Jonathan Groff

9:28Gracie Lawrence:so anomalous. But given that I'm technically a new friend of his, even though I feel I know him very well. I've noticed in this year that I've never seen him frazzled or anxious or nervous. And he's had so many occasions where he like objectively should be like leading a show, you know, doing huge interviews, going to the Tonys, performing three times at the Tonys. He is like Yoda-like. Like he is so calm. And when I'm nervous, he always turns to me after I say like, I'm feeling kind of nervous. He was like, really? Huh? Like he doesn't understand that. And I'm wondering, why isn't he more scared of things?

10:28Gracie Lawrence:When did he, has he always been this way? Like, did I meet him in a time in his life where he just really has his shit together? Or has he always been extremely calm? Like when he was auditioning for things back in the day, was he like going in the room shaky? Or was he like, like so calm? And like, what, if anything, scares him now, little bitch?

10:57Gracie Lawrence:Like, I'm annoyed. It's crazy.

11:00Amy Poehler:Yeah, that's a great, great question because you're absolutely right. You never catch him working too hard, but he's the hardest worker. And he makes things, I mean, that's to your point about like we feel like we know him. He also makes things feel accessible to us. Like I think great artists do. They just, they don't overcomplicate things.

11:22Gracie Lawrence:no he's not tortured no he's not that's why i love him because he's such a good example in my

11:30Amy Poehler:opinion of the more talented you are the easier you are to work with period the end like again there are the few eccentric geniuses but for the most part if you're not coming from a fear-based place it's such a pleasure to work together with someone who's so talented so ah yeah well Well, Gracie, that's a really, really good question. And I think he's really good, really great. I mean, I cannot thank you enough for taking what I'm sure is your, this is probably your downtime, your eating time, you're looking at your phone time before you have to go back out there.

12:03Gracie Lawrence:I'm sure they're just, I'm supposed to be rehearsing something. Who cares? I'm here.

12:09Amy Poehler:Thank you so much. Such a pleasure to meet you. Take care. Bye. This episode is brought to you by Visible. This year is already in full swing, which means you're likely being pulled in a million different directions. Keep the new year, new me momentum going by switching to a new wireless plan from Visible. It's one-line wireless with unlimited data and hotspot for$25 a month, taxes and fees included. You heard that right,$25 a month, same cost every month, all in Verizon's 5G network. It's the ultimate wireless hack to save money and still get great coverage and a reliable connection. Switch today to Visible today and cross wireless savings off your to-do list.

12:50Amy Poehler:Terms apply. See visible.com for plan features and network management details. Jonathan, I'm very, very excited that you're here.

12:59Jonathan Groff:I'm very excited to be here.

13:00Amy Poehler:I thank you for doing this. You know, when we started the show, we were like, who? We just like thought about people that we wanted to talk to that would be good hangs. And you are definitely someone that we really wanted to talk to.

13:11Jonathan Groff:I am so honored. I'm so honored. Thank you.

13:13Amy Poehler:And have we ever met?

13:15Jonathan Groff:No, this is our first time.

13:16Amy Poehler:This is our first time meeting. I mean, I'm sure you get the slot, but I do feel like I've met you.

13:20Jonathan Groff:Same. Same. I know I lifted you up. Yeah.

13:24Amy Poehler:It was off camera, but when you came in, we hugged and you lifted me up, which I really enjoyed.

13:29Jonathan Groff:Yeah.

13:30Amy Poehler:I mean, I don't always love being lifted up.

13:33Jonathan Groff:Okay.

13:33Amy Poehler:But I really liked when you did it. And also, people should know you're very jacked.

13:38Jonathan Groff:Oh, my God. Thank you. I'll take it.

13:41Amy Poehler:Your arms were really strong. I'll take it.

13:44Jonathan Groff:my friend Susie every time I would see her I would lift her up and then she was like Jonathan please stop lifting me I don't like to be lifted

13:53Amy Poehler:well when you're like a short person sometimes yes this was her point in improv you got lifted up which by the way I'm sure there's many women out there that are like oh you got lifted up a lot good thing to complain about but I

14:10Jonathan Groff:you know I get it though there's like assumptions made. I lifted you. No, it was nice. And then I felt like, oh no, did I just assume?

