Ira and Louis discuss Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Blvd, Broadway’s best and worst stunt casting, Beyoncé’s appearance at Kamala Harris’ rally, Donald Trump’s racist Madison Square Garden rally, Terri Garr’s death, and new music from Lady Gaga, Addison Rae, Halsey, and Megan thee Stallion. Cristin Milioti joins to discuss her buzzy new role in HBO’s The Penguin, her love of Joni Mitchell, musical theatre, and more.

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TRANSCRIPT

 

Ira Madison III And we are back with an all new episode of Keep It. I’m Ira Madison, the third.

 

Louis Virtel I’m Louis Virtel and I’m not wearing my ten times oversized suit because Kelly Rowland stole it to wear at the Beyoncé camera event. And girl, that was for me. She looked like Arsenio Hall.

 

Ira Madison III She had David Byrne shaking. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel No, she said, I’m going to stop making sounds today. I’m a psycho killer today. We’re burning down the House of Representatives today.

 

Ira Madison III First of all, I want to say and I said this when I watched the DNC, but people who enjoy political rallies, political events couldn’t have found me.

 

Louis Virtel As in treating them like they’re at Coachella. Kind of.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, because because watching it at home was mind numbing.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. No, I mean, first of all, let me just say this. Applause giving it is exhausting. Like when you’re at a comedy show, when somebody expects applause too many times as opposed to making you laugh. It’s I’m not Vanna White. Don’t make me do the clapping more often than I need to do. It’s just my hands don’t want it. But at this time, yeah, you literally are just making noise for basic sentiments. You have definitely already thought about before. So it’s just very canned.

 

Ira Madison III Also, I. I mostly just could not have endured the several hours of listening to the deejay before anyone came out on stage. Him just shouting things every five minutes. Give it up. Or like, Who loves a liar also.

 

Louis Virtel But I feel like that’s just not something that needs to be asked. If you actually disagree with the career of Alicia, get on stage. I want to hear where you’re coming from.

 

Ira Madison III He did play a pretty good rock the boat beriberi bomb, bomb mash up, but that’s about it. It was he was also the kind of deejay who kept playing like the chorus of a song and then moving on to the next song. Like that Whiplash, too, is so fucking annoying.

 

Louis Virtel That seems like very Vegas club, but you got to be real messed up in the morning for that to work for you. Also, I just want to say that I do think Rock the Boat is always best song. I feel like it’s rarely shouted out as such. I think critically we’re hung up on Are you that somebody which is of course lovely, but rock the boat. A groove. I think early is ultimately about a groove.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Also her best album.

 

Louis Virtel I love that.

 

Ira Madison III She went on.

 

Louis Virtel It’s the one I. Definitely the one I listen to the most for sure.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Also slid in right after Rock the Boat with another great single posthumous single, More Than a Woman.

 

Louis Virtel That’s, you know, that’s my favorite time of music video history where just everything was like a green screen beyond green screen. Everything looked like a seed round game. I’m, of course, thinking about the Brandi. What about us video where they just like slap some graphics behind her and gave her a baseball about her?

 

Ira Madison III Yes, I love that baseball bat. I love that song. So what actually was tweeted recently, Pick a Brandi album? It was her first one. It was Never Say Never or it was Full Moon. And obviously, I think never Say never is better of those three. But Full Moon has bangers. What about us? Anybody like I love.

 

Louis Virtel And the song Full Moon. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III And it’s like, yeah, it’s like those three songs are fantastic. But no, I loved The More that A Woman’s song. And I also sometimes always get upset that it’s not doesn’t sample the Bee Gees. I feel like it should.

 

Louis Virtel Right. It’s the same song title, but it has nothing to do with that song. It’s like even just a little bit of a falsetto somewhere would have would have really tied it all together. But we didn’t get that.

 

Ira Madison III We also didn’t get any kind of falsetto at this rally because Beyonce showed up and spoke.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Well, let me tell you something. She was not there as a singer or as a performer. She was there as a mother. So pay attention.

 

Ira Madison III She was there as the mother. You didn’t have the sister. Everyone deserves a friend.

 

Louis Virtel Everybody wants. And she was I mean, she did look sensational. And I love seeing the picture with Kamala afterwards. But yeah, she was giving she was this was not, shall we say, a visuals phase of her career. She was just standing there to deliver a point.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I see. She also ditched that Sir Davis blond wig. She’s been running around, and she was like, let me let me pull out the political bundles today.

 

Louis Virtel The political barrel curls or whatever. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III She looked black.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I see. I see. I have the feeling the Sir Davis look will be back. I don’t think that. I don’t think that’s a phase that’s ending anytime soon.

 

Ira Madison III Well, I mean, she’s. Does she have a new fragrance She’s selling now, too. It is anything but music.

 

Louis Virtel Though. She’s given us quite a bit of music. So this isn’t quite a Fenty, you know, imbroglio.

 

Ira Madison III In contrast to the Carmelo rally, we also had a Trump. Rally at a sacred New York City hallowed grounds Madison Square Garden.

 

Louis Virtel No, I mean, it’s supposed to be where Billy Joel, you know, sings about a bottle of bread and a bottle of wine and. My God, did you get a bottle of wine with this one? My God. I mean, just like. I mean, it truly is like a beyond like a naked gun parody of who would appear at events like this. Hulk Hogan was there looking like he was starting an insurrection at Margaritaville. I mean, and then you had fucking Dr. Phil, who I believe was a doctor decades ago. I mean, just like, what is he now? Like a botanist or something? I have no idea. I believe Kathy Griffin has a bit about that.

 

Ira Madison III You know whats funny. The last time I was at Madison Square Garden, I heard scenes from an Italian restaurant. Only it was Ezra Koenig for weekend. He did a cover.

 

Louis Virtel Ezra Koenig. We know his taste in music is flawless. He came on key, but we basically just asked him to name his favorite music for 25 minutes. And we were like, Yeah, grooving and rolling. I actually rolled on that episode.

 

Ira Madison III He gave me. He gave me tickets to the show. He actually says, I so love him.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, he needs come back. He needs to come back.

 

Ira Madison III But no, the last time I was there was for Vampire Weekend. And this time there might have been vampires there. Most of those people looked undead.

 

Louis Virtel I did see Mr.. Rudy Giuliani. Or as my boss, Jimmy Kimmel calls him Recount Dracula. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Just always screaming.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Also, just it’s I mean, it’s a baffling atmosphere. Trump’s lawyer lady was there to, like, come out on stage to all I do is win when, as you know, famously, she recently lost.

 

Ira Madison III My favorite thing about those kind of people, too, is they hate black people, by the way. And yet here she comes out in this bedazzled jacket, you know, doing her Milly Rock to all I do is where it’s like, what’s going on here?

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. No, you can’t. And she’s sort of adopting the it’s something like Mary J. Blige would do that kind of entrance. And it’s like, no, she was she was Mudbound, as in I wanted her on the floor, but not like that. I like Mary J.

 

Ira Madison III I could have used some hateration.

 

Louis Virtel In that dance. Yeah. Oof!

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel The whitest dancer I’ve seen.

 

Ira Madison III Let’s talk about that warm up comic.

 

Louis Virtel My God. This Hinchcliffe person who, by the way, is not Hinchcliffe the cat. His name is Heath Cliff.

 

Ira Madison III I, for some reason, kept seeing the name and thinking John Hinckley.

 

Louis Virtel Which that would have been better. That’s a point of view I want to hear. Yeah, because he’s on the road again. He’s like, performing. You can, like, book a ticket to see John Hinckley, Jr. But yeah, I know this guy got up there and did his, I guess, expectedly racist thing. There’s lots of old clips of him saying terrible things about like the Asian comic who preceded him onstage. Go ahead and Google that. I’m not going to repeat it here. But he called Puerto Rico a garbage island, which it’s so weird to be in a room where all they want to do is scream and then you fall flat with those people. I mean, I would call it impressive in a way.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I mean, I just find it very weird, the whole concept of we’re close to the election. Everybody knows we’re racist, but let’s have an extra racism rally and also designed it to look like a Nazi rally. I mean, it’s it’s almost like the lyric video to Nicki Minaj is only video.

 

Louis Virtel Sure. Which was what everybody in that stadium said to Rudy Giuliani went up there and was like, isn’t it just like.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, the pile of garbage thing was weird. The racism stuff was weird. Jon Stewart said that he found the comedian finds the comedian funny, though.

 

Louis Virtel So just in general or at a secular time. Okay.

 

Ira Madison III Just in general. That was his take.

 

Louis Virtel I see. They just extended his Daily Show contract. And is he still doing this, like, once a week? But I still get the Emmy bullshit. I’m just. I’m going to start filing a petition eventually.

 

Ira Madison III They haven’t had time to replace him yet.

 

Louis Virtel I know he’s the he’s the replacement, but I don’t. I mean, they threw, like, a wall of money at him.

 

Ira Madison III I think that we could actually just go with assignments now. I think we’ve gotten over the whole. You know. Did he make up things?

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. I forgot all about that controversy.

 

Ira Madison III Well, that’s why he didn’t get it. That’s what he said. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. I think we’ve all forgotten about it. Just give it to Hasan Minhaj. Give it to somebody. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Sure. Whatever. Anyway, it was a beautiful rally. I’m so glad I got to see all my faves. They also showed up.

 

Ira Madison III There, actually. Yeah. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel I cook for you and like, a big Uncle Sam at, like, one of those, like, true. Like on the street crazies.

 

Ira Madison III I won tickets on w k k k.

 

Louis Virtel My God. I had a little joke on Kimmel the other day. I called them the Clueless Klux Klan. That’s the puns I get there.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I don’t watch a clueless reboot, but about the KKK or Clu with the KKK.

 

Louis Virtel As as I always say about the KKK, the most racist organization that has a choreographer who is putting that together. I want to know who’s getting them in Step four, their little dancers.

 

Ira Madison III And perfect for a murder mystery. Because who’s under their hood?

 

Louis Virtel Yes. My God. Why didn’t Scooby get into this?

 

Ira Madison III The original Ghostface?

 

Louis Virtel Yes. All right, go ahead and move on, bitch.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. This episode, we are going to talk about your trip to New York because you saw Sunset Boulevard.

 

Louis Virtel I literally will not say anything about this show. You are going to save it for this conversation. That’s all I’ll say at this point.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, but we’re also going to talk about stunt casting on Broadway. The best and the worst.

 

Louis Virtel Fabulous.

 

Ira Madison III We will also get into new music from Lady Gaga.

 

Louis Virtel Who is back in her monstrous Dizzee Bag the Fame monster, the Face, monstrous returns, the fame, monstrous LSU returns. That was my sorry, the substance shout out.

 

Ira Madison III And we’re also going to talk about some other music that’s out like Addison Rae. We’re finally going to figure out who the hell is she, right? And is the music good?

 

Louis Virtel Is she Madison beer? Is it rude to ask who? I don’t know. I don’t know.

 

Ira Madison III Madison Miller. High life, maybe.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, we’ll figure it out.

 

Ira Madison III And also, our guest this week is the fantastic Cristin Milioti.

 

Louis Virtel Who is on Penguin, but you probably know her from the movie Palm Springs. Among other things. I just learned in an interview that she auditioned for Wicked. So we’re going to ask about that. We’ll see what happens. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Bones took her part there.

