This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Darin De Paul: Welcome to the show!

[0:30] Alex Stompoly: Hey everyone, glad to be here!

[0:50] Madelyn Murphy: Excited to dive into today's topics!

[1:10] RJ Christian: Let's get started!

[1:30] Darin De Paul: So, what are we discussing today?

[1:50] Alex Stompoly: I think we should talk about self-care in this industry.

[2:10] Madelyn Murphy: Absolutely, it's so important!

[2:30] RJ Christian: And finding personal space can be a challenge.

[2:50] Darin De Paul: Right, especially with how busy things can get.

[3:10] Alex Stompoly: What are some of your nighttime routines?

[3:38] Madelyn Murphy: I love winding down with a good book.

[4:06] RJ Christian: I usually listen to music to relax.

[4:34] Darin De Paul: That's a great way to transition into sleep.

[5:02] Alex Stompoly: And what about the science of comedy?

[5:30] Madelyn Murphy: It's fascinating how humor works!

[5:58] RJ Christian: Definitely, timing is everything.

[6:26] Darin De Paul: And the delivery can make or break a joke.

[6:54] Alex Stompoly: It's all about connecting with the audience.

[7:20] Madelyn Murphy: Speaking of connection, how do you all find that balance?

[7:48] RJ Christian: I think it comes down to being authentic.

[8:16] Darin De Paul: Agreed, authenticity resonates with people.

[8:44] Alex Stompoly: And it helps build trust.

[9:12] Madelyn Murphy: Trust is key in any performance.

[9:40] RJ Christian: So, what are some tips for maintaining that balance?

[10:08] Darin De Paul: Setting boundaries is crucial.

[10:36] Alex Stompoly: And knowing when to say no.

[11:04] Madelyn Murphy: It's okay to prioritize your well-being.

[11:32] RJ Christian: Absolutely, self-care should never be overlooked.

[12:00] Darin De Paul: Let's keep this conversation going!

[12:35] Darin De Paul: Yeah, but it's not like a show. No, there's no group recordings like there used to be. I've done some when we did Puss in Boots. It was like, it was like this. Yeah, Bowser doing everything and that Newman over there was what I always assumed cartoons were like when I was like younger. I was like, yeah, surely they're all sitting in a room together. No. Yeah. Warner Brothers now on some of the movies, they'll the director is really great. His name is Wes Johnson and he's just Wes Gleason. Sorry. He's really great. He'll bring four people in at a time to record together. You may not necessarily be doing scenes with each other, but he's like, you know, Alex, would you read this part just so that they have, you know, fun.

So you're like reading for each other. Yeah. Everybody's there. And it's that it just elevates it. Yeah. And you're all excited to act with each other like what we did today. It's thrilling and exhausting and, and, you know, just utter joy, getting to share those moments and look in someone else's eye and see how their energy and their creativity is going to just spark you forward. I mean, last night, RJ and Connor and Diego were doing bad rap warmups. And then I was like, well, hell, I want to play. And I watched you just go like, oh, yeah, I get this. Yeah, I'll let me jump into. Oh, like just so much fun. But yeah, that was Connor. He's like, well, why don't you do it? No. Yeah. Yes. And come on in.

Yeah. But I did. And I'm like, cool. I'm part of you guys. You know, that's what this is about. It's so great. But I feel you in the like, I think that's, that's one of the things about to your point, Maddie, of like having like, you're here all the time. I've had to work really hard to go like, all right, I'm going to carve out scene time and space time and to go like, all right, I'm going to go to open mics and I'm going to go to improv nights and stuff that aren't just us here in the green room and getting on and it takes time and energy. And yeah, I think for me, I'm actually finding in this special year, I, I am more and more. I think I'm a lizard because as the as the sun comes out, why are you clawing at your flesh to reveal what lies under where the worms are?

I'm also RJ holding a heat lamp over. Yeah, there's a series. Let me just lay upon this rock and lazily blink. No, I think it's a now that you Edward Albee play. Thank you for the lizard underscoring. I really appreciate it. As the as the spring is, is peaking through and starting to warm up. It's the sunshine. Like, yeah, you can just if I just need to go outside and feel sun on my face, and I am 1000 times more equipped for the day. Um, and then otherwise, I'm just like Rasputin creeping through the winter. I'm just like, you know, you're we're all houseplants. Like water and sunlight will really kind of transform it really at the end. I mean, you've you've you genuinely forget when you get like in a slump, but like have like, have your water hit the sun you go.

