This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:05] Jesse McAnally: Hello, I'm Jesse McAnally.

[0:07] Andrew DeWolf: And I'm Andrew DeWolf.

[0:09] Liz Eston: And I'm Liz Eston.

[0:10] Jesse McAnally: And welcome to Musicals with Cheese, a podcast where I try to get Andrew and Liz to like musical theater.

[0:14] Jesse McAnally: Liz is back!

[0:15] Jesse McAnally: But let's not harp on that too much.

[0:17] Jesse McAnally: We're happy to have her, but applause and all that.

[0:19] Jesse McAnally: We've got to get into this.

[0:21] Jesse McAnally: All three of us, if you would believe it, are getting into a road trip to Oregon.

[0:27] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, that sounds like a great idea.

[0:28] Andrew DeWolf: We have like an RV or a bus or we're just taking a car.

[0:32] Jesse McAnally: Like what's going on?

[0:33] Andrew DeWolf: Covered wagon, motherfuckers.

[0:35] Liz Eston: How many windows does this wagon have?

[0:38] Jesse McAnally: Four windows.

[0:39] Liz Eston: And feet holes.

[0:40] Andrew DeWolf: Like the Flintstones?

[0:41] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[0:42] Liz Eston: We're all different heights.

[0:43] Jesse McAnally: This isn't gonna work.

[0:44] Andrew DeWolf: No, you and Andrew are basically the same height, and then I peer over you.

[0:48] Jesse McAnally: Which actually means he'll be the only one running, because our feet won't reach the ground.

[0:52] Liz Eston: That's true.

[0:53] Andrew DeWolf: That's true.

[0:54] Liz Eston: We'll just be floating.

[0:55] Jesse McAnally: No, Liz is mostly leg.

[0:57] Liz Eston: Like that is actually true.

[0:59] Liz Eston: I've seen Liz, and one of the most surprising things about her is it's like head, tiny torso, leg!

[1:06] Liz Eston: I have the torso of a—my torso is a quarter, and the rest of my body is legs.

[1:10] Jesse McAnally: It's a big thing.

[1:11] Jesse McAnally: We have like Christian Chenoweth's torso.

[1:13] Andrew DeWolf: Well, I'm the opposite.

[1:14] Andrew DeWolf: I'm mostly not legs, so I won't be helping you.

[1:16] Jesse McAnally: Andrew is mostly torso.

[1:18] Jesse McAnally: He's mostly—I imagine Andrew is like Mr. Potato Head or the feet just kind of with torso.

[1:26] Andrew DeWolf: Little shoes.

[1:27] Andrew DeWolf: I waddle around like a penguin.

[1:29] Jesse McAnally: It's literally true.

[1:31] Andrew DeWolf: Call me Danny DeVito.

[1:36] Jesse McAnally: And also our ox is coming with us.

[1:39] Liz Eston: How horny is this ox?

[1:41] Andrew DeWolf: Um, moderately horny, but mostly he wants to be dead.

[1:44] Jesse McAnally: Much like myself.

[1:46] Jesse McAnally: Oh, we're talking about Trail to Oregon.

[1:48] Andrew DeWolf: Let's go.

[1:49] Liz Eston: Where's that, Dad?

[1:50] Jesse McAnally: You're an independence.

[1:52] Jesse McAnally: Welcome to the city so pleasing.

[1:55] Jesse McAnally: And everyone's leaving.

[1:57] Jesse McAnally: Fuck it.

[1:57] Jesse McAnally: Go west.

[1:58] Jesse McAnally: Watch your backs.

[2:00] Jesse McAnally: The city is bustling with all kinds of hostling and grid.

[2:04] Jesse McAnally: Go west for independence.

[2:06] Jesse McAnally: Here are just a few things you should know.

[2:08] Jesse McAnally: Stay on the trail or you might get lost.

[2:10] Jesse McAnally: Don't be the toll not worth the cost.

[2:11] Jesse McAnally: Mary Rich so you don't die for our bankers best by you might die bored.

[2:15] Jesse McAnally: An independent breaker.

[2:17] Jesse McAnally: The Trail to Oregon is a musical written by Jeff Blim, Nick Lang, Matt Lang, with music and lyrics by Jeff Blim and Drew DeFour, based on the Oregon Trail video game.

[2:28] Jesse McAnally: The musical was performed between July 3rd and August 10th of 2014 at the Stage 773 in Chicago, Illinois.

[2:35] Jesse McAnally: It ran for 24 performances and was performed in a repertory with the other Star Kid musical, Annie, both being produced by Star Kid Productions.

[2:44] Jesse McAnally: With only six actors, it is the smallest cast of any Star Kid musical to date.

[2:57] Jesse McAnally: The plot of The Trail to Oregon is an all-American family journeys down the trail to Oregon.

[3:03] Jesse McAnally: Um, it's an original musical produced by Star Kid Productions from Chicago, blah blah blah blah blah.

[3:08] Jesse McAnally: Uh, it features 12 educational songs, a set precisely replicating the trail's landscape, and appearances from famous historical figures such as Henry McDoom, Cletus Jones, and Cornwallis.

[3:19] Andrew DeWolf: Alright.

[3:20] Andrew DeWolf: So I feel like this is just lies.

[3:23] Liz Eston: Yeah.

[3:23] Andrew DeWolf: That whole plot synopsis was just lies.

[3:25] Liz Eston: Yeah, Cornwallis is a lobster, man.

[3:28] Andrew DeWolf: It is official.

[3:30] Andrew DeWolf: Um, we're gonna have to do a Star Kid ranking at the end of this, aren't we?

[3:34] Jesse McAnally: I— we'll have to see if I remember all of them.

[3:36] Jesse McAnally: I mean I already—I'm a little biased too, and so I'm reading.

[3:42] Jesse McAnally: Um, I really like this one.

[3:46] Jesse McAnally: As far as Star Kid musicals go, I think this is probably my favorite or my second favorite for three main reasons.

[3:54] Jesse McAnally: One, it feels like a real musical.

[3:56] Jesse McAnally: It feels small and engaging in that way, and it feels like they had to be creative as opposed to like, you know, we got 500 ensemble members, let's just make them sing.

[4:05] Jesse McAnally: Um, two, I think that it's just kind of a tighter show.

[4:09] Jesse McAnally: It's like less than two hours, which most of these Star Kid shows tend to go towards the two and a half hour, three hour range, and you know what?

[4:18] Jesse McAnally: Having a tight hour 40 was really nice.

[4:21] Andrew DeWolf: That's fair.

[4:21] Jesse McAnally: And the third reason is I think all the actors are like pitch perfect in it and playing the comedy.

[4:29] Jesse McAnally: I usually like a tiny bit of sentiment in my comedy musicals.

[4:32] Jesse McAnally: I kind of like the fact that this is like that we're not doing that, we're not touching that.

[4:36] Jesse McAnally: And I also think Trail to Oregon is kind of a much more broader thing to kind of put a narrative onto, as opposed to kind of the strict thing of like Harry Potter, Star Wars, Batman.

[4:48] Jesse McAnally: Like, I feel like they have a little bit more freedom to come up with a creative original story as opposed to all the other things.

[4:54] Jesse McAnally: And I think this kind of set them away from the parody track that they were doing previously to what I think is some of their better work, the Black Fridays, the guy who didn't like musicals, much more original pieces with original characters, and I don't know if we would have gotten that had the other show that also came out around this time, Annie, been the runaway success that I think they were expecting that one to be.

[5:16] Andrew DeWolf: Um, is this like Star Kid's Lion King?

[5:19] Jesse McAnally: I think so.

[5:20] Andrew DeWolf: Or I think it's more Star Kid's Shrek.

[5:24] Jesse McAnally: You think so?

[5:25] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, Lion King, wasn't that made by the B studio, and they were expecting the other movie to be the big hit, but then Lion King was actually the real hit.

[5:33] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, but I think that Lion King is like—yeah, Pocahontas was the other one in that.

[5:39] Andrew DeWolf: It was Pocahontas and the Lion King made at the same time.

[5:41] Andrew DeWolf: And Lion King made billions, Pocahontas no one liked.

[5:44] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[5:44] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[5:44] Jesse McAnally: But then you've got Prince of Egypt versus Shrek, where everyone that got rejected from Prince of Egypt was forced onto Shrek, and Shrek is more scatological, small and better for that, and I think that's a more apt comparison here.

[5:56] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, okay, that's fair.

[5:58] Andrew DeWolf: Although, unlike the other comparison, both of those are good.

[6:01] Jesse McAnally: Is Annie actually good?

[6:03] Andrew DeWolf: I don't like it.

[6:05] Jesse McAnally: So maybe Lion King's the better example still.

[6:09] Andrew DeWolf: Annie's like not the same though.

[6:11] Jesse McAnally: I've seen a little bit of it, but it's not the same.

[6:13] Andrew DeWolf: Annie feels more expensive.

