March 31, 2023 • 51 mins
On today’s episode, Julian and Maddy speak with Scott Porter, who up until now has played a lot of nice guys. This time, he’s the bro in Miguel’s ear telling him to take what he wants.
They talk with him about how he got involved in the show, what his character does for Miguel, and how a Tigershark became a mascot for the show.
Plus, Mae Whitman and Carlos Valdes who play Lindsay and Miguel join us along with creators Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez to talk about the songs in episode 2.
From Straw Hut Media
They talk with him about how he got involved in the show, what his character does for Miguel, and how a Tigershark became a mascot for the show.
Plus, Mae Whitman and Carlos Valdes who play Lindsay and Miguel join us along with creators Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez to talk about the songs in episode 2.
From Straw Hut Media
Mark as Played
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Straw Hut Media.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Like I'm an old school fan, you know, I'm a
hipster fan of Kristen and Baki. So to sing their
song like a song that they penned that no one
else has ever touched before. Because you can do their music,
you can, you can work into a show that they've written.
But to originate one of their songs that was like
(00:26):
bucket bucket, bucket list stuff.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Welcome to the up Here down Low, the official companion
podcast to.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Who Lose Musical rom com.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Up Here, we're your hosts, Madison Cross.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
And Juline Goza, two friends and theater kids.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
You're the Baker to my Baker's wife.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
And you're the Roxy to my Velma.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
No I'm Velma.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
We'll talk about this later.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And we're here to look behind the scenes with cast,
crew and creators on making musical TV Magic.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Musical TV Magic, I told.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
You not to sing.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
On today's episode, Julian and I speak with Scott Porter,
who up until now has played a lot of nice guys.
This time he's the bro in Miguel's ear, telling him
to take what he wants.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
We talk with him about how he got involved in
the show, what his character does, for Miguel and how
a tiger shark became a mascot for the entire show.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Plus May Whitman and Carlos Valdez, who played Lindsay and Miguel,
join us along with creators Robert Lopez and Kristin Anderson
Lopez to talk about the songs in episode two.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
But first let's start with a little recap. Put on
the shoes to tap its time both the week gap.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
So we just finished episode two Miguel, so we pick
up he's in college and we learn he's wanting to
make video games.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
He's creating Snape fan arts.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
So I realized, I said while we were watching. I
was like, Oh, it's Snape.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Like the little figure that he's working on.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Yeah, but it's it's just some sort of wizard character
just like but if you go back, it does kind
of look.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Like Snape hushtag. Not all wizards yeties what they all
look like Snape. Well, and I also was like, Wow,
he's quick to the party. If it's nineteen ninety seven
and he's making Snape fan art.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
That's true what you're did Harry Potter come.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Out in ninety seven? So I was like, oh, he
was he was opening night of the book.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
He was a big fan.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
So then we learn he's got this girlfriend and he
catches her cheating.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Has that I feel like I see that quite frequently
in like different pop culture things, for sure. And so
then the guy interestingly enough that Fiona is cheating on
Miguel with.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Is Oh wow, good job grabbing the girl's name.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
I told you i'd write down character names, but I
didn't grab his name. I don't know if we figured
out what Fiona's side.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
He learned his name, but yes, he's one of the
voices in Miguel's.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Head, Yes, which is like, I so related to that,
Like there have been times where I like felt like
wronged and like and also rejected. And so it's interesting
that like the more like masculine framework too, dealing with
that is like I'm gonna do push ups, like I've
totally been there.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So he's working as a banker, projecting this sort of
like not projecting having this Wall Street lifestyle, trying to
And you were saying that it was like the dance
never did such a good job of in that song
Tiger Shark, like.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
The instrument it felt very eighties to me, super and
I think it's because Wall Street, at least to me,
has like a super eighties.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
And also like the costume design and everything was just
so spot on.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Yeah, they got the ties right late nineties. There were
some patterns ass ties up in here.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Well, then they go to the bar because he's they
celebrate being able to break the porn firewall.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
I guess just look in the nineties, must have been
a milestone look at.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Titties at work.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
So they go to the bar and we find out
that she was his Uh. I wrote down the term
bang buddy. That was him finding her was his bang buddy.
It wasn't like as much of a meat cute it.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Was like and the challenge was to talk to a
girl that either had the tightest shirt on or the
tightest pants. As we mentioned in the last episode, she
was wearing plastic Matrix era tight.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Tight tight tight.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
Toy, like a toy like a toiket shot.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Nice callback, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
So it's not as meat cutie as I was kind
of expecting it to be, right, But I appreciate that
because that's that's not life, darling.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
And I don't think this is like your average your
standard rome com that must becoming clear.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, this is definitely trying to break the wall. I mean,
especially with hearing all of their voices in their heads right,
like we're seeing all of their flaws right.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
And it doesn't go smoothly the first time because he
ends up in tears again because of the pressure from
his voices.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Oh my god, and you said that the woman playing
his mom was your voice teacher.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
At one point, Andrea Burns at Stella Adler. She was awesome.
She was in the original cast of In the Heights.
Oh my god, I'm but praise and love Frandre.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Oh very exciting. Oh my god. Maybe Sea could have
her on the pod.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
That would be fine.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
And then she comes and brings him cupcakes to apologize
for making him cry for tugging on his wang too hard.
Which girl, you cannot bring cupcakes to a one night stand.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
That being said, I'm so used to like moving fast
and loose and like love bombing up a storm that
if someone brought me cupcakes after pulling on my peepy
two art, I would lock it down. Yeah that's true.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
That's true.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
I probably would fall for the cupcakes too, But I
feel like most it's not a straight men thing to
be like into yeah, ladies being that way or maybe
I'm wrong and all of the things I know about
love or falls. And then she finds out that he's
lying about his name being Jimmy and that it's Miguel.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
They were just like, oh, your last name is Jimenez,
we'll call you Jimmy.
Speaker 6 (06:03):
Mmmm.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
That's my dad's birth name on his birth certificate, Jimmy,
Jimmy Raymond.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
What is Jimmy even James.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Jimithy Jimothy Crickett. So LUCIENTO Miguel, like when.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
He's talking with his voices in his head. He was
talking about not feeling white enough in school and then
not feeling brown enough to live in Queens, and I
was curious if you related to that feeling in any
capacity totally.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Yeah, yeah, I could relate to Miguel in that capacity
because my mom's Cuban, my dad's white, and where I
grew up is very Mexican. And so because I'm I mean,
I have like darker features, but skin tone wise, like
I'm still white appearing. So I was, yeah, I was
considered like one of the whiter people in my high
school and like you know, through elementary, through all of it,
(06:54):
and then when I went to NYU, people to be like, oh,
this is Julian. He's Mexican, and I'd be like, I
have Cuban and I'm from near Mexico. I'm not the Mexicans,
which Maddie and I do like maybe.
Speaker 7 (07:08):
Once an hour.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
That's true, like literally.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
But yeah, I was curious thinking about that.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I was like, oh, I wonder if Julian's had that
experience of just like not Yeah, it's.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
So hard to describe, like and maybe that's why I've
really latched onto the gay thing. It is because I'm like, great,
a clear cut community that I could be a member of.
Although I see like Aubrey Plaza and I'm like, oh,
off half Puerto Rican princess. There are people out there
that that are in that space, community whatever, but I
(07:39):
don't know, we should have a meeting. I't talk to
any of us.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, so then they reconnect. She runs into the glassdoor. Hilarious.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Have you ever run into a glasstoor?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I'm sure, but not in a capacity that you know.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
I was, thankfully at a clinic. I just got an
st STD tested. I was trying to looking at my
stories or something to see if one of the people
that gave me an STD was watching my stories and
ran right into the glass door. Thankfully, all the nurses
and stuff were quick to you know, have to rise
to action such caring folk.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So then he's her buddy because she doesn't have any
friends or family in town, and they totally just fall
in love with the phone. And she had that clear phone,
which I also had. So then they they chat all night,
and they go on what's supposed to be a date,
and then and she doesn't show. No, she bails because
(08:35):
her voices get in her head. Even though the voices
are saying like nice things, but it's her self, Sebatour
that is getting in the way, right, And she also
is saying like, well, I came to this town to
like figure out myself and what I want to do
with my life, not just like hot back in to
a relationship where we match our pajamas and brush our
teeth together.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Right, which is low key how I feel right now
with relationships. I'm like, yo, I'm working on me.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do too. So yeah,
now we're she's on the subway and he's there alone,
and his voices in his head are saying like we
knew it. And I think that they're giving such a
good homage to what a rom com is while also
like turning it upside down a little bit by having
that by having their perspective in their heads.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Right, like actually evaluating like the psychology behind like.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Yeah, man's totally and yeh and like yeah, being a person, Yeah,
perspective live.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
It's about being a person.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, it's about being a person.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
It's not friends about New York.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
I got some questions you time, since this episode has
called me gil, why not start at the source with
the Carlos Baldez origin story, so to quote Hillary death.
Let's go back back to the beginning. How did you
become a theater kid? What was that first moment of
revelation of being like, yes, you.
Speaker 6 (10:02):
Know, I always kind of wanted to entertain and perform,
and you know, my family, especially my mom, always saw that.
And you know, in retrospect, that's a very scary thing
for like a Latin American person to do, especially because
in the old home country to be an artist is
(10:26):
like to be a poor person essentially and consign yourself
to like a life of struggle and poverty.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
And here in the States, being an artist is.
Speaker 8 (10:35):
To be obviously, it's a completely different experience.
Speaker 7 (10:38):
I'm kidding.
Speaker 6 (10:39):
So yeah, so she basically, you know, wanted to encourage
that in me, and she she did that. She kind
of like put me in educational environments where I could
sort of pursue the acting thing. And as you know,
in the vast majority of academic setting, the like acting
(11:03):
route available to you is in a theater capacity. It's
to you know, go into theater, to be in the
drama programs, to be a theater kid essentially. So yeah,
so that was basically how I got into theater. And
it's funny, I like I wanted to actually initially as
a kid go into like movies, because I remember watching movies,
watching certain actors and performers and being like, God, I
(11:24):
want to do that, And because theater is like the
most successible avenue available to you as a kid in
terms of training, Like, I just started to kind of
like mold my expectations of my abilities around theater. And
then sometime in high school, I remember I was doing
West Side Story. I was playing China, and I remember
(11:47):
in the that was actually it's funny, I didn't want
to audition for it because I remember at that time,
I was like, nah, man, I.
Speaker 8 (11:53):
Don't do musicals. It's stupid.
Speaker 6 (11:56):
And then my I had a classmate of I was like,
a man, you should audition for this West Side Story musical.
