This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:20] Dan Tracy: Welcome to Guys Who Like Musicals.

[0:22] Joe Carroll: Welcome to Guys Who Like Musicals. I'm Joe Carroll.

[0:24] Dan Tracy: And I'm Dan Tracy.

[0:25] Joe Carroll: Okay. So this week, Colton Ryan.

[0:28] Dan Tracy: Colton Ryan.

[0:29] Joe Carroll: He's a TV star now.

[0:30] Dan Tracy: He is a big TV star.

[0:32] Joe Carroll: But we came to know him as the little brat who was cast as the standby for Evan Hansen.

[0:38] Dan Tracy: Yeah, he was introduced to me in college at a preview for Evan Hansen, and someone was like, "This is Colton. I think you guys would really get along." And he's a senior in college.

[0:50] Joe Carroll: And I was like, "That little bitch."

[0:50] Dan Tracy: That little bitch.

[0:54] Joe Carroll: Immediately jealous.

[0:56] Dan Tracy: But he's super talented.

[0:57] Joe Carroll: Yep. Colton Ryan went to Baldwin Wallace, was scooped out to be the standby for Evan Hansen originally covering Ben, and he just told us off mic a crazy story about going on for Ben during Tony Week and all these things.

[1:13] Dan Tracy: So it was like a lot asked of this young kid. And he's totally risen to the occasion. He left Evan Hansen and has done a multitude of awesome things, was on a couple episodes of Homeland and got cast in Girl from the North Country in this principal role and is taking it to Broadway, and then after he did that, he did Alice by Heart, and now he's just finished filming this Sara Bareilles show.

[1:33] Joe Carroll: So he's basically like on a skyrocket.

[1:38] Dan Tracy: Yep, booked and blessed.

[1:38] Joe Carroll: My absolute least favorite term of all time, but he is truly booked up. But and just like a really funny, slightly ridiculous man.

[1:47] Dan Tracy: He just we're walking out of Dan's apartment and he goes, "I'm gonna go shave my head."

[1:51] Joe Carroll: We were like, "What?" And he goes, "Yeah. Just kind of feel like it."

[1:54] Dan Tracy: So he's going to get a buzz cut right now.

[1:56] Joe Carroll: So next time we might post a picture of him on our Instagram, and he's gonna have a buzz cut.

[2:00] Dan Tracy: Hey, who knows? But it's great. This guy is, I think he's technically our youngest guest, right?

[2:08] Joe Carroll: Because it's a perspective, like it's a newly out of school, newly hit like a yeah, he's probably like 25 at this point.

[2:15] Dan Tracy: We figured out because that but um, but he's just got this like he's got this crazy ambition in a way that's incredibly inspiring.

[2:23] Joe Carroll: You know, like we ask him our favorite question about like what your unreachable star is, and he's like, "Okay, so tomorrow I want to do this, and the next day I want to do that, and then I'm gonna do it." And it's cool and inspiring, and the dude was great.

[2:35] Dan Tracy: Yeah, he knows a lot about like who he is, what he's doing, what he wants to do. And he does everything with like this like he's learned to cope with a lot of different parts of the business by just being himself.

[2:49] Joe Carroll: Yeah, and I think that there's a lot to be said for that. He's kind of had a full career in like, you know, he's only been out of school for five years or something, and even you know, the ups and downs of everything from you know, understudying one of the biggest Broadway stars in recent memory, and all of the sort of pain that can go along with that, to originating things with your heroes, meeting your heroes, and now being a series regular on a TV show.

[3:12] Dan Tracy: It's just like whoa. It's like you know, out of a canon.

[3:15] Joe Carroll: But yeah, my favorite part, it just listened to the part that he gets he starts talking about wearing spray tan in an audition, and I we he talks about it very earnestly, and I just couldn't I really wanted to laugh, but it's a great bit about like being yourself and trying to not like be too too much like everybody else in an audition, but he talks about wearing spray tan for an audition.

[3:34] Dan Tracy: Yeah. Girl from North Country, so he's starring in Girl from North Country, which we'll hit previews in February.

[3:41] Joe Carroll: And get your tickets to that. It was totally a hit at the public, and we're super excited to see it.

[3:46] Dan Tracy: And we're excited for him. Yeah, Colton Ryan, there you go.

[3:57] Joe Carroll: How did this get made live, like set up?

[3:59] Dan Tracy: You're like at some huge comedy fest.

[4:00] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[4:01] Dan Tracy: And you guys are there being like, who was there with us in the beginning?

[4:03] Joe Carroll: And there's like three people that are talking like, yeah.

[4:05] Dan Tracy: Yeah, exactly.

[4:06] Joe Carroll: Exactly.

[4:07] Dan Tracy: Both of our mothers.

[4:08] Joe Carroll: Right. Actually, my mom, this is my mom just texted me about our last week's episode.

[4:12] Dan Tracy: Or we talked to Mike Ruckles, the voice teacher.

[4:15] Joe Carroll: Yeah, yeah. Who he was the voice teacher on the show.

[4:17] Dan Tracy: Yes, he was talking about your shop, right?

[4:20] Joe Carroll: Yeah, we talked about your show a lot, and he said that there's this like studies coming out about milk and like you know how we're we've been so scared to drink milk as singers and oh it's bad for your you know your throat or whatever.

[4:31] Dan Tracy: And he's like, "Unless you're allergic to casein, lactose or lactose, like it doesn't matter."

[4:36] Joe Carroll: And I was like, "Oh, that's great because it doesn't matter." Study show doesn't matter because I told him that I was to try and see.

[4:43] Dan Tracy: And I told him that I had the night before he was sitting in that chair, I told him that I had like a shit ton of mac and cheese at two o'clock in the morning, and like you shouldn't do that, you know, voice teacher or whatever.

[4:52] Joe Carroll: And then my mom just texted me and she's like, "You're allergic to casein, dumbass."

[4:57] Dan Tracy: Are you serious?

[4:58] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[4:58] Dan Tracy: Like I was lactose intolerant when I was a baby, and she's like, "Oh."

[4:58] Joe Carroll: She had listened.

[5:02] Dan Tracy: I was wondering if she was like, "Drop whatever you're doing."

[5:04] Joe Carroll: Yeah, yeah, right.

[5:05] Dan Tracy: Like she was going through some like old, old files.

[5:08] Joe Carroll: Right.

[5:09] Dan Tracy: Like old Hitchcock film, and it's like, "Wait, stop the..."

[5:14] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[5:14] Dan Tracy: So apparently I do have a...

[5:14] Joe Carroll: So you definitely shouldn't be having...

[5:14] Dan Tracy: I definitely shouldn't be eating mac and cheese.

[5:22] Joe Carroll: I guess period.

[5:23] Dan Tracy: Well, there yeah.

[5:24] Joe Carroll: Anyway, okay.

[5:24] Dan Tracy: Well, it's funny because I felt like there was a time which I'm living in right now, which is that the information I had was that all milk was just indigestible.

[5:34] Joe Carroll: Like it was never meant to be ever consumed by humans at all.

[5:37] Dan Tracy: Yeah.

[5:38] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[5:38] Dan Tracy: And that's still true.

[5:39] Joe Carroll: Yeah, well, yes, we're the only species that consumes milk past the age of like infancy.

[5:47] Dan Tracy: Or also the only species that consumes milk of another fucking species.

[5:52] Joe Carroll: Yeah, because that's why it's very strange.

[5:55] Dan Tracy: That's why if you drink a lot of milk, you're gonna start to look like the animal's milk that you're drinking.

[6:00] Joe Carroll: That's literally the point of milk is to fatten baby cows to become cows.

[6:05] Dan Tracy: So hot.

[6:05] Joe Carroll: So hot take.

[6:08] Dan Tracy: Hot take is I am hot enough.

[6:10] Joe Carroll: You look like a cow, like cut down on your dairy intake.

[6:14] Dan Tracy: Try to think what animals' milk I want now.

[6:16] Joe Carroll: Like goat.

[6:17] Dan Tracy: I know, I know.

[6:18] Joe Carroll: I want like oat milk.

[6:20] Dan Tracy: You know, you want the milk of an oat.

[6:21] Joe Carroll: I wouldn't just take a rounded oat.

[6:23] Dan Tracy: I was gonna say I want the oats.

[6:25] Joe Carroll: I want the milk of Chris Evans.

[6:28] Dan Tracy: Right.

[6:29] Joe Carroll: Yes.

[6:29] Dan Tracy: Right.

[6:30] Joe Carroll: Gross, but yes.

[6:31] Dan Tracy: I was saying I was like, yeah, the imagery there took me.

[6:34] Joe Carroll: Um I actually read this morning that there's a company that used to sell all the milk at like Meyer in Michigan.

[6:44] Dan Tracy: Okay just went under.

[6:45] Joe Carroll: Just filed for bankruptcy.

[6:46] Dan Tracy: A company called Dairy Pure.

[6:48] Joe Carroll: It's just like going under.

[6:50] Dan Tracy: Absolutely.

[6:50] Joe Carroll: We have that in my fridge.

[6:51] Dan Tracy: I think we still have it in my fridge.

[6:54] Joe Carroll: No one wants to drink milk anymore.

[6:56] Dan Tracy: Because we've all read the studies about how we're gonna look like a cow and also we're very vain.

[7:00] Joe Carroll: But we also had the posters.

[7:01] Dan Tracy: We had the po we were we were force fed it.

[7:04] Joe Carroll: I remember at milk ha or not a milk at at milk time at lunchtime, I was ostracized because I'd always be like, uh none for me.

[7:12] Dan Tracy: Yeah.

[7:12] Joe Carroll: Because I hated it so much.

[7:14] Dan Tracy: I did too.

[7:15] Joe Carroll: And like lunch ladies and stuff were like, or lunchmen would be like, "Yo, hey, you can't not drink that shit, motherfucker."

[7:21] Dan Tracy: I'm like, you're like, "I don't like it."

[7:24] Joe Carroll: Take up that chocolate milk right gone.

[7:26] Dan Tracy: You know, like prick it off right now and enter your social security room number into that pad right there.

[7:26] Joe Carroll: Seriously.

[7:26] Dan Tracy: Right now.

[7:32] Joe Carroll: This is paying that 30 cents.

[7:34] Dan Tracy: This is good.

[7:35] Joe Carroll: This is a good start to uh so Broadway.

[7:38] Dan Tracy: Um, so Broadway.

[7:41] Joe Carroll: We're all about transitions on this show, trying to get from one topic to another because we sit here and ramble for an hour with people we like, and that's the reason that you're here is because your show's too long, and I'm like, yeah, but I like long.

[7:51] Dan Tracy: But I edited it, so it doesn't matter.

[7:52] Joe Carroll: Exactly.

[7:53] Dan Tracy: And like I'm a freelancer and I'm an actor, I'm free during the day.

