And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
Welcome to and that's what you really miss podcasts whoa special special special Okay, we were returning guest, but yes, but her episode never aired when we recorded it back in twenty twenty for multiple reasons. She talked about it on her show and said it's her Roman Empire that she like came on the show and then her episode kind of got scrapped for multiple reasons.
When we scrapped the whole podcast in general, we stopped it. We shut down the podcast.
That's right.
So and I had passed away and we hadn't aired her podcast yet, her episode yet, and then you know, we took a pause and scrapped the whole thing. And you know, obviously, you know we've come back in a big way and we had to have her back.
So here is Claude.
Yeah, she's the ultimate leak. They do a show every single day. It's the toast PhD in pop culture and you don't want to missus convo. She knows the show better than we do.
Here's Claudia.
Welcome back. Oh I'm so excited. Thank you guys so much for having me again. We're so happy to have you, like, it's about time the world heard my thoughts, ugly, and it's.
A it's been a minute. It's been almost what four years, It has been four years.
Since we recorded that episode, and I've probably rewatched I rewatched it at least once since then. And I just restarted again like a month ago, me and Ben and so I have some fresh thoughts.
Okay, oh thank god. And what people need to know is, you know a lot of people like came to the show during the pandemic because of TikTok. Yes, you've never not been there in the.
In the words of Taylor Swift, I'm right where you left me, like I never left. I'm still at the restaurant. I watched it live in high school, like I was really the same age as a lot of the characters, and I have rewatched it, probably in full. But the crazy thing is, and I find that this actually happens a lot with people who like rewatch shows. I have never seen the final episode of Clay. I couldn't bring
myself to watch it. Now I've seen like clips on social media, so I know that like spoiler, literally Michelle wins Tony like, but I never watched, Like I just couldn't bring myself like it's too final wowing.
Yeah, I know you think you'll ever watch it?
Honestly at this rate, I don't know why.
I would, right, you may as well, it's like, yeah, not, it's a great episode.
I'm sure I know I would cry.
Did you watch two thousand and nine?
What does that mean? Too?
So there's it's like a two parter, right Kevin, And it's like, so then I haven't seen.
Either of them, Like I never saw the finale. Isn't that crazy?
You should watch I know the beginning part.
I forget to be honest, which one is because they swapped how we filmed them?
Oh?
Really, well, we were filming sort of both at the first time, and I think originally two thousand and nine was to be the finale and then they do you know what.
It is like every time I rewatch it, and when we get to the New York era, like I find myself like wanting to watch it less, like it doesn't like when once they're out of the classroom and then all those kids in the Glee Project came in, Like I it didn't flap in the way that the original show did, and so I found myself less motivated soil. Every time I get to like seasons five and six in my rewatch, I'm like, I'm pulling out of remote less. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.
It's a different show. It feels different, it looks different.
And let me just be clear, Like if I was allowed at the time to have tried out for the Glee Project, like I would have, like I could see a world in which I was on the Glee Project, like that you understand, Like I was so obsessed with this show, and like I still am. And it's so crazy because I'm really not like a theater kid. I find like a lot of my peers, the Gleeks, grew up theater kids, and it's like a very theater kid.
Coach where you are makes sense, and I'm really not.
I didn't do like theater or choir anything growing up. I just like absolutely love to sing and be the center of attention. So I guess in that sense, I I'm a theater.
Kid, right, And like Rachel Barry is you know you are, and like I think I'm Rachel Barry, but like I'm literally not, Well what do you think it was? Then that attached you so deeply to the show. To start, I think to start.
Like, it's so funny because I just rewatched the pilot and I remember you guys like released the first episode right, and then like nothing for a while, like the so like it was like into the Summer or something. Yeah, but that song Don't Stop Believing, which is which is now like corny and overplayed, but at the time it
was like kind of an underrated bop. Sure it took over like everybody's iPods, like it was on iTunes, iPod touch like it was this song of the summer, and it set up the show for success because by the time you guys were filming and like airing the rest of the season, you had a committed fan base just from this one show, one song. It's exactly right, And I feel like I listened to the song first and I was like, oh, I gotta watch this show. Oh,
and I think a lot of people had that. I would love to know, like how many people bought that song on iTunes because I know that more people bought it than the original.
Yes, yeah, and when the original got a chart, it started to chart again.
Or the crazy thing is that you too are in from the very first episode. Correct, you're in the club, you're like og members. Yes, yeah, it's so crazy.
Yeah, we were there. But so we've talked about, you know, the people who watched that very first episode and then came back in the fall when the show actually started. Yeah, and we talked, you know, to the marketing geniuses behind it and what they were doing to get interest in it over the summer. But what we never talked about was what you just said, and I've never even considered it is normally when a show comes out, all you have from that show is the show itself.
For us, it was the music.
Yeah, you had something to leave somebody with, right, That wasn't an our commitment to watch it. You could show it to your friends in three and a half minutes. It is a whole different experience.