 

Louis Virtel Damn it.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel It’s a character named Fanny with Pete as an attorney or something.

 

Ira Madison III All right. We will be right back with more. Keep it.

 

Louis Virtel This is it. Less than six days until the most high stakes election of our lives. And we’re not going to stop bugging you until you convince those around you to vote. Because the best messengers at this point aren’t us. It’s you talking to your friends and family.

 

Ira Madison III We need you to think of three people in swing states Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia. And call or text them now to confirm their voting plans.

 

Louis Virtel Arizona. Stevie Nicks is from there. Michigan, Madonna, Wisconsin, IRA. See, that’s three right there. If you have no swing state contacts, you definitely know three apolitical people who need a nudge to vote. Use Vote Save America as Last Call tool for easy scripts at Vote Save America dot com slash vote. Pause this podcast right now and text those three people. This is our final shot.

 

Ira Madison III This message has been paid for by Vote Save America. This ad has not been authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Whoever still needs help getting out the vote needs to call in the pop stars because they are getting out the new music this week.

 

Louis Virtel All right. I’ll take your word for it.

 

Ira Madison III There’s Addison Rae, there’s Halsey, there’s Meghan. And of course, Lady Gaga is back, and. We’re going to get into it, okay? Cause if this is the disease, call me an anti-vaxxer. All right.

 

Louis Virtel Wait. That means you do like it? I know a lot.

 

Ira Madison III Of people don’t like it. I want it. I want it. Okay. Cough on me, guys.

 

Louis Virtel I got it. Got it. Got it. Yes. So the song is called Disease. It is a very familiar sentiment to Lady Gaga fans, it feels like. And I think this is mostly a compliment. To me, it feels like a B-side that would appear on an anniversary disc of the Fame Monster that, you know, like, this didn’t get on the album because, you know, we already had the other song about a disease. So I enjoy it for that reason. And I think in a way it’s good that she would reach into her very old bag of tricks and just do something for the fans who like the older stuff the best since you know it is the best. I enjoy the song. I don’t know that I’m spinning it constantly, but it’s a good Halloween track and like three stars out of four.

 

Ira Madison III As of now, it is not my Spotify. As of now, it is. Third on my on repeat. Now.

 

Louis Virtel What is that? What’s the scale here like for all year or what?

 

Ira Madison III Just. I think it updates every few days.

 

Louis Virtel Okay.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Yes. Number one is debut by cats. And number two is Juno by Claro. It’s still up there. But disease is for me. What I really love about it is, first of all, she washed that man right out of her hair. And by man, I mean Todd Phillips.

 

Louis Virtel Nellie Forbush, come to the mike.

 

Ira Madison III Okay? She first of all, she got rid of all of the Joker Foley ad business by releasing Harlequin. And then she said, you know what? Forget about that. Here’s the music.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. And also, I mean, it really is for the dance floor, which is unlike anything from the Joker universe. The Saints went marching in and I went marching out famously.

 

Ira Madison III And also it feels for the dance floor. But like you said, in that specific Gaga way that we sort of miss, it’s not chromatica.

 

Louis Virtel No, it has a stamp to it. Like for a monster.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. And she made this song what circuit and injure what. And what I love about this song is it sort of feels I mean, it’s it’s obviously that sound that we remember from Fame Monster, but it’s also sort of that like electro class sound that’s very peaches, very concise. So it feels like the kind of vibe that music has been in, you know, with sort of what Charli XCX was reaching for a bit with Brad and the remixes. But it’s sort of like Gaga is she’s mother monster. She’s like, I do it best and she’s here. And it seems like sort of a tease of what the album’s going to be like. But I’m pretty sure the album is going to dive deeper into the sound and probably not all sound like it’s from the Fame Monster.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I’m hoping this means the album is Rowdy, which I think is a really good vibe for her and something that she really takes into concert well. But, you know, if it’s just a one off, that’s fine too. And everything else is just crazy futuristic as she sometimes insists on being. That would also work out. That said, I do feel like she was a bit waylaid this weekend by the appearance of Addison Rae, who I don’t know if you know, this is a person and is a music spewing individual who will sometimes give you a single that you and your friends may listen to in an Uber and sort of groove to. And now her new song, Aquamarine is hitting pretty hard. I put this on. First of all, let me just say, when a song like this comes out, guess what happens? I get a bunch of text being like Lewis. There’s a new song out and it sounds like Ray of Light. And I’m like, Well, okay, my office hours are in, but let me put my glasses on. Let me pay attention. And so I put on the song. The percussion on this sounds a bit like Nothing Really Matters from the Madonna album. I mentioned before that said, it does not remind me of the song Ray of Light. She simply says the words ray of light in it. So I need everyone’s reading comprehension to go up a level.

 

Ira Madison III If anything, it feels sort of justified by Love era, just the way that she’s singing the song, the cadence of her lyrics. But I’m all for it a bit. I’m sure you were at it was Halloween weekend in New York. We were here. And so I’m sure you heard it. Plenty of pre-games.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. I still feel like I was hit by a fucking truck. Thank you for bringing it up that week. And I miss my.

 

Ira Madison III Brain and I have been a listener. I’ve been an artist and racist. Said she dropped obsessed.

 

Louis Virtel She also gave us the amazing song Diet Pepsi, which I think still her. It has become her signature song.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, but going back to Obsessed, remember when she first dropped that ad? She was only the tick tock girl. At that time, we knew her from doing the dances on Jimmy Fallon, and we were sort of like, What’s going on here? And we didn’t know if she could really sing, didn’t know if she could really dance. But I loved that video. And I remember there was a move in the video where she did this sort of like backwards fall onto the ground. That was fantastic. And I played that song so fucking much. And then it seemed like she forgot about music for a while because she was not releasing any. She was doing her acting big. She was an Eli Ross Thanksgiving. She was mostly like running around, hanging out with Charlie. She wasn’t releasing anything. And then she finally released all the sort of singles that had been let It leaked online that there were demos of I remember she had had a demo of an early Gaga demo and nothing on but the radio that everyone was like, Are you going to release the song? Are you going to release it? And then she finally released her EP. With that I Got It Bad to Die for, and it seemed like, okay, she’s making good pop music. But once Diet Pepsi and this song came along, I’m like, okay, she’s mixing great pop music.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, no, it’s one of those situations where she’s actually leaping into the conversation, sort of in a Sabrina Carpenter esque way. Like, yeah, I remember you had that song further before, and I don’t dislike that song, but it doesn’t really matter to me now. I’m paying attention now. This is a vibe that everybody just sort of is signed onto.

 

Ira Madison III What I will say, though, is I’m not exactly sold on everything that she does on the carpet. Okay. The outfits are a little. All right.

 

Louis Virtel Well, when you come from Tock, you know, those people are lawless. And, you.

 

Ira Madison III Know.

 

Louis Virtel As my grandpa used to say about my cousin Emma when she was really young, she is pre moral. She hadn’t put together yet how to how to, you know, do the right thing. And maybe that moment will come. Gorgeous girl, obviously.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I’m just a fan, so I’m really enjoying it.

 

Louis Virtel How do you feel about this whole this situation that has had more promo than Fuck and Wicked at this point where he feels he has a new album called The Great Impersonator? And to promote it, she released a bunch of photos of herself imitating other artists. Some of them include PJ Harvey. Who else is in that lineup? There’s like every part and there’s tons of Springsteen and Alicia. Yeah. Which interesting move, as you know, if you come away from keep it from with one thing. White people cannot wear all the shirts. Let me just say that I’m going to repeat it again. It’s not for you. I don’t want to see the giant graphic on your shirt. Okay.

 

Ira Madison III Well, Halsey is. They are biracial, right?

 

Louis Virtel No. I’m talking to other people. I was not speaking to other people.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Yeah, we got to get that, you know? Right.

 

Louis Virtel Ain’t nothing but a number. But white is cock a ball. Okay.

 

Ira Madison III Listen, I enjoy the whole See album. I actually really do.

 

Louis Virtel I like a couple of the songs quite a bit. Yes, I think it’s. I know. And she’s like a good songwriter, too. Like, there’s like a real point of view to it. And. And it’s not it doesn’t feel like imitating somebody else in sentiment. So she does bring something new to the table with this album.

 

Ira Madison III And I think that’s what I actually respond to in this album as opposed to what I haven’t responded to in her previous albums, because a lot of them have songs that maybe hit like a single or something. But this is the first album that I felt like, I enjoy this album. And I think it’s because, you know, she’s talked a lot about how she had was diagnosed with lupus and sort of a rare blood disorder. And she’s talked a lot about her depression and, you know, a suicide attempt that she had had when she was younger. And I think she delves into a lot of that in this album and really sort of use this album as a jumping off point into, well, let me imagine, this is my last album. I want to pay tribute to idols of mine. And I also want to just sort of imagine my place in the music world and my authenticity in relation to theirs. I think that each song. So each song, when she was releasing an impersonation of an artist, each song is supposed to be inspired by a different artist that like their style of music. I think the ones that work the best for me are obviously Dog Years is a great song. That’s the one inspired by PJ Harvey. I love sort of the first two songs, really like Ego and Only Girl Living in L.A. Like one of those is inspired by Dolores or Ricardo from The Cranberries. And I kind of like the Letter to God interludes. Those are inspired by Cher, Bruce Springsteen, and then Alicia.

 

Louis Virtel Also, it’s just it’s a valid inspiration point. It reminds me, weirdly, of in the mid to late 2000s, one of my favorite comics, Paula Poundstone, wrote a memoir and she had no intention of writing a memoir. She’s like, I can’t possibly write about myself that long. But what she did was she’s like, If you make me talk about other historical figures and relay their life stories, I’ll inevitably start talking about myself. And I feel like that’s an interesting jumping off point, you know what I mean? Like, think about somebody else for a second and then, wait, once I adopt their styles and think about them, what can I then add? Or, you know, it’s just like it’s weird to me that actually more people don’t do that. To me, that would be inspiring. You know, it’s like if you made me write like somebody I knew a lot about, you know, I don’t think you really want me to dress like Aimee Mann or have her rat tail from the voices Carrie video. But, you know, that would probably produce results.

 

Ira Madison III You just as Aimee Mann would give me me as Angie Jordan and you as Tina Fey.

 

Louis Virtel Frightening, right? Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, honestly, I think that is a perfect way to write. I mean, I basically ripped off Chuck Klosterman when I wrote my book. I love sex toys and Cocoa Puffs, you know, just like live in the art of someone you love. And then inevitably you will come across writing about yourself and, like, expounding on how much you love it and how it affected you as a person. And that’s a perfect way to engage with art.

 

Louis Virtel I literally am realizing right now my favorite album is this thing, which is Exile in Guyville, by Liz Phair, is inspired by Exile on Main Street by the Rolling Stones. She did. She had a bunch of songs already written, and then she decided to arrange them as a response to that album. And so now you have this thing that completely stands on its own. You could know nothing about the Rolling Stones and still get something from it, because this album’s groundwork was laid, you know, all these years ago.

