Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Emily and I'm Hayley. After meeting online, we
became international best friends who bonded over how hard it
is to find success in the entertainment industry.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Join us and our celebrity co authors as they help
us write the book on how to make.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
It and, more importantly, uncover what making it even means.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You know, saying we met online sounds a lot sexier
than it actually is.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Emily, you don't think it's clear we met on a
networking site?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
No, I think it sounds very much like I swiped
right on you, my friend.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Would you like to meet a British person online site?
Speaker 4 (00:37):
We're going to have to do this again now, aren't we.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (00:56):
Hi, my name is Cole Prattus And when I was
growing up, I wanted to be a scout sniper in
the Marine Corps because that's what my dad did. And
he lived in like this beautiful log cabin out in
the middle of the woods, and so I didn't get
to spend a whole lot of time with him because
he was a police officer. One of the most important
times that I spent with him when I was younger,
he got me a little twenty two with a scope
(01:19):
on it, and he would take me and I'd get
action figures and he'd set him up at varying distances
in the yard, like out in the woods, and then
from the porch teach me like about elevation and wind
resistance and breathing. So I was like, oh, cool, I
guess this is what I'm going to do. And then
I discovered dance, and things really took a turn.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I was going to say, you took the most dramatic
of turns.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
That's it because I did a bit of a deep
dive of like a sad occult.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
And I heard another podcast that you were a chipper
for your dad as well.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
I worked for the chipper.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Yeah, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
Yeah that was that was my first job. So I
was seven or eight. Yeah. Yeah. My dad's definitely been
a major influence in my life. We always used to
joke he I mean, like we'd be at the grocery
store and I'd say yes, ma'am, no, ma'am, and somebody
would say like, oh, you know, Doc, you just race
these You raise these boys subway and here we go. Now, baby,
(02:20):
I didn't raise him. Their mom was raised him, and
I think that's the best way to describe him is
he's very much like he knew that he wasn't around
a whole lot, but the times that he was there
were remarkably impactful on me. My brothers and I talk
about the fact that we didn't have barbecues and baseball
games with Dad, but the lessons that we got were
(02:41):
things that only a man who has lived the ridiculously
insane life that he's lived would be able to tell.
And he didn't pull any punches. I was eight when
when he was like, no, no, no, you're you're gonna
learn life lessons now. You know. Seven was my job.
That's when I was working the chipper, and then eight
(03:02):
was like, okay, you're a man now like here's here's
where job, here's where the job ends, and now we
got to talk about life. So yeah, super.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Instrumental, Absoletely, how is his dancing?
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Honestly, when I got married, he was there and it's
better than I thought it would be. Like he has
this one move that he does and he's like rolling
back and forth and I was like, oh, Bob, like
call down a little bit. You laid it down a
little thick and he only he has this uh like
collarless like his tuxedo and his collarless shirt and he
(03:38):
wore like a ballero out because he's a cowboy. And
I was just like, come on, Pop, like, you can't
outshine me at my own wedding, Like damn, let's go
so cool.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
He's obviously taught you a work ethic that's pushed into
your work in the entertainment industry.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
Though yeah, yeah, I mean both from like a fitness
and just a work stamp. He definitely overworked himself. A
lot of it was just working, work and working, and
that was a mixture of I think, wanting to better
himself and also he did way better than his father did,
but there's still things to be gleaned. And I'm sure
that I hope my kids are like, well, he did
way better than Pop did, but there's still things to
(04:17):
be gleaned. You know, we're just the whole goal is
just to get better every generation. I would be with
him at the precinct and if lunch came around, all
the other guys, all his officers, would go to lunch,
and he would go outside. He would have brought his
lunch in a bag and he'd set it off to
the side, and he would run sprints up and down
the stairs, like from the first to second floors, come down,
(04:38):
going to the gym, workout, workout, run sprints, run sprints,
and then at the end of the hour, and there
were like three minutes left, he'd get himself dressed, make
sure he was all clean, set, and then he'd woolf
that sandwich down and go back to work. And I realized, Oh,
that's why he's fitter than all his officers. That's why
he's because he takes it seriously. He does the work
when nobody else wants to, when they all want to
(04:59):
just oh well, break time. That's where he used to say,
hard work beats talent every time, and less talent works hard.
But that concept of just being like, well, I may
not be talented at anything, but I bet I could
put my head down and figure this out if I
just work hard enough. So that's that's kind of my
my motto.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I think a lot of people today I think it's
the opposite. Yeah, Well, I'm God's gift to Earth.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
So I'm naturally I was born, therefore I should be given.
