LadyGang - The LG Network Presents: Showmance The Glee Recap Edition!

Episode Date: January 29, 2020

It's the episode that begat the podcast! Kevin & Jenna are joined by Ryan Murphy Productions President ALEXIS MARTIN WOODALL to talk about setting the tone for the show - figuring out early costumes and choreography - the first appearance of THE UNHOLY TRINITY - Rachel & Finn' first romantic scene - and the legendary PUSH IT SCENE! Subscribe to Showmance: The Glee Recap Edition RIGHT HERE! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey guys, it's Kelty from The Lady Gang, and you're probably wondering, why am I getting a new episode of Lady Gang today? Well, you're not. We are sharing with you an episode of our show on The Lady Gang Network, Showmance, with Kevin McHale and Jenna Oshkowitz. We're so excited because they're basically doing this episode-by-episode deep dive into Glee, and it has been so fun. So I think today is episode two with a guest that's already been on our show, Alexis. So enjoy the episode. We just wanted to give you a taste, and if you love it make sure that you head on over to the showmance page and subscribe okay enjoy the show okay let's do this i'm nervous no this is so exciting hey everyone thanks for tuning into

showmance make sure to subscribe to the show leave a five-star rating and a nice review and spread the word calling all gleeks i'm kevin mckale and i'm jenna ushkowitz we became best friends on the set of glee and now we're doing the glee recap podcast you have been waiting for how romantic Each week we'll take you behind the scenes, spill all the Glee tea, and break down episodes from season one with former cast, crew, producers, and writers that brought the show to life. This is Showman's Glee Recap Edition. I think everyone needs a little more tardy in their lives. Welcome to Showman's Glee Recap Edition.

I'm Janoschkiewicz. I'm Kevin McHale. Kevin, episode number two! well technically speaking it's episode one yes on the script is it episode two do you remember what it said on the script it's like one arc zero two they had all these numbers and letters that i did not understand for years no i think it's one because that's why we always think we're you know we're in an episode yes so we've always thought about time in terms of what happened on glee when like for those six or seven years we were doing the show i categorized time

in terms of what season and what episode we were doing. 100%. Mile markers. Yes, exactly. So I think we should just call this episode two. Pilot was one. Episode two. Episode two is showmance.

Our namesake. Wow. We got there. This really, you know, the title of our podcast, like, came from the, you know, that we are showmance, you and I technically. But also, like, we were like, apropos, the second episode of Glee was called showmance. And here we are. And here we are with our own showmance talking about showmance.

And I've said it on the show before, and I'll say it again. This is how I learned of the term showmance because of the title of this episode. Welcome to the world, Kevin. So what was going to recap? Recap, recap. To recap, we shot the pilot in the month of October. Right, September, October. Yeah, 2008.

And then picked up February of 2009. No, we found out—you and Leah called me, I think, in December? December 16th. Oh, my God. Yeah, okay, dates. Yeah. Leah and I were about to go to a Joe's Pub concert, perform at a Joe's Pub concert for a Spring Awakening Christmas show. And on the way, I was staying with her.

We found out, and we were, like, getting ready and showered, and we took a photo, actually, of ourselves at that very moment. But then we called you first. Yes. And you had to pull over. I was driving—it was raining in L.A. like the once a year it rains and i had my mom in the car and you guys called and i'm like i'm going to drive off the road yeah this is the craziest thing i've ever heard i still didn't really know what it meant i didn't either like a pickup means you got picked up for we got picked up for 13 for

example right so 13 episodes but that didn't really phase me because like i was so poor at the time anyway that i was like wow that's cool like money but like i had no sense of like oh In my head, I was like, cha-ching! I was like, yes, I can finally afford to pay for gas to get down to the studio to film it. I know. Well, I had to borrow money, too, to move to L.A. from New York. I had to borrow money to be able to film the pilot. All right.

So we picked up February of 2009. We started shooting. Showmance was the first one. But I moved here in January. Yeah, because here's what we did. So, fun fact. The first couple seasons, we rehearsed the choreography happened in this place called The Tin Shed.

With Zach Woodley. The choreographer and Brooke Lipton. It actually was on the second floor of the back lot, like fake New York. And it was The Tin Shed because it literally had a tin roof and it was steamy. It trapped heat in there. So hot. Let me tell you, when it got to those summer months, the heat would just not go anywhere. The glamorous life of Glee.

But we didn't know any better. We're like, this is fine. Well, there was also only five of us at the time. So it was fine when you throw 20 of us in there. Different story. It was also when I learned that if you just drink protein shakes and not work out, you gain weight. Because we had so much time. So we weren't starting to shoot the show until February.

We started rehearsing Push It in January. I think we rehearsed it for three to four weeks. That one number. Which is so ironic because later in the season, you know, like we had no time at all and we would learn things the night before and sometimes the morning of. So that was ironic that we had all that time for Don't Stop, which we talked about in the pilot. And also now all these numbers that had like a million times. But ironically, also, when we get to it, Take a Bow was a very last minute. So we got a taste of both.

Yeah, it was. I really that time was special to me because I remember we would actually have proper warm ups and stretches. And here's the coolest thing to me. This is one of my favorite memories of the show ever is that we shot the pilot on location. So we were going between Burbank and Long Beach and shooting in real high schools. right and for show myths because it was the start of the actual season we got to go to paramount in la and it's the most beautiful historic lot in los angeles and we took over i think at that point we had two stages and i remember ryan taking us around as they were building all the sets and everything was just wood frames at that point and we were just in shock like oh my god we get to like drive through these famous gates every single day to go to work lucy shot there you know all these things like the ten commandments was on the stage that we shot where we shot the choir it was the tallest stage in the world it had a tank of water underneath and the funniest part like now

looking back all the photos i have in february of 2009 are of welcome to the new shows to paramount lot and there's like banners in front of the commissary where we would eat lunch and it was glee on a music staff yeah and then um photo the photos jumped to straight to the bright blue shirts of push it where kevin and i were hopped up on red bulls first time i ever had red bull well because don't stop it taking so long to shoot and it was such an extensive process to us we were like i don't know what we're in we over corrected the other direction we did and we were on one yeah um I mean, to me, this whole episode is about, I know showmance literally, narratively is establishing some showmances in the show that would carry on for the entirety of the series.