 

Ira Madison III Right? And I think that that is sort of the sign of an artist who is a fan of music and also can sort of be in conversation with art in general. We talked about Ezra Klein, a great about how much we he’s just naming artists that he likes. You know, I think that Liz Phair loving that Rolling Stones album, but also responding to it and making it her own is sort of what an artist should do. And I think that too many times people will critique an artist for borrowing something from someone else or something reminding them of someone else. But you should always be reminded of other people’s work. Like no one’s making art in a vacuum.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. No. Nora. What? I think anybody really want to. You know, everybody’s inspired by something. And I think, actually, if you’re going to, you know, name an inspiration so brazenly, what that probably means is you have a lot of self-possession and know that your voice stands on its own. So, yeah, that’s, that’s generally speaking, a quality of an artist I trust. So I guess Halsey enters that pantheon.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. I’m going to say more about the Halsey record, but I’m going to say that for the Keep It segment.

 

Louis Virtel Very good.

 

Ira Madison III But I will also say that Megan thee stallion dropped a mix tape mix tape in the sense that it is called Megan at two, but is basically an extension of the last album that she got released back in. And Megan, we talked about that album. You know, I sort of found some of the songs on it Good. We thought that she sort of leans more into the mushy vibe, you know, the sort of like Japanese flavor of the album, because otherwise it just sounded like a generic album from her.

 

Louis Virtel Unfortunately, the word I would use to describe that album is generic. I agree.

 

Ira Madison III But what I love about this and what she always seems to do is after she releases a commercial sort of generic record, she always drops a mixtape, which is just her rapping and it sounds fucking great. This is one of the best things that Megan has released and it’s just her rapping and it feels like a mixtape. It like her flow is great. It feels like music you want to actually listen to and it is the best thing she has released in years.

 

Louis Virtel I’m thrilled to hear that. I can’t believe I haven’t heard it yet. I have her shirts.

 

Ira Madison III Too. So, I mean, that’s always an interesting thing with her, you know, like releasing like the commercial thing and then releasing like, a mixtape thing. I still think that we’re in this place with Megan where she is releasing music so much.

 

Louis Virtel Right? No, you can expect that rather constantly.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And I mean, it’s working in a way. You know, she’s selling out her tours and stuff and she has all these endorsement and brand deals. But I still feel like sometimes you’re just getting so much content from people that you need a break.

 

Louis Virtel And again, I’m still Lost in the Haze of Aqua Marine by Addison Rae at the moment. So just know that if you are making music right now, you’re competing with that. And the sort of I don’t know, how would I describe the feeling of that? It’s like it’s like relaxing, but also kind of like Molly vibes too. So, yeah. And also, why Aquamarine is she talking about a birthstone?

 

Ira Madison III Probably.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I guess.

 

Ira Madison III Wait, let me find out when her birthday is. Addison Rae is. She is a Libra.

 

Louis Virtel I think that means Opal.

 

Ira Madison III Libra birthstone is aquamarine.

 

Louis Virtel No, never mind. All right. We’re like.

 

Ira Madison III Well, there’s. There’s a Lee Opal top five best Libra birthstone for Opal. Upper Marine Rose Quartz. Labrador. Right. So, yeah, Aqua Marina’s in there.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. All right. Thank God we solved that. She’s not just naming gems out of nowhere like an Amish rocks. Doctor. What are those called?

 

Ira Madison III AKA your friend, Doctor?

 

Louis Virtel What is the word? Geologist Thank you. Producer Who knows the Internet Well, thank you.

 

Ira Madison III I thought you were talking about the spin doctors.

 

Louis Virtel The. Yeah. Little Miss Can’t be wrong. That might be Addison. Right?

 

Ira Madison III Let’s add, when she dropped Aquamarine, the first thing I asked somebody was this about that mermaid movie?

 

Louis Virtel My God. I totally forgot about that.

 

Ira Madison III Which would make sense for her.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, no, it’s kind of got a slithery watery vibe.

 

Ira Madison III She’s about the age to wear Aquamarine starring Jojo and Emma Roberts would be seminal for her.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. I need to remember that for the cinema matrix.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. There’s no one else of importance in that movie, but it came out in 2006, so.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Speaking of the Cinema matrix though, before we wrap this up, I just want to say to everybody, it’s nice to collect random movies that you didn’t know existed for the cast members that are in them. And I was watching an episode of Siskel and Ebert last week, and I totally forgot about this movie from the mid-nineties. Do you know what my father, the hero, is?

 

Ira Madison III No.

 

Louis Virtel My father, the hero, stars Gerard Depardieu and his daughter, a 14 year old played by Katherine Heigl. And it is about a girl who tries to impress a guy by claiming that her father, whom she only sees every once in a while, is her boyfriend. So she tells this guy that Gerard Depardieu is her man. And it’s about the kooky comedy that occurs therein. Can you believe we inflicted this on audiences? What planet? Where we are. Kitty Heigl. Not even in Wish Upon a Star era is messing around with the world’s worst person, Gerard Depardieu.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I mean, that’s also sounds like something he’d be down for.

 

Louis Virtel No, he’s right. And I guess it’s a remake of an earlier movie from like 91 or so. But anyway, I was shocked this movie existed.

 

Ira Madison III Wow. It actually sounds like a Katherine Heigl plotline from Gray’s Anatomy, to be honest.

 

Louis Virtel No, I mean, she has a uniform career, shall we say, in terms of quality.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. All right. Well, when we’re back, we will be joined by the fantastic Cristin Milioti. Hollywood has had its fair share of superhero fatigue, but this week’s guest has kept everyone wide awake for her phenomenal turn as Sophia Falcone in HBO’s The Penguin. And if you haven’t tuned in yet, her beloved work in Palm Springs and other fan favorites should be all the convincing that you need. So without further ado, please welcome to Keep It, Cristin Milioti.

 

Cristin Milioti Thank you for having me and thank you for saying that. That’s very sweet.

 

Ira Madison III Thank you for being here.

 

Cristin Milioti Yeah. Yeah, my pleasure.

 

Louis Virtel The response to this character and the way you play it has been instantaneous. Well, let’s just talk, first of all, about the fans. And do you have different types of crazies approaching you now by praising your work in a, you know, a universe that is maybe the biggest fandom there is? I mean, Batman doesn’t get any bigger.

 

Cristin Milioti Batman is pretty big. But I got to say, I mean, like knock on wood, everyone who I’ve interacted with has been so lovely, truly. And I it’s. It’s only been, like, really, really positive. And also, I live in New York, so I feel like I really kind of like people are very sweet and they’re when they’re very like fast, they’re like, great job on the show. But, you know, like and then they are like, they go on their way. It’s just nice in.

 

Louis Virtel This universe of Chapel Road, like reacting to fans and stuff. This is what we are. And I routinely emphasize, it’s like if you’re going to go up to somebody, just make it fast. Just, you know, Yeah, you know what I mean? It’s like, you know, I saw you on this thing in Goodbye. Perfect. Yeah, we love that.

 

Cristin Milioti Totally. Because, I mean, I also. I always want to do that to people that I love. And I always I’m very, you know, obviously I’m. I’m cognizant because I’m like an actor also. But like, yeah, you just want to you want to get in and out because it’s so nice to hear.

 

Louis Virtel Have you done that recently at anybody?

 

Cristin Milioti Yes. You know who I did that to? I did that, too. We were we were in Comic-Con and we were like all waiting in this, like, weird trucking, like where the trucks come in to, like, load for the Javits Center, I guess. And I saw Olivia Williams, who I loved, and I walked up to her and I was like, Hey, hey, I love you. And then she was like, gosh, thank you. And I was like, Yeah. And then, like, you know, disappear.

 

Louis Virtel You turn into vapor. Yes, I turned into vapor.

 

Cristin Milioti Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III That’s what I love about your character in this show. And and particularly episode four, which had, you know, the whole flashback into your time. And Arkham, we mostly know you for being so incredibly funny and you are funny on this show as well, but you are also scary as fuck. So how do you, you know, tap into, I guess, the scarier side of Sophia? But then also, you know, she seems so vulnerable in scenes, too.

 

Cristin Milioti Well, I mean, I. I’m so much of it is in Lauren Le Frank’s writing. Like, I can’t say enough good things about her. She is such an exceptional talent and her brain is one of my favorites. And there was so much that was already there. And then I just also I really love the Batman universe, so I feel like I sort of like inherently because I love it so much and have loved it for so long, I sort of understand the tone in a way that you just understand when you’re such a when something is so like a part of you and a part of how you grew up, or just like the pop culture things that you love. And then I just felt like, I don’t know, I felt like I really understood this character. You know, I just felt really connected to her. And that’s it’s it’s a real pleasure and a real blessing when that happens, when you sort of like meet a role and you’re like, wow, I really I can really I really get this. So that’s sort of all mixed into one cauldron is like, I feel like how I was able to, you know, hopefully do her justice. And also we had incredible directors as well who I felt like, especially on episode four, we had Helen Shaver, who is absolutely incredible. And I feel like she was such a lighthouse for me too. You know, like we just she, like she’s a former actor and she like dove in there. It felt like doing a play, which is very, very rare for things like it’s rare for. And I loved doing TV and film, but it’s rare to have that similar feeling. And that’s what that episode felt like a lot. So that was such a long winded answer.

 

Ira Madison III But so yeah, for someone who is a fan of Batman and the Universe to, you know, I mean, I feel like so many of the characters I’m drawn to are the women, obviously Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman in those films. And this is one of the first big sort of films, television shows, that is with women at the helm of it. So how does that feel different to you as someone who has consumed Batman and now acting in something that feels like it is coming from a woman’s perspective?

 

Cristin Milioti Yes, I’m very aware of how. Cool. That is. I mean, Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman is like in my cells, deeply seminal, like dressed as her for Halloween. I’ve watched that movie so many times. I specifically watched the, you know, the clip. I’ve watched the clip of her coming home from the first time after she falls off the window like incredible. When I watched that, I watch that on YouTube like a couple times a year just to be like, wow, Like just as like a, like inspiration. Not even for this. Just like even before this. I just I that is such an iconic performance, but something Lauren and I talked about a lot and something she said really eloquently recently when we were doing this Q&A in L.A. and she was talking about how when she would watch those movies coming up, growing up, she would often come home and pretend to be the male characters in the backyard. And when she was writing this, she was like, what is the type of what is the thing I would want to play? I mean, obviously, I don’t I hope there’s like not too many kids watching this, but also, okay, like if they are, it’s target like and that’s what it felt like to play too. I was like, my God, this is like what? You know, I was always going home and obviously playing Catwoman, but I was playing like the Riddler or Two-Face, you know, I certainly and this is this is no shade because she’s one of our best. But like even Nicole Kidman’s role in Batman Forever, she’s like in lingerie the whole time, like, literally touching his nipples. And she’s a psychologist, like. Like it’s crazy, like and and then other than that, you have sugar and spice, which are like so like fashion icons, but they’re like, kind of just like dancing in cages. Like, there’s not anyone in that film who you can point to, you know? So that’s why I went home and played The Riddler, because I was like, Well, that’s what looks fun. So that’s not lost on me. And it’s very it’s very meaningful to have that like reflected back as well.

 

Louis Virtel It is important that Debi Mazar is in the comic book movie. It just needs to be stated flat out that I’m thankful for Drew Barrymore. Likewise.