And then I do not find that to be the case,
And it's just not fun because I find that the
things that we get that we don't earn, we don't respect.
So who cares if you get a trophy. Let's say
(05:49):
somebody hands you a championship ring, other than hawking that
thing like an NBA championship ring, who cares you didn't
earn that? Like, it's just it doesn't have the same
value that it does to Michael Jordan or to Kobe,
who were in those rooms when everybody else was sleeping,
when they were out partying, when they were doing their things.
Once you realize how much work it takes to get
(06:10):
truly good at something, to get truly good or even
great if we're approaching great, you realize how few things
you can actually get good at in one lifetime. And
I finally realized that some point in the last little bit,
and it just it turned on a different a different fire,
(06:30):
Like it stoked at a real different fire that's now
going towards one thing, and it's much more exciting. And
I wish that sense of purpose and sense of service
and fulfillment for everybody. I think if we can find
that in ourselves, like, oh boy, be doing all right?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Wow, I feel like we've accomplished the whole podcast.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Great, you know what, this is awesome. I've got an
appointment in fire.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
We move into a section where we tell you two
random facts that we found out about you on the internet.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
Boy, here we go, oh least. Yeah, but it's a
great face, Like that's a great face to be frozen on.
That's that's just have to take care. Please screenshot.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Trying to screenshot.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
You guys, don't set me up.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
It was an excellent It was going to be so good.
That was going to be the best like thumbnail for
this ever. Everybody was going to click on it.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Uh So, my real fact is that you were in
my favorite show on Broadway, How to Succeed in Business
No Way.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
Yeah, yes, I love that show.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Three times.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I think I probably saw you in it because I
saw it once with Daniel Radcliffe and I saw Nick
Jonason it twice.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Oh, then you definitely saw it because I was there
for Nick's whole run. Okay, yeah, oh that's wild. Let's go.
That's awesome. I'm really happy you liked it. I literally
just got to do this choreography thing with with my
old one of my old college roommates. A couple of
weeks ago, and Rob Ashford, who choreographed it, was there speaking.
It was this really really cool thing and I got
(08:22):
to reconnect with him after Jesus must have been five
or ten years since I've seen Rob, and he was
talking about choreographing that show. And I'm so happy that
you like it because I've been It's been very like
front of mind lately.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
The Brotherhood of Man is something I go back to,
like at least once a month. I love the performance
that they did at the Tony Awards.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yes, I watched that.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
It's all incredme. Yeah, and they filmed it really really
well because I got to do the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade,
but I wasn't in it at the Tony's and so
I got to do that one, and that's just you know,
I mean, it's just such a different beast. But on
stage at the Tony's, like I've still never done of
Tony's performance, I've never gotten to do one. Yeah, not yet. Yeah,
(09:13):
it's a matter of time.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I love that play. I love Listen.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
I've met Nick a bunch of times, so I hope
he doesn't take this personally.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
But I love Daniel Rega.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Oh, Emily, No, Nick will remember, we we go back,
we go back. But Dan, Dan to me is so
awkward in the best way. Yeah, and I feel like
that was that character.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
If anything, Nick was too good.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Nick's two damn smooth, Nick two damn smooth. But that
he's so good, like he can't act, he can't act
like he is so awkward because he's just even as awkward.
You're like, that's like cool awkward cool. I know.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I remember he was coming down from the ceiling at
the beginning, and my poor mother, I was like, there
he is, he's right, I can I'm looking at his
butt right now.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
Oh my god. Wow, I love that again.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Well this went to an interesting place.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Well yeah, I mean it was always headed and it
was always headed to Nick Jonas has a great butt,
Like that's where this podcast was headed. That's what I
was told I was signing.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Up for, right, maybe I have you.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I had everyone sign my playbill, so maybe I have
your autograph.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
It's possible. I was also I was such a like,
I was such a well pieces am I allowed to
cuss on here?
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Oh yeah?
Speaker 5 (10:40):
I was such a little piece of shit back then.
