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[0:00] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Okay, so, after they test out their G-strings, like you do in a musical. Welcome everybody to a musical theater podcast where we discuss the cultural and emotional impact of some of our favorite musicals in theater history. My name is Jeffrey Scott Parsons. You can call me Jeff. Today, we are laying bare. I'm regretting writing that out. Laying bare the musical, The Full Monty, and we're doing so with a very special guest. Misha Brown is an influencer, podcast host, and performer, and through Equal Parts Bite and Heart, he has amassed an audience of over 7 million besties across TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. This month, his first book, Be Your Own Bestie, is going to make the world a better place, and I'm so happy he's here. Everyone, please welcome Misha Brown. Yay!

[1:08] Misha Brown: Yay! Jazz hands everywhere.

[1:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: All the jazz hands. Thank you so much for being here.

[1:14] Misha Brown: Thanks for having me, Jeff.

[1:15] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I'm so excited you're here for a couple reasons. Numero uno, you're an entertaining fellow, and I'm excited to chat with you. We're also going to, of course, talk about your book, which is a great match for the themes of this show, kind of perfection. But also, you've done The Full Monty, and it was the reason why I pitched it, because I went deep diving into your resume. So, you've got to tell me about this. Where were you? What point in your career, etc.?

[1:38] Misha Brown: Yeah. It was 13 years ago, back in 2013. I was a little non-equity theater in Pennsylvania called Allenbury Playhouse, which for all intents and purposes, I don't think exists anymore. It's technically still there, but not a full-time theater. But it was a really, really great time. I did a lot of shows there that summer. It's like, if anyone's not been there or know of it, it's like dirty dancing. It was a whole resort.

[2:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Sure.

[2:04] Misha Brown: A whole resort in the middle of nowhere that just had a little summer stock theater on the grounds. And so, yeah, there were so many different things going on, and there wasn't a wire hanger situation, thankfully, while I was there. But the rest of it was very, very dirty dancing, which was fun.

[2:21] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's adorable.

[2:23] Misha Brown: I mean, their claim to fame is John Travolta performed there back in his day. That's their big thing.

[2:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Come on. Back when Travolta was here. I love it.

[2:35] Misha Brown: Lots of that.

[2:36] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So, obviously, a lot has happened since then. Was it social media that really kind of started this new space for you? Were you going to be theater queen forever?

[2:43] Misha Brown: Yeah, I was in New York for 12 years, up until COVID. And then, you know, obviously, like, we couldn't perform for such a long time. I actually really damaged my singing voice because it was the first time we were doing like virtual auditions at the beginning of COVID. And I was such a perfectionist. And, you know, I talk a lot in my book about how just being in theater affected my self-esteem and my self-worth. And so I was like a perfectionist. And I was doing takes like, over and over and over again until it was note perfect. And it was for the show Tootsie and I was up for Michael. And so I was like, putting an affect on my voice for when he was being a woman, but then also an affect on my voice when I was trying to be a straight guy. Yeah. And so I couldn't sing for like, I didn't sing for like over a year. And so...

[3:29] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: After that freaking audition, which you're not even getting paid for. Hello, hello. And then so, you know, I do what every millennial did during COVID, got on TikTok. And I couldn't like sing or perform like I probably would have I just like started telling stories. And yeah, kind of just blew up being myself.

[3:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's fantastic. And then how did Be Your Own Bestie come about? I mean, it's obviously part of your brand, the whole bestie thing.

[3:54] Misha Brown: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean, like, I've definitely tried to grow my social media into being something that's like in the comedy self-help space. But then a couple years ago, I was doing a fundraiser over the holidays. And I said, Okay, if everyone who books a video from me on Cameo, I'm going to donate that to a charity, No Kid Hungry. And I want I did like over 600 videos in the month of December, I beat Santa Claus in the month of December.

[4:19] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Stop it.

[4:20] Misha Brown: Yeah, that's my claim to fame.

[4:23] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Seriously, put that in the bio.

[4:25] Misha Brown: But yeah, but what I found in that moment was that like over 90% of those prompts were people asking for my advice or needing a pep talk and, you know, just like sharing like the kind of the darker parts of their lives. And so I realized that I hadn't just grown an audience, I had built this trust. And so I said, I really was like, how can I take myself off of the rented real estate of social media and kind of give back something tangible? And so I thought of the book, which kind of freaked me out at first because I twirled on stage, you know, singing for shekels and now I'm an influencer. What business do I have writing a book, but I was like, I mean, I'm kind of writing little 90 second chapters online every day, we just got to make them a little longer.

[5:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: 100%. That's very smart. So by the time this comes out February, the book is out. And do you have a whole tour and everything to celebrate? What? How's it?

[5:15] Misha Brown: Sure. Yeah, I we have a 12 city tour starting February 17. I'm actually really, really excited about that because that's kind of marrying the two worlds I get to be on stage and perform, but also, you know, do what I've been doing on social media just in front of people. A lot of them were performing at comedy clubs rather than at bookstores. You know, I want it to be a show. Yeah, full full book tour starting in New York City ending in Los Angeles, but hitting everywhere in between.

[5:43] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: This is my favorite type of thing where you're entertaining first and foremost, right? We're putting on a show where we're giving people something and yet we're giving people something that sometimes they don't even know that they need. Yeah, in my own way, I try to do that through this podcast because we're trying to connect history and context of artists in the past and what they've given to us. And, and it's one thing to do it like behind our computer with a little microphone in front of us. And it's another thing to be doing it in live spaces with people and getting back to our theater roots of the symbiotic energy between people.

