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Louis Virtel is joined by TV writers Chris Schleicher and Rheeqrheeq Chainey to gab about the Kylie Minogue Netflix documentary, Madonna’s new short film, and other projects they’re watching right now. Then they discuss the highs and lows of Broadway’s biggest night: The Tony Awards. Plus, comedy powerhouse Wendi McLendon-Covey comes by to talk about her show St. Denis Medical.

TRANSCRIPT

Louis Virtel And we’re back with an all-new episode of Keep It. I’m Louis Virtel, fresh off WeHo Pride, so I sound like Latter Day Kathleen Turner. Remember when we interviewed her, Rheeqrheeq?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Uh, do- I don’t know, does she know if she was ever on media ever? She was calling us from a photo- phone booth?

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. Shoot, it was Evan. Operator kept like dialing in. It was so.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey It was so insane, and it was exactly how you want to talk to her. It was fabulous. That was a very… That was a very old episode.

 

Louis Virtel Quarters in the bottom of her purse. Yeah.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey With the butterscotch, yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Um, as you have now already heard, our guests today are the fabulous Rheeqrheeq Cheney and Chris Schleicher.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Hiiiiii.

 

Louis Virtel Returnees to keep it.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Oh yeah.

 

Chris Schleicher So good to be back.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey To take this public, this dynamic public between the three of us, and it could be fun.

 

Louis Virtel They could be fine. This is like one, almost fourth of our chains that we’re on every day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we’re just gabbin’ at each other.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah. It’ll be fun.

 

Chris Schleicher You’ve made the mistake of bringing in two people who had acting class together in college.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Mmm.

 

Chris Schleicher And once you’ve done Meisner repetition with someone, it’s closer than marriage.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, I’ve seen Inside your soul and told you about it, so this’ll be fun. I have to be honest.

 

Louis Virtel Honestly, still, I get the Stanislavski and the Meisner acting mixed up. Is Meisener, I’m holding orange juice but it’s fake? I forget what the methods are.

 

Chris Schleicher It’s about being in the moment and reacting to small changes in you so that I don’t come in with a pre-planned version of the scene. I’m actually with you. Spontaneous. Spontaneity.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey You’re reading someone down, but like for credit at your college. Like it’s so insane that like they’ve decided that the only way that you can show like true artistic connection is to look at your colleague and be like, you’re a little insecure right now.

 

Louis Virtel Right, oh, it’s the reading back and forth, literally, yes. I also appreciate when our guests wear their brands. First of all, Rheeqrheeq is wearing a Vogue shirt with all the Spice Girls on it. At WeHo Pride this weekend, Mel C. DJed. Her new album, as I’ve already discussed, is actually fabulous, and she gave us vocals for two seconds.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, she is like our of the five the fact that she was in a nylon pant while giving the most amazing vocal respect I’m Emma Button as well. Emma Button is the second best singer and the Spice Girls for M.E.S.S., obviously Scary Until I Die. Yes

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Oh, yeah. No, unpredictable.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Unpredictable. Bisexuality every time she speaks, so she fucks someone else, so it’s fun. Gorgeous, of course, too. Great pride.

 

Chris Schleicher And of course, Liv Allman. Yes, well, I wanted to wear a female director of the theater for the episode where we discussed the Antoinette Perry Award for Broadway excellence.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, thank you so much for thinking of me and the show and the brand. Oh, yeah. Also, Liv Allman’s still with us. Yes.

 

Chris Schleicher Shocking. Yeah, it’s like Leslie Caron. You’re just around. Yeah. There’s something different. They’re doing in Sweden, but yeah

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey But yeah, they didn’t the micro we have microplastics. They didn’t so they live off of I don’t know swish chart and vibes and they’re all fine Yeah

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Whereas we’ll just, well no, I won’t, but some of you will pickle just immediately.

 

Louis Virtel Also, if you’ve ever

 

Chris Schleicher I’ve never seen a live-alma movie.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey It’s all fives!

 

Chris Schleicher And all three of us have watched the YoungArts Masterclass series where Lievellman was one of the hosts, as was Kathleen Turner, where they would direct children, high schoolers. This was Showtime, right?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey No, this was HBO, so we all got it, we all did it.

 

Louis Virtel Guys, if you don’t know this show, they would, it would be like, there’d be like six students or so, young students, maybe like in high school or like fresh out of high school. And then they would find like an old legend to sort of mentor for them for the day, except the people they picked would always be like kind of like rough-hewn, like older, like hard-bitten professionals. Like Patti LuPone did one, and she scared the bejesus out of me.

 

Chris Schleicher There’s a moment where Patti LuPone is teaching a girl how to sing a song from next to normal, and Patti’s like, I haven’t seen it. This song about I miss the mountains. Maybe it’s about missing an orgasm. And that 16-year-old girl shrinks not knowing what to do.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I just like when Patty looks into a child’s eyes and go, you think that’s the right key? You think that that’s right? You can’t do more? And they all, but all the kids stepped up to the plate with these legends and it’s amazing. But it is one of our favorite shows that we can’t find.

 

Louis Virtel Right, no, right, it’s like impossible to find. Missing television, yeah. And as Patty gets madder, her Bob gets harder. It’s like a brick by the end of the show.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey The bangs go a little shorter, the bob gets harder and that’s why I love Patricia Plumb forever.

 

Louis Virtel Now, speaking of gay pride, a few things have emerged this weekend. One, Madonna’s short film, which is a, she has an album coming out next month, which is the sequel to Confessions on a Dance Floor. It’s called Confessions 2. It is a short film. But what it really is, is a kind of sample platter of six songs on the album turned into a music video. That’s 10 minutes long with three minutes of credit. They keep calling it a 13 minute movie. It That’s like a 9 minute movie.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey When it got to the end, when Lourdes appeared and we see who’s behind the cameras, I was like, oh great, we’re about to get three more songs. Yeah. And it was like Madonna’s note, like no, you need to hear everyone in Portugal who worked behind the scenes on this. I’d like, give credit where it’s due, but I had a fabulous time. Although…

 

Louis Virtel Although, it was so good. I’m shocked to say that this is a music video that she’s created that does not remind me of a single other thing she’s creating, aside from, I mean, I guess I would describe the vibe as paranormal paparazzi dance floor culture. So it’s like a little bit X-Files, but anyway, she did have a video in the 90s that followed in the wake of Princess Diana’s death called Drown World, which is a little paparazzo-oriented, but that’s really the only one I can think of.

 

Chris Schleicher There’s a tiny bit of, like, bitch on Madonna, like walking through these spaces and knowing people are coming in, but I also didn’t watch till the end of the credits, so for all we know there’s a, like Madonna will return as Frida Kahlo.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Oh, no, I let it ride. I was like, maybe we’re just gonna get one last shot of that that old bussy up there, like it could work. But it was, what was so fun about it was like that’s, that is the thesis of her, this next album. It’s like, let’s get back out there, let’s have some new fun and some new, fun. And if it was evicting, I was incredibly hungover watching it and it still made me want to keep going out.

 

Chris Schleicher There’s also something Madonna can be a victim of, of like, she led the culture for so long and then started to fall into like, I’m gonna include parkour and like Dance Dance Revolution like to try and stay young. And this one, she does something like, she has like lasers coming out of vaginas. Yeah. And it doesn’t take- About time. And it don’t take Sigmund Freud to analyze this. You know, I have a laser because of, like my laser comes out of my Gucci, but that’s totally fine.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey But I do think that, like, the thing about Madonna is that she is earnestly so interested in so many things. Like, not to mention, again, the one time I went to the Madame X reception and she was there and she had new artists coming up and she was, like rushing the stage to get close to this new art. So I think that’s what we often see, but it doesn’t metabolize in a way that feels like this is generated from her, but rather she might be touching onto other pop culture moments.

 

Louis Virtel Right, no, she’s the rare superstar who is also just as evilly a connoisseur, for sure.

 

Chris Schleicher Greatest song ever, Vogue, includes a long list of things she’s interested in. After an actress says she likes, she’s like, pause this bit and here’s all the references I like.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And here are all the kids in the streets actually doing this and this is where I learned it and have loved it.

 

Louis Virtel Love to love it. I would also say that revogue is referenced in the dance of Tyria song here. There’s like a rap of Madonna’s favorite thing to bring up. People she knew in the eighties. It comes up in every interview. Uh, but you do get an appearance from Debbie Mazar. I believe it’s her seventh appearance in the Madonna video.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I have a noted star of younger, Debbie Mazer.

 

Louis Virtel And Beethoven’s second darlin’.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Exactly, returning to where she did her best work, a bathroom stall, and that’s what, you know, in a world where no one’s fucking and having a good time anymore, like, they’re reminding us, like we set this precedent, and you could meet Benedict Cumberbatch at the mirror, I guess?

