This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Steven Ferezy: Take one.

[0:01] Dana Craig: Nuk nuck.

[0:04] Steven Ferezy: We're Steven and Dana.

[0:10] Dana Craig: We're so glad you're listening to, and we would never listen to.

[0:13] Steven Ferezy: And I don't even want to listen to it to edit it.

[0:15] Dana Craig: I don't even want to wake up in the morning.

[0:18] Steven Ferezy: Stephen and Dana.

[0:20] Dana Craig: In the room.

[0:36] Steven Ferezy: Hi Dana.

[0:37] Dana Craig: Hello, my darling.

[0:39] Steven Ferezy: How are you?

[0:40] Dana Craig: Well post-BroadwayCon.

[0:42] Steven Ferezy: Well, turns out I'm fabulous.

[0:44] Dana Craig: Um turns out.

[0:48] Steven Ferezy: Uh Broadway Con.

[0:49] Dana Craig: We haven't really talked about it together.

[0:51] Steven Ferezy: I know.

[0:51] Dana Craig: Um, wow, that's that's a moment.

[0:55] Steven Ferezy: You ladies and gentlemen, I guess we should introduce our guest and then I'll ask him.

[1:00] Dana Craig: I'm just listening.

[1:01] Steven Ferezy: You're just you're just an observer.

[1:03] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[1:04] Steven Ferezy: Um Joel Grey is auditing the podcast today.

[1:07] Dana Craig: He's a scrappy up and comer who we're just trying to help out by giving him some, you know, podcast recognition.

[1:14] Steven Ferezy: Letting them stand on our soapbox for a minute.

[1:16] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[1:17] Steven Ferezy: Um, but Joel Grey, you've been to BroadwayCon.

[1:21] Joel Grey: I was, yeah.

[1:23] Steven Ferezy: I loved it.

[1:24] Joel Grey: It's fun.

[1:25] Steven Ferezy: It's really I had a It warmed my heart.

[1:27] Joel Grey: I mean, the people that were there are true, true, true theater fans.

[1:31] Steven Ferezy: I didn't realize that people dress up like Oh yeah, the costumes are great.

[1:36] Joel Grey: They're they can be characters in shows, or they're just, you know, they they're dressing up as Sutton Foster.

[1:43] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[1:44] Joel Grey: It's so crazy.

[1:46] Steven Ferezy: It was lovely, and people are coming up to us and you know, having us sign things and the energy was 100 for three days.

[1:55] Joel Grey: It was 100.

[1:56] Steven Ferezy: We were dying.

[1:58] Joel Grey: By day three.

[1:59] Steven Ferezy: I had to take off like three days of work.

[2:02] Joel Grey: I'm so sorry.

[2:03] Steven Ferezy: I went to Broadway con.

[2:05] Joel Grey: But we were there with our Broadway podcast network.

[2:07] Steven Ferezy: We were doing a whole bunch of um well, we weren't, but the network was doing a whole bunch of live podcasts throughout the three-day spread.

[2:14] Joel Grey: Right.

[2:14] Steven Ferezy: And we got to do our live podcast episode with Nancy Opal.

[2:21] Joel Grey: And it was hilarious and fun.

[2:22] Steven Ferezy: And we got our trading cards.

[2:24] Joel Grey: And we got our trading cards.

[2:26] Steven Ferezy: I feel like people can buy them on the website.

[2:28] Joel Grey: We'll put a link at some point when we find out, but that was a surprise to us.

[2:33] Steven Ferezy: I'm like, where did they find this photo of me?

[2:36] Joel Grey: And apparently Squiggs, who's the person who does these Broadway trading cards, um, he had to stalk me on Google because I do a lot of like side selfies, like profile work.

[2:48] Steven Ferezy: Um because my I feel like my straight on face um is lacking, and so he had to like Google me to try to find a picture where my face was like looking front.

[3:02] Joel Grey: Is that the story?

[3:03] Steven Ferezy: It is the starting what does she look like when she's just looking straight?

[3:06] Joel Grey: Yeah, what does she actually look like?

[3:07] Steven Ferezy: So funny.

[3:09] Dana Craig: What do you think she looks like?

[3:13] Joel Grey: Come on, let's hear it.

[3:15] Steven Ferezy: There's certainly a Bette Midler in there.

[3:18] Joel Grey: Oh okay.

[3:19] Steven Ferezy: Alright.

[3:20] Joel Grey: That's true.

[3:20] Steven Ferezy: That's not a bad one.

[3:21] Joel Grey: In personality or looks?

[3:23] Steven Ferezy: I mean, probably in personality, uh influencing looks because I know you as well as I do.

[3:31] Joel Grey: She's the core of my baseball.

[3:33] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[3:33] Joel Grey: Right.

[3:34] Steven Ferezy: Does that make sense?

[3:34] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[3:35] Steven Ferezy: When you cut open me as a person, there's like bet there's a tiny little Bette Midler right in the middle.

[3:40] Joel Grey: In a league of their own hit a baseball and it shredded.

[3:44] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[3:45] Joel Grey: The nucleus would be Bette Midler.

[3:47] Steven Ferezy: That woman has really That's what you look like.

[3:49] Joel Grey: Penetrated me deeply.

[3:50] Dana Craig: Okay you can do the same with him.

[3:52] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[3:53] Dana Craig: Okay, who are you?

[3:54] Joel Grey: Let's crack open that baseball.

[3:57] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[3:57] Joel Grey: Crack it open.

[3:59] Joel Grey: I think you but it's hard because I know who you love so much.

[4:02] Dana Craig: Right.

[4:03] Joel Grey: So forget about yeah I think because a lot of people know who he is now Dan Levy from Schitt's Creek is someone that I think that you naturally are like and this person is just now a character on a TV show.

[4:22] Dana Craig: Right.

[4:22] Joel Grey: And everyone's like, oh my god, that's Steven.

[4:24] Dana Craig: I'm like well Steven was here first.

[4:26] Joel Grey: You know what I mean?

[4:26] Dana Craig: Like Steven was here first.

[4:28] Joel Grey: That's the highest compliment I've ever received.

[4:31] Dana Craig: But yeah I I think a lot of that is just so fun to watch.

[4:35] Joel Grey: I get Amy Schumer a lot uh personality talking topics stuff like that delivery okay but yeah he's definitely unique yeah you are there's no other Steven Ferezy no one is gonna fight me on that ever no one no one um would you play yourself in a movie or would you have Ron Rifkin do it?

[5:03] Steven Ferezy: How dare you how dare you I'd have Ron Rifkin play me oh I'm sorry you were asking Joel.

[5:09] Joel Grey: Yeah I think you'd be better at it uh no no great.

[5:18] Steven Ferezy: Well, it depends on what movie it is.

[5:19] Joel Grey: Are we talking about now, current?

[5:21] Steven Ferezy: No, I mean the right you're very close friends.

[5:24] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[5:25] Steven Ferezy: We're like brothers, and I wouldn't have my brother play me.

[5:29] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[5:30] Steven Ferezy: I think that would be a mistake.

[5:32] Joel Grey: Too close.

[5:33] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[5:33] Joel Grey: Too close.