[6:15] Misha Brown: Absolutely. It's what I live for. And so I'm really excited for you to experience that.

[6:20] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Thank you. Congratulations. So now let's talk about, let's talk about me. Let's talk about you because you played Malcolm Monti. And so did I.

[6:34] Misha Brown: Oh my gosh, I guess it was a union house that we had like a few guest contracts, right? A few guest artists contracts, but it was at the Lawrence Welk Resort in Southern California.

[6:45] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Of course, those who may not know, think like Kristen Wiig with my by myself, like Lawrence Welk at the history of the Lawrence Welk show, they have resorts all over the place. And there's one in Southern California that had a theater. And at said theater, I did a production of Full Monty. Now I am I do not consider myself to be a controversial human in general, try to be a, you know, amiable and, and go with the flow. And yet, for some reason, whenever I worked at the Welk, I was surrounded by controversy because you can imagine that like the Full Monty upset a few older white folks who thought they were going to see Oklahoma, right?

[7:24] Misha Brown: Absolutely. Yeah. Same. And yet the thing about the Full Monty and one of the things that I respect so much about it is that it is about as traditional of a book musical as you can get, like structure wise, bada bing, bada boom. It kind of in the way of the Book of Mormon, when you look at it, you're like, wow, this is far more traditional than I think people realize, simply because of the subject matter.

[7:44] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I agree. And when I think about the show, I'm surprised that it wasn't always a musical. The it's it's based on a film, of course, the Full Monty is based on a British film from 1997. And the premise harkens back to every musical comedy tradition we have where there's a crisis of some kind grandpa's gonna lose the barn and the lead characters need to make a lot of money quickly. So they decide to put on a show. It's Babes in Arms. It's White Christmas. It's holiday and it's crazy for you. But it's also the Full Monty. And the original movie only cost maybe three, three and a half million dollars. It took in 257 million dollars. It was nominated for Best Picture of the Academy Awards. It lost, of course, to Titanic, which was the juggernaut of the season. But it's a well beloved, tiny film that has a much bigger footprint than I think maybe it even intended or thought it could have.

[8:46] Misha Brown: Yeah, the musical version follows that film pretty closely, except that it's no longer in the UK. They put it very smartly in Buffalo, New York.

[8:58] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Where did you grow up?

[9:03] Misha Brown: I was gonna say I'm from Rochester, which is an hour away from Buffalo. And I went to college in SUNY Fredonia, which is 30 minutes away. So SUNY Fredonia, SUNY like states like state.

[9:08] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, gotcha. Oh, I see. Understood. So talk to me about this area because I'm Mr. Western United States. They really paint Buffalo, at least how I've received it, is that it's like the blue collar capital of America.

[9:27] Misha Brown: Yeah, I think that I think it makes total sense why they would change the setting to if it was going to be American to Buffalo. I think it I think there's a lot of tie in to the film, which was like right post-industrial era Britain. And the politics of that, I think, translate because Buffalo definitely still has that like economic fear about it. There's still a masculinity crisis. Everything's about, you know, Buffalo Bills and blue light beer. So I think culturally it's like it's it's very similar, right? It is a very industrial town. And if you if you go to visit there, you will see these men walking the streets. It's just it's just, you know, who they are.

[10:11] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: The musical was created for a tryout at the Old Globe shout out San Diego. Hey, and was helmed by the theater's then artistic director, Jack O'Brien, who really is kind of the king of modern musical comedies. Hairspray shocked like he really understands the art of comedy. He from what I understand, really cultivated this artistic team to write the score. He originally went to Adam Gettle. Now, can you imagine the full monty written by the guy who wrote Lie in the Piazza? No, I don't think so. I can't I can't even imagine. But what an interesting idea. He said, no, I'm not right for this. However, you should check out this new guy named David Yazbek, who at this point we've covered a couple of his shows. We did an episode on Bands Visit. We did an episode on Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. But when the full monty came around, he had his big claim to fame was he worked on the David Letterman show.

[11:12] Misha Brown: Oh, I didn't know that.

[11:13] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Some other things. But he really hadn't kind of gone into musical theater in a big way. But they bring him on to write the score and then they bring one of the greatest writers we have in American theater, Terrence McNally, to write the book. Now, this group, this is Jack O'Brien, David Yazbek, Terrence McNally trio. And I mean, throw Jerry Mitchell in there as well, because he's the choreographer. It feels like a perfect team. And I'll tell you why. Because the full monty has a lot of hetero energy going through it. And yet it doesn't turn me off. And I know that makes me sound like people who are like, be gay, but like, don't don't rub it in my face. Sometimes now it's my turn. I'm saying like, this musical is very hetero, but like, it doesn't make me not.

[12:08] Misha Brown: You know what this musical is to me? It is like the theater version of Sean Baker films, like, come on, I just rewatched a Nora. Exactly. It's just like regular people. It's not hyping anything up. We're not seeing, you know, a caricature of a straight man and masculinity. You're seeing like the real people. And I think that's what I like. I also did Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the same theater. And there's a lot I see. I can see a straight line between like his work of the projects he takes on to write the music for. He's incredibly character driven. Yeah, absolutely. To mention his lyrics are, I mean, this is his first score and he gave us be a man and that's a bonus because when you're swinging your cojones, you show them what testosterone is.

Are you kidding me? Yeah, that's absolutely incredible. Anyway, but I have to think that so David Yazbek is really taking care of the character side. And like you said, is really presenting the real people on top of his, you know, comedy and clever lyrics. And then the McNally of it all is doing the same but with still an outsider's perspective because Terrence McNally has dedicated his life to drawing queer characters, you know, like, I have to believe that that's infused in there as well. This show is one of his most traditional because you've also got ragtime, which is like, so right, right. I mean, that book is so tight, you almost can't touch it, because it just goes from beginning to end and flies through.

