This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:03] Diego: Stage is set for a unique adventure every night at the 20-sided tavern. Whether you're toasting with shots of celebration or rolling for initiative against dangerous foes, every decision is yours to make. Join the action on stage or choose your hero's pathways from your seat. The spell has been cast, and the only missing ingredient is you. Welcome adventurers to the 20-sided tavern.

[0:34] Heather Bedor: I mean absolutely disrespected by one of my friends today. It's weird. Okay, cool. Well, hello, everybody. Um, welcome to the show. This is our special edition. We're so happy to be here. Um, yes, even though this voice is coming out of me, it's still Heather. That is Amber, and the handsome gentleman below us, that is Diego. Um, he's joining us from the 20-sided tavern. We are so excited to have a special edition to talk all things D&D, all things, this incredible show that I am absolutely obsessed with. Um, so feel free if you're on, jump into the comments. If not, we're just gonna have a good time talking, and I have like maybe 10 videos, uh, short little snippets, because it's allowed in the theater, um, of all the crazy stuff that I've seen Diego do in the last couple of times I've seen the show.

[1:21] Diego: Oh my god, I can't even imagine like the amount of video evidence of me doing strange things. I, you know, and Amber, we always talk about this too, like theater etiquette, like don't record, don't take photos. And then so when I go into the show, and they're like, oh yeah, we totally encourage you to record and take photos, and you're gonna be interacting on your phone, and there's Wi-Fi, and I'm going, what did I just get myself into?

[1:47] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah. When Heather was like, Oh, I have videos from the show, I was like, You have what from the show? Yeah, you have what did you do? What? Yeah, he knows it. It is we are unlike any other house on Broadway. I mean, we were actively asking people to have their phones out to take photos, take videos. I think it really it's nice to kind of, you know, be in that theatrical setting.

[2:10] Diego: Yeah. And it's just like you're just like chill out a little bit. Like everyone's like sitting back in their seat a little bit. Um, it's also like personally, I love seeing all the weird videos and angles. Like, because I we know we do so many shows after every show, I just like flush it from my memory.

[2:26] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, don't worry, I'll happily bring some of those memories right back to you. Uh, it's fantastic.

[2:33] Heather Bedor: Well, for people that might not know about the show, let's start by doing that. And I think you're gonna be the best person to describe what the 20-sided tavern is. Um, give us kind of like an introspective look.

[2:45] Diego: See, I have a concussion. I'm gonna use that word solid excuse. But it's true, yeah, it's cool. Uh, but really, like tell people what the 20-sided tavern is, how you got involved, like give us like that background history, the Diego style.

[2:58] Diego: Yeah, uh so Dungeons and Dragons at 20 Sided Tavern is an immersive, interactive Dungeons and Dragons improv show. Uh it is not something where you are having to sit back in your chair and uh just passively watch. You're an active participant every step of the way. There's a QR code you scan at the top, and throughout the entire journey, you help influence the decisions that the characters on stage make.

[3:23] Diego: Uh, one of the most important ones that happens at the top of the show is the audience picks which characters the players will be playing that evening. Uh so it's completely immersive, it's interactive, it's fun, it's in your face.

[3:34] Amber Brzezinski: And well, yeah, and something I like too is that I'm not to cut you off, but I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, yeah, we get to pick like what the characters are, like, you know, are they like this romantic surf baby or you know crazy things you would never think of, um, which I have videos of. But also, as the audience, an audience member, when you get your playbill inside of it, and I have the mage one, I'm sorry, I don't have a trickster or warrior, but like you get this whole free souvenir.

[4:00] Amber Brzezinski: Um, and this tells you who you're partnered with in the party, which is so we love to like you ever once you walk in, you get a sticker in your program, and you're split up into one of the three groups.

[4:11] Diego: Uh so that way when you log in on your phone, you can uh go ahead and choose which cohort you're aligned with that night.

[4:17] Diego: Um it's been fun because like people come to the show multiple times.

[4:20] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, yeah.

[4:21] Diego: Uh, and one of the things they try to do is they try to collect the whole trifecta. They try to get a warrior sticker, a mage sticker, and a trickster sticker. The girl I sat next to last time, she and I were both by ourselves, and we happen to sit in front of David Carpenter's partner um without knowing it.

[4:35] Amber Brzezinski: And oh yeah, and she's like, I've seen the show 37 times.

[4:41] Diego: Damn.

[4:42] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah.

[4:43] Diego: I mean, we have some super fans. There are some folks who like I've got I have been coming to the show since previews in April, and or yeah, April.

[4:52] Diego: And uh it's been fun, just kind of like you know, to see a familiar face in the audience, like they know the spiel, they know the deal, like, and we just get to kind of connect, catch up, and there's a really strong community vibe at the 20 Sided Tavern.

[5:05] Amber Brzezinski: I mean the first time I went, some people were dressed up.

[5:08] Diego: And then the last time I went, like it was like walking into the Renaissance fair.

[5:12] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[5:12] Diego: Oh my god, it was so like full head to toe. It's amazing. Like, people are so creative, so imaginative, and like that's a fun thing. It's like you can bring all of yourself to the 20 Sided Tavern, you especially if that includes you wearing just like a loincloth and carrying a styrofoam axe everywhere.

[5:28] Amber Brzezinski: Have you had that?

[5:30] Diego: Yes.

[5:31] Amber Brzezinski: Okay, cool.

[5:31] Diego: I think at opening night.

[5:34] Diego: And I have to say, the um interactiveness that doesn't even just begin at the theater because I was like browsing around on the website, and it literally starts from the minute you're interested in buying tickets.

[5:48] Diego: Because if you go on the website, when you go to buy tickets, you can even choose like pick my seats for me.

[5:55] Diego: Like let me randomly roll the dice and have my seats before me. I loved it. It like makes you feel like you're a part of the game from the second you start your experience.

[6:06] Amber Brzezinski: From top to bottom, yeah, it's a whole experience.

[6:08] Diego: I mean, the show is made by the fans for the fans. Like everyone that you see on stage loves like role playing that we love improv. We love kind of just seeing whatever random energy we're gonna get from the crowd.

[6:21] Diego: Uh and it's yeah, no, it's it's holistic. Like from the time you like you said, buy a ticket until the time you leave the tavern. You have a say in how the story goes, and part of that say is allowing the randomness to come in.

[6:33] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[6:34] Diego: And it's so much fun to try to pull this up here. So this is um, I was like looking through trying to find the map too, because when you first go in, as you're walking up, there is this gorgeous map.

[6:47] Amber Brzezinski: Yes.

[6:48] Diego: Oh my god, let me see. I have like a small video of it, but it's too fast. But I found one on Reddit.

[6:53] Diego: So thank you to this Reddit person. I'm going to share your photo if that's okay.

[6:59] Amber Brzezinski: Thank you, Reddit.

[7:00] Diego: Uh thank you, Reddit. Um, standby.

[7:03] Diego: Yeah, no, it's that giant map of the Forgotten Realms, and it is a sight to behold.

[7:10] Amber Brzezinski: Hold on, I have to apparently go through this.

[7:13] Diego: This is fun.

[7:13] Diego: Cool. I love Chat GPT. Thanks for personalizing my experience, Reddit.

[7:18] Amber Brzezinski: Um, it's very prepared to do that.

[7:20] Diego: Oh my god, that's kind of sick to see that like on Reddit.

[7:23] Amber Brzezinski: I've never I have I'm on Reddit like a lot and I haven't seen like this.

[7:27] Diego: I'm on the Dungeons and Dragons subreddit. That's actually kind of surreal. And there's the theater, but yeah.

[7:32] Amber Brzezinski: Oh my goodness.

[7:33] Diego: Yeah, so it is really cool. It's cool.

[7:35] Diego: And Diego, like, walk us through besides this guy's like really cool man. Walk us through.

[7:39] Diego: Um, because this map is also projected on stage. Like, we're kind of given an idea when we're there too.

[7:46] Diego: Yeah, so that's uh meant to be like the western shore of Faerûn, which is like kind of the continent uh that the story takes place in, but our story specifically takes place in Waterdeep.

[8:00] Diego: Uh it'll be like right on the coast, about midway up on on that map right there. But it is it's immersive.

[8:07] Diego: Like, that's one of the greatest things about like being able to use the Dungeons and Dragons like IP from Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro is that we don't have to shy away from like the actual like named elements.

[8:07] Diego: We don't have to yes, uh we can like lean full in to like being we are a Dungeons and Dragons officially like licensed experience.

[8:26] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[8:26] Diego: Um and yeah, we get to use all the fun names, all the like uh intellectual property.

[8:32] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I mean it's that's really so incredible what the production's been able to pull through, and like to see the show grow is just so impressive.

[8:41] Amber Brzezinski: And I think I told you last time I was at the show. I had actually um I decided to rush that day because Felicia was here. Obviously, I wanted to come and see you guys, but I'm like, oh I I'm sure like the line is gonna be out the door for rush, and like I'm gonna get there an hour early.

[8:55] Diego: It was just me.

[8:57] Amber Brzezinski: Um for like 20 minutes, and I was like, what are people like sleeping on? And then people started to show up.

[9:03] Diego: And the people that showed up had just gotten off of a board game charter cruise to Canada.

[9:08] Amber Brzezinski: Whoa.

[9:09] Diego: That was like the most random thing. And I'm like, so explain this to me. They're like, yeah, when we take a cruise, and like all we do is play board games, and then we go to Canada.

[9:18] Amber Brzezinski: And then there was like a banquet hall, and there's like thousands of people just playing board games.

[9:23] Diego: And I'm like, Yeah, D like that's amazing.

[9:27] Amber Brzezinski: They're like, we've never played, but we figured we'd catch on pretty quickly.

[9:30] Diego: That's so cool.

[9:32] Amber Brzezinski: Oh my goodness.

[9:32] Diego: So I sat there talking them into the show.

[9:35] Diego: I would love to do that. One, I've always wanted to go on a cruise. I think that might be like one of my red flags. I've never been at like people who've gone on cruises have been like, you don't want to go on a cruise, but I've always thought the idea of an all you can eat or drink buffet out in the open ocean sounds like a good time.

[9:51] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, you don't have to think about anything. You get to go to these.

[9:52] Diego: I'm a fan of cruises.

[9:55] Diego: You get to like have entertainment, like try food from all over the place. You like meet people.

[10:00] Amber Brzezinski: So I go to the Broadway cruise.

[10:02] Diego: Um, I love it.

[10:03] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, there's a Broadway cruise.

[10:05] Diego: Um oh yeah, I'll tell you.

[10:08] Diego: Like, I'm like, I'm realizing just how yeah, you name it. There's a cruise for it.

[10:14] Amber Brzezinski: That's very accurate.

[10:16] Diego: Yeah, the one that I go to.

[10:17] Diego: So last year I didn't go to the first one. I went to the second one, and it's literally Broadway the entire time.

[10:23] Diego: They're playing Broadway music, like as you're going onto the ship, everything's themed, there's theme nights.

[10:28] Diego: So this one we had like Christian Borle and um Cheyenne Jackson and like Norm Lewis, and like Norm Lewis, who is a phantom of the Opera is handing out ice cream.

[10:38] Amber Brzezinski: Um like so much fun, and like just it was so cool.

[10:42] Diego: And then they're gonna be doing one next year with like Wayne Brady and Shoshana Bean and Corey Cott.

[10:48] Amber Brzezinski: But yeah, I mean there's a cruise you need to get I'll send you the information.

[10:51] Diego: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[10:52] Diego: No, hook me up.

[10:53] Diego: Like, I'm definitely trying to go on a cruise in 2025.

[10:56] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, yeah, no. We we got you.

[10:58] Diego: We got you.

[10:59] Diego: But yeah, so I mean, I love that interaction.

[11:01] Amber Brzezinski: And Amber's right, it really does start from the beginning and then goes through um how did you get involved with the show?

[11:08] Diego: Yeah, so um, I actually happened to see the show uh when it was touring in Chicago, I believe that would have been in 2022 winter into 2023, like January.

[11:25] Diego: Yes. Uh I was uh grew up in Virginia, but I've been living in Chicago for the past couple of years.

[11:30] Amber Brzezinski: Nice.

[11:31] Diego: Um, and while I was there, one of my co-workers from Drunk Shakespeare had mentioned that she had gotten tickets for something called the 20 Sided Tavern.

[11:40] Diego: Uh, and she knew that I was into Dungeons and Dragons. And so she took me to the show, and uh I saw the show and I was like blown away.

[11:49] Diego: I was like, oh my god, this is like very similar to like like the the type of work that I want to be doing. This is exactly where I want to be.

[11:56] Diego: So um I was able to connect with uh some of the folks from the cast back then, and uh like kind of just stayed connected, followed everyone on Instagram, followed the 20 Sided Tavern.

[12:07] Diego: Uh after they finished up their time in Chicago, like things went dark for a little bit.

[12:12] Diego: Uh didn't hear anything from it, and then all of a sudden, in February of 2024, uh I got like two text messages from two separate friends that were like, Diego, the show is casting, you would be perfect for it.

[12:26] Amber Brzezinski: In February of this year?

[12:28] Diego: February of this year, yeah.

[12:29] Amber Brzezinski: Oh my god, it was such a short turnaround time for you.

[12:31] Diego: Very short turnaround.

[12:32] Diego: Um, I went for the audition uh in late February, and then uh had the callback in New York.

[12:42] Diego: So I flew from Chicago to New York for a couple of days, did the callback, was in the final callbacks.

[12:48] Diego: By the time I was in Chicago that Friday, I got the phone call, and then two weeks later, I was in New York.

[12:53] Diego: Uh so it was really, really fast uh turnaround.

[12:57] Diego: Um but I didn't adapt it quickly, clearly.

[13:00] Diego: Yeah, I mean it's kind of like crazy. Like I when I was in Chicago, I did over 400 performances with uh Drunk Shakespeare.

[13:08] Diego: Um, and that is a kind of a very similar style of theater in the sense that you are yourself on stage playing a heightened version of yourself, playing a character. Uh and so I was very familiar with like the form and the content.

[13:22] Right. Um, and then I've been doing improv for like half of my life at this point since I was like 14. So it really just kind of aligned very well. Like, you know, people always say, like when you're trying to get along as an actor that every now and then like that project comes along that's like perfect for you.

[13:40] Right. And this was that moment for me. Like, I think I really like that that's a challenge to a lot of actors, like being in this industry, having a lot of friends, like they're performers and production, and also for our friends that are joining us. I know the Diego art forgot to warn you.

[13:55] Our numbers look really small when you look at the top of the screen. And then at the end, we're like, oh, we had 3,000 viewers live. So um, if anybody is out there that actually wants to ask Diego any questions or comments, or if you've ever been to the show, please don't hesitate to jump into the comment section.