[5:34] Steven Ferezy: Too real.

[5:35] Joel Grey: Too close for comfort.

[5:37] Steven Ferezy: Um, I want to talk about Fiddler a little bit.

[5:40] Joel Grey: Sure.

[5:41] Steven Ferezy: I had a front row seat too.

[5:43] Joel Grey: I always want to talk about Fiddler.

[5:45] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[5:45] Joel Grey: Why wouldn't you?

[5:46] Steven Ferezy: You should you're so proud of it.

[5:48] Joel Grey: You're so proud of it.

[5:49] Steven Ferezy: And should be so proud of it.

[5:51] Joel Grey: It's one of my favorite musicals of all time.

[5:53] Steven Ferezy: I've never wanted to be more Jewish than when I went to go see your production of it.

[5:57] Joel Grey: It's uh pe for people who don't know, it's entirely in Yiddish.

[6:01] Steven Ferezy: And it's a stripped down it's so beautiful.

[6:07] Joel Grey: I was moved by nothing more that entire year.

[6:10] Steven Ferezy: It was just like the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

[6:13] Joel Grey: And we saw it at the the Jewish The Museum Um of Jewish Heritage.

[6:18] Steven Ferezy: There we go.

[6:19] Joel Grey: And it was just like layers upon layers of it's not my culture, but I felt so connected connected to it.

[6:27] Steven Ferezy: You know why?

[6:28] Joel Grey: I d well kind of, but tell me.

[6:31] Steven Ferezy: I think it's the humanity that's in possible in all of us.

[6:37] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[6:37] Steven Ferezy: It's a common humanity.

[6:40] Joel Grey: And um I think somehow in a foreign language, it's it's stripped down to what the relationships are in all of our lives.

[6:55] Steven Ferezy: Our mothers and fathers and sisters and lovers.

[7:01] Joel Grey: You know, it's all up there.

[7:03] Joel Grey: Shalom Aleichem was the beginning of Tevya and his the milkman.

[7:10] Joel Grey: And um he was very smart.

[7:14] Joel Grey: Then it got to be a whole other kind of event.

[7:20] Joel Grey: Um it started out probably one of the first musicals that dealt with uh Jews.

[7:30] Steven Ferezy: Yep.

[7:31] Joel Grey: And um was not a in a big cultural, you know, commercial way, right?

[7:37] Steven Ferezy: And it was um a vehicle, a really smart vehicle for zero mastell to play Tevia, but also to play zero.

[7:51] Joel Grey: Um you know, in the musicals, things are bigger, yeah.

[7:56] Steven Ferezy: But we sort of made them more real and smaller, and therefore bigger.

[8:03] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[8:04] Steven Ferezy: What did I say?

[8:04] Joel Grey: It well, no, that makes sense.

[8:06] Steven Ferezy: It it really the focus of it made it so much heavier, and I can't I can't.

[8:15] Joel Grey: I mean, I I was we ping.

[8:18] Steven Ferezy: And I just I've never wanted to be Jewish more.

[8:22] Joel Grey: I mean, to tell you the truth.

[8:23] Steven Ferezy: I mean, I love Fiddler, it's one of my top two favorite musicals of all time.

[8:29] Joel Grey: So it has that Shakespearean way of when you're when you're speaking, the tonality, the inflection, the ups and downs, the dynamic way of expression, you don't even necessarily have to know the words that they're saying because the the words are up there, it's like an opera.

[8:49] Steven Ferezy: So you you can watch that, but also the way that they're speaking, like Shakespeare.

[8:55] Joel Grey: You know, you don't that's not a another language, but you you can understand exactly if someone's upset or empathetic or if you go to the Met and they're singing in Italian, yeah, you know what it they're talking about or singing about.

[9:10] Steven Ferezy: So beautiful if the acting is right.

[9:14] Joel Grey: What made you want to do this?

[9:17] Steven Ferezy: Um the Genesis story.

[9:24] Joel Grey: And I thought for so many years that I'd get to play Tevia in my youth.

[9:34] Joel Grey: Now in my judges.

[9:39] Joel Grey: And uh that was not to be, you know, the timing I was doing other things.

[9:44] Steven Ferezy: So um I got a call from Zalman Lotek, the head of the museum of Jewish heritage, the Folksbina, and he said, I spoke with Hal Prince, and he do you want to play Tevia or direct it?

[10:04] Joel Grey: And I thought, well, it's very nice of Mr.

[10:08] Joel Grey: Prince.

[10:09] Steven Ferezy: Was this a couple years ago?

[10:11] Joel Grey: Yeah, it's about two years ago that it started.

[10:15] Joel Grey: He knows better than I do.

[10:18] Joel Grey: My keeper.

[10:21] Joel Grey: The keeper of the key, your nanny.

[10:23] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[10:21] Joel Grey: Your nanny.

[10:25] Joel Grey: Anyway, um, I said, I don't speak Yiddish, which I don't.

[10:33] Joel Grey: I mean, I come from a family where my father was a kind of a brilliant Yiddishist, but my mother didn't speak it at all, and it was not spoken in our house per se.

[10:47] Joel Grey: But he was so successful with his Yiddish parodies.

[10:52] Steven Ferezy: Talking about Mickey Katz.

[10:54] Joel Grey: Mickey Katz, the uh Joel David Katz father.

[11:00] Joel Grey: Um he was so successful at it that I ended up loving the sound of it and finding it funny and um powerful.

[11:13] Joel Grey: You know, it's the language of our forefathers.

[11:17] Joel Grey: So I said to Zalman the next morning, I said, I don't speak Yiddish, but I want to direct this, and I don't have a clue how to do it.

[11:26] Joel Grey: Or how to make it new.

[11:28] Joel Grey: Like if you're gonna redo something, are you how are you gonna add another layer?

[11:34] Joel Grey: Why like why are we bringing it back?

[11:36] Steven Ferezy: That's what I thought was so brilliant.

[11:37] Joel Grey: Like we've done we've seen Fiddler before, but I've never seen it like this, and I will never see it like this again.

[11:43] Steven Ferezy: No, and I I immediately thought of my favorite playwright, Chekhov, and I started to work with the cast as if it were Chekhov play, finding each of them their place in the family and in their world and what they were dealing with.

[12:04] Joel Grey: So what we did was we rehearsed the scenes in English over and over and over, so that they understood the baseline.

[12:18] Joel Grey: The baseline of what needed to be said about these relationships and who these characters were.

[12:26] Joel Grey: And then we added the Yiddish.

[12:28] Joel Grey: And I just trusted that the acting was right.

[12:32] Joel Grey: And not all of these actors knew Yiddish, or most of them didn't.

[12:36] Joel Grey: No, we had um, I'd say maybe a quarter of the players of the almost 30 people in that cast.

[12:45] Steven Ferezy: Huge.

[12:46] Joel Grey: And um they were brave and smart and ambitious and they had no choice but to get good at it.

[12:58] Steven Ferezy: What a gift.

[12:59] Joel Grey: And let's not forget this was supposed to run for six weeks.

[13:03] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[13:05] Joel Grey: All that work for six weeks.