14:17Amy Poehler:No, everything. I loved everything about it. Okay. I loved everything about it.

14:20Jonathan Groff:Thank God. Thank God. Are you kidding? It was exciting. That was our first meeting. I know.

14:23Amy Poehler:And I'm talking to you today because you have your show tonight. Yes. And it's literally you're going to be on stage in a few hours.

14:32Jonathan Groff:Yeah. Yeah.

14:34Amy Poehler:And I have so much I want to talk to you about today. But one thing I realized is that you've done so many things so well, it's going to be hard to talk about all of them. But most of your life, your job, the hardest part of your day is at the end of your day. Like what, what is it like to have a full day waiting for your hardest part of the day to start?

14:57Jonathan Groff:That is such a great question, Amy. Thank you. And I've never thought about it like that before.

15:04Amy Poehler:I used to have a version of that with SNL, right? But that was once a week was the actual performance. The rest of the time was like a split, like, you know, midday to night.

15:14Jonathan Groff:But it may be the most challenging part of my day, but it's also the most joyful part of my day. That getting out there and getting to do it, it's like I'm like a kid with the high school play.

15:28Amy Poehler:That's awesome.

15:29Jonathan Groff:Yeah, I get amped and then I sleep very hard at night. So I think maybe I'm naturally a night person.

15:37Amy Poehler:Before we get into your life, I need to get into sleep because it's my favorite thing to talk about. What time do you go to bed?

15:43Jonathan Groff:Okay, so usually the show...

15:45Amy Poehler:I'm not going to like this. I'm already worried. But the show's over at, what, 10? If you're lucky. Yeah, the show's over at 10.30.

15:54Jonathan Groff:Oh, God. And then oftentimes part of the fun is like having people backstage. Nightmare.

16:01Amy Poehler:True nightmare.

16:03Jonathan Groff:And then I'll talk to people and hang for a bit in the dressing room. I'll get on my bicycle.

16:11Amy Poehler:You bike home? Yep. Should people know that? We can cut that. Don't follow him. Suddenly I'm being followed by people on bikes. That's incredible. Yeah, I bike to and from the theater.

16:23Jonathan Groff:I arrive on a bike usually. That's great. And then I'm in bed probably by like 1230. 1230 or 1.

16:31Amy Poehler:Okay, I like that.

16:32Jonathan Groff:Yeah, I'll go home. I'll eat something. I'll watch some YouTubes. Yeah. And then I do feel when I walk in my apartment, like I start to go like, I'm powering down. I'm dying. Yeah. Yeah. And then I fall asleep and I'm a very hard sleeper.

16:54Amy Poehler:I used to be a really, really hard sleeper. I'm getting a little lighter as I get older. But yeah, I'm with you. I'm not, I don't get up in the middle of, I can go down. I can go down. I go down. You go down. Zone. And then what time is morning time? Is it 10 a.m. or is it 9 a.m.? It's 10 a.m. How did you know it was 10 a.m.? Well, because the 1 a.m. bedtime is usually like a 10 a.m. wake up.

17:16Jonathan Groff:Yeah. Yeah. That's the natural, that's the natural wake up.

17:20Amy Poehler:10 a.m.

17:20Jonathan Groff:Yeah.

17:20Amy Poehler:So we're, we're talking to you right now at like basically your lunchtime.

17:25Jonathan Groff:That's exactly right. I'm having this coffee.

17:28Amy Poehler:Black coffee for lunch. I'm having black coffee for lunch. And what is this?

17:31Jonathan Groff:What time are you going to go to bed tonight? We're going to finish this.

17:34Amy Poehler:I actually, I'm already stressed about the fact I have to go. Have to. I have the lucky privilege of going to a show tonight. I'm going to a show and I'm already stressed about the fact that I'm not going to be in bed. In bed. I love bedtime. Ideally for me.

17:51Jonathan Groff:You couldn't go to a matinee?

17:53Amy Poehler:I know. I blew it. I love a matinee.

17:56Jonathan Groff:Yeah, right. Because then you can go straight to bed.

17:58Amy Poehler:And when I'm there, I'm so happy, but I'm literally counting the minutes till I can go to sleep. Okay. But what I wanted to say, Jonathan, now I'm starting.

18:07Jonathan Groff:Okay. Okay.

18:08Amy Poehler:Okay.