[6:15] Jesse McAnally: If—yeah, it's also like it's not really a traditional musical, it's like a bunch of scenes, and then there's like one Clark sings.

[6:24] Andrew DeWolf: I don't want to say this guy's listening for the life of me, so I'm not gonna try.

[6:27] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, Clark sings all these songs like periodically throughout it, and Anakin just dances, and that's basically musical.

[6:36] Jesse McAnally: The joke is look at him, he's fat.

[6:38] Andrew DeWolf: And I don't like that.

[6:39] Andrew DeWolf: And that's like the core of like what if Darth Vader was just fat.

[6:43] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[6:44] Liz Eston: And Jar Jar was there.

[6:45] Jesse McAnally: And Jar Jar was there, and Star Wars.

[6:47] Andrew DeWolf: Do you like Star Wars?

[6:48] Jesse McAnally: Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars.

[6:51] Andrew DeWolf: That's where you're wrong.

[6:52] Andrew DeWolf: I actually don't like Star Wars.

[6:53] Jesse McAnally: Nah, and I don't either.

[6:55] Jesse McAnally: And I feel like I'm glad that you finally have come around on this, honestly.

[6:58] Andrew DeWolf: I—okay.

[6:59] Andrew DeWolf: Are we gonna talk about that?

[7:00] Andrew DeWolf: Are we gonna unpack how much I just fucking hate Star Wars now?

[7:05] Jesse McAnally: We've talked about this before, and I've always been like, you know, it's not that good.

[7:09] Andrew DeWolf: And now you're finally on board.

[7:11] Andrew DeWolf: I defended and will defend The Last Jedi as being a high-quality film somehow in a Star Wars they accidentally made art, but now Star Wars has just become shibris nonsense.

[7:25] Jesse McAnally: And I just kind of miss when they were movies.

[7:28] Jesse McAnally: And now it's like 500 TV shows, and I don't care.

[7:32] Jesse McAnally: And I'm so bored.

[7:33] Jesse McAnally: I'm so fucking bored.

[7:35] Andrew DeWolf: That's why I don't know.

[7:37] Andrew DeWolf: So my thought on Trail to Oregon.

[7:40] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, I didn't—I feel like with Star Kid, there's like a—there's like a high floor but a low ceiling, you know?

[7:49] Jesse McAnally: Like elaborate.

[7:51] Andrew DeWolf: Like the worst Star Kid stuff is usually still like fine.

[7:55] Andrew DeWolf: It's like just kind of goofball comedy stuff, but it never really gets great.

[8:00] Andrew DeWolf: And I feel like this is as close to the floor as I've gotten.

[8:03] Jesse McAnally: Really?

[8:04] Andrew DeWolf: I really—I really just didn't really like this one.

[8:07] Andrew DeWolf: Even more than the Harry Potter one, the first Harry Potter one, which was their very first thing.

[8:12] Jesse McAnally: The Harry Potter one has been completely eradicated from my brain at this point, so I can't really comment on it.

[8:18] Andrew DeWolf: Um, guess what?

[8:19] Andrew DeWolf: We're gonna have to do the sequel sometime.

[8:21] Andrew DeWolf: And the third one.

[8:22] Andrew DeWolf: And guess what?

[8:23] Andrew DeWolf: The third one is three hours and twenty minutes.

[8:27] Jesse McAnally: Okay, so that's gonna be below the floor, probably.

[8:30] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, it's also a borderline stage reading, so it's below below the floor.

[8:35] Jesse McAnally: And it's like with—that'll be good.

[8:40] Andrew DeWolf: Wow.

[8:41] Andrew DeWolf: The floor is getting lower as we talk.

[8:44] Jesse McAnally: At a Harry Potter convention.

[8:46] Andrew DeWolf: Like it's—oh my god, the floor is below the floor.

[8:49] Jesse McAnally: Night.

[8:50] Andrew DeWolf: I don't even know how that's possible.

[8:51] Jesse McAnally: And it happened though.

[8:52] Andrew DeWolf: Okay.

[8:53] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, but I felt like they were like waffling between whether or not this was a parody of the video game or its own thing.

[9:02] Andrew DeWolf: Um, and I didn't really love that.

[9:05] Andrew DeWolf: And there were too many jokes that were just wow, the dad character is just really, really dumb.

[9:13] Jesse McAnally: And that was like—that's the joke, you know, and I'm not a huge fan of that.

[9:17] Andrew DeWolf: It sounds more like a taste thing rather than quality of the content thing.

[9:22] Jesse McAnally: And that's kind of what I'm saying.

[9:24] Jesse McAnally: I think that the quality is maintained.

[9:27] Jesse McAnally: It's still Star Kid quality.

[9:29] Jesse McAnally: I just don't think I liked it that much.

[9:33] Jesse McAnally: And Liz, what about you?

[9:34] Liz Eston: Uh, I've seen Star Kid live twice in my lifetime.

[9:40] Liz Eston: Like, I am a fan.

[9:42] Jesse McAnally: Which shows?

[9:43] Liz Eston: I've seen The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals in LA when I was there interning.

[9:49] Liz Eston: Um, I was in the center aisle where they went through the alley.

[9:53] Liz Eston: So I experienced that scene directly.

[9:56] Liz Eston: Um, and I saw it on their Jangle Ball tour last December.

[10:02] Liz Eston: Um, where they did selections of like villain songs, and they did VHS Cruz of Carol live.

[10:09] Jesse McAnally: That would have been nice.

[10:10] Liz Eston: Um, sadly, I live in Michigan, which is like their home state, so it is literally hard to get tickets now.

[10:18] Liz Eston: So yeah, I will never see them live as long as I live in Michigan.

[10:22] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, I was in Philly, so it's a little easier, even though it was mostly a bunch of 13-year-olds at that point.

[10:27] Andrew DeWolf: It was like, okay, I'm in my twenties and I'm about to be at a bar basically, so like I'm gonna drink and your guys are gonna hang out and be sober.

[10:35] Liz Eston: But yeah, no, I say I am a Star Kid fan.

[10:38] Jesse McAnally: Right, quite a fan.

[10:39] Liz Eston: Uh, I really like Trail to Oregon.

[10:41] Liz Eston: It's not my favorite in any regard.

[10:43] Jesse McAnally: What would be your favorite?

[10:44] Liz Eston: I feel like we're visible Batman.

[10:47] Jesse McAnally: What?

[10:48] Liz Eston: Yeah.

[10:49] Jesse McAnally: Okay.

[10:50] Jesse McAnally: We had Sideways on for that episode.

[10:51] Jesse McAnally: That's one of his favorites too.

[10:53] Liz Eston: So you're in good company.

[10:54] Liz Eston: I just don't agree.

[10:55] Jesse McAnally: I'm honored.

[10:56] Liz Eston: Uh, it was my first one I saw.

[10:58] Liz Eston: My best friend introduced me to it, my like freshman year of college.

[11:01] Liz Eston: I'm very attached to it.

[11:02] Liz Eston: Uh, we quote to each other all the time, me and my best friend.

[11:05] Liz Eston: Um, so it's more sentimental.

[11:07] Liz Eston: Quality-wise, I'd say Twisted.

[11:09] Jesse McAnally: This is all your fault, Jafar.

[11:10] Liz Eston: My fault?

[11:11] Liz Eston: How is this my fault and not the thieves?

[11:14] Liz Eston: There wouldn't be any thieves if you fixed the socioeconomic inequality like you promised.

[11:20] Jesse McAnally: Twisted is—I like Twisted.

[11:22] Jesse McAnally: It's 45 minutes too long.

[11:25] Liz Eston: I think Twisted is their best parody one.

[11:27] Jesse McAnally: Yes, agree.

[11:28] Liz Eston: Yes.

[11:29] Liz Eston: Uh, if we're only talking parodies, yes.

[11:32] Liz Eston: Um, I don't even consider this a parody because it is more original.

[11:36] Liz Eston: And the only thing that I think they really wanted to play with was the choose your own adventure and the different ways that people get hurt, as well as giving the audience participation elements, which I think are really well integrated into it in a way where the actors—it's impressive that they have to change the names of every character every night.

[11:57] Jesse McAnally: I think that's really fun, and that the audience gets to participate in that.

[12:02] Liz Eston: It's cool, though, because of it, they don't include the names of characters in songs very often.

[12:08] Jesse McAnally: No.

[12:09] Liz Eston: Yeah.

[12:09] Liz Eston: Like, which makes sense, but they got footage of every single character dying for the ending.

[12:15] Andrew DeWolf: Did—is that because every character got picked, or did they just get like—Liz did research on this, so I'm gonna let her answer this.

[12:21] Liz Eston: So I—I was a long-time fan of Star Kid, and who I deeply enjoyed Trail to Oregon.

[12:27] Liz Eston: Uh, even their dumb songs, which don't add anything to the plot.