[13:07] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[13:07] Joel Grey: As far as anyone knew.

[13:09] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[13:12] Joel Grey: And then it just kept going.

[13:15] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[13:16] Joel Grey: And everybody came.

[13:17] Steven Ferezy: It was a must-see.

[13:19] Joel Grey: It was a must see.

[13:22] Steven Ferezy: It absolutely was.

[13:23] Joel Grey: And then you transferred out of the museum and brought it to 42nd Street for a year.

[13:28] Steven Ferezy: Changed it a bit.

[13:31] Joel Grey: You know, turned it more into a comparable theater piece uptown.

[13:42] Joel Grey: It just had bigger possibilities and uh we had the most amazing uh creative people.

[14:10] Joel Grey: And Peter Kazarovsky, um all my pals worked for nothing downtown, as did I, just because we believed that this was something interesting to do and worthwhile, having no idea of its effect on the present anti-Semitism in the world, let alone Monsi and New York City and New Jersey. All these attacks in this moment, like the Pagrum. Can you believe? Do I can I believe it? Yeah. It's hard to believe that it's still here, but when you when you watch the president and his disregard for um anything that we're humans made of. Yeah. We're made of as Americans. Uh it's the stuff of real worry.

[15:24] Joel Grey: I'm gonna rewind to um earlier days. I was just telling you that I was an actor when I was nine. Going back to Cleveland Playhouse. Yes, that's my that's your core start. Your start. And my core. I am still that actor. And that's where I I live and come from in all the things that I do. And I've had a lot of steps away from that in order to make a living, in order to pay for my family and feed them. I took a lot of work, a lot of dreadful stuff.

[16:07] Steven Ferezy: Did did you say yes to everything?

[16:10] Joel Grey: I had no choice. You know, when you're a dad. Yeah. And you're also praying to fulfill yourself and do what you started out doing, and then somehow life twisted that around and you went to another direction. And then to get back on that right path took about 20 years. It's all about people's managing people's perceptions too. Like, oh, I'm not really this, but I've been boxed into this category. Now I'm trying to claw my way out because I know what that, you know, baseball is in the core.

[16:10] Steven Ferezy: You do?

[16:52] Joel Grey: Well, kind of, yeah. I think we all do.

[16:55] Steven Ferezy: Let me hear.

[16:58] Joel Grey: Oh man. I mean, I grew up as a performer. That was my identity. I grew up in the middle of Wisconsin. So it was a I felt big fish in a small pond. You know, I'm I don't know, d do the thing, you know.

[16:58] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[17:12] Joel Grey: Um, I knew I was gonna live in New York at some point because I love New York and I oh the the this of it, like I I love that it's hard to live here, but it's beautiful and gorgeous and magical things happen every day. This is a great example of that. I'm sitting across from Joel Gray right now. Mom, mom, my mom is literally crying today. Um, okay. So my identity was as a performer, right? So then I moved to New York.

[17:38] Steven Ferezy: It was your dream.

[17:39] Joel Grey: Yeah, yeah. You came here.

[17:42] Steven Ferezy: Well, I went to school for acting and we did musical theater and all of that, and um didn't check off, and then you were pursuing.

[17:42] Joel Grey: Yeah. I that's who who I was. You know, you you come out with a stamp on you, you know.

[17:56] Steven Ferezy: Is that true?

[17:57] Joel Grey: I yeah, my grandpa bought a camera as soon as I was born, so I have footage of me singing somewhere over the rainbow with my dog and my cat at three years old. Skies are boo, you know, somewhere over the rainbow. Like that's what I was from the very beginning. And then I come here and I'm not auditioning, and I just try to find work as a temp job, and I'm like, ugh, I don't want to be a waiter, I don't wanna the work of it is very hard to maintain to find jobs that'll keep you afloat while you audition. Um I didn't move here rich, so it's not like I can just come. I came in 2008, so that was the the big old crash.

[17:57] Steven Ferezy: Sure was.

[18:43] Joel Grey: Yeah. Um and and that kind of when I started.

[18:43] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[18:49] Joel Grey: So I've I love living in New York, but my identity has not been as a performer for about 12 years.

[18:56] Steven Ferezy: And so what has it been?

[18:59] Joel Grey: I've found the other parts of myself that led to doing this kind of thing, but being a podcaster.

[19:06] Steven Ferezy: Yeah, but that's just this year.

[19:09] Joel Grey: Yeah, it's in the last couple years, but all of that has been laying the groundwork and the foundation and meeting the people and doing the work of finding a tribe that fulfills me in another way because I s I don't feel like my career is going to be as a performer. I really don't think that. But I feel like as a person, I'm already a performer. Like when people are like, I can't believe you're not acting. I'm like, okay, well, it doesn't matter to me. I don't need to get paid to be myself. Right. And that's I think what I've I've learned. But I'm not wanting for anything. I'm not walking down the street being like, oh, looking for a job. Yeah, no. I'm I'm working on a whole bunch of stuff right now. I've we produced a documentary, I work for a production company. Um, I see a lot of shows. It's about the people. I love meeting people. I don't know. It's just it's all gravy.

[20:06] Steven Ferezy: How did you two meet?

[20:08] Joel Grey: At the duplex.

[20:09] Steven Ferezy: You met at the duplex.

[20:10] Joel Grey: Performing both of you.

[20:12] Steven Ferezy: Yeah, we were watching our friend perform.

[20:14] Joel Grey: Correct. My friend Natalie Droy Johnson, who you saw perform at my duplex.

[20:19] Steven Ferezy: I did.

[20:20] Joel Grey: She introduced well, we introduced ourselves. We started miming things to each other. I'm like, oh, he looks fun. And we were just like, uh, like talk to you after. I didn't know who he was. He didn't know who I was. But you connected.

[20:33] Steven Ferezy: We connected.

[20:34] Joel Grey: It was immediate.

[20:35] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. That's kind of great.

[20:37] Joel Grey: Yeah. Found like people. And do things that you love with the people that you love working with. That's all. That's all I'm looking for. Looks sounds like it's going good. And say yes to things and see where it goes.

[20:53] Steven Ferezy: When did you move to New York?

[20:55] Joel Grey: How old were you? When you moved here kind of as a a permanent when I was eighteen. And um I lived in an apartment with four other guys.

[21:08] Steven Ferezy: And uh that made five of us.

[21:11] Joel Grey: Yeah. And there were four beds. So it was about who got home earliest.

[21:17] Steven Ferezy: Oh my gosh.

[21:20] Joel Grey: Were you guys messy when you 49th Street Boys a f fourth floor walk up?

[21:26] Steven Ferezy: Oh get your boots.

[21:28] Joel Grey: Yep, and learn you learn a lot from all of those.

[21:32] Steven Ferezy: Oh, absolutely.

[21:35] Joel Grey: Absolutely. Never forget your roommates. A lot of struggle, a lot of struggle uh uh anti-Semitism. I was this Mickey Katz's son, and I was on television with Eddie Cantor. Yeah, so then I was a uh variety performer, not an actor. And but the fact of the matter was my real center was as an actor and I couldn't get a job as an actor.

[22:13] Steven Ferezy: Because they saw you as well forever for years success and failure, success and failure.