So our dance arranger and conductor David Chase, who is
Rob's longtime work partner. He was also at this thing
that I did, and we were talking about the fact
that he came out into the alley because it was
at the Hirschfeldt Theater and I was such a fucking
(11:00):
piece of shit that I was sitting there and I
was on a break and I was smoking in between
numbers and I think I was on eleven numbers or
thirteen numbers or something, and I was in the alley
and I was smoking, and he came out and he
was like, hey, you're singing an a at this part,
and it's it's an a shark, so if you could
(11:20):
just tune it up, And I was like, okay, just
fully smoking like an asshole in the middle of the
hardest dance numbers that I had done. So who did
I think I was at that time? And then you
go inside and you've got Dan and Nick Jonas just
like the hardest working people in the building. That was
(11:43):
my favorite part about working with both of them. They
came in there and they absolutely could have gone in
there and coasted. They were superstars. They are superstars. But
if you don't have my signature on the playbillt it
is because I probably got on my little fixed gear
bike and my cigarette and like pluck a pedaled out
almost mashed through the city. Bro, instead of signing like
(12:04):
an ass, maybe I just.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Have some cigarette ash on myla Maybe yeah that.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
Yeah, if there's a burn mark, I'm just.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Like, he's so cool.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
I'm so cool this. I'm gonna be on a podcast
in the future and they're gonna remember this. That's where
I'll talk about it.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
God, is there any of the numbers? Is there any
of the numbers where you can remember all the choreo?
Speaker 5 (12:30):
No? No, I'm trying to remember the correy to Aladdin
that I am in. Now we go. You know what
I can do? I can still so. A buddy of mine,
Addie Roy, who plays Aladdin in Aladdin right now, he
is We did the tour of Aladdin together as well,
and he's like this little brother to me and he
(12:52):
will send me stuff and he's like, I saw you
in the show. Here's a bootleg that I just found,
and he'll send me like how to succeed an. He
sent me a bootleg of Brotherhood of Man not three
weeks ago, and I was watching it and I was
like feeling my body kind of like do some of
the moves and remembering it. I was like, oh wow,
(13:12):
that was so much fun to dance. I get hurt.
I'm telling you doing Brotherhood of Man, especially after half
a pack of cigarettes in thirty minutes.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Oh I'm sad that you can't show with col.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Yeah, same, same, super sad. I totally would. It's the framing,
it's the Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
That's it.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
That's exactly what it is.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I'm gonna I'm gonna move us on to my slightly
surprising facts.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
It's not that surprising. Were you really into your fitness
and you're.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
Into cross I was when I first moved out to
LA After I finished touring with Pink, I got out
to Los Angeles and I needed a place to work out,
and a friend of mine had shown me the Crossfait games.
So when I was on tour with Pink, we were
in Australia when he showed me this, and I don't
remember what twenty thirteen games, I guess, but he was
(14:02):
showing me and they were doing like monkey bars into
a handstand walk into lifting very heavy things and then
climbing a rope and then doing it like coming back,
and I just remember being like, I'm bored working out
and just like doing whatever, like this looks fun. And
then unfortunately, as a performer, this is this is what
always happens. Someone gave me attention and said you would
(14:25):
be good at this, and I was like, okay, I'll
go do this forever now, and I started doing it,
and then it was just like when I first started dancing.
There are these little milestones that you hit and then
you're like, oh, I'm chasing I'm the worst in the gym,
and then I'm like, not the worst in the gym,
and then suddenly I'm in the middle of the pack,
and now I'm one of the best in the gym.
I was like, oh, okay, maybe this is the next step.
(14:46):
Because I realized when I was on tour with Pink
that I didn't want to backup dance anymore, Like all right,
I didn't want to be in the ensemble and backup
dance because I was watching her every night. I would
watch her do a few different songs and one of
them was just give me a reason. I'll watch it
every single night, and I remember how much of herself
she would give to that audience. And to the song
and to the art. I just realized like, oh, I'm
(15:08):
not doing that, Like I'm not even capable of doing
that here as your backup dancer. I may be kind
of comfortable. I make good money. I'm going to do
these things if I keep touring with you, and I'll
see cool things, but for one, I'll see them alone,
like because my wife wasn't out on the tour and
wasn't going to be and like when we were in Paris,
(15:29):
I just sat in my room because I was like,
I don't want to see Paris without her. I want
to come here and like see it with her. I
wanted the first time I see the Eiffel Tower to
be like fucking romantic thing I want to see with
my wife. And I just realized like, oh, this isn't
my bag. But then when I was doing Rock of Ages,
I was like, oh, this fitness thing plus getting to perform,
(15:51):
like now I feel kind of fulfilled. I'm closer to fulfillment,
you know. And then I just kind of became obsessed
with it because the more weight I lifted and the
more again attention I got. I'm not proud of it,
but like I was like, oh, cool. But if I
take the level deeper, I mean Arthur Lawrence was our
(16:11):
director in West Side Story. He wrote the book for
West Side Story, which is insane. He was ninety two
or ninety four years old. Mean is a snake. I
loved him so much. We're in the Palace Theater. This
is my Broadway debut. I'm in the Palace Theater at
midnight getting a note session from the guy who wrote
the fucking show. And I'm you know what, twenty three
(16:33):
twenty four, and I'm sitting nearby this girl that I'm
pretty sure I'm gonna marry, Like as soon as we
start dating, it's over. It was such a dream. And
I remember one night ho Safina, who was our Maria,
was getting a note and Arthur said, when Tony is
on the balcony and you're praying and you look up
and you see him, we need you to see him
(16:55):
quicker because the audience has already seen him and knows
who it is. And she goes, no, no, no, it's dark.
