton YouTube. Yeah, she's so,
She's just awesome, just awesome.Yeah. I think I watched the Shaky
Kim video of her singing Send inthe Clowns about once a week, just
from my own personal fortitude because it'snot good Ford therapy. So he watches
(07:42):
that. You what I wanted tosay about the characters too. I remember
UM seeing an interview with UM allthe guys who wrote for Sid Caesar,
which were like the greatest of thegreats, right, those TV writers.
It was Neil Simon and his brotherand mel Brooks. I mean, these
were the guys that sort of CarlReiner, they formed television and I remember
(08:07):
hearing them in an interview talking aboutwhen they were first getting into those writers
rooms and what it was like.And they never wrote to the joke.
They always wrote to the character.And I think the difference between really good
TV now is some of the sitcomieshows that you watch, pretty much anyone
(08:28):
in the cast could say the joke, you know, the quote joke,
and it would be it would justfall as the joke. But character driven
shows, you understand the characters sowell and you come to love them so
much that you anticipate their reaction inthe scene. And it's not about the
joke. It's about putting these charactersthat we now know and can predict what
(08:54):
they're going to say or think,putting them in the scene, and that's
what makes the joke, instead ofwriting out a joke. And I was
always so struck by that, Andthen you look for shows that can fit
into that. I mean, likeAll in the Family that you know,
you knew what Archie Barker was goingto do before he did it, before
he said the joke, and soI think these shows that and there aren't
(09:15):
that many of them, but theones that are like this, like ted
Lasso, where the characters are sodrawn out and you learn something about them
every week, that's what makes theshow so special, I think. And
to your point, like they canthey can write a joke in the context
for a character like Roy Kent.Just a simple grunt in a different context
is going to draw a certain typeof lap for a certain type of reaction
(09:37):
out of the characters and the viewersbecause of the detail that they've put into
writing a character like that. Yeah, that's an actor's dream show, I
think, to be on a show. And it really sounds like it too,
Like anytime we've talked to the cast, like everyone seems to have so
much fun making the thing, andI think that that shines through in the
(09:58):
in the final product, like youcan see like these people are joyfully creating
something together and it's just on topof that, like it makes you feel
happy. It makes you like thereare definitely some ups and downs, but
it makes you it leaves you withthe overall feeling of like, ah,
I have been my cup has beenfiled or something. Yeah. Yeah,
I think that's right. So kindof staying with our ted Lasso feel good
(10:22):
musicals theme, there are many musicaltheater references. I would say many in
a show that is primarily ostensibly basedon a professional men's soccer team. So
what were some of the like favoritesof yours or like one that you found
particularly deep cut? Like of theseveral references that we've had, did you
have a favorite. I love theRoy Scheider one where you know, you
(10:46):
think he's talking about Jaws, buthe's talking about all that jazz. Love
that that was early too, thatwas like first or second episode. But
I mean, I love any showthat's gonna do little musical theater reference.
Like the other show that does ita lot too, is The Newsroom.
Yes, we love always always droppingin musical theater, his musical theater.
Yes, totally, totally. SoI love all the shows that hide those
(11:09):
little musical theater easter eggs, youknow. But I like that he did
obscure things to like you know,Gergeman funny face, you know, like
most people won't know, yeah whothat is, But I don't know,
but I think, you know,I think the essence of the show is
musical theater. Yes, I reallydo. I don't think it's about sports
(11:30):
as much as it is about theunity of musical theater. You know.