Oh, that's that good stuff. That's amazing. I thought I was having a really good February this year. And then the first day it was 60. I was like, Oh, God, I've wanted to kill everybody for a month. Well, you're still having a good fit. Do it. I made it through yet another February without my like Joker origin story kicking off. Yeah, it's the same for Pakistani film. Right? Yeah, my goodness. Yeah, more and more also as as I get older. It's like before it used to be oh, I was hungry. I just needed a meal or oh, I needed a win with work. I was chasing a job and I like finally got some sort of validation. And now I'm like, when I feel really low, I'm like you drink I have that Nalgene bottle I go drink all of it 32 ounces of water and sleep for more than five hours and I'll wake up the next day and be like I can't die.

Yeah, I'm invincible. I went for a walk. Yeah, just it is the little things more and more that I go that's really just what I need. And when I I get so used to being depleted in them that I forget what it is to just have a healthy baseline walking in the city is not only great exercise, but it's always changing. Yep. You know, what store windows are going to be different? What route are you going to take? What people you're going to see what as an actor? What are you going to observe? When Deb was doing Little Shop, because we're down, you know, by 14th? Yeah, I would walk up to the all the way, you know, all the way across the 52nd Street to the August Wilson because I'm like, No, I want to experience I'm mostly in LA.

When I was dating my wife, and she lived in Alphabet City, and I lived in what was East Williamsburg at the time, but it's Bushwick. And I would I had nothing to do. I was working like two nights a week in a restaurant. I've been in New York for we started dating when I've been here a month because it's not fair. But I would get up, I would walk her all the way down Houston over to she works on like Spring Street. And then I would eat and walk all the way back down Houston over the Williamsburg Bridge through Brooklyn and to home it'd take me like two hours, but like, it was great. When I went around the city when the weather was good, when we were when we first moved into the theater, and we were in tech and, you know, touch up rehearsals.

