This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:02] Ramin Karimloo: Hi, this is Ramin Karimloo on the Broadway Podcast Network.

[0:05] Ramin Karimloo: You're listening and watching The Hang.

[0:07] Ramin Karimloo: This week we got Andrew Kober returning.

[0:10] Ramin Karimloo: Um, as we know, he's not funny, he's not interesting, and he's not nice.

[0:16] Ramin Karimloo: So we're gonna have him back as many times as we can. Hope you enjoy as much as I did.

[0:22] Ramin Karimloo: You're listening to the Broadway Podcast Network.

[0:26] Ramin Karimloo: I don't know. You're gonna have to explain this to me and to your listeners and viewers.

[0:30] Andrew Kober: Oh, they know.

[0:33] Ramin Karimloo: Great.

[0:35] Ramin Karimloo: Is this part of it?

[0:37] Andrew Kober: Instagram.

[0:37] Ramin Karimloo: I'll probably keep it in. This will be the teaser.

[0:39] Andrew Kober: I'll probably be Instagram. This will be the teaser.

[0:41] Ramin Karimloo: Do you need the Wi-Fi password?

[0:43] Andrew Kober: But we can't start unless he starts, right?

[0:45] Ramin Karimloo: Why is the sun like that?

[0:46] Andrew Kober: Okay.

[0:47] Ramin Karimloo: Because it's bright.

[0:47] Andrew Kober: What do you mean?

[0:48] Ramin Karimloo: It's science.

[0:48] Andrew Kober: But we can't start unless he starts, right?

[0:50] Ramin Karimloo: Close in that one.

[0:53] Andrew Kober: Get the kids excited.

[0:55] Ramin Karimloo: Oh.

[0:56] Andrew Kober: For whatever this is.

[0:57] Ramin Karimloo: It's gonna go crazy when this comes out.

[1:00] Andrew Kober: Uh-huh.

[1:01] Ramin Karimloo: Oh.

[1:02] Andrew Kober: What?

[1:02] Ramin Karimloo: Are you still?

[1:07] Andrew Kober: Would you send her a picture?

[1:08] Ramin Karimloo: No.

[1:09] Andrew Kober: I have no idea what this is gonna be.

[1:11] Ramin Karimloo: We can find out together.

[1:12] Andrew Kober: Alright, maybe we'll find out live on this podcast.

[1:15] Ramin Karimloo: Season three. Andrew Kober, welcome.

[1:18] Andrew Kober: Thank you.

[1:18] Ramin Karimloo: Ramin.

[1:19] Andrew Kober: Oh, this is still The Hang.

[1:20] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah.

[1:21] Andrew Kober: I haven't been on this then.

[1:23] Ramin Karimloo: Well, on Zoom.

[1:25] Andrew Kober: What?

[1:25] Ramin Karimloo: No, we did this at a hotel room.

[1:27] Andrew Kober: But that never aired.

[1:30] Ramin Karimloo: I didn't put that out there.

[1:31] Andrew Kober: I have been on a podcast that you hosted.

[1:35] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah.

[1:35] Ramin Karimloo: And it came out.

[1:36] Andrew Kober: Yeah, The Hang.

[1:37] Ramin Karimloo: Season one.

[1:38] Andrew Kober: That's this.

[1:38] Ramin Karimloo: Via Zoom, we did it.

[1:40] Andrew Kober: And now I'm a return guest.

[1:42] Ramin Karimloo: You're kicking the season off.

[1:44] Andrew Kober: And there's a video component now.

[1:46] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, look at this.

[1:47] Andrew Kober: Three cameras.

[1:47] Ramin Karimloo: Has this—you're probably out of the shot.

[1:52] Andrew Kober: Has this—is that new for season three, the video?

[1:56] Ramin Karimloo: Season two, we started videoing it.

[1:57] Andrew Kober: Who was in season two?

[1:58] Ramin Karimloo: Can't remember.

[1:59] Andrew Kober: Okay.

[2:00] Ramin Karimloo: Well, don't worry about it. The past is the past.

[2:02] Ramin Karimloo: This is the here and now. I'm thrilled to be back.

[2:04] Andrew Kober: Am I the first return guest?

[2:06] Ramin Karimloo: Season three. You're kicking it off.

[2:08] Andrew Kober: Is that what I asked? Am I the first return guest?

[2:11] Ramin Karimloo: Yes.

[2:12] Andrew Kober: Okay. Great.

[2:13] Andrew Kober: I think so. I think Hadley got like a two-parter or something.

[2:16] Ramin Karimloo: I remember being envious about that.

[2:17] Andrew Kober: But he's very interesting.

[2:19] Ramin Karimloo: He is though. Come on, let's be honest.

[2:21] Ramin Karimloo: He's smarter than both of us.

[2:22] Andrew Kober: He's more talented than both of us.

[2:23] Ramin Karimloo: I don't think I've ever met him.

[2:25] Andrew Kober: He's so good.

[2:26] Ramin Karimloo: I don't even know what he does.

[2:27] Andrew Kober: He's an actor?

[2:28] Ramin Karimloo: I think so.

[2:31] Andrew Kober: How are you familiar? How are you, bud?

[2:33] Ramin Karimloo: I'm great. I'm so happy to see you.

[2:36] Andrew Kober: Oh. Do you know—do we have to cut to go do it all again?

[2:41] Ramin Karimloo: He doesn't like the ambiance.

[2:43] Andrew Kober: This—I gotta—I have a lot to say about this building.

[2:45] Ramin Karimloo: You know what? What we're keeping this in too.

[2:47] Andrew Kober: Okay. We don't cut shit.

[2:49] Ramin Karimloo: We get a lot less interesting when they press record, I feel like.

[2:53] Andrew Kober: That's why I told you when you come and stop talking.

[2:55] Ramin Karimloo: He had so much to say before the camera.

[2:57] Andrew Kober: Okay, why do you live so high up? That's my first one.

[2:58] Ramin Karimloo: It's so high here.

[3:01] Andrew Kober: A couple months ago, I was in Dubai. You ever been to Dubai?

[3:04] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah.

[3:05] Andrew Kober: An amazing place. Fascinating.

[3:06] Andrew Kober: I went—I went up the thing.

[3:12] Ramin Karimloo: And to the top?

[3:14] Andrew Kober: Yeah.

[3:15] Ramin Karimloo: Whoa. This feels like that.

[3:17] Andrew Kober: That elevator was very fast, though.

[3:19] Ramin Karimloo: And so I feel like I was in your elevator longer than the one to the top of the Burj Khalifa.

[3:24] Andrew Kober: Which elevator is fast? Ours?

[3:25] Ramin Karimloo: The one here to your house where it's crazy now.

[3:27] Andrew Kober: Yeah. And also, like, why isn't there anything on the walls except for this one weird—like, you didn't put that there.

[3:33] Ramin Karimloo: No. That just came with the place.

[3:35] Andrew Kober: Okay, what walls are you talking about? It's all windows.

[3:37] Ramin Karimloo: I'm looking at a wall, the huge white wall.

[3:41] Andrew Kober: Okay, one wall could—a picture can go up. But I'm in transit.

[3:44] Ramin Karimloo: Are you sure you've been here for a year and a half? Still not long enough to put up pictures.

[3:49] Andrew Kober: What's your dressing room like?

[3:51] Ramin Karimloo: At the theater is tiny, austere.

[3:55] Andrew Kober: Oh no, that's decorated.

[3:56] Ramin Karimloo: Love it.

[3:57] Andrew Kober: Oh, okay. Yeah.

[3:57] Ramin Karimloo: Did you hire a guy?

[3:58] Andrew Kober: No.

[3:59] Ramin Karimloo: Oh, you do it yourself.

[4:00] Andrew Kober: I have ideas, and then my dresser, Lowell, implemented those ideas.

[4:05] Ramin Karimloo: And then he had a few of his own.

[4:06] Andrew Kober: Okay. It's very classy in there.

[4:08] Ramin Karimloo: Alright. I feel like I spend more time there than here.

[4:11] Andrew Kober: Uh, that can't be true.

[4:13] Ramin Karimloo: You don't know my schedule.

[4:14] Andrew Kober: I know what a show schedule is.

[4:16] Ramin Karimloo: So tell us about your show schedule.

[4:20] Andrew Kober: My show's closed.

[4:21] Ramin Karimloo: I know, bringing it up.

[4:22] Andrew Kober: Yeah, but you had a good time.

[4:23] Andrew Kober: I mostly stay home now because the show's closed.

[4:27] Ramin Karimloo: So I'm home mostly.

[4:32] Andrew Kober: So it's been great hanging with you, bud. How was Beetlejuice, brother?