[12:30] Liz Eston: I fucking love the dumb songs.

[12:31] Liz Eston: Um, I Googled Stark Trail to Oregon Star Kid Names Reddit, which I thought would dive me into a strange part of the internet.

[12:41] Liz Eston: And I found a Tumblr link of someone recording every name from the productions that they could grab.

[12:49] Liz Eston: So these are archived on Tumblr.

[12:52] Liz Eston: Uh, it's like talkingoregon.tumblr.com if you're curious.

[12:55] Jesse McAnally: You're gonna read the whole thing.

[12:57] Liz Eston: Tumblr is the place I would go to get information about a Star Kid show.

[13:00] Jesse McAnally: 100%.

[13:01] Liz Eston: That is where Star Kid lives, can continues to live.

[13:04] Liz Eston: Uh, but yeah, some names include like Zachary or Al Albert Hitchcock, and then there's like But Wang there, Cthulhu.

[13:14] Jesse McAnally: John Stamos.

[13:16] Liz Eston: John Stamos, Guantanamo Jackson, Douche Canoe.

[13:20] Jesse McAnally: I like Guantanamo Jackson.

[13:21] Liz Eston: That one's kind of good.

[13:22] Liz Eston: Omar from The Wire.

[13:24] Jesse McAnally: That is a full name.

[13:25] Liz Eston: Um, Cock Chopper, Dick Fingers, Thundercunt, Boomerang, and Banana.

[13:32] Liz Eston: That was all one night.

[13:33] Andrew DeWolf: So what day did they actually shoot the main version of the show?

[13:38] Liz Eston: Uh, they filmed on July 26th of 2014.

[13:43] Liz Eston: Um, they filmed two endings for YouTube that night.

[13:46] Liz Eston: Um, and then they filmed the next three endings the next night on Sunday the 27th.

[13:51] Liz Eston: The names are unknown that day, though.

[13:53] Liz Eston: So it's a mystery what the names were.

[13:56] Andrew DeWolf: What names of the characters died?

[13:58] Liz Eston: But so yeah, they couldn't keep all the audience there all night, but they knew that they'd have to shoot it over two nights.

[14:04] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[14:04] Liz Eston: My personal favorite is Danny DeVito is the dad.

[14:07] Liz Eston: Just also someone named the grandpa Jeff Blim within like the first three nights.

[14:13] Jesse McAnally: Um, you can tell that there's a lot of fans, and during interviews they brought up, they did have, if they just didn't hear a name they like, their own like names that they would have just in case they're having an off night and they feel like they're not gonna be able to do it.

[14:27] Andrew DeWolf: So they have like the rehearsed names that they the rehearsed joke names that they'd go with.

[14:32] Jesse McAnally: Um, apparently they never used those.

[14:37] Andrew DeWolf: They say they never used them.

[14:40] Jesse McAnally: They don't want to make the audience feel bad by being like, well, on this day, the audience really sucked.

[14:45] Andrew DeWolf: So we used our Twat Waffle.

[14:48] Jesse McAnally: Real name. Um, I would name my child Twat Waffle. I hope they'd live up to the name. Actually, that was the dad's name. Damn.

[14:56] Andrew DeWolf: Um, I guess we should really go into what the story it's uh just as much a parody of like road trip movies like Christmas vacation or sorry, National Lampoons Vacation, um, and things like that.

[15:08] Jesse McAnally: Christmas vacation is not a road trip movie.

[15:10] Andrew DeWolf: Christmas vacation is the only one that isn't a road trip movie, and that's why it's the only good one.

[15:15] Jesse McAnally: Haven't seen it.

[15:16] Andrew DeWolf: Look, vacation was okay, kinda.

[15:31] Jesse McAnally: I don't love Harold Ramis as a director. Fight me, Groundhog Day fans.

[15:35] Andrew DeWolf: I'll kill you.

[15:36] Jesse McAnally: This is actually a lot like the vacation movies in a way, though.

[15:41] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, it's the old timey vacation, if anything.

[15:44] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. Less cheating on your wife, though.

[15:46] Andrew DeWolf: I did appreciate that the husband and wife, that was never the threat. Cause that's always a really awkward subplot in those types of stories.

[15:55] Jesse McAnally: No, it's just Joey Richter in many forms. Remember when we had Joey Richter on the podcast and he ate through the entire episode and then we got bad reviews for it?

[16:07] Andrew DeWolf: It wasn't even our fault. We couldn't have done anything about it.

[16:10] Jesse McAnally: I remember it was like our first like 50 episodes, and he was a good guest.

[16:14] Andrew DeWolf: He was fine. But I just still think about that. And how he's had a career resurgence and kept doing these things.

[16:21] Jesse McAnally: And our small connection with him is that he ate on our podcast.

[16:25] Andrew DeWolf: And gave us bad reviews. Um, he's really good in this. They it's a well-used Joey Richter in here.

[16:33] Jesse McAnally: It's my favorite Joey Richter.

[16:35] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, they don't often give him much to do in these, so this is probably the one where he has the most time to show off.

[16:42] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. My favorite Lauren Lopez is still the guy who didn't like musicals, but understood, but where she actually just doesn't gets to play a little bit of the straight man there.

[16:50] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. But I love her boy performance because it isn't like the go-to kind of it's very doe-eyed. It's very strange.

[17:02] Jesse McAnally: Yes, that is a good comparison. It was like, oh, this is just Greg, but I love Craphole, so I don't care.

[17:09] Andrew DeWolf: Um, so we got Craphole, Mouthface, um, wet slippery one wet, and Jack Bauer and Titty Mitty.

[17:17] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. Titty Middy was actually a great name. That one was good. I know the Dick Rat family.

[17:22] Andrew DeWolf: Like the structure of the show a lot. I like the way it plays out. I actually think it's like one of the most well-constructed Star Kid shows.

[17:31] Jesse McAnally: Cause Starkid does this thing a lot where they'll set something up as just a throwaway joke and then make it like real plot later.

[17:38] Andrew DeWolf: And that's like their go-to thing where you'll be like, oh, that's ridiculous, and then it's like actually real.

[17:43] Jesse McAnally: Um, and just here there's it's so compacted that it just works so much better than it does in all the other overbloated shows where you've almost forgotten like what am I seeing right now?

[17:54] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, because that throwaway line earlier. Um, that being said, Liz, I know you brought up the songs, b the throwaway songs.

[18:03] Jesse McAnally: Bro, these songs, these songs ain't great. Jeff Blim got better, but ugh.

[18:06] Andrew DeWolf: They're not my favorite songs in the Starkid canon, but I like that. I wouldn't even say there's one that I really really like.

[18:16] Jesse McAnally: That's how bad the like that's I think this would have probably been a better, more fun play. They're trying to do a country western sound, but it's just like this uh corny, like, I don't know.

[18:27] Andrew DeWolf: No, I agree. And it's when they do things that are kind of against the grain, like wagon on fire or dysentery world, where I feel like, okay, this kind of worked, but also it just feels so different than everything else, that maybe that's the only reason why they stand out to me.

[18:41] Jesse McAnally: Rather than me like, oh, I actually like that, or is it just oh something different?

[18:45] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. And oh god, yeah. Um, this is a very much a freshman endeavor as far as songwriting goes, but I feel like the playwriting and comedy really hits here.

[18:56] Jesse McAnally: And I just like the creativity of it. I think the audience participation aspect of it is the part that I liked the most.

[19:02] Andrew DeWolf: And I kind of wish they did more, but I understand that that would be very difficult.

[19:07] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, but imagine if you took all that effort into the that was put into the choreography and the songwriting, just put it into like a little bit more like participation.

[19:16] Andrew DeWolf: Choose your own adventure kind of thing.

[19:18] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, like what if they could actually like they had different like actual different plot points that could happen based on like you tell the the dad character you should buy that wagon or this wagon or something like that, you know, and then something later on actually happens that's different.

[19:34] Andrew DeWolf: Or just who the bandits kidnap. Maybe it's the son this time, and it would make you want to see it multiple times, you know?

[19:42] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. But I get that would be hard. It would be easier for a live show if that was all you were doing. Harder for a YouTube audience, which is their bread and butter.

[19:52] Andrew DeWolf: And this is back when they were utilizing the link on inside of the YouTube video that was a feature?

[19:59] Jesse McAnally: Remember annotations? That was fucking great.

[20:01] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Okay, maybe a hot take. Annotations sucked.

[20:04] Jesse McAnally: What?

[20:06] Andrew DeWolf: How dare you? Like people would just have it pop up in the videos all the time, and like I hated that shit.

[20:12] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, Andrew. You're both wrong.

[20:15] Andrew DeWolf: But also, y'all weren't really good YouTubers back in the 2010 days.

[20:20] Jesse McAnally: No, but I watched YouTube.

[20:21] Andrew DeWolf: I was a good YouTube watcher, and I hated annotations.