But to me, it was push it because that was sort of our golden goose of we are doing this and it felt like us and we're all trashy and gross and we're obsessed with each other by this point yeah and really coming into our own as like friends outside of the show yeah and it was nothing bonds you like humping each other and dancing honestly for weeks before we even had to do it in front of people anyway we'll get to that but i i feel like this is also the bud budding showmance of kevin and jenna it's true this is where we all really bonded because you know what happened during this time and i think i've probably told the story before but i'll tell again what one of my favorite things about this or special i think this bonded us was that we all

talked about how broke we were we're sitting on the couches in the tin shed and we all talked about how everyone had moved out to la who didn't live here and we were doing this thing but we didn't have any money because we all were so in debt that we spent all the money we had made on the pilot paying people back or whatever we needed to do right we were all super broke and nobody wants to talk about money because it's a weird awkward thing and it wasn't like we were sitting around like we're making so much money we were just like oh we can afford to like pay for lunch now which is nice however we were still broke and shooting this show and i remember we all talked how do you think if we all ask our agents if we could get an advance on the first episode

so and so the like the first the og five or six of us yeah we're all together and we were like i think we need to do this and we did and we came together it was in the first couple weeks of rehearsal and we asked for an advance well because also the thing is like sometimes it can take a really long time on television for you to get your your checks like a backlog very quickly before we keep going let's give a shout out to rothy's if you care about style and sustainability then the perfect fit for you is rothy's rothy's makes stylish shoes for women and girls out of recycled plastic water bottles they're super comfortable fully machine washable and they have over 1,000 nearly perfect reviews. So check out all the amazing styles available right now at

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That's amazing. They ship directly in their shoebox, no unnecessary packaging, because I hate it when I get packages with boxes and boxes and boxes with free shipping and free returns and exchanges. Go to rothys.com, R-O-T-H-Y-S.com slash showmans to get your new favorite flats. Comfort, style, and sustainability, these are the shoes you've been waiting for. Head to rothys.com slash showmans today. If you like our show, you're going to love Heather Dubrow's world on Podcast One. The former Real Housewife of Orange County-turned-best-selling author is coming at you two times a week to share her stories about life and family and chats it up with some fabulous guests over some champs. You don't want to miss a second of it.

Check out Heather Dubrow's World every week on Apple Podcasts and Podcast One. Kevin, do you want to do this? Yeah. Should we break down? Let's get into the episode? Let's get into the episode. So this week is episode two, Gleecap showmance. okay so this one was directed by ryan murphy it was written by ryan murphy brad falchuk and ian

brennan so brilliant i mean they wrote the first two seasons by themselves which is crazy that's wild okay so director ryan murphy we said that and then these were the songs that were in showmans gold digger push it say a little prefer you and take a bow so good this is great yeah it was really good i have also don't forget yeah we also did freak out that's right so basically let's talk about this episode overall sue sylvester breaks the news to mr shoe and he realizes that he needs 12 members in the glee club to qualify for regionals and if we don't qualify for regionals figgins is cutting the program yes and there's many a showman's budding between the love triangle begins between finn rachel and quinn who early diana is my favorite

I also have to say, I forgot. I think originally I was like, oh, poor Rachel. She's so nerdy and dorky, has no chance in hell. And then watching it, I was like, no. She's like super self-assured, even if she's faking it, and is going up against a popular girl and sort of was like eating her for lunch. I was like, I really respect how hard she's going. I'm like, no, I know who I am.

I'm doing me. You figure yourself out. It's true. That's the product of two gay dads. so we get to we get through and we get to see the not unofficial first slushy of the season i say unofficial because we saw it in the pilot yes yeah and that set the tone but that's when we realized this was probably going to be a thing that was going to happen to rachel berry yeah right just rachel berry 100 little there was we did not know we did not know we all sort

of ignored it we're like oh that sucks for you that's so funny yeah one of the questions from a fan well actually it's a fan but they work at podcast one because steve went around and asked for um q a questions from fans that of employees of podcast so in the future you guys just write in yeah ask us all the questions write all the questions we have a hotline we'll give you all that information later did you ever slushy each other behind the scenes hell absolutely not no there's no way if we're gonna be slushy we better be getting paid for it we don't have time the cleanup on a slushy is such a pain in the ass and how many times would you do it like actually shoot a slushy twice maybe three times maybe i i had i only did it once the one time i was

and then they'd have to cart you to the gym the paramount gym where you would shower they would tie you off you'd have to get back through makeup and then you have to do it again oh maybe i know i did do it twice no i think i did do it twice because i'm like i don't remember a shower i had i was in will's office and they just rubbed me down with shaving oh god so the glee club is having its set of troubles with mr shoe this is when we do le freak yes it opens up with us doing this crazy horrible disco number because like mr shoe he does not have it going on and they well he won with this song yeah in the 90s i think it was earlier kevin it was i think it was early 90s fine fine fine yeah and us as the glee club were not having it oh god it was such

a bad i just remember being like ew this number do you know what i mean like ew we have to do this number i even hated recording it i like oh i loved it anything with that song i was like no no absolutely not because we knew the power of push it by this point that's true i was just waiting for that this is the climax no pun intended um so the kids need to perform the glee kids need to perform at the pep rally to recruit other members and we have to make it you know uh what's the word i'm looking for desirable to join oh yeah right entice the children yes thank you but we're obviously embarrassed by tina arty mercedes and rachel are all embarrassed and kurt sorry um but i remember how quick this was to shoot because

it was fun we got to dance a little bit and move around we weren't jaded and tired by then and there was only five of us so like really it was like they covered the kids and then they covered a mr shoe and that was it yeah like the days when there weren't 18 people in the choir room was like we didn't know what was coming no we didn't know because what happens is the camera literally has to do you have to do the scene every time the camera has to follow each character individually so you're doing the scene at a minimum that's what they would call it 18 times yeah sometimes they would do two shots and that would be 17 times anyway um this scene also made me giggle i mean watching the show back in general because it's been so long like

especially the earlier seasons makes my heart skip a beat and i giggle so much like a little school girl because watching you kevin when they close up on you and the freak and we do the little like canon where you use your arms and like we're all like twisting and using our legs and like we were still figuring out like what to do with you and how you were going to modify these things to make it look like you were still a part of the group and doing the choreography is very very funny let me tell you i think i nailed it i think you did too i think i nailed it that little canon was so good i i remember with zach and brooke they're like what are we gonna do with you yeah and i was like i got it like together we sort of we sort of came up with i'm like i know how to

dance and i will just mimic to the best of my abilities everything and anything i can't do with my lower body i'll just use my arms and so there you'll see there's many times where i like straight up will just do even foot movements with my hands on my lap just to sort of make it work um i have another fan question here podcast one fan question have the gay jokes aged well so in in the scene um after we perform the freak there kurt says um it's too uh it's too gay in response to mr shoe saying what's wrong with the song right yeah um i think he's right on target well i think he can say that yeah and also the fact that like ryan's writing it yeah like i think we were ahead of the curve at that point don't you think i think when you are sort of abrasive like that

and you're not trying to be too PC, to me, that was when the show was best. Right. And you did it in a way where those jokes, to me, totally still play. I think there were some other ones as we go along that probably haven't aged as well

because they're not used in that way. Right. But I think you have a gay character calling something too gay is pretty damn hilarious. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it.