[22:22] Joel Grey: Sure. What would you say is the project that really changed people's minds back into your acting?

[22:32] Joel Grey: Um well from a practical standpoint, stop the world I want to get off was a big success, and I happened to have the chops to sing. I'd studied, I couldn't sing at all. I never thought I would sing. I thought it was just gonna be Lawrence Olivier. I expect it to be a classical actor. That's how I began.

[23:03] Steven Ferezy: That's amazing.

[23:05] Joel Grey: And uh so the next thing I knew, I had this audition for Stop the World, and I would always hear, oh, he's so young, or he's so this, or he's so that, or he's blah blah blah blah blah blah. I was in uh a Neil Simon play for year replacing somebody, and then I replaced quite a few people, and people would say, Oh, he's a replacement. When does it end? It doesn't. When does it end? It doesn't. So uh you keep proving yourself every single time, and that's goes for everybody.

[23:51] Steven Ferezy: Sure.

[23:53] Joel Grey: Yeah, new show, new people to have to approve yourself to. And that's a lot to take in. I think. And then that show doesn't work. And you're in a flop. And how good can you be if if you didn't make it a success. You know, there's you still want to do this. Tell what I just saw. Uh Stephen's painful face of um about the realities. The realities of the business.

[24:30] Steven Ferezy: Pursuing a curriculum.

[24:32] Joel Grey: Pursuing. Yeah. I have the utmost respect for anyone doing anything in the business.

[24:38] Steven Ferezy: Also, it's me too.

[24:39] Joel Grey: It's just so I I went to uh the the audition was at the Schubert Theater and I put the makeup on, this clown makeup across the street because I couldn't go there. But I wanted to go in makeup so that they would not say he's too young. Which they often said because I used to look very young. Alas.

[25:12] Steven Ferezy: You still look so young.

[25:13] Joel Grey: Work forever. Oh, listen to the two of you. God bless you. Joel Gray is ageless. Yes. You are. Anyway, so I went over there in full makeup with sunglasses on as if that covered me. Right? And people are looking, who is this guy in Shubert Alley? Right. With makeup on. And I got on stage and I sang, What kind of fool am I? For Anthony Newley, and I got the part. And that turned it all around all because that was a part that not only needed musical ability, but it was a big acting part. And that's where I had the experience.

[26:01] Steven Ferezy: Reminds me of Joan Rivers was um she always talked about how sh she was an actor. She wanted to be an actress. But no one saw her as that. And so she just had to be like, I'm gonna go where the dogs are barking because I feel I want to be an actress. I want to be taken seriously. But um it's not to be.

[26:23] Joel Grey: Not to be. No. So after I did that, I still couldn't get a job after Stop the World. I toured all over the United States, had great reviews, did big business, but I was this off, off kind of actor. Yeah. Hard to cast. And um I did Stop the World in Connecticut. And Hal Prince happened to be a friend of mine. And he came to see it. And um got an idea that maybe if he had a part sometime that I might be somebody, you know, right? Then the next thing I knew, I was taking the part of uh Tommy Steele in half a sixpence. And um Hal came to see me. I was doing it for a week, and he's afterwards he says, What's with you always standing in this spotlight by yourself? The next thing I knew, he put me in the spotlight by myself in cabaret, and the rest is just a regular career.

[27:40] Steven Ferezy: Wow.

[27:40] Joel Grey: Sure, sure. I mean, he's he's a fairy godfather to this entire industry. He loved talent. Wow. And he loved the theater as much as I did. And do. Can we talk about cabaret?

[28:00] Joel Grey: Sure.

[28:01] Steven Ferezy: Any good?

[28:02] Joel Grey: Where?

[28:03] Steven Ferezy: I've never seen it.

[28:04] Joel Grey: I hate it.

[28:04] Steven Ferezy: No, it's you know how um.

[28:06] Joel Grey: You've seen it on stage and in the film?

[28:08] Steven Ferezy: Uh, have I seen it on stage?

[28:12] Joel Grey: Summer stock production, nothing?

[28:14] Steven Ferezy: I have.

[28:14] Joel Grey: I don't know if I've seen I've I've seen the movie.

[28:17] Steven Ferezy: Oh, right.

[28:18] Joel Grey: Let's hear about the stage.

[28:19] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[28:19] Joel Grey: Uh I saw the 98 production.

[28:22] Steven Ferezy: I saw Ron Rifkin in it.

[28:24] Joel Grey: And I knew I knew I was coming.

[28:26] Steven Ferezy: Sam Mendes.

[28:27] Joel Grey: Yes.

[28:28] Steven Ferezy: Yes.

[28:29] Joel Grey: Um.

[28:30] Steven Ferezy: And it was my first trip to New York, so I immediately I go through my what was it? New York magazine subscription.

[28:37] Joel Grey: And I'm flipping through to see what's showing, and I'll be down. There's a production of cabaret happening.

[28:43] Steven Ferezy: And I made my parents promise that I could see that.

[28:46] Joel Grey: Now Lion King was still new.

[28:49] Steven Ferezy: And my dad tried with all of his might to go see Lion King.

[28:55] Joel Grey: As he should have.

[28:56] Steven Ferezy: Sure.

[28:56] Joel Grey: And also Dads love Lion King.

[28:59] Steven Ferezy: I was seeing nothing if it was not at Studio 54.

[29:02] Joel Grey: Right.

[29:02] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[29:03] Joel Grey: I was seeing nothing.

[29:05] Steven Ferezy: Oh, thank you.

[29:06] Joel Grey: Um.

[29:08] Steven Ferezy: And we got the last two tickets in the last row of the balcony, the far house right corner.

[29:15] Joel Grey: I remember every second of it. I remember I would I got the script from Borders Books Music and Cafe.

[29:23] Joel Grey: R.A.P. And I I mean I read the whole thing. I learned it before going to see it.

[29:28] Joel Grey: Um it changed my whole life.

[29:32] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[29:33] Joel Grey: It changed my whole life.

[29:35] Steven Ferezy: So you're a you're a Santa.

[29:37] Joel Grey: Correct.

[29:38] Steven Ferezy: I'm very much a Candoran ebby.

[29:41] Joel Grey: And so does that make sense?

[29:43] Steven Ferezy: Yeah, there's there's a difference.

[29:45] Joel Grey: There's a difference.

[29:46] Steven Ferezy: And I grew up on anything I could grab my hands on related to Liza Minnelli.

[29:52] Joel Grey: I mean, that was just, you know.

[29:55] Steven Ferezy: Sure.

[29:55] Joel Grey: Liza with a Z, and then it all just kind of goes from there.

[29:58] Joel Grey: But um, it had a big effect on actors and actresses, and uh She's a real deal.

[30:08] Steven Ferezy: She's magic.

[30:09] Joel Grey: She's magic.

[30:10] Joel Grey: She's magic.

[30:11] Joel Grey: And it's on her own. I don't know where she gets it from.

[30:15] Joel Grey: It's anyone's guess.

[30:17] Joel Grey: She was Judy Garland was in many ways um the person whose combination of acting and singing was the most meaningful to me.

