Ira and Louis dive into the Golden Globes, Maestro, the NYT’s Taylor Swift op-ed, Hollywood assistants, and more. Angourie Rice joins to discuss the new musical adaptation of Mean Girls. Plus, Louis chats with Kathy Griffin about her new tour My Life on the PTSD-List.

 

TRANSCRIPT

 

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Ira Madison III And we are back for the first Keep It of 2024. I’m Ira Madison the third.

 

Louis Virtel And. I don’t even know if I’m back yet. My brain has to come back on. Do we know how to podcast anymore? I’m Louis Virtel and I’m worried for us.

 

Ira Madison III I forgot that we were technically off for three weeks, almost a month, because we did our final episode with Andy Cohen, but we recorded that before we went on vacation. I was at a movie screening, and one of the PR people there grabbed me and was like, where have you two been?

 

Louis Virtel I would love to know. I feel like I’ve been concussed. I got like all three of the viruses going around, so I just don’t remember anything of my prior life. Hopefully some of me romance.

 

Ira Madison III There’s gay viruses going around. The gays are getting them. Also, the straights are getting them. I had a, um, girlfriend cancel a dinner because she lives out in Connecticut and she’s like, um, the moms and the kids, they are getting whatever is going around. So it’s sort of like contagion out there.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, okay. And of course, I’m thinking about the Gwyneth death face, which is.

 

Ira Madison III *laughter*

 

Louis Virtel Should be a mural over my bedroom or something.

 

Ira Madison III Okay. Speaking of Gwenyth.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Oh, thank God we’re back. Okay. Let’s go.

 

Ira Madison III What I finally did over the break. Uh, I’ve long forever only used the phrase sliding doors. Um, as, uh. Even if you haven’t seen the movie, you know that it’s about, um, when you’re running, and then, um, you catch the train.

 

Louis Virtel Right.

 

Ira Madison III And then, um, the two different lives you could.

 

Louis Virtel Have looked at, like. But, like bucket list everybody, even if you haven’t seen the movie. You know what that is? Yes. Uh huh.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Um. I finally saw this movie. Baby. It’s bad.

 

Louis Virtel It is a bad movie. I saw it in college.

 

Ira Madison III And it it is a horrible movie. It’s it’s bad. Mostly because. Okay. Got it. Paltrow gets fired. Uh, first of all, she’s using a British accent in this movie, and they give her the worst brown hair.

 

Louis Virtel Right. That is. That is somebody who needs blond hair. Uh, that’s my daughter. You know what I’m saying?

 

Ira Madison III Um. And then the two lives that she lives, she catches the train and finds out that her boyfriend’s been cheating on her with Jean Tripplehorn.

 

Louis Virtel Which just happens in life sometimes. Right.

 

Ira Madison III Uh, she’s always stealing bitches men. And then the other ones, she misses the train and doesn’t find out, etc.. I really did not give a fuck about either timeline.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. Right. There wasn’t like, it wasn’t, um, instructive in either way. Like, I didn’t come out of it being like, oh, this is so important for me to see this woman’s life go two different ways. And what we learn from both tangents or whatever.

 

Ira Madison III And then I learned this whole scandal about it basically being a rip off of the, um, Kozlowski film Blind Chance.

 

Louis Virtel Which, as you know, all Americans have seen. So I can’t believe they even attempted this.

 

Ira Madison III Uh, but I guess that film also inspired Run Lola Run, which is every millennial film students favorite.

 

Louis Virtel I was gonna say, when I think of Run Lola Run, I think of I’m a freshman in high school or sophomore and a senior is telling me about what movies are, and they’re like, run, Lola, run. See, like, isn’t it exotic? And also I have Lola hair because it’s 2003 and we’re crazy people together.

 

Ira Madison III High school I was introduced specifically to Run Lola Run and Pi.

 

Louis Virtel Excuse me. Now I have to bring up my friend Elise Branigan, who, uh, her DVD collection was what I call dark whimsy entirely. It was Pi. It was Donnie Darko. It was.

 

Ira Madison III Donnie Darko. I knew it was going to be there.

 

Louis Virtel American Beauty. It was. Yeah. Dogma is not the same thing, but like movies like that, the Virgin Suicides. Virgin Suicides is exactly what I’m talking about. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Uh, and if you are a straight man, you had all of those movies plus Boondock Saints.

 

Louis Virtel Right? And as you know, that movie takes the wind out of my sails. I don’t like to say those words. I think it’s the worst thing to come out of Ireland. And though I don’t dislike most things that come out of Ireland, for instance, half the country was nominated for Golden Globes this year and I liked all those actors.

 

Ira Madison III And honestly, it’s maybe surprising for you. I feel like you sort of tolerate and even like Martin McDonagh.

 

Speaker 2 Well, I love not.

 

Louis Virtel In the case of fucking Three Billboards, bitch. There should have been a fourth billboard that says get Out, Louis.

 

Ira Madison III We’re ignoring that. That was that was him trying to be America. Okay? He should not make American products. We talked about this when it came out. We’re not going to go back into that nightmare. But I compared it to when he wrote that play, A Big Hand in Spokane. Yeah. Which had, um, Anthony Mackie in it, and I forget who else, but it was him writing American characters and a black character. Uh, like this. Writing about race is not the same thing as writing about social class. And. Oh, right. And tough. We already have a white man director who loves the liberal use of the N-word.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. I’ll try. Is he? Is he still with, uh, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge? Yeah, because I know she’s like, why don’t we cut some of these lines? Why don’t you cut that line?

 

Ira Madison III I asked someone recently if I should see dial of Destiny.

 

Louis Virtel I heard it’s.

 

Ira Madison III Okay. Uh, yeah. They said it’s okay. And they also say, yeah, it’s really good if you love Phoebe Waller-Bridge. And then I stopped and I said, who isn’t loving her?

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Let me see. Was there a Salon.com piece I missed? I’m sorry. It’s like impossible. She’s too good. And also she looks like she belongs in the movie Brief Encounter or something. She has, like, exotic old Hollywood looks.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Um, so caught up on sliding doors, caught up on Kozlowski. I don’t need to rewatch run all I.

 

Louis Virtel The only thing I saw BlackBerry last night. You know why I saw it? Because it was on Obama’s list. Can I just say something? I’m not saying it wasn’t entertaining. It is an entertaining movie. I feel like we’ve seen this movie 30 times. It’s guys yelling you fuck at each other in a shitty office. I mean, it’s just like the actually they invoke, um, David Mamet during the movie, but it’s like that post, post post David Mamet thing we’re still doing. Did you see.

 

Ira Madison III That? I did not it’s it sounds like an Adam McKay film, even though it was probably.

 

Louis Virtel No, I would say it’s a it’s better than an Adam McKay movie and it is entertaining. I just don’t think it’s best of the year. Obama let me down a little bit there. I did think it was shady that he didn’t like Barbie, which I don’t have any opinions about that movie. So.

 

Ira Madison III I did love how his legs came out and then he did a follow up tweet. Also just saw The Color Purple and loved it.

 

Louis Virtel Has there ever been a more fruitful tweet? Has there ever been a.

 

Speaker 2 More fearful tweet?

 

Ira Madison III I this has been the season of, uh. Everyone’s afraid of Oprah.

 

Speaker 2 I guess.

 

Louis Virtel Well, she looks sensational, so it’s sort of like, heightened.

 

Ira Madison III The Oprah versus Taraji threat that’s been happening.

 

Louis Virtel Taraji I’ve been enjoying that press tour. I have been. Yeah, even when it’s been harrowing. She’s been very vulnerable.

 

Ira Madison III But she’s she’s been letting it fly. Yeah. You know, um, there’s there’s a lot to say about the color purple. Um, you would almost forget that, um, Fantasia and Danielle Brooks are on a awards.

 

Speaker 2 Tour.

 

Ira Madison III Because we haven’t been talking about.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, right. We’ll get into this when we talk about the gloves. Divine joy. Randolph I’m not saying that role in The Holdovers isn’t good. She is certainly great. Has like a melancholic, grim depth that is affordable. But Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple is sensational. Runs that movie. I can’t believe she’s not winning a single thing right now.

 

Ira Madison III It is such a weird awards season in that regard, only because for me, those are the two. Best. Yeah. You know, right. Right up there in that supporting category, uh, I feel like everyone is rooting for Danielle and also Davon, but. There can only be one.

 

Louis Virtel Precisely.

 

Ira Madison III I know. And I feel like Danielle is at least happy that Davon is getting her moment, because, I mean, like, no shade to Davon. I think she’s fucking fantastic. She’s amazing in the hold overs, and I think a lot of this is also leftover sentiment from her role in Dolemite Is My Name, right?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, of course she got.

 

Ira Madison III A lot of attention.

 

Louis Virtel She didn’t quite make the circuit, right?

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, yeah. Um, but I think Danielle is sort of fine with it because the best ones are Juilliard. Okay, this year she is going to be nominated, um, up and down for the rest of her life. I will they’re going to induct her as, like, the new viola or something.

 

Louis Virtel I will say in the supporting categories, though. So Jacob Elordi was my and Priscilla was my supporting actor thing that got no traction. I now have a supporting actress thing that’s getting no traction. Bitch. Claire Foy and all of us strangers. That is a ten out of ten performance. She fucking nailed my movie.

 

Ira Madison III She’s amazing. She and Jamie Bell are actually my favorite parts of the film. Yeah, I.

 

Louis Virtel Think everybody’s really good in it, but they bring a particular je ne sais quoi of like, parents of a certain era. And like, I don’t know, they just hit a button. Like, I feel like they really nailed the thing that, like, even mediocre parents can provide for their kids. Like, I think that was really well realized through those two actors in that movie.

 

Ira Madison III Well, I think what also helps is they know what they’re playing in that movie. And, um, Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, um, just sort of hanging around.

 

Louis Virtel Well, I think it’s a tough assignment. What they have to do in that it.

 

Ira Madison III Is it’s a tough it’s a tough assignment. I think they’re great.

 

Louis Virtel What is their relationship? What is this apartment building they live in? Like? It’s a little bit murkier than what the relationship is between, uh, Andrew Scott and his late parents in movies. Go see that movie and report back.

 

Ira Madison III Which is. Yeah. Which is not to say that they are great. I mean, I love those two actors, but I will say that they their role is a bit more nebulous, uh, trite. And it’s I hate talking about this movie because you truly cannot talk about everything. So anyone who hasn’t seen it.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Mhm. Very emotional film is also.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I will say my favorite part, uh, was the Frankie says Relax song. Very good.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, the soundtrack in general was good because the, uh, always on my mind, Pet Shop Boys in it too, and stuff.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and also very good club scene where Andrew Scott is supposed to be on ketamine.

 

Louis Virtel Right, right, right. As we know.

 

Ira Madison III Shot very beautifully, which is two of my favorite scenes have been sort of like of the year, have been scenes of like, gay men, like dancing in a bar. It was shot very well, just like Passages were shot.

 

Louis Virtel Very Passages. I thought you were talking about error or something. Okay. Oh, yeah. We can get into this in the Golden Globes, by the way. Let’s let’s tell them what’s coming on this episode.

 

Ira Madison III All right. We are talking Golden Globes this year. Um, the ceremony, the alleged host, everything.

 

Louis Virtel Also, by the way, first of like, ten award shows we’re getting in a row this year because we weirdly get the Emmys next week. And then I want to say, maybe not Critics Choice or something after that number right into the Grammys. Anyway, a lot going on in the awards world.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. So this is what the Keep It listeners want.

 

Louis Virtel Right. We, we we pulled that. Well actually we pulled just me and this is what we want. So.

