This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:06] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's the round table with me, Robert Bannon. Welcome everybody to the round table. It's another episode here on YouTube, or if you're listening to us on the Broadway Podcast Network, of Broadway Podcast Network Brethren. Listen, I love the Broadway Podcast Network because one second you can listen to this trashy show. Then you could listen to Carrie Butler, and then you can listen to, uh, God knows what's on here. There are people who do deep dives into musicals that no one has ever seen. There are people here who interview the biggest stars in the entire world, and then somewhere on this mess is this show. And I'm so excited because Rob Schneider is here, and here's my beef with Rob Schneider.

Rob Schneider has produced 172,000 shows at 54 Below. He has done 116 different podcasts, most of them with Robbie Rosell, and most of the shows with Robbie Roselle. And I have not been invited to one. Not a show. I have not even got an address. I never even was asked to sing a song. I don't even have to sing. I could run a spotlight. I could be on a pod Rob Schneider. I have beef right now. We are gonna dress it. I don't care. And Tony Winners to show up and talk about Broadway bound show. How dare you? Welcome. Sorry, sir. I'm so excited that you're here.

[1:29] Rob W. Schneider: I'm excited you're here.

[1:31] Robert Bannon: Wait a minute. Wait. Now you know there can only be like two Robbies at most on stage at 54 Below. So would you like me to get rid of Mr. Roselle? And would you like to tell him personally he's been terminated? He's gonna see this and get so angry. He's gonna be so mad that we didn't invite him. You know, I'm sorry, Robbie. Sorry, Robbie. Robbie has gotten enough tension on the round table. He has had three of his moments. Wait, let me ask you if you were gonna come to 54, what would you want to sing?

[1:57] Rob W. Schneider: Well, you get a magic wand. You get a magic wand, you get to sing anything you want. Broadway bound, the musicals that never came from Broadway is coming to 54 Below in March. You have a lineup of all-star people, like you have really amazing people, and Robbie Rosell.

[2:11] Robert Bannon: Oh, of course. He's gonna a bunch of amazing people and Robbie Roselle. He's gonna Robert, I would move if I were you. I would move at this point.

[2:24] Rob W. Schneider: Oh no, I'll be the SBI witness protection. We'll take care of you. You two have to be, um, a lot. Robbie directs my shows, and Robbie has produced my albums and all of that fun stuff. And I love Robbie, and your person, and he's talked about the shows that you've produced. You know, a lot of the times 54 Below, uh, we love 54 Below. We love the programming that they put on in the show. You get people to show up, sing a song. You know, they don't get a million dollars, you get it's maybe a drink and, uh, and, uh, and one and one and, and you put on an entertainment. You have done how many shows there? Do you know?

[2:57] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah, I just finished my 205th show.

[3:03] Robert Bannon: Oh, look, I and some of them I'm like, oh what was that? I'm sorry, I don't know what language I can use. I'm there's some I actually have one on my wall that I hang I won't show you what it is that I hang up there because I'm like, if I ever do this again, just like lock me away somewhere. So I have a reminder of like the word. I have some really amazing shows up here, but then there's one up there where I'm like, never again, never again. But yes, so I do I did like 205 shows. My first one was actually oh my god, Valentine's Day 2016 was my anniversary show. That was my first show I ever did at 54. So I just had my anniversary a couple of days ago.

[3:38] Robert Bannon: Thanks for sending flowers.

[3:40] Rob W. Schneider: I you they're on their way. They've got they got stuck a little. You know, when I just offered a singing one of my shows, just maybe stuck. Anyway. Well, what I love about you, well, and I joke, but if you ever get Robbie a drink, he will tell stories about what the green room's like when you mishmash all of these stars and singers together. You put some very interesting people in a room together.

[4:01] Rob W. Schneider: It's the best. I love it.

[4:03] Robert Bannon: Well, get your tickets 54below.org. Get your tickets, get your tickets, get your tickets. The show, um, it is coming March 5th. You have done everything. Like if I read about you, you're a director of a ton of musicals and plays and work. You have had multiple podcasts. You have a book that you have helped edit and forward and write and do and all sorts of things. And you have coached and you have done all of the things that that what do you call yourself? How do you what do you identify as an artist? Are you just a jack of all trades?

[4:35] Rob W. Schneider: I actually identify primarily as like a buffet enthusiast. That's like my priority. That's number one, which is visiting as many different buffets as possible and getting as much different prime rib as possible. Then after I kicked out of a buffet, I'm like, I need to make money for more buffets, so maybe I'll do some more shows. So I, so that's that's what I primarily identify as. This is just means to an end. Just means to an end. I don't know anything about Broadway. I just lie and make things up, and people go, Well, he's got a deep voice, so maybe he's telling the truth. But not at all. Not at all. It's just to really fund the prime rib buffet.

[5:07] Robert Bannon: Is it are they? I don't yes. Are they good buffets? Are they good buffets?

[5:11] Rob W. Schneider: Are they like no, no? I will I will listen. I can go from like Vegas top of the line all the way down to hometown buffet in the middle of like Pennsylvania. Yeah. Some buffets I'm not allowed to go back to. So I, uh, there's I'm looking at different buffets. So if people are listening at different states and know like a buffet. Hit me up. I went to the Golden Corral for the first time.

[5:32] Robert Bannon: What'd you think?

[5:33] Rob W. Schneider: I was violently ill that evening.

[5:35] Robert Bannon: What happened?