Absolutely. And then you've got really weird stuff like kiss of the spider woman, which is almost amorphous. And then kind of right in the middle is this traditional book show that is also very nuanced and sweet. And like Yazbek is taking care of all of its characters in a beautiful way. Yeah. So it tries out at has its world premiere at the old globe in the summer of 2000. It then goes to Broadway that fall, and opens on October 26, 2000. It runs for 770 regular performances, which is a great run. Yeah, it's not heard of today. Hello, poor Queen of Versailles. It is by all means a success. It receives 12 Tony nominations, it wins none. Oh, and that is because just like the film losing to Titanic, the same season as the full Monty musical was the producers.

Never heard of it. Never. I mean, you've done that one before, right? I mean, I feel like that. No, Carmen Guia at the Hollywood Bowl. Here you come. All right, if you're listening, the producers, of course, was the juggernaut of the season. It still holds the record for the most Tony Award wins ever, because it won every single award it could. And the only award it didn't qualify for was best actress, because there was no best actress. There was only a best and there was only a featured actress. So I don't see that record going anywhere soon. No. So the best musical nominees for 2000 were the producers, which of course won a class act. Do you know that one? Not really. Telling the story of Ed Klaben, who was the lyricist for A Chorus Line.

Very small little show. The full Monty, which was a hit. And then Jane Eyre. Okay, of course, the feel good musical of the season. So it's interesting that the producers really kind of wiped the floor with all of these shows and they all got pushed pretty far back. It makes it even more miraculous for me when I look back at something like Hamilton, because Waitress did just fine. That's how powerful some of those other shows were, is that Hamilton didn't have the same effect on them that the producers did on these guys. Still, I feel like the full Monty has continued to be produced. You can't produce it everywhere, because if you have sight lines, if you have a wide house, it's going to be difficult to keep the ding-a-lings from being seen by everybody.

In Pennsylvania, there were laws, and so we weren't actually allowed to go the full Monty. The full Monty did not go the full Monty. What did you do then? We had just little socks. Oh, the socks. Of course. The jock socks. It's an industry. The jock socks. Oh, the poor laundry department. Amazing. There was one time I did it where the lighting designer missed the cue, the lighting cue, and there was like a second or so where it was full hog, and she felt terrible. So, at our little dressing stations the next day were all of these hot wheels cars. Oh, okay. To say sorry. Well, that's sweet. That's sweet. I was like, is this a euphemism? I don't know. I really have no idea. That's kind of how the show got put together. I'd love to go through it with you, because there are so many great themes, so many great characters, and every single one of them is individual and beautiful.

[17:45] Misha Brown: So, the show begins, and this is what I think was really smart. If you can make it through the first scene of this show as an audience, and I'm talking to all the blue hairs out there, you're going to be fine. Because the first scene is the only scene of real stripping. Everything else is comedy. So, the first scene, we're at a women's club in Buffalo, New York. It's being hosted by this great gal by the name of Georgie, and she's like, all right, ladies, we've worked all week. Now it's time to have some fun. And they bring out this actual male stripper to do his whole performance. And he does the performance, and the girls are running up and putting the money in the g-strings, etc., etc. He doesn't go the full Monty per se, right?

But he's giving the girls what they want. That is then directly contrasted by this meeting that's happening at the local steel mill, where this factory has been shut down, and all of the men who work there have lost their jobs. This, in 2026, I feel like is incredibly relevant.

[19:04] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. You know what, though? Also, when you really think about it, when you pull out from the ridiculousness of a musical, entire towns, entire cities, entire groups of people losing their jobs, especially men, when a lot of men put their entire worth and value and identity into what they do, I think that's a huge moment. Huge. A huge moment.

[19:25] Misha Brown: I completely agree. One of the ways that I think men share their masculinity, and I say that in a non-judgmental way, is protection and providing.

[19:39] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Absolutely.

[19:40] Misha Brown: And it brings us, as men, self-worth and self-esteem and confidence. And also, that can so easily be brought to one thing, which is a job.

[19:54] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Unfortunately.

[19:56] Misha Brown: I have to believe that protection and providing are so much more than just a job. But in society, that is kind of what we've told men, that's all you need to worry about is just your job. So then when job goes away, what do they have left?

[20:13] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. And I think that's the reckoning we see a lot on social media with the discourse between male loneliness epidemic and women just coming into their fullest selves, and how those two things aren't always necessarily aligning. And it's because women say, well, the economy and everything else, and then also just me being free and wanting something of my own, we don't necessarily need you to provide that kind of support for us. So all we're asking for is you to be nice to me, and you to take care of me and love me emotionally. You're right, it's still relevant today, even though it's not 1997 anymore.

[20:50] Misha Brown: Right. In many ways, I feel like the conversation is even louder today. These are words that people are literally saying to me from my phone now. I wanted to share this story. During the pandemic, we all did things that we're not proud of. And one of the things that I did was work at a gym.

[21:08] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Okay.

[21:10] Misha Brown: It was a dark time for me.

[21:12] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I bet.