 

Chris Schleicher Right, in the all-gender bathroom. One moment of inauthenticity was when Madonna looked over the bathroom stall at the two guys hooking up and she looked shocked. I’m like, no, she’d be giving them notes. Yeah. That’s not how you eat ass, mama. She’d be like, Richard E.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey She’d be like, Richard E. Grant, baby, get into the vibe. But the best moment of it is someone saying put the Coke away and they cut to Kate Moss. Right. Kate was like, yeah, I mean, I don’t trust it with me. I think that’s amazing.

 

Louis Virtel That is so funny. It was so good. Now, other icons recently have put out important work. Chris and I specifically are Kylie Minogue’s stands. They sure are. I had watched the three-part documentary that just came out on Netflix. By the way, I think it’s the best WeHo Pride main stage event ever. Kylie Minogh was such a great vibe a couple of years ago, and I hope she comes back. But Chris is a very, very devoted stand. What did you think of the three part series?

 

Chris Schleicher I really liked it. There is a thing where if you’re a big Stan, you know this stuff already. We have to remember, if you can name five Kylie Minogue songs in America, you’re like a wizard. So going through her whole history was important. And I liked showing American people what a huge sensation she was in the UK and Australia, even from the neighbors era, where there would be no traffic on the streets because everyone had to watch the soap opera she was on. To understand that she was so successful, it was annoying to people. Because in the U.S. We have this context of like, she’s a flop, she didn’t have all these top 10 hits like she did in the other countries, but she is so successful that part of her story is like getting over the huge initial success.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. No, something that really shocked me that I didn’t know was that she was so famous on Neighbors that when she finally put out her first single, I Should Be So Lucky, they teased it with a sound bite as in five seconds of the song and from that alone it became a radio sensation. People were calling in demanding to hear the entire song and you know it’s a fun little pop song, but nothing you’d think you’d be able to tease the way like it was the thriller video or

 

Chris Schleicher I also think it was, she’s a very interesting subject for a documentary, because she’s a rare pop star who’s been very private. We don’t know a lot about her. I always have a joke, I’m like, it’s unclear to me if she’s ever met her own sister, because sometimes she and Danny will do an interview and I’m, like, have you two met? And it comes clear in the documentary, they’re very, very close, but when the press has been so invasive, I was shocked by the third episode largely deals with her breast cancer in the early 2000s. And the press being like at their gates with like cameras like while they’re trying to bring her to and from appointments and her sister arriving like it’s we’ve had a bunch of these moments recently like how horrible the press was then but like really shocking that the family had to become this kind of closed off unit and it starts to make more sense of like if in the 80s everyone called me the singing budgie and said it was so annoying and in the 2000s they won’t leave me alone during my cancer yeah i wouldn’t be given a ton to the press either so it was really nice to see her open up and read these journals and lyrics she was writing about. Her struggle with maybe trying to have a kid and breast cancer, it was like very emotional. So there was a lot of new ground rather than just being puffed piece of like, can you believe that a woman can succeed and have it all and she did it? Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel I would say it’s a best-case scenario puff piece. My favorite part was in the 90s when Kylie Minogue went down this path of I’m putting this in quotes indie pop where she was doing moodier stranger exploratory music That wasn’t just the like bubblegum pop hooks of the late 80s Her one-time collaborator Nick Cave pops in for a second and he goes Nobody wants to be indie and that’s so funny and such a good criticism of that era where she actually there are a couple of Songs during that time. I really like she has a song called cowboy style of impossible princess I love but truly I mean you and I are aligned on her best music Which is like fever and body language like the real like, uh, the frosty pop bangers the euro sounding pop banger

 

Chris Schleicher I think she kind of needed to do Impossible Princess to understand like, okay, I tried that. That was nice. Like, let’s get back to like dance and joy. And honestly, I think all of her best songs sound like nonsense from the future. Like Kinkajam, I had na-na-na, and pa-da-m, pa-dam. Like, there’s this thing of like these songs that sound completely original and like you’ve heard them a million times before when they come out. And it’s a mix of familiarity and pushing the envelope that I think makes her a very interesting pop musical figure.

 

Louis Virtel And being unpretentious, you just like want to like it. You know, it’s like served up, it effervescent, it’s fun, et cetera. What do we think is the best of the puff piece music documentaries we’ve gotten in recent years?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Recently? I mean the Victoria Beckham one was really fun.

 

Louis Virtel Mm, yes. That’s the one where she forgot she grew up in a Rolls Royce. Yeah.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey That was the one where she was like, modest home, only Bentley’s, so they weren’t Rolso’s. Yeah, like, it’s, we get a Demi Lovato one every three years.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I’ve watched it should be called how she’s doing

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I’ve watched every single one of them. I think it’s like, we, I mean, I haven’t heard Beyonce speak and no, she spoke on the Met Gala, the carpet, and I think was the first time we heard her speak in maybe like 10 years, which is like kind of amazing. But there is like the, we’re living in this like a documentary industrial complex where people are just using these as ways to just promote what’s coming next. And I think the cool thing for Kylie was that she has like a real awareness Like, I was not expecting Padam to do this. And so I think that’s really lovely that you guys were receptive to me. Like I don’t think of that tiny, tiny woman as like a flop. I think of it as like when she comes back, I love it. And I think it’s like really fierce. And to have custody of you two, I hear about her all the time. And she just seems to see how much, for all she’s gone through and keeps going through, I think is amazing.

 

Chris Schleicher In America, Kylie Minogue is like a cicada, like every 20 years she starts to emerge from the ground with a new pop hit and then disappear again.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey But like, dead-ass, like I’m a black girl from Baltimore listening to like Magic 95 R&B. When Can’t Get You Outta Your Head come out, I was like, who is that fine-ass white lady on TV? Oh yeah. That’s what you want, like when your key demo finds you, to be like, oh this is so fierce, and like the gloss and the futurism feels like it’s connecting to something that I also enjoy.

 

Louis Virtel You know what I also love about her? The baffling TV and movie presence. Oh, just like, why Galavant? Why The Residents? The Residence! Why Biodome?

 

Chris Schleicher San Andreas.

 

Louis Virtel San Andreas, we don’t even have to bring up Street Fighter.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Moulin Rouge, though.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, no, that was probably the best case scenario, but just- but does she have three lines?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Okay, she is the force of the film, okay? To be the absence fairy is pushing people towards their true creative space. I think we should actually look at what women give. Oh, I’m so sorry. While shaped as a tiny fairy, she’s fabulous. She got Baz Luhrmann to make sense. We had a great time.

 

Chris Schleicher Everyone in Australia had like an open invite to appear in Moulin Rouge like if they wanted to stop by set So I think there’s like yeah, I can be a fairy. Oh my god to picture Judy Davis singing smoke

 

Louis Virtel I was like teen spirit.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Actually, it came quickly to my brain, I think it makes a lot of sense.

 

Louis Virtel Rheeqrheeq, you watch every television show though, is there anything you’re watching recently that’s fascinating?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Um, I like everyone on any carpet anywhere. I’m watching any carpet. Anywhere coming 2027. I’m watching widow’s bay

 

Louis Virtel Which I have not started on I believe all avid pop culture people are allowed to be behind on one thing and that’s what I’m behind on

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Okay, officially ruled, that’s fair. Matthew Reese, since Brothers and Sisters Baby have loved that band, he’s so incredibly talented. Cato Flynn is playing sort of like a final girl kook that we’re all really enjoying. I’m loving that. There’s a new show on Hulu called Alice and Steve. It’s from the creators of Sex Education.

 

Louis Virtel Great um… Great performance from uh… Julian anderson

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, and it’s like once again giving women over the age of a certain age for me to go oh actresses There’s this woman Nicola Walker. You guys will love her so much. She’s so fabulous But there’s a lot of really good TV right now both in reality and in narrative

 

Chris Schleicher Widows Bay I am also watching and it does make me feel represented as someone from New England and a spooky person

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey It’s truly the best statement towards the fact that everyone from New England is haunted spiritually, but a little funny.

 

Chris Schleicher I’ve always found it shocking like there’s laws where when someone dies in your home like your realtor has to like disclose that I’m Like when you’re from New England like seven generations of people have died in this home right three of them haunt me That’s how you know, it’s a home. Yeah

 

Louis Virtel Death’s inside it.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey It’s just someone named Anne-Marie being like, oh, the Wicca? That’s just Uncle Phil. Like, it’s just, I love it. It’s, yeah, it did make me think of you.

 

Chris Schleicher But there’s something fun about, I mean, there’s a reason Stephen King is from Maine. Like, it is this picturesque place that’s so cute for vacations, but if you step three steps off the path, it’s the scariest place possible. There are three witches in that woods. And this interesting kind of pastiche they’re doing of like, it’s almost like a procedural X-Files, like every episode there’s a new horrifying thing about this island. But they take it kind of dead serious and it reminds me of a thing I was taught in writing comedy of. You can’t parody something if you don’t love it, and you can tell these people actually love all these horror tropes and are playing with it. And while it’s not comedy in the 30 Rock sense, the way they’re dealing with these things is inherently so funny that a sea hag who chases you around town after she scratches you and is going to sit on your face as she catches you, is very funny as a concept. And just play that real. When you have a really outlandish. Premise, you can play it all real, versus if you’re just about people working in an office that sells paper, you maybe need to get a little bigger. When it’s wacky, you could just play Matthew Rees’ Dead Serious.