Speaker 8 (12:02):
And I was like no, didn't you just hear me
just now I think I said it's stupid. And he
was like, no, I really think you could do something
special with it. I like, I promise, and I'm like,
I don't know. I don't like I have to sing
a song for the audition and all that stuff. And
he's like, no, no, no.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
I'll hook you up, you know, close every Door from
Joseph in The Amazing Technical or Dream But and I
was like, I don't even know what that is. And yeah,
and I learned it and I sang it and I
got the part. And I remember like we were in
we were in tech for the show, and I remember
like listening to like the the the Orchestra backing track
(12:37):
that they had queued up for our show and just
listening to, you know, Leonard Bernstein's score and just thinking like, Wow,
I could like do this, this is like fun. Yeah,
And next thing I knew I was going to college
for musical theater and you know, going to New York
and living in the musical theater, pounding the musical theater
pavement and yeah, and then I found myself like diverting
(13:03):
into what I wanted to go into in the first
place when I was a kid, which is like acting
on a camera.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Why do you want me to tell them about.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
Jersey Okay, May's mom thought this was cool apparently, But
I did a tour of Jersey Boys for a year
and that was that was a lot of fun. I mean,
it's an amazing story. But yeah, that's all. That's my
whole story.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
It is very cool.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
That's really impressive. That's such a like vocally challenging show.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
Yeah, actually, you know, I'll tell you that. I'll tell
you what was Actually something that actually is interesting about
Jersey Boys is that show is over two hours and
it's NonStop. It's like like, especially if you're in the
ensemble of that show, you're like moving chairs, you're like
zipping in and out of like you're you're like moving
everything and it all has to be like precision timing,
(13:57):
and it's like it's non stop. I've never seen or
done anything like it, So definitely mad respect to the
people that work on that show for sure.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Before we take a quick break, Julian was looking for
the source of inspiration for Miguel's mom, so he asked
Bobby Lopez.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
I have a Latina mom. She's from Cuba, and so
I identified with Miguel's mother's voice constantly telling me you could
do no wrong. And this is this may be a
bit of a personal question, but Bobby, is that reflective
of your relationship with your mom?
Speaker 7 (14:37):
And yes and no, yes to that that she probably
gave me that idea that I could do no wrong,
and she was that kind of mom. And honestly, I
think a lot of moms are are like that, with
moms of boys fall in love with their sons in
a weird way, and I think it's great.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
But the.
Speaker 9 (15:00):
Not to make a generalization, Yeah, the girl moms are different.
Speaker 7 (15:05):
The girl moms just kidding. So no. But the one
thing I can they claim to is being Latino, which
is also complicated because I'm Filipino. So there's yeah, in
a way, like my grandmother spoke Spanish on my dad's side,
my mother was not Latino. My mother was.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
That's a whole other story.
Speaker 7 (15:29):
It all comes intobates about that one. So yeah, let's
let's even let's put the subject of race aside. But
it wasn't important to us. First of all. Danielle Sanchez
witzel is LATINX and she, she and I bonded over
this idea that we're never fully we never fully belong
any in any space, you know that, that we sometimes
(15:49):
feel like like we're another in you know, in a
white space and in you know, me among Filipinos. Her
mom us, she doesn't speak Spanish, she has a complicated
relationship to her heritage, and we wanted to put that
(16:10):
into Miguel's character. It's in there a little bit. I
think we you know, we tried to tried to make
something of it, and I'm really glad. First of all,
I'm just glad that that a brown person is the
lead in the romantic comedy. That you don't see that
that much. And to me, it was when I watched
him get into costume and start to shoot scenes with
(16:33):
may I just I just felt very proud. So that
was cool.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Okay, now we're going to take a quick break. When
we come back, Scott Porter tells us about auditioning for
the show, who his character really is, and he reveals
that apparently he's basically a professional beatbox.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Welcome back, just FYI. Even though we haven't officially heard it.
By episode two, Scott does refer to his character by name.
Is that a spoiler?
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Maybe a mini spoiler?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
First off, we understand that you have a podcast with
Zach Guildford and May Whitman about Friday Night Lights. Did
you find out that May was a super fan while
working on the show or was it like the other
way around.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I found out May was a super fan of Friday
Night Lights when I actually was watching Parenthood and I
kept on seeing, Oh, Michael b. Jordan's on the show,
Oh look at that, Jesse Plemons is on the show,
Oh look at that. And Matt Laurie is on the show.
Mika Kelly's on the show. And I got a phone
call that, you know, May's character Amber, they were going
(17:53):
to finish her storyline and they wanted the audience to
know that she was going to be okay. And Jason
Catoms told me he had talk to May and she said,
I would really like if we could get Scott Porter,
because I feel like anybody who ever saw Friday Night
Lights would be like She's going to be just fine
with Ason Street. Like, so I was like, wait a minute,
what so that I talked to me quite a bit
(18:15):
when we were together, and I'm known May for years.
We've been in each other's orbit for a long time.
So somebody approached me about a Friday Night lights rewatch
podcast and then it hit us like, why not have
a fan voice as a part of a rewatch? Why not?
It's been a lot of fun, So that was it
was really cool to have her be a part of that.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
A lot of your credits are non musical television, but
you started out in the original cast of Altar Boys,
So did you did you always hope that your TV
work would kind of come back around to musicals.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
You know, I never even knew I would be a
musical theater actor. I was a beatboxer when I got started,
and I was doing acapella music both on my own
with my group they're now called voice Play, and they,
you know, we would like tour and sing acapella music,
and then ended up doing a little shit, you know,
off Broadway show called Toxic Audio. It was kind of
(19:04):
like Stomp, but with just the human voice. I could
do electric guitar and drums, and from that I got
the audition for Altar Boys, and I was like, oh,
I guess, I guess I'm an actor now. But I
had so many thousands of hours of stage experience. It
was just in theme parks and on concert stages. So
Alter Boys was the perfect place for me to land,
and I consider myself so lucky to have worked on
(19:26):
that show. And then came down to me and one
other guy for Tarzan the Musical, and I thought, this
is my career. I'm going to be a Broadway actor
and this is it for me. I'm going to be
Tarzan or I'm going to be the understudy for Tarzan
and the Hunter and still work on a Disney show
that's going to last forever. And as I was warming
up to that idea, my agent was like, yeah, but
(19:48):
we need to ask for an out so you could
audition for television in this pilot season. And I was like, okay, sure.
We asked Disney Theatricals. They said they don't give outs
for television. So I took a leap of faith and said, okay,
I'm just gonna I'm just gonna try, and I booked
Friday Night Lights, and then I thought, yeah, I'll do
a show and then I'll go back to New York
and get back on stage. And it's just never, it's
(20:10):
never worked out one percent. I lost out on American
Idiot to Stark Stands, who's just as everybody knows, infinitely talented,
and you know, no regrets. I've I've gotten close on
some musicals. But the thing about Los Angeles is, and
I hope we're changing this idea, is that when you
tell somebody you've done musical theater. In the landscape of
television or film, it used to be, oh, you did,
(20:32):
That's so cute, like almost you know. Now if it's
straight plays and you're getting you know, Tony Award nominations,
then all of a sudden, there's like a lot of
respect that comes along with that. But an off Broadway musical.
When I was out in Los Angeles after doing Friday
Night Lights, people were like, Oh, that's that's fun.
Speaker 7 (20:47):
That was fun.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I'm like, no, that's like really what I want to do.
I want to be back on stage, and I always
thought it would happen, but it hasn't yet. So up
here was a great chance to kind of at least
flex those muscles a little.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Bit, definitely, and it will happen, I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
And so preparing for and filming up here. Compared to
the other TV shows you've worked on because of this
musical element, what are some of the big differences that
you felt.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
You know, this particular project was really interesting because each
of the head voices kind of gets a little spotlight
song and then you kind of out of the musical
element for the rest of it, and it's mostly back
to this really interesting take on a television show. But
I'm still just delivering scene work. What I really loved
was the pace of all of the scene work. It
(21:35):
felt very on stage. You know. We would rehearse a lot,
which I haven't really always done in the television that
I've worked on, because usually you're moving at such a
rapid pace that you don't get time to really dig
in and do rehearsal. But with Thomas and all the
rest of our directors, you know, we had time to
rehearse all of these things with Rachel and everyone, and
(21:56):
so it felt very theater esque in that regard that
even in just the scene work, the timing all felt
like we were really just on stage in front of
a live audience and that stuff was so fun, But
prepping for this was kind of breakneck for me. I
had just finished Ginny and Georgia. I got home to California.
(22:18):
I tore two ligaments in my ankle and it fractured
my ankle playing basketball towards the end of the season
on Ginny and Georgia. And I thought, Okay, I'm going
to get home, I'm going to get my surgery, and
I'm going to get right and I'm going to be
good to go. And then I read the character of
Orson and I saw this audition and we were going
down to Lego Land for my son's birthday, and I
turned to my wife and I said, I have to
I have to film an audition at Lego Land this
(22:38):
weekend because I'm gonna I want to book this role.
And she was like, what are you talking about. And
then after I put myself down on tape, I never
have this feeling. I am not Orson at all. I
don't have that same arrogance. But I looked at my
wife and I said, I think we're going to New York.
I just understood him pretty quickly, and the words that
(23:00):
Steven had put down on the page just jumped at
me in such a way. The dialogue he wrote was
just so wonderful and really energetic. Orson kind of felt
like the lead character's best friend, and I just loved
every bit of it. And I booked it and about
a week later, had to be in New York and
was learning a song and learning choreography, and then we
shot that thing right away because I got there just
(23:22):
in time to start episode two. So did it all
in a couple of torn ligaments and a sprained ankle,
but we got it done.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
That's so impressive.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Well, and I know you said you don't really identify
with Orson, but you have played a lot of nice
guys historically over the years, whether it was Jason on
Friday Night Lights, Detective Corbett on, Lucifer George on Heart
of Dixie. But how was it playing a character who
is basically toxic masculinity personified, Like, did do you imagine
any nuance there? And how that gap? I guess?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
So here's the I played football in high school and college,
and I've been a part of a lot of city
leagues for flag football or basketball teams. And the way
I looked at Orson was very much like one of
those guys in the locker room that, even though says
things in a way that can be sometimes appalling, also
feels like he's so solidly in your corner. And that's
(24:16):
what I saw in Orson, that Orson really believes that
he's Miguel's best friend, and in a way, that's the
part of Miguel's head that is like, I'm going to
armor myself up, I'm going to protect myself because we've
got to remember, Miguel comes from a place of hurt.