[21:12] Misha Brown: It was three months. And what people are doing to their bodies by taking those pre-workout supplements, it's not worth it, everyone. Okay? I'm just letting you know from having worked at the gym, it's not worth it. But it was also the first time, and I'm kind of embarrassed to say this, it was the first time that I saw what I considered to be impenetrable, masculine men in a sad, kind of empathetic, dare I say sympathetic way, where I saw them coming in with weight on their shoulders, processing a lot, going to the basketball court and shooting hoops all by themselves. And I was like, that's so sad. And for some reason, it hadn't occurred to me, maybe because of my own fears about what my sexuality said about me and the barriers that that put up between me and heterosexual men. I just hadn't considered the vulnerability or weakness within their own lives.

[22:20] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah.

[22:20] Misha Brown: I have to believe that you've experienced things like that, if for no other reason than the apology you received from your bully went so viral that it got picked up by every major news source in America.

[22:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, I think, I mean, you hit it. I think you getting a different insight is knowledge is power. And you getting to see that, I think that's that shift. And you're right. So for anyone that doesn't know or didn't see it, my high school bully reached out to me, his son, his teenage son has come out as gay. And he thought back to how he treated me and was like, wow, I don't ever want my kid to go through that. And, you know, there's something to be said about like, would I have ever received that apology if it wasn't something that directly affected him now? Who knows? But also, who cares? Because, you know, it did happen. And I think the idea of giving people grace, you know, I give myself a lot of grace.

And so I think that I should extend that to other people as well. And I think that I've seen that a lot through my life. Theater did something really great for me in that I grew up as the only kid like me, I'm from a super small town. So I was alone, you know, so I naturally gravitated toward the girls in my class and the women who supported me. And then when I grew up, and I went and I got into theater, you know, surprisingly, shocker, there were straight boys and you know, all these shows and it was like a bridge between, you know, they still had their friends outside of rehearsals and shows where they watch sports and did all the typical guy things and chased after girls. But then they were still, you know, so human with me in our context. And so, you know, they were a great bridge. And I think that I've always kind of like, tried to walk into any situation, having absorbed that knowledge, you know, that we can do that.

[24:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I do think that is one of the super powers of theater, in the same way that like sports can be where you are all working together on a project.

[24:15] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And you agree that that is greater than the sum of the parts. And the difference, I think, between theatre and sports is that with theatre, then you have to have an emotional and empathetic buy-in to the people you're portraying. It's not just about, like, we're going to win. It's we're going to bring life to characters that otherwise wouldn't exist. I think that's really special. So, back to the story. All of these guys have lost their jobs, and they sing this great opening number called Scrap, which truly, in the most musical theatre way, once again, begins out of the union rep being like, well, just figure out what you want. So, what comes out of that? Literally an I Want song, where each of the guys say what they want, which is like, I just want to feel like something other than scrap metal.

Really smart. It also, not to go political, but if there is so much importance put on the job, then what becomes more important? Teaching men that they are more than their job, or saving the job that has to do with metal? I mean, I think it's a pretty clear answer.

[25:33] Misha Brown: I think it's pretty clear. You know, that's the thing. I think that's the thing that so many of me and my colleagues in my career now are trying to shout, that dismantling the patriarchy in that way, it is also beneficial to straight men. Well, to men in general, because gay men still benefit from the patriarchy. Yeah, they're still men. But it is beneficial to everybody. And Terrence McNally does a really great job of this. He interrogates masculinity, and not in a pointing at people and punching down kind of way. It's really just showing you like, hey, let's come together. Let's talk about all of the things that you feel and you experience. Loneliness and body image issues and impotence and all of these things that this show, you'll get to talk about.

But what's the lesson here? And that's that you're allowed to be emotionally vulnerable. And you're allowed to talk, you're allowed to share, and you're allowed to find your support system so that you're not going through all of this crap alone. And that's what I think he does really, really beautifully. And if we can, again, this is theater. So we, like you said, we have an emotional buy-in as performers and everybody working on the show. How can we translate that to get that to the masses and the people who could really, really, you know, kind of benefit from that lesson? And it's also snuck into this perfect little marketing package of like, come see nudity. You know what I mean?

[26:59] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It's brilliant. Which gets people in the seats.

[27:01] Misha Brown: Right, right. It's so, I think it's genius. Stripping nudity, that's the container of the whole thing, but it's not the message, right? And that's the same thing that I do like on my social media. The humor is the container, but there's a lesson to be had in each video. But it's just a little bit more palatable.

[27:25] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: All right, so let's talk about some of these dudes who are at the meeting. We got Jerry, originally played by Patrick Wilson, Sweeney McSmitherson. This was kind of his first big thing, now that I think about it. The Full Monty, and then that led to the Oklahoma Revival. And then he was off and running and went to Aquaman and has never been seen since. No, I'm just kidding. He got swallowed up by the demons and the conjuring. What do we know about Jerry? We know that he is a dad to a son named Nathan. He was married to a woman named Pam, who unfortunately doesn't have a song in the show. She just really comes in and is like, laundry, laundry, laundry, give me my money. But she did have a song.

I do want to point out that there was a song cut from the show called Maid of the Mist, which is really lovely and can be heard on Emily Skinner's solo album. So if you go to Emily Skinner's solo album, there's a song called Maid of the Mist, and I'm pretty sure that that's Pam's cut song. And it's great. I want to know what was happening. I want to know the drama in the rehearsal room. And they were like, you know what? When they're like, Pam, you had a song, you're a talented singer, and you will now make a Broadway appearance where you sing not a single note. Pam and Jerry have been separated and divorced for quite some time, to the point where she has now found this new guy who has a much more dependable job.

I think it's pretty fair to say that their relationship is antagonistic at best. It, of course, in almost like the Santa Claus type of way, has bled into the sun. I think Jerry picks up on the fact that Nathan's a little embarrassed of him, that his apartment isn't clean, that he doesn't have a job. It's a stereotype that I think we can all probably picture pretty well.