And it was also at a time the time where like kids who were like the target demo of that show were like obsessed with buying some on iTunes, like still in your parents' credit cards, like iTunes was the like even like downloading it illegally on lime wire like that was very much. That was really how people were spending their time on the internet. So it was kind of a perfect storm, And I think that the song hooked me before I even saw like a minute of
the show. And then I remember watching the first episode and being like so excited, couldn't believe I had to wait all summer for the rest of the show to come out, and I watched every like I watched it live, like with commercials, and like I talk about it the next morning with my friends, like and I also I really attribute a lot of like people say, you know, clutter, you're very cosmopolitan, your very world like I contribute a lot of like my knowledge about things to Glee because
I very much I grew up in like a small little bubble. Everyone I knew was Jewish, Like I went to jewsh day school, Jewish camp, and I was like learning about things and people and identities and that like didn't exist in my world yet. And I feel like a lot of people had that experience, like when they go to college, right, they grew up in of bubble and then they meet like everyone from the real world in college. Like for me, that was blae.
That makes sense, great access to other worlds. And we were intentionally Ryan was making sure we were talking about all different kinds of things a lot of culture references, like.
Yeah, everybody was dealing with like some heavy shit at points, Like it really was a window into the real world for a lot of people.
I think, Wow, you are the ambassador to Glee.
You don't understand, Like I can't even explain how much the show means to me. And now every time I watch it, like I learn new things and I notice new things, But an eternal experience that I have every time is like whenever it's a Gwyneth Paltrow HOI Holly Holiday episode, like those are the best. And then like as a pop culture, the knowing that like she ended up meeting her husband and like the love of her life on that show and now they're married, Like it's actually too much for me.
It is the same for us.
Actually it's a lot.
Yeah, Like I can't believe it. Like I remember when they like started dating. I was like, is this HoTT No.
Was also the intersection of just so much popular culture, like none enough people talk about the fact like both in Dana Menzel and Christian chandow With were on the show at the same time, right, yes, Like that's really crazy.
I know.
Oh and by the way, I don't know if there has ever been a more genius casting than a Dina Menzel as Leah Michelle's mother.
It was actually wild, like they are twins, and then I dream to.
Dream You're like, oh my god, that sou is so good. And I actually recently made a TikTok that I was just gonna be my opinion. I know it's obviously subjective, but like, there are certain and I was very much the type of fan who was like buying my favorite songs on iTunes afterwards, like and it's so funny because
your iTunes like it's kind of eternal. So in my Apple Music now, I still have all my purchases, like seriously from two thousand and nine, and my library is like mostly the Glee cast because I don't really buy music anymore and I have so many songs, and so I had made a TikTok being like for me, there are certain Glee covers that actually are better than the original songs like take Us Throw, Take Us Through. Well,
so for a you know, a generation of kids. I also was introduced to songs for the first time basically, so a lot of the songs that were being covered were songs I already knew and there are the obvious ones, right like, and I didn't include those in my TikTok, And people are like, well, what about Valerie. It's a well obviously Valerie, like I'm giving you like a little.
Bit more of a let's go layer, you know, a little deeper.
I didn't include. But now it's just coming to me. And I used to love it growing up. The Pretty Young Thing cover is actually it's up there. It's really up there.
The original, But I appreciate it.
It's not better than the original. It's excellent, Yes it is. I also learned something that I didn't know. So the first one that I that I cited is My Man, which was kind of like a very hot take. Obviously Barbara Strii san is Barbara Strice hand but I said
what I said, like Lia Michelle did it better? Sure, And the last time I was like wasted out a karaoke bar I said I'd like to do My Man the Glee version and he was like, are you serious, it's like this old old did like it was like this very old school gay bar And this guy was like, You'm going to play Glee version over Barbara Schi Send and I said, yes, yes, I do, and.
Then I have a point to prove.
All the game men rolled over and they're great.
Now everybody left. I cleared the place out in two seconds like a bad fart. Okay. And this is, in my opinion, the best Glee cover period and it's Fat Bottom Girls where with Puck singing to Laurence ICs like because I was also a chubby girl growing up and like that, like for me, that was representation, like it was everything to me that was before the ozembic, like I needed that. I can't explain it.
Yes, yes, yes, I hear it.
That is what I've never heard I know.
And I also that was like an introduction to that. I wasn't like, you know, a sixteen year old listening to Queen and so that was my first introduction to it. And then I remember hearing the original being like, this isn't as good as the Glee version.
It is hard when you hear a version that you attached to, your attaching story and meaning to it. It's hard to get around hearing like the original version.
Yeah, I mean a song that I had heard many many times, But I still think that the Glee version is better. And this is a hot take is Landslide.
This is the hottest wow now.
I think. Also, it's such a pivotal moment in the show where Santana and Brittany are like really like coming to terms with the fact that they love each other, and of course Holly Holidays and they're you know, counseling these girls through it. So I'm biased for sure because going the Paltrow is the love of my life, right, I think it's I think it's really good.
That's a tough one for me, But I see where you're going with that one.
I'm not getting. I'm going to remain neutral, but I think there's an argument to be made that the Chicks version of Landslide is to some people, a superior version, and then our version is in line with the Chicks version. Yes, yeah, you have it, and you have the Gwyneth and Naya, the Brianna, Yeah, the Britanna of it all. So it's sort of they're all. I think they're all up there.