It would be dark. It's hard to see, and he goes, stop,
it doesn't matter what you feel, it matters what the
audience feels. And I was like yeah, and from then on.
It kind of put me in this mindset of being
in service and whether it's in service to your audience
(17:17):
or to something, your community, something larger. And that was
a big thing in CrossFit. And every Memorial Day you
do this workout called Murph that is honoring Lieutenant Mike
Murphy and all the Seals that were lost in this operation,
the single largest loss of life and the Navy seals
in one operation ever. And you just feel this sense
(17:41):
of pride when everybody is running in twenty pound forty
pound vests and doing one hundred pull up like a
mile run, one hundred pull ups, two hundred push ups,
and three hundred squats and you're just all suffering together,
but for a cause, to pay homage to something, to
remember something, as opposed to just posting a picture and
going never forget. So that's what I fell in love
(18:03):
with about crossfold. I'm sorry there's a really long winded answer.
I tend to ramble.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
No, I get the acts of servicing with it. It
makes so much sense I do. And it's a similar thing.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
It's the community.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
I love that. Yeah, shared suffering is a I think
is a true thing. This is why I hope. I
hope that we as a society can get back to
some sense of community and to finding each other, not
just virtually though in some ways even that helps. But
(18:34):
there's something about shared experience, shared suffering that it just
bonds you.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
It very much leads into what I wanted to ask,
which was you seem to be a rarity in that
you just going through your social media and other interviews
you've done, you seem very grateful for every opportunity that
you get, and you don't really unfortunately see that. People
(19:13):
will post about stuff, but they'll they'll just announce it,
and they don't really take a second to say thank you,
or this is so great, or I can't believe I'm here,
or looking back to where I came from. I mean, now,
knowing your background and about your family, I'd say it
probably comes from there.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
But would you say you learned it from anywhere else?
Speaker 5 (19:30):
You know what? Unfortunately I learned it from the pain
that comes along with a lot of low points and
a lot of loss. I know that one of your
questions that I've seen because I tried to do a
little bit of research talking about the chapter.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Yes, yeah, yeah, that's so nice. Noise.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
No, you deserve it. I mean, if you're having me on,
it's my responsibility to do that as well. It's not
just a cult that'd be sliwyll, but the chapter, like
what is this chapter of my life? Not this one,
but I think it's still kind of It harkens back
(20:13):
to this question, which is having enough times where I've
felt like the most successful failure I know and being like, Wow,
this fucking sucks. I'm not providing for my family. I'm
not doing the things I promised that I would do.
I'm not keeping my word. I'm not being a good friend.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
I'm not.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
I've had all this success across social media, and you
look at that and you go a lot of times
people when they first follow me or whatever, like friends
or cast mates, and they're like, holy shit, you're famous, dude.
I'm like, I'm not famous. Pink is famous, and like
twenty thirty thousand of those people were just Pink fans
that then follow me and then dirty Dancing happened. I've
collected a bunch of like little things, and I'm really
(20:54):
fortunate that the following that I have has turned into
something where I feel like I don't have to put
on airs about it. But I also know that, like
I said, I was a little piece of shit for
a long time, and I drank my own kool aid.
I came out of college and the next day I
got a call from a choreographer friend of mine who
(21:15):
put me in a thing with Christopher Gatelly. It was
just an easter bonnet, like a Broadway carriage thing. But
it's me Nick Adams, Michael James Scott, like people, like
a whole cast of folks who have gone on to
do and it was Christopher Gatelly's first, one of his
first bigger things. And then while I'm rehearsing for that,
I get called that I'm gonna be in High School
Musical the National Tours, my first show. I'm like, amazing,
(21:38):
And I come back from that, and before I've even
left for that, Bob Avian had called me to be like, hey,
I know that you were coming in for a chorus line.
We heard you got high school musical. Go out there.
When you come back, I'll put you in a chorus
sign I'm in Bryant Part getting this call from fucking
Bob Avian, and I'm like, yes, sir, Like whatever you
(21:59):
say I come back, they've announced closing. He puts me
on the tour as al. I go out on that tour.
