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.

[0:35] Andrew: Boys' night, boys' night, it's Boys' Week on Gleek of the Week.

[0:41] Andrew: Finally, just gay guys talking about Glee.

[0:45] Andrew: Finally, just gay guys, and it's just three.

[0:50] Andrew: I'm joined by...

[0:52] Matt Ligouri: That was impressive.

[0:53] Andrew: I'm joined by two very famous gay guys that...

[0:58] Andrew: World-renowned.

[1:00] Andrew: World-renowned gay guys that I can only strive to be as gay and as much of a guy as.

[1:06] Andrew: I'm talking, of course, about Matt from The Diary Room.

[1:11] Matt Ligouri: Hi!

[1:12] Ian Allred: Hey!

[1:12] Andrew: So it's funny that you mentioned that, because before we got recording, you also mentioned my wedding, which happened recently, in which time, at which time I did marry a man.

[1:21] Matt Ligouri: One of the gayest things you could possibly do.

[1:23] Andrew: Solidify and gaze that in.

[1:24] Andrew: But the crazy thing about that time frame afterwards, I guess, I was posting some pictures specifically on, I'll say, Twitter, maybe some Blue Sky, and I didn't realize that I was coming out all over again.

[1:35] Andrew: There were a handful of people in my mentions saying, excuse me?

[1:40] Andrew: And I just... I mean, look, to those people, they must not have familiarity enough with me, or I'm doing something wrong on podcasts, where I'm actively thirsting over many men on different reality shows and still somehow passing or straight.

[1:55] Andrew: Tell me that you don't listen to me, my podcast, without telling me.

[1:59] Andrew: It was...

[2:00] Andrew: You don't listen to my podcast.

[2:01] Andrew: It was not the reaction I was expecting.

[2:03] Andrew: I don't even know if it was followed with a congratulations or anything.

[2:06] Andrew: I think it was just, what?

[2:08] Andrew: There was shock value.

[2:11] Andrew: Just getting wed simply for the shock.

[2:14] Andrew: I do want to share with you, Matt, and it's not my place to share, but I remember after our first recording in round one, Allison, after the recording, was like, that Matt guy, he was pretty cute.

[2:26] Andrew: So you kind of... I don't know.

[2:27] Matt Ligouri: I mean, that's a whole other conversation to unpack.

[2:32] Andrew: Was she talking from herself, or was she trying to set us up?

[2:36] Matt Ligouri: Wait, what?

[2:37] Andrew: Oh, she was talking from herself's perspective, or was she trying to set us up?

[2:40] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[2:41] Andrew: Oh, okay.

[2:41] Matt Ligouri: No, no.

[2:42] Matt Ligouri: Straight king.

[2:43] Andrew: Straight king.

[2:43] Andrew: I don't remember when you entered your relationships.

[2:46] Andrew: I'm not sure about the timeline, but...

[2:47] Matt Ligouri: Oh, okay.

[2:48] Matt Ligouri: She was like, leave Elias.

[2:50] Matt Ligouri: Please be with this guy that we just spent an hour talking about Glee with.

[2:54] Andrew: Yeah.

[2:54] Andrew: Congratulations to Allison if I haven't said that on her engagement.

[2:56] Andrew: So she found a handsome person.

[2:58] Matt Ligouri: It was the second choice.

[2:59] Matt Ligouri: It was you, of course.

[3:00] Andrew: You were always the one.

[3:01] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[3:02] Andrew: Anyway.

[3:03] Andrew: She was the one who commented, what, on your wedding pictures.

[3:07] Andrew: That's who was behind that account.

[3:08] Matt Ligouri: I was still holding out hope.

[3:10] Ian Allred: What?

[3:13] Andrew: And you might have heard another gay guy in the conversation.

[3:16] Andrew: It's Ian Allred from TV's Recovering Gleek.

[3:19] Ian Allred: And also, Yas, a queer Buffy podcast.

[3:22] Andrew: Yay.

[3:23] Ian Allred: Did you say Yas?

[3:24] Andrew: It's Slay, babe.

[3:27] Ian Allred: That's so funny.

[3:32] Andrew: I've been spending too much time with gay guys.

[3:36] Ian Allred: It's a pun on Slayer, famously.

[3:39] Ian Allred: Diva, a Buffy podcast.

[3:41] Andrew: It really slipped off the tongue.

[3:43] Ian Allred: That's going to be the...

[3:44] Ian Allred: Queen, a Buffy podcast.

[3:49] Ian Allred: Sodomy, a queer Buffy podcast.

[3:54] Andrew: We're changing the name.

[3:55] Ian Allred: We're changing the name to that.

[3:57] Andrew: We're really workshopping here.

[3:59] Andrew: Okay, wait.

[3:59] Andrew: Before we get into talking about Glee and talking about Galacket and whatever, my birthday is coming up.

[4:05] Andrew: My 30th birthday is coming up.

[4:06] Andrew: I just shared with Matt.

[4:09] Andrew: I presented this assignment to him.

[4:11] Andrew: I'm also presenting it to the Gleeks.

[4:13] Andrew: If you are listening to this, and you would like to pay a little bit of a token for my big 30th birthday, having on November 22nd, 2025.

[4:26] Matt Ligouri: You're having it that day?

[4:28] Andrew: That's my birthday party.

[4:30] Matt Ligouri: November 20th is my birthday.

[4:32] Andrew: Oh, that's confusing.

[4:33] Andrew: I'm glad I asked to clarify, because I would have said...

[4:35] Andrew: Yeah, I don't know.

[4:36] Andrew: I've been thinking too much about my birthday party that I haven't...

[4:39] Andrew: Okay, sure.

[4:39] Matt Ligouri: Anyway.

[4:40] Andrew: Yeah, you forgot the day you were born.

[4:42] Andrew: I forgot the day I was born.

[4:44] Andrew: Okay, so if you're familiar, which I'm sure you are.

[4:46] Andrew: You're a Gleek.

[4:47] Andrew: With the video of all the different Elphaba's going during COVID lockdown.

[4:52] Andrew: The...

[4:54] Andrew: I'm asking everybody who means literally anything to me in my life to send in a video of their interpretation of the riff.

[5:03] Andrew: So if you would like to be included, I would love to have you be part of this compilation.

[5:09] Andrew: You do not need to be a good singer.

[5:11] Andrew: Actually, it's better if you're a bad singer.

[5:13] Andrew: It's more fun.

[5:15] Andrew: And it's going to be iconic.

[5:18] Matt Ligouri: Wait, is there any niche people that you're asking?

[5:22] Andrew: You said anyone that means anything.

[5:24] Andrew: Do you have a relationship with a barber?

[5:25] Andrew: Do you have a relationship with your mailman?

[5:27] Andrew: Do you have a relationship with the grocery store person by your house?

[5:30] Matt Ligouri: No.

[5:31] Matt Ligouri: Is it that?

[5:33] Andrew: I'm asking...

[5:34] Andrew: I asked my sister's boyfriend's children to send it.

[5:40] Andrew: And they're small.

[5:42] Andrew: And I think that will be like...

[5:43] Ian Allred: Using kids for content.

[5:44] Andrew: We love, yes.

[5:45] Andrew: Kids for content.

[5:46] Andrew: Of course.

[5:47] Andrew: Yeah.

[5:47] Andrew: So...

[5:48] Andrew: Are we good?

[5:49] Ian Allred: Ian sent in his yesterday.

[5:51] Ian Allred: I did.

[5:51] Ian Allred: Four options.

[5:53] Andrew: Wow.

[5:53] Andrew: All great.

[5:54] Andrew: I'm thinking about adding all four.

[5:57] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[5:59] Andrew: So if you have any questions about that, please let me know.

[6:02] Andrew: I would love to have you participate, whoever you are listening to this right now.

[6:07] Andrew: Anyway, we're here with another episode of Gleek of the Week podcast.

[6:11] Andrew: Some things have transpired in the past few weeks, specifically with My Man.

[6:17] Andrew: Would either of you like to add to the My Man discourse?

[6:20] Ian Allred: I have stronger feelings about a different competition, personally.

[6:24] Ian Allred: The My Man one, my gut instinct was My Man over Four Minutes.

[6:30] Ian Allred: And the longer I listened, I don't know that I'm fully on board with Four Minutes over My Man.

[6:36] Ian Allred: But I'm like, I actually am no longer upset.

[6:38] Ian Allred: I understand the high school Americana of it all.

[6:43] Ian Allred: I understand the fact that it's a marching band is really fun.

[6:46] Ian Allred: It is much more of a group number because all of our Gleeks are there in the audience and we get reaction shots.

[6:52] Ian Allred: So I am...

[6:57] Ian Allred: I, in the moment, probably would have voted My Man.

[6:59] Ian Allred: But I'm not really up in arms about it, personally.

[7:02] Andrew: Okay, okay, okay.

[7:03] Andrew: Yeah, it's not my fight to fight because I don't have...

[7:07] Andrew: I get how many people love My Man.

[7:09] Andrew: It's just not my man.

[7:11] Andrew: It's other people's man.

[7:13] Ian Allred: So at first, yeah.

[7:15] Ian Allred: At first, I was like, okay, this isn't a big deal to me.

[7:18] Ian Allred: I did have to let Amon know because that is his man.

[7:21] Ian Allred: So I needed to make sure he knew and he properly yelled at you.

[7:24] Andrew: I apologize, but I had to make sure he knew.

[7:26] Andrew: But then now I'm upset, though.

[7:30] Andrew: Because in the most recent episode, which I'm actually only guessing is in the same round of songs to be voted back in.

[7:35] Ian Allred: Yes.

[7:38] Ian Allred: Yeah, this is the last episode of songs that, you know.

[7:42] Andrew: Right.

[7:43] Andrew: So whatever loses today has no chance because My Man is still an option, is basically what you're saying.

[7:50] Ian Allred: Probably.

[7:52] Ian Allred: But in the last episode, and it sounds like Ian disagreed with this one, or he agreed with you and disagreed with me.

[7:55] Ian Allred: Three is gone forever?

[8:00] Andrew: Okay.

[8:00] Andrew: Oh, but it was against Rose's Turn.

[8:05] Ian Allred: That is fair, but it shouldn't have to be up against My Man in a vote to come back in.

[8:11] Ian Allred: I would also vote My Man in that situation personally.

[8:16] Ian Allred: Three is in my top 25 that I've definitively ranked out of Glee songs.

[8:21] Ian Allred: So I'm very sad to lose it.

[8:23] Andrew: Can you say that Three is one of the best Glee songs if there's actually nothing really backing it?

[8:30] Andrew: If there's like, no, like, it's like, oh, yeah, we did have fun doing this, this performance, and I'm glad that we have it.

[8:37] Andrew: But like, is it don't we need some sort of story attached to one of Glee's best?

[8:43] Ian Allred: I think there's something to be said for the arrangement of it.

[8:47] Ian Allred: And Glee, obviously, is so well known for taking some songs that how many, how many like truly how many songs that Glee has done, do Gleeks or otherwise say, oh, the Glee version of this is so much better.

[9:00] Ian Allred: And I don't know the Britney version as well as I know the Glee version.

[9:03] Ian Allred: But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Glee version is better, just because I'm obsessed with it.

[9:08] Ian Allred: I'm so like, I love it.

[9:10] Ian Allred: So I will just like that is on my rotation where like, even if I'm not in a Glee mood listening to music, and that comes on, I'm not skipping it.

[9:17] Andrew: So you would have voted for Three over Rose's Turn with your entire chest?

[9:23] Ian Allred: I mean, look, it is tough.

[9:26] Ian Allred: Like, it's Kurt's.

[9:28] Ian Allred: Is that Kurt's best song?

[9:29] Ian Allred: Is that Kurt's best song?

[9:32] Ian Allred: Just, you know, joke.

[9:38] Ian Allred: But I mean, do I stream Three a hell of a lot more?

[9:42] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[9:42] Ian Allred: So I probably would have voted that way, especially knowing it wouldn't have meant anything, because I would have been outvoted.

[9:48] Ian Allred: It is.

[9:48] Ian Allred: It is really special.

[9:50] Ian Allred: I don't know if I properly grieved Three enough, but yeah.

[9:53] Andrew: No, there's been a lot of that lately.

[9:54] Ian Allred: I would say that maybe my issues haven't been with some results lately.

[9:57] Ian Allred: It's been with maybe some just like, yeah, you know, this song's gone now.

[10:02] Ian Allred: It made it far enough.

[10:03] Ian Allred: It's time to say goodbye.

[10:04] Ian Allred: And I can't point to a specific example, but that energy has been in the air lately, and that's more of my grievance.

[10:10] Andrew: But look, that's your journey.

[10:11] Ian Allred: I feel similarly to Matt in this regard.

[10:15] Ian Allred: There are so many competitions where I'm like, either way it was going to be upsetting, but I feel like because we're trying to justify the one we're voting for, we're therefore like, pretending the other one is less influential.

[10:28] Andrew: Yeah, you're right.

[10:30] Andrew: And that is tricky because I feel like I'm putting up a shield as time is going on that I'm like, I can't actually let this permeate me because I need to go on with my day.

[10:42] Ian Allred: I can't let this kind of soak in as much as it probably should.

[10:47] Andrew: Yeah.

[10:48] Andrew: I'm also picking up as time has gone on, obviously, what, five years into this project?

[10:53] Ian Allred: Is that the correct amount of time?

[10:55] Ian Allred: Almost five years, yes.

[10:56] Andrew: Almost five years.

[10:58] Andrew: Like a lot of the regular hosts, you kind of have a sense of what they like and what they don't.

[11:02] Andrew: So when a matchup comes on and it's like, oh, Connor's the guest, I'm like, I think I know what's going to happen here.

[11:07] Ian Allred: So it's been easier to process ahead of time before the results actually happen.

[11:11] Andrew: Oh, but do you miss the element of surprise of being like, OK, I don't know this diva.

[11:14] Andrew: I don't know what her opinions on My Man is.

[11:19] Ian Allred: I mean, I'd still love to hear all the regular guests.