When Orson starts to be the voice in his head
that he is, he doesn't have that real estate. Just
like Amelia Suarez's character or Andrea Burns's character, you know,
(24:39):
playing Miguel's mom, Orson hasn't been there that long. So
Orson pops in, and the only way I could think
to play him was like this kind of raw, raw,
you know, locker room type that wasn't scared to say
any particular words, but really was trying to build Miguel up,
albeit in a, you know, a questionable way. But I
(25:02):
do think that Orson, as that part of Miguel, really
loves Miguel and really wants the best for Miguel, but
Miguel himself doesn't know how to achieve that safety and
that feeling of being protected. So maybe building myself up
in the most powerful way possible and stepping on everyone
is the way to protect myself. And so that's what
(25:24):
I tried to do there.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Well, you bring up the voices in your head, which
begs the question, what are the voices in your head? Scott?
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Oh, my gosh, you know they're in this profession. And
I've come to reconcile this an awful lot. But in
this profession you can constantly question yourself and constantly ask
yourself what you could have done better? And so I
(25:56):
think I'm not speaking for all actors, but I know
a couple of friends that I've had this conversation with, like,
one of the voices in my head is just my
past selves delivering a line with just a little bit
of a different emphasis, or after I've realized and it's
clicked with me, Oh, this was what I was supposed
to do, and those echoes of failure is a voice
(26:19):
that can just so constantly be in your head, you know,
and at a certain point, I don't know, I've been
in this business twenty two years, you hope they all
go away. But when it's something you really love and
something you're taking a big swing at and you don't
end up getting it, that particular voice will stick with
you no matter what, no matter how long you've been
at something. Outside of that, I think most of the
(26:42):
voices in my head are pretty pretty fun. I am
a little bit of a mental wanderer, so I imagine like
a gray haired kind of like ganned Off the Gray
but with like less purpose, just wandering the countryside nonsensical riddles.
That is definitely a voice in my head too. I'm
(27:03):
a big daydreamer, so I wonder what form that takes,
you know, Like who is that random person I'm and
I went to Gandalf just because I'm a huge fantasy
nut and I'm a big nerd. So but I wonder
if there's that guy in my head, you know, from
my youth, like all those all those daydreams, just walking
around like spouting these ridiculous snippets of wisdom that don't
(27:25):
really mean anything. So I think, you know, yeah, you know, eventually,
I always wonder why I daydream so much, And it
could be in the middle of a very important conversation
and that voice will just pop up and I'll be
somewhere else and I'll be like, oh wait, I'm really
supposed to be focused on I need to be laser
focused here. Why am I, like, you know, walking through
(27:48):
a poppy field in dragon Lance? I don't know. Anyway.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Can you tell us Tiger Shark is such a fun,
fun number. Can you tell us about the process of
film and learning about that song?
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, you know, for the audition. As we were driving
down to Lego Land for my son's birthday, he came
across my phone. We stopped at a rest area. I
looked at my phone. I was like, Oh, what's this?
This is interesting? And then I looked at the creative
team and I was like, are you kidding me? Tommy
Cale and Kristin and Bobby and Steve, and I was like,
(28:24):
this is this is not I'm getting the call for this.
This is crazy. And I saw it was Bernie Telsey
who was casting it. That's out of New York. I
haven't you know. I haven't been it for Bernie in
a little while, you know. I was like, this is
this is nuts? But I noticed very quickly, Oh, there's
a song attached. So I'm sitting there as the kids
are going to the bathroom, I'm listening this tune and
I'm like, this is awesome. This is exactly my wheelhouse vocally.
(28:48):
I was super excited. So I learned it in two days,
put myself on tape, and as soon as I hit
New York, I was in a room rehearsing with the
other part of the creative team. I didn't know was
was Sonya Taya doing all the choreography. And I'm a
massive fan of hers. You've never seen me fanboy harder
than when I walked in and I saw that Sonya
(29:08):
freaking Taya was doing our choreography. And we spent two
days rehearsing it, one in a rehearsal hall and then
one in the office we were going to shoot in
And then you know, at the end of the first
week I was in New York working on this show,
we had already shot Tiger Shark. So I was lucky
in the fact that I, like, I got there hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry,
delivered it. And then the rest of it was kind
(29:30):
of easy man smooth sailing diessors and sitting around saying
ridiculous things. But that was kind of the process of it,
you know, taped up my ankle, like I said, a
couple of torn ligaments, didn't you know, show must go on,
Let's do it. I wasn't going to miss a chance
to work with all these incredible creative minds who I
am such a big fan of. And I told Kristen
and Bobby. When I was working in Florida at Universal
(29:53):
Studios and at Animal Kingdom, I was singing in a
show called Tarzan Rocks and that stage gave way to
find Nemo as written by Kristen and Bobby, and a
lot of my friends had been in their show for
so many years, and so I had been a fan
of theirs from way, way, way way back then. Like
I'm an old school fan, you know, I'm a hipster
(30:15):
fan of Kristen and Bobby. So to sing their song,
like a song that they penned that no one else
has ever touched before, because you can do their music,
you can, you could work into a show that they've written,
but to originate one of their songs, that was like
bucket bucket, bucket list stuff. So that was the process.
(30:37):
It was super quick, but I'd never knear like Tiger
Shark ended up on our like I'm wearing right now
or I'm wearing our our cast gift that we got
at the end of the series and it says up
here on the front, but on the back, and I
didn't notice this was doodled on the script, I mean
on the song script. And Kristin and Bobby have everybody
(31:01):
autograph the first page of their song sheet when they
go in to record, and then they keep them all
as like a book of like, you know, this really
cool story of kind of the process of creating that show,
and I guess they do it for all the shows
that they do. But that little sketch was on Tiger
Shark on the sheet music, and it kind of became
like the show mascot kind of thing. So it was
(31:23):
cool to be able to be the one that was
like that saying that tune, you know, it was. It
was fun.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Totally and for our listeners, the scotch just showed us
this incredible illustration of a of a tiger Shark in
a suit. Yeah, in a double breasted suit then sure, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Anyway, Yeah, it's a lot like the suits that Orson
wears in the show. Actually like these. It's like a
blue power suit, double breasted, the whole thing. But in
order to make a show like this, you've got to
have this certain level of confidence, and you've got to
be brave, and you've got to like kind of have
this idea that you can't fail, you know, or else
(31:57):
you'll never get through making a musical like this or television.
So I think, you know, Tiger Shark kind of became
this the tiger like kind of like the spirit animal
of the entire production. I'm just like, we're here, We're
gonna do this. No one's gonna tell us no, Like
we're gonna make this happen, Like, let's go. So that
was kind of cool. He kind of became the show's cheerleader.
I guess.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
It's time for another quick break. When we come back.
We talk about the songs in episode two with May, Carlos, Kristen,
and Bobby. We also talked about drag Race for a while.
Turns out me and Carlos are just like us.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Yeah, Smama, Boots.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
Well, one song that really affected me was who Am
I and Who Are You? Have you ever felt like
you're getting to know yourself while getting to know someone else,
you know, how's that relationship a reflection who you are?
Speaker 10 (32:57):
Tell ya, I have the words that like a true cornball.
I have the words know thyself tattooed on me because
my dad said it's me a really long time ago.
And I feel like, you know, it took me a
long time to really realize that. Like it's sort of
it's less about trying to get to a place where
you feel like you know everything and then you can
(33:18):
like start living your life. And it's a lot more
about getting comfortable with the concept that it's a process
and it always will be and it's always shifting and
changing and growing, and it's more about kind of how
you sit in the present moment of those transitions and
how you deal with them and the tools that you
sort of develop to take the best parts of them
(33:41):
with you and learn and move forward. And I really
feel like, you know, they say relationships are like a mirror,
and I do feel like the best ones sort of
because you're creating this intimate, safe space for you to
be yourself. I mean, it's like that moment when you
realize when you express something genuine and like real that's
(34:04):
maybe kind of messy and untidy, and not perfectly in
a package for them to like eat up that doesn't
stress their you know, whatever their thing is. That's always
something I would always do as I'd be like, well,
I don't want to infringe on anybody else's you know,
life paths, so I'm going to make sure this is
as digestible as possible and how mature is it and
what's my accountability level and how blah blah blah. And
(34:24):
then like when you have that moment where you express
some information that maybe isn't perfect and you're like, look,
I don't I can't explain this. It's not your fault.
It's just I'm having a reaction that is this, you know,
and that's I just had to be honest about that.
And then when that's okay with someone, it's like you're like,
oh my god, maybe maybe it's okay. Maybe these things
(34:46):
are okay. And maybe having a person who trusts you
enough and respects you enough and trusts your like heart
enough to put those things out on the table, it
allows you to like go into the lab, do your work,
bring it to the table and discuss it with each other.
And to me, that's like that's true intimacy. And like
(35:06):
real love, you know, is like being able to the
person that is that cares enough to go do their
work and then bring it to you vulnerably and like
allow you to see it. And like that to me
is like that's where the real commitment comes from. And
so I feel like that's exactly you know, that's that's
(35:28):
kind of my whole thing these days.
Speaker 8 (35:29):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
You know?
Speaker 6 (35:30):
You know, how like Rue Paul says, if you can't
love yourself on the hell, you're gonna love somebody else.
Speaker 8 (35:35):
Amen.
Speaker 6 (35:36):
Like I remember when I first heard that, I was like, Okay,
that just sounds like something that you just like say
it just like it sounds like it makes sense. And
the more that I lived my life, uh and tried
to cultivate relationships with people, the more I like understood
how fucking deep that well goes for that particular like
(35:58):
that particular phrase, because it's it's so true. You know,
you have to like live in this body for your
whole life. You're you're the one that you have to
live with, you have to cohabitate with for an entire lifetime.
So like learning how to like if you can't like
learn how to create stacis there that's obviously going to
(36:20):
like come out in your relationships with other people, you
know that you have to also create spaces with So
I definitely have found that to be like a golden
I don't know, like this little like wise little thing
to hold on to.
Speaker 10 (36:36):
It reminds me of the thing that I told you about,
the like how you know how on planes they say,
like when they're doing the safety thing, they're like like,
please put your mask on before you help someone else
put their mask on. And I remember being a little
kid and being like, well no, Like I literally was like,
well that makes no sense. I'm your child. I should
be the most important thing to you. Like why would
(36:57):
you want to live if I die? Like what could
happened in those precious seconds?
Speaker 2 (37:01):
You know?
Speaker 10 (37:01):
Like I was always like this, I know to be
not true to the point where the big joke was
when I was really little, I would like try to
distract my dad from listening to the message right at
that point, and then he'd be like, oh what.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Did they say?
Speaker 10 (37:14):
And I'd be like, they said, just make sure you
put your kid's mask on first, and you know the usual,
and like then I remember being like, oh, it's all
so charmed. And then like I remember being like eighteen
and having like a horrible person be like, you know,
it's like how you you think it's so charming to
the you know, flight story and they're like, but it's
actually your problem. You are putting everyone else's mask on
(37:38):
before yours and then you're dead. And I was like, Okay,
you're a terrible person, but you're right, and I realized,
like you you really cannot save someone if you're down
in the hole with them, you know, And that's a
really wild thing to actually try to practice. But it's
it's hella true. We say do we still say hello?