Maybe that's just because that's how Ithat's the lens through which I see my
whole world, right, so dowe well? And I think for for
those of us who are attuned tothose types of story beats and that that
style of storytelling, like it's soeasy for us to identify those plot points
(11:50):
or those story beats, right,Like it feels like these seasons that we've
had that one has kind of focusedmajorly on the development of Rebecca and then
one is really focused majorly on negativedevelopment of Nate. Like you sort of
had these two contrasting arcs. Butyou know, it was easy for me
to kind of, you know,put that into like to imagine, like
(12:11):
this could be a musical like this, like the arcs that are here,
the the I wants, like thesebig numbers, they always have like a
heavy hitting episode right before the end, like they're structured even in a similar
way. You know, yeah,yeah, yeah, just like it's really
true, and it's funny because youknow, I mean, when you think
of sports, it's like it's verytribalistic, you know, it's people want
(12:33):
want to have an affiliation with something. It's usually um, you know,
I mean, there's always a winnerand a loser that you're and it's it's
aggressive and it's so so to bringthe sweetness of musical theater and the you
know, almost sappy sugariness of musicaltheater into that atmosphere, I think is
(12:54):
just really brilliant, you know,because you have all of these aggressive sports
guys knowing these references like you know, his the silent the coach who hardly
ever speaking beard. Yeah right,So that like the fact that he just
comes out with them cracks me upbecause just like it's not the guy you
(13:15):
expect is going to know, youknow, Gershwin, Right. So I
just love that. I think it'ssuch a great little twist in the show.
Yeah. Well, we we've talkeda lot on our show, both
in our episode discussions and with someof our guests about the ways in which
Ted Lasso the show sort of subvertsor flips masculinity on its head, like
you're taking this hyper masculine expression ofprofessional exactly and through the writing, not
(13:43):
only just like what is said,but the way it's delivered, and the
characters that deliver it, like yousaid, like they're doing something really interesting
too. What does it look likefor a bunch of what we must assume
are sort of like cis Head presentingmen to kind of embody like this whole
version of them elves where they areprofessional athletes, where they are professional coaches,
(14:03):
but yet like they're going to talkabout Gershwin, they're going to talk
about and they're talking about the Jetsand the Sharks, right, you know,
they're talking about well and exactly exactlyand even Roy taking yoga class with
yes, yes, all of thesethings that are not typically male. Right.
So that like my son, likeI said, he's a boxer and
I'm constantly trying to get him intoyoga, and the only way I can
(14:24):
do it is to sort of say, well, how good it is,
how much better it'll make him asa boxer, right, because you have
to kind of do it as likefrom the male perspective um. And I
love that. I love that theytake what could be you know, quote
typically male behaviors and they flip iton the head where you never expect these
things to come out of them,And that I think I think it's a
(14:46):
really brilliant piece of writing and anda brilliant little trick that they use in
the show that really works, andthe lines are delivered convincingly enough that someone
or someone's in that writer's room areparticularly well versed in musical theater totally,
like someone who I don't know whoit is. I know Jason has a
commented on it, but I don'tknow if it's just bred Goldstein or all
(15:07):
of them, Like there's just someonein there really knows their stuff. Well,
it's funny. I wonder if it'sa Saturday Night Live thing because now
the other two from Saturday Night Liveare doing the schmigadoon I love we Love
can't wait for schoo we just yeah, I can't wait. Yeah. So
maybe it's um maybe at the inthe because they're always doing little musical bits
(15:31):
on Saturday Night Lives. So itcould be that just the culture in those
writing rooms is very much that,you know, part of just the proximity
to Broadway, like I mean,if you're living and working in New York
with all those other creative folks,like right right, yeah, totally.
So is there a musical theater referencethat you would love to see happen in
season three. Yeah, Kimberly aKimbo, Yeah obviously. Yeah, it's
(15:56):
hilarious, and you know, it'skind of the same to feel good show
like Ted Lasso is. It's thatyou got to have a dream, you
gotta believe that eternal optimism that nomatter what happens, you keep coming back
to it. It's it's got alot of parallels and it's hysterically funny.
But well, I feel like I'msurprised that um Ted and Company have not
(16:21):
made um This is a little bitof a deep cut, but stay with
me. They have not made areference to the Goo Goo Dolls song Iris
yet that I can remember on theshow. And that is like on the
website for Kimberly A Kimbo, Likethat's in her like senior picture, like
or her yearbook quote is like fromGoogle Dolls. And I was like,
that could almost be a sideways referenceif only they had done it, because
(16:41):
I'm like, I just feel likeTed and Beard like they all know,
like they know the Google Dolls,Like I'm just surprised that the reference hasn't
popped. I haven't done any Sondheimyet either, which that's a little shocking.