[11:21] Ian Allred: So it's not like I'm like, hey, get rid of everybody by any means.

[11:25] Andrew: So I don't know.

[11:27] Andrew: It's look, it's tough.

[11:29] Andrew: It's hard.

[11:29] Ian Allred: Hey, we got to find out what the number one song is.

[11:33] Andrew: And what do you think you had?

[11:35] Andrew: You pointed a finger at one point during that.

[11:38] Ian Allred: Oh, I was pointing the finger to agree with Matt on the like, there's a lot of competitions that I don't necessarily disagree with.

[11:44] Ian Allred: It's more just like, but this song is really special.

[11:47] Ian Allred: And we kind of let her leave like we didn't say anything about her.

[11:51] Andrew: So I agree with that.

[11:52] Andrew: I have felt similarly about all of round three, which is so many of the competitions are so hard that even when I disagree, I'm like, but my disagreement isn't so strong that I'm like impassioned.

[12:03] Andrew: It's more like I would have voted the other way.

[12:05] Andrew: But I do see your case.

[12:07] Ian Allred: I have a few like I texted you about this.

[12:10] Ian Allred: I would have done and I am pretty sure I'm in the minority for this.

[12:13] Ian Allred: I would have done Bohemian Rhapsody over Somebody to Love.

[12:16] Matt Ligouri: No, I'm with you.

[12:18] Ian Allred: I like Somebody to Love, but the way people podcast, the way people talk about it, like you, Andrew, I'm like, there's really something I'm missing about this number.

[12:24] Ian Allred: Like you, you aren't getting because I feel like from what I know about you, Ian, is that Somebody to Love is a song that I know you would by all means love.

[12:38] Ian Allred: I know.

[12:39] Ian Allred: I don't super get it either.

[12:41] Ian Allred: It's a big group number.

[12:43] Ian Allred: It's season one.

[12:44] Ian Allred: Yeah, it is.

[12:45] Ian Allred: Like you said, it's the first time I like core 12 really have a number altogether.

[12:49] Andrew: Yeah.

[12:50] Ian Allred: And vocals and the end, you know, they're singing their little pants off.

[12:57] Ian Allred: It has never felt as victorious to me as like My Life Would Suck Without You.

[13:03] Ian Allred: It's like without you.

[13:05] Ian Allred: Really?

[13:05] Ian Allred: As like any way you want to love and touch and squeeze in because like ultimately they're like singing a parent teacher conference.

[13:11] Ian Allred: Like it's like or it's invitational.

[13:12] Ian Allred: It's invitational.

[13:13] Ian Allred: But like, I understand it's great because Rachel has come back to the club and April has left the club and they're all together.

[13:20] Ian Allred: But I do like the number, but it doesn't have the stakes to it.

[13:26] Ian Allred: To me that like Bohemian Rhapsody does where it's like everything is on the table.

[13:31] Ian Allred: Like this is a life or death moment.

[13:33] Ian Allred: And not only do we have to beat this team that we have been going against all season, but like that's my ex-boyfriend on the stage who was manipulating and lying to all of us.

[13:44] Ian Allred: And also Quinn is giving birth at the same time.

[13:47] Ian Allred: Another plot line that's been building up for nine months.

[13:49] Ian Allred: Like it is such a culmination.

[13:51] Ian Allred: I think in that episode, that number is the climax.

[13:55] Ian Allred: Like that is the culmination of the season.

[13:57] Ian Allred: Like the New Directions performance is amazing.

[13:59] Ian Allred: But the culmination of season one is Bohemian Rhapsody.

[14:02] Ian Allred: I love that number.

[14:04] Andrew: So many questions.

[14:05] Andrew: Okay.

[14:06] Andrew: Yes.

[14:08] Andrew: Number one.

[14:08] Andrew: Do you think?

[14:09] Andrew: Okay.

[14:09] Andrew: So where does Somebody to Love kind of rank in terms of like all Glee discography?

[14:15] Ian Allred: I don't know why.

[14:16] Ian Allred: I forget that it exists.

[14:18] Andrew: So it's like, it's not you're saying like not even like top 100.

[14:23] Ian Allred: No, it's not one that I really reach for, for whatever reason.

[14:26] Andrew: My second question is, do you think that a non-New Directions song?

[14:31] Andrew: Like, okay.

[14:32] Andrew: Are you suggesting that there is a reality where Bohemian Rhapsody could win Glacket?

[14:37] Ian Allred: If I was in charge of the Glacket, Bohemian Rhapsody would not win.

[14:40] Ian Allred: Because I do think like I love Vocal Adrenaline.

[14:45] Ian Allred: But like at the end of the day, they are not the people I care deeply about.

[14:49] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[14:50] Ian Allred: But I think that it would go farther than it did.

[14:53] Ian Allred: And specifically, again, Somebody to Love, it would have advanced.

[14:56] Andrew: Okay.

[14:58] Andrew: Yeah, I would have advanced it as well.

[14:59] Ian Allred: Again, if that was this podcast, Bohemian Rhapsody goes through.

[15:03] Ian Allred: Which is insane.

[15:04] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[15:06] Ian Allred: It's just a whole production.

[15:08] Ian Allred: Like there was a plan, and it was executed to perfection.

[15:13] Ian Allred: I could see the entire scene in my head.

[15:16] Ian Allred: And it's more than just the Glee Club standing on stage in all blue, which is beautiful.

[15:22] Ian Allred: Love the emotion.

[15:23] Ian Allred: I mean, I think I'm the exact same way as Ian.

[15:26] Ian Allred: I don't reach for it.

[15:27] Ian Allred: I don't think about it too often.

[15:28] Ian Allred: But when I find it, and when I hear it, and when I play it, I love it.

[15:32] Ian Allred: I do love it.

[15:34] Ian Allred: But I feel like Somebody to Love kind of sits in a similar place to me as Don't Stop Believing, where it's just like, it's so clearly part of the fabric of the show, where it's like, I want to look at everything else, because I know it's there.

[15:50] Andrew: That's interesting.

[15:50] Andrew: So it just doesn't impress me as much.

[15:52] Andrew: And I also feel like Somebody to Love is like, and I understand that Don't Stop Believing, it was just our five OGs.

[15:59] Ian Allred: Six OGs?

[16:00] Andrew: Six.

[16:00] Andrew: But it's like, I mean, Don't Stop just happened.

[16:05] Andrew: And they're occupying a very similar space where it's like, the kids have, they've been having issues.

[16:10] Andrew: They've resolved their differences.

[16:11] Andrew: They're all wearing a unifying color.

[16:12] Andrew: And they're all singing a classic rock song.

[16:14] Andrew: And like, that just happened in the pilot.

[16:16] Andrew: And now we're in episode five, and it's happening again.

[16:19] Ian Allred: That's so fascinating.

[16:28] Ian Allred: Yeah, when you really put it like that, they are.

[16:30] Ian Allred: It is like, well, we really cook with Don't Stop Believing.

[16:34] Ian Allred: So let's get another one.

[16:36] Andrew: Yeah.

[16:36] Andrew: Yeah.

[16:36] Andrew: We want it back.

[16:37] Ian Allred: Huh.

[16:38] Ian Allred: And it's also like, it's always like, crazy to me.

[16:40] Ian Allred: It was crazy to me watching the show live that they never did Somebody to Love again, with so many songs that they were like, rehashing, and they were like, reimagining.

[16:50] Ian Allred: But it's like, Somebody to Love was like, they never like, went back and did it again.

[16:55] Andrew: You know what I mean?

[16:57] Ian Allred: Yeah, it's always kind of felt to me like it was the echo of Don't Stop Believing.

[17:01] Ian Allred: And like, ultimately, Don't Stop Believing was the more iconic number.

[17:04] Ian Allred: And so that's the one they're going to revisit if they're going to revisit one of them.

[17:07] Andrew: Right.

[17:07] Andrew: Yeah, that was the first time that they redid Don't Stop Believing with Somebody to Love.

[17:10] Ian Allred: Yes, that was the first of the five times they redid Don't Stop Believing.

[17:15] Andrew: Oh, we're really, really figuring it out.

[17:19] Andrew: Um, okay.

[17:20] Andrew: Do we have anything else to add with Glocky competitions?

[17:22] Ian Allred: Yes.

[17:23] Ian Allred: I have another very strong one.

[17:25] Andrew: Okay.

[17:25] Ian Allred: This I actually feel much stronger about than what I just said.

[17:29] Andrew: Is it the thing that you texted me about, Rachel, during Dancing Queen?

[17:32] Ian Allred: No, I just texted that, but that it is that competition, but it's not that thought.

[17:37] Ian Allred: I would have voted for I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For over Dancing Queen 100%.

[17:43] Matt Ligouri: Oh, okay.

[17:44] Ian Allred: We're fighting.

[17:45] Ian Allred: And I and this is one where like, I get what everyone's saying with Dancing Queen and also like, Prom Queen such an amazing episode and that Kurt plot and like, Blaine stepping in and saving Kurt in such a vulnerable moment like that's all really special to me.

[18:02] Ian Allred: So I can be at peace with Dancing Queen moving forward over I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.

[18:10] Ian Allred: But this is what Matt was saying.

[18:11] Ian Allred: I'm like, I think we are not understanding the impact that I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For has that I y'all say in that episode, that like the standout number in that performance, whatever it's called in their catalog, they do at nationals is more than feeling, which like, I guess and maybe that is the what most of the fans think to me it is this song.

[18:39] Ian Allred: And I have always agree.

[18:41] Ian Allred: I think that it was Patrick and Emily that were in that episode that were saying that I am firmly agreeing with you right now.

[18:51] Ian Allred: I Still Haven't Found is better to me.

[18:54] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[18:54] Ian Allred: And y'all talk about in that episode that like, Make You Feel My Love you took out in round one because it's hard to judge it fairly when it has a real life real life connotations.

[19:03] Ian Allred: And I do hear that and understand that.

[19:05] Ian Allred: And it's like hard to talk about these songs objectively when they're around Corey Monteith.

[19:11] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[19:12] Ian Allred: I feel to me that City of Angels is different than The Quarterback because The Quarterback feels like this is a group of real life actors mourning their real life friend and co-worker Corey Monteith.

[19:24] Ian Allred: And it feels very awkward for me as a viewer who doesn't know any of them to then like weigh in City of Angels when they have had months to kind of like reflect and settle feels like these are fictional characters mourning Finn.

[19:41] Ian Allred: And obviously, Corey played Finn.

[19:44] Ian Allred: But whereas The Quarterback felt like it was like the actors talking about their actual friend.

[19:51] Ian Allred: City of Angels feels like the writers being like, we have to give a goodbye to this character.

[19:56] Ian Allred: That we have written.

[20:01] Ian Allred: I talked about this when we covered City of Angels on Recovering Gleek, but...

[20:08] Andrew: Slay.

[20:10] Ian Allred: On when we did Yacht.

[20:14] Ian Allred: I literally am still reeling from that moment.

[20:16] Ian Allred: But I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For is Finn Hudson, like the lyrics of this song Finn's entire journey on this show is, I feel like I don't matter.

[20:31] Ian Allred: I feel like my life is lacking something and no matter what I do, I can't find the thing that will make me feel like I am like worthwhile as a person, you know, like I was a football star.

[20:44] Ian Allred: I became really popular and I didn't find what I was looking for in that.

[20:47] Ian Allred: And then, you know, I started dating this girl and I joined the Glee Club and that did like fill my life.

[20:53] Ian Allred: But then I still felt like I was lacking something.

[20:55] Ian Allred: So then I tried to go to acting school and I didn't get in.

[20:58] Ian Allred: And then I joined the army.

[20:59] Ian Allred: And then that wasn't satisfying, where it's like Finn his entire life.

[21:04] Ian Allred: And just like the lyrics of the song where it's like, I climbed the highest mountain and the view is beautiful.

[21:08] Ian Allred: I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

[21:10] Ian Allred: I have like kissed honey lips and felt burning desire.

[21:13] Ian Allred: Still haven't found what I'm looking for.

[21:14] Ian Allred: It's just like I have done these things and the experiences were valuable and I appreciated them.

[21:19] Ian Allred: They did not sate me.

[21:22] Ian Allred: Like I still am lacking something.

[21:24] Ian Allred: And I feel like especially with Finn who is teeing up that his entire arc was going to be that he was looking for some greater meaning only to realize that the meaning he was looking for was just in like helping his neighbor, was just in like being a teacher and helping kids.

[21:40] Ian Allred: But then that arc got cut off.

[21:43] Ian Allred: So like they had him finding that meaning in the plans, but that plan never got executed.

[21:48] Ian Allred: So ultimately, Finn Hudson never found what he was looking for.

[21:52] Ian Allred: He still is looking for something as he's like off on whatever is after this life.

[21:58] Andrew: I think that song is like so such a perfect statement on who that character was.

[22:04] Andrew: I like literally wait, but the extra Cheerios.

[22:09] Ian Allred: How could you not know that we don't know when there's three extra Cheerios and don't get me wrong.

[22:17] Ian Allred: I love that conversation.

[22:19] Ian Allred: I love talking about shit like that, but I don't think it should affect the quality of the song overall.

[22:24] Andrew: That was like I was so genuinely moved by what you just like.

[22:29] Andrew: That was so if you had been there for this competition, I think that would have effectively swayed me to vote in that song's favor.

[22:40] Ian Allred: That was so wonderfully put in like a perspective that I wasn't even like kind of fully considering as I think on top of that.

[22:48] Ian Allred: I mean, they all sound incredible.

[22:50] Ian Allred: All four of the vocalists on that sound so good.

[22:53] Ian Allred: And like the montage in the background.

[22:55] Ian Allred: Like I just I can picture Finn pushing already football field and it's just such a tearjerker.

[23:01] Ian Allred: And we get there as well.

[23:02] Ian Allred: We get the Romy Rosamond.

[23:04] Ian Allred: This was Finn's favorite song.

[23:05] Ian Allred: They're saying all his favorite songs like that is not that line makes me tear up every time I see it.