 

Louis Virtel No, I was Brian Safi was here last week talking about how he’s loving how horror and comedy are blending together more and more I love that too because that will actually one draw me in because for a while It just seemed horror was going the direction of now. We’re gonna peel back fingernails. Yeah slowly

 

Chris Schleicher You know, but actually it’s a meditation on grief. Yeah. Those are the two things they do.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey We might be, are we done with grief yet? We might. I don’t think we’ve gotten to the end of it. I think that we need more keening. I think it could go great. Well, also, just to finish up on that, Widows Bay has a great episode starring the Betty Gilpin, who, I think we should be talking about it more. She’s having, she’s in this, she’s also in Office Romance with J.Lo, doing truly some of our most farcical work alongside J. Lo’s glowing body.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, Betty Gilbert is one of the world’s craziest people. I say this as she has been on the show. She is a deeply articulate, fabulous person. Her turn in Oh Mary is not discussed enough. That she was the first choice after Cole. But she is in office romance. And as I was saying to you earlier, I am just shocked by J. Lo’s quest to create the most unimportant art imaginable.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I think it’s okay, I love J.Lo, and I think it’s ok that she wanted to be in a film where the only reality is that a man would only choose her. And I think that’s fine, but it’s like, Brett Goldstein, you know, star of Ched Lasso and Creator of Shrinking, writing a whole movie about the fact that he’s always had a boner for J. Lo, let people’s dreams come true, I guess. Yeah, yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, yeah, I also can’t stand I I like him. Yeah. Yeah hosting the movie podcast. He’s not obnoxious about movies. I like it I like it.

 

Chris Schleicher There is something with J.Lo makes these things that seem very uninteresting on the surface, but there’s always a nasty little twist. Like, spoiler at this point, like second act. Second act! In the third act of second act, there’s a reveal a bit, like Hiroshima is a big thing in discovering how to make a new makeup. Like she has a tree that has survived the Hiroshima bombing and like because of that, it has an extra ingredient. Like and uh, uh the boy next door. I know you’re gonna bring up the odyssey or the ilyod She does get a first edition

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey The first edition, I think it’s The Iliad, the boy next door has the fund, the first edition of something that does not exist, but this child found two million dollars to buy her this book just to get in those drawers is very, the idolatry of J.Lo in these films, of like, in this one she wears glasses and she does science, and then this one, she makes makeup, and in this she does business with planes. And I actually am very fine with it, because we don’t. Everything now is so noted to death that it has to be, I don’t know, so hyper-specific from this region and then we lose a universality of it. It’s like, that is a beautiful woman who is just funny enough and knows how to calibrate it. And she says fuck a lot in office environments. And that’s fine.

 

Chris Schleicher I was gonna say she reminds me of like someone who would have been like trapped in like a warner brothers Contract in the 1930s and had to keep putting these out But something about like the weirdness of it all is like she’s having fun with it Like let her keep turning these out cuz no one else is

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And if she wanted to kiss the spider woman?

 

Chris Schleicher Right.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Then let her kiss the spider woman, Ben. Like, I think she lost, I mean, she has spoken about, you know, Birdie Madoff being a part of her past and having to come all the way back now. So if it really is we’re gonna have a four second shot of her just fixing her bikini because she did a cut that day, I’m okay with it. I’m gonna watch it every time.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I just remembered that in The Boy Next Door, that actor whose name is, is it something Guzman? Anyway, I forgot. He kills Kristin Chenoweth in that movie and calls her a dried up old [Unrecognized]. I was like, did we have to go this hard in this PG-13 ass movie?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Maybe that was Kristin’s pitch. Yeah. She’s like, you know what? It would be wickedly wacky if you called me a big old [Unrecognized].

 

Louis Virtel Okay, anyway, we have a big episode ahead of us. As we stated before, we’re also gonna be discussing the Tony Awards, momentous as always, and we’ll discuss the plays of Pink, Alicia Moore, in them. She was the host this year, rather mysteriously, as she herself acknowledged. And also, our guest today is the fabulous, multi-faceted, And just awesome in general and in every interview, including this one, Wendi McLendon-Covey. So stick around for that. We’ll talk about St. Dennis Medical and all her favorite roles.

 

Louis Virtel [AD].

 

Louis Virtel The 79th annual Tony Awards were last weekend where Broadway’s biggest stars gathered at Radio City in hopes of winning a statuette. Singer Pink hosted and fired up the crowd with a leading lady marmalade opening number. I didn’t hear leading lady Marmalade for a while, so some of the lyrics didn’t make sense to me. Now I get it, leading lady, Marmalad. Death of a Sailor’s Man won the most awards of the night, taking home six, and making Broadway history as the most Tony award-winning play revival ever. And of course, Megan Thee Stallion stunned on stage. You two theater queens, I assume you two.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I assume you’ve tuned in? Yeah, fresh off of flight, I took a disco nap to watch the Tony’s, and it was, I mean, I think everyone, and she spoke to it, Pink knew that we were wondering why she was there, and I think she totally proved why. I think that she has been flying through the air with the greatest of ease for how many decades now, other than I would have preferred not to have had MPH show up, Neil Patrick Harris show up at her opening. She was fabulous and I think like she had the perfect delivery. She was very funny. I had a good time.

 

Louis Virtel She was very self-deprecating.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel She says, like, I’ll acknowledge several times it’s weird that I’m here. And she actually gave an interview recently where she said, oh, they came to me and she goes, why me? And they said, we want a wider audience. And she goes okay. Did you say wider? Yeah. Okay. I heard white. Oh, okay. I heard white.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey We are white, and I was like, she is partially brown.

 

Chris Schleicher Remember that there you go

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I remember her actual pink hair like LA told me you’ll be a pop star Aaron. She was holding it down a little

 

Chris Schleicher She was misunderstood.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, no, I mean like that is, it’s really funny to have people like on formally Twitter being like, can you believe that we’re going to have Pink? I’m like, guys, she has been, she had the highest grossing tour for like two years in a row recently. Yeah, right. Like this is an entertainter.

 

Louis Virtel And she is theatrical, you know, and she also has songs that are being sung on Broadway currently, if I’m not mistaken, in…

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey She’s in Moulin Rouge, yeah, like that was the the funny I was sitting there like I’m sorry cringing at the copy with Neil Patrick Harris and then as the opening notes of Lady Marmalade started I go oh yes okay this makes a lot of sense so she like she had there is a connection to like the campiness of her work is on Broadway currently being performed. And Juliette as well? Yeah, she has this interest and she Also… In doing the press run for the Tonys has mentioned that she and her family are spending more time in New York because her daughter so loves Broadway. So even if it was just that my baby wanted me to see me do the Tonies, fuck yeah, do that. That makes a lot of sense.

 

Chris Schleicher I think also, sometimes we can take a break from comedians hosting these. Not every time, I love comedians doing it, but when Hugh Jackman did the Oscars that one time, it’s a little bit of a relief. Hey, since his lane is not comedy, he’s just gonna be a charming showman, introduce the new things, do a couple little jokes, but not too much. And I think that- feels a little less cringe to some people, a little bit less clenched that like, okay, is he gonna bomb or is he going to nail it? Like, Pink’s gonna fly, she’s gonna nail the vocals, and she’s going to make a couple funny jokes about like, why is Pink doing this? And like, that is enough. We just want, especially the Tonys, to keep moving so we can see these performances that 99% of America will never be able to see. Yeah, right, no, something that…

 

Louis Virtel Fascinated me. Of course, as you said, the vocals were on point, but that opening number, Leading Lady Marmalade, she was working her ass off. The amount of lyrics in it. And then I kept noticing there were some very interesting queer coded lyrics, and I said, are Pascale and Paul behind this? And they were. They wrote that song.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey You know, you can really smell it, and it’s right there. Yeah, like, I mean, how many opening numbers have they done at this point? Like, there are people that are called to handle that, and I think that for such a lyric-dense number, the fact that the amount that we actually got in real time was diction and training. So thank you. No kidding.

 

Louis Virtel The amount of actresses actually name-checked in it was very impressive. To hear Pink roll off words like Aya Cash as if they are representatives of anything different.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And I was going, absolutely Iacash. Like, get she Leslie Manville.

 

Chris Schleicher It was a lesson in comedy writing, like you think your little intricate joke is gonna hit, but what hits is Gitchy Gitchey Leslie Mando, Gitche Gitch Harry Cone, and also Squibby Squib.

 

Louis Virtel You too.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Hahaha!