I mean, well, I meanI guess west Side, but yeah,
there's just a lot of um,there's a lot of Ted seems like
someone he's so wholesome, he's mostof his references are just going to be
golden Golden Age musicals. Yeah youcan't, really, yeah, you can't
(17:06):
voting Sweeney, Todd, Rogers,BLUs, Learner, and Low. So
yes, well, I want togo to some of your some of your
creative endeavors that we mentioned in theintro. But you mentioned Kimberly A Kimbo
because you and the Broadway Icon Leshaunshave co founded a production company that is
(17:26):
staging that. Correct. Oh no, no, no, um we Leshauns
and I started Team of Productions rightas COVID hit, So we founded it
and then COVID hit and everything justdied. And during COVID she started doing
some work with M. David Stoneand it was David that brought her into
(17:48):
Kimberly A Kimbo. I'm just aninvestor in Kimberly Kimbo and that's through Leshots.
So she's a lead producer. Well, she's a co producer, okay
on that. So we're looking intoa few a few new shows that we're
going to start bringing in in thenext couple of years. She and I
under Teama. Yeah, okay,So thank you for clearing up my confusion
about your involvement with Kimberly A Kimbo. But one thing that you do produce
(18:12):
is your podcast called Stages Podcast.You are co producer, executive producer,
and co host with your longtime palStephane J. Block. So, stephan
and I we did Will Rogers Folliestogether, I would say thirty years ago.
We were in the middle of Branson, Missouri with Pat Boone in the
(18:32):
lead Wow, and I was BettyBlake and she was Zi's fave and we
shared a dressing room and we literallywe were We were the odd couple,
you know. Her half of thedressing room was completely in order, everything
tidy, not a thing out ofplace, you know, and folded just
right. And my side of thedressing rooms like crap everywhere, bras hanging
(18:55):
from door handles, like pictures juststuck on the walls like and I don't
know how she survived me. Wewere so different and when the show ended
we loved each other though. Wegot along so well and when the show
ended. For a long long time, we used to write letters, you
know, because it was before theirwork computers, it was before there was
any of that stuff. And wehave these handwritten letters that we used to
(19:18):
write. And she would always signher handwritten letters with like hearts and flowers
and you know, butterflies and kisses, and I would sign mine, You're
such a freak, I love you. And that's how I would sign all
my letters to her. And wejust stayed friends for years. They said,
while were we lost touch because againthere was no internet. We kind
(19:40):
of lost each other somewhere along theway and then hooked up again. And
I was a little older than her, so I would sort of I got
married first, I had my kidfirst, and so when she was stepping
into those parts of her life,she would kind of call me and be
like, so let's talk about this, you know. And so then when
COVID hit, they had a littleone, and they moved out to California
(20:02):
because she had family out there andthey wanted their daughter views to be able
to go to school outside. Andshe would she would send me Marco polos,
you know, Marco Polos were kindof coming and I was like,
what is this Marco polo thing?And so we would go back and forth,
and she was struggling, and Iwas struggling in my own way.
At one point, I have fourdogs because I have issues and I can't
(20:26):
stop rescuing dogs. All of themgot mange. And so she would call
me and she was complaining about somethingand I would just Marco polo her back
and look in the camera, gomange and hang out. And so one
day I just said, you know, Steph, we should do a podcast.
We should talk to all of ourfriends because I'm sure they're all struggling
(20:47):
because everything creative has just been pulledout from underneath them, and we should
talk about it, like how doyou get through that? What do you
discover when when creativity is gone?Right? You know, there's a concept
in yoga where I wish I couldremember the name of it off the top
of my head, and I can't, but it's the essence of it is
to be without. So you pushall the air out of your lungs and
(21:10):
you create a vacuum, and yousee if you can sit inside the vacuum.
Because we're so unaccustomed to ever beingwithout, but there's a lot of
peace to be found in those places. And I said, why don't we
discover that? Like what happens whenwe're without our creative feed? How do
we discover it inside that vacuum forourselves? And how does it make you
(21:32):
grow? And you know, let'stalk. We have so many friends,
like, let's talk to them,like for real, not what are you
working on? Not oh what showare you in? But where are you
in your life? And how didyou get there? And what was your
biggest failure? And what did youlearn and how did it make you better?