[23:12] Ian Allred: It is so incredibly powerful.

[23:15] Ian Allred: And I think Emily brought up like where these Corey Monteith's favorite songs.

[23:19] Ian Allred: I have no idea.

[23:20] Ian Allred: I don't know.

[23:21] Ian Allred: But I do think that all three of these songs are very Finn Hudson and very well matches character, which is why I'm saying this episode, I feel like is not the same as The Quarterback because it feels catered to Finn Hudson, not necessarily Corey Monteith.

[23:35] Andrew: And what was special about him?

[23:36] Ian Allred: I don't know.

[23:37] Andrew: Do you want my grievances?

[23:38] Ian Allred: I would love that.

[23:40] Andrew: Do you?

[23:40] Ian Allred: Are you sure?

[23:41] Andrew: All right, maybe one's pretty simple.

[23:44] Andrew: One is just I would have gone Jar of Hearts over Father Figure, but I don't really need to dive deep into that.

[23:49] Andrew: It's just where I would have gone.

[23:51] Ian Allred: I hope that's OK.

[23:52] Andrew: I do love Jar of Hearts so much.

[23:55] Ian Allred: Yeah, and I miss her.

[23:57] Andrew: What's the update on Rolos in round four?

[24:00] Ian Allred: What's the update?

[24:01] Ian Allred: None.

[24:02] Ian Allred: We don't have still.

[24:02] Andrew: Oh, my gosh.

[24:03] Andrew: Look around.

[24:04] Andrew: OK.

[24:05] Andrew: No Rolos.

[24:07] Andrew: And yet we know my man crew because Rachel's got too much.

[24:12] Ian Allred: So the other one would be for me and Andrew, this is really unfortunate timing.

[24:18] Ian Allred: I had three Glee songs as a part of my wedding day.

[24:21] Matt Ligouri: Yes.

[24:22] Ian Allred: And one of them was taken out of the Glacket on the week after my wedding.

[24:28] Ian Allred: And that's Marry You.

[24:29] Ian Allred: I knew for a long time that if I was ever going to have Marry You involved with my wedding, I could or I would want to if I could.

[24:39] Ian Allred: And it ended up being the song where our wedding party came out to get onto the dance floor.

[24:44] Ian Allred: And then we came out at the very end and all that stuff.

[24:45] Ian Allred: And it was just exactly not like the exact same thing, but like, you know, the entrances that they did in Glee.

[24:50] Ian Allred: We did something very similar, a little less animated, and then it got killed on the Glacket.

[24:56] Ian Allred: So that was really tough.

[24:57] Ian Allred: And it's not just the emotional connection that now it has to do with my big day.

[25:02] Ian Allred: But I also would have voted for it over I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You.

[25:05] Ian Allred: But I also understand how important that song is to this podcast and Allison.

[25:11] Ian Allred: And I get why it went through, but it was hard for me to hear it go.

[25:16] Andrew: You would have definitively voted for Marry You.

[25:19] Ian Allred: Oh, yeah, not even close.

[25:21] Ian Allred: It's always meant more to me than many other songs.

[25:24] Matt Ligouri: Ian, do you have an opinion on this competition?

[25:28] Ian Allred: I love Marry You.

[25:29] Ian Allred: I would have voted for Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend personally.

[25:35] Ian Allred: But I do love Marry You, and I'm here to support that.

[25:39] Ian Allred: Marry You is so cute, though.

[25:40] Ian Allred: I really felt so much joy while watching it.

[25:45] Ian Allred: It's so cute.

[25:46] Ian Allred: It's so fun.

[25:47] Ian Allred: And it really sunk in how much Beryl means to me.

[25:50] Ian Allred: I'm like, wait a minute.

[25:51] Ian Allred: I love this ship.

[25:53] Ian Allred: I grieve it.

[25:55] Ian Allred: Marry You.

[25:56] Ian Allred: So I'm with you, Matt.

[25:56] Ian Allred: And again, no chance for it to come back.

[26:00] Ian Allred: My man is too OP.

[26:02] Andrew: That's tough.

[26:02] Andrew: Yeah.

[26:05] Andrew: OK, so any other grievances or anything to add before we get into the competitions this episode?

[26:11] Ian Allred: I would like to know the other two Glee songs that were at Matt's wedding.

[26:16] Matt Ligouri: Oh, that's a great question.

[26:18] Matt Ligouri: What were they?

[26:19] Matt Ligouri: So I'll go in least exciting order from two to one.

[26:24] Matt Ligouri: The other one was just on the dance floor, was Paradise by The Dashboard Light.

[26:28] Ian Allred: Hell yeah.

[26:30] Matt Ligouri: Just fun.

[26:33] Matt Ligouri: I have been to at least one wedding where the non-Glee version played, a.k.a. the original, which I believe is Meatloaf?

[26:41] Ian Allred: It is.

[26:42] Matt Ligouri: And then there's that weird segment in the middle of the original one where you just hear the guy talking on the radio while they're making out.

[26:49] Ian Allred: Wait, really?

[26:50] Matt Ligouri: Yes.

[26:51] Matt Ligouri: In the original Meatloaf, Paradise by The Dashboard Light, it's like 90 seconds longer than the Glee version.

[26:55] Matt Ligouri: And there's an interlude where Meatloaf and his girl, you know, having Paradise by The Dashboard Light, are making out in the car.

[27:02] Ian Allred: And then there's a baseball game on the radio.

[27:05] Matt Ligouri: And the baseball game is talking about, he's getting to this base.

[27:08] Matt Ligouri: He's getting to this base.

[27:09] Matt Ligouri: He's home.

[27:10] Ian Allred: Fine.

[27:11] Ian Allred: I wish they did that on the HitFox show.

[27:12] Andrew: And Glee should have done that.

[27:13] Matt Ligouri: Wow, that's crazy.

[27:16] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[27:16] Matt Ligouri: So my mom was questioning me as to why I knew a Meatloaf song.

[27:21] Matt Ligouri: And I was like, you know, that was a Glee version of that song.

[27:24] Matt Ligouri: And she said, yeah, but still.

[27:25] Ian Allred: But still.

[27:29] Matt Ligouri: But still.

[27:30] Matt Ligouri: I made sure to find him on and make sure that all the Gleeks were at the center of the dance floor.

[27:35] Ian Allred: I love that.

[27:36] Ian Allred: And then our first dance was a Glee cover, Glee song.

[27:42] Matt Ligouri: Somewhere Only We Know?

[27:43] Ian Allred: Yes, it was.

[27:44] Ian Allred: Obsessed.

[27:45] Ian Allred: Oh, that's where we went on it.

[27:47] Ian Allred: Somewhere We Go Sometimes, aka for those around here.

[27:51] Andrew: Wait, that was a very easy choice for you for a first song?

[27:55] Ian Allred: Or was there other songs in the running?

[27:56] Matt Ligouri: It was definitely always going to be that.

[27:59] Matt Ligouri: We never discussed another song.

[28:01] Ian Allred: Really?

[28:01] Ian Allred: The backstory to it was that apparently Jonathan, my husband, knew beforehand that he wanted that to be the song.

[28:07] Ian Allred: I never thought about it at all.

[28:09] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[28:09] Ian Allred: Like in advance, I guess I should say.

[28:11] Ian Allred: But we were literally out to dinner one night.

[28:13] Ian Allred: And that came on.

[28:15] Ian Allred: And I think it was the Glee version that came on.

[28:17] Ian Allred: I can't remember for sure.

[28:18] Ian Allred: And we just kind of looked at each other.

[28:19] Ian Allred: And we were like, is this our first dance?

[28:23] Ian Allred: Is this it?

[28:24] Ian Allred: And it just never changed from that moment.

[28:26] Ian Allred: So I love that.

[28:28] Ian Allred: Yeah, I can tell you in the moment, obviously, I thought it was perfect and everything that we ever would have hoped for.

[28:37] Ian Allred: And I also got the reviews from Amon and others in the room that are Gleeks or Gleek-adjacent.

[28:42] Ian Allred: And they all got pretty teary.

[28:44] Andrew: Well, I saw that previous guest of this very podcast and survivor alum, Kelly.

[28:51] Ian Allred: Yes.

[28:52] Ian Allred: Kelly, I'm not-

[28:53] Andrew: Kelly Nalbandian.

[28:54] Ian Allred: Nalbandian.

[28:56] Andrew: Got married recently.

[28:59] Andrew: And also had like survivor, I will survive at her wedding, which I thought, iconic.

[29:04] Andrew: Double meaning.

[29:05] Andrew: So perfect.

[29:07] Ian Allred: Virtue worlds.

[29:08] Ian Allred: Really, really love it.

[29:10] Ian Allred: You know, you had to do it to them.

[29:12] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[29:13] Ian Allred: So I love that.

[29:14] Ian Allred: I really like when Gleeks marry, just marry generally.

[29:19] Ian Allred: I just, I think it's really special.

[29:20] Ian Allred: Especially when you marry another Gleek.

[29:21] Matt Ligouri: I mean, that's-

[29:22] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[29:23] Ian Allred: Does your husband identify as a Gleek?

[29:28] Matt Ligouri: I mean, much more than anybody, you know, who forgot about Glee in the, how many years has it been since it was off the air?

[29:35] Ian Allred: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[29:36] Andrew: Okay.

[29:37] Andrew: All right.

[29:38] Andrew: Cool.

[29:38] Andrew: So Gleeks marrying other Gleeks.

[29:39] Andrew: I love that.

[29:40] Andrew: Okay.

[29:41] Andrew: Can I also-

[29:41] Andrew: One more thing.

[29:42] Andrew: I'm sorry.

[29:42] Andrew: One more thing before we get started.

[29:43] Andrew: Speaking of Gleeking, do either of you know what it means to Gleek?

[29:50] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[29:50] Ian Allred: That has nothing to do with the show.

[29:51] Ian Allred: To spit on your tongue.

[29:52] Andrew: We've gone over this before?

[29:53] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[30:00] Andrew: It was brought up that somebody could Gleek on command.

[30:04] Ian Allred: And so the host was like, oh, obviously this has something to do with Glee.

[30:08] Matt Ligouri: And then another one of the guests on the podcast was like, and that's what I would assume.

[30:11] Andrew: And then they had to do some Googling. And I'm pretty sure that was the first time that I've heard about this. Well, we're about to Gleek on command in this podcast. That's what we're doing. I can Gleek instantaneously.

[30:18] Ian Allred: I can Gleek on command.

[30:24] Matt Ligouri: As a preteen, I used to, this is so weird. I would sit with my, when I was like alone, I would sit with my tongue outside of my mouth for like minutes until it was dry, just like this.

[30:34] Andrew: Yeah.

[30:39] Matt Ligouri: Because once your tongue gets completely dry, and then you put it back in your mouth, you automatically Gleek to get moisture back on your tongue.

[30:46] Ian Allred: So I love that.

[30:47] Matt Ligouri: I mean, like people who can Gleek on command, it's like they can do it immediately.

[30:51] Andrew: I would be like, I can Gleek, just give me five minutes to completely dry my tongue out.

[30:56] Ian Allred: But yeah.

[30:56] Matt Ligouri: I love that you preface this.

[30:58] Ian Allred: My special skill.

[31:00] Matt Ligouri: When I'm alone, I'll be alone and do this.

[31:05] Andrew: Well, I didn't want to be like me in public, just sitting there with my tongue out like.

[31:10] Ian Allred: And why not?

[31:13] Matt Ligouri: It's a very bored child.

[31:15] Andrew: Okay, so we're going to Gleek on command this very episode.

[31:19] Ian Allred: And manifestations.

[31:21] Matt Ligouri: What do we want this episode? Do we want an easy breezy cover girl episode?

[31:24] Andrew: Or do we want to fight, fight, fight?

[31:27] Ian Allred: You know, the expression hurt people hurt people.

[31:30] Matt Ligouri: Yes, I've heard.

[31:33] Ian Allred: I'm feeling the hurt person lately.

[31:35] Matt Ligouri: And I also don't want to hurt people, but I kind of wonder.

[31:39] Andrew: I think that you have a good ally with Ian, the fact that you guys aligned on a lot.

[31:44] Ian Allred: It's true.

[31:46] Matt Ligouri: And I'm so sorry, Ian, if I'm misremembering this, but wasn't this the exact panel that like completely outvoted me?

[31:51] Ian Allred: No, that was Patrick.

[31:52] Matt Ligouri: I do think.

[31:53] Ian Allred: A little while back.

[31:54] Matt Ligouri: Was that Patrick?

[31:55] Ian Allred: I remember last time Matt and I were together.

[31:58] Matt Ligouri: It was Buenos Aires, maybe?

[32:01] Ian Allred: Uh-huh.

[32:02] Matt Ligouri: And you voted for it and I voted against it.

[32:05] Ian Allred: I do remember that.

[32:06] Matt Ligouri: Maybe Matt, you just have a terrible-

[32:08] Ian Allred: I would vote for Buenos Aires.

[32:09] Matt Ligouri: Every time you're the one person out.

[32:13] Ian Allred: Let me see.

[32:14] Matt Ligouri: You're just always the third wheel.

[32:15] Ian Allred: You always get upvoted.

[32:16] Matt Ligouri: I've been sympathizing.

[32:17] Ian Allred: You've had a lot of guests lately that come on.

[32:20] Matt Ligouri: There was a guest on the patron episode.

[32:22] Ian Allred: And before that, I think it was Emily that people just keep getting outvoted.

[32:25] Matt Ligouri: I feel it.

[32:26] Ian Allred: That Patrick-Emily episode, I was like, why aren't you listening to her?

[32:30] Matt Ligouri: She's right.

[32:32] Ian Allred: I was very on her side that whole episode.

[32:37] Matt Ligouri: Who hasn't been there?

[32:37] Andrew: Okay, wait.

[32:38] Ian Allred: So actually, here's the thing.

[32:40] Matt Ligouri: The last time that we had an episode, it was called Yougly Weegly with Ian and Matt.

[32:47] Andrew: And the competitions were It's Not Right But It's Okay versus What It Feels Like for a Girl.