Speaker 1 (38:00):
You can say hella.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
This is a hell household.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
I literally to my therapist the other day was like
RuPaul literally says this thing like if you.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Can't love yourself, then.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
Your therapist was like, preach girl.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Maybe she was like, areating for an age with this year?
Speaker 10 (38:21):
He's just my favorite Wait well obviously, but Sasha is
like it would be like a crime if Sasha didn't win.
Speaker 6 (38:28):
She just it's like so obvious.
Speaker 10 (38:30):
She's in another She's just she's a it's almost not
fair she's on it at all because.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
She's like the thing that's not fair that she's on
it at all.
Speaker 10 (38:36):
He's legendary and if she wasn't there a Nitra is
so clearly everything about her.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
I'm obsessed.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
I love her.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
I know, thank you.
Speaker 8 (38:45):
I'm glad.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
I feel like a familial connection to Mistress just because
she's like a Texas girl and I'm like, I know you.
Speaker 9 (38:53):
She's also going to go all the way.
Speaker 10 (38:55):
You know, they're all coming back for All Stars like
it's too it's too juicy team.
Speaker 7 (39:01):
I mean, I.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Think because I think Ru can be a little petty,
and I think that Antra is going to win and
that Sasha will get runner up because I think Rue
is like, oh, it took you this long to come
on my show, Like, do.
Speaker 10 (39:14):
You think though that there? You think? Will it be
top three?
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Will it be?
Speaker 10 (39:18):
Looks Mistress Aniitra Sasha, who.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Yeah, I think it's that.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
Well, may be a top four. We were talking about
that it'll be.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
I think it was always the top four.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
I think it'll be, and then it will either be
or Sasha winning. I don't think she's going to do
a time attack.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
That woke me up.
Speaker 5 (39:40):
Yeah, we're big dragons over here, all about it, baby,
it's a huge part of our lives.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
But anyways, like the rest of your.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
Questions literally.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Go back to the show.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
What are some of your guys favorite you're talking about
some of your favorite songs, Like what are some of
your favorite memories or things that you filmed?
Speaker 9 (40:11):
There's so many good ones.
Speaker 6 (40:13):
I was gonna say, like, there's a lot of really
good ones.
Speaker 10 (40:16):
We were on the journey.
Speaker 6 (40:17):
Yeah, doing Tiger Shark was like I want to say,
my first week of shooting. We did Tiger Shark, and
it was like it was a pretty intense day. We
had to shoot the whole number in one day essentially,
and like there was a lot of different setups and
coverage to try to get, you know, to really nail
that number. And I remember we hadn't shot it like
(40:40):
a like a high octane number yet we've done like
you know your your opening number, right, but like I
actually haven't seen your opening numbers, So it.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Was thank you.
Speaker 10 (40:49):
Also, the fact that you didn't choose a number with
me is awesome, but keep on, it's.
Speaker 6 (40:55):
Not always so yeah, And I remember like like just
being psyched but also really nervous because I was like,
this is really gonna like set the tone for how
this thing is gonna go.
Speaker 10 (41:08):
You fly and fly around.
Speaker 6 (41:09):
Remember we went up to the thirty third floor of
this office ability in Midtown and we and I got
out of the elevator and it was like a sauna
like elevator's door, elevator doors open, and I'm like drenched
in sweat already, and I'm like, we have to do
this dance number in this fucking ninety five degree heat.
What's happening? And they were like, yeah, the ac broke,
(41:32):
we don't know, like it's not reaching us, like and
all this stuff, and we had to, like I remember,
in between takes of that number, I had to we
had to like I had to put fans all over
my pits and stuff like that to like prevent any
sweat from coming through because obviously I'm.
Speaker 8 (41:48):
On camera, and like it was really hard.
Speaker 6 (41:51):
But like everybody brought their a game, Like Sonya brought
her a game, all the dancers brought their a game,
Tommy brought his A game, Ashley our DP like I
was firing on a siners of course obviously Scott Porter
who steals the show, and like I was that that
really created an impression on me, and I was like, Oh,
I feel safe. I feel like I feel like I'm
(42:13):
working with a bunch of people that are like equally
committed to like making this thing go, and that that
number was memorable for for that reason.
Speaker 10 (42:23):
You also felt like you lost some decibels of hearing
in your ear. The next day, you were like, I
just got screamed at for two and a half hours
by Scott Porter within half an inch of my ear
when we.
Speaker 6 (42:33):
Did the Tiger Shark like bedroom sequence. He like he
was trying out different stuff as he does, and like
he there was one where he just like got right
in my ear and started singing full blast. And I
don't know if I'm still recovering from.
Speaker 11 (42:49):
This day.
Speaker 4 (43:14):
I'm a tiger. Got le me here.
Speaker 7 (43:17):
You hear.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
Your sharp gam rang, then a tiger spression.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Cool lotea in my corporate suit and use your electro
magnetic snoops to.
Speaker 4 (43:32):
Make a turn a doll. In broadcast, play.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
Bud the email Tyger shot, I want a mate.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
With you. Hold on to your phone. It's time to
talk about.
Speaker 7 (44:00):
Songs, Teger Shark. I remember because we had written a
different song for that same slot. Actually, the first two
episodes had once been one episode. It was going to
be a long a longer pilot, and we divided them
(44:20):
up into two. And when it was the longer pilot,
we wrote a song called ignore Repressed Repeat.
Speaker 9 (44:26):
Oh that's a that's that's a deep cut.
Speaker 7 (44:30):
Yeah, yeah, that was that was rightly cut, Ignore repressed repeat.
Speaker 9 (44:34):
Controls ignore repress repeat, control.
Speaker 4 (44:43):
The delete part.
Speaker 7 (44:45):
You guys are probably too young to remember. Control all delete, no, no, nomad.
And then uh, there were a bunch of songs that
were kind of spotted. They call that process when you
find where the songs go and what they're about, they
call it. You call that song spotting. And Stephen Levinson
is an excellent song spotter. Yes, not every writer can
(45:08):
do that, but but Stephen is a is a great
musical theater book writer and has a feeling for songs.
He's almost thinks like a songwriter himself. And he's got
the he's got the instinct. So I remember that was
Steven's title and and we were like, we'll take that,
thank you.
Speaker 9 (45:26):
I think we came up with it in the writer's room.
I think tiger Shark might have come from my brain,
but the but it was it was about it was
about the he had definitely identified like this moment of
him getting ready to go to work. And the fun
of the song that we found was that it was
(45:49):
this toxic, masculine like Rocky Montage kind of beat, but
he doesn't quite have the language right or are the
right analogies to fit into, So, like he's talking about
Jane Fucking's.
Speaker 7 (46:08):
Just nodding Hill. I remember nodding Hill Stephen's original. Yes, Yes,
there was a lot of that sort of because in
a way, he's trying to act like an alpha, alpha male,
but he's just been cuckolded by this guy and he's
almost patterning his life after this after you know, he's
(46:29):
letting that guy be his his his coach, and it's
kind of messed up, but in a in a sweet
way because like you said, he's not very good at it.
Speaker 9 (46:41):
And the fun of Miguel is that he's a huge, soft, romantic,
big giant hearts that he's always fighting because the world,
the world tells boys like this to to keep it
inside right, and that sucks for you, guys, really does,
because we love your big feelings, especially if it comes
(47:05):
in present form.
Speaker 7 (47:09):
Language.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
Yeah, And that leads into who am I? The second
song of episode two.
Speaker 6 (47:19):
You're unexpected, You're undifine?
Speaker 4 (47:26):
What do I want?
Speaker 6 (47:29):
I'm not used to flying line? You crack me open
and I am not sure why?
Speaker 2 (47:42):
Who are you?
Speaker 7 (47:45):
And food am I? You're?
Speaker 6 (47:53):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (47:57):
You are the future? Or talk with a charge?
Speaker 1 (48:04):
I could keep going blood if.
Speaker 3 (48:20):
More self discovery? Is there a story behind that song?
Speaker 9 (48:24):
Going back to this quote by Elizabeth Gilbert about when
you meet your soulmate, it's the person who holds a
mirror up to yourself and who you want to be
and could be in the world. So I don't know
if that's it's I'm paraphrasing, but it really resonated for
(48:45):
me in the idea that when you really meet somebody
special who gives you that charge, it forces you to
kind of go like, one, who the hell are you?
And then also like who the hell am I? Like?
Am I equal to this charge?
Speaker 7 (49:02):
And and that changed my life? What do I want
to be?
Speaker 4 (49:06):
Right?
Speaker 7 (49:06):
That all those questions are going through your mind? And
we loved the idea that it was taking place over
this landline phone call because we we were old enough
to remember just you know, being on the phone all
all hours of the night and and having your dad
you know I lived at he did.
Speaker 9 (49:24):
He lived with his parents when we first met, and
having them say like, hiy Bob, I need to go
get us some coffee.
Speaker 7 (49:31):
But that's another one that that song also I remember
being Steven's idea not to no, it was his title.
Speaker 9 (49:43):
This was very much Stevens.
Speaker 7 (49:44):
It was such a beautiful title. It immediately inspired us
to want to go back home and and write and
write that song we knew would be special. And we
took a little bit a teenc meansy bit of some
music that was in the original stage play. That that's
dot um, but that vamp that repeats and repeats, that's
(50:10):
from the stage play. But everything else in the song isn't.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
Oh that is from the original. Everything else is new.
I got it, I got.
Speaker 7 (50:16):
It right right.
Speaker 9 (50:17):
I guess one other thing I would just add about
that is the you know you're inside one person's mind,
you're inside the other person's mind. And then that wonderful
thing that happens in musical theater where two people can
be singing the same tune in harmony and you know
(50:38):
that they belong together even if they aren't connecting the
fact that they're singing the same tune and asking the
same questions makes your root for them to find each other.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 4 (50:57):
If you want to reach out to us and share
a moment where you could have burst into song, email
us at up here at straw hutmedia dot com.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
If you like the show, please rate, review and share
with your friends.
Speaker 1 (51:07):
See you next week.
Speaker 3 (51:14):
Up Here down Low is a straw Hut Media production.
It's hosted by Madison Cross and Julian Goza. The show
it's produced by Ryan Tillotson and Maggie Bulls.
Speaker 1 (51:23):
Our associate producers are.
Speaker 3 (51:24):
Lydia McMahon, Javier Salas, and Jean Lee. Our editor is
Daniel Ferreira. Big thanks to everyone at Hulu, including Kristin Anderson,
Lopez and Bobby Lopez for their help putting the show together.