[20:25] Jesse McAnally: Do you know how useful they were? If someone got canceled, you're like, I don't stand by these opinions anymore. Now you gotta take down the whole fucking video.

[20:32] Andrew DeWolf: Now you say in the description.

[20:34] Jesse McAnally: No, they read the fucking description. They read what's right in front of them.

[20:39] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, he's saying really nice things about Kevin Spacey. Time to call him out on Twitter.

[20:45] Jesse McAnally: That was 2014! We didn't know!

[20:46] Andrew DeWolf: How about we go on to previews and compare our opinions to those of the real theater critics?

[20:52] Jesse McAnally: There were real theater critics overviewers?

[20:56] Andrew DeWolf: Yes, the ones on letterbox.com.

[20:58] Jesse McAnally: Okay. That's not a real critic.

[20:59] Andrew DeWolf: Yes, they are. They're the only real critics.

[21:02] Jesse McAnally: It's Tomfall preview.

[21:07] Andrew DeWolf: It's Tom Fall Previews. You should have got some like YouTube commenters and be like, does this have more thumbs up.

[21:14] Jesse McAnally: And Jeff Blim is so cute.

[21:16] Andrew DeWolf: Oh my god. No one thinks Jeff Blim is cute.

[21:19] Jesse McAnally: What? He's cute and like that, you know, kind of sad, like divorced dad that's trying too hard in an overcompensating way.

[21:26] Andrew DeWolf: Just you need to talk to somebody.

[21:29] Jesse McAnally: Jess, you're not supposed to love the sad dads. You're supposed to want to date the sad divorced father.

[21:35] Andrew DeWolf: You want to like help him through some money?

[21:39] Jesse McAnally: You know? Like a dog.

[21:41] Andrew DeWolf: Or an ox.

[21:42] Jesse McAnally: Or horny ox. I'm a monster.

[21:45] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, it's a letterbox game. This is a really depressing episode. We're letting it out.

[21:53] Jesse McAnally: One star, five star. These are real reviews on letterbox, blah blah blah blah blah. Liz, you're first.

[21:57] Liz Eston: Okay.

[21:58] Jesse McAnally: What?

[21:59] Liz Eston: Gotta five.

[22:01] Jesse McAnally: That is correct. Andrew!

[22:03] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[22:03] Jesse McAnally: Fart Peggio.

[22:05] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, Fart Peggio. That's a great lie. Uh, Fart Peggio that gets a five stars.

[22:12] Jesse McAnally: That is correct. See, I'm in. I'm inside the head of every Harry Potter fan when they were 13.

[22:20] Andrew DeWolf: Okay. I'm so sorry. It's a really sad state of mind to be.

[22:25] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. Um, I've been feeling things lately. So how do you feel about the cursed child?

[22:30] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, I think that it's a very funny premise.

[22:34] Jesse McAnally: Well, I honestly I have sincerely thought about doing that on this podcast.

[22:40] Andrew DeWolf: Like am I am I incorrect? Is this is this the one where they they go back in time and make it so the one the Twilight guy lives?

[22:49] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[22:49] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. And he turns out to be the most evil Hitler guy ever because he's.

[22:53] Jesse McAnally: No, no. No, no, no. It's he causes the most evil Hitler guy to win.

[22:58] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, and it's just revealed that Voldemort and Bellatrix had a baby.

[23:02] Jesse McAnally: So Voldemort fucked.

[23:03] Andrew DeWolf: Nice. I always assumed that Voldemort, like similar to his nose, his dick is also kind of gone.

[23:09] Jesse McAnally: Um, but it still has like the two holes like his nose.

[23:12] Andrew DeWolf: Do dicks have two holes?

[23:13] Jesse McAnally: Well, no, he has two holes specifically. Because it looks like a snake.

[23:19] Andrew DeWolf: Someone make fan art of this. I dare you.

[23:22] Jesse McAnally: How about we move on to the next one?

[23:24] Andrew DeWolf: What's the next one?

[23:28] Jesse McAnally: Who's next?

[23:29] Andrew DeWolf: I forgot who's It's me.

[23:31] Jesse McAnally: Okay. More fart jokes, please.

[23:34] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, one.

[23:36] Jesse McAnally: That is correct.

[23:37] Andrew DeWolf: Ooh, good guess.

[23:39] Jesse McAnally: Yep. I, a 1,000 eye demon creature, enjoyed watching this family die.

[23:45] Andrew DeWolf: A 1,000 eye. Oh, so like eyes, as many eyes. Okay. I get it.

[23:49] Jesse McAnally: They're okay. This is a five because they're referencing the show.

[23:53] Andrew DeWolf: This is the watcher.

[23:55] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, yeah, the watcher. I like that aspect too.

[23:59] Andrew DeWolf: Like that's our re that's probably the reason. I love the lobster aspect of it all.

[24:04] Jesse McAnally: Oh, okay. Then how about this one? I do.

[24:07] Liz Eston: Liz, grandpa and the lobster should have kissed.

[24:09] Jesse McAnally: Five.

[24:10] Liz Eston: That's a one.

[24:11] Jesse McAnally: What?

[24:12] Liz Eston: It's a one because they didn't kiss.

[24:13] Jesse McAnally: They didn't kiss, that's right. Yeah, I should have thought about that logically.

[24:19] Andrew DeWolf: Crap hole.

[24:20] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, that's me. I'm seven and I'm male.

[24:23] Andrew DeWolf: That is definitely a line that was in the the YouTube version. Uh, we're gonna go with uh we're gonna go with a no uh one star.

[24:35] Jesse McAnally: That is correct. Oh fuck, I just I almost I just guessed my way into that.

[24:39] Andrew DeWolf: Okay. Alright, Liz.

[24:41] Jesse McAnally: I'm ready.

[24:42] Liz Eston: Titty Middy is the man.

[24:43] Jesse McAnally: He is he is the man. Um, five.

[24:47] Liz Eston: That is a one.

[24:48] Jesse McAnally: Damn.

[24:48] Andrew DeWolf: Yep. Ridiculous and terrible. I loved it. In a sane world, this would be a three stars.

[24:56] Jesse McAnally: We're gonna go with five.

[24:57] Andrew DeWolf: That is correct. And Liz, last one.

[25:00] Jesse McAnally: I'm ready.

[25:00] Liz Eston: Cletus. Clitos Jones. Kill three people.

[25:03] Jesse McAnally: Five.

[25:04] Liz Eston: That is a one.

[25:05] Jesse McAnally: And Andrew has won the letterbox game today.

[25:08] Andrew DeWolf: I am the Star Kid expert. My head is bigger than all the Harry Potters.

[25:13] Jesse McAnally: He's rubbing his nipples.

[25:14] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, he's dabbing. And he's flossing. He's doing a dance.

[25:23] Jesse McAnally: Hey guys. Sorry to interrupt you in the middle of the show, but we've got a sh shish at you. Today's show is brought to you by extremely kind donations by our donors at Patreon, and we'll go into them and what's going on at Patreon.

[25:34] Andrew DeWolf: But Andrew, you and I have to do something really quick.

[25:37] Jesse McAnally: Oh, what's that?

[25:38] Andrew DeWolf: So a little while ago, I put in chat I gave ChatGPT the command to make up a musicals with cheese episode.

[25:47] Jesse McAnally: That was a terrible idea, I'm sure.

[25:48] Andrew DeWolf: It was. And I want us to be able to read that right now.

[25:53] Jesse McAnally: If you wouldn't mind.

[25:55] Andrew DeWolf: Oh. Yeah, I'm is it even anything like our show?

[25:59] Jesse McAnally: I mean, it strangely, it got both our names right and knew that we had cheese ratings.

[26:05] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, I'll take your word for that.

[26:07] Jesse McAnally: Alright, I send it to you. You got the script? Are you ready?

[26:10] Andrew DeWolf: I'm ready.

[26:13] Jesse McAnally: Alright, Liz, give us the title.

[26:15] Liz Eston: Title Musicals of Cheese, Episode 105. Unveiling Magic. Enchanted Reverie.

[26:20] Jesse McAnally: Intro music playing. We're going back in time and redoing episode 105.

[26:25] Andrew DeWolf: I don't even remember what 105 was. Um, probably good.

[26:30] Jesse McAnally: Welcome back, cheeseheads, to another enchanting episode of Musicals of Cheese. I'm your host, Jesse McQueen, and as always, I'm joined by my co-host, Andrew the Wizard of Wisdom. How's it going, Andrew?

[26:43] Andrew DeWolf: Damn, I'm the wizard of wisdom. That's fucking.

[26:46] Jesse McAnally: You're not saying on script!

[26:48] Andrew DeWolf: I'm doing magical, Jesse. Today we're diving deep into a spellbinding tale that has captured the hearts of audiences around the world.

[26:57] Jesse McAnally: It's time to explore the world of enchanted reverie.