18:09Jonathan Groff:You got the glasses on. Well, because we kind of wrote it down because you are such a nice boy.

18:17Amy Poehler:You're a good, nice boy. You, to me, are the embodiment of someone who is deeply, deeply open and a good, caring, nice person and also crushing it and ambitious and like ambition with a side of, you know, compassion, basically. You don't have to be a jerk.

18:41Jonathan Groff:I love that you're saying that, too. Yeah, because oftentimes ambition is seen as like a negative thing or like a cutthroat thing that you have to like push people aside in order to do your thing. But we're all just in our own on our own little like track and field lane.

18:57Amy Poehler:Yes, that's right. You're only competing with yourself.

18:59Jonathan Groff:Exactly.

19:00Amy Poehler:And that the idea that if like a rise, you know, what is it? A rising, a rising boat.

19:06Jonathan Groff:All boats rise.

19:07Amy Poehler:Yeah. All boats rise. But isn't it a rising tide? A rising tide rises all the boats. Really? A rising tide lifts all boats.

19:19Jonathan Groff:A rising tide.

19:21Amy Poehler:That's your warm up for tonight. A rising tide lifts all boats.

19:25Jonathan Groff:A rising tide lifts all boats. It does.

19:29Amy Poehler:A rising tide lifts all boats. That was good.

19:32Jonathan Groff:You matched me. That was perfect. Thank you.

19:35Amy Poehler:But it's true. It's true like that there's this, you know, you can decide. And I feel like not knowing you, but knowing so many people who love and love working with you, I feel like that is you. And so congratulations on that. I have no question. I just wanted to say that about you. I love right back at you. And you have done so much. You've done musicals. You've done television. You've done film. You're on Broadway right now. You were in Spring Awakening. Of course, you were in Hamilton. You were in Glee. You were in Mindhunter. You're Kristoff in Frozen. You do so many things so well. but through it all through it all I feel the sense from you of exactly what you we started this conversation with which is like there's still just like a lot of joy in getting to do what you get to do

20:16Jonathan Groff:yeah yeah

20:17Amy Poehler:and if and like you hold on to that you're grateful for it yes

20:21Jonathan Groff:yes yes and you work for it and you like you find those people I mean you you're the queen of this of like finding those people that you love and love to make things with and I feel like as time goes by I just turned 40 last year, I can feel myself like getting magnetized to those people later in life of like, ah, like working with Dan Radcliffe on Merrily. He like, that was the, that was, I think the first time I was like, oh, I've really met my match here because this guy loves to do this so profoundly. And we formed a lifelong friendship with our friend Lindsay, really everyone in that company.

21:02Jonathan Groff:But like Dan, Dan was like sick and gripping me. Like he like had to be out. There was like a need in him that I really related to. And I'm finding like as time goes by and you get older, like there's such a joy in the people that we started out with. The ones that really want to be here are still here.

21:23Amy Poehler:Yes.

21:23Jonathan Groff:It's such a cool thing.

21:24Amy Poehler:And Dan Radcliffe, Radcliffe is an example of this and you are which is also you want longevity in the business you want to work a long time if you like it's a it's the long game it's still playing the long game and yes and i mean i can't wait to talk to you about merrily it's such an incredible piece of art it's so deep i can only imagine what it must have been like to be approaching 40 and winning a tony for a piece that is all about the circular feeling of life and like having it in real time. And so before we get there, we're going to get there. But I am so enamored and moved by little Jonathan on the horse farm.

22:15Amy Poehler:You grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

22:19Jonathan Groff:Yes.

22:19Amy Poehler:Your dad was a horse trainer.

22:21Jonathan Groff:Yeah, still is.

22:22Amy Poehler:Is. Yeah. And do you ride horses and do you like horses? Oh, is this controversial?

22:29Jonathan Groff:It's not controversial. So he does harness racing. So it's like the cart behind the horse. Like you're sitting in the cart with the whip.

22:38Amy Poehler:Oh, yeah.

22:38Jonathan Groff:And so he—

22:40Amy Poehler:Are you in like a large—was that like a Mennonite?

22:44Jonathan Groff:Yeah, my dad is—his whole family is Mennonite.

22:47Amy Poehler:Wow.