 

Louis Virtel They went so hard and insane on that. Well, I just want to say, by the way, we all have visions of that Ariana DeBose after this performance, which is sort of in the same vein mood-wise as this piece, and yet the impact is so much different. I don’t know if it’s that she seemed out of breath and like kind of nervously aware that it could come off dorky, but Pink, not for one second, seemed to be thinking, this is dork. And there’s a diff, but there’s a diff.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Between between being a international pop star and being originally the first bullet on Hamilton there’s like a different clench to like the need and I think that because pink that this isn’t gonna affect her self-esteem.

 

Louis Virtel No.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey So she can be in a feather, I’m hoping ostrich feather, like bustle and really just have a good time. And everyone else is kind of like, if she’s going to be game for this, we’re going to game for it. So let’s cut to June Squibb vibing through her lyrics.

 

Chris Schleicher Yeah, I think it’s great. Also, can we salute Pink for like, the flying thing used to be a joke and she has made us accept it because she is so excellent at it. A good comparison, Neil Patrick Harris’s niche interest, Magic, he’s never been able to sell us off. No, right. But Pink with flying, we’re like, yes, get that bitch in the air.

 

Louis Virtel There’s something about magic in general, it’s like don’t show me a wand, don’t show me your bird. I don’t want to see it.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey That episode of Hacks a couple of weeks ago. Like, I love that you do sex work. The minute you do magic, I can’t let you see me naked ever again. But Pink, like, also, is it because we’re getting older, and so all of our backs hurt, and so every time I see Pink do that, I’m like, she must have the best physical therapist in the world.

 

Louis Virtel Also, by the way, the amount of spins she did in first sheet and then sang with a full vocal, it doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t get it.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Is very running on the treadmill on your heels for the B day. Like I think she, that’s an athlete. And like she’s done, like I’ve watched a lot of pink content and the way she talks about like having to train herself to do it, it’s not easy. And it’s like, like speaking of people being a little too earnest, it was kind of fun that she just is like, I decided that this is a skill that I’m gonna have and I worked hard at it. And that’s what Broadway is. Like they’re to be on that stage and to give up what you have to give to do. That community understands it more than I think a lot of other parts of entertainment.

 

Chris Schleicher And she’s opening the door for like Rihanna to suddenly be like I’m amazing at taekwondo or something yes to accept it Oh, by the way before we get into the formal snubs of

 

Louis Virtel I just want to say, so we had the Lady Marmalade opening number, and then Pink later came back and did a Chicago number. Roxy, yeah. That’s two opportunities to invite Maya on stage that she passed up.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Okay, I do think that Maya’s somewhere just being thicker than a snick of mine in her business. But I did wonder, is Maya coming out? And then she did it.

 

Louis Virtel There’s occasion for her.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yes, I know, but anyway, I’ve been thinking about that. Yeah, that’s good. I think she feels good.

 

Chris Schleicher Well, if you invite Maya, you have to also extend an invite to Christina Aguilera, and you don’t want to extend that energy into the space.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey It gets a little wild, it gets a

 

Chris Schleicher Hello, Widows Bay.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And, I mean, but Lil Kim coming out there also would be very funny, like…

 

Chris Schleicher Oh, hell yeah.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey If Megan had walked a little Kim out onto stage, I think that we would all have felt very like the 2000s were worth it.

 

Louis Virtel Hey, by the way, though, I wouldn’t mind if Megan Thee Stallion hosted the Tonys. Her energy was exactly right. She just showed up, she’s like throwing her arms up. She’s like, remember when I did Moulin Rouge for a couple seconds? A month?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey That was only a month ago that she was in that show. And when she was announced that she was gonna do it, I was very much like, baby, what’s the plan here? Well, obviously she was taking a break from fuck-ass dudes, but she was excited to be there. And I think like, when a World War, tickets are so expensive, and trying to get people into seats is really, really hard. Having folk in different parts of the industry show, I actually had fun time here, the rep of this being super exclusive, which parts of it are. But too exclusive that they can’t let a girl who did Hot Girl Summer and is about to do Fuck That Man Fall, like…

 

Chris Schleicher I love that. Mm-hmm. Also, like zooming out on the Tony Awards for a second.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yellow Zoom out.

 

Chris Schleicher Let’s spin out. I love to zoom out.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey We’d love to zoom out.

 

Chris Schleicher We’re always like in crisis about the Oscars. It’s like, it’s too long, oh, the ratings are down. And like, the Tony’s every like, I can’t believe we get to do this again. I can believe this art form is still alive. And the ratings, they’re never gonna go up or down based on like what things are nominated because there’s a limited number of seats. Like no one’s ever gonna be able to see them anyway. Is this advertorial for New York City and Broadway in general, such that like there is palpable excitement for like, There’s no Shmigadoon cast album, I have to watch this before it’s released and see what that show’s all about, and maybe go see it.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey To actually feel the power of the Jellicle Ball if you’re not gonna be able to, like, that to, not to be like, you imagine the kids at home watching this, but imagine a kid at home seeing a boom boom cat of Jellico Ball down a runway, and like, I was propelled out of my seat, but I have mental illness. But like, the fact that it was so enthusiastic, and everyone has their fans in the audience, and Ana Wintour left the castle, it was an intersection of culture that I think that people would remember.

 

Louis Virtel I did have to laugh when Jellicle Ball won a particular Tony, they said they were addressing kids at home who were like, if you feel excluded by your family, come find your home at the Jellico Ball. Do I have to move there?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I think you have to go to the Andrew Lloyd Webber Memorial Pool, jump in, and then you’ll arrive at the Jaleco Ball.

 

Louis Virtel By the way, a niche thing that really upset me that I’ve not heard anybody comment on. Do you know who was reading the nominations before the awards this year? Daryl Hammond, who is now the SNL announcer. He’s now the SNL announcer.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Oh, yeah, because he can make his voice into anything. Yes.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, he did the nomination, read nominations, and Anna Gasteyer was nominated for Schmigadoon and he said Anna Gastyer, that is your longtime co-worker.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And maybe he doesn’t remember. Per every memoir we know, he might not remember that they were in the same building for years.

 

Chris Schleicher Yeah, that is a replacement alfaba. Yes, indeed in the Chicago run or yes Yeah, our strongest soldiers in America are touring alfabas. Yeah

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, our three of our millennial SNL queens were on stage in some fast, fast… Maya Rudolph.

 

Louis Virtel Maya Rudolph with Kola Skola who once again was unbelievably hilarious as a presenter and also I believe Kola was dressed as Beverly Sills, the old opera singer. I went.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Charlie McLean. It’s.

 

Louis Virtel It’s very cafty.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, it was like, the wig was very postcards of the Edge wig that she couldn’t put back on after the car accident. And that, I was really proud of figuring that out. But yeah, like, Maya, and I’ll never to forget, Rachel Dratch also appeared in a performance of Rocky Horror. That is also kind of fun that like, we were raised by these sort of like vaudevillian comedians with all these, the multitudinous talents. And then however many years later, they’re all backstage putting their Spinks and microphones on to do the Tonys. Yes.

 

Chris Schleicher I was like people think it’s crazy like all these SNL alums nominated I think it like very natural like they are trained Yeah to week to frequently sing songs they have to learn like a second before and do broad comedy It is like old studio system people who are like trained in doing these things and you know, I’m let’s do more of it I want to see Sherry O’Terry do Madea, please

 

Louis Virtel Well also SNL is one of these things where it’s you know if you make it on to there It’s like oh fuck I made it I’m finally at the place where I belong and then once you’re done with it There’s rarely a second place for these people to go if you’re vaudevillian. What’s the other thing? You’re supposed to do literally you have to be a screaming man On these shows to become a bankable movie star generally speaking like Kristen Wiig is a pretty rare exception for what happens to women after they get off of SNL

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey When that’s the point of it, it’s like all three of these women are over 50. Yeah. And so, like in, there are some choices, like, you know, Maya, I think, is probably getting some of the first calls, but to see these other actresses who have just been working actors since they were on our screens every week, to then have this sort of apex point, I think that’s what people are responding to. They just don’t want to say, oh, an old bitch can be on stage. Of course, that’s where we thought.

 

Louis Virtel What did we think of any particular wins? I finally got my ticket to see Death of a Salesman.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, I haven’t seen it yet.

 

Louis Virtel I’ve reiterated this several times in the 1951 version with Mildred Dunnick in the role that Laurie Metcalf won a Tony for. You must see it as a definitive supporting actress nomination of all time. But Laurie Metcaf winning her third Tony, I felt like most of the speeches, aside from the guy who won for Lost Boys, were pretty, I don’t want to say obligatory, but just like nice. But they brought out the paper really fast and read the names.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Well, I will say Laurie Metcalf thanks the founding members of Steppenwolf at the top of her speech. Even Gary. Even Gary Sinise. But I think it’s very interesting because that has been a point of note that she threatened to leave the Steppenwolves if they had an issue with her working with Scott Rudin. Correct. And so that was one of those where it felt a little PR-y to me, but that does seem like a very earnest woman as I met her at the CVS toothpaste aisle a couple years ago. You look like a journalist. Yeah, you know, I’m really on the front lines at that Ventura CVS. But it did hit my ear of the nervousness in it because she made personal choices that were not in line with her collective. And so to then say, I acknowledge you, you guys are the ones that helped me start this path, but now I’m the one in a gorgeously fresh blonde little cut and getting the award. She made her choice and it worked out, I guess.