[27:01] Andrew DeWolf: That's right, Andrew. Enchanted Reverie is a contemporary musical that weaves together fantasy, romance, and a touch of comedy written by the creative duo Samantha Singer and Alex Composer.

[27:14] Jesse McAnally: This musical takes us on a journey to the end of Illoria, where magic reigns supreme.

[27:21] Andrew DeWolf: Absolutely, Jesse. The story follows Ilaria, a young witch with an insatiable curiosity for the unknown. She stumbles upon an ancient spell that transports her to the human world, where she meets the charming but skeptical Daniel.

[27:36] Jesse McAnally: And you know what happens next, right?

[27:39] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, the classic tale of opposites attracting. But with a magical twist, the two worlds collide, leading to a delightful clash of cultures, beliefs, and of course, musical numbers.

[27:50] Jesse McAnally: The music in Enchanted Reverie is an enchantment in itself. From the soaring ballads like Wings of Desire, where Ilaria expresses her longing to fly to the toe-tapping ensemble piece Magic in the Air that showcases the chaos of Ilaria's magical mishaps.

[28:10] Andrew DeWolf: The score truly transports you to another realm.

[28:13] Jesse McAnally: And let's not forget about the hilarious sidekicks. Alara's mischievous talking cat Whisker steals the show with his witty one-liners and slapstick humor.

[28:23] Andrew DeWolf: A goodnstop laughing during his solo number, a catastrophic day.

[28:30] Jesse McAnally: Don't ask his name.

[28:34] Andrew DeWolf: But what really sets Enchanted Reverie apart is its exploration of cultural differences.

[28:41] Jesse McAnally: Oh, the song "Two Worlds Apart" beautifully captures the struggle Alaria and Daniel face as they try to bridge the gap between their worlds.

[28:51] Jesse McAnally: And that brings us to our cheese reading.

[28:54] Andrew DeWolf: What?

[28:56] Jesse McAnally: On a scale of Brie, whoa, to Gouda.

[28:59] Andrew DeWolf: Hi, how would you rate ruin the cheese rating?

[29:02] Jesse McAnally: No!

[29:03] Andrew DeWolf: The whole point is there's no point.

[29:06] Jesse McAnally: Yes, this is actually making a point of the cheese rating, which is hilarious.

[29:11] Jesse McAnally: Um, how would you rate Enchanted Reverie, Andrew?

[29:14] Andrew DeWolf: Oh Jesse, this musical is pure Gouda for me.

[29:19] Andrew DeWolf: The seamless blend of magic, romance, and humor, along with the catchy tunes, makes it a must-see for any musical theater lover.

[29:28] Jesse McAnally: I am right there with you, Andrew.

[29:30] Jesse McAnally: Enchanted Reverie earns a Gouda from me too.

[29:33] Jesse McAnally: It's a whimsical journey that reminds us of the power of imagination and the importance of embracing the unknown.

[29:40] Jesse McAnally: And that's a wrap on our review of Enchanted Reverie.

[29:44] Jesse McAnally: Join us next week as we dive into a completely different genre with the rock-infused musical "Riff Off the Rails."

[29:51] Andrew DeWolf: Until then, cheese out, everyone.

[29:54] Jesse McAnally: Cheese out indeed.

[29:56] Jesse McAnally: Thanks for tuning in, and remember, stay cheesy and keep the magic alive.

[30:01] Andrew DeWolf: Outro music fade.

[30:03] Andrew DeWolf: I feel like that the through the whole thing, you can like picture me and you, like our nose starts bleeding and like.

[30:10] Andrew DeWolf: My first reaction just texted this to me before he tweeted.

[30:13] Andrew DeWolf: My first reaction was like Andrew would never give anything Gouda.

[30:16] Jesse McAnally: That's ridiculous.

[30:17] Andrew DeWolf: I've only I'd only given things Gouda if I was explicitly being lazy.

[30:21] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[30:24] Andrew DeWolf: I would say Andrew.

[30:26] Andrew DeWolf: The biggest difference is Andrew sounds too interested.

[30:30] Jesse McAnally: My favorite is "Oh Jesse."

[30:31] Jesse McAnally: Like, you have never called me Jesse a day in your life, and when you have, it is very uncomfortable for me.

[30:36] Andrew DeWolf: I call you that when you're in trouble.

[30:38] Jesse McAnally: You really do though.

[30:40] Andrew DeWolf: When you like have to talk to me about something seriously, you say Jesse, and it really messes with my head.

[30:45] Jesse McAnally: Um, so that was lovely.

[30:47] Andrew DeWolf: Our current patrons are Melissa Goldman, Danielle Renics, Jesse Sampedi, and Casty, Monica Thoreau, Brent Black, Lithano Stacey Coomb, Joseph Evans Green, Mary Lou Choquette, John Vanels, Russ Walker, Musical Hell, Emily Gracie, Kyle Summers, Jen AC, Scoot of the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Liz Lim, Nothing is Certain Except Beth and Taxes, Desbian, Robert, Benjamin, Jessica T, Mitchell Young, Chai T Cup, Chris Marcote, KG Marie's Anastasio, RJ Norija, Julia McClellan, Bjorn Hermans, Toriana Fraser, Sammy The Adequate Amount Jacobson, Lyanna Morton, Kayleigh Blazier, Cinemagin Reviews, Villainous Smith, Sofiana Ali, the Omega Geek, Paige Pearson, Manny Wargle, Alisa Erdman, Anna Los Catova, Sarah Denbleckier, Evan Ballb, Zachary Torres, Aura Morasso, fucking Mara Furloin, um, Captain Rotastic, Lisa L, Possessed Washing Machine, Nick Roten, Julia Hardy, Jake Husia, Caitlin Bridgeman, Sidney Hicks, and Beale, Billy Clifton, Andrew Wright, and the Red Caboose.

[31:45] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, they all give us money to keep this show going.

[31:48] Jesse McAnally: But you know what?

[31:49] Jesse McAnally: Who needs us anymore?

[31:50] Jesse McAnally: They can just replace us with AI.

[31:52] Andrew DeWolf: They've got it covered.

[31:53] Andrew DeWolf: Really, that is an accurate representation of us, and truly, Hollywood should be wasting their money on replacing writers with those.

[32:02] Jesse McAnally: I think if all if everything was just written with AI, I mean, the world would just have a lot more great entertainment.

[32:08] Andrew DeWolf: You know what I'm saying?

[32:09] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, definitely.

[32:11] Andrew DeWolf: Definitely, Andrew.

[32:12] Jesse McAnally: Oh, Jesse.

[32:13] Andrew DeWolf: Oh Jesse.

[32:15] Andrew DeWolf: It's gotta be Gouda for me.

[32:18] Jesse McAnally: Absolutely, Jesse.

[32:20] Jesse McAnally: You know what?

[32:20] Jesse McAnally: I can't wait till we get the one-star review.

[32:22] Jesse McAnally: Like, I can't believe they're supporting AI like this.

[32:25] Andrew DeWolf: We all we both very much support AI.

[32:27] Andrew DeWolf: We want all musicals to be written by AI.

[32:30] Andrew DeWolf: We just think that it would be a lot better.

[32:32] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, and irony just threw out the window because a lot of you don't have basic literacy.

[32:38] Andrew DeWolf: Um, media.

[32:39] Jesse McAnally: Let's get back to the show.

[32:47] Andrew DeWolf: Let's talk about these songs.

[32:48] Andrew DeWolf: How about that?

[32:49] Andrew DeWolf: I like the opening number, uh, "Gone to Oregon."

[32:52] Andrew DeWolf: Um, that's probably my favorite, like traditional like theatery number in the show.

[33:12] Jesse McAnally: Good morning.

[33:16] Jesse McAnally: We stand before the journey that leads us all to Oregon again.

[33:28] Jesse McAnally: A pioneer adventure down the trail to Oregon again.

[33:37] Jesse McAnally: To his game.

[33:41] Jesse McAnally: Grandpa?

[33:42] Jesse McAnally: Would my legs hurt?

[33:43] Jesse McAnally: My gods command we dare to land with content.

[33:49] Jesse McAnally: We're going to Oregon, Grandpa.

[33:51] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, I'm gonna go to Wisconsin.

[33:52] Andrew DeWolf: But it's also because it's interrupted in the middle by audience participation stuff.

[33:56] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, I was gonna say, I feel like the reason I like this song is because they have to sing the silly names.

[34:01] Andrew DeWolf: This is one of the few songs where they actually have to sing the names.

[34:04] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, and they have to adjust based on the situation, and it's fun.

[34:09] Jesse McAnally: Like this feels like really engaging and kind of sets you up for something you don't really get for the rest of it very much.

[34:15] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, hot take.

[34:17] Andrew DeWolf: I'm pretty sure that in our version, one of the characters used one of their rehearsed names.

[34:23] Andrew DeWolf: And it wasn't called out by the audience.