 

Ira Madison III Uh, so in addition to that, we also have two interviews this week. We’re just throwing you right back into our interview game. One of them will start with is a Louis solo interview. You chatted with your friend Kathy Griffin.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Who’s, uh, if you’ve been watching TMZ recently, has been through it. This was before that we, uh, interviewed her, but of course, she’s back on tour doing stand up, which, thank God we love. Um. And of course, she’s fascinating and also knows everything. So she can go down every tangent. And believe me, we do.

 

Ira Madison III She’s Reality Von Teese.

 

Louis Virtel See, I still don’t really understand what that references. I’ve seen it on Twitter. I know it has something to do with Housewives, but as you know, I’m new to all those words.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Um, it’s probably best for your sanity.

 

Louis Virtel Thank you.

 

Ira Madison III To be honest.

 

Louis Virtel I’m like a doll. I just don’t get it. It’ll rot my brain.

 

Ira Madison III And seeing as our podcast comes out on Wednesdays, I wore pink.

 

Louis Virtel You did, I did not. I work, I wore my Kylie merch for a change. New year, new me. I’m trying this thing out.

 

Ira Madison III Uh, I’m wearing pink because we also have an interview with Angourie Rice, who plays the Lindsay Lohan role in Mean Girls The Musical, which is out this week.

 

Louis Virtel Before we did this interview, I said that Ira, it’s going to be a good interview, and she was wonderful. I was right on the money with this one.

 

Ira Madison III Always bank on an Australian to be honest.

 

Louis Virtel Right? Yeah, yeah yeah. Social people, um, as I say about the country, I don’t think they even have a president. They just have vibes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. You know what? She’s. I bring up one of my favorite underrated, um, classics, the nice Guys.

 

Louis Virtel Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Uh, during the interview. And. I think we should interview Russell Crowe.

 

Louis Virtel I’m frightened, but, um.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I’m scared too. But I think it would be. I think it would be fun. I want to know about throwing your phone at Azalea Banks.

 

Louis Virtel And also remember when he did that gay movie with, uh, Lucas Hedges?

 

Ira Madison III Oh, Boy Erased.

 

Louis Virtel I was about to say Ben is back because the world confused us that year by putting them really close to each other. That is. Back was Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts. Boy erased is Lucas Hedges, and his parents are Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman. Right?

 

Ira Madison III What happened to Lucas Hedges?

 

Louis Virtel I keep at, I’m sure. Is there like an LGBT center? He’s hanging around out? I have no idea.

 

Ira Madison III He’s waiting for short shorts.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I remember those boots. And they walked right into obscurity.

 

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

 

Louis Virtel <AD>.

 

Louis Virtel Our guest today is a 1 in 1,000,000 American icon. She is a legend of stand up comedy who never holds back for anyone, even when she is asked nicely. Uh, she’s a hilarious multi-hyphenate actor, writer, hostess all around, icon of stage and screen. She’s won Emmys, uh, a Grammy, uh, and now she’s back with a new stand up tour. My life on the PTSD list. Please welcome to Keep It the outrageous, the award winning, and somehow, my friend Kathy Griffin.

 

Kathy Griffin I love her. Oh, I’m so excited. I mean, I’m being some audience member. Audience members.

 

Louis Virtel I wonder what she’ll do next. They’re all saying.

 

Kathy Griffin Outrageous. I’m not going to hold back on you, Lois, because I can tell your listeners what it’s like when you come over to a lunch or dinner salon. Because I have salons that I’m very proud of where no phones are allowed at the table. But what your viewers and fans might be surprised to know is you can be quite shy at a dinner party.

 

Louis Virtel Me? Yes, I like to pick my moments. Well, it’s also like kind of a tough I don’t say tough crowd, but it’s like I’m just like some gay comic. Like, what do I have to entertain Rosanna Arquette with? You know what I mean? You have to do some math right now.

 

Kathy Griffin Were you at the Morgan Fairchild one?

 

Louis Virtel No, I wasn’t.

 

Kathy Griffin Louis.

 

Louis Virtel I know.

 

Kathy Griffin That was made for you.

 

Louis Virtel That’s my language.

 

Kathy Griffin So I have these salons, and exactly. I have these salons. And there’s a guest of honor. And I had one for Morgan Fairchild, who’s just epic. But I would say most of the ones that you’ve been to and who are the guest of honor were.

 

Louis Virtel Let’s see, I’ve been there. Well, I’ve been I’m usually there when Margaret Cho is there somehow. And she’s always like, fun. And so, uh, Jenifer Louis has been there a couple of times. Uh, Kristen Johnston, uh, uh, Maria Shriver was there one time. And let me tell you, she is among the most no nonsense people you could have at a dinner party.

 

Kathy Griffin Okay, what about when Maria Shriver didn’t want to take the picture at the end? I had to yell at her and browbeat her because she was in my home. We had an amazing conversation. She’s whip smart. Oh. The guest of honor that night was Christopher Wylie. Who’s the guy that was the whistleblower about Facebook interfering with elections for Cambridge Analytica.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Which was mind blowing.

 

Kathy Griffin Mind blowing. He testified before Congress and everything. And then he and Maria Shriver got into it about Myanmar. And I remember he would always pronounce it Myanmar, and she would say Myanmar. And they just they got intoit over that alone.

 

Louis Virtel Right? No. By the way, you’ve thrown dinners for a long, long time, like since the 90s when you were just hanging out with comics and getting them all together. What, like started this impulse for you to bring people together this way?

 

Kathy Griffin Well, first of all, I really started up in the salons with my now infamous cancelation slash Department of Justice investigation six and a half years ago. As you know, I’ve had some problems with the previous administration and, uh, right, well, working that out. So I think this tour means I’m officially, um, canceled.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, good lord. Deeply. I’m canceled. I mean, there should be, like, some sort of government official coming down to say so.

 

Kathy Griffin Oh, by the way, I do have an email from the Department of Justice saying that I was fully exonerated when they were considering charging me with conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States. So I do have like an actual document saying, okay, you’re cleared. And I was off the no fly list and stuff. Okay. So during that time, a lot of my friends ditched me. So I started looking for new friends, and I thought the best way to do it is to have these like, salons where people actually talk to each other and listen to each other. And my rule is no dumb dumbs.

 

Louis Virtel Sure. Actually, everybody I have met at your place is like specifically in authority and their area of expertise, whatever it is.

 

Kathy Griffin Yes. And I stole that. Well, I didn’t exactly meet them, but I stole the idea. Get this. I used to go that she didn’t call them salons, but they really were. And she would invite me and Gloria Vanderbilt house.

 

Louis Virtel Jesus Christ, I mean, I’m sure that has to be the house of all time. First of all, just to be physically in that space.

 

Kathy Griffin First of all, you never knew who was going to show up. So she would like she would tell me ahead of time and I would have to look up a lot of the people, because a lot of them were like academics and stuff. And she was just amazing, fabulous. I miss her. But get this, one time she thought this was a good idea and I, I get what her thought process was. And you know, she’s she Gloria Vanderbilt and she was older and stuff, but she called me one time and she’s like, Kathy, you’ve got to come to the next dinner party, Woody Allen and Soon-Yi are coming.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, no. Oh, yeah. As if you wouldn’t have questions. Yeah.

 

Kathy Griffin Oh my God. So anyway, then she invited all these other cool women who kept dropping out because of Woody. So, like Gloria, um, Steinem was going to come, and then she dropped out and I called Steinem, and I’m like, look, honey, I don’t care how much of an icon activist you are, you’re not leaving me alone at a table with fucking Woody Allen, Soon-Yi Previn. You don’t know what I’m going to say. And yes, I still call her Soon-Yi Previn. And then, Marlo and Phil were going to come. Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue. Well, then Marlo, being a feminist, she drops out. So I called her and said, can you listen, Phil? What the hell am I going to talk to Woody Allen about? So they dropped out. So I sat next to Woody Allen and he was like, first of all, he opened with a joke, which I have to say, that part. I sort of respected it. So he’s with Soon-Yi and he goes, this is my child bride.

 

Louis Virtel Wow. Just right on the nose in front of everybody.

 

Kathy Griffin First thing he said to me. So I was like, okay, he has some awareness. And then I just said, look, I love Clove Andy. I call it a Clove Andy. I get that she thought putting me with a comedy giant would be good. She doesn’t. She didn’t know my feelings about Woody, and I don’t know hers, but I remember he was not one bit funny after that first line, which was very odd. I would try to ask him questions because he was next to me and I said, like, of all the comics you’ve directed in your movies, who did you like?

 

Louis Virtel Great question.

 

Kathy Griffin He was like, I don’t know. And I go, okay, like Andrew Dice Clay was great in Blue Jasmine. Why did you think of casting him? And then everything I asked him, he would go, oh, Juliet did that. His long time casting woman, Juliette Taylor. So I think the secret to Woody Allen is even if you loved his great work, he basically said Juliette Taylor did everything and directed their acting and everything. And then Gloria Vanderbilt said, try to do an icebreaker. And she said, Kathy, and keep in mind, this is like eight years ago. She goes, what is going on with Miley Cyrus? And I had some Miley update. And then Woody turns to me and says, I’ve never missed an episode of Hannah Montana.

 

Louis Virtel I remember you saying that before, and that really is just bone chilling. Like, what is in it? An episode of Hannah Montana for Woody Allen. Like, what’s he getting from it?

 

Kathy Griffin A sexy young girl. A sexy, young girl.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, I’m not like a detective. I don’t know if that’s exactly what he was. Did you, like.

 

Kathy Griffin Allegedly.

 

Kathy Griffin Well, so anyway. But I do love a salon where it is people that you would put together that normally would never be together, because then, you know, you can have interesting conversations. But during my cancellation, you know, before and after Covid, because during Covid, it was just something that made me feel alive, like I really live for these salons. And it’s kind of silly because it’s just a gathering of people, but it’s like something I’m days gone by and everybody’s on their phone all the time, and I, oh, I always start with a text chain, as you know. And whenever there’s a big celebrity, they’re furious, like, oh, great, I don’t even know these other 11 people. And now you’re giving them my personal cell number. But what makes me feel great is after the salon, the text chain always lives on. And then people.

 

Louis Virtel That’s so cute.

 

Kathy Griffin As they go on. Okay, so get this. The next one I’m having is for Lunell, who played the prostitute in the first Borat movie. And she’s like a great mimic. And I just thought, oh my gosh, for all of my bitching about like, ageism and misogyny, God knows what Lunell has been through to get where she is. So we’re going to celebrate Lunell next.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Fabulous. Now, by the way, speaking of Woody Allen, you’re of course, both standups actually. And I was thinking, um, I just saw footage of you a couple months ago preparing for your current, uh, tour where you were trying out material at the Laugh Factory. I believe this I don’t know how many people at your level would actually do that. Still, is there any part of that? Like, do you consider that, like the meat and potatoes of comedy? Like, do you always want to come back to that kind of kind of cabaret environment?

 

Kathy Griffin Yeah, because that’s how I started. And when I did those shows at the last factory, I, I wasn’t part of the lineup. So I called the owner, Jamie, and I said, what’s your worst time slot? And he goes, Wednesdays at ten, nobody wants to come. So I said, great. So then I just decided I picked a month that had five Wednesdays, and I decided to just do shows on the marquee. Kathy Griffin one hour, and I would bring an egg timer and I would do the show my pajamas, because I had come off like a really big tour. So I was just kind of like being casual. I would set the egg timer, tell all new material, the bell would go off, the audience goes up, and I go, see you next week. And then I would continue the story the next week. So I would do a new one every single week. And some people would come to everyone, which was really flattering.

 

Louis Virtel That is I mean, it reminds me of like 50s television or something like, and we’ve run out of time for the day, you know.