It's how I feel about Valerie. I feel like they're different, but they're all equally as good, which I think is a really big compliment.
Yes, agreed, you're gonna talk about the original songs because I have to know how you felt listening to the original songs for the first time.
Loser Like Me was a cultural reset. And one thing about me is like I watch a lot because I love I love to watch people sing. It's like my favorite thing. And I watched it a lot of like American Idol, and I love watching like auditions for the Voice and when people come on they're like, I'm gonna sing an original song, Like I immediately turn it off, skip, I hate hate like the Prio and your dreams, like
we don't care. And I remember feeling like such immense disappointment when they were like going to sing an original song at Sectional It's like the whole point of the show to sing other people's songs, and I was not prepared for the bop that ensued. Like I was wrong. I'm a woman enough to admit that I was incredibly wrong. Okay, wait, remind me of something. When Rachel was performing at Niada in that white down for the Winter whatever it was called,
like song does she sing? Because it was I remember being like, oh, I don't know this song, and I I might want to add it to my list of songs that are better than the original.
She does two songs. Does she do a Christmas song?
She's all Holy Night and she looked insane And even though she was like dating a Jigglow, that like wasn't my favorite era for her.
But you know, we've all been through it.
Being good isn't good enough?
Yes? Being good like so good.
Add that one to the list, yeah, added.
To the list.
Yeah.
And like Rachel at that time, like was extremely insufferable, but she was really relatable, like, you know, girling from the Midwest moving to New York to follow her dreams, ends up dating a Jiggelow.
Very much, and just think that she's going to come in and be like the stars, like no, no, no, You're in the big city now.
Right, right right. I didn't like that for her, Like I was very much like a toxic blind Rachel Stan like even when she was wrong, she was right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear that.
What about when the Originals graduated and went off to New York.
With Rabel in that scene where like Finn stays behind and she's on the train, like, seriously, take that back and shoot me. I was so upset, my god, devastating, devastating.
That scene was actually one of the best scenes of the whole series.
I think I'm in agreement, and I think it's like Rachel's like best acting.
Yes, the trade is almost running real. It was hard to watch, it was so.
Good, but yeah, I'm curious.
So then we move into a new world where the New York splits, Rachel goes to New York. We love the Midwest, Elia trying to follow her dreams, and then we have like a new class at McKinley.
How did you respond?
I know you had said like later the later seasons were not so much into but like, how did you respond?
I was open in the beginning, and I think there was a lot of really strong new kids in the club. Like Bechatobin obviously was a star from the minute we saw her, Like we loved that. I really was into Marlee and that scene where like Bechatobin like forces her to be anorex, Like that was seriously something crazy. Should have ever seen it?
That goes on for a long time.
Yeah, and then they have like that scene where Marley singing New York state of mind is so is but they're like saying the frost coasts like yes, so that actually, that's one of my favorite when I do karaoke. I also do the Glee version New York State of Mind.
Do these karaoke places have the Glee version?
You know what, You would be very surprised that they do, and a lot of them, like these New Waved karaoke places, you can seriously just put on YouTube and ship Lee cover instrumental.
And you can change you can change the key of it, which is yeah.
No, they're not messing around anymore. Yeah. And wait, you guys know that I saw you on tour at the Naesta Coliseum, right, Okay.
Did you I think you do?
You mention? So it was like, SERI, I think it was the first concert I'd ever been to. It was after that Orhannah Montann. It was like the same year and they were both at the nam Actually, wow, the best night of me and my sister's life. Like we all were taking pictures on our BlackBerry like it was. We had an amazing seats. Like I'll genuinely like never
forget it. And I can't imagine, like, seriously, you guys being on a TV show where you're doing twenty two episodes a year and then like on the off season going on tour.
Yes, that's nice.
It is pretty unbelievable.
If I could flip the script, like, were you guys making enough money for that? Like for real? No, Okay, that's what I that's what I figure.
So we signed this deal with the tours, with potential record deals all in place before we even had our last audition for the show, And when a.
Song hit number one on iTunes? Did that do anything for you?
We would get We get royalties from the songs still, yeah, but it's not it's not a lot because you're it's also divided about how many people are on the song fifteen pop and then labeled gets a piece of it. Fox gets a piece of it. But when we signed those contracts, the concept, the idea of us going on tour was so passible, Like I remember literally laughing, like
sure it was because it was built in. It was because High School Musical just had a tour, a really successful tour, and so they're like just covering their asses.
Signing like basically an American idol contract right right right locking, And now it was Fox too. Yeah, They're like, look, we cover all the bases and in case we want to do this later. But we all were like, well, we'll take whatever job you give us because this was for.
Most of you, like your first like big brand, right, yeah, it would like my husband would actually kill me. My husband's the biggest gripe with the show.
Like.
Something he will never stop talking about, yes, is the fact that already Like wasn't actually played by an actor who used a wheelchair.
He was very passionate about that on the show.