 

Cristin Milioti I mean, likewise and incredible in every every moment that they’re in that movie, the screen crackles alive and then they’re like ushered off into like some other realm. Like I was very intrigued by them, but I was like, Where’s their arc?

 

Louis Virtel No, they’re the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of that movie. Yes, exactly.

 

Cristin Milioti And that’s. God. See, now and then I would love for someone to do like the entire story from their perspective. Like, where do they go? Are they choosing their outfits being like, it’s loud in there.

 

Louis Virtel With those crazy voices? Yeah, right. What are they doing?

 

Cristin Milioti Like doing those, like, crunchy tight curls and, like, the body glitter? Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. They looked like kind of like backup dancers on, like, the Janet tour or something. Yeah, Like, what are they doing in this movie?

 

Cristin Milioti Yeah. And, like, how they meet, like, weird because Tuface is a lawyer. Yes, he’s right. You know, he gets attacked with the acid and then he, like. But like. So who are they? Were they paralegals? Were they, like stenographers? Like, how did he meet them? Like, there’s like, no background on them whatsoever. They are incredibly intriguing because of who plays them and how they look. But like, yes, those are the women of Batman forever. We don’t know their stories at all.

 

Louis Virtel And God, I hope they’re paralegals. God, I hope that’s the case.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Cristin Milioti Where they’re like, yeah, I’m going to follow them.

 

Louis Virtel Now, speaking of being fans of people I saw in a recent profile of you that you got to go to something that we didn’t get to discuss on Keeper, but I something I definitely would have gone to didn’t get the chance. You saw Joni Mitchell at the Hollywood Bowl.

 

Cristin Milioti Oh my god yeah. Outrageous.

 

Louis Virtel First of all, just talk about that experience because I mean, I assume everybody there will cherish that specific moment forever, whether the she is this grand dame also surrounded by so many legends, Was Elton John or was Merrill there, too?

 

Cristin Milioti Yeah, there was. There. Yeah. Annie Lennox. Yeah. Like I think that those were like her backup singers. So it’s crazy. It was so beautiful. I mean, you know, it was like witnessing a miracle because she couldn’t speak six years ago, right? And like this, you know, she is like a huge part of my DNA. And I would say she’s like top five artists for me of all time. And it was such a miracle to see. And it was also so emotional because all 18,000 people there feel the same way. And it felt like. Felt like not only were we seeing her look back on her life, but like it felt like all 18,000 of us were also there to, like, thank her. It just felt so profound and holy and like a true place of worship. And she was laughing a lot. And like, I think it I mean, it it must have been wild for her to I would imagine. I don’t know. But like, I cried the entire time I got hung over the next day from crying in ways that I knew certain things were going to make me cry, but I didn’t expect from like the downbeat, just tears.

 

Louis Virtel Well, also, she’s like the rare case of somebody where, I mean, she’s formative for so many of us. But in a way, I almost feel bad for people who grew up with her, because not only is her writing like incredibly articulate and emotional and her voice is so poignant and her voice is so great, but like, there’s an element of the exotic to everything she writes to and the songs themselves and where she went in her career is so complex. Like, if you expect to get that from other songwriters as you like, grow up wrong, like it’s like your life already peaked. Sorry. You know.

 

Cristin Milioti I was talking about this specifically with her when we were like waiting in line for merch. We got there an hour and a half early to get merch and it was all sold out. But I was like, there’s there’s like, she’s the trifecta. Like her voice alone, that range, that ability, that control that freedom in her singing would have already even if she just wanted to do like covers or like songs about like, I don’t know, boring stuff. It’s she would have had that.

 

Louis Virtel Astronomic, right? She could have been like a Linda Ronstadt or something.

 

Cristin Milioti Yeah, totally. And then she’s like a poet laureate. Like, I think. Sorry. Like, I mean, I know Bob Dylan is also incredible, but her lyrics for me do way more.

 

Louis Virtel You said it. You said it. Yes, I agree. And yeah.

 

Cristin Milioti So we’re already such a celebrated writer. And then you combine those and then you get into like the complexities of her melodies, like the music, especially when she gets into that sort of more jazz stuff in the 70s. Like what she’s doing is I’m having full body tunes just talking about it. Like she the fact that she can pull off all three is a true miracle. I know I keep coming back to that word, but that’s how I feel about her. Like she’s been such a. A a guide like through my life to, like, figure out how I feel about things or how I. She’s just like, opens you up and she gets in your ear. It’s like someone. It’s like she’s read your journal. I mean, those are like my favorite kind of artists. Totally. So anyway, I was. I was inconsolable for the three hours.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And I mean. I mean, obviously you’re wearing a Fiona Apple sweater.

 

Louis Virtel Oh you are?

 

Cristin Milioti I am. Yeah, I know. And that’s my other look. Let me tell you. And I feel the same way about her. I’m like, she’s got the voice. She’s got the. The. Her lyrics are I. They’re like scripture for me. And then you have, like, the most complicated, especially this most recent album, like these musical movements that are just they’re genius. And I think that term gets thrown around a lot, like pretty hyperbolically, but like, she actually is a genius and so is Joni Mitchell. Hot take. I know. Really? Yeah, I’m the first the first to say it, but yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Okay. So we were also interested to learn that you had auditioned for Wicked. And also, I mean, you’re also doing theater. You’ve also got theater like extensively. But I mean, like, had you had you love that show for a bit? Like, do you are you a big musical theater person?

 

Cristin Milioti I am. I love I love I love musicals. I mean, even if they’re like, you know. Even if they, like, don’t necessarily have like the emotional heft of Islam is, of course. And lameness is also like a deeply seminal like I’ve tried to reintroduce, I’ve tried to introduce lameness to people who didn’t grow up on it, and they’re like, What is this? And I’m like, you know, they’re like, It’s a bunch of synthesizers. And and it to me, it’s perfect. But, you know, even things like like I was a friend took me to see six when I was having like a little bit of like a tough time.

 

Ira Madison III I’ve seen it four times.

 

Cristin Milioti I had.

 

Ira Madison III It’s Amazing.

 

Cristin Milioti I was on my feet like screaming. I had the best time. Like also The Cher Show did that to me too. Like I went into the Cher Show being like, What’s this going to be? And by the end I was like WOOOH like freaking out. Love it. And I love Wicked. Wicked. Also hit, I think, in my senior year of high school. So I also was like in the halls of our theater class, like, you know, attempting to belt defying gravity. Like, it’s just it is another one of those shows that, you know, even though there are absolutely unhinged plot points in that show, I saw it actually when it came back after the pandemic. I was there on its like reopening night, which was also so emotional and I was so excited. I went with a group of friends and I had such a great time and while I was watching it, I was like, my God, I forgot about that. Wow. That is that’s happens in this, right? Okay. Got it. Like it is like such a kooky show, but it, like, makes you cry. It really hits. I cannot wait to see that movie. I cannot wait.

 

Louis Virtel Those movies. Yes

 

Cristin Milioti Those movies. I know. I want them to. And the first one was defying Gravity, as in the show. But I don’t know how they’re going to do it.

 

Ira Madison III I would like them to. But then I’m also like, the first movie is three hours, so like three hours, three hours to get to Defying Gravity. What are we adapting? The book we talk about cookie plots. I know the book is Crazy Earth.

 

Cristin Milioti The book’s pretty crazy. I will say I did have that feeling when I was watching. I was like, Right. I forgot about, like the whole. Dr. Gilman I’d like completely forgotten about like, that storyline where there’s like, lots of crazy shit going on with the animals of Oz. Not shows. Sorry. Excuse me.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Cristin Milioti But I’ll still be there. I’ll be there opening day. I can’t wait.

 

Louis Virtel You have any favorite deep cut musicals or deeper cut musicals? That, for instance, maybe you see yourself in?

 

Cristin Milioti I mean, you know, I have my favorites that I would love to. I mean, Cabaret is an all time favorite.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. That’s one of those things where I can’t even pick out the best. Sally Bowles. It seems like we’ve gotten so many versions of what could be considered the best.

 

Cristin Milioti Completely, and it’s also a perfect show. I’ve seen that show so many times and every time I see it, no matter how it’s done, I’m like, This is a perfect no notes. And like my. The characters. I sympathize with change wherever I am in my life. I mean, I sympathize with them all. But like in this most recent iteration, I was like, I am. When Bebe Neuwirth was singing, like, What would you do? I was like, my God. I’ve always been like, Yeah, they’re an older couple. And that’s like hard. But like, let’s get back to the kid. And this time I was like, my God, this is crazy. It’s like I, you know, this like, flew over my head at 15 when I discovered that show or, you know, whatever. And then lame is, is a big I used to be an opening. I’ve aged out of the opening track, but I still do a Fontaine.

 

Louis Virtel Did you know that, by the way, in the original cabaret that the woman who played Sally Bowles was not nominated for the Tony for Best Actress, but Lottie Lenya, who played Fraulein Schneider? Schneider What? Yeah. Anyway, that’s like the shadiest thing ever done to an actress. I didn’t give.

 

Cristin Milioti It to get it is kind of like so much about Fraulein Schneider and her Schultz Like, especially, I don’t know, like, just like I said, like, the older I get, the more that that particular storyline really hits. And I think in this most recent revival, too, like that was really centered in a way that I found to be like devastating.

 

Ira Madison III And the bigger stage is sort of like a lot when you go in, but then when it’s when she’s on that stage doing that song, it’s like, Here you go. Yeah. Another theater class then that’s actually going to go back to Batman is you were an understudy for a play for one of my favorite playwrights, Martin McDonagh, lieutenant of Inishmore. And now you’ve worked with Colin Farrell on Penguin. Like, have you talked about Martin McDonagh with him?

 

Cristin Milioti Actually, how I think we did at one point, but also there was a point where I saw I saw Martin right before I signed on to Penguin, actually, we bumped into each other and I didn’t think he would remember me because I truly you know, when you’re an understudy, like you’re really only there for, like, the last bit of rehearsal, and then you’re like, in your own rehearsals with the stage manager during the week. And I was, I think, 20 when I did that. So a little while ago. And I, I didn’t think he’d remember me. And he was so lovely to me and was so like, you know, I’m so proud of you and just just was so sweet. And I love him and I loved that play. I only got to go on one time, but and I had to shave my head for it. And. But it was worth it to go on for the one time. It felt like I could have lifted lifted a car with that adrenalin.

 

Louis Virtel Is that how is that how that role worked? Like if you found out you were going on like you suddenly had to be bald.

 

Cristin Milioti Well, I didn’t have the best representation at the time. And the actor I was understudying, Alison Pill, who was also an extraordinary actor, she got a wig. But because I didn’t have a great yeah, not great representation they didn’t I don’t think they knew that. And they were like, yes, well she ever had. It’s fine. And so I they gave me like that military bus that took me. I had five years of looking like a Dutch pageboy trying to figure that out.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel I’m sure it was worth it for that one performance.

 

Cristin Milioti But that night was, like, unbelievable. Like, you know, I was at the Lyceum, which I was just there. I saw Mary again, which I.

 

Ira Madison III Loved.

 

Louis Virtel Not having seen not. Yeah, it’s so much.

