Happy Sad Confused - Josh Gad & Andrew Rannells

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

12 years ago Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells ended a phenomenal run on Broadway in THE BOOK OF MORMON. It's taken them a while to reteam but they're back with GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! In this hilarious live taping of Happy Sad Confused Josh and Andrew talk about their many fun backstage and on stage stories making audiences laugh.  Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes of GAME NIGHT, video versions of the podcast, and more! To watch episodes of Happy Sad Confused, subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Josh's youtube channel here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!⁠ BetterHelp -- This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/HSC today to get 10% off your first month Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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And I'm like, oh, God. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Hi, guys. I'm Josh Horowitz, and welcome to a live edition of Happy, Sad, Confused at the 92nd Street Y with Josh Gad and Andrew Rannels. Thank you all so much for coming out tonight. Tonight, one of these guys has enough charisma

for an event at 92nd Street wide, but two of them, you guys are just in for a treat tonight. Look, I know it's insane out there in the world tonight, but we're gonna have fun tonight, we're gonna escape, Gudenberg the Musical is an escape on Broadway, you all should check out, it is about to open, I have seen it, it is remarkable. That's an escape, tonight's gonna be an escape for us.

We're gonna have a lot of fun. I don't know what to say about these guests other than they are two of the most talented gentlemen. I know they of course teamed up on a little show called the Book of Mormon over a decade ago. And when I say you're in for a night of hilarity at Goodenberg the Musical, I truly mean it. Get your tickets now before they sell out.

But in the meantime, let's have some fun tonight and enjoy a conversation with Josh Gadden, Andrew Reynolds, everybody. Here we go. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.

Whoa. Oh. Oh. Whoa. Oh. Hi. That's so ancient. Look at that.

Lovely. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being a friend. He's very warm. We didn't license that, Josh. You already have us in this right. And now I'm happy, sad, and confused. There you go.

Happy, sad, confused. We're all very confused, but we're happy that you're here tonight. I was sitting out here going, how are they, how am I hearing myself? So I forgot about this. You're always mind, right? I forgot that they placed this on me. These guys have a very busy Broadway schedule. This is your day off.

What is wrong with you? Why are you here? You should be in bed. You should sleep. We've been asking ourselves, oh, I mean, no. No. We know, we're excited to be here. Yeah, what he said. We're very excited.

This is my first time I've never gotten to do one of these at the 92nd Street. I'm very excited. Same. I went to Marymount Manhattan College just down the street. Thank you, one person. Full disclosure, I did not graduate. But I would come and see things here

when I was in school, so I'm very excited to actually get to be a part of one. Josh, how are you, first of all? Because you gave us all scared the other day. Don't be scared. I'm good. I'm good. So what happened was I had some lower abdominal pain. I had like sweats.

And so my doctors out of an abundance of caution were like, that's not a normal thing to experience. Go to the hospital. So I went to the hospital and I was able to be treated with antibiotics. And I'm fine. And I went back on Broadway on Saturday night, did a show. That's a show. And I feel great.

I feel great. Thank you for asking. Meanwhile, this guy, if he gets like a slight little twinge, you are out for the week, right? Yeah. A bad would, yeah, I call out all the time. It's a miracle if you actually see Andrew in the show. It does like one out of seven.

This is actually my understudy here right now. I'm not even here. So we're going to talk a lot about Gutenberg, a lot about your relationship over the years, because you've worked together a fair amount. Uh-huh. Have you two ever had a real argument? Have you ever been actually pissed off at each other?

We got pissed at each other once. Do you remember? I do, but I don't think we should tell that story. I want to tell that story. I don't know. Two out of three think you should. You should tell us. Andrew.

Try to steal my wife from me. Oh, that story I'm fine with. I did have an affair with his wife, Lynn. We've had a TIF once, but it was, it's, it's, it's. I explain it like if anyone has a sibling. Correct. Josh and I sort of tend to fight like siblings. That is actually.

So we... Punch each other. We do. We're two men in our 40s who smack each other and like, each other and like he burps in my face and I shove him and it's really like and no so if any if there's ever any like words that are said it happens and then it goes that's accurate that is accurate and it really does we fight like we're brothers Andrew and I truly love each other I think more slow down well a little imbalance in

the relationship perhaps more than let me finish more than more than most enemies love each other. You want that frissonce of, yes. You want a little bit of, I know, that's, yes. Can you tell when the other is annoyed? They must have tells by now. Can you tell like, oh, this is, this is underneath my friends. You're really trying to build, like, uh, uh,

I was saying that Andrew backstage. I want to end this friendship tonight. I can tell when Andrew's annoyed. Like right now, he's annoyed. This is my annoyed face. No, yeah, I, you have a tell. I think, you know what I feel like it comes in handy with us is because especially in a situation like with Gutenberg where it's just the two of us on stage. I mean, we have a fantastic band, by the way, three people band on stage with us. But it's really just, yes. Oh, they're not here. You don't have to applaud. They might be here. But it's, you know, it's the, it's the two of us sort of, you know, doing the show that when we're in rehearsals, I feel like we have a good sort of telepathy of like when someone needs a break, when someone needs space, when. So, like, so like, like, we're in rehearsals. I feel like we have a good sort of telepathy of like when someone needs a break, when someone needs space, when. So, like, so like, so like, so like, so like, so like if Josh senses that like Andrew's getting tired or Andrew's getting cranky, he sort of like can step in and like on my behalf, which is really great.