Oh my god, he will seriously never stop talking about it. And we recently watched the episode where like you Like you Like your wish gets fulfilled and you get to dance and you're dancing in them all, which obviously couldn't have been done with an actor who was actually in
a wheelchair. But so many questions about that, like one when the show was so committed it was actually just strange because the show was so committed to representation, right, it was like very much a show where everyone saw themselves and like, I guess that's what acting is, like people act like things that they're not and if it's not a big deal, but like at the time, did you feel any sort of way about it?
I felt like it was. I had been on so many auditions, we all like anyone I knew you've been in auditions for characters and wheelchairs. Before it was no different, like it was a very common practice, and so I think we were not even aware that that was maybe like a questionable thing. To me, I did feel the pressure of representing the character correctly and so like that was absolutely like, oh God, people are going to see this.
But it was like James McAvoy played somebody in a wheelchair and was like really great, like he has a couple of times.
It was a very different time.
Yeah, no, forever, I feel like it was the actors playing things that they weren't and then recently it's like become a cultural conversation about like Welsh gay roles only to go to gay actors. Like I'm a person, I believe in the art, like you can act as whatever you want to be. But when the whole show up until that point was like really was like emblematic of a cast of characters that you don't normally see have
to be it was kind of strange. And then I also and then now imagining you like going on tour, wheeling around on stage, like what sort of prep physically do you have to do? Because I imagine that's really tough on your arms.
It wasn't really.
Okay, but there were times that you had to get over like those really big humps of like cords and wires, and I remember being like, oh, wow, this is actually harder than being on the show where you like, you know, and hard is a relative traier in terms of that's Kevin's saying in a chair and not being handicapped by himself, but like you know, like getting over these things. And I was like, but he We tried to help him, as.
On the tour they had to. I mean, there was physically like a ramp that I could right get up. It was way too steep, and so that was built into the choreography. But you're on flat surfaces. And I think in my mind too, I was also very conscious of like, people who live in this day and day out, this is nothing. I'm fully like, this is absolutely fictional.
This is not a real you can get up and go home and walk.
Yes, And I do think and we've said it before, but like Glee was in that like sort of transitional period where it was the end of the old ways, you know, of like we didn't really know better because like, yeah, the show was representative of so many different types of people.
But like still, casting actors who were able body to be in chairs was not a thought I get to you, And it was not even in the frame of like it was until because of what the show became and it became about representing so many people that like when the Wheels episode came out, I went to so many events and met so many people in chairs or kids and chairs and parents of and it was through that then you're like, Okay, now we're educating ourselves, we're educating
a white audience, and now we know yeah, no.
It's just kind of like one of the fun facts. And I feel like, maybe do you have this experience, Like I don't think everybody knows that about you, Like I think maybe a lot of people assumed that you were in a chair. So I imagine like if you run into a leak in real life. They sometimes they're like, oh my god, every day really really every day.
Oh And when we used to go on like do press things or on tour, like they would give me like the handicap.
Room you are lying and I.
Would feel really bad because I'm like somebody who actually needs this room, yes, And so I'd be like, I don't need that room.
Yes, oh my, oh my, that's really crazy.
Yeah, no, people, and we talk about it like today if like you know, hypothetical like gleor reyboot, could Kevin come back?
Well? Because and it's also like if it was a similar thing to like casting real trans people to play trans characters, right, total, if people do not know that there's an opportunity for them, then you won't find people to do the job. And so we know now there are so many incredible actors in chairs that can have the jobs, right, so they should be the ones representing that. I think it is different from the gayer straight conversation. Yeah, I think it's the same.
Speaking of a reboot, Like it's so funny because when I think about like shows that I would love to see rebooted or like a little reunion, Glee really doesn't come to mind. And I'm not sure if that's because so many people have passed. I don't know when I think, like I'm not I and I'm the biggest fan, Like I'm not personally waiting for a Glee reunion, Like I actually think it might ruin the magic to see it
all together, Like how much has happened negatively since then? Honestly, I think the show kind of being preserved, like leave the legacy of it alone. Like it's good.
That's actually very refreshing to hear because obviously we hear like is there going to be reboot?
When is the reboot coming?
Because everything around us is being rebooted, and so it's very refreshing to hear that from somebody who is a huge hardcore gleek yeah, who has been there from the beginning.
I agree.
I think my thought is if there was a reboot, it should be take the same premise all New y do it somewhere else? Do New Kids do? Change it a little bit, because like that's those stories need to be told that I think those stories, yeah, would be different in twenty twenty five, you know, like it's.
Oh, there's so much good music that you could eat.
And by the way, like if you are bringing back the show, it is absolutely paramount that mister Schuster was fired years ago.
Well, well let's talk about that, because I know that you have like a real disdain for the way that I have a and every.
Time I watch it I feel even more, Yeah.
It's aging, poor, Like it's aging.
So what did you think about him from the first time you watched it to to now this, I actually.