Okay. So... Also, I would like, during that scene, I was sort of taking it back. I forgot how nerdy Artie was. Because by the end of the series, Artie was just me. Well, everybody got a little bit, right? Yeah, like we had all just become ourselves in real life. And that whole showmance, I was like, oh, my gosh.

I know. Rachel was, like, look crazy. Everybody looked crazy. Like, I looked the most goth. Well, I don't know. That's questionable. But, like, everybody just looked almost like, well, yeah, the younger version of and the most extreme version of who they who the characters and the way that they built them in the pilot right yes okay so this scene with sue sylvester principal

figgins mr shu rachel and finn oh i just loved it because when sue says that they should be hobbled and she's mad about 17 photocopies like that to me like set the tone of this like how ridiculous it is including jocelyn gilsick who was not in that scene but set the tone for the show genius but like i just loved it i love the little sue one-liners it made me so happy and that scene where um shu walks in to sue's office and she's on whatever exercise elliptical yeah and that was just sort of like ian brennan at his best because he would always write these insane insane sue like diatribes and and i yeah i think that was because we had the pilot the pilot was what it was right and this is really the first time we're like okay so we're taking

what we did and just pushing it a hundred and ten times the well here's the thing also people should know um if you don't that the writers because there were only three of them would take scenes and and write for specific characters and specific storylines so a lot of uh all of sue sylvester was ian brennan right and like it it's just it's it's ian in his pure brilliance and that's it came through in jane lynch yeah you know what i mean made in heaven so going back to that scene you're just like in figgin's office it also brought up we always would sort of make fun of cory for doing his like i'm trying to be hot face but i'm also like 16 face and you're really 26 in real life it's like this thing he does where he like squints his eyes and he did

it so many times in the episode was like oh god i missed this so much where he's like but it's totally accurate because i have a 17 year old nephew and when you take photos they're always like pulling a face and we used to give him so much for it and it was i think it was so good like so right on that face yeah you know exactly for it now no you really do you'll know exactly what it is um okay this gymnasium scene with rachel when she calls us to order and says we're gonna give them sex s-e-x planning a coup yeah planning a coup against mr shoe um when kurt says blood i'm not kidding we could not keep it together was it late at night too all i remember is that it was the end of like a really long day maybe we had film push it earlier that day

something no probably yeah and i just remember we were it was maybe the first time we were all on set and we got the giggles like this couldn't do it we could none of us could handle it i was freaking out like i'm so unprofessional i can't keep a straight face that was a lot of season one because like we just weren't used to each other yet so everything was funny and we weren't desensitized but chris i remember when he's saying blood that's when we all were bonding over those crazy like including ryan include those crazy youtube videos like the um the newscaster that calls the man gay instead of blind and the model and he's gay blind i'm sorry blind um and like the model who we will wobble is on the on the runway with her heels youtube and we didn't

realize like what memes are at the time but these sort of viral things we didn't have the word viral for that no youtube was new yeah um but the blood one was chris doing the blood to the little boy who it's just there i don't know it was that was a really fun it was so good we lost our damn minds i know i would like to just talk about costumes for a second okay because one like emma was going full so like full out for shu love that that she was just totally unabashedly like good for you but her costumes are distractingly amazing yes distractingly distractingly yeah i don't know incredible and it sort of like oh lou who did the costumes is so good and i remember being obsessed with all of her costumes yeah and then just shout out to

do because i know all the characters costumes we're gonna have to have her on and talk about setting all these costumes because tina wasn't even goth in the beginning but we'll talk about that another time um the push it scene yeah let's talk about pushing i mean i just remember even like when jame is like yay glee hooray it's just so funny she's my favorite and this was the first time we had done a big number in front of a hundred extras also wait we talked so we had been in the tin shed rehearsing this for weeks so the crew didn't know what we were doing the crew like camera department sound all that nobody knows what we're doing until we rehearse the scene on the day of shooting it so everyone knows what we had done lift freak gold digger all very very

clean and pc yeah don't stop believing doesn't get any cleaner than that we are like walking with intention that's all we were doing that's all we're good at and then we rehearse push it at like seven in the morning for the crew and i just remember andrew the a camera i just remember he's the sweetest sweetest man and he was standing right in front and i was like oh poor andrew he doesn't know what he's about to see yeah like shield your eyes and then we rehearsed it and The crew sort of had the exact same reaction as the audience in the episode. At first, the silence. They were silent, and then they're like, oh, my God.

Everyone's looking at each other like, can we cheer for this? Yeah. Nobody knew each other that well either. That's the thing. Later on, you look at Andrew, and you're like, what the hell are we doing? This is it today. But early on, you didn't do that. And sweet, sweet Andrew's poor eyes.

I'm surprised you're not blind from that. it was gosh that was my favorite part because none of us thought of that we didn't think of that we do it everyone's silent like oh god i remember being embarrassed about it because i was like wow there's like 150 extras here and nobody knows who the we are we're not famous this is not a show that people know yeah but i love that and i think that part of the show just like the jokes were why i loved the pilot when i first read it because that was totally my sense of humor where i'm like we're like paid to do this like we're we're like miming sex with each other on stage as high school students doing push it i can't believe that fox let us do that

number at all oh yeah like that made it to network tv side note when i went home for christmas the following year after it had aired my niece and nephew knew all the choreography and we're doing it with each other at that time too young yeah too i was like under the under the double digit Oh, yeah. I told my sister, I was like, first of all, this is wrong for a number of reasons, but they should not be watching this show. Okay. All right. Well, that number speaks for itself, I think. But we had fun doing it. I had a blast. And I remember hanging out in between behind the curtain and chatting with everybody and playing question games and getting to know everybody still. I think we also just felt good because we made everyone laugh so hard.

Yeah, that's true. And it was like, okay, if we can make the crew laugh – and I think that was sort of the precedent for the rest of the series. Yeah. Where if the crew liked it – Like, it was a good – it felt good. And they always told – like, sometimes when we weren't sure about something, they're like, yeah, I'm not sure this one works. Like, it was a really honest test to see how we were doing. I know.

From day one, when we did Push It, they were all about it. It was like, ah, yes. Nailed it. Okay, I want to talk about this very sweet Rachel and Finn scene that is, I think, encompasses the showmance title that was given to episode two, right? Yes, and I think one of the most iconic scenes is Glee. Totally. I mean, they use it in all the promos, like on Amber's high note at the end of Somebody to Love, and then it's them kissing and Leah closing her eyes, and I thought it was really great. the funniest part of that was the mailman the mailman moment that they've played they played

throughout the whole episode with him explaining you know that's how he um keeps from skeet skeeting too early um and that mailman face really became something that i would make i don't remember if anybody else did this but i would be like can you do the face and like all the time i would just make cory do the mail i remember you asking him to do it please do it and he would do it all the time and i was like this is how it is this is the most iconic thing of glee this is glee i also loved i also had forgotten how dumb finn was he turns around and she's like are you hungry after that rehearsal and turns around and just a full pic he's like oh yeah i was wondering what that was for it's like oh oh finn's the best oh man oh god um it was so weird i i really felt like this

was the first episode i think the pilot was just so solid like a movie yeah where everything was good it wasn't that weird like everything sort of made sense and this was the first episode we're like okay this show's really strange just centric you know it's like it's so specific but yet there's so much to cover um and i mean like that's what i said about like early diana and like heather and naya santana and britney we have to talk about the unholy trinity quinn the unholy trinity doing say a little prayer that freaking number i watched it again and i was like i get why people watch the show like you get it i remember i snuck in and watched while they were filming it and it was me sitting behind ryan and i have a picture of it i can post it i'll post it when we put this up

and i just remember i don't know if i told him this or in my head i was like this sort of like on the when i had this moment with cory during the pilot where i was watching i was like i need to remember this this is very special because this is phenomenal at that point i'm like this is the best thing we've done gold gold gold um i i have a question from an a pc1 fan um did we did you guys know that santana and britney would become main characters or as big as they were no absolutely not i mean they didn't know fan favorites fan favorites they didn't know we didn't know i think it's also we loved them i think it's a testament to how like talented and like special they were in real life as humans because i think being around ryan ryan was around

all the time he just yeah and he no and he gave them those things yeah the inspiration of like who they were and people like sometimes i've talked about filming it he would like throw out lines to people like heather a lot yeah and then it just sort of became a thing yeah No, I love that number. And I was like, I get it. I get how you get the gay men and the straight men to watch the show. And I just want to make a note. I really want to get to take about because I have so many memories from it.

But Terry, in this episode, Jocelyn Gelsig is literally a comedic genius. She got the tone before anybody else. She set the tone for the show. She made everything acceptable in this show. But she had done a Ryan show before, hadn't she? Was she on Nip Tuck? She was on Nip Tuck, and she got f***ed off a rooftop. Yeah, there you go.

But I will say— So she knew what was up doing a Ryan Murphy show. She didn't know what was up. That bitch knew. But, like, faking the pregnancy, too, I remember watching that, like, when we first saw the episodes and going, oh, we're going there. Yeah. Like, this show is going there. That moment when she's at the table after she finds out that she isn't pregnant, and

she has something to tell Will, and then she decides not to, it's like, oh, shit. So good. And I felt like we, so this is also, we started to, we'll talk about this with our amazing guest. Yes. But this is also, we used to screen the episodes, and I remember watching that, and that was one of those moments where, just like you said, we're like, oh, this show is going to be wild.

Wild. and actually we said then we had no idea yeah um okay so we get to the end of the episode the unholy trinity gets brought in to be part of the glee club because mr shoe's plan has worked we need more members and so sue has then given them the job of becoming their spies they will they will infiltrate and then they will go back and report to sue sylvester love that so rachel is very upset and then we go into boom i forgot you guys were in this number and this was the time when we still got to do our own backups our own backup vocals so that was actually us so for people who don't know later on there was no time and we have a very

very talented group of people led by tim davis that were much better singers than we were freaking fantastic background singers that do that for a living they were amazing and they made every song elevated every song and we didn't have time to do that nor were we good at it so they hired somebody else the first 13 you're getting us on the background that's why it sounds so raw i watched it i watched this episode with austin and austin was like he was like yeah definitely sounds different with you guys on the backgrounds oh my like thanks so this is one of the numbers unlike push it where we were um it was late at night uh leo was was doing her thing at the mic she's all good you know she knows how to do it and amber and i are backup dancers and

amber's like don't you think we should move and i was like you're right bitch we should move so we decide zach comes up he's like okay guys what do you want to do and we're like uh should we sway and then comes my favorite part so we're swaying where's my he's left right and left and right and then he's like and then we should reach out our arm and then bring it back and tickle the and then reach out tickle the and pull it back and i was like who is this man and what is happening right now so special tickle the was part of the first of the very many inappropriate but that's also how we would remember choreography and to this day that's how i remember a lot of these things because they would throw in these insane little phrases like great now i'll remember

it and we have another fan question from pc1 that asked how much adr was done for the vocals and for the show well let me tell you our sound department was you mean the emmy winning sound department sound department phil patrick um but also leading into our very very special guest she can tell you all about yeah the adr and that we didn't why we didn't have to do it most shows you have to go every episode and do adr i think i did it once and how in seven six years and how it worked for the singing is we record before all the singing in a recording studio and then and then lip sync it lip sync so go back and look and see who's a good lip syncer and who's not because i can tell you oh my god wait we all sucked in this episode can i say we were all you have to

actually sing and you think you have to whisper and not sing but you have to actually sing for it to look we also like didn't know there were so many people caught on to that some people never caught on to that yeah it's true okay keep going what were you gonna say i was like you see it like there i think during gold digger leah is mouthing the entire rap the whole time oh we forgot to talk about the rap oh this is the first time he's on mr shoe rap oh and unfortunately it wasn't the last poor poor poor poor viewers i'm just kidding we love maddie mo he's just such a trooper and like who knows how to background vocal to rapping though honestly all right it was crazy let's bring our very special guest in yeah let's do that um enough of us we're gonna bring alexis

who began working at ryan murphy tv on nip tuck and has really rose to the top as president of ryan murphy tv now executive producing a million of like literally pose ratchet american horror story everything great i mean like you name it she's done it we used to tell her back in the day We're like, build your empire. She's done it. She's done it. The empire is built. Before we keep going, let's give a shout out to LaCroix.

Because some people love slushies, some people love sparkling water, but the classiest people, like myself and Jenna, go for a LaCroix. America's top-selling branded domestic sparkling water. LaCroix sparkling water was developed to give health-conscious consumers refreshment, flavor, and most importantly, sparkle. With an innocent twist of zero calories, zero sweeteners, and zero sodium. All LaCroix flavors are confirmed to be derived from natural sources with natural fruit essences. The newest flavor, which is so good, is hibiscus, joins the family of other flavors like key lime, tangerine, mango, and the ultimate classic, grapefruit, pompo mousse. The LaCroix family also includes six LaCroix curate flavors, including pineapple strawberry, kiwi watermelon, and cantaloupe pink grapefruit. There are also newly added flavors to the Nikola theme like Coca-Nikola and Coffee Exotica, all of which contain no caffeine or alcohol.

LaCroix Sparkling Waters and LaCroix Curate Sparkling Waters are gluten-free, vegan, kosher, and non-GMO, Whole30 approved, and environmentally friendly. LaCroix cans are perpetually sustainable and recyclable. For more information, join the LaCroix community on social at LaCroixWater or check them out at LaCroixWater.com. hey guys it's kelty knight from the lady gang podcast if you're into getting a very sassy sexual beautiful inspiring funny oftentimes embarrassing slightly anal podcast in your repertoire subscribe to us lady gang on podcast one podcast one app and please rate and review us on apple podcast alexis martin what up oh my god thank you for coming in your insanely busy schedule it is my

pleasure because i love you too oh we love you it's an honor proud of you and your empire looking down on us on us little folk oh i've been looking down on you guys for years That's true. Years. Tina Cohen Chang. Tina Cohen Chang. My friend just told me recently she knows a Tina Cohen. And I was like, she's got to marry someone with a Chang.

So we had just been sort of going through the episode. Yes. And because this was months after we did the pilot, and the pilot was its own entity, that this was the first time we were getting into whatever the show was going to be. Yes. And so I have a lot of questions for you in terms of how – you were still fairly – I was a baby producer. I had front-end producer credit, but I was really running post-production.

I wasn't totally doing the creative yet. That happened really at the end of Glee season one and the beginning of American Horror Story is where I started going much more into the creative. But I was in working on the cuts and talking about it. And I mean, I distinctly remember one of the early days when I realized that Ryan was right and I was wrong because I read the script and I was like, what do you mean Rachel and Finn kiss? It's episode two. We have to want to want it.

And he was like, no, I know this is right. And I was like, but what happens if they kiss? What happens if we run out of story? He's like, I'll make more story. And guess what he did. And by the way, it was the best thing ever. It was iconic because suddenly you're like, oh my God, they kissed. Oh my God, they kissed.

And are they going to kiss again? And what's going to happen? And it's really exciting. So I remember spending a lot of time on that scene in the auditorium where she has a little picnic for him, and they can't sit comfortably, and it was a thing. And so her skirt was really short, and we were trying to edit around to protect. Oh, yeah, because Rachel Berry wore really short skirts, always a cap sleeve. She was never sleeveless until later. And knee socks.

And so trying to make sure that we were protecting Leah as an actress and protecting the story and also making it not awkward. But you're filming two people who are on a stage having a picnic. That's probably the shortest skirt. I remember that skirt. It's probably the shortest skirt she wore in that whole episode, too. I don't know if it was the shortest skirt she wore in the whole series. No, they got shorter. They definitely got shorter.

The more sophisticated Lea Michele got, right? Lea, I love you. That's what we said. We were like, as we moved on. As we grew up. Like, Tina became Jenna. Artie became Kevin. Very quickly.

Artie became, like, white boy rapper. Yeah. Artie took over from where Mr. Shoe left off. Paula. I was with Matt a couple weeks ago, and he was talking about his rapping. He's like, I don't know why they had me stop rapping. They had you take over for me. And I was like, I don't know why either.

None of us know why. No, no, no, no. I was just like, I didn't want to rap. I'm not a rapper, but that's what happened. So we didn't become friends until later, like later season one. But yeah, that was early days. And so we just all kind of liked each other. But it wasn't really until we got going that I had the time to come down.

Well, yeah, you weren't on set with us every day. And so that was the big difference. Like, you were in a peculiar situation where you were looking at our faces every day. I know your moves. And we didn't know you. Yeah, you didn't know me. Do you remember when Ryan used to screen the episodes for us? Yes.

He would bring us in, and that's when we would see you and become friends with you. Exactly. And I feel like everybody got nervous. Really? Like, we'd go in, and we're like, oh, God, what are we going to see? Especially, like, with this episode. Yeah. It was the first episode.

Oh, yeah, it was so good. So I have a question for you overall. Mm-hmm. You got to see more, and sometimes I didn't even notice. Like, did a lot get cut from the episodes? Oh, my gosh, yeah. You always are tailoring and you're always trying to make it better and stronger and especially because, you know, the day and age that we're in now on cable, you don't really have to be limited by run times. But when you're in a network show, you are controlled by run times because you're controlled by ad dollars.

And so Ryan, who has such an epic brain, thinks so big and then suddenly you're like, well, this is about 12 minutes too long. This is a feature film. Yeah, I heard 20 minutes. And so you have to kind of constantly say, well, what's the story? What's the most important? And a lot of times with Glee, that's interesting, and I think the fans probably realize this because they would listen to the Glee music on their own. We would very frequently lift verses out of songs.

You guys would record the whole thing. You might even film the whole thing. Right. But that was an easy place where you're like, I need to save 30 seconds, and I don't want to break story. Right. And we'd get it, and the music still is great. And so there's some songs that you could easily do a quick lift in to make it concise and

to the point. Because a lot of times, if you think about it, a lot of our music was from the music of it all but a lot of times like with vocal adrenaline or something it was about a story point about a rivalry or about something else and so you want to get kind of the flashy parts that show that are exciting that show but if it's just two people sitting on stage singing sometimes you do just want to nip that out and save time but a lot would get cut but it would be little things it was never you know giant storylines right i only remember there was one scene we shot it was later on in the seasons like probably three or four maybe four or five and it was a dressing

room scene which we'll get to at some point but um the whole thing got cut and we worked friday night from like eight to two and it got cut it was the it was a dress it was a it was part of the wedding oh i know oh and yeah and the whole scene got cut that doesn't usually happen well it happens it happens more often sometimes you realize the more you know the show the more you realize that you've written a story that is interesting but it's cluttering from what the focus is and so you yank it but it's really hard because the cast and the crew are not a part of the process of sitting in the dark that ryan and i are in where we're sitting here talking about well what makes it stronger and we really are talking with character names we're not talking

we're not seeing jenna and kevin worked really hard on that scene we're like we had tina and arty are good but tina and arty hit that same point three other times right so if we lose it here it's gonna be more effective there so you have to trim the fat because at the end of the day everything's better everything's better when it's been edited when it's been whittled down a little bit when you leave people wanting more but there are scenes where you're short for time and that was when that was the episode year when the wedding when quinn quinn gets in the car accident right i think so yeah i don't know we had so many weddings honestly i i don't know we need the glee fans right now we have a glee fan somewhere who's like i can tell you about every single wedding i

should be on that podcast so please let us know how did you feel coming into the show because it was so odd. There was so much music. Did it feel different to you or did it feel sort of standard? Like, oh, I'm used to this or this feels very different. No, Glee was new for everybody. Glee broke down barriers. Remember how many Glee summer camps, Glee foundations, Glee clubs,

people found themselves. Glee really did change the whole conversation about what a television show could be. And this is, again, why we all love Ryan is that he's a visionary. He sees what he feels he wishes he could see and then he puts it on the air. And suddenly everyone's like, oh, this is brilliant. And we're going to have musical shows forever.