22:48Jonathan Groff:My grandfather was a Mennonite preacher. and he kind of like was expected to take over the dairy farm because he was the oldest son but wasn't into cows and so pivoted to horses and got really into horse racing. And then my mom was raised Methodist and so started going to the Methodist church because the Mennonites were not super into the gambling aspect of his career.

23:12Amy Poehler:Interesting.

23:13Jonathan Groff:He wasn't shunned or anything, but just, yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, growing up, I would play pretend on the horse farm with my brother. But my brother and I, my brother David and I were both petrified of the horses because they're so scary.

23:31Amy Poehler:I got it. So I am I'm afraid of horses.

23:33Jonathan Groff:OK.

23:34Amy Poehler:They scare me. I respect them. They're beautiful. But I don't I don't mess around with horses.

23:39Jonathan Groff:Yeah. And that's really wise. I feel like when you know that you're really tapping into the empathy of the horse, because like yes I don't want to startle them yes

23:47Amy Poehler:and I'm a little nervous I don't want to make them nervous yes and there are some people that are just so so good with them and I feel like I feel to horses like people who who don't want to have children feel towards children to kids yeah which is like I think that's great for you

24:02Jonathan Groff:yes not my journey and I want people

24:04Amy Poehler:who want to ride horses to ride horses not my journey

24:06Jonathan Groff:exactly

24:07Amy Poehler:they're so tall their eyes are so their mouths are enormous

24:14Jonathan Groff:enormous and then we'll bite you. Yeah, they're like, yes.

24:17Amy Poehler:They don't make that sound.

24:19Jonathan Groff:I was nervous. Like, I was shoveling the shit in the stalls with the horses also. So you can imagine not loving them. And like, the sound. Sort of like moving around the horse to like shovel its shit into the thing. I was like, it was not, yeah.

24:34Amy Poehler:That's funny. Like, that's like not going into the family business. It's not liking horses.

24:38Jonathan Groff:Yes, I was blasting Britney Spears and Stephen Sondheim on the tape player in the barn, shoveling the horseshit, being like, I don't fit here.

24:50Amy Poehler:I loved your Tony speech when you thanked your family and your brother, your parents, for letting you just be you. They really did that, right? Yes. You were exactly that, singing and dressing up and getting to do stuff, and everybody was like, that's our Jonathan.

25:08Jonathan Groff:We have this VHS of my of me dressed as Mary Poppins. I was three. And my mom and my dad like they I had lipstick and a carpet bag and a hat and a dress. And we're on my grandfather's Mennonite farm, Wade. And I'm like with the with the carpet bag. And in the background, you can hear him going, Mary. Oh, Mary. Not even really clocking the gay joke that he's making by calling me Mary.

25:36Amy Poehler:Which then became a very successful Broadway show And that's where Cole Got the idea

25:45Jonathan Groff:Oh my god Totally And who was saying that

25:50Amy Poehler:Was your dad saying that

25:51Jonathan Groff:My Mennonite grandfather Preacher Wade So incredible I think if they had like equated Putting this young boy in a gown may open up homosexuality in him. It's like an on-ramp to gayness. They may not have done it, but this was like before the internet and like they just beautifully allowed me to fly my freak flag.

26:21Amy Poehler:Yes. And I hear, did you play Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz? I did as well. What age did you play Dorothy?

26:29Jonathan Groff:At four.

26:30Amy Poehler:What did you bring to the role? How did you see her?

26:37Jonathan Groff:I brought a lot. There's also a video of that. I brought a lot of, I brought a real, like I was screaming a lot. Oh. Yeah. And it's a lot of me going like.

26:50Amy Poehler:Because of the tornado. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. You were playing the tornado. Yeah.

26:55Jonathan Groff:I was like, I was very tornado forward in my interpretation.

26:58Amy Poehler:So you were interested in the, like the trauma before. Yes. The yellow brick. Yes.

27:03Jonathan Groff:I held that like that. I carried through. Yeah. What was your on-ramp?

27:07Amy Poehler:Thank you for asking. I was in fourth grade and I was really into. You were in fourth grade. So you were a little older. A little wiser. I knew we were going to be okay. I think. But I was really interested in the like the follow me aspect. I was very much like, come on over here. Come on. I was very into like.

27:24Jonathan Groff:Bleeding lady.