And so she was like, let'slet's do it. And so she
(21:52):
called me a couple of days laterand said let's call it stages. And
I was like, oh, okay, I love it. And then I
said to her, look, ifyou're serious, give me three weeks and
I will get it all set up. And I tend to get hyper focused
on things, and so hung upthe phone. And three weeks later,
I had contracts drawn up and ourfirst three guests scheduled, and I had
(22:14):
a theme song written by a coupleof composers and I had figured out how
to edit, and I was like, well, let's do it, and
we just jumped in. And thatsummer we went to Africa together because my
husband works in Rwanda, so Igo to Rwanda a lot. And I
brought her and her child and herhusband to Africa and we did interviews there.
We talked to a guerrilla doctor andartists and Africa, and it was
(22:37):
just it just sort of snowballed intothis wonderful thing that was so surprising how
much we both ended up loving it. Where it was just something to sort
of fill the space and learn somethingabout ourselfs and it turned out to be
this It's like a gift for meand for both of us, I think,
(23:00):
And yeah, and we just gotpicked up by iHeartRadio, so we're
with them now, and so it'sjust it's just turned out to be such
a great, great thing that Iadore. Well. I was going to
say props on the name, becauseI love the sort of like double meaning
of it, like stages, becausemost of you, both of you,
and a lot of the folks thatyou talk to are professional stage performers in
(23:22):
some way or other. And it'salso about like the stages of life.
Like what's the line of the themesong is like love the stage. You're
in or something. What is lovewhere you are now? Love where you
are now? Right? Like,yeah, and I'd love that you get
to talk to people from kind ofacross the gamut. You have folks some
of the you have some very wellestablished what I would call Broadway A listers
(23:44):
who have appeared on the show.One of whom it would be Britt's absolute
voice crush, Gavin Creel. Oh, okay, I we talk about Gavin
Crerel. First episode was incredible.She is dreamy, Oh yeah, dreamy
retweeting and he's so kind and sweetand I just fell in love with him
(24:04):
out But you know, I haveto say, there are so many guests
I hang up and I'm just like, I just love them. Jason Alexander
was one of them. I saidto my husband, I'm telling you,
he was so surprising, what ajoy he was and how kind and deep
and I just I can't even gogo on and like Showshana Bean was another
(24:26):
one who I was totally surprised.It's just how cool and awesome she is.
Yeah, there's Gavin Creel though,come on, well, I think
that's one of the things like thatreally makes doing this project for us really
fulfilling. Is that there are there. I mean, I'm always like excited
about every guest we talked to,and then almost always I come away from
(24:48):
a conversation with a guest thinking,you know, I'll think back to those
episodes about something someone said and I'llbe like, man, like, that
was just such a good conversation.And that's one of the reasons I love
this medium, and I love thatyou sort of you'all sort of have a
theme where you're talking with creative folks, and so I think that really jives
with the ted Lasso fandom, atleast a large portion of it, because
the show is generative, Like Ithink it's one of those shows that makes
(25:11):
people want to create. You know, there's so many little like fan things
that people have made, whether it'smedia like we do or actual physical things
like shirts or key chains or crochet, like there's just all sorts of really
neat stuff that the show produces.And that's true with a lot of fandoms.
But I feel like there's a reallyspecial community that has grown organically from
(25:33):
ted Lasso in that way, andit's it's just allowed us to really connect
with a lot of folks that havereally can connect it to their disciplines in
such interesting and creative ways. Youknow what I think it is. I
think the thing about ted Lasso isit, like I think we might have
touched on this a little earlier,is it. It focuses on all the
ways that we're alike. Yes,you know it, and it does so
(25:56):
in a really honest way that showsvulnerability in the characters and forgiveness in the
characters. And I think next seasonis going to be a lot about forgiveness
when we dive into Nate. Yeah, I hope so really a little irritated
with Nate, yes, but yeah, I think that's what it is.