[5:36] Rob W. Schneider: Well, I thought you never had so much good food before. What happened? Well, firstly, they give you your soda, you know, on a tray, like when you pay, like in the front of the Orlando Golden Corral.

[5:47] Robert Bannon: Oh, yeah.

[5:48] Rob W. Schneider: Oh, oh. And they had a nice, like a slurpee machine. Like, and, um, they had a turkey, and their man was carving the turkey, but I think that turkey had lived a couple of lives, and the turkey was not, you know, you have to be selective at the buffet.

[6:03] Robert Bannon: Yeah, but you see, I think of it like a fine wine. Like the older it is, to me the better.

[6:08] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah, you'll have, yeah, the better it is. But that's, you know what? I will go with you for your next buffet experience. And we'll go through it together if that's okay.

[6:16] Robert Bannon: I'm in. I'm dead serious.

[6:18] Rob W. Schneider: Great.

[6:19] Robert Bannon: Oh my gosh, great. We're going on a buffet date. It's gonna be amazing. Rob, where are you from?

[6:24] Rob W. Schneider: So I'm from Los Angeles originally.

[6:26] Robert Bannon: Oh, why? You and me both. You and me both. I grew up in the smallest of towns um that was rated the number one safest city in America by like the FBI number. So that like I think that shows you like how exciting my town was. Also home to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, which also shows you how wonderful the town is. Um, so there you go. We we love history. We love history. Uh and I was like, as soon as I was out of there, I was like, I high-tailed it over to the East Coast. But I grew up in LA.

[6:57] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah.

[6:58] Robert Bannon: You grew up in LA. Now you're here in New York City. Where are you from?

[7:02] Rob W. Schneider: I'm from Jersey.

[7:03] Robert Bannon: What part of Jersey?

[7:04] Rob W. Schneider: I grew up in Richmond Park, which is next to Fort Lee. I'm like a fake New Yorker. Like I'm one mile one mile from New George Washington Bridge, but I have a driveway and a squirrel and a tree. And you know, like I see things. Like that.

[7:20] Robert Bannon: Are you still there now?

[7:21] Rob W. Schneider: Yes.

[7:21] Robert Bannon: I'm so jealous. You could come over and I'll take you to the Brazilian buffet anytime, right in Hackensack, New Jersey.

[7:29] Rob W. Schneider: Great. Let me just grab an Uber and, uh, let's go. I'm free.

[7:32] Robert Bannon: I'm free. I'm sorry. When did the idea for you become to do a podcast though?

[7:41] Rob W. Schneider: Like the, uh, the one that I'm doing now, or I had one.

[7:45] Robert Bannon: Your first one.

[7:46] Rob W. Schneider: Oh, my first one, my first one was called Broadway Bound. No, but my god, my first one was called Behind the Curtain Broadway's Living Legends. And my thing was I was listening to because at the green room at 40 at the green room at 42, my god, at the green room at 54 Below. Oh my god, they're gonna kill me that I say green room 42. At the green room at 54 Below, you would sit around and you would hear these amazing stories from people, and we're like, why is nobody why am I the only one lucky enough to hear this? So I started going around and asking like a bunch of like Broadway legends who had been in the business 30 plus years. I was like, would you come and sit down on this show with me and we're gonna talk about your career and like how you got started?

Also, I teach, and teaching's a huge part for me, and I was getting really frustrated with hearing so many students that were like, Well, I really admire Laura Osnes, so I have to do exactly what she did. Um, maybe well, it was a different time. Um like what, uh, uh what college did she go to? And what shows have she has she played? And did she get the vaccine? You know, stuff like that. Um, and so I so I was like, I wanted to show my students there's not one right way of doing this. Like there's many different ways to be successful and be unique, and so I was like, if I collect all these stories, maybe they'll see like, oh yeah, you don't have to, you know, you have you don't have to follow Corey Cott exactly the way he did his career you know he's him he's special he's wonderful who are you so yeah Rob I think we're gonna be best friends I can't wait the buffets and a little boss joke and yeah so if you have nothing nice to say sit next to me.

[10:27] Robert Bannon: I um, I um as a teacher myself I teach I teach fifth grade in New Jersey and I also teach musical theater at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark a lot of the students you know they're they did they don't have a million dollars they come from the city of Newark they have amazing talent and they look up to all of these artists and they want to they say where did and where do you go to school and I I when I speak to guests a lot of the times I ask them what did you do but you are right all the guests that have turned me down are on Rob's original podcast go look yes they are stacked stars they're lost so they're lost they didn't get to speak to you no no head to really so that show you did a lot of episodes of that show we have uh like 550 episodes in the cam on that one yeah yeah but you know like you get to talk to your heroes do you know what I mean like it's it's yeah so I I got very we had like Nathan Lane was on there and Andre de Shields was on there and Susan Stroman was on there you know and it's great but like I said we don't really I don't sit there and go to Susan Stroman like tell me about the producers because I'm like everyone knows about this show at this point but I'm like what was it like in college?

How did you find your way in the city? You know that's that to me is more interesting. Nathan Lane talked about like day jobs he had prior to, you know. I'm like, I don't want to hear. I mean, yes, you won a million Tony Awards and you're a brilliant actor, but like, how did you get started? And like, were there any points where you thought I don't want to do this anymore? I think that's good for people to hear. I really do. And I think that's what makes the interviews unique and they're in-depth. And his brother was the head of English in my high school.

[10:52] Rob W. Schneider: Was he really?

[10:54] Robert Bannon: That's cool.