That is 100% true. We always, we always are. It's usually hungry. Well, yes. I'm like, I need a snack. Yeah. Which is why the two of us are sharing one small water today. No, you have one. Oh, great. Okay. Yeah, you've got one. I was like, one of us is going to have to get that. Sip, sip. At least you're on antibiotics, so. There we go. We are careening towards opening night, just hours away for Goodeburg the musical.

Thursday. Do you prefer opening nights or closing nights? My body prefers closing nights. I'm excited about our opening. I think it's going to be really special. This show, you know, it took me ten. years to get back to do a Broadway show and I had two prerequisites. I wanted to do a I wanted to do something that felt like it was, there's nothing as funny as Book of Mormon,

but something that felt like it was a worthy successor to Mormon. And I wanted to do something with Rannels. And to be here and have both of those criteria met is really exciting. And it's been 12 years since my last Broadway opening, which is crazy. And so I'm really looking forward to Thursday and it's been quite a road to get here. Yeah. I think we have talked about, you know, together that the Book of Mormon was such sort of a whirlwind of activity and we were, neither one of us had ever opened a show on Broadway and to open that particular show was very overwhelming and I feel like I, you know, for myself, that just all of the activities surrounding that, I didn't really have my feet underneath me at all

when that show opened because it was just a lot of pressure and it was very exciting, but it was also kind of scary. And I was very nervous, and I think we were both running on fumes and anxiety by that opening night. I was on so much prednisone to sing through that show. It was like, and this... Do you feel like you enjoyed it? Were you able to, like...

No, yes, we did enjoy it. Wait, no, or yes? No, definitely enjoyed it, but I feel like I sometimes was not fully present. I agree. I agree. Andrew was not fully present. It's like a sharp size.

There's nothing behind it. Yeah. This time I feel like we know we're doing. No, it was wild. I had a three month old. Yes. I was, I had literally turned 30 the day before we opened. It was a very, oh, you okay back there?

I was, it was a world win. And, you know, we, none of us knew at the time that the show we were doing was going to run for more than three months. Like, I think we were all sort of expecting, I don't know what we were expecting. We sort of just were like, this is a very different show than anyone has seen before. And it really may not work. Yeah. And so it was quite a surprise to see just every day this, like, group of people build. I remember, like, the first day, there were, like, 10 kids waiting for lottery tickets.

And by the end of the first week, there were, like, 400 people standing outside the theater waiting for lottery tickets. And you just could tell that something was in the air. And Tom Hanks came to, like, one of our previews. And we were like, okay, this is, this is not Mamma Mia. No, I was going to say it became one of those shows where everybody had to see us. And I'm sure having each other at relatively similar. points in your career, you'd experience some success, but nothing at that level, and you could

lead on each other at the time and be like, this is fucking crazy, isn't it? Yeah, and then we got to look at each other and be like, what is happening? Like one of my, it's a very vivid memory, because we had very small dressing rooms at the Eugene O'Neill. It's a very old theater, and the dressing rooms are very small, and our rooms were next to each other. And sometimes, you know, if they were like a real big celebrity, they wouldn't wait on the stage, they would just come up to our dressing room. which was very jarring. And one day, after the show,

there's a knock on my door, and I am changing out of my, like, Mormon underwear, and I opened the door, and it's Goldie Hawn, Joel Schumacher, and Kevin Spacey. They're not together. They are with different groups of people. And then Josh came in my room, and the five of us were standing in this very small room,

and I just remember looking at you and being like, like, what the mom? That was the night you died. You died that night. It was pretty surreal. It was pretty surreal. It was pretty surreal. There was, do you remember when Natalie Portman was, she came backstage, she was pregnant.

And like, it was a very wild, it was a wild ride. It was really special. How in grand is that showing you right now? If I forked over a million dollars, could you perform Book of Mormon tonight? If you forked over a million dollars, you would lose a million dollars. Because I've had nightmares about this where, like, we had to go back on and I knew nothing. There's whole sections of the show that I don't remember. No.

Yeah. I mean, I remember us two years ago, almost. We did this concert at Carnegie Hall for Bobby Lopez and Kristen Lopez. And we sang a couple songs from the Book of Mormon. And we were talking about it. And there were whole scenes that we forgot that we did. We were like, oh, yeah, that part. I mean, I forgot the lyrics, I think, that night in the song.

I mean, we did, we did, you and me, but mostly me, yeah, yeah. I did baptize me with Nikki M. James, and you did, I believe, and it was, uh, it was surreal. But it was also, like, putting on kind of an old hat, like, it was familiar, and I think, like, with a week, like, it would come back, but definitely would need, uh... 10 days. Goodbye, summer movies, hello fall. I'm Anthony Devaney. And I'm his twin brother, James. We host Raiders of the Lost Podcast, the Ultimate Movie Podcast,

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Because we're having fun here on Adam does movies. Each and every week, I hit the big blockbusters, I cover the streamers, and I even toss in some movie news for fun. Check out the show on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, on YouTube. And hopefully, we can do movies together, hot. So it's been 12 years since your runs ended on Book of Mormon. In those years, Andrew, you've done Hedwig, Hamilton, falsettos, boys in the band. A lot of Broadway time.

As alluded to... And I saw a lot of theater. You attended. Are you going to list all the shows I watched during that time? I can guarantee you the list is longer. Okay. It's fair. Fair.

It's true. So was it just, look, you've been very busy the last dozen years, just not with Broadway. Were you, were there temptations over the years? Have you guys talked about other shows? Yeah, we definitely talked. There were always temptations. I, you know, I live in LA, my, I have a wife and two girls. They go to school out there, and it's very hard.

The idea of relocating was never something that was in the cards. And so the decision to come back to Broadway for me was always, how do I do it without disrupting my family's lives? And a lot of the shows I was looking at, like I had explored, funny thing happened on the way to the forum, you know, they wanted me to do for close to a year and I, sadly, I couldn't do it. And we had talked about stuff, but nothing ever felt quite right. And then Alex Timbers, our brilliant director, called me up one day and he and I were looking

that funny thing happened on the way to the form to do together and he goes look well we're sort of putting a pin in form what have you ever heard of Gutenberg the musical and I said no I've never heard of that he goes well I'd love to send you the script and I'd love to sing you the music and take a listen to what you think so I read the script I listened to it and I go you know I have some thoughts this is really funny I would only ever consider doing this with Andrew Rannels. And he goes, well, funny you should mention that because I also sent it to Andrew. And son of a bitch played us right into his hands. And Andrew and I were pretty aligned with like we saw the potential of what it could be on Broadway. I guess I'm always

skeptical of anything called the musical. Something, something the musical scares me. Like it feels spooky. And so I was like, well, what, you know, what is this? And I said, let's do a reading of it. Let's do it. So Andrew was kind enough to fly to LA with Alex and our brilliant writer, Scott and Anthony. And we did a reading. And we all looked at each other at the end of it. And we said, this feels right. And that was March of 2020. And they went and I go, have you guys heard about this virus that's going around? And they were like, it's not going to be a big deal. And two days later, the world shut down and out of sight, out of mind. And then about, It was like a little over a year ago, I guess.

About a year ago, Alex called us up, and he said, look, I still am committed to this, if you guys are. And we were both sort of like, the idea of it sounds promising, but it's been a while. Let's get in a room and do it again. We got in a room. We did it, and it felt great. And it felt great because I didn't have to wear hats and do choreography. Once that part came into it, it no longer feels great. Not metaphorical hats, by the way.

No, literal, we, Andrew and I wear 120 hats in this show. And Andrew claims I knew this. I don't remember knowing that this was part of it. I don't know how you didn't know this. I don't read state's directions. I don't know how you didn't know this. To be clear, the whole concept is based on these hats. The hats convey, we should educate the audience on what this is about a little bit.

about a little bit, so this is not necessarily the most factually accurate telling of the inventor of the printing press. No, it's the least factually accurate telling of the printing press you'll ever see. So how would you describe to the unaware what they're walking into? Hamilton without any information. Yeah, Lynn did a lot of research. Scott and Anthony did not. This was, so it's two guys, Bud and Doug, who have, are big lovers of musical theater,

but are sort of new fans of musical theater. So they're just sort of discovering the joys of musical theater for the first time, and they decide they wanna take a crack at it. They try a couple different shows, which we talk about in the course of Gutenberg, but the one that they really land on is this idea, we're gonna do like a biopic musical

about Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press. There's not a lot of information about Johann Gutenberg, so then they just start making things out. And they create a whole crazy narrative about his life. And they add in other characters and love interests. And they're very passionate about writing this show and telling this story. And what we're trying to do, what Bud and Doug are trying to do, is do like a backer's audition to get funding to take the show to Broadway.

So we've taken all of our resources, we've rented a Broadway theater for one night, and we are presenting it to the audience. audience, but it's just us. It's just the two of us playing all these parts and sort of, in their minds, like a lay-mise style show with like a huge ensemble and like, but it's just two guys. And there's a turn, there's a turntable. Except they couldn't afford an actual turntable, so they just walk around the line. And it's, it's, uh, at the end of the day, what's so, what was so appealing to us was, it's one of the funniest things. Yeah.

either of us had ever read. But where it really sort of has this magical quality to it is, it has such heart. So by the end of the show, and you know, we've done it for three plus weeks now, audiences start tearing up. It's a pretty magical thing where you can do something that, and Book of Mormon was kind of that way, where you can do something that feels really funny

and the audience never stops laughing. but it's at the end of it you just you feel for these guys and thematically the show is about dreams and when you see that we literally invite the audience to dream with us without giving away how there's there's a really beautiful ending to the show and and it's really nice to see that it lifts everybody's spirits especially at a time in which it seems like there's a lot of cynicism out there And the show is all about pure optimism and joy. Is it joyful to go through it? It's a physically taxing show.

I mean, we've already alluded to this. It's just the two of you. You're running around. You're singing, you're dancing. You're donning many literal hats. So can you, like, in the moment, are you enjoying it? In the moment, I go, oh, no wonder it took me 12 years to come back to Broadway.