(26:18):
I think I think the country hasbeen so divisive for so long, and
I think people are exhausted by division, and I think, um, shows
like ted Lasso that reminds us thatwe're all the same, We're all one,
you know. Um. There's thisreally interesting concept where I've talked about
(26:41):
it on my podcast before, butI think it's relevant. When you look
at a field of aspen trees,it's not separate trees. If you can
look at a grove, it's onetree. It's one root system, and
it's such a powerful root system thatif there's a forest fire, it can
(27:03):
wipe out the whole growth, butif there's one shoot remaining, it can
go in and regenerate the entire grovefrom one little shoot through that root system.
But the other side of that isif one of those shoots gets like
a sooty fungus, it'll go intothe root system and wipe everything out.
And in yoga terms, the highestchakra is the one that is supposed to
(27:30):
remind us of that connection all thetime. And shows like ted Lasso made
a conscious decision of what they're goingto feed into that root system yep.
And then there are shows that makea conscious decision for profit or a more
profit right when they put something negativeout into the world. And so I
(27:51):
love shows that dare to be vulnerableand honest and show how we're alike and
feed something really positive into that rootsystem because we all really need that.
Yeah, I'm glad you touched onthat. I'm you know, Yes,
lots of things have been so divisive, and especially with COVID, was a
(28:14):
really big struggle for creative people.And you can maybe imagine for people like
us who live in the middle ofthe country, especially when you don't necessarily
fit with the majority philosophical minority.Yes, you know that that can be
really isolating and difficult, and soI think this project for us, and
(28:37):
really sort of the niche that isted Lasso fandom on the Internet, was
really therapeutic for us because there issomething you know, drawing attention to kindness
and empathy and understanding and trying tomeet people where they are and understanding that
you know, people are acting outof a place of hurt or other things.
And I think, like as asa creative myself, you know,
(29:03):
always trying to understand motivations behind thingsrather than just acts themselves. Right,
And so I know you all talkwith your guests on your show about art
and creativity and sort of how theycan be pathways into healing a community.
Right. So I know you've touchedon a little bit, But do you
see some more of those threads leadingback to ted Lasso or what do you
(29:26):
really want to see with forgiveness?I guess in season three, like I
said, I'm really kind of madat Nate, but I think that the
show talks a lot about those connections. I mean, I think the show's
the shows that every character has givenan example of fearlessness right where and forgiveness
(29:48):
where Ted He's fearless enough to lethis wife go, let his family go,
because it was better for her thanit was for him. And you
know, Roy Kent is so fearlessto show his soft side with Keily and
his little niece and to step intowhat's next after leaving such a legendary career,
(30:11):
you know, right, And ittakes a certain amount of fearlessness to
believe, you know, in thebig sign that he has up on his
wall, especially when all the signstell you not to right. It takes
it takes that kind of courage tosay, no, I know what the
truth is in my heart, youknow. Yeah, I mean look at
Keily too. She's facing fears allthe time. She's the most fearless one
(30:33):
of them all. I think,Yes, I think Keily might be my
favorite. She your favorite? Yes, definitely my legage. I definitely saw
someone in post say that they weresetting her up for her own spin off
called even Keilely because she has herlife together so much, and I was
like, I would watch it.But see that's what I mean too.
When you first see that character,you have no idea, like you just
think, especially in the first episodeshe played as like such a wag.
(30:57):
She played she looks so like sortof vapid and one dimensional, and then
all of a sudden your mind isblown and you're like, oh, yeah,
kills the coolest as Christian has putit on our show, like Kiely
sees the matrix like she just she'sgot she she understands things like on a
on an instinctual level that a lotof the characters don't. I think I
(31:18):
don't know anyway. I forget whereI was going with all of the fearless
talk and stuff. But but II think, um, I think it's
such a great show, and Ido think it's what like the world needs
now more things like that. Yeah, I want to switch gears a little
bit, or at least transition tosomething that we've touched on but haven't fully
(31:41):
explored. So you are like aregistered yoga instructor. Correct. Yeah.