And, you know, I was only peripherally around then because I was only the understudy rules were a little bit different. Yeah. Oh yeah. 30 minutes or so had to be near and with all you know, train and everything like that was always the case for me. But early on in that when we were down here at the theater and the weather was lovely. I'd walk home when I was done and I'm on 135th and it would just be lovely because I'd walk up through I just walk up seventh I'd hit Columbus Circle and that's when I would kind of walk and I'd sort of ping pong back and forth throughout the park knowing that I'd pop out at like 116th right there and then just straight up seven to get up ACP and it was lovely. I would either it would either audiobook podcast or if I hadn't talked to a friend in a hot second I just call him like do you have two hours that's about how long this is going to take me and then just have that dialogue all the way through love a walk and talk the best oh that's how you get on the phone with me for about an hour and a half like and also to a lot of my phone conversations are parallel play I can call you up and if we have a good enough relationship we don't have to speak I call my best friend all the time we could be on the phone for almost two hours maybe 30 minutes for actual dialogue but we're both just taking care of things in our respective worlds and we just know each other is in know somebody's there yeah I did a lot of that in the pandemic uh weirdly through the Nintendo app but anyway I mean yeah maybe it's because I'm old which I am kids which you'll see if you come to the 20-sided tavern March 20th through 25th um younger kids when I was with Geek and Sundry they didn't want to talk on the phone and I'd call and he'd be like I'll text and it's maybe it's just an you like talking on the phone I I do yeah very very much my wife and I talk all the time I love talking on the phone too and and there are people that are New Yorkers in LA that will call but most everyone just texts and they don't want to talk on the phone because it's you know you call them like what's wrong yeah who died what and it's like no I'm just just calling to say what's up I think it's people I think you're either a phone person or you're not my my dad is quite old sadly my dad would think you're a young buck and and is don't want to talk on the phone if I'm being honest I hate talking on the phone I'm one of those youngsters I can't it gets it makes me anxious I don't know I'm like I don't see you I can't tell what you want from me and if this is about how better from a fucking text well I know with you you kids don't even punctuate no more listen I'll let's just bounce back and forth emails if it's business you could you could text me come come see me I don't know something about phone calls and maybe it's just about the phone calls I've taken it's put me on guard like I don't know when to leave I don't know what you want um is it just you just as always assume it's somebody calling about your car's extended warranty most of the time it is hardly anyone calls me is the thing as well it's like it's my mom and my dad and my insurance and that's about it sure RJ remind me again how how different are we in age I know you just had a birthday I just turned 26 okay so how prevalent was a home phone for you we had a landline uh-huh I mean with I was I didn't really use it you know I just knew it was there man we had to fight each other for the line and then the secondary question is when you started with a cell phone which do you remember what age you got a cell phone on I was probably like 13 or so okay I had one of those like flip ones with like the keyboard per Jeff what was the was there a nice and weekend stipulation I I'm working to a point oh I I think I might have had an unlimited plan see and this is where we oh I think I think this is 25 cents of fucking text economics well well no I I yeah because I think like you know 31 but I had a home phone and I mean we also it was one of those like if the internet was going you weren't speaking on the phone anymore but that's how you just like that's how you communicate with the kids in the neighborhood we we physically like that that was it it was either that or you go to their house have so many of my childhood friends I remember almost every every landline number that I have we haven't had it in years and then on the flip end of that when I finally got the cell phone angle it was only convenient like at a certain texting wasn't the integrant thing and then you had to wait so much longer to like call so I think there's all of that being is like then you're inheriting a cell phone at a time where there's a societal pressure that that means you're instantly available and I think people struggle with every day the back and forth of like what does that cell phone mean to me and I think a lot of people and I I float through the sometimes of like the cell phone everyone knows I have it so there's this like weird pressure of like I have to respond or I have to be present and then everyone's always apologize so I think like there's just a lot of intriguing like small a little little differences there well now and again I am an I'm an old person yes I want the truly multi-generational and I will just say I could leave a group text yeah don't enjoy it you don't like getting out of the shower I keep doing messages oh you found it funny oh look there's a dancing pig okay what's the news that you want me to know I was saying I'm uh again I'm also a phone talker because I'm in a long distance relationship so thank goodness because texts yeah can't can't be together a year when you only text can't do it I'd be like this is a best friendship like you need to talk um but also what I don't do well on is online forums which I very much so appreciate them yeah but it is the I remember somebody in college showed me reddit for the first time and it went nope because it is a wealth of information shared at high speed constant reactions referring to something 18 messages behind and my brain does not respond to that well like I just cannot take in information so more and more I just like all I want is a porch and would go like much like how you know I've had that far away from the cold night air no I just want a porch where it's like I am having a mug of coffee and you can pass by and sit for a spell let's chit chat how's your cat you're just a 70 year old southern woman 100 you give me a rocking chair come on up to the porch for some sweet tea I would love that except in my family the equivalent would be like would you like a lacroix yeah well that was you know doing the the voices and games and animation a lot of my compatriots will stream on twitch sure have a great time yeah I I couldn't read it everybody's yelling for attention and it's like I'd rather just talk to someone one-on-one have a conversation so that they feel seen and heard instead of a yes uh happy uh doggie 37 yeah apparently there are other 36 happy doggies and uh allegedly the dog I don't know I can't I don't know what you want sending me this message can you say the line that I like why what does that do for you I do gotta ask you but how old were you when you got a cell phone oh gosh all heck um um I started using that phrase when I was here oh gee Wilkerson did that at first I I'm I was very sort of analog and sure it must have been because we were doing tours um so I would say gosh 20 so years ago or something it must have been and because you know there was many many a year that

[25:11] Darin De Paul: Debra would be on the road in a show, and I'd be here in New York, and then she'd get back, a month would go by, and I'd get a national tour for two years, and then I'm gone. So it was just having that connection. We'd go, I'm going to talk to you in the morning, and I'm going to talk to you at night. That was Debra's phone. Yeah, three numbers in your cell phone. Mine was like, I'm going to talk to you in the morning, I'm going to call five minutes later, and I'm going to call five minutes later, go, hi, how are you? And then you'll hate me and divorce me, and then I'll call you back and we'll get married again. But it was that thing of that connection. Because that, look, we're theater people.

That's what we seek. That's also what we provide, is that connection to humanity and others. And you can get that a lot here. Much, you know, sometimes the subways you hate, but it's, you're seeing people you're- Oh man, yeah, that's the thing about New York. Is that what you mean? Like you are, we are on top of each other. It is really, I find it, it's the thing where New Yorkers are, where nobody's mean, they're just in a hurry, right? Like we just don't have time. The train's not going to wait. Like I have found this city to be, I'm from the Southeastern United States, where the Southern hospitality is a fucking lie. Like everybody's a judgmental prick down there. And like, it's because everybody has space, people are far away from each other.