 

Chris Schleicher I did appreciate Leslie Manville needing to remind us that she had just come from the last night of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in London. I work and put me in more things, like pitching, let’s make a show with five women or whatever, she is someone who’s had a bit of a late career renaissance, and I like when you’re using her speech to get more work.

 

Louis Virtel Oh yeah, but by the way, I think everybody knows that you can win an award and then it’s like a drought for three years. You know what I mean? Like again, like the Neon Go effect. Like you play a caterpillar in Star Wars and then nothing.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I can’t even tell, it hurts. I bet you saying like ask you for work it made me think of Kristin Chenoweth winning for Pushing Daisies and going I am unemployed. But Leslie Manville, current star of Citadel on Amazon, yeah like had the perfect, her speech had a good tenor of like I’m very thankful to be here, let’s let women have more productions and I guess I’m gonna go home after this.

 

Chris Schleicher Can I discuss, though, I feel like a Mandela effect bait and switch on everyone saying Oedipus? No, why? It’s been Oedepus my whole life. Yeah. Oedupus, but don’t eat your mom’s. Oedap, uh. Instead of ace, what are you, ace off? Or like Dorothy Parker, who are you?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Also part of that is my fault, because I really kept going, eat a puss, eat, eat a pus, welcome to the stage, eat the puss.

 

Chris Schleicher And over at the Jalco Ball, we had Servib.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, that’s right.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey But yeah, that did feel like I’m

 

Louis Virtel I apologize just to everyone listening to the show, sorry.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, well the British influence feels like they eat a piece of it all I’m sorry now I can only hear yeah No, I had it before yeah Yeah, there was that pronunciation really took us for a whoopie-whoop, but the Tony I mean the Is it time to retire Jeff a salesman for a while?

 

Chris Schleicher I think we maybe need to have, like, an Arthur Miller jersey that we pull up into the Raptors. It can be, every year it can be a huge success, but like, we’ve got to let some new things in.

 

Louis Virtel I will say, though, it was actually awkward that Nathan Lane didn’t win for some reason. And they give it to John Lithgow, who winning his third pony also. And my favorite thing about his speech was, and he played Roald Dahl in a play about his noted anti-Semitism. Ramp it. He gave a speech where he seemed to be overcome and he goes, in all the moments in my career, and then he stops and goes, this has to be one of the best, like not even really the top tier. I thought that was so, that’s how I felt like most of the speeches were like, they wanted to go for an emotion but settled for, I have to go.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, I mean, I am a Nathan Lane girlie, so that didn’t make me…

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah, not that he doesn’t have multiple tones. I know but it’s

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I know, but there’s something about just him walking across the stage that I want to applaud. But John Lithgow was really selling it as like, this is the last time you will see me on this stage, so give me this award. Yeah, because next time we’re going to see you doing press for Harry Potter. I know, right. So like, you can get your curtain call as much as you want, girl, but the real one is you’re going play that gay wizard in that transphobe’s material. So I mean, everything is a little bit business in those speeches, but I mean in a world where we only last night or two nights ago got our fourth ever female playwright to and Tony for best play. There’s some plays that maybe we should take some time and look at other collections that we haven’t like snuck into yet.

 

Chris Schleicher Also, the Lithgow and the Lori Metcalf of it makes me think like there is another benefit to not just giving it to the same people over and over again, like first time winners are very exciting and Shoshana Bean and the other supporting win from Lost Boys both seemed like very thrilled and with the others it was more like, I’ve been here before, I’ll be here again. Yeah, right, right.

 

Louis Virtel Right, the venerable people, because Laurie Metcalfe is now an industry under herself on Broadway. Yeah.

 

Chris Schleicher She had another show this same year. Yeah, Little Bear Ridge Road.

 

Louis Virtel Which would have been a hit if it weren’t called Little Bear Ridge Road.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Little bit, little bit of a rich road, yeah.

 

Chris Schleicher Password.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, let’s give people a new shot, except for Kara Young. I want her to win every year, and I was really mad she was nominated this year. She’s tidiest woman, biggest talent.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, Clara Young won the supporting actress in a play two years, or featured actress in a play. Twice. She won it.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Twice. She wanted to twice it around. As our friend Gus Hickey said, Rheeqrheeq, she can come back later.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, yeah, I’m not worried.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And I’m worried for her.

 

Louis Virtel I do have to say I think my favorite thing about the Tonys in general though, and you kind of touched on it earlier is the fun tension between For the people in the room. It’s a celebration of material. They’re really familiar with but really for the rest of the America It’s an audition. It’s like this. It’ like both ends of the spectrum It’s both the I’m happy to be here because I’ve earned it and also I’ll make you know I earned it You know and I and like not that America like rushes to go to New York collectively and watch plays But you know some of them well, well, who do you think?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Successfully cast themselves as like the next ticket people are going to buy? Like what performance made you feel like this is going to get them?

 

Louis Virtel I think the answer is just Laurie Metcalf. I think people are like, oh, they’ve watched her, if not on Roseanne, then the Conners. They grew up watching this woman. They’re like, Oh wait, she’s still operating and so fabulous.

 

Chris Schleicher So that’d be my guess. You know who took her moment and knocked it the hell out of the park was Alex Newell doing When You’re Good to Mama. If you were not aware of her before, that voice, that presence, that comedy, I’m buying a ticket to Chicago and it’s like one millionth year to see Alex Neville in that. Yeah.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And the pause between, also shout out to Queen Latifah turning her theater vocals on just for the announcement. I’m like, yes, Dana, get them. But letting Alex Newell, in a conservative space, and we’re talking about the fact that there’s a lot of conservative dollars during the time of Tony’s this year. But letting that person stand in the middle of that stage and wreck everyone down was so amazing to the point that I was like, oh, is this all we’re going to get? And then. Pink was right behind there about to go t-t-t. It was very nice.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Just like a pill, we swallowed it, and it was fabulous. I was like, how many pink references can I make right now?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Just like you know we swallowed it and we’re flying through the air that was

 

Louis Virtel That was the Tonys. What did you think of the Tonies out there in YouTube land? Please tell us. We’ll be right back with the wonderful Wendi McLendon-Covey.

 

Louis Virtel [AD].

 

Louis Virtel Our next guest is a comedy powerhouse. She’s an actress, a comedian. You know her from comedies like Reno 911, Bridesmaids, of course, and the Goldbergs. And she’s currently starring on the mockumentary series St. Dennis Medical on NBC. You’re the queen of primetime comedy. And it was just renewed for its third season. Please welcome to Keep It, Wendi McLendon-Covey.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Thank you so much, Louis.

 

Louis Virtel I am so psyched to be with you. I am a real stan.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey The psych is on this side of the table.

 

Louis Virtel That’s impossible.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Well, then it’s blending.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, good.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Because I’m very happy to be here.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, thank you. Thank you. No, seriously, like, goodbye, Patricia Heaton. You’re the queen of primetime comedy.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey I’ll take it! Thank you.

 

Louis Virtel 10 years on the Goldbergs into now three seasons of St. Dennis Medical. Okay, talking about this show first, I feel like people with an improv background who also act just generally know their characters better than anybody else. Do you feel like you have Joyce down to a science?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Yes, I do. Because I’ve worked, you know, I had to work real jobs for a long time. So I understand the woman who is tasked with having to keep everybody motivated, but she doesn’t believe a word she’s saying anymore. That’s a lot of us. But being in the healthcare field, that is no party. And being on the show, I now follow what the nurses are doing all around The country. Pay the nurses, pay the nurses. Because pay the nurse’s. I can’t believe what they’re having to go through just to get treated humanely.

 

Louis Virtel I would say, do you actually pick up research about the field that you can kind of incorporate into what you do?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Oh yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. Our showrunner based a lot of these characters off of people that he knew. I guess a good friend of the family works as a nurse. And for instance, the violence towards healthcare professionals is off the charts. They don’t get paid enough, but someone’s getting paid and we can look right at the insurance companies. You know, It’s, it’s, you’re treating people badly who are doing. Things that nobody else wants to do, but that are so necessary in life. And it’s not, it’s a real injustice that needs to be righted. All that to say St. Dennis Medical is hilarious.