[10:55] Rob W. Schneider: And when the Bird Cage came out, I showed him in Entertainment Weekly because I was a nerd in eighth grade who subscribed to Entertainment Weekly.

[11:02] Robert Bannon: Oh, you know, yes.

[11:03] Rob W. Schneider: They used to have like the little caricatures of like little cartoon caricatures, and they made this imaginary cast of the new Star Wars, and they made Nathan Lane be Luke Skywalker.

[11:16] Robert Bannon: And I showed it to Mr. Lane, and then he took it and he sent it to his brother, and then his brother wrote me a letter and like encouraged me. Like it's little like anyway. It's wonderful. It's it's so wonderful that stuff. That stuff is what keeps you in love with this business. You if you while we're here, if you want more information about Rob W. Schneider, if you're listening to us, there's a link below, but it's S-C-H-N-E-I-D-E-R, and you can go to Rob W. Schneider on Instagram and follow him so that you can stay up to date on all of the shows that he's got coming up.

[11:44] Robert Bannon: You you then have you've done the the gay card revoked podcast with Robbie. You've done it iterations of podcasts, and then you somehow wake up in the middle, maybe because of the the 54 Below show, maybe for some reason you wake up and you say, Why don't I do Broadway Bound, the musicals that never came to Broadway? How do you come up with this idea?

[12:09] Rob W. Schneider: Wait, I love that the image can come just come up like that. That was fantastic. Hold on, let me see if I can recreate it. Look, that it's exactly right. There's no Photoshop at all. It's no, and the mental thought is, What the fuck am I doing? That was it. That was going through my head. Here's here's my question for you. Because I have done podcasts on the Broadway Podcast Network, like the musical theater podcast, the theater podcast. They're like in depth, very detail oriented, like professionally, like I know who was the everything in this show. I knew the journey. And then I come on and say things like they ask me things like, What did you think of Ben Platt and Dear Evan Hansen? And I say, as a person or as an actor, like mean things like that. Yes, I get it. I get it. So then you so then I come on and just add that mess. You do research, Rob. Like, this is not just you saying, Hey, remember there was a movie called Arthur?

[13:08] Rob W. Schneider: I'm a geek. I'm a geek. You know how it got started, honestly, was we were we started the series at 54 Below because I was like, I think it's really important to remind, especially like new writers, that even the best of the best don't Broadway is wonderful as Broadway is. It doesn't mean that only the best things happen on Broadway. And so I was like, Well, let's create a series that celebrates all these shows, and like I'm sure there's really funny stories along the way. And then I got approached and they were like, Do you want to turn this idea into a book? Like a nonsense carry type situation. And I was like, Oh, okay. And so I start I did an outline for the book, and then I was like, you know, what kind of hurts me is that when I'm doing it, I'm like, oh my god, if you could only hear this amazing song from Arthur, but I'm like, you can't do that in a book.

Like you can't hear how good the music was. So I was like, well, well, if what if I turned it into a podcast, then you get both like the book research of it, and you also get to actually hear these songs. And then I was like, and you actually get to hear the voices of the people who were involved. So, like on Arthur, and not a lot of people know this, it was created by the people who did Friends who created Friends. So David Crane, Marta Kaufman, and Michael Skloff who David and Marta created Friends and uh Michael Skloff wrote the theme song to Friends. They in the 80s were Broadway babies. They wanted to do musicals and so they did it and because Arthur kept getting delayed and they kept losing so much money they're like we need to just start like writing something else. So they moved to LA and wrote a sitcom and the sitcom was called Friends and they're doing pretty well for themselves. So had Arthur been successful we wouldn't have had Friends.

[14:40] Robert Bannon: Oh my, how did you find that out?

[14:42] Rob W. Schneider: I when we were doing the research for the 54 show I I would ask people I'm like what did you guys all see that was out of town because I because you well you grew up in New Jersey so you probably got to see a lot of theater and stuff right in LA there's nothing unless like you want to see like you know the cast of Chuck on their hiatus doing a view from the bridge. But like I mean there's nothing there's no theater in LA and I people are going to this there is I'm like great show me um so we we didn't really get to see stuff so I would ask them like what did you see that you really liked and some people would go oh my god I saw a show called Busker Alley and it was really bad but there was an amazing song in it I'm like great that's all I need I just need that like one song.

So somebody had seen Arthur and was like it's a great great show listen to it and I listened to the demo and I'm like this is really good. Like this is a great score it's a bop as the young kids say yes it's a bop well it's the first episode that's up and now and you're your second and I love Arthur the movie makes gives me all the feels because I love it's so good. I remember going to the Palmer video on Main Street Richard Park and my dad saying have you ever seen Arthur, and I said, What is Arthur? And I was a young kid, and I did not get it, but I but I laughed, and we it's been it's like our family movie. Like, if it's like Thanksgiving Eve and we're all together, we watch Arthur.

[15:56] Robert Bannon: I that makes me so happy because it's just such a warm, beautiful romantic comedy, and he's genius in that film. Genius. And Liza Minnelli, I'm like, yes, yes, yes, yes, a million times, yes. Then you you have The Graduate, which is now up.

[16:12] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah, The Graduate with the which is a really bizarre story. That is a bizarre story. Um they it was first Bob Merrill who wrote Hello Dolly writing a musical of The Graduate, which and I don't know if you know this. Bob Merrill couldn't play piano, so he could all he only play xylophone. So he would like tap out the melody on a xylophone, and then somebody would write it down for him. Okay, and then they double-crossed him. They double-crossed Bob Merrill. They were like, We you need to have a youth consultant, like help you like understand like the youth of today. So they brought in Jim Steinman, who wrote like Bad Outta Hell and Meatloaf and stuff, and they were like, You're gonna be the like the new lyricist, but don't the new composer, but don't tell him we're gonna tell him that you're a youth consultant.