Didn't think anything of it. Like I saw him as just like a teacher, Like he was kind of like neutral to me. Okay, and the older I got, and you know, the older you realize more about like boundaries and just like what's appropriate and what's not. Every time I watch there's something new, Like I forget what it was,
but I mean, oh okay, wait, okay, I remember. I think it was like season one where oh oh, he starts like his uh own little group with like some of the teachers, like that original football coach Ken yell So Howard from Lennon's and things ye, because like some of the glee kids are acting out, so he's like, you guys like won't be my glee club. I'll do my own glee club. And he starts like neglecting the kids in the club for his own personal passion project
and it's like your students literally need you. He's really just like so obsessed with his own image. And what's funny is that episode with Neil Patrick Harris where like they kind of hate each other because like Neil Patrick Harris like wants me to starts like mister she doesn't realize like he is Neils Patrick Harris times a thousand, like he is worse, and just there's so many instances like where the student teacher relationship and the boundaries like.
We're so like, why when is his best man in the wedding?
Like students in his house? Like I've never been in my teacher's house in my life.
Go get your own friends.
Yeah, you know they know all each other's business. It's like, why I do not need to know what's going on, who you're sleeping with your dating?
Yeah? So no, yeah.
And also his assignments are like he comes up with the assignments in that moment in the very first scene.
He doesn't know Crep.
We're like, come on, mister shoe, get it together. Be a teacher.
And it claims like he doesn't listen to the kids ever, like and it's an after school curricular activity, Like I understand not listening to the kids in Spanish class, like whatever, but this is supposed to be an outlet for kids to be creative and express themselves and what their own interests are. So when you guys are like begging to do a Britney Spears episode and he's like, no, we're
doing journey. It's like, why you're stifling the creativity of the kids that you claim to care about and like want them to flourish. You're literally the problem. Like I hate.
Him, you guys, he's gotten creeper, It's.
Gotten I feel bad for Matt Morrison because I'm like, it's not his faults, but he's.
Doing hard to separate the art from the artist. And that's I think what our generation is struggling with, like because he sort of gets a lot of hate when it's not him. There's something wrong with him. Character that they wrote for him was so disgusting, and he did it so well, and he didn't he didn't do anything afterwards that was bigger than that, So people really just associate him with this show.
And the funny thing is mad is around our age.
So like he he you know, he had a leadership role like off screen, and he kind of like really did find his own time and like his own space, and he didn't always like get involved in all of us and the drama and all the things that were going on with us. But like he he was very close in age.
To all of us.
Like here, he wasn't really older, so we saw him as a peer.
He was like what three years older than like Corey.
Yeah, he was a peer for us, and so we treated him like a friend. So then of course after three years you know.
And I actually remember reading that in the beginning of the show he was dating Lea Michelle very briefly, so that actually tracks with the age.
I did not date in the beginning of the show.
Didn't they have something before the show?
Well, that just only proves that, like everybody was really close in age.
Exactly, Like, yes, I think he and I shouldn't have been our teacher.
He and I are ten years apart.
Did you know that it was actually originally written with the idea of Justin Timberlake in mind, okay.
One thousand percent, Like they couldn't afford Justake, so they got mister Shoe instead. Like that is he is like the Walmart version of Justin Timberlake. That's an amazing like one thousand percent.
Yeah.
And by the way, when Holly Holliday comes into substitute because he's really sick, like a couple of times that she comes in actual Spanish teacher, well not only in the Spanish department, but in the bleed department too. It really highlights how bad of a job he did. Like, the kids love her so much.
She's so freeing.
She's the exact tive of teacher you want in like a creative arts like extracurricular activity and honestly like jail.
But she lacked the commitment you know what I mean.
She but you also as a teacher, like at the end of the day, you do have to be like an authoritarian. And yeah, she was too like punish. She was too cool with best friends, with everyone, like she wasn't gonna really hould them with an iron fist.
She was a substitute. She was the funny as Yeah that's right.
Yeah that gets to give.
The you get to get away with murder?
Yeah, yeah, right.
If you were on Glee, and obviously aside from Rachel Barry, like, what would your character be like?
That's an amazing question. That's something I've actually not thought about, Like am I playing myself? Or I could write any character for myself whatever you want. I mean, I was so obsessed and I grew up very much like watching the movies and TV shows of like really kind of corny traditional high school like mean girls. So I always envision when I would get to high school, like I would be a cheerleader and my boyfriend movie the Quarterback,
Like those are the types of movies I watched. And mind you, I went to like a Jewish day school in Manhattan that had neither a cheerleading squad nor football team. Like so the dream, like the life that I wanted to have for myself I never got to see. And it was like so influenced by movies and TV shows and like you know those early two thousands types of movies, right, bring.
It on, And so I would like movies.
Perfect movies, and I would create a character like that. It's just that very much like a blend of Rachel and Quinn, because like Quinn was was pretty awful, but she had like what I wanted, which was like everybody thought she was pretty and she was a cheerleader and she was at the top of the pyramid like me, but she like wasn't the star of the glee club, and she was like a little shy and she was kind of like swaying in the background. Like I would be a fusion of the.
Two, a star in all walks of life, a triple.
Threat, if you will, yeh, yeah, I love that.
Yeah, that's great. Do you have a favorite mashup?