I come back a day later. I get Westside Story.
So like, at this point, I'm like, holy fuck, this
is not as hard as everybody's saying it is. Maybe
I did do something right. Maybe I am. And I
start just drinking that kool Aid, and then I realize,
(22:20):
wait a second. I had no money, and I went
to every class I could. When I was on tour
with the Chorus Ligne, we taught each other class every
day before the show. And then all of a sudden,
when I drank the kool Aid, I was like, I
don't need to work that hard. And then you start
getting full of yourself and something else comes out and
you realize over the years, like I really shot myself
(22:42):
in the foot, Like I'm gonna have to work so
much harder now. And so that's why I'm grateful for everything.
I'm fucking grateful because I know what it's like to
have your first lead in a movie. I'm fucking Johnny
Castle and Dirty Dancing, and the commercial comes out the
first time that it's gonna air, and I go into
work the next day at Instacart after a night of
(23:04):
driving lyft and my manager goes, do you have a brother? Heyes,
are you in a movie? Uh? Huh? What are you
doing here? Man? Have fucking bills to pay and my
wife is working really hard, and like, I can't just
sit around and wait to be famous. And when you
have enough of those, you start going holy shit, like
(23:26):
I'm so grateful that. I mean, I talked about this
on podcasts recently and it's the only time that I've
talked about it. I literally talked to my therapist this
morning about how I was, like I came out and
then they asked if I wanted to edit it out,
and I was like, should I've edited it out? But
I don't think so, because I think again, it's necessary.
(23:47):
Somebody is going to listen to this and maybe it'll
give them the lesson without the scar. Eight and a
half nine months ago, the tour was in Alaska. We
had just like a month before that come out of Canada,
and while we were in Canada, we got into my
wife and I got into a really bad car accident
and our truck got totaled and we were in the
middle of Quebec in a storm, I'm and it sheared
(24:11):
off the front of our truck. Every air bag goes off.
There's a moment of just well there, it is like
and somehow everybody was okay, minimal injuries. And at the
same time as that tippened and that truck is we're
on tour, so that truck is our life, and that's like,
this is our everything. So we realized, okay, we have
(24:34):
to get a new truck. I've got to drive back
in the States to get a rental car to just
get us there. And this is gonna be hard to
explain it. It's okay, So trying to keep that happening
while I'm building a pitch deck for a company that
has asked me to take over a new a new venture.
So I'm gonna leave performing. I'm gonna go do that.
And I'm doing this for like six months, and it's
it's just not like they're not giving me a contract,
(24:56):
and they keep pushing it down the road and there,
and I'm like, okay, And meanwhile, just in case that
doesn't work out, I'm just like giving myself a plan.
Ce right, So I'm applying to fifty plus colleges to
be a professor because I've got the fucking credentials, except
turns out I get fifty maybe fifty one. Maybe A
(25:16):
school I didn't apply to rejected me because I don't
have a master's degree. We have no nothing's now on
the horizon. All of this possibility is just dissipated in
front of us. I'm trying to buy us a truck,
but I can't figure out how to buy a truck
from Alaska, somewhere in the state's sight unseen. And then
we encounter some health issues that are just like fuck me.
(25:36):
And I got on the phone and I called my
dad and I said, Hey, you're the only person I
know that's been in a spot this bad or worse,
and I need you to not talk and need you
to just listen. And I couldn't even say it. I
just I'm just like racking sobs outside of the CBS,
and I'm crying so hard. And I hung up with
(25:56):
my dad and I just sat there and cried for
a little bit, and I went back to the hotel
and I get a call and it's that I'm going
to be in this movie that I had auditioned for.
It's like, oh my god, Okay, that's cool. And she
was like, and this is what they're going to pay you.
And I was like, oh, all right, so I get
a little buffer. It's six weeks of work and all
(26:17):
I've got to do is now just figure out how
to buy a house for afterwards for because we don't
have a place to live and we don't know where
we're going. Now. Fast forward all of that nine ten
months later, and I am playing a role that I
absolutely adore in a company full of people that I
fucking love so much, for a company I love working for.
(26:37):
I am in this beautiful apartment. I finally have the ability,
the safety and security of providing for my family. Knowing
that I'm able to provide our life no matter what,
that I can take a little extra time and in
my downtime build this program the Broadway Studio to what
it could be. And the movie that I'm in on Netflix.
(27:01):
In its first week, it's fifteen million views and is
number one on Netflix, And all of a sudden, I
just realized, like, this is what it means to be
truly grateful, not Instagram grateful, Like this is what it
means when it fucking when you had no options and
somehow the work that you kept pushing at and pushing at.