When I'm done with the moment, I always say the end justifies the means, because by the end seeing the audience, but it's a grueling show. We're sweaty. What is my favorite part is... Watching the other. Like, doing it, there was... We had a tough audience this week one night.

It was, there was a, there were a smiling audience. Not a laughing audience. It was a room full of smilers. Sure. It was the way you would watch terms of endearment. And so they were, yeah. Yeah. So Andrew, I was miserable on stage because he handles it better than I do. But I'm like, I'm a needy little pig. I'm like, laugh at me or I don't want to perform for you.

And Andrew dig that one. Andrews always is the glass is half full of the two of us. And at one point, he digs his nails into my back. And it was the physical representation of my anger with this audience. And I was like, that's right. he and I are in the same boat. And as long as we have each other. We're here together. We're gonna be okay.

Yeah. And we also challenge each other to like, well, I try my best to sort of surprise him. Oh yeah, we always surprise each other. But the funniest is we'll always have this ritual before we go on stage, which I won't reveal because it's our little thing. But it involves seance and calling dead people.

Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah. So. It's gonna be watch. wild articles. Satanic. Oh, the Gutenberg. Just a normal blood dance, right?

Yeah. But... Rannels looks at me, before we go out and he goes, whatever you do, don't be angry with them. He knew. Don't hate the audience. See the angry in the audience. I should have stayed in the fucking hospital bed.

While we're talking about negative audience experiences, I always like to hear a horrible audience experience. over the years in your annals on stage. What's been the worst? The one I always think about. What do you got? Michael Shannon and Paul Rudd were in a play. Don't get nauseous, guys.

There was somebody that threw up off the balcony. That's the worst theater story I've ever heard. So I've thrown the gaunt and went down. What do you got? Well, it's not about us, but I was so early on in the process, of the show, I would throw actual jelly beans into the audience. And one day, and one day, I had the entire creative team come up to me and be like, you can no longer throw jelly beans into the audience.

And of course, that meant I was going to throw more jelly beans into the audience. And I did it the next day. And they go, you don't understand. The Schubert's are saying, you cannot throw jelly beans. And I'm like, there's like actual Schubert's, I thought that was just a name. And they're like, well, the people, the theater people, don't want you to throw this. So I go, all right. And I was like, well, I need a reason.

And I go, okay, well, the reason is vermin. And I go, oh, well, that makes sense. And the prop guy pulls me aside and he goes, so last year. Joshua. Apparently there was an incident. where Audra McBanel was on stage, and a rat fell onto her in the middle of a show. We could no longer have that problem at our theater,

by the way. You should all come see the show. It's been eradicated because I stopped throwing jelly beans, but. There's no jelly beans, there's no rats. But that was the most horrifying story of ever. And I don't know if it's apocryphal. Like, he said that to me because he knew I was very sad

to lose real jelly beans. Could be. Could be. We had some weird, well, the one that pops out, it's not from the book Mormon, but when I was in Jersey Boys, which was, you know, sometimes it got a little raucous, and it was like, it could get, it could turn into be a little bit of like a sing-along. So there was like, at one point in the show, they do, you know, we would sing Sherry, big girls don't cry and walk like a man. And it was the, they called the Big Three. It was like their first big three number one hits. So we sang them all in a row. And apparently someone was really going to town. It was really singing along.

So this couple behind this man was like, please be quiet, please be quiet. And it escalated to the point where a fist fight broke out in the theater, which didn't seem very Broadway to me. It seemed very aggressive. So we had to stop the show because there was a full fist fight

and the police had to come. It Jersey boys. I was like, settle down. Andrew's got another story about Jersey Boys that makes me laugh so hard when literally a part of the set fell onto the audience. No, well, Josh likes this story because I really showed my true colors. I was on tour with it, and there was a chain link fence, like a huge, it was like up to the proscenium.

And we were on tour, and the fence at one point at the beginning of the second act, we're all singing some four season song and I'm playing my fake keyboard and so my back is to this fence and all the other boys who have like guitars and stuff are like oh no

and they turn around and they all sort of put their hands up like they're going to catch something and I turn around and see that the fence is falling and I just walked off the stage because I was like well I'm not going to try to catch this

So unfortunately, I, you know, was the only gay four season, and I would also like, no, no. I will not be helping with that. But you boys can fix it. Just to be crystal clear, the Gutenberg sets are locked down. Oh, lockdown. No rats. Nothing's falling.

No. No, we've had a very solid set. Safest place you can be. Yes. Okay. So, again, as mentioned, you play a lot of roles, done a lot of very unique voices in the course of the show.

They're little girls. There are drunks, et cetera. What makes the other laugh? What's the voice character when you stare at them? You're like, this is going to be tough? Josh, I mean, it's just Josh's voice. But he does something sometimes to be very deliberately on stage that he knows that makes me laugh.