[30:35] Joel Grey: She and Mickey Rooney were so good.

[30:40] Joel Grey: And um so I had trouble seeing that movie about her.

[30:45] Steven Ferezy: Which one?

[30:46] Joel Grey: The new one.

[30:47] Steven Ferezy: The new Judy.

[30:48] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[30:48] Joel Grey: I haven't seen it.

[30:49] Joel Grey: And um Renee Zellwager does a great job, but I was too connected.

[30:56] Steven Ferezy: Sure.

[30:57] Joel Grey: Sure.

[30:58] Joel Grey: So maybe it's not for the people who knew Judy.

[31:01] Joel Grey: It's for the people who I think they wanna.

[31:03] Joel Grey: I think it's very successful.

[31:05] Steven Ferezy: Okay.

[31:05] Joel Grey: She's a wonderful actor and um deserves recognition.

[31:11] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[31:12] Joel Grey: Exactly.

[31:12] Steven Ferezy: Um I I want to talk to you about your touring life.

[31:18] Joel Grey: Um, both as Joel Gray, there was the Joel and Liza tour, and then you've toured with productions.

[31:25] Steven Ferezy: And I toured with my cat.

[31:28] Joel Grey: Did you really?

[31:29] Steven Ferezy: What?

[31:30] Joel Grey: I did.

[31:31] Joel Grey: Betty.

[31:32] Steven Ferezy: So I mean, obviously you like traveling.

[31:34] Joel Grey: That you know, that was a way to make a living.

[31:37] Steven Ferezy: I had a family.

[31:37] Joel Grey: Well, I know, but in general, as a human being, I know that you like to travel.

[31:43] Joel Grey: You like to see the world.

[31:44] Steven Ferezy: Well yeah, I do.

[31:45] Joel Grey: Yeah, less and less.

[31:48] Joel Grey: Since I've been so many places, I can Well say that.

[31:53] Steven Ferezy: Exactly.

[31:54] Joel Grey: Exactly.

[31:54] Steven Ferezy: Oh, I love travel.

[31:56] Joel Grey: And did you did you love touring as opposed to staying in one spot?

[32:00] Joel Grey: I did what was so great about it for you.

[32:03] Steven Ferezy: Um what did you do to keep something unique to uh Cleveland, Ohio.

[32:11] Joel Grey: Mm-hmm.

[32:12] Joel Grey: That they don't see. Something that's been crafted by the best Broadway directors and s you know, communicators.

[32:22] Joel Grey: Uh and to bring some magic, 'cause I remember when I was in Cleveland, one of the things that I saw made me crazy.

[32:30] Joel Grey: It was Porky and Biss.

[32:34] Joel Grey: And I thought, boy, you look what that can do to me and to this audience.

[32:42] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[32:43] Joel Grey: And I said I wanna be a part of that.

[32:47] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[32:47] Joel Grey: I mean, there's that Broadway uh there's tourism in New York City.

[32:52] Joel Grey: And so if you're on Broadway, you're there's a local audience and there's an international audience.

[32:58] Joel Grey: There are people traveling from all over the world.

[33:02] Steven Ferezy: Yeah, but when you go to Cleveland belong to them.

[33:05] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[33:06] Joel Grey: No one international is coming to Cleveland.

[33:09] Joel Grey: Like this is for you guys.

[33:10] Joel Grey: This is a local production coming through.

[33:13] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[33:13] Joel Grey: I think that's beautiful.

[33:14] Steven Ferezy: That's how I I mean, I'm from Wisconsin, so that's how I saw shows.

[33:17] Joel Grey: Thank God for the Rosie O'Donnell show 'cause she had Broadway performers on all the time.

[33:22] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[33:23] Joel Grey: She was a great she was spark.

[33:25] Steven Ferezy: Such a spark.

[33:26] Joel Grey: That's such a great word for her.

[33:28] Joel Grey: She was a spark for me, and um, she's how I know a lot of Broadway things.

[33:32] Steven Ferezy: So I was like, thank you.

[33:34] Joel Grey: Um, but yeah.

[33:35] Steven Ferezy: Did you hear that, Rosie?

[33:36] Joel Grey: Do you hear that?

[33:37] Steven Ferezy: I hope Rosie hears that.

[33:38] Joel Grey: I love Rosie.

[33:40] Steven Ferezy: I love her for a lot of reasons, but that's one of them.

[33:43] Joel Grey: Um, guess what I have?

[33:45] Steven Ferezy: Guess what?

[33:46] Joel Grey: Dana brought props.

[33:47] Joel Grey: Guess what I was listening to this morning.

[33:51] Steven Ferezy: So cute!

[33:52] Joel Grey: So cute!

[33:53] Steven Ferezy: Look at you.

[33:54] Joel Grey: I have a record of Joel Gray songs my father taught me, and they're all Yiddish.

[34:01] Joel Grey: For the most part, I think so.

[34:02] Joel Grey: Yiddish in English.

[34:03] Joel Grey: Yiddish in English.

[34:04] Joel Grey: And he is such a dapper young man in this photo.

[34:09] Steven Ferezy: Can you tell me about this record?

[34:11] Joel Grey: I I think it was my first recording, and it was um I was in my maybe late 20s, mid-20s, and I didn't speak Yiddish, but I loved what my father was doing, and Capitol Records said, you know, let's do something with your son.

[34:34] Steven Ferezy: It's so fun.

[34:35] Joel Grey: I I might play a little snippet on here and put it up, put it on there.

[34:40] Joel Grey: But it really brought it back to, I mean, fiddler. I mean, you're you're back to full circle.

[34:46] Joel Grey: It's full circle, and we're all just trying to go home, you know.

[34:49] Joel Grey: Like, you're trying to find point A.

[34:53] Steven Ferezy: And I think that's it's such a gorgeous record.

[34:57] Joel Grey: It's so fun.

[34:58] Joel Grey: I was listening this morning.

[34:59] Steven Ferezy: Like, yes, yeah.

[35:02] Joel Grey: I love it.

[35:03] Joel Grey: I love it.

[35:03] Joel Grey: It'll put you in a good mood.

[35:05] Steven Ferezy: You play LPs?

[35:06] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[35:07] Steven Ferezy: Good girl.

[35:08] Joel Grey: I have a huge collection.

[35:10] Steven Ferezy: Really?

[35:10] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[35:11] Steven Ferezy: And where did you get this?

[35:13] Joel Grey: I was gifted this.

[35:16] Joel Grey: I probably didn't have it.

[35:18] Joel Grey: And it was it's a it's a find.

[35:20] Steven Ferezy: It's a find.

[35:22] Joel Grey: Funny picture, right?

[35:23] Steven Ferezy: I was gonna say so dapper.

[35:24] Joel Grey: You've always you've always been a man of high fashion.

[35:28] Steven Ferezy: Dapper.

[35:29] Joel Grey: Very dapper.

[35:31] Joel Grey: Very um finger on the pulse in the world of fashion, for sure.

[35:36] Steven Ferezy: Really?

[35:37] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[35:38] Steven Ferezy: What would you tell this guy?

[35:40] Joel Grey: Um, just keep going.

[35:43] Joel Grey: Just keep doing it.