[29:25] Misha Brown: You know, it's really crazy that I'm just now realizing I have zero recollection of who played Nathan in the production.

[29:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Good. Good. We shouldn't.

[29:36] Misha Brown: I can't picture a face or a name. I have zero recollection of whoever that was. I'm sorry. If you're a professional actor and you're listening to this podcast, you were so great. You were amazing. You killed it. Also, it's an interesting show to have a child running around backstage. So the fact that he was maybe a little more separate from everybody, good.

[30:00] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Someone did their job. Someone did their job. We had a wrangler who was doing their job and doing it well. Then we all have Dave. Dave is Georgie's husband. A lot of fat jokes at Dave's expense in this show. He's a big dude. He has a big gut. That weight that he has probably gotten even worse since he lost his job has quite literally put distance between him and his wife. They're not physical. They can't remember the last time that they made love, but he's lovable. And Dave and Jerry are best friends.

[30:33] Misha Brown: Besties. I love that McNally was able to tap into this thing that I find really interesting about men relationships is that they can fight and say, I love you, like within seconds of each other, like they can almost get into a fistfight and then literally in the next breath be like, hey, man, I'm sorry about that. I'm like so fascinated by it that it's something that straight men can do. And you see it quite a bit with Jerry and Dave.

[31:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. We also have Harold. Harold is a little bit more higher up in terms of the people who lost their jobs. He lives a little fancier life. He has like the nicer home. He has the wife who's used to having all of the fancy things. She has her own tanning bed, right?

[31:21] Misha Brown: Yes, she sure does. So he has kept his unemployment a secret from his wife because the idea that he has to break it to her that she can't be spending this kind of money anymore is devastating. Then we go to Malcolm, who I mean, is just such a beautiful character. How would you describe Malcolm?

[31:43] Misha Brown: Um, awkward, you know, pretty shy when you meet when you meet Malcolm, you literally meet him when he's trying to kill himself when he's trying to commit suicide in his car. And, you know, so you're seeing him at obviously the lowest point. And I think this is really the heart of that male loneliness and the effect that it can have. Like he really he is the vehicle for that. And like what the kind of the things that we've been talking about, you know, obviously, Malcolm also has some really, really like that first song is very funny. And it's a lot of comedic moments, but with that strong heart message through line.

[32:18] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You're so right. I think one of the first things we ever hear him say in the show is, Hi, I'm a loser. And I live in my mom's basement.

[32:24] Misha Brown: That's that's what it is. No self-esteem. The self-talk is absolutely rotten. Ethan, Ethan Gerard is one of the other guys. And he's just a himbo if there ever was one. Adorable, sweet, kind of dumb as a brick.

[32:42] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. And we love him for it. These are basically our main group of guys, with the exception of a guy by the name of Horse, who was originally played by none other than Andre De Shields. If you can imagine, Horse is a black man. He literally has a song called Big Black Man. Great character. We'll talk about him a little bit later. So these are all of our guys. What ends up happening is Dave and Jerry go to this strip club. Dave wants to get in there and chew out his wife for, you know, looking at all these naked men. So they sneak into the men's bathroom, like through the outside window. And as they're getting into the bathroom, here come all of the women, because as you can imagine, as is always the case, the line to the women's restroom is way too long.

So they're like, screw this. We're going to use the men's. All of these women come in to the men's room. The guys are hiding in the stall and they overhear everything. And it's basically their greatest nightmare spoken aloud, which is that everybody is both worried by their husbands and also at a loss for what to do with them, because they're all depressed. They all don't have jobs. And so the best they can do is come out for a fun night with their girlfriends and see the men that they wish their husbands were.

[34:08] Misha Brown: Yeah. Isn't that really sad? And I also think this happens a lot more often. You know, I feel I don't know if you're the same as me, but I have an in with the girls, right? Like if it's girls night, I'm there. And I think this is I think this happens a little more often than we might imagine, because, you know, a lot of times straight men, they're just not available. They're not available to have the conversations. And so I think sometimes it's not like as so it's not as devastating as like the actual words themselves might, you know, mean. It's just it's just an outlet to let it all out. When all of the ladies leave, they, of course, are crushed. And that is only matched by the fact that the next person to come into the restroom is the stripper that we met in the first scene.

And his name is Buddy Kino. And what's funny is like Dave, our bigger guy, Dave makes the joke that all strippers are gay, like all male strippers are gay, which I don't think is true. Do you think? I mean, go go dancers like go go boys. I think I think that we got that one covered. But in terms of like Thunder from Down Under, I'm pretty sure most of those guys are pretty straight. Yeah, being the point being, though, is he's like only only a fairy would put on a sparkly little G string, right? Well, it just so happens that Buddy Kino is a homosexual and he's totally fine with it. And he really serves it to them both physically, like punches them out and says, like, don't mess with me and excuse me, I need to go give the women what they're they actually want.

And it's a big wake up call for these two guys because they're like, OK, he he has figured something out that we haven't. And we need to start giving the ladies what they want. And if what they want is that, then we should give them that right from this stems this huge idea. We're going to put on a strip show. It's going to make us a lot of money. It's going to solve us a lot of problems and honestly, maybe get our women back. And that's a good thing, too. So thus begins this journey of putting on a show, like we said, all it also wasn't. Isn't it for Jerry's kid? Yes, because he's he's so behind.