When my when I had my son, I didn't have the kind of career
where like Leashants or Stephanie, Icould stay in New York and sort of
get shows on broadways as readily asthey could. I was always on the
road, and I had seen toomany examples of you know, kids in
(32:06):
hotel rooms with one eight hundred babysittersand you know, and I just knew,
being an Italian that I wouldn't trustanybody. But you're Italian too,
Yeah, I wouldn't trust anybody toI mean, to watch my kid.
I just wouldn't. My mom andmy husband, that's who watched my kid.
And so I decided, Okay,I'm going to be home for a
(32:29):
few years with this boy, andwhat else do I really love? And
I love yoga nice. So whileI was pregnant with him, I got
my raiki certification so he'd get allthat mojo. And then once he was
born, I got my yoga certificationsand started teaching. And it was a
great way to get out of thehouse and be in control of my own
schedule and yet get to be homewith him and not be on the road
(32:51):
and not be traveling. And Idid a few little you know, commercials
or little show here, a littleshow there. But but we didn't live
in New York because all of hiscousins were here in Massachusetts, and I
wanted him to be raised with cousins, especially being in only so uh yeah,
so I stepped away for a whileand stepped into um learning a lot
(33:12):
about yoga. And I've been studyingthe Chakras for probably ten years before that
anyway. So yeah, so itjust seemed like the perfect thing to do
where I could have some control overmy world and my schedule and be at
home with my son. And likeyou mentioned, we know that Roy Kent
is very into doing yoga with agroup of moms who have no idea who
(33:35):
he is. So one day RoyKent could stroll into your yoga studio.
And you know the sad thing issome local uh you know, Bruins or
Celtic Star could walk into my yogavass and I would have no idea.
Well, so what you're saying isthat storyline is completely plausible that Roy Kent
could go to I just I don'tI just don't know. I have a
(34:00):
funny story about when I was incollege, I got this internship with the
guys who would bring all the camerasand all the equipment into the Boston Garden.
And this is when the Boston Gardenwas like the Old Garden, and
it was when the Celtics were likeLarry Bird, and you know that dream
(34:20):
team, and I used to goand sit at the table right on the
floor, and I'd have the headsetsand I'd grew up the commercials and the
interviews and this and that, andI didn't know who any of these guys
were, could not have cared lessabout any of it. My friends wanted
to kill me. It could belike, I can't believe you're sitting on
(34:40):
the sidelines. I'm like, Idon't even watch the game. So my
brother said that one day he waswatching like a best of Larry Bird video
and he said, Larry Bird's runningdown the court. Everybody's on their feet,
they're screaming, they're all going insane, and the camera pans and you're
at the table up and through amagazine. I wanted to climb through the
(35:05):
television and strangle you. And Iwas like, I just couldn't be bothered.
That drop didn't last long. Yeah, that's amazing, very well.
So, Yeah, any Celtics playercome sit in my yoga room and I
wouldn't know who the hell they were. That is good to know, to
be confirmed the plausibility of that,brilliant. I feel so much more connected
(35:28):
to you to as well, knowingyou're an Italian. My maiden name is
Georgettie. So nice, mine's graffio. Yeah, nice, I don't know
what it is about, Like whenItalians find out someone else's Italian. It's
just like, I don't know.It's a sisterhood based yeah, the pride.
It's like when Texans find out there, Oh, Bret goal um Well,
(35:53):
And one more thing I wanted tomention about your your expertise in yoga
is that you often relate things inyour episodes with guests like you. There
are lots like you have done today, There are there are practices in yoga
that you can pull out and kindof relate to those stories that they tell.
Yeah. One of the favorites Ithink was maybe in the episode with
Leashants you talked about and you maydo this in multiple episodes, but you
(36:16):
mentioned the idea of sun culpa andyou sort of like, we're suggesting I'm
not sure if I'm using this termright, but like a sun kulpa for
her or for someone. And Iwas wondering, is there a character on
ted last I maybe explain what asun coulpa is? And then is there
a character on ted Lasso that youwould like to adopt a son copa.