[35:44] Joel Grey: No, it's all different now.

[35:47] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[35:48] Steven Ferezy: But that's appropriate.

[35:49] Joel Grey: For sure.

[35:50] Joel Grey: Expected.

[35:52] Steven Ferezy: Your hair looks great.

[35:56] Joel Grey: Mickey Katz is your dad, and he played for Spike Jones.

[36:02] Joel Grey: Yes.

[36:03] Steven Ferezy: I had the biggest crush on Spike Jones.

[36:05] Joel Grey: My father was the guy who went.

[36:08] Joel Grey: Look away!

[36:09] Steven Ferezy: Yes.

[36:09] Joel Grey: I didn't even know that.

[36:10] Joel Grey: I didn't even know.

[36:13] Joel Grey: It's called Glugging.

[36:15] Joel Grey: And he was the best glugger in the business.

[36:18] Steven Ferezy: Okay, so I'm the son of a Glugger.

[36:18] Joel Grey: Son of a Glugger.

[36:22] Joel Grey: That was him.

[36:25] Steven Ferezy: And was it like William Tell Overture?

[36:27] Joel Grey: Like there's so many Spike Jones songs that Spike Jones was brilliant.

[36:32] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[36:33] Joel Grey: Be dickly diggly.

[36:36] Steven Ferezy: So fun.

[36:37] Joel Grey: Have you ever?

[36:37] Joel Grey: I mean, it's so stupid.

[36:38] Steven Ferezy: I didn't know.

[36:39] Joel Grey: It's so stupid.

[36:40] Joel Grey: No, because I think there's so many things you don't know about.

[36:44] Joel Grey: Well, because well, because uh Bet Midler loved him.

[36:48] Joel Grey: And so I was like, who's this guy she likes?

[36:51] Joel Grey: I was like, oh my god, that's so weird.

[36:51] Steven Ferezy: That's so weird.

[36:55] Joel Grey: I loved it.

[36:56] Joel Grey: And I would be the only person in central Wisconsin in, you know, 2001.

[37:01] Joel Grey: Who was it playing Spike Jones orchestra?

[37:05] Steven Ferezy: I had no friends.

[37:07] Joel Grey: Must have been very long.

[37:08] Joel Grey: I was so lonely.

[37:09] Joel Grey: Um I wasn't, but I was really digging my Mac the knife and Spike Jones.

[37:16] Joel Grey: Ah, Glugger.

[37:18] Steven Ferezy: I had no idea.

[37:21] Joel Grey: Wow.

[37:22] Joel Grey: In some secluded ronda.

[37:29] Joel Grey: In some secluded rendezvous.

[37:31] Joel Grey: It's my thing.

[37:32] Joel Grey: I have to listen to that again because I had no idea.

[37:35] Steven Ferezy: Play it.

[37:36] Joel Grey: Play it on this show.

[37:37] Joel Grey: And it's so beautiful.

[37:38] Joel Grey: Like they sing in some secluded rendezvous.

[37:42] Joel Grey: Diggle bum.

[37:49] Steven Ferezy: Okay.

[37:50] Joel Grey: Are you still wedding?

[37:52] Joel Grey: This is my favorite thing.

[37:53] Joel Grey: So happy.

[37:54] Joel Grey: Decided to do this.

[37:55] Joel Grey: I'm in heaven.

[37:56] Joel Grey: Oh my god.

[37:57] Joel Grey: I wish I could have been more prepared.

[38:30] Steven Ferezy: Those are all my questions I have for you, Joel Gray.

[38:33] Joel Grey: Just kidding.

[38:34] Steven Ferezy: Did you know that your career was happening during the height of Broadway?

[38:42] Joel Grey: Oh.

[38:43] Steven Ferezy: Does that make sense?

[38:44] Joel Grey: Like while you mean in a golden age?

[38:46] Steven Ferezy: I mean, while you were here in the 60s, 70s, 80s, I mean, those 30 years.

[38:52] Joel Grey: Well, when I won the Tony for Cabaret.

[38:55] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[38:55] Joel Grey: I figured I probably had a job again someday.

[39:00] Joel Grey: Soon.

[39:01] Steven Ferezy: Sure.

[39:02] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[39:02] Joel Grey: And you did with George M.

[39:04] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[39:04] Joel Grey: Another huge success at the Palace.

[39:07] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[39:08] Joel Grey: With Bernadette.

[39:12] Steven Ferezy: I mean, those are two good ones to have in a row.

[39:15] Joel Grey: Not bad.

[39:16] Steven Ferezy: Not bad.

[39:17] Joel Grey: And then there's Chicago.

[39:19] Steven Ferezy: Fast forward.

[39:20] Joel Grey: Anything goes.

[39:22] Joel Grey: All hits.

[39:23] Steven Ferezy: Wicked, a little show called Wicked.

[39:25] Joel Grey: A little show called Wicked.

[39:27] Joel Grey: The little show that could.

[39:28] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[39:29] Joel Grey: How long were you in that?

[39:30] Joel Grey: A year.

[39:31] Steven Ferezy: A year.

[39:32] Joel Grey: Yeah.

[39:32] Joel Grey: Oh always a year.

[39:34] Steven Ferezy: Always a year.

[39:35] Joel Grey: The first time I ever saw you on stage was in Anything Goes.

[39:38] Steven Ferezy: Really?

[39:39] Joel Grey: Oh yeah?

[39:39] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[39:40] Joel Grey: And I I just I remember being so excited.

[39:42] Joel Grey: I'd seen Anything Goes before, and maybe enough times I w the show was not the draw for me, but I said I've never seen Joel on stage.

[39:50] Joel Grey: I'm not gonna pass that up.

[39:56] Steven Ferezy: That's that story.

[39:57] Joel Grey: It was I remember every minute.

[39:59] Joel Grey: I remember every minute.

[40:01] Steven Ferezy: You do a lot of TV stuff as well.

[40:03] Joel Grey: And films.

[40:05] Steven Ferezy: And films.

[40:06] Joel Grey: Was um the cabaret film the thing that made Hollywood wanna gobble you up for a while?

[40:12] Joel Grey: You're one of the o I think it's only one of ten people who've won uh Tony.

[40:20] Joel Grey: The Tony and the Oscar for playing the same role.

[40:24] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[40:24] Joel Grey: So like Viola Davis in Fences is another example of the other.

[40:28] Joel Grey: Rex Harrison or something.

[40:30] Steven Ferezy: Yep.

[40:31] Joel Grey: There's a whole list.

[40:32] Steven Ferezy: Um one of ten people.

[40:33] Joel Grey: That's pretty great.

[40:33] Joel Grey: I've never thought about it in that categorization before.

[40:38] Steven Ferezy: That's amazing.

[40:39] Joel Grey: Yeah, to be synonymous with a role is it daunting?

[40:45] Joel Grey: Is it lovely?

[40:47] Joel Grey: Is it do you feel like you own it?

[40:50] Joel Grey: What what is that for you?

[40:52] Joel Grey: I do.

[40:54] Joel Grey: All of the above?

[40:55] Steven Ferezy: Do you No, I mean I uh I know that that there was nothing there.