It's so bizarre. It's so bizarre. So it listen to the episode. And then like the the producer was like, Oh, for Mrs. Robinson, we're gonna get Cher, or we're gonna get Julie Andrews, and they got Shirley Jones from the Partridge Family. Um, and uh it's it's you're like, well, that's a that's a choice.

[17:19] Robert Bannon: It's not Cher. It's not Cher. Can you imagine? I'm like, are you gonna try to convince Cher and Julie Andrews to come do like eight shows a week and be like they'll be like, what's the score? And they're like, well, here's a xylophone. Like, you kidding me? What the fuck is wrong with you people? Excuse my language. I'm sorry. I don't know what the language is here.

[17:36] Rob W. Schneider: You can curse here.

[17:37] Robert Bannon: So then The Graduate became a play.

[17:41] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah, so then it eventually became a play, and like the play with Kathleen Turner, which was hot. I I think she's amazing, Kathleen Turner. She can do no wrong on my book. Very naked. That's right. Very naked. Yes. And all the and Jason Biggs. Yes. Yes. Was in it. Yeah. And everybody. Who likes it? Yes, Alicia Silverstone was the daughter, Elaine. Elaine, yeah. Um, but everyone who reviewed the play said the same thing with they were going to say about the musical, which is like the movie is so good. Like, um like in one close-up in the movie, it accomplishes what songs and dialogue are trying to do. So, like, why why even bother? Why even bother?

[18:17] Robert Bannon: See, this is the kind of stuff you can get with all this at the opinion and personality with but from Rob on this show. And who are your guests? Is it you for an hour and a half, or you bring people on with you? Like, how do you think it's kind of like a documentary?

[18:30] Rob W. Schneider: So, like, I'll I will give you like narration, but then every once in a while I'll be I'll be like, and then here's Marta Kaufman to talk about blah blah blah. And so then like we'll insert her audio dialogue. So the people that we've had on the podcast so far, uh, for this first season, uh I said David and Marta, James Burroughs um, who uh 10-time Emmy Award-winning director, like changed the face of TV comedy. He was the PA on Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1966. And I was like, I was like, I'd like to interview you, but I said I don't want to talk about Cheers or Frasier or Will and Grace. I'm like, would you come and talk about when you were a PA? And he's like, absolutely. Uh case Casey Nicola, Stephen Schwartz, uh Terry Ralston from uh Baker's Wife uh and company and all that great stuff. Uh John Bolton, Chris Sieber. It's a nice, like healthy mixture of people.

[19:20] Robert Bannon: Leslie Ann Warren, if you're a Clue fan, Leslie Ann Warren's coming on.

[19:24] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah, we we love her. We've had her here. We had Leslie Ann Warren and Renee Taylor of The Nanny on together. And then Renee Taylor took me to lunch, and then she stole my recording equipment. But that is a story for another time.

[19:37] Robert Bannon: But Rob, I have a Renee Taylor story, but but maybe it's for another time. I mean, I have all the time in the world. Let me say this really quickly. Good friend of mine was on The Nanny and he got married. And he was like, um, we're uh he's like, Come to the wedding. I said, Great. So went to the wedding, and of course, like the whole cast of The Nanny was there, including her and her husband, Joe Bologna. And I saw them as they were leaving the wedding, literally pocketing extra food into her purse as they were on the way out the door. And I was like, 'I love you.' Like, I love you. The woman is literally filthy rich, and she's stealing food out of a wedding on the way out the door.

[20:14] Robert Bannon: Okay, well, now can I I'll tell my story as quick as I can.

[20:17] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah, please.

[20:17] Robert Bannon: She came on the show, she asked me to go to lunch. I I went, we went to eat a late. It was in the middle of COVID. She told me that I needed to call the Matre D and tell them that she was coming because they will send a free appetizer. Which they did. Okay, I'm kind of obsessed with her. Great. Well, if you don't want to go to lunch, I'll go to lunch with her. And she wanted to call do a show called Live with Renee and Robert, where we were gonna do the re this show, but with her as the host. And she invited me the next week to a fancy dinner in Columbus Circle, where she was sitting there in her wheelchair alone with a blanket, like left there. I don't know. I found Renee Taylor in this restaurant.

She got the owner to agree to let us use it as a studio. But I explained to her that like when I do this, I'm in my house on a computer, like a set with a desk, like where a talk show talk show requires cameras and lights editing. She did not care. So she would call me every day, and my brother was getting married, and she told me to tell the Matre D at that wedding that celebrities would be at the wedding, so they needed to knock $50 off a head, which I told her no celebrities were going from my brother, who's a cop in South Hackensack, New Jersey's wedding. But but she didn't care, like she would she was on me, pound on me. So I she says she wants to do Don't Walk Away Renee as the theme song to this show.

So she asks me to get a piano player to come to her apartment. Now she lives in a very fancy, beautiful apartment across from Lincoln Center, right? And I had just assumed when she said she wanted to record it that there would be a piano in her apartment. I didn't think like she's a big three-bedroom apartment. She's the piano player showed up, and I got a expletive l laid voicemail from Renee Taylor cursing me out. And I show up and she's laying on her chase lounge in her silk pajamas. There's no fucking piano here. Why are you what I had my bag of recording equipment? So I left it and I said, We'll get a keyboard and come back. And then she never she blocked my number.