 

Kathy Griffin Right, right, right. Because L.A. is so fickle. People don’t have time. LA is like one of the hardest cities, if not the hardest city in America. For me to sell tickets because everybody is jaded here. It’s not a big deal to see like, a celebrity or somebody from TV. So it’s hard to get LA people to actually drive anywhere. But I’ve done shows downtown at the Ahmanson. I’ve done shows in Santa Monica, at the Broad, I’ve done the Kodak Theater many times, which is heaven, and I’ve done the Orpheum downtown. And half the time it’s just me telling my friends like, yes, there’s parking yesterday in your car. But I promise it’s all going to be new material. And I drag them, but eventually they show up.

 

Louis Virtel What is the easiest city to woo you find with your standup?

 

Kathy Griffin I have to say New York, because on my last tour, I sold out Carnegie Hall in 12 hours, which I still can’t get over. And that is such an amazing venue I’ve got. I’ve been lucky enough to play it myself five times, and I call it the church because people don’t know that while it’s obviously a music venue, it’s amazing stand up because guess what? The acoustics are just as good for a stand up. As, you know, for a singer. But the way the audience shows up is they show up and they’re a theatrical audience. And that works for me, because since I started, I’ve been an outlier, because I don’t tell typical jokes like set up punchline jokes, set up punchline joke. I tell these stories that have like three jokes, rapid fire. Then I’m kind of explaining something. Then there’s another joke. And so I have a story, very storytelling style, which which puts me at odds with some comics. Like a lot of the guys have come after me. Like, I think Jerry Seinfeld doesn’t think I’m a real comic because I like, tell stories, and he does very perfectly well written jokes. And he he’s almost like, I think he’s almost more of a monologist because he, like, writes his act on the computer, practices it and does it and doesn’t change. And mine is very imperfect. But I love changing it up and talking about whatever happened in that city that day or that week. And so doing 40 cities and this tour is going to be a joy, because I get to get little of mine material out of every city that I’m going to. You know. Hello, Omaha.

 

Louis Virtel Creighton University is beautiful. I’ve seen it before. Something that I also think is that you used to be compared all the time to Joan Rivers, and it’s easy to see why I like your irreverence in the same way. You guys were obviously friends. But I have to say, when I think of somebody who might be a successor to you in terms of what you just described, like storytelling and like running into jokes as opposed to just planning a monologue, not many people come to mind. Who is your successor, do you think?

 

Kathy Griffin Who is my successor? The reason I can’t answer that, and I admit this is bad. I am not up on comedy at all the way I should be, I, I am, I keep up by my contemporaries. So I kind of know what. Like Wanda Sykes and Chelsea Handler and Margaret Cho and Amy Schumer, like the girls around my age. I kind of know what they’re doing, and I know what some of the guys are doing. Um, but I spend so much time trying to do my crime that I don’t even watch stand up very much because I’m so obsessed with watching stuff that I could mine for material like a ton of documentaries, anything Netflix docu series, Twin Flames, any cult I’m totally into. I am watching that Squid Game challenge. And Louis, I feel so dirty.

 

Louis Virtel I think, oh God. Also, that’s like such well-produced reality TV that like, you can’t look away. Like, truly, you have to keep watching the show.

 

Kathy Griffin It is, it is um, it is one of the horses of the apocalypse. I’m not sure the number. I’m part of the problem, not the solution. I’m watching it.

 

Louis Virtel Now, when I think about the kinds of gigs you’ve done since you’ve been famous and we’re talking about like the late 90s onward, like you’ve done everything from acting to, you know, super corporate gigs to and I’m wondering what is the kind of gig you’re happiest to have left behind that you never have to do again?

 

Kathy Griffin Um. I would say I’m like, here’s what, here’s what. My days are over. My. I’ve finally gotten good at turning down the, uh, host, the whole hosting of certain charities where I know I’m going to bomb for free. Of course, like the one that I just won’t do anymore is for some reason, charity orgs love to call me and they love to have me do the auction. And that is a thankless job. The only person I know who can do the auction is Sharon Stone, and she does that big amfAR one and let her do it. But it’s a nightmare. You’re trying to get more money out of people. They turn on you. They resent you, and then you’re trying to get more money and more money, and you’re selling a three day trip to Saint Lucia. And you’re hoping for the best of friends, guilt people. I mean, I’ve done it many times, and so that’s that’s my new thing to turn down.

 

Louis Virtel Um, that feels like the A-list version of, like, a drag bingo night or something, where you just have to keep calling the numbers and hoping something funny happens.

 

Kathy Griffin Yeah, Oh no, drag bingo is something I will alway go back to you because O- 69 is always at.

 

Louis Virtel Right? Right. So there’s built in humor there.

 

Kathy Griffin Oh, and you know, so I don’t want to get crews.

 

Louis Virtel Right now. You been on how many gay cruises? And also second question, how many gay cruises has your husband been on?

 

Kathy Griffin I have done 18 gay cruises and Randy is this your 11th or 12th.

 

Randy Griffin 12th.

 

Kathy Griffin 12th. His 12 th and here’s a cisgender, hetero, cis man. Whatever. He’s a straight guy.

 

Louis Virtel And if you will, mild mannered, a mild mannered, straight man. I say this affectionate.

 

Kathy Griffin He doesn’t want trouble. He’s not going to break into the Guns and Hoses party. He’s walking around. By the way, can I tell you about what the Guns and Hoses party is?

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Explain that.

 

Kathy Griffin And these guys got a lot of nerve, honey. They got a lot of crust. They actually have the nerve to act like it’s. By the way, these boats have, like, 3000 gates. And so the ship. And so the guns and hoses party is for firefighters and police officers who are on the cruise, who are gay guys, and it’s to honor them. Wink. So really what it does is it disintegrates into just a sloppy fest of like, guys who go dressed up as a cop, but they have like a cop hat and then just a G-string, and then you’re going to be arrested. And then there’s a lot of puns about the fake firefighters hoses. And so they do it every cruise I’ve been on. And I just love the title.

 

Louis Virtel Also guns and hoses. You’re somebody who I consider a scholar of celebrity. I think Axl Rose may be one of my least favorite celebrities ever. Do you have anybody who comes to mind in this regard where you’re like, I just fucking hate everything that person stands for that isn’t in the Trump universe, I should say.

 

Kathy Griffin Right, right, right. Yeah. I mean, probably Ellen.

 

Louis Virtel Ellen and Axl Rose in the same basket for me.

 

Kathy Griffin Yeah, yeah. They would. By the way, that would be a very interesting interview of Ellen still at her show. I wonder how she’ll even deal with him. She probably wouldn’t have him on, but, um, that would be interesting. But my issue with Ellen is that she has a big issue with me, and we’ve had like, fights over the years, which are so epic that I keep texting her like every two years. I’ll go, you know, at some point we should get to a point where we can laugh about our fights, because when you think about it, it’s like dynasty level, and it’s really dumb that you and I don’t get along. And then she doesn’t write back.

 

Louis Virtel Which is interesting, because I feel like time is particularly kind to your feuds. Like it feels like people you once upon a time had issues with like like, ah, now like you like people you hang with now. It’s interesting that she’s still keeping it up.

 

Kathy Griffin I just went to Paris Hilton’s house, and I’ve called her every name in the book, by the way, for decades. And I got to say, I. I’m so easy. If you just laugh and have a sense of humor about my material. I’m like your friend for life. And so she just gets it. And I went to her Christmas party. I’m not kidding. I got a I got a half hour of material just from attending. And what was great is it was like a time capsule. So it was like going back to 2002. So parents look the same. She still wear is like pink babydoll sparkly outfits. And the sister also does they don’t dress alike but almost. And I went with Rosie O’Donnell, which also was very like twins.

 

Louis Virtel Oh yeah. Kush balls flying. Yeah, balls were flying.

 

Kathy Griffin And um, and there was a lot of sparkles and there was a pink theme, and her house has all pink Christmas lights. And when I went through the guard gate, because it’s a gated community, I first of all, just to hear myself say the words, yes, we’re here for the Paris Hilton Christmas party. Just makes me laugh to this day. And the guard gate, the guard goes, um, yeah, it’s the one with the pink Christmas lights. It’s one of the major houses. Oh, it’s one of your house. And so she she just, like, doesn’t give a shit what I say. And I just love that about her. And I’m not going to say anything mean, but I’m definitely going to talk about the party. One thing I’m going to do, I hope she doesn’t take offense. I’m going to complain about the food, because the only food in this entire party was corn dogs and one guy making crepes.

 

Louis Virtel Corn dogs. That’s really like an Anna Nicole Smith sort of throwback. I’m really surprised.

 

Kathy Griffin Wait a minute. Did you know the one time I went to a Christmas party at Anna Nicole Smith House?

 

Louis Virtel Imagine if you hadn’t? I know, I didn’t know that, but.

 

Kathy Griffin It was amazing. Margaret Cho went too, so she can back me up. China was there and Anna’s cousin who was is teeth optional cousin Shelly, who got into a major screaming fight with Anna. And while it was dreamy, it got so bad that even I got scared. And I left because cousin Shelly and her fellow Red. Next were actually scaring me and they were like starting to throw shit.

 

Louis Virtel Like Texas Chainsaw style. Like, who are these backwoods people kind of thing.

 

Kathy Griffin It was fantastic. And and I had some she was not, um, sober at that moment. And so she had this ice thing where you pour a drink and it slides down a slide, and she just put her mouth down. There was just pouring, like, vodka and her mouth. It delivered and frickin, um, she actually cut.

 

Louis Virtel Wow.

 

Kathy Griffin Because I was hanging out in the kitchen. Because sometimes the kitchen is where it all goes down and is cooking as she was and she was out of it. She had this, like, stand out outfit and everything, but she was actually periodically coming in the kitchen, checking the turkey, checking the stuffing. She actually made a lot of delicious food because she was from the South, so the food was really good.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, she would definitely have had a homemaking show in the 2010. Said she lived to see that. Yes.

 

Kathy Griffin Yes.

 

Louis Virtel When I think about you compiling standup material now, I mean, something you’ve always done brilliantly is use celebrities as a way to relate to people. But as I’m just now reading this Taylor Swift Time Person of the year profile, in which she is named as one of the last monoculture celebrities, is your job way harder than it used to be, because no one has heard of anything anymore, and no one agrees on anything quite well.

 

Kathy Griffin I’m also terrified of the Swifties because they’re kind of mad because they’re run for their money. But what I can do is I can sort of make fun of the Swifties because people know how, how shall I say, um, passionate they are. And I put them in the free Britney category, and I’m scared as hell of those people because they will find you and kill you. But Taylor Swift is a tough one to make fun of, which is weird because it’s obviously punching up. She’s so big now, and I want to be careful with her because while I want to make fun of her because anyone that famous is is just kind of grist for the mill, because her level of fame is so seismic. And yet I don’t I don’t run for Howard because I also think she’s a legitimate change agent, the way she’s registering people to vote and the way she, like, went after Marsha Blackburn, the senator from Tennessee. So I might, like, make fun of her. But then I get in that info to let the audience know, like, no, no, no, I’m following the good stuff that she does. But I also make fun of her because I saw that era’s tour. I didn’t make it through the whole thing. I’m not going to lie.

 

Louis Virtel Well, it was years long. I mean, it was like fully like a saga.

 

Kathy Griffin It was every era, even of my life. It was. So it started in like 2008, and there was a lot of stomping. And I want to send her a little note and say, honey, when you do that walk, be careful. That’s a lot of stomping. And I have two words for you lines a minelli. You’re gonna need a replacement. And I think of least now.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I, I think you’re correct. I think you’re correct. Um, my last question for you is, um, you’ve already mentioned some of these celebrities from, like, the 2000 that, you know, and Nicole Smith, dearly departed names. Do you have, like, one celebrity who’s maybe still out there that you wish you would have a comeback so that we could, like, talk about this person in like a comedy context again, you know.