[34:25] Jesse McAnally: I didn't hear the audience say one of the names at all.

[34:28] Andrew DeWolf: Which is which name?

[34:29] Jesse McAnally: I don't remember which one it was, but I'm pretty sure.

[34:32] Andrew DeWolf: I heard there was a bunch of voices, and then the person just like said a name, and they were just like, I heard this one.

[34:39] Andrew DeWolf: If I had to put a guess, I'd say mouthface, because that seems like the most normal one.

[34:44] Jesse McAnally: This is my theory.

[34:45] Jesse McAnally: I think that one of them was a rehearsed name.

[34:48] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, sure.

[34:49] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, the pressure of having anything recorded is different.

[34:52] Jesse McAnally: Have I I think I told this on Dear Friends, but I don't think I've ever told it on this show about the time I got yelled at by a grown adult for what?

[35:01] Andrew DeWolf: As a child?

[35:02] Jesse McAnally: What, because of a theater show?

[35:04] Andrew DeWolf: Oh god.

[35:05] Jesse McAnally: Um, man, this is probably cringe of me.

[35:08] Jesse McAnally: Um, so there was a line I was supposed to read, and I did it differently every time.

[35:13] Jesse McAnally: I always said the line, I always said all my lines correctly, but this time I said it in a way where it had a different meaning.

[35:19] Jesse McAnally: And the actress across from me, who was the director's daughter, started breaking and started laughing so hard she couldn't get back together, which was a win for me, and I'm just like, ha ha!

[35:30] Jesse McAnally: The audience is losing their shit at the great moment.

[35:33] Jesse McAnally: I got pulled aside and screamed at by her mother because it was the night that they were recording, and there was a talent scout for her daughter in the audience, and that was my fault.

[35:43] Andrew DeWolf: You ruined it.

[35:44] Jesse McAnally: Apparently, I ruined her career.

[35:46] Jesse McAnally: I've not looked into it.

[35:48] Jesse McAnally: Maybe she's got a great career, but I think about that a lot where I'm just like, I'm the comedy guy.

[35:52] Jesse McAnally: It's like that's my role right here.

[35:54] Jesse McAnally: I'm gonna say this line however I can to get a different reaction every night and make it fun for me.

[35:59] Andrew DeWolf: But was I in the wrong for that?

[36:01] Jesse McAnally: Now that I've told that long ass story, that I really deserve to be yelled at by a grown adult.

[36:05] Andrew DeWolf: You did.

[36:06] Andrew DeWolf: You ruined that person's career.

[36:08] Jesse McAnally: That's the way they made it sound.

[36:09] Andrew DeWolf: No, that's ridiculous.

[36:11] Andrew DeWolf: No, it's actually completely untrue though, because like Hugh Jackman, like you break on purpose.

[36:16] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, it's all right.

[36:18] Andrew DeWolf: Breaking is actually really funny.

[36:20] Andrew DeWolf: It's really good.

[36:20] Andrew DeWolf: It's really professional.

[36:22] Jesse McAnally: Every Debbie Downer sketch ever.

[36:24] Andrew DeWolf: Every sketch with Jimmy Fallon, every show with Jimmy Fallon on it.

[36:28] Jesse McAnally: I don't think Jimmy Fallon can break because I don't think Jimmy Fallon is ever in a state where he wouldn't just be laughing randomly.

[36:28] Andrew DeWolf: I don't think Jimmy Fallon is a person.

[36:36] Andrew DeWolf: He's a Disneyland animatronic that escaped.

[36:40] Jesse McAnally: See, now we're talking.

[36:41] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[36:42] Jesse McAnally: That's a theory I can get behind.

[36:44] Andrew DeWolf: I think that is a good theory.

[37:02] Andrew DeWolf: Let's talk about "Sometimes It Pays to Be an Animal."

[37:02] Andrew DeWolf: We grow in the young fucking daddy across you how to cluck.

[37:02] Andrew DeWolf: If you talk one day, then the gluck and comes to an end.

[37:02] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, it's glass that fools got some process of my makeup.

[37:02] Andrew DeWolf: Teaches the goats if you live in your shot in the head in all the peace.

[37:09] Andrew DeWolf: Sometimes it pays to be an animal, sometimes don't.

[37:22] Andrew DeWolf: Sometimes it pays to be an animal, sometimes don't.

[37:22] Andrew DeWolf: And when you wake up with blood on your dick, and you don't even know where it came from.

[37:22] Andrew DeWolf: Sometimes it pays to be an animal, sometimes don't.

[37:27] Andrew DeWolf: Oh god, this song is so fucking long.

[37:29] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, it's long.

[37:30] Jesse McAnally: It's not funny.

[37:31] Jesse McAnally: Like the scene is funny.

[37:33] Jesse McAnally: The song element isn't.

[37:35] Andrew DeWolf: They I think my issue is they repeat the joke too much.

[37:39] Andrew DeWolf: Got mud on your dick.

[37:40] Andrew DeWolf: The mud on your dick and then pause.

[37:43] Andrew DeWolf: That should be like a one time.

[37:45] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[37:45] Andrew DeWolf: Maybe once at the beginning, and maybe then again at the end.

[37:48] Andrew DeWolf: They do it like three times in the song, and then it comes back at the end of Act One.

[37:53] Jesse McAnally: It's like you can't you can't do the joke this many times.

[37:56] Andrew DeWolf: Not to go sucking Brent's dick again.

[38:00] Jesse McAnally: Do it.

[38:01] Andrew DeWolf: Go, suck it.

[38:03] Andrew DeWolf: But during the Scotty's nephew song in the con the musical, there's a similar joke about like a pathetic person like dying.

[38:14] Andrew DeWolf: And it just lands so much better than this one because the song isn't about the death of the animal.

[38:19] Jesse McAnally: Like imagine if it was just that little Billy Goat singing.

[38:22] Andrew DeWolf: Or whatever, an ox, bull, buffalo, whatever.

[38:25] Jesse McAnally: I think it was a buffalo.

[38:26] Andrew DeWolf: Like that moment worked, but like the grandpa singing about mud on your dick.

[38:31] Andrew DeWolf: Never landed for me once.

[38:33] Jesse McAnally: I think that they just this whole thing is just it's a little too long.

[38:36] Jesse McAnally: They repeat the jokes.

[38:37] Jesse McAnally: They repeat the I slipped joke like twice in the scene as well.

[38:42] Andrew DeWolf: Like, yeah, but that works for me.

[38:44] Andrew DeWolf: See that one sort of works.

[38:46] Andrew DeWolf: It gets every mud on your dick one doesn't work.

[38:49] Jesse McAnally: Just the way he slips to it, just in a very elegant position.

[38:52] Jesse McAnally: He's just like, oh no, I slid.

[38:55] Andrew DeWolf: Also, isn't the mud on your dick thing?

[38:57] Andrew DeWolf: They do that something similar to that in um Book of Mormon, I feel like.

[39:01] Jesse McAnally: And they do it way better.

[39:02] Andrew DeWolf: Maggots and my scrotum.

[39:03] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[39:04] Jesse McAnally: But they do it like a lot better in that one where it's like a little funnier.

[39:08] Andrew DeWolf: Although honestly, it's still not that funny.

[39:10] Andrew DeWolf: Most of Book of Mormon isn't that funny.

[39:13] Jesse McAnally: You know they've rewritten Book of Mormon, like since 2020, right?

[39:17] Andrew DeWolf: Like significantly.

[39:18] Jesse McAnally: I wouldn't doubt it.

[39:19] Jesse McAnally: I mean, there's been a lot more, um, a lot more thought about some of the themes in that that I feel like.

[39:24] Andrew DeWolf: I think we can do without Book of Mormon forever.

[39:27] Jesse McAnally: I think we have some funny gags, but I think we just should take it off Broadway.

[39:31] Andrew DeWolf: I'm a little shocked it's still on Broadway.

[39:33] Jesse McAnally: Shoot a pro shot, lock it away, whatever, put it off.

[39:37] Andrew DeWolf: I'm surprised it still makes as much money as it does.

[39:41] Jesse McAnally: I feel like it's it has run its course.

[39:43] Andrew DeWolf: Like, yeah.

[39:44] Jesse McAnally: It was good for 2009 edgy humor, whatever.

[39:47] Jesse McAnally: It was fine.

[39:48] Jesse McAnally: It's like in like we don't we don't have Avenue Q still up, you know?

[39:52] Andrew DeWolf: Like we don't, you know.

[39:53] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, it was off Broadway for a couple years.

[39:55] Andrew DeWolf: Like, even off Broadway, I think Book of Mormon would have a better life.

[39:58] Jesse McAnally: They're not gonna they're not gonna get rid of that cash cow, though.

[40:01] Andrew DeWolf: You know, sometimes it pays to be an animal.

[40:04] Andrew DeWolf: Sometimes it don't.

[40:05] Jesse McAnally: Don't.