[22:22] Rob W. Schneider: What?

[22:23] Robert Bannon: Um, yes. So then I did a red carpet and she was there, and I was ready to fight, but she doesn't even remember going on.

[22:32] Rob W. Schneider: I did not see coming. Yes, I got cursed out at Renee Taylor. I didn't see this coming at all. But I love her.

[22:41] Robert Bannon: Me too.

[22:41] Rob W. Schneider: She unfollowed me on social media and blocked me. How the hell does she even know how to unfollow someone on social media? She's got this really little Spanish gay man who is her assistant, who I don't know, he probably is stealing from her. I've already gotten into enough trouble in this show. I said too much. Anyway, none of this has got anything to do with your checks.

[23:07] Robert Bannon: That's why she's pocketing food at the wedding, Rob.

[23:11] Rob W. Schneider: I thought I'd be making more money. She's great. So what are the other shows on the season of your podcast?

[23:18] Robert Bannon: What show you Arthur graduate?

[23:21] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah, so it's Arthur Graduate. Um, what came out to Busker Alley with Tommy Toon Fiasco, not Fiat, well, Tommy Toon extravaganza, we'll say. Oh, Barry Weissler, who was the producer on that, came and talked to us. He has some really great fancy, dancy produced fancy. Um, The Mambo Kings, which was the musical. This one kind of excited me. This was the musical no one wanted to talk to me. Everybody that I reached out to was like, no, I don't want to talk about it. So I'm like, oh, then there's something really good here. Finally, finally, the composer, this is the only Broadway show he ever did. He's like, I'll talk to you. He's like, I got nothing to lose. So that's Mambo Kings. That's coming out next week.

Um, Julieta the Spirits, which is a show that fascinates me. It's by Carolyn Lee, and it was supposed to star Angela Lansbury, and she backed out. Um, Paper Moon, uh, Breakfast at Tiffany's The Baker's Wife, and uh, we end the season with Gone with the Wind, the musical, which had its tryout in Tokyo. Tokyo, Gone with the Wind in Tokyo. Any questions?

[24:33] Robert Bannon: Uh, a lot.

[24:35] Rob W. Schneider: Great. So yeah, so the first, so the it's it we go season by season. Each season is 10 episodes, and each season is thematically linked. So this one it's called like Hooray for Hollywood, and it's any uh movie that got turned into a musical that didn't come in. And we could only pick 10, and those were the 10 that I was like, I think these are the most interesting.

[24:52] Robert Bannon: Oh, I'm super excited. So that this is this will be on it's an ongoing series. So while you're listening to us, make sure you follow it. You could add it right in the queue. You could listen to it wherever you listen to your podcasts, and and where if you're at the gym, if you're in the car, if you're at work, you could listen to Rob and all of his uh all of his hijinks for sure. Uh, do the other podcasts still exist? Is this the only podcast?

[25:12] Rob W. Schneider: Are you yeah, pretty much behind the curtain? My co-host Kevin David Thomas, who's amazing, he moved away. And so, and I don't know if you know Charles Kirsch, who does Backstage Babble. Uh yes, like little Charles, who's now taller than me, but he's little Charles. I went to his bar mitzvah and I got him an All American poster uh for from because I was like, What's your favorite musical? He goes, All American. I'm like, that 1962 flop? Yeah. So great. He doesn't talk like that anymore. So it's like great, got him that. Um, but he has his own podcast, Backstage Babble, and that just sort of took over what we were doing. So I'm like, give it to the next generation.

[25:51] Robert Bannon: I hear you. I get it. You're too busy. You're teaching and directing and doing shows at 54 Below and booked and busy and everything. If you're a student and you want uh someone to help you go to college, you can reach out to Rob. If you want if you want lessons, if you want life lessons, financial lessons, relationship lessons, um, family counseling, go to Rob. All of that is all on the website, Rob W Schneider.com. And I really am fascinated. Like when I was going through your resume, I downloaded it. You have really directed a lot of shows, and you have worked with some very, very talented people. How what is your attempt? What is your relationship with like theater? Like, you've done big shows in New York City.

You've done regional shows, you've done smaller shows. Like, how do you go? And how are you a patron of the art? Do you only so like I need to see the big Broadway show? Do you I want to go downtown? I want to go to you know, Pennsylvania summer stock. Like, what is your how do you go? Anything. Like, as long as I'm in a theater or a rehearsal hall, I'm happy. Like, I and I mean that. I like I really don't care if I'm like working on a Broadway show or if I'm working in the middle and I've done this working in a barn in the middle of Pennsylvania. Like, I don't care. Like, I really don't care. I just not many people can like do what we do and get paid for it. And so for me, I'm like, I will I will do anything to keep that going.

I very rarely turn anything down just because I'm like, I love a challenge. Like, what else am I doing? You know, do you have a horror like a summer stock or a regional theater somewhere horror story?

[27:26] Rob W. Schneider: Oh, yeah, I got one. I got one, and it just happened to me last summer. Oh, I got plenty of them. Oh, that's a whole podcast. I'll tell you my favorite one though. And I'm not a D, I'm you I don't think I'm a diva. I don't people be like, I disagree, but I don't think I'm a diva. Last year I went to go work for a summer stock, and it was a very little tiny one in the middle of Pennsylvania. It's an old barn, and I was like, Yeah, my friend was running it. I'm like, Yeah, great, I'll come down. And so they were like, We're gonna take you to your company housing. I was like, Great. So they take us like 20 minutes away from the theater down this really like dirt road in the mountains, and there's this huge log cabin.