[4:37] Andrew Kober: Beetlejuice was really great. It was really fun. Uh, I liked being in it.

[4:41] Andrew Kober: And the people were nice that worked there, and the people that came to see it were nice.

[4:46] Ramin Karimloo: I heard it was great.

[4:47] Andrew Kober: It was really good. It was really good.

[4:49] Ramin Karimloo: How's—help me—Fanny.

[4:52] Andrew Kober: What is it?

[4:53] Ramin Karimloo: F—Fanny—Funny Girl.

[4:54] Andrew Kober: Fanny—wait, hold on.

[4:56] Ramin Karimloo: The show title?

[4:58] Andrew Kober: The one you're in.

[4:58] Ramin Karimloo: It's called Funny Girl.

[4:59] Andrew Kober: Anastasia.

[5:00] Ramin Karimloo: No.

[5:01] Andrew Kober: I'm close.

[5:02] Ramin Karimloo: Fanny Brice is the leading.

[5:03] Andrew Kober: Fanny Brice.

[5:04] Ramin Karimloo: Hello, Dolly.

[5:05] Andrew Kober: No, but it's called Funny Girl, I think.

[5:07] Ramin Karimloo: And her name is Funny.

[5:08] Andrew Kober: Fanny.

[5:09] Ramin Karimloo: Got it. How's it going over there?

[5:10] Andrew Kober: I still haven't seen it, but I'll—I'm gonna come.

[5:12] Ramin Karimloo: Look, ultimately, right now, man, you see all these shows closing this month, and our ticket sale is hottest ticket in town.

[5:18] Andrew Kober: So we're grateful for that.

[5:19] Ramin Karimloo: And we need more of that in this town.

[5:21] Andrew Kober: Sure. Sure.

[5:22] Ramin Karimloo: You know what they need is like a kind of like 40-ish character actor.

[5:26] Andrew Kober: Go on.

[5:26] Ramin Karimloo: To kind of just put—just slide in there.

[5:29] Andrew Kober: Maybe he's—maybe it's, you know, Fanny's—the name?

[5:35] Ramin Karimloo: I think maybe it's Fanny's neighbor, and he's there.

[5:38] Andrew Kober: I know, but where do you find a 40s character actor in this town?

[5:42] Ramin Karimloo: It's hard to say.

[5:43] Andrew Kober: Let me see. Who's in England?

[5:44] Ramin Karimloo: Maybe Hadley.

[5:46] Andrew Kober: Hadley. Great choice.

[5:47] Ramin Karimloo: You said he's an actor.

[5:48] Andrew Kober: He's a wonderful actor.

[5:49] Ramin Karimloo: That's terrific.

[5:50] Andrew Kober: Yeah. No, he's a writer, I think now.

[5:52] Ramin Karimloo: That's great.

[5:52] Andrew Kober: No, he's gonna play. He's doing it. He's a real actor.

[5:56] Ramin Karimloo: Um, what else? Tell me things.

[5:58] Andrew Kober: Okay, so let's talk about your hair.

[6:00] Ramin Karimloo: No, we're here to talk about you.

[6:02] Andrew Kober: Why? It's the season three premiere. Everyone wants to know what you've been up to, what's been going on, and why your hair is like that.

[6:06] Ramin Karimloo: Not at all.

[6:07] Andrew Kober: Is that for the show?

[6:08] Ramin Karimloo: The hair?

[6:09] Andrew Kober: The hair is for the show, yes.

[6:10] Ramin Karimloo: Is it—you don't wear a wig in the show?

[6:12] Andrew Kober: No.

[6:12] Ramin Karimloo: I wanted one.

[6:14] Andrew Kober: Well, of course. You always prefer a wig, but it's always better.

[6:16] Ramin Karimloo: Why?

[6:17] Andrew Kober: So they put a little—it's like a little reddish in there.

[6:19] Ramin Karimloo: Is that what this—those highlights started in when I did Judas with long hair?

[6:23] Andrew Kober: And now I just keep it going.

[6:25] Ramin Karimloo: The highlights.

[6:26] Andrew Kober: Yeah. You just keep it going.

[6:28] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. You go to a guy and you say, "Give me the number 25. Keep whatever this is."

[6:30] Andrew Kober: Keep it rolling.

[6:33] Ramin Karimloo: Keep it—whatever it is.

[6:34] Andrew Kober: Huh.

[6:35] Ramin Karimloo: And they asked me questions I still don't know how to answer.

[6:37] Andrew Kober: At the hair place?

[6:40] Ramin Karimloo: I don't know about it—what you mean.

[6:41] Andrew Kober: I neither do I. My hair has never been worse.

[6:44] Ramin Karimloo: I'm aging so poorly and deteriorating quickly.

[6:49] Andrew Kober: Do you remember how young? So I told you.

[6:51] Ramin Karimloo: I watched—what do you mean you're deteriorating physically and emotionally?

[6:55] Andrew Kober: Go on.

[6:55] Ramin Karimloo: It's all falling apart.

[6:56] Andrew Kober: Someone sent me clips from our vlog—that your vlog that we did for Les Mis.

[7:03] Ramin Karimloo: Our vlog. Listen to that. Listen to this guy.

[7:05] Andrew Kober: And I was watching it, and that was 2014, right?

[7:09] Ramin Karimloo: Nine years ago.

[7:10] Andrew Kober: I look like it was 38 years ago. I look like I was 23 and cute.

[7:16] Ramin Karimloo: And now I feel 59 and I feel terrible.

[7:20] Andrew Kober: And I looked so nice and cute, and you look the same, and Will looks the same.

[7:25] Ramin Karimloo: I did say to Alan, my producer, before he came in, "Okay, Angela's coming in. He's not holding it. He's an actor. Don't say anything about how he looks."

[7:34] Andrew Kober: I know if you've ever seen it. He's looking great.

[7:36] Ramin Karimloo: Stop it.

[7:37] Andrew Kober: I don't feel—I don't feel good.

[7:39] Ramin Karimloo: You're doing great work.

[7:40] Andrew Kober: Yeah, that's true. I'm still good at what I do.

[7:42] Ramin Karimloo: So tell us more about that. How many times did you get on as Beetlejuice?

[7:47] Andrew Kober: A bunch. I didn't—I don't count. I did it probably a couple dozen times, something like that.

[7:51] Ramin Karimloo: How was it? How was your first time going on as that?

[7:54] Andrew Kober: Uh, fun, you know, scary. Uh, it's hard to do something for the first time, and you don't want to feel like—um, when you're the odd man out, right? You don't want to feel—my chief thing is just don't let anyone else down. Don't get in anyone's way, don't make anyone else's night harder.

[8:09] Ramin Karimloo: Um, and I sort of always aim for—apart from mine when I was Valjean.

[8:14] Andrew Kober: You went out of your way to make my track.

[8:17] Ramin Karimloo: I don't think I was just there.

[8:18] Andrew Kober: You just couldn't look at me.

[8:20] Ramin Karimloo: That wasn't on me.

[8:21] Andrew Kober: You would come at me, you, Terrence, anyhow, go on.

[8:23] Ramin Karimloo: Do you remember when you said—okay, so I got through the—I always aim for the third show. I think the third show is the good one. Because the first one goes better than you think it's going to, and you're relieved and you're great. And then that second one, you're like, "I got this," and then it's not so good because you can't stand a second show.

[8:37] Andrew Kober: A second show's terrible.

[8:39] Ramin Karimloo: That third one, you can usually sort of find the pocket.

[8:42] Andrew Kober: Yeah.

[8:42] Ramin Karimloo: And that's what I found with Beetlejuice.

[8:45] Andrew Kober: And, uh, subsequently they were all fine.

[8:47] Ramin Karimloo: Do you remember at Les Mis?

[8:50] Andrew Kober: Not the first one or the second one, but the third one that we did.

[8:54] Ramin Karimloo: Remember? We did the third production of Les Mis that was ever on Broadway.

[8:57] Andrew Kober: Right.

[8:58] Ramin Karimloo: Right, right.

[8:59] Andrew Kober: They—we had a fight call every night. Do you remember this?

[9:02] Ramin Karimloo: Yes.

[9:02] Andrew Kober: That you sent me to the hospital one night.

[9:06] Ramin Karimloo: I didn't—I forgot till you bring it up now.

[9:09] Andrew Kober: You sent me right to the hospital, Mount Sinai.

[9:11] Ramin Karimloo: What happened?

[9:13] Andrew Kober: Well, I was playing the pivotal role of Babe, right?

[9:20] Ramin Karimloo: Everyone's favorite guy at Les Mis, Babe.

[9:23] Andrew Kober: Give us a few bars?