 

Louis Virtel I guess, hey, when you watch the show, it is a pure delight, but you can see like the shades of like the connections to reality that are, you know, scary, I guess is the word for it. Now, of course, also on this show, David Ellen Greer, one of the few people who has experienced in various forms of comedy as you are, what is that interaction between the two of you like? By the way, Tony winner David Ellen Greer.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Tony winning. Yes, exactly. We cannot leave that out. David is so talented that, and I’ve been watching him for so long. He was one of my comedy touchstones in living color came out right as I was graduating high school. And it was like, Oh my God, what they’re doing. I would be so happy if I could ever be that good at anything. You know, and so many of those sketches still hold up. So anyway, the fact that I even know him or that he knows who I am is amazing. And sometimes I turn into an audience member just watching him work. And I’m in the scene with him and need to say my lines. But I’m so enchanted by what he’s doing. Like it’s, I’m lucky. I’m luck I get to work with him. All of them actually.

 

Louis Virtel Do you both have the same sort of improvisational instincts? Like, will you insert ad-libs at sort of the same rate on a show like this, which is scripted, but probably wants an improvisational touch or two?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Yeah, we do get to improv sometimes. It depends on the director and, you know, if we’re making our day. Yeah. Um, and if we are behind, no, don’t improvise. Just get it out, do what you’re told. But yeah, he and I, especially because we’re playing, um, the two people who have known each other the longest on this show. Yes, of course, there’s something to our past that, I mean, we just, we throw things in, like you said, do they use it all the time? No. But our backstory is something I wanna explore because it has been established that we were residents together. So before… My character became you know the administrator she was not an oncologist and very much like i’m gonna change the world and then probably thought you know what i’ma change the role from the inside i’m going to get into administration and now she’s stuck there and can’t go back you can’t just switch back and forth she’s probably still paying off her student loans all that to say these two probably hit the club Right. A couple times. Certainly. You know, back in the 90s.

 

Louis Virtel But that’s, I mean, your familiarity with this character, you’re like, oh yeah, the student loans. Like, I can tell there’s a lot of, like, casually thinking about the life, the lives of the characters you play that goes beyond what a normal actor would do, you know?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Oh yeah, yeah, for me, I have to know, what are they bucking up against in life? What’s always in the back of their mind of something that they have to solve? Or what’s the thorn in their side? Because that’s going to drive them through their day. And Inform their decisions on whether or not they want to still be employed here or if they can be kind of cavalier and like hey Fuck you. I’m not take this job and shove it joys can’t do that

 

Louis Virtel She can’t, right, yes. Also, Joyce is absolutely what her name has to be. I can’t explain it. It’s like the actual perfect name for this character.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey I think so too!

 

Louis Virtel Joyce. Simply Joyce. Right. We’re at a Joyce deficit right now. We need more.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey It is kind of a cool, old-timey name. It’s a very generational name.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, Joyce Van Patten. You know what I mean? That particular era of person. Joyce. Like my secretary, Joyce, you know, that kind of thing.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Secretary, the stewardess.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, back when we said stewardess. Oh, something I always think about is Jane Lynch, somebody who is very much categorically in your acting genius field. She talked about how she was obsessed once upon a time with Eileen Brennan in the movie Private Benjamin and how that has resonated through a lot of her work. Like she thinks of that performance a lot. Are there any formative comedy performances that I don’t want to say shape what you do, but you think about a lot and remind you of sort of getting into the job?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey I love Tracy Ullman so much.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, fuck yeah.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey She was another one of my comedy touchstones, of like, no one’s doing what she’s doing. And every character she plays, she plays with love. It seems to me like she does. Even if they’re… Kind of someone that you would find annoying in real life, it seems like she finds the likable thing about every person, no matter how annoying they really are, so that she can play them authentically. And when I watch Tracy, I remember, like, throw it all at the wall.

 

Louis Virtel The abandon of it, yes.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Throw it all at the wall, and if it’s too much, they’ll rein you in. So that’s what I try to remember. Just purge it.

 

Louis Virtel She can also act her ass off by the way, you can throw her in a drama, she’s in like Bullets of a Broadway, she is in so many things.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey I don’t think people remember how great that movie is.

 

Louis Virtel Honestly, I rewatched it recently. I think it’s one of Woody’s best because of the amount of characters that are great.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Yeah, Jennifer Tilly is a revelation in that movie, you know, so freaking good.

 

Louis Virtel No, definitely. And also by the way, Tracy Allman had some great pop songs. Yes, she did.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey You’ve been around for such a long time now. I’m not gonna do that to your audience. No one needs that.

 

Louis Virtel No, I could tell you had the history with Tracy Allman.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Oh, love her so much. Yeah. That’s another one I want to work with so bad. I’m putting it out there, putting it out in the universe. Oh, how hasn’t this happened? I don’t know.

 

Louis Virtel I feel like you’re somebody who you probably end up working with the same people time and time again. I do. Because there’s a certain sort of coterie of improv based actors. You’re right.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey You’re right, a coterie. What a great word.

 

Louis Virtel I know, thank you. A coterie of improv actors, yes. Who are the people you’ve worked with the most at this point?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Well, it’s funny you bring up Jane Lynch, we were on a short-lived, all improvised series called Love Spring International. Was that in life?

 

Louis Virtel Was that on Lifetime? It was. I saw it.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey It was the year or eight months that Lifetime delved into comedy, and we were the first and only show that did that. It was a dating service that refused to go online. We were still doing VHS tapes, and Jane Lynch was the president of this organization and I was her sad sack. One of her sad sack salespeople.

 

Louis Virtel Now, I feel like people often bring you up on Bridesmaids, which I would too. It’s a hilarious role, the hilarious lines, the hilarious bloopers. Do you have a favorite movie role where you’ve gotten to sort of do your thing really well? Like I just thought of Barb and Star recently and I love your character in that.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Barb and Star, again, a movie that should have been in the theaters, but that damn quarantine made it go to streaming. That was right in the heart of it. Yeah. Because that was a movie absolutely needed to be seen on the big screen. If you haven’t watched it, everybody out there, you should. It’s a romp.

 

Louis Virtel It’s one of the few movies I would describe as zany. It is a zany movie.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey It’s like a good, old-fashioned caper. Yeah, right. With two gals in culottes.

 

Louis Virtel Which by the way.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Could have been the title. What? That would have been a better title.

 

Louis Virtel I know, I have to say. Because what people don’t know is Vista del Mar is like a nothing street in Hollywood, but they’re pretending it’s like this fancy destination in the rest of the world. So it’s an in-joke, but they could have just brought up the culottes.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Exactly. Cool-lots, people pay attention. There’s no sexier garment in the cool-lot. Oh my God, what men want. Wow. I haven’t thought of that in a long time. I got to pretty much do whatever I wanted. Adam Shankman was the director.

 

Louis Virtel Now that is a gay man who wants actresses to do one their best, but two run amok.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey He gets it, and he said the best thing about comedy, it’s absolutely true, is that comedy comes from when something goes wrong and you’re just trying to make it right again. That’s all it is, and it’s 100% true. And so when people don’t understand that, like you can’t be funny until you’re willing to be the butt of the joke. So you can have any vanity. You just have to ride that wave of uncomfortable, like let the audience not like you maybe, or let them make fun of you. That’s where the funny comes out. So in that movie, like I said, I got to pretty much do whatever I wanted because they gave the lead character friends, but they didn’t really write them with personalities or anything. So he hired women that would bring that to the table.

 

Louis Virtel Brilliantly, yeah.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey So, me and Tomala Jones and Phoebe Robinson played the best friends of Taraji Henson.

 

Louis Virtel Et cetera, that’s the comedy you’re talking about. The train is gonna go off the tracks and we have to save it. Now going back, you were just talking about like having to lose the vanity in order to play certain roles. Has that ever been actually difficult? Is that like something you’ve had to learn?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Yeah, because of course when you see yourself on the big screen, or the small screen, or any screen, you look at yourself and just start picking things apart, all right? But there are times when you are supposed to look bad in the outfit. Or you’re supposed to look old or you supposed to look whiskery. You have to let it go. Now, when I was at the Groundlings, there was kind of this unwritten or unspoken competition about like, who can be the ugliest on stage? Who can play just the ugliest character? Well, that’s great on that stage. That doesn’t necessarily translate into the real Hollywood world. But if you want to be truly funny, you have to let yourself be vulnerable and you have let yourself look stupid.

 

Louis Virtel Is there anything in particular you miss about The Groundlings and that there are things you can do there that you probably can’t do in television or movies?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Yeah, one thing I miss is having the constant, need to be creative on a timeline. I need timelines. I cannot be trusted to just say, oh, I’m gonna sit down and write a movie. No, I am not. I’m going to do anything but that if I don’t have a timeline, so it was very regimented and I need that. I miss the camaraderie. I miss doing shows and all the excitement in the green room of people just running in and out, throwing wigs here and there and just like. Well, where’s my props? Like, I miss that. I do miss it. And being totally exhausted on a Sunday, in the best way. I do missed that. You’re able to try things. And in life, I mean, in my work now, now you can’t really experiment like that. Well, I guess you can, but again, I need a timeline. I’m not gonna just write things by myself and film them and do it, you know, if there’s no stakes. So, yeah, I guess the… Creative license is always there, but I need I need a reason I need

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, urgency.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Urgency, yeah.