And does it well. I mean, that's the difference. And so with Glee, we, Ryan said, we're going to do a musical and it's going to be pop culture songs, which is great as opposed to, you know, a Broadway show. And he said, we're just going to, you know, I have a plan for this. And so we jumped out of Nip Tuck and into Glee and we did the pilot and you could just tell the pilot was special. I still remember when we shot it at that high school in Burbank in the fall.

I remember how it smelled like every October in the Valley. I'm like, oh, this is Glee season. There's just a smell. And I remember when I met Ian and I remember going to set and we spent so much time working the opening of that show of how Mr. Shoe drives up just in the pilot. And, you know, I mean, the number of times we made the joke about I like mine scalding, you know, I mean, it was also in the very beginning of iPhones, you know, when she's like, I'm going to make it from an iPhone. And so we were just so kind of blown away by it. And we were really blown away by you, by you all. I mean, it was a it was really magical.

And it was it was magic. The phrase lightning in a bottle exists for a reason because there was such a synthesis amongst the group. And I believe episode two is when the unholy trinity is formed. Oh, yeah. And I remember knowing that Naya and Heather had been cast essentially as background dancers and part of the Cheerios and how they elevated. And they turned those roles into what they became because of what they brought to set. Exactly. And so watching you guys as a unit coalesce was really cool for me because I wasn't – I mean I'm going through the dailies with the editors and we're talking about this and we're talking about that and we're learning the same thing as how do you tell a story through song?

Where do you need to go to the wide? Where do you need to go to the close-up? How are we going to be most effective? Was that an adjustment for you because – Yeah. It's just new. Yeah. I mean you're doing music videos but trying to tell a narrative during that.

But if you think about the best music videos, there's always a good story. Yeah. That's true. I think there's always a good story. It's all about telling the story. I never want to watch a music video. Like, if we're going to talk Madonna, for example, which I know the power of Madonna, you guys will get to. But if you think about some of Madonna's best music videos, you've got, you know, Like a Prayer and Express Yourself, which feel very story-driven.

But then you've got Frozen later on, and you're like, yeah, you look cool, but you don't – nothing's happening in this video. So no one talks about how great that video was, you know, like that sort of thing. So with Glee, we would occasionally have the songs where it was just one of you would be standing alone and planting your flag and singing a song to an empty house or an empty auditorium. And so that was a time of performance, performance, performance. Get that close-up. Get the scope for the big as you belt it. I'm not going to belt it out because I don't sound like you guys. But as you belt it out, you go to the wide shot.

You come in for the glistening tears in the eyes. That's how you think about an individual performance. But vocal adrenaline was a really important cutting pattern because you want to see large groups moving in syncopation. It's why Beyonce's music videos are so incredible because you get that epic scale of one unit moving with all these different parts, but it's actually 40 people on stage. And so you do think about what you're cutting. And in Vocal Adrenaline especially, until we had Jesse St. James – I'm sorry. Jesse St. Clair? Jesse St. James.

Until we had him with his glorious hair, we didn't have a specific villain. Vocal Adrenaline was just a villain. The villain. So we didn't need to cut to close-ups as much as we needed to see their killer moves. And they were actually good dancers. They were so good. Unlike us. We were like, oh.

No, you guys were terrible. We were like, this is a lot of close-ups. Oh, no. All we knew how to do was maybe walk in a line and not a straight one. I mean – Not a straight one. Like when you guys are doing Le Chique. Zach would be like, I guess it's a diagonal.

Or Le Freak. I don't know it's like the bird's eye view is like we could be standing there and they call action and that's when we move out of it do you remember that Ryan would come into the dance rehearsals and be like we need more arms we need more arms up we need everything up I mean well Don't Stop was

15 different renditions before we actually got to the one that landed say a little prayer there's all those shots from above I just remember Ryan doing the arm motion and being like I see it I know what I need he's visual always and he always knows which is so cool but that it is it is it changes how you tell the story depending on what the song is and so

so you know and then there are the songs like okay let's what are the song let's let's pull up that song list do you gold digger push it say a little prayer take a bow you know you get your your first like rapping choir room number that actually was like yeah oh no when gold came out everyone was really excited i mean it was really fun i also remember like that in the studio was weird because i wasn't supposed to sing on that song and we were all there with ryan which might have been the only time ryan was in the recording studio that i remember and then we were all doing the backgrounds and he's like kevin can you just you try that you shout that out and then amber you try it and it was like this we were all figuring out every part of the show together right well

and that's part of what makes you know as you tell stories you start to see who's good at what and where do you gravitate to who when i mean i always tell everyone you guys have heard this i know you've heard this especially but i talk about the say what moment because glee was cut in a way and the dialogue is so sharp and it was so clever but there was always like 12 of you guys on camera

when you're in the choir room and it would be so rapid fire that very frequently I would say to my editors don't forget that we're the audience we're telling the audience when to pause

and when to laugh so we want the dialogue to fly fly fly fly fly but then when there's that one line that's really really weird but you still need to blow through it

that's when I almost always would be like cut to Artie he always is like say what because Kevin's face never stopped working

never stopped you could always count on something really funny I was always so by the way I guess I should thank you

because all of my weirdest things always made it in yeah because your weird shit is funny it's funny I would do stuff as a joke

I'm like Naya what should I do this time I'm like Naya watch this I would do things for the cast members and then it would

always make it nine times out of ten it would end up in it well because it gave us something to use and that's the thing at a certain point when you have 12 people

sitting there a lot of times people are just kind of sitting there and listening but watching someone listen is not that exciting

You know, reacting is different, and that's where we would go. Okay, I want to talk about the iconic montages of Glee that I, when I'm watching back the show, I feel as though that became such a thing, like a thing in the shows that we would do. Do you agree? Oh, absolutely. I think that, you know, the great thing about a montage is, you know, some people love them or hate them. You can do a lot with a montage. You can get a lot of story in.

You can get a lot of FaceTime in and you can blend different worlds to commit to a theme. And it highlights a theme when you take a song and then you start to realize, oh, this is a great thing. We don't need this whole scene of – I'm just going to use Tina and Artie since you're right here. We don't need a whole Tina and Artie, but we need this moment of it. But wouldn't it be great if we could also connect it because it feels like what Quinn's going through or what Rachel's going through. And so it became a great tool, and because we're a musical, to move through story in a way that you don't just have scene to scene to scene. Because sometimes you just need to be carried through to get to what the next point is. But yeah, montage became a really very powerful tool for us.