And I'm like, they're like, This is where you're gonna stay. And I'm like, ooh, this is nice. And they're like, oh no, no, no, it's behind the log cabin. And I look behind the log cabin and I swear to you, Robert, it's an urgent care. And I'm like, I said, I'm sorry, and they're like, yeah, we ran out of housing. So we made a deal with the local doctor who doesn't open have his urgent care running in the summer. And uh we put beds in the rooms. So you literally go into an urgent care, and like in exam room two, they just literally put an air mattress. There's no windows, there's no bathroom, there's a fluorescent light, and they still have that like needle trash can on the wall, like when you use a needle and you're supposed to throw it away.

And I was like, I uh uh no. I was like, I'm not staying here. So at three o'clock in the morning in the middle of Pennsylvania, I and I couldn't get internet. I walked maybe four miles in the dark in the woods to get to an area to get service to call an Uber to take me to a residence in. Rob, that's not being a diva. I don't think that's being a diva. I was like, I do not want to pay a copay to go to bed. Like, this is not this is not fun.

[29:11] Robert Bannon: Nothing. That show starred Laura Osnes, didn't it?

[29:14] Rob W. Schneider: And that's what it was, you know what? It was a it was a regional production of Cinderella, ironically. So she's haunting me. Maybe she's like, he's an asshole. I'm gonna come back. Actually, you know what? I'll say this. I've worked with her, she's as sweet as can be. I'm I'm sure I believe that for sure.

[29:30] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah, I but yes, I um I was in the famous in my first union job in Summerstock that I after I got my equity card was in the infamous music man in Sharon, Connecticut that they tried to modernize, and then we got the cease and desist letter.

[29:46] Robert Bannon: You were in that?

[29:47] Rob W. Schneider: Oh, yes, I was. I was in the barbershop quartet.

[29:51] Robert Bannon: Wait a minute. I have wait a minute. What happened?

[29:55] Rob W. Schneider: They Sharon, Connecticut, put the Sharon Playhouse, which used to be called like Tri Arts, Tri Stars, Try Something. Different name every year, yeah. They they hired like a very Bushwick star young director. And they were gonna make it like the Brooklyn of the Connecticut. And we were gonna monitor, and it was when Trump was running. So this director had this idea that Harold Hill should be looked at as like a con man, and at the end they should handcuff him and walk him through the aisle out of the audience in to jail. So I was trying to get my union job, and I was I was a teacher, and I was trying to get done with with all my mess. So I decided to go to the local audition because I knew in New York no one would see me.

So I drove to Sharon, Connecticut, like a good Irish Catholic boy on Ash Wednesday, and stopped in a little church and said, I want to be an actor so bad. I hope I book a job. And then I walked into Holy Hell and got cast in the show. We had um cell phones and Shapupi was a disco number with a karaoke machine and a disco ball, and we had electric fans. And instead of like the the Wells Fargo wagon, it was an Amazon truck and Amazon boxes. I heard about this, I heard about this, and then they took songs out, like there was no my white night, there was no um they just cut them right out. So then after the first night, when we got a letter from Meredith Wilson's estate saying that we were cease and desist, it had to be the original.

The director was so mad that she turned the house lights on for my white night and made the actress come out with a music stand and sing it in the aisle with no music, no microphone. Totally, it was a wild, and you know, the New York Times and Playbill and everyone came out to see this show because we were a disaster.

[31:45] Robert Bannon: Wow. I heard about that. I heard about that. And I was like, what are they doing up there?

[31:52] Rob W. Schneider: Like, here's the thing. Honestly, I don't want to sound like an asshole, and I don't know Sharon Connecticut all that well. But I'm like, if you do want to do that, do that in Bushwick. Like, don't, don't that they don't want to. I'm assuming they don't want to see that.

[32:05] Robert Bannon: No, people were leaving in droves. Like, Annie that was up in Boston.

[32:10] Rob W. Schneider: No. Where I'll keep this story very brief.

[32:12] Robert Bannon: No, you could there was so you know, okay. So Annie, right? We all know Annie, she sings, but maybe far away, maybe there's anyway. She's sitting on the windowsill at the beginning of the orphanage, right? Blah, blah, blah. All right, cool. End of the show. Get to the end of the show. Um, Annie's on one side of the stage, Daddy Warbucks is on another side of the stage, and they start to run together, and everything freezes. And the ensemble lifts Annie up, they rip off her red wig, they rip off her red dress, the uh the mansion disappears, the orphanage returns, they plop her right back down on the windowsill. It was all a dream. She dreamt, she dreamt that she got uh adopted. And that's how it ended.

Her back on the windowsill, right where she started. All of this was a dream. She was right back to the hell she was in before. That I think was up for two days before Martin Charnon came in and was like, What the fuck are you doing? Sat down with the director and literally went with her line by line by line and was like, This is how this should be, this is how that should be. Because I was can you imagine seeing Annie and she gets returned back to the orphanage?

[33:15] Rob W. Schneider: Oh, I'd be traumatized.

[33:18] Robert Bannon: Traumatized. People were like, Oh, it's a really good production. I'm like, it's not Annie. No, that's fine. Right, write your own show then. And your own show about an orphan nobody wants. That's fine. Do that. It's called Oliver. They've already done it. But you want to do it? Great. Have a good time. See, what's you want stories like this? You need to be following, Rob, and you need to be listening to his podcast. You could go back in time and listen to the other podcasts as well.