 

Kathy Griffin Oh my gosh, that’s a really good one. I mean, it’s hard because, you know, so many of us are not fading away like Britney, Britney is so living on and her Instagram that she’s really just as famous as she ever was, and not putting out any music or doing any concerts at all. And yet, once again, I have to tread lightly because the free Britney people have actually written me and said, stop making fun of pretty dancing with knives because we wanted her to be free so she could dance with knives all she wants.

 

Louis Virtel I don’t think that was in the court order. I don’t think it was so.

 

Kathy Griffin And yet, look, here’s the deal. I want her to be free. I just want there to be, like a knife removal person who lives in the house. And I’ll do it. I to I volunteer, I volunteer and also don’t you want to know like who is in Brittany’s house right now?

 

Louis Virtel Because the husband’s right.

 

Kathy Griffin Is there a chef? Is there an assistant? Does she have, like, a bestie come over? Because, you know, we’ve seen her with the purple. We’re going to the peninsula with the paparazzi. We’ve seen, you know, her, like dancing with her manager. This guy name, ironically, Kade Hudson, not Kate Hudson. Kade, which? Just maybe not his government name. I’m suspicious.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, that sounds like a hiking athleisure brand or something.

 

Kathy Griffin Yeah. Now, let me ask you this. What if you were to move into Britney’s house today? What’s the first thing you do?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, my God, I think I would just stay out of her way. I mean, it’s just like, I feel like she’s very, like, should be able to pick who she speaks to at any given moment. You know, just like there’s something about, like, people in public still coming up to her. Whatever. Like, even if she likes her fans, it’s like we can’t be doing that to her. I feel like you don’t know what could set Brittany off.

 

Kathy Griffin Exactly. And then what about when she tried to touch some athlete in Vegas and then his person, like, smashed, like, put her, knocked her sunglasses off? So somebody needs to be there to be her sunglass assistant. And maybe that’s the only job to make sure no athletes knock off her sunglasses.

 

Louis Virtel Kathy Griffin, thank you so much for being here. You are one of a kind. By the way, I was just rereading Official Book Club Selection, which is your first book, maybe my favorite memoir I’ve ever read. I mean, I’m in the middle of the Barbara memoir, so.

 

Kathy Griffin Yes. All right. And the name of the tour is the My Life on the PTSD List tour. And I talk about PTSD and all the crazy things I do to get over it, but I write it. I just want to tell you, I don’t mention Trump at all in this new show, and it’s not because I’m like, afraid of I he just kind of like, doesn’t come about. But I have a lot of stuff to talk about. Some of it’s celebrity, not really like a lot of celebrity bashing, but fun gossip. And then just of course, a lot of making fun of myself.

 

Louis Virtel Perfection. All right. Well, I’ll be there personally, and I’m sure half the people listening will be there too. So thank you again, Kathy.

 

Kathy Griffin All right. Thank you, Louis.

 

Louis Virtel <AD>

 

Ira Madison III Okay, we are back. And quick update. Lucas Hedges, I guess, is on the West End during Brokeback Mountain.

 

Louis Virtel Yes,  with Mike Faist, who as we know, was in that update of West Side Story, where the Jets and the sharks at all on crossbows.

 

Ira Madison III *Laughter* I hate you. I am very excited for this year of Mike Faist, by the way.

 

Louis Virtel What was he giving us?

 

Ira Madison III He is he’s in Challengers.

 

Louis Virtel I don’t know if I’m excited for that movie. The delays concern me.

 

Ira Madison III This is the year of the threesome, Louis.

 

Louis Virtel Is that what we’re getting in that movie?

 

Ira Madison III This is the year of the thruple, okay? This is the year of the thruple. Or someone asked Luca.

 

Louis Virtel I do forget to look.

 

Ira Madison III There’s got to be. Yes, yes he has. If there’s going to be some queer shit in the movie. And his response was, um, well, it’s me. So of course.

 

Louis Virtel Um, it seems a little dodgy to me. I’m not sure.

 

Ira Madison III It’s like Marvel saying, there’s got to be a gay moment.

 

Louis Virtel Right.

 

Ira Madison III Or Disney, when we were promised a gay moment in beauty and the beast. Right. And it was just Josh Gad asking someone to dance.

 

Louis Virtel It wasn’t even that. It was like an armoire with an anklet or something.

 

Ira Madison III Um. Oh. Anyway, we have that to look forward to. Um, already a big year for cinema and things. We’ll get to fight all day, but we’re gonna start it off with The Globes as we kick off awards season on Sunday. The Golden Globes gave us something we haven’t had before, a show we kind of liked despite Jo Koy’s best efforts.

 

Louis Virtel Well, I’ll say this weirdly, it seems like a kind of good strategy to have like a monologue that doesn’t do well and then, like everybody else, sort of jumps in and is so game. And then it there’s this redemptive feeling there. Oh, we’re having a wonderful time. And I kind of can’t believe it.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I want to ask you specifically, as someone who has written for award shows and you’re working on the Oscars again because Jimmy Kimmel is hosting.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. I just submitted my second round of jokes. And let me tell you something, the assignment did not land in my inbox, so I had to find out about it later from, uh, coworkers. And I still submitted on time. So I just want you to know I’m committed to the fucking bit anyway. Hi. Jimmy. Girl. Love ya.

 

Ira Madison III Uh uh, you get a gold star.

 

Louis Virtel Thank you.

 

Ira Madison III This week in class, um, what was your perception of Jo Koy’s monologue? And the whole the especially the bit where he was like, I’m bombing the. I only got this material days ago, etc..

 

Louis Virtel Well, okay. I have very layered thoughts about this one. He didn’t do anything to establish why he should be the one hosting or talking to the celebrities. Um, you know, um, there’s this writer, Eliza Skinner, very funny joke writer, um, and comic who had an awesome thread about this. Um, and she, uh, nailed it up, down, left and right. Um, she says, like, you need to have a strong angle on why you’re talking to the room. If she had said something, if he had just come in and said something like, I’ve not seen any of these movies, but I’m going to gas or whatever, come in with some sort of way to tell us your game to do this job, and you have a reason for being there. It would have worked out, but he seemed like the minute he was bombing, it was about, as we noted, blaming other people. One, he blamed the writers. He’s like, you’re if you’re laughing at jokes, you’re laughing at the ones I wrote. It’s like, well, prove that, bitch. I’m not saying one way or another.

 

Ira Madison III How what is it about? Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel But secondly.

 

Ira Madison III Receipts, proof, timeline.

 

Louis Virtel I wanted to be sympathetic because then he said, I’ve only had ten days. I got hired ten days ago. And by the way, that is a very short time span. I know a lot of people out there tweeted things like, if I had ten days, I could still know you cut it, you would bomb. Please trust me on this. You would bomb and you would not have seen all of the movies you needed to see either, which is, I think, a part of the problem also. But um, at the same time, I should not be hearing you got it ten days ago. Make it seem like you’ve had it for a year. You know, like, make it, make it make me feel comfortable that we’re watching the situation. I just, I, I didn’t get his tack at all. And eventually it wasn’t just the jokes that I think people were resisting. It was just even the way he was addressing the audience, it was combative, even in style, and I feel like that made it even more uncomfortable and unsuccessful, ultimately. And then, of course, we had the bizarre situation where several comedians were were presenting awards throughout the broadcast, and they all seemed like very poised to do the job. Like it could have just been Jim Gaffigan, you know?

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. What’s interesting about the combative nature of it is, uh, you know, when we interviewed Andy Cohen last year, we talked to him about interacting with sort of A-list big celebrities on Watch What Happens Live and how they’re usually game to do something goofy or fun related to the Housewives. Right. And how he sort of, like, disarms them. I mentioned to him recently, actually, that I think that he would make sort of a good, at least Globes hosts, because I feel like what you need for The Globes, it’s TV and film. What you sort of need is someone who is. They don’t necessarily have to be an A-lister. They don’t have to be a Tina or an Amy, you know? But at least be someone where people in the room either respect you, think you’re really funny, or have some passing sort of familiarity with you in the sense that we’ve all sort of been through this industry together. Yeah, right. And I think that someone like an Andy Cohen would work because so many of those people have sat next to him on his show. So they have sort of an established rapport. Right. And I was thinking, Jo Koy, how do you even establish that? And I mean, most people I was explain to people at my viewing party that he was on Chelsea Lately for years, you know.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, I was I was on the roundtable with Jo Koy. That’s how I met his first. Yes. Right.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel No, he’s like he’s a very established stand up. I don’t mean to say he’s not. Yeah, yeah.

 

Ira Madison III But there is something to even that. Then establishing a maybe a joke about himself. Like some of you haven’t seen me since I was talking shit about you on Chelsea Lately. I promise I’m nice.

 

Louis Virtel On an extinct planet called the E Network. Right. Any joke in there somehow? You know what I mean. But also the thing that actually upset me the most about it. Because, by the way, I’m not upset at, like, jokes bombing it just. It could happen to anybody. I’m not like, that’s not utterly rare or whatever. I can’t do the thing where you’re not familiar with the movies, really, unless, again, you have enough jokes about the not being familiar because you need to be ramping us up for like the hours of footage entertainment we’re about to get, where we’re like, you got to say something else about killers of the Flower Moon. You’ve got to tell me something else about maestro, and it can’t just be first thought headline humor that you sort of are familiar with, you know, like, that kind of bothers me. Like the viewers of this stuff do know the movie’s a little bit, and it felt like he didn’t even know what the average viewer knew about those movies.

 

Ira Madison III Right. I would I was going to say that the bit is usually for these things, who knows what this movie’s about, etc. but I would say that with 10 million viewers or so, uh, just the live airing of this, which is like over 50. Percent of last year’s viewing of The Globes. One thing that has always been the standard for awards season is that the people tuning in. Even the people who have a loose interest in film, like, you know, they’re not cinephiles. They’re not like quoting films, talking about old films. They don’t have criterion accounts, for example.

 

Louis Virtel It’s a shame. But yeah, even that.

 

Ira Madison III Even that growing up. In the Midwest, like watching viewing parties in high school and college and shit. People go out and see the nominated films for the most part before the awards show. So even that sort of I don’t know what this movie is about. Most people like, oh, there’s a Martin Scorsese film nominated for an Oscar. I’m going to watch it.

 

Louis Virtel Right? Definitely.

 

Ira Madison III So that bit is already done.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III The average. But you could find a person outside the theater, like for one of your, um, Kimmel on the street bets, like the average person just go shopping on Hollywood Boulevard and they’d probably be like, no, I’ve seen the holdovers.

 

Louis Virtel Though, if I asked them, could you name an Irish person who was at the Golden Globes, they’d be like, Conor McGregor. That’s the only Irish person anybody has heard of anymore. Did you know that?

 

Ira Madison III He’s very hot.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, moving right along. Oh my God. Talented man.

 

Ira Madison III He could hit me.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, well, I see you now. You’ve said it.

 

Ira Madison III Call me. Call me Helena because I want to be boxing with that. All right.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Good reference. I did, I played Boxing Helena. Um, okay. Anyway, though, as we said, the rest of the ceremony was enjoyable to watch. I think also a big part of the ceremony was short good speeches. It’s it sure seems like they put like a 33 second timer up on the, uh, wall for them to look at as they’re doing it. Maybe that’s why. But you had a lot of people give speeches that.

 

Ira Madison III 70% of the people on stage mentioned that they were running out of time.