(27:22):
Chris Pratt says something or said something a long time ago.
He said, keep pushing. It'll break before you do. Yeah,
And I think it's a really really if you genuinely
keep pushing and that means doing all of the work,
then nobody wants to do. And so when you say
that thing about working hard, yeah, I work hard because
there's no other option for me to achieve the things
(27:43):
that I want to achieve, and not just selfishly for
my family, but to be in service, to give the
kind of opportunities that allowed me to have the life
that I'm having, to give those to those other kids
that are out there that don't have the support that
I had, that don't have someone to come in and
kind of give them a little bit of money to
(28:04):
to go on that first trip to New York that
I just don't see a better use of my life
right now.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
I think it just brings you closer to the meaning
of things and all the all those difficult life questions.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
It's connection, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
And it's yeah, it's acts as service as you say,
only connect.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
It's my favorite thing. Em four ster.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I like that yes, fragments no longer.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
With these connections.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
You've obviously worked with incredible performers in theater and music
along the way. If you could swap careers with anyone
for a day, who would it be?
Speaker 4 (28:42):
And why just for a day?
Speaker 5 (28:45):
Question? Yeah, yeah, just for a day, Just for a day.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
I don't have to live in it, Daniel.
Speaker 6 (28:50):
You know what, it's such an interesting No, I was,
actually I was, actually my my my first inkling is
actually probably Nick Hey, I would say, because it would
be Chattered, it would be Chatternick.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
And it's for the same reason. And it's because they've
both Oh no, nope, it's still the same reason. But
I know who it is. It's Bruce Greenwood. And I'll
tell you why. Bruce Greenwood has what I consider to
be the perfect like the perfect career in the sense
that most people don't know him by name, but he
(29:23):
is a phenomenal actor who was He played Baby's Father
and Dirty Dancing. That's how I got to meet him
and Deborah Messing. But he's also in the place Beyond
the Pines and Kingsmen and I mean a million movies.
He's so star trek. He's worked in all of these things.
(29:43):
He's a phenomenal actor. He has a stunning house. I
love that level of he's doing fine. He's able to
support his family, he's able to give back. He's incredible,
and he's such a talented actor. I think to trade
with him and be inside literally, just to be inside
his brain for a day would be I don't know
(30:06):
if that's part of the deal, but if we're doing
like Truethals, I'm gonna steal it. Well yeah, like, oh
my god, Like he's just oh I just saw some pictures,
like set pictures from that and I was like, it's good.
I want to see it. But yeah, Bruce. So Bruce
(30:29):
kind of took me under his wing during Dirty Dancing,
and I would love to trade places with him, just
to sit on his porch overlooking the stunning lake with
nobody around in this fucking amazing house, playing guitar. I
don't even play guitar, just playing, but he does and
playing guitar, and if I'm in his brain, I could
do what I want and I'd play guitar and I'd
sit there, and then I would know that I was
(30:49):
getting ready to go be a fucking brilliant actor.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
I'm going to move us on to a section called
the story.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
This is where we ask you about an instance that
you might have had where something's happened to you and
you're like, what the fuck?
Speaker 4 (31:15):
What is this? What is that?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
You have to bleep that Emily, But you've actually learned
a lesson from it down the line, But at the time,
it's just like, why am I doing this to myself?
Speaker 5 (31:26):
I would say the thing that jumps to mine first
is the first time that I really went to the
white room, like the actor's nightmare white room on stage.
It shook me for a year, and it was this role.
It was Cassine. I did a show a quickpin, I
(31:47):
promise it all goes together. I did a show on
the Sundance channel called This Close, and it was the
first show starring, produced by and written by deaf actors.
And because I know a little sign language, I ended
up getting cast in the role of the boyfriend then
spoiler alert, fiance of one of the characters. ASL is
(32:09):
a big part of my life for these two seasons,
and on Broadway and tours they do ASL interpreted shows.
So down in house left there will be people signing
the show. Three signers I try to throw in like
little signs here and there, just to be like, oh,
it's fine, it's fine. Like the little ad libs that
(32:32):
I do in the back. I built them so that
I'm always signing, so that when somebody's there, if they
ever look up there, like did he just huh? And
there was a signed show and the signers were down
there and they're doing their thing, and I'm sitting on
a drune staring at the back of their heads because
(32:53):
that's what I'm supposed to do, Like that's my blocking.
My line comes up, and I'm like, I'm going to
do like my line is exciting, performing like dancing idiots
for loose change. And I stand up and I go exciting.