[7:56] Joe Carroll: I love hour long power.

[7:57] Dan Tracy: You should see the director's cut.

[7:59] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[8:00] Dan Tracy: Seriously.

[8:00] Joe Carroll: It's seven hours.

[8:01] Dan Tracy: Where we talked about milk.

[8:02] Joe Carroll: No, because um cold is cold and skin.

[8:06] Dan Tracy: Ryan, thank you for being here.

[8:08] Colton Ryan: And your coffee smells amazing.

[8:10] Dan Tracy: There's their milk in it.

[8:12] Colton Ryan: There is no milk in it.

[8:13] Dan Tracy: Awesome.

[8:13] Joe Carroll: It's just Dunkin' Donuts.

[8:15] Dan Tracy: Just they honestly, you had you have a good setup.

[8:17] Joe Carroll: It's Guys Who Like Musicals runs on Dunkin'.

[8:19] Dan Tracy: Maybe they'll maybe they'll sponsor it.

[8:20] Joe Carroll: We have a good segue trying to get them in.

[8:22] Dan Tracy: We haven't made that joke in a while because we used to say when we were first starting this, and it's still true, that Guys Who Like Musicals presented by no one.

[8:29] Joe Carroll: We have no sponsors where there's no like, you know, like usually this would be the part where Squarespace is like, you know, do you want to be able to do it?

[8:35] Dan Tracy: Not Squarespace.

[8:35] Joe Carroll: No, no, no.

[8:42] Dan Tracy: When everyone's like kind of like having a good time, and then all of a sudden they're like, "Yeah, they're like, have you ever felt a certain way though about like..." and like all of a sudden like their voice?

[8:50] Joe Carroll: "Are you having trouble sleeping? Try..." it's like, oh god.

[8:53] Dan Tracy: Yeah, it's like their drive-thru voice, you know, like or like you're like going out to eat voice, where like you're talking with your friends, and then like the waiter comes by and you're like, "Um hi."

[9:00] Joe Carroll: Like all of a sudden like your voice quality like changes so right bizarrely.

[9:04] Dan Tracy: Right.

[9:05] Joe Carroll: It's like that, and then all of a sudden I'm just like slamming on the skip 15 section on the on the iPhone.

[9:10] Dan Tracy: I'm just like, "Nope, nope, nope, nope."

[9:11] Joe Carroll: Oh, laughter again.

[9:12] Dan Tracy: There we go.

[9:13] Joe Carroll: Right, exactly.

[9:13] Dan Tracy: Well, so maybe for you, we don't have any sponsors.

[9:16] Joe Carroll: We also don't have any revenue.

[9:17] Dan Tracy: So maybe at some point.

[9:17] Joe Carroll: Honestly, honestly though.

[9:22] Colton Ryan: Wait, I thought I was paying you guys for this video.

[9:22] Joe Carroll: Oh, that's great, exactly.

[9:23] Dan Tracy: We're presented by Colton Ryan.

[9:25] Joe Carroll: Outstanding checking account.

[9:28] Colton Ryan: I love the drive-thru voice thing. That's very funny.

[9:32] Dan Tracy: Here's why. Because one of my favorite exercises to do in acting class is the conversation exercise where you just have a conversation with like we're talking right now, and then you just drop into the scene, and you're supposed to let go of anything that you notice that changes because every time everyone starts acting, they're like, "Oh, so um, so you know, uh gear up."

[9:53] Colton Ryan: Uh I'm giving no right, exactly.

[9:57] Dan Tracy: All of a sudden you're like, "Okay, now I'm acting," and you're like, "Oh, okay, something just drastically changed about this person."

[10:02] Colton Ryan: You didn't give an example, but that still was triggering for me.

[10:04] Dan Tracy: Yeah, yeah.

[10:05] Colton Ryan: I was like, "Oh, that's oh, oh yeah, that's right. That's the way I do it."

[10:09] Dan Tracy: Right.

[10:09] Colton Ryan: That can't be true.

[10:10] Dan Tracy: Um, that can't be true.

[10:12] Joe Carroll: A lot of ums.

[10:13] Dan Tracy: You just you just wrapped filming your your first big series.

[10:17] Colton Ryan: I mean, you've done a big series before, but this is like your principal role.

[10:21] Dan Tracy: This is this is like Pride's big job.

[10:23] Colton Ryan: Excellent segment.

[10:25] Dan Tracy: So clearly you know how to how to be real on camera.

[10:28] Colton Ryan: Uh well, here's hoping. We'll see at the end.

[10:30] Dan Tracy: Right. So we can launch right into this because you're starring in Little Voice.

[10:34] Colton Ryan: Yeah, the Little Voice on Apple TV Plus.

[10:37] Dan Tracy: Plus.

[10:38] Colton Ryan: Get get with it, folks.

[10:39] Dan Tracy: Get that, get that, add that other streaming platform.

[10:42] Colton Ryan: Or wait and get the free trial right when mine drops.

[10:46] Dan Tracy: There you go.

[10:46] Colton Ryan: There you go.

[10:48] Dan Tracy: That's a way to game it.

[10:49] Colton Ryan: Exactly.

[10:50] Dan Tracy: I just did a lot of things.

[10:52] Colton Ryan: Don't they sign your checks? Should you be careful?

[10:53] Dan Tracy: My iPhone is on, right?

[10:55] Colton Ryan: They're listening.

[10:56] Dan Tracy: They're listening.

[10:56] Colton Ryan: I don't have to.

[10:57] Colton Ryan: I've just gotten used to it. My bosses are always here.

[11:00] Dan Tracy: Hey Frank.

[11:01] Colton Ryan: Hey, Tim.

[11:01] Dan Tracy: Oh, Tim.

[11:02] Colton Ryan: Yeah, yeah.

[11:03] Dan Tracy: You're Uncle Tim.

[11:04] Colton Ryan: Yeah.

[11:05] Dan Tracy: I just joke with no God no.

[11:06] Colton Ryan: Okay.

[11:06] Dan Tracy: I don't know.

[11:07] Colton Ryan: Maybe I'm not sure.

[11:08] Dan Tracy: No, that would.

[11:08] Colton Ryan: I always thought about like how funny it would be every once in a while if something were like going wrong.

[11:13] Colton Ryan: I maybe the only way I thought I thought this was funny, but I would always turn around and be like, "Hold on one sec."

[11:16] Colton Ryan: Pull up my phone and be like, "Hey, Tim, hey, what are you busy right now? Can I grab you for a sec?"

[11:22] Colton Ryan: "No, I know it's crazy. It's crazy."

[11:24] Colton Ryan: All the time it'd be like, "Yeah, he's got to go."

[11:26] Dan Tracy: And then actually, you guys know, you know Benny Elledge.

[11:28] Colton Ryan: Yeah, yeah. Wonderful guy.

[11:29] Dan Tracy: One of the I can't believe that he basically scored himself a recur on the show because he was so funny on his guest star on his co-star day.

[11:39] Colton Ryan: I see that's that's it. There are a million stories like that.

[11:42] Dan Tracy: Yeah.

[11:42] Colton Ryan: There are a million stories like that.

[11:45] Dan Tracy: Yeah.

[11:45] Colton Ryan: Yeah.

[11:46] Dan Tracy: And it was all be he was just drunk guy at the bar.

[11:49] Colton Ryan: And he works at so effective at it that they like almost gave him a name.

[11:53] Dan Tracy: Like he almost became like a regular at I hope he does.

[11:55] Colton Ryan: Yeah.

[11:56] Dan Tracy: But he used to always have this funny joke, and I wonder if he does it to you guys too.

[11:59] Colton Ryan: Where if I would like I would finish a scene and you go, "Hey, can we talk to you in the hallway? Just grab your stuff. Just grab your stuff. Thanks."

[12:06] Dan Tracy: Yeah.

[12:07] Colton Ryan: Like, "Oh yeah. Yeah, my. There's a box in your room. Just just grab, just go ahead and grab your stuff."

[12:11] Dan Tracy: Yeah.

[12:11] Colton Ryan: My resident director at Frozen does that.

[12:14] Dan Tracy: Except the real joke is that I did in fact get fired.

[12:16] Joe Carroll: Not really.

[12:17] Dan Tracy: No.

[12:17] Colton Ryan: Come on, Joe.

[12:18] Joe Carroll: No.

[12:19] Dan Tracy: I like that joke.

[12:20] Joe Carroll: And I'm not making it have we talked about this the other week on the podcast that like Hans, they're they uh they're bringing in a new guy every year.

[12:26] Dan Tracy: Oh like it's all it's all good.

[12:28] Joe Carroll: Um we just found out who it's gonna be, and I we're can we talk about it?

[12:32] Dan Tracy: Uh no, I can't talk about it, but I know who it is, and he is quite famous, which is great because they were like they were like, "We're gonna bring in somebody."

[12:40] Joe Carroll: Well, he's like he's like a Broadway guy, but he's famous enough, right?

[12:43] Dan Tracy: He's like Colton Ryan, except good at social media, you know, not like not like making a mockery of social media as his social media voice.

[12:51] Joe Carroll: Don't offend our guests, Dan.

[12:53] Dan Tracy: No, no, he knows I'm right.

[12:54] Colton Ryan: It's fair. That's like his like it's gotten into a weirder paradox now because now I do think about having to do the parody part of it. So now I'm like, I'm almost parodying I'm almost in this weird, like this weird, strange loop because I'm also adding to the like onslaught of people who are doing that exact same thing.

[13:16] Joe Carroll: Right.

[13:16] Colton Ryan: Right. But not with any original content. Like I'm just I'm just really just like thinking about how I I'm thinking really hard about how to just not think at all and spew it onto the internet.

[13:26] Joe Carroll: Right.

[13:27] Colton Ryan: Which I'm assuming is what most people do, which is now making me incredibly sad. But I do find that like the best social media, and we talk about it a lot, is just like your most honest and like true sense of humor or self. Like if you're starting if you try to put something on, yeah, people can they can smell that audience. We can smell bullshit from everywhere.

[13:45] Dan Tracy: Is it?

[13:46] Colton Ryan: I think you're totally right, but I think it's it's all your truest self in relation to the internet. Because I do think that is its own like context and its own reality that like that I do think I have a very similar sense of humor, but it does take me a minute to like edit like to like curate it.

[14:02] Dan Tracy: Yeah, isn't that and it's a shame, but like that's just kind of the what it is.

[14:05] Colton Ryan: Yeah, it was not just like live live TV like in front of you.

[14:09] Joe Carroll: Exactly.

[14:09] Colton Ryan: It's not like Colton TV. I pray that isn't that isn't my best material. Like that that's really like I really hope it's not.

[14:16] Dan Tracy: Right. My favorite captions just include like a picture of you and Alice by Heart that just says shameless self-promotion, shameless self-promotion, shameless self-promotion as the caption.

[14:24] Colton Ryan: Yeah, that's a classic. I didn't get that wasn't a that wasn't so hot backstage at the time.

[14:29] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[14:29] Colton Ryan: Whatever. Is this a joke to you?

[14:34] Dan Tracy: I was like, actually, no, it means so much to me, you don't believe. Like that that's my own self-defense mechanism. So that is right is my shameless promotion for real.

[14:41] Joe Carroll: I love that. I friggin' love that. Um, so how did how did the show to maybe get to a little bit of of like you know substance? Um because I I just want to know because I'm always fascinated, the audition story a little bit for a little bit. How did that what did you have to do? Was it a million things, networks and all sorts of stuff, or how did it go?

[15:00] Colton Ryan: I was at Telsey the day probably of your first taping with of that auditioning for something else, and I saw your name on the paper. I don't think I saw you, but I saw your name on the paper, like and a couple of the cards. Like in like February or like something like that.

[15:13] Dan Tracy: Yeah, yeah.

[15:14] Colton Ryan: Um yeah, no, that actually it's it's a cool story in terms of like just my personal um like in checking in, especially starting in North Country. It's a long-winded thing, but like there was a point in time very recently where like I wasn't following my gut in terms of what I wanted to be doing.

[15:31] Joe Carroll: Sure.

[15:32] Colton Ryan: And um, there was an a thing when North Country came up that I almost like something else came into the picture. I was like, oh, maybe maybe this is the right thing. It seemed more like it was it was small scale, but it was it was shiny. And I was like, maybe I should go towards that. And um, but my gut kept saying, like, no, you've done this before, and you've been really upset and depressive about when you didn't do that. And so I went with the show, and I was so happy I did, and just because of that, is when I met Jesse Nelson who saw me in the show, who I'd already auditioned for actually one time for Alice for like that summer at Vassar.

[16:06] Joe Carroll: Oh, at Vassar, right?

[16:07] Colton Ryan: Yeah. Yeah. And um, and it was we've actually talked about it many times because it was very funny because we consider ourselves like we're we're best buds now, but like at the time, she well, we was I was in there for 30 minutes doing Alice material, and then and I thought I was like, got this in the bag. Um I'm like crying and I'm doing the whole thing. And like at the end, it was a no, and not just like a no-no, but it was like a no, and here's why.

[16:30] Dan Tracy: Uh-huh.

[16:31] Colton Ryan: Which is like, you know, the worst kind. Um also somewhat rare.

[16:36] Joe Carroll: No, very rare.

[16:37] Colton Ryan: Right. And it wasn't uh, it wasn't false. Like there she she saw something that was like, she was like, No, he's too contained. And at the time I didn't realize I was doing a lot of things that was like that were uh inhibiting my like personal emotional life. Um, just as a person. And I mean, of course, I went away defensive, like, what the fuck how does she know? They never met me, they don't know what I you know, and I was like, and it was only when they saw me in North Country, and I'd kind of felt like I had evolved a little bit that she was like, Yes, that's gonna be the white rabbit. She was sitting there in the audience, that's what she told me. And uh, and then I auditioned for that, and and I and then my process for Little Voice was so simple after that because Jesse and I just like we really wanted to just keep doing the thing together.

And when she was working on it, she was like, Listen, just come in, let's just suss out some parts. Because there was a you know, they didn't it wasn't sure which avenue I could have gone in. Uh I didn't play the guitar at the time and stuff, so um, and yeah, I did that one. I met Sarah for the first time. It was nuts because I played a song of hers in front of her, and I never played the guitar for anyone before, so that was really scary.

[17:46] Joe Carroll: Oh god.

[17:46] Colton Ryan: And um and I like desperately try not to cry throughout the rest of it. Like they were like, Oh, we have to do the scenes now. And I was like, Yeah, okay. Um and like my face is all red and whatnot. And like but we then I did the test.

[17:57] Joe Carroll: You're like, is it hot in here? Is it hot?

[17:59] Colton Ryan: I'm hot, you know. Yeah, like or like I was like, hey, um, you guys realize how like emotional this is for me, right? Like, this is cool to talk about.

[18:06] Dan Tracy: No, good for you.

[18:06] Colton Ryan: That but that probably helped.

[18:08] Joe Carroll: It did a little.

[18:08] Colton Ryan: I mean, I was like, honesty. But it I mean, it's hard not to like I mean you you you know Sarah, that's for sure. And like it's it's hard because she is so amazingly cool and down to earth, but at the same time, it's like, yeah, but I did grow up like listening to music and like trying to learn style from you and like so like it's like meeting an idol for the first time and then it having to immediately chop that off and and like treat them as a peer, yeah, as a coworker.

[18:35] Dan Tracy: I think she knows that.

[18:36] Colton Ryan: I think I think she's she does, and I think that's why I mean that's not why she's like that. I think she's just been naturally like that, but she's very aware that she's she goes out of her way to make you feel like comfortable.

[18:45] Joe Carroll: Yes, right.

[18:45] Colton Ryan: Yeah. Um that's awesome. But then oh, sorry, but then I tested and then um after that, and then it took forever because you know, that thing, and but I never came back in again. I just did it the one time.

[18:56] Dan Tracy: So when you say tested, what what does that mean?

[18:58] Colton Ryan: Um, you know, it's it's funny because like w I didn't know and I just always in my head was like, Oh, I get it. It's in some gigantic projector room and there's like a dark auditorium and it's like literally the exact same room at Telsey that I went in and we just did it again on tape, but two of the people were there. It was a little it's a little colder, and I think I were they Apple TV folks, like were they showrunner director?

[19:21] Joe Carroll: Yeah, this was um well because also Jesse was there and she's cause she's showrunner and stuff, and and Sarah was there because she's executive producer, and then two other executive producers from Apple, who I've been fortunate enough that uh both had seen me in Alice, and actually I think it was probably the warmest situation of a screen test than there probably ever has been.

[19:39] Dan Tracy: Right, because they knew you and they were yeah, and we'd all kind of agreed like that we all liked what we were doing, and and it was just really nice and and honestly so comforting because like I was so unbelievably nervous and like and like almost self-sabotaging at some point, you know, but just was trying to remember that like every it was so nice to have them remind me that everyone had that my best intention at heart, right? It's a privilege, like that doesn't happen all the time.

[20:04] Joe Carroll: Right, right.

[20:05] Colton Ryan: A lot of times we walk into those auditions thinking that like you know the fear, the fear of like that you're gonna die or something is so real. Like my hands are sweating, my heart's pounding, you know.

[20:18] Joe Carroll: Yeah, so if you can win and I mean really sure didn't I'm pretty sure I did in my Instagram, spaghetti.

[20:26] Colton Ryan: And your mom's spaghetti is just giving you reflux, and you're like, I don't know if my voice is gonna work. I'm also kind of allergic to glue.

[20:34] Joe Carroll: I love this like rap genius like explanation of the lyrics being like, well, actually that evening Eminem had just had a plate of his mom's spaghetti and hadn't taken his acid reflux pill.

[20:44] Colton Ryan: Right, right.

[20:45] Joe Carroll: Oh my god. Well, I can I just that you mentioned the I want to ask you about that. The self sabotage thing. You said you were so nervous that you almost self sabotage. What do you mean? What do you mean by that?

[20:56] Colton Ryan: Because I I totally know what you mean. I just wonder if you can help me.

[21:03] Joe Carroll: Here, give me your hand.

[21:04] Colton Ryan: Um yeah, but you know, you know, like you walk into a situation like that and you are so nervous that like you start being weird.

[21:10] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[21:11] Colton Ryan: Yeah, I think I think uh the thing that actually this happened to me kind of recently too, where really are I was able to articulate it in a nice way. The thing that I have learned since being in the city and have forgotten again and then learned again, and I'm trying to make the the time period between my amnesia, you know, longer and longer. Right. But um it's like that idea of when you start making narratives and things in your head about like, oh, but then I'll get this and it'll be so and it and the project it'll be perfect, everyone will be so nice, and and then people will really like it, and maybe things will happen after that. Maybe another pro you know, you start doing that whole game.

[21:47] Joe Carroll: Right.

[21:48] Colton Ryan: And that's when you walk in and you and you start wearing the clothes like um you read the part and you're like, oh well, they don't wear clothes like I do, so I'll wear a little different clothes, or or I'll I'll do my I'll go get mous for my hair and make it like a little darker. You know, like things that are for me, that's that's the self-sabotage part is when I I realize afterwards that that I am regretful because I wasn't just myself.

[22:12] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[22:12] Colton Ryan: It wasn't a hundred like whether or not I, you know, putting on the character, but like the actual behavior of myself was off because like I decided to go buy spray tan and put it on for that day, you know, and just like I'm like, that's not you know, that's that's not being that's the only time that I've ever really regretted it afterwards.

[22:32] Joe Carroll: Oh, interesting.

[22:33] Colton Ryan: That's really interesting.

[22:34] Joe Carroll: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[22:35] Colton Ryan: You find if you're like being truer to who you are and you bring that into the room and stop because I I'm definitely in a place where I will um the show I am doing in January. Uh I like dressed.

[22:48] Joe Carroll: No, no, no.

[22:51] Colton Ryan: I like dressed the I like dressed the role, but I dressed like out of my closet for the role.

[22:58] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[22:58] Colton Ryan: But I didn't dress in the same way that I would for my audition for Earl and Waitress.

[23:04] Joe Carroll: Sure.

[23:04] Colton Ryan: Right? Earl and Waitress, it's like jeans and flannels and boots. And then this show was like wool pants, button-down shirt, and black dress shoes. Because it's like a different role.

[23:14] Joe Carroll: Well, you know, you would know you would you would dress differently for your little voice shirt audition than for Alice.

[23:20] Colton Ryan: You you would think I would.

[23:21] Joe Carroll: Um you you would hope I would.

[23:23] Colton Ryan: That's actually that's the funny thing about uh, it's it's so bad to say, but like with me, I I have to sort of convince myself that it's like that I'm almost counter-culturing it in a way that I have to like I just have to be as comfy, cozy as possible.

[23:40] Joe Carroll: Yep.

[23:41] Colton Ryan: And a lot of times that the way to do that for me is is somehow, even though I put thought into it, like I wake up just like the the post thing, or like I wake up in the morning and I'm like, what am I gonna wear? Yeah, but I end up usually kind of wearing the thing that like if you saw it, you'd be like, you're shooting yourself in the foot, man.

[23:57] Joe Carroll: Totally.

[23:57] Colton Ryan: And like I love that there's a story about uh, and it's either Michael Grief or uh or Telsey taught tells this story about casting the original production of Rent. Have you heard the story where where Adam Pascal and you know, they're they're casting this thing and they're looking for the role of Roger, and the role of Roger is written as this rock and roller from the East Village, and they there's a lineup of guys sitting outside, maybe an EPA or something, and there's a lineup of guys sitting outside the room, all dressed like Alice Cooper. So like dark eye makeup, tons of like chains, black leather pants, and right. Just trying, you know, looking like, you know, be my Frankenstein or something. And then at the end of the the row is Adam Pascal sitting there looking like you, like just in jeans and a t-shirt, and and Michael Grief's like, that's my guy. I desperately hope he can sing.

[24:49] Joe Carroll: And then he walks in and like sings.

[24:51] Colton Ryan: He's that. And he just was, and then it's like, you know, that that's it. But it's like, you know, you gotta be true to that thing. Don't put on spray tan, bro.

[25:00] Joe Carroll: Yeah, you know.

[25:01] Colton Ryan: Well, I'm especially me. They can't. This isn't a visual aid. I'm pasty. We might we might put a picture on the Instagram or something.

[25:09] Dan Tracy: Actually, I'm gonna do a carousel for this post, and we're gonna put a picture that Caitlin sent me, Caitlin Hulahan sent me from when you were in high school.

[25:16] Colton Ryan: No, yup.

[25:18] Colton Ryan: No.

[25:19] Joe Carroll: Just be like Broadway's hottest leading man as a high schooler.

[25:24] Colton Ryan: In his prime.

[25:26] Joe Carroll: In his prime.

[25:27] Colton Ryan: You peaked.

[25:28] Joe Carroll: That I did. It's and every day I'm a I'm even more aware of it. Um with that, like um, yeah, I I guess it's funny you say that because I do feel sometimes crazy about it, but and I'll say it's actually the best advice I ever got was from actually you guys know him, Alex Brightman.

[25:46] Colton Ryan: When I first got to the city, he like kind of gave me my first big like first kind of project to myself to be like, hey man, like figure it out.

[25:55] Joe Carroll: And you did his workshop of something that he was writing, right?

[25:59] Colton Ryan: Yes, yes. It was called It's Kind of a Funny Story, and like and it ended up being very informative for me, and uh, but I would always just like be around him and we would just talk and and we're you know good friends. And but he always gave me great advice, and one piece he always said was he was like, when you go audition and all these, you're gonna go for a lot of these auditions soon, and like when you do, you have to remember it's just one part of your day. Like also getting a part of your day was like you went to yoga, and then then afterwards you went to the audition, and then you had to meet that friend for coffee. All three are equally as important. They're just stops in your calendar, and like one cannot outweigh the other, or then you'll walk home and be like thinking about it all day long, racking your brain.

And I think I took that advice to the extreme because that's when I because that's when I started wearing like slubby sweatshirts. And I hate that I'm putting all this in print by the eld-casting area to be like, oh damn it, we thought he was cool by nature.

[26:54] Joe Carroll: Oh, we're outing you for like being like being like severely united.

[26:57] Colton Ryan: No, really disrespectful, I guess, is really definite. No, it's it's it's totally like a valid point that like I think a lot of musical theater students get caught up in the glitz and the glamour. And like when I was in college, when we would have to dress up for our audition class, you'd wear slacks and a button down from Cole's.

[27:18] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[27:18] Colton Ryan: And like that's not what Broadway looks like in the audition room. I remember seeing Ava Noblazada auditioning for uh pretty woman to play Samantha Barks' role. She was not gonna get that role because that's not the essence that they were looking for. Samantha Barks was like cool alternate reality, though.

[27:35] Joe Carroll: Totally totally cool.

[27:36] Colton Ryan: Ava is the girl who's the lead of Hades Town. For those of you who don't know her, she was nominated for a Tony for that and for Miss Saigon. Boom. Fun fact credits. Um she was wearing like a white, a dirty white t shirt with no bra and uh cut off black jean shorts.

[27:55] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[27:56] Colton Ryan: She's like, this is a good one. And she's like auditioning, you know, and all these other girls were dressed up in these like skin tight dresses, like they were going to a club in Vegas in high heels and all that. And she was just like, nah, this is like me. Right. You know? She she went in and she read the scene like before Richard Gere shows up. You know, like she's like, she's like, no, I'm more of I'm more of this ass, which I totally agree with. But I wonder what she wears to you know all of her auditions. And she there, there may be something to that.

[28:22] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[28:22] Colton Ryan: But there's a good point. And I mean, this is another very mediocre transition to your training at Baldwin Wallace. But like we were we all went to nice job again. Yeah, but like we all went to musical theater BFAs, and I think that one of the issues like you mentioned is like being a little put in a box or down, and it's not even put in a box. It's like here are the roles that are available. What they're doing is they're training you for the things that have already been created, as opposed to the things that are going to make like they don't know what's going on, so they're like trying to give you tools to do new musicals, but they're like, hey, this is how you audition for South Pacific, you know.

[28:57] Joe Carroll: Yep.

[28:58] Colton Ryan: And so I think that Which is a really important tool.

[29:00] Joe Carroll: A hundred percent.

[29:01] Colton Ryan: But I think they the best programs give that freedom that it's like you have to be your the truest version of yourself, and you have to be so flexible for what what is coming in the future because nobody could have seen like you know, that rent was gonna happen while people were auditioning for Phantom of the Opera, you know.

[29:17] Joe Carroll: It's like Oh, I never thought of it like that.

[29:19] Colton Ryan: You know, yeah, yeah, that's that's you're right. I think so that's my transition to how was Baldwin Wallace as a concept.

[29:26] Colton Ryan: Oh, it was good uh crap. Had a great time, yellow jackets for life. Um yeah, no, and I do want to make uh a correction for the record. I have a BM The Bachelor of Music. Yeah, they have a music program. Those kids from Baldwin, I don't know if it's true for all of them, but every kid I know from Baldwin Wallace reads music very well. There's a kid who went to my high school, who is a sophomore at Baldwin Wallace Musical Theater now. His name is Andy Feria. Hi, Andy Ferrier. He went to he went to LaSalle and he wanted to go to Michigan.

[29:56] Joe Carroll: Uh well, he uh he applied to go to Michigan, I don't know.

[29:56] Colton Ryan: Yeah, oh come on, okay. It's easy to say he's got the Michigan. I'm sure it's like the he applied to a bunch of schools. He wanted to get ended up at Baldwin. It's really selective, it's hard to get in. It was the only school I got into, so it was my only option.

[30:10] Joe Carroll: Love that.

[30:11] Colton Ryan: Um that meant that meant that means it was meant to happen.

[30:15] Joe Carroll: Right.

[30:15] Colton Ryan: That was the same for me. I was the only school I got into was Baldwin's. So it was like uh did you apply to a bunch of schools?

[30:21] Colton Ryan: I applied to like seven. I was really underinformed.

[30:25] Joe Carroll: Sure, where'd you grow up?

[30:26] Colton Ryan: Uh Lexton in Kentucky.

[30:27] Joe Carroll: Oh, cool.

[30:28] Colton Ryan: Yeah. And so do you know Riley Richardson from Lexington?

[30:30] Colton Ryan: Yes, I know Riley well.

[30:31] Joe Carroll: Cool, cool.

[30:31] Colton Ryan: Yeah. Um, she was like, I too I've tell I tell her this every time I see her, but like, because I always see her like a little drunk, and I'm like, your bell in Beauty and the Beast was like seminal to like me in high school and like doing this. She like she was like she was like the it girl at our high school, and yeah there was a couple of those people that like that's I think that's kind of one of the the fun things of of um this is another weird tangent, but like the the mythology of like theater and the way it it starts when you're like in high school or like middle school and you see the kids above you, and like I'll never forget the names of the kids who like were top drawer at my high school.

[31:13] Joe Carroll: Absolutely, even if they're not doing this anymore, or like we don't keep in touch, like I still see any of them on the street, like um I'm trying to think like uh Joseph Waterbury Tiemann or Riley or like Elliot Maddox, if you know who is on Broadway now, but like other people like my friend Nicole Vandenberg, who's like a casting director, like she still to me is like she was in Amadeus, her senior year of high school, and like was outstanding in it. Yeah, and like it's funny, like the mythology of that. Like, I'll never forget their names because I was so impressionable and like they were the theater titans.

[31:47] Colton Ryan: Yeah.

[31:47] Joe Carroll: Right. And then you like, you know, then you have to look for new ones. But it's it is funny the way we always kind of follow paths.

[31:53] Colton Ryan: Totally. And that's why I ended up kind of actually at Baldwin, there was no one there from my hometown. So did those people in any of those names you just mentioned, I mean Riley obviously was went to school with us. Did they did they sort of say like, oh, you can major in musical theater acting programs?

[32:08] Colton Ryan: Yeah, it w it made it sort of tangible, knowing that like um, I think the one that was really big in my hometown was OCU. Yeah. That's where like because Elliot wanted to go there. Yeah. And his friend Sidney Steele, like they and they were both like the, you know, the people in music theater at our school. And they would say that, and I was like, okay, I guess that's where I should apply. Right. And uh because I'm a shit, I didn't. Um but yeah, no, that was like they were the ones who when they got in, that was like the big it was like, okay, kids from my town can do that.

[32:42] Joe Carroll: Right.

[32:42] Colton Ryan: I guess, yeah, right. It makes it like accessible.

[32:44] Joe Carroll: Yeah, it made it made it somewhat uh more just tangible. It was just like right there in front of you. Like, okay, well, I guess I gotta get serious. There's only two more years now.

[32:51] Colton Ryan: Right, right. This is the thing to do. Did you play sports as a kid?

[32:54] Joe Carroll: I did, and I played um, yeah, I I played I played baseball for a really long time.

[32:58] Colton Ryan: Oh, cool.

[32:59] Colton Ryan: Up in through high school, but like I played um, yeah, and then I like did a lot of like rec league stuff thro growing up because my mom was like, get him out of the house. And then my sister was dancing a lot. And uh actually that's how I found the arts is because she went we had we were really fortunate in Kentucky to have like a small um but really thriving uh arts magnet program for fourth grade through twelfth grade. My sister had gone there um because it had the best test scores in the in the like county and uh my mom and because she danced so she was like I want to keep doing this all day every day and so my mom drugged me there like kicking and screaming because I was like at the public school being like being like all the hot girls are here and like class which was not true which was not true.

I just I just needed my eyes opened right um to how many beautiful people are in the world and um and yeah no but I was like at that time being like oh my friends make fun of me because now I'm like I'd go to baseball practice still and they'd be like what do you do now like you like what you like sing and like I was like I was like yeah and they're like sing liberati and I was like that's not even but he plays he was a piano but at least be accurate and your taunts but I bet they're laughing now.

[34:14] Joe Carroll: Right.

[34:14] Colton Ryan: Yeah. Actually no it everyone from my hometown has been like actually remarkably sweet about like this whole thing and like but you had to push through that as a kid which is totally worth when you were 14. I actually didn't I didn't I didn't have as I think as bad of like a a situation as maybe other kids you know doing musicals or dancing or anything like that because I don't know it just the I was really lucky in the the integration of the sorry that arts program that went once it hit high school you actually went and had half your day in a a public high school. So Lafayette high school and so I we were integrated with to everyone going for public you know and so it was like kids there like they had to go see the shows and stuff it was just kind of it was more like a yeah, this is just the re this is what we have to do.

So people would come and like cool kids would see like Cinderella and be like, yo, dude, you kissed that girl, and I was like, Yeah, and they'd be like, You guys dating? And I was like, No, and they'd be like, Yeah, cool. And like it was just that kind of thing.

[35:16] Joe Carroll: That's hilarious.

[35:16] Colton Ryan: It was it was a more accepted form of like we all have to live here. So let's just I mean, we were lucky that way. It wasn't always the case, but like for the most part, that was true.

[35:26] Joe Carroll: That's great.

[35:27] Colton Ryan: That's awesome. So you're at Baldwin Wallace, and you you got cast as Evan Hansen as a junior, right?

[35:34] Colton Ryan: Senior, yeah.

[35:35] Joe Carroll: Which is as a senior.

[35:36] Colton Ryan: Yeah, I just left early. How did that come about for you? How did you get that audition?

[35:39] Colton Ryan: First of all, I remember it being so annoying. Sure, I remember hearing about it in New York and being like, This kid, this is boosting. I didn't even put any time in. That's very fair. You know, and then it was like, who's this guy? And then it showed up and then it's just like the loveliest man. I was like, oh, great. Right. Oh, damn it. It's nice to be amazing.

[36:01] Joe Carroll: I hate him.

[36:02] Colton Ryan: Put away, put away the socks with oranges in them. Um there was like a there was gonna be a mass mauling of the right, exactly. Just because we waited. Let's get him. That's your weapon of choice, guys, really. I I don't know why. I just thought like full metal jacket on that. I was like, yeah, they're just like hazing me and like, yeah, welcome to Broadway, kid.

[36:24] Joe Carroll: Yeah, exactly.

[36:24] Colton Ryan: Hilarious. Go home. So how did you how did that audition come about for you?

[36:29] Colton Ryan: Um, I had been really lucky. I had been uh working like with an agent for since about my sophomore year of college. That was the best thing about Baldwin's is that they like exposed us to agents and whatnot. And there was no pressure to like, you weren't meant to sign with them early or anything like that. And I know that's happening more and more nowadays. Like, you know, I was actually just talking to my agent about this the other day about like, you know, the necessary evil that is like, yeah, well, we gotta go to the high school showcases because like that's what's happening now. Right, right. And I and I get it. But anyway, at that time, it was like a really easy, nice going thing. It like nothing was pressured.

It was like, no, stay in school. I actually ended up going out for like the lame biz revival and um when I was a sophomore in college, and that's where I got introduced to Terror Rubin and all them. Cool. And it just like went farther than any of us had expected, and um, and so it came down to the wire, and then there was sort of like a soft, like they were like, We know you want to stay in school, but would you be willing to like maybe join as like an understudy? And I was like, it was really hard at the time because I was like, Well, I don't know when that's gonna come again. Right. But I had really nice mentorship and leadership, and they were like, I think it's important to stay in school, and it was ultimately.

And obviously, I could draw you the line of connection of the you know, connected tissue to like when I met them there, and then years years later, when you know, the narrative, which I'm not I don't know the toll story of, is like we couldn't find anybody, we can't find anybody, you know, for Ben and uh for everything for Ben cover me, yeah. And um, which I I know you look at the abundance of it now. It's it's it wasn't true, but it was nice to be in that position of you know, the narrative of like we're looking for someone, someone save us, and yeah, and it just so happened that um actually one person uh in particular thought of my name just like they were just at the end of it and they had me on a list being like, Well, he's in school. You remember he's like he wants to stay in school, and then and he said, just follow up on that one.

[38:27] Colton Ryan: Like, I think there's potential there. And um, is that someone at Tower Rubin?

[38:32] Joe Carroll: Yeah, well, not anymore, Eric Woodall.

[38:33] Colton Ryan: Oh, totally the best.

[38:34] Joe Carroll: Of course, yeah, the best. Eric Woodall is a good thing.

[38:37] Colton Ryan: It's just a gym.

[38:38] Joe Carroll: I agree.

[38:39] Colton Ryan: And yeah, and just like kind of I've just been lucky in that way that I've had a handful of people like really go to bat for me in a way that was like in that situation specifically was like that would never I wouldn't have gotten a call. I wasn't even on a list. And then they said just like just kind of follow through. Like I think things were tough, and then it all happened really fast. Like I put on tape, I came to the city like a couple days later. I sang for like every one of my heroes in one room.

[39:07] Joe Carroll: That's wild.

[39:07] Colton Ryan: And then like we were popping champagne that night.

[39:09] Joe Carroll: Wow.

[39:10] Colton Ryan: Right. It was like cra— it was Halloween 2016. I remember I was just like I saw the video of like me like having this like, you know, one of those weird like your agent calls is like, hey, there's something you need to like um sign at the office. Uh, can you come down and like I was like, what is going on?

[39:24] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[39:27] Colton Ryan: Not wanting to get my hopes up and then like going and really special. Like they like, yeah, I just like I have a video of like me weeping my eyes out when they told me it's so nice that they did it that way.

[39:37] Joe Carroll: Yeah, it was really special and like yeah, it was just it was all really romantic with like a, you know.

[39:37] Colton Ryan: That is so cool.

[39:45] Joe Carroll: Yeah, that's a really cool. And then so you go through that whole process and now you're so you're 22 years old and you're understudying like arguably one of the greatest performances of the last time.

[39:56] Colton Ryan: Yeah, sure. What was that like for you?

[39:57] Colton Ryan: Yeah, that's that's a good question. Yeah, no, um, I don't regret it at all. I hate to put this like out. I mean, I think anyone doing the part I wish them best of luck. I just think like at that time in my particular life at 22, I just wasn't being honest with myself about a lot of stuff and like personal stuff.

[40:18] Joe Carroll: Yeah, yeah.

[40:24] Colton Ryan: And but it was hard. I didn't, I mean, I didn't have that sort of self-awareness, but I was lucky because I had Ben in the model of Ben, who was like, I mean, the consummate performer, but also the consummate like professional in terms of he just like led the whole building with such like ease and grace.

[40:41] Colton Ryan: And any time that I didn't, I didn't have the wherewithal to be honest about myself about my the way I behaved or my performance as being like the biggest thing to ever happen to me, and you know, I could just look to that and it was really nice.

[40:56] Colton Ryan: Um, but yeah, no, I mean I I'm not sure at I think back now on it. I'm like, that's nuts. It was like I can trace everything I've done ever since that kind of still to that opportunity, right? Just because in terms of like as entry-level positions go, especially in the theater, like I assume I still think that was the best one.

[41:21] Colton Ryan: Like I just it was the kind of show where all eyes were on it. It was sort of hit the zeitgeist in a weird way.

[41:27] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[41:27] Colton Ryan: And it was also the kind of performance that Ben was giving was so unbelievably good and cool and new and honest that like people were like, oh my god, well, no one else could do that. And so they'd get curious. So they'd be like, Well, who else could do that? And then I so when I did go on, I would get people to come and like in terms of like I said, entry level positions, like I just don't think that happens very often.

[41:50] Joe Carroll: Right.

[41:50] Colton Ryan: Right. It's also it's also like a it's a it's an actor defining role. It's I don't want to say star defining role because I don't want to like ostracize you in that way, but like it's one of the roles that like requires of the person playing it so much that they get to see every single thing that you have to offer.

[42:09] Joe Carroll: Sure.

[42:09] Colton Ryan: Yeah, you know, it's like they get to see your comedy, they get to see your emotions. They get to see your vulnerability, your voice. Like it is built up that way, it is built in that way to like it's like running a marathon, and as long as you don't like shit your pants by the end, people are gonna jump up and like and applaud you.

[42:25] Joe Carroll: Yeah, right.

[42:26] Colton Ryan: And you have to be able to handle it. But I agree, but I knew that at the time of like I I knew how fortunate I was one because the narrative was like no one else in the world can do this who could really cool.

[42:39] Colton Ryan: But I also knew that like these guys were all geniuses and it written a golden egg, like it was gonna withstand way past whatever I was gonna do on it.

[42:47] Joe Carroll: Right.

[42:47] Colton Ryan: Also the show was the star. It was like this this this crazy thing where Ben was a star, the role was a star, but the show would have been given a show that's a good thing.

[42:56] Joe Carroll: The show is the star, and that's the thing we always talk about.

[42:59] Colton Ryan: It's like in musical theater, like you the show has to be the star, which is the hardest thing for the writers. I mean, and that like I can't imagine writing a musical, but like you know, they wrote a golden golden piece.

[43:08] Joe Carroll: Yeah, they just wrote this like thing that somehow is so fresh and new still, but like fits all the exact rules of making a an incredible old form musical.

[43:21] Colton Ryan: Yeah, yeah, that's cool, but like it just fits when you're watching it, you don't know why you're so transfixed by it.

[43:26] Joe Carroll: Right, right.

[43:27] Colton Ryan: But like calling back to it being important that you learn how to audition for South Pacific, like our program is like I will say a lot. Excellent classes. I will say a lot about like how you don't you don't necessarily have to go to college to be on Broadway, of course, or you don't have to go to college to be an actor.

[43:46] Colton Ryan: But if you're gonna make a musical, either as an actor or as a writer, right? It's probably important, or as a producer, right?

[43:55] Joe Carroll: Right, director, it's important that you know the history of musicals and how we got to where we are now and I think that's like what Benge and Justin have had in spades is that like they went to this program where we studied oh fuck I forgot sorry they're your oh sorry no blue no but it's just something that like I I will harp on because at the time I hated that like it was so important that we like know what happens in carousel but like ultimately it works and like I hated that I had to read Dream Girls but like there is no wrong man without dream girls and there is no rent without dream girls you know and like those things are like they build they build on it on on each other and stuff.

[44:39] Joe Carroll: So you were with the show for like a year right you did your and then you were like I have to get out I can't handle this emotionally I mean essentially I was like I just put words in your mouth that's no no I don't know that about you no that's that I mean there's truth in that there was like a I think the sort of um yeah I'm trying to put this in the in the diplomatic way.

[45:05] Colton Ryan: I understand you don't I can cut that question that way too no no that's that's we will we'll talk about this after yeah when I left the show it was sort of like um I don't know I also there was a part of me that was like yes I think I could still grow here but I think I didn't want to buy be naive about what the show had already given me and what it could still give me and like I knew that even if it put me on my couch for a while, it was it was beneficial to make myself available and like and to make myself open to new experiences.

[45:40] Colton Ryan: Because also I got deemed a lot that first year as like kind of do the thing.

[45:44] Joe Carroll: Do the like, you know, do the thing.

[45:46] Colton Ryan: Do it like you did it, yeah. Do the like Evan, you know.

[45:48] Joe Carroll: I still get that sometimes.

[45:50] Colton Ryan: And it's it's a quick battle for me to go thankfully now. I just go, okay, I will come at I will come at that from a perspective of like a director to actor, like, yeah, I will, I will tr what's the other thing you want to achieve, other than besides just like doing the like, you know, snot cry thing or the weird nervous tick thing.

[46:09] Joe Carroll: Like what is the other thing.

[46:11] Colton Ryan: Right. And I've lost jobs because of that too. Of like, you know, I've gotten the impression that that they want dear Evan Hansen. They want Evan Hansen in this.

[46:21] Joe Carroll: They want the thing that works.

[46:22] Colton Ryan: Okay, well that's all right. Well, we're not doing that anymore. You know, and I think that's also like, and I get it, and it's and the show is really strong and brilliant and and breeds really good performers for that reason.

[46:32] Joe Carroll: Right.

[46:33] Colton Ryan: But um not in any sort of pretentious way or anything, but like I I kind of I did that.

[46:39] Joe Carroll: And like that's no, yeah, that's not pretentious at all.

[46:41] Colton Ryan: That's it. It's like I I I feel really complete about that. And unless the sh the story itself has like a very particular d like it needs uh a boy who's suffering in that way, particularly.

[46:54] Joe Carroll: Right, then I don't I see it more as like a a commerce thing.

[46:59] Colton Ryan: It's like I think you're saying this, you you think you're saying this for some artistic integrity thing, but it's really I understand it. I'm not faulting anyone, but it it comes from a place of like this show can sell better if we we do that thing.

[47:14] Joe Carroll: I mean we do the like and we're all saying the th I'm sorry, I keep saying the thing, but I mean like, you know, I think there's a longer conversation about like why we need more people um telling the exact same kind of story as Evan Hansen, but in like in different aesthetics.

[47:30] Colton Ryan: It needs to be like, oh god, I don't know if we should use any of this.

[47:30] Colton Ryan: It be like because it's a lot of the same where it's like me, like a young uh young white man, probably passingly as straight on stage, and then it seems like it's like what's the easy way for us to continue to monetize this story without having to with honestly having to like go the other route with it without having to expand our imagination.

[47:54] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[47:55] Colton Ryan: Because it should.

[47:57] Joe Carroll: But totally, because I mean, executives, TV executives for years that the joke is make it the same but different.

[48:04] Colton Ryan: You know, we want the same, but make it different. And it's like, okay, well, now we need to move away from you know, casting, you know, this particular kid who did this thing, just having him do it again.

[48:15] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[48:15] Colton Ryan: You know, and I think that that was interesting to watch even Ben go into like music and stuff. It was like, it was like he did that role, and then it was like, okay, we're gonna we're gonna go somewhere else, and now we're gonna do something we're gonna do something different.

[48:26] Joe Carroll: Yeah, you know.

[48:27] Colton Ryan: Yeah.

[48:27] Joe Carroll: I don't know. I think that it's interesting.

[48:28] Colton Ryan: And I think I think the great gift of the show is that it has given so many people agency to do that.

[48:35] Joe Carroll: Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, the way that Ben has skyrocketed has been like really, I mean, really awesome to watch.

[48:43] Colton Ryan: That he and inspiring for like any music theater performer to be like, oh, you could you could potentially tap into the zeitgeist, and then people would be like, oh, could we want content from you that's not just being on a Broadway stage again?

[48:55] Joe Carroll: There's no ceiling.

[48:55] Colton Ryan: It's like the Anthony, I mean, watching Anthony Ramos is the same.

[49:00] Joe Carroll: And V digs and all the stuff.

[49:02] Colton Ryan: It's like super cool to be in the time of that where it's like watching these people use really simple, honest storytelling in musical theater, and then being rewarded like so handsomely for it.

[49:15] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[49:16] Colton Ryan: To be like, now we just you're not just like really good at doing that.

[49:20] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[49:21] Colton Ryan: Being on Broadway and singing, and you're just a really really skilled performer, and like it'd be nice to see you do other things.

[49:27] Joe Carroll: I think it they've opened the door really nicely for a lot of us.

[49:29] Colton Ryan: I completely agree. And I think it's so awesome that um the fear when you start when you go to study musical theater is that like Broadway is only for people who like Broadway.

[49:41] Joe Carroll: And the most important thing, and that we have talked about all the time in our lives and privately in conversation, Joe and I, is like don't we just hope that Broadway is on the radio again someday?

[49:54] Colton Ryan: Oh, for sure.

[49:55] Joe Carroll: Like it used to be when Broadway like Irving Berlin was a pop writer.

[50:01] Colton Ryan: And now Ben Platt has like, you know, a billboard topping pop album.

[50:05] Joe Carroll: And Katie Perry is covering waving through a window.

[50:07] Colton Ryan: It's like that's right.

[50:10] Joe Carroll: You know, like that sleeper stuff is like, you know, I'm I'm full of the we're uh we're a couple of the super nerds in here talking musicals.

[50:16] Colton Ryan: Okay.

[50:16] Joe Carroll: You know, and and that so that's that's really cool.

[50:18] Colton Ryan: Cause I feel like Ben is like totally pushing that, and Leslie was the same way.

[50:22] Joe Carroll: And like when you hear people talk about Hamilton and And Dear Evan Hansen, it was like not just this thing that like people who like Broadway see that show.

[50:29] Colton Ryan: Book of Mormon was the same way.

[50:31] Joe Carroll: It's like these shows like broke into the zeitgeist, like you're saying.

[50:34] Colton Ryan: Well, I just love when like the something like that hits, and then you the people come to you and say what else do you got?

[50:39] Joe Carroll: You know, yeah, that's that's really the Who else are you?

[50:42] Colton Ryan: What else can you add to the storytelling? Because if there if there is one thing, I've said that a lot, but it there's if there's something I have learned about like being in the city here and and meeting a lot, I've been really fortunate to meet a lot of my like heroes.

[50:55] Colton Ryan: I mean, people I listened to on cast albums growing up and being like, you guys are like who I try to model myself after in terms of singing and and stature and all that.

[51:04] Colton Ryan: And then meeting in them also being like, yeah, our you know, our show's closing, I don't I'm not sure what I'm doing next exactly.

[51:13] Colton Ryan: Like that's a it's like that just happens to everybody. That's just kind of like even your heroes in this game that we play of like trying to make the next musicals happen because you know, you guys know like musicals take sometimes like five years to get one line on your resume.

[51:30] Joe Carroll: Totally.

[51:30] Colton Ryan: You know, and so like so it's been interesting to you know that was something eye-opening for me is like, oh, you have I see there's like other facets to this, like someone's calling you.

[51:50] Joe Carroll: There's facets I think you were gonna say that there's other facets to the business than just Broadway.

[51:55] Colton Ryan: Um yeah, no, I I think yeah, seeing those meeting those people and realizing that like, oh, you know, it how do I put this in the way of like in context to what you were saying about about Ben and Leslie and Cynthia and like all those people and Anthony Ramos and and Renee, Elise Goldsberry, like people just like who are all they don't have to wait. You know what I mean? And be like I think there's something that's really overwhelming, but also really creatively freeing to be like, yeah, you don't have to sit and be patient and like wait for the next blessing to be handed to you. It's like you are like a a really big creative blessing, and like we'd love to hear more from you. That that's really exciting to see and and to write.

[52:51] Joe Carroll: That's a real good.

[52:52] Colton Ryan: I've written down a couple. You're a gem. Real beauty. Uncut gems. Real movie Dangles Snipes.

[53:00] Joe Carroll: I want to talk about North Country before you leave. And we have two questions that we always love to ask, but sidebar for people who like movies, not just musicals. I'm so stoked for Uncut Gems because the Safdie brothers are my favorite directing duo.

[53:13] Colton Ryan: You saw Good Time?

[53:14] Joe Carroll: Good Time is one of the best films of the last 10 years, and no one talks about it.

[53:19] Colton Ryan: Talk up their shit. Come on.

[53:21] Joe Carroll: Dude, it's the it's so good. These two kids from these two guys from Queens who like started in documentary and they do whatever they want. They write, they direct, they act, they edit the films. It's like you're watching the credits and you're like, this has to be a joke.

[53:36] Colton Ryan: Wow.

[53:37] Joe Carroll: One brother does like the scoring for it.

[53:39] Colton Ryan: No, yeah, dude. They do they did everything for Good Time, and it's so good. Robert Pattinson in this um this heist thriller.

[53:47] Joe Carroll: Yeah, he's really actually one of the brothers' movie. And and the brother Benny, who is in the film. That opening scene is one of the best. I mean, he's so good. And I'm like, who are these guys? Anyway, I'm super stoked for Uncut Gems, which was supposed to star Jonah Hill, and now Adam Sandler is doing it. It's this movie about Adam Sandler who plays a sports agent.

[54:05] Colton Ryan: It's a lot of people. I mean, we might be in like what the McConaissance was of like 2014. Maybe we're getting like the Sandler Renaissance now.

[54:13] Joe Carroll: Oh, there's not a good one.

[54:16] Colton Ryan: Matthew McConaughey Renaissance.

[54:17] Joe Carroll: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[54:18] Colton Ryan: The Son S Sonic sense.

[54:20] Joe Carroll: Sandler Sans.

[54:21] Colton Ryan: The Sandler.

[54:22] Joe Carroll: Way better, but still awful.

[54:23] Colton Ryan: Still awful. Let's talk about Girl from the North.

[54:26] Joe Carroll: Let's talk about Earth or something.

[54:28] Colton Ryan: This is a bad transition. We had a couple of girls. Listen, you had like three out of four.

[54:31] Joe Carroll: Yeah, three out of four. Pretty good. Um so you're taking that show to Broadway, right?

[54:35] Colton Ryan: Mm-hmm.

[54:36] Joe Carroll: But you did it at the public.

[54:37] Colton Ryan: Mm-hmm.

[54:38] Joe Carroll: Joe, what were you gonna ask?

[54:39] Joe Carroll: No, I was gonna make a joke about your the, you know, remember when you did Girl When You're gonna drill from the North Country? That was awesome. Um because I get like that sometimes when people are in that chair and they've done something really cool, and I don't really have a question. I just act like Chris Farley on SNL talking to Paul McCartney.

[54:57] Colton Ryan: He's awesome. Um actually, you know what's funny? I haven't I haven't seen that sketch.

[55:03] Joe Carroll: It's really good. He basically he has a talk show, but it's him and Paul McCartney, and or him and I think he does a bunch of them, and he doesn't ask any intelligible questions. He's just so excited that this famous person is there.

[55:15] Colton Ryan: That's so awesome. And that's the whole bit. It's um, but it's awesome. Um this is awesome.

[55:21] Joe Carroll: Um but so are you guys what's what's this what's going on with it?

[55:24] Colton Ryan: We're we're super excited. Yeah. No, I'm super excited too. Um we we start performances in February 7th at the Belasco Theater, which is currently housing The Irishman. So like good juju. Random, but like really solid. It's my favorite theater.

[55:41] Joe Carroll: It is a rock and roll.

[55:42] Colton Ryan: Yeah, it is it's a rock and roll theater, and it's tiny. That's where Hedwig was. That's where Passing Strange was, which is my favorite musical. Cool. Like that theater is badass.

[55:53] Joe Carroll: Like that history is cool.

[55:55] Colton Ryan: That is really that context. Yeah, there's a there's an apartment, his uh Belasco's apartment on the top. And there's like real ghosts in this one. There's like real ghosts and they're like other ones are fake, but like this one has like some shit going down.

[56:06] Joe Carroll: Stupid question. Have you met Bob Dylan?

[56:08] Colton Ryan: Uh I did not, but he did come one time at the end, and a couple of our cast members.

[56:13] Joe Carroll: Um Do you wear a big hat?

[56:15] Colton Ryan: I don't know. Actually, I think he wore like like a hoodie. I think he like was like trying to keep you know under wraps.

[56:21] Joe Carroll: Exactly.

[56:21] Colton Ryan: But I'll be honest, like, and this is stupid sounding, but like when he came and they because they held the curtain sometimes, like Sir Paul McCartney did come.

[56:28] Joe Carroll: No.

[56:29] Colton Ryan: And yeah. Did you get to meet him?

[56:30] Colton Ryan: I didn't. I know. That's the one. Musta hated it.

[56:34] Joe Carroll: That's really just ran out.

[56:36] Colton Ryan: Yeah, he just ran out. That's the one for me. Like I've I've done a lot of shows for a lot of fancy people, and that was the one. If he ever shows up, I don't, I kinda won't be able to do that. Let's just hope he doesn't, you don't know that he's gonna be there. If he can't be there, you'd lose it.

[56:51] Joe Carroll: I remember when they held it, someone made a joke that day being like who could it be? Sir Paul McCartney? And it was. But like when it happened the second time, we kind of gotten used to it in a way of like, you know, it was a cool thing downtown. It was hard to get into. And like, um, and it was super like, oh, okay, well, it's the last weekend. What are we holding like 18 minutes for? Jesus, you know, and and there was something in the air that like once the show had started, I can't explain it, but like everyone was was certain it was like it's Dylan, like he's here. Yeah. I don't know why, but it just like, you know, that guy has his own spirits like wafting around him. So like it was it was bizarre and like very emotional, but then he like ran away after and and you know, because that's we all we were all prepared for that to be like, yeah, that's kinda that's the deal. It's when you get Dylan, you know? And like it's what you get.

[57:45] Joe Carroll: Can we can we talk a little bit about what that show is and what you're doing in the show?

[57:49] Colton Ryan: Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah. In the show. Well, the show is about um how do I start okay? Um the show is set in 1934 in Minnesota. Uh so like right during the heart of the depression, and um it's really just like kind of a slice of life piece about a group of people um very loosely connected who are all under the same roof of a boarding house owned by um like a family business. I am the son of the owner. So there's like the patriarch and matriarch of the family, um, and the lanes, and I'm their son, and we have an adopted daughter, um, who is black, and so it's kind of like a hidden thing as well. And um, yeah, the Dylan part of it kind of comes in waves in terms of like it is this piece on its own, and then running parallel to it is like every once in a while we just stop what we're doing and pick up a microphone or a guitar and we start playing an old Dylan song.

Um and so it kind of I don't want to like say too much in terms of how they inform each other, but like yeah, it's it's like kind of it's one for the books. I mean it's yeah, well hopefully now that you're at a slightly bigger theater, we can get tickets to it.

[59:09] Joe Carroll: Yeah, and I can help you. Come on, I can help you.

[59:11] Colton Ryan: Yeah, but the public is great, but the public has like like 50 seats or something, you know. And so like you can't sometimes you're like, oh, this thing is happening, and by that time it's too late.

[59:21] Joe Carroll: Yeah, so it'll be it's more so still they are the best in terms of in the city still to this day of getting access to people to see it.

[59:28] Colton Ryan: Absolutely. I mean, I remember getting tickets for people. I mean, they'd be like, Well, how much I mean, they're like prepared to pay a lot, and I and I could get them to them for like twenty dollars because that's just their mission is like to make it so accessible. And like they were good about that. I mean, they're they're the best. But like at that sort of cause that is a something I think you were harping on earlier that I was it was I thought it was really good but somehow it came up about like I don't know people going to the theater like um I don't know what you're saying exactly, but about just the idea of like what was that about? Jesus podcasting is hard. You guys are really good at this.

[1:00:06] Joe Carroll: We've done this a lot.

[1:00:08] Colton Ryan: No we haven't done it that no we have. Well I mean we're a lot better than we were in the first couple.

[1:00:13] Joe Carroll: Yeah we had a couple don't don't listen to the early garbage. But uh that's making the final coming to see theater and in a Yeah but it wasn't yeah I was connected to one of the shows you were talking about but maybe it was I don't remember but like yeah the public is really good about that sort of thing. That's one of the issues we talk about a lot with ticket prices and and the accessibility of these things and whatever but um you know we're really excited to see it to see North Country just because it was it was just this thing. It was just you know that's always how the public kind of does it though that's like this what's happening downtown and this like magical little theater on Lafayette or whatever.

[1:00:50] Colton Ryan: Well that's the thing and I think you know it's funny because like it's a year later and like um I mean with the cast we had down there like we have like three or four like multiple Tony nominees in the cast and it played the West End already and like and the off West End and played like you know the Old Vic and the whole thing. So like you know musicals are not a a smart investment but like as bets go like that one I was like, yeah, this is pretty good. Like I was ex I was super I mean, I was already excited to be a part of it. But um but I remember and I remember when we got like the nice reviews and everything, everyone thought like, oh well, you know, everyone's like, you know, it'll go next season, it's going right in.

It'll and um It took a second. It's it's been nice that it didn't because it's like it's been one really eye-opening yet again of like I'm I know a lot of people who, you know, work on new musicals and they're like, We're going right now. And like I'm really I hope they do, and I'm glad they think that. But like it's been nice to be kind of in the trench of it and having every one of the right boxes checked off.

[1:01:51] Joe Carroll: Right.

[1:01:52] Colton Ryan: Like being at the public, being a hit at the public, the whole thing, and then still having to be like, Yeah, no, it's just not gonna happen right now. It's not your old time. Right. Yeah. It was it was nice to have that sort of experience to now like not and also that's so not my job to worry about that kind of thing. You just gotta do the sh do the show. Yeah. And like it was such a cool uh bucket list thing anyway to work at the public. Yep. Hoping to work there again. Yeah. Um but like I wasn't it was nice to take myself out of that equation, worry about like the commercial aspect of it anyway, be like, oh well, if we make it by this time, and then we you know, it all that stuff is is important, but not my place, at least just yet, obviously.

So like um it it was nice in that way to any time I've been working on anything else since then, it's like nice to just kinda really focus on it as it is right then and not get my head all in narratives yet again about like 'cause that's where I just that's where I personally just kind of get out of control is when I and I've gotten spinning a little bit. Yeah, and bec I'm a I'm an overthinker in general and um usually in involves bad thoughts. Uh but like but every once in a while it involves, you know, really wonderful thoughts like that. And but I can I can weave, you know, a story that's like that could be amazing. We'll go right away in the whole thing. And that's what kills me is is when I put it. Because that's not the stuff that actually like matters is like what you're doing on the day in the show.

[1:03:17] Joe Carroll: Exactly.

[1:03:17] Colton Ryan: From moment to moment. Exactly. That's what you have to try and focus on. That's what the past year for me has been about is just remembering like how good it is, man. Like how like and it's so good that it didn't go because you got to do Alice and you got to do Little Voice, right?

[1:03:30] Joe Carroll: That's exactly right.

[1:03:31] Colton Ryan: Could you just talk really quickly before we sign off about what you're doing in Little Voice and what that show kind of is is about and and what you're doing and when that's gonna be released, if you know?

[1:03:40] Colton Ryan: Uh I kinda know, yeah. So uh the um Little Voice is really about uh well, it's about Sara Bareilles and her early life in New York. A lot of it is re is actually based on real events that happened to her.

[1:03:53] Colton Ryan: And like people she knows and stuff like characters are based on some are, some are not, but I mean the majority of it is like very, very accurate.

[1:04:01] Colton Ryan: And um, is it original music or some of her music?

[1:04:04] Colton Ryan: Wow, she wrote for it. All original. Yeah. Because speaking of her life, I don't know anything but when she released "Manhattan," that track is so heartbreaking that like she's lived, man. She's lived some stuff. So I don't know what the story is gonna be about, but I can't wait. Well, it's really exciting too, 'cause like especially because a lot of all the songs live in um in a 'cause it's not a musical. The TV series isn't a musical. It's not like the songs pop up because we're, you know, emoting something, we're feeling something and they just come out of it. But they're all for the most part pretty performance-based. Cool. It's like the character is performing new songs. That is what makes her and what made Sara so special is that not only did she like have this voice of an angel and like kind of once in a generation voice that like she also her voice in writing was like so particular and special and authentic.

And like so that's what the journey of the show is like, you know, when you're 23 years old and like you have all of those gifts and like how in the hell you get people to see them or notice them or do you even believe that you have them? That's so great. Yeah, and so um our girl uh Britney O'Grady, she plays her name's Bess in the show, and she and that's you know, essentially Sarah with some detours, and then um I play the and ending up her like ending up being her main collaborator, her guitarist in the band. And I sing with her a lot too. That's so cool. Yeah, and then and then some other shenanigans happen with the two. But you were saying that you didn't play guitar, Joe. You were saying that you didn't play guitar when you started.

[1:05:45] Joe Carroll: That's right.

[1:05:45] Colton Ryan: Meg too, I used to see I saw you a couple of times leaving the theater and I didn't get to stop you, but um so you just you didn't play at all, or you played like a little bit.

[1:05:54] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[1:05:54] Colton Ryan: And Meg Tui, the guitarist that waitress.

[1:05:54] Joe Carroll: I mean, I'd like I always say like I had messed around really poorly on it for like two years, and would like get to the point where I'd like almost, you know, pee towns and like smash it into the ground because I'd be so upset with how many awful noises I was making. Um that's that's kind of a fun thing to talk about because like that's that's something about growing up that you know learning new skills is really hard, like past like I don't know, probably sixteen or like eighteen.

[1:06:21] Colton Ryan: Yes, it is like yeah, crazy hard.

[1:06:24] Joe Carroll: Brain stops working.

[1:06:25] Colton Ryan: Yes. At least in like in a way that especially because us as musicians, like you develop uh well, you are you were a musician in one facet, and so, you know, for me it was in voice, and I know the language, I know how to talk it, I know how to read it, I know how to speak it. But like, um, when it came to playing this other new instrument, I knew from taste what it needed to sound like or what I wanted it to sound like, but like, oh my god, I could never make it happen. So it was like so much more frustrating, but ended up being like the most cathartic thing I've done probably ever. Like it's like my main stress release now. But yeah, I picked it up for the show. I started doing it the minute I got the edition, I started kind of just from a gut feeling, started playing it all the time.

Just to and once I played with Sara, that first plateau just like kind of hit, and then we were going right back at it. Like it was a lot faster and quicker, and then and then more plateaus and breaking them and like that's awesome.

[1:07:27] Joe Carroll: Yeah, but also it's funny because on the show, like I practiced for months and months, and then you find out like I got there and I was like, Okay, so um, and I'll play the song like like here, or when do I start? And they'd always like, Oh my god, this is television.

[1:07:42] Colton Ryan: Oh my god, yeah, you'll never touch that.

[1:07:45] Joe Carroll: Like I was like, Oh yeah, of course, yeah, of course, of course.

[1:07:48] Colton Ryan: Exactly. Some session guy in LA.

[1:07:51] Joe Carroll: Like laid it down, laid it right down.

[1:07:53] Colton Ryan: But like that is great to hear because of your hands.

[1:07:56] Joe Carroll: Yeah, but like they're gonna be close-ups of your hands.

[1:07:58] Colton Ryan: And like Bradley Cooper talks about that with "Star is Born." He's like, I never wanted somebody else's hands to be the close-up when they had to do the guitar shots. So like actually, going back to the I watched that opening sequence of that movie again.

[1:08:09] Joe Carroll: Mm-hmm.

[1:08:10] Colton Ryan: Cause it's that one single tracking shot of him on stage in the at the festival and whatnot. And I have a newfound appreciation of like how all those people were there, and like, you know, just like things that I never had thought of before.

[1:08:21] Joe Carroll: Totally.

[1:08:22] Colton Ryan: Because he tells that story about that whole thing where like they went on stage during I don't know Bonaroo.

[1:08:27] Joe Carroll: Bonaroo or Coachella or something.

[1:08:28] Colton Ryan: Someone yeah, and and they just said hey like hey you guys just need to be quiet for like a little bit and then they just did two takes or something and then ran off stage for the next set.

[1:08:37] Joe Carroll: So cool.

[1:08:38] Colton Ryan: Like that's that's wild because you can't get those extras to do that and like have that background be believing.

[1:08:43] Joe Carroll: Exactly. Right.

[1:08:43] Colton Ryan: That's wild.

[1:08:44] Joe Carroll: Right.

[1:08:45] Colton Ryan: Um awesome you want to do uh unreachable star yeah that's okay so we've taken up your entire morning yeah um no I I've noticed uh and so we'll end with with my f my sort of favorite question which is which is what is your uh sort of unreachable star your thing that you want what's now at the end of the tunnel you've accomplished so much so quickly frankly which is awesome but like do you have that next that thing that's kind of at the end of the tunnel that you're yeah for sure.

[1:09:15] Joe Carroll: Yeah what's that?

[1:09:16] Colton Ryan: Um I have a I have a couple should I just yeah go just manifest them all.

[1:09:20] Joe Carroll: Yes.

[1:09:20] Colton Ryan: The one that broke my heart recently is that I've been dying to um get into the pants of Disney to eventually say hey um with all the remake you know craze that's happening I think it's about time for "Mighty Ducks" reboot and let's bro it's happening.

[1:09:37] Joe Carroll: You know it's happening.

[1:09:38] Colton Ryan: Yeah no that that was the heartbreak was because I I in my heart of hearts am Gordon Bombay like you know it's just oh yep the best fictional sports coach there ever has been ever no idea who you're talking to right now with the two of us.

[1:09:52] Joe Carroll: Really?

[1:09:52] Colton Ryan: We were both we both played hockey.

[1:09:54] Joe Carroll: Do you really?

[1:09:55] Colton Ryan: Yes.

[1:09:55] Joe Carroll: And and love wait literally my agent has put out a call quack quack.

[1:10:00] Colton Ryan: Quack, quack, quite.

[1:10:01] Joe Carroll: Also, that's for yeah we're gonna appreciate an episode like that.

[1:10:03] Colton Ryan: So let's let's go back to the talk. My agent literally put out a call to the casting director of that show that was like, I've got a client who really is dying and played hockey his whole life.

[1:10:12] Joe Carroll: Great Charlie.

[1:10:13] Colton Ryan: Well, no, it's really Charlie. It's actually like a female hockey coach and it's gonna be kids.

[1:10:16] Joe Carroll: It's gonna be a bunch of people.

[1:10:19] Colton Ryan: Honestly, I was racking my brain at being like, what is the 2019 equivalent of like making this anywhere near relevant?

[1:10:25] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[1:10:25] Colton Ryan: And everything I thought of was like kind of tasteless. So I was like, yeah, this this isn't gonna happen. It's gotta be like gender and gender and sexuality like themes and that that kind of stuff there. I do think there's like something in I think in the first, which was, you know, uh not harped on at all in the 1990s, but like was that you had this like elitist rich guy showing up in his you know churches, black loafers and his like fur coat to practice, and a bunch of kids who like the rec league was all they had, and like truly, and he gave it to them, but there's no conversation about like the huge disparity between the two of them.

[1:11:04] Joe Carroll: And that's a great thing about hockey because hockey is a blue-collar sport with a whole bunch of rich kids who hang out too.

[1:11:09] Colton Ryan: So, like playing, I just remember playing forever with like kids who you know could barely, you know, their parents were talking about barely being able to pay the rent, and somehow they're paying for the ice time for their kids, and then the kids who are showing up at driving Bentleys.

[1:11:22] Joe Carroll: And it's like well, that's kind of in the movie too.

[1:11:23] Colton Ryan: That's like in D2 with the one kid who's really banks, yeah.

[1:11:27] Joe Carroll: Banks, yeah, Kate Eater, yeah.

[1:11:29] Colton Ryan: Who is very strong, but like, yeah, has the world on a string and then and then you got like, you know, Goldberg, who's like you it's like, where where did he come from?

[1:11:39] Joe Carroll: Yeah, where in that story?

[1:11:40] Colton Ryan: Yeah, I watched that story. They just sent you away to to Beverly Hills to play in the like kids' Olympics.

[1:11:46] Joe Carroll: Which is so great.

[1:11:47] Colton Ryan: So awesome. I was so jealous my whole life. Not to keep going on this tangent, but like they really like I they screwed up D3 just because the order of the trilogy is so wrong.

[1:11:56] Joe Carroll: Like the fact that like stakes-wise, they play at the rec league.

[1:12:00] Colton Ryan: Then they play for the nation.

[1:12:02] Joe Carroll: Right.

[1:12:02] Colton Ryan: Against what is, you know, seemingly a symbolic Cold War rehashing or World War II or whatever.

[1:12:08] Joe Carroll: It's basically "Miracle on Ice."

[1:12:09] Colton Ryan: It's awesome because it's Iceland and they're the nicest country on earth.

[1:12:13] Joe Carroll: Like there's no controversy around Iceland, but they might get a lot of people.

[1:12:18] Colton Ryan: Like Nazi Party, like then, but they all have Russian accents.

[1:12:22] Joe Carroll: It's so funny.

[1:12:23] Colton Ryan: It's like that is like propaganda at its finest, honestly.

[1:12:28] Joe Carroll: Um, and then the third, they just like go to boarding school or whatever, and it's like, okay, the stakes here have changed so much.

[1:12:34] Colton Ryan: Right, right.

[1:12:34] Joe Carroll: Right, right.

[1:12:35] Colton Ryan: Okay. Second dream.

[1:12:36] Joe Carroll: Okay.

[1:12:37] Colton Ryan: Um, in terms of a manifest this one musical theater, but I'm from Kentucky, and I've I think I've always wanted to do or had a special connection with "Floyd Collins." It's from like 30 minutes down the road from where I was, and I think it has a lot of themes that like actually really emotionally resonate with me in terms of just like the grief and loss and like the sort of like your own grief, your own personal dealing with your own grief of yourself, like you know, grieving yourself.

[1:13:04] Joe Carroll: And anybody who's listening, if you haven't listened to "Floyd Collins," start at the beginning, put on a candle, and just listen to the whole thing.

[1:13:13] Colton Ryan: Don't turn it off, and you will experience something.

[1:13:16] Joe Carroll: Yes, is like one of those things, like yeah, you can't just drop in.

[1:13:20] Colton Ryan: You got I mean, there are some great tracks in it, but you gotta start at the beginning, get some.

[1:13:23] Joe Carroll: Yeah, I can pop one, I can pop "Daybreak" on it anytime.

[1:13:25] Colton Ryan: Or the riddle song or anything, but like you gotta start at the beginning and just work your way through it.

[1:13:29] Joe Carroll: I want to hear you sing "Daybreak."

[1:13:30] Colton Ryan: We got to.

[1:13:31] Joe Carroll: I mean, we could break with you.

[1:13:32] Colton Ryan: No, we can do it anytime you'd like.

[1:13:33] Joe Carroll: Any a l I'll leave it on this.

[1:13:35] Colton Ryan: I'll play the guitar.

[1:13:35] Joe Carroll: The leave it on this.

[1:13:37] Colton Ryan: I will fake playing the guitar.

[1:13:39] Joe Carroll: Yeah, yeah, I'll play the guitar behind you.

[1:13:41] Colton Ryan: Go late on the track and I'll I'll finger pick it at this, is um and the little quack again. Is uh is that now they've just bought, you know, Marvel just bought X-Men finally because of Ox.

[1:13:54] Joe Carroll: Mm-hmm.

[1:13:55] Colton Ryan: And I was thinking, you know, the timing isn't right, they're not gonna reboot it for a bit, give it five more years or so, and they're gonna want to recast, you know, the world's best X-Men, Wolverine. And I thought maybe they might want to go in the direction of another song of dance man. It worked really well the first time.

[1:14:10] Joe Carroll: So and the height in the height thing, I'm a little closer than you know, in to the actual comics.

[1:14:14] Colton Ryan: So um so that's my manifest for today. Let's go.

[1:14:19] Joe Carroll: Hello.