[33:45] Rob W. Schneider: Yes. And then uh we I will t I will tempt you with this story, and then we'll do it over the Golden Corral Buffet.

[33:51] Robert Bannon: The guys and dolls that was all about gambling addiction. That's a that's probably a good idea, though, Rob. Not guys and dolls, but yes, tell me. But very we went to go see Guys and Dolls, and it was at this theater down in uh Los Angeles. And when it started we went in, there was no curtain, everything was like this very stark wood. And I'm like, I don't know if I'm in the right theater. And all of a sudden the lights went to half, and the person was like, Welcome to Guys and Dolls. If you or anyone you know have a gambling addiction, you can do baba, and the whole show was about again, was like about the addiction of gambling, and every scene was played serious, there was no comedy in it whatsoever.

But the thing I remember more than anything was Adelaide's Lament. This actress that she opened up her book and she put her leg up on a railing, like she was stretching and reading. And so I was like, Alright, cool. First verse, leg on the bar, second verse, her leg is still on the bar. Third verse, her leg is on this actress, never left this position during the entire Adelaide's Lament. I was like, What is going on here? Worst production of Guys and Dolls I ever saw till I saw the 2009 revival. If you saw did you see that?

[35:05] Rob W. Schneider: I did not.

[35:06] Robert Bannon: I did not understand. Holy shit, that was bad. I did not. Sorry. I'm sorry. I the actors were lovely, but oh my god. Oh my god, it looked like a video game. That was a good one. And uh Damon Runyon was a character. He like followed them around taking notes and stuff, and I'm like, no, no, no. I heard a story, I don't know if this is true, that Frank Lesser's widow went to see it. Um they had to show her like a dress rehearsal, right? And there was no audio else in the audience except her, and the curtain came down and it was dead silence in the theater, and she went, What the fuck was that? So I I don't know if that's true. Those actors were not to blame for that Guys and Dolls. That was they they did a really nice work.

[35:50] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah, no, of course, but there's a Detroit who's bigger than Big Julie, because you know that really helps the joke. What are you looking forward to this season on Broadway?

[36:03] Robert Bannon: Limpica.

[36:05] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah.

[36:05] Robert Bannon: Limpica. I saw a reading of it years ago, and I was like, this it's a what I saw seven years ago was phenomenal and incredible. So I'm really looking forward to that. How about you? What are you looking forward to?

[36:15] Rob W. Schneider: Olympica.

[36:18] Robert Bannon: Yeah. You know, Matt Gold is like a brother to me, and it is his time, and it is his time to write the score and have this music out. And Woman Is has been living in this world for a decade. Please tell him, because I don't I don't know him, but please tell him when I saw it at NAMP'd. I was I literally were you there too?

[36:37] Rob W. Schneider: Yes.

[36:38] Robert Bannon: I I was el I literally elevated in the air. I was like, what is this? Like, what is this amazing show? What is this amazing score? Um, so please tell him congratulations, because it literally has stuck with me ever since I saw that reading seven years, eight years ago. I um I saw it there. I've seen their workshops and I M Matt is the reason I do this, is because you know, I've yeah. Matt is the reason I do anything. I didn't sing or act or do anything for 16 years, and then I saw Invisible Thread, which was then you know, witness Uganda at and I I sent him a message and I just was like, I love your music, it moves me, and I want to sing again. And he was like, Come to my house, let's make a show. And I started Unfinished Business, which was my album and my first cabaret because of him. And um, and we've just been you know thickest thieves for the past 16 years, and I've you know saw it in I've go see Limpika, it's brilliant.

[37:34] Robert Bannon: Yeah, please tell him I've never met him. Please tell him I'm a huge fan of his and I would love to.

[37:38] Rob W. Schneider: Oh Rob, welcome to the golden corral with us.

[37:41] Robert Bannon: Oh fantastic. I would I would love that, but seriously, folks, go see Limpika. It's it's it's exactly what you want out of a new musical. So congrats to him. This season is crazy. It's a big monster of Broadway shows, of a lot of shows. Cabaret. I'm also curious about this cabaret because Robbie Rosell saw it and said it was like the most brilliant thing he's ever seen. So I'm very excited. What about is there anything else you're excited for?

[38:08] Rob W. Schneider: Um cabaret fascinates me as well. I think it's very interesting. I'm trying to I'm gonna think. You know, I don't I have a I say I get in trouble on here, Rob, because I give my opinion too much, which I guess is the point.

[38:21] Robert Bannon: But like an opinion.

[38:23] Rob W. Schneider: No, we can, but we have some of the casts of of um I'm a little tired. I talk a little roughly, and you have a whole a whole podcast about like I'm a I don't want to see every movie turned into a musical, Rob.

[38:34] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[38:34] Rob W. Schneider: Yes, yeah, because I I agree wholeheartedly, and I think that's something we talk about like on Broadway Bound, which is like just because it's a movie, or just because there's music in the movie, doesn't necessarily mean that it's supposed to sing. You know, like Minsky's um or Mambo Kings. Like, I don't necessarily know if you know, is this a musical?

[38:56] Robert Bannon: Yeah.

[38:57] Rob W. Schneider: I now I love the book Water for Elephants a lot. I love I love the movie The Notebook. I will cry with you, Rob and eat popcorn and they will die together, spoiler alert, and all of that. I don't know if they're meant to be we're gonna find out. We're gonna you know what? Listen, if if it's if to me, I'm like, if you can find something by adding music that the movie didn't do, live your life. Like I think Lakage is a great example of that. Hairspray, I think is a great example of that. Um I just I get nervous because I'm like, what is it about this that needs to be a musical? How is this helping the story? And I think that's that's the thing. And I'd love to be surprised. I really do love to be surprised.