[32:52] Ian Allred: We all voted for It's Not Right But It's Okay.

[32:56] Matt Ligouri: Buenos Aires versus Problem.

[32:58] Ian Allred: I was the only person that voted for Buenos Aires.

[33:02] Matt Ligouri: And then Marry You versus Wishing and Hoping, where I was the only person.

[33:07] Ian Allred: I did a pity vote for Wishing and Hoping.

[33:11] Matt Ligouri: Okay, we were very aligned.

[33:13] Ian Allred: Hell yeah.

[33:14] Andrew: So Andrew, you're the outside vote.

[33:17] Matt Ligouri: I'm the outside.

[33:19] Ian Allred: Okay.

[33:21] Matt Ligouri: So we're gonna hurt people hurt people.

[33:25] Ian Allred: Okay.

[33:25] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[33:26] Andrew: Hurt people hurt Andrew, and I'm ready.

[33:28] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[33:29] Matt Ligouri: Oh.

[33:29] Andrew: That's the theme of the day.

[33:31] Ian Allred: Starting off with a fun one.

[33:32] Andrew: We'll determine that.

[33:33] Ian Allred: I mean, I guess you will.

[33:35] Andrew: I guess it's up to me.

[33:39] Ian Allred: Um, season five.

[33:41] Matt Ligouri: I would be surprised if you don't like this.

[33:44] Ian Allred: Honestly, who doesn't like this?

[33:46] Matt Ligouri: Well, you start with season five.

[33:47] Ian Allred: I usually like it musically.

[33:50] Matt Ligouri: She's Santana's about to say, what do you say me and you reunite a little threesome called The Unholy Trinity.

[33:58] Andrew: Oh my gosh.

[33:59] Ian Allred: Okay.

[34:00] Matt Ligouri: It's toxic.

[34:00] Ian Allred: Okay.

[34:01] Matt Ligouri: Hell yeah.

[34:01] Ian Allred: I do love this.

[34:01] Matt Ligouri: Let's go.

[34:02] Andrew: Here we go.

[34:04] Ian Allred: I forgot how much I loved that.

[34:07] Matt Ligouri: I haven't watched that in so long.

[34:11] Ian Allred: So good.

[34:12] Matt Ligouri: Can I, can I take you on a trip down memory lane, please?

[34:18] Ian Allred: I would love to.

[34:20] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[34:21] Ian Allred: The year was 2014.

[34:23] Matt Ligouri: Um, the hundredth episode was something that I was living every single day for.

[34:29] Ian Allred: I had a, I downloaded, I think I've mentioned before I've downloaded a countdown clock app, uh, on my phone and I like made the banner, like made the banner, like plea 100.

[34:42] Matt Ligouri: So cute.

[34:42] Ian Allred: I was like, literally I, because I knew what was in this episode that I knew that they'd be doing toxic.

[34:46] Matt Ligouri: I knew that there would be a pretender reunion.

[34:48] Ian Allred: There was like all these things that I was looking forward to.

[34:51] Matt Ligouri: And, and so then, um, I remember like being in psychology class when the songs were released for this episode.

[35:01] Ian Allred: And I remember just like feeling like really giddy and just being like, I need to go to the bathroom, just being really, really excited to go to the bathroom.

[35:12] Matt Ligouri: I need to be excused.

[35:14] Ian Allred: And then going to the bathroom and just like listening to this like full blast, probably in the, in the boys' room in my high school and just like eating up every second and just coming back, just completely overjoyed.

[35:29] Matt Ligouri: And people were probably like, wow, he really relieved himself there.

[35:32] Ian Allred: Um, but I just, oh my gosh, this song moment in time, but also just like transcends time as well.

[35:41] Matt Ligouri: That I'm like, it's like effortlessly just like, it's so it's really, really perfect to me.

[35:48] Ian Allred: I'm obsessed.

[35:48] Matt Ligouri: I just love that we, uh, Ian and I get the unholy Trinity reunion.

[35:53] Ian Allred: I know that we are, that's y'all just give us, come see about me.

[35:59] Matt Ligouri: Hey, is she still here?

[36:02] Ian Allred: Famously?

[36:02] Matt Ligouri: No.

[36:03] Ian Allred: Famously.

[36:04] Matt Ligouri: Take care of yourself.

[36:05] Ian Allred: Took her out.

[36:05] Matt Ligouri: She, she lost a Damien McGinn team.

[36:10] Ian Allred: I'm going to pretend that I remembered that.

[36:11] Matt Ligouri: So I don't get mad at you all over again, but, uh, sure.

[36:15] Ian Allred: Um, but this is so special.

[36:18] Matt Ligouri: I mean, I don't have that exact same bathroom high school memory.

[36:21] Ian Allred: Uh, but that'd be crazy if I hear in the next all over that someone else is also listening to it.

[36:26] Matt Ligouri: And this whole time you and I went to high school together.

[36:30] Ian Allred: Oh, that's where I know you from.

[36:32] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[36:32] Ian Allred: It's, it is so special.

[36:34] Matt Ligouri: I mean, I, in the same way that I voted for problem, not because it's the world's best cover of problem or just because I love problem so much.

[36:42] Ian Allred: I just love these three girls back together.

[36:46] Matt Ligouri: And this one has an added flair of the theatrics and it's so much fun.

[36:50] Ian Allred: And Brittany's getting back on, on her performing track where she's kind of out of it a little bit throughout these episodes.

[36:57] Matt Ligouri: I do feel like a lot of the performances from the 100th episode and 101, what is it? New directions.

[37:03] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[37:04] Matt Ligouri: Um, kind of just get, I don't know if overlooked is the right way to put it, or maybe like even put down to an extent because it's like, Oh, these aren't as good as the originals, but I still have an appreciation for a lot of them.

[37:14] Ian Allred: Uh, this one very much included.

[37:16] Matt Ligouri: Uh, and it's like, well, if they were done separately from this theme of redoing old numbers, I wonder if people would look at them a little bit differently.

[37:25] Ian Allred: Like if this was just randomly in season six or something completely divorced.

[37:29] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[37:30] Ian Allred: Like, would people care less about the fact that we're just redoing something that's already been done before?

[37:35] Matt Ligouri: Um, but cause like I said, I appreciate them.

[37:37] Ian Allred: I just feel like a lot of other people struggle to appreciate all of these numbers.

[37:41] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, that's a good point.

[37:42] Ian Allred: I do agree that a lot of 100 and 101, the numbers get overlooked.

[37:48] Matt Ligouri: I do think part of it is because they're kind of repetitive.

[37:51] Ian Allred: It's like, remember this song that we did?

[37:54] Matt Ligouri: What if we did it in basically the exact same way?

[37:56] Ian Allred: And it's like, okay, well, you already did it.

[37:59] Matt Ligouri: This feels like such a departure from toxic in season two.

[38:03] Ian Allred: Yes, they are the same song, but like the people involved, obviously like the unholy Trinity is in the season two version, but they're not spotlight.

[38:11] Matt Ligouri: Like the people involved are completely different.

[38:13] Ian Allred: The orchestrations are different.

[38:15] Matt Ligouri: Like the entire composition of the song is altered.

[38:20] Ian Allred: It feels like an independent number.

[38:22] Matt Ligouri: I love this number.

[38:23] Ian Allred: I think, first of all, toxic potentially like a contender for greatest pop song of all time.

[38:30] Matt Ligouri: I would agree.

[38:31] Ian Allred: So I mean, yeah, surprisingly said in the gay guy episode of Gleek the Week podcast that toxic is the best pop song of all time.

[38:38] Matt Ligouri: Hey, very straight pick to love Britney Spears.

[38:46] Ian Allred: But like the amount of times that toxic is used in pop culture, the amount of times that toxic is redone in different genres.

[38:54] Matt Ligouri: Like just the other week I was on a road trip with someone and they were like, listen to this cover of toxic.

[39:00] Ian Allred: And it was like a jazz cover of toxic.

[39:03] Matt Ligouri: It is.

[39:05] Ian Allred: It is such a like a chameleon of a pop song.

[39:07] Matt Ligouri: I love this song.

[39:09] Ian Allred: And then I think this also like contender for best unholy Trinity number.

[39:15] Matt Ligouri: Obviously, the early ones like the say a little prayer is like so iconic and everyone's always going to think of say a little prayer on this one because it's further back in the show gets overlooked more.

[39:22] Ian Allred: But I think this is the most well balanced unholy Trinity number in the show.

[39:31] Matt Ligouri: Oh, for sure.

[39:32] Ian Allred: The other ones are either like they're either very Quinn heavy or you get to problem where it's very Britannia heavy and Quinn has like four lines and that's it.

[39:41] Matt Ligouri: This one, they're all pretty equally featured, which I think is very exciting.

[39:46] Ian Allred: And I don't like the fantasy sequence of it all.

[39:50] Matt Ligouri: And like Quinn doing her little like innocent prayer hands and them in their cheerio outfits, but with sex hair like I'm very in on all of it.

[40:00] Ian Allred: I love this number.

[40:02] Matt Ligouri: Incredible.

[40:03] Ian Allred: I remember that trip to the bathroom in 2014 that that was the big question going into the bathroom was, is this going to be a quollo or is this going to actually be like a proper threesome between these three women where everybody

[40:21] Matt Ligouri: And what gay man hasn't asked themselves that question before going into a bathroom?

[40:24] Ian Allred: Before going into the bathroom being like, I'm going to leave this bathroom with the answers.

[40:35] Andrew: What happened in there, Andrew?

[40:36] Ian Allred: Oh, just a quollo.

[40:38] Matt Ligouri: Not a threesome.

[40:39] Ian Allred: Was it a quollo or a proper threesome?

[40:44] Matt Ligouri: And you know what, like, I'm glad that like we, you know, they didn't need to, you know, keep Britannia as the gospel choir as they were inside.

[40:52] Ian Allred: I say a little prayer, which is iconic.

[40:54] Matt Ligouri: And I do love that, of course.

[40:55] Ian Allred: But, you know, I just like this one.

[40:58] Matt Ligouri: Like you're saying it's balanced.

[41:00] Ian Allred: This, you know, Unholy Trinity is largely why they're so popular is more the idea of them over like what we see on the screen.

[41:09] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[41:09] Ian Allred: Because people talk about all the time, like, Quinn and Brittany, do they even know each other's last names?

[41:14] Matt Ligouri: Like they never talked to each other.

[41:15] Ian Allred: No.

[41:16] Matt Ligouri: But this number, this number is buying into the idea of the whole Unholy Trinity so hard.

[41:23] Ian Allred: We get the like three-way tango.

[41:26] Matt Ligouri: We get all of them like rotating in the triangle where they're all taking lead for a second.

[41:31] Ian Allred: A lot of like interaction across all three.

[41:34] Matt Ligouri: It's fine.

[41:35] Ian Allred: Just really well themed, really well executed with the costuming, if you call it that, wardrobe and the lighting of everything.

[41:44] Matt Ligouri: It's like I wasn't expecting them to go that far, like all out for a performance in this episode because there's so much else going on.

[41:52] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[41:53] Matt Ligouri: If there's a tough competitor here, I could start to try to nitpick, but I just don't know that I have any nitpicks immediately for you.

[42:00] Ian Allred: I think that like it bothered me.

[42:04] Matt Ligouri: I love this song.

[42:05] Ian Allred: The song itself, perfect.

[42:06] Matt Ligouri: I'm obsessed, of course.

[42:08] Ian Allred: But I think that what bothered me is kind of like what this song representative of is that they didn't use Unholy Trinity until it was too late.

[42:15] Matt Ligouri: That they were like, oh, we're going to wait until they graduate and then give them each one song every season.

[42:21] Ian Allred: Come see about me a problem in this.

[42:29] Matt Ligouri: And I'm like, why couldn't we just have this like every five episodes, the first three seasons?

[42:35] Ian Allred: Because we don't even get an Unholy Trinity number really after season one.

[42:40] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[42:41] Ian Allred: Insult to injury of like them at nationals, before they perform nationals, that they're like Unholy Trinity starting together, ending together.

[42:49] Matt Ligouri: And I'm like, girls, like you guys don't talk.

[42:53] Ian Allred: Like, stop.

[42:55] Matt Ligouri: Don't play in our face like this.

[42:56] Ian Allred: What have you guys been doing?

[42:58] Matt Ligouri: Oh, I'm so sorry, Matt.

[43:00] Ian Allred: I also like wonder if we're going to say the same thing.

[43:02] Matt Ligouri: I do feel like that happened to me every time.

[43:04] Ian Allred: Like when I was graduating high school or when I was graduating college, that I'd be like, who is my first friend here?

[43:10] Matt Ligouri: And we necessarily aren't close anymore.

[43:12] Ian Allred: But I would be like, we have to get a picture together because like, we were really good friends the beginning of our freshman year.

[43:18] Matt Ligouri: And so like that means something.

[43:20] Ian Allred: Yes.

[43:20] Matt Ligouri: Right.

[43:21] Ian Allred: The idea of them as a group.

[43:24] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[43:24] Ian Allred: Like we can look back and say they weren't actually together that much through their years in school.

[43:27] Matt Ligouri: But like the idea of them obviously is so enjoyable to the fandom, to all of us, even still to this day that like, I am not upset about the fact that they fixed what they had before.

[43:39] Ian Allred: Half of the series was done.

[43:40] Matt Ligouri: They got to it in season four, season five, season six.

[43:42] Ian Allred: Right.

[43:43] Matt Ligouri: We still had plenty of time.

[43:45] Ian Allred: Unless you want them to be like, you know, what's the K-pop Demon Hunters girl group?

[43:49] Matt Ligouri: That's like super mega viral, whatever they're called.

[43:52] Ian Allred: Yes.

[43:54] Matt Ligouri: Like, unless you want them to be them and truly just go on tour as the unholy trinity, which I would go.

[43:59] Ian Allred: Hey, front row.

[44:02] Matt Ligouri: Ooh, now I need to hear their golden.

[44:06] Ian Allred: I need it.

[44:08] Matt Ligouri: Wait a minute.

[44:09] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[44:10] Matt Ligouri: Um, okay.

[44:11] Ian Allred: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[44:13] Matt Ligouri: Who's doing that?

[44:14] Ian Allred: Well, I think that like, while I was like watching K-pop Demon Hunters, I was like, I feel like I'm always like hit over the head with like, trio girls in pop culture, like for the most part, always have the same dynamic.

[44:27] Matt Ligouri: And it's like, I don't know.

[44:30] Ian Allred: It's like tried and true of like, yeah.

[44:33] Matt Ligouri: Boss girl, mean one, dumb one.

[44:36] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[44:37] Matt Ligouri: Which one is, which one is which between the three of us?

[44:44] Ian Allred: Boss girl, mean girl, dumb one.

[44:46] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[44:46] Ian Allred: Andrew.

[44:47] Matt Ligouri: I'll take dumb one.

[44:49] Ian Allred: No, are you, you're not the dumb one.

[44:52] Matt Ligouri: I don't know when it comes to like, you guys make a lot of pop culture references that go over my head.

[44:55] Ian Allred: So I'm going to take it.

[44:56] Matt Ligouri: But I think knowing pop culture is inherently dumb.

[44:59] Ian Allred: Well, you're the boss.

[45:01] Matt Ligouri: So I think you are.

[45:02] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[45:02] Matt Ligouri: So I mean one.

[45:03] Ian Allred: I'll take it.

[45:08] Matt Ligouri: Damn.

[45:09] Ian Allred: Um, okay.

[45:10] Matt Ligouri: I just want to, I want to hear like, like the, you know, the part of the song we're going up, up, up.

[45:16] Ian Allred: Who is that in Glee?

[45:19] Matt Ligouri: Oh, I want to hear now.

[45:21] Ian Allred: If it, if we're going on Holy Trinity, it's certainly Santana.

[45:23] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[45:24] Ian Allred: Santana.

[45:24] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[45:24] Ian Allred: But even just like broader, if it was like anybody, uh, on the show, it's not Rachel.

[45:28] Matt Ligouri: That's not a Rachel.

[45:30] Ian Allred: They can make it one if they needed to.

[45:32] Matt Ligouri: I do like sincerely not that she would sing it because she wasn't in the new directions.

[45:38] Ian Allred: They're like sunshine Corazon is the first character.

[45:41] Matt Ligouri: The public, I mean, if we're going for the vocals, it sounds so good.

[45:45] Ian Allred: Sunshine would rip.

[45:46] Matt Ligouri: Yes.

[45:46] Ian Allred: It sounds amazing.

[45:48] Matt Ligouri: Oh my God.

[45:49] Ian Allred: They would.

[45:49] Matt Ligouri: Okay.

[45:49] Ian Allred: But if, okay.

[45:50] Matt Ligouri: If Glee was on today, Golden would be, I do think a rival show choir.

[45:57] Ian Allred: I agree.

[45:58] Matt Ligouri: It'd be like, probably.

[46:00] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[46:00] Matt Ligouri: It'd be like Jessica Sanchez from American Idol who like came on and she sang clarity and it was like, see ya.

[46:05] Ian Allred: Right.

[46:05] Matt Ligouri: Like she'd come on and she'd sing Golden.

[46:06] Ian Allred: And it was like, I also feel like, like Marley, like, is that a sleeper pick?

[46:12] Matt Ligouri: I think you're onto something there.

[46:15] Ian Allred: I could hear it.

[46:16] Matt Ligouri: I could almost like hear like a stripped down version for Marley.

[46:20] Ian Allred: Like something, a different arrangement.

[46:22] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[46:23] Ian Allred: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[46:24] Matt Ligouri: Oh, this is like, that's the kind of song that makes me like upset that we don't have Glee today.

[46:29] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[46:30] Matt Ligouri: Truly upset.

[46:31] Ian Allred: Golden.

[46:32] Matt Ligouri: Glee Cats version by Glee Cats.

[46:33] Ian Allred: Kind of need it.

[46:35] Matt Ligouri: All right.

[46:35] Ian Allred: Anything final that we need to talk about with Toxic Season 5?

[46:40] Matt Ligouri: It was so much fun.

[46:41] Ian Allred: It was so much fun.

[46:42] Matt Ligouri: So much fun.

[46:43] Ian Allred: That string section was working overtime.

[46:46] Matt Ligouri: The opposite of Toxic, you know?

[46:47] Ian Allred: Exactly.

[46:48] Matt Ligouri: Oh my gosh.

[46:49] Ian Allred: And also I feel like I shat on Season 2 version so much after we got the Season 5 version.

[46:58] Matt Ligouri: Season 2 version is great.

[47:01] Ian Allred: Kind of just as, I don't know, dependent on the day.

[47:05] Matt Ligouri: You know, I really like both.

[47:07] Ian Allred: Especially without the context.

[47:08] Matt Ligouri: Like if you're just listening and you're like, oh, the vocals are vocaling in the Season 2 version and not just like, oh, Will Schuster is dancing all sexy with his kids.

[47:15] Ian Allred: Right.

[47:16] Matt Ligouri: With his students.

[47:17] Ian Allred: Like take that out of it.

[47:18] Matt Ligouri: It's great.

[47:19] Ian Allred: No, yeah.

[47:20] Matt Ligouri: It's good.

[47:21] Ian Allred: They're both like really good, which is-

[47:23] Matt Ligouri: That's when JBI is like having a big O in the audience.

[47:27] Ian Allred: A big O.

[47:27] Matt Ligouri: Exactly.

[47:28] Ian Allred: Standing O.

[47:28] Matt Ligouri: And that's when Lauren Zicey says, I want to be that hat.

[47:30] Ian Allred: I want to be that hat.

[47:32] Matt Ligouri: Oh, Mr. Shoe, let me be your Britney.

[47:35] Ian Allred: The sex riot.

[47:37] Matt Ligouri: This episode is coming out, oh, I guess a week later than what I'm about to reference.

[47:42] Ian Allred: But Matthew Morrison, song on this week of Dancing with the Stars.

[47:46] Matt Ligouri: Crazy.

[47:47] Ian Allred: Wait, that is insane, right?

[47:51] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[47:51] Ian Allred: His Singing in the Rain version is going to be used in one of the dances.

[47:55] Matt Ligouri: So does that mean not like Glee's Singing in the Rain?

[47:58] Ian Allred: Not Glee's version.

[47:59] Matt Ligouri: He's got his own version of it.

[48:01] Ian Allred: Okay.

[48:02] Matt Ligouri: Have y'all seen the clip that went viral recently from the Lisa Kudrow and I believe Damon Wyand's movie Marcy X from like 2002?

[48:12] Ian Allred: I have no idea what you're talking about.

[48:14] Matt Ligouri: What are you-

[48:15] Ian Allred: No one else is on Marcy X talk?

[48:17] Matt Ligouri: No.

[48:18] Ian Allred: It's just like Marcy X, never seen it.

[48:20] Matt Ligouri: A huge flop.

[48:22] Ian Allred: Not a movie anyone is talking about.

[48:24] Matt Ligouri: But a clip from it has recently gone viral.

[48:26] Ian Allred: That's about like a music producer or something.

[48:29] Matt Ligouri: And it's a boy band who's singing like a, you know, boy band bebop-y like I love you girl song.

[48:34] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[48:35] Matt Ligouri: But the song is about how they're all gay for each other and they don't like girls and they're all gay for each other.

[48:40] Ian Allred: It's actually very funny.

[48:42] Matt Ligouri: And one of the guys in the boy band is Matthew Morrison.

[48:45] Ian Allred: A young Matthew Morrison is in that clip.

[48:48] Matt Ligouri: And I watched it was like, oh my gosh.

[48:50] Ian Allred: I am obsessed with that.

[48:51] Matt Ligouri: I know you.

[48:52] Ian Allred: I'm getting Matthew Morrison TikToks though lately because he's been performing.

[48:55] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, he's like touring or something.

[48:56] Ian Allred: He's touring.

[48:57] Matt Ligouri: And people are going and I don't know.

[48:59] Ian Allred: I feel weird about it because they're going and I hope that they're not laughing at his face.

[49:04] Matt Ligouri: But it does feel like they're kind of like hate watching.

[49:07] Ian Allred: This is my feeling about all of the discourse around him is I am just like, there is no evidence nor any accusation that he has ever done anything bad.

[49:22] Matt Ligouri: Just like people think he's cringe.

[49:25] Ian Allred: And it's okay to think someone is cringe.

[49:27] Matt Ligouri: That's fine.

[49:28] Ian Allred: But people interact with him as if it's like, you are a known criminal.

[49:33] Matt Ligouri: And I'm like, no, he's just some guy.

[49:36] Ian Allred: Living his life.

[49:38] Matt Ligouri: Let him live his life.

[49:49] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[49:49] Matt Ligouri: But I think it's a very young thing to learn that I think that us saying don't do that will not mean anything.

[49:59] Ian Allred: I think that, yeah, it's like annoying.

[50:01] Matt Ligouri: But they just like need to get this out of their system or something.

[50:03] Ian Allred: I don't know.

[50:04] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, I guess.

[50:06] Ian Allred: I do have what Toxic is against.

[50:08] Matt Ligouri: And it is a really spooky, scary competition.

[50:10] Ian Allred: I'll say that.

[50:11] Matt Ligouri: And you'll know exactly what it is when I show you just now.

[50:15] Ian Allred: Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.

[50:17] Matt Ligouri: You see what this is.

[50:18] Ian Allred: No way!

[50:22] Matt Ligouri: Okay.

[50:23] Ian Allred: Paint a picture.

[50:24] Matt Ligouri: What are we looking at?

[50:25] Ian Allred: Audio medium.

[50:25] Matt Ligouri: I feel sick to my stomach.

[50:27] Ian Allred: I'm looking at someone who is just told by their on-again, off-again crush that he loves them.

[50:34] Matt Ligouri: And then she has to go on stage and sing is what I'm looking at.

[50:37] Ian Allred: Well, I love you after break a leg.

[50:41] Matt Ligouri: That's true.

[50:42] Ian Allred: You're correct.

[50:43] Matt Ligouri: Correct.

[50:43] Ian Allred: Which I, perfect, perfect, perfect.

[50:46] Matt Ligouri: I love you.

[50:48] Ian Allred: Screaming.

[50:49] Matt Ligouri: I'm going to throw up.

[50:50] Ian Allred: Oh, I'm not going to be well.

[50:52] Matt Ligouri: Okay.

[50:53] Ian Allred: This, of course, is Faithfully.

[50:54] Matt Ligouri: Here we go.

[50:56] Ian Allred: I like literally.

[51:00] Matt Ligouri: Oh, my God.

[51:01] Ian Allred: That Halloween was over.

[51:04] Matt Ligouri: Why are we still doing spooky, scary competition?

[51:04] Ian Allred: Oh, okay.

[51:04] Matt Ligouri: Okay.

[51:04] Ian Allred: He got some jokes.

[51:09] Matt Ligouri: The dump one got jokes.

[51:12] Ian Allred: Wait, you can't use that going forward.

[51:16] Matt Ligouri: Guess you're the mean one.

[51:17] Ian Allred: Oh, I'm the mean one.

[51:20] Matt Ligouri: That was insane.

[51:22] Ian Allred: Both of those performances really got a rise up.

[51:25] Matt Ligouri: That was crazy.

[51:27] Ian Allred: Oh my gosh.

[51:29] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[51:29] Ian Allred: So, see, let's practice here.

[51:33] Matt Ligouri: I won't put the cart before the horse.

[51:35] Ian Allred: But if we're going to be sending off a song that we really love, which is going to happen either way here, let's make sure that we say really nice things about it on the way out.

[51:43] Matt Ligouri: Because someone's child is getting taken away from them today.

[51:49] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[51:49] Matt Ligouri: You thought I was going to say something else.

[51:51] Ian Allred: It's like, wait a minute.

[51:55] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, it's Faithfully.

[51:57] Ian Allred: You know, it's so good.

[52:00] Matt Ligouri: You just want to cry every single time while you're just listening to this eargasm.

[52:06] Ian Allred: This is a song that it's just like, when I was narrowing down my wedding list of what songs to include, I'm like, where the hell would this fit in?

[52:14] Matt Ligouri: It wouldn't.

[52:15] Ian Allred: But I just love it so much that I would love to have it highlighted in a room of 100 people.

[52:19] Matt Ligouri: I went to a wedding last spring, and a string version of Faithfully was played as they were walking down the aisle.

[52:31] Ian Allred: Could you tell if it was the Glee cast version?

[52:33] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, I was like, wait.

[52:35] Ian Allred: Yeah, this is the Glee version.

[52:37] Matt Ligouri: No.

[52:39] Ian Allred: No, but I cried at the beginning of the day.

[52:42] Matt Ligouri: I'm glad that I got it out of my system.

[52:44] Ian Allred: And then I was like, okay, the rest of the day, I'm fine.

[52:46] Matt Ligouri: But that was like, oh my god, this song kills me.

[52:50] Ian Allred: And I was thinking about Somebody to Love and what you were saying earlier about maybe not understanding it as other people do.

[52:59] Matt Ligouri: I do think that now, after this watch of Faithfully, I think this is the one.

[53:04] Ian Allred: Faithfully kind of checks more boxes than Somebody to Love.

[53:08] Matt Ligouri: I don't know.

[53:09] Ian Allred: Does that make sense?

[53:10] Matt Ligouri: Oh, yeah.

[53:12] Ian Allred: It's tough if you're going for the whole club being there, obviously.

[53:16] Matt Ligouri: That's not checking the box that Somebody to Love does, but the emotional aspect of it.

[53:21] Ian Allred: Wait, Somebody to Love, everybody's there.

[53:23] Matt Ligouri: Wait, what are you saying?

[53:24] Ian Allred: I'm saying Faithfully doesn't have, like, they're all in the background.

[53:27] Matt Ligouri: Oh, I understand.

[53:28] Ian Allred: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[53:29] Matt Ligouri: If you're looking for the entire, because this has been some discourse that's been happening on this podcast lately of like, what should the final, what should the winner look like?

[53:36] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[53:37] Matt Ligouri: Like, could it be a duet?

[53:38] Ian Allred: Which this is a duet group number.

[53:40] Matt Ligouri: So I feel more comfortable with it.

[53:44] Ian Allred: I feel like this is certainly, if anyone was like, this is a group number, I'd be like, it definitively is a Finchel duet.

[53:50] Matt Ligouri: Like, let's be real with ourselves.

[53:51] Ian Allred: But I do think it gets some group number points for the ah-ah-ah's at the end and like, how triumphant that curtain raise is and everyone's there.

[54:02] Matt Ligouri: That's right.

[54:02] Ian Allred: So I would definitely put it above like, borderline open your heart.

[54:08] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[54:08] Ian Allred: Because like, everyone's, you know, everyone's in it and everyone's singing and they're all part of it.

[54:11] Matt Ligouri: But it is, at the end of the day, a Finchel duet.

[54:14] Ian Allred: It is also THE Finchel duet.

[54:16] Matt Ligouri: They obviously, Finn told Rachel that he loves her beforehand.

[54:46] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[54:46] Matt Ligouri: But then because of that, I don't know.

[54:48] Ian Allred: I like, sometimes I do be thinking Lea Michele's a very good actress, everyone.

[54:55] Matt Ligouri: She has written on her face this entire performance.

[54:59] Ian Allred: You can clock in her eyes that he just told her that he loves her.

[56:02] Matt Ligouri: That's a very good point, yeah.

[56:04] Ian Allred: The whole, like, I can't really process this right now because, like, we need to win this thing.

[56:10] Matt Ligouri: But also, like, a huge thing just happened to me backstage.

[56:14] Ian Allred: Like, y'all don't understand.

[56:17] Matt Ligouri: I got what I wanted.

[56:17] Ian Allred: And then Corey is looking at her with, like, such an assuredness of, like, I know that you feel the same way.

[56:25] Matt Ligouri: Like, this is it for us.

[56:27] Ian Allred: Like, this is the beginning of our life together.

[56:29] Matt Ligouri: They both are acting.

[56:31] Ian Allred: Um, on a lighter note, there is one moment I always notice because Lina pointed it out to me, which is they walk down the aisles and then they cross each other and, like, go to each other's aisles.

[56:40] Matt Ligouri: And Finn is walking forward and Rachel's walking backwards.

[56:45] Ian Allred: And Lea's face, she's acting, acting.

[56:47] Matt Ligouri: But you can see in her body that she is so hyper-focused on, like, don't fall down while you're walking backwards in these heels.

[56:52] Ian Allred: Don't fall down while you're walking backwards in these heels.

[56:56] Matt Ligouri: Wait, so do you think, okay, from an actor perspective, do you think that Lea was, like, told to run backwards?

[57:03] Ian Allred: Or do you think that was a specific choice that she took then?

[57:05] Matt Ligouri: I think the choreography is go backwards.

[57:09] Ian Allred: Like, I think the direction was maintain eye contact.

[57:14] Matt Ligouri: Because-

[57:15] Ian Allred: And so she's like, okay, well, then I'll walk backwards.

[57:17] Matt Ligouri: Finn's also running back, walking backwards or no?

[57:20] Ian Allred: I think he is.

[57:20] Matt Ligouri: I think they walk towards each other forwards and then turn and do the rest of the way backwards.

[57:25] Ian Allred: Yeah, yeah.

[57:26] Matt Ligouri: But he's in flat.

[57:27] Ian Allred: So, like, he's fine.

[57:28] Matt Ligouri: It's fine.

[57:28] Ian Allred: She's in these, like, little stiletto heels.

[57:30] Matt Ligouri: And you can see her being like-

[57:32] Ian Allred: Oh, most certainly.

[57:34] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, it's, that's not a Lea Michele choice.

[57:36] Ian Allred: She was, hey, you gotta walk backwards, baby.

[57:39] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, yeah.

[57:40] Ian Allred: Lea takes a tumble would have been a viral-

[57:42] Matt Ligouri: Lea takes a tumble.

[57:44] Ian Allred: I need, I need the outtakes.

[57:47] Matt Ligouri: If we got it.

[57:48] Ian Allred: But you know, she was, to Ian's point, not going to let that happen.

[57:52] Matt Ligouri: No, she was on it.

[57:52] Ian Allred: And if it did happen, she would be the one that manually gets rid of that, of that take.

[57:57] Matt Ligouri: I just wanted, I was thinking while watching this, that I feel like this is, like, such, like, a beautiful culmination.

[58:02] Ian Allred: Maybe this is just, like, obvious.

[58:05] Matt Ligouri: And I'm saying quiet part out loud.

[58:06] Ian Allred: But I just, like, this is just, like, a really nice culmination of just, like, Finchel as a couple.

[58:12] Matt Ligouri: That, like, Finn, as you, as we talked about earlier this episode, his genre, which is this journey rock, that, like, he's singing this.

[58:25] Ian Allred: But it's also, like, almost, like, it feels like some sort of, like, mashup with Dromp.

[58:30] Matt Ligouri: That it's, like, they're utilizing the aisle and they're being theatrical about it.

[58:35] Ian Allred: You know, that it's, like, both of these things are coming together and making something really, really special.

[58:41] Matt Ligouri: The curtain is rising.

[58:43] Ian Allred: Full cast reveal.

[58:44] Matt Ligouri: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[58:45] Ian Allred: Right.

[58:46] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[58:46] Ian Allred: So I just think that this, this song has so many elements going for it.

[58:51] Matt Ligouri: I'm, I'm really, really love it.

[58:53] Ian Allred: And also, I don't think that, like, I don't, like, Faithfully as a song is, like, a song that I'm so glad that, like, was put on my radar because of the hit.

[59:00] Matt Ligouri: Right.

[59:00] Ian Allred: That it's, like, I think about that a lot.

[59:03] Matt Ligouri: There's so much good music from, I'll say, our parents' generation that, like, I don't, like, I'm not, you know, listening to that ever unless it's a song that came from Glee.

[59:11] Ian Allred: Truly.

[59:12] Matt Ligouri: I feel like a lot of people or a good amount of people grew up.

[59:15] Ian Allred: Exactly.

[59:16] Matt Ligouri: Grew up in households where they're like, oh, my parents were playing so and so, you know, forever.

[59:20] Ian Allred: The Beatles.

[59:22] Matt Ligouri: My whole childhood.

[59:23] Ian Allred: That wasn't me.

[59:24] Matt Ligouri: We weren't really a music household.

[59:25] Ian Allred: So the only way that I'm, like, aware of a lot of these classics is through the Glee version.

[59:30] Ian Allred: I so agree.

[59:32] Matt Ligouri: I so agree.

[59:33] Ian Allred: I also think beyond the fact that Faithfully is just, like, a gorgeous song, I think it's a great pick for this couple.

[59:38] Matt Ligouri: Both what you said, Andrew, about it being, like, a thin genre, and also it's a lovely Belle Tres number for Rachel.

[59:45] Ian Allred: But the song being about, like, I have a life on the road.

[59:51] Matt Ligouri: I go out and I do shows, and yet I'm still yours.

[59:54] Ian Allred: Like, no matter where I go, I am still yours.

[59:57] Matt Ligouri: And this is a couple where, one, Rachel has dreams of, like,

[1:00:00] Ian Allred: Being out on the road and like going to New York and being an actor and it's her being like but no matter what I will still be yours. And then also this is a couple that had their first spark in episode one and their first kiss in episode two and then since then it's been like Finn has a girlfriend and the girlfriend is pregnant and then they get together and then he goes and he sleeps with Santana and then Rachel dates Jessi. Like they have just gone through so many like coming together and pulling apart and coming together and pulling apart. And then that will continue through the end of season four and it's like but at the end of the day no matter what is going on I'm still yours. Like we both know that this is endgame that I'm yours faithfully no matter what happens.

[1:00:44] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, it's really, really perfect. I hesitate to ask, do we think winner of Glackett? I think could I, there is a world this really could win the Glackett.

[1:00:57] Ian Allred: Yeah, it's like I mean can we vote and then come back or is that not? Do we want to do that? I just don't want to assume that it's going through if it's not. Is it going through?

[1:01:11] Matt Ligouri: Well, we haven't voted. Okay, Faithfully.

[1:01:20] Ian Allred: I'm also Faithfully. I'm forever yours, Faithfully forever yours.

[1:01:30] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, so yeah when this song is okay when it's confirmed now it is going to be, you know, in future rounds and up against these tougher songs like yeah it definitely could be a contender. But it's such a specific thing that like a lot of the other girls aren't doing. A lot of the other group numbers don't have what this beautiful duet has.

[1:01:49] Ian Allred: Yeah, so there's going to be so much of like really defining what the winner of your Glackett looks like and whoever's there at the end of the competition to help determine that. But yeah, so yeah it's a contender and I think the fact that all three of us without hesitation just voted Faithfully against season five Toxic is also evidence that it could win. Like season five Toxic rules is an amazing number. Like I said is maybe the best unholy trinity number which is one of those popular.

[1:02:18] Matt Ligouri: Okay, you know what? Like what other ones are like even close? The only reason I'm saying maybe is because Say a Little Prayer is more in terms of like the culture as a whole. Say a Little Prayer is much more widely known.

[1:02:35] Ian Allred: Right, okay. And so like yeah, Say a Little Prayer has a much larger influence. But like a pound-for-pound Toxic, they're all represented a lot stronger. They have a much, I don't know, they're like fully utilizing their dynamic and making it like pseudosexual which is very exciting.

[1:02:54] Matt Ligouri: Right, they're playing really into the like oh we're good innocent girls but like no we're all naughty. Like they're really, they know the cards they're dealing in that number. It's very exciting.

[1:03:06] Ian Allred: We go to Ivy League schools and now we're back. Yeah, are there any songs that stand out to you so far that are in round four that you feel like don't belong there as much as like Toxic would? Because I'm sad to see it go.

[1:03:21] Matt Ligouri: Like I'm no, I'm very well to see it go. Yeah, of course. I think that like my question is like do you think that people will be upset about, I think that people will, right? That a Toxic thing?

[1:03:32] Ian Allred: Yeah, I mean that's the thing. Yeah, of course. Yes. And there's plenty of times that I've been upset lately of like a song that's gone but I also don't understand when it's up against Faithfully or when you know.

[1:03:45] Matt Ligouri: Right, well yeah I think to answer your question I like the first song that comes to mind that's in round four that it's like why? Yeah, this is kind of crazy is Ice Ice Baby which is like still like yeah fun. I like it. It is kind of crazy that like Ice Ice Baby is in round four and not a Toxic or yeah My Man.

[1:04:11] Ian Allred: Yeah, Ice Ice Baby versus My Man. Ice Ice Baby wins My Man is Ice Ice Baby. Yeah, this is tough but Toxic, valiant death. I think what if My Man doesn't win the vote back in so that we can all teach Andrew a lesson about being careful and what he's doing on this podcast and we vote in either Toxic or three. I think to teach him a lesson that we vote in the song that most deservedly lost. We choose which one that absolutely should not move forward and we vote that back in and say watch what you do next time.

[1:04:45] Matt Ligouri: What's the closest to Ice Ice Baby in? Yeah, let's look at what, let me see. Okay, so all the songs we have one song left as of right now. So there is Hell to the No, It's All Over, Marry You, Getting Married Today, My Man, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, I'll Stand By You, three, Toxic season five. All of these are great. I would like, there's yeah, there's not an Ice Ice Baby equivalent.

[1:05:22] Ian Allred: Here's, there's no Ice Ice Baby. Yeah, I mean, I do love Ice Ice Baby. It certainly is, it's certainly not on the same level as like Toxic season five but like yeah, I love Ice Ice Baby. I think it's, you know what, very fun. I want to see a version of this vote where Dancing Queen is in the vote instead of My Man and just see how things, like whatever comes in second place to My Man. What is, what hat, what did have one?

[1:05:45] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, if My Man wasn't a part of this vote or would things have just shifted a little bit differently? I don't know if Dancing Queen would have stood a chance in this vote.

[1:05:57] Ian Allred: Yeah, yeah, I'm looking at the songs that are in round four. All of them right now, the one song that I feel like I'm like is actually unholy trinity number I'm talking about Problem. I don't think the Problem needs to be in round four personally but and here we go. One thing that I don't think we're actually going to do over on the Diary Room podcast but like the idea especially because that's a podcast about Big Brother and Big Brother is a show about a bunch of twists. It's just come up with fun twists along the way and a fun twist here would be that you have an unholy trinity number that deserves to be in round four and then one that maybe doesn't and you could just swap them and just say hey everybody just look away.

[1:06:39] Matt Ligouri: We have you implemented ideas like no but it's I think that people would be big-time mad. We're big-time added a lot of Big Brother twists that pop up along the right way. Yeah, used to it as a fan of okay years so it's probably not going to be a thing that actually happens but it just like what if it's on their palate? They're already used to being mad so maybe we all just closed our eyes and Toxic was in the next round. Surprise!

[1:07:00] Ian Allred: Right. Okay, ready to get into the last competition of the episode?

[1:07:05] Matt Ligouri: Born ready.

[1:07:06] Ian Allred: Yes, here we go. It's gonna be this one. Oh wow, we wow, we wow, we. Okay, give us a break Andrew. That's a thing. Round one it was like you were lucky if one out of the six songs was something exciting.

[1:07:22] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, round three it's like back to back to back the craziest numbers you could get. No, this is round five is gonna be like one matchup an episode and people are gonna be in tears by the end of each episode. Tune in next week.

[1:07:42] Ian Allred: Okay, if I were a boy famously good to see her again if I were a boy.

[1:07:46] Matt Ligouri: Okay, wait, so your reaction feels like a little bit tepid. You're not okay?

[1:07:51] Ian Allred: My reaction is last time I voted this through and then everyone hated me for an entire round and they kept it up. It was up against Love Song and I love Love.

[1:08:02] Matt Ligouri: No, but it's not your fault. It's just really hard.

[1:08:11] Ian Allred: Yeah, it could repeat itself right now.

[1:08:15] Matt Ligouri: Okay, here we go. 323, this is long. I can't wait to see Twerk written on the whiteboard. It's my favorite part.

[1:08:26] Ian Allred: Huh, huh, damn by it. Huh, you do you stand by it?

[1:08:32] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, voting.

[1:08:34] Ian Allred: Yeah, I would have to agree. I keep like, you know, we keep talking or maybe I'm just the only one doing this right now. I talk about like separating or kind of compartmentalizing where different types of performances sit in again what your definition of the winner of this whole thing is gonna be. And I think of like Jar of Hearts that's now gone and I'm just like there are so many incredible solo performances from some incredibly talented actors and performers and singers on this show and I don't know how far I see a lot of them going deep into the competition despite it being obviously incredible. I because I would have voted for Love Song in that competition but it's only because while this is beautiful and Alex Newell is just one of the most talented people that I've ever heard in my life, it's just I guess my criteria of what I'd be voting for is like what feels the most like heartwarming Glee to me and that is Love Song of like three of my favorite characters singing together.

They sound beautiful, all that kind of stuff. So while like every part of me wants to and is and will give Alex and the song its flowers because it is so good, I don't know that I see it going super deep just based on where I would be voting.

[1:10:03] Ian Allred: And that's, I felt that but the opposite way when we had the competition where I was like I need people to understand like how much I love Love Song. How like it is one of my most listened to Glee songs. Like that number is so special to me. I do not take this lightly with something I love. And this is what I brought up when we had that competition. Something I love about this song and something I love that Glee, when Glee does it, is when they take a number and reinvent it in some way. Like with Toxic and having Toxic be like kind of hap, what genre of music is that? It's like, what would you call it? Like it's like tango music.

[1:10:36] Matt Ligouri: It's tango. It's tango.

[1:10:38] Ian Allred: Yeah, to make Toxic like a tango number. Like I think that's so exciting and it's such a departure from what the Britney Spears version is. And to take If I Were a Boy and to have a trans woman sing it completely like gives a whole new definition and meaning to this song. And that is why I personally voted for it over Love Song. I just like, and then regardless of talking about Love Song at all, I just like, I think beyond Alex Newell giving like the vocal and emotional performance of a lifetime in this song, I also just think it's so exciting and beautiful the way it adds an extra layer to this already amazing song because of the context they put it in in the show.

[1:11:13] Matt Ligouri: I totally agree. That's like one of the things that I wrote down word for word. But no, I wrote down a reinventing. That I was like weirdly enough, I was thinking about like Poker Face while watching this performance that it's like this song that like I don't even know if this is like even that apt of a comparison but this song that like definitely isn't the perfect song when you actually know what like the song is about for this mother-daughter reunion or for this trans woman, you know? Because like If I Were a Boy is like not about being trans, of course it's about adultery, about like feeling unfaithful in your relationship and everything. But I just thought like both songs I really love the Glee cast version by Glee casts because they're just like, they're different and they're kind of like, I stupid feels kind of mean but like it's just like it's kind of like silly that they kind of hammed it in a way.

Does that make sense? It's just the fact that like, yeah, like for me I don't even have to go farther than the title of the song and the main lyrics here, If I Were a Boy. Like I totally get that the rest of the song doesn't fit but like the message of what they're trying to get across here and why they picked this song is so that you need could be sitting here singing If I Were a Boy given everything that's been going on, right? Which I think in like maybe initially I was like upset that it was like have they not even considered what the song's actually about? But like I'm like okay, I think that that's kind of like charming that it's like hey maybe we are just looking at the song title and we're really not considering beyond that and they're doing a stripped-down version and it's just like yeah, reinventing kind of like the intention of the song as well as the arrangement which I really like, which I really enjoy.

[1:13:03] Ian Allred: It's so good. Yeah, yeah, because I did initially I remember watching season two live I was like I know Santana saying it's gonna, If I Were a Boy is gonna be a Santolo and the episode now with this Artie-Brittany plot I was like damn we didn't get it but would have loved it. But I'm very happy with this. I of course I'm obsessed.

[1:13:34] Matt Ligouri: And you want to go see, I'm bringing this up because I was gonna look at it myself.

[1:13:40] Ian Allred: Yes, okay, yes. Alex Newell genuinely, like you know everyone on Glee is singing for their lives and they're singing down. Also when you go into a studio you can give it, I feel like it's, you know, you can give a great vocal because you do a bunch of takes and then they choose the best one. I saw Bat Boy and then I also saw Shucked back in the day so I've seen Alex Newell perform live twice and they are like one of, if not the best vocalists I've ever heard live. I don't understand the, obviously like they have an incredible range, I can like sing very high but like the vocal agility. So in Bat Boy they have a big number in act two, it's called Children, Children. And at the end of Children, Children they have a vocal run that they do over and over again that already in the score is like a semi-complicated vocal run but of course Alex Newell adds like 10 extra notes onto the run that aren't even in the score and does it like seven times in a row, doesn't miss a single note the entire time.

Also takes the key up like four entire steps to how it's written. It was absolutely insane. They are so talented, they're such incredible vocalists. They also are in like such a gorgeous pan outfit, the costume. Yeah, because they're playing Pan like from Greek mythology, the Seder. So they've got these like big old fur pants on and then like a gold corset and then gold horns. It's so fun and incredible. Also, I do, it's in the New York area, you gotta see Bat Boy. I love Bat Boy.

[1:15:14] Andrew: I need to. I know that I would love it because also like all-star cast, all-star cast. Marissa Janet Winokur, yes, yes, big brother connection. Hey, who else? Carrie Butler.

[1:15:29] Matt Ligouri: Oh yeah, the big deal. Carrie Butler is like a big Broadway, she was, you know, she's the original Penny in Hairspray, she was Audrey in Little Shop, she's like done a million Broadway shows. But the big gag with Carrie is that when Bat Boy originally premiered in 2001, she played the teenage daughter Shelley and then this production 24 years later she is again in it playing Shelley's mom. So it's like a very fun like, you know, passing of the torch to a new generation.

[1:16:03] Ian Allred: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So she's in it. Taylor Trench's Bat Boy who was in Matilda and was in Evan Hansen and a bunch of stuff. I'm Christopher Sieber who's in Death Becomes Her and was in Company and was Lord Farquaad and yeah, he's in it. And I think those are the like names that people would know but the entire cast is phenomenal. They're amazing. And that show is, I did that show in college so I never got the experience of like seeing it without knowing what was gonna happen because I just like was in rehearsals. Being in a room of people that didn't know anything about the show was such a joy because it really gets crazy and to hear the entire room like gasp and guffaw and be shocked.

[1:16:47] Matt Ligouri: I don't know anything about this show.

[1:16:49] Ian Allred: So you would, you would recommend going in completely blind?

[1:16:52] Matt Ligouri: I would recommend being prepared for it to be very stupid. It is a show, perfect. It is a show, yes, it's a show that's incredibly campy and doesn't take itself very seriously. And so you just need to be aware like it's purposely melodramatic, like it's purposely silly. And if you're on board for that, you will have a great time. And I recommend you don't know anything because it is a wild ride. It's craziness.

[1:17:18] Ian Allred: I can't wait. Well, I mean like I've seen Alex Newell a number of times live now including they did, they did, I've been to a few different Alex Newell concerts where Alex Newell will sing this song If I Were a Boy live and very fun, very good sense of humor about the fact that it's in the twerking episode of Glee as you brought up before we watch this performance that like the fact that Twerk is written on the whiteboard is so perfect.

[1:17:42] Matt Ligouri: I'm sorry, really quick. Andrew Durand is also on Bat Boy who Shucked fans, Alex Newell fans, it's their second time working together because Andrew Durand was the main guy in Shucked as well.

[1:18:00] Ian Allred: Anyways, sorry. Hey, last song of the episode, we are we feeling scared?

[1:18:07] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, I know I'm afraid it's gonna be Love Song.

[1:18:13] Ian Allred: I actually would sign off the call. I like, I would be so upset if that happened.

[1:18:24] Matt Ligouri: Come on, it's come on, come on, come on, it's not Love.

[1:18:30] Ian Allred: Okay, okay, whatever happens is fine. I look like terror.

[1:18:35] Matt Ligouri: No, because disgust, it's fear. It's a look of fear. This is a Rollo.

[1:18:42] Ian Allred: Uh-huh, scared. I need you to know, you know anything about me, this is my favorite Rollo.

[1:18:47] Matt Ligouri: Glitter in the air, glitter in the air.

[1:18:49] Ian Allred: It's somehow found its only exception, isn't it?

[1:18:54] Matt Ligouri: It is indeed only exception. I am now terrified of how this competition could go because I also know the climate that we're in with a Rollo's and I can't have my baby girl Rollo.

[1:19:00] Ian Allred: You know, I will say before that, it's threatening the idea that this is a Rollo doesn't make sense in my brain. I believe like it is, but Puck's, they're so firmly in the MP4 and only exception.

[1:19:10] Matt Ligouri: Oh, I'm thinking of, what am I thinking of? What is it? What is she singing? The Britney episode? No, that's, that is, that I'm, yeah, I think together. What is Puck and Rachel sing together? You know, like similar font.

[1:19:24] Ian Allred: Okay, they're cousins. I mix them up. Sorry, got it.

[1:19:30] Matt Ligouri: I could cry. That was, oh my gosh, if you want to, we can watch, we can cry with you.

[1:19:41] Ian Allred: We can laugh for you. Are you not, do you not, you're not sharing a similar sentiment after watching that?

[1:19:47] Matt Ligouri: Oh, that's not what I said. I just was trying to make sure you had the space for your emotions.

[1:19:51] Ian Allred: No, it's just so perfect.

[1:19:56] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, I have cried about, oh my god. I mean, between Faithfully in this, I mean like all four of these songs I'm looking at, Toxic, Faithfully, If I Were a Boy, The Only Exception. Yeah, it was a crazy episode. It's almost like we're not in round one anymore.

[1:20:10] Ian Allred: Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. Um, oh my god, I, there's just like, there's a world where this would definitely win my Glackett. I understand that it's like not everybody's getting this song like I am and I'm not saying that it's like a bragging way that I'm like you guys don't get it. I am the dumb one. No, I'm just like really glad that we have this. I think it's like so, so, so special and it almost like feels like everything that they like put into Glee, choir room performance, big belty solo, just like a high school Americana, you know, in the hallway. I really love this. The extra that is right next to Rachel unpacking his locker and he's just, and he's like, I just think it's like, it was so specific and I'm not, it sounds like I'm kidding but I'm not.

Like the so specific the way that he's like holding all of his things and he like scratches his nose with like his arm and I'm just like, you know, I love that just like building up the world. Obviously this, this entire sequence of Finn talking to Brittany, Finn choosing Rachel over Brittany, party for you, of course, party for you literally was crying while making that. Um, it's just so, it's so incredible and then it's just like they, you get to this point in the song I feel like, I feel like I sound so stupid talking.

[1:22:00] Matt Ligouri: You do not continue.

[1:22:01] Ian Allred: You get at this point with the song where it's like you think that like you get like the big belt and then there's another big belt after and I'm like ooh perfect, incredible, amazing. This is the best Rollo. Argue with the wall because I think it just like encapsulates her character so well, this relationship, the reasons that in you vote my eyes a lot about why this relationship works and I think that a lot of what you've said is found in this performance. She sees something in him that like he does, he doesn't see inside himself.

[1:22:29] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, so she's on her way to believing. She's on her way. He makes her feel chosen. She makes him feel valuable.

[1:22:35] Ian Allred: Yeah, but I do want to say Andrew, again like doing this podcast in a different format, the way that you're feeling right now, that fear, like I get it. Yeah, I really do get it, especially when you are only one of three votes.

[1:23:01] Matt Ligouri: Yeah.

[1:23:02] Ian Allred: Like what if these other people on the call are going to ruin my day?

[1:23:07] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, I'm just throwing that out there but oh I know you're not gonna, you're not gonna qualm any of that idea. You're just gonna be like well I get it, I stand.

[1:23:17] Ian Allred: So that's why I'm curious to go next. I know I'm the only one that might.

[1:23:23] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, the only exception, the only exception.

[1:23:27] Ian Allred: Um, Matt, you were talking earlier about like how many songs would I not know without Glee and obviously you were talking about like songs from when our parents were our age and this fully is like our generation. For whatever reason in 2010 I had not heard this song and this is fully, this was the first time in my memory that a song was performed on Glee that I loved so much that I was like the Glee version isn't enough. I need to also purchase the original version and I like a way, yeah, just the Paramore cover and this is one of my all-time favorite songs now and it is because of this performance. I never would have known it without this. I mean maybe I would have found another way but like this is how I got introduced to it.

It's great, it's fantastic. I love this song, I love Rachel's performance in it. It's a classic end of episode like one character is singing but then every other character is also internally working through their shit and we're getting like meaningful glances from everyone. There's also a moment that makes me giggle where Puck is like turned around giving a meaningful glance at Quinn. Yeah, she looks at him and I don't know what the intention is supposed to be but in my eyes she looks a little irritated. She's like what the fuck are you looking at? And that does tickle me a bit.

[1:25:00] Ian Allred: Um, that's like the only time that they kind of interact throughout all of season two.

[1:25:03] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, he's about to be written out for a few episodes because he's going on tour. It was very weird.

[1:25:06] Ian Allred: Right, right, right. But Ice, yes, I agree with you Andrew. This number is gorgeous. Obviously like Rachel singing at Finn and being emotional but watching Finn watch Rachel and specifically like he is A, so in awe of this girl and then B, in such disbelief that she could feel this way about him. You can see on his face, or at least I see on his face that that feeling of how did this happen to me that a person who in my eyes is this incredible and this wonderful and this untouchable could feel equally about me.

[1:25:44] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, yeah. And then that the party for you, the scene in the hallway I think is Finchel in a nutshell is it's Rachel is, she sees him as this like amazing high school god and yet he chooses her over everyone else and that's all we want. Exactly what every Gleek wants.

[1:26:00] Ian Allred: So I know I was confused before with Need You Now but and I still might be, no I still am. Which is the one that plays at the end of the Britney? Britney, it's this Need You Now is a semester shuffle.

[1:26:12] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, right. I, you know, let me just take a brief aside to say if anybody is worried that they do retain too much Glee information in their head, you know, we're all so in it. Like I haven't rewatched the show in full since our podcast in 2020 so now we are approaching six years later or five, whatever, five years later.

[1:26:39] Ian Allred: Yeah, a lot of it's leaving my head. There is hope.

[1:26:49] Matt Ligouri: Wait, so how do you feel about the fact that this is at the end of the Britney Spears tribute episode? Because it's a contentious conversation.

[1:26:57] Ian Allred: I don't care about, I don't care. Like no, not at all. I mean it is a great episode with a lot of fun Britney songs and it's such a fun concept that they are early in season two. I love that episode in general but when we did the podcast on it the first time and both of my mom and I pick our favorite song from the episode, I picked three songs from this episode. Don't quiz me right now, I'll have to go find it but I know this is one of the three songs.

[1:27:14] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, I absolutely love it. It's great and I think that like you were talking about like Glee wedding music.

[1:27:27] Ian Allred: Oh god, this gotta be there in some sort of.

[1:27:34] Matt Ligouri: Well, I mean because then I like really started to get into some of the wording of some songs and I'm like is the exact message of this song if you like thought more deeply into the words? I'm not saying this one in particular but like some songs feel like they could be a good wedding song sometimes aren't.

[1:27:50] Ian Allred: Yeah, I just like the lyrics I'm on my way to believing. I'm like well maybe the wedding is where you should. I feel like this song is a perfect wedding song.

[1:28:01] Matt Ligouri: You did that lyric.

[1:28:03] Ian Allred: I do agree, Matt. That's the one lyric that I'm like maybe not. But otherwise I think this is such an incredibly romantic song especially coming from if it's a person who, you know, hasn't have been very lucky in love in the past to be like oh I had kind of given up on ever finding someone and thought that love was always gonna be heartbreak and then here you are, you're the one exception.

[1:28:24] Matt Ligouri: Oh, the Britney, Britney of it all. I don't mind it either. I think Britney, Britney as an episode is very much in service of titular character Britney as Pierce and I think Britney is inherently a Britney and I think Santana is inherently a Britney. Rachel in Britney, Britney is trying on a persona, right?

[1:28:42] Ian Allred: Yeah.

[1:28:43] Matt Ligouri: She is trying on a persona. She is saying I'm not sexy enough, I'm not cool enough, I'm gonna try on the Britney persona to see if it like makes people like me more and then this is her not singing a Britney song at the end is her realizing oh actually the one person who's most important to me cares about me. He does not care about if I'm Britney or not. He cares about me as I am.

[1:29:01] Ian Allred: And I don't need to be putting on airs to like get him to like me.

[1:29:06] Matt Ligouri: Yeah, not to poke holes in Only Exception, however, I mean like what you're saying I completely agree with. Do you think that Only Exception was, this is the leading question, do you think that Only Exception was the correct choice as like hey I'm not Britney but this is who I am and it's a Paramore song?

[1:29:33] Ian Allred: Yeah, I don't know if this song is Rachel Berry because frankly I don't view Rachel Berry as a person who is like I didn't believe that love was real until I met you. I'm like if there's one thing I know about this girl is that she's a hopeless romantic and that she has crushes on boys every second of every day.

[1:31:01] Andrew: He's not like Jesse. Basically, he is someone who is actually being honest and truthful with me.

[1:31:06] Ian: Yeah, so with that in mind, I do actually think it works better than I just said it does.

[1:31:10] Matt: Hey, and that it sounds like hmm. I don't know. I have a better feeling about this competition with the way that you ended that. Okay. Um, okay. Okay. Are we right? Are we is there anything else that we need to add to the discourse before we vote?

[1:31:27] Ian: I'm ready to vote personally. I'm ready to vote. I'll be sad for whichever goes out.

[1:31:33] Matt: Oh, yeah, it's obviously another really tough one. So nah, none of this feels fun or good. It will know it's fun. We're having fun, but that's good torture. I've hated it. It's just been the worst.

[1:31:42] Andrew: Um, I will be voting for "The Only Exception." I not only, of course, just because we got to do something about these roll loads, but hello. This is my roll. Oh, this is the roll. I am obsessed with it for all the reasons that I've said and I will continue to say, and I'm just so fortunate to have it in my life. I love it.

[1:32:09] Ian: Who wants it next? I?

[1:32:12] Matt: I don't know. I can go next. Oh, I think I know what this is. Oh, I mean, and I feel bad.

[1:32:27] Ian: Hey, I won. Love "The Only Exception" too. I think it's crazy that no rolls are getting through. I don't understand it. I think that some of them and maybe this one deserves better than what I'm about to give it, and I do love this song and I want to give her flowers. I am voting for "If I Were a Boy" personally, I think.

[1:32:50] Andrew: Okay, wait, before we find out what Matt's vote is, I think that we need to talk about these similarities between these two songs that it's like they're trying to live in a world where "The Only Exception" is still around for a little bit longer before you find out what happens.

[1:33:06] Ian: Before I thought this is moments before Andrew found out. But like emotional ballads in the choir room, we're talking tears. We're talking people are being moved watching.

[1:33:21] Matt: Yeah, that's just like what they're able to accomplish in this choir room always continues to amaze me. Anyway, I agree, Matt. Do you feel confident in your vote?

[1:33:30] Matt: Yes.

[1:33:35] Ian: Okay, I felt confident since I knew what the second song was. Okay, I'm really torturing Andrew and it's really mean, but it's only because I'm siding with him. Hey, roller fans, we damn, she made it.

[1:33:55] Andrew: No, I mean, and I guess I haven't done a good enough job conveying that I share this love with you, Andrew, of this song because in my mind, the second it came up, I'm like, okay, it's gonna be true. I especially when you were passionately talking about it.

[1:34:12] Matt: But no, I am all the way with you. The second that I hear that this song is gone, you're gonna get a text unless I'm here on the podcast that episode. But I don't think it could happen necessarily with us here together if we're both super passionate about it that I'm just gonna be upset.

[1:34:25] Ian: I will say I don't know that I see a winner of my Glacket for this, but I definitely see another round or two or maybe more. I don't know how far it really can go. But I love this. I stream it. I love to watch it. I love everything about it, and it's a little bit of both here where I love this one so much and I'm more than happy to very quickly and easily for me pass it through to the next round.

[1:34:55] Andrew: And "If I Were a Boy," again, I was struggling to see what its path is going forward because I feel it like it exists in this place that it's like I don't know. Again, it's just it's so good, but it doesn't feel to me the same as like these Glee covers that I love so much.

[1:35:17] Ian: It's just it's almost like, you know what we talk about when there's like a guest star on the show and you're like, oh, that is such a good performance by Adam. Yeah, something like that. And you're like, that is so good, but it's just a little bit separated from what you feel that way with "If I Were a Boy" a little bit, and I don't know how to explain because obviously this is a character on the show going through a storyline on the show this season.

[1:35:37] Matt: Yeah, yeah. Maybe that's something to do with it where season 5 storylines just don't feel real and everything doesn't feel meaningful, sure, that era of the show because it's just like what's going on? So again, I can't like totally explain where I'm coming from with that, but it just feels a little bit separate from for me like "The Only Exception" that is like fully like my heart is exploding.

[1:35:59] Andrew: Yeah, yeah. This is top episode. Wow, I'm forever a boy. Sorry, we're stick together.

[1:36:05] Ian: I'm so sorry. I was the outside vote this whole time. It was you this entire time. It was you.

[1:36:11] Matt: In recap this episode, "Toxic."

[1:36:15] Andrew: "Toxic" waste. We're throwing you in the waste basket.

[1:36:21] Ian: "Faithfully," I'm still yours. I'm still yours.

[1:36:27] Matt: Reminder to get those over riffs in.

[1:36:34] Andrew: If I were a boy.

[1:36:40] Ian: What I voted for this, I am and no stupid two boys.

[1:36:48] Matt: Three boys against "If I Were a Boy."

[1:36:53] Ian: Or two boys rather. So sorry to group you in, Ian. Yeah, come on.

[1:36:57] Andrew: Yeah, because you were "The Only Exception" with that vote.

[1:37:02] Ian: Exactly. Boom. Another really, really perfect episode where everything went completely normally in terms of these competitions and no one's actually sorry about anything.

[1:37:15] Andrew: Of course. Okay. Thank you so much for joining me.

[1:37:19] Ian: And I understand that you have a podcast called...

[1:37:23] Matt: Yes, of course.

[1:37:26] Ian: Queer Buffy podcast.

[1:37:28] Matt: Okay, I'll Google it and see what I find.

[1:37:33] Ian: No, I have a podcast called "Slay: A Queer Buffy Podcast." We're talking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We are currently in the back half of season two, which is when the show really gets crazy, crazy, crazy. I would say midway through season two is when the show enters the echelon of like one of the best written shows of all time and then kind of like continues there for the rest of the run of the show.

[1:37:56] Matt: So it's been very fun and very exciting. If you like spooky stuff, if you like gay stuff, if you like witchy stuff, if you like female empowerment stuff, I recommend you watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's a fantastic show and then if you're watching it, you might as well stream the podcast and listen to us talk about it, right? Check it out.

[1:38:15] Ian: How did you feel about the... I texted you the other day about this Sarah Michelle Gellar and Lea Michele.

[1:38:21] Matt: Oh, I'm so glad you're bringing this up, which is that Sarah Michelle Gellar went to see "Chess" on Broadway and then Lea Michele invited her backstage and they took a picture and Lea Michele posted on her story and said, "I have been such a big fan of yours since I watched Buffy as a kid."

[1:38:37] Ian: Do we know something about Lea Michele?

[1:38:44] Matt: No, but it's not surprising to me. It's kind of like in the performance that she was a Buffy fan.

[1:38:50] Ian: Yeah, she's a girl who's very assured of herself. Yeah, it makes sense.

[1:38:56] Matt: Also, like Buffy occupies like the kind of people who watch Buffy. The Venn diagram of people who watch Buffy and people who watch Glee have a lot of similarities. One, gay. Yeah. Two, tend to be artsy in some way.

[1:39:12] Ian: I would say Gleeks tend to be more like performance-based and Buffy fans tend to be more like visual art-based, but like artsy in some way.

[1:39:22] Matt: There's musical aspects of Buffy. They're not, you know, they're sisters, not twins.

[1:39:30] Ian: Sisters, not twins. They're definitely related like Lea and Sarah, just like Lea Michele and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

[1:39:38] Matt: Oh my god, the Michelle sisters. Michelle. Oh, wow, really discovering so much.

[1:39:41] Ian: Crazy.

[1:39:42] Matt: Crazy, hey.

[1:39:43] Ian: Go check it out. Hey, Matt, I understand that you also host a podcast. Do you want to tell people where they can find that and listen to it and support you?

[1:39:51] Matt: Unfortunately, I'm hosting too many these days, so it's hard to...

[1:39:55] Ian: But I guess you could decide what she's your adventure.

[1:40:00] Matt: Exactly. I'm talking about Big Brother in the aforementioned "Diary Room Podcast," which is this exact format, which I love, Andrew, that it's now began. I know there's a Taylor Swift version. Is there your vision? Your vision? Crazy.

[1:40:15] Ian: Just so many bracket podcasts.

[1:40:17] Matt: So if you like Big Brother, come check us out on the "Diary Room Podcast." Myself and Aman are doing that every single week. I'm also talking about other reality shows like "The Challenge" and "The Amazing Race" and "The Traitors," which just got announced for the new season's air date is January. Oh hell yes.

[1:40:35] Ian: Hey, what do we cast reveal?

[1:40:38] Matt: That's been out for... You're behind, girl. Yeah, I see you. Okay, wait, wait, is this... This is the Donna Kelsey thing?

[1:40:44] Ian: Yes.

[1:40:46] Matt: Oh, okay. Okay. All right. All right, my very boss Rob Cesternino. Oh yeah, a part of the cast as well, so he will be there.

[1:40:52] Ian: Can't wait to see what happens. Their "Free Agents" podcast for all that. And then the season of "Dancing with the Stars" is winding down, and I'm talking about that on the aforementioned Rob Cesternino's podcast network.

[1:41:04] Matt: Are people really talking about "Dancing with the Stars" in a major way this season? Boy, what do you think it is about this season specifically that people are really drawn to?

[1:41:11] Ian: I would say it's not just this season. It's been at least the last two. Yeah, not three, but definitely the last two. Just a major resurgence in the younger fandom have found the show and have taken to the show. There's been some younger pros in the mix that have really brought social media to the show in a whole new way.

[1:41:31] Matt: So it's just, it's back. I wouldn't have ever expected it to be as back as it is, but it's back. We're talking about it.

[1:41:37] Ian: So our HAP, we know "Dancing with the Stars" dot com.

[1:41:41] Matt: And that's it until the next time I'm back here talking about all of our favorite songs from the hit Fox show Glee. Hey, we're gonna be talking about them.

[1:41:48] Andrew: Um, and just as a reminder, if you want to support this podcast and also vote back a song, you can go to patreon.com slash Gleek of the Week pod. Again, just to refresh your memory, the songs that are eligible to come back, one of these ten can talk about "Hell to the No," "It's All Over," "Marry You," "Getting Married Today," "My Man," "I Still Know What I'm Looking For," "I'll Stand By You," "Three," "Toxic," and "If I Were a Boy." That is a brutal lineup.

[1:42:20] Ian: Crazy, it's really awful.

[1:42:23] Andrew: Insane, so if you feel a certain way about any one of those three, go on over and vote.

[1:42:32] Ian: Okay, until next time. Bye.

[1:42:36] Andrew: It's Gleek, Gleek of the Week.