And like in New York, I've found to be a much more empathetic place because everybody's on top of each other. And like, not everybody's going to stop and help you when you drop something, but somebody will. In LA, I tell you, I have seen so many times, people making a right turn from the far left lane. And merging is basically, you know, when they're coming on, it's your problem, you have, they're just going to cut you off. It's so dangerous, what I have seen driving. And Deborah didn't drive until she met me and she still does not like to drive. So when she has a session, she's terrified. And when I'll offer to drive her, I can't, because it's crazy out there. Again, because in the car.

[27:09] RJ Christian: Have you driven here? Have you driven in New York?

[27:11] Darin De Paul: Yes, I have.

[27:12] RJ Christian: It doesn't bother me at all. I drive the city a lot. I used to drive the van. The traffic's fine, but like, it's a team sport, man. People are letting people in.

[27:19] Darin De Paul: It was scary. I mean, when you worked at Paper Mill or Jersey Shakespeare, they'd park a van, someone from the cast would get paid a little more to drive. And it was normally across the street at the garage, there's where you get the van. But then trying to get it back, you know, after a show, when everyone's on the streets and you cannot turn, that was terrifying. But I normally left everybody off. I'd try to drop them off at their closest streets. And then I would deal with that instead of, we're making two stops, one at the theater and one here.

[27:53] RJ Christian: If I may, Darin.

[27:54] Darin De Paul: Please, you may.

[27:55] RJ Christian: I was just so curious how we kicked off this conversation and never got to, like, what is a way that you, with your, by Coastal, the driving, the whole thing, how do you and Deb relax? Like, do you have a tradition at night that helps you kind of put yourself at rest?

[28:10] Darin De Paul: We'll try to watch a show. Deborah will read. I've got a book or comics. I have a very geeky thing that has been, if I cannot sleep for years, because I'm a major Star Wars fan, a major Star Wars action figure collector, admitting it on the thing. And for many years, I'll go, well, what figures don't I have? What figures could they make? And I'd, like, count. It was like counting sheep.

[28:36] RJ Christian: Counting sheep.

[28:37] Darin De Paul: And I'd start going, oh, this show, they did it. Counting obscure Jedi.

[28:40] RJ Christian: Yeah, obscure, like, background aliens from the cantina. And you're like, I'm boring, I'm boring. And you fall asleep. So I would do that. But it's kind of winding down. I just read a great book by David Mitchell about English kings, but it was very funny. David Mitchell's a comedian in London. But it's just like reading something kind of heady, but also going, oh, this is really cool. And then just drifting off that way.

[29:03] RJ Christian: I officially have a book light that I keep in my bed frame. And now I'm, that's how I go to sleep.

[29:08] Darin De Paul: It's reading. And I set it to the amber setting. So it's just me with my book.

[29:12] RJ Christian: It's the color of your energy.

[29:13] Darin De Paul: And if I wake up at 3 a.m. now, instead of looking at my phone.

[29:15] RJ Christian: 3.11 a.m.

[29:17] Darin De Paul: It unwittingly. Yep. Honestly, sometimes.

[29:20] RJ Christian: I'm just making jokes for nobody but me over here. It's okay. Doing 3.11 jokes. I'm done now.

[29:25] Darin De Paul: I don't even know what a 3.11 joke is.

[29:27] RJ Christian: 3.11 is a band and they had a song called Amber. Go on.

[29:31] Darin De Paul: Cool. Yeah, I've taken to some. I'll often, if I'm up at 3.11, I'll then pop out my book light and I'll read.

[29:40] RJ Christian: Oh, wait. Did someone come in here?

[29:42] Darin De Paul: Hey, we're 3.11. Did somebody mention us?

[29:45] RJ Christian: Yeah, we did.

[29:45] Darin De Paul: It's sort of like Beetlejuice. If you just say her name once, we show up. We love your song, Amber.

[29:49] RJ Christian: I know you need gigs, but you need to come original more.

[29:53] Darin De Paul: Amber, Amber, I want to clamber on you.

[29:58] RJ Christian: Bye, everybody.

[30:00] Darin De Paul: Thank you, 3.11.

[30:01] RJ Christian: 3.11.

[30:02] Darin De Paul: I can't believe you guys forgot the words to your own song.

[30:07] RJ Christian: No, it's a new version.

[30:08] Darin De Paul: They're gone.

[30:09] RJ Christian: Yeah, it's a remix. They're gone. They're gone forever.

[30:11] Darin De Paul: We're returning the van back to Jersey Shake.

[30:13] RJ Christian: Yeah, that's true.

[30:14] Darin De Paul: They're only making two stops, though.

[30:17] RJ Christian: One at 3 and one at 11.

[30:18] Darin De Paul: That is what I love about these people.

[30:19] RJ Christian: We're taking that left turn from the right lane.

[30:20] Darin De Paul: Oh, God. Goddamn 3.11. I love these people. Then that's the show and that's the joy of this show, the terror for me in this show. And your mind is always going, but you know that everyone has your back.

[30:31] RJ Christian: Sure.

[30:31] Darin De Paul: And some little thing is not just a dropped note. Someone's going to see it. Someone's going to take it. Someone's going to use it. Once you do it for long enough, it changes you. I can't turn it off anymore. I fully like, I'm just doing bits and I'm like, I'm so sorry. I took it home. Like, just, I'm always like, let's extend this bit for one minute. You know, me and my roommate that was just in the kitchen. Like, let's, this is now 20-sided tabard. Well, because something's funny and then it's not funny and then it's funny again.

[31:00] RJ Christian: Yeah.

[31:01] Darin De Paul: If you do it long enough. That was Jerry Zaks when he directed Little Shop and I did the tour. And Anthony Rapp was our Seymour, another DVD player. But he said, the first time, my darling, my darling, the first time the plant talks, you stare at it. You wait for one laugh. Then you'll wait for two laughs. You gotta wait for that third one. It goes, I know it'll take a while, but that's the gold. It's like, just hold and don't move. And it went also, also the key to acting, my darling, is when you ask a question, you go up. When you make a statement, you go down. That's it. Stop acting so much.

[31:35] RJ Christian: Thank you. I could have saved myself $120,000 in four years.

[31:39] Darin De Paul: Yeah. It was so great. But I love that it worked every night with just like, feed me. And Anthony, you know, big laugh. Then hold, didn't move. Uncomfortable laugh.

[31:51] RJ Christian: Yeah. Yep.

[31:52] Darin De Paul: Hold, hold, hold. And you're like, how is this a science? This shouldn't work.

[32:00] RJ Christian: Well, and it is, I don't know. I don't know the answer to how is it a science, but I think just to also to your point of like, just overload too. It's nice to be able to do something where you can take a minute and have silence and like use, yeah.

[32:15] Darin De Paul: That's it. I think that's a huge part in the, whatever that equation of comedy is, is silence because there are, we've all watched that media and there is, there is certain elements to it that work of that kind of joke overload. Some sitcoms practice it quite a bit where it is laugh after laugh, after laugh, after laugh. And the design of that though, is that not every person listening is going to get every single joke. They're getting their own like little beat in there. But silence is just like, is extremely important when it comes to like really effective comedy, because it is a, it's a nice like reset moment. And it's, it just, it just makes everything feel more impactful when it's said, because it can, you can, you can sometimes get to a weird place of if your acceptance as a performer of silence being uncomfortable, you just start filling it and you just start speaking, speaking, speaking, speaking, speaking. We all go, oh, we're uncomfortable in a very different way now.

[33:12] RJ Christian: It's the fall on your face attitude of it all. I know that I started doing improv in college and years and years and subsequently in Chicago. And there's years of just like, you bomb, you bomb, you, you try something it's, and then you get scared. So then you-

[33:26] Darin De Paul: The third laugh never comes.

[33:27] RJ Christian: Yeah, you double down. And it's that of like the, the art of sometimes learning to be like, I'm going to sit in it. And I am okay. A when you fall on your face, and you go, oh, that was uncomfortable. I'm fine. And then once you stop being so afraid, then there's also that moment of like, I don't have to fill this space, I can sit here and I'll find something. And also I was like, also silence is really funny. It's the thing much more than being frantic is like, we're just sit there. That when we're talking about mischief theater, my friend, and when Steve Martin went to see them do Peter Pan goes wrong. He said, chaos isn't funny. Controlled chaos is funny.

[34:07] Darin De Paul: Yeah, yes.

[34:08] RJ Christian: And that's it. It's knowing, having that chaotic discipline. And it's hard. But it's like when you get that alchemy, you're like, oh, yeah.

[34:18] Darin De Paul: There's so many moments if you I've had the pleasure of I'm not I've seen them when they did play that goes wrong on Broadway. And I've done it. And that script award winning is thank you for the Baltimore area. Thank you so much. It came with nothing. As I print off my own certificate. Thanks, Microsoft Word. My mind you're at a kinko spending 60 cents for that page. Table or nothing. No, they didn't even tell me I won. I had to look myself up. Like I was I was refreshing that page like every so often I really wanted to know because I did not launch an aggressive vote for me campaign was lovely.

[35:05] RJ Christian: Earned then.

[35:06] Darin De Paul: Thank you. But no, but that script like finally getting my hands on it. It is a giant math equation. It is very, very well thought out. And if you they have put out a very expert plan in there. And those just those beautiful beats. I mean, from the very beginning, Robert is the character. Robert is stuck behind a door. I'm not even on stage for my first five lines of dialogue. They've done the beautiful beats of the dead body getting up and falling down and getting up and falling down. And then it cuts to what should be an entrance scene that physically cannot happen. So I'm using door as punctuation. And it's the silence of me not succeeding to get in to be able to get a laugh from an audience without them ever seeing me or knowing where I'm coming from was brilliant.

And then like finally hastily running in. And it was very frantic. And the laugh didn't come from the frantic run in the laugh came from the very quick, like, and now we're in it again moment is has great. There's a wonderful actor. I don't know if any of you know, he won a Tony. He was in Spamalot original cast and Michael McGraw. We had dinner with his wife last night. And Michael, I'll start the story. I never got to meet him. Deb got to meet him. Michael's a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant comedian and a very kind man. He went to sleep last year and did not wake up. So I just these things. It's coming for us all. Hey, let's talk later. But Michael was in Tootsie the musical. It wasn't funny.

Michael was the what played the agent. Michael's the only funny thing in it. And, but Michael had like, was it not supposed to be funny? It was just bad. It was okay. Just did it. They made it a Hollywood thing. And there they made as a Broadway show instead of a soap opera. It just we're laughing, but it didn't quite work. But Michael was the agent, but they cut it down to two scenes. Both those scenes were hysterical. But the thing is, Michael has to come in as the agent see, you know, Dorothy aggressive air quotes, and then leave and not know that it's his his client. And he left and the door stays shut. And opens so slowly that any other director would have said, we really have to speed it up.

Now, but Michael control, and they went biggest laugh in the show, because it just went so. And then his head comes up to go, did I just see what I saw? And I, one of those moments, and that's how Michael approached comedy was a big Gleason fan and then Python fan. And you look at that, you were saying the discipline in that. That's what I mean, that's what this show is. There is so much discipline and everybody picking up every thread. And, you know, you coming in with laser sharp, you know, insights and grips and just, yeah, every time I watched it, I'm just.

[37:47] Madelyn Murphy: Yeah, absolutely. I'm pumped every day. Were you saying this on a mic? Your mom always tells you that you get to laugh. Yeah, I'm so grateful. Shoutout to Jodi Murphy of Just. I certainly quit my 9-5 to be able to come back to the tavern and I was so grateful. Like, that's the dream. But I remember at the crux of really seriously considering my side because I just was doubting myself. And my mom went, Persevere. You make people laugh. You don't, like, Maddie, keep going. And now every day I call her, I called her just an hour ago and it was the same where she's just like, who do you want to play? What is something you hope for today? And remember, you get to bring people joy. And you cannot have a bad attitude when there's a reminder of this is what I get to do for work. And it is that. It's such a joy to be like, people have gathered here for our little weird world and I get to be a goofball. And that is truly the privilege of my life.

[39:21] Madelyn Murphy: I'll tell one more Michael story. I just think Michael's a brilliant guy that people should know. He played Groucho in The Coconuts when they revived it. And he was just as brilliant. Please look up anything you can see of Michael McGraw in his speeches. And he's having a great, we saw a matinee and he is hitting all cylinders and it's great. And I guess there was someone asleep in the front row. And he's doing a song and he goes, you know, wait a minute, stop. And he leaves the stage and he comes back with a pillow and he's like, you need this more than I do. And he gives this lady the pillow. The biggest laugh, she's like clapping along and it's that kind, the show allowed you to do that. But it's those moments when it's like, you don't sit there going, damn it. They don't like what I'm doing. It's like, okay, let's acknowledge it and make it a positive. Fold it in.

[40:12] RJ Christian: Yeah. I'd say like my comedy heroes are among them are Carol Burnett, Tim Conway. And because it was like, I think one of the most things that shaped me ever as a kid is watching Carol Burnett with my grandma. And when she comes out with the drapes and it's, she says nothing. It's just the entrance. Great episode. Yeah. Great episode. And also anytime Tim Conway's willingness to be still and serious, I think like it was that. Unbreakable. He only broke famously, I think once or twice, including like when she was wearing her lucky ham, the shark got her. Yeah. But I remember my Nana being like, Maddie, Maddie, Maddie. And she, you know, my big Italian grandma with her Virginia Slim outside of her manicured hand.

She was like, you watch, you watch this man. He can't be broken. And then the one time he does, she's like, that was brilliant because you see the ultimate expert, their one downfall. And there was always something that I found so striking about that gravitas. And it's like, make an entrance, sit in it and commit. Watch that show every morning at 7 a.m. and syndication before I left for school and own a very incomplete set of DVDs because they'll never, they cannot release all of them. They lost the time to CBS. I kind of like that it's like that. It's sort of, you have to really go find it.

[41:27] Darin De Paul: Yeah. I had a moment like that today because, yes, you guys are brilliant. You're brilliant. I think you are unbreakable. And there was a moment where I was so incredibly stupid that I was like, you're either going to kill me or you're liking it because your eyes were just like, when Chester got so incredibly dumb. Oh, man. And he just stared at me for two seconds with this thing of like, I'm coming at your eyes. No, I was vibrating on the inside. I was so happy. I was so excited. I truly was like, don't, don't. I wanted to break so badly. This was, this was a bit where we were like, oh, we're worried about Chester. And Chester's got one, you know, brain cell rattling around there. And we go to have an aside to talk about Chester.

And Darren follows us and then proceeds to talk about Chester as Chester. He's like, oh yeah, Chester would totally wouldn't do this. And he committed so, we were talking about like, we're going to get him a present. He's like, Chester would like a hammer. He would love that. He would love that. And I was dying because it was just, I was dying because it was just so funny. Dupinity is a lot of fun to play if you play it smart.

[42:30] Madelyn Murphy: See, one thing I love about this show is I, I historically am, there's unbreakable people. I am a piece of paper. Like I, I cannot hold a character for five seconds without giggling. And it is so fun because we can, we have the ability to just laugh at each other. And it's fine. And you can be with the audience and just be like, yeah, that was so funny. Or that was so weird. And then just get back into it as, and like, no, no love lost and no, no fun lost. We're good.

[43:04] Darin De Paul: Thank you, Connor. Connor's here now. Oh, con daddy. Would you like to comment, sir? Or would you like to be quietly here? He just held up his hands and nodded. No. I will say, you know, having just met everybody a couple of days ago, still when you're on that stage, you're going through this together and there's that sense of, I just want to hug these people. Awesome. They're so good. They're, they're so, they've got your back and it's that kind of show. And I think the audience feels that they're on everybody's side and they're willing to take the journey. Also, I mean, here, I mean, they're quite literally part of it. There will be nights when they don't, you have audiences that are absolutely playing the game with you and you have audiences that don't quite understand the game. If you want my opinions and views on this, you'll listen to the first time I guess it on this podcast.

[44:00] Madelyn Murphy: I mean, yeah. Well met. You know, but, but, but they're absolutely part of it because they're pitching us jokes. Like they're part of the like, and sometimes they're just absolutely on it. And yeah, those are the, I think those are the most magical nights is when it doesn't feel like it feels like hundreds of people telling a story together. It's rad. I think it's one of the, it's the thing that makes us here at the Tavern. I am very impressed by this and I have always been impressed by this, by the group that we have assembled here is that everyone is their own individual style of comedy and storytelling and no one is seeking to absorb someone else's. Fundamentally, things that Maddie, RJ, Connor, you, Murray, do that I, I cannot do because it is not my voice would feel very disingenuine if it came from me and vice versa.

My voice is very specific to me and I've had a lot of conversations about this throughout my career. It's always brilliant when the audience is being very genuine to their, yes, their moment and their, um, their style. And it's not a forced thing, but I think that's what makes the, you know, we're going back again, Maddie talking about the Carol Burnett show. They were all very true and honest to their voices.

[45:06] RJ Christian: I mean, make no mistake. I will break. It does happen. I, and when I go, I break, like I break, like Harvey Cormack, I will just sit there and I will find you all. I have to wheel. I have to, my stool now spins because I have to go the other way. It's crazy when it finally happens to me. I love it when you're like, you stop and explain to everybody why you're laughing. So it's so great. The stages of the stomp break is, it's my absolute favorite of, there's different ones where it's purse mouth. You're vibrating a little there as you spin around. And it's when the hand goes on the face that we know we've reached top tier stomp is broken. I'll also snort. It's the, you, everyone's heard it, but like y'all will say something very fun.

And often too, it will, it will be a very big scene that publicly everyone has noted, but I get the privilege of by my, my little TK DM screen. One of you will always be sitting right in front of me and just drop the quietest, most collectively unappreciated joke because it wasn't said with any kind of volume. And I get it. And it's just a treat for me that will, it will tickle me. It does. It tickles me, but I have to give credit. You stump. You made me break the hardest I ever have. And this was a few weeks ago. It was, remember when I had a hump and you were the only one who caught it. And then you just, this is, and, and stop. It's the very end of the show. It's the Epic, you know, what story will you create?

That is a story for another day. It's beautiful. And we're supposed to be quiet on the bench and really just let that sink in. And stump made a comment pointing out the fact that I did this failed bit and I, I, but I didn't think it failed. Wasn't it when you walked up and somebody said something and you just went, I just wanted to show off my hump and left.

[47:12] Madelyn Murphy: Well, it was because at the very beginning of that show and it's the listening that happens on the stage. It was the very beginning of that show. Cause you all were putting to your body parts for a dead body. And there was a very light Frankenstein line that never got picked up. Like it was, I love when an idea, cause it's like a writer's room, right? And so we'll pitch a bunch at the very beginning. And then you take the idea that works and then you just have to quietly like kill your darlings. And so any 20 sided tavern show, there's 14 storylines that got cut within the first 10 minutes and you all witnessed them. But it managed to get, we've, cause you were playing Barry and like you came through, it was a straight up Igor.

It was, it was, it was just an Igor moment. It was so brilliant. We were talking about reanimation. And so I put my helmet in my, you put your helmet in your hump. And so I just changed one of the, one of the, one of the lines at the very end of our, of the DMTK back and forth about like, how will the adventures fair in a land of your creation? I was like, will they triumph in combat or will they revisit putting a dead body back together? I was, I, it caught me off guard and I like scream cackled. So it was also just a moment where I was like, Oh no, at the one time I'm not supposed to be.

[48:29] Darin De Paul: Well, that's, I tell you though, that's the best gift about being like, there's a, there's a great, great gifts about being in the show. One of the best gifts about being tavern keeper is being able to watch it from the position that you do and being able to like the, the, um, the gift of being able of the opportunity to retain everything that you all do to then like, bring some things back or to be able to comment on it a different way. Cause y'all are stunning and eh, but I'm not here to talk about you.

[48:58] Madelyn Murphy: Well, I mean, I think we've, I think at this point we've talked about each other quite a lot and we have to go and do the show that we all love so much. Um, but I would like to give a little special shout out because Darren premieres in two days. Yes. On Thursday. When it comes out, get your ass here tomorrow night. Come party. And we just also had a full stumble through today. And to say, I cannot, sir, explain how excited I am to get to work with you. Ye, the energy and the Tom foolery and the amount of times you had me cackling today just is such a joy and a delight. And my goodness, you belong here and we're so grateful to have you here.

[49:01] Madelyn Murphy: Oh, hell yeah. That's awesome. Uh, now, thank you seriously for being here and caring. And now Maddie's going to sing a stupid song. Take us out. We made Darren cry. We're siphoning in his tears. There's power in the salt and given in the beer. Let's go. Darren, give me a, I just because my tears, my tears, my tears, give me your tears. Darren, I'm siphoning them away. For $20,000. I hear the 27. Brought to you by the God tear tears. Darren Sears brought to you by God's tears. Maniac. Give me those tears. Darren.

[49:48] RJ Christian: Hey, adventurers. Thanks always for listening. And just a final note here that if you're enjoying the show, please throw us up on social media. Tell a friend, give us a review, throw some stars up on whatever. Hey, if you want to come hang out with us in New York, time is ticking down before we take the show on the road. So come see us at stage 42. Until next time. Hail and well met.

[49:57] Darin De Paul: I can't talk cause I'm crying.