I do this sign for exciting, I go exciting. Oh no,
and I realize, like I don't know what comes next,
(33:14):
because now I've changed what my body does in this moment,
and I'm like, exciting music, this is you, this is dumb,
this is oh And I'm center stage now and it's
just me and I'm supposed to go through. I think
that line and I'm gonna mess myself up on the
show tonight. I can already tell oh no no, but
(33:36):
I'm supposed to because they've cut it since then, so
it was like, it's embarrassing, it's degrading, it's showtime. And
I go completely blank for all of that, and I
just go who you guys, You guys like music? And
I run over to stage right and I was like
hitting my drum just repeatedly, like and I run back
(33:57):
to center and it's so bad that somebody comes and
gets me and goes okay, buddy, okay, and walks me
off to the side of the stage and then takes
over with their lines. And the reason that that was
so bad is because not two weeks before it, the
guy who did that. So his name was Zach Beinkel.
He played Babcack. He and I had come on for
(34:18):
a different scene and he had gone up on his
lines and I always thought that was really funny. And
so he was looking at me and he goes, I'm
allergic to I'm Cassine, and I went what And we
both realized, like, we're gonna be silent because I'm not
going to help you. I think it's funny.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (34:41):
And then the guy next guy comes screaming on and
saves the scene, and so I'm picking on him about it.
I'm picking on him about it, and then I go
completely the white to the White room, and he's the
one that comes and shuffles me off this mortal coil
and saves me. I had to go to a performance
psychologist and go, I don't I don't know, I don't
(35:03):
know about this.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Will you still be in it in January?
Speaker 5 (35:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Okay, I'm after this. I got.
Speaker 5 (35:15):
Yep. It'll be the number with the drums where we
repeat our names a lot of times because nobody knows
who we are because we're original characters from the animated film.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
They got okay, yeah, okay, I will be there. I
will be there signing in my seat, even though I
don't know.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
Don't you dare because if I see you, it's over.
I'm just white room shunned. Uh. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
They did the White Room pretty well in I don't
know if you watch only Murders in the Building, But
the season before last they did a whole thing where
Steve Martin like literally enters the White Room on stage.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Are you serious?
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Yeah? They did a really good job with it.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
I'm sure non theater people were like, is he having
Like what is going on? But Yeah, they did a
whole physical interpretation of it, so I.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
Wow, Oh, I definitely have to check it out.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
So what would your definition of making it be?
Speaker 5 (36:16):
There's levels to it making it. You can you achieve
your goal. Whatever you wanted to get on Broadway, You've
got on Broadway. Then you're making it like that's fine.
But I think long term, it's you are consistently making
it when you feel some level of security and the
choices that you're making every day. I have no proof
(36:37):
right now to believe that the Broadway studio is going
to be the best way for me to give back,
but at this moment, I am very secure in that
I will put all of this effort into that. I
believe that being a part of this show is selfishly
good for my family, but also it's something I want
(36:58):
to be a part of. And I'm secure here and
the knowledge that what I'm doing is helping kids that
get to come see this show, whether it's them represented
across the myriad of types and people on stage, or
just fall in love with someone's voice or someone's acting
or someone's whatever. I like being a part of that.
I feel like I'm making it for the first time
(37:20):
in a long time because I'm very proud of the
choices that I make every day and I can stand
behind them. I heard somebody say, I think, oh, shoot,
I can't remember who it is. They said, self esteem
is your reputation with yourself, and yeah, and I think
Neil Brandon, maybe it's a notebook.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
Today.
Speaker 5 (37:46):
Yeah, I just, I just, I just I love that
and I feel like making it is. Making it is
when that confidence comes from evidence, like you earn it's
it's it's unearned. Confidence is gross. It's a delusion, right.
That's a little Alex hormosy. I love that he says that.
He's like, confidence without evidence is delusion, and sometimes we
(38:10):
need that. I'm not gonna lie, especially his performance, Like
sometimes you're like I need a little bit of delusion
right now because otherwise I got I got.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
Nothing but fake it. So you make it.
Speaker 5 (38:18):
Yeah, and sometimes that's necessary, but overall like making it, Yeah,
it's when you're secure. For me, it's when I'm secure
and the choices that I'm making that those are the
best choices that I can make in lieu of my
past self and for my future self.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
Yeah, that's lovely.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Every once in a while, there's an episode where I'm like,
my dad is going to use what the guest is
saying against me when I'm not at my best. This
is one of those episodes. He's gonna be like, remember
what Hold said?
Speaker 4 (38:52):
Are you paying your remember?