(36:37):
A sun Kalpa is sort of likea New Year's resolution in a way,
except um New Year's resolutions sort ofhint that we're not good enough, right,
so you have to give up chocolateor give up alcohol, or lose
weight or be better or you know, so that in itself implies that you're
(37:00):
not enough, You're not good enough, and you have to do something to
be better. A son Kalpa isbased on the knowledge that you are enough,
You are already whole, and thateverything you desire already exists in the
world and all you need to dois call it to your life. So
I wrote an article called a Revolutionand Resolutions, and I lay it out
(37:22):
like in seven steps, like howyou set us on colpa. And one
of the first steps is is thatit's a packed between you and your spirit.
So you actually don't discuss your soncoppa with anybody. And one of
the reasons you don't is because whenyou so, if I were going to
say to you, my son Kalpais to get into great shape this year,
(37:46):
and your reaction is, oh mygod, you already look amazing,
Right, I've already gotten what Ineeded. So now I don't do the
work to get to the goal rightbecause I'm getting the feedback that I want.
So you don't. You don't discussyour son kalpas a. It's a
private pact between you and your spirit. And so one of the things that
(38:06):
it sort of asks of you isevery action that you do, does it
further your sun kopa or does ittake away from your sunkopa? And if
in the moment it takes away,it's okay. As long as that's a
conscious choice. You're aware of yourchoice. You're not mindlessly doing things that
to undermine whatever yr sounkopa is.And the other thing about it is it
(38:28):
has to be written in the positivepresent tense because simply by saying I want
to or I will or you knowthis will happen, what that's signaling is
that you want it because you don'thave it, or it will happen because
it hasn't happened for you yet.So the law of the universe is like
attracts like. So if you putnegative out, negative is all that you
(38:54):
can receive. So all sun kalpasare written in the positive present tense.
So you know, I am spendingmy time with like minded friends who are
creative and supportive and love me unconditionally. Not I'm going to find new friends
that are creatively right. So it'spositive, present tense, and then you
(39:17):
have to make space in your bodyand your mind and your spirit and in
your home even to welcome those thingsin. So it's about letting go of
clutter, letting go of things thatdon't work for you anymore. So somen
colpers are deeply personal. So Idon't know if I could set Yeah,
no, it doesn't seem like Icould. We could only speculate about someone's
(39:37):
son. Well, when you weretalking about that, it made me think
of sort of the work that Rebeccadid and last the second season, especially
where she became a much healthier versionof herself. And she did that by
embracing a support system, Like shewent from being very alone, completely isolated,
right, angry and angry and sadness, yes, all of the things,
(40:00):
to just that little bit of thatlittle that fence that Ted Lasso said
he hopped over was just enough forher to open herself back up and to
allow these people who care about herto support her, like whether it's Ted
and Beard, the players, SamHiggins, like you have all these folks
around her now, keyely, Yeah, how could I forget? You know,
(40:20):
like so and now just being opento that, like you see the
joy back in her life and sortof the full right. And she's not
doing this team in the negative tobring revenge upon her ex husband who's a
dick, but she's doing it becauseshe loves these people around her and wants
them to succeed. Yeah, ohman, Yeah, And see that's the
beauty of the show too, riteis that they of course they built in
(40:43):
the drama of her sort of sabotagingeverything, but then how she sees the
good and then chooses the good,you know. And the other thing too
is them just by Ted having hisbeliefs sign up there shows me that he,
you know, he might not alreadyknow what a sun calpe is.
M. That's I was also thinkingabout that when you were talking about it
(41:04):
too. Yeah, he already healready knows how to manifest those things.
