This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jeff Malone: Today we will be having a conversation on Just for Us, starring Alex Edelman's at the Hudson Theater on Broadway.

[0:08] Richie Grasso: This is Half Hour with Jeff and Richie.

[0:13] Jeff Malone: Half hour.

[0:18] Richie Grasso: Hi everyone, Richie here from Half Hour Podcast.

[0:21] Jeff Malone: And Jeff.

[0:22] Richie Grasso: How are we on?

[0:23] Jeff Malone: And we're here today to have a wonderful conversation with you on all things Broadway.

[0:27] Richie Grasso: And today we're talking about a very special show that we just very recently checked out on Broadway.

[0:32] Jeff Malone: This is called Just for Us.

[0:34] Richie Grasso: It's starring Alex Edelman's, a hilarious comedian.

[0:38] Jeff Malone: And it's playing at the Hudson Theater in New York City on Broadway until about mid-August.

[0:43] Richie Grasso: So this just started in June.

[0:45] Jeff Malone: It's going to August.

[0:47] Richie Grasso: And I figured I'll give a little bit of a history and background on the piece before we kind of dive in and start talking about it.

[0:52] Jeff Malone: That's perfect.

[0:53] Richie Grasso: Yeah.

[0:54] Jeff Malone: Love, love that.

[0:54] Richie Grasso: And don't forget, as we always say, this conversation will feature spoilers.

[0:58] Jeff Malone: So if you are planning to go see it and you want to wait to listen to this till after, but if not, you know, dive in with us.

[1:04] Richie Grasso: We're gonna kind of not hold back with what we're talking about here today.

[1:08] Jeff Malone: Um Alex Edelman is a comedian, actor, and writer.

[1:12] Richie Grasso: Uh this play, Just For Us with this piece, I should say, Marks Edelman's Broadway debut, and had sold-out runs off Broadway, also in Washington, DC, Boston, which is his hometown, as well as in England and the UK.

[1:26] Jeff Malone: Uh his first solo show, Millennial, won the 2014 Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer, and the first American show to do so since 1997.

[1:35] Richie Grasso: He has an amazing um comic comedy career.

[1:38] Jeff Malone: Uh, and this piece was directed by Adam Brace.

[1:42] Richie Grasso: Adam Brace, the director of this, passed away in April of 2013.

[1:47] Jeff Malone: Oh, sorry, 2023, rather.

[1:49] Richie Grasso: Uh, and the dedicated production is dedicated in his memory.

[1:53] Jeff Malone: Uh, and the playbill states that Adam toured the Hudson Theater a few months ago and affirmed this space as a good fit for the piece.

[2:00] Richie Grasso: So it's always nice to know that even through these trag a tragic moments like that, that you know the director came to this space and said, This is the space for this.

[2:09] Jeff Malone: You know, and I just you know, I I did that a few months before he passed away, correct?

[2:15] Richie Grasso: Yeah, yeah.

[2:15] Jeff Malone: So it says here his impeccable sense of story structure and thorough line live on in every performance here.

[2:21] Richie Grasso: So really impactful stuff there.

[2:23] Jeff Malone: Uh but let's go into this a little bit here, just for us on Broadway.

[2:27] Richie Grasso: First, let's kind of just go into Jeff a little bit.

[2:30] Jeff Malone: Now that we kind of did some background and context on just your thoughts on the performance and the delivery that Alex Edelman's gave and some standout moments maybe for you in the piece as a whole.

[2:40] Jeff Malone: Okay, so I will go on the record here saying I did not even know who Alex Edelman's was prior to the announcement of this show.

[2:50] Richie Grasso: So I was very intrigued when I saw that he was coming to Broadway and could only imagine what his show was going to be about and what his stand-up comedy was going to be about, because usually if you're going to Broadway, it's something that is definitely going to be fitting for the Broadway industry.

[3:06] Jeff Malone: And I will say that it was.

[3:08] Richie Grasso: I thought that he just brought such a great stage presence, even though it was stand-up and comedy, it just worked really well on this stage.

[3:20] Jeff Malone: He has amazing comedic timing, and he knows also how to just, you know, it wasn't just off the cuff comedy.

[3:30] Richie Grasso: There was a structure to this, and he knows how to tell a story.

[3:34] Jeff Malone: And it was really great because it just felt resonating to most of the people in the theater and also to myself.

[3:42] Richie Grasso: So, you know, I applaud Alex in this as a whole.

[3:46] Jeff Malone: Yeah, I went in really blind on this.

[3:48] Richie Grasso: I really didn't know much about him or the piece.

[3:52] Jeff Malone: The audience clearly enjoyed it.

[3:53] Richie Grasso: I was captivated the whole time.

[3:55] Jeff Malone: It's approximately 90 minutes.

[3:57] Richie Grasso: I really felt like I was on this journey with him.

[4:00] Jeff Malone: He broke the fourth wall so much.

[4:02] Richie Grasso: He addressed the audience at times.

[4:04] Jeff Malone: Sometimes when you think of stand-up comedy, you think like Mike Stand, Mike Stool, stand, tell stories.

[4:10] Richie Grasso: This was storytelling with movement.

[4:13] Jeff Malone: He utilized this huge stage and moved across it.

[4:17] Richie Grasso: I also really commend him on taking us with him on the journey and also like thinking his thought process.

[4:28] Jeff Malone: You were with him in the thought process and the thoughts that went back and forth when he steered away from the main story plot and then brought us back to the main story plot and steered us away and brought us back.

[4:39] Richie Grasso: I never felt lost.

[4:40] Jeff Malone: I never felt confused.

[4:42] Richie Grasso: He took us and you saw his think process.

[4:45] Jeff Malone: He used his hands.

[4:46] Richie Grasso: At times he was, you know, using his hands to kind of captivate, tell the story.

[4:50] Jeff Malone: He ruffled his hair often and he was resetting and refocusing, and you were just on the journey with him and his thought process.

[4:58] Richie Grasso: And he has been telling the story how many times?

[5:00] Jeff Malone: And there was a part of me that thought he was telling it first the first time.

[5:04] Richie Grasso: You know, and that's a gem of a performance when you can really say that.

[5:09] Jeff Malone: Right.

[5:10] Richie Grasso: You know.

[5:10] Jeff Malone: So give the listeners a little bit of a background on the plot point that he's going through in this stand-up show.

[5:20] Richie Grasso: Main, mainly we're focused around a central plot where he has is going to, you know, out of nowhere, really, of reading a tweet, uh, a meeting that is held in Queens at an address that he saw on a tweet.

[5:34] Jeff Malone: He doesn't know these people, he's never been, but he was going to an anonymous meeting, and there was the and he didn't know anyone, he just knew the address, and he was going to talk to people about whiteness, and he goes and realizes that he's amongst really bad people talking about anti-Semitism, racism, and and their whiteness being affected in current society.

[6:02] Richie Grasso: So, what's so crazy about this main focus is is about him going to this meeting.

[6:07] Jeff Malone: Right.

[6:08] Richie Grasso: And what's so crazy about this is when you're sitting here and you're listening to him tell this story.

[6:13] Jeff Malone: I'm imagining this, and this is why I think it works so well on the Broadway stage, is I'm imagining this as a full-fledged Broadway play.

[6:25] Richie Grasso: Like, do you picture him and the the play is starting and he's walking into this home and no one knows what's happening and this apartment in Queens, and he walks in and you start meeting the other characters, and you're like, wow, this this could be something for him there.

[6:42] Jeff Malone: In like it clearly was enough for him to be able to tell this story like this, too, right?

[6:47] Richie Grasso: Right.

[6:47] Jeff Malone: So, like that's why I I'm so this show really kind of stands out for me because I'm like, yes, it's stand-up comedy, it's on a Broadway stage, but I was like, this also works in another way because what this story that he's telling us is it's real, but it's so imaginative at the same time.

[7:05] Richie Grasso: Like, what would this look like as a fall play?

[7:08] Jeff Malone: And then he would steer us off a little bit, and we talk about some other subplot stories, and I never felt like that was deterring from what he was trying to do and tell here.

[7:16] Richie Grasso: And it's a cool thing.

[7:19] Jeff Malone: The plot points that he's bringing up, it's a cool thing because it's it's taking you into flashback moments where these characters that he's talking to at in this um I don't know, what do you want to call it?

[7:32] Richie Grasso: The in the round meeting, just so general meeting.

[7:35] Jeff Malone: The meeting, the meeting of like neo-Nazis almost.

[7:39] Richie Grasso: Yeah, that's what he says.

[7:40] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[7:41] Richie Grasso: Right.

[7:42] Jeff Malone: It's like um, okay, but the flashbacks, like he brings different elements into his life.

[7:49] Richie Grasso: Like he almost felt like things that were happening at this meeting remind him of certain things from his past in very different ways, obviously.

[7:59] Jeff Malone: But you know, just on some certain topics in here of like identity and religion and social class ranking, especially being him being from Boston, it's like he he just remembers so much from and feels inspired from this meeting.

[8:18] Richie Grasso: Yeah, and the identity is a huge issue issue that he brings up here too.

[8:23] Jeff Malone: Religion and identity, identifying as a Jewish man, and and there was a lot of Jewish references throughout the piece.

[8:30] Richie Grasso: Some I got, some I did not, and that didn't even matter to me because I was just there with him, understanding this and listening and realizing, oh, maybe I didn't understand that joke or that reference, but some of them I did, and I thought were so funny.

[8:43] Jeff Malone: And here he is brave enough to go to this.

[8:44] Richie Grasso: And I thought it was interesting when he said, I go out into the lobby every night after the show and talk to the audience, and the one one of the biggest questions I got asked is, Were you scared?

[8:52] Jeff Malone: Because I thought that I'm like, this is really scary.

[8:54] Richie Grasso: Like, you're going somewhere you don't know.

[8:56] Jeff Malone: Like, I did you and I would just I don't think that was so brave to go, you know.

[9:01] Richie Grasso: Would you ever go?

[9:03] Jeff Malone: Oh no.

[9:03] Richie Grasso: Oh my gosh, I would be way too afraid.

[9:05] Jeff Malone: And I don't know what I'd think.

[9:09] Richie Grasso: He has a little bit of like gall to even be like, okay, I need to go and see what this is about.

[9:15] Jeff Malone: Like, I need to, you know, someone's tweeting this out, they're tweeting an address.

[9:20] Richie Grasso: Literally, anyone could go there, and he just takes it upon himself to be like, I need to go and see what people are talking about.

[9:28] Jeff Malone: He's like, Because all of these people exist in the world.

[9:32] Richie Grasso: And that's what I think is so eye-opening too with the show like this, because he's saying, you know, in terms of identity here, he's like, We all come into this world as like nothing.

[9:44] Jeff Malone: He even explains his friends, maybe as like a little brisket with eyes, right?

[9:49] Richie Grasso: Yeah.

[9:50] Jeff Malone: And then we start learning things as we move on in life.

[9:56] Richie Grasso: And he tells us a story about how he's goes to get a piece of pizza that has pepperoni on it, and he can't eat it.

[10:03] Jeff Malone: And his grandfather like comes to him, he's like, No, you're Jewish.

[10:07] Richie Grasso: And it's the first moment he ever knew that he was Jewish.

[10:11] Jeff Malone: And you think back to that, and where you can kind of relate this to yourself is like, oh, do you remember a lot of the first times you kind of were like, Oh, I'm Italian, or oh, I'm Irish, or oh, I'm Catholic, or something like that.

[10:24] Richie Grasso: And that's kind of like, you know, he's using his best experience, but everyone has this experience.

[10:29] Jeff Malone: Well, it's interesting because most of the come into this world and we don't know.

[10:33] Richie Grasso: And then you start learning about like, oh, this is my family, and this is what you know, they this is how they want to raise me.

[10:38] Jeff Malone: And it's interesting because he says he has the empathy at one point for these people that are sitting at this meeting because he realizes, like, oh, these people had to be taught this.

[10:51] Jeff Malone: These people had to be taught class structure and taught identity as being white, or taught that you know, their religion is the religion of all. And it doesn't just come to you that you, you know, you don't just wake up and you're five years old and you're like, okay, I'm Jewish, or oh, okay, I'm white and I'm Catholic, and I'm this and I'm that. And it's like that for me was probably one of the most eye-opening things there because he's going back to the time where he realized, oh, I'm this. Okay. He makes some sort of reference at some point, and of course, I'm paraphrasing here about people gather when they all feel like they're not heard, and they have similar, and so obviously not justifying this gathering by any means, but he's trying to, and I love how he says, I'm not justifying it, but like I don't I believe me, I don't agree with any of this, but I see people coming together, and I love the reoccurring themes that he brings up.

[11:49] Richie Grasso: The nodding.

[11:50] Jeff Malone: Yeah, oh, the nodding. That was like because how many times are you amongst people, and that's right? And then he's like, Yes, okay. But there's this threat of this threat, people are gathering, and in New York City of all places, too, right? This is not in the middle of nowhere. And he talks about people gathering as saying, Oh, my whiteness is being threatened, or they feel reverse racism, or you know so he's like, I gathered amongst these people, and I'm like, you all are feeling the same thing. Like, how astonishing is that that I'm seeing this, and you're and he's sitting seeing watching it, and then it comes down to why is that so common? People gathering in clusters and forming their own thoughts based on what they know.

[12:36] Richie Grasso: And when you say everyone kind of goes through something like this in a way, you think of like parents and grandparents or even great grandparents and what has been passed on through generation and what hasn't. And I think that's what's interesting. How many times were we born? I'm like, oh well, this is what we do on Christmas. This is what we do on Easter, or this is what we do on Memorial Day. I don't know. It doesn't even have to be religious, it could be just like um societal. This is what we do.

[13:03] Jeff Malone: Well, it's a little bit around that word of tradition, you know, and as a tradition, what do we bring and what do we pass on? And so many things, I feel like, especially as millennials, and that's another reason why I think we relate so much to him in a way is like he's millennial. He's like probably some of the first that are pushing boundaries with us that are like, no, dad, like, or no mom, or no grandpa. Why are you why are you doing things like that? I mean, how many times have we had conversations in our life where we push back to people that are in older generations than us, and we say to them, like, um, don't you want to like have a different eye-opening experience and like just hear us out for a change? Or, you know, don't you want to do better? And whatever that means to someone is obviously going to be very different from this person to that person on what doing better is. And yet he found comedy in it.

[14:00] Richie Grasso: Right. And that's the astonishing thing here. Couldn't he that story have been told serious or like scary? Or like, oh my gosh, I had to really instead he found the comedy of his personal life, that, and then he went on these tangents, and even the tangents that were like the horse or like the gorilla and Robin Williams, like some of that. I want to kind of go into that for a second. If you want to talk favorite moments of the show with humor, yeah.

[14:25] Jeff Malone: I have a few. The horse, I I have said, of course. Um, the the humor he found in the gasp of the audience of the Princess Diana and the Queen possibly setting up the death of Princess Diana and everyone being like, oh, and he being like, Well, what are you gonna do about it? What are you gonna do about it? Like, but that's but I I think that's so interesting too because you and I are sitting there, and like we've all had that conversation about the royal family and Princess Diana, and like, was it from the inside? And like every generation has a different opinion on what the royal family did to that woman. And it continues on into the new part of the Meghan Markle and how there's issues there, and and with people having issues with the royal family, so like it's like now another generation of royal family discussion, and then he brings up Harry and all that.

[15:13] Richie Grasso: I thought that was a great moment, uh, as well as um just for me, the Charlie Brown Christmas whole thing, the cassette day. Joseph, and he had that moment, he was like, and we're listening to Joseph, and who is the serial of Joseph? And it was like Donnie Osmond, and we're like, oh, and it's just and the and like we're watching Linus like it's Christmas, and they're like, What is that, mom and dad? And the dad responding, like that whole 10, 15 minute segment. I was oh my gosh, I was blown away by how well he told that.

[15:42] Jeff Malone: Yeah, and it's so funny too, because like he's making fun of his own religion at times as well. And you know, people in the audience are so uncomfortable for some parts of it, but it's the same way we do things with like being Catholics, and we like we make fun of certain things that like our family members have done for the longest time in the you know religious faith. And now it's like you know, you can laugh about things, yeah. You can look at something and say, and then you could look at something and say, How do you stay true to your faith or your culture, as well as also understand, like, hey, mom and dad, listen, I you know, and and it is an identity thing, and that's what this is all about.

[16:18] Richie Grasso: And that's why I think the title of this, just for us, which is something that is said right in this meeting, and then this is also what he looks at and says, Well, what is just good, Christmas isn't just for, you know, Hanukkah isn't just for what a what are values and things that are just for the word just me really stands out for me.

[16:37] Jeff Malone: But I will push back on that a little bit, okay, because I think there's multiple times, like if we are gonna go into this like a little moment here of when he's at the meeting and they finally realize that he's Jewish and they all freak out, you know, the girl that he was taking a liking to there and was like, Oh, you know, maybe we could be together, or maybe this, like maybe she's gonna change, you know. She ends up being the one that you know really lets him have it, and at the end says, like, get out. This is just for us, and it makes me think of like all of the things in this world, not you know, whether it's good or bad, where people want things to be just for them, and like here's where I'll relate this to us for a second like being at a gay bar.

[17:25] Richie Grasso: How many times do you hear the gay communities say, like, we don't want that person here, or we don't want women here, or we don't want this here because this is just for us. They can have their things, this is just for us, and and and where does that come from? What is that rooted in? A sense of, well, we've never had this space, or a sense of, no, no, we can open this space up to others. It's very interesting, Jeff, that you say that because it's everywhere in society. It's racist towns in the rural south. It's right it's everywhere you look, everywhere you go, it's clicks, it's it's and it's people gathering in pods with other people who think and feel the same way.

[18:05] Jeff Malone: And that's not gonna bring us together. And that's not gonna make us think the other way, and that's not gonna open our minds.

[18:10] Richie Grasso: Right. And you have to think about that like one step farther, because I'm sure plenty people, plenty of people would argument here, like you can't compare the two. You can't compare a neo-Nazi group in Queens that you know want to talk about their whiteness to gays that are in a bar that want something for themselves.

[18:19] Jeff Malone: Right.

[18:29] Richie Grasso: They'll say you can't compare it. But I am gonna compare it because it's doing the same thing because every you know, why why do you need to be alone in a gay bar? You know, like why do you need to there it in no way? But it goes back to the root of it. The root of it was at a time in history, gay bars were a safe and only safe place for people to gather. And so we are in a different time now. But I'm just trying to say how there's a root sometimes to why people think and feel some way.

[19:01] Jeff Malone: Okay, but not justifying one way or the other, but right. Yes, but most of the people that are making that argument have never really dealt with that in their life because they're younger, and you know, they probably had some of the easiest coming out moments. I'm not saying everyone, because I know plenty of people that have not, but I remembered what I was going to say. Turning this and going back to the same way and saying, no, this is just for us, is doing the same thing. You know, by saying, No, you can't come here. This is just for us as doing the same thing.

[19:35] Richie Grasso: It's and it's so interesting that now, like you say, you don't want to compare different cultures and different things because what he went through is different than what everyone goes through. But at the same time, you do feel united as an audience with him throughout the journey of telling these stories.

[19:47] Jeff Malone: And then I have to go to my other favorite moment, the very, very, very, very, very end. Because he keeps talking about the puzzles, and I'm like, why is that so why does he keep talking about that? And then for him, and then he's like, Well, they say, you know, puzzles were our life is like a puzzle and it's not complete, and even one piece missing can throw off the puzzle. And he took that one piece from that, and I was like, Oh my, I was like, ah, what a way to end the story. Love it.

[20:11] Richie Grasso: That's such a great thing. One one topic that I did want to bring up, which is a very big thing, is he likes to kind of uh what would you call it? Like vet someone or study someone and figure out how they're gonna react to certain things before he ever reacts. It's a very smart thing, I must say. And how does he do this?

[20:32] Jeff Malone: He does this by saying, if someone asks a question like, oh, Broadway, and he would be like, Can you believe it? And then they give their opinion. I'm like, Oh, that's so smart. I'm gonna use it. It's so smart because it allows you to everyone's just gonna I was gonna say, everyone's just gonna have conversations now about like, can you believe it? No, can you believe it? No, can you and how many times are you in the middle of a conversation with someone in your family or friends or anyone you're like, oh, I don't know if I want to talk about this, or I don't know if I agree with that person on this. But just saying, can you believe it? You would instantly then find out for them if they're on your side of an argument or not. It's a very smart tactic, and I definitely want to kind of steal it.

[21:13] Richie Grasso: Okay, so now I do have a major question here, and this is something I would want to kind of ask him as well, and maybe to everyone here is if you say, Can you believe it? Because you want to know how that person is going to respond.

[21:26] Jeff Malone: Are you doing this because you want to teeter your or you know, cater your response to how they are going to respond to it? Or are you going to be truthful?

[21:36] Richie Grasso: Oh no. I well, it would have to come down to what we're talking about. If we were talking about something, like he uses baseball as an example, I think, or can you or football? I'm not very well versed in that topic, and I really don't have an opinion one way or the other. So if I said, Can you believe it? He said, Yeah, the Yankees, then I'd be like, Oh, maybe I just agree with them because it's baseball. If it's politics or gender or race or a million other serious things, then maybe I would want to really stick my ground and say I feel, but first kind of hear how they and see where the conversation is.

[22:13] Jeff Malone: But there's a key word in there that you just said, and you said maybe. And who knows? I'd have to be in the situation and what I'm curious though is how most people would do this. And I'm curious if he would even do it too, is like, does he change his response based on what that person's gonna say? Is he afraid to give his truthful response? Um thinking that person's gonna have a bad reaction to him. You know? Because some people just speak and they give their response, you know. And also, does he also kind of have a like when they actually give their response, he probably changes his opinion on them very quickly? So it was interesting.

[22:52] Richie Grasso: It is interesting. And then I kind of want to talk a little bit about him and what and one person shows in general. I think in this one year, we've seen four. This is our fourth in one calendar year, not Tony here, but in one calendar year, we've seen four. What is your thoughts, Jeff, on just the idea of a one-person show on Broadway? We've had them before. It's not like this is anything new. We are seeing a high rise in them. And it is pulling audiences and it is pulling numbers. And I'm gonna say some of the grosses of these one-person shows are higher than big of big mega productions. You know, we saw Mike Barbiglia's show in the fall, he's a producer on this. What are your thoughts on one-person shows in the industry and the future of them? And are they just a fluke occurrence or are we gonna be seeing more of them in the Broadway space?

[23:39] Jeff Malone: We're definitely gonna see more because it's cost effective, uh for sure. I think also I think we're having two kind of different conversations here because there's one-person shows like Jody Comer in Prima Facy. Or Jefferson Mays and a Christmas Carol, which are more scripted, which is right, which is a scripted piece, or people that are kind of moving their way into the Broadway stage. So we've seen comedy a few times now on the Broadway stage. And I'm curious to see like, does that resonate with the Broadway community? Are they mad that comedy is on the stage? Do they like it? What are the what is the criteria that needs to be met for a show that is comedy, like stand-up comedy um to be on the stage?

Because I think both with Mike Barbiglia and now Alex Edelman's, is that there is a story behind here. Like you can put this story and for Mike Barbicali as well, um, there could be an actual play that comes up with it. And then also that opens the door of like, should it just be a play?

[24:50] Richie Grasso: Right. You know. And it is very interesting. And so I just like to always talk about that because we see so many different formats of shows always. And I'm also curious too, like last uh when we saw the show last night, like how many people in that theater are everyday Broadway goers or are they or are they his fans?

[25:11] Jeff Malone: Right. You know, there were a lot of people there of all different ages, and everyone was laughing, and it was nice it was just a nice night.

[25:18] Richie Grasso: It really was. You know what I do like, you know what I do like about this though? When there are gaps in between shows coming, the theater's not sitting empty.

[25:29] Jeff Malone: Right.

[25:30] Richie Grasso: And I know that some people have their feelings on this, that they don't want this to be the next Las Vegas where people are coming in and they're having sit-down music concert shows or they're having comedy acts. The thing that I'll say with this is I don't think anyone's ever gonna have more than like a three-month stunt um in New York. They're gonna go and do things in other places. But you know, I don't think I don't think we should be afraid of that.

[25:53] Jeff Malone: Yeah, and I don't think a comedian comes and just does a bit and goes home. That there is spaces for that elsewhere in New York and anywhere. These are I think I find that what we've been seeing with Mike Robiglia in this is crafted storytelling with a little bit of scenery and lighting and a theatric Broadway element to it and something. But that also opens the door of like musicians and do we like that as well on the stage? Like uh who was it, Bruce Springsteen that was on uh sure, who told his story through music.

[26:22] Richie Grasso: Right.

[26:23] Jeff Malone: Right. You know, do we like that as well?

[26:25] Richie Grasso: Right.

[26:26] Jeff Malone: Um, is that what we're gonna get with Kelly Clarkson, you know?

[26:30] Richie Grasso: Oh no, I think she's writing like a big show, right?

[26:33] Jeff Malone: Right. But I'm saying, like, could we get that with Kelly Clarkson where she tells a story and puts that on there?

[26:39] Richie Grasso: You know, before we before we get to final thoughts, I just want to mention really quick we got to go backstage. My friend Rachel from the University of Michigan Theater Program, Go Blue, um, had made her Broadway debut in the stage management team for this show. We got to meet her after and hear all about it. She's friends with Alex. We met Alex backstage, just got to chat with him for a minute, tell him how wonderful the whole experience was, which was amazing. Then we're walking out, and I see my friend Rose from high school who's doing wardrobe and she's on that. Congratulations to you, Rose. Shout out, Brewster High School alumni, Brewster.

[27:13] Jeff Malone: So I saw a long time. I got I seeing all these people that I I grew up with and I go to school with, and I I study theater with and perform with, and they're working on a Broadway stage at a Broadway show, and I'm so proud of them. So shout out to them. And yes, we did see Alex at the end, got a photo with him, talked to him, got to just tell him how amazing this was. And he was very grateful, very humble. And you could tell he's just living this wonderful great feeling of being in a Broadway space and in and enjoying every second of it.

[27:37] Richie Grasso: So wonderful, wonderful.

[27:38] Jeff Malone: Yeah, it was so much fun.

[27:40] Richie Grasso: One kindly final little note because I know we're getting close to the bell. Um, for audience engagement, how did you feel the audience responded to the show?

[27:50] Jeff Malone: It was nice because I was worried at one point if it was gonna get like random audience members shouting out or like standing up or making it feel like you were at a football game. And they were like so respectful of his space and his time, and he engaged just enough and then came back in and engaged. It was very healthy, and I didn't find that anyone was bothersome around me. Where you know, and it just was actually quite enjoyable the night.

[28:13] Richie Grasso: Really?

[28:13] Jeff Malone: And what I loved with Alex, what I really loved with Alex too is like he he made it clear that there was not going to be a fourth wall in this. And he broke that right away, which was great because we he needs to feed off the energy of the audience. And he basically says it too, like, you know, whatever you give me, I'm gonna give back to you. And it just felt great. You know, the more we reacted, the better it was for him, the better uh experience he gave. And if we didn't react, he he made it clear. He was like, Yeah, he was like, Oh, okay, we're going to move on, or like, okay, you're not understanding my joke.

[28:46] Richie Grasso: Right.

[28:54] Jeff Malone: He's like, Oh, you didn't think that was funny. Yeah, you're done.

[28:57] Richie Grasso: Yeah, he was like, All right, I'll give you something, buddy.

[28:59] Jeff Malone: Yes, yes. So it was that was great. Very nice.

[29:03] Richie Grasso: Oh my gosh, we're almost out of time and it's flying by. But we want to just give final thoughts on this before we wrap this up. Jeff, what are your final thoughts here on Just For Us starring Alex Edelman's?

[29:13] Jeff Malone: Final thoughts here is, and who should see this? Um, I think that anyone who loves comedy, um, especially Jewish comedy, because that's it's a major part here. So if you know it, it's gonna you're gonna find it even more funny. Uh, I know a lot about the Jewish faith and community, so it was great to see. But Alex really is a treat. He is so comfortable up on that stage telling his stories, and it was just a great piece of theater to see um, you know, on a Monday night, which was nice too, because we never get to see things on Monday nights, really.

[29:46] Richie Grasso: Yeah, it was nice.

[29:48] Jeff Malone: I definitely highly recommend this if you get the chance to see it before it closes. Overall, I would say really enjoyed this. He's just wonderful, and I had a great time. And I want to just say one thing as my final thought. Backstage, we saw a whiteboard, and the whiteboard lists some notes that I guess him and some of the team in the stage management sit down and say, like, what should we focus on tonight? Like in tonight's performance. And I just want to read one that really stands out to me on the whiteboard. Um, and I I just remembered this statement as saying the story is the star. If every single performer in the world remembered that before they a pop singer, a Broadway performer, a Hollywood actor.

If you remember that the story is the star, he is the star. He's above title on this. Of course, he could be right. And if you remember that the story is the star, it's always about the story. He knows that the story is the star here. And I was so astonished to see that on a whiteboard backstage. And I will never forget that. And I'll never forget that that is so important, so important, so important. So the story, the story, the story, and the story is the star.

[30:55] Richie Grasso: And it's what we talk about all the time.

[30:58] Jeff Malone: All the time, Jeff.

[30:59] Richie Grasso: We're always saying about like what is the story?

[31:02] Jeff Malone: It's always about the story for me.

[31:04] Richie Grasso: It has to be.

[31:05] Jeff Malone: It has to be. You can't just, you know, mask a story by throwing in someone there to make it better for you. You know?

[31:13] Richie Grasso: So great great observation from that.

[31:16] Jeff Malone: Yeah, yeah. I really picked up on that. I it really stood out to me. I think I've spent my whole career as a director and a theater producer and an educator, just always remembering what the story is. So anyway, I know we're almost out of time here. Thank you all so much for listening. We hope you really enjoyed. Uh, and please check out us out on Instagram and TikTok at half hour podcast. Engage with us and engage with us with our question earlier on how you would say the question, which is oh can you believe it?

[31:33] Richie Grasso: Can you believe it?

[31:44] Jeff Malone: Engage with us on the show. I do want to let you let us know if you use that anywhere. Comment on our Instagram post or our TikTok and let us know what you think about that. But yeah, I do want to know what you think.

[31:53] Richie Grasso: Yeah, love it.

[31:54] Jeff Malone: All right, signing off for now. More Broadway shows to come for this summer. We are just getting started with this June Tony season, so we'll let you all go for now. Signing off, saying ta ta for now. I'm Richie.

[32:03] Jeff Malone: And I'm Jeff. Saying bye bye.

[32:05] Richie Grasso: Bye.