So a fun fact about me is I don't love the mash up. And I'm realizing this, Like with the Taylor Swift Eras tour, how like the Surprise Songs set, which started as her choosing two songs to perform in full acoustically, is now her doing like a mashup of three different songs two times. Like it's not for me. I find it a little anti climactic.
I really agree with that. Wow, I didn't realize I felt that way until you said it.
But walking on Sunshine x Halo is amazing.
But that's the thing. I think, when they work, they are exceptional. It's like having a bad DJ, you know somewhere, like when the DJ switches a song too soon or you're mixing things like these just do not work together. And I'd rather just hear these songs separately.
And to be clear, like when I say I don't like mashups, IM obviously not talking about like DJ your Warm, United States a Pop, but overall, like it's not for me. Those were not my favorite episodes.
They're not.
Yeah, I get that, we need to get you in a room with Ryan if you's ever considering a reboots so you can talk to him about these things.
I would like to be. I don't need to be on Glee because actually we've been talking about this a lot on the toe about how like acting is. Seriously some only crazy people act totally. It's literally so crazy. I did an audition once once in my life. I've never stopped talking about it because it was seriously the worst thing I'd ever did, like, and I just remember having this added body experience where I floated like to the corner of the room and just like, watch myself
acting like pitch. You're literally in New York City, Like what do you do? You're not You're not Pensacola like it was. It takes like such a crazy level of delute. Only the mentally ill can act. I'm sorry, I'm far too like I'm very straight laced, you know, I have like a firm grasp on reality like I can't. So I actually don't think I would even be a good in Glee, But I would like to be some sort of consultant when casting music choice.
Keep the purity, you got the purity in your head of the show.
I'm a Glee purist, I will.
Say too, I if it were to ever happen again, And to your further your point, I think the issue with a lot of reboots is you're chasing nostalgia. You're chasing the original feeling, which it is absolutely impossible. You will never recapture. Like what you said, it's a time capsule. It's locked in how it is right now, which is great. Yeah, And so like if you're ever this is I guess a note for any like reboot, it's got to be completely different. You can't be comparing it.
I feel like an example that I cite sometimes when I have this conversation that I don't even think is particularly good, but I feel like it's the best way it's been done Fuller House, because it really was like an entirely new show with some of the younger kids from the old show as the older kids. But like now Bob sagged, he wasn't in it, but those young girls, like DJ Stephanie, they were like the parents of the show,
So it was very much like a new generation. But it was entirely a new show and people liked it for you know, until Queen Queeny Laurie had to take a five month sabbatical. But up until then, like it was doing it was it was well received.
No, for sure, for sure I hear that.
I feel like if you and I really just let go and talked about pop culture, I would get canceled so quickly.
The thing is is that it's so much fun to care about these like moronic things that really have no impact on like the world or your life. And I wake up every day and I get to do that for a living, and I'm so blessed.
My entire life. I have been filled. What I've always said since I was a kid, in like every friend group, I am the default person that is filled with use culture. And I don't even I don't seek it. Somehow, I just absorb it like yes, And I feel like you and I could just kick back and run our mouths a thousand or sent.
And the great thing about my line of work is that useless information is no longer useless. You know, I'm putting it to work every day.
That's right.
Yeah.
Do you find yourself ever getting in trouble for things that you say on your show.
I'm just curious because it's really you, guys, Really, it's it's you.
Toe the line.
Yes, No, we definitely. We definitely get blowback every now and then, and I think how you deal with it, yes,
affects the outcome. I think when I was younger, I used to freak out, Like one comment, I would like freak and I made it into this big thing in my head, and in actuality it became a bigger thing because I was acting like it was And I've now and there are things that I've said like that I actually deeply regret, like I remember, and it was just I was thinking about this the other day when we were reporting on Matthew Perry's passing. I had just said,
you know that he died. You know, I think I said he lost his battle with addiction, and that was like literally not reported. I just assumed that, and like a lot of people from the addiction community were like, that's actually not cool. Hasn't been reported and might not be true. It just like sets such a bad stigma. It felt so bad, like when you're impacting your intention are two different things, but they end up like conversing
with one another. That was the situation. I like, the next day, I have no problem if I say something that I actually feel bad about like I'm a grown ass woman, like I'm happy to apologize.
Yeah.
Yeah. Where it gets dicey is like where I share something, you know, all in fun, right, the point of the toast is to be fun. Yeah, and then people take it out of context or literally misinterpret what I said. I'm like, well, I'm not gonna apologize. I didn't say that you think I did, but listen. And that happens a lot with like clips and people just like posting something on TikTok, like that's actually not at all what
I said. And I do not believe in apologizing just because you got some sort of backlash, like that's actually not what I said. And so I often find that, like eighty percent of the things people get upset with us about, we didn't actually say. Yeah, aget it. We do ninety minute episodes every day, you're not sitting and listening to whole thing. It makes it so easy to
see this clip on TikTok. But I do not believe I think a lot of people in this industry, every time there's like a little bit of blowback there, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like statement statement. And I think that maybe at one point in my career. I would have done that because I was so afraid of any sort of backlash. But like if I didn't say it, I'm not taking like that's on misunderstanding.