[9:24] Ramin Karimloo: Couldn't possibly.

[9:25] Andrew Kober: Come on.

[9:26] Ramin Karimloo: Truly don't remember.

[9:28] Andrew Kober: Come here, man.

[9:30] Ramin Karimloo: Come close idea.

[9:31] Andrew Kober: No, that was not.

[9:32] Ramin Karimloo: That's Bamatabois.

[9:33] Andrew Kober: Oh.

[9:36] Ramin Karimloo: Who are you?

[9:37] Andrew Kober: That day I was in the gang.

[9:38] Ramin Karimloo: What is Bat May?

[9:39] Andrew Kober: I was in, um, in Cliff's gang.

[9:42] Ramin Karimloo: What do I care?

[9:43] Andrew Kober: No, that's the big guy.

[9:44] Ramin Karimloo: That was you. You just did your voice at everything.

[9:46] Andrew Kober: No, that's what do I care about who you should rob.

[9:50] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, it was not me.

[9:51] Andrew Kober: Okay.

[9:51] Ramin Karimloo: I was up.

[9:51] Andrew Kober: Oh, I know what I was. You ready?

[9:53] Ramin Karimloo: It's your brat, Éponine.

[9:55] Andrew Kober: Don't you know your own kid while she's hanging about you?

[9:58] Ramin Karimloo: That's how I did it.

[10:00] Andrew Kober: But there was a part earlier in the show, I guess when I was the innkeeper or the baker or something, where I went to hit you with a club, and you like dodge it and you hit me with the club.

[10:09] Ramin Karimloo: And one night, if I call, you hit me with the club right in the eye.

[10:13] Andrew Kober: I'm so sorry.

[10:16] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, and I had to go to the hospital because I was seeing double and I had a big mark.

[10:20] Andrew Kober: Um, I don't mean to laugh.

[10:22] Ramin Karimloo: It's terrible.

[10:23] Andrew Kober: Yeah, but here you are laughing.

[10:25] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, well, we had a good time though.

[10:28] Andrew Kober: I remember then you—you got nominated, I think, for a Tony Award.

[10:31] Ramin Karimloo: And I went—you didn't know anybody or how to do anything, so I had to go with you to all the stuff.

[10:35] Andrew Kober: Yeah.

[10:36] Ramin Karimloo: That was so fun. I remember that, yeah.

[10:38] Andrew Kober: It's fun. I went with you all those weird dinners and stuff.

[10:40] Ramin Karimloo: That's right.

[10:41] Andrew Kober: Yeah, it was great. We had a good time.

[10:43] Ramin Karimloo: We had a good time.

[10:45] Andrew Kober: So Beetlejuice. You—how long did they have that for?

[10:48] Ramin Karimloo: Uh, nine months.

[10:49] Andrew Kober: Did it for about nine months?

[10:51] Ramin Karimloo: What was your actual position in that?

[10:53] Andrew Kober: You covered Beetlejuice.

[10:54] Ramin Karimloo: I covered Beetlejuice and then the other couple of principal men there.

[10:56] Andrew Kober: Were you offstage stem?

[10:58] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, I was just chilling, man.

[10:59] Andrew Kober: Oh, how does that work?

[11:01] Ramin Karimloo: I go there every day.

[11:03] Andrew Kober: And, uh, how do you learn?

[11:05] Ramin Karimloo: Oh, that was tough. Look, I know I'm—I know some of these answers, but for those listening and whatnot, you know, the millions that tune in to The Hang.

[11:12] Andrew Kober: Um, you'll never know for sure, but it's about the millions.

[11:18] Ramin Karimloo: Um, how many parts did you have to learn and how do you compartmentalize? Do you start with one?

[11:23] Andrew Kober: Yeah, completely learn that, or do you go—well?

[11:27] Andrew Kober: I was new, so they did the show before—uh, do you remember the pandemic? Did you have that here too?

[11:34] Ramin Karimloo: We had that.

[11:34] Andrew Kober: Oh, okay. They did it before it, and they did it at the Winter Garden, where then Hugh Jackman went after that.

[11:42] Ramin Karimloo: With Oklahoma, yeah.

[11:44] Andrew Kober: Okay.

[11:44] Ramin Karimloo: And they didn't they weren't there anymore.

[11:47] Andrew Kober: They had to go to a new one. They went to the marquee who did Beetlejuice.

[11:53] Andrew Kober: And that's when they called me up and they said, "We gotta get Cobes in here. We gotta get ticket sales. We gotta get this guy in here." Big time. And I was available, and so they called and said, "Can you get in here?" And I was like, "Yes." And I went over there. And so I started learning it. They told me what to prioritize. Okay. And so I learned kind of one, you know, I just learned one at a time, really.

[12:16] Ramin Karimloo: What was the first one?

[12:17] Andrew Kober: The Adam role, the role that Rob McClure originated.

[12:21] Ramin Karimloo: Do you know Rob?

[12:22] Andrew Kober: I've met him a couple of times. Real talented guy. Real talented guy. Here's what's interesting about Rob. You know where he lives?

[12:28] Ramin Karimloo: You could, okay?

[12:29] Andrew Kober: So you guys are polar opposites in this way. You want to live as few paces as possible from your dressing room, right?

[12:35] Ramin Karimloo: Not necessarily.

[12:37] Andrew Kober: But this is not my home. So now I just wanted ease.

[12:40] Ramin Karimloo: Yes. Anytime you've been in New York, I have known you to want to live as physically close to your theater as possible.

[12:46] Andrew Kober: Not when I lived in Washington Heights.

[12:48] Ramin Karimloo: I love that. When did you live in Wall?

[12:49] Andrew Kober: Oh, yeah, you and Terrence, you would run. That was a whole pain in the ass.

[12:52] Ramin Karimloo: Since then, since you wised up, now you live in Midtown every time.

[12:55] Andrew Kober: Why was that pain in the ass?

[12:56] Ramin Karimloo: For who?

[12:56] Andrew Kober: You live for hearing about it was a pain in the ass for me.

[13:01] Ramin Karimloo: Now you live in... I don't think it's giving anything away. This is clearly Midtown that we're in.

[13:07] Andrew Kober: You live in Midtown.

[13:08] Ramin Karimloo: Here we are in Chicago.

[13:09] Andrew Kober: Yeah, pieces from your stage door. Rob McClure, you know where he lives?

[13:15] Ramin Karimloo: Well, now I'm gonna think Philadelphia.

[13:17] Andrew Kober: Well, you didn't let me guess.

[13:18] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, mine was better.

[13:19] Andrew Kober: How do you know what I was gonna say?

[13:22] Ramin Karimloo: I don't know. What do you, okay? What were you gonna say?

[13:24] Andrew Kober: Philadelphia?

[13:25] Ramin Karimloo: So he commutes from Philadelphia.

[13:29] Andrew Kober: How long does that take?

[13:30] Ramin Karimloo: I don't know. Three days.

[13:32] Andrew Kober: Wow. Long time. It's far.

[13:34] Ramin Karimloo: Did he ever get a hotel overnight?

[13:41] Andrew Kober: I'm sure he had some. I don't know. Anyone hearing the laughter in the background, it's either Alan or Sergio. Um, it's so far. So what he basically has to do is traverse all of New Jersey to get here.

[13:53] Ramin Karimloo: Did he drive or take a train?

[13:54] Andrew Kober: I think he takes the Amtrak. Wish I really had Rob McClure on this podcast. He's has I could keep insane Rob stuff. Do you want to be Rob?

[14:03] Ramin Karimloo: Like personally or professionally?

[14:05] Andrew Kober: No.

[14:06] Ramin Karimloo: Okay, you still handrew?

[14:07] Andrew Kober: Yeah, yeah. Um, wait, how do we get to that?

[14:09] Ramin Karimloo: Because you were learning his part he originated.

[14:12] Andrew Kober: Right. I learned that first, and then I learned the other guy and the other guy. So I learned them all, and then sort of it all went fine. I went in when it was necessary, and then towards the end there, Brightman got a concussion.

[14:25] Ramin Karimloo: I heard about that.

[14:26] Andrew Kober: And I was out with COVID.

[14:27] Ramin Karimloo: No, yeah.

[14:28] Andrew Kober: There's another standby, it was fine. Will Blum, super talented. Um, but I was out with COVID when he got concussion, I couldn't believe it.

[14:35] Ramin Karimloo: So did you finish the con? Were you back in time?

[14:38] Andrew Kober: I came back in the last week. I did half of the last week because Brightman sort of eased his way in very, very slowly for safety. And so I was able to come back in for the last kind of like week and a half too.

[14:48] Ramin Karimloo: Did you get on or were you just staying?