[14:08] Um, but yeah, Diego, so like as a performer, I think you and this is no disrespect to any performer out there. I think you guys work so much harder. Improv is, yeah, it can come naturally to some people, but like you don't really have a script.

[14:24] You it's like the Blair Witch project. Like you have an idea of like where you're going, but like everything can turn and change because you have no idea what's happening on stage. Somebody could say it's to me, it could change the whole project, everything's different, and you're constantly utilizing your brain.

[14:40] And you specifically are extremely physical when it comes. I will show a video in just a second. Um, of like you throw yourself all over the damn stage. If you really um up every night.

[14:56] Oh, 100%. I mean, we we all got bruises, especially if we're getting if we forget to take a die out of our pockets uh at some point and then we're rolling around, like we'll end up with big these big old bruises on our thighs.

[15:07] It is like a whole different type of show because like with uh, you know, with a traditional, you know, stage play, you have your lines like you know, you're present in the moment, but at the at a certain point, you know, you can kind of like sit back a little bit, kind of ride the groove.

[15:22] Uh with this, like you were saying, yeah, it's always you always have to be listening because the story is completely different. One day we might be like pickleball tournament hopefuls. The next day we just broke grandma out of old Catraz and we're like on the run from the law.

[15:38] Like it is so different every single night. And I think that that's one of the reasons why we have folks who like to come back over and over again, because you have these kind of characters that you get to pick from.

[15:49] And you know, recently we've introduced a couple of new characters, which has been really fun.

[15:53] Wait, since like a month ago?

[15:55] Uh oh yeah, over the past like two months, um, when uh Abrea Iyengar was with the show, we debuted two new characters, uh Svezda, which is like an astrology dwarven girly.

[16:08] Okay, and Katya, who is a tabaxi cat burglar, tabaxi uh if you don't happen to know is uh like a cat person, like a very a feline, like Hermione in uh Chamber of Secrets after she's one of my cosplays.

[16:21] Yeah, it's great.

[16:22] Yeah, yeah, cool. And so we and we got other ones that are uh when um Erica Ishii is here from December 5th through the 17th, uh uh they'll be debuting a another character from the TST archive.

[16:35] Oh, that's amazing.

[16:36] Yeah, so it'll be fun. Like there's exactly because even even if the characters are you know, generally like even if one performer likes to play a character in one way, the context of the story that they're in is always gonna be different because we don't know, like you say, we don't know what's gonna happen until we get on stage.

[16:56] Well, and then I'm gonna show a video that uh let's see. I'm gonna I'm gonna cue it up here and then I'll show it. Um you don't you guys kind of well, how about the let's let's start with the word crumble here.

[17:10] If you don't know what DD is and you've never played the game, you can still enjoy the hell out of the show.

[17:15] Absolutely. We teach you everything you need to know, like and it's kind of like a learn as you go thing. You kind of get a an idea of the broad concepts as the in the first like 15 minutes of the show.

[17:25] And then by the time, you know, the only thing you need to remember is die number high good, die number low, bad, and then just kind of roll from there.

[17:34] It's very like a a sports thing almost.

[17:36] Like and I'm glad you said that because I have a video that will show that.

[17:40] Yeah, hold on, hold on one second.

[17:45] Uh here we go. So I'm as Diego said, die high, good, die low, bad.

[17:52] Here we go.

[17:54] In actual one is not our thing. And we need to play around as bad a job as possible, often with disastrous results.

[18:00] Okay, no, but you know, that's a great one.

[18:15] I have a couple more where everybody's oh, look at my face off. Um everybody's all over the place.

[18:21] But it's you guys start off explaining that there's drinks that kind of flow on stage.

[18:26] Um, and they're real drinks from what I've yes, yes. If you want to drink, there is an opportunity to drink on stage.

[18:32] Obviously, we never like force anyone to do anything, but like honestly, taking a shot of pickle juice when you roll a Nat one is punishment enough.

[18:39] I mean, I think it's very fortunate because I got pulled up on stage to roll the gigantic leather.

[18:46] Yeah, and um, I did not get the pickle juice.

[18:49] I was very happy about that, but I would have taken it like a champ.

[18:52] So that's great.

[18:53] Yeah, yeah. I mean, it the dice have always have their own idea, they have their own machinations.

[18:59] Absolutely.

[19:00] Amber Brzezinski: Have you ever played Dungeons and Dragons?

[19:03] I have not.

[19:04] I'm complete.

[19:06] I've watched people play Dungeons and Dragons, but I've never like dived in.

[19:11] I am what the kids call a poor sport at board game.

[19:16] You're poor sport.

[19:18] Okay, I can see that.

[19:19] Okay, fair.

[19:20] So I tend to sort of stay away from playing games because I like throw tantrums when I don't win, and like I've been known to throw the scrabble board like across the room.

[19:31] Oh yeah, I I've been known to be like that guy.

[19:35] So but I don't know.

[19:37] It sounds like you got a barbarian inside of you.

[19:40] I do, yeah.

[19:42] That see, and it's a good spin on it.

[19:44] Like you really could like Dungeons and Dragons is such a good game for everybody because you really it's not like a I'm gonna win now you journey together.

[19:53] You have this adventure together.

[19:54] Um and like everything I've seen with the cast too and it's been a couple of different people on cast they've seen you guys are such a family.

[20:02] Like you guys it's incredible to watch that kind of like magic happen truly I gotta give a big shout out to our director Michael Fell and the casting team uh because they really found a bunch of people who are excited to be in the same room together who are excited to play who are open for new ideas, new energies, new vibes who know how to lead and when to follow uh it is really honestly I'm I'm so privileged to be I working with some I think some of the most open and respectful and generous human beings like working uh on 42nd street right now.

[20:38] Yeah.

[20:39] Um I am looking for a video there's I've got a couple I mean I I'm honestly just tempted to kind of throw through some of these short little snippets if you want to we'll just throw them at you and then let's see how you feel about a little bit of a long one but it kind of shows a camaraderie too.

[20:59] And you guys have like some cool people coming in and out of the show.

[21:03] I like I think we have Travis McElroy coming in who's like name.

[21:08] So that'll be very excited.

[21:10] I think in end of end of this month, beginning of this.

[21:12] End of this month, yeah, like right right before Thanksgiving, I believe, is Travis's first show, uh, through the end of the week, uh, or or for a week.

[21:21] Uh and yeah, no, it's it's been exciting.

[21:23] It's like kind of like, you know, a lot of these people who we've all as nerds like kind of these past couple of years have been watching on TV, watching on YouTube, listening to them on podcasts and on our phones.

[21:34] Like suddenly like we're in the same space as them.

[21:37] And not only are we like it feels like peers.

[21:41] Like you know, we're we're both we're all in the same type of space making uh similar types of storytelling content.

[21:48] And it it is such a good community.

[21:51] I I've really enjoyed getting to meet Felicia Day and Abrea Iingar.

[21:55] And I'm so excited to meet Travis and start getting to play with him.

[21:59] Well you're kind of D royalty too though with Dungeon I know.

[22:03] Now yeah yeah this ain't my first podcast with the professional equipment but yeah tell us a little bit about dungeon busters too.

[22:16] Yeah actually it's so funny that you mentioned that because uh my co-host and co-creator of Dungeon Busters uh podcast that we have uh was just in town uh this morning for an audition uh here in New York he's based in Chicago as well Michael Hyatt um but yeah no we have this podcast called Dungeon Busters the premise is that every episode is its own like standalone like DD lesson.

[22:41] Um we take a look at different things like chases or how to run infiltration or uh you know how to uh run a specific monster.

[22:51] We found that there was a lot of DD content out there by a lot of wonderful people but a lot of it is couched in these hour long actual plays that are kind of a little hard to parse through and digest especially if you're just kind of looking for a quick reference for how to do something in the context of Dungeons and Dragons.

[23:08] So Michael and I got together back in Chicago and we created Dungeon Busters and every episode we take a look at a different facet of the Dungeons and Dragons game and give you a practical example for how to run it and how to uh put it in your game if you'd like to so it's like Amber that would be really good like once we get you into playing um for you to start to learn well you know I always wanted to DM and I've like dungeon master like it's the person who's essentially telling the story um that I played and I've done some things I'm like I don't feel like I'd be that creative but then you start to learn different methods and that's right really kind of different campaigns.

[23:46] Over the course of uh COVID I got like all my work dried up once you know the pandemic hit and um my wife uh recommended to me to put up a listing on Fiverr.com and be like we'll run DD game for money.

[24:05] Um genius idea it if if that had not happened I don't think I would be where I am today because before that I'd play DD in high school played a little bit in college you know I'd always kind of stayed tangentially like aware of the game and everything.

[24:21] But it wasn't until everything shut down that I was like man, rent's due on the first I need to do something Sierra gave me this fantastic idea.

[24:30] Yeah.

[24:30] And uh after I I had the listing up for like a week or two, and then I got a message from a group of people based in California, and then we ended up playing together for the next like year and a half of the lockdown.

[24:42] Um, and it like you were saying it like at as you go on that journey as a dungeon master, your style evolves.

[24:49] Like the type of prep work that I used to do when I was first starting out is completely different from how I would prepare for a session now.

[24:56] Yeah.

[24:56] Oh, we got fur tax.

[24:58] Sorry.

[24:59] Yes.

[25:07] Hit me up.

[25:08] Sky's looking for a home.

[25:10] Let's get sky home.

[25:12] Yeah, we always have fur tax because Amber fosters lots of cute animals.

[25:18] So we've seen like baby kittens and giant doggies and little doggies.

[25:22] Yeah, it's great.

[25:24] Still waiting for the giant kittens.

[25:27] Oh, giant.

[25:28] Oh, trust me.

[25:29] So my friends on the cat cafe here in Orlando.

[25:31] There's a 27-pound cat right now.

[25:34] 27 pounds.

[25:35] 27 pound cat.

[25:36] But there's also a cat that I think is part liquid, which is the werewolf cat.

[25:41] What?

[25:42] Oh, do you not know about Lycoids?

[25:44] No.

[25:44] Oh, we will talk off air about this.

[25:46] Yeah.

[25:49] Uh, my ex was obsessed with them.

[25:51] They literally look like little werewolves.

[25:53] Yes.

[25:54] Oh my god, you're absolutely right.

[25:56] And they look like little nocturnal Marsupian or something.

[26:00] Yeah, they're adorable.

[26:01] And they're super cute cats.

[26:02] I feel like they it belongs to like trees of Madagascar.

[26:07] Diego: Yeah.

[26:07] Diego: Yeah.

[26:07] Diego: Or just like in the forest being all spooky.

[26:10] Diego: Yeah. I always joke, I'm like, when the cat cafe closes at night, it you know falls into full transformation of the werewolf, and then oh the full moon.

[26:17] Diego: Yeah, exactly.

[26:19] Diego: All right. Let me show you guys some of these videos so you can see the hilarity and the intensity of how the show goes. Here we go.

[26:25] Diego: Push me luck. There we go. It's like we don't want to see random.

[26:34] Diego: Oh Mario. Oh, dude, the tequila is flowing and the Diego is going.

[26:42] Diego: Uh, do you have a fun fact you'd have to share with everyone?

[26:44] Diego: Uh yeah, uh, the most recent thing I stole would have had to have been uh I had a hole in my pants that I needed to get patched, and it didn't feel like paying for the bathroom at Walmart. So I just like stuck it in my pocket and walked out. Nobody's talking all my definition of fun for my back.

[27:06] Diego: Uh just your prices at the baggy. Let's choose your character.

[27:09] Diego: All right, Drexel! This is such a throwback. It's been such a minute since I've been the teacher.

[27:21] Diego: Oh, okay, alright. You can't play the guy trying. But let's go ahead and take the line going to be playing today. Well, I'd be A, a wizard gone rogue, B, a little baggie, or C, a spicy barn. It's your choice.

[27:51] Diego: You gotta move.

[27:53] Diego: Thank you, Chemmer is as far as it's gonna be. Man, this is like from early on because I think this was like one of my earlier versions of the character. This one is only very sexy for now.

[28:22] Diego: Thank you. That's so nice.

[28:24] Diego: Oh, you're supposed to be going on the next. That's one of the things I love about like Cassidy as a dungeon master is that they have a different handshake for every single cast member.

[28:37] Diego: Yes. Uh so like anytime you see like you have a show with Cassidy, you got your own like little special handshake that makes it.

[28:44] Diego: I love it. I mean, that's that's really that like sub special magic. Like you don't find that anywhere else.

[28:50] Diego: All right, here's a little snippet.

[28:53] Diego: Oh my goodness!

[29:00] Diego: I haven't seen you since you know the tomb incident.

[29:04] Diego: What? What's what are you talking about?

[29:09] Diego: It was disgusting. Can you give me a little more conjecture?

[29:12] Diego: Yes, he says you were trying to pay the tomb on, and then a tarrask just came in.

[29:19] Diego: Oh, you run this one right here?

[29:21] Diego: Yes! Oh, you got the fix! Oh!

[29:27] Diego: Oh, oh, actually, I love privatized health insurance.

[29:41] Diego: Oh my goodness! Do you cause to care to relate to this conversation and uh let us know what just happened there that you just yeah so uh at the top of the show, like one of the very first dials that we do in in the show is um trying to talk our way out of paying a bar tab with the bartender at the Curious Hedgehog.

[30:01] Diego: Uh so every player on stage gets to roll, uh, and whoever rolls the highest gets to take the lead on this interaction. Uh I even though Tamborlaine, I think has like a plus. Also, one you have the option to either deceive or persuade the bartender to not pay your bar tab.

[30:19] Diego: In the entire time I've done this show, people have only chosen persuasion twice.

[30:24] Diego: Wow.

[30:25] Diego: Yeah, people love to choose a lie. So, yes, this this was definitely me. Honestly surprised I rolled low as Tamberlin because he has like a plus like seven to deception. Uh, but yeah, no, sometimes sometimes the dice have a different plan in mind.

[30:41] Diego: It really is just so much fun and like to see the DM kind of running through all these different roles too, kind of get the game rolling through. Um, oh, there's more, don't worry. Delicious. Here's a longer clip.

[30:59] Diego: The enormous televangelical Pippo Pop.

[31:10] Diego: One more time, let's roll for initiative, everybody.

[31:13] Diego: Yeah, this is that this is after I switched over to the warrior.

[31:18] Diego: That is a 12 plus one into 13. 13, that is. That is a twelve!

[31:25] Diego: Nothing hits like a mat 20. I'm rolling at the right time.

[31:31] Diego: What is this one to, my love? Oh my gosh. Um, this shot goes to uh playing DG with all the Michael Sons on Sunday plus one, my conferences.

[31:42] Diego: Um that is a 20 plus two for whatever message. You've given me a negative one to dexterity thanks for nothing.

[31:53] Diego: 19 minus one is 18. So John Paul will be up for excuse me, Barry will be up first, followed by John Paul, then the hippopotamus, and then Ethel finally.

[32:05] Diego: So in this moment, you arm yourself, you're ready for combat, but before any of you can react, before you can even breathe, the hippopotamus is going to take a layer action and I think all three of you at once.

[32:17] Diego: So we don't have every animal back here, but this is gonna be one.

[32:23] Diego: This is great. We fight every at the end of every night is just entirely dependent on the suggestions that the audience gives us.

[32:31] Diego: Yeah. And oh my gosh, Connor always loves to pick like the most out there like type of animals and adjective suggestions. It all comes together so quickly.

[32:40] Diego: The difference between Connor and Cassidy was impeccable. Yeah, so lovable both ways. That's one thing that's really great about this show, is like it really offers folks like you're not trying to do the character like one specific way.

[32:55] Diego: Like different interpretations of different roles like vary. Like that's we have so many different flavors. Like when Cassidy DMs, it's one flavor. When Connor does it, and when Alex Murray does it, it's a whole different vibe.

[33:07] Diego: Yeah. And then yeah, we just roll with it. Like there's uh a different type of fusion that happens.

[33:11] Diego: I get what he said, roll with it. Nice, very nice.

[33:14] Diego: Yeah. Gotta learn. Have you ever had any like particularly like memorable or like super exciting like audience participation kind of experiences that come to mind?

[33:28] Diego: There was one time I was playing um Wandro the the Wizard, uh, and he's like kind of like uh an assassin, a rogue who is masquerading as like an all-powerful wizard, uh, when in reality he just has quicks hands and a butterfly knife for a wand.

[33:46] Diego: Um and he was a lot of fun, and I went went out to go pick someone from the audience for uh one of the games we play on stage, and I saw this person who was like in almost an identical costume, like blue robe, fake beard, pointy hat. I got them on stage, and we it was so funny because we were just standing there next to each other full of beard, exactly like twinning. It was so so funny.

[34:13] Diego: Um yeah, we got a lot of like great audience name suggestions. My favorite name that we ever got for an MPC from the audience was Redacted.

[34:23] Diego: Oh god.

[34:29] Diego: That's awesome. I don't know. The show that the last show in September, the uh part of that clip, um nobody was coming up with like creative names, so it was like Joe or John, and it just made the show even crazier.

[34:45] Diego: Yeah. When we don't have anything to riff off of in terms of the names, we just really go off the walls. I mean, we get like Balthazar and Bartholomew a lot. Like, I don't know what it is about those two names, but they are like in the zeitgeist right now is like a go-to fantasy name.

[35:02] Diego: Yeah, I mean, it's really fun. Like, and then you guys have this whole wardrobe that's constantly on stage that you can kind of rifle through, grab props, find stuff. Let's see, I've got a couple more clips. I'm gonna search through them.

[35:13] Amber Brzezinski: Um, Amber, I want to put you on the spot. I want you to ask your top question, De Diego go.

[35:21] Amber Brzezinski: Well, I was just actually about to say that we have we run the Dungeons and Dragons 20 Sided Tavern fan group for the show. And it's my favorite group to answer to look through the questions for, because we have join questions for all of our groups, like what's your favorite character from the show that you're in?

[35:43] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, and for this group, we ask, what would you name the tavern keeper? So we always get like all those creative like questions and answers. So it's my favorite. I'm always like, Heather, we'll get this answer. We got this answer. When we're setting up the group, she's like, what kind of questions should we ask that would get people involved? And I'm like, oh, we should totally have them do this. And she's like, Do you think they'll do it? And I'm like, yeah, no, the people that love the show will absolutely do it. Our community is rabid.

[36:12] Diego: Oh, it's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. Do you want to see your physicality on stage?

[36:16] Diego: I mean, I oh yeah, especially if you were at a show where I was John Paul, then I'm sure I was sweating.

[36:22] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, I bet.

[36:23] Diego: I bet here. Let's see here. Let's see here. I wish they were bigger. It's just from my phone. I try one of them at the show. Like, even though you can record and take photos, one, I will never use flash. Two, if you use flash, you're a dick. Uh three, like lower your screen brightness because it's still distracting, but I'll still like record just like in front of me because I don't want to be, you know, the girl or the person out there with a phone out, and like I don't want to be straight.

[36:51] Amber Brzezinski: I mean, you'll fit right in. This show is the one to kind of have it in front of you.

[36:55] Diego: I still I well, it's hard to unlearn that. Yes ever and I always preach like theater etiquette and like we always like make sure like our group members know like don't be a dick um and like this is like a no no so like it literally it like breaks me but I'm like all right this is a show I can go in I'm gonna fully charge my battery and I'm good yeah all right let's load this one up are you ready for it yes for those of you that don't know John Paul is a uh a monk a very martial fighty character who is two halflings in a trench coat imagine Sam and Frodo stacked up on top of each other punching everything oh you don't say two light arm stripes one with my top hat one with my bottom hat's that is a 12 plus seven for a 19 14 plus 7 for a 25 uh all right so as John Paul enters the battlefield he throws his hat up in the air and before he can even fall down to the ground or he goes at a supersonic speed that just looks like teleporting trying to figure out what even happens to me.

[38:29] Diego: You violently two strikes one that is one of the most physically demanding characters of play in this show. Because you are essentially embodying two different people inside of one body. Uh and I I swear, like I I come off like at intermission or at the end of the show, and I take that big trench coat off. It is a Rorshack test. Like look upon my chest and see your inner trauma.

[38:55] Diego: Like, oh no, we go get you like ice packs or something. Oh man, they take good care of me backstage, but it just under those lights. It is hot, hot, hot. And uh just it's so fun to just kind of let loose and kind of you know tap into that kind of kung fu energy.

[39:11] Diego: It's so much fun to watch. Um, and I've got a couple more with like Felicia in there, but it's fun to watch, but then it's also fun to participate. And again, kind of talking about like being brought up on stage and doing like one of the games. Do you guys do that throughout the show, which is so much fun? I know how bright those lights are. I always joke. So like I've been on the Broadway stage because I stage door with my friend Amber Dolino at Back to the Future, and I've been on the off-Broadway stage, just part of your show, which is fantastic. But there's so many lights, and then being on that set is so gorgeous.

[39:48] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, the set is incredible. Please, please tell people like you obviously spend way more time up there than I spent for about 30 seconds. Please kind of go over that set design because every time I go, I find something different. I'm always looking at like the lights above, and it's just so cool.

[40:05] Diego: Yeah, I mean, it's an intense set. It was designed by Casey McGeorge, and they also designed the props and the costumes. The set is incredible. Basically, almost anything that you can see stacked up on the walls on stage left and stage right, if it's within arm's reach, it is fair play to get that into the show. We take off costume pieces and props and use them and repurpose them all different ways. And there's so many little Easter eggs for fans to find as they're kind of like looking at this set. It's so all-encompassing. We have a gelatinous cube lamp that is dangling above it. We have like every edition of Dungeons and Dragons, like source books up against one wall. We have swords and we have canes and umbrellas and roller skates that we're all still too afraid to put on our feet.

[40:57] Amber Brzezinski: I can imagine. It is a very, very beautiful, very intentional set. A lot of thought went into it, and it really shows all the digital stuff behind it.

[41:09] Diego: Exactly. We have that big video wall behind everything, and that really helps like kind of elevate that show. Because you know, when you're doing Dungeons and Dragons at home with your friends, you know, it's just a little campaign, theater of the mind. You have to imagine a lot of it, a lot of the imagination.

[41:25] Amber Brzezinski: So it's cute you say that. I'm gonna say cute because I have friends and I've been dying to get into their campaign for about six years. They have their entire like war room, they have a legit table and sound effects and light effects and like mist and like you go into this room, and I've had Thanksgiving there last year, and we ate all over this table, and I'm just like, I don't want to leave this room.

[41:51] Diego: It's so, it's like an immersive game room in the middle of the house, and it's just so cool. Nothing brings me more joy than seeing people's like nerd dungeons, like where like my biggest dream would be to have like live in an apartment or a house where I can have like my own little nerd cave. Like, I want like a full like LED-rigged like table for Dungeons and Dragons. I want the minis and I want the terrains and I want like the sound effects and the lighting. Oh, that makes me so happy.

[42:20] Amber Brzezinski: One day, one day you'll hopefully have it. You'll have to bring everything out for you.

[42:27] Diego: Thank you. I mean, but nothing honestly, I always say like we should have like a thing where you know people can rent out the theater and come play D&D on the street. Or at least be able to offer like a tour because you know, sitting there and like zooming in on my camera looking on the shelves, one thing, but like being able to go and like see things. The lobby is fully decked out too. And it's a smaller lobby. I was trying to find photos of it. You go in and there's a big beautiful map, and then there's fresh rooms, there's an escalator and a set of stairs, and it is still accessible for wheelchairs. But when you go up to the lobby, like you're not overwhelmed, it's not massive, you're not trying to find where everything is. There's a bar on the left, a bar on the right, they serve non-alcoholic beverages and water as well.

[43:15] Diego: You have a very small merch area with a lot of really cool merch.

[43:21] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah. Um, like there's button versions or pin versions of like the stickers. Um, there's shirts, um, there's we got hoodies, we got dice. I'm a hoodie girl. Um, oh my gosh. I love like going to see like a Broadway show, like getting a t-shirt or a hoodie. I have way too many hoodies and living in Orlando. I'm like, I need to go to New York so I can wear my winter attire.

[43:43] Diego: Yeah, take them out for a spin.

[43:46] Amber Brzezinski: Exactly. Um, and the dice set is really cool too because it's 20-sided tavern, like logoed and like they're red and clear because I've never actually held them in my hand because they're always sold out.

[43:56] Diego: Yeah, I gotta get them for a hot commodity.

[43:58] Amber Brzezinski: They're a hot commodity. Alright, you ready for this next clip?

[44:01] Diego: Yeah, give it to me. I mean, this is just fun. It's like, Diego, this is your life.

[44:07] Amber Brzezinski: Here we go. All right. Again, I wish these were bigger. I'm so sorry.

[44:12] Diego: Size does not matter. Um, let me actually turn it on. That'd be for an 18 plus five for a 23. Did it work?

[44:22] Amber Brzezinski: Uh well, instead of just giving you a yes or no, let's see that 23 in that.

[44:30] Diego: Maddie is one of the most insane improvisers you will ever meet.

[44:36] Amber Brzezinski: I can't tell!

[44:40] Diego: I was wondering about what life could have been if all these things were a little different. And shot.

[45:02] Amber Brzezinski: Insane. Did it work?

[45:12] Diego: Let's say a couple things happen. And whenever we had a tough day, he would come home from school and his mother would rock him singing this gentle goblin all the time full of the threats of skin eating and all of the philosophy. God bless Connor for always rolling with whatever madness to put out.

[45:43] Amber Brzezinski: And that's feeling deeply and she go a little green and right.

[45:53] Diego: I mean, even watching it, I get caught up in the narration. Forgive my demeanor earlier. A great calamity is building. Oh, if we don't stop it right here, we have perhaps a day at most until our entire reality has torn asunder.

[46:17] Amber Brzezinski: Okay, that is delicious. Oh my god, I have I could play this for like another five hours and be done with it. Um, and they're fun, it's just so much fun.

[46:27] Diego: That's one of the things I love about the Dungeons and Dragons Swan Inside of Tavern Discord server that we have. We have like tons of fans that are in that, and there's a channel where folks just post like photos and videos from shows they've been on, and like I said, like I get off stage and it's like I flush it. Like I can't retain all of the randomness that we do. So it's like anytime we get to see like a video, especially like one that's got like a you know, it captures the whole bit. It's so, so satisfying.

[46:56] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, I have a video.

[47:01] Diego: I mean, yeah, I have that. That's stored in my memory banks and on my phone. Alicia was such a crazy energy to have on stage. Like she came in and she had she was, you know, she like was just ready to go, ready to play. She was ready to get in there with us. Like it was really, really fun. Like, you know, I’d like knew her from Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog.

[47:26] Amber Brzezinski: Me too.

[47:27] Diego: And so I was like very excited to like kind of get to work with her and she's just so kind and so like ready to like get down and dirty like with the improv she really really kind of opened up like we was like oh wow Felicia can do this like I tried setting a shop on fire too.

[47:27] Amber Brzezinski: It's funny you say that. Would you like to see another clip?

[47:27] Diego: Yes, gladly. I don't think I've ever showed this many clips in our show before but I'm like I told Amber I was like I have like 80 videos just little snippets because I was getting ready because I mean since day one we've been talking about during the podcast the others has been great.

[47:27] Amber Brzezinski: All right, here we go. This is a little baby clip it got me flying I take 28 points of fire just taking a hard left turn this campaign because that's the urchin's super not alive his two friends look at the charts on the ground and say uh and this is blah blah blah uh we will proceed forward with respect and reference for our eldest and infinite apologies and he was kind of weird anyway but something about 20 calls whole thing because I never liked that and then we're gonna this combat has been a success madness I uh it was such a great show.

[49:04] Diego: I mean, every show I've gone to is just you leave like your cheeks hurt from smiling so much and um or you have no voice because you're cheering and participating, and it's so much fun. Um and it's just it just blows me away the talent that's on the stage, and it's every single person is involved. You've got like Connor was wearing what he had, like two or three hats on top of his head because he had a nat 20. Like that's just every single person's involved, and then the audience is still brought in. Like you guys see the block the boxes. Um, when we're showing these videos, you see like the actual dice are being rolled.

[49:38] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, like that's that's not made up, like that's not just like part of the show. It's legitimately a live version of a campaign within like two and a half, two and a half, two hours and 40 minutes.

[49:49] Diego: Yeah, I mean, there's so many times we think we know where it's gonna go, and then the dice rolls have different ideas, like they want to take the story somewhere else. And I think that's like one thing that's kind of you know really freeing is like just kind of like do you just follow where the fun is? Like people are suddenly laughing a lot about like one aspect of the show, like we lean into that if the dice another way, we lean into that.

[50:12] Amber Brzezinski: It's a good song. Do you do anything to prepare at all? Or like is there really just kind of no way to prepare anything because it is so improvised and so much in control of the audience and the dice?

[50:26] Diego: Yeah, there's no way to really kind of prepare for what the show will be. I think like kind of the way we've all prepared is just kind of being ready to open, be open, be ready to listen. And also we have kind of a clear idea of where our characters live. Like they always kind of have like a bit of an evolution. Um you were playing clips from when I was a trickster when I was playing Tamborlaine, who is the Elven Bard. Um I that was one character that I had a lot of trouble cracking at first, just because I'm not a very like musical performer like just no it didn't read like that I'm glad I'm glad because I eventually I really took that character from like when I think you had seen it he was very much like a like a diva type of thing yeah and I kind of followed that you slash diva yeah I kind of followed that path a little further eventually landing into the character as this kind of like Shatner-esque like B-list actor who's just like always ready to like do a different like genre of scene right and it's really kind of cool seeing how the cast molds the characters like with that kind of core concept but still finds a way to mold it around the our own individual unique strengths.

[50:53] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, and of course I’m assuming you have like a rigorous gym workout for all the physicality that you guys do.

[50:53] Diego: My two biggest workouts are doing the show and running late. I definitely now that I play the warrior and I'm like the monk, I'm like I need to do some yoga or something because I am not as flexible as I thought I was.

[50:53] Amber Brzezinski: Well my I was gonna say yoga or like stretch I don't know if you guys have stretched out and I can't talk I'm so sorry the concussion is real guys um a stretch zone do you guys have those in the city like an assisted stretching?

[50:53] Diego: I'm not sure I'm a I'm a Blink Fitness girly myself.

[50:53] Amber Brzezinski: Okay, all right you get it you got it. Um, I try to I try to get in there for sure I it's definitely like there's a lot of stamina like on our on our you know, like before the show, I'm usually just kind of like in a stasis, like around call time is six p.m., like around four p.m., like I'll kind of go into like rest mode.

[52:38] Diego: Just like get quiet, like reserve myself, be listening to music, and then by the time I get to the theater, ready to just kind of pop out and roll with it. Because it is like two and a half, very dynamic hours.

[52:51] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah. Exactly. I love it. No, it's so funny. Well, we have a couple more minutes left with you. I'm so sad. Um, I'm glad that I get to like show you these clips that I have, and I will send you the rest of them.

[53:00] Diego: Yeah, please do. These are I have I have a lot. Uh, and and that's okay. It's okay. Um, but tell people, give them, give them the Diego way of this. Tell people why they should come see the show, please.

[53:15] Diego: Because if they aren't already interested, shame on them, but tell them why they should come see the show. I mean, I think this show is for everyone. You don't need to know about Dungeon Dragons. Uh, you don't need to have played before or have been like this like seasoned adventurer. This show really does appeal to everyone from ages six to 99, you know, like it is for everyone. And what's great about it is that it's a community, and there's nothing like it uh in the city right now. I mean, it's so rare that you get to watch the story being made in front of your eyes, and there's something very precious. Our director Michael Fell talks about this all the time. Like, there's something very precious and rare about seeing an idea happen in front of your eyes, and you realize that everyone sees it happen, and then you seize on it and you build upon it and you expand it, you tease it, you poke it, you stretch it, you pull it. And it is so much fun to kind of you're as surprised as the actors are.

[54:20] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[54:21] Diego: And though and it's very interactive. Like I say, like you're you're uh you're useful you pay for the whole seat, you're only gonna use the edge of it. To me, and in Amber and I talk about this a lot in our regular show too. Theater is so special and magical, and like you literally only experienced that show once exactly how that show was meant to be done. And I think with improv, I mean I know with improv, it's that times a bajillion because you're there, it's a different cast, it's a different thing, there's a different path. You're you're sitting in the different seat, like there's something different, but every word that's out of that stage, or 98% of the words that are coming out of your mouths are never gonna happen again, and it's just but it works, yeah. It works so well, and you guys have a lot of yeah.

[55:08] Diego: When you have a lot of people on stage who are just there to support and ready to like kind of help you out, like I my improv philosophy is if I go on stage and I'm just trying to make all my scene partners look good, and all of my scene partners go on stage with the same mentality. Everyone's just trying to make everyone else look good, and that's something that's so so precious at the tavern is we really do have this like beautiful, you know. Uh one of the monasteries of the show is I got your back. Like we say that to each other every night before we go on.

[55:34] Amber Brzezinski: I love that.

[55:38] Diego: What's because it's true, like when you're out there, when you do we don't have a script to fall back on, we don't have you know, like you have each other.

[55:46] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, it's we're all there free-falling together, and we all gotta catch each other.

[55:52] Diego: I love that. Now, do you guys have any besides the I Got Your Back? I love that. Do you guys have any other traditions in the show? Either when um a guest is coming, or you know, somebody is playing a different role, or yeah, something happens.

[56:05] Diego: Uh, I mean, we always love to celebrate whenever anyone's debuting a new role. We just had the pleasure of welcoming our um holiday swings, uh, Ryan and Logan uh into the show. Um, every night before we get on stage, though, we get together in a circle, we jump around and we we chant like let's fuck it up. And that's like kind of the energy we want to bring on stage every night. We want to come together, we want to bring all of ourselves and like fuck it up together.

[56:33] Amber Brzezinski: I love it.

[56:33] Diego: Yeah, that's so that's I I want that's Amber, that's our new tradition. Before we get before we go live, we're gonna be like, let's let's fuck it up.

[56:41] Amber Brzezinski: Okay, no, don't fuck it up. Uh David told me that's what I should do, and I'm gonna do that.

[56:45] Diego: Um it's like doing a power pose in the bathroom before really gets you in the zone.

[56:51] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I love it. Um, let me ask you, Bess. Is there a question that you've always wanted to be asked about yourself or the show? And you've never been asked.

[57:01] Diego: That is a I mean, that's a great question. Uh I think uh one thing I've always wanted to say about the show would be, oh man.

[57:17] Amber Brzezinski: You're welcome.

[57:21] Diego: I know, right? It's I can't remember anything I've ever thought before. Um let's see. No, I I think like the the thing that's kind of crazy is like I would never really expect this to happen at the time that it happened in my career. Um, I mean, I before the casting notice for this came across my desk, like I was living in Chicago, I was working at Drunk Shakespeare.

[57:47] Amber Brzezinski: Um, I love Drunk Shakespeare.

[57:49] Diego: Yeah, oh, so much fun. And it really kind of like prepared me perfectly for this. And it's just kind of, I don't know, like general like advice I would give to people who are out there, you know, hitting the pavement is like you never know when the opportunity's gonna come, but you can prepare every day for when it comes.

[58:07] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, I love that.

[58:08] Diego: Uh just kind of put in put in that time with yourself. Like I always like to think of the experiences that I'm going through as like, okay, how does how is this helping me achieve like kind of the other goals I have uh for further down the line? And yeah, it is it was an insane, insane transition just because it all happened so fast. I'd never lived in New York before.

[58:32] Amber Brzezinski: Right, it's giving you whiplash.

[58:34] Diego: Yeah, yeah. And I never expected this to happen at this point in this way with this show. Um, so I think I'd always love to say people like stay flexible, you know, get ready to meet the moment where it's at, and you know, I had to call off work and uh fly out here on a whim and off-Broadway show. I yeah, like when I was just auditioning, it was like, okay, sorry, I'm not gonna be able to be there, but uh like I'll see you when I get back.

[59:02] Amber Brzezinski: And oh my god, were they supportive at least though?

[59:05] Diego: Yeah, yeah, they made it work. I mean, I didn't really give them much of a choice. I was like, I'm going, I'm sorry.

[59:12] Amber Brzezinski: Fair enough.

[59:14] Diego: Stick with it.

[59:15] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I mean, stick those are sage words um that I think everybody should like. Amber and I, and you know, we kind of told you our story, and a lot of our members know our story. I randomly had started a sweetie todd fan group. True story. Um, I have dabbled in you know, helping admin other Broadway themed groups. My background is in marketing, and I started a Sweeney Todd group, had some like not great luck with admins, reached out and said, Does anybody want to help? And Amber was like, Hey, I'd love to help.

[59:45] Diego: Um, she also admins a dog spotting society with like a million people.

[59:48] Amber Brzezinski: Like, oh, this girl's legit.

[59:50] Diego: We talked on the phone for like three hours at like two o'clock in the morning.

[59:53] Amber Brzezinski: And um, I was like, Okay, this chick is gonna be like my new best friend.

[59:57] Diego: Um, and we grew that group, and then we started to create some other groups just to kind of for fun, and it took off like lightning in a bottle for us, and it's never felt uncomfortable, but it's never felt comfortable. Like we're always motivated to do more.

[1:00:10] Amber Brzezinski: Um, and to go from I think what 4,000 followers on the Sweeney Todd group to over half a million followers in less than a year is nuts.

[1:00:23] Diego: Yeah, um, but we're here for it, right, Amber?

[1:00:26] Amber Brzezinski: Absolutely.

[1:00:27] Diego: I mean, she left work early to make sure that she got to our interview with you today.

[1:00:31] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, I did.

[1:00:32] Diego: I mean, that that's what I love. Like when people pursue their passions, like I mean, uh that's what I would say. Like, there are like eight billion people on this planet. If even one percent of them are interested in the thing that you're making, that is a shit ton of people, like, yeah. I mean, there's there's energy to be put into everything, and as long as you're getting the energy back that you're putting into it, like I think it's really worth it.

[1:00:54] Amber Brzezinski: I've had that conversation with a friend of mine today, like this year's kind of been like, I'm gonna put the energy into oh hello, sky is gonna put the energy into a thing.

[1:01:02] Diego: Um, but um, really just having the energy and putting something into something, and if you're not getting that energy back, you're not getting that good energy back, it's not worth it.

[1:01:12] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, and it's gonna be bigger and it's gonna be better, and it's when you cut off that kind of stuff, it leaves room for so much more.

[1:01:20] Diego: And look where you are right now, which is incredible.

[1:01:22] Amber Brzezinski: Um, all right, give us a pitch.

[1:01:24] Diego: Uh, where can people find you when they were not starring off Broadway at Dungeons and Dragons the 20th of Tapern?

[1:01:31] Diego: Yeah, come uh check me out on Instagram at Diego underscore F underscore Salinas. Uh, I'm also a professional dungeon master when I'm not being a professional Dungeons and Dragons player. Uh so if you ever want to play Dungeons and Dragons with me, find me at foreverdm.xyz. Uh, there's a little way you can reach out there and we can see if we can play some DD together.

[1:01:54] Amber Brzezinski: I love that.

[1:01:54] Diego: And then they can also check you out on your podcast.

[1:01:57] Diego: Yes, also make sure to check out the Dungeon Busters podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Uh, follow the 20 Sided Tavern and also join our Discord because that is the best way to kind of see what we're all getting up to. And you also get uh news and discounts before the rest of the general population gets them. So it is the spot to be.

[1:02:18] Amber Brzezinski: And they can join the fan group right on WWE Broadway FanClub.com.

[1:02:23] Diego: Um, so it'll be they'll see all of them there. Say die.

[1:02:29] Diego: Um, yeah, so go to the Broadway fan club. You can uh see a list of all of our groups. You can see our merch, you can see our bracelets, you can see everything that we offer. We can join the groups that interest you the most.

[1:02:44] Diego: And uh 20 sided tavern is one of those awesome groups.

[1:02:47] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, can't wait to see y'all there.

[1:02:49] Diego: Oh, yeah, and can't wait to see all of their answers as to what they'll name the tavern keeper.

[1:02:53] Amber Brzezinski: So yes, Diego, that is my favorite part.

[1:02:56] Diego: I know it really is.

[1:02:57] Amber Brzezinski: It really is. Uh, you are always so wonderful.

[1:03:00] Diego: Um, I'm gonna come see the show very soon.

[1:03:02] Amber Brzezinski: I know you guys have some special guests coming. We talked about those before.

[1:03:06] Diego: Um, and please, guys, please go check out the show. Um, it is so worth it.

[1:03:10] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I'm sold. I'm gonna get a ticket.

[1:03:12] Diego: Yes, please, please, please come come have some fun with us, roll some dice, get into some mischief, maybe get some beer splashed on you. Anything can happen at the tavern.

[1:03:20] Diego: And we also have a giveaway coming too.

[1:03:23] Amber Brzezinski: Yes.

[1:03:25] Diego: Yes.

[1:03:26] Diego: I believe if there's a giveaway coming soon for I'm not sure what it's for, but two tickets.

[1:03:26] Amber Brzezinski: Two tickets.

[1:03:36] Diego: Yeah, yeah. Let's do the charades version.

[1:03:38] Diego: Two tickets for uh 20 sided tavern. And also you just have to enter in our groups. We'll we'll be making a post very shortly on how to enter.

[1:03:49] Diego: And Diego had a great idea how to enter.

[1:03:51] Diego: Yeah, okay. As as you're catching your breath, if you want to get two tickets to Dungeons and Dragons of Twenty Side of Tavern, uh, go ahead to Broadway, the bar the Broadway fanclub.com, join the 20 sided tavern group, uh, and share a picture of you rolling a D20. If it's a 10 or higher, we'll count that.

[1:04:08] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[1:04:11] Diego: Don't don't cheat.

[1:04:13] Amber Brzezinski: Don't cheat.

[1:04:14] Diego: Don't cheat.

[1:04:15] Amber Brzezinski: I'm gonna roll a D20 for breathing right now, I hope.

[1:04:17] Diego: Yeah, right.

[1:04:18] Diego: I know.

[1:04:18] Diego: Constitution.

[1:04:20] Diego: So overwhelmed with emotion.

[1:04:21] Diego: I'm gonna pull my hair.

[1:04:23] Diego: Um it's real, you know, it's fine.

[1:04:26] Diego: I almost have my voice back, which is great.

[1:04:28] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah.

[1:04:29] Diego: Thank you guys.

[1:04:30] Diego: See, improv is real.

[1:04:31] Diego: Um, the show is real.

[1:04:32] Diego: I didn't die. Diego, thank you for not killing me tonight.

[1:04:35] Diego: Thank you.

[1:04:35] Diego: Appreciate it.

[1:04:36] Diego: It's an honor.

[1:04:36] Amber Brzezinski: Um, I would have come and haunted you and been like, hey, what's up, buddy?

[1:04:40] Diego: Um please, please have a great rest of your week with shows.

[1:04:43] Amber Brzezinski: Tell everybody we say hello.

[1:04:45] Diego: Um and Amber and I are gonna come and harass you guys soon, anyways.

[1:04:49] Diego: Thank you again for Dungeons and Dragons, 20 Side of Topburn for putting you on loan for the evening to come hang out with us.

[1:04:56] Diego: Um, I'm gonna send you all of the clips and videos that we've got so you can share them with everybody if you'd like.

[1:05:01] Diego: Awesome.

[1:05:02] Diego: Thank you all so much. This was an absolute thing.

[1:05:04] Amber Brzezinski: Thank you guys so much.

[1:05:05] Diego: Thank you guys.

[1:05:05] Diego: Um, I hope you all have a great night.

[1:05:07] Amber Brzezinski: Happy Wednesday.

[1:05:08] Diego: We'll see you guys on Monday with our regular the Broadway Fan Club podcast right here.

[1:05:13] Amber Brzezinski: Peace.

[1:05:13] Diego: Have a good night, everybody.

[1:05:14] Amber Brzezinski: Bye-bye.

[1:05:15] Diego: Bye.