Yeah, yeah, that's not able to critically think no more.
Like media literacy.
Literacy is at an all time low this contraption. But I also think that's the thing where you've been doing this for a while now and clearly hearing your thoughts just about Glee. You think deeply about these things and thoroughly about these things.
They mean a lot to me. Like I know when some people listen to my show, like if you're not into pop culture, like it's whatever, but like if you are obsessed with celebrities and TV, and it very much like raised you, these things mean a lot to me. Like I put a lot of thought into them, and like, like I was saying, even how Glee like really changed my outlook on the world, Like it's not just TV to some people.
You wouldn't I spending ninety minutes a day doing it if you didn't.
Yeah, so I take it seriously.
Yeah I believe that, and you do and you're very committed to it.
How do you what is it like doing it every day, Like do you run out of things to say?
Like how a question?
You know what I mean, don't We don't run out of things to say. Some episodes are obviously better than others. Certain times of year make the job really easy, Like some there's certain times a year where the celebs are just like being crazy and it's so great. But like the summers, I feel like celebrities don't really like to work in the summer, Like they all go on vacation
for weeks at a time. So sometimes it makes the job a little bit more difficult, especially when it's incumbent on what other people do, like in their personal and profestional lives. But for the most part, no, we get that a lot, Like how do you guys not run out of things to talk about? And I guess the cost wasn't my sister right, I might run out of things to talk about, But we have a whole life outside of the podcast that feeds the podcast.
You know, totally totally, so.
I mean, Knockwood, the day might come. I mean some days we're like seriously having those make the best episodes, but we're just going down a rabbit hole of the dumbest thing you've ever heard about in your life, Like, we have nothing else to talk about. Let me tell you some of our best moments are in.
I would imagine. So it's like, you, guys, if people are in, if they're coming in to listen every single day, they like you. We like you. So it's like we're down to hear whatever the hell you're going to talk about.
Sometimes it takes us a minute, but we always get.
There, right. It's like therapy.
Yeah, I mean, and you have such loyal followers and listeners. I obviously listen to podcasts, not every single day, but I have you do listen every day, and then they'll be like, hey, Claudia mentioned Lee today or Claudia done today or yeah, but now you guys are you guys have been doing live shows you know.
Quite a bit as well.
But you have Gurly Swirlies night out at the hard Rock in Hoard on December eighth.
What are your live shows like?
So we only recently started doing it, I feel like everybody really Yeah, everybody with the podcast was like, let's do live shows, and Jack and I were kind of against it for a while, mostly because we do a show every single day, so literal most podcasts are weekly, so that leaves creative space for you to do a show one night, you know, but it's hard to like do a show in the morning and then that night also do a show because we'll never not do the morning.
Show and then then I say an show, right.
And I think that a lot of people's podcast live shows are like a little scripted, so if you go to two, they're kind of similar. But because our shtick is topical, no two shows will ever be the same. So for a while we were like, if we put this together, we know we could sell the tickets and make good money, but it wouldn't be a good show. And honestly, like, are we really like wanting to do that?
Like yeah, And so it wasn't until this summer where we felt like, you know, we have enough shtick, games jokes like that, we think we can do it. And we did it and it was amazing. We definitely still run into the issue of doing a show that morning, a show that night, and then a show that next morning,
because you only have so much to give creatively. So I think those where we did shows was a lot for us, but we we found a way to do it that because I'm like very like even in my own life, like I'm very protective of how I spend my money and if I wasted my money on a show like let alone, like people who get sitters got to dinner, Like totally, it's really important that like if you're gonna leave your family and come to my show or even travel, Yeah, I'm not putting together like a
half ass fake podcast, Like it's gonna be good. It's gonna be real, it's gonna be premium. It's not just gonna be like a random guest, Like, it's gonna be the show that you love in real life. And we finally got to a place where we're like, you know, if we're gonna ask people to pay for this, this is actually worth it.
And not enough people come into it with that perspective.
No, I think that podcast live shows is very much for most people, like not to be a hater a money grab Yeah, totally.
And you can feel that. Yeah, Like anytime I've done a show and I'm like, oh, I'm tired, how am I gonna do this? Say like no, no, no, people traveled here, spent a shit ton of money.
To do it, like it's the first time do it.
Yeah, and we have so many listeners who are moms. And I think, like when Jackie, my sister, became a mom, I really saw how much it takes to get out of the house. Like it's not just getting dressed, like it's a million things, it's naps, it's the whole day has to go right in order for you to make your plans. And so the fact that, like people make plans, they leave their kids, like it's not something we take lightly. I think it really like we're honored by it, but we we feel we must do justice.
Yeah, yeah, sure.
That's wonderful. I want to come to one of your shows.
I please so. Our last one of the year is December eighth at the hard Rock in Seminole, Florida, like Hollywood. Oh my god, I love it there. I just love a casino, like.
A casino, but we have to have that.
You do not want to see me like you know.
Donny's passenger.
I yell at everyone, I drink everything, and I sit at the blackjack table and I tried desperately to make friends.
Yes, we love that.