[40:05] Andrew DeWolf: And then you wake up with mud on your dick and you don't even know where it came from.

[40:08] Jesse McAnally: You didn't do the pause.

[40:09] Jesse McAnally: There has to be like a five-second pause between those.

[40:12] Andrew DeWolf: You got mud on your dick!

[40:14] Jesse McAnally: And you don't even know where it came from.

[40:16] Andrew DeWolf: And you have to pause every time because the audience is gonna leave.

[40:22] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[40:23] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, the audience was not into that joke.

[40:26] Andrew DeWolf: Um, I really like "Dysentery World," but I don't know if it's just because it's leaning into like the watchers and stuff.

[40:33] Andrew DeWolf: And I really like the scene that precedes it where she gets bitten by a rattlesnake and then he sucks out the venom and accidentally swells.

[40:39] Jesse McAnally: Like I love the setup for this scene a lot.

[40:42] Andrew DeWolf: And I love coming out of that scene where they're burying him and he comes back to life, and the granddad's mad because they're using his coffin.

[40:52] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[40:55] Andrew DeWolf: One of your family would die.

[40:58] Jesse McAnally: How will we die?

[40:59] Andrew DeWolf: Trench mouth?

[41:00] Jesse McAnally: Oh.

[41:02] Andrew DeWolf: Dysentery.

[41:05] Andrew DeWolf: Look to the eyes.

[41:11] Andrew DeWolf: There's an underworld right underneath.

[41:17] Andrew DeWolf: We're at the hike.

[41:19] Andrew DeWolf: The world's a shit.

[41:26] Andrew DeWolf: And thus we will die appropriately.

[41:31] Andrew DeWolf: It's a dysentery world.

[41:33] Andrew DeWolf: Dysentery, dysentery.

[41:37] Andrew DeWolf: Dysentery, dysentery, like this fish.

[41:41] Jesse McAnally: I feel like this section has some of the best jokes in it, just like back to back.

[41:45] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, and yeah, I mean you just listed like all of them, but it's all good.

[41:50] Jesse McAnally: I'm not sure if I like this song or if I just like this section of the musical a lot.

[41:54] Andrew DeWolf: I can't remember how the song goes.

[41:56] Jesse McAnally: So I feel like you probably just like this section of the musical a lot.

[41:59] Andrew DeWolf: Probably, yeah.

[42:00] Andrew DeWolf: It's fun.

[42:01] Andrew DeWolf: And I like that it sets up that someone's gonna die of dysentery.

[42:05] Jesse McAnally: I That's expected though, and I knew that that was gonna happen at the beginning.

[42:08] Andrew DeWolf: Although honestly, I thought that we were gonna see all of them die of dysentery.

[42:12] Jesse McAnally: Technically, you can see them all of them die in dysentery if you look up the Star Kid "Trail to Oregon" playlist and you watch all the endings.

[42:18] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, watch every ending because it's fun to watch girls shit themselves to death on in like these things.

[42:24] Jesse McAnally: Even like the boy pretending the girl pretending to be a boy is funny.

[42:36] Jesse McAnally: And I feel like there's more of a like a subversion of the hoity-toidy nature that we like to hold like women up to in fucking society.

[42:45] Andrew DeWolf: I don't know. I think it's funnier if like girls are trying not to shit themselves to death.

[42:50] Jesse McAnally: Quick poll though.

[42:51] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[42:51] Jesse McAnally: Uh who would you vote for if you watched the show to have shit themselves to death?

[42:56] Andrew DeWolf: I personally would pick either of the kids.

[43:01] Jesse McAnally: Wow.

[43:02] Andrew DeWolf: Okay. Because I think the sister daughter, it would be funny because she kind of caused all the issues and all that. And the boy because I think it's funny because they put shit in their mouth the entire movie or the entire show. So both of those would probably be my picks.

[43:18] Jesse McAnally: I'd probably pick the grandfather or one of the kids.

[43:23] Andrew DeWolf: The grandfather I would maybe pick because I think he would have the funniest shitting himself to death scene.

[43:28] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[43:29] Andrew DeWolf: Um I pick the grandpa or the dad. I mean, Jeff Blim sells it the most out of all the playlists.

[43:35] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[43:36] Andrew DeWolf: And I think the actor who plays the grandpa is like one of the funniest, because I think he could play it well.

[43:42] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[43:43] Andrew DeWolf: They don't often give him much to do when he's another Star Kid. This is honestly probably the one where he's gotten the most to do.

[43:50] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, he's a pretty smaller role in VHS Christmas Girl, too.

[43:53] Andrew DeWolf: His small role in Black Friday, small role and Guy D, well, not a small role, but not much to do.

[44:01] Jesse McAnally: Supporting, yeah.

[44:02] Andrew DeWolf: It's because he couldn't sell the mud on your dick line.

[44:05] Jesse McAnally: They were just like that joke is supposed to land, it's supposed to have them in the fucking aisles.

[44:09] Andrew DeWolf: You ruined it.

[44:12] Jesse McAnally: Listen for just not selling the mud in the dick line.

[44:17] Andrew DeWolf: Um so I guess we should talk about you gotta go, the deceased family member shitting themselves song.

[44:28] Jesse McAnally: When the darkness surrounds you, and the light is all but out. There's still a fire deep inside you that will find the nearest route. It starts as a whisper. You feel a rumbling and itching at your soul. You can hold it any longer as the urge keeps growing stronger, and then you know you gotta go, and you gotta go.

[45:12] Andrew DeWolf: Close your eyes, give it a shove. You gotta go. It's time to let go of your love. The time we had together was all that I had left.

[45:43] Jesse McAnally: I love this song. I get it. You gotta go. You gotta go. It means multiple things. Farpeggio. And they set it up earlier where he's like, it's okay with grandpa dies, it's a God's will, and that right. He's like, yeah, when you gotta go, you gotta go. We're talking about the shit, alright? And then when you gotta go, you gotta go, becomes a song. This is tight. It's tight, good playwriting, sincerely. And I don't wanna undercut that by like how much I don't particularly love the songs here.

[46:12] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[46:13] Jesse McAnally: I also really love the running gag of the son just being like, Mom, why are you trying to ask me why I constantly put things in my mouth? It's ridiculous. I have no explanation for it. I just want to put things in my mouth. And it always hits. I feel like Lauren Lopez is probably like one of those actors you can probably give anything to, and she'll probably knock it out and find the humor in it. Um kind of like an Amy Poehler, where if you give her the character, she'll find the humor somehow.

[46:41] Andrew DeWolf: Like, even when she's got bit rolls, like even in Twisted, she really stands out as well.

[46:46] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, she has the most famous line in Twisted.

[46:48] Andrew DeWolf: Why is everyone in the kingdom white?

[46:50] Jesse McAnally: Exactly. So I think she's like a secret, like a sports analogy, good person, whatever. Insert that there. Um, but who gives the fuck what I think? What is our overall thoughts on the Trail to Oregon and RC's ratings?

[47:05] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, Andrew, why don't you go first?

[47:07] Andrew DeWolf: So uh I don't know. Like, I didn't not enjoy it. Like it had its funny moments. I think I do actually like agree with you a lot on the music, Jess, where it just it's just all kind of eh. Like it's not like bad, bad, but it's just kind of there. Um possibly not that necessary, you know uh but I think that I don't really love how wishy-washy they were on whether or not this is a parody a direct parody of the game or if they're just using elements from the game to tell jokes or and doing their own original thing. I couldn't really tell and a lot of the jokes for me just didn't really land. They were a little too juvenile maybe I I'm not even really sure.

[47:54] Jesse McAnally: Very much so um that being said though as I said earlier I feel like Star Kid shows have a high floor and even even the bad ones are still kind of just fine like 'cause they're all trying, you know? They're always trying to entertain you. You never feel like this is just no one gives a shit and it sucks. You know uh they're always they're always doing their best up there on the stage. So I'm gonna give it uh Oregon Zola, which uh is uh I just think of really fucking funny name for a cheese. It's Gorgonzola made in Oregon.

[48:33] Andrew DeWolf: Uh I like that. It's funny. I agree. Liz, what about you? Your overall thoughts in your cheese rating.

[48:39] Liz Eston: I enjoyed Trail to Oregon. I think I love their writing more than I love the music um on that end. Because I always remember the jokes but I never remember the songs really well except for pays to be an animal for some fucking reason because it gets stuck in my head all the time. And then you have mud on your dick and you don't even know where it came from. You got mud on your dick. It lives rent free in my head. I'm so sorry. But I think it's weak in spots, but I enjoy it overall. It's not insanely long like some other ones. And I think the acting overall is like really good. It's some of the best Star Kid casting in general. Like everyone is really on point. And this is my favorite Joy Richter of all Star Kid, because he does a lot and he does it all really well. Also, he has a lot of funny bloopers you can find online because he messed up, but they're recorded.