It's clear right because he manifested,He manifested a team out of nothing,
right out of a lot of division, manifested this unit. And it ties
back to something that y'all talk abouton your show often, is like how
one of the one of the thingsthat always strikes people when they start Ted
(41:28):
Lasso season one is the way thatTed is not afraid of intimacy, of
of you know, of relationships andthat how that inherently can build community and
he does that, and y'all talkabout proximity as a way to sort of
generate understanding and empathy and to buildrelationships, and so that was just something
(41:51):
that really struck me listening to severalof your conversations, is you know,
they're in a they're in a soccerspace, so it's not necessarily a creative
space maybe as much as like artisticcreative endeavor, but in the same way,
like there's this community around this thingthat as those relationships are built,
Like, vulnerability is so so important, and that's really like the thing that
Ted Lasso the character does is hesort of makes vulnerability okay, and then
(42:16):
like all the ways that people reactto that are very interesting. It's really
interesting though, is that he's notthat vulnerable when he's first coming on and
coming in and meeting people, rightLike, he yeah, first in the
room. He wants to bring otherpeople together, he wants other people to
be vulnerable, but he doesn't revealanything about himself, which is why he
has his panic attack. And theneventually when he gets into see the therapist,
(42:37):
which I also love that they aremaking it so discussable, you know
that, yeah, therapy is great, and yes people have panic attack,
you know. But anyway, hedoesn't start out ever showing his own vulnerability.
He comes to that much later.He sort of forces it out of
(42:58):
other people, almost deflecting so thathe doesn't have to show his Yeah,
it's like he sort of he sortof like um takes a shortcut by using
that proximity and kind of like hewill get up in someone's business, making
them uncomfortable enough to then be vulnerable, whether they meant to or not.
And then he's at least emotionally intelligentenough to know how to use that as
(43:19):
a way to ultimately have like apositive outcome. But yes, there are
certainly things about the way that hedoes that, now that we know more
about him from season two and sortof his what he's wrestling with on the
inside, that made that It certainlycomplicated it and made it more you know,
some of the aspects of it moretroubling, But you see the net
gain of it as the people aroundhim have opened up to one another.
(43:42):
Right right, Yeah, we lovedTed. We do. One of the
things I love about your podcast isthat you end every discussion with like five
quick questions, and one of theones you almost always ask, if not
always, is if you were anail polish, like what or would it
be? And what would you callit? Like? What quirky name would
you give the nail polish? SoI'm wondering is there a character as you
(44:06):
ponder that question that you post toyour guests, is there a character that
strikes you as would have a cutesy, funky, quirky nail polish named after
them? And what would it belike? Um? Well, I mean
I want to do Keilely because Ilove Keily, but I could do any
one of them. If you aregreat, Keyley, I would say Keily
(44:27):
would be It would definitely be likePink and Sparkly, because that's what Kiely
does write the Pink and Sparkley.But I think we would call it badass
Barbie. Oh she seems like aBarbie when you meet her, but she's
not. She's a badass. Yes, I'm buying that nail polish tomorrow.
I love that. Yeah, MaryLee, thank you so much for coming
(44:49):
on and chatting about one of ourfavorite shows with us. Thank you for
asking how nice I love talking musicaltheater anytime, anytime. Yes, thank
you so much. It was apleasure to meet you and just to you
know, talk about being vulnerable andcreativity and how we can make the world
a better place, even you know, in this strange medium that's microphones and
(45:10):
computers. No, I know,I love it. I love it.
I think it's a great way toconnect with people. Well, thanks Mary
Lee, take care, Thanks guys, bye, and that is our show.
We had a blast chatting ted Lasso, musical theater, yoga, and
Gavin Creel with Mary Lee. Youcan find links to her podcast, her
(45:34):
website, social media, her writing, and more in the show notes.
We'll be back soon with more tedLasso goodness, but you can keep the
conversation going with us on Twitter andInstagram in the meantime. Our handle on
both is at ted lassopod. Thisepisode of Richmond Till We Die has brought
to you by Jenn and Kerosene Productions. It was produced by me and Marissa.
If you're joining the podcast, pleasetake thirty seconds to subscribe to our
(45:55):
feed and give the show a fivestar review on Apple Podcasts or a five
star rating on Spotify. Heck,if you're feeling generous, you could even
do both. And as always,we appreciate all the ways y'all share your
love and support for the pot.Okay, I'm Brett signing off for Marissa
and mary Lee. Thanks for listening. Until next time, Cheers y'all.
(46:23):
Ninety ninety nine Chords
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