[36:21] Misha Brown: He's so behind when it comes to those payments. And they're at the point now where it's like, well, she has the new husband, and he can probably just adopt the kid and like, and it's over, you know, so like, are you interested in being a dad or not? High stakes, to say the least. As they start gathering all of these guys, they meet Malcolm, as you said, in a very funny way, they convince him not to commit suicide by being a friend enough to tell him how he could kill himself. It's a really fun song called Big Ass Rock. After they rope in Malcolm, they actually start holding some auditions for the rest of the guys. And they're at this rehearsal hall with a piano and coming with the piano in an almost magical way is this woman.

My favorite. Jeanette, who is our favorite. I mean, she's been there. She's done it. Do you know that there was a Full Monty where Elaine Stritch played Jeanette? Come on. And it was just like, it was like the Good Speed or something. That's another claim of fame to mine. I was working merchandise at Book of Mormon on Broadway in my early days. And Elaine Stritch came in, she went down to row F on the end, and it was hot outside, but she had a fur coat on. She didn't face the stage, she faced the audience, flipped her coat over her shoulder to a rupturous applause. And then she was there with some little twinkie chorus boy that must have been in some show with her. I love it. And I was like, can I get you anything?

And she was just like, just some waters. And I went to walk away and she went, nice ass. Absolutely. You're right. Can hold up an entire economy. Thank you for noticing. To quote the show, one of those nice shelf asses where you can put all your tchotchkes. That's incredible. Put it on your gravestone. Thank you. Nice ass. Elaine Stritch. That is incredible. Do you know, have you heard the stories about how she refused to pay for theater tickets? She would just go to the box office and say, I'm Elaine Stritch. What do you got? What do you got? The interviewer asked her, does it work? And she said, yes, except for one effing show. And I'll tell you what it was. Mama Mia. Mama Mia refused to give her tickets.

Anyway, it made a lot of sense. Jeanette. Jeanette is, I mean, is that right? A good old broad, originally played by Kathleen Freeman, who, if you're a fan of Singing in the Rain, she's round tones. She's like the voice teacher for Lena Lamont when she's in I Can't Stand Him. That's her. She's absolutely fantastic. Anyway, she's playing these auditions, throwing out fun little zingers in comes some of these other guys that we've mentioned. Ethan, as it turns out, has a huge long. So he's automatically in. And then Horse, who is actually an incredible dancer, is one of the guys that they bring on. And of course, the fact that he has this nickname Horse, they're like, oh, well, you know, he's black.

He can dance. His nickname's Horse. Like you're in there. Right. Also on the team is Harold because he has ballroom dance experience that his wife made him take. This is our core group. The rehearsals, as you can imagine, are a little bumpy at first. And the first act ends with this big number called Michael Jordan's Ball. Yeah. Right. Michael Jordan's Ball. They begin to understand, like, the connection between choreography and formations by likening it to a basketball game. The way that this number is staged and kind of the entire show is staged is really, I think, one of the hallmarks of what Jerry Mitchell brought to musical theater. Every transition is choreographed with one cast member crossing the stage trying to figure out their latest move.

And then this choreography with the basketballs is so tied to props in the same way that Legally Blonde with the jump ropes like you start seeing some many of his hallmarks and the way that the show moves very fluidly. So shout out to Jerry Mitchell, because I think that it really has influenced so much of how we now present musical theater. The second act begins with Jeanette's big show biz number where we learn all about her life. And she keeps saying things could be better because they could. The show isn't going well. Ethan, our dummy, is really obsessed. Speaking of Singing in the Rain, oh my gosh, is always trying to be Donald O'Connor and wants to do the backflip off the wall. He completely fails every time and just keeps smacking into the wall.

From here, they decide that the next tiptoeing into the water is they need to try on the nudity. They need to disrobe. They need to figure out what these G-strings are. So they all go to Harold's house. And this is a number that I want to spend a little bit of time on. It's called The Goods, where they're all trying to get comfortable with each other, get comfortable in their own skin. And somebody brings out like a Cosmo magazine or something like that and points to the women that are featured in the magazine. And they start pointing out, like, what makes this woman a ten? What makes this woman a six? Of course, loves a big butt. Jerry wants the boobs, you know, that sort of thing. And then all of a sudden in the middle of the number, somebody basically says, you know, if the women talk about us on the night of the performance like we're talking about these women, we're screwed.

Right. And then the number morphs into this fantasy sequence where all of the women keep chanting this incredible line. He's fat. He's old. He's skinny. He's bald. He's short. He's got pimples on his ass. And it unlocks this new fear in them because they had never thought that the way that they view women is maybe how women could view men. Isn't that kind of the definition of empathy? Isn't it? Yeah, this is this is what I think is really beautiful about it, because it's a funny song, right? We're all laughing, but we're talking about like these guys maybe for the first time in their life are articulating body image issues with each other and in a space where they like, you know, and we know that especially true for Dave, right?

Because like, gosh, right. Yeah, that's that's a plot point in the show that he is, you know, him and his wife, they haven't connected because of his weight is what he thinks. Oh yeah, we totally skipped You Rule My World. But yeah, you're exactly right where he has this whole song. And you think that he's singing about his wife, You Rule My World. And he's actually singing about his stomach, right, his belly, that it is the source of, unfortunately, how he feels most of the day. Yeah. So I think it's what the brilliance of this show it can be, but if done right, is that there's so much humor, but there's also a lot of sadness in it. And it's navigating that in that kind of like Sean Baker way where, you know, if you don't go over the top with it, it can be really impactful.

Yeah, completely agree. Okay, so after they test out their G-strings, like you do in a musical, they want to do this dress rehearsal because they can't, you know, open cold. They got to go out of town for they decide to go to an old folks home and perform for the old people. So that is what they do. Unfortunately, it turns into an arrest for, you know, indecent exposure, that sort of thing. And so the show gets shut down momentarily. It, of course, makes things even worse for Jerry and his son because now his son has been around this like what this the creation of this strip show that led to an arrest, like it is everything he didn't want in terms of getting his kid back and making money to show that he is worthy of being the father.

It also creates opportunities for conversations between people. Maybe they're talking about stuff for the first time. Harold has to tell his wife that he no longer has the money and which gives her the space to say, like, I don't care. Like, it's you that I love, not the money. It gives space for Dave and Georgie to talk about his weight and for her to say, like, I care about holding your hand. I care about being close to you. It also creates space for Malcolm because amidst all of this, he loses his mom. His mom passes away, who was a bit of a controlling force in his life, and everything revolved around her. He makes, I think, the terrible decision to sing at her funeral. Why on earth would he ever think that was a good idea is beyond me.

But man, maybe the most beautiful song in the show, he sings at the funeral and can't get through it. And then Ethan steps up and gives him the both vocal and moral strength to continue with the song. And they ended as a duet, ultimately holding hands with each other, because this is our little gay representation. It turns out that Malcolm is gay, so is Ethan. And that through this adventure together, as they've gotten to know each other, there's this beautiful connection. And it makes me cry even thinking about it, where they're holding hands, and Dave leans over to Jerry and says, are they holding hands? And Jerry just says, good for them. Yeah. I will say this is a moment that really did, I mean, fully honestly, this isn't hyperbole, did make me grow as an actor.

Because I remember being in rehearsals, and the director that we worked with was very much chronological. We started at the beginning of the show, we worked our way through. And when it got to the Big Ass Rock, I was over the top. It was slapstick, it was comedy, it didn't really feel the heart into it. And then when we were in rehearsals, singing very dramatic single tier moment for me. And then Calvin, my friend who was playing Ethan, you know, comes up and just like, silently, you know, hold your hand and sings that duet part. That was the realization moment of just like, oh my gosh, wow, like, scale it back, become a human. Maybe some people won't find Big Ass Rock as funny, right? Because some different types of comedy, but will the entirety of the show be better?

Will the entirety of Malcolm's story be better? Because I was so young, you know, I was 25. So it really, really did help. Also, side note, before that, when the arrest happens, Ethan and Malcolm do not get arrested, they escape. And they crash, they break through the window into Malcolm's mom's house, right? And there's this like, you know, they don't kiss, right? Like, it's like, it's just like homoerotic moment, right? But I will never forget that every single show because we were in rural Pennsylvania, you would just hear.

[48:28] Misha Brown: And not in a good way. There was even a couple of times there was just, oh. I'm obsessed with audiences. I mean, good for them for getting uncomfortable and good for you for making space for their discomfort. Because I bet by the time you guys sing and connect, they're like, they've now relaxed a little bit. They've maybe exhaled and can maybe see the beauty in it. That's really funny. Also, like, are we surprised? Are we really that surprised? That maybe Malcolm's gay? Hello? Come on, you guys. That's funny. Well, now we're here at the end. So the arrests have actually been great publicity. No such thing as bad publicity. They've been great for marketing. So actually, the ticket sales have picked up.

And the guys are like, well, now we have to do it, because it's actually going to be a success. People are going to be there. They've heard about this crazy idea, and they want to see if we're going to do it. Even the enemies have bought tickets, right? Because they want to be there to make fun of them. If the check clears, baby, cash it. You know what I mean? I love some hate watching. Pays my bills. Can you talk a little bit about that? Because the number of eyes that you have on you is not natural. Can we agree?

[49:57] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I've noticed with just viral stuff in general, nothing is truly viral until people start saying terrible things. And then you realize, oh, this is something, because now it's attracting the hate. It's just part of the thing. But you know what? This is what I've always thought about it. I was talking to someone who wrote a book, a friend of mine who wrote a book, and was just like, I heard some bad things about me on social media, and I don't know what to do about that. And I was like, okay, but you just don't focus on that. I said, your book. I said, what's your book rated on Goodreads? And he was like, 4.7. I said, okay, it's not a five. You didn't get five stars.

Not everybody likes it. Some people don't like influencers writing books. Some people don't like that you're gay. They're just going to give you one star because they don't like you, not because of what's inside the book. And then some people, it just wasn't for them. They didn't like the content, and that's okay. They're allowed to have that opinion. But your overall rating is a 4.7. So it's the same thing online. That's the way I look at it. There's going to be plenty of people who will have things to say about me and don't like me or my content or whatever the case may be. But I still have over 8 million followers. Sure. So eat it.

[51:10] Misha Brown: So eat it. And also, social media does a really great job of just kind of hiding that from me, right? Because I have my people. I have the people that show up every day. They're always at the top of my comments. They're the ones getting all of the likes. So I don't endlessly scroll until I find something negative. That would be silly. But also, that didn't come naturally. Because you said you deal with perfectionism. There's no way that rolled off your shoulders naturally. How did you?

[51:39] Misha Brown: Well, it does now. That's why I wrote my book, Be Your Own Bestie. Because I wasn't always like that. So it was a journey of me having to figure out how to be my own best friend, how to stick up for me the same way that I was really good at doing for other people. So now on social media, if I see somebody stitch a video of mine and it's negative, block. You're fine. You don't have to see my stuff anymore, though. It's okay. I don't hate you for having an opinion, but I don't have to have it in my life. So I just very much focus on the positive. Before we get to this grand finale, if you were to sit down and have conversations with any of these guys, who would it be and what advice would you give them? Of course, knowing that they came to you first. Yeah. Honestly, I think it would be Jerry.