27:25Amy Poehler:Follow the like follow the yellow brick road. Like let's go. The let's go of Dorothy. I love the skipping and the running around and just like the journey part. I was really into that part. And the tornado, I just went internal. I just played really small.

27:44Jonathan Groff:You were more like the phoenix rising from the ashes. You were like leading everyone somewhere.

27:50Amy Poehler:It was just in my eyes. The tornado was in my eyes.

27:53Jonathan Groff:Yeah, it was like a quick look. Like blink and you miss it.

27:56Amy Poehler:I went, what was that?

27:57Jonathan Groff:Wait, is she okay? But then immediately you were leading us. Yeah. Oh, it's so much smarter. Fuck.

28:04Amy Poehler:Lions and tigers and bears. Oh, my. Ah!

28:13Gracie Lawrence:We're leaving today and entering a world of Mickey Mouse waving, princess meeting and greeting, lightsaber clashing, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror dropping, banshee flying, Space Mountain launching, Galaxy Rewinding. What's the whole network? Galaxy Rewinding. Fireworks igniting. World of Other Worlds. For whatever you love. Infinite worlds await at the most magical place on Earth. Walt Disney World Resort.

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29:39Gracie Lawrence:Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong.

29:46Jonathan Groff:Bro, Skycoin, way better than points.

29:49Amy Poehler:Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade.

29:56Gracie Lawrence:Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with Kayak and get your trip right.

30:02Amy Poehler:Bad advice? You talking to me?

30:05Gracie Lawrence:Kayak. Got that right.

30:11Amy Poehler:Okay, so then you're on the farm, you're scared of horses, you're singing. What makes you, you're gonna go to college and then you get a part.

30:25Jonathan Groff:It really is as you describe. You're on the farm. You're with the horses. You're singing. What is going to happen? When I listen to the original cast recording of Company, I still smell horse. I still have the sense memory of smelling horse. Because you're listening to it in the bar. Yeah, it smells like the pile of manure that we would make from the stall.

30:50Amy Poehler:How did you get those records? Like, how did you find out about—what was the musical that made you fall in love? Was it The Horses? The Horses? This is even funnier.

31:00Jonathan Groff:I can't believe it. I haven't thought about this, Amy, in so much. When you say record, I went to the Lancaster Public Library and got the record LP. I mean, it's not like this was, like, the 60s. This was like 1992, but I got the LP record of Ethel Merman singing Annie Get Your Gun. Wow. And I would play the record of Annie Get Your Gun over and over again. And we had a record player in my house growing up and like a giant computer. You remember like the early computers and like a hand thing that was like doing the video games. and I would be playing a like very basic video game and blasting Ethel Merman singing.

31:49Amy Poehler:Do you remember what like a young how a young boy discovered Ethel Merman? It's amazing. Who how did you find out about her?

32:01Jonathan Groff:They took us to see the high school play of Annie Get Your Gun. There you go. I was like when it got to intermission.

32:09Amy Poehler:Yeah.

32:10Jonathan Groff:And they were like, okay, now we're going to go to the bathroom and then we're going to come back. I was like, there's more?

32:15Amy Poehler:After that?

32:17Jonathan Groff:We're going to come back and it's going to happen again? There's going to be more story? I was so excited.

32:23Amy Poehler:Did you ever go into New York when you were a kid and see a show?

32:26Jonathan Groff:Yeah, I went. That was the Annie Get Your Gun moment happened when I was in like fourth grade. And that's when I went to the library then and got the record and was obsessed. And then my mom started taking me on bus trips to see Broadway shows. and that was like fifth grade, sixth grade middle school. What did you see back then? I saw Beauty and the Beast. I saw Grease. I saw Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters, which I was like losing my mind for. In high school, I saw Thoroughly Modern Millie six times.

32:58Amy Poehler:You were obsessed with Sutton Foster. Yeah, obsessed.

33:03Jonathan Groff:Obsessed with her, yeah.

33:04Amy Poehler:What was it about her that you loved?