I'm actually like a very black jack I'm a very good blackjack player, like my husband taught me how to play. We've been together for like ten years, so when we were like eighteen exactly. So when we were like eighteen, he taught me how to play, and we would always go on vacation to places that like had like Puerto Rico, all these hotels that had We would go to Altax City all the time. And he's very good. He's been like playing with his friends for a long time, so
I became very good. Like I know the book and actually I have one of those little cards sometimes.
Yeah good.
So we go to tables where it's like I know, I sit down and I'm like this annoying loud jew and they're like, oh god, this, she's gonna ruin the table. She's gonna ruin the table. I meanwhile, I'm so good. I'm teaching everyone how to play. And I always like the best tables are like when you get camaraderie and everybody. And I find that like at those like fancy tables where like everybody knows how to play, they're not looking for that type of camaraderie.
So I have a hard time finding my balance at interesting that's fair.
It's like how I like I like playing craps for like the community of it.
Yeah, everybody's shamned the whole time.
No, no, No, it's a lot, you know, Like you know.
That, Like I'm seriously on the edge of blacking out when I'm at it, and by them. I'm always like if I vape, because like you can smoke, because you can smoke in a because you know, I smoke cigarettes. But for many years I vaped, and like they kick you out of everywhere when you vape, Like I'm always going to care out of restaurants and stuff. Yeah, I'm like blacking out with my electric cigarette. And I'm like these actual, like ninety seven year old man, I'm like, so,
what do you do for work? That's how you know, Like it's about to get dark for oh my god, let's go to Vegas. No, Like I'm so you been.
I've never been to Atlantic City.
You know, missing much. But back in the day when I was in college, it was so fun. It was intended to be like a mini Vegas. But they never really recovered after Hurricane Sandy, and they're kind of like in a fiscal crisis over there, so it's not as good as it should be.
But I've never been to the hard rock in Florida, Oh so fun.
Except one of my husband's biggest scribes with it is that the drinks in the casino aren't off free what so it's on a reservation, which I that's why.
Never makes it difficult.
So we've been many times and we go and we pay for our own drinks. But it's not the same.
Yeah, it's not the same.
No, because if you're gonna lose, at least you get some drinks out of it.
No. And the thing is, I actually don't even mind, Like when I when I go to casino, like I could be spending this money on a show on dinner, Like I'm I make peace with X amount of money that I'm going to lose. Yeah, so I actually don't mind losing it if I have so much fun the cost of doing business.
That's excitingly how I feel. I've gone with a couple of friends. It's like it's a gamble within itself because you don't know how they're going to be in a casino, and they get really upset about losing the money. I'm like, no, see, I'm trying to this is my entertainment. I'm trying to have a good time. If you haven't made peace of losing this money. You got to go.
You got to go.
Once the cash is out of my account, like to me, it doesn't exist anymore. And if it makes its way back, that's just a bonus. But this is the money I've allocated for a fun night out.
Yeah, and I'm okay with doing that, and like if I can stretch it to last as long as possible, that's okay.
That's okay.
Well, come to California next year the casinos do a live We need to do an l live show, please do?
I think La the La toasters are waiting.
They're waiting and they're fear.
Oh no, I've had multiple friends tell me like, you need to do a show.
Yeah, we'll come that We do, We really do.
Before we let you go. We we always ask everybody on the show. What is the feeling that Glee leaves you with?
Okay, I mean when I'm watching it with a critical eye, it's rage mostly be guys, mister Joe, but overall, like on a really good episode where mister Sho was like not offensive and this is gonna be such a lame answer, but like it's Glee, Like it's gleeful.
M M, Like.
It's full for joy. It's I love music so much, like for me, if I'm in a bad mood, you put on a song that I like. Like I'm really instantly like motivated by music. So I and I'm always gravitating.
And that's like the whole theme of the podcast with the toasts, like I'm always gravitating towards things that are joyfault, towards things that are positive, like I'm not I like to complain and stuff, but I'm not one of these people who's like, you know, the Phyllis from what's that movie inside Out, like the Blue Woman, Like I like to bring joy wherever I go. And so I think like Glee really is like a show that reflects that. And even on the sad episodes, like with the music,
I just it's like corny in the best way. It's just joy.
Well, I'm so glad that we got you back.
I love you guys so much, thank.
You, oh my God.
Likewise, and I do show so we can come see.
Ye enjoy that rewatch girl, it was so good.
To see you.
Thanks for making the time, Thank you, thank you, thank you so great.
Bye bye.
She is really the ultimate, Like she talks about it on her show all the time.
She's watched it more than most.
People, and she knows the show in and out better.
Than we do.
Kevin like, psychologically she understands oh yeah, yeah, she gets it.
She gets it.
She truly just way better than we know.
You know, time and time again, talking to all of you who have these thoughts about the show just continue to be highlights of doing this podcast.
Love it well, Thank you so much for joining us and taking the time.
She does a show every single morning. The toast, the toasties, and the toasters are so committed And if you're interested, thanks for listening to our show and coming over. And that's what you really missed.
Thanks for listening and follow us on Instagram at and That's what you really miss pod. Make sure to write us a review and leave us five stars. See you next time.