[52:33] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, really?

[52:34] Misha Brown: Yeah. I think it would be Jerry because I see the struggle of parents a lot. My audience is older. I have a lot of friends who are parents. One of my really, really good friends, she struggled with losing herself being a mom. Her whole identity was wrapped up in this kid, and then she compares herself to social media mommy bloggers and doesn't think she's doing enough. She struggled with postpartum, which made her carry a lot of guilt. It was actually her unicorn of a husband who's hot and supportive and an equal partner who was like, hey, she is really struggling. It's on me. Can you take her for a spa day? Just to remind her that she's a woman at first and she's a person first and deserves to be pampered and feel beautiful and taken care of.

So I would talk to Jerry and just say, okay, things have happened. We've made some mistakes, but we can't forget to be proud of all of the things we've already accomplished. I think we're always looking forward and then beating ourselves for not being there already.

[53:50] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's so good. Thinking about the future and then beating ourselves up that we're not already there. Yeah. I love that. It's a universal feeling. So I think it's really important that on the days where we're really struggling to feel our worth or feel like we're doing enough to be like, okay, hey, I have 100% survival rate up until today. I got here. We've survived our terrible days. We've trudged through the painfully ordinary days and we've also obviously thrived through the great ones. So that's not nothing. You love your kid. You're trying your best. So let's just do the next right thing. Come on, Frozen 2.

[54:18] Misha Brown: That's really beautiful. Thank you for sharing that. So when the strip show comes to be, we've got Jeanette announcing everybody. We have the entire town there. I don't know if this was how you staged it, but most of the time the audience members are in the audience. So the people who have come to see the show are there with the audience in the theater, which really creates this cool atmosphere. But there is one person missing and it's Jerry. He has told everyone that he's not coming back and doing it. He's taken some whatever job as a security guard or he's given up and doesn't want to participate. It is actually Nathan, the son, who gives him a final pep talk and says, I'm proud of you, dad.

I love that you stood up for me and did this crazy thing to try and bring our family closer. So for his son, he decides to come in last minute and join the show, which is all embodied in this number called Let It Go, a great song, both lyrically and emotionally, but also the sound of it. It sounds and says exactly what it needs to say. It builds up to this final moment where they go the full Monty. The fun thing about this show is all of the fun theatrical details. Where do their mics go? You know what I mean? There are always fun things that I think people then think about. By the way, they're probably hidden in the police hat always. I don't know. I've never heard an audience get more excited by the ending of a show than this one. Is it more because of all of the emotion and personal stuff that they have seen leading up to it, knowing what these guys had to believe in in order to do it?

[56:19] Misha Brown: Yes, it's far more that than any actual skin or physique that they may be showing off. I also just unlocked a new memory, not a new memory, but something that I tucked away. I was running this show in rep.

[56:26] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Wait, with what? Please tell me.

[56:29] Misha Brown: I was playing Richie Cunningham in Happy Days the Musical.

[56:33] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Wow. Okay.

[56:38] Misha Brown: Literally, it was split weeks. The set designer did a really great job that we could literally use the set for both shows, just turn things around. We talked about it all the time. The difference in audience reaction and energy, Wednesday matinee of Happy Days the Musical to Friday night of Full Monty. I can only imagine. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. This has been so much fun. Thank you, Misha, for spending some time with me to chat. Before we leave, you mentioned the loneliness epidemic. There are a couple of statistics that I just want to throw out there that Scott Galloway, who's an author and podcaster, he always talks about in terms of basically the male loneliness pandemic. Men are four times more likely to die by suicide than women.

Men account for four out of five suicides. Men are three times more likely to be addicted or homeless. Men are 12 times more likely to be incarcerated. I can't help but feel like this show helps us see that maybe there are some other systems at work that are failing our men in society. It can't just be that men are awful, but that we do need to look out for each other and create community because power and privilege are not the same thing as community. I love that these men in this musical were able to find a community with each other. I love that you've been able to curate your community and create your community online. Thank you for being here.

[58:24] Misha Brown: What I'm hearing is we need to produce a production of The Full Monty.

[58:29] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Come on, baby. Hello?

[58:30] Misha Brown: Absolutely. Spread the word.

[58:31] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It feels relevant. I think it would be a great thing for people to put in their seasons for 2026, 2027. Just saying. As always, if you have recommendations for shows you'd like us to cover on A Musical Theater Podcast, you can always email me at amusicalpodcasts at gmail.com. We also hope that you'll join us at Patreon! That's patreon.com slash amusicalpodcast, where for only a few dollars a month, you can join our fun little community there, where we have polls and essays and contests, and it's so much fun. So please join us at patreon! We also are on social media, where we're always posting content. Please comment, share, like, because the more you do, the more people hear about this show, and our community here grows.

If you're looking to give back, we have some great designs in our Tee Public store that you can put on any number of products, and the profits we receive from those go to Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS. More than anything, I'm just happy you're here. I'm grateful you're alive, and I'm grateful that you can share in these fun conversations with me. Hey, Misha, thank you again for being here. Can you please remind us how we follow you, get your book, all the fun stuff?

[59:49] Misha Brown: Yeah, you can find me on social media everywhere, at your bestie Misha, and you can find information for my book and my tour on my social media channels, or you can get my book, Be Your Own Bestie, literally wherever you get your books.

[1:00:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Fantastic. Congratulations. So happy that you were able to spend this time with us, everybody out there. Thank you for listening, and remember, let it go, let it go, let it go. That's right. It's a bop.