Speaker 2 (51:43):
I feel like breaking out into song when the sun
is out.
Speaker 3 (51:47):
I'm coming back from the gym, I'm feeling good about myself,
there's music on, and feel like I'm going to tackle
the day, succeed and everybody else is going to know it.
Straw Hut Media.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Like I'm an old school fan, you know, I'm a
hipster fan of Kristen and Baki. So to sing their
song like a song that they penned that no one
else has ever touched before. Because you can do their music,
you can, you can work into a show that they've written.
But to originate one of their songs that was like
(00:26):
bucket bucket, bucket list stuff.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Welcome to the up Here down Low, the official companion
podcast to.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Who Lose Musical rom com.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Up Here, we're your hosts, Madison Cross.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
And Juline Goza, two friends and theater kids.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
You're the Baker to my Baker's wife.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
And you're the Roxy to my Velma.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
No I'm Velma.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
We'll talk about this later.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And we're here to look behind the scenes with cast,
crew and creators on making musical TV Magic.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Musical TV Magic, I told.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
You not to sing.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
On today's episode, Julian and I speak with Scott Porter,
who up until now has played a lot of nice guys.
This time he's the bro in Miguel's ear, telling him
to take what he wants.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
We talk with him about how he got involved in
the show, what his character does, for Miguel and how
a tiger shark became a mascot for the entire show.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Plus May Whitman and Carlos Valdez, who played Lindsay and Miguel,
join us along with creators Robert Lopez and Kristin Anderson
Lopez to talk about the songs in episode two.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
But first let's start with a little recap. Put on
the shoes to tap its time both the week gap.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
So we just finished episode two Miguel, so we pick
up he's in college and we learn he's wanting to
make video games.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
He's creating Snape fan arts.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
So I realized, I said while we were watching. I
was like, Oh, it's Snape.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Like the little figure that he's working on.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Yeah, but it's it's just some sort of wizard character
just like but if you go back, it does kind
of look.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Like Snape hushtag. Not all wizards yeties what they all
look like Snape. Well, and I also was like, Wow,
he's quick to the party. If it's nineteen ninety seven
and he's making Snape fan art.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
That's true what you're did Harry Potter come.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Out in ninety seven? So I was like, oh, he
was he was opening night of the book.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
He was a big fan.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
So then we learn he's got this girlfriend and he
catches her cheating.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Has that I feel like I see that quite frequently
in like different pop culture things, for sure. And so
then the guy interestingly enough that Fiona is cheating on
Miguel with.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Is Oh wow, good job grabbing the girl's name.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
I told you i'd write down character names, but I
didn't grab his name. I don't know if we figured
out what Fiona's side.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
He learned his name, but yes, he's one of the
voices in Miguel's.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Head, Yes, which is like, I so related to that,
Like there have been times where I like felt like
wronged and like and also rejected. And so it's interesting
that like the more like masculine framework too, dealing with
that is like I'm gonna do push ups, like I've
totally been there.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So he's working as a banker, projecting this sort of
like not projecting having this Wall Street lifestyle, trying to
And you were saying that it was like the dance
never did such a good job of in that song
Tiger Shark, like.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
The instrument it felt very eighties to me, super and
I think it's because Wall Street, at least to me,
has like a super eighties.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
And also like the costume design and everything was just
so spot on.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Yeah, they got the ties right late nineties. There were
some patterns ass ties up in here.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Well, then they go to the bar because he's they
celebrate being able to break the porn firewall.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
I guess just look in the nineties, must have been
a milestone look at.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Titties at work.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
So they go to the bar and we find out
that she was his Uh. I wrote down the term
bang buddy. That was him finding her was his bang buddy.
It wasn't like as much of a meat cute it.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Was like and the challenge was to talk to a
girl that either had the tightest shirt on or the
tightest pants. As we mentioned in the last episode, she
was wearing plastic Matrix era tight.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Tight tight tight.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
Toy, like a toy like a toiket shot.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Nice callback, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
So it's not as meat cutie as I was kind
of expecting it to be, right, But I appreciate that
because that's that's not life, darling.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
And I don't think this is like your average your
standard rome com that must becoming clear.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, this is definitely trying to break the wall. I mean,
especially with hearing all of their voices in their heads right,
like we're seeing all of their flaws right.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
And it doesn't go smoothly the first time because he
ends up in tears again because of the pressure from
his voices.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Oh my god, and you said that the woman playing
his mom was your voice teacher.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
At one point, Andrea Burns at Stella Adler. She was awesome.
She was in the original cast of In the Heights.
Oh my god, I'm but praise and love Frandre.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Oh very exciting. Oh my god. Maybe Sea could have
her on the pod.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
That would be fine.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
And then she comes and brings him cupcakes to apologize
for making him cry for tugging on his wang too hard.
Which girl, you cannot bring cupcakes to a one night stand.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
That being said, I'm so used to like moving fast
and loose and like love bombing up a storm that
if someone brought me cupcakes after pulling on my peepy
two art, I would lock it down. Yeah that's true.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
That's true.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
I probably would fall for the cupcakes too, But I
feel like most it's not a straight men thing to
be like into yeah, ladies being that way or maybe
I'm wrong and all of the things I know about
love or falls. And then she finds out that he's
lying about his name being Jimmy and that it's Miguel.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
They were just like, oh, your last name is Jimenez,
we'll call you Jimmy.
Speaker 6 (06:03):
Mmmm.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
That's my dad's birth name on his birth certificate, Jimmy,
Jimmy Raymond.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
What is Jimmy even James.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Jimithy Jimothy Crickett. So LUCIENTO Miguel, like when.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
He's talking with his voices in his head. He was
talking about not feeling white enough in school and then
not feeling brown enough to live in Queens, and I
was curious if you related to that feeling in any
capacity totally.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Yeah, yeah, I could relate to Miguel in that capacity
because my mom's Cuban, my dad's white, and where I
grew up is very Mexican. And so because I'm I mean,
I have like darker features, but skin tone wise, like
I'm still white appearing. So I was, yeah, I was
considered like one of the whiter people in my high
school and like you know, through elementary, through all of it,
(06:54):
and then when I went to NYU, people to be like, oh,
this is Julian. He's Mexican, and I'd be like, I
have Cuban and I'm from near Mexico. I'm not the Mexicans,
which Maddie and I do like maybe.
Speaker 7 (07:08):
Once an hour.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
That's true, like literally.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
But yeah, I was curious thinking about that.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I was like, oh, I wonder if Julian's had that
experience of just like not Yeah, it's.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
So hard to describe, like and maybe that's why I've
really latched onto the gay thing. It is because I'm like, great,
a clear cut community that I could be a member of.
Although I see like Aubrey Plaza and I'm like, oh,
off half Puerto Rican princess. There are people out there
that that are in that space, community whatever, but I
(07:39):
don't know, we should have a meeting. I't talk to
any of us.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, so then they reconnect. She runs into the glassdoor. Hilarious.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Have you ever run into a glasstoor?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I'm sure, but not in a capacity that you know.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
I was, thankfully at a clinic. I just got an
st STD tested. I was trying to looking at my
stories or something to see if one of the people
that gave me an STD was watching my stories and
ran right into the glass door. Thankfully, all the nurses
and stuff were quick to you know, have to rise
to action such caring folk.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So then he's her buddy because she doesn't have any
friends or family in town, and they totally just fall
in love with the phone. And she had that clear phone,
which I also had. So then they they chat all night,
and they go on what's supposed to be a date,
and then and she doesn't show. No, she bails because
(08:35):
her voices get in her head. Even though the voices
are saying like nice things, but it's her self, Sebatour
that is getting in the way, right, And she also
is saying like, well, I came to this town to
like figure out myself and what I want to do
with my life, not just like hot back in to
a relationship where we match our pajamas and brush our
teeth together.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Right, which is low key how I feel right now
with relationships. I'm like, yo, I'm working on me.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do too. So yeah,
now we're she's on the subway and he's there alone,
and his voices in his head are saying like we
knew it. And I think that they're giving such a
good homage to what a rom com is while also
like turning it upside down a little bit by having
that by having their perspective in their heads.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Right, like actually evaluating like the psychology behind like.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Yeah, man's totally and yeh and like yeah, being a person, Yeah,
perspective live.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
It's about being a person.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, it's about being a person.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
It's not friends about New York.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
I got some questions you time, since this episode has
called me gil, why not start at the source with
the Carlos Baldez origin story, so to quote Hillary death.
Let's go back back to the beginning. How did you
become a theater kid? What was that first moment of
revelation of being like, yes, you.
Speaker 6 (10:02):
Know, I always kind of wanted to entertain and perform,
and you know, my family, especially my mom, always saw that.
And you know, in retrospect, that's a very scary thing
for like a Latin American person to do, especially because
in the old home country to be an artist is
(10:26):
like to be a poor person essentially and consign yourself
to like a life of struggle and poverty.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
And here in the States, being an artist is.
Speaker 8 (10:35):
To be obviously, it's a completely different experience.
Speaker 7 (10:38):
I'm kidding.
Speaker 6 (10:39):
So yeah, so she basically, you know, wanted to encourage
that in me, and she she did that. She kind
of like put me in educational environments where I could
sort of pursue the acting thing. And as you know,
in the vast majority of academic setting, the like acting
(11:03):
route available to you is in a theater capacity. It's
to you know, go into theater, to be in the
drama programs, to be a theater kid essentially. So yeah,
so that was basically how I got into theater. And
it's funny, I like I wanted to actually initially as
a kid go into like movies, because I remember watching movies,
watching certain actors and performers and being like, God, I
(11:24):
want to do that, And because theater is like the
most successible avenue available to you as a kid in
terms of training, Like, I just started to kind of
like mold my expectations of my abilities around theater. And
then sometime in high school, I remember I was doing
West Side Story. I was playing China, and I remember
(11:47):
in the that was actually it's funny, I didn't want
to audition for it because I remember at that time,
I was like, nah, man, I.
Speaker 8 (11:53):
Don't do musicals. It's stupid.
Speaker 6 (11:56):
And then my I had a classmate of I was like,
a man, you should audition for this West Side Story musical.
Speaker 8 (12:02):
And I was like no, didn't you just hear me
just now I think I said it's stupid. And he
was like, no, I really think you could do something
special with it. I like, I promise, and I'm like,
I don't know. I don't like I have to sing
a song for the audition and all that stuff. And
he's like, no, no, no.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
I'll hook you up, you know, close every Door from
Joseph in The Amazing Technical or Dream But and I
was like, I don't even know what that is. And yeah,
and I learned it and I sang it and I
got the part. And I remember like we were in
we were in tech for the show, and I remember
like listening to like the the the Orchestra backing track
(12:37):
that they had queued up for our show and just
listening to, you know, Leonard Bernstein's score and just thinking like, Wow,
I could like do this, this is like fun. Yeah,
And next thing I knew I was going to college
for musical theater and you know, going to New York
and living in the musical theater, pounding the musical theater
pavement and yeah, and then I found myself like diverting
(13:03):
into what I wanted to go into in the first
place when I was a kid, which is like acting
on a camera.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Why do you want me to tell them about.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
Jersey Okay, May's mom thought this was cool apparently, But
I did a tour of Jersey Boys for a year
and that was that was a lot of fun. I mean,
it's an amazing story. But yeah, that's all. That's my
whole story.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
It is very cool.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
That's really impressive. That's such a like vocally challenging show.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
Yeah, actually, you know, I'll tell you that. I'll tell
you what was Actually something that actually is interesting about
Jersey Boys is that show is over two hours and
it's NonStop. It's like like, especially if you're in the
ensemble of that show, you're like moving chairs, you're like
zipping in and out of like you're you're like moving
everything and it all has to be like precision timing,
(13:57):
and it's like it's non stop. I've never seen or
done anything like it, So definitely mad respect to the
people that work on that show for sure.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Before we take a quick break, Julian was looking for
the source of inspiration for Miguel's mom, so he asked
Bobby Lopez.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
I have a Latina mom. She's from Cuba, and so
I identified with Miguel's mother's voice constantly telling me you could
do no wrong. And this is this may be a
bit of a personal question, but Bobby, is that reflective
of your relationship with your mom?
Speaker 7 (14:37):
And yes and no, yes to that that she probably
gave me that idea that I could do no wrong,
and she was that kind of mom. And honestly, I
think a lot of moms are are like that, with
moms of boys fall in love with their sons in
a weird way, and I think it's great.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
But the.
Speaker 9 (15:00):
Not to make a generalization, Yeah, the girl moms are different.
Speaker 7 (15:05):
The girl moms just kidding. So no. But the one
thing I can they claim to is being Latino, which
is also complicated because I'm Filipino. So there's yeah, in
a way, like my grandmother spoke Spanish on my dad's side,
my mother was not Latino. My mother was.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
That's a whole other story.
Speaker 7 (15:29):
It all comes intobates about that one. So yeah, let's
let's even let's put the subject of race aside. But
it wasn't important to us. First of all. Danielle Sanchez
witzel is LATINX and she, she and I bonded over
this idea that we're never fully we never fully belong
any in any space, you know that, that we sometimes
(15:49):
feel like like we're another in you know, in a
white space and in you know, me among Filipinos. Her
mom us, she doesn't speak Spanish, she has a complicated
relationship to her heritage, and we wanted to put that
(16:10):
into Miguel's character. It's in there a little bit. I
think we you know, we tried to tried to make
something of it, and I'm really glad. First of all,
I'm just glad that that a brown person is the
lead in the romantic comedy. That you don't see that
that much. And to me, it was when I watched
him get into costume and start to shoot scenes with
(16:33):
may I just I just felt very proud. So that
was cool.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Okay, now we're going to take a quick break. When
we come back, Scott Porter tells us about auditioning for
the show, who his character really is, and he reveals
that apparently he's basically a professional beatbox.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Welcome back, just FYI. Even though we haven't officially heard it.
By episode two, Scott does refer to his character by name.
Is that a spoiler?
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Maybe a mini spoiler?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
First off, we understand that you have a podcast with
Zach Guildford and May Whitman about Friday Night Lights. Did
you find out that May was a super fan while
working on the show or was it like the other
way around.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I found out May was a super fan of Friday
Night Lights when I actually was watching Parenthood and I
kept on seeing, Oh, Michael b. Jordan's on the show,
Oh look at that, Jesse Plemons is on the show,
Oh look at that. And Matt Laurie is on the show.
Mika Kelly's on the show. And I got a phone
call that, you know, May's character Amber, they were going
(17:53):
to finish her storyline and they wanted the audience to
know that she was going to be okay. And Jason
Catoms told me he had talk to May and she said,
I would really like if we could get Scott Porter,
because I feel like anybody who ever saw Friday Night
Lights would be like She's going to be just fine
with Ason Street. Like, so I was like, wait a minute,
what so that I talked to me quite a bit
(18:15):
when we were together, and I'm known May for years.
We've been in each other's orbit for a long time.
So somebody approached me about a Friday Night lights rewatch
podcast and then it hit us like, why not have
a fan voice as a part of a rewatch? Why not?
It's been a lot of fun, So that was it
was really cool to have her be a part of that.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
A lot of your credits are non musical television, but
you started out in the original cast of Altar Boys,
So did you did you always hope that your TV
work would kind of come back around to musicals.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
You know, I never even knew I would be a
musical theater actor. I was a beatboxer when I got started,
and I was doing acapella music both on my own
with my group they're now called voice Play, and they,
you know, we would like tour and sing acapella music,
and then ended up doing a little shit, you know,
off Broadway show called Toxic Audio. It was kind of
(19:04):
like Stomp, but with just the human voice. I could
do electric guitar and drums, and from that I got
the audition for Altar Boys, and I was like, oh,
I guess, I guess I'm an actor now. But I
had so many thousands of hours of stage experience. It
was just in theme parks and on concert stages. So
Alter Boys was the perfect place for me to land,
and I consider myself so lucky to have worked on
(19:26):
that show. And then came down to me and one
other guy for Tarzan the Musical, and I thought, this
is my career. I'm going to be a Broadway actor
and this is it for me. I'm going to be
Tarzan or I'm going to be the understudy for Tarzan
and the Hunter and still work on a Disney show
that's going to last forever. And as I was warming
up to that idea, my agent was like, yeah, but
(19:48):
we need to ask for an out so you could
audition for television in this pilot season. And I was like, okay, sure.
We asked Disney Theatricals. They said they don't give outs
for television. So I took a leap of faith and said, okay,
I'm just gonna I'm just gonna try, and I booked
Friday Night Lights, and then I thought, yeah, I'll do
a show and then I'll go back to New York
and get back on stage. And it's just never, it's
(20:10):
never worked out one percent. I lost out on American
Idiot to Stark Stands, who's just as everybody knows, infinitely talented,
and you know, no regrets. I've I've gotten close on
some musicals. But the thing about Los Angeles is, and
I hope we're changing this idea, is that when you
tell somebody you've done musical theater. In the landscape of
television or film, it used to be, oh, you did,
(20:32):
That's so cute, like almost you know. Now if it's
straight plays and you're getting you know, Tony Award nominations,
then all of a sudden, there's like a lot of
respect that comes along with that. But an off Broadway musical.
When I was out in Los Angeles after doing Friday
Night Lights, people were like, Oh, that's that's fun.
Speaker 7 (20:47):
That was fun.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I'm like, no, that's like really what I want to do.
I want to be back on stage, and I always
thought it would happen, but it hasn't yet. So up
here was a great chance to kind of at least
flex those muscles a little.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Bit, definitely, and it will happen, I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
And so preparing for and filming up here. Compared to
the other TV shows you've worked on because of this
musical element, what are some of the big differences that
you felt.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
You know, this particular project was really interesting because each
of the head voices kind of gets a little spotlight
song and then you kind of out of the musical
element for the rest of it, and it's mostly back
to this really interesting take on a television show. But
I'm still just delivering scene work. What I really loved
was the pace of all of the scene work. It
(21:35):
felt very on stage. You know. We would rehearse a lot,
which I haven't really always done in the television that
I've worked on, because usually you're moving at such a
rapid pace that you don't get time to really dig
in and do rehearsal. But with Thomas and all the
rest of our directors, you know, we had time to
rehearse all of these things with Rachel and everyone, and
(21:56):
so it felt very theater esque in that regard that
even in just the scene work, the timing all felt
like we were really just on stage in front of
a live audience and that stuff was so fun, But
prepping for this was kind of breakneck for me. I
had just finished Ginny and Georgia. I got home to California.
(22:18):
I tore two ligaments in my ankle and it fractured
my ankle playing basketball towards the end of the season
on Ginny and Georgia. And I thought, Okay, I'm going
to get home, I'm going to get my surgery, and
I'm going to get right and I'm going to be
good to go. And then I read the character of
Orson and I saw this audition and we were going
down to Lego Land for my son's birthday, and I
turned to my wife and I said, I have to
I have to film an audition at Lego Land this
(22:38):
weekend because I'm gonna I want to book this role.
And she was like, what are you talking about. And
then after I put myself down on tape, I never
have this feeling. I am not Orson at all. I
don't have that same arrogance. But I looked at my
wife and I said, I think we're going to New York.
I just understood him pretty quickly, and the words that
(23:00):
Steven had put down on the page just jumped at
me in such a way. The dialogue he wrote was
just so wonderful and really energetic. Orson kind of felt
like the lead character's best friend, and I just loved
every bit of it. And I booked it and about
a week later, had to be in New York and
was learning a song and learning choreography, and then we
shot that thing right away because I got there just
(23:22):
in time to start episode two. So did it all
in a couple of torn ligaments and a sprained ankle,
but we got it done.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
That's so impressive.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Well, and I know you said you don't really identify
with Orson, but you have played a lot of nice
guys historically over the years, whether it was Jason on
Friday Night Lights, Detective Corbett on, Lucifer George on Heart
of Dixie. But how was it playing a character who
is basically toxic masculinity personified, Like, did do you imagine
any nuance there? And how that gap? I guess?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
So here's the I played football in high school and college,
and I've been a part of a lot of city
leagues for flag football or basketball teams. And the way
I looked at Orson was very much like one of
those guys in the locker room that, even though says
things in a way that can be sometimes appalling, also
feels like he's so solidly in your corner. And that's
(24:16):
what I saw in Orson, that Orson really believes that
he's Miguel's best friend, and in a way, that's the
part of Miguel's head that is like, I'm going to
armor myself up, I'm going to protect myself because we've
got to remember, Miguel comes from a place of hurt.
When Orson starts to be the voice in his head
that he is, he doesn't have that real estate. Just
like Amelia Suarez's character or Andrea Burns's character, you know,
(24:39):
playing Miguel's mom, Orson hasn't been there that long. So
Orson pops in, and the only way I could think
to play him was like this kind of raw, raw,
you know, locker room type that wasn't scared to say
any particular words, but really was trying to build Miguel up,
albeit in a, you know, a questionable way. But I
(25:02):
do think that Orson, as that part of Miguel, really
loves Miguel and really wants the best for Miguel, but
Miguel himself doesn't know how to achieve that safety and
that feeling of being protected. So maybe building myself up
in the most powerful way possible and stepping on everyone
is the way to protect myself. And so that's what
(25:24):
I tried to do there.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Well, you bring up the voices in your head, which
begs the question, what are the voices in your head? Scott?
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Oh, my gosh, you know they're in this profession. And
I've come to reconcile this an awful lot. But in
this profession you can constantly question yourself and constantly ask
yourself what you could have done better? And so I
(25:56):
think I'm not speaking for all actors, but I know
a couple of friends that I've had this conversation with, like,
one of the voices in my head is just my
past selves delivering a line with just a little bit
of a different emphasis, or after I've realized and it's
clicked with me, Oh, this was what I was supposed
to do, and those echoes of failure is a voice
(26:19):
that can just so constantly be in your head, you know,
and at a certain point, I don't know, I've been
in this business twenty two years, you hope they all
go away. But when it's something you really love and
something you're taking a big swing at and you don't
end up getting it, that particular voice will stick with
you no matter what, no matter how long you've been
at something. Outside of that, I think most of the
(26:42):
voices in my head are pretty pretty fun. I am
a little bit of a mental wanderer, so I imagine like
a gray haired kind of like ganned Off the Gray
but with like less purpose, just wandering the countryside nonsensical riddles.
That is definitely a voice in my head too. I'm
(27:03):
a big daydreamer, so I wonder what form that takes,
you know, Like who is that random person I'm and
I went to Gandalf just because I'm a huge fantasy
nut and I'm a big nerd. So but I wonder
if there's that guy in my head, you know, from
my youth, like all those all those daydreams, just walking
around like spouting these ridiculous snippets of wisdom that don't
(27:25):
really mean anything. So I think, you know, yeah, you know, eventually,
I always wonder why I daydream so much, And it
could be in the middle of a very important conversation
and that voice will just pop up and I'll be
somewhere else and I'll be like, oh wait, I'm really
supposed to be focused on I need to be laser
focused here. Why am I, like, you know, walking through
(27:48):
a poppy field in dragon Lance? I don't know. Anyway.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Can you tell us Tiger Shark is such a fun,
fun number. Can you tell us about the process of
film and learning about that song?
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, you know, for the audition. As we were driving
down to Lego Land for my son's birthday, he came
across my phone. We stopped at a rest area. I
looked at my phone. I was like, Oh, what's this?
This is interesting? And then I looked at the creative
team and I was like, are you kidding me? Tommy
Cale and Kristin and Bobby and Steve, and I was like,
(28:24):
this is this is not I'm getting the call for this.
This is crazy. And I saw it was Bernie Telsey
who was casting it. That's out of New York. I
haven't you know. I haven't been it for Bernie in
a little while, you know. I was like, this is
this is nuts? But I noticed very quickly, Oh, there's
a song attached. So I'm sitting there as the kids
are going to the bathroom, I'm listening this tune and
I'm like, this is awesome. This is exactly my wheelhouse vocally.
(28:48):
I was super excited. So I learned it in two days,
put myself on tape, and as soon as I hit
New York, I was in a room rehearsing with the
other part of the creative team. I didn't know was
was Sonya Taya doing all the choreography. And I'm a
massive fan of hers. You've never seen me fanboy harder
than when I walked in and I saw that Sonya
(29:08):
freaking Taya was doing our choreography. And we spent two
days rehearsing it, one in a rehearsal hall and then
one in the office we were going to shoot in
And then you know, at the end of the first
week I was in New York working on this show,
we had already shot Tiger Shark. So I was lucky
in the fact that I, like, I got there hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry,
delivered it. And then the rest of it was kind
(29:30):
of easy man smooth sailing diessors and sitting around saying
ridiculous things. But that was kind of the process of it,
you know, taped up my ankle, like I said, a
couple of torn ligaments, didn't you know, show must go on,
Let's do it. I wasn't going to miss a chance
to work with all these incredible creative minds who I
am such a big fan of. And I told Kristen
and Bobby. When I was working in Florida at Universal
(29:53):
Studios and at Animal Kingdom, I was singing in a
show called Tarzan Rocks and that stage gave way to
find Nemo as written by Kristen and Bobby, and a
lot of my friends had been in their show for
so many years, and so I had been a fan
of theirs from way, way, way way back then. Like
I'm an old school fan, you know, I'm a hipster
(30:15):
fan of Kristen and Bobby. So to sing their song,
like a song that they penned that no one else
has ever touched before, because you can do their music,
you can, you could work into a show that they've written,
but to originate one of their songs, that was like
bucket bucket, bucket list stuff. So that was the process.
(30:37):
It was super quick, but I'd never knear like Tiger
Shark ended up on our like I'm wearing right now
or I'm wearing our our cast gift that we got
at the end of the series and it says up
here on the front, but on the back, and I
didn't notice this was doodled on the script, I mean
on the song script. And Kristin and Bobby have everybody
(31:01):
autograph the first page of their song sheet when they
go in to record, and then they keep them all
as like a book of like, you know, this really
cool story of kind of the process of creating that show,
and I guess they do it for all the shows
that they do. But that little sketch was on Tiger
Shark on the sheet music, and it kind of became
like the show mascot kind of thing. So it was
(31:23):
cool to be able to be the one that was
like that saying that tune, you know, it was. It
was fun.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Totally and for our listeners, the scotch just showed us
this incredible illustration of a of a tiger Shark in
a suit. Yeah, in a double breasted suit then sure, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Anyway, Yeah, it's a lot like the suits that Orson
wears in the show. Actually like these. It's like a
blue power suit, double breasted, the whole thing. But in
order to make a show like this, you've got to
have this certain level of confidence, and you've got to
be brave, and you've got to like kind of have
this idea that you can't fail, you know, or else
(31:57):
you'll never get through making a musical like this or television.
So I think, you know, Tiger Shark kind of became
this the tiger like kind of like the spirit animal
of the entire production. I'm just like, we're here, We're
gonna do this. No one's gonna tell us no, Like
we're gonna make this happen, Like, let's go. So that
was kind of cool. He kind of became the show's cheerleader.
I guess.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
It's time for another quick break. When we come back.
We talk about the songs in episode two with May, Carlos, Kristen,
and Bobby. We also talked about drag Race for a while.
Turns out me and Carlos are just like us.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Yeah, Smama, Boots.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
Well, one song that really affected me was who Am
I and Who Are You? Have you ever felt like
you're getting to know yourself while getting to know someone else,
you know, how's that relationship a reflection who you are?
Speaker 10 (32:57):
Tell ya, I have the words that like a true cornball.
I have the words know thyself tattooed on me because
my dad said it's me a really long time ago.
And I feel like, you know, it took me a
long time to really realize that. Like it's sort of
it's less about trying to get to a place where
you feel like you know everything and then you can
(33:18):
like start living your life. And it's a lot more
about getting comfortable with the concept that it's a process
and it always will be and it's always shifting and
changing and growing, and it's more about kind of how
you sit in the present moment of those transitions and
how you deal with them and the tools that you
sort of develop to take the best parts of them
(33:41):
with you and learn and move forward. And I really
feel like, you know, they say relationships are like a mirror,
and I do feel like the best ones sort of
because you're creating this intimate, safe space for you to
be yourself. I mean, it's like that moment when you
realize when you express something genuine and like real that's
(34:04):
maybe kind of messy and untidy, and not perfectly in
a package for them to like eat up that doesn't
stress their you know, whatever their thing is. That's always
something I would always do as I'd be like, well,
I don't want to infringe on anybody else's you know,
life paths, so I'm going to make sure this is
as digestible as possible and how mature is it and
what's my accountability level and how blah blah blah. And
(34:24):
then like when you have that moment where you express
some information that maybe isn't perfect and you're like, look,
I don't I can't explain this. It's not your fault.
It's just I'm having a reaction that is this, you know,
and that's I just had to be honest about that.
And then when that's okay with someone, it's like you're like,
oh my god, maybe maybe it's okay. Maybe these things
(34:46):
are okay. And maybe having a person who trusts you
enough and respects you enough and trusts your like heart
enough to put those things out on the table, it
allows you to like go into the lab, do your work,
bring it to the table and discuss it with each other.
And to me, that's like that's true intimacy. And like
(35:06):
real love, you know, is like being able to the
person that is that cares enough to go do their
work and then bring it to you vulnerably and like
allow you to see it. And like that to me
is like that's where the real commitment comes from. And
so I feel like that's exactly you know, that's that's
(35:28):
kind of my whole thing these days.
Speaker 8 (35:29):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
You know?
Speaker 6 (35:30):
You know, how like Rue Paul says, if you can't
love yourself on the hell, you're gonna love somebody else.
Speaker 8 (35:35):
Amen.
Speaker 6 (35:36):
Like I remember when I first heard that, I was like, Okay,
that just sounds like something that you just like say
it just like it sounds like it makes sense. And
the more that I lived my life, uh and tried
to cultivate relationships with people, the more I like understood
how fucking deep that well goes for that particular like
(35:58):
that particular phrase, because it's it's so true. You know,
you have to like live in this body for your
whole life. You're you're the one that you have to
live with, you have to cohabitate with for an entire lifetime.
So like learning how to like if you can't like
learn how to create stacis there that's obviously going to
(36:20):
like come out in your relationships with other people, you
know that you have to also create spaces with So
I definitely have found that to be like a golden
I don't know, like this little like wise little thing
to hold on to.
Speaker 10 (36:36):
It reminds me of the thing that I told you about,
the like how you know how on planes they say,
like when they're doing the safety thing, they're like like,
please put your mask on before you help someone else
put their mask on. And I remember being a little
kid and being like, well no, Like I literally was like,
well that makes no sense. I'm your child. I should
be the most important thing to you. Like why would
(36:57):
you want to live if I die? Like what could
happened in those precious seconds?
Speaker 2 (37:01):
You know?
Speaker 10 (37:01):
Like I was always like this, I know to be
not true to the point where the big joke was
when I was really little, I would like try to
distract my dad from listening to the message right at
that point, and then he'd be like, oh what.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Did they say?
Speaker 10 (37:14):
And I'd be like, they said, just make sure you
put your kid's mask on first, and you know the usual,
and like then I remember being like, oh, it's all
so charmed. And then like I remember being like eighteen
and having like a horrible person be like, you know,
it's like how you you think it's so charming to
the you know, flight story and they're like, but it's
actually your problem. You are putting everyone else's mask on
(37:38):
before yours and then you're dead. And I was like, Okay,
you're a terrible person, but you're right, and I realized,
like you you really cannot save someone if you're down
in the hole with them, you know, And that's a
really wild thing to actually try to practice. But it's
it's hella true. We say do we still say hello?
Speaker 1 (38:00):
You can say hella.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
This is a hell household.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
I literally to my therapist the other day was like
RuPaul literally says this thing like if you.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Can't love yourself, then.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
Your therapist was like, preach girl.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Maybe she was like, areating for an age with this year?
Speaker 10 (38:21):
He's just my favorite Wait well obviously, but Sasha is
like it would be like a crime if Sasha didn't win.
Speaker 6 (38:28):
She just it's like so obvious.
Speaker 10 (38:30):
She's in another She's just she's a it's almost not
fair she's on it at all because.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
She's like the thing that's not fair that she's on
it at all.
Speaker 10 (38:36):
He's legendary and if she wasn't there a Nitra is
so clearly everything about her.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
I'm obsessed.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
I love her.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
I know, thank you.
Speaker 8 (38:45):
I'm glad.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
I feel like a familial connection to Mistress just because
she's like a Texas girl and I'm like, I know you.
Speaker 9 (38:53):
She's also going to go all the way.
Speaker 10 (38:55):
You know, they're all coming back for All Stars like
it's too it's too juicy team.
Speaker 7 (39:01):
I mean, I.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Think because I think Ru can be a little petty,
and I think that Antra is going to win and
that Sasha will get runner up because I think Rue
is like, oh, it took you this long to come
on my show, Like, do.
Speaker 10 (39:14):
You think though that there? You think? Will it be
top three?
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Will it be?
Speaker 10 (39:18):
Looks Mistress Aniitra Sasha, who.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Yeah, I think it's that.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
Well, may be a top four. We were talking about
that it'll be.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
I think it was always the top four.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
I think it'll be, and then it will either be
or Sasha winning. I don't think she's going to do
a time attack.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
That woke me up.
Speaker 5 (39:40):
Yeah, we're big dragons over here, all about it, baby,
it's a huge part of our lives.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
But anyways, like the rest of your.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
Questions literally.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Go back to the show.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
What are some of your guys favorite you're talking about
some of your favorite songs, Like what are some of
your favorite memories or things that you filmed?
Speaker 9 (40:11):
There's so many good ones.
Speaker 6 (40:13):
I was gonna say, like, there's a lot of really
good ones.
Speaker 10 (40:16):
We were on the journey.
Speaker 6 (40:17):
Yeah, doing Tiger Shark was like I want to say,
my first week of shooting. We did Tiger Shark, and
it was like it was a pretty intense day. We
had to shoot the whole number in one day essentially,
and like there was a lot of different setups and
coverage to try to get, you know, to really nail
that number. And I remember we hadn't shot it like
(40:40):
a like a high octane number yet we've done like
you know your your opening number, right, but like I
actually haven't seen your opening numbers, So it.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Was thank you.
Speaker 10 (40:49):
Also, the fact that you didn't choose a number with
me is awesome, but keep on, it's.
Speaker 6 (40:55):
Not always so yeah, And I remember like like just
being psyched but also really nervous because I was like,
this is really gonna like set the tone for how
this thing is gonna go.
Speaker 10 (41:08):
You fly and fly around.
Speaker 6 (41:09):
Remember we went up to the thirty third floor of
this office ability in Midtown and we and I got
out of the elevator and it was like a sauna
like elevator's door, elevator doors open, and I'm like drenched
in sweat already, and I'm like, we have to do
this dance number in this fucking ninety five degree heat.
What's happening? And they were like, yeah, the ac broke,
(41:32):
we don't know, like it's not reaching us, like and
all this stuff, and we had to, like I remember,
in between takes of that number, I had to we
had to like I had to put fans all over
my pits and stuff like that to like prevent any
sweat from coming through because obviously I'm.
Speaker 8 (41:48):
On camera, and like it was really hard.
Speaker 6 (41:51):
But like everybody brought their a game, Like Sonya brought
her a game, all the dancers brought their a game,
Tommy brought his A game, Ashley our DP like I
was firing on a siners of course obviously Scott Porter
who steals the show, and like I was that that
really created an impression on me, and I was like, Oh,
I feel safe. I feel like I feel like I'm
(42:13):
working with a bunch of people that are like equally
committed to like making this thing go, and that that
number was memorable for for that reason.
Speaker 10 (42:23):
You also felt like you lost some decibels of hearing
in your ear. The next day, you were like, I
just got screamed at for two and a half hours
by Scott Porter within half an inch of my ear
when we.
Speaker 6 (42:33):
Did the Tiger Shark like bedroom sequence. He like he
was trying out different stuff as he does, and like
he there was one where he just like got right
in my ear and started singing full blast. And I
don't know if I'm still recovering from.
Speaker 11 (42:49):
This day.
Speaker 4 (43:14):
I'm a tiger. Got le me here.
Speaker 7 (43:17):
You hear.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
Your sharp gam rang, then a tiger spression.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Cool lotea in my corporate suit and use your electro
magnetic snoops to.
Speaker 4 (43:32):
Make a turn a doll. In broadcast, play.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
Bud the email Tyger shot, I want a mate.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
With you. Hold on to your phone. It's time to
talk about.
Speaker 7 (44:00):
Songs, Teger Shark. I remember because we had written a
different song for that same slot. Actually, the first two
episodes had once been one episode. It was going to
be a long a longer pilot, and we divided them
(44:20):
up into two. And when it was the longer pilot,
we wrote a song called ignore Repressed Repeat.
Speaker 9 (44:26):
Oh that's a that's that's a deep cut.
Speaker 7 (44:30):
Yeah, yeah, that was that was rightly cut, Ignore repressed repeat.
Speaker 9 (44:34):
Controls ignore repress repeat, control.
Speaker 4 (44:43):
The delete part.
Speaker 7 (44:45):
You guys are probably too young to remember. Control all delete, no, no, nomad.
And then uh, there were a bunch of songs that
were kind of spotted. They call that process when you
find where the songs go and what they're about, they
call it. You call that song spotting. And Stephen Levinson
is an excellent song spotter. Yes, not every writer can
(45:08):
do that, but but Stephen is a is a great
musical theater book writer and has a feeling for songs.
He's almost thinks like a songwriter himself. And he's got
the he's got the instinct. So I remember that was
Steven's title and and we were like, we'll take that,
thank you.
Speaker 9 (45:26):
I think we came up with it in the writer's room.
I think tiger Shark might have come from my brain,
but the but it was it was about it was
about the he had definitely identified like this moment of
him getting ready to go to work. And the fun
of the song that we found was that it was
(45:49):
this toxic, masculine like Rocky Montage kind of beat, but
he doesn't quite have the language right or are the
right analogies to fit into, So, like he's talking about
Jane Fucking's.
Speaker 7 (46:08):
Just nodding Hill. I remember nodding Hill Stephen's original. Yes, Yes,
there was a lot of that sort of because in
a way, he's trying to act like an alpha, alpha male,
but he's just been cuckolded by this guy and he's
almost patterning his life after this after you know, he's
(46:29):
letting that guy be his his his coach, and it's
kind of messed up, but in a in a sweet
way because like you said, he's not very good at it.
Speaker 9 (46:41):
And the fun of Miguel is that he's a huge, soft, romantic,
big giant hearts that he's always fighting because the world,
the world tells boys like this to to keep it
inside right, and that sucks for you, guys, really does,
because we love your big feelings, especially if it comes
(47:05):
in present form.
Speaker 7 (47:09):
Language.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
Yeah, And that leads into who am I? The second
song of episode two.
Speaker 6 (47:19):
You're unexpected, You're undifine?
Speaker 4 (47:26):
What do I want?
Speaker 6 (47:29):
I'm not used to flying line? You crack me open
and I am not sure why?
Speaker 2 (47:42):
Who are you?
Speaker 7 (47:45):
And food am I? You're?
Speaker 6 (47:53):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (47:57):
You are the future? Or talk with a charge?
Speaker 1 (48:04):
I could keep going blood if.
Speaker 3 (48:20):
More self discovery? Is there a story behind that song?
Speaker 9 (48:24):
Going back to this quote by Elizabeth Gilbert about when
you meet your soulmate, it's the person who holds a
mirror up to yourself and who you want to be
and could be in the world. So I don't know
if that's it's I'm paraphrasing, but it really resonated for
(48:45):
me in the idea that when you really meet somebody
special who gives you that charge, it forces you to
kind of go like, one, who the hell are you?
And then also like who the hell am I? Like?
Am I equal to this charge?
Speaker 7 (49:02):
And and that changed my life? What do I want
to be?
Speaker 4 (49:06):
Right?
Speaker 7 (49:06):
That all those questions are going through your mind? And
we loved the idea that it was taking place over
this landline phone call because we we were old enough
to remember just you know, being on the phone all
all hours of the night and and having your dad
you know I lived at he did.
Speaker 9 (49:24):
He lived with his parents when we first met, and
having them say like, hiy Bob, I need to go
get us some coffee.
Speaker 7 (49:31):
But that's another one that that song also I remember
being Steven's idea not to no, it was his title.
Speaker 9 (49:43):
This was very much Stevens.
Speaker 7 (49:44):
It was such a beautiful title. It immediately inspired us
to want to go back home and and write and
write that song we knew would be special. And we
took a little bit a teenc meansy bit of some
music that was in the original stage play. That that's
dot um, but that vamp that repeats and repeats, that's
(50:10):
from the stage play. But everything else in the song isn't.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
Oh that is from the original. Everything else is new.
I got it, I got.
Speaker 7 (50:16):
It right right.
Speaker 9 (50:17):
I guess one other thing I would just add about
that is the you know you're inside one person's mind,
you're inside the other person's mind. And then that wonderful
thing that happens in musical theater where two people can
be singing the same tune in harmony and you know
(50:38):
that they belong together even if they aren't connecting the
fact that they're singing the same tune and asking the
same questions makes your root for them to find each other.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 4 (50:57):
If you want to reach out to us and share
a moment where you could have burst into song, email
us at up here at straw hutmedia dot com.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
If you like the show, please rate, review and share
with your friends.
Speaker 1 (51:07):
See you next week.
Speaker 3 (51:14):
Up Here down Low is a straw Hut Media production.
It's hosted by Madison Cross and Julian Goza. The show
it's produced by Ryan Tillotson and Maggie Bulls.
Speaker 1 (51:23):
Our associate producers are.
Speaker 3 (51:24):
Lydia McMahon, Javier Salas, and Jean Lee. Our editor is
Daniel Ferreira. Big thanks to everyone at Hulu, including Kristin Anderson,
Lopez and Bobby Lopez for their help putting the show together.
Speaker 2 (51:43):
I feel like breaking out into song when the sun
is out.
Speaker 3 (51:47):
I'm coming back from the gym, I'm feeling good about myself,
there's music on, and feel like I'm going to tackle
the day, succeed and everybody else is going to know it.
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