[41:01] Joel Grey: Yeah, you you and Hal and that team and that cast created what it is and what it became.

[41:08] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[41:09] Joel Grey: And of course it's it's uh it's great to be copied, and people do other versions that are interesting and talented, but we spoke about it first.

[41:24] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[41:26] Joel Grey: Is it hard for you to see productions of shows that you were in?

[41:30] Joel Grey: Yes.

[41:31] Steven Ferezy: Yes.

[41:32] Joel Grey: Understandable.

[41:35] Joel Grey: Yeah, absolutely.

[41:38] Joel Grey: I mean, Sam Mendes Cabaret was a whole other show from Hal Prince, I bet.

[41:46] Steven Ferezy: No question.

[41:47] Joel Grey: Undoubtedly.

[41:49] Joel Grey: And valid.

[41:52] Joel Grey: But not the same.

[41:53] Steven Ferezy: Sure.

[41:54] Joel Grey: I mean, cabaret specifically, I can imagine being a very difficult one to go see given your history with it.

[42:02] Joel Grey: Yeah, and all the iterations of Sally Bowles. I mean, you couldn't pick different people to play for, you know? I've done quite a cast of Sally's. And Penny got to play her with you. That's how I know her. I love her. Penny Fuller. You love Penny Fuller. God, I wish I could have seen her in that role. She was good. Really good. She's a wonderful actor. Also, like classically trained. She never thought she'd be in musicals ever. She just wanted to do Shakespeare. That's it. She's a treasure. National. She sends her love to everyone.

[42:49] Steven Ferezy: Speaking of this room, we are in your gorgeous West Village apartment.

[42:55] Joel Grey: Yeah. Wendy Goodman recently did her video series here.

[43:02] Steven Ferezy: I did. That was great. It was so fun. She so genuinely enjoyed everything that she saw. And just everything was more jaw-dropping than the last.

[43:15] Dana Craig: Joel Grey is an artist, you're a photographer, and this apartment really shows that off in a big way. Your aesthetic is very pleasing.

[43:27] Joel Grey: It's a lot of, I mean, the photography's just the past ten years. You can always learn something new, Steven. You've always had a designer's eye, though. I mean, when you moved in here, it was a cement box.

[43:46] Steven Ferezy: Right. What is it about photography? You've had four photography books.

[43:50] Joel Grey: Five.

[43:51] Steven Ferezy: Five. You could purchase on Amazon or wherever you get your books. And the memoir.

[43:57] Joel Grey: And the memoir. Called Master of Ceremonies. A memoir. That was a fun one to be a part of in any capacity. But enough about me. Let's talk about you. What do you think of me?

[44:08] Dana Craig: We like to ask all of our guests what their first impression of each of us was.

[44:18] Joel Grey: She's hiding. Because she can't, I can't speak. Um, well, my first impression of you was earnest and appealing and um, nervous.

[44:36] Steven Ferezy: You picked up on that, huh?

[44:39] Joel Grey: I still got it. Were you a fan before you started working?

[44:44] Steven Ferezy: Oh my god. Because that would be just overwhelming, I think. I grew up with everyone telling me because I was working, I was dancing, I was doing shows all the time, and everyone said, um, you remind me of a young Joel Grey. You remind me of that. I didn't wasn't supposed to.

[45:00] Joel Grey: Oh my god. No wonder we're stopping working. So then, you know, he loves you so much. Full circle moments, having the opportunity to come in and A, meet you, B in your home, C, potentially to spend a lot of time with you.

[45:19] Steven Ferezy: Right. Um, soak it up.

[45:22] Joel Grey: Absolutely. I was absolutely nervous. This is a hero. I sang the last 90 seconds of Cabaret in my fifth grade talent show.

[45:27] Joel Grey: The last 90 seconds?

[45:35] Steven Ferezy: We were only allowed 90 seconds.

[45:37] Joel Grey: Oh, did they have a stopper on the, "Hey Steven, you're done"?

[45:43] Steven Ferezy: So I sang Cabaret for, you know, with the whole, you know, whatever hand movements she's doing for the Winterfest pageant, and I won.

[45:56] Joel Grey: Bitches.

[45:56] Steven Ferezy: Of course you did. Look at you today.

[46:00] Joel Grey: What, pray tell, is a Winterfest pageant?

[46:03] Steven Ferezy: It's when we win a crown in Watoma, Wisconsin. The Go Watoma debutant, Bob.

[46:08] Joel Grey: Yep. Oh, can we go to one?

[46:10] Steven Ferezy: Yep, we do nothing.

[46:11] Joel Grey: But okay, now what did you think of me when you first met me, Joel?

[46:15] Joel Grey: I don't actually know the first time. I thought you were...

[46:15] Steven Ferezy: You do?

[46:15] Joel Grey: Yeah. I thought you were full of it.

[46:24] Steven Ferezy: Full of life and excitement and sharing in his adoring of the theater.

[46:31] Joel Grey: And I was right.

[46:33] Steven Ferezy: True.

[46:49] Joel Grey: True. Do you like directing?

[46:53] Joel Grey: I love it. I don't ever really want to act again.

[46:57] Steven Ferezy: Oh. Is this breaking news?

[47:00] Joel Grey: Breaking news. I'm going off to do a television show. Can you talk about it or is it top secret at the moment?

[47:06] Joel Grey: Uh no, I'll, it's a series called The Old Man, and that's not me.

[47:13] Steven Ferezy: Okay. To be clear, Joel Grey is ageless.

[47:16] Joel Grey: No, he's not ageless, believe me. And you know better. But it's from a book, and it's starring John Lithgow and Jeff Bridges.

[47:34] Steven Ferezy: And it's two men who have massive crushes on.

[47:38] Joel Grey: Good. Three men who have massive crushes.

[47:41] Steven Ferezy: Okay, here we go. So much talent.

[47:43] Joel Grey: So much talent. Have you worked with either of them before?

[47:46] Joel Grey: John.

[47:47] Steven Ferezy: Okay. Yeah. He's a pal. But it's very interesting material. It's about CIA and just insane.

[47:58] Steven Ferezy: What network is it gonna be on?

[48:00] Joel Grey: Uh, Hulu.

[48:01] Steven Ferezy: Oh, beautiful.

[48:02] Joel Grey: FX.

[48:03] Steven Ferezy: And then also Hulu.

[48:05] Joel Grey: It says Hulu. I don't. And FX certainly puts their programming on Hulu.

[48:10] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. So there is what he knows. Probably a partnership. I only know because I watch my FX shows.

[48:17] Joel Grey: Via Hulu.

[48:19] Steven Ferezy: How's the family?

[48:20] Joel Grey: Good, good, good. Jennifer is writing a memoir.

[48:27] Steven Ferezy: How fun. Those will look so nice on my bookshelf side by side.

[48:30] Joel Grey: So great. Amazing. And um, my granddaughter is 18 and deciding which she was admitted to three colleges.

[48:42] Steven Ferezy: Oh, this is a good one. I can't believe she's 18. What does she want to do? Family business?

[48:49] Joel Grey: Who knows? Okay. She's, um, at least she's gonna get to go to college.