And we've specifically gotten a note from our very kind, very patient director, Alex Timbers. please do not laugh at this one moment and he still does it to me and it really takes all of my I have to think about like all of like every dead relative I have focus focus focus it's literally just it's so stupid and it's not going to make you laugh but it's just he knows it makes me laugh and he does it Andrew and I both play this character named Helvetica named after the font and we it's so wildly different

the way both of us approach this ridiculous character neither of which is correct by the way and I sort of play her kind of like sweet and as an airhead and Andrew plays her with this like deep kind

of husk and she Struggles to speak words. And every time I'm on stage with him and he's doing this single stupidest thing

I've ever seen in my life, and it kills me. But pretty much the entire show we are at risk of laughing. It's bad. So not only when you guys see Gutenberg the musical do you get Josh and Andrew, there are some

guest stars that sometimes pop in to the show. You've posted some of these on your social, so I feel like we can show. Yeah, sure. So let's show a couple photos. Yeah, let's take a look. There's the wonderful Jonathan Groff. Yeah.

Yeah. Sort of looking like Jeffrey Dahmer in that photo, but he really does. It's an odd choice. Okay, let's hear the next one. Oh, Cynthia Reevo. Lovely. And noted actors.

Noted actor and sometime director, the third one is... Oh, JJ Abrams. Yes. Our producer. That's a good producer to have at your back. Yes. No, it's... We definitely have a type.

We go out. It makes the show really fun for us because it's sort of like, the thing about theater is you're doing the same thing every single night with small variations, but usually it feels similar. similar and so throwing something unexpected like a new energy is always like a fun way to keep us Sort of like oh well what's tonight gonna be yeah, yeah, yeah who decides on the playlist that's of the music that plays before the show because now it's timbers Oh, okay. Yeah, it's Billy Joel. It's all Billy Joel because you know, we're our it doesn't by the way this makes no sense to me because Tell them okay so it's we play all

All Billy Joel music, we played two guys from New Jersey. And when I said to Alex, I was like, he was like, you know, you're playing Billy Joel, you're from New Jersey. I said, well, Billy Joel is from Long Island. I was like, shouldn't we be doing Springsteen? He was like, no. And that was, and look, I love Billy Joel, it's great, I also love Springsteen. But by the way, it tracks with every other thing in the show.

It's so strange. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just. But it is all Billy Joel. Yeah, it's all Billy Joel. Did you have a favorite? I was a big, I mean, as a teenager, Billy Joel, I was obsessed, so it brought me a way back. I was so excited.

I took my girls 9 and 12 to their first concert this year, and I was so excited to share it with them. And it was, it was Billy Joel in L.A. And I couldn't wait. I, like, played all the music that was like, and then he's going to sing this, and he's going to sing, we didn't start the fire, he's going to sing Piano Man. within 10 minutes of getting there, they both were fast asleep. What? And they only woke up for piano men.

And they go, oh, he's singing it. Okay, we know this one. And I have never been so pissed off. I'm going to have to speak to your daughter. I was so angry. But then I apologize that I took him to Taylor Swift, and that made up for me dragging them. to Billy Joel, but for the youths out there,

they're choosing, if they had to choose between a Taylor Swift concert and Gutenberg, the musical, what would you say to them? How do you make that choice? Well, there's less costume changes. But tickets are cheaper. There you go. There you go.

If you're torn. Tickets are cheaper is probably the only good argument from that. I hear they drop racks on audiences at Taylor Swift. That's, yeah, yeah. We can't compete with that. Okay, so we were talking about these two gentlemen you play, are dreamers, so much is riding

on this showcase that they're doing. I'm curious, like, in your own life and career. This water's unmarked, it's just unmarked water. We're not selling a brand here. We're not going to. They took a label off, don't be worried. Well, I want to drink it, but I feel like somebody just like. No, no, no.

This came from my faucet at home. This is Josh Harrowitz water. Yeah. What's the, what's the, Do you, I still got Andrew, we're fine. Was there a performance on stage, an audition where it felt like everything was riding on your career, similar to the characters you play in this? What springs to mind? I have one.

Yeah, so I was about two and a half years out of college, I went to Carnegie Mellon. I was about to give up on acting. I was done because I had been rejected so many times and I was just like, I can't do this anymore. And I had met my then-girlfriend, now wife. And so I thought it would be the responsible thing to do to go to law school and to, you know, make a living. And I called my mom who's here.

Mom, you in here? Yeah, she's right there. She's right. Oh, there she is. The mom's right there. So I called Susan Gadtsch-chwarts up and I said, Mom, you're gonna be very happy because both of my brothers went to law school. I said, I'm gonna apply to law school.

And she started getting sad and angry with me. And I was like, what? I was not expecting this response. And she goes, I'm disappointed in you. And I said, why? She goes, because you've spent 15 years dreaming about becoming an actor and only three years trying to live out that dream.

And I think that that's a cop out. And I was like, Oh, shit, all right. Fierce. So I was up for this audition for a show called the 25th Putnam Annual County Spelling Bee. And a buddy of mine had said, you know, there's only one guy who could replace this guy who just wanted Tony for this, and that's you. And I didn't get into musical theater at my school. I was in the acting program.

and when Josh Grobin left my class to go become Josh Groban, the two people competing for his spot were me and my college classmate, Rory O'Malley, who we did Book of Morning. And thank you. And also fuck you, because Rory got that position. So Rory got the spot.

I didn't, and so I didn't do musical theater, and I auditioned for Spelling Bee, and I felt like I had everything writing on it and I went in there and I gave, you know, I think I pretty good audition and I booked the job and that was all because of my mom. Wow. Wow. Can you make us cry too, Andrew?

You can use my mom in your example too. To Josh's mom inspired. I was applying to law school. I'm applying to law school, called Susan Gadsworths. You don't do, it's okay. You know, I, auditioning for musicals in New York, especially like when you don't have an agent and you're like just starting out.

It's like you go to so many auditions and you're going to several a day and you're going to open calls and like, and even when I got lucky enough to like, like get an agent and like even when I had you know had done you know a couple Broadway shows like you're still like hustling all the time to try to get that next so I feel like I kind of got into like the I remember when it happened I like I went to this audition for this musical that I didn't end up getting but I

had this like moment of clarity in the waiting room that I was like oh I can only do what I do and I'm not gonna compete with any of these people and try to sing like that guy or act like this guy. Like I'm just going to go and do my thing and if they respond to it, then I'll get the job. And if they don't, like that's all I can do. I can't read their mind. I'm just going to do my version of it. And I went in and I think I was like, you know, sounded fine and was funny and did all that stuff.

But I didn't get the job. I'll tell you about this later. Didn't get the job, but it was, I left, it was the first audition. that I ever left and I felt like, oh, I don't feel gross about this. I feel like I did everything I was supposed to do, and if I get it, that's great, and if I don't, that's okay. It's not my job. And it just changed the whole way I auditioned for stuff, and it was not long after that that I auditioned for the Book of Mormon, and it very much felt the same way that when I got

to L.A. for my final callback to read with Josh, I was like, I can't compete with these other guys that are here. I'm just going to like do my thing and if they respond to it, there we go. And if they don't, I got a free trip to West Hollywood for 24 hours. During the Volvo Fall Experience event, discover exceptional offers and thoughtful design that leaves plenty of room for autumn adventures. And see for yourself how Volvo's Safety brings peace of mind to every crisp morning commute. This September, lease a 2026 XE90 plug-in hybrid from $599 bi-weekly at 3.99% during the Volvo Fall Experience event. Conditions supply, visit your local Volvo retailer or go to explorevolvo.com.

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So speaking about like cussing for the next gig, especially early on in your careers, you both have foolishly posted over the years your first headshots. Let's take a look. Yep, let's see. Let's see what we got. Let's see what we got. There I am. That's me. That is a silk shirt.

Can you recreate that pose for us? Sure. Is that it? I was on a stool. Yeah. Yeah, that's me. That's sweet Josh. That was so I could do a production of,

on Golden Pond at a dinner theater in Omaha, Bradst. I needed a headshot, and that was my head shot. I would have cast you. Thank you. Let's move on to the heart draw. Oh! Who's that, Smizer?

Look at you. I don't know why you. the photographer thought that the bench should get more attention it is it is bench heavy I would say very it's very bench forward yeah what is that out of college is that in college that is that is right post college got it I think I took that picture on an horizontal headshots were all the rage I took that picture on an empty bench in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania really sure and and the person was a bench photographer Well, you could put all your friends in a post.

Just line them up. The opportunities are endless. I think it was what we were trying to get across. Yeah, this was my Mark Ruffalo phase. Oh, yeah. That's a good one. Leather jacket, turtleneck. It's haunting.

Bench. Haunting. Lots of, um. I was also auditioning for community theater production of on Golden Pond. Yeah, you're really, you're, it's, it's, you're saying a lot. And yet so little. You have that posted in your dressing room for inspiration at the show? I feel like you should have a copy of that.

We can take it all. We're embarrassed you guys enough. We really, you know, we made a choice for Gutenberg that we were not going to use headshots in our playbill. Oh, right. Because they, you know, asked for the playbill to do headshots and Josh and I talked about it and I was like, I don't, I don't, I'm I don't, I don't know. Oh, God, this is, they told us not to get scared. Everything is fine.

We're okay. Everything is fine. But anyway, we ended up using... Thank you for more of whatever this is. We ended up using childhood photos rather than headshots. There you go. This show's about dreamers, you guys. Um, I'll leave you my urine sample after...

Is this it? This is when it starts? In a moment. We're almost there. We're almost there. All right. I got nervous. Did you have a bad experience with the audience questions?

Yes, always. No. This is going to be great because this is a smart crowd. Yeah, it's a smart guy. It's a smart, sexy crowd. A few more of my stupid questions before we get to them. Who among you is more likely to forget a line in the show? I don't know about that.

I feel like... I do it once a night. Josh, my favorite. I pay. paraphrase everything. I do a lot of paraphrase. I forget. I freeze like a deer in headlights. I forget and I cannot recover. There's a horrific incident that happened in Book of Mormon, where I... An incident. Literally, there was somebody who was a celebrity in one of the first three rows, and they were so obnoxious, and I was so pissed. I get very angry at audience. sometimes and and I was thinking about I was preoccupied thinking about that and I somehow came back into my body and forgot where I was in the show and I could not

only did I forget my line I forgot the human languages and I had ringing in my ears so it was like tinnitus where I was like and people were screaming the line at me and I could not hear it. And that was one of the only times we did not get a standing ovation for the Book of Mormon. No, that was a rough one. Yeah. Who among you is more likely to spit in the other's face

in the course of the show? Oh, just because of it. On purpose? No, not on purpose. Yeah. But the, I don't know, we're not real spinters. We're not real expectorators. No?