Speaker 5 (38:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Or Haley Haley, Haley. I mean it's all I am.
Speaker 4 (38:58):
Sarry this buck at you. I know.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
Oh good, I'm really happy that I could help.
Speaker 4 (39:14):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
If if this podcast was a book, which it will
be one day, if you had to give this episode
a chapter title to some of your career journey so far.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
What would it be finally making it, finally making it nice.
Speaker 5 (39:31):
I'm going to British if we're gonna nice?
Speaker 4 (39:34):
I like that, is it the same as in America?
Speaker 1 (39:38):
I thought you were telling him you were going to
kill him. I was like, what's going on?
Speaker 4 (39:42):
Nice?
Speaker 5 (39:43):
Like, yeah, you say that again? Tut your chin off
right across that chin, that old symbol, that old symbol
for threatening someone right here.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
I love how the British sign language is just a
bit more sinister.
Speaker 5 (39:58):
Yeah, yeah, just a little.
Speaker 4 (40:02):
Anyway, camera, I.
Speaker 5 (40:05):
Mean to keep with the theme of what we're talking about,
like maybe finally making it making it in quotations, but
like so that it hearkens back to this now that
I feel connected to this sense of purpose, whether I've
been given better tools or what to make it easier.
Maybe it's not easier and I'm just used to it.
(40:26):
I sometimes it's hard to reconcile that feeling with the
fact that I could have been doing it longer if
I'd gotten my head out of my ass a little
bit earlier. And that's something that you know, you can't
go back, can only go forward. So you can just
hope that the compounding interest of the work that I'm
doing now allows me to not to make it too dramatic,
(40:49):
but to to pay back the debt that I feel
that I owe. Yeah, if that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (40:57):
It does, It absolutely makes sense. Got nothing to add.
Speaker 5 (41:04):
Nice, I'm only ever going to be able to do
that with a scowl, like I'm only gonna be it's
gonna look like sarcastic. Nice. They're gonna be like, you
don't mean that.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Yeah, I didn't realize the different sign language.
Speaker 5 (41:22):
Yeah what yeah? Why oh, you know, to make things harder?
Why do we have different math because America wanted to
make it harder, Like.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
I feel like yours is more pure and makes more sense. Really,
this is quite random in places.
Speaker 5 (41:44):
Are you talking about the ASL or the math? Because
the math definitely makes more sense on your end, And.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
It sounds like I'm dissing BSL. Now I love BSL.
Oh my god, right, this has gone to a strange place.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
But I looked at such a good note and my
job went to me, is awkward.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
That's why I'm hey, Nail you, thank you.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
It's really nice to go to such a deep place
with it.
Speaker 5 (42:17):
Yeah, and then to pull it back up into dissing,
dissing British Sign Language.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
Thank god, I've just come off a film that was
all like all deaf actors, deaf director, British Sign language
throughout and yeah, and now I'm here dissing BSL.
Speaker 5 (42:35):
What was that I was doing?
Speaker 4 (42:37):
That incredible?
Speaker 2 (42:38):
It was incredible just the way of working of it.
It was a really kind set and rich bizarrely, well
not bizarrely but like really well communicated.
Speaker 5 (42:49):
Isn't that crazy? People don't understand that because your attention
has to be focused on on a deaf set. It
has to be so yeah, so focused. That's awesome. What's
it called? Or are you allowed to show the Retreat.
Speaker 4 (43:04):
It's called the retreatat It's variety and stuff.
Speaker 5 (43:07):
So, yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
It's amazing. Producer Jennifer Monks from the Fold.
Speaker 4 (43:13):
I'm just shouting out.
Speaker 5 (43:14):
That's incredible. Oh, I love that. I'm so stoked to
see it. Congrats, it's cool.
Speaker 4 (43:21):
It's cool.
Speaker 5 (43:21):
Mom, that's amazing. Cool.
Speaker 4 (43:24):
Thank you so much, thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
A lot of things to think about.
Speaker 5 (43:33):
I'm genuinely excited to see what your dad finds finds
the most interesting, Like, I want to know what your
dad liked about the podcast.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
I'm so excited. I'm excited to know that's too cult.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
It's our new segment, Dan's Thoughts.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
Yeah, yes, I'm done with that.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
How to Make It is recorded from a closet in
New Jersey and the basement in Leeds, United Kingdom. It's
produced by Emily Capello and Haley Murali Darn. For more
adventures with Emily and Haley, follow us on Instagram at
how to Make It Podcast, where you'll find clips from
today's episode, many episode clips.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
And more random nonsense.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
Like and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
or wherever other fine podcasts are found.