And I think just musically it makes sense. I just love it. I mean, I love a makeover montage. I don't know. Oh, my God. Any makeover montage. I mean, I feel like that's the go-to. That's the most classic style of montage.

Everyone needs a makeover montage. Everyone needs it. I still don't know how you guys would just... Okay, let's go back to the fan question of why we didn't have to do ADR. Well, Ryan doesn't like ADR. What Ryan likes is an organic performance. And ADR for everyone... Oh, you're better explaining it than me.

Well, it's additional dialogue replacement. When I was baby, baby producer on Nip Tuck, ADR was sort of my first way into learning how to work with actors because low man on the totem pole, or in a sense, low woman on the totem pole, would go and meet the actors and get them through because you're kind of filling in the blanks.

I remember one time you had to bring me in for ADR because it was during the Grease when we were doing Summer Nights and there was a line or I had to add a line. I can't remember what it was. But it was the first time

I'd been in for ADR. I was like, wow, we've never been in for ADR. I'd never done ADR before in my life. And you were like, I was like, oh my God, I can't even repeat and lip sync to my face

because we speak so fast on this show. And you were like, Do you see how fast you guys talk on this show? It's crazy. It's crazy. I remember telling you, I said, I remember that was one of the first times we really bonded where I was sort of just a backseat director. And I said, if you take your time when the camera comes to you and speak a little slower, I can do more with you.

And you really heard me and changed it. Because what happens is, and I think about this for everybody, if you don't have a ton of storyline, because I feel like Tina's character did not develop till later on. And it was like Tina and Blaine, I think, is where it really blossomed into giving her more dimension. Yeah. But I always say that if, you know, everyone's used to being on set all the time. You guys are being filmed all the time. But on those episodes where it's not an already heavy episode or not a Tina heavy episode, you'd sit there for hours. You know the drill.

You're super professional. But, oh, my God, all of a sudden the camera's pointed at you for that one line. You're like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. And then it's over. And you're like, you know, it's like you just blacked out. Especially in the beginning, because at least speaking for myself, I was so terrified of messing up in front of Ryan, because I felt like every day I was going to get fired, and

that wasn't anything Ryan did. That was just me having a job for the first time. I was like, oh, I'm going to get fired. I'm going to do something. And I remember we would all just speak so, so quickly, because we were all like, there's 80 of us in this scene, and there's so much dialogue to cover that we just have to get it out. And we also like the tempo.

I mean, the one thing is, there is a significant choice to make it that way. When Ryan directed the pilot, he was like, okay, go again faster. Okay, go again faster. Yeah. And so in that respect, it was that you were trained. It set a tone, right. Yeah, and which is great because it was really fun for the world. But it was hard.

But you go to any other place and you're like, wow. Like, I remember after we'd have to, I really had to slow down. I was like, remember, Jenna, you're not Tina and you're not talking a mile a minute, you know? I mean, sometimes my dad accuses me of being a Glee cast member because we talk on the phone. And he's like, it's just like watching Glee. Because I talk a little fast. I am talking deliberately slowly for all of you today. I think we do talk fast in real life anyway.

Kevin, too. I think you and I are the fastest talkers. You guys, Jenna and I can sit there. You guys have their own language. It's like they're just. I mean, I understand every single thing you're saying. So why does no one else? Thank you.

Thank you. Because you both are like mini moguls. And to be able to like. You have a lot in your head all the time. You got to get it out real fast. I can't compute. I'm a little slow compared to you guys I think in general

men ladies rule the world what other memories do you have of showmans and if not showmans what other memories do you have about season 1 I loved Glee Glee was such a special Glee season 1 especially was so special we all came up together

for me it was like Glee was 2010 2009 I was 29 years old So I was closer in age to you guys than I was to all of the other producers. And so I had this natural split. And also, not only was I closer in age to you guys, I also liked to go out. And I loved fashion.

And I loved, I was, I still am. I mean, you're still one of the best dressers I've ever met in my entire life. Yes. I am flattered, and I will take that all day long. But I felt a real camaraderie with you guys. And I was sort of between two worlds because I wasn't quite old enough to be, like, the boss. Right. But I wasn't young enough to be the kid.

Also, I wasn't on TV. We're also a team. But so it allowed me to actually have a really nice friendship with you guys. That was work. It started from a place of work where we met each other as colleagues. But I got to trust you. And it was fun for me. But Glee was really special because we all, with the exception of Leah, who came from Broadway.

And I know you came from Broadway. But I feel like none of us knew what was about to happen. Totally. And when we got to New York for the upfronts, and for everyone, the upfronts are when the networks present to the advertisers what their fall slate is going to be, the lineup. And they run through every show. And in this situation, we had this pilot that was just beautiful. Oh, I remember. I love this.

We all got to New York. Ryan flew us all out there and said, you have to be a part of it. And most other shows and most other showrunners would never have said to baby post-producer me, you have to be in New York with me. But Ryan and I obviously have a bond. And we were driving down the main drag of, I think it was on Fifth Avenue or something. It was wherever we were going. And we rounded a corner in our car. And next thing you know, the streets are lined with these larger-than-life Glee balloons.

I mean, huge balloons. I have spatial relationships challenge, but enormous. And every single person was wearing a Fox t-shirt that said Glee. And they heralded us in. And then we went into this big ballroom theater, I should say. And we watched a trailer for a couple shows that I remember, will not name. And I remember thinking, and then we played our Glee trailer. And our Glee trailer started with Sue Sylvester saying, you think this is hard?

Try being waterboarded. That's hard. And next thing you know, it was off like a bullet. And then you guys came out and you're a little blue and black. and you saying somebody to love to this entire audience that had never had that freshness or experience and for me i didn't know any better because i was just like i said a baby producer this was not this was a new world for me too but i looked around and i just saw hundreds of people have no idea what they just got hit with and that from there on the glee fever just hit and we got

to celebrate together the upside of having all of that time together meant it led into a lot of down dark times because we were really close and we did you guys had to grow up on camera and that's a really hard place to be

and so I think that had we not had such a tight season one we wouldn't all look at the friendships we still have which is so rare and it's rare

to have that many people from that many backgrounds to actually get along like that oh my god did I tell you I got my nails done with Naya the other day

what oh my god I called you Naya I know you're not listening but I hope you're listening because I f***ing love you am I allowed to say

Oh, good. We'll bleep you out anyway. Don't bleep me out. No, no, we have to. Censorship. For censorship purposes. But we go boop. So it's okay.