OK. Yeah, we don't spit. OK. We've kind of alluded to this, but more likely to improv a line. I noticed that the show I was at. You made a reference to Beetlejuice. Oh. Marjorie Taylor.

Yeah. Yeah. Lauren Boebert. Oh, sorry. Over. Yeah. No, they're, we're both pretty. We both kind of improv a lot when we feel like it.

It's sort of like, and what's terrible about it is is the two of us will derail the show. It really takes like one of us to be responsible custodians and be like, let's get back. on task here. But we both kind of run with it. We've been good lately. We've been good lately. Yeah. We've had a good run of one show.

One in a row. Really pulled it together. More likely to suffer a wardrobe malfunction? I don't know. You. And I'll tell you why you. Why? Because I'm literally sewed to my entire fucking costume.

So they have me in man diapers in this show. So... Yes. I should have, this is an instance where I should have helped you more and I didn't know had I been at your fitting. I could have assisted. So they said they come up to me one day and they go, Josh, we notice that you're coming undone a lot. The shirt, the shirt, not mentally. And his shirt was coming on top.

And so they go, we'd like to propose that we fasten your shirt to your underwear. And I was like, is that a thing? Yeah, that's a thing. I said, all right, fasten me up. So they fastened me up. And one night, I have to make a number four. And I literally could not. There are 10 buttons.

And I'm like, oh God! I did not realize how fastened I was. Yeah. Until that night. God bless our dresser, Alex Bartlett. He was there with you. He was there. I said, I finally slammed the door open and I said,

get me out of this fucking underwear shirt. I know. It's like wearing a jumper. No woman wears a jumper with 10 buttons. I don't know. I'm sorry I asked. I'm so over. They put me in a man diaper.

I know. I know. I know. I'm sorry. Compare yourselves with these other famous duos. Who is, for instance, who's Thelma, who's Louise? Why are we both dying in this? Wait.

He just spoiled the end of the movie. I mean, I would say... I think I would be Louise. Yeah, I'm Thelma. Okay, okay. Who's... That was an easy one next. Who's Bert?

Who's Ernie? Oh. Oh, that's a good one. You're more Bert. You think? Yeah. All right. I'll take that. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm Ernie. Okay. Live action. Yeah. We'll do live action. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

No, that's not going to work. Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane. Who's who? Oh, wow. Well, that's actually a good one. That's, um, those are very big shoes. You know, physically it's, it's, it's, uh, it's easy. Physically this is an easy one, but it was funny because at one point when we were talking about doing shows,

we had jokingly said, what if we do the producers? What if we did a revival of the producers? of the producers, which we would never touch because it's the greatest thing ever and those two guys are so iconic in it. But we both struggled with it because we thought in many ways he actually would play the Bialystok role better. And I'd play the Matthew Broder girl better. And it was a really interesting thing because we're like, oh, yeah, it's, you know, physically it makes sense the other way, but what we comedically do. feels more right.

Yeah. In that sense. A couple more. Who's Schwarzenegger? Who's DeVito? You do the math. Our bodies will answer that question for you. Who's Barbie?

Who's Oppenheimer? Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Okay. Oh, wow. Well. Josh and I, can I... Yeah, please.

Okay. I saw Oppenheimer together. Is everyone seen Oppenheimer? I don't want to spoil the ending. The end is a blast. No, but. Oh! No, Josh and I were sitting there,

and we became the most needy actors ever. It's just a festival of white men, that movie. And any time a new white actor came on stage, Josh and I would go, He's in this? That's right. I forgot about that. How did he get an audition?

We really did. He's in this movie? Everyone's in this movie. Like, how many more people? What? He's in it? Hour three, we were still flabbergasted. We were like, how this is possible?

To answer your question, oh, sorry. To answer your question, I think Andrew's Barbie, I'm unfortunately up on. We can all. We can all be Oppenheimer. It's going to be your Valentine's Day card. We do have some wonderful questions from the audience.

Craig wants to know, first says, hello. I'm in the current North American tour of Book of Mormon. Oh, wait, Craig, congratulations. Craig. Understudying Elder Price. Amazing. Andrew, any advice? Oh.

Where is Craig? Greg. You raise your... Hi, Greg. Um... It's a... Hi! It's a beast of a role, right?

Yeah, I would say you've got to find those moments where other people are singing to tap out. Let that ensemble carry a... And remember to always support your cunning hand with whatever he needs. Good luck to you. Good luck to you. Break a leg, bud. Yes. What other Broadway role would you like to see one other star in,

a role that you think they'd thrive in? Yeah. I mean, I would love to see Josh do Forum. I think. I would love to see you, yeah. Andrew said something to me the other day, and I was watching The Wham documentary. And I honestly now cannot unsee it.

And I think at some point in all of our lifetimes that you need to play George. May? Definitely. Do you have a biopic in mind? Do you have someone you would want to play on the big screen or on stage? The other guy in Wham.

Yeah. This is more like a merch question. Wiley wants to know are the drunk number one and number two hats available? Oh, what did I say? Oh, Josh predicted this. They did not make those hats, but Josh said we should sell drunk number one and drunk number two.

Literally went up to them and said, you're idiots for not selling something. So I believe that is being developed as we speak. But that was Josh called it from the very start. Thank you for having my back person. Felicity wants to know what advice would you share with an actor dreaming of getting to Broadway? Hmm.

Um. Go to law school? Go to law school. Yeah, go to law school. Tell your mother you want to go to law school. No, you know, here's what I would say. A lot of people will tell you it's about luck and it's about being in the right place at the right time.

I think all of that is true. But I also think it's about you having nothing else that you want to do as passionately as that. Because it requires sacrifice. It requires, you know, the ability to deal with a lot of people telling you no. And it requires a lot of, not self-confidence, but self-reminder that eventually something will happen and you push and you push and you push and you push and you push that boulder up that hill and you believe in yourself more than anybody else will believe in you and eventually somebody

will believe in you because they'll see your own belief in yourself that's that's been my experience and you you you said that with your audition I think that that's so profound and so accurate because I had a similar moment where that was like I was so afraid and then I stopped being afraid and I started being comfortable in my own skin and that was Sort of changes everything. Yeah. That would seem like the poignant, profound way to end this, but I've got a couple minutes left, so I've got some more set of questions for you.

The happy, say, I confused, profoundly random questionnaire for you guys. Do either of you collect anything? What do you collect? I collect Andrew Rannell's teeth. So I have a collection of baby teeth. This is a real surprise. Wow. That's sweet in a way.

I want to clone Andrew one day. And I want to make him fight my Andrew. And so on. That's sweet, you guys. That's really sweet. That's really sweet. Ex-boyfriends. Hello.

There it is. Hello. No, I wish I did. I wish I did have a collection. By the way, when I was a kid, this is true. My mom can attest to this. I used to collect a lot of Disney merchandise. I used to collect Disney memorabilia.

I was obsessed with Disney. I grew up in Florida. We used to go to Disney World all the time. And I had a giant poster of Aladdin in my room. And the genie was my favorite character ever. And I would constantly tell my mom, I want to do that one day. I want to do what Robin Williams did in this one day. And that's weird, I'm full circle.

What's, anyone want to reveal the wallpaper on their phone? I feel like that tells something about a human being. Yeah, family, friends. Yeah. Mine is, it's the opening night card that my boyfriend, my boyfriend, Tuck Watkins and I met doing Boys in the Band. So it's the card that he gave me for opening night. Aww.

What if I turned mine around and it was just an Apple wallpaper? I was gonna say if it was the same thing. Mine is my two daughters. Oh. Look at us. Yes. My babies. Last actor you were mistaken for.

Andrew Rannels. Well, I think I just told you this story that Josh and I went to see parade. And this woman next to me would not let it go. She insisted that I was Michael Yuri. And I'm friends with Michael Yuri and I love Michael Yuri. I don't think that we don't really look very similar. And finally, I just had to say to this woman, you just mean another gay person.

And then she realized that it was correct. That she was like, oh, I was thinking of that other gay. This happened to me. But Josh got to witness my, like, meltdown. He had, I, uh, at last night when we left, someone at the stage door, it goes, I love you on it. I loved you on S&L. And I was like, sweetheart, I've never been on S&L.

So I don't know if it was Bobby Moynihan. He was one of the fat guys. He was like, it's one of those guys. It's like, those are the best when it's like anyone's guess. I get confused for Jonah Hill. I get confused for Bobby Moynihan. I get confused for Andrew Ranels. What's the worst note a director has ever given you?

Oh, I've got some great ones. What are you got? Okay, I got two good ones, same director. And I used to keep them, because he wrote him down. The first one was, quit acting with your hair. And the other one was, Charming is not a choice. And I was like, okay, and I used to hang onto those.

on to those and I was like and then one day I ripped him up but yeah act quit acting with your hair I was like friend I'm gonna make a career out of this day just look out what do you got Joshie stop using your eyebrows I literally was doing a movie and stop using your eyebrows and the director kept coming up to me and saying stop using your eyebrows and I was like I don't know what yeah I'm just living we're like take 10 and I was like I can't move. I can't move my face.

I didn't understand what. That's hilarious. Does he mean to get Botox? What is he meant? What is the intention of this note? Oh my God. So hopefully after this wonderful run, by the way, when does the run extension?

Next week. Through January 28th. January 28th. So get your tickets now while you can. Hopefully it won't be another dozen years before you guys reteam. team, what's next? Is it, are we doing waiting for Godot? Love letters.

What do you have in mind? Love letters sounds right, because we just get to sit. Yeah. Smart. Just get to sit down. I'd like to do something that's one act that has, no choreography. No choreography. Do you still want to sing, though?

No. Okay. Maybe no hats. Right. Okay. Okay. You can find the right. Something like that.

Yeah. Sounds fun. No choreography. I know it's a limited amount of plays at all of what I'm looking. I mean, I think it's love letters, babe. Yeah. That's in there. Or just something else we could read.

Right. Yeah. Well, catch it while they're willing to be able-bodied human beings, I would say. Yeah. This is it. This is my Elton John Farewell tour. What a glorious run it was, though. Congratulations.

Congratulations in advance. They're opening nights just days away, guys. Get your tickets truly while you've had. It's amazing show. Thank you so much. Thank you. And Josh Gad, everybody. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming. Thank you, guys. Thank you so much. And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to the show. and subscribe to this show on iTunes

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