 

Cristin Milioti Fun, but I hadn’t seen it uptown yet, so I really wanted to see it. And that’s where we did Inishmore And I hadn’t been there in a minute and I was just like even just walking to go sit down, I was like, Wow, that was such a cool look. What a cool night that was. And you know, then that play, you get like sprayed with blood. There’s a body parts everywhere, which they never did with us as understudies. They were like, just, you know, this is when the blood hits you. These are where the body parts are. So I was also experiencing it like in real time in front of whatever, 1200 people. It was cool. Yeah. It’s very know.

 

Ira Madison III His plays are so bloody. I mean I saw Hangmen I think like three times. So I loved his work. Another thing about Colin, it’s I want to know about working with him in Penguin, but working with him and he’s so covered up, like, do you lose like track of the fact that you’re even in a scene with Colin?

 

Cristin Milioti Yes and no. Like, he is one of the most delightful people I’ve ever worked with. Like, you know, he is such an incredible actor, but he’s also an incredible scene partner. Like he’s so present. He loves doing this so much. And he like, I really felt like we could kind of go pretty far with things like he just he were we both would like take it to as far as we could go and we would try different things. And and so that part was incredible. And then like of course I’m aware it’s him like, you know, we’re sitting there in. Between takes, like talking about what’s going on in our how our weekend was you know, whatever. And obviously like I recognize his voice and I know who he is, but I’d really only met him in like his actual form a handful of times. And then I spent eight months with him in that makeup. And it was it’s been very strange. Now I’m used to it. But the first couple times we did press together, it was like, it’s so jarring. And we’ve talked about this and things, but like, I know those eyes and that voice so well, but I do associate it with that with this other person. And it’s very even like I was this. I think this was like shortly before we did Comic-Con in July, they sent me the first four so I could like watch it and know, you know, what to talk about. And it was like seeing footage of an old friend I hadn’t seen in a while. Like, it’s so surreal. And so I knew it was him. And yet I felt like I developed this relationship with this other person. Like I was in a restaurant recently and a guy walked in and out of the corner of my eye, he looked exactly like Oz. And I felt. Myself begin to get up as if I were seeing someone I knew and I was. So Crazy like that. So and that’s so specific to this experience too. Like, I don’t know where else you’d have this. And so and the makeup is also so. Beautifully done. I never was, like, aware that I was looking at someone in prosthetics, even though I was completely aware that, like, that’s Colin Farrell’s voice coming out. The answer? I don’t know.

 

Louis Virtel No, that makes sense. No, you don’t understand that your friend is the costar of saving Mr. Banks like it hasn’t hit yet.

 

Cristin Milioti We see Mr. Big. Is he saving Mr. Banks?

 

Louis Virtel Yes, he’s he’s part He’s part of P.L. Travers childhood. Yes. Got it. Yes.

 

Cristin Milioti I didn’t see it.

 

Louis Virtel There are a couple of delightful scenes. Go see. I mean. Yeah. Musical. Go and see it. You’ll enjoy it.

 

Cristin Milioti Okay, I’m going to say I’m gonna say it. Yeah. I just know for the first time. I can’t believe it. I’m a huge Yorgos Lanthimos fan, but I hadn’t seen a killing of a sacred. The killing of a sacred deer.

 

Louis Virtel Bitches. I’m a very fucked up Colin performance, but typical of his in the race. Yeah. Yeah.

 

Cristin Milioti My God. I just watched it last week, and he is extraordinary in that movie. And. Wow, is that movie unsettling? My God.

 

Ira Madison III We talked about Nicole again.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, no.

 

Ira Madison III Kidding. Yeah, like.

 

Cristin Milioti But everyone across the board, like, I. My job was. I felt like I. I felt carsick afterwards.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. No, that’s Barry Keough again, right? So. Yeah. My God. That was the beginning of us being like, Don’t look at me with those eyes. Like, Yeah.

 

Cristin Milioti God, those eyes. Yeah. They’re so. I mean, the eyes. That’s a stacked cast of eyes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Cristin Milioti And the children, too. Those children have that little boy’s eyes. And the girl, when she’s on the back of the motorcycle, right into the lights and she’s like, shit. And there’s tears pouring on her face. The eyes in that film unparalleled.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. No, something’s wrong with you. Argo. So it’s one of those David Cronenberg people where I’m watching the movie and I’m just thinking, What went right in your life? That you are making this fucking art? I’m sorry. It’s so upsetting.

 

Cristin Milioti Yeah. And incredible and singular and like, you know, I’d seen the lobster, which I loved, and I’ve seen the favorite and favorite I like, you know, I was. I was like, Put this in my veins. That’s like, that’s my dream. But yeah, that killing of sacred deer, really, I felt like, you know, when you’ve been in like a little fender bender and you’ve like, tense so much that the next day you’re like, like that’s how I felt in like, the hour afterwards.

 

Louis Virtel Well, we had we had Rachel Weisz here once, and I was talking about how her line readings and the favorite are like among my favorite line readings of the past decade. And she was like, we didn’t she’s like, I didn’t really know it was that funny or whatever. I was like, What? I was screaming at those library like.

 

Cristin Milioti She’s one of my I think she’s also one of the best we have. I saw her on the street recently and I did debate being like, You are so incredible. And then I was like, don’t do it. Just just put your head down and keep going.

 

Louis Virtel And that’s it. But she’s, like, quite intimidating, too. I probably would duck away and like avert my plants. And I think.

 

Cristin Milioti That’s what happened is that like, I spotted her and just was like. Like I was like, frozen in a in a Rachel Beam because I just think she’s she’s truly a just an astonishing talent.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I mean, that was truly be what I was at the premiere of her TV show and she was that she was there with Daniel. And I was like, how do you even say anything to either of them? You had to run away.

 

Cristin Milioti Yeah, They’re both so good. My God. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you just have to run away.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Kristen, thank you so much for being here. I mean, you’re from Michigan. Get into Palm Springs. You’re so fabulous. And everything.

 

Ira Madison III 30 Rock. Obviously

 

Cristin Milioti Oh 30 Rock. My favorite. My absolute favorite. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Do you know how many times I feel like I see you every other week? Because someone is always sharing a clip of yours from 30 Rock.

 

Cristin Milioti That’s actually such a huge compliment because I know that job is one of the things I am the proudest of because I was such a huge 30 Rock fan and like Tina was a hero of mine growing up. And I that is one of the most fun characters I’ve ever gotten to play. Like, I mean, give me a wig and a voice. Like. Please, I beg of you. Like, I just loved it. So that means a lot because that’s one of my favorite shows. It’s like those show I still like Comfort Binge all the time.

 

Louis Virtel It’s also unquestionably the show that uses guest stars the best of all time. I mean, like once upon a time that might have been something like Frasier or something, but those days are over. It is definitely 30.

 

Cristin Milioti My God, it’s 30 Rock. I was just rewatching it. The the Paul Reubens episode came on.

 

Louis Virtel Where? He’s the Hapsburg. Yes.

 

Cristin Milioti Yes. So Duke, the Duke of Hapsburg. But he’s so he’s turning 25. And like the whole courtship that he has with Jenna. Yeah, it’s a it’s an incredible show. And I. That means a lot because I just. Yeah, I loved I loved that job.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Well, I hope to see you on stage again. So, I mean, like I said, we didn’t even get to bring everything, but I saw once as well, so. I mean, you’re fantastic.

 

Cristin Milioti Thank you so much. I miss it terribly. I’m, like, actively looking for, like, the right thing because I just sang in a friend’s show last night, the last two nights. And I afterward was just like, God, I miss this so much. I meant like getting ready together and like, getting up there and the nerves and like, I miss it a lot. So hopefully soon.

 

Louis Virtel It’s going to happen. Destiny, let’s go .

 

Cristin Milioti It’s lovely to talk to you both.

 

Louis Virtel Thank you so much. Oh my God. It’s such a joy.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. You too.

 

Cristin Milioti Thank you.

 

Ira Madison III When I grow up, I want to be a time traveler so I can go back to the opening night of Sunset Boulevard with Nicole Scherzinger, because this show is all anyone is talking about. Louis, you saw her take the stage last week?

 

Louis Virtel Yes.

 

Ira Madison III So we’re going to dive into her performance. And I think this is a good time to talk about some of the best and worst stunt castings that we’ve ever seen on Broadway. Sure.

 

Louis Virtel It appears to you that I’m here present having a conversation, thinking critically about what you’re saying, reacting thoughtfully. Ever since I fucking saw this performance, I have felt completely different. I feel frozen in time and I want to be back in this performance. I, as you know, love live theater. Please. By all means. Put me at a play. Put me at a musical. I usually watch the show and then ready to put it behind me. The minute she started singing with one leg in this show, I wanted it to go on for fucking ten years. This is my favorite theatrical performance I have ever seen, and I thought nothing would ever top. Renée Elise Goldsberry in Hamilton, which if you saw that line, she was a heaving fucking monster doing that satisfied song. Nicole Scherzinger in this musical. And I think everybody would agree Sunset Boulevard is not and never has been. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s proudest showing. Not like nobody would ever say that. This musical is like, you know, the definitive thing he did or whatever. Even if you really like Glenn Close in it, or you liked Betty Buckley in it. Nicole Scherzinger. And we, of course, have been aware that she is musical. Reddy Ever since she gave us that performance of Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina all these years ago that had the Andrew Lloyd Webber stamp of approval on it. She and this show playing the, you know, desperate retired actress Norma Desmond trying to make a comeback. Gives you everything from Eartha Kitt the way she’ll like, kind of like, say, a line at Joe Gillis, the budding, pathetic screenwriter. And she’ll kind of like. Like say it like this. And it’s a little bit of a whisper and she’s pulling you in. And then later, when the show kind of explodes, she becomes as big as Godzilla. The notes become Godzilla. So it’s just everything in between there is so. Shocking and the acting is so good with One Look is one of the signature signature songs of Sunset Boulevard. And when you watch Glenn Close to It, it’s an amusing song, and she takes you back in time a little bit. But honestly, it’s really just a pompous song where this character is screaming like, you know, I’ll come back, you know, it’s already everything we know about that character in this version. It’s sung so beautifully. And the music is so sweeping it almost feels like an like an in memoriam reel at the Oscars or like a something they would play for a movie montage. It takes you back in time and it takes you back to one moment when this character, Norma Desmond, might have been a magical screen presence. And I was crying immediately. It was hard falling. And I am not here on earth to cry. I am not a crier. I was sitting in the fifth row astounded by what she was delivering and how, with the gusto she had kind of like a Disney villain. Like she like, you know, it’s a, you know, with one look, you know, has kind of like a Jafar quality when she’s reaching out with you. Lots of outstretched fingers. All I can say is the mastery begins there and does not let up. And the other actors match her in this production. By the way, you have David Thaxton as the manservant who has this rich, booming voice, fabulously done, much like Erich von Stroheim in the original movie. Then you’ve got Tom Francis as Joe Gillis, the William Holden character from the movie. There’s a cynicism on him that makes you really feel like you’re watching a film noir character live on stage. Awesome job. Loved him. All the backup dancers who are who are specifically made to look younger than her. Very impressive. My friend Gene Moon is one of those. He is fabulous. But something that is one last thing I’ll say about the amazingness of this show. I like that she’s not a decrepit old figure in this because it’s cool that Norma Desmond might just be discarded simply by aging. You know, just like the fact that she is over 40 makes her a lunatic, you know? And I think that’s a kind of a cool thing this play gets into. And I forget. IRA. Did you see Jessica Chastain in A Doll’s House?

 

Ira Madison III Yes.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. It’s the same director and the approach is the same. So you get this scale, you know, look of the show, there’s like very few props and it’s black and white, like a Norma Desmond movie. And the way Norma Desmond says she wants to get back to the audiences who are still out there in the dark for her. This show puts her in the dark because obviously she is she’s this delusional figure. And the approach of making the dialog. So Asmar like works better here because it’s sort of like she gets to lure you into her lair. Whereas in a Doll’s house they asmar quality just emphasize the fear of that character that you would get found out by her husband. So I was impressed with that too. The last thing I’ll say.

 

Ira Madison III Question.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. The Sunset Boulevard open with Nicole Scherzinger sitting there ordering a flight on JetBlue like Jessica Chastain did in A Doll’s House. No, When you walk in and just see her sitting in that chair spinning around the stage.

 

Louis Virtel My God. And she’s there for like a half hour to know, you know, wisely, it opens with what appears to be Nicole Scherzinger. And it’s a younger version of the Norma Desmond actress who does several dances with her. And that’s one of the highlights of the show, too. Here’s the criticism I have for the show. If you’re going to watch it and I know you will watch the movie first because there’s because of the minimalist staging, plenty of what’s happening on the stage sometimes I think would be confusing to people who haven’t seen the movie because a lot of it is plot dialog wise. Right. From the 1950 movie. And when you like, when Joe Gillis is meeting this young screenwriter, who is taking him away from Norma, you kind of wouldn’t understand what was happening unless you had seen the movie. So that is a criticism of mine. But also I love the movie and it was a pleasure to watch that and then jump into this. An amazing experience. I am with Rosie O’Donnell, who gave it her the crazy rave on Instagram. I could not believe what I was seeing. And now I am a Nicole Scherzinger Stan. Not that I wasn’t before. Don’t hold your breath. One of the great pop singles.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I mean, who doesn’t love Nicole Scherzinger? Do you understand what I’m saying?

 

Louis Virtel The greatest behind the music episode of all time. And, you know, I’ve seen them all. She beats Fleetwood Mac. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Who would be the modern day equivalent of. I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. DiMeo.

 

Louis Virtel I know. Well, you know what’s weird is, like, the story doesn’t really work for today because it’s. It’s specifically about the bridge between silent movies and talkies. And it’s like somebody who was famous literally only 20 years ago. I would personally say they’re all working, you know what I mean? Like, they’re still giving I don’t know. Glenn Close is coming to mind. Like they’re still getting nominated for Oscars, you know?

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, probably have to be someone in TV, to be honest.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Who didn’t make their dollar. My God. By all means, be in the whatever Rino offshoot of this play, please.

 

Ira Madison III Not Rino. All right. So stunt casting on Broadway. I am on theme today. I’m wearing a Madonna celebration shirt. And I think we couldn’t talk about stunt castings on this show, at least not with you. Without bringing up Madonna and Speed the Plow.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, I’m a I’m first of all, I’m familiar with American recording artist Madonna. It’s true. Second of all, yes, Be the Play was a David Mamet play from the late 80s. I mean, Joe Montana was the star and then she was in it, too. And I there are a couple of moments in Madonna’s career where you can see on stage that she is extremely fucking nervous. And what I’ve seen of this play, it looks like a nervous person on stage.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, there are clips. If you Google Madonna, speed, the play, other clips from opening night. There’s clips of people mobbing outside the theater to see her. It was really a bonanza.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I think Ron Silver’s in it, too. That’s somebody who kind of went away. He died by 2009 or something. He is so good in the Jeremy Irons movie, Reversal of Fortune. But yeah, that’s an interesting stunt. You know what I think is one of the most successful stunt castings of all time? Reba mcEntire in Annie Get Your Gun.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Fantastic.

 

Louis Virtel Because by the way, before that, you know, obviously, you know, Bernadette Peters won a Tony for that. It’s a famous Ethel Merman role. I don’t think anybody thought Reba mcEntire would be the next iteration of those two people. When the kookiness of the character, the look on her face, the rascally vibe is exactly Reba. She stepped into it and looked like she had never not been a stage actress. And there are tons of clips of that online.

 

Ira Madison III Listen, I love Reba so much that I might almost cave and watch that show. Happiest Place stunt casting that I love. And it’s one of the first Broadway shows I ever saw. I brought this up on Keep It Before, but it was Christina Applegate and Sweet Charity.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Another case of you wouldn’t have any reason to know that this person had this ability in her.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I think I have an early, like, old photo back when we used to upload everything to Facebook and it’s probably like a it’s what are the old photos where, you know, would you take the photo would still have the date in the corner.

 

Louis Virtel my gosh. That’s the first Facebook photo. my God. I remember. I remember physically uploading those. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Of me getting my playbill signed by Christina Applegate. I still have that playbill. And she was fantastic. And I remember she had also twisted her ankle in something and she still did performances of Sweet Charity, and it was fantastic. But I want to bring this out because I want to ask you, do you know who almost was sweet charity and did not get it because they had a fight with Neil Simon?

 

Louis Virtel My God. Well, I was just thinking about somebody else who had. Jane Krakowski. Yes, yes, I remember this story because she. She was like, You can’t be writing women like this in 2003 or something. And then first of all, I mean, play her.

 

Ira Madison III She’s got to be dumb.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Which is crazy because, as you know, she’s Jenna maroney, who was maybe the dumbest human being. But let me just say, I support yelling at Neil Simon. I mean, who’s going to make him listen and change these characters?

 

Ira Madison III But according to The New York Post at the time, this is July 2003, she says, you can’t write this way for women in 2003. I can’t play her. If she’s going to be dumb, don’t worry, you’re not going to play her, Simon snapped back.

 

Louis Virtel There’s a Chorus Line ass exchange.

 

Ira Madison III Krakowski lobbed some more grenades at his script, and Simon left the studio a broken man. One source says, Wow.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, if I had to rank all the best Pulitzer winners of all time, I think he’d be in the lowest tier. That’s just. Well, I’ll say about that. Might be second guessing this one. I love the Sunshine Boys with George Burns. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. But obviously, this is Celebrity Death Match, and it’s Jane Krakowski versus Bill Simon. I’m picking Jane Krakowski.

 

Louis Virtel You’re pretending we used to bet on Celebrity Death match. It was as if it was a meritocracy. Like, who will ultimately win this grappling bout the claymation television series from the 90s. Guys.

 

Ira Madison III What’s funny about stunt housing is this was done casting at the time, but now it doesn’t really feel like start casting anymore. Daniel Radcliffe in. How to succeed in business without really trying. Because since then, and with Equus and now recently with Merrily We Roll Along, he just seems commonplace on Broadway now.

 

Louis Virtel No. And also, it seems like kind of what he ultimately wanted to do in the first place. Like, I think the community of Broadway is just something I associate with the sentiment of Daniel Radcliffe, like a cool, down to earth person who wants to put in the work.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. So that seemed like a thing that was stunt casting at first, but really sort of him using it as a backdoor way to just be in theater.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. We are playing a bit fast and loose with the term stunt casting. Generally speaking, I think what it means is it’s somebody who’s replacing somebody else and it’s like to revive ticket sales. They bring in somebody who’s famous maybe in a medium that’s not Broadway, like a pop singer, a TV star or something like that, something they routinely do in versions of Chicago. You know, when like suddenly you find out whatever jinx monsoons ended or something. And by the way, talk about somebody that doesn’t feel like fan casting anymore. That jinx monsoon belongs on a stage, but, you know, you’re instantly automatics. Yeah. Yeah, Right, exactly.

 

Ira Madison III So but I would say about stunt casting, though, is it that was the thing where people would waltz in like halfway through a show would like to revive ticket sales now. But I feel like with the sort of downturn in movies being made now and TV being made, you know, since the strikes happened, so many shows are opening now, especially straight plays on Broadway that are just from the jump stars like you have Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal in a fellow.

 

Louis Virtel Right? Of course. And what’s the we’re getting George Clooney in a stage version of Good Night and Good Luck Soon, where he’s playing Edward Murrow, who is played in his movie Good Night and Good Luck by David Strathairn. That I think is pretty exciting, though. I don’t think of him as much of a stage performer. So I’m going to fold my arms until I see that. And I’m about to be cautiously optimistic. Now, here’s a question. Do we consider Lea Michele in Funny Girl stunt Casting? I mean, I guess that’s the most it’s like a high brow version of that, right? Like, we know she’s a stage performer, but to put her in that role after we give her the simulated version on Glee playing Fanny Brice, I mean, who who did it better? I mean, like, that’s one of the best performances ever that is ineligible for a Tony.

 

Ira Madison III She was doing stunts in shows, let me tell you that. Yeah. And. Baby. I know Beanie Feldstein is going to take that to the grave. Okay. She’s going to take that gross to the grave.

 

Louis Virtel But I mean, I saw Lea Michele in Funny Girl and. I mean, she was staggering. Even though the second act, so much of it makes you want to fucking stab yourself because the place suddenly wants to be about Nicky Arnstein, who has no qualities except villain.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, it took to bring it back to being, though I will say she was fantastic in 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which I saw at the Kennedy Center a couple weeks ago.

 

Louis Virtel Just recently?

 

Ira Madison III Yes. So she was fantastic. And that fits that character. It’s more about the acting and the comedy. You know, I just think that if unless you’re a belter, why are you playing Fanny Brice?

 

Louis Virtel Alright. But by the way, speaking of acting with comic flourish, if I can get back to Nicole Scherzinger for a second, I don’t know what she should really do next on Broadway. You know what she could do? Master class. I would love to see her as Maria Callas schooling young actors and giving that kind of Norma Desmond bravado, but with a lot more comic punchlines. I think that’d be, by the way, you know, what I will say about Nicole Scherzinger are also in Sunset Boulevard. You know what prepares you for what she does with her voice? Do you remember that cover of Golden Eyes you did for like, the Golden Eye rerelease where she obviously that’s a Tina Turner song, Tina Turner Bond theme that what she does in that song with a goal in mind, that kind of thing. Lot of that in this play. And I was very pleased to hear it since her cover of Goldeneye is, I think, fabulous and of course, ends on a crazy high note.

 

Ira Madison III If you want to bring it back to Andrew Lloyd Webber and talk about a casting that did not work. Do we recall Ricky Martin in a veto?

 

Louis Virtel Yes, I understand that. By the way, he is an Emmy nominated actor for the Versace show and a great singer. And we put him on that Palm Royal show, which somebody finished and.

 

Ira Madison III Carl Burnett did.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. No, And we got her an Emmy nomination. Great. Wonderful. Everyone got dressed up for the Emmys. Yes, I remember that at the time. And I also think we quickly were like, let’s just remember him for the Cup of Life.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, it was. That did not recoup its investment, by the way. Real shocker. Yeah. No, it did not make money. People were not happy with that production.

 

Louis Virtel Well, that also calls to mind Fran Drescher, a.k.a. Fran Fine as the godmother in Cinderella, a play that I am shockingly protective over because I am obsessed with the TV movie version, not the brandy one, which is fine. The Lesley Ann Warren one from the 60s, where Celeste Holm plays her fairy godmother. I love Leslie Warren’s version of In My Own Little Corner. If you haven’t looked that up. Enjoy it. But interestingly, in that what I’ve seen of clips of that Carly Rae Jepsen was Cinderella in that version, and she was pretty good. That’s definitely stone casting.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I mean, Carly Rae Jepsen. I wish I’d been able to see that version of it, but I mean. Fran Drescher. Probably did about as well as she’s doing as SAG president.

 

Louis Virtel Also, Carly Rae Jepsen. It’s one of those things where I’m like, I wish you could have seen that, but you can’t see Carly Rae Jepsen perform six times a year. So don’t worry, you will see her in concert, even on accident. You know, just walking through a fairground somewhere.

 

Ira Madison III Another bad start casting. Do you recall David Hasselhoff doing Jekyll and Hyde?

 

Louis Virtel I sure fucking don’t. I’m horrified at the suggestion because, as you know, let’s just say about his acting abilities, he can play one thing. And as you can tell from the title of that, it’s two things.

 

Ira Madison III Well, it also was filmed for TV in 2001, so it’s probably on YouTube somewhere where you can track it down. It’s called Jekyll and Hyde Direct from Broadway, but it is a sight to behold.

 

Louis Virtel Robert Louis Stevenson Do you think his spirit was stirred? Do you think the coffin rattled? Do you like that show The Jekyll and Hyde Show, which is, I think, kind of beloved among musical theater people?

 

Ira Madison III I love the music of that show. I think it’s great. Yeah, I’ve just rarely seen a really good production of it.

 

Louis Virtel Do you have a favorite stunt cast, Roxie Hart or any character in Chicago? Really?

 

Ira Madison III You know what? I saw Lisa Rinna in it, and I thought that she was great.

 

Louis Virtel Really? Now, are you brainwashed? And, you know, I watch what happens live girl. You guys have your own, shall we say. To quote Joan Didion, magical thinking going on.

 

Ira Madison III I also saw Harry Hamlin do the show.

 

Louis Virtel Wow. Just the whole family.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, the whole. The whole family is there. I’m sure Amelia is waiting for her turn. But we talked about Cabaret with Krista a minute ago, and Emma Stone has played Sally Bowles.

 

Louis Virtel It’s. No, she’s one of these people that I would actually describe as annoyingly talented because she kind of plays it down about herself. I know she has the two Oscars and everything, but she just is like, whatever, I’ll give it a shot. That seems to be her vibe. Emma Stone in Cabaret. Not something I think any of us would have ever expected her to sign on for, but she had that crucial sort of booming Sally Bowles energy.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Another sort of stone caster.

 

Louis Virtel Will. Well, before we wrap this up, I must say a great version of Stone casting, even though she originated it, was nominated for a Tony. Linda Ronstadt and the Pirates of Penzance. Like, you would go to the theater and you would expect a certain kind of musical theater voice what she can deliver. But the operatic quality from she the peaks of her talent are so unlike any of her contemporaries. Like I love. You know, Linda Ronstadt was around the same time as people like Carly Simon or Carole King or something. All lovely people. And they were more songwriters. And Linda Ronstadt is not a songwriter, but man, when you go and see her, she delivers the depth of a a singer songwriter type song, but she also could be an opera star, a fucking mariachi star, just anything she wanted to be. And in that play, you got her actually acting really well, too. There’s lots of clips from it.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And I’m sure we’ll get Gaga on stage and a stunt casting soon enough.

 

Louis Virtel No kidding. How has that not happened yet?

 

Ira Madison III Well, she’s been trying to do that movie thing for a minute.

 

Louis Virtel Right? I’m sure she’s assembling a hologram of Tony Bennett right now, too.

 

Ira Madison III All right. Let us know what some of your favorite stunt castings were and some of the worst. I’m sure there are many. Keep it fans who’ve seen a lot more shows. So we’ll be right back with Keep It. And we’re back for our favorite segment of the episode. It’s Keep It. Yes. Lewis, you just got some devastating news.

 

Louis Virtel My God. You should have seen It was like broadcast news. The producer ran into the studio. He a hankie beneath his eye. Chris He reaches out, arms outstretched, like Norma Desmond. And he tells me that Terry Goddard died one of the great comic actresses ever. If you’re extremely basic, you know her as Lisa Kudrow’s mother on Friends. But if you’re you know, someone I would hang out with, you would know her from her multitude of fabulous roles. I just heard this news. I’m being flooded with all these feelings about Terry. Gah, lots to say. My, keep it up to the fact that she has passed away. That’s. I mean, it’s a basic key, but I’m sorry. It’s not much to say about that, Terry. GA in. Tootsie has some mine readings and I think some improvizational moments that she put in there. Fabulous Oscar nominated performance She lost to her costar Jessica Lange. Funny story about that. Terry GA gave one of the greatest interviews of all time to The A.V. Club. I believe it’s called Random roles that go through several roles in their career and just ask her about it. And she talks about having lost the Oscar to Jessica Lange, and she just says, yes, she got enough problems being married to that playwright talking about Sam Shepard. It’s so so funny. And I also love her criticisms of the movie Tootsie itself. She’s talking about it’s a movie. It’s a it’s a movie about a feminist triumph written by extremely sexist men. So it’s about how the director, Sydney Pollack, Dustin Hoffman, is extremely sexist, how he thought by playing a woman and he didn’t feel attractive as the woman or something. And he she goes, But that’s what you learn from the movie. She she goes, pathetic or something. Anyway, I read that interview really funny. She’s also obviously a legend in Young Frankenstein, which stars Gene Wilder. And if you want to hear me talk more about Gene Wilder are specifically in the movie The Producers. There’s a new episode of Trophy Strife on the Keep It Channel, which is where I talk about all the awards shows, nominees. I love nominations. I don’t love. It’s all there. Go and check it out. A very weird movie she was in. I don’t know if you’ve seen this, IRA, the Francis Ford Coppola flop musical, One from the Heart, where it’s Terry Gross and Raul Julia to another one of my favorite actors, Gone Too Soon. Watch that. Just for the sheer amazement of it, the spectacle of it, it was sort of, you know what, it’s actually the original megalopolis, come to think of it.

 

Ira Madison III But Raul was like, he’s about to leave. He’s about to leave her. Right. And then find another way other than comes back. It’s I’ve watched it. What I was having a Coppola sort of renaissance. It’s very bad.

 

Louis Virtel It’s so crazy that it came so soon after, like Apocalypse Now. Like, how could this be the same man? But yes, obviously Terry had me for years and years and years. She was a fabulous guest on David Letterman. Maybe the best. You know, she competes with Amy Sedaris on that front. But she was so candid and cool and just like had a comic sensibility that was inherent to her. One of those people who was, quote unquote, born, finished, just always had this thing about her that was ready to go. And there isn’t a second one of her. We’ll miss her.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I mean, I can be basic and say that, you know, I loved her and Young Frankenstein into the knockers.

 

Louis Virtel Lots of jokes that are.

 

Ira Madison III Great, Mr. Mom.

 

Louis Virtel Dang. Now we said it.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, She’s also a dick, right?

 

Louis Virtel Which, you know what? Dick is a rewarding watch. Especially since we’re in this world of. Of really appreciating the universe of Kirsten Dunst. It doesn’t really come up enough.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, it’s also I would say it’s a it’s a five star movie for me. It’s really, really funny. And it seemed just sort of like a dumb teen comedy when you when you watched it when we were in high school. But rewatching it as an adult, I’m like, no, this is a really smart, funny movie about politics and Watergate.

 

Louis Virtel And I want to emphasize quickly that Terry GA wrote an awesome memoir, too, that you’ll flip through in a single day. So Amazon that.

 

Ira Madison III Great. Okay, so my keep it this week goes to Stans.

 

Louis Virtel This is so original recipe.

 

Ira Madison III Keep it for.

 

Louis Virtel 2018. But we would tell stands to stop it.

 

Ira Madison III I know I listen I praise the whole See album The great impersonator in this episode already. I think it’s fantastic. And the album has gotten a lot of critical acclaim. Like The fucking New York Times gave it a glowing review. The Rolling Stone gave it a glowing review. It’s selling well. I gave it a great review in my newsletter. Okay. But keep it even.

 

Louis Virtel In your pamphlet. Wow.

 

Ira Madison III And why am I 95 pieces in your Gazette? Yeah. I love the album, and I’m not even a whole see stand. Okay. I mean, my favorite Halsey song is a post Malone song. Wow. Die for.

 

Louis Virtel You? Yes, I remember.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. But. I want to say keep it to her stats because of course, they were waiting on pins and needles for the Pitchfork review to drop.

 

Louis Virtel No, you can’t be waiting around for you live one time.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And it’s like, you know what Pitchfork is going to say. About this album. Like, you just know they’re not going to like it. So Pitchfork reviewed the album and they gave it a 4.8.

 

Louis Virtel Wow, that is quite low.

 

Ira Madison III And here’s the thing that I want to say about Pitchfork reviews. Whenever people criticize Pitchfork, they always criticize it as if it’s a monolith. Like as if there’s one person doing all of these reviews. Obviously, they hired different people to do reviews. Different people were going to respond to the music. You know, first of all, not everyone is Meghan Garvey, who writes fantastic reviews. Not everyone’s going to respond to the music the way that you would, you know, if a different reviewer might have liked it more. But the person who reviewed this album just didn’t like it. They gave it a 4.8 and they gave Brat an 8.0. Okay. That’s like that’s. That’s their vibe. Music this year. Which makes sense, to be honest. But I want to say keep it to the stars who were pulling up Halsey’s old tweet. You remember that? One of Can the Basement they run Pitchfork out of just collapse already. What? She did not realize that Pitchfork was in the 911 Memorial Building.

 

Louis Virtel My God. And then people jumped on that. I mean, that’s her Cash to die Young level stupidity among so-called fans.

 

Ira Madison III But. The attacking a pitchfork and the reviewer is just so stupid because there are so many great reviews of this album already. And so do you need everybody to follow in mind? You need everyone to bend the knee to Halsey, you know, like she fucking dangerous Star Guerin. Like, you should be able to appreciate the good reviews of an album and also people who fucking hate the album because that’s how you grow up. Learning to love music. Okay, You should be arguing about the taste of your own music. You should know what people say about an album when they love it. And you should also know what people say about an album when they fucking hate it so that you can engage both sides and actually discuss music that you love or don’t like as an adult.

 

Louis Virtel Well, I always say one of my great pleasures in life is if I’m interested enough in an artist or a movie or whatever, I go to Metacritic and read the entire column of reviews from the ones that give it 100 to the ones that give it a zero. And first of all, it informs what I think. It makes me think about every part of the movie. You know, like, I forgot about that part. And then this reviewer brought it up. So it just keeps it fresh in your mind. This is happening to me right now. The New York Times review of Sunset Boulevard is not particularly positive at all. Like, they barely even compliment Nicole Scherzinger. And if you look at anywhere else, the celebrity endorsements alone, but like most other news media, like Variety’s gushing, etc., but for a for theater, you really want The New York Times review to be the one that like, sets the the positive reviews ablaze because it feels like, Tony, voters respond to what The New York Times thinks and stuff. So I did have a crestfallen moment where I’m like, I just wish they had clinched that. But at the same time, the review was written well enough that I remember it for one thing, and two got me thinking about the production in a way I hadn’t before. So I just find that to be a pleasure. And the entire reason we go to these things in the first place, the entire reason we like are the entire reason we host a broadcast like you.