33:07Jonathan Groff:That spoke to you? she on stage well on stage is a couple of things she would like be right here there was a level of presence about her that was so magnetic and I couldn't like stop looking at her when she wasn't speaking in scenes I would be staring at Sutton because she felt so alive and then she had been the understudy in that show out of town and replaced and kind of was like pushed out into the front to take on that role in which was like 28 years old. And there was almost like, like when it's really hot, when it's really hot and you're driving and you see those waves of heat coming off the road, you know that when you're like in the car and you're like, whoa, it's so hot that you can see the air is like that was what was coming off of her body when I when I in my experience and my memory of watching her and it was like heat was coming off of her and you

34:10Amy Poehler:were still in high school you would you did you know you were going to be an actor did you know did you have a sense that you were gonna move to New York and be an actor at that point yeah once

34:21Jonathan Groff:I was in high school there there was two community theaters in my hometown the Fulton Theater and the Everett Performing Arts Center. They're both still there. And at the Fulton Theater, I was meeting actors that they hired from New York to play the leads.

34:34Amy Poehler:Oh, wow.

34:35Jonathan Groff:And I would like, I was obsessed with all of them. One of them is in Just in Time.

34:39Amy Poehler:Whoa.

34:40Jonathan Groff:This woman named Terry Kelly, who was the lead of the show in 2001 at the Fulton, is now one of our amazing swings in Just in Time. So we have a full circle moment there. But yeah, I started to dream about moving to New York. That's when I learned that you could go to open calls and I did that my senior year of high school I went to like an open call for the sound of music tour and got it and went on the road and then moved to New York

35:02Amy Poehler:and we were you basically told your parents I'm not going to college they really they said if you

35:08Jonathan Groff:want to go to college we will find a way to pay for this for you but it's so expensive and like

35:14Amy Poehler:are you sure you want to major in theater yeah because what's that gonna get you at the end of

35:21Jonathan Groff:four years, all this money. And I was like, I, it's my passion. It's what I want to do. And my dad, I remember like a late night with my dad sitting in his chair and he was like, if this is really what you want to do, we'll figure it out. And I was like, okay, thanks dad. But then I went to New York and auditioned for this tour and got it. And I went on the road and I deferred my admission from college and I made$10 ,000 in the year of working on this non-union tour. Carnegie Mellon at that time was$40 ,000 a year. That's where I deferred my admission. And I was like, I'll never be able to pay this off.

35:59Jonathan Groff:And my parents were like, right, take your money, go to New York, see if it works out. If it doesn't work out, come back and go to college for something else. So that was the plan.

36:10Amy Poehler:And then 21 years old, you get nominated for a Tony, 21. I mean, Spring Awakening.

36:23Amy Poehler:I'm feeling Dorothy. I'm feeling Dorothy. I mean, that musical. I saw you in that musical. I saw the original. Come on. So amazing. I mean, an original musical that's so successful at that age. I mean I don't I guess my question to you is like now you've got some time right now and you and you did the documentary you produced the documentary oh you really know your stuff Amy I try my best you're such a hard worker but I mean you're you're like looping back around it now so you've got now you've been able to look back like looking back now at that at that boy like what what do you take away from that moment now like with distance and time what are you so grateful for about that moment oh my god um it was like getting picked up and put somewhere else

37:20Jonathan Groff:it was like the claw coming and just like that's a good way to think about it was like Thoroughly Modern Millie which I had seen six times the director of Spring Awakening is Michael Mayer, the director of Thoroughly Modern Millie. It was a combination of feeling like I got picked up and put somewhere. And I remember auditioning for it. And I remember calling my dad on the phone the night before the callback and saying, I can't do this right now, but I know that I could do it

38:01Amy Poehler:if they gave me the chance like why why the can't why why were you thinking you couldn't do it

38:06Jonathan Groff:because I knew I I like my talent was not I just like I know I didn't really have the proper like gifts like this my singing I didn't have my singing together but I had this like primal thing down in my like gut that was like I have to play this role and they let me do it and it was like Like, so then this thing in me got to like, it's like those opportunities. Like you get that opportunity. And especially with theater, because it's almost religious because you're repeating. And when you repeat things over and over again, it can change you from the inside out. And I've like, like, like, um, made me the, the, like taught me how to act and taught me how to sing.

38:57Jonathan Groff:and there was and I was in the closet during that whole show and I had my roommate Cody that was my boyfriend and when I left that show I came out of the closet a month later because this this like rebel that was this character this person that didn't care didn't let the world define him this was what I was playing. Like you said, um, I'm a people pleaser. I'm a, I'm like, like a prioritizing niceness, prioritizing, like making sure everybody feels good.

