Josh Groban

Multi Platinum recording artist Josh Groban talks new podcast, tour and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is on with Mario Lopez. Mario Lopez joining me
now on Zoom. Four time Grammy nominated artist Mr Josh Groban.
Welcome to show, Josh. How you doing, man, Good to
see you. I'm well, thank you. Nice to see you too, buddy.
I'm always interested, Um where people are zooming from? Cool
piece of art you got behind you? Are you? Are
you speaking to us from your home? I am Yes,

(00:22):
I'm in New York City. Uh speaking of art? You guys?
That is that a mini you back there? Who is that?
That is a Mario Pinata. If you feel frustrated anytime
you're in the studio, feel free to beat on him.
Oh no, no, no, I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't
want to change. I wouldn't want to scuff him along
with my little belt the dog bed. Yeah, so fuddy,

(00:43):
we've all gotten to Yeah, we've all gotten to know
so much about people from their Zoom backgrounds. Right. I
feel like here we are two and a half years
later and we're still still doing it. You're exactly right. Um,
you got a new podcast on Audible, Congratulations, The Miranda Obsession.
So what's it about? Well? I was asked by my
friend Rachel Wonderful Rachel Brosnahand she produced and and stars

(01:05):
in this UM this podcast series, UH this one off
podcast series. It's a dramatic reading of um of what
what they thought these phone calls could have sounded like
this woman Miranda in the seventies and eighties, she kind
of conned a lot of guys into falling in love
with her, wanting to talk to her every day, very powerful,

(01:27):
very rich guys. This was before the Internet, before cat
fishing started. She would cold call people and just start
talking to them and say she knew people and then
like got them, just got them interested, and she began
these long friendships and love affairs with people without ever
meeting them until they all finally realized she wasn't real.
And one of those people was Billy Joel. And I'm
playing the part of Billy Joel on the podcast. So

(01:49):
while the story is true, so catfishing, so it's essentially catfishing.
It was cat fishing before the Internet, before the cat fishing,
So she had to she was that charming, she was
that witty. These guys love talking to her and nobody
pressed charges. She didn't commit any crimes. She just lied
and UM and so Billy Joel's talked about I didn't

(02:11):
didn't interview about it in Vanity Fair, and most of
the guys, I think we're kind of broken hearted but
moved on with their lives and and this podcast is
basically kind of what those calls might have sounded like.
Love me some, Billy Joel as, I'm sure you're a
huge fan. You're you're an l A guy, right, I
have born and raised in l A. Move New York,
uh probably about fifteen years ago, but I'm back and

(02:32):
forth all the time. How's the Long Island accent? Long
Island um not bad? You know? We um? Whenever you're
doing the voice, the speaking voice of somebody that you've
idolized growing up. I've sung his songs, I've met him,
and like you just you don't want to cartoon it
too much. So being an l A kid, I didn't
want to do the New York voice too much, you know,

(02:54):
so I kind of did it like kind of lightly.
I went I went mid midground because I knew you'd
hear it, and I didn't want it to be like
I don't sound like that, so you know it was.
It was. It was fun though, and because it was dramatized.
We were able to take it through liberties. Oh that
sounds so cool with a fun project. You mentioned um.
One of your co stars, Rachel Rosnahan. Uh. I knew
she was a singer because she joined your recently at

(03:15):
Radio City Music. All right, she she did, and I
I swear I'm sure there's a singing voice in there
because we're both beat her kids. She's done musical theater.
When she came on stage with me at Radio City.
We were chowing, uh, pictures of our childhood, you know,
roles in high school and things like that, so I know,
I know it's in there. She said, Look, I will

(03:36):
sing if you want me to sing, but I'm not
sure that's something that we should do. So um. You know.
The cool thing about the Radio City shows was very varietal.
So there was an interview segment each time each each night,
and so the first night interviewed and saying with Freestyle
of Supreme the improv Wrap group, and then next night
Uh interviewed Henrik Lundquist, the NHL Superstar, and then third

(03:58):
night talk to Rachel Um and then there were songs
in between. But it was a little bit of everything.
But no, we did not sing. We just got it,
embarrassed each other with childhood photos. Got it, got it? Okay,
I didn't know about that. Well, speaking of singing, you're
back on the road this summer, the Harmony tour. I
gotta imagine, after two years of not being able to
it must be the best feeling in the world. Right.

(04:19):
It's um, it's it's indescribable. I mean, there's a reason
why it can't be duplicated. I mean, we had people,
you know, stream songs, they steal songs, they put clip
concert clips on YouTube. Nothing matches being in the space.
We even did live streams during the pandemic. We did
concerts for all around the world, and we had you know,
ninety countries tuning in. But it's just you don't get

(04:40):
the same energy. And so you know, I released an
album in the right the middle of the pandemic, doing
promo from my bedroom, and we never got to do
a tour for that album. So we're we're going out
there with Preservation Hall Jazz Band is going to open.
They're going to be incredible, UM and it's all outdoor venues,
beautiful venues under the stars, UM. Places like Greek Theater
and Joan Speech and Red Rocks and so we're we're

(05:02):
gonna have a blast. You know. I'm just I'm just
so excited to get out there and jam with my
band and sing my face off for the people. Again.
I'm gonna have to check out the Greek That's going
to be a fun show. Speaking of your band, how
big is it? I mean, musicians you bring with you
and and what what do you how do you make
your go about making your set list? Yeah, it's a
it's a you know, it's a band. Most of the
musicians that I've had having my band, I've worked with

(05:24):
for almost my entire career. My music director Tarak who's
on guitar, he's been with me for like eighteen nineteen years. Um,
So it's a lot of guys that I've known forever
and we've played with forever. Um. There's about six people
in my core band we travel around with and then
every venue we are able to use choir members and
orchestra members that are local to that venue and they
got all the music beforehand and they rehearse it. So

(05:44):
there's always a local element and there's always kind of
a freshness to performing with new musicians. Every single night
and um so when everybody's all on stage, there's usually
about fifty people out there. Um so it's a big
it's a big group of musicians, very eclectic group of
songs obviously off from the new album, but then the
stuff from from the whole career. And we choose the
set list by kind of starting with one. We throw

(06:05):
spaghetti against the wall and say all right, let's start
with this, and then as you sing through it, you're like, ah,
that's that's too many sad songs. So that's I think
we did a little rhythm here. I think I need
a vocal break. I'm gonna play the drums on this one,
you know, whatever it is, and and it just starts
to find its way. But then as the shows go on,
you changed up each night. That's the beauty of life performance.
Who's your favorite artist to cover? When you do cover songs?

(06:26):
My favorite artist to cover? Um. I always love when
I hear other artists do their rendition of certain songs.
Sometimes the sounds better. Yeah, I mean, well, Billy, I
mean speaking of Billy Joel Um, I recorded um She's
Always a Woman because I was asked to sing that
as a tribute to him when he was honored at
the gersh From Prize in in d C. And I
sang it that night, and then I kept doing it

(06:47):
every night. And then when I played the Garden in
New York, I had this little stage in the middle
of the garden and I started playing that song. And
I didn't even occur to me in the middle of
singing it, but I looked up and saw the Billy
Joeld Jersey hanging from his like hundred and fifty shows
or whatever he did. I had to stop and just
like give a little cheerio eyed speech before singing. And
his songs are always incredible to sing. Um, you know,

(07:07):
but I always love singing the classics. I love singing
the songs that were sung by artists that I grew
up listening to Melturmay and Sinatra and Judy Garland. You know,
there's there's just so many, so many timeless melodies that
are such a gift to singers. Oh. Absolutely, Um, I
want to talk about your foundation real quick fundraising concert
uh this week. Congratulation with what type of work does

(07:29):
the foundation dosh? Yeah, thanks so much for bringing that up, Mario. Um, Yeah,
we did it. We did a fundraiser or two nights
to go. It's it's called the Find Your Life Foundation,
And um, I am a product of a great public
arts education. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for
the teachers that pulled me out of my shell and
gave me those opportunities to find our light. I mean truly,

(07:49):
so many of us that are in the entertainment industry
can relate to that, but also so many people that
are in all facets of life and all businesses. UM
oftentimes will pull me aside and say, you know, look,
I'm an lawyer now, or I I am a doctor,
I do this or that. But it was that theater teacher,
was that choir teacher that that made me feel comfortable
with myself. Help me see the world, help me see
myself in a bigger, broader picture. So our foundation is

(08:13):
a grant giver. We give grants to programs, especially in
inner cities and underprivileged areas that need those programs desperately,
that are falling through the cracks. They'll reach out and
they'll say, we need money to keep these programs afloat.
We need instruments, we need paintbrushes, we need to build
a stage for a play and find your light. Our
our duty and when we were so honored to have
is to make sure that we give those grants to

(08:34):
as many places as they as need them, so that
as many kids in those neighborhoods are able to continue
having that point of life that place because a lot
of them are on the fence and having those programs
and schools, um, you know go and turns them from being,
you know, having problem areas to all of a sudden
being in the front of the class raise in their hand.
They just needed that expression. So um, we're really proud

(08:56):
of the work for doing good for you, Good for you,
and you're exactly right, so important. I was one of
those kids, so it's awesome that you're creating these opportunities.
Congrats on everything, and I want to make sure people
listen to the Miranda Obsession which is on audible. Josh,
thanks for checking in man before to seeing you, and
they can go to Josh Broman dot com to get
tickets as well. And always always great talking to Maria.

(09:18):
Thank you so much for having me on. You got it, buddy,
Take care On with Mario Lopez