[49:26] Andrew DeWolf: Yes.

[49:27] Liz Eston: So there's a point where he said Mook's hard lemonade during a show instead of Mike's hard lemonade. And he forgot the words to independence once and went, uh. And it's a very funny clip in my opinion. Um, but I'm gonna give it um I couldn't find any funny Oregon cheeses, and I can't top Andrew's, so I'm gonna go with Gouda in honor of the ranking that the AI made up.

[49:52] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, it's a high tier.

[49:53] Liz Eston: Okay. Yes. Guys, if you didn't know, there actually is a scale. We have it in our database.

[49:57] Andrew DeWolf: Don't you dare. Don't you dare sully our cheese ratings like that by giving it.

[50:03] Liz Eston: There every it's like a it's like a one to a hundred thing. There's a hundred different cheeses, and they're all listed up. We won't tell you how it works, though. It's a secret only Juliet knew until right now, when you all learned it.

[50:14] Andrew DeWolf: You might have to cut this, but you remember the time we had a guest on that was really frustrated that there wasn't a clear rubric for the cheese ratings? Like, do you remember that?

[50:22] Jesse McAnally: I think I do.

[50:25] Andrew DeWolf: I don't think they ever came in. They're like, no, no, no, I need to know whether I'm doing it right. And I'm like, doesn't fucking matter. You are doing it right if you make it up. If you don't, you're not doing it right.

[50:38] Jesse McAnally: Andrew's cheese rating once was a mouse in a movie.

[50:41] Andrew DeWolf: It wasn't even a G.

[50:42] Jesse McAnally: What was it?

[50:43] Andrew DeWolf: Was it Stuart Little?

[50:44] Jesse McAnally: No, no, it was the uh Peter Pan episode. He gave it uh the Tinkerbell at a mouse sidekick who had a cheese name, so he gave it that. I know that because I had to look up this mouse, look at the mouse and crop it in Photoshop for the video. I'm like, I'm like tracing this mouse for like five minutes straight.

[51:02] Andrew DeWolf: Was it a good looking mouse at least?

[51:04] Jesse McAnally: It was a cute ass mouse.

[51:05] Andrew DeWolf: It was a cute ass mouse.

[51:06] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[51:06] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, but it was.

[51:07] Jesse McAnally: That Peter Pan video is currently on YouTube if you're interested. It's a great video. Liz needs to make more of those videos, but honestly, we need to need to make a podcast episode worthy of doing a video on again. That's that's the issue.

[51:19] Andrew DeWolf: I like the Trail to Oregon. Um I guess we should probably do a tier list after this, but I do think it's one of the better Star Kid shows, in my opinion. I think it's a very tight it as far as playwright construction goes, it is one of the most effective, and I think the jokes land more often than they don't. And I also feel like everyone has a moment to shine, and in a lot of the other Star Kid shows, by virtue, a lot of the very talented actors tend to fade in the back um and not get much to do. And I'm happy that everyone had a lot to do this time. Um yeah, I am giving it pepperoni and cheese, because I feel like there's no other choice I could really do.

[51:56] Jesse McAnally: Pepperoni and cheese.

[51:57] Andrew DeWolf: You know, like a pizza.

[51:58] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, which is I remember that was a joke, wasn't it?

[52:00] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, they were gonna eat the body.

[52:02] Jesse McAnally: Oh yeah, they're eating. Yep. Yeah, that I hope that that landed. Maybe it didn't. You know, sometimes it pays. Sometimes you got blood on your dick.

[52:12] Andrew DeWolf: I don't even know where it came from.

[52:16] Jesse McAnally: Oh god. I mean, have you ever had mud on your dick though?

[52:19] Andrew DeWolf: Uh probably.

[52:21] Jesse McAnally: Alright, Andrew, you're ready to do a tier list.

[52:23] Andrew DeWolf: Sure. You're gonna have to remind me what we've eaten.

[52:25] Jesse McAnally: Oh, I got a mother, don't worry. Okay, so our tier list, as everyone knows. Um how we rank it. There's no S tier. It goes from Gouda down to cheddar.

[52:30] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[52:36] Jesse McAnally: What is no, it's Gouda, Brie.

[52:38] Andrew DeWolf: Brie is the worst of all your brain AR.

[52:41] Jesse McAnally: No, no, okay. So it's still sad. It's A B C D.

[52:45] Andrew DeWolf: D.

[52:46] Jesse McAnally: And it's only ranked relative to the other shows. This isn't if it's an A tier, it doesn't mean it's the greatest musical of all time. It means that it's the best on the list.

[52:56] Andrew DeWolf: Alright.

[52:56] Jesse McAnally: Okay. So let's start from the first one. We did Twisted. I think Twisted is just a it's an A tier by default for me. I do like that one. I think it was it was the one that I made me like Starkid in the first place. It was the one that I was like, damn, this was actually pretty funny. It maybe is a little too long, but I feel like I have to put it in A.

[53:16] Andrew DeWolf: That's fair. Um then we did uh the guy who didn't like musicals. I feel like I remember thinking this one was pretty good.

[53:24] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[53:25] Andrew DeWolf: So I think I'll put that into A as well, I think. And then we did Black Friday. This one was good too, though. I like Black Friday a little better. Like, yeah, I think Black Friday also, like, that's the thing. Like, they're all kind of these are all kind of similar quality. So then we have uh holy musical Batman with sideways.

[53:46] Jesse McAnally: Alright, I hate to do this to, but I have to put this in B, I think. I remember thinking this one wasn't as good.

[53:52] Andrew DeWolf: Then you have a very potter musical.

[53:54] Jesse McAnally: Alright, very Potter musical C maybe D. What else have we covered?

[53:59] Andrew DeWolf: Um, this would be the next one.

[54:01] Jesse McAnally: Is this the last one?

[54:02] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[54:02] Jesse McAnally: So far. I feel like I don't want to give it a D because I don't remember like hating it. Hating it. I just remember thinking it was lame. What do you think, Jess? Where would you put it?

[54:12] Jesse McAnally: I would put it in C.

[54:14] Andrew DeWolf: You would put it in C?

[54:15] Jesse McAnally: That's what I'm thinking as well.

[54:16] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, so we're gonna put it in C. And I guess um Starkid gets off without a D tier. Um, well, you still got um Trail to Oregon. Where's that fit?

[54:24] Jesse McAnally: Oh, Trail to Oregon is a B.

[54:27] Andrew DeWolf: Above Holy Musical Batman or under?

[54:29] Jesse McAnally: Uh probably above, actually. Although I'd have to maybe re-watch Holy Musical Batman. I guess I'm not sure. Well, they have overall, I mean, they're they have very like it's a very condensed list. They don't have they don't have any like massive, like way better than everything else, or anything that's like way worse than everything else that I've seen. I'm not saying it doesn't exist. I think these guys have a lot that I haven't seen. Did you guys see did you guys watch Me and My Dick yet?

[54:54] Andrew DeWolf: Nah, I mean I've seen on my own, but is it that bad?

[54:59] Jesse McAnally: It's pretty rough.

[55:00] Andrew DeWolf: It's rough.

[55:02] Jesse McAnally: It's right after Barry Potter musical, and it's about an anthropomorphic penis.

[55:06] Andrew DeWolf: And anthropomorphic vaginas.

[55:08] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, who's played by Brian Holden.

[55:11] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, I don't think that makes it better.

[55:14] Jesse McAnally: It makes it worse. You get it because the the the slutty vaginas are played by bigger and uglier men, but the the the virgin vaginas are played by the pretty ones.

[55:24] Andrew DeWolf: That shows weird.

[55:25] Jesse McAnally: It it's very similar to Sausage Party.

[55:31] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, um, thank you guys for listening. Please follow us on iTunes, Spotify.

[55:35] Jesse McAnally: And no stitcher. Stitcher is officially gone now, as of two days ago. Rest in peace stitcher. Where will people listen to um how did this get made back episodes? We'll never know. The website, apparently.

[55:46] Andrew DeWolf: That's stupid. Follow us on Twitter at Cheesy Musical, spelled incorrectly. I should point that out. There's an extra E in there because I wanted the word cheese. Um Patreon musicals, cheese, Instagram musicals, shade musical, she's YouTube, Patriot and Cheese. Email is the musical theolist at gmail.com. Our keeper of the cheese is Juliet Antonio. This show is edited by Andrew DeWolf, and he's doing a fucking great job, in my opinion. Really, really. I will say you went out of you you went above and beyond with the Bye Bye Birdie episode, especially when I had to address Congress at the beginning. That made me laugh very, very hard. Thank you for that.

[56:16] Andrew DeWolf: I feel like I did a pretty good job with that.

[56:18] Jesse McAnally: You did fantastic. We'll see you next time on Musicals with Cheese.

[56:31] Jesse McAnally: We're on the trail to Oregon. We must unite so we can fight. Voldemort is going down. All these songs sound alike.