[39:38] Robert Bannon: Yeah. Well, I'm going to see the notebook in a week, and we have some of the cast on. So with that, I'm sure they're amazing and I'm sure it's great. I wasn't being shady to that show. I just I get nervous. Actually, I'll be honest with you. That one to me, the notebook is one where I'm like, oh, that makes total sense. Like to me, I'm like, that story feels so musical already that I'm like, I'll I will buy that. I will buy that.

[40:01] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah. Others, there are some that are coming out, and I'm like, huh? Okay. You will go there? Great. We're gonna go there, and we're gonna Rob, you're welcome to come here anytime you have something to say. You want to contribute something or give your opinion, or sometimes we do um, like me and my cousin Adrian, who's just a housewife in Ramsey, New Jersey, we recap award shows or we do predictions. So you're more than welcome to come tell me who you think's gonna win the Tony, who who who what and go over the presenters and be shady and have fun. You we do these shows all the time. Please have an open invitation to come on here and thank you.

[40:39] Rob W. Schneider: And please come on any one of my shows anytime you want. And let's get you to sing something at 54. Seriously.

[40:45] Robert Bannon: I I my whole life, my dream is just to be cool enough to be a featured act at 54 Below, like as a little per little box in the whole group of fancy people.

[40:53] Rob W. Schneider: Oh my, we can make that happen. Why did you wait so long?

[40:58] Robert Bannon: And we'll be my guest. You should come to see my show June 14th. If you're in town, uh be a guest, come see my big pride playlist where I sing Diva songs from top to bottom, and we oh kick off Pride at 54 Below. Well, we're a little late this year, but last year we kicked off Pride. And if you ever want to see me, you know, sing Donna Summer and Whitney Houston and Celine Dion, directed by Robbie Rosell, then you have to go.

[41:27] Rob W. Schneider: I love that man. He makes me laugh so hard. So hard. He's one of the I always wanted to do a show with Robbie where we put like a bunch of names in a hat, and he gets on stage and he just pulls a name out randomly and just tells you a story or an anecdote about that person.

[41:41] Robert Bannon: Well, can I tell what I do I busted on him earlier? That's a brilliant idea because he's the best storyteller.

[41:46] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah, I um I put out uh uh during COVID. I recorded an album virtually like I told you before, it's called Unfinished Business. Did not know Robbie at all, zero percent. And the album came out, and Robbie posted it on Instagram and was like, listen to this new album. So I said to him, Thank you so much. How and he's like, Oh, I keep I look up for new albums and I look up cabaret acts and people who sing, and I saw you did your show at 54 Below, and I listened to your album. When are you gonna do a show again? And I said, I'm gonna go back to 54 below and do a show. He showed up, and after the show was over, he said to me, You're funnier than your show, and you're a better singer than your show, and I want to help you.

I never had never had met him. And he I went over the house, Len cooked, Robbie says he Robbie says he cooks, but he doesn't. It was Len that cooked, and and and uh and we built this you know little thing together and our rapport and our banter, and he's he has become like I can't do a uh project without him. He's brilliant. He's really wonderful, and the thing I really love about him more than anything is what you just said, which is that he searches out new talent and advocates for them, and he does not have to.

[42:48] Robert Bannon: No, that man doesn't, you know. I mean, he does the fact that he writes a message or goes to see the show, it's just going above and beyond, and I just wish there were more people like that in the business because it's it's very rare.

[42:58] Rob W. Schneider: Yeah, but you're like that. I I know I know that you're like that. I can see we we all see you all know that. Uh Rob W. Schneider on Instagram, rob Rob W Schneider.com, and then just click right below us. He's probably trending. His shows are probably trending.

[43:12] Robert Bannon: Well, we're like, you know, on the ranking of the Broadway podcast network. We he's he's trending with all of the highbrow upper echelon of the theater community. I'm interviewing Melba Moore about how to make a sweet potato pie, and Rob is which there's no shade in that, but Rob. I'm gonna tell you a story. You know how many times I tried to get Melba Moore to be on behind the curtain, and she said no.

[43:39] Rob W. Schneider: Why?

[43:40] Robert Bannon: I don't know. So don't tell me I get people you don't get. She won't even tell me how to bake a pie.

[43:49] Rob W. Schneider: Well, I'm gonna get you. If you ever want to do it, if you ever do a show about Melba Moore, I'm gonna personally get Melba Moore. I I see her at the Acme in Edgewater, New Jersey. She's she shops, and then I told her on the interview, which we aired yesterday. Very, I said, you're very fancy. I said, because you're there all covered up in your Uggs and your hood, but you have a car service pick you up. And she said, Don't tell people because I don't like people to touch me.

[44:19] Robert Bannon: As I'm selecting my roast beef from the lunch meat counter. I don't like to be distracted. See, there you go, Rob. I got love. Right. Thanks. We're this is trouble. Your trouble in the best way.

[44:35] Rob W. Schneider: No. She's great. And um, we are gonna be watching and listening. Thank you so much for being here.

[44:40] Robert Bannon: Thank you, Robert. And please come to 54 anytime you want.

[44:43] Rob W. Schneider: I'm gonna be there.

[44:45] Robert Bannon: Great.

[44:46] Rob W. Schneider: Great. Thank you.

[44:47] Robert Bannon: Thanks for the thanks, everybody.