Glee. Oh, my God. Remember the previously on Glee's where I'd have to bring Ian in and he'd be like, so here's what you missed on Glee. He can talk faster than Jen and Alexis at the same time all the time. When did those start? How did that start? Because that didn't.

It was not, we never planned on it. And then the network was like, you guys, you cover a lot of plot points every episode. Yeah. We need to remind the guest – I'm sorry, the guest. We need to remind the audience that what's going on. And so Ian would come in. But at the very end, he would always say – because I believe in a brand and a formula. And you want to tag it the same way every time.

And he would always say, and that's what you missed on Glee. Yeah. So you guys should use Glee to bleep yourselves out. That's my opinion. Steve. Can we get the rights to that? Well, if you do it yourself, you can't do anything. We can just do it ourselves.

It's ours, Kevin. All right? Okay, right. So, Kevin, you're going to say – say f*** and we're going to go. Okay. Okay, ready? One, two, three. Cree!

Yay! Steve, the producer, is so impressed, you guys. We're taking that now. He's like, everything I need to know in life, I learn from Alexis Martin-Woodle. Alexis Martin-Woodle! Oh, my God, you guys remember when I would come to set? And I would come into set, and you'd be like, Alexis Martin-Woodle, Alexis Martin-Woodle.

And I was like, oh, my God. We just love your name. I know. And we love you. Wait, before you go, so if you come to L.A., Alexis, in her spare time, lots of free time she has, and her husband have opened up a brand-new restaurant in downtown L.A. Please tell us about it.

Thank you. It's called Red Herring L.A. I love a plug. It's Red Herring, and it's downtown in Los Angeles, and we had our first location out in the Eagle Rock, and we got essentially secret shopped by these big developers, and they said, we want you to come downtown. And actually, I had the joy of being with my friends last night

when they came, you two came for our little pre-opening party. The space is gorgeous. It's beautiful. Yes, the food is amazing because I know your husband and I'm friends with your husband and he cooks like a G. And everything about this restaurant was like, oh, you had your first restaurant and now here's your second restaurant. You learned, you got it.

I got it. I was like, it's... You know, I treat it like a TV show. You think about it and I actually said the other day, I said, I really understand why Ryan's always moving forward and not going back and living in, oh, the glee. I mean, he talks about it with love, but he always looks ahead because once you tell the story you're like oh no i'm ready to tell a new story right and when we were done with eagle rock like i said we always knew we were going to close it before we opened downtown because we needed to

be ready because it's just dave and i and a really fantastic team but we don't have the bandwidth we're not we're not a giant corporation to have two things running and once we closed the first one i realized i don't want to reopen the first one i'm done with the first one the first one was our was how we learned it was it was our first show now let's do our second show and let's do it and let's add a little bit more glamour and everything do you miss the first one the first No. I love it, but it's in my heart with great memories, but I'm really excited about what's coming. This feels like the right one.

That's right. Right? That's all it is. It feels like the right one. It's so great. And it's, by the way, if you guys are out there, unless you are married to a chef or are a chef, do not open your own restaurant, okay? It is really, really difficult, and I love what we do, but it is, if I didn't have Dave, we would not be doing it. Well, yeah, no.

Remember when Dave taught you how to make pizza? He did. That was the best. That was a good, oh, yeah, you were there, too. I think about it all the time. I remember spilling wine on my very new white Converse that night. Oh, yeah. It's okay.

You spill on yourself all the time. Well, I did today. Anyway, moving on. We talk about the score of the show. Oh, yeah. Because the score, I think, even to this day, if you talk to people, it is one of the most unique things. I think a TV show, that was, I think, one of the most memorable things about our show.

But like you said, you believe in Brandon and consistent. That was always so Brandon consistent. It felt right. Yeah. You know, I think I give a lot of credit to Brad Beaker who cut the pilot because I believe he was the one who found the Swingle sisters or the Swinglers. Either way, you do something. When you're putting anything together in life and you're cutting something together,

you always do what's called temp score. You put temporary score and score that has existed in other movies that you like or you find a song and you're like, I just want to put this in and see how it feels. And so Brad had been temping with a lot of these vocal – You know, it started with Flight of the Bumblebee. That's what it was. Ah, that makes sense. And then next thing you know, we were like, let's look at the rest of the album.

And then how can we use this? And because it was official songs and we couldn't afford that, it inspired. And all of our other songs, yeah. Exactly. It inspired us to sort of think about that. And then, so it was very vocally driven. And then it was very much like marching band style, snare drum, tambourine. Because there was always a war between Will and Sue.

Will and Sue. Sue. Sue. Let me break it down for you. Although, I still think... Achievement! Oh, my God, yes. Achievement!

I do the worst figgins, and I never stop doing it. We all do, but we all do. My husband still says... It was our favorite stuff. My husband will still say Tina Cohen Chang for no reason. Tina Cohen Chang! For no reason. We just say Tina Cohen Chang because it's satisfying.

I was just talking about speaking really fast. I didn't even get to speak until episode eight. Oh, no, you didn't? Barely. I know. Because I'm a stutter. A fake stutter. I remember the day, Ian.

Anyway, that's first wheels. But I remember Ian told me, and I was like, I get to speak. I thought the rest of my life was going to be silent in golf clothes. Killing the stutter was the best thing we could have done. God bless America. Thank God. Thank God. Oh, you guys are so great.

Alexis, thank you so much for coming in and sharing all your memories. And parting your wisdom on us. Anything I can do. You know I love to give advice, and I love to hear myself talk. So it's really good. Well, congratulations to you, too. You had a really great year. We're so proud of you.

It's been a big year. It's kind of crazy. You deserve it. Thank you. Thanks. Because, I mean, I'm tired. Nice things should happen to nice people. It doesn't always, but when it does, it's great.

You know, I really appreciate that. And you guys, I am really nice. We're just ending the episode with that. I'm so nice. I'm so nice. Don't forget I'm nice. I'm, like, so nice. Don't ever forget how nice I am.

I'm really pretty, too. Glee! Well, Kevin, that was really fun. I mean, Alexis is great. I love this episode. I love this episode of Showman's Glee Recap Edition. And I love... The Glee episode show.

episode showmans yeah make sure y'all go back on the netflix or wherever and go watch episode we're calling this three acapellas acapellas so that next week you can recap with us it's a weird one it is a really weird one but i have so many funny memories from it okay come back next week and thanks for listening bye thank you so much for listening to showmans with us and get new episodes every Thursday on PodcastOne.com, PodcastOne app, or Apple Podcasts. And follow me on Instagram and Twitter at Jenna Ashkowitz. Follow me on Instagram at Kevin McHale and on Twitter at Drewadude. And make sure to subscribe to the show and leave us a nice rating and a five-star review, of course. And spread the word. See you next week.