 

Louis Virtel I know the feeling. I’m a writer, Jimmy Kimmel, and I love getting an email that’s like, we need jokes in 20 minutes. It’s like well now you’ll get jokes.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Yeah. You know?

 

Louis Virtel Yes, you will. You’re going to…

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey You’re gonna get something.

 

Louis Virtel Whereas if you told me, you know, oh you have like a week and a half to do this or whatever, you wouldn’t get anything until the last minute anyway. You should have just tricked me, you know.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Yeah, exactly.

 

Louis Virtel I’m easily, I’m malleable. I’ve seen you in multiple interviews. And by the way, you are so great in interviews. Oh, thank you. Just watching you talk about anything. But you are a huge live music junkie. Now here we are, you know, pop culture stands. Are there people you need to see every time they’re in town?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Yes, Steely Dan I have to see every time they come out. Every time they come out.

 

Louis Virtel My favorite Steely dance song, I believe it’s on Can’t Buy a Thrill. Brooklyn owes the tarmer under me. Oh yes, yes.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey That’s a deep cut!

 

Louis Virtel Oh yeah, I’m a deep cut, so there you have it.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey You are. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel But also, I do it again, too, which I would argue is their sort of gayest, danciest song, you know? Really? Yeah. Because you can kind of move to it at a barbecue. Yeah. You know?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Yeah, um, I could see that. I can see that peg is my theme song

 

Louis Virtel Fab. Yes.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Peg is my theme song. I have to see Duran Duran every time they come.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, of course, I was just thinking about them. What’s their crazy song, The Riddle of the Snake, or whatever, what’s that one? Oh, The Union of the snake. Union of The Snake, yes, yes. I still would like to know what that union is.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Are we invited? Yeah. Are we invite? Exactly.

 

Louis Virtel Exactly. Who carries the card in the Union? Yeah.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Oh, I see. Yeah, I’m thinking union as in get together. You’re thinking union as in right. Solidarity. Yes. Okay. Okay, well, maybe I’ve been listening to the song wrong all these years.

 

Louis Virtel No, I think we can collab on this. I think both iterations can be true.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey The B-52s, I have to see whenever they’re here.

 

Louis Virtel Oh my God, I watched their performance on, they have a very underrated Saturday Night Live performance from the 70s, where they did Give Me Back My Man. And when you see that, you’re like, who the fuck are these people? Cause that’s when their debut album came out and they were, as much as they were beloved, they were also a mystery. Like, what the fuck’s going on in Athens, Georgia?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey First of all, Athens, Georgia is one of the funnest places. It just, it’s a fun, creative vibe in the middle of Georgia. It’s just a really cool place. But yeah, I see what you’re saying. Who were these college kids that just came in, they’re all dressed like in bouffant hairdos or the B-52 hairdo? Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey What that’s from.

 

Louis Virtel I always say they look like a children’s theater troupe that finally snapped. You’re like, at their wits end.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey I don’t disagree!

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. And they’ve kept the vibe going for 40 years, 50 years.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey I saw them, um, back in November or something like that. It was, uh, Lena Lovich, B-52s, and Devo. Fuck yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Imagine if Devo and B-52s weren’t together, peanut butter and jelly.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey I mean, my soul was satisfied. It was really great, really great show.

 

Louis Virtel What’s the venue you prefer to be at?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey I love the Hollywood Bowl.

 

Louis Virtel See, I like The Hollywood Bull on occasion. I need the correct seat, and it needs to be the correct artist. Like, I’m an Alanis Morissette person, and I was very up close, and that’s where I need to be.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Okay, yes. Yeah, I need to be up close at this, at my advanced stage. I like to spend money on the good seeds. I like the Greek theater. Me too. But parking there is a pain in the arse.

 

Louis Virtel That’s the only place where I believe I took like a scooter up a hill to get there worst decision I’ve ever made it was fully like it was like the lost Mario level where I was just Like cars hitting me left and right. I’m like losing lives. Yeah

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Oh no, this is terrible. It was ratchet.

 

Louis Virtel He was ratchet, yeah, and I did it for Charlie Puth, who I’m a fan of. Really? Yeah.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey You really went there.

 

Louis Virtel Charlie Puth. Yeah, right.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey God.

 

Louis Virtel Charlie Hussle for Charlie Puth, yes.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey I would say that earns you some free tickets.

 

Louis Virtel Right, I’m-

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Charlie Puth’s management happens to be listening to this. I believe you deserve a reward.

 

Louis Virtel And they weren’t listening before, but you leaned into the mic and so they paid attention.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey This is how you get someone’s attention. Yes. But yes, I love live music. And so I go to New Orleans as often as I can. Never been.

 

Louis Virtel What? I know, it’s like the only interesting city we actually have in America. That isn’t like just every other city. I feel the same way. I am speechless. I know Jennifer Coolidge spends all her time there too.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey And yet I’ve never run into her there, but I think she has a, I think lives there full time, is that true? Okay, we have like the tiniest condo in the French Quarter. So yeah, we’ll go for five days at a time. I can’t handle more than five days being away from home. It really, I worry about my pets. But I love it there because the minute you walk out the door in the morning, there’s live music playing. There’s a brass band somewhere. And you can dance down the street. Nobody cares. People expect it. They expect you to be dancing constantly with a drink in your hand. I don’t do that part, but it’s really fun.

 

Louis Virtel Mm-hmm, okay. Oh right, well damn it, I’ll go. It does feel like there’s like a real gay contingent there, too. Yes, there is. That’s a big thing I have to consider when I travel.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel You know, people are like, oh, you have to go to, I don’t know, Denver or Kansas City or something. It’s like, beyond the art walk, what am I doing there?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Yeah, oh no, you will find love.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, oh that

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Well, you know, you will find you will there’s love for you a community of community

 

Louis Virtel Yes. My last question for you is, again, you have such a career that is all streamlined. Like, the comedy goes together and yet the characters are all very different. What haven’t you done? Is there something where you’re like, actually people don’t know I have this hemisphere of my brain? Right. I…

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey I’m always looking for my Tony Soprano.

 

Louis Virtel Oh yeah, you’re sort of like Gene Smart on Fargo.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Yes, ooh, good comparison. Yeah, I like people who do bad things, but for good reasons, okay. Not that Tony Soprano did anything for a good reason, but there was that beautiful dichotomy between his mobster leanings and, oh, there’s little ducks in my pool.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey You know, and my mother didn’t love me and blah, blah, blah, like there is something interesting to me about playing those opposites. So I would love to do that. I formed a production company with my long-time manager, and we hired an executive. This is about a year ago, and were really close to selling a couple things. And once we prove ourselves and show people, hey, we’re not crazy. We do have good taste, and can stick to a budget, and blah, blah, I want to get into the edgier stuff, like what, like a female pimp. Please. Or a madam.

 

Louis Virtel Or one of the greatest characters in Gone with the Wind, the Madam, Belle Watling.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Okay, so maybe, maybe we go back and explore her story.

 

Louis Virtel Please, when I watch Gone with the Wind, I’m like, who’s the fabulous woman having, like, with the harem and, like the silks and stuff?

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Come on, and that’s another thing in New Orleans, is the Storyville area. So Storyville was where all the whorehouses were.

 

Louis Virtel This is what it comes down to. Culture might just be whoring.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey I think whoring plays a big part in, it certainly does in politics, as we have learned throughout the centuries, you know, the hoes have the power a lot of time, they keep the secrets.

 

Louis Virtel That is so empowering. You know, they let…

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey They let the steam out, and then they’ve got the secrets, and they can take people down if they want. A good courtesan, she makes her money.

 

Louis Virtel I love how you’re also doing the VO for the trailer.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Anyway, hello. Yeah, I’m like, really just acting as if right now. Okay.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, well.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey But anyway, that’s…

 

Louis Virtel No, we’re acting as if it will be, because it will be. I’m excited to see all that content. Wendi McLendon-Covey, thank you so much for being here. You’re a dream, and fabulous in whatever you do.

 

Wendi McLendon-Covey Ah, you’re so nice. Thank you so much. Such a pleasure to be here.

 

Louis Virtel Thank you.

 

Louis Virtel [AD].