[48:54] Steven Ferezy: Sure. She'll figure it out.

[48:56] Joel Grey: That's good. I mean, I wanted to. When I was 18, I got into UCLA.

[49:02] Steven Ferezy: Got it.

[49:03] Joel Grey: And um, I got into a fraternity. And then I got this offer to play my one-man act in Chicago. And my father said, you know, when you get out of college, you're gonna want this job. So I think you should do the job.

[49:27] Steven Ferezy: Wow. What a mensch.

[49:30] Joel Grey: He sounds like the greatest. Yeah. It's like, I'm gonna go to college. Just I'm gonna wanna do this after, so don't make me stop.

[49:39] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. But at least I did. Your college got you here.

[49:43] Joel Grey: Yeah, I'm certainly glad that I went, you know, hindsight.

[49:46] Steven Ferezy: Mm-hmm. Did you know he majored in women's studies?

[49:50] Joel Grey: I'm every woman.

[49:52] Steven Ferezy: Every, it's all in. I love, first of all, I love that we're all in our soft clothes. It's a very like we can.

[49:58] Joel Grey: He has me asked her, he goes, Are you gonna look different?

[50:01] Steven Ferezy: No, I mean when you're a woman. What did you mean?

[50:05] Joel Grey: No, but I came over to podcast and not to work. But also, I mean, I want to do you in drag though. That's on my bucket list.

[50:14] Steven Ferezy: When I look like a Tootsie or like a Mrs. Doubtfire.

[50:16] Joel Grey: No, I wouldn't. I think I'd look like a Mrs. Doubtfire. I would take your eyebrows off. I'd glue them down. I don't think I should be around for this discussion.

[50:24] Steven Ferezy: You won't, but I'll send you a picture.

[50:26] Joel Grey: Okay. We'll do it off campus.

[50:29] Steven Ferezy: Please.

[50:29] Joel Grey: Yeah. Off campus.

[50:30] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. We'll do it at the Joel Grey Frat House at UCLA. I'm curious. This interview is going everywhere, but that's how we do.

[50:38] Joel Grey: Um, that's your editing work.

[50:39] Steven Ferezy: That's my editing work. What is your New York? Are there spots that you love? Do you have pockets of the city that are your favorite?

[50:49] Joel Grey: Oh. What's Joel Grey's New York? Joel Grey's New York is the whole town, of course, but I've always loved the village.

[50:58] Joel Grey: I lived here in a one-room apartment when I first got married. Um, the third floor on eight Jones Street. Right off of um, Westforth. Between Westforth and Bleaker.

[51:17] Steven Ferezy: And I pass it all the time.

[51:18] Joel Grey: So you've always been down here. I moved back to the village sixteen years ago. I lived uptown for most of my Broadway tenure.

[51:33] Steven Ferezy: You have a gorgeous view of the Hudson.

[51:35] Joel Grey: Yeah, this apartment. I mean, you make sense in this apartment and you make sense in the village. If I had to guess based on Andy S the Slep so far. It's the express store.

[51:47] Steven Ferezy: So much fun. It keeps me on the street. But it is. I don't have to transfer trains, so yeah.

[51:55] Joel Grey: It's a straight shot.

[51:57] Steven Ferezy: Straight shot. Oh. That's good.

[51:59] Joel Grey: Yeah. I just have to sit down and tune out for a little while.

[52:04] Steven Ferezy: Do you take the train anymore? Like do you do absolutely?

[52:07] Joel Grey: Absolutely. I've been on a train. It's the fastest way to get somewhere.

[52:12] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. I'm just, I love you so much. This is such an honor.

[52:16] Joel Grey: So sweet.

[52:17] Steven Ferezy: I'm having a moment.

[52:19] Joel Grey: Mom.

[52:20] Steven Ferezy: I'm having a moment. I high there are seven very well-known dwarves in history. If you were the eighth dwarf, what would your name be?

[52:39] Joel Grey: Schmandrick.

[52:40] Steven Ferezy: Schmandrick dwarf?

[52:44] Joel Grey: There wasn't even a thought. You've been asked this before.

[52:48] Joel Grey: Never. This may seem shocking, but you're the first.

[52:52] Steven Ferezy: You're the first Schmendric Dwarf. Does that have a, what does that mean?

[52:56] Joel Grey: What does that mean? What? My grandma used to call me Schmendrick. Schmendrick is the...

[53:02] Steven Ferezy: What is it? I'm sixa, I have no idea.

[53:05] Joel Grey: I'm just a regular guy.

[53:08] Steven Ferezy: Schmendrick.

[53:09] Joel Grey: Yeah. Average Joe.

[53:12] Steven Ferezy: Do you think you're an average Joe?

[53:15] Joel Grey: Some people can well. No, but imagine a Schmendrick. I mean, I think I'm a man of the universe.

[53:22] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[53:23] Joel Grey: I'm a part of life. So I think I am an average Joe.

[53:29] Steven Ferezy: You're a square in the quilt.

[53:30] Joel Grey: I'm a very strange ordinary guy.

[53:36] Steven Ferezy: That's great. Because we all have our eccentricities, but we're all just normal.

[53:41] Joel Grey: Yeah. No, I think that's terribly accurate. Terribly accurate. Yeah, I think you're a very regular guy with a very cool career.

[53:50] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. And we already know what's next for you. You're gonna do a series.

[53:56] Joel Grey: Well, three.

[53:58] Steven Ferezy: How many days is that?

[53:59] Joel Grey: Three or four. I don't know. But I gotta get going.

[54:03] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. Thank you so much for spending your Saturday afternoon with us. In your home. And the sun is shining.

[54:10] Joel Grey: I know, I was so glad when I woke up and it wasn't raining because I knew we'd get a podcast with a view.

[54:10] Dana Craig: It's special song.

[54:10] Joel Grey: A podcast with a view.

[54:22] Steven Ferezy: We'll commission someone.

[54:25] Joel Grey: And you. A podcast with a view.

[54:29] Steven Ferezy: And a Jew.

[54:30] Joel Grey: Or two.

[54:32] Steven Ferezy: Adieu.

[54:33] Joel Grey: Adieu. Um you and you and you and you. I guess this is where the word we say thank you for listening. Um, Al Vita Sain.

[54:45] Joel Grey: Abianto. See ya.

[54:48] Steven Ferezy: Bye.

[54:49] Joel Grey: Bye.

[54:51] Steven Ferezy: See ya.

[54:57] Joel Grey: In the Room with Steven and Dana is produced by Steven Ferezy and Dana Craig. Special thanks to Joel Wagoner for tinkling the ivories on our theme song. Hit him up at joelwagoner.com. We apologize, and you're welcome. We'd also like to thank Jesse Wiener, W I E N E R, for our jazzy original music sprinkled throughout each episode. You can find him at jessewiener.com. Last but certainly not least, we'd like to thank Kevin Thomas Garcia for taking all of our ridiculous photos. You can find him online at ktgnyc.com. We are all over the internet on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at In the Room Pod. Follow us, like us, share us, pamp us out. And don't forget to subscribe to In the Room Podcast. We're everywhere, so subscribe. And thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much.