 

Ira Madison III But I mean, I recently bought a collection of Frank Rich, the nickname The Butcher of Broadway. Yes. A collection of all of his theater reviews. And it’s fun reading reviews, the shows that he tries. You know, I’m sure it wasn’t fun for the people who were in them at the time, but you learn a lot from theater and about theaters pass by reading those reviews. You know, it’s it’s one critic’s opinion. It doesn’t mean it’s the definitive opinion on that show. Just like this. Pitchfork review is not definitive on Halsey’s career or the album. Not everyone has to like Halsey. Not everyone has to like her. Also, because she went through, you know, a traumatic incident or, you know, because she had health issues while making the album, too. You know, that doesn’t mean that everyone’s going to be like, I love the album now, you know?

 

Louis Virtel I also I mean, just it’s a pleasure to be so familiar with the critics voice that one. But by the time comes where you read a new review of theirs, you can place it like you have a sense of their taste and what they consider knowable and what they consider, you know, satisfactory in terms of art. And so you can place it in this perception you already have of what they’re into. And I just again, that’s why I come back to Siskel and Ebert. It’s like it’s not that I it’s it’s not about me agreeing with them. In fact, it’s almost irrelevant whether I agree with them. I just like getting to know them continuously through what they what they review and what you know, what what pangs them, what like upsets them. You know, it just in a way it like is just a personal experience knowing what a critic thinks.

 

Ira Madison III What’s interesting is that Pitchfork is sort of seen in this as a monolith in this way. And unlike other websites where you would sort of know the reviewer like, would I go to a movie review? Like I know if it’s Manohla Dargis, for instance, you know, and I am used to her voice. You know, I’m used to A.O. Scott voice, you know, I’m used to what they like, their tastes, etc. And that is what I like. You can tell when someone’s going to like something you tell when they’re going to hate it. Maybe you’re surprised when they like something you know, like this. It’s all the fun in reading someone’s take on something. It’s actually why I love Letter box, to be honest. And I feel like that has brought back the idea of arguing with your friends about art and not everything needing to be all the way positive or all the way negative about something. Because I saw Conclave last night, which I loved.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I can’t wait to see it.

 

Ira Madison III And I went in to Letter Box and there are bunch of friends who gave it 4 or 5 stars and there are a bunch of other friends who gave it like two stars or one star. They didn’t like it at all. And I loved reading both of those reviews because I loved hearing viewpoints from both of them.

 

Louis Virtel And, you know, at the end of the day, there’s only one actual reviewer I trust, and that’s Azealia Banks, who has moderated even. He’ll taste. I don’t know what this is. It’s like. So 2013, I’m being inundated with texts from friends, with Azealia Banks, tweets and them about certain things. I guess she stand cred and Matchbox 20 recently which by the way this is this is a Matchbox 20 forward podcast and nobody’s putting in the way of mensch Rob Thomas but Creed she stepped a little far with that one. And I did own human clay and I did own the album Weathered. So don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about.

 

Ira Madison III My favorite Rob Thomas after that last season of Veronica mars.

 

Louis Virtel Right?

 

Ira Madison III If I had to write the answer that to.

 

Louis Virtel Me, yes, I was going to bring that up because of Harry Hamlin, who gives one of his best performances on that show.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Listen, she loves Create Matchbox 20. She’s always talking about like, an Interpol or something. Yeah, you could always count on her to stay in a random white rock band and also always tell someone that they need to collaborate with that random white rock band.

 

Louis Virtel That I already bring up her, like, baffling love of Feist.

 

Ira Madison III No.

 

Louis Virtel Why? Well, she stands. Feist, I. Sure, I was there. I like that one song. Okay.

 

Ira Madison III I recently put a spice song into a playlist that I made on Spotify called Smoke Break. Literally a playlist for me to listen to when I take a smoke break while writing. And the song that I picked was, Inside and out.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. I am not deeply familiar with. Maybe I should. Maybe Azealia Banks should be my foremost connoisseur of music. Maybe. Her Madonna opinions are so fucking rancid. Moving on.

 

Ira Madison III Speaking about what we talked about earlier with Aliyah and the Bee Gees Face Inside and Out features a brief sample of Love You Inside Out from the Bee Gees.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. I love them because I’ve come full circle on this stupid circus we call a podcast. That has me questioning Feist as an artist altogether. Questioning just like Shawn Mendez is about his sexuality, quoth a recent tweet.

 

Ira Madison III Well, so he was a Red rocks last night doing his friends and family tour, which is also going to be a concert film that’s released in tandem with his new album, Shawn.

 

Louis Virtel It’s called Shawn.

 

Ira Madison III Wow. It’s called Shawn.

 

Louis Virtel How Britney G.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Okay, you know what? He’s going to get a little more personal, raw, if you will. And, you know, it’s going to be really personal because he already has an album titled Shawn Mendes. I love when someone has two self-titled albums. It’s usually when they hear their full Yeah, the full name. And then I’m going to get a little bit more personal. Just my first name.

 

Louis Virtel Right? Which Whitney did, which feels so insane. You’re telling me Arista was like, It has to be her name again anyway.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, but he played a song that’s on the album is called The Mountain. And that song has a lyric that is about his sexuality. It’s gone viral on TikTok recently, but the lyrics are you can say him to your you can say, I’m too old. You can say, I like girls or boys. Whatever fits your mold. And people are, you know, all the Twitter about it. They’re like, what’s what’s this? What’s that?

 

Louis Virtel And they’re all on Twitter about it.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. You know.

 

Louis Virtel The girls love to not shut up.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. But then when he performed the song last night, he gave a speech about it and he said, Since I was really young, there’s been this thing about my sexuality and people have been talking about it for so long. I think it’s kind of silly because I think sexuality is such a beautifully complex thing and it’s so hard to just put into boxes. I always felt like it was such an intrusion on something very personal to me, something I was still figuring out for myself, something I had yet to discover and still have yet to discover. The real truth about my life and my sexuality is that man, I’m just figuring it out like everyone else.

 

Louis Virtel My God, what a little poem. Which, as you know, is gay. But yeah, fair enough. You know what I mean? I you know what I think is interesting about sexuality? How complex it is for me. So I actually have to disagree with him on that. I really do. One thing. I mean, when you see it live, you’ll get it.

 

Ira Madison III I love his poetry. Get Amanda Gorman out of here.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Oh please.

 

Ira Madison III Have him at the inauguration no matter who wins.

 

Louis Virtel Now, in retrospect, when I think of Amanda Gorman, I think of her as trying to deliver her poem over the sound of J.Lo doing Let’s Get Loud, Mike. That’s I’m conflating them in my head. I know that didn’t really happen.

 

Ira Madison III Can you be quieter? J.Lo put out a talk and she’s still screaming in the background, right? Yeah, Holding that note I find so interesting about this article. We’ve talked about this on the show so many times. You know, there’s this first there was this insistence of this ownership of his sexuality and sort of what we’ve talked about recently with Chapel Road and with Teagan Quinn, the sort of ownership that fans have of people. But it feels so different when it’s sort of a celebrity that people wish was gay.  Like they want him to come out.

 

Louis Virtel Thirsty. It’s just thirsty.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, it’s thirst because it’s because all the texts you get from your friends are always, you know, like, he’s out now. And there’s always the joke about, now I can date him or hope I run into him. And it’s like, Baby, good luck. Good luck, babe.

 

Louis Virtel So the original good luck bad. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III It’s not happening. And also, whenever a celebrity is figuring out their sexuality and saying it publicly, chances are you’re about to discover a boyfriend that they already have.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. No kidding. That is extremely true. Unless the only other person this is reminding me of right now is Lucas Hedges, who went on island and said something about figuring out. Out when he did one of his multiple gay movies. And then ultimately, it didn’t pan out. Like we didn’t get any further updates on that. Good for you. I guess, Lucas.

 

Ira Madison III What he figured out was he didn’t want to do movies for a while because where the fuck are you, Ben?

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, no shit. He did that Brokeback Mountain on Broadway, which is one of the gayest things you can do. Really. I mean, think of that phrase.

 

Ira Madison III So, yeah. So anyway, Shaun is talking about it.

 

Louis Virtel And there’s nothing holding him back, really.

 

Ira Madison III And of course he’s talking about it because he has an album coming out on November 14th.

 

Louis Virtel He keeps me in stitches.

 

Ira Madison III Which I say people have been talking about his sexuality and using it to dry the headlines for years, so he might as well use it himself to drive up album sales.

 

Louis Virtel Right? We wouldn’t want him lost in Japan in terms of his sexuality.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. My last point I just want to say is. If you’re going to be talking about Shawn Mendes and so many people are sharing, you know, like the speech and their Instagram and everything today. Name a single song. The people doing this like you don’t even listen to his music. You only care about him in terms of thinking his art.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Which there’s plenty of people out there find something to do.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. That doesn’t do anything for his album sales, baby.

 

Louis Virtel Right. We need people to buy the album. Full Moon and Brandy.

 

Ira Madison III Bring it back full circle.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Once again.

 

Ira Madison III Although my new favorite version of that is. Have you seen Raven on one on six at the Park Zoo?

 

Louis Virtel Yes. She’s, like, trembling. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, but she’s talking as she says. She’s talking about, my new album is coming out. And then she says, You know, I’m always talking about new music that none of you ever buy.

 

Louis Virtel You know, we’re so funny.

 

Ira Madison III And someone says, I bought it. I thought. So she says, Are you just saying that? Thank you. Thank you. If you actually did. I love her.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. No, she has the music.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. All right. That’s our show this week.

 

Louis Virtel Thank you to Cristin Milioti. But I hate to use the word mensch, which is a word used to describe men, but I’m going to use it in this case for Cristin Milioti.

 

Ira Madison III Adoyinch.

 

Louis Virtel Please. Yes, we need some doyinches.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And also. There’s an election going on next week.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, go ahead and postpone that vote.

 

Ira Madison III You know, vote, vote. Vote however you feel. I sound like a celebrity now. Just as long as you go and vote no. No, go and vote for Kamala Harris.

 

Louis Virtel Please God. Yes. Go ahead and do that. The right thing. The thing you know is right. The right thing.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Anyway, we will see you next week. Our episode will be dropping after Election Day. But this is America, so we probably won’t even have a president by then.

 

Louis Virtel See you next week.

 

Ira Madison III Don’t forget to follow Crooked Media on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.

 

Louis Virtel You can also subscribe to keep it on YouTube for access to full episodes and other exclusive content. And if you’re as opinionated as we are, consider dropping us a review.

 

Ira Madison III Keep It is a Crooked Media production. Our producers are Chris Lord and Kennedy Hill. Our executive producers are Ira Madison, the third, Louis Virtel and Kendra James.

 

Louis Virtel Our digital team is Megan Patsel, Claudia Shang and Rachel Gaieski. This episode was recorded and mixed by Evan Sutton. Thank you to Matt DeGroot, David Toles, Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landes for production support every week.