 

Louis Virtel And we’re back with the saltiest part of the episode. It’s Keep It Rheeqrheeq. What are you keeping this week?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey My keep-it goes to telling your June Gemini and Cancer friends that their birthday is the same night as a Pride event. They know, they’ve been in June the whole time. Their birthday has been in the whole the time. At first, when they were younger, maybe didn’t know who they are, it was that everyone was going away for summer break. Okay, so then you couldn’t go because your parents have to go to what, Lake Michigan? Now you can’t come to my birthday because. You’re going to something called like glitter glam daddy’s jam. I don’t give a fuck. I know it. I hold space

 

Louis Virtel August Wilson’s Glitter Glam Daddy’s Jam.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, I was really proud when I came up with that in the car wash yesterday. The fact that we understand it’s the beginning of the summer, a lot of us are also part of the community, as Geminis hold a lot, by space, one would say. I get it, please prioritize what you want, and just don’t make it my problem. Don’t come up to me and say, did you know it’s this same night? I do, I really, really do. And this also applies. Because I’m holding space for Schleicher, for people born in December and Christmas parties. They know! We all know. We are the, as very cool signs, we know that it’s a very busy time. But just make your own private plans. And if you show up to my 2004 Challenger’s party, I appreciate it. It was a key. But if you can’t make it, enjoy CharlieXCX.

 

Louis Virtel I really recommend having a birthday in early August, because people want to go out but there’s no occasion.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah, and I think like you have a free runway people are like coming back from whatever vacation But when I like a do a little hang yeah, it is really tough And I’ve had to like just claim my own space claim my time yeah, and so that’s my I don’t

 

Chris Schleicher I’ve dealt with December birthday and therapy. I have to invite about three times as many people I want to my party because of the attrition rate, which I’m aware of. Yes, right.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And we know LA, it’s the worst, people will say yes and not show up. I do get this, this might be a little more local, but it is like, it is anything around Christmas, New Year’s, spring break, beginning of summer. We are going through it, and we love you, we want to see you, but please don’t lay it on my plate that, I don’t know, Horseman Disco is for 48 hours.

 

Louis Virtel Mm-hmm.

 

Chris Schleicher Yeah, how many of your birthday parties have a Christmas tree at them? Only one did I do a Christmas Tree when the theme was the movie Spencer. Oh, yeah. And the theme was we’re spending Christmas with the royal family. And that was kind of me, as a Grinch, always hating Christmas, Jesus’s birthday stepping on mine, acknowledging it in a way. I’m welcoming the Christmas tree into the space for once. Yeah, right. Never again.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Never again.

 

Chris Schleicher Chris, what are you saying? Keep it to this week. Okay, um, the Jellicle Ball is on the tip of everyone’s tongues, and everyone keeps saying it’s because they fixed the show, because the show quote, doesn’t have a plot. Katz has a plot, it’s a bad plot you don’t like, but it’s pretty simple plot. Let me break it down for you. Old Deuteronomy holds a Jellico Ball once a year, and it is a talent show for basically the entire show where they’re competing to go to the heavy side layer and be reborn. Yes, then McCavity the Evil Cat appears, kidnaps Old Deuteronomy, and Mr. Mustafle’s with his magic makes Old Deuteronomy reappear, and then he picks Grizzabella the Old Glamor Puss to ascend. It’s a simple story, it’s a talent show, it’s not a story that we like. They didn’t fix the plot, they recontextualized it as what it was all along, which is like they’re competing for who’s the most puss. And that, I think, is exciting, and people saw new costumes, in. New identities invite into the space and that’s good, but don’t tell me Katz doesn’t have a plot. Yeah, right. I’m reminded of a girl who I grew up with who was a close friend who told me she didn’t like Chicago because it had no plot and we never spoke again.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, no also all that

 

Chris Schleicher That movie has this plot. It’s interesting. It’s a thing I think sometimes people throw at things when they just don’t like the plot. I’m like, just say the thing. Say that it’s a bad plot or whatever, but don’t say it has no plot. I also can’t stand nothing happened.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel It’s like, no, we’re watching something.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey You’re just watching a day in the life. You just don’t like that day and you don’t like that life, but like that’s not your problem. Also, you like, okay, you’re biased because you have Jimmy’s brain rot. And you just see, I think you’re just seeing cats as the Jimmy’s for cat booty holes. Yeah.

 

Chris Schleicher Yeah, they’re competing! If you’re unfamiliar, the Jimmy Awards are the high school musical theater competition that is coming up this month. I know, we’re starting soon. Another June event.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey But yeah, no, you’re right, cats does have the flat, we just don’t like it.

 

Chris Schleicher It’s, I love a new reinvention of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Like I’m sure Jamie Lloyd’s gonna do like Phantom and like the Phantom is the head of Hive and like all of Cat’s Eye is Christine Dayet or whatever. Like yes, let’s recontextualize. I just let’s honor T.S. Eliot’s work being used to make a musical that has a very linear plot rather than say it had no plot. I speak T. S. Eliot’s name.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Speak the name

 

Chris Schleicher St. Louis native, T.S. Eliot.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey There you go. All right.

 

Louis Virtel My keep it this week goes to, I don’t know if you know this, I went regionally viral over the weekend. Oh, banana boy! It was a minor viral moment, minor, but everybody at Gay Pride had seen it because they came up to me and said banana boy.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Please watch this video, it’s the best video I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

 

Louis Virtel It is I am literally eating a banana walking to work out across the street. I’m waiting for the light. You’re in beautiful pants Thank you. Yeah, I’m standing there and I the person filming me whom I don’t know Is commenting they’re like that boy just had one banana and now he’s there too. And then he said he’s going to Barry’s got that Barry’s look in his eyes

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey You were focused he is just slurping down

 

Louis Virtel Oh, he already had one, now it’s two. He got the Gatorade, though. He got that berries looking in his eyes. He’s going to berries. So, let me just be clear. I was clocked to death. Everything about my life was read to me in this. And then, for whatever reason, it picked up a little bit. Like, not only did all my gay friends see it and… Appointed out at gay pride my like straight cousins in the Midwest Yeah, so it’s not like a giant mom But it was like a cute moment for me and people got in the comments and like we know that’s Louis Whatever it was actually very nice. It was very nice It was some people came up to me at gay Pride. They’re like, I don’t think it was too bad If you’re gonna address something that has happened to me on the internet Just say the nice thing. Don’t make me think like, oh, you were humiliated. And it’s not too bad. We still think you’re a good person or something. I don’t agree with what everyone’s been saying about you. No, I always liked you. By the way, that’s a whole ass brand of person. The person who’s like, I came up to you and I sat, you know, your hair’s looking better or whatever. Just like the kind of nagging into a conversation so that the thought of them lingers or something? No, it was.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Fears and I like also that video I watched it without sound at first. I was like, oh, yeah, that’s my baby going to berries Yeah, and then when you turn it on it’s like, Oh, yeah. They do my babies going to bear

 

Louis Virtel It is very funny. And I just want to say, by the way, bananas are underrated as fuck. In that video, they’re like, oh, he had one banana, now he’s having a second. No, honey, that was my third banana. You didn’t see me at the gas station eating the third one. I eat four a day. It’s full of electrolytes, it’s full potassium, and guess what my muscles don’t do.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey They don’t hate him!

 

Chris Schleicher And that’s what we call in comedy bananas on bananas.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Oh my God, veneers and pajamas. Comment down the stairs. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

 

Chris Schleicher Where’s the Bananas and Pajamas musical?

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I think that, I don’t know, I think you have to be too stoned to do that. Yeah, right. There’s something like you stoned those times, you stonied your brain, like I don’t know if we can get there.

 

Louis Virtel But also most Betty Davis movies were about will she come down the stairs? So I feel like you could adapt it Anyway, hey ladies if I’m looking on social media, where can I find the both of you? We go ahead first

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I’m at resquared. You can just find me about to finish couples therapy on my insta stories. Oh, that’s what I’ll be doing this week.

 

Chris Schleicher And Chris? I’m @cschleichsrun on Twitter and on Blue Sky and Instagram and I am also watching Dr. Orna Goralnik absolutely watch couples fall apart.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, fuck yeah. I want to clear. It’s C-S-C-H-L-E-I-C H-S-R-U-N.  How, way too many C-Hs in your first and last name.

 

Louis Virtel It was a lesson in spelling and blending that has made me an excellent speller my whole life.

 

Louis Virtel And speaking of which, Rheeq-squared is R-H-E-E-Q squared.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey Squared.

 

Chris Schleicher We’ve got bags full of extra letters over here.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, no.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I think it’s like there’s something very cool into by having like a long name if you were to do it all in cursive.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I think we really like hold that space for everyone

 

Louis Virtel There’s like seven curlicues in your name

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey I know, it really looks beautiful in embroidery.

 

Louis Virtel Yes.

 

Rheeqrheeq Chainey And I have it!

 

Louis Virtel Thank you both for being here. Thank you to the marvelous Wendi McLendon-Covey. We will see you next week on an all new Keep It. Keep It is a Crooked Media production. Our show is produced by Caroline Reston, Kelsey Gante, Kendra James, Lindsey Gomez, and me, Louis Virtel. Our team includes Matt DeGroot, Rachel Gaewski, Delon Villanueva, Claudia Sheng, Mia Kellman, Jay Banks, Charlotte Landes, and Jordan Cantor. Our staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.