 

Louis Virtel They were frightened. Yes. As which is good. I think that’s good energy. Um, one of the best of the night, I thought, was Ayo Edebiri who

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Won for The Bear, by the way. It’s for some reason it’s extremely easy to predict TV awards at The Globes. I don’t know really what that is. Maybe it’s just boiled down to a couple of TV shows captured the guys this year. So you sort of knew it would be Succession and The Bear.

 

Ira Madison III But the Hollywood for the press traditionally, which they’re not even running this shit anymore, right?

 

Louis Virtel And that is another thing about The Globes. It’s like I want a Golden Globe. What does it mean? And who.

 

Ira Madison III Made.

 

Louis Virtel This happen?

 

Ira Madison III Uh, a secret.

 

Louis Virtel Council, right? They got new people. And by the way, you still don’t know who they are? Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Um, but the thing will be up The Globes is why Issa Rae, sorry, I believe, I don’t know. She won. It was nominated.

 

Louis Virtel But it’s like Rachel Bloom with.

 

Ira Madison III People like that. Yeah. Yeah. Quinta winning. And even, uh, Gina Rodriguez back on Jane the Virgin. The for TV. They’re always very pro rewarding new town because for The Globes that I always felt like we are the first people minting their success in the industry. Right. And so now they’ll be, I don’t know, indebted to us and invite us to parties at the chateau.

 

Louis Virtel Right when you. That’s just like I used to think of The Globes. And I thought of the voice behind The Globes as, uh, a Dutch man screaming at Jen and Ben on the red carpet. That’s what I think of when I think. And now I don’t know who that voice is, but they still do seem interested in minting new TV talent, generally speaking.

 

Ira Madison III Um, I still, um, have no interest in watching The Bear.

 

Louis Virtel I watch the first season. Uh, it is men being men around other men, even though they added some celebrity cameos in the second season, apparently. But that’s just my least favorite genre. I can’t do too much of that.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I watched the first episode and I said, this is fine for me. I’m glad it exists. I love El, I love Jeremy Allen White, good actor. Uh, I really love them in both of their big films this past year. I love bottoms and I love The Iron Claw, and I feel like I’m glad that they’ve crossed over into film so I can watch them there. Uh, that’s that’s what I would prefer. And the cameo is being ad in season two. I was just sort of like, I don’t know what the show is. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel It’s confusing, so.

 

Ira Madison III I’m not going to check it out.

 

Louis Virtel I will say it’s nice that everybody is lusting over him in this Calvin Klein campaign, because he still does look so much like hot Gene Wilder that it feels like we’re all in an immersive Gilda Radner virtual reality where we’re all in love watching.

 

Ira Madison III While there were people, like, clamoring to unwrap his Wonka Bar back in the 70s.

 

Louis Virtel I. Yeah, you know what? I don’t think so. I don’t think anybody was like, oh, I hope he puts a silver streak in me, you know? Whatever. And I just want to get back to your point about Andy Cohen. He also I think necessarily if he hosted the Golden Globes would have a co-host like Anderson Cooper. And I think a dynamic like that is perfect for the Golden Globes because it’s like chummy people who’ve had a couple of drinks telling each other the jokes and mocking the room along with the room. And I think that would have helped Jo Koy, too, having a co-host.

 

Ira Madison III Also, I would kill to see Anderson Cooper hosting the glow.

 

Louis Virtel He would be nervous as fuck.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel You know, like, not comfortable at all. He’s been, like, a stoic, talk, straight to camera thing for what he does in his life. And to do this where you have to sort of actually look people in the eye and, you know, dig into them. I would like to see it.

 

Ira Madison III Honestly, it would probably give us another Anne Hathaway, James Franco.

 

Louis Virtel Fine, whatever I mean. Was that as bad as it was? Who knows? Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III It’s better than Jo Koy.

 

Louis Virtel Potentially, yes.

 

Ira Madison III I loved Justine Triet. Oh, the director of Anatomy Of A Fall.

 

Louis Virtel Excuse me.

 

Ira Madison III She looks exquisite, by the way. Uh, I just loved her French ass. Marching up there, chatting. Chatting about her. Her film, the cinema. Uh, she just looked.

 

Louis Virtel Cool. Also, I like that Anatomy Of A Fall has gotten the traction it’s gotten. There is something like, if you haven’t seen it, it’s a movie that almost could be described as a law and order like procedural, but it’s way more interesting than that. It gets into what, like somebody under a microscope is exposed to, like how anybody can seem crazy when you throw the the right arguments out. And Sandra Cuellar, who’s the star of it, is a fabulous actress. But Justine Triet who wrote it. Um, so she won an award and she went up there and just the swagger, the way she walked. I was basically singing that song Ring of Keys from Fun Home at her while she walked up to the stage.

 

Ira Madison III Uh, I was obsessed with Anatomy Of A Fall. I watched it over our break, and I would say that now I need to watch every other Justine Triet film. Um, she. I really love her as a director. I love the film. I obviously love the law and order aspect of it. Anatomy Of A Fall. I feel like it’s one of the top movies that I hadn’t seen by the end of the year that everyone I knew said, oh, I read this is definitely a new movie. Yeah. So, um, I had a great time watching it.

 

Louis Virtel The there’s a steel drum version of P-I-M-P by 50 Cent that plays throughout the movie, and it is this, I think, the straight. I think it’s the strangest choice in a movie of the past five years. But like it gets in your head, you will have this song in your head by the end of it.

 

Ira Madison III Um, it was very disorienting. At the beginning of the film. I was like, is are people playing outside my window? What is happening? Uh, I’ve been on such a 50 cent kick again lately. Weird, because Ayo Technology, one of the top songs of the century.

 

Louis Virtel Hold on. I’m going to think about that for a minute. Ayo technology. Because that was. That’s like a flop signal, right? Yeah okay. It was good I think for a club song from that time it did bring something. I think it was just the words Ayo technology that alienated me as a listener.

 

Ira Madison III Ayo I’m tired of using technology. Why don’t you sit down on top of me?

 

Louis Virtel And then we got this song, Ayo by Lady Gaga off the Joanne album, which used to be the first time that played every time I got in my car because it was alphabetically first among my song list. Because a hyphen yo. She’s going to hell. She’s going to hell for that.

 

Ira Madison III I remember that specifically over, um, New Year’s Eve because I was in an Uber with a friend and it had the old plug in. Instead of connecting the Bluetooth like you usually do, and they plugged in their phone and, and technology started playing because they didn’t have a oh by Gaga saved on their phone. And I immediately flashed back to yes, that nightmare of it just you turning on your car and you hear Gaga screaming, here we go.

 

Louis Virtel Right? And then longing for her fucking aunt. Moving on. Uh. Okay. Yeah. What else happened in the ceremony that we liked? Um, uh, Succession, uh, steamrolled everything. Which was no surprise that we got a bunch of cute speeches from that team that said.

 

Ira Madison III Kieran Culkin.

 

Louis Virtel About Kieran Culkin. Maybe too much like the character, maybe too much like the character.

 

Ira Madison III He’s been through a lot. Yeah. The Caulkins, in the future we’re gonna have. They’ll probably be an Iron Claw-esquw Caulkin biopic.

 

Louis Virtel Do you think Rory is the one that gets cut out, or is that Bonnie Bedelia? Anyway.

 

Ira Madison III Uh, they’ve got to include script for the writer, of course.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s the key. Plot twist. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Who plays Michael in that movie?

 

Louis Virtel Wait. Michael Hill.

 

Ira Madison III Michael Jackson. Oh. Macaulay Culkin.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, Jesus Christ. Who was. Wasn’t it supposed to be Joseph signs in that one TV movie with, like, Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth Taylor. Baby, let’s go see it.

 

Ira Madison III I would say one of the other surprising bags. Uh, this is always fun. Once you start award season and you start to see what people considered were frontrunners or people were hoping what, when and what is actually going to be sweeping. Shocked nothing for Barbie.

 

Louis Virtel Other than that fake ass MTV award they throw at it where it was like best good job or whatever that was best. We all went to the movies.

 

Ira Madison III Billie Eilish won for what Was I Made, for which I feel like that was pretty much the lock going, and certainly the awards season for Barbie. But yeah, this whole participation award that they gave the whole cast very silly.

 

Louis Virtel But also an excuse to get fucking Taylor Swift there, right? Because she was nominated for the Eras Tour movie, which was a box office achievement or whatever it was. Actually, she looked pretty good. I like the green dress she wore.

 

Ira Madison III And honestly, I liked her. People tried to come for her after, uh, not liking Jo Koy’s joke about her. And I would say that I was on her side because the reaction was bitchy and funny. And I love a bitchy Sagittarius woman. But two. It’s exactly what you said about the headline jokes about movies. If you’re going to make a joke about Taylor Swift, who you know is in attendance, how about you have a joke that thousands of men haven’t tweeted online, right since she started dating Travis Kelsey and going to the games? The joke was far from original. It wasn’t funny.

 

Louis Virtel And by the way, that is the order when you’re writing these jokes or picking these jokes. By the way, it’s. Have we not heard this a thousand times? Like we are in a universe where we’re, like, bombarded with jokes? You need to be telling jokes that I haven’t heard before. It’s part it’s part of the gig as far as I’m concerned.

 

Ira Madison III You’ve got Taylor Swift in the audience. I just I just feel like that is such a that is such a draw. You know, they’re going to keep cutting to Taylor Swift. You know, they’re going to keep cutting to Timothee Chalumet and Kylie Jenner. So I would feel like that is something that a joke writer would love. You’d kill for something like that. That’s when you get an amazing, um, people keep sharing Tina and Amy’s George Clooney and I’m all right. Of course.

 

Ira Madison III Clooney joke or like that James Cameron one that killed, you know, like, I feel like if someone had made a really good Timmy and, um, Kylie joke or a Taylor Swift joke, like, we would be talking about that and she would laugh. I feel like at a good joke. Yes.

 

Louis Virtel Definitely. Definitely. Also, I mean, nobody likes being watched in the audience of an award show. More please. She would have made a meal out of it. Um, but, uh, speaking of people who looked amazing at the Golden Globes, first of all, for me the jaw dropper of the night was Andra Day. Good to see her again. Good to see her again. She looks fucking amazing. That little comedy bit she did on stage, that was hilarious. She was really, really funny. Who she with? I forget.

 

Ira Madison III She was presenting with Jon Batiste.

 

Louis Virtel Of course. Jon is everywhere who can’t stop winning awards. It’s one of the it’s like John Legend syndrome. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III You’re terrified if you’re nominated for a Grammy against Jon Batiste.

 

Louis Virtel He’s up for album of the year again. It’s crazy. Weren’t you just like the band on like Stephen Colbert like ten minutes ago or something? It makes. It’s crazy. Um, Andra day looks amazing. You know who else looked amazing? And this is not her thing in an award show? Meryl Streep. Meryl in that fucking Valentino. She. That was the best she’s ever.

 

Ira Madison III She had the girls gagging.

 

Louis Virtel That look was sensational. And you know, it’s because she’s single and ready to mingle. And guys, it looked like it looked to me like she was mingling with Marty Short. It looked to me like they were mingling.

 

Ira Madison III You heard it here first, girls movie. More Louis, more girls.

 

Louis Virtel The math adds up. Martin is, of course, a widower. Merrill is broken up with Don Gummer, who I believe is still sculpting. What is happening now? I want to know.

 

Ira Madison III I would love that romance.

 

Louis Virtel It will excuse me as I as I tweeted journalistically, I said it would be. It’s like it’s like Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner times Mel Brooks thing that Matt Bancroft is crazy.

 

Ira Madison III Also maybe a controversial look because she did look like, uh, she was in the Spring Awakening original Broadway cast, but Billie Eilish and Willie Chavarria.

 

Louis Virtel It was giving to me. Uh, Roll Doll headmistress. Yes. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Uh, I thought she looked great. Uh, Willie Chavarria is a great, um, fashion designer. Also did, um, day behind Joy Randolph’s W magazine.

 

Speaker 2 Looks fantastic.

 

Ira Madison III I love those, by the way. I love when just. Side note, I love when Jurgen Teller does a photo shoot. Um, celebrities. And then the internet gets up in arms. Yeah, about it. And I’m like, bitch, do you want to see any Liebowitz washing people out?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, I didn’t did not go back to that time where we’re putting people in Disney gowns. Absolutely not. Um, but I will say about Billie Eilish, I’m a little disturbed at how young she will be, and she will also be a two time Oscar winner. It’s just too young. I mean, like, we used to reserve that kind of thing for someone like Jodie Foster, where it’s like, okay, you’ve been acting since you were an infant, but Billie Eilish has been, like, famous for 1.5 minutes and we’ve just thrown everything at her. She has nothing to aspire to.

 

Ira Madison III Also just a dope celebrity in general.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, I fucking love her.

 

Ira Madison III She’s, I got  in an elevator with her and she’s very cool. Her and her brother, they’re very sweet. Um, honestly, she’s probably earned the award after, um, whatever’s going on with that Pink Friday to say.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Where we were lied to and bamboozled by Nicki Minaj. Say, I’ve got Billy on track one. I was like, okay, well, Billy wasn’t in the studio, man.

 

Louis Virtel Right. It’s like when Dua Lipa released that remix album and it had all these amazing names on it, like Nana Cherry, it’s like, oh, you just put Buffalo Stance in the song. That annoys the fuck out of me anyway. I am a liar. I will say about, um, Nicki Minaj quickly before we get back into the Gold Globes. FTCU seems to be catching on more and more. I’m enjoying that.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, fagot.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III As it sounds like it’s being said in that song, but it’s really just the word Flocka being saying said over and over again. But it never fails to crack me up every time I hear it. Um, going back to Dua Lipa, though, I keep thinking about you saying this on a previous episode about how you wish fun songs would win at the Oscars again.

 

Louis Virtel Sure, yeah.

 

Ira Madison III And I feel like, yes, of course, uh, Billy probably won again for, uh, what was I made for? But Dance the Night was such a fun song and a big song last year, I like you, you couldn’t escape it. And it would be nice if that song were the winner. Oh, so you know.

 

Louis Virtel It’s a song with surprising legs. Like when I heard at the time, it felt like, oh, it belongs on Future Nostalgia, you know, maybe the fifth single or something, but as it’s come along, it’s like, no, now I really associate it with Barbie and I like hearing it. Um, I bet it’s it’s better than I gave it credit for initially, by the way. You know what? I’m excited for it. I hope Paul Giamatti wins this fucking Oscar. Um, I loved him winning for The Holdovers. Thought he was amazing in it. He’s beating Bradley Cooper, which I think the internet’s being a little too mean to Bradley Cooper at the moment. We we don’t love the movie. I think he does give a bravura performance. It just doesn’t need to win.

 

Ira Madison III Let me tell you something about Bradley Cooper. Okay? Okay. There could be a hundred people in the room, and if one of them is Bradley Cooper, then I’m blowing the building up.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, that’s that’s an unusual take. You’re driven to violence. Okay. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Where’s Ghost Face? Okay. That is what I have to say about Bradley Cooper. Uh, where is Irena Derevko? How to take care of what she should have done on alias? Because I picked Bradley Cooper as my pick.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, and our Golden Globes picks. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III And our Golden Globes picks. You can watch that on YouTube if you want to walk down memory lane. Um, and just see how wrong we were on the Keep It YouTube channel, but we hadn’t seen Maestro yet. All right. You seem like a frontrunner. People were talking about Bradley Cooper. I was like, okay, let’s give it to him. You know, I saw Maestro. What the fuck?

 

Louis Virtel I was going to make this my Keep It this week. But we can we can get into it quickly here. Where again, he put in clearly he got the baton choreography down. He had seen the tapes of Leonard Bernstein, much like Tar, and he did what he could do with them. There’s no story in this movie. It literally is. He meets this woman, they have this annoying repartee, and then they get married. She’s a where he’s gay. She sees him a couple times, kind of start making out with the guy. She’s like, stop that. Then she gets cancer and then the movie’s over. Why did we do this?

 

Ira Madison III You’re gonna die a lonely old queen, Leonard. Carey was doing her best. But the entire endeavor. It’s too fucking long. Yeah, and the whole thing. It’s truly about the style of the film. Like, it looks glamorous. And I love all the dizzying camera angles. And Bradley was having a lot of fun with people running out of frame and appearing in a theater. Yeah, got sick of that around the fourth time it happened, but. Man. It really was just you take. You change the names in it and it is generic. Woman married to a gay man movie.

 

Louis Virtel No. Right. It. The movie is all. If you like the movie, you like it for the window dressing. You don’t like it for anything. It’s actually saying or any purpose it has. It’s just it made you feel like there was no biopic in the story of Leonard Bernstein.

 

Ira Madison III I did not learn anything about what inspired him to make music.

 

Louis Virtel Definitely don’t know anything about him after this. I like nothing about how it feels like it’s been taught to us.

 

Ira Madison III And I feel like there was really no diving into the music that he created. You would sort of hear things playing, but I wanted to see him work. I wanted to see him working with other people within his field during that time. I just feel like it really just was a movie about their marriage, and it didn’t seem like it was giving a story about being a maestro, as it were. Even a point where I learned that his wife was well known in the papers for her fashion and how she championed designers and had parties with famous people all the time. And there’s like a little moment where she mentions, oh, I don’t want to read what they wrote about me or something, but I’m like, that was a big part of her. And also how she was maintaining her own identity while he was off, you know, doing lines and fucking people, um, at the Philharmonic. So, I mean, what are we doing?

 

Louis Virtel No, and also they I mean, you’re right, they didn’t get into why he’s a genius at all. Just starts with, oh, he’s a genius and doesn’t like like, I’m not saying this was like a proper biopic, because I think the woman who created Mary Poppins would have hated it. But Mary Poppins Returns when you get into the songwriting in that movie, that’s actually interesting. Like, oh, I’m seeing how this person would have worked. And you know what? They objected to whatever. Like the process is, is more interesting than, oh, he’s gay and, uh, wants to be fabulous. And he occasionally has arguments with his wife. Anyway, we have two rafts.

 

Ira Madison III Speaking of. Yeah, but speaking of Mary Poppins, we cannot end without mentioning the iconic Glynis Johns.

 

Louis Virtel Uh, who died at 100. She was the oldest living Oscar nominee. The song send in the clowns was written for Glynis Johns. Um, a legend.

 

Ira Madison III And You Must Meet My Wife from, uh, A Little Night Music. It’s just one of the funniest songs Sondheim has ever.

 

Louis Virtel Very, very and a very, very funny performance from Glynis Johns, too. Uh, that was.

 

Ira Madison III And she’s great in Mary Poppins. Like that movie is just watch the original Mary Poppins again. And just how funny that movie is is it’s still holds up.

 

Louis Virtel Definitely, definitely. And I believe now the oldest living nominee is the great Eva Marie Saint, who’ll turn 100 this July. So I’m just going to cross my fingers every week on Keep It and she’s going to fucking make it to July. So let’s just keep that going.

 

Ira Madison III All right. Um, what else happened at this show? We should wrap up, um.

 

Louis Virtel Oh. Oppenheimer.

 

Ira Madison III Cillian Murphy. Cillian Murphy. Oppenheimer. Seems like it’s having its moment. Uh, Killers of the Flower Moon really seems like it’s just having a spark.

 

Louis Virtel But I will also say something about Lily Gladstone. By the way, I. It’s expected that she’s won a couple awards here and there. The way she is doing press for this. I mean, she’s playing like four dimensional chess, doing a ton of the things that were once utterly grateful. Talking about, like other projects she has done and how they deserve, um, recognition, the Osage Nation angle of it all, the, uh, her uh, uh, uh, beginnings, her heritage. I just think she has a lot to juggle, and she’s handling it so well. And I hope she’s still having, like, a good time, because it feels like a lot to do every time she’s up at the mic.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I want to say also shout out to Lily. Lots out. And Robert User for being the only two people at The Globes really talked about anything of note. Um, Lily, uh, used the Blackfeet language and her speech, um, and really said something impactful about how Native Americans used to be dubbed very racist. Lee and Hollywood and, um, Ramy Youssef, uh, while being asked on the red carpet about, um, Jeremy Allen whites, uh, Calvin Klein, uh, he was like, made a joke about, like, Jeremy, put it away. You know, I think the one thing on everybody’s mind is, um, free Palestine and Jeremy Allen White put it away. I was like, you know what?

 

Louis Virtel Funny.

 

Ira Madison III A comedian, a comedian is able to say that and make it funny. Um, I want a year where Ramy Youssef is maybe hosting an award.

 

Louis Virtel Because he.

 

Ira Madison III Is very funny. And also, yes, Taylor approved because she’s friends with Emma Stone. Uh, and she went to see a Ramy, um, standup set in New York recently with Emma.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, how interesting.

 

Ira Madison III Because they’re in Poor Things.

 

Louis Virtel Ramy is great in Poor Things. Love that performance.

 

Ira Madison III He is so hot in that movie.

 

Louis Virtel Mhm mhm. Too bad about Gerard. Uh moving on.

 

Ira Madison III You said it. Okay. We will be right back with um, the delightful Angourie Rice who is in Mean Girls The Movie, the musical in theaters formerly on Broadway.

 

[AD]

 

Ira Madison III Our guest today has been making waves for years and has already proven herself to be a strong voice of her generation, whether it’s in The Nice Guys or Mare of Easttown. And recently she’s taking up the mantle of the iconic catty hair. And Karen, you decide in the movie adaptation of Mean Girls The Musical, where she shines alongside a killer cast. So we’re very happy to have this incredible actor, podcast host, and author with us today. Please welcome to Keep It, Angourie Rice.

 

Angourie Rice Hello. Thank you so much for that delightful introduction.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Filling the shoes of Lindsay Lohan. I’m sure this is the first question you get all the time, but I’m just saying, in that movie, one of the few performances I can think of where she’s the relatable straight man character and yet also gets to be really funny. Like there’s there’s a lot of dimension secretly to the role. How intimidating was it to take on?

 

Angourie Rice Oh super intimidating. I mean, I loved Lindsay’s performance in the 2004 movie so much. I remember just being fascinated by it because she goes on such a journey, and I think it was one of those teen movies that I watched growing up where, like, the main character does something wrong and like, she makes you love her even when she’s doing the wrong thing. And I think that’s so that’s so clever and interesting. So yeah, big shoes to fill for sure. But it’s it’s so like juicy for an actor when you get a character who has such a transformation. So I was really excited for that.

 

Ira Madison III She’s really an act of character as opposed that. I think that’s why I mean, girls has had sort of a staying power as opposed to most teen movies. So she’s all that or something. It’s someone is doing something to them. In this movie, you are the nice girl. You come in and you have. You have goals, you want Erin Samuels, who wants to take down the plastics. Uh, so there’s a lot for you to play here. Um, I want to ask about working with the plastics and then working with Janice and working with Damien. It’s so funny coming into this film now, because I feel like in 2004, Lindsay Lohan was the star, you know, immediately then. So Katie becomes the star of the movie in this world now, everyone is obsessed with the plastics. You know, like the plastics were the villains of the original movie. But now fans love the plastics so much and don’t even really see them as villains. So what was it like filming that aspect of the movie?

 

Angourie Rice It is so interesting you say that because I do think there are different connotations now, and I think we all felt that going into the movie that the plastics are iconic and they are the villains of of the original movie, but sort of the the cultural tone surrounding them and the cultural like, um, attitude towards them is one of like, admiration. So how do you play characters who are kind of mean? Um, no, not kind of. They are mean. And then, um, with that added context of like being really iconic. So I think we all felt that. And I think what is really interesting about Mean Girls is that, um, no one is a is a clear hero or villain. And I think that was present in the 2004 movie. And I think that’s why the plastics took off so much, because as much as they are coded as the villains, they’re also fun. They’re funny, um, they’re sexy, they’re cool. They also make mistakes and admit when they’re wrong. Um, and Katie also isn’t the clear cut hero that she might seem to be. She’s she turns into a villain as well. So I think I think what we played with in this movie is, yeah, blurring those, those lines of who’s typically cast, who’s typically the hero and who’s typically the villain.

 

Louis Virtel Something I love about this particular adaptation is that because it’s this classic movie, they have some of the same lines as the original, you know, to sort of, I assume, you know, please fans of the original, but honestly, the punch ups, the changed lines that I assume are largely from Tina Fey are so funny. And I don’t know if people know that. So. But once upon a time, Tina Fey would write something and then you would see it on TV, like the next week. This is like a an outdated world. We don’t have this anymore. I miss it, but I was wondering, where are you guys updating the lines at all as you said them? And was there a sense of oh, there are certain lines we have to keep and other ones we can update?

 

Angourie Rice I think that all came from Tina, and it was in the script when it first came to me. So every line that I read that I was like, oh, I remember that. And then there were also some lines that I actually watched the original Mean Girls a couple of days ago. Um, and I hadn’t seen it since, like making the movie. And I was like, wow, I didn’t realize that line is also from the original movie. And then there was some where I was like, oh, I didn’t realize that joke was adapted. I think it’s very seamless in the way that she’s done it, and it all comes from her, I think, because she’s a very clever writer. She knows. Um. I think she knows what the fans want, but I think also I feel like she would always choose the best joke. And so the jokes that are that are iconic are the best jokes. And so why would you why would you mess with them when they’re so good? And then the other ones, the new ones that she’s written are also like, we tried a bunch of different ones. She would give us maybe like three different jokes and, and the best one made it into the movie.

 

Ira Madison III And I want to ask a bit about your history with the musical. Had you seen the musical before you made the film and also your background? I guess with singing and then you’re stepping into this show with, um, Broadway people like, you know, Zach Howe and Ronnie raps, uh, was that intimidating?

 

Angourie Rice Oh my gosh, yes, of course. I unfortunately hadn’t seen the Broadway musical. And then the first opportunity I had to see it, um, it was literally two days before I was going to fly to new Jersey to start working on makeup. And I was like, mentally, I don’t think I can handle that. I think I should go into it just like, not, um, just not having that in my head. But I really hope that I will get to see it once all this is done, and then I can approach it with like a clean slate. Um, going into it with the singing was very, very nerve wracking, as well as Jacquot and Renee, we’ve got Ali who like hello, voice of a Disney princess, literally, um, Phoebe who has this incredible EP out. Um, so it’s, it was just like, oh my gosh, I’m surrounded by people who who sing constantly and who are known for singing. And I think that was nerve wracking to come into a space where, um, yeah, feeling like the new kid again. But there’s something really challenging in that as well. I love a challenge and I love to constantly be learning things, and so that’s the main thing I took away from it was just being in awe of these people and soaking in as much information as I could and and learning lots from them.

 

Louis Virtel Is there any particular cast member you had, uh, personal dynamic with that kind of translated to the screen, like your friendship with them helped aid what you, uh, ended up performing?

 

Angourie Rice I think, um, I think Katie and Karen’s relationship is really interesting, and they get a few moments in our movie, and I think Karen of the plastics, she’s the one who’s, like, really earnest and, like, maybe doesn’t realize that she’s like in the main go click. I think she’s just like, oh, these are pretty people who, like, protect me from bad things happening. Um, so I think her relationship with Katie is really sweet. And Avantika, who plays Karen, we’ve known each other, um, for like two years, three years now. We worked together on another movie. So that was sort of like the beginning of a friendship. And then I was really I was really excited to like, get another opportunity to, like, be friends with her again, you know, and, and I don’t know, she calls me her mom. And I think we have this like she’s she’s younger than my younger sister. So I feel like I have this like big sister energy with her. And I feel like that comes across on screen, like Katie’s maybe trying to protect Karen from the worst of Regina George in some way.

 

Ira Madison III She’s a star.

 

Louis Virtel She did fabulous.

 

Angourie Rice Oh my God.

 

Louis Virtel Sure she was totally.

 

Ira Madison III She did so fucking good in this movie.

 

Angourie Rice Amanda is truly a major star. Like, I didn’t have to, um, I didn’t have to work for most of the day when she filmed her number. But I sat there and I watched every single take because it’s incredible.

 

Louis Virtel I’m trying to even describe what she does that’s different from what Amanda Seyfried did, which it’s like, I guess it’s a daffy or performance. It’s almost like the the, the look in her eyes is like, it’s she looks like she ate the bad berries or something. Like something zany has taken over this world.

 

Angourie Rice What I love about Avantika is that she is ridiculously smart, like super duper smart. And I think, and I’m sure this is the same with, um, Amanda Seyfried as well. And anyone who plays Karen, you have to be an incredibly smart performer in terms of comedic timing, in terms of like empathy, to make a character that simple, um, just so likable and so believable. And I think she does it so well.

 

Ira Madison III Speaking of, um, an actor who sort of is able to do something like that, uh, this past year was a big year for Ryan Gosling, sort of as Ken in the Barbie movie, and you worked with him and truly one of my favorite underrated comedies. And I’m sure you’ve seen that, like, people sort of love that movie online. I don’t know, I was asking for a sequel. Um, what was it like working in The Nice Guys and how have you loved sort of the reaction to it post? Um, the movie coming out since it wasn’t that big of. Splash initially.

 

Angourie Rice I mean, yeah, I was 13 when we filmed that, so that was ten years ago. Um, I have. Wow. Yeah. I haven’t I have very fond memories of that movie because it was my first big American movie, and like, I, I it could have so easily gone wrong. Like, it could have so easily been like a horrifying experience. And then I never acted ever again. But it wasn’t. Everyone made me feel so welcomed and so, like, made sure that I was okay and that everything was good for me. Um also took care of my family and that was really important to me. Like, my mom was there a lot of the time. And then my whole family was there, like my dad and my sister. We were all there on set, so that meant a lot to me that they were also included. Um, so yeah, I’ve really, really fun memories. And to see. Yeah, the it’s one of my favorite things to hear if people come up to me and say they loved that movie. Um, for a few reasons. One is that I feel like I didn’t know what I was doing on that on that set because I was so green. Um, and also because it’s, I have only, like, really appreciated it, like after the fact because when I was, you know, 13 and read the script, I was like, oh, this is cool. But like, I, I, I wasn’t allowed to be there for all of it. Like there was some, some parts of that, you know, they would send me home and then shoot the like more grown up parts. So I think, yeah, maybe it’s not a movie for a 13 year old, but like now I, I, um, really understand what it means and, and all the different plot points of that movie. Um, and yeah, to see, to hear people who, who love it, um, and what they love about it is really nice. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Is it at all weird to, like, be a working adult actor now and compare your experiences from working as a kid, like, as you just said, like they basically kept parts of the movie from you, and now you’re like a part of the experience. Is that at all disorienting? Like, either it’s disillusioning or exciting, I don’t know.

 

Angourie Rice Um, it’s definitely different. I think I’m very fortunate. So I’m very grateful for my experience, like as a kid on set, that I was never exposed to anything that was, like uncomfortable. I never had to do anything that I didn’t want to do. Um, my parents really protected me. But also so many of the producers and directors I worked with were also really, um, intent on protecting me from, you know, from if it’s adult content in the film or if it’s like just something as simple as not letting me know that we’re short on time and, like, putting pressure on me to deliver on the last take. Like even something as simple as that is, like, so good for a young person, I think. Um, so yeah, now there’s a lot more responsibility. There’s a lot more that you see, that you hear, that you have to like, problem solve and be a part of. But, um, just like growing up, it’s like, you know, you don’t sort of wish, like it was, you know, I don’t think ignorance is always bliss. Like, as a child, it was really good to be protected from that stuff. But now I’m an adult. I can handle it. And I also really like to be a part of problem solving on set. I think it’s it’s how it’s how movies get made, you know, faced with a challenge and you work together to solve it.

 

Louis Virtel Also, speaking of problem solving, quickly, I was just thinking about Mare of Easttown and like, which I think is maybe my favorite limited series of the past ten years or something, and also at the time, just watching it from week to week, like everybody was rapt. You couldn’t stop discussing it. At the end of the day, it is like a procedural, and it’s sort of a typical drama in certain ways. But I was wondering, why do you think this was so good? What was what was it about Mare of Easttown that people were, like, obsessed with? Why am I obsessed with that? Explain me to me.

 

Angourie Rice Oh. Yes. I think I think it’s Kate. I, I really do, I think well, I think it’s also a combination of things. I think it’s the writing. I think the writing is just so detailed and really come straight from the heart, like the writer grew up in that area. It’s, uh, some of it is like based on things he experienced. So, um, I think that’s I think you can see that in the, in the show. And I think it’s Kate’s dedication not only to her role, but also to the production as a whole, as a producer on it, also just leading a big ensemble cast. There were so many people in that class I never got to meet who had like, really like pivotal roles in the story, and I just never saw them. Um, so I think her leadership also made it really great. I also think, you know, came out during Covid, so we were all inside. And I think that also, you know, made it so exciting to like, see something. I think we all had a dedication to television and and watching movies because we were all inside.

 

Ira Madison III Uh, I think it was. Speaking of Kate, then I can’t let this interview go without asking about another iconic mother that you worked with, Nicole Kidman. Uh huh. The beguiled. Uh, what was that ensemble cast like and working with Sofia Coppola? And then also, I guess working with, um, you’re in an American film, I guess, but you’re working with Nicole, um, an Australian actress who has made that jump, um, years ago, like, sort of. Did you get any advice from her? Was it nice talking to her, being on set with her and hearing maybe past experiences about that?

 

Angourie Rice I loved working with Nicole on The Beguiled. She’s someone I really admire and look up to. She’s had such a, uh, incredibly, like, versatile career. Um, and that has just, like, kept going. Like, she keeps choosing interesting projects. She keeps delivering great performances. Um, she’s a powerhouse. Really, what I remember from the filming is just how dedicated she was to the job. And so everything that we spoke about, like, was about the story we were telling, uh, which I really loved, like, that was such a special shoot because we only had two locations. We only we had a cast of nine people. That’s so rare to have a feature film feel so contained, almost like a play. So everything in that world was. Yeah, we were talking about the story and the characters, and it was really like insular in that way. Um, and then the film went to the Cannes Film Festival, and that’s when I like, remember just seeing her like, do her work for the for the press. And that to me was also really inspiring because that’s a whole other part of the job that, um, that can be really difficult. And she handles everything with such grace and such poise.

 

Ira Madison III As an Australian actress, um, and so on, who, um, like you said, you know, you really admire Nicole. I’m interested in where maybe your first, um, introduction to her was then, like in film that you first remember?

 

Angourie Rice Mhm. Uh, it would have been Moulin Rouge because.

 

Ira Madison III Okay.

 

Angourie Rice Um, I grew up loving Baz Luhrmann, so it was definitely Moulin Rouge! Um, and I know she’s not in this, but like, I also around the same time watched Strictly Ballroom. So I was like, clearly in like, a basil lemon phase.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Um.

 

Angourie Rice And then in high school, we studied Romeo and Juliet. So then I watched Romeo and Juliet. But. Yeah. Um, Moulin Rouge to this day, is like one of my favorite movies. It is just such a spectacle. It’s like. It’s so fun. And she sings in that, too. She’s. Oh, my God, she’s incredible.

 

Louis Virtel Now, I just saw an interesting interview with Margot Robbie where she said it would be basically uncomfortable for her to act in her original accent. Now I’m looking back at your career now. I mean, like, let’s first of all, the accent work you do in Mare of Easttown is not to be underestimated, by the way. Like, do you feel that way at all? Like, the more you act, the more you’re getting away from your natural voice when you perform?

 

Angourie Rice No, actually, the more I act in an American accent, the more I want to act in my own accent, which is really interesting. It also depends on how I learn the lines. Like I need to know what accent I’m doing before I learn lines. I couldn’t. I could not play Katie with an Australian accent because I learn all her lines as an American. Um.

 

Ira Madison III Mhm.

 

Kathy Griffin But like there was I did a movie called Senior Year where I played the younger Rebel Wilson and she was Australian in the movie, and I got to be Australian in this movie surrounded by Americans. And there was something so special in that for me. It was like, I can, like I can breathe, like I don’t have to worry about it. Um, so no, I, I actually still really cherish any opportunity I get to, to act in my own accent.

 

Ira Madison III Is there like a secret Australian group chat? Like a meet up, like for so many? Yeah, right. Honestly, I feel like I feel like Louis, that I’d prefer most of the Australian actors, um, to our American ones at this point.

 

Angourie Rice I don’t know about a group chat if there is one, I’m not on it. But it is true that like the degrees of separation, you know, there’s like that degrees of separation within actors. Like you can get to a certain actor in so many movies, I feel like they’re Kevin Bacon. Yes, we Kevin Bacon I feel like with Australian actors, the degrees of separation is a lot like the number is a lot smaller. Like you can you can jump through all Australian actors, even if it’s not to do with the industry, even if it’s to do with, like where you grew up, where you spent your summers, um, what school you went to? Yeah, there are lots of connections for sure.

 

Ira Madison III Mhm.

 

Louis Virtel Well, thank you so much for being here. You’re so lovely in the movie. Uh, the movie is extremely funny. Uh, and I came in being like, do we need another Mean Girls movie? I’m not sure. I laughed my ass off during the movie, so I’m really excited by it.

 

Angourie Rice Thank you so much that. That means a lot because I also asked that question. Um, and then when I heard what Tina had to say. And so the director’s vision, I knew that it was going to be something special. So I’m glad that came across.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, she’s pretty funny, I guess all of it.

 

Angourie Rice Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, maybe there’s a reason she’s been so successful for so long, but, like, who am I to say?

 

Louis Virtel Right. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Uh, well, thank you for being here. And we will look forward to seeing you in a Bax Lurhmann film. Dang, dang. So, yeah.

 

Angourie Rice I mean, one day maybe.

 

Ira Madison III And we are back with our favorite segment of the episode. As always, it is Keep It. Louis, what’s  your Keep It this week?

 

Louis Virtel Mine is related to the Golden Globes and also to somebody we already brought up. Ayo Edeberi, in her speech said she wanted to thank not her agents and managers, but her agents and managers assistants who took all of her crazy emails and to get things going. When it comes to booking these things, sorting things out, how is she the first person to ever thank those people? Because truthfully, those are the people who have to put an extra elbow grease in order to one keep their job and to keep all of fucking Hollywood going. It is sort of always mysterious to me that agents and managers are thanked for doing their job. I don’t get it. Like it’s just what’s the hard thing they have to like? What? What is the X factor about what you do that needs to be thanked? I just don’t get it. I don’t really get it. Whereas an assistant has to be like. Knowing what that person needs without being asked. And, you know, knowing who that client is in all the projects they did before. I just feel like there’s so much they have to be doing all the time. I feel so bad for assistants. It’s something like there are lots of paths inward to Hollywood. Being an assistant is one of them. That is not one I could have done. I am somebody who sends the wrong version of a document. Every time I do a bit of Kimmel, I am a problem. I would be fired from being an assistant. People who can do that, that I mean, like. And you know, I’m sure a lot of those people want to be screenwriters. Whatever. Those are two entirely different skill sets. What one thing does not make you good at another. And it’s crazy that we kind of demand they, you know, be like a spreadsheet master or whatever in order to then go on to what they really want to do. It doesn’t make sense.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I mean, listen, shout out to Alyssa McKinnon, my manager’s assistant, because let me tell you something. I am the craziest when I am sending an email.

 

Louis Virtel Right?

 

Ira Madison III I truly is like a responding to I have been a writer. No concept of time whatever responding to things or it’s like I forgot what this address is or what was I supposed to be doing this? And it’s always like, you didn’t read this other email. And they’re never they never say like it was in the email.

 

Louis Virtel Right?

 

Ira Madison III They are like two weeks ago, like.

 

Louis Virtel Well, Thomas, uh, here are the correct answers. Yeah, yeah, there’s like a level of diplomacy with which they have to approach everything to. It’s utterly taxing. So, um.

 

Ira Madison III And they know everything.

 

Louis Virtel Right.

 

Ira Madison III About everybody.

 

Louis Virtel Right? No.

 

Ira Madison III They know who can’t spell words.

 

Louis Virtel I think that’s interesting. You can never predict who can’t spell. It’s utterly randomly distributed. Who can’t spell.

 

Ira Madison III They know his power and they also know who’s a liar. Probably people responding to things being like, oh, I’m doing this or whatever. It’s like, you’re clearly not right. They’re like, oh, I can’t tell if I can’t do this. It’s like, you’re in you’re in Bermuda.

 

Louis Virtel No.

 

Ira Madison III But okay, we’ll talk about that.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. The detective work they have to do. Um, yeah. Shout out to that entire community. That was very rad move on Ayo’spart.

 

Ira Madison III It’s actually the A and the LGBTQIa plus.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, is that it says.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel It took me a while to walk there, but I did walk there and I’m happy I’m there.

 

Ira Madison III My Keep It goes to the New York Times for writing this very wild piece about Taylor Swift being.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, right.

 

Ira Madison III A queer icon written by someone named Anna Marks, who is an opinions editor, by the way. So not just some random off the street, but to explain this, a you sort of have to explain the fact that there is a sect of Swifties who call themselves Gaylors, uh, who are obsessed with finding any sort of evidence that Taylor Swift is a dike.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Sorry you said that again. My soul left my body. I’m not here. I’m sorry.

 

Ira Madison III So it’s a lot of fanfic about any time she hangs out with a woman. Um, she must, you know, she she she’s licking, um, like Ariana on that joke, right? Okay. Yeah. Like that. That is what goes through their minds. The fanfic is insane. Um. Putting it in the New York Times. That is crazy. Okay. I mean, do you see people writing New York Times articles about all the crooked media slash fic that they used to write precisely when we first launched?

 

Louis Virtel It’s frightening. I mean, you know, you don’t want you don’t want to learn about Tommy and what he’s doing on his Casper mattress, and that’s. You don’t want to know.

 

Ira Madison III I don’t want I don’t want to know what he’s doing with Ron DeSantis on that.

 

Louis Virtel Um, no no no no.

 

Ira Madison III No, you’re right.

 

Louis Virtel Vivak, whatever his name is. Absolutely not. Get away from me. Yeah. By the way, for the first time ever, recently, somebody said to me, oh, they looked at my last name and saw I worked at crooked. They’re like, oh, are you Tommy’s brother? I’m like, you can’t read well. Moving on.

 

Ira Madison III Christian illiterates. They’re everywhere. The New York Times It’s not just the silliness of it. There’s just also this very dumb ass quote too, from the article, the essay where it says whether she is conscious to it or not. Miss Swift signals to queer people in the language we use to communicate with one another, that she has some affinity for queer identity.

 

Louis Virtel What the fuck?

 

Ira Madison III Bitch, What the fuck?

 

Louis Virtel What? Like she’s.

 

Ira Madison III Where the fuck this bitch live at?

 

Louis Virtel Is speaking to pilloried us. What the fuck was that also? Also, it’s just even.

 

Ira Madison III Did you see the Look What You Made Me Do video? That was speaking to no one.

 

Louis Virtel Also, like, basically what they’re saying is certain fans of Taylor Swift see whatever the fuck they want to. And what she does, it has nothing to do with picking up actual signals. It’s making up signals. And also, by the way, how about liking an actual lesbian artist? Would that be so fucking hard? How about you go and like, support actual queer people instead of you’re only interested in one person or a thing and you need to make that thing whatever you want it to be so it can be your entire world that like.

 

Ira Madison III Okay. Can a gay girl get an Amen?

 

Louis Virtel Quoth Rene Rapp, quoth Rene Rapp.

 

Ira Madison III I just think it’s silly and it’s. And the defense of it is silly. Ah, but I will also say. I think Taylor’s response was a bit, we didn’t need all that. Uh, because once again, why is Shawn Mendes catching strays?

 

Louis Virtel You know who who brought his name up? It wasn’t someone from her camp, was it? I know, that’s utterly irresponsible.

 

Ira Madison III It’s talking. It’s talking about, um. I believe there was a respondent talking about speculating about people’s, uh, sexuality is raw, etc.. Um. And somehow people started talking about Shawn Mendez and he started catching strays. Um, I didn’t read the whole thing, obviously

 

Louis Virtel You sounded for it.

 

Ira Madison III I have a life. Yeah, I have a life. Well, he was like Taylor’s like Taylor’s angry and has a right to be moving on. Uh, I would like to leave most of the Taylor Swift media blitz in 2023, but it just reminded me of when he was when he did that rolling Stone interview and he talked about, um. How people used to speculate about his sexuality. Right. And remember, he gave that story about how Taylor texted him and said, I’m going to post this photo of you. And he had glitter on his eyes and he said, yes. And then the next day he woke up in a cold sweat and people are going to think I’m gay.

 

Louis Virtel I have that thought every now.

 

Ira Madison III Now he mostly is, um, a non-celebrity who just surfs all the time.

 

Louis Virtel He seems to want to be filmed, uh, shirtless in the snow. I’ve noticed that recently.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, yeah, yeah, on the snow on the beach. Anywhere, right? Um, anyway. Studio, right.

 

Louis Virtel By the way, I believe the New York Times also was the one who ran that piece by a therapist or something about how Taylor Swift has been helping people in therapy, including this therapist. And she said something like. I used to listen to people like Tori Amos growing up, but they were always wallflowers. Taylor Swift is at the party and having a good time. What about confronting your rapist in a song? Sounds like a fucking wallflower to you. I have never fucking heard anything like that about Tori Amos. A bona fide genius and one of a kind artist in my life. Utterly insulting.

 

Ira Madison III Well. You can use the code Lilithfair@betterhelp.com.

 

Louis Virtel *laughter*.

 

Ira Madison III If you want to learn more. That’s our episode.

 

Louis Virtel I was shell shocked to hear this anyway.

 

Ira Madison III Thank you to Kathy Griffin and Angourie Rice for joining us. We will see you next week. Don’t forget to follow Crooked Media on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. 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.

 

Louis Virtel Keep It is a Crooked Media production. Our producer is Chris Lord and our associate producer is Malcolm Whitfield. Our executive producers are Ira Madison the third, Louis Virtel, and Kendra James. Our digital team is Meaghan Patsel, Claudia Shang, and Rachel Gaewski. 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.

 

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