[14:50] Andrew Kober: Yeah, I did. I performed on the last day. I did the matinee. Brightman did the night the whole last weekend we kind of alternated.

[14:54] Ramin Karimloo: As Beetlejuice?

[14:55] Andrew Kober: Yeah.

[14:55] Ramin Karimloo: Oh, nice, brother. It was really fun. I wish I got to see you as I know there was that one Sunday night. There were a few sun, I just stopped texting you because I figured you weren't you more often than not didn't reply.

[15:04] Andrew Kober: I'm terrible at responding. I do apologize.

[15:06] Ramin Karimloo: You're not good at the text.

[15:07] Andrew Kober: No.

[15:07] Ramin Karimloo: No. You're gonna be better at it, though.

[15:10] Andrew Kober: No, you won't. But what I want to know is, because sometimes you'll reply like a couple of days later.

[15:15] Yeah.

[15:15] Andrew Kober: How do you, what is that? Is it still with the blue dot the whole time?

[15:19] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. What's your n let's look at your numbers right now.

[15:22] Andrew Kober: I don't know where I put my phone.

[15:24] Ramin Karimloo: Okay. I want to know how many unanswered texts, how many unanswered emails, and then I want to talk about this.

[15:30] Andrew Kober: Okay, hang on now.

[15:32] Andrew Kober: Okay. Okay, so the text is 121.

[15:36] Ramin Karimloo: Oh boy.

[15:38] Andrew Kober: Voice emails are 6,625.

[15:41] Ramin Karimloo: Okay.

[15:41] Andrew Kober: One missed FaceTime.

[15:43] Ramin Karimloo: One missed FaceTime. How many voicemails?

[15:45] Andrew Kober: Nine.

[15:46] Ramin Karimloo: Okay. So I've got no voicemails, no missed FaceTimes. I got one new email, which is now gone, and two texts, both from Leslie Kritzer.

[15:57] Andrew Kober: Do you know Leslie?

[15:58] Ramin Karimloo: Kritzer?

[15:59] Andrew Kober: Yeah. I don't believe I do.

[16:01] Ramin Karimloo: She's a terrific actor. Say hello.

[16:03] Andrew Kober: Okay. Um. And now I'm back down to zero. I can't live my life with those red numbers.

[16:09] Ramin Karimloo: Well, I kind of want to get to that. So we have to talk about it. What's, what do you suggest I do about the 6,000 emails? Should I just go red all?

[16:17] Andrew Kober: Just start. Archive them, baby.

[16:20] Ramin Karimloo: Archive them. Here's my system. You want to hear about it? I learned lately from the Smartless podcast. Jason Bateman does the same system. That's why it made me think, okay, I want to do that.

[16:29] Andrew Kober: But how do I do that?

[16:31] Ramin Karimloo: What you do is you just, you'll probably have to go on your computer.

[16:34] Andrew Kober: You have a computer.

[16:35] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. You'll have to go on there, select all, archive them all. They're all still there. They're all still searchable. You can find them. But then you're starting with a clean slate. You're on square one. So every night I go to bed, there's nothing in my inbox that doesn't need my attention.

[16:48] Andrew Kober: So select all. Archive. Because archive's different than trash, and people don't know that.

[16:54] Ramin Karimloo: But doesn't archive still take up your mailbox space?

[16:57] Andrew Kober: When you're taking it up now, what's the difference?

[16:59] Ramin Karimloo: Nothing.

[17:00] Andrew Kober: Exactly. All my days. And what about the text? What can I do about that?

[17:03] Ramin Karimloo: You gotta go one at a time, I think, for that.

[17:05] Andrew Kober: I don't want to do that. It's not good what you have going on there.

[17:07] Ramin Karimloo: Everything and start afresh.

[17:09] Andrew Kober: Sure. And if I lose any numbers, it is what it is, right?

[17:11] Ramin Karimloo: And so what, every like Thursday you go through and you're like, "All right, well, what have I missed? What do I need to deal with?"

[17:15] Andrew Kober: Yeah.

[17:16] Ramin Karimloo: Okay. When I have time, I'm a busy guy. I've been double shifting.

[17:20] Andrew Kober: You do have a lot going on.

[17:21] Ramin Karimloo: I did. Now I'm calming a bit.

[17:23] Andrew Kober: Why do you do so much?

[17:25] Ramin Karimloo: Well, because people like to be distracted. You grow when you learn, you try new things. You get out of your comfort zone.

[17:34] Andrew Kober: You still working out?

[17:35] Ramin Karimloo: Yes, sir.

[17:35] Andrew Kober: You don't say.

[17:37] Ramin Karimloo: But you know, I was fortunate to play some really cool stuff over the last sort of six months. Different characters, and as actors, we're always trying to plant seeds for future stuff.

[17:46] Andrew Kober: You're telling me.

[17:47] Ramin Karimloo: You know, so and I'm here on my own, so why not? What about, what else am I gonna do? Come on.

[17:52] Andrew Kober: Hey, hey. Well, I gotta take better care of my found family over here too.

[17:58] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, it's true. I know I don't see you enough. Let's talk about it.

[18:00] Andrew Kober: What do you want to talk about?

[18:01] Ramin Karimloo: I want to talk about your phone case and what's going on there. Now, for anyone who's listening and not watching, Ramin has an iPhone with a what looks like a regular case, but at the bottom.

[18:11] Andrew Kober: Who's that dog? Is that a dog?

[18:13] Ramin Karimloo: That's my Kiva, and that's Lacey Lou. She's dead. And then that's Kiva. I joke about it, but I'll cry if I take it seriously. So that's a good read.

[18:24] Andrew Kober: So on the bottom are two look like little keyrings, and there's a string that looks like a hoodie string kind of strung through it. So when you're walking about town.

[18:32] Ramin Karimloo: Oh, do you do it over the shoulder?

[18:34] Andrew Kober: There we go. That's the worst possible version. This is a good thing. Anyone trying to take it? Get back, bitch.

[18:40] Ramin Karimloo: I wouldn't say that.

[18:41] Andrew Kober: I would not say that either way. I'd say a lot worse.

[18:43] Ramin Karimloo: I know. Have you seen that show on Netflix? It's a Japanese show with the toddlers running errands.

[18:49] Andrew Kober: No, what's that called?

[18:50] Ramin Karimloo: I think it's called Toddlers Running Errands.

[18:52] Andrew Kober: Good title.

[18:54] Ramin Karimloo: You know what I'm saying? So there's this show. I guess it's like a cultural thing in Japan where like kids when they're very young, like four or five years old, their parents will send them out to like, "Okay, so we need soba noodles and we need some green onions, and make sure you drop off this card for, you know, Mrs. Jones down the street." And they send these toddlers out, but they're followed by a camera crew. And they go and they run these errands. And the one thing about the show's fantastic. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's on Netflix. They all wear the same, they wear a little satchel that sort of looks like your phone setup. It's like over one shoulder, it's a small little thing. Anyway, that's if anyone's seen the toddler show, that's what it looks like when you put your phone over your shoulder. It's a great show and it's a great phone case. Where's your phone?

[19:25] Andrew Kober: You gotta put it, it's in my pocket.

[19:25] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, it bulges, ruins the lining of your trousers. Why would you do that?

[19:25] Andrew Kober: And you know that's a big concern for me.

[19:25] Ramin Karimloo: It is for me. I worry a lot about the lining of my trousers. So now you're in between work. You auditioning? You got thinking, man, I'm just like not where I'm just not doing eight shows a week. You know how it is. I'm doing readings and concerts and teaching and all the things.

[19:25] Andrew Kober: What's in it on the horizon?

[19:25] Ramin Karimloo: Well, I'm going straight from here to a rehearsal for a new play reading that I'm working on. Um, and then geez, I'm going to Florida to do some concerts in a couple of weeks.

[19:25] Andrew Kober: When in Florida are you? When in Florida am I? When will you be in Florida?

[19:25] Ramin Karimloo: Middle of Florida in the Fort Lauderdale area.

[19:25] Andrew Kober: Like what concerts are these?

[19:25] Ramin Karimloo: This is some concerts that we're doing for the people of Florida. It's, uh, there's four of us that are doing them. It's a new concert of a bunch of the music of Broadway's Jewish composers.

[19:25] Andrew Kober: It's called?

[19:25] Ramin Karimloo: Okay. And we're doing a little tour of Florida singing some of these songs and then I'll go on vacation with my family.

[19:25] Andrew Kober: And then what dates are the Florida shows?

[20:57] Ramin Karimloo: February 14th I think through the like the 19th, something like that.

[21:01] Andrew Kober: I'm coming out like 10 days after that.

[21:04] Ramin Karimloo: It'll be nice to hang out.

[21:06] Andrew Kober: And what are you doing in Florida?

[21:07] Ramin Karimloo: Concerts.

[21:08] Andrew Kober: Yeah, see.

[21:08] Ramin Karimloo: And then all the great Iranian musical theater composers.

[21:12] Andrew Kober: Uh huh.

[21:12] Ramin Karimloo: Oh, and then in March I'm doing a workshop of this new musical. I'm not allowed to talk about it. I'll tell you off the thing. I signed an NDA and everything.

[21:20] Andrew Kober: And what is that for?

[21:24] Ramin Karimloo: Is that a full-fledged musical or a workshop?

[21:27] Andrew Kober: It's on its way to...

[21:27] Ramin Karimloo: Oh, it's a workshop of what is on its way to becoming a full-fledged musical.

[21:33] Andrew Kober: Notebook.

[21:34] Ramin Karimloo: What is it, a notebook?

[21:35] Andrew Kober: It's not the notebook.

[21:34] Ramin Karimloo: Okay. I wish I was in the notebook. I heard it's great.

[21:39] Andrew Kober: Are you in it?

[21:40] Ramin Karimloo: No. I'm too old for that.

[21:42] Andrew Kober: How much longer are you gonna do Fanny?

[21:44] Ramin Karimloo: Hello Dolly.

[21:46] Andrew Kober: Um, I'm not sure yet.

[21:48] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. You know.

[21:52] Andrew Kober: But you do know.

[21:53] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, but there's a couple of things on the horizon as well.

[21:56] Andrew Kober: Yeah.

[21:57] Ramin Karimloo: Okay. But I'm in a great time doing it.

[21:59] Andrew Kober: That'll be great. I will come. I'll come to see Funny?

[22:03] Ramin Karimloo: Funny.

[22:05] Andrew Kober: Oh man. Mame would be good.

[22:07] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. All right. What's a show that we could do together?

[22:10] Andrew Kober: That's what I want to start figuring out and pitching.

[22:12] Ramin Karimloo: We can never work together again.

[22:13] Andrew Kober: Why not?

[22:14] Ramin Karimloo: We won't get through it.

[22:15] Andrew Kober: That's not true.

[22:16] Ramin Karimloo: That's not true. Let's do a play.

[22:18] Andrew Kober: We have fantastic chemistry.

[22:21] Ramin Karimloo: We have complimentary types, you know what I mean?

[22:25] Andrew Kober: Yeah.

[22:25] Ramin Karimloo: It won't be c, you know what would be fun is to like find a great, we could like True West it and just switch roles every night.

[22:30] Andrew Kober: And I think that's what I want to do.

[22:32] Ramin Karimloo: To do a True West.

[22:33] Andrew Kober: We could do True West.

[22:35] Ramin Karimloo: It's like when there was murmurings about Chess coming back. I'm like, I'm gonna do the American one week and then the Russian another week.

[22:42] Andrew Kober: It'd be fun to do them like the same day.

[22:45] Ramin Karimloo: Matinee and night.

[22:46] Andrew Kober: I need to do it.

[22:47] Ramin Karimloo: Once it's in your system, yeah.

[22:49] Andrew Kober: Why not?

[22:49] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, once you know what you're doing.

[22:50] Andrew Kober: I don't really know Chess.

[22:52] Ramin Karimloo: I know the one song. I know you just did it recently.

[22:53] Andrew Kober: It's great. The music is, I love it. I'm a fan of it. I don't understand why people are like, it's a complicated book. I'm like, what are you talking about? It's pretty straightforward.

[22:58] Ramin Karimloo: I don't know it at all.

[22:59] Andrew Kober: It's good.

[23:01] Ramin Karimloo: Are you gonna go back into Phantom before it closes?

[23:04] Andrew Kober: No.

[23:04] Ramin Karimloo: That's too bad.

[23:05] Andrew Kober: Me neither, I don't think.

[23:07] Ramin Karimloo: They should have you back.

[23:08] Andrew Kober: Yeah, I've never been there.

[23:09] Ramin Karimloo: You were one of my favorite phantoms.

[23:10] Andrew Kober: That's sweet. Thank you. Did I ever tell you the first concert I ever went to was Michael Crawford?

[23:16] Ramin Karimloo: The music of Andrew Lloyd Webber with Michael Crawford?

[23:17] Andrew Kober: No, it was he was touring his Love Songs album.

[23:20] Ramin Karimloo: Oh, okay.

[23:20] Andrew Kober: And I went to go see him. He came through Cleveland, Ohio, where I grew up. And he played, I think like an arena, like a basketball arena.

[23:29] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, he would.

[23:29] Andrew Kober: And I went, he was massive.

[23:31] Ramin Karimloo: He was massive. This would have been like '95, '96 or something.

[23:34] Andrew Kober: And I went to go see him, and he was fantastic.

[23:37] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, he's a great showman.

[23:38] Andrew Kober: Yeah. And he's still at it, right?

[23:40] Ramin Karimloo: I don't think so.

[23:43] Andrew Kober: All right. I'm thinking of Michael Ball. Yeah. That guy. He's out there with Alfie. The two of them. Oh boy. I had to unfollow him on Instagram. That's like too much. Well, good for you, but like enough, Alfie. I love those music videos they do. There's one on the It's nice when a couple I hope he listens to this. It's nice when a couple of elderly men can find companionship in each other in the way that we are.

[24:04] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, pretty much. Because as you mentioned, eight shows a week is the first time in my life I'm like, Yeah, why do we do eight shows a week? Is this harder? This can't be harder than Valjean. For some reason, I thought Nick Arnstein wasn't gonna be this hard.

[24:18] Andrew Kober: No, who's that?

[24:19] Ramin Karimloo: Uh the lead in MAME.

[24:21] Andrew Kober: Okay. Um, which I'm in.

[24:23] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. Uh well, the mail.

[24:25] Andrew Kober: You didn't think it would be this hard.

[24:26] Ramin Karimloo: I've because I watched the movie.

[24:28] Andrew Kober: Funny Girl. Dolly is our leading lady.

[24:32] Ramin Karimloo: I saw, I watched the movie. Because it's no edition for it.

[24:37] Andrew Kober: Go on.

[24:38] Ramin Karimloo: For the um Keeney?

[24:40] Andrew Kober: Yeah, you'd be great as Keeney.

[24:42] Ramin Karimloo: Didn't work out.

[24:43] Andrew Kober: I it wouldn't, because we'd have a few scenes together.

[24:46] Ramin Karimloo: Well, one. Well, I watched the movie, right? And it's great. And I remember thinking, like, oh yeah, Ramin's perfect for this. And it doesn't seem like a really that heavy of a lift, but I understand for the Broadway show, they've added some material.

[25:01] Andrew Kober: Added a lot.

[25:03] Ramin Karimloo: Which is fulfilling and great to play. But so it is I'm tired.

[25:07] Andrew Kober: Yeah. And you're in a shirt the whole time.

[25:10] Ramin Karimloo: No, no.

[25:11] Andrew Kober: Oh, good.

[25:12] Ramin Karimloo: Oh, good. Because I know that's in your writer.

[25:15] Andrew Kober: I know. That's the second time in two days, uh, interviewers asking me about it.

[25:19] Ramin Karimloo: Well, do you remember? I think what for one of our great unreleased podcasts, we were hanging out in your dressing room at Anastasia. Do you remember this?

[25:25] Andrew Kober: Yes. I know what you're gonna say.

[25:28] Ramin Karimloo: And I said, How's it going over here? And you go, they don't let me take my shirt off at all.

[25:34] Andrew Kober: No, that's not how it goes.

[25:36] Ramin Karimloo: That's how I remember it.

[25:37] Andrew Kober: No, well, of course, that's how you remember it. This is how it went. You went, when do you take your shirt off? I said, they won't let me let me.

[25:42] Ramin Karimloo: That's what happens.

[25:43] Andrew Kober: That's right. Yeah, that's right. So, but you do get to in this one.

[25:46] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah.

[25:46] Andrew Kober: Well, that's good.

[25:47] Ramin Karimloo: Very briefly.

[25:47] Andrew Kober: Are you in a robe or something?

[25:49] Ramin Karimloo: Yes.

[25:49] Andrew Kober: Yeah, of course, like a flowy robe.

[25:50] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah.

[25:50] Andrew Kober: Yeah, is it like silk?

[25:51] Ramin Karimloo: Yep.

[25:52] Andrew Kober: Yeah, of course. Top of actor. And do you sometimes get a little a little hoot, a little holler?

[25:56] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah.

[25:56] Andrew Kober: Yeah, I bet you do. That's great.

[25:58] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. So the tattoos are those period uh appropriate.

[26:01] Andrew Kober: Yeah, yeah. People don't realize that people were inked to the gills back then.

[26:06] Ramin Karimloo: Sure. You know.

[26:07] Andrew Kober: Sure. I think a lot of people in uh MAME.

[26:10] Ramin Karimloo: That's well, I think that's what MAME means.

[26:11] Andrew Kober: They've been maimed.

[26:12] Ramin Karimloo: They've been maimed by ink.

[26:14] Andrew Kober: That's that's how I took it.

[26:16] Ramin Karimloo: Right. I bet Michael loved that.

[26:18] Andrew Kober: Yeah. Who's Michael?

[26:19] Ramin Karimloo: That would have been. Do you remember the guy who told you like where to stand? You at some point you were someone said, make sure you stand here or you won't be in the light.

[26:28] Andrew Kober: Oh, that sounds familiar.

[26:30] Ramin Karimloo: Doesn't matter. I'll come see it.

[26:32] Andrew Kober: I'd love to come see it.

[26:33] Ramin Karimloo: Will we run? Which theater we're at?

[26:37] Andrew Kober: You're well, see now this is the thing, because I know you're See anyone who doesn't know that we're dicking around.

[26:43] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, it's gonna be so upset. I mean, but it's this all right to keep on like this.

[26:49] Andrew Kober: He's he's working on something else now.

[26:50] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, he's moved on. I'll just kind of wander around your place until I find a poster with your face on it.

[26:56] Andrew Kober: I know it's within a block of here. I mean it's gotta be.

[26:59] Ramin Karimloo: Not my face.

[27:00] Andrew Kober: Your face?

[27:01] Ramin Karimloo: Oh, they used to be your face. And there were a few faces, right? And now is it just Leah?

[27:05] Andrew Kober: Yeah.

[27:05] Ramin Karimloo: Oh. It's a great poster, though.

[27:07] Andrew Kober: It's a great poster.

[27:08] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. How did you feel about your face coming off the thing?

[27:10] Andrew Kober: I was very happy about it.

[27:11] Ramin Karimloo: Were you?

[27:12] Andrew Kober: Yeah, I don't care about stuff like that.

[27:13] Ramin Karimloo: How do you like this mustache?

[27:14] Andrew Kober: I hate it.

[27:15] Ramin Karimloo: I bet. Can't wait to grow a beard again.

[27:17] Andrew Kober: Yeah, because it looks the half mustache is very hard to maintain, I'm sure.

[27:21] Ramin Karimloo: And I've messed it up a few times.

[27:22] Andrew Kober: Are you doing that yourself?

[27:23] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah.

[27:24] Andrew Kober: Oh. Oh, uh.

[27:25] Ramin Karimloo: It's not bad.

[27:27] Andrew Kober: Knowing that.

[27:28] Ramin Karimloo: Well I d I just did it fresh this morning. It looks good, right?

[27:30] Andrew Kober: No, it looks all right. And if I move quick enough and I'll stand still. And then that's your acting style.

[27:35] Ramin Karimloo: It's like very frenetic. If I the more phonetic it is, is because I've messed up the musician.

[27:39] Andrew Kober: Because you don't want them to see your face still for too long.

[27:42] Ramin Karimloo: A lot of hand acting over the mouth.

[27:44] Andrew Kober: Yeah, that's great. That's terrific. I do want to come. And so I'll and they've added songs from other shows from Carousel and Yeah, and I think we got a couple from South Pacific in there.

[27:53] Ramin Karimloo: That's nice.

[27:54] Andrew Kober: Yeah. Okay. Younger than Springtime's beautiful. People love that song.

[27:57] Ramin Karimloo: I love singing.

[27:59] Andrew Kober: Yeah. That's the lyric. How'd you know it?

[28:02] Ramin Karimloo: I like South Pacific.

[28:04] Andrew Kober: I like South Pacific. I'll come, I'll come see it. I'd love to. Can you get me?

[28:08] Ramin Karimloo: And luck be a lady's in it too, which everyone loves.

[28:10] Andrew Kober: Everyone does love that. You should put some sauna in it. Is there any sauna?

[28:12] Ramin Karimloo: Who's that?

[28:13] Andrew Kober: Okay. I'll uh can you give me like a like a seat? Like a because I'm not working. Although I was on Law and Order last night.

[28:19] Ramin Karimloo: You should watch my Law and Order. I just had breakfast with a mate who asked about you and goes, I just saw him on Law No Order last night. I said he's coming into the podcast today.

[28:28] Andrew Kober: Who's that?

[28:29] Ramin Karimloo: My friend.

[28:30] Andrew Kober: Okay. Well, you're not gonna know him.

[28:34] Ramin Karimloo: No one's gonna if he knows me. Jonathan.

[28:37] Kober: Groff.

[28:38] Ramin Karimloo: Sure. Uh yeah, last night I was on Law and Order.

[28:43] Andrew Kober: How was that?

[28:44] Ramin Karimloo: Great.

[28:44] Andrew Kober: What'd you play?

[28:45] Ramin Karimloo: A pedophile.

[28:47] Andrew Kober: But not a murderer.

[28:49] Ramin Karimloo: Wait. Because I I know the ending. You were innocent.

[28:52] Andrew Kober: Yeah, I didn't do it.

[28:53] Ramin Karimloo: But you're a pedo?

[28:54] Andrew Kober: Yeah, that I did do.

[28:55] Ramin Karimloo: So you're still guilty.

[28:56] Andrew Kober: But not of the crime that we're addressing in this particular episode.

[28:59] Ramin Karimloo: So the pedo got free?

[29:02] Andrew Kober: I was like it turns out that I had a f long ago conviction from like when I w uh sent pictures of my my high school girlfriend, some some risque photos I sent around. I got convicted, right? Then I served my time.

[29:14] Ramin Karimloo: Was your character underage when he did this at the time?

[29:19] Andrew Kober: I don't remember. I don't think I think maybe I do a backstory and the and the girlfriend was just under, you know.

[29:24] Ramin Karimloo: You didn't do a backstory?

[29:26] Andrew Kober: I did, but I don't want to speak for the production. You know what I mean?

[29:28] Ramin Karimloo: Right.

[29:29] Andrew Kober: My inner life was very rich. And so uh anyway, the a kid who I knew is found dead, obviously I'm a the first suspect, right? But I didn't do it.

[29:42] Andrew Kober: The fact that you were pedo keep see keep saying it.

[29:47] Ramin Karimloo: We'll cut there, and that's gonna be the uh the advertisement on Instagram.

[29:52] Andrew Kober: Just keep saying it.

[29:55] Ramin Karimloo: First of all, it's not a laughing matter.

[29:57] Andrew Kober: No, of course.

[29:57] Ramin Karimloo: In this case with you, it is, yes.

[29:59] Andrew Kober: But the fact that you're a convicted pedophile.

[30:03] Andrew Kober: My character was character, not Andrew Kober from South Pacific.

[30:08] Ramin Karimloo: What did I have to do with it?

[30:10] Andrew Kober: Were they using that as a like here's why you're guilty for this?

[30:13] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, because my character is now an acting coach.

[30:15] Andrew Kober: Holy crap.

[30:17] Andrew Kober: Kids, largely.

[30:18] Ramin Karimloo: High school aged kids.

[30:19] Andrew Kober: That would never be allowed to happen.

[30:20] Andrew Kober: Well, I changed my name, I moved to a new state.

[30:23] Andrew Kober: And so now I'm an acting coach.

[30:25] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah.

[30:27] Andrew Kober: In the shows.

[30:28] Andrew Kober: Well, I served my time, right?

[30:30] Andrew Kober: I was on probation.

[30:31] Andrew Kober: I served my time.

[30:32] Andrew Kober: New name, moved to a new place, and was working with kids, which probably shouldn't have shouldn't have been doing.

[30:39] Andrew Kober: But then one of the kids turns up dead.

[30:41] Andrew Kober: Who's the first door they're gonna knock on?

[30:44] Andrew Kober: But I didn't do it.

[30:46] Ramin Karimloo: So do you live happily ever after after that?

[30:50] Andrew Kober: I don't know. I sort of disappeared around 8 15, 8 16. You didn't really see me again.

[30:55] Ramin Karimloo: What time the show start?

[30:55] Andrew Kober: 8.

[30:56] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. But that first 15 minutes was very Kober heavy.

[30:59] Andrew Kober: So a lot of showreel stuff for you.

[31:03] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah, it's gonna go right on there. When did you shoot that?

[31:06] Andrew Kober: Uh in December, about a month ago.

[31:09] Ramin Karimloo: Self tape.

[31:10] Andrew Kober: Yeah. Talk me through the self tape.

[31:12] Ramin Karimloo: Hey, hate a self tape.

[31:14] Andrew Kober: Hate a self tape.

[31:15] Ramin Karimloo: Go on, I'm starting to like them.

[31:15] Andrew Kober: Really?

[31:17] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. This is interesting. Okay, we could spend the rest of the time on this.

[31:20] Andrew Kober: All right. Don't mind a zoom.

[31:22] Ramin Karimloo: Love being in a room.

[31:24] Andrew Kober: See, I hate to zoom.

[31:24] Ramin Karimloo: Why?

[31:25] Andrew Kober: What if there's a delay?

[31:27] Ramin Karimloo: I'm not that bothered by that.

[31:29] Andrew Kober: Here's my thing. First, okay, go through it, but from you get the audition, self-tape. Can you put this on tape by Friday? Okay. Go.

[31:38] Ramin Karimloo: So here's what I'm gonna have to do. Uh the only thing I'm trained to do is be an actor. It's the only thing I know how to do. For the purposes of this self-tape, I'm also going to have to be a cinematographer, correct, a camera operator, a lighting designer, a sound designer, and a set designer.

[31:38] Andrew Kober: Right.

[31:53] Ramin Karimloo: None of those things I'm qualified to do, but I am sort of expected to do all of them anyway. Which that does piss me off. When people are like, Well, the lighting wasn't right for your self-tape. I don't fucking care. Did you like the story?

[32:04] Andrew Kober: Yeah. And then I do the self-tape, right? I read with my wife, because she lives in my house. She's right there. Wonderful actress.

[32:13] Ramin Karimloo: She's a good actress.

[32:15] Andrew Kober: But she's a mean director. And so it'll be a lot of like, I'll finish the first take, and she'll be like, So, um, are you gonna you're that's how you want to say it?

[32:15] Ramin Karimloo: Brilliant.

[32:27] Andrew Kober: I was like, well, that's sort of sort of how I'd planned it. Yeah, that's what I had in mind. It's okay. And then she'll think, okay, can I give you can I give you one idea? I'll say, sure. She'll say, Okay, I'm trying to think of a way to say this that won't be mean. And I go, You're gonna have to say it. Already, already. It's we're off to a rough see.

[32:42] Ramin Karimloo: So now the tension is begun, right? Now I'm sweating. Now like I'm a little mad. And just I haven't even gotten the note yet. Then she's gonna give me the note. Here and now here's the kicker. It's usually a good note, which makes me angrier, obviously.

[32:42] Andrew Kober: Of course.

[32:57] Ramin Karimloo: Right. So now I'm good. Now I'm gonna do three more takes out of resentment without taking her note before she says, I really think you should try my thing. And now I'm furious, but I'll do it one time her way. It's the best take, of course.

[32:57] Andrew Kober: Yeah.

[33:11] Ramin Karimloo: And then I have to use that f and just like full of self-loathing, full of bitterness at her. The whole thing is very emotionally fraught.

[33:11] Andrew Kober: Right.

[33:19] Ramin Karimloo: But here's the thing. Then I've got this take and I edit it. I put a little fade in and a little fade out. Love doing that. I adjust the color a little bit, maybe. A little zoom. A little sometimes crawl.

[33:28] Andrew Kober: Yeah, right.

[33:29] Ramin Karimloo: Don't want too much above the center. Don't want too much above the head.

[33:29] Andrew Kober: No.

[33:31] Ramin Karimloo: But sometimes my hair can be a little tall. So sometimes I make it crazy and I shoot in thirds.

[33:35] Andrew Kober: You don't.

[33:36] Ramin Karimloo: Sometimes man. You shoot in thirds. It just depends where I need to. That's really bold. And I do have a good side, so I gotta let she doesn't care. My wife, she sits wherever she wants, but I make sure I'm always putting her over here.

[33:36] Andrew Kober: Yeah.

[33:47] Ramin Karimloo: So your voice is coming from the so I that all that's fine, right? Then I've got this thing and I send it. And what the casting people see is this performance in a vacuum, right? It's just this little thing.

[33:59] Andrew Kober: Whereas the other day I had an audition for a new musical in person. I go into the room, it's the director, it's the composers, it's the producer, it's the it's all the people. And I'm in there for whatever 10 minutes, 15 minutes, two of which are me doing the performance.

[34:18] Ramin Karimloo: Right. So you get to hang out. It's all the other minutes that are gonna book me that job. Because it's all about the hang.

[34:23] Andrew Kober: Oh, God, I hate that you did that.

[34:25] Ramin Karimloo: But it's true. But well, because here's the thing is is say it, it's true. There's almost no job that I am that that there aren't 20 people that are good enough to do it. It doesn't exist. Correct. I'm sure you're terrific in MAME. There are a dozen other guys within three square blocks of here that could do it great. There's a lot of people can play Sky Masters and exactly right. And the the reason it's you instead of them is because people like working with you, you have a good reputation, you're a hard worker, you know, you're nice to be around, whatever. Because it's all about the thing. And so my thing is like I know that there are guys who are better than me or funnier or can sing a little better, or you know, definitely better dancers, whatever. I'm more fun to be around than most of those guys, and I'll be on time more than those guys. And I'll know my lines a couple of times. I'm always on time.

[35:19] Andrew Kober: Yeah.

[35:20] Ramin Karimloo: And I know that like that's what I bring to the table. And so in the vacuum of a self-tape, I can't tell you any of that. You can't know that on our fifth day of ten out of twelves, you're gonna be cool to see me. Yeah, you know, backstage. You're gonna like that I'm in the room.

[35:35] Ramin Karimloo: I get you. You can't know that from my weird little performance. You know what I mean? And you try and maybe implement that in your slate, like hi, I'm Ramin Caramba. It's like, oh no. They like it when I say I'm Ramin Carabla. They do they tend to that actually engenders a lot of positivity. I'm gonna say I'm Andrew Cooper and see what happens. Let's try that. Okay. Um I also use the same like three slates for everything. I'll be in like a whole different outfit for I don't care. I've never gotten a note about it. Don't you love when they go, and uh just for 20 seconds, tell us something about yourself? One of my ten. Yeah. My favorite color is blue. I just don't put those in. I like hot dogs.

Well, you know what? I think they s lately they started adding things that they want in the slate, and I think it's just to make sure you're not reusing old slates. I don't mind that. I'd rather you tell me what you want and I can- No, I'm still reusing the old ones. We need your vaccination says if you can be a local hire, we need to know, you know, how exactly what size shoe you are. Nope. I'm using the same one that says hi, my name, where I live. That's all you're getting. I'm not making a whole new cause for also like I live in a house with kids and a dog and like there's all this stuff going on. To create a space where I can do a full body shot, it takes some moving of stuff. That's the hardest one when you want to do that. No. My lower half looks exactly like you think it does.

[36:59] Andrew Kober: Okay. You know? You just see the line of my trousers. How much time do we have? I got like 20 minutes. What time is it now? It's 20 to noon. Oh, we got time. Yeah. Um, so you sent it in and it was a one and done, or did you have to do another? Oh, um, no, Law and Order was a one and done. The last couple TV gigs I've booked from self-tapes one and done. That's awesome. Yeah, that's been good. Do you get a lot of rejection as well? Of course. How do you deal with that? Does it bother you? Poorly. Yeah. No, I mean Do you ever because we're of it. How young are you now? I'm about to turn 39 next month. Oh, you are that much younger than me. I know. Because you're 50. 52. Yeah. Um, do you start how do you battle out self-doubt with all this because you're gonna get more no's and yes, mostly because there's so much you go for.

[37:49] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. Um I don't know. I sort of I I I sort of, you know, I live in this small town in New Jersey now. And so I've been thinking about this a lot, actually, because I'm the only person in the business in my town. And so when Beetlejuice announced that it was closing, all of the like guys who work on Wall Street or who work in big pharma or whatever, like all the other dads, right? Like, oh man, I heard your show is called. I'm so sorry. Like it was like it's a huge crisis. You know, losing your job for a real person is a huge crisis. And we just I get told no at least once or twice a week, and then like I've never had a job that lasted longer than a year. Yeah. Like this, this is what it is.

This is what happens, so we kind of get used to that, right? So I think part of it is you're just conditioned to it, right? You just you feel it all the time, it beats down, and you sort of develop a little bit of thick skin about it. I don't think I've ever not gotten a job because I'm not good enough. I really and I and I don't maybe that's a story I tell myself, but like I sort of need that to get through it. It's like I don't think I've ever not gotten a job because I'm not good enough. I think I'm always it's I'm too young or I'm too old or I'm too fat or too thin or I'm too whatever, right? Like it's very rare that I think, like, oh man, if I had done that better, or if I had done that differently, I could have gotten that. Yeah. I've never not gotten a job that I think I should have gotten.

[39:05] Andrew Kober: Now there have been a lot of jobs that like Sweeney Todd, right? I they announced we're doing Sweeney Todd. I called my agents, I said, I should definitely be in Sweeney Todd. And they said, All right, let's let's look into that. And they called them, and the folks over at Sweeney Todd said, Yeah, we don't really think you should be in Sweeney Todd. I said, Can we tell them can we say please? And they said, All right. So we called them, they said, they said please, and they said, All right, tell him he could make us a tape. I was like, okay. Self-tapes for musicals are like even worse than self-tapes for television. Because now all of a sudden, like the fact that you were a sound designer, you're also now a like a sound mixer and you're a sound arranger.

So you had to do a song on tape. I had to do a song on tape. Did you go down the barrel? Are you looking on no? I'm I'm looking above, usually for a song. Made a tape, took a lot of time, made sure it was great. I sounded great, made sure the levels were good, sent it in, and they said, nah, no, we don't think so. Really? So, like, okay, you know.

[40:01] Ramin Karimloo: Now, here's the thing. The folks at Sweeney Todd, which I'm not in, the casting directors cast a dozen different Broadway shows. The director has three or four different Broadway shows. It's not impossible that they know something I don't know, that something's gonna be opening up that's actually right for me and they're saving me for that. Right. Or that they need the track that I maybe would have been right for to cover a role that I actually am not right for, right? Like, there's all this kind of internal these these mechanics of running a big big show or running a whole business that I am not privy to. All I can do is sing the song well and send in the tape on time. And so that's what I did. It didn't work out. That's okay. I'll be in something else. Um I still think they were wrong, but I'll be in something. I will inevitably be in something that I wouldn't have been able to be in if I wasn't Sweeney Todd. John Rapson's in Sweet Todd.

[40:52] Andrew Kober: Is he? Yeah. He got your part. He did. Yeah, he did it off Broadway. I can't blame him. I can't wait to see Tweeny Todd. Yeah. Let's go there. That could have been me. Yeah, I'll just be mad at it. I feel like I'm going with George Costanza, to be honest. That's how you feel at that point. Yeah. I feel that way a lot of the time. Uh no, I would love to go see it. I'm sure it'll be great. So you got a busy year ahead off and on with stuff. Yeah, busy, yeah, busy. Busy's good, I think. I got these kids. Um I heard you got about two now, right? Something like that. About two. Yeah. They're still young, aren't they? They're young. Ish. Yeah, well, Ashley just turned seven and Jolie's uh one and a half.

She's very young. She's a little baby. Wow. Um, so I don't really know her yet, but I'll I'll figure her out. They're good from like two, three onwards. Yeah, that's what I figured out with the first one. I was really worried when Asher was a baby. I was really worried that I was bad at it because I was like, I don't get this at all. This is totally unappealing to me. As he got older, it became much more appealing. And now he's my favorite person. I know. I feel like I'm missing out on some great stuff now. Well, your kids are adults. I mean, like, I always thought being away now would be easier, but no. No, it's never a good time to be away. Yeah, but yeah, at least in my experience, he's you I just start to I like them more every day. I like them more. I like being with him more. You know, uh there's there's I have yet to encounter a part of it that I like less than the part that preceded it. You know what I mean?

[42:18] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. 100%. It's just been a straight lineup. Yeah. And so you know, it's not being a show right now. I'm starting to entertain the idea of maybe going out of town for gigs and that. Like the idea of it is it does get harder, doesn't it? Yeah. I'm that's something I'm gonna recalibrate now post uh South Pacific when I'm finished at the run of MAME. Do you gotta move back to Canada with your family? Yeah, yeah. You know, I had to sell I I I really want to my I have a dream of going motorcycle riding with you because you know I have my motorcycle license. Yes. Well, a full one, or you had a little scooter, didn't you? Well, little. It was 150ccs. Man, sewing machines have bigger engines. I had to get a full motorcycle license to operate it.

Okay. And I have this dream of like you and me riding riding motorcycles through the countryside. Should we do that to summary? With the drone. Okay. And we'll bring some mics and we'll do a little we'll that'll be great sound. We'll keep talking. No, while we're driving. Oh. We'll stop, have a little bit more. You have a motorcycle I could borrow? I don't have I had sold my my scooter. No, we'll rent two Harley's. Okay. That'd be really fun. How fun would that be? I'd love it. I would love that. Maybe we'll get some sponsors. Harley. We'll do a lot of things. You know what I want to buy like a triumph or like a royaler gray field. Yeah. Well, let's do that, man. Yeah. I'd like to ride those.

Crazy expensive. No, but we only need to hire them for the weekend or something. Yeah. I'll come out to England. I you know, I'm making plans to go out there right now because our friend Casey Levy is going to do next to normal in London. And uh so I'm I'm gonna go out this fall and go see her.

[43:48] Andrew Kober: I got called in for that. Did you? Yeah. Passed? Yeah. Yeah. Well, he didn't want to. I'm gonna stick around here a little longer. Okay. Just a timing. But I would have loved to have done it with her had they wanted to. She's the best. Yeah, she's great, man. Why is she good? They didn't call me at all. You'd be great. I know. I'm gonna get back to England. Let's go together. Okay. Wrapping up, it feels like it. We're wrapping up. Do you want to say anything about the wrestling musical? I think this is all viral marketing for the wrestling musical. It's all every time I go to the wrong thing. You gotta come next time. It's it's you want to it's in Jersey, right? Well, it's wherever. That's where it was.

Right. But it's one of those when you see it, you'll be like, I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I don't doubt that I would enjoy it. I know you, I know Amber a little. You'd love it, man. I don't doubt it. Is there anybody else in it? As far as I can tell, it's just you and Amber. No, Matt Cardona. We had a fresh class. Yeah, he's a real and he sings. Speaks on pitch. But what he does is perfect for the park and he's amazing, man. He's a great actor. I'd love to come see it. All right. Next time it's happening, I'll let you know. Okay. Maybe we'll get you in it. You'd be great as one of the announcers, by the way.

[44:50] Andrew Kober: Okay. Oh my god. I don't feel like this went that well. Well, take a vote. Oh, I should have got my phone. Let's see if there's a quick question. Hang on. Okay. Did you say that I was gonna be here? Yeah. Oh. Okay, let me see. This would be very embarrassing if there's not one go. Nobody has any interest. First question from Lane Brown. Ask Andrew if he ever got the drone he wanted. So okay. So we were talking about this before we started recording. Yes, I bought a drone. Uh and by bot, I mean my wife bought me a drone. And it's so nice and fancy, and it shoots in 4K, and it can do all the stuff that we dreamed of, you know, almost a decade ago. It's the time is now. We could think of okay. Listen, go on YouTube and watch the giddiness with which we discuss the idea of adding a drone into our content.

Okay. Now it's here, right? Like the time is here. It's it's arrived. We can we can finally achieve everything that we've been working toward. Okay, so we'll do an episode of the hang with the drone. And you can curate it'll just be, you know. You can curate that. We'll go out in the field. Yeah. There's a lot of fields by me. We'll see what happens.

[45:54] Andrew Kober: Okay. And last question for you. Do you miss Cedric? That's the mask. Yeah. Do you still have it? I do. It's in England, though. Okay. I wish I brought it. Why did you keep it? Why wouldn't I? That thing is amazing. Remember how it spooked Will so much? He really didn't like it. Well, we gotta get Will in here. Listen, if here's what I really think about. You can co-host with me and we get Will. I think you should you should have Will as a guest and I'll co-host. Yeah. I'll Andy Richter it. What's he doing now? Andy Richter? No, Will. Oh, I don't know. Well me. He was in a musical. It's in town now. Yes. It's a music. It's about six. Six. Will's in six. That's great. I did hear that's great.

I don't go to the theater. I don't either. So go see Will in Six. Yeah. Go see Ramin in uh South Pacific, the new wrestling musical. Now in Jersey City. And you are about to do that musical which you got the NDA and the musical. And uh also the concert series in Fort Lauderdale. It's all going good. And I'll be in Mexico with my family in February. So you know, if you see me, just throw a seashell or whatever. Andrew, I miss you, bud. I can't wait to see you again.

[47:04] Ramin Karimloo: Yeah. I love you. Okay. It's all about the hang. It ended even worse than the whole episode. Hand cut. Oh man. I don't think it was good.