39:32Amy Poehler:Yeah.

39:32Jonathan Groff:And coming out felt like that would create a dissonance. And I, it was really hard for me to do that.

39:39Amy Poehler:Yeah. And that playing the role in that show allowed me to grow the muscle to be able to

39:46Jonathan Groff:do that. So cool. So cool.

39:47Amy Poehler:And you, you, you put that in such a beautiful way. I think people often underestimate that sometimes the struggle to live authentically doesn't have as much to do with how you feel about yourself as it does in the worry of how it will change the temperature in the room, like how it will change the dynamic in the family, how it will make other people feel. It's often like told to like an inner struggle when sometimes the struggle is really about how will other people change yeah how will they feel yes and and were your how how did your family feel how did they how did were they surprised cut to me screaming as dorothy was like well

40:35Jonathan Groff:my men and her grandma was like who's that little girl in the in the in the wizard of They were like, that was Jonathan.

40:42Amy Poehler:But were they surprised? I mean, like.

40:45Jonathan Groff:My dad was surprised. My brother was surprised. I told my brother first.

40:50Amy Poehler:Oh, that's nice.

40:51Jonathan Groff:And he was like, what? He was surprised. Yeah. Which like, yeah, my mom said that she kind of knew. It was like complicated and cut to like, whatever, two or three Christmases later. and they're handing presents to my boyfriend that's home for the holidays. So it like very quickly, it took a minute for them to digest it all. Sure. And then ultimately it's been great.

41:21Amy Poehler:Yeah. Amazing. So, so much happening in your 20s. Like so much. And then you go on Glee, which is this insanely popular show with your buddy Leah. And like you just, you're just, you're just, everything is happening really fast. Yeah. It feels like that when I look at your stuff. Like that, that your twenties is just like, things are really moving and chugging along and you're just working like crazy and being like a New York kid.

41:46Jonathan Groff:Yeah.

41:47Amy Poehler:Yeah. Because you have a quality about you that's very young. You've been told that I'm sure.

41:52Jonathan Groff:I feel it. Yeah. Yeah. I feel eternally young in a certain way. I'm very like excitable.

41:59Amy Poehler:Do you have an age you feel like you are? Like, do you know what I mean? Like that you relate to?

42:04Jonathan Groff:Right now I feel about 15. Yeah. I feel, I feel.

42:09Amy Poehler:You're just picking people up left and right. I'm picking you up. Drinking black coffee.

42:14Jonathan Groff:I feel like we're on the high school news. We're on the high school news. Remember? You'd be like, Good morning, everyone. Now that you say it's the setup of this is very high school news.

42:28Amy Poehler:I'm having a hot flash right now.

42:30Jonathan Groff:Yeah, it's giving high school news station. It is very high school. Yeah, we're on the morning announcements.

42:37Amy Poehler:We, both of us would have definitely done morning announcements. For? My dream.

42:42Jonathan Groff:Sure. My dream.

42:43Amy Poehler:I would have had a big crush on you and people would have been like.

42:45Jonathan Groff:I would have been just following your Dorothy lead.

42:47Amy Poehler:And people would have been like, Jonathan does not have a crush on you. Okay. You're not his type. They'd be like, I don't know. I think I can get him. I think I can win him over.

43:02Amy Poehler:Oh, yeah.

43:02Jonathan Groff:It would have been totally us on the news.

43:05Amy Poehler:Then you're on Looking, which is his first show on HBO to feature a gay man as the lead?

43:11Jonathan Groff:Yeah.

43:12Amy Poehler:Is that real?

43:13Jonathan Groff:Is that real? Is that right? I don't know.

43:15Amy Poehler:It's on the internet, but who knows? We don't have time to figure that out. But incredible. But that's a big jump to be coming out and a few years later playing like a really fully realized, sophisticated, single man looking for love. That's a big jump.

43:30Jonathan Groff:Yeah. It was like I'm really riding the wave here of life and of progress. And when they initially sent me that audition, I said no. I felt scared to be gay on a TV show. One thing to be out publicly and another thing to be like eating ass on TV.

43:57Amy Poehler:Only in film.

44:01Jonathan Groