This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Andrew: We've got a mission to find the best song that's ever been on Glee.

[0:09] Andrew: There's no rhyme or reason to it, so don't get mad at me.

[0:18] Andrew: Glacket by Glacket, we'll rank everyone to see which song will move closer to spot number one.

[0:26] Andrew: Gleek of the Week, Gleek, Gleek, Gleek of the Week.

[0:32] Andrew: It's Gleek, Gleek of the Week.

[0:56] Andrew: She's got such... and I haven't learned her last name, but that's not a sign of disrespect. I just feel like it's like Beyoncé, Madonna, Tracy.

[1:06] Conor: Oh, that one's old. Mononym name dropped there. Look at you with your vocabulary.

[1:14] Andrew: No, there are sometimes... oh my god.

[1:16] Andrew: Is that a word?

[1:18] Andrew: Robert isn't here yet. I don't want you guys to think like Robert is here listening to us talk about this.

[1:24] Andrew: Robert's just like, uh, I didn't realize that was happening.

[1:28] Andrew: Okay, what I was going to say was there are times where I will... and it's usually in episodes where I'm talking to people of note.

[1:40] Conor: Like me.

[1:42] Andrew: You know what I mean.

[1:44] Andrew: Where I'm really trying to impress them and that I'll use a word that I will use in the recording.

[1:50] Andrew: And when I'm editing, I'm like, um, let me actually look up the definition.

[1:54] Andrew: That's not what it means at all.

[1:56] Conor: I can confirm. Mononym.

[1:58] Andrew: Now, a person's name consisting of one word, typically a first name without a surname.

[2:02] Conor: So Tracy.

[2:04] Andrew: Tracy.

[2:06] Conor: That's where the car is already.

[2:08] Andrew: Tracy is a mononym.

[2:10] Conor: Tracy is a mononym.

[2:14] Andrew: She's not using her full name because she's really holding space for the Tracy part.

[2:22] Conor: For Tracy is a mononym.

[2:24] Andrew: In the Adam and Nikki episode, I said that there are certain songs, Glee songs, that are enoms better than the original.

[2:36] Conor: And I was like, what the fuck?

[2:40] Andrew: Did you mean eons?

[2:42] Conor: I meant eons.

[2:44] Andrew: And if you go back into the episode, because I literally sound like such a dumbass.

[2:48] Andrew: I recorded myself saying eons and just replaced it.

[2:54] Conor: And so you don't even get enoms.

[2:56] Andrew: You're joking.

[2:58] Conor: You're literally sitting there.

[3:00] Andrew: Eons.

[3:02] Conor: Eons.

[3:04] Andrew: I've done it before.

[3:06] Conor: You would never even know.

[3:08] Andrew: Where do we go from here?

[3:10] Andrew: I'm off my meds, as you can tell.

[3:12] Conor: No, this is fine.

[3:14] Andrew: Also, spoiler alert, this is the last episode of the year, so we're having a Christmas party.

[3:18] Andrew: Happy holidays, everyone.

[3:20] Conor: Holiday party in the class.

[3:22] Conor: Have you done all your Christmas shopping, Andrew?

[3:24] Andrew: I haven't done any of it.

[3:26] Andrew: Actually, part of the reason that I need to take off two weeks of talking about Glee and editing that Glee podcast and also making carousels for Glee podcast is because I'm also moving.

[3:38] Andrew: I'm moving on Friday.

[3:40] Andrew: I literally started packing today.

[3:44] Andrew: So I'm behind on everything.

[3:46] Conor: I'm really scared about it.

[3:48] Andrew: Don't be scared.

[3:50] Conor: It's exciting.

[3:52] Conor: How far away is it from Manhattan?

[3:54] Andrew: It's in Jersey City.

[3:56] Andrew: And I know that people are like New York or nowhere.

[3:58] Andrew: And if you don't actually live in the actual Manhattan, it doesn't actually count.

[4:02] Andrew: And that hurts to hear.

[4:04] Andrew: Because literally, you can leave my apartment and be in the city in ten minutes.

[4:08] Conor: Oh, fine.

[4:10] Conor: Fine.

[4:12] Andrew: And it's like you guys are being like actually like stick in the muds about like you don't actually live in the city.

[4:16] Andrew: You can't say you live in the city anymore.

[4:18] Andrew: People just making such a big deal out of it.

[4:20] Conor: Sorry, just one more disclaimer.

[4:22] Andrew: No, you're okay.

[4:24] Andrew: We promise.

[4:26] Andrew: We literally talked about Glee so much today with Robert.

[4:28] Conor: Yeah.

[4:30] Andrew: It's okay.

[4:32] Andrew: But I want to say last thing about my apartment.

[4:38] Andrew: For all the haters out there.

[4:40] Andrew: It's large.

[4:42] Andrew: And it's much more bagging for your buck than, you know, living in a damn Manhattan.

[4:48] Conor: How long have you been in your current apartment, though?

[4:52] Andrew: Four or three years.

[4:54] Andrew: I literally.

[4:56] Andrew: It's so funny you should ask.

[4:58] Andrew: Because I started Gleek of the Week in March of 2020.

[5:00] Andrew: So I guess we started recording in February of 2021.

[5:02] Andrew: And then I moved in May of 2021 here.

[5:08] Andrew: When I moved, when I moved, when I lived in London, it was like a cultural thing to just move houses once a year.

[5:14] Conor: Is that a thing in America?

[5:16] Conor: Like when you're in a big city?

[5:18] Andrew: I would not want to do that.

[5:20] Conor: No, I wouldn't.

[5:22] Conor: I know people, friends of mine, like move constantly.

[5:24] Conor: And it's like I don't even know where you live.

[5:26] Andrew: You've actually run out of places to move to.

[5:28] Conor: Yeah.

[5:30] Conor: Actually, you're back to square one.

[5:32] Andrew: You've lived in this apartment before.

[5:34] Conor: Oh, back again.

[5:36] Andrew: I do.

[5:38] Andrew: There's a lot I want to talk about.

[5:40] Andrew: I need to talk about Wicked.

[5:42] Conor: I know.

[5:44] Andrew: It's been so long since.

[5:46] Conor: It actually has been, hasn't it?

[5:48] Andrew: Yeah, it has.

[5:50] Andrew: I was out of matchups for you.

[5:52] Conor: That's so funny.

[5:54] Andrew: Connor is just such a fucking whore.

[5:56] Andrew: I need to just say, because you and Lena had major Wicked discourse last week on the episode, which I love.

[6:04] Conor: Shout out to my girl, Lena. Hope you're well.

[6:08] Andrew: Where do I even begin?

[6:10] Andrew: First things first.

[6:12] Andrew: I'm the realist.

[6:14] Andrew: Pairing Ariana and Cynthia together for that press tour is the best decision that anyone has ever made.

[6:20] Andrew: I know that it was almost a given, but it is the funniest thing I have ever experienced in my life.

[6:28] Andrew: And obviously, everyone is talking about the holding space of it all.

[6:36] Andrew: But coming in in second place, that people aren't talking about enough, is when Ariana gets a little bit emotional.

[6:42] Andrew: And she's kind of like, wow.

[6:44] Andrew: Audio medium.

[6:46] Conor: No, don't put that in the carousel.

[6:48] Andrew: And what I realized, and I know this sounds stupid, is that obviously we're getting to part two.

[6:54] Andrew: So we get to experience the memeification of it all, all over again in the coming months.

[7:00] Andrew: It's going to be fucking iconic.

[7:02] Andrew: It's so fascinating to me.

[7:04] Andrew: Because it's like, when do we see this?

[7:06] Andrew: Where else do we see a press tour, the same press tour, back to back?

[7:12] Conor: That's so crazy.

[7:14] Andrew: I'm not laughing.

[7:16] Andrew: And just to say, I'm not laughing at them getting emotional.

[7:18] Andrew: I'm getting emotional.

[7:20] Andrew: And I think the people who are judging them for getting emotional are absolute freaks.

[7:22] Andrew: But it's just funny that they're getting emotional.

[7:24] Conor: Do you know what I mean?

[7:26] Andrew: Like when you see Cynthia dabbing her eyes, but in the really long nails.

[7:32] Andrew: I mean, I literally said in last week's episode with Lena that I'm like, there was a period of time.

[7:40] Andrew: And I feel like I'm phased out of it.

[7:42] Andrew: But I'm like, I can't think about this story without crying.

[7:44] Andrew: So I get it.

[7:46] Andrew: Girls, listen.

[7:48] Andrew: We were there.

[7:50] Andrew: I get it.

[7:52] Andrew: I get crying inconsolably just thinking about it.

[7:54] Andrew: Just to let you know, I got invited to the Irish premiere because a friend of mine was in the West End cast of Wicked.

[8:02] Andrew: And asked me to go as their plus one.

[8:04] Andrew: But I was working, so I turned up to the green carpet.

[8:06] Andrew: And I literally kind of stood there, got some pictures and then left.

[8:10] Andrew: But I will say, I messaged Andrew for all of the listeners.

[8:14] Andrew: And I was like, oh my god, I need to hear your thoughts about Wicked.

[8:18] Andrew: And I have to say, you were very, very demure.

[8:22] Andrew: You were very, you're going to really like it.

[8:24] Andrew: And I'm grateful for that.

[8:26] Andrew: Because I literally couldn't breathe.

[8:28] Andrew: That was the day after.

[8:30] Andrew: And I don't think it really set in until a few days after the impact it had on me.

[8:36] Andrew: The thing with me is, whenever you introduce me to a piece of media where there's something connected to like childhood.

[8:44] Andrew: And like healing your inner child.

[8:46] Andrew: I am gone.

[8:48] Andrew: That shot, we can talk.

[8:50] Andrew: Listen, we can talk spoilers.

[8:52] Andrew: Like, if you're listening to a Glee podcast this long and you haven't seen Wicked, who are you?

[8:56] Conor: Well, also, it's already like a show that has been around for years.

[9:00] Andrew: Sure.

[9:02] Andrew: There's that one shot where she jumps out of the window trying to find gravity.

[9:06] Andrew: And she's falling.

[9:08] Andrew: And she sees.

[9:10] Andrew: I was literally not well hotel.

[9:12] Andrew: I was gone.

[9:14] Conor: Yeah.

[9:16] Andrew: And I said it last week as well.

[9:18] Andrew: That I'm like, if that shot had been in another movie, I don't think it would have had the same impact.

[9:22] Andrew: There was something.

[9:24] Andrew: It's just like they were treating it so softly.

[9:26] Andrew: And it didn't feel gimmicky.

[9:28] Andrew: Or like, hey, we're trying.

[9:30] Andrew: I don't know.

[9:32] Andrew: It just felt very natural to the story.

[9:34] Andrew: And it did hit.

[9:36] Conor: I do have my qualms.

[9:38] Andrew: What are your qualms?

[9:40] Conor: Because my friend was like, that was just way too long, that sequence.

[9:44] Andrew: Where I felt the other way.

[9:46] Andrew: I was like, I loved it.

[9:48] Andrew: I could not breathe.

[9:50] Andrew: I was like, that is insane.

[9:52] Conor: I think, and I do fall victim to this.

[9:54] Conor: And I need to stop.

[9:56] Conor: There's sometimes that I can't create my own thoughts.

[9:58] Conor: That I'll see a tweet.

[10:00] Conor: And I'll be like, oh, that's actually how I feel.

[10:02] Conor: Thanks for putting it on.

[10:04] Andrew: Yes.

[10:06] Andrew: But.

[10:08] Conor: So the tweet was.

[10:10] Conor: It's just like the pacing of it.

[10:12] Conor: It's just like.

[10:14] Conor: When I got excited about it.

[10:16] Conor: When I got excited about here we are at Defying Gravity.

[10:18] Conor: And then it would just be like, oh.

[10:20] Conor: Here's like a two minute break.

[10:22] Conor: And then go back.

[10:24] Andrew: Because like how long?

[10:26] Andrew: From like when she.

[10:28] Conor: It must have been 20 minutes.

[10:30] Andrew: I feel like 15.

[10:32] Conor: 20 minutes.

[10:34] Andrew: That's a lot of time.

[10:36] Conor: Do we really want to say it was 20 minutes?

[10:38] Andrew: Like are you talking about.

[10:40] Conor: How long was it from the.

[10:42] Andrew: I hope you're happy.

[10:44] Conor: I hope you're happy.

[10:46] Andrew: Yes.

[10:48] Conor: Oh no, that definitely wasn't 20 minutes.

[10:50] Andrew: Yeah, maybe 15.

[10:52] Conor: I would say I would wager.

[10:54] Andrew: Upload to YouTube.

[10:56] Conor: Yeah, how about that?

[10:58] Andrew: What I will say is.

[11:00] Andrew: I need to talk about accents.

[11:02] Conor: Because.

[11:04] Andrew: And I really hope I don't offend anyone.

[11:06] Andrew: So Wicked is like.

[11:08] Andrew: It's not one of my favorite musicals.

[11:10] Andrew: But I will say something contradictory here.

[11:12] Andrew: I have seen the show twice in New York.

[11:14] Andrew: Twice in Dublin.

[11:16] Andrew: And probably over 20 times in London.

[11:18] Andrew: And the reason that is.

[11:20] Andrew: Whenever people were visiting.

[11:22] Andrew: They were like I want to see a Western show.

[11:24] Andrew: Wicked is very easy.

[11:26] Andrew: It's very accessible.

[11:28] Andrew: It's a 2000 seat theater in London.

[11:30] Andrew: The West End production.

[11:32] Andrew: So you could always get a relatively cheap seat.

[11:34] Conor: But here's my thing.

[11:36] Andrew: Accents.

[11:38] Andrew: Please, I don't want anyone to hate me.

[11:40] Andrew: In London.

[11:42] Andrew: All of the characters in Wicked are British.

[11:44] Conor: I don't know.

[11:46] Andrew: Why they do that.

[11:48] Andrew: I was thinking about it.

[11:50] Andrew: When the show opened in 2006 in the West End.

[11:52] Andrew: Idina came over to London to do the show.

[11:54] Andrew: And I think.

[11:56] Andrew: They obviously weren't going to ask Idina to do a British accent.

[11:58] Andrew: Because no offence.

[12:00] Andrew: She probably couldn't do it.

[12:02] Andrew: So I think they were like.

[12:04] Andrew: We need to make everyone else British.

[12:06] Andrew: To utter this American girl.

[12:08] Conor: Does that make sense?

[12:10] Andrew: Because what is the creative decision behind it.

[12:12] Andrew: But I do have a point about the movie.

[12:14] Andrew: I can think of a specific time.

[12:16] Andrew: When Cynthia's accent really broke through.

[12:18] Conor: Oh did it.

[12:20] Andrew: I thought what is this feeling.

[12:22] Conor: When she says.

[12:24] Andrew: Blonde.

[12:28] Conor: And like it's fine.

[12:30] Andrew: Blonde.

[12:32] Conor: I clocked her though.

[12:34] Andrew: I didn't know that was happening.

[12:36] Conor: I didn't know that was happening.

[12:40] Andrew: But that's fine.

[12:42] Andrew: That's what I didn't want.

[12:44] Andrew: That's what I didn't want.

[12:46] Conor: It's like Michelle Obama.

[12:48] Andrew: Hey flop.

[12:50] Conor: Okay wait.

[12:52] Andrew: I know that people are like.

[12:54] Andrew: Someone has clicked on this episode.

[12:56] Andrew: And they're like.

[12:58] Andrew: What is Robert.

[13:02] Conor: So.

[13:04] Andrew: To my ear.

[13:06] Andrew: Whenever I see the show in the West End.

[13:08] Andrew: I don't like it when I hear.

[13:10] Andrew: When I meet the wizard.

[13:12] Andrew: Once I've proved my worth.

[13:14] Andrew: Then I meet the wizard.

[13:16] Andrew: I just don't like it.

[13:18] Conor: Nothing against British accent.

[13:20] Andrew: Gorgeous accent.

[13:22] Andrew: I don't know why.

[13:45] Robert Ulrich: Role, for example, like I can see that kind of actress play that role.

[13:49] Conor Burke: But I really did like Michelle Yeoh.

[13:51] Robert Ulrich: And however, Jonathan Bailey.

[13:54] Conor Burke: OK, amazing performance.

[13:57] Robert Ulrich: Why is he singing in an American accent?

[14:00] Conor Burke: He is singing "Dancing Through Life" with "Dancing Through Life."

[14:04] Robert Ulrich: Oh, but he's down at the Oscars.

[14:05] Conor Burke: I'm not catching these things. I don't act.

[14:09] Robert Ulrich: Someone roll the tapes.

[14:10] Conor Burke: That's so fascinating.

[14:12] Robert Ulrich: So he's talking British accent, but singing.

[14:15] Conor Burke: But he's singing in an American accent.

[14:17] Robert Ulrich: He's not going like dancing.

[14:19] Conor Burke: I can't do an English accent.

[14:20] Robert Ulrich: "Dancing Through Life."

[14:21] Conor Burke: Like, yeah, yeah.

[14:23] Robert Ulrich: "Dancing Through Life."

[14:24] Conor Burke: Do you think that that was the Oscars?

[14:26] Robert Ulrich: Do you think that that was his choice or do you think that was like direct?

[14:29] Conor Burke: I think he did it and I think he actually did it unintentionally.

[14:32] Robert Ulrich: Fully believe that. Fascinating.

[14:35] Conor Burke: Fully believe that. Other notes.

[14:38] Robert Ulrich: What was your favorite song?

[14:40] Conor Burke: Oh, easy again.

[14:43] Robert Ulrich: That's last week.

[14:45] Conor Burke: "No One Mourns the Wicked."

[14:47] Robert Ulrich: That is a song that like I.

[14:51] Conor Burke: Did not have and I think that it's just by proxy of not having a relationship with it before the movie that I was like, oh, I'm skipping that song when I put on the Wicked soundtrack, the Broadway original cast recording.

[15:04] Robert Ulrich: But I was like, I don't know.

[15:08] Conor Burke: Transformative. So good.

[15:10] Robert Ulrich: I loved. Amazing.

[15:12] Conor Burke: Yeah, I did love it.

[15:14] Robert Ulrich: I didn't even dislike "Something Bad."

[15:18] Conor Burke: Oh, there was something about "Something Bad" and "Sentimental Men" that I'm like, oh, actually, when you're forced to not skip it, it's not bad.

[15:28] Robert Ulrich: There's nothing like really bad about either of those songs.

[15:31] Conor Burke: But those obviously go to shit.

[15:33] Robert Ulrich: So but what you're trying to say is if there was a Glackish slash Wackish for Wicked part one.

[15:41] Conor Burke: Hate it.

[15:42] Robert Ulrich: "No One Mourns the Wicked" is winning in your eyes.

[15:46] Conor Burke: Um, oh, it's not winning.

[15:51] Robert Ulrich: I think that "Wizard and I" is winning the Wackett just because that song.

[15:57] Conor Burke: Oh, it's just like that song makes me bald.

[15:59] Robert Ulrich: That is the like that's the perfect I want song.

[16:01] Conor Burke: Move over "Part of Your World."

[16:02] Robert Ulrich: Was that you said that to me in the podcast episode last week?

[16:05] Conor Burke: Or did my friend say that?

[16:07] Robert Ulrich: I did not say that.

[16:09] Conor Burke: OK, it was my friend.

[16:10] Robert Ulrich: This is an exclusive.

[16:12] Conor Burke: I'm saying it for the first time.

[16:14] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, no, I just thought it was great.

[16:15] Conor Burke: And also.

[16:15] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, it was just so so good, beautiful.

[16:19] Conor Burke: My favorite was probably.

[16:22] Robert Ulrich: It probably was "The Wizard and I" maybe I don't know, I loved "Popular."

[16:26] Conor Burke: My friend did have a problem with "Popular" as well, the one who thought it was very dragged out like "Defying Gravity."

[16:30] Robert Ulrich: And I was like, that just doesn't bother me at all.

[16:33] Conor Burke: And I love "Popular."

[16:36] Robert Ulrich: Oh, unfortunately, like "Popular" with me was not that.

[16:41] Conor Burke: No, it's just like maybe this is a popular opinion.

[16:44] Robert Ulrich: Maybe it isn't.

[16:45] Conor Burke: But I just feel like I've known that song just a little bit.

[16:48] Robert Ulrich: If they're "Popular," like it embodies itself as like a very young version of me that I'm like, I'm over it.

[16:57] Conor Burke: I've outgrown you. I know you respectfully stay where you are.

[17:00] Robert Ulrich: OK, when I think about it, when I think about it, the first musical that I was ever introduced to was probably Wicked now I'd known musicals from the lore, like the musical Annie and Oliver and all of that shit.

[17:14] Conor Burke: But the one I discovered for myself was Wicked, like many people.

[17:17] Robert Ulrich: And when you think about it, the most played song on that cast recording at that time was for all of us was probably "Popular" because our ears were so young in the sense that we would listen to like the catchiest song, you know, and that was absolutely "Popular."

[17:34] Conor Burke: So I completely know what you mean.

[17:36] Robert Ulrich: And I feel like "Popular" is kind of like the gateway drug to.

[17:41] Conor Burke: Thank goodness or yes, thank goodness for today.

[17:45] Robert Ulrich: Right. It's just like a little bit more.

[17:47] Conor Burke: I not to sound like, oh, no, like who am I to say anything about your vocalist?

[17:52] Robert Ulrich: I'm a vocalist. I'm a vocalist first.

[17:54] Conor Burke: But I feel like "Popular" was the gateway drug for like a little bit more refined song and like more like we can all agree, "Thank Goodness" is standing on a little bit more.

[18:07] Robert Ulrich: That was my next question.

[18:08] Conor Burke: What is the song that you're most excited for in part two?

[18:11] Robert Ulrich: I am looking forward to "Thank Goodness" the most.

[18:14] Conor Burke: I am I'm scared because I was listening to "Thank Goodness" the other day and I was like, oh, I'm wondering how they're going to do all this and everything.

[18:24] Robert Ulrich: And I forgot how much Madame Morrible actually sings in the song.

[18:28] Conor Burke: Oh, yeah. And I'm like, oh, this I'm concerned.

[18:33] Robert Ulrich: I wish the best. I hope that she delivers.

[18:35] Conor Burke: But I'm I'm scared.

[18:38] Robert Ulrich: Is that OK to say?

[18:39] Conor Burke: I am I am scared.

[18:43] Robert Ulrich: She I am scared.

[18:45] Conor Burke: That's the most singing that she does in the musical, which is crazy work because I honestly forgot about it.

[18:51] Robert Ulrich: And "Thank Goodness" is one of my favourite songs from that show.

[18:54] Conor Burke: I just and it's a very "Thank Goodness" is obviously a long song as well.

[18:58] Robert Ulrich: So cinematically, that's going to be interesting to see how they do that and how they break that up.

[19:03] Conor Burke: Because like.

[19:05] Robert Ulrich: They 100 percent needed to move.

[19:06] Conor Burke: I'm very intrigued to know about these two original songs.

[19:09] Robert Ulrich: Very intrigued to find that out.

[19:10] Conor Burke: I think that the what are we thinking?

[19:12] Robert Ulrich: It's going to be an Ariana and Cynthia solo.

[19:14] Conor Burke: Um.

[19:16] Robert Ulrich: Don't we know that one of them features?

[19:20] Conor Burke: I think that like Jonathan Bailey and Jeff Goldblum did an interview where they talked about like an interviewer asked, like the two songs in the next one, I think Jeff Goldblum was like, I'm not part of it, but then like Jonathan Bailey was like, like he was like revealing that he is part of it.

[19:36] Robert Ulrich: Oh, my God. Very interesting.

[19:38] Conor Burke: Because I just feel with the marketing campaign for it now, it's going to be like it's going to be kind of completely because all of the arguably all of the hits are in act one.

[19:47] Robert Ulrich: Really?

[19:50] Conor Burke: Like you've got bigger songs in act two.

[19:52] Robert Ulrich: So you've got "For Good."

[19:53] Conor Burke: That's kind of.

[19:53] Robert Ulrich: I was thinking about "No Good Deed" too.

[19:55] Conor Burke: "No Good Deed" is going to be like that is going to be.

[19:58] Robert Ulrich: But like what's the marketing, the music going to be in the trailer and stuff?

[20:02] Conor Burke: I've thought about this as well.

[20:03] Robert Ulrich: And I think it is "For Good."

[20:05] Conor Burke: That's how gay we are, by the way.

[20:07] Robert Ulrich: We thought about the marketing.

[20:09] Conor Burke: We've done the work.

[20:13] Robert Ulrich: Anyway, those are my overwhelming thoughts.

[20:15] Conor Burke: Just amazing. Go see it if you haven't.

[20:17] Robert Ulrich: I mean, if you haven't, who are you?

[20:20] Conor Burke: Why are you listening to this podcast?

[20:21] Robert Ulrich: Really loved it.

[20:26] Conor Burke: And I was I knew I was going to like it, but that was.

[20:29] Robert Ulrich: That was something else like that was.

[20:32] Conor Burke: It exceeded my expectations, I think.

[20:34] Robert Ulrich: Like, yeah, yeah.

[20:37] Conor Burke: Last thing I'll say about it, it's just like.

[20:41] Robert Ulrich: It delivered there were so many stakes, I think.

[20:45] Conor Burke: Right. That was like it could have been it could have been bad.

[20:46] Conor Burke: Little shout out to Bowen Young and Bronwyn James, the two of them were great.

[20:48] Robert Ulrich: Thank goodness it wasn't.

[20:50] Robert Ulrich: I loved both of them.

[20:51] Conor Burke: Best line of the movie was the shoulder pads.

[20:54] Robert Ulrich: Oh, yeah. Perfect.

[20:57] Conor Burke: And then obviously the "Enroll Here Often."

[20:59] Robert Ulrich: That was great.

[21:00] Conor Burke: That was another great one.

[21:01] Robert Ulrich: I had a problem with I could talk about this movie all day.

[21:04] Conor Burke: I had a problem with "Enroll Here Often."

[21:06] Robert Ulrich: Why?

[21:07] Conor Burke: Well, because that they were like that that was a like a good 15 second lead up to the joke.

[21:14] Robert Ulrich: You knew that there was going to be a joke at the end of that, like once Jonathan Bailey gets to Bowen.

[21:20] Conor Burke: And I just thought that the joke could have been so much.

[21:25] Robert Ulrich: Better, not bigger, but just like more polished.

[21:28] Conor Burke: I don't see race was iconic, absolutely iconic because half of the movie theatre when I was watching it didn't pick up.

[21:33] Robert Ulrich: I don't see colour.

[21:37] Conor Burke: What did I say?

[21:39] Robert Ulrich: I don't see race.

[21:39] Conor Burke: Oh, yes. Sorry. I don't see colour.

[21:42] Robert Ulrich: Was hilarious because it was one of those jokes.

[21:45] Conor Burke: It was kind of incidental. People didn't pick up on it.

[21:49] Robert Ulrich: But then other than that, who was your standout?

[21:51] Conor Burke: Was it Ariana?

[21:52] Robert Ulrich: Hmm. Who was this?

[21:53] Conor Burke: I thought they were all great.

[21:55] Robert Ulrich: I think it was Cynthia.

[21:57] Conor Burke: Cynthia just blew me away.

[21:59] Robert Ulrich: I felt so I don't I we talk about this later toward the end of the rubber episode, this episode that you're listening to right now.

[22:04] Conor Burke: But I saw "Night Bitch" last night with Amy Adams, which isn't getting a lot of buzz.

[22:14] Robert Ulrich: And I.

[22:16] Conor Burke: I laughed, I cried, you know, like Gwyneth Paltrow, the shot.

[22:21] Robert Ulrich: Yeah.

[22:23] Conor Burke: But no, like truthfully, both of those performances, Amy and Cynthia made me feel the entire realm of emotions.

[22:33] Robert Ulrich: Yeah.

[22:38] Conor Burke: So I like like I don't want to sound like a captain, obviously, either, but Cynthia Erivo, like we all know it.

[22:45] Robert Ulrich: That I'm not a spiritual person, but that that talent is otherworldly.

[22:51] Conor Burke: Like it's not normal for someone to be that good.

[22:53] Robert Ulrich: And we've known this for years.

[22:55] Conor Burke: If you're in any way interested in the musical theatre and in the arts in general.

[23:00] Robert Ulrich: But like, it's just not.

[23:03] Conor Burke: Like what a psycho.

[23:04] Robert Ulrich: Oh, I saw I saw her, I guess, like now, about 10 years ago, "Colour Purple," I saw her twice.

[23:09] Conor Burke: And like, I was just like, oh.

[23:12] Robert Ulrich: Means so much to me.

[23:13] Conor Burke: Yeah, she's.

[23:15] Robert Ulrich: And even if she didn't know that that was happening, she really should have.

[23:19] Conor Burke: She really.

[23:21] Robert Ulrich: I didn't know.

[23:22] Conor Burke: I didn't know that was.

[23:22] Robert Ulrich: It's just watching that video now with the context of knowing that they honestly had no idea what was going on at the very start of it.

[23:28] Conor Burke: I did think Cynthia is sitting here like this.

[23:32] Robert Ulrich: Audio medium just blank.

[23:33] Conor Burke: You can just tell in the eye.

[23:36] Robert Ulrich: Um.

[23:38] Conor Burke: Do you want to do you want to talk about Glackett?

[23:40] Robert Ulrich: Talk about what?

[23:42] Conor Burke: Oh, yeah, sure.

[23:44] Robert Ulrich: I mean, absolutely.

[23:46] Conor Burke: We were talking about Wackett, so we were talking about Glackett.

[23:50] Robert Ulrich: Segway. Segway.

[23:52] Conor Burke: So it's been yeah, so it's been a while since I've been on now.

[23:55] Robert Ulrich: I haven't pre-prepared this.

[23:56] Conor Burke: I'm just literally looking at the Glackett as we speak.

[23:59] Robert Ulrich: And what was my last episode?

[24:01] Conor Burke: Pointing What My Pregnancy Does? No.

[24:03] Robert Ulrich: I feel like that ice ice baby, baby.

[24:06] Conor Burke: Oh, ice ice baby, baby with Allison.

[24:08] Robert Ulrich: Yeah. OK, so, um.

[24:13] Conor Burke: Last Christmas versus Happy.

[24:14] Robert Ulrich: I know that's the first I just want to acknowledge that is the first competition that you weren't in.

[24:21] Conor Burke: So are we going to be doing this forever?

[24:24] Robert Ulrich: Excuse me.

[24:25] Conor Burke: You get Conor Burke on the podcast.

[24:26] Robert Ulrich: You know what you're going to get? Content.

[24:28] Conor Burke: So last Christmas versus Happy.

[24:30] Robert Ulrich: I would have voted last Christmas.

[24:31] Conor Burke: However, the slander against Happy, I just don't understand it.

[24:34] Robert Ulrich: I think Happy is very joyous.

[24:37] Conor Burke: Happy is great.

[24:39] Robert Ulrich: I think it has points for me.

[24:41] Conor Burke: It's similar to like "Raise Your Glass," obviously, it's biological twin that it's just I'm happy to I'm happy to see everybody in the choir room again, and that's that's what's really pulling a lot of weight and I need to separate sometimes.

[24:52] Robert Ulrich: Yeah.

[24:54] Conor Burke: OK, so the rest of the songs in the episode are fine.

[24:58] Robert Ulrich: Really?

[24:59] Conor Burke: My test is being graded by the teacher in front of me, basically.

[25:03] Robert Ulrich: I really I'm glad that you can't stop the beat went through over got to get you into my life listening to it at the time, I remember it was very touch and go there for me.

[25:11] Conor Burke: Oh, I was the sole vote for "Got to Get You in My Life."

[25:15] Robert Ulrich: Yes.

[25:16] Conor Burke: Yeah.

[25:16] Robert Ulrich: Nasty work, in my opinion, because I know it's your favourite clown duet, but also.

[25:22] Conor Burke: Sort your priorities out and

[25:26] Robert Ulrich: She needs to sort out her priorities.

[25:32] Conor Burke: Or worse, expelled from the clock, which I don't know what you're referencing.

[25:38] Robert Ulrich: Harry Potter.

[25:39] Conor Burke: Oh, see, that isn't as much I've watched them all.

[25:43] Robert Ulrich: I watched you put your name in the Goblet of Fire.

[25:46] Conor Burke: I'm not I'm not as familiar.

[25:48] Robert Ulrich: And that's probably the best choice.

[25:52] Conor Burke: Anyway, I was I was sad to see "Girl on Fire" go home.

[26:00] Robert Ulrich: Extinguished.

[26:01] Conor Burke: Yes.

[26:07] Robert Ulrich: And I was surprised at how that competition went.

[26:08] Conor Burke: It was against "Brave."

[26:09] Robert Ulrich: Yes.

[26:10] Conor Burke: Everyone listening.

[26:10] Robert Ulrich: No, I love "Brave."

[26:13] Conor Burke: Because you guys were you and Lena were talking with I can't remember.

[26:16] Robert Ulrich: That was a month.

[26:18] Conor Burke: No, it was it was last week's episode I'm referencing.

[26:21] Robert Ulrich: Oh, the listeners that was on.

[26:23] Conor Burke: I can't remember which of the three it was.

[26:24] Robert Ulrich: They were all amazing, by the way.

[26:26] Conor Burke: Big up to them.

[26:29] Robert Ulrich: And you were talking about your favourite Santolos, and I'm like, I think mine is "Girl on Fire."

[26:34] Conor Burke: That is that is that a hot take?

[26:36] Robert Ulrich: I mean, fire.

[26:38] Conor Burke: Yeah, I did that on purpose, actually.

[26:42] Robert Ulrich: Is it? I don't want to hear people say that in the comments down below.

[26:46] Conor Burke: What do you think about that take?

[26:47] Robert Ulrich: It's something about, you know what it is?

[26:49] Conor Burke: It's the gay hallway walking.

[26:50] Robert Ulrich: Sure.

[26:52] Conor Burke: Yeah, I get it.

[26:55] Robert Ulrich: "Closer" versus "Honesty."

[26:57] Conor Burke: Right.

[26:59] Robert Ulrich: Right decision. "Closer" went through.

[27:01] Conor Burke: Now, there I think there was one in the Ian and Zach episode, love to both of those boys.

[27:04] Robert Ulrich: But I think there was one that was kind of.

[27:07] Conor Burke: That didn't go your way.

[27:09] Robert Ulrich: "Bills, Bills, Bills" going through.

[27:12] Conor Burke: Over "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger."

[27:15] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, what?

[27:18] Conor Burke: I well, I was the only vote for "Stronger."

[27:21] Robert Ulrich: So you're OK, Ian and Zach.

[27:23] Conor Burke: Hello.

[27:24] Robert Ulrich: Zach, are you listening? What the fuck are you talking about?

[27:29] Conor Burke: "Defying Gravity" season.

[28:01] Conor: Okay, yeah, that's all looking good. The beauty of the Glacket episode, live episode, who was that with? That was a live stream episode with Abby.

[28:10] Robert Ulrich: With Abby. Mm-hmm.

[28:13] Conor: Yeah.

[28:15] Robert Ulrich: Locked out of heaven, going home, over light up. The world is insane.

[28:21] Conor: All of y'all need to get a job. What are you talking about? No, I'm...

[28:25] Robert Ulrich: I might have something against Marley and Unique.

[28:31] Conor: Yes, you do. Deny it all down to the ground.

[28:35] Robert Ulrich: I think that I might subconsciously, but you know what you do? I do like "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," "Material Girl," with my entire heart, and unfortunately that lost to "Held" in the know earlier this round, so "Light Up the World" is...

[28:49] Conor: Like, it's... I'm literally speechless and I would have voted "Superstition" over "Telephone." Mm-hmm, but I am sad to see "Telephone" go just for the camp of it. But like, I realize now going into round three territory, you know, things are gonna be getting serious. Tell us weird to me.

[29:09] Robert Ulrich: But I feel like I just like realized while watching that in this round "Telephone" that I'm like this... There's something in the fabric of "Telephone" that it's not a song, it's the moment, and it's not like a moment that should be celebrated for being a song. Does that make sense?

[29:25] Conor: That's true.

[29:29] Robert Ulrich: There's also something about the mp3 of "Telephone" that happens that's really weird. Is there like, yes, a singer on it that is not a cast member, or is that... It's just like, it's just a lot of auto-tune. It's funny that you should say the full mp3 of "Telephone" because last year, two years ago, they had a Glee night at the Gramercy Theatre here in New York City and they played "Telephone," the entire like mp3 that I'm like, I'm over it. I only like this song like... I don't know. It's just like, it's the moment.

[30:10] Conor: I feel like I'm like running on fumes right now also, but that's okay.

[30:15] Robert Ulrich: I can take it from here because I feel like I'm like saying things that I partially don't mean and people are gonna be like, "What the fuck are you talking about?" And I'm like, I actually can't even tell you.

[30:24] Conor: Talking about saying something but yes, you don't mean. There was an episode a couple of weeks ago where I clocked something that did make me laugh. I can't remember who you were on the episode with, but y'all were talking about "Dinosaur."

[30:41] Robert Ulrich: Yes, Claudia and Patrick.

[30:47] Conor: What? Okay, and then I think it was Claudia or Patrick, and someone will have to go back and listen to the tapes. We're talking about "Dinosaur," and I think one of them said, "That's my favorite Britney song."

[30:54] Robert Ulrich: I think no one loves that song.

[31:00] Conor: Yes, but it's a Kesha song.

[31:04] Robert Ulrich: No, she meant Britney Spears.

[31:06] Conor: Oh, hello.

[31:08] Robert Ulrich: The way for weeks, for weeks, for weeks I was thinking I can't believe they didn't clock that that's a Kesha song. What? What idiots? Yeah. Oh my god, delete that part.

[31:18] Conor: Anyway, and something's coming, "A House Is Not a Home." I do agree with that. I'm glad to see "A House Is Not a Home" gone. It's boring to me.

[31:25] Robert Ulrich: Now the mash-up with Kristen and Matthew, one of the best cinema, cinema.

[31:33] Conor: But we don't need that, and whoever was making the point last week about Finn's vocal is 100% correct. It's the most auto-tune that he's ever been. It was clearly too high for Cory Monteith, and he is literally like... it's a robot. It's just too bad.

[31:47] Robert Ulrich: Okay, and him and Kitty, both robots got basically "Dinosaur" versus "Hello, Goodbye." And what is everyone's problem with "Hello, Goodbye"? Listen to... I don't get it. I don't understand her. I would wager that "Hello, Goodbye" is one of my top 20 most streamed songs.

[32:09] Conor: Amber's vocals are insane. Leah is belting at the top of her lungs. It's in Cory's wheelhouse.

[32:16] Robert Ulrich: The halo part towards the end, unbelievable.

[32:20] Conor: It is very short in the episode, isn't it? Like, oh, it's a minute. It's a minute. Yeah, they're in there, in there out.

[32:27] Robert Ulrich: They're like, oh my god, we didn't sing "Hello, Goodbye."

[32:31] Conor: I know. And also, I think the reason I love it so much, and only people as gay as us will know this, is that it was used heavily in the promo material, right?

[32:38] Robert Ulrich: What are they... right? How are they gonna promote "Make It" part two?

[32:48] Conor: Yeah.

[32:50] Robert Ulrich: Why don't they use "Hello, Goodbye"?

[32:52] Conor: Oh, that's a good carousel edition, "Wicked" part two.

[32:56] Robert Ulrich: My only request, my only request with the carousel, because you know I always bully you about the carousel, and my only request is that Tracy makes an appearance.

[33:04] Conor: So please put our girl...

[33:10] Robert Ulrich: I'm thinking about it. I'm like, actually, I don't know because I would feel bad. Robert obviously isn't here for this portion of the conversation. He's going to see that he's gonna swipe through the carousel. I'm like...

[33:17] Conor: He's gonna be so confused.

[33:22] Robert Ulrich: Anyway, we talk about holding space.

[33:25] Conor: Yeah.

[33:26] Robert Ulrich: Right. I don't wait, wait, conversation. I'm just trying to think of all of the competitions from Lena's live episode. I have them. Oh my god.

[33:35] Conor: Read them out quickly because obviously there's the big one. So yeah, the first one, I know that people were upset about already, "New York State of Mind" versus "Cold-Hearted."

[33:45] Robert Ulrich: Okay, I agree with that.

[33:47] Conor: I agree with that. You do? Okay. Um...

[33:51] Robert Ulrich: Alright, so we're going well so far. All right, great.

[33:51] Conor: I know that we won't be for much longer. "Former Four Minutes" winning against "Glory Days."

[33:57] Robert Ulrich: Perfect and in a canon event. Yeah.

[34:00] Conor: "Survivor, I Will Survive" winning against "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," a really crazy sentence actually. Repeat.

[34:06] Robert Ulrich: Electric chair immediately for everybody involved.

[34:10] Conor: Everyone involved. I heard... I was shocked.

[34:15] Robert Ulrich: So Andrew had told me, Conor, the last competition in this episode is insane, and I was like, okay, content. I mean, yeah, I listened all the way through to the episode, but then I had to go do something, and so I stopped listening after "Paradise" had been pulled, and I was like, why are they... why are they going crazy over this? Like, that's obviously going to win.

[34:43] Conor: Yeah, and the next day I listened to the remaining mean of the episode, and I was like, I cannot believe this is happening now.

[34:51] Robert Ulrich: I know it's more than likely gonna come back, but that's my prediction out the window. Do you remember me being so galaxy-brained, Madam Web, about "Paradise" being like... remember, I brought that up in an episode? It's like "Paradise" is probably gonna win the Glacket, and remember loads of people thought that the Glacket was rigged.

[35:14] Conor: We know your angle, this is just...

[35:17] Robert Ulrich: But then I was thinking last week, I was like, did Andrew not vote "Paradise" through because of those comments? He's like, look, I voted at house, but I will come back, but that's crazy to me. I think that it's like, it's so fun. I mentioned it in the episode that like, I think it's so "Paradise" feels inevitable to come back. However, we're now another seven episodes into round two of the Glacket, so at the end of this episode, we already know who loses in this episode. All those songs included will... one song will be returning for a round through the Glacket. That being said, "Paradise" but "Dashboard Light" does seem like the easy front-runner for this, and it just makes it more fascinating to me that like "Paradise" comes back, then it like adds like a little bit of like ruggedness to the song that it's like, oh, like...

[36:09] Conor: So stupid to like...

[36:16] Robert Ulrich: Bit, we're like how granular can we get? But like, oh my god, wait, we're talking... we've been talking for so long. Do you know?

[36:22] Conor: Sorry to interrupt, but did you say in last week's episode that you're gonna bring back a song to make up the numbers from all of the losers in round two, and it's only gonna be one?

[36:29] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, there's like, okay, so this... yeah, this is this third to last.

[36:40] Conor: Yeah.

[36:40] Robert Ulrich: So after this episode, there's eight episodes left in round two of the Glacket. Yeah, so seven...

[36:47] Conor: And another seven episodes will do the same thing where there's 21 losers will be... you know, is one will be selected to come back, and then the following episode, I guess those three losers from that final episode as well as like all of the runner-ups will be against each other is what I'm thinking.

[37:03] Robert Ulrich: "Love Song" qualifies for that, right?

[37:08] Conor: "Love Song" does qualify. Okay, guys, everyone stop what they're doing right now and listen to this. If you do not vote "Love Song" back in on the Patreon, we're gonna have serious words.

[37:15] Robert Ulrich: Do you want to know the runners-up?

[37:22] Conor: Yeah, so there's... for whatever reason, I wrote down the runner-up. There are two runner-ups for each competition, so the first competition of round two, whatever...

[37:31] Robert Ulrich: "Love Song" and "When I Get You Alone" are the runner-ups.

[37:35] Conor: And then the second competition was "How to Break a Heartbreaker" and "If I Can't Have You."

[37:42] Robert Ulrich: The third was "Misery" and "Run the World (Girls)."

[37:47] Conor: Then "I Can't Go for That," "You Make My Dreams," and "Science Fiction Double Feature."

[37:53] Robert Ulrich: Then "Uninvited" and "Wishing and Hoping," then "Born This Way" and "Just the Way You Are."

[38:04] Conor: What are you voting for? "Love Song," "Mr. Sun," "I Miss Her Every Single Day"?

[38:12] Robert Ulrich: Not a day goes by.

[38:14] Conor: Terrible, absolutely terrible. So thank you.

[38:18] Robert Ulrich: And again, like assigning stories to these songs, I think it's like, it's a fun thing to do that like "Love Song" was gone in the first episode around two. That it's like, wow, what a comeback. She had to sit down and say, do you know what, guys? I'm gonna let you miss me, and one day I will make my return, and it will be valiant. So...

[38:40] Conor: You just wait.

[38:45] Robert Ulrich: You just wait, you know what to do. Um, but wait, so all that being said, are we ready? Wait, do you have anything else to say?

[38:53] Conor: I don't have anything to say.

[38:53] Robert Ulrich: Okay, perfect. That was a very long intro. This is the episode with Robert. It was very, very obviously thankful, and it was very generous of... we're recording this on a Sunday that he gave us as much time. He's just a delightful human being. I love him. Yeah, and it was a very good conversation. I hope that you enjoy.

[39:11] Conor: Very excited to be joined today by Emmy-winning casting director of Glee, Robert Ulrich. Robert, how are you doing?

[39:18] Robert Ulrich: I'm doing good. How are you doing?

[39:23] Conor: I'm doing perfect. Very thrilled to have you back on.

[39:28] Robert Ulrich: This is the most exciting moment of my life.

[39:31] Conor: Tell you, Robert, and you know what? I was kind of thinking prior to this recording, I was like, well, I mentioned this, but then I'm like, you know what? I'm just gonna be honest. When I was 15, I haunted Robert to heaven on social media. I probably was one of those weird teenagers that sent him a message being like, "I love you."

[39:50] Robert Ulrich: That's sweet. So now I'm in a position where I can say that to his face.

[39:54] Conor: Yeah.

[41:15] Robert Ulrich: I mean, Modern Family's genius. But that's the year I thought that I was going to win because it was all these discoveries and everything. And then the next year, I won and didn't expect it. So that was nice. But that was the year that Darren came on, and there was a lot of... Back that year, I think the year that I won, I think four people were up for guest artists, guest actors on a series. And Gwyneth Paltrow won. But that was fun, because I think that year, I don't know exactly, I think that maybe Michael Malley and Dot Marie Jones and maybe Kristen Schindler. Kristen, yeah.

[41:52] Conor: Kristen, yeah. Yeah, that same year. Yes.

[41:56] Robert Ulrich: Yeah. So that was exciting. And that made me feel good, because when your cast is reflected in the other nominations, that's positive. I think that was it. Just that it was a lot of discoveries, and singing made it kind of stand apart, maybe.

[42:10] Conor: Yeah, it was so special. And it still remains so special to this day. And it's like finding new fans every single day. It doesn't seem to go away. Today, we are going to be doing the Glackett. This is the practice that we've been doing for the past three years. We look at six songs from Glee and then decide which three are better. So we watch its performances. Um, before we get into Glacketting, do you have a personal favorite Glee performance, Robert?

[42:43] Robert Ulrich: I mean, no, because there were just so many. I think maybe Teenage Dream.

[42:49] Conor: Yeah.

[42:50] Robert Ulrich: Just because it was so reinvented. And, you know, Darren was such a dynamic character and so dynamic. And so maybe that would be the one, maybe. And, well, no, I do have a... I liked Amber. What was the one? It's somebody to... It's not a Queen song. Or is it a Queen song? It's where she has the big note at the end.

[43:14] Conor: So I think, yeah, somebody to love.

[43:16] Robert Ulrich: Somebody to love that. I love that. I used to... In those days, I got the Dailies, and I would listen to that over and over and over. And then years later, I love Some Nights, their version of Some Nights.

[43:26] Conor: Oh, wow. That's a great choice. That's a side B choice, I think.

[43:31] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, those are some of mine. But I mean, there were so many, you know.

[43:34] Conor: I have our first song of the episode. You already just mentioned it. So we are going to be watching Somebody to Love.

[43:55] ♪ Musical number: "Somebody to Love" — performed by the Glee Cast ♪

[46:20] Robert Ulrich: I feel like that has to be, like, my favorite performance from the series, too. It really encapsulates what the entire series is all about.

[46:27] Conor: It does. And it highlights just enough of each of the great singers.

[46:32] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, you mentioned before we even watched it, you know, Amber. Describe to me this relationship that you've had with Amber over the years, meeting her for the first time, and, you know, your relationship today.

[46:46] Robert Ulrich: We were having a really hard time casting that role. Very difficult time. And I'm trying to think in the final test, I think that the other, well, I know we flew in one of the candidates from somewhere in the south. But anyway, that was a hard role to find. And my friend at the time said that his girlfriend's roommate or something either knew Amber, sang in church with Amber, something. So I said, well, you know, let's set this up. And Amber came in and she sat across from me, just across my desk. And she sang, she talks about it, I forget, a little bit of something, but it was in kind of a light, almost not soprano, but a higher voice. And I said, can you sing? And I'm telling you, I'm not going.

And she goes, wow. Well, I haven't, but I will. So she did. And I was like, okay, this is it. It was the most exciting thing. And we almost immediately went to Ryan's with the producers. And that's on film when she's singing for Ryan for the first time. And that was, oh, she was just amazing. And she's just incredible. And we've continued to be good friends. And then in that first year of Glee, my son was a senior in high school and played football. And his team was awesome, St. Francis High School. And one week, I got him Jessica Alba's autograph, because I was friends with Jessica. One week, I got him Megan Fox, well, not him, the team Megan Fox's autograph. And then I was like, well, how am I going to beat that? And so I asked Amber, and she came and sang the national anthem. So that was very exciting.

[48:30] Conor: Huge.

[48:31] Robert Ulrich: Because it was the height of Glee.

[48:32] Conor: Yeah.

[48:33] Robert Ulrich: Yeah. And then cut two years later, I think it was like, maybe 2019 or whatever, my casting company won this lifetime achievement kind of thing called the RDS White Bower Award. And Amber and Darren presented, I think I sent that clip. And she talks, tells this whole story about how she said, so I can say it, she said that Robert gave me my belt. It was very, she's wonderful. When Amber did Little Shop of Horrors at Passing Out Playhouse a few years ago, we all went, I mean, Amber, and I've been out karaokeing and running to Amber. I mean, Amber is an amazing person.

[49:13] Conor: She's such a force.

[49:14] Robert Ulrich: She's amazing. I got to see Amber in the West End production of Dreamgirls numerous times. And she is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best singer I've ever heard in my life. There were fully grown men around me bawling, crying. I've never seen anything like it in my life. It gives me chills to think about.

[49:35] Robert Ulrich: How fun you get to see that. I ran in at karaoke right after she'd returned from that. And she, yeah, I can't believe I didn't see it. It makes me very sad.

[49:45] Conor: And you were the one to put And I'm Telling You on her radar.

[49:50] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, exactly.

[49:51] Conor: What a feat.

[49:52] Robert Ulrich: No, it's fun. I mean, and she's, you know, obviously, be back both by performing and saying just kind things at that award ceremony, and then singing my son's football game. And I mean, she's just a real person, you know, that's just very down to earth.

[50:07] Conor: I'm curious. Okay, so with a character like Mercedes, you mentioned it was very difficult to find an actress to satisfy that role. What was it about that role that was tricky to cast for?

[50:20] Robert Ulrich: You would think it would be very easy. I'm not very easy. I don't know. I don't know. Ryan was specific. Yeah. And it was just hard. Nobody sang well enough, you know?

[50:33] Conor: Yeah, it was tough. It was very tough.

[50:35] Robert Ulrich: And she had it. And she, you know, the singing, the acting, and then also, like the dancing as well, that she's gone on to win.

[50:42] Conor: Win dancing at the stars. Yeah, so multi-talent.

[50:46] Robert Ulrich: She's a real talent, you know, and I hope that someday she gets to Dreamgirls on Broadway. That was, I think, the plan, I think, at one point. I don't know what happened.

[50:55] Conor: Yeah, I think so, too.

[50:57] Robert Ulrich: She's publicly pushed back on any demands to do that because of how, you know, exhausting.

[51:05] Conor: Well, I think it was very vocally demanding.

[51:09] Robert Ulrich: Yes, of course. Yeah, yeah. Selfishly, would love to see it, would love to have her on Broadway.

[51:15] Conor: Yeah. With this performance, Somebody to Love, it's so evident, especially in these season one performances, that the cast, they were just melding so well together. Did you do any chemistry reads together? No, you didn't.

[51:32] Robert Ulrich: It's crazy.

[51:33] Conor: Yeah, that was just like, it was lightning in a bottle. It just happened to be.

[51:38] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, no chemistry reads at all.

[51:40] Conor: Yeah. Is that typical?

[51:42] Robert Ulrich: I'd say it's about 50-50. I just cast a pilot a couple years ago, where it was all about the chemistry between the guy and the girl, and they did the chemistry reads over Zoom because it was, you know, now people are getting back in the offices a little more, but, and they ended up dating, so their chemistry was good. But, yeah, chemistry is a weird thing. I mean, even in a chemistry reading, I think it's a strange thing, because you really don't know until you see it on screen. And, you know, but, yeah, it is very strange that we didn't do any of that. Well, not strange, it rarely happened, but on Glee, we didn't do it at all.

[52:23] Conor: You didn't do it at all. Do you prefer that? Or what is?

[52:27] Robert Ulrich: Oh, it makes no difference. I mean, just getting the people and making the people in charge happy is my goal, you know?

[52:34] Conor: Sure, yeah.

[52:36] Robert Ulrich: Sure.

[52:36] Robert Ulrich: I don't care how it happens, or, you know, the process, for a business where the process is pretty much the same after all these years, and it's still, every case is different in some way, you know? It's usually something that happens that makes every experience kind of different, but, yeah, I have no preference at all.

[52:57] Conor: Okay.

[52:58] Robert Ulrich: I'm pretty laid back as a casting director, to be honest, which I really am. I mean, I think anybody would tell you a lot of casting directors have all these rules, like, no problem.

[53:07] Conor: Sure.

[53:07] Robert Ulrich: And I was an actor, and to me, it's like, whatever.

[53:11] Conor: Yes.

[53:13] Robert Ulrich: That is super interesting, Robert, because I think it's so interesting how you started off as an actor. So I'm an actor, and I've found, like, that I was recently auditioning, I mean, you can talk about it now, I was recently auditioning for Wednesday, the Netflix show, filmed that in Ireland, and that's a British casting director by the name of Sophie Holland, who was also an actor at one point. What I'm interested in, just off the back of that point, you saying that you were an actor, like, do you think that you having once been an actor, does that influence the way you run your auditions in any way?

[53:52] Robert Ulrich: 100%. But you can be an incredible casting director and have never been an actor. Both my business partners weren't actors. One was pre-dental, and one got her degree in psychology. So, I mean, it doesn't, you know, and had not been in plays or anything, but yes, it absolutely, from the beginning, has kind of influenced, and the way I cast. And Glee, specifically, there had been, because, again, it was new for television, and I hadn't done theatre, really. I mean, I'd been in theatre, but I hadn't cast theatre. So, I had, I was hired to do a NBC show called Rhapsody, which was going to be, every season was going to be music from a different artist, and the first artist was Elton John, and so the music was incredible. And it was really cool. It was kind of a sexy, kind of futuristic Romeo and Juliet set around the aerospace engine. I mean, it was very strange.

[55:55] Andrew: I've shared with you, Robert, that when Kevin and Jenna talked to Brad on their own podcast, Brad had nothing but the highest praises to say about you as well.

[56:05] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, I've hired him, you know, brought him on to many projects since then.

[56:10] Andrew: Yeah, I've done several musical, obviously, things, not since then. Yeah. Connor, do you have any final questions before we get into song number two?

[56:16] Connor: No, I'm good for now. I will say this is going to be incredibly difficult to beat, so I feel sorry for whatever song is next.

[56:24] Andrew: After I already said it's one of my favorites.

[56:28] Robert Ulrich: Yeah.

[56:30] Andrew: Here we go with its competitor.

[56:54] ♪ Musical number: "Somebody Loves You" — performed by the Glee Cast ♪

[58:46] Andrew: All right. Somebody to love versus somebody loves you. A Kurt and Blaine duet. I am so fascinated with, you know, casting both of them. Robert, you've mentioned that Chris was the inspiration for the Glee Project.

[59:02] Robert Ulrich: Well, I know that's what Ryan or somebody or I think I said that on the Glee Project, but that was their line.

[59:07] Andrew: Yeah. Oh, OK. Yeah. I mean, just like talk to me about discovering Chris and that entire process.

[59:12] Robert Ulrich: I've told this story so many times, people are probably going to be.

[59:17] Andrew: No, we're ready for it.

[59:17] Robert Ulrich: I was reading people constantly on Glee and Chris came across my desk and I believe he was 18. His father had just driven him from Central California. And I'm from Central California. So, yeah. And he was reading for a role that no longer exists called.

[59:34] Andrew: Oh, was it called Reggie?

[59:35] Robert Ulrich: Reggie's? Yeah. Yeah. And he obviously was not right for that. It was a Middle Eastern role and he just wasn't right for it. But he was so special. And he sang "Mr. Cellophane" that I thought, well, there's no way I'm not going to show him to Ryan. So I took him to Ryan and I said, you know, there's I think this is all on film, too, and you too. Yeah, I took him to Ryan and I said, you know, I know this role. I know there's no role for him, but you should see him. And within a second in Ryan's genius, Ryan said.

[1:00:20] Andrew: He said something to Chris, like, how many times have you been Ralph in Sound of Music, which is the 16th, which I believe in.

[1:00:26] Robert Ulrich: And he said, he said, no, I was Kurt, you know, and he said and that Kurt was born. I mean, it was literally it is. But he still had to go through the process. We still had to bring other people to network and do the whole thing. There were usually at least three choices, sometimes more at network for me. But I mean, he was it was written for him. And it's insane to think that Glee did not have a gay character.

[1:01:00] Andrew: Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. And no, it doesn't make sense.

[1:01:03] Robert Ulrich: Yeah. Yeah. So Chris. So Ryan developed the and so Chris, who is the absolute greatest person, also the greatest to he when he won is this is a great story. I've told this also a million times, but I cannot tell it. I was starting the Glee project the next day and we had narrowed down the 50,000 people to 80 and they were all brought to Long Beach, flown from all over the country. And I knew that I was going to be filmed. So I thought I'm not going to go to because it was the night of the Golden Globes and I would have that parties after and everything. And I'm like, I'm not going to do that. And so my wife, son, daughter and I were sitting watching TV and Chris Colfer wins best supporting actor comes up and he really only thanks to people, me and Ryan Murphy.

And as a rule, casting directors rarely, rarely get thanked. So it was huge. I mean, everybody started crying. My phone rang off the wall. You know, casting directors were calling. I ran upstairs, put my tux on the door. But Chris is just the best. And then I recently went to his or not recently, the last six months or whatever. The book, he's, I think, an 11 time. Is it 11 time or 19 time?

[1:02:29] Andrew: It's a considerable number.

[1:02:31] Robert Ulrich: A New York Times bestselling author. And he had a new book and I went to that and that was really fun. Because like I saw Michael Malley and Heather and Naya's mom. I mean, that was very, very fun. And then, as Andrew knows, I did a show called Albert Cashier, The Civility of Albert Cashier, about somebody from Ireland.

[1:02:49] Andrew: And Chris came, which was so sweet. Chris came to opening night, walked the red carpet. Very, very nice.

[1:03:03] Robert Ulrich: He's the sweetest guy. How often does this happen where it's like, there isn't a role specifically written for, you know, you don't ever see that?

[1:03:11] Andrew: No, no, I mean, very. But that, you know, that's, again, to give Ryan credit. What Ryan is great at, is he's very specific. He knows exactly what he wants. But he's also incredibly open, you know. And the best thing I always said about Ryan was, is nothing was ever too outside the box. And if there was a character that was any specificity, that is, that was kind of unusual. And I brought in several people. Ryan would go with the most extreme, you know. So that was cool. So it made it, you know, it was just so fun to cast because you could bring anybody and they wouldn't be wrong, you know.

[1:04:03] Connor: Yeah, I'm such a nerd about production side of things, Robert. And something I'm really interested in is that that song that we just watched was from the sixth and final season of Glee. When you were in the thick of Glee, like, let's just say three or four seasons in. And can you talk me through, like, what the normal turnover for casting on the show was? Like, from the time that you read the script with your team to the time that that actor is hired, like, was that a very quick process or did it vary?

[1:04:35] Robert Ulrich: Oh, was it ever quick? It was always quick. It was, we rarely had a script. We'd get an act and then the next day we'd get another act. So we were casting, I mean, no exaggeration. You can ask my wife. We were casting till, like, two in the morning all the time because even when they were bringing on the series regular of Cord's character of Sam, that was done in like three days. I mean, usually those things take weeks and weeks. So everything was at an extreme accelerated pace. And the good thing was, is because at that time everyone wanted to be on Glee. Your options were great and people were ready to come in. And we often did a little dance audition, which my right-hand person Alana Baldwin and Roy Scheifelstein, they choreographed.

And Schlefstein, I've only known her since she was 14 years old. My son wanted to name my daughter after her. They choreographed this whole thing and we taught it in this little tiny room. But we had it sewed down, the routine of the casting. But yeah, it was very, very last minute.

[1:05:56] Andrew: Yeah. Also in Glee's peak was the introduction of Blaine, that Darren, you bring Darren on. That must have been also equally, like, Cord, you know, finding him.

[1:06:03] Robert Ulrich: Well, Darren, we didn't know. Darren, I don't believe that character was not a series regular. Cord had to go through the whole process of going to network and, you know, that whole thing. But going into the room and auditioning for all the executives. Darren was literally, I was the only one that met him.

[1:06:25] Connor: Oh, really?

[1:06:26] Robert Ulrich: Yeah. And then he got cast by Ryan and showed up on the set. Yeah.

[1:06:30] Andrew: Me and my staff, you know, we're the only people that met him. Did you feel more pressure with casting, you know, because Kurt was obviously such a pivotal character in season one that we knew that this role would be the love interest and was obviously very huge at the time to have the-

[1:06:45] Robert Ulrich: I can't remember if we did know the role was a love interest. I don't think-

[1:06:48] Connor: Oh, really?

[1:06:49] Robert Ulrich: Did not know the role was going to become what it became or Darren would have had to go through the whole studio network process. I'm sure this, yeah, this was, I don't remember that role being anything. I mean, I remember it being an important role and all that, but I don't think that any of us knew what that role would become.

[1:07:12] Connor: Because was there not a moment, was there not a moment or did I just completely imagine this where Sam was supposed to be the love interest or is that an urban legend?

[1:07:20] Robert Ulrich: Well, that could be true. I don't remember. That very well could be true. I mean, look how many people were a love interest for a second. I mean, a lot of people. Anything is possible, but yeah, Sam might have been. Maybe, you know, I don't remember that. I don't remember that. But I do remember hearing that.

[1:07:39] Connor: Yeah, yeah.

[1:07:43] Andrew: Do you have any final questions, Connor, before we cast our vote?

[1:07:46] Connor: I'm good. I mean, I'm very confident in my vote.

[1:07:49] Andrew: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But for the sake of voting, to put it out there, I'm going Somebody to Love.

[1:07:57] Connor: I'm going Somebody to Love.

[1:07:59] Andrew: You know what's interesting about Somebody to Love, after watching those two back to back, I think part of the, I mean, aside from it's a great song and everything else, it was also the simplicity of the staging that you felt like you really got to see.

[1:08:11] Connor: Whereas the other thing, you know, everybody's dancing around. It's hard to really connect.

[1:08:20] Andrew: Yeah, that's an amazing point, because that's just real high school, you know, like low budget. They're just standing there in jeans and a shirt and singing.

[1:08:28] Connor: That's what's so moving about it, I think.

[1:08:30] Andrew: Yeah, I agree.

[1:08:31] Connor: No, I love it.

[1:08:32] Andrew: And it's also, I think, the first time that we ever heard Amber and really knew what her chops were, you know.

[1:08:39] Robert Ulrich: Oh, totally. Yeah, a force to be reckoned with, for sure.

[1:08:42] Andrew: Going into our second competition,

[1:08:45] ♪ Musical number: "Come See About Me" — performed by Glee Cast ♪

[1:10:49] Robert Ulrich: Oh, I mean, I feel like I, I feel like a bullet points of like the Okay, Diana, Heather Naya would love to hear, like, just the the casting process for all three of them. I mean, I love them. Heather and I have are probably we're certainly closer than we have ever been. And she's probably one of the people I'm the very closest from from Glee still to this day and has been, you know, I'll call her to do something. She'll come do it. She is just an amazing, amazing human. Diana was always my favorite. I was so close. I was, you know, when Diana used to give interviews that period, she would give my name to have them interview me about her. And I've offered her several movies and stuff in the last couple of years.

She hasn't done him, but that's fine. I mean, I never expect anybody to do anything like that. But she's just she's incredible. And then I, of course, they said Heather is the one person on Glee. I believe the only person that I cannot take any credit for casting because Heather was brought on. She had danced with Beyonce. And when they were doing single, I believe she was brought on to teach the the the dance number. And so that's how she came on. So unfortunately, because I think she was incredible in the show and so funny. And Naya was, I think, at the near the very end of the process. And I think that somebody had suggested from the studio that there needed to be another cheerleader. Yeah.

And so I don't think Naya's character was in the script initially, I don't think. Anyway, and she came at the near the very end. I don't think it was a serious record. I don't think we went to studio network. It was just she came in and sang for me. And then I guess we took her to Ryan. I don't know why we don't have video of her singing for Ryan. I've always been curious about that. Yeah, because there is video of most everybody else. Most everybody. But yeah, I don't know why, but I'm assuming we took her over there. I mean, and so and she literally we were standing by my desk. Most people sat across and she just sang standing. Yeah. And, you know, and she was I absolutely loved her voice.

And she was amazing in person. I was always very behind her. I thought she was incredible. Yeah. And then who was. Oh, and then Diana's was we. That was another role near the end that we had a difficulty. We had difficulty casting. We went to studio at least once, maybe twice without Diana. And it was like the day before she had to shoot or something. It was crazy. And she came to my office. She's saying she actually sang in a little tiny office against the door. And. And we sent her over to the studio network and they acted like and they made everybody made the decision and they acted like they were going to audition her. But instead, she got there and just signed the papers and had the role and didn't have to audition over there. And because it was so last minute. And so I don't think anybody met Diana until she showed up on the set, which is crazy, crazy.

[1:14:21] Conor: No, I thought I'd go ahead, Connor.

[1:14:24] Robert Ulrich: I was just going to say, like, it's just so interesting hearing you talk about those three ladies, just even those women that we all we all love, because it just goes to show how everyone's right into a project can be so completely different.

[1:14:39] Yes. Like, I think for me, Glee is one of those shows, Robert, that I some of my favourite characters on the show are smaller characters. Like I was deeply in love with Howard Bamboo, for example, that work.

[1:14:52] Robert Ulrich: Oh, me too. Me too. Myself and Alex, my right hand person. We loved him.

[1:15:01] Conor: But like my question around someone like Howard Bamboo or even someone like Vanessa's character Sugar, when when they are played, when when you are casting actors that are for slightly smaller roles, can that be in some way more difficult? Are there challenges that you may have with casting those people as opposed to a Lea Michele leading type character?

[1:15:26] Robert Ulrich: No, I mean, they're more they're so fun because, again, that's where Glee excelled to this day. I'll be with my wife. I'll be with my wife somewhere and we'll have a real character person service food or it'll be a waitress or something. And I'll say I cast them on Glee. I mean, the most it was just so fun. And yes, and I feel like that's where and it isn't just about me. It's like if I if I was if I go to a movie and I really think it's geniusly cast, it's not the names because the names are and stuff. It's the tiny little parts that I know were so hard to find, you know.

[1:16:06] Conor: And what was your what was your question?

[1:16:09] Robert Ulrich: No, I was just really interested in like the intricacies of because if you're given less material to work with on the page, I suppose in a way that that gives you more scope to to be more creative.

[1:16:20] Robert Ulrich: Well, as the show went along, we began to say after Vanessa and Ashley. Yeah. We were like, you know, we could be casting somebody who has one line and next week they could be in the Glee Club. Right. You know, we have to really start paying attention because so many because they are things I think just I don't think they kind of happened organically. Well, like even with Naya, right, because Naya was just cast.

[1:16:50] Conor: Oh, for sure.

[1:16:52] Robert Ulrich: A background character.

[1:16:54] Conor: Yeah. So it's kind of remarkable to have seen her journey throughout the series. Or Max Adler. That's he's a great.

[1:17:01] Robert Ulrich: Oh, totally. Like, I think he had like four lines or something or if that even it was tiny, tiny. And he was either I don't think he was a football player, but he was an athlete. Was he a soccer player? I can't remember. But anyway, initially he was a hockey hockey player. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And that's one of the rare times that I said, Kim, watch these auditions. And she said, he's great. And and we're very good friends. We're in two or three business producing deals right now.

[1:17:33] Conor: Yeah. Max is so incredible because like like you're saying that like he's giving. I mean, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Like to not have the wherewithal like that two years later to be giving this like a like absolutely award worthy performance that means so much.

[1:17:49] Robert Ulrich: Totally. I mean, you were talking about like going to the movies and like being like really impressed by by certain films in the way that they were cast. I have to ask, is there with our project recently that you were like blown away by the casting?

[1:18:03] Robert Ulrich: Oh, well, I just saw Wicked and I do think that that and not just that's actually an example. The tiny parts, I think, are so great, even the kids that have like a line, you know? Oh, yes. I think it's really, really, really well cast. Yeah. I mean, everything about it, I thought was great.

[1:18:24] Conor: Well, I've seen that because it's usually something like Killers of the Flower Moon or something where I know how hard it was to cast a lot of the roles, you know, showgun, you know, shows like that, which I know that it's it's so difficult to to do those and do such a great job.

[1:18:44] Robert Ulrich: Can you explain to us why those two examples that you just provided?

[1:18:48] Robert Ulrich: Well, in the Killers of the Flower Moon, you're dealing with a community that doesn't that everything has changed recently, but that was always a very difficult community to try to find people in because it wasn't as nurtured, you know, and and. And I think on Shogun, I believe the cast had to go all around the world. I mean, you had to investigate all around the world. So just things that are that are, you know, not the people that are living down the street in Hollywood that you have to really search for those. That's why when we lost and I know it's not a popular season, but when we lost the Emmy for Freaks, American Horror, that was incredibly difficult show to cast because of all the specific people and my business partner. I give complete credit to that, Eric. But, yeah, so.

[1:19:49] Conor: Wow. Yeah. I wasn't even thinking about like, yeah, Freak Show. Yeah. Oh my gosh. That must have been a behemoth.

[1:19:56] Robert Ulrich: Oh, Freaks is the movie and Freak Show and both those things are so politically incorrect. I can't even you can't even aren't supposed to even say them now. But, yeah, it was there was a lot of characters in that were that were based on the 1930s.

[1:20:09] Conor: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Oh, gosh. All right. Any final questions, Connor? Are we good to move on to?

[1:20:16] Conor: We're we're good to go. OK. All right. And by the way, come see about me. I feel like me and Andrew feel differently about the song. This is one of my favourite songs on Glee.

[1:20:24] Robert Ulrich: I love it. I love it. It's not my favourite quinn number. It's just like it's there are other quinn numbers that definitely come to mind that I prefer.

[1:20:33] Conor: But I'll give you that one. I'll give you that one. Going into what is against. Come see about me. Here we go.

[1:21:03] ♪ Musical number: "Take Care of Yourself" — performed by Glee Cast ♪

[1:22:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:23:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:23:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:24:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:24:10] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:24:20] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:24:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:24:40] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:24:50] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:25:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:25:10] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:25:20] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:25:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:25:40] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:25:50] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:26:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:26:10] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:26:20] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:26:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:26:40] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:26:50] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:27:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:27:10] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:27:20] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:27:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:27:40] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:27:50] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:28:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:28:10] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:28:20] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:28:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:28:40] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:28:50] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:29:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:29:10] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:29:20] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:29:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:29:40] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:29:50] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:30:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:30:10] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:30:20] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:30:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:30:40] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:30:50] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:31:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:31:10] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:31:20] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:31:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:31:40] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:31:50] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:32:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:32:10] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:32:20] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:32:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:32:40] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:32:50] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:33:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:33:10] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:33:20] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:33:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:33:40] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:33:50] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:34:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:34:10] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:34:20] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:34:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:34:40] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:34:50] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:35:00] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:35:10] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:35:20] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:35:30] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:35:40] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:35:50] Robert Ulrich: Backstage with Damien Chastain and Cirque Du Soleil energy queen Robin Thicke!

[1:36:15] Andrew: And these two songs, only one song can go forward on the Glacket. We're looking at Come See About Me and Take Care of Yourself. Do either of you feel confident in your vote?

[1:36:26] Conor: Well, not confident, but I'll vote.

[1:36:30] Andrew: Go for it.

[1:36:30] Conor: I'll pick Damien's.

[1:36:32] Andrew: Okay, Connor.

[1:36:34] Conor: You see, I'm so conflicted here, because obviously I think you said it's your favorite.

[1:36:39] Robert: Yeah.

[1:36:39] Conor: Yeah, but it's just, I don't know, there's something really moving to me about those three ladies, the way that they connect with one another.

[1:36:45] Andrew: I agree.

[1:36:47] Conor: I think it's just the essence of Glee, isn't it? Just getting up and putting on a song and a dance. So I think, and I hate to do this, Andrew, you're gonna be the tiebreaker here. I'm gonna go with Come See About Me.

[1:37:00] Andrew: I feel, and you've already brought this up, Connor, that I have my reservations about Come See About Me. And so I think I'm gonna double down. And I'm gonna go with Take Care of Yourself. Obviously, like this entire conversation that we're having about Glee Project and Damien. And so I would love to send that song forward.

[1:37:18] Andrew: Hello, everyone. It's Editing Andrew. And I need to pause where you are in this episode to let you know that you may be shocked by my vote for Arorolo over Aquolo. And listen, we recorded this conversation four days ago. And voting in that way has not escaped myself since then. It's a decision that I really grappled with. I do stand by it. But I understand that it will surely make people upset. I know how much y'all love your Aquolos. Many of you love your Aquolos. And I want to personally apologize to you for causing any distress by getting rid of Aquolo. But in the spirit of the holiday spirit, I am just kindly asking that you refrain from being mad at me. If you have any feelings, please don't share them with me directly.

Share them with maybe your friends, a therapist. I don't know. But I just know from last week's episode with Paradise by the Dashboard Light, losing to Survivor, I will survive. I know y'all can get upset with some of these Glacket decisions. And I just I don't know if I, a mere mortal, can take back-to-back weeks of feeling the heat. So we talk more about it, Connor and I, after Robert leaves at the end of the episode. So if you would like any more insight into why I voted that way, stick around to the end of the episode. Anyway, all that being said, be kind to me, especially. Thank you. And back to the episode.

[1:39:12] Conor: I was, I mean, I'd love to come see it, but I was obsessed with Say a Little Prayer with the Three Girls.

[1:39:19] Robert: Oh, yeah.

[1:39:20] Conor: Obsessed.

[1:39:20] Andrew: That's fair.

[1:39:23] Conor: I'd watch all those people doing it. And it was so fun.

[1:39:26] Robert: Yeah.

[1:39:27] Conor: So yeah, I'm consoled by that, because we still have Say a Little Prayer in the competition.

[1:39:31] Andrew: Right, right. Exactly.

[1:39:33] Conor: Oh, I'll take my loss.

[1:39:35] Robert: That would have to, that would be hard to beat, I think. That's what it's actually about.

[1:39:39] Andrew: Going into the final competition of the episode, we have song number one of this final competition. Here we go.

[1:39:47] ♪ Musical number: "Cool" — performed by Glee Cast ♪

[1:41:54] Andrew: Oh, I love Harry so much.

[1:41:56] Robert: I love Harry. When I said Chris Kaufer came to my play Albuquerque, so did Harry. Plus, we've cast Harry and another show we do is Grey's Anatomy. He's a series regular on that.

[1:42:10] Conor: He is the also the best. He is such a nice person. I love love him. And Andrew came out and saw that show. It was it was phenomenal. I loved it. And it starred two of the stars were Blake and Danny. Yeah, the Glee Project. And they're both incredible, weren't they?

[1:42:30] Robert: Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I mean, like I already have discussed with you. I'm very I anticipate I'm wishing pie in the sky. Broadway turn. Yeah, we're doing we're meeting people. I just had a big wow yesterday. Oh, it's so good. So good. Manifesting good things. But Harry, I need to know about finding him initially, because I feel as though he's one of the most underrated actors on the series.

[1:43:00] Robert: Yeah, no, he's amazing. Amazing. He, that we were auditioning, and I specifically remember the people audition, they were all good. They were all very different types. My wife was watching. And she said, I think you should go with Harry, you need a really handsome Asian guy on the show. And he's so wonderful and blah, blah, blah. And yeah, I need to remember he just saying I think the singing was just I think it was that song. L is for the Oh, really? Thank but it was something like that in my office. I don't I haven't seen that tape anywhere ever, either. I have not seen it either. Look for that because we should have that because we filmed because we sent that to Ryan, you know, and I don't, but we were looking for a dancer.

We were looking for a dancer. And, and I don't know if Harry had because I think some of the other people had danced in the football episode the when they did. I'm single ladies. Yeah, that audition. So it was around that period. And but yeah, so we're specifically looking for somebody who could dance and I just he's I think he's so good. If you watch Grey's Anatomy, he's really good on that too. And his wife is lovely. Shelby, he's just a nice, nice person.

[1:44:19] Conor: It is just like it. I needed to talk about this already. But it is just insane that you have all of these people, Harry Shum, Max Adler, Naya, etc, that you had no idea, we're going to turn into such internal parts of the show. Like, for me, I'm just like, I refuse to believe that that's a coincidence. So like, yeah, how much of casting and this is obviously just a general question, is like intuition based? Like, do you just know people? And does it just so happen sometimes where you say to yourself, that person has whatever it is like, they're just, there's something very special about them? Does that happen often?

[1:45:01] Robert: Yes. I mean, that's what it is. I think. I mean, obviously, there's talent and skill, but talent and skill are completely subjective. You know, you can. I mean, you know, I'm always surprised people can even pick five candidates for the Oscars for each category, because you can have somebody arguing over Meryl Streep performing. I mean, it's just, so that's all subjective. So it really does come down to, I think that it factor, which you cannot describe, and it's just a personal thing. And, you know, somebody you want. And on Glee, it became so much I used to say, always in interviews that it was about talent, but it was always also about accessibility that these were people that you felt like you went to high school with, you want in your living room. And I think a lot of times you'll meet an actor, and you want to be their friend. I mean, yeah, you don't necessarily end up their friend, but it's just those the kind of people that you, you know, want to cast.

[1:45:51] Andrew: And then talking about, you know, Harry, I mean, like his love interest for most of the series, Tina, played by Jenna. I'm curious what you know that and discovering Jenna, bringing her from Broadway onto the show.

[1:46:02] Robert: Came from New York. And Jenna was more Jim Carnahan. I mean, she ended up coming here going through the process. We brought other people to that. But Jim Carnahan had put her on tape. And he was the first year that I was up there. I was up with Jim Carnahan, who's an amazing Broadway casting director.

[1:46:24] Andrew: Yeah.

[1:46:24] Robert: And then that year, we didn't win. And then the year we went, he wasn't on. Because he was on for the search, which Jenna Matthew and Leah came from New York. But also, I never really think I mean, Leah is different, because Ryan met her, I'm sure he wrote the I mean, I don't know this for a fact, but I always assumed he wrote the part with her in mind. Yeah, it's her friend. And, and Matthew was a well known, well known actor. But, but Jenna was truly from Jim Carnahan.

[1:46:58] Conor: Amazing. Do you have any final questions, Connor, before we get into the final song?

[1:47:00] Conor: All right, I'm good.

[1:47:04] Andrew: Perfect. Final song of the episode. What is against cool? Here we go.

[1:47:31] ♪ Musical number: "Hello, I Love You" — performed by Glee Cast ♪

[1:48:42] Andrew: Oh, Chris's reaction there is so funny.

[1:48:46] Robert: Great.

[1:48:50] Andrew: You, Robert, you've mentioned in prior interviews that, you know, Corey was, Finn, the character was very difficult to cast for. Was there a specific reason that that was a difficult role to satisfy?

[1:49:01] Robert: Well, I think because we were looking for somebody who was a conceivable football player who could sing and that, you know, that is that was not easy. It was really hard. Actually, he was the hardest role to cast. Yeah. And you know, every knows the story that it was like two in the morning and I was looking at tapes in my office and Alex, my right hand person, Alex Newman was looking at tapes out in the in our main casting area. And she said, Robert, you got to come see this guy. She said he reminds me of Ben Affleck. And I mean, on Tupperware, and he didn't sing. I said, Oh, man, for whatever reason, it was that feeling like this is it. But he didn't sing, you know?

[1:49:45] Conor: Yeah.

[1:49:45] Robert: Yeah, actually heard him sing, which might have not been until the thing which is also on because I don't he came from Canada. I don't think he came to my office and sang first. I think we I it's hard to remember. I think I might we might have taken him directly to

[1:50:01] Robert Ulrich: To Ryan and the producers and I knew the second that I heard him sing that he sang well enough and he would end up becoming a great singer, which he did because they all was you know, those recording sessions and everything and those dance routines, they were like basically having major voice lessons and major dance classes every day, you know, yeah.

[1:50:31] Andrew: Yeah, absolutely, but I don't know about you, Robert, but I think maybe you'll disagree. I don't know, but I think that that's what made Glee so moving because obviously you had Lea Michele, you had Amber Riley, but you had all they had their own strengths and weaknesses sort of that they grew and expanded on and you could see them grow in real time as the years went by.

[1:50:51] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, yeah, there's something so endearing about him and like the fact that it isn't as polished as the singer nearly as like Lea or you know Amber but like there's something like so accessible about it felt so real and authentic. I'm curious because yeah, everybody did that's the thing.

[1:51:12] Andrew: Yes, just a nice person and watching this I'm realizing how many really great people there were, you know, there was just a lot of very nice.

[1:51:18] Robert Ulrich: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. What were you saying?

[1:51:25] Andrew: I know you're fine. Um, I'm curious because you know, you mentioned that this Tupperware, you know audition of him drumming, you know that everyone is so familiar with that. Yeah, he did, you know, did you see you know kind of like people trying to mimic that sort of audition with like Glee Project that they were trying to?

[1:51:41] Robert Ulrich: Be like a little bit quirky a little bit of fun and yeah, you did especially the I think was the second season some of those Glee Project auditions are so wild. Yeah, they're just crazy people doing weirdest things people that I don't even think they thought they would necessarily get on the show but they were just having fun with these crazy.

[1:51:59] Andrew: There was one guy that auditioned for Glee Project season one and I actually brought him back to Glee Project season two and he never you know didn't but his name is John Cozart and he I think he's still all over YouTube.

[1:52:15] Robert Ulrich: Oh, I know. Okay. Yeah, he did the most genius thing with paper, which I call this.

[1:52:21] Andrew: Yeah, isn't this the guy who has the Disney thing?

[1:52:28] Robert Ulrich: He might I think now he does something else. Well, yeah blonde guy stood out so much, but it was one of those very strange auditions but backed up by a lot of talent, you know, yeah.

[1:52:34] Andrew: Do those audition tapes exist somewhere still or are they?

[1:52:42] Robert Ulrich: Some of we did we didn't maybe if remind me write me and I'll try to have a real digitized because we did a real to show to Ryan to get him excited of all the weird things.

[1:52:54] Andrew: Yeah, so funny. I mean craziest things and I I have to look for that, but I know I have that but other than that the other ones don't exist.

[1:53:03] Robert Ulrich: We actually went back on after Glee Project season two to try to look cuz Blake all these people had auditioned that I'd never seen.

[1:53:11] Andrew: Yeah, and they don't I lean they'd all disappeared.

[1:53:18] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, that's unfortunate. But yeah, my space.

[1:53:23] Andrew: Right, right in my space is completely.

[1:53:25] Robert Ulrich: Yeah.

[1:53:31] Andrew: I don't know if I have any further questions about "Hello, I Love You." Do you have any, Conor?

[1:53:35] Conor: No, I am good. However, I am relatively stressed about this competition. This is a hard one cool. I feel like I feel like if I was dealing with a negotiator here they could sway me either way. Does that make sense?

[1:53:47] Andrew: I feel fairly confident in my vote. Um, I just I love this episode that of "Harry" Asian F. I thought that was that's literally my favorite episode of the series and I think it highlights so many different like ancillary characters and it doesn't focus on Rachel and Finn as much, you know we get a good spotlight of Mike and Tina and Mercedes and I so my vote will be going to "Cool."

[1:54:15] Robert Ulrich: Okay, you go next.

[1:54:16] Conor: Well, it's I think it's tough because anything Cory does I love and I think that that number is more reflective of Glee because just the way and I love seeing them play basketball because they it was always football and it was nice to see a second of that.

[1:54:34] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, that's true.

[1:54:37] Conor: Yeah, like and there's a in the season four, there's a episode with Blake and Jacob in their basketball uniforms, and I always like there's just wasn't always football than I live football.

[1:54:47] Robert Ulrich: But they so I like that seems more Glee to me actually more reflective but I but having said that I would pick "Cool" and again, not only because I'm such a bad person with this because I just love Harry but also it was nice. It was one of the few first moments we saw Harry do something and I love West Side Story.

[1:55:10] Conor: Yes, musical and yes, I pick I pick "Cool."

[1:55:12] Andrew: All right.

[1:55:16] Conor: Yeah, "Cool" is going okay. I did it's going through. I was gonna vote for "Cool" as well. Funnily enough, I only watched that episode relatively recently and there's a scene in it between Mike Chang and his mother and it is one of the most beautiful scenes in the entire series. It's when she basically encourages him to go and dance or whatever and they they have a slow dance around the dance studio and what I will say is we have a lot more thin representation as we move forward Andrew.

[1:55:47] Andrew: Yeah, I feel like we're God, you know.

[1:55:51] Conor: Okay.

[1:55:54] Andrew: Yeah, Mike deserves this.

[1:55:59] Conor: Yeah.

[1:56:03] Andrew: I'm curious Robert, the shows that you cast for are you actively watching week-to-week as well or what is your relationship with the actual like show is it?

[1:56:07] Robert Ulrich: Well, not every show I've ever cast, but I never could snap a snap of my fingers I never miss an episode of "The Boys." I'm yeah, that's what "The Boys" I do "Gen V." I never miss an episode and I was obsessed with "The Perfect Couple" I could not wait till it dropped. I feel like I similarly to "The Boys" and I sent you a picture, I believe that I've been seeing like billboards all over of them.

[1:56:27] Andrew: No, yeah, "The Boys" in Times Square and similarly with "The Perfect."

[1:56:32] Robert Ulrich: Oh, yeah, last year I won a casting award for casting "The Boys," but it's it's not really gotten any recognition and it has the best actors. I mean Anthony's well, everybody's great, but anti-star police Homelander you've seen the show, but it's he's it's like an incredible performance and I mean they all all of them Karl Urban and all the actors are all great.

[1:57:01] Andrew: I mean, it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's.

[1:57:03] Robert Ulrich: All the Chase Crawford has like redefined himself.

[1:57:07] Andrew: Yeah, it's really good show. I'm very happy with it and then "The Perfect Couple" just yesterday I got the new People magazine and I looked at the movies and I've seen a lot of them and I love I love Anora, I love so many of the movies. Hmm, but "Wicked" isn't in the top 10 movies I'm like, that's ridiculous and then then I turn the page and it's the top 10 TV shows and "The Perfect Couple" is in there so I'm like, this is great.

[1:57:27] Robert Ulrich: There we go.

[1:57:29] Andrew: Yeah, I'm like People magazine really got it wrong.

[1:57:34] Robert Ulrich: You're like now you're like "Wicked" Hill.

[1:57:40] Andrew: Anyway, so yeah, wait before I let you go. I'm so cute because it's similar to Glee, you know I love movies so much. Do you have like a top, you know best actress for Oscar this year best actor. Who do you know? Are you really like this year?

[1:57:58] Robert Ulrich: That's a great question. Yeah, I haven't seen because I I mean Nicole Kidman just won the National Board of Review for "Baby Girl" early.

[1:58:04] Andrew: Yeah, he's incredible and I'm sure Marianne Jean Baptiste just won the New York Film Critics so I haven't seen either of those which are obviously and I haven't seen Angelina Jolie and Maria.

[1:58:16] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, Maria, but I loved Mikey Madison in "Anora." Have you seen "Anora?"

[1:58:23] Andrew: Oh, yeah, I loved it. It was it was a different performance.

[1:58:28] Robert Ulrich: I think it's so unfair like you're saying that it's like to put five, you know in the in for best actress because you have like a Cynthia Erivo for and I loved it, but completely different performance than what Mikey's what Mikey's doing in.

[1:58:39] Andrew: Oh, yeah.

[1:58:47] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, that's always you know that's always the case. I love love love the Cynthia Erivo I just thought she was and I just saw it again for the second time cousin my wife and I saw my daughter had Thanksgiving back east with her boyfriend so we went again with my daughter and her boyfriend just two days ago and I liked it even more and I and I appreciated Cynthia Erivo even more I think she is so spectacular and now I've gone down a rabbit hole of her singing and yeah, she has so much there's so much material.

[1:59:14] Andrew: Yeah, so much. That's just unbelievable, you know, I I saw "Night Bitch" last night with a I loved it.

[1:59:22] Robert Ulrich: It's not getting nearly as much as anymore because I feel like it's not what you know people thought it was going to be they thought it was gonna be like much more dramatic and you know it's a little bit more fun. It's similar to "Tully" with um, Charlie is a few years ago I loved it though. I think that she I really think that she should be you know nominated she's on some of the list but way down.

[1:59:46] Andrew: Yeah, so loved Emilia Perez. Have you seen that?

[2:00:00] Robert Ulrich: Oh, I haven't seen it yet. I've not seen that yet Carla is being the main actress.

[2:00:05] Andrew: Yeah, she is amazing and that would be very cool because it'd be the first round, you know.

[2:00:09] Robert Ulrich: But she's also amazing.

[2:00:11] Andrew: Yeah, and it's I really liked it. It's a musical. Did you know that?

[2:00:16] Robert Ulrich: Yeah.

[2:00:19] Andrew: Well, it's always all Donna's getting I know she and I think she's I think yeah, I mean, I think right now it could be between her and and Arianna Arianna Arianna who's amazing and then yeah, so he's all done is amazing and I loved we saw "Blitz," which is really good with Oh she's unbelievable, so it's it's it's a good year actor. I don't know cuz I haven't seen hardly anything I haven't seen "Conclave."

[2:00:29] Robert Ulrich: I haven't seen "Conclave."

[2:00:36] Andrew: That's great. He just won two awards. I haven't seen that Daniel Craig, I haven't seen "Queer."

[2:00:41] Robert Ulrich: Have you seen that? He died.

[2:00:44] Andrew: I haven't heard much good things about you.

[2:00:46] Robert Ulrich: I know, but he just won the National Board of Review Award, but the movies disappointing.

[2:00:49] Andrew: Yeah.

[2:00:55] Robert Ulrich: But I love him and yeah, so I don't know. I love the Oscars. It's my favorite. I could I could talk about it all day.

[2:01:00] Andrew: Yeah, but thank you so much Robert for spending your Sunday with us. I really really appreciate it. You are very busy. So for you to you know, give us this much time really really appreciate it.

[2:01:07] Robert Ulrich: No, thank you.

[2:01:12] Andrew: And tonight I'm going to see um, there's the Academy Museum. Did you you've heard about that?

[2:01:15] Robert Ulrich: But yeah.

[2:01:21] Andrew: Oh, I don't know if you've been to it.

[2:01:26] Robert Ulrich: I haven't been no.

[2:01:32] Andrew: Incredible and I've been to lots of movies there lots of months and tonight. I'm seeing "Imitation of Life," which is a movie from the I believe the 60s old old old time movie, but it's just so fun seeing these movies on this giant screen.

[2:01:38] Robert Ulrich: Yeah.

[2:01:40] Andrew: Yeah, so I'll have to go.

[2:01:44] Robert Ulrich: Yeah.

[2:01:51] Andrew: No, if you come here, you should go and thank you so much for coming to Albert Kashir. I just was um, I was just talking to Blake last night about it and cuz oh I can't say yeah, but he may be doing something else. I can't say um, but um anyway he um we were just saying the show was so good in that cast. The whole cast was so good in Albert Kashir. I like there wasn't there wasn't one actor that wasn't no showing up.

[2:02:04] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, so locally strong that shows crazy and Danny Shay specifically. I've already we've already talked about it I'm obsessed with their performance in the family was amazing.

[2:02:15] Andrew: Yeah, really really incredible and I think that it's like you have a great track record of these Glee Project Tony winners that I so crazy, I know.

[2:02:23] Robert Ulrich: Yes, Danny is inevitable. I feel yeah, I do too.

[2:02:30] Andrew: Yeah, no, I know and yeah between Alex and Ali and then Blake was on in Cyrano with Peter Dinklage, which was amazing.

[2:02:37] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, and yeah, no, it seems like a lot of the people considering it wasn't a Glee Project wasn't a show based on theater people and Lindsay being the first alpha back after um, COVID.

[2:02:44] Andrew: Yeah, I'd love to see her.

[2:02:51] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, she's doing "Lame Is" right now.

[2:02:53] Andrew: Yes.

[2:02:57] Robert Ulrich: Yeah, I'd love to see it, but it's not coming here. But oh she is oh my god her voice her voice. She has one of the best voices ever and I cannot believe I didn't see her do "Wicked" but I've seen clips and people that did see it told me that it was one of the best acted alpha, but I mean obviously I saw her she was saying.

[2:03:12] Andrew: Oh, yeah.

[2:03:18] Robert Ulrich: Yes insane I was I mean, I was even more of a fan of it was it's off-Broadway. It's the funny I'm sure that you're familiar.

[2:03:24] Andrew: Oh, I know it's I've been ten times.

[2:03:29] Robert Ulrich: I seen it probably like half those times with Lindsay and she's nailing the comedy as well as singing wonderful actress, I mean so sad she didn't do more angling and ridiculous, but oh yeah.

[2:04:16] Andrew McGuire: Oh, and then I saw last week, my friends Cheyenne Jackson and Kevin Cahoon about three weeks ago are in La Cage Aux Folles. And that's new. And then they're both so good.

[2:04:28] Robert Ulrich: Yeah. Also, Cheyenne, another person that wish had more time.

[2:04:33] Andrew McGuire: Oh my God. Yeah.

[2:04:35] Robert Ulrich: That's criminal. That is criminal.

[2:04:37] Andrew McGuire: Yeah. He has a beautiful voice. And Kevin Cahoon was up against Alex Vershuck for the Tony.

[2:04:45] Robert Ulrich: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. He was so fun. Yeah. I could talk about Glee, Broadway, Oscars with you all day, Robert. But I will let you go. Thank you again. It means so much to me.

[2:04:58] Robert Ulrich: Thank you so much. This is a nice meeting you. I am in a haze right now.

[2:05:05] Andrew McGuire: I wish I'd known you when I was in Ireland.

[2:05:09] Robert Ulrich: We'll meet again. We'll meet again.

[2:05:12] Andrew McGuire: We'll have to come to L.A. and I'll take you to the Academy Museum.

[2:05:15] Robert Ulrich: Oh, of course. Let's put that in the diary. Thank you so much.

[2:05:21] Andrew McGuire: Talk to you later.

[2:05:22] Robert Ulrich: Thank you, Robert. Have a good one. Bye. Bye. Bye.

[2:05:25] Andrew McGuire: Can I just say immediately, by the way, just as a little debrief, do you know when you panic and you embarrass yourself? Why did I tell him about me being a teenager? I like going to message him on Facebook, like I did with that. You know, I led with that. I led. I led with that.

[2:05:42] Robert Ulrich: Bizarro. But no, I thought that was it. And he was, as you would expect, very responsive and normal about it. Are you happy with those competitions?

[2:05:54] Andrew McGuire: OK, no. And I just want to put out a disclaimer because. Oh, here you go. There's one competition that I'm like, I think that people are going to be like, what the fuck? And I think that people are going to be really mad. I'm talking, of course, about the second competition, this episode. Take care of yourself winning over. Come see about me. And yeah, it was on me and I will take I will. Sometimes like I agree. People are always like, oh, my God, Andrew Connor always agree. Sometimes I listen to this podcast and where we disagree, it's like that's insane. That's actually work. Yeah, I feel bad about it. Take care of yourself is a song that is oh, to protect myself a little bit. This is the image that I want to instill on you if you're wondering why I voted the way I did.

Come see about me has been unfortunately on a downward decline over the years for me. It's just unfortunate the way that this is happening, whereas take care of yourself is on the upward decline, upward incline. And I'm discovering things about it that I really, really enjoy. And I think it's very sweet. And I do. Guys, we need to have some we have to have some Rory representation in round three. And this is the this is your only chance. And you know, I want my Irish representation. I did. I did this for you all. It was a sacrifice I made. But.

[2:07:30] Andrew McGuire: Like, Andrew. I'm not hysterical over it, but I did think. I did think you were going to vote for come see about me. I'm actually I was in shock in the episode. You can hear me go probably. And that it was genuine. That was genuine. So I don't listen. I don't feel good about like that's a competition that like I wish didn't happen. But on the other hand, there's been people on this podcast who was it Claudia was talking, which was like, I don't really care for come see about me. There's been a few people who I'm putting words into Claudia's mouth. Maybe it wasn't her. There's been a few people who are like, I don't get what what they're laying down with this. So I know that I've said it before and you made reference to it in front of Robert.

You said, Andrew, you don't like this. So I do have a history of not liking it. And so I feel like I needed to like double down and be like, yeah, you're right. OK, I'm sorry. There are the quollos. We need to be very specific about our quollos because we got every quollo besides Papa Don't Preach into round two. We just need to be specific about which one's not a quollo, though.

[2:08:39] Robert Ulrich: It's a quollo. It's legally a quollo.

[2:08:42] Andrew McGuire: It's legally. Well, I'm saying it's legally not a quollo.

[2:08:47] Robert Ulrich: Literally, Glee Wiki is my scripture and the Glee Wiki says.

[2:08:52] Andrew McGuire: Hey, yeah, but what does Diana Agron updates say? That's the question.

[2:08:57] Robert Ulrich: That's the only source that Diana Agron updates actually would agree with me.

[2:09:01] Andrew McGuire: Does Diana Agron updates listen to this podcast?

[2:09:05] Robert Ulrich: No, I don't believe so. I think that Diana Agron updates listen to the Kevin and Jenna episode where we talked about Diana Agron. But I think that that was it.

[2:09:12] Andrew McGuire: And yeah, but if you send her this episode and say that she got a mention, she'd listen to this.

[2:09:15] Robert Ulrich: Diana Agron updates just want to tell you I absolutely love you. Icon legend in the moment. And maybe this is we're really going off the rails, but I am curious. We've had a conversation. Is Diana Agron updates a girl or a gay or third option, gay girl or a gay girl? I, I would love to wear everyone's head. And we're in a great. This is the kind of things that Andrew talk. Andrew and I talk about in private, literally via Instagram DMs. And we're leaning towards. I said at first, and I was like, what do you think? So I was like, I think it's a girl. And you were like, yeah, it's like a gender reveal. You know, like those parties where they're like, I'm your mammy and I think you're a girl. I'm the papa and I think you're a boy. I think you're a gay.

[2:10:11] Andrew McGuire: OK, go ahead. Oh, no, you go ahead, please. I mean, Andrew, I can always tell when Andrew. Here's the funny thing about me. I can always tell when Andrew wants to wrap it up and I do go in just just to piss him off. But it's OK. Go on.

[2:10:25] Robert Ulrich: No, it's OK. I'm just like, I'm a little hung. I'm a little hungies. Um, but the other two competitions, I feel I feel fine, but I feel bad about Hello, I love you. Um, which I do the game where I, I, I, you know, send these songs off. OK, so the first song I try one. Yeah. Somebody to love.

[2:10:47] Andrew McGuire: Somebody to love. You asked to find me somebody to love and you have you found me, Andrew McGuire and Robert Ulrich, because, you know what? You're going to run three. Perfect. OK, somebody loves you. Somebody, which is a crazy competition. We didn't really get into it, but that is a crazy matchup. Just song titles. Somebody loves you. Unfortunately, not us. See you later.

[2:11:13] Robert Ulrich: Perfect. I'm sorry that I really stepped on that. I know that you were trying to get that out. I'm so excited because this is infamously my favorite bit of the podcast. I'm so you get to do this. Yes. Come see about me. Come see about me. You can come see about me if you want, but I'm going to tell you to fuck off because you're standing around, too.

[2:11:31] Andrew McGuire: Right. There's a. Do you hear that car beeping outside?

[2:11:34] Robert Ulrich: Yes. That's all the people who are really angry. That could be about me.

[2:11:38] Andrew McGuire: That's me. We're out. Come outside. I just want to talk.

[2:11:42] Robert Ulrich: I just want to talk to me and run up. Take care of yourself.

[2:11:49] Andrew McGuire: Take care of yourself. I suppose that we will. That's why you're coming to round three.

[2:11:55] Robert Ulrich: Yeah. Great. And then judgment. Yeah, that's great. That's exactly what I would have said. Cool. Cool. Just play a cool boy.

[2:12:09] Andrew McGuire: Because you are cool. And that's why you will be coming with us. And you know where we're going to round three. That was that way to work.

[2:12:21] Robert Ulrich: That's OK. Can I do can I do the last one? OK, fine. Unless you have a good one for hello. I love I just feel confident in mine.

[2:12:28] Andrew McGuire: No, you you go that. Diana Agron updates is still honking heavy outside. She's still mad.

[2:12:38] Robert Ulrich: Um, hello. I love you. Goodbye. I love you. I do mean that from the bottom of my heart. I know that this is a very special follow to so many. But this is goodbye. And just know that I love you. Lena, it's such a good point last night. Last night. Yeah, we saw each other last night. And last week's episode when she said, it's so funny when you do the to hell. Where does that come from?

[2:13:12] Andrew McGuire: No, that's that's a bow in an 80 on. We're going to play. Oh, my God. The culture experts, I believe. Right. Yeah. Iconic. OK, so just to recap, we mentioned the beginning of this episode that this is another seven episodes. So one song will be voted back. Feel pretty confident that y'all will rally behind one specifically. But just to settle the score, I will list them all. And as a reminder, you can go to Patreon dot com slash Click the Week pod, become a part of the Cheerio tier to vote in a song coming back. The poll is open for one week and it will be announced which song is coming back after this coming two week hiatus for the episode that will be released the first week of January. Anyway, all that being said, here are the songs that are eligible to come back.

Only one can listen to your heart. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. What is it? Oh, what doesn't kill you? Parentheses stronger. Define gravity. Season one. It's my life. Confessions. Part two. Forgot that died. I'm so excited. Animal locked out of heaven. Telephone all that jazz. I love New York, New York. I love New York, New York, New York. Jesus Christ. I've never said that out loud. That's so insane. Have you? Try saying that. I love New York, New York, New York.

[2:14:38] Robert Ulrich: Why? That reminds me of that tongue twister that we learned at drama school. I love New York, unique New York. I love unique New York. And it's funny that like this. So I love New York, New York, New York. The next song is similarly three words in a row. Up, up, up. Whatever happened to Saturday night? A house is not a home. Hello. Goodbye. Drive my car. Cold hearted. Glory days. This is the one that y'all waiting for. Paradise, but the dashboard light. Somebody loves somebody loves you. Come see about me. And hello. I love you.

[2:15:09] Andrew McGuire: Yeah. And just to say that Andrew is a master in reverse psychology. He purposefully voted out Paradise by the dashboard light to get the rigged claims off his back because he knows it's going to come back. So none of you can turn around and say that the competition is rigged.

[2:15:25] Robert Ulrich: I don't understand. Like, do people think like, why would I be crying? If it was like if I was rigging it, then why would I be like acting? Huh? Not an actor. All right. Well, that's that's it. Gleek the Week 2024 is now closed. Oh, my God. That's crazy work, isn't it? It's really wild. You're going to year four. And I posted to Instagram story, but like it's it's I'm very, very thankful. I posted this on Spotify Rap Day. The amount of folks that that listen. I'm just like, that's I feel like sometimes I'm talking into an echo chamber. So it's very kind that y'all. What was your top podcast? Because mine was this. I don't use Spotify. I use Apple Music, which is deranged. But that's a conversation for another day.

But I do mean it. I like everybody that listens. Love you so much. And even more so if I can say the folks like you, Connor, that continue to talk about this stupid show through the lens of a glacket week after week. I really, really do appreciate you so much. So that is perfectly OK to say. And thank you so much. And also, Lena will know the other night I sent her like a three paragraph long message being like, hey, I love you just to let you know she's icon. So the feeling is very much mutual, Mr. Andrew Maguire. We're going into a new year round. We're going into a new round shortly. Yeah. Eight more episodes of round two and then round three, which she has not really spent too much time thinking about. But happy holidays to everyone. I hope Santa's good, if that's what you celebrate, believe. And yeah, happy new year. All of that jazz. Fun. OK. See you next year.

[2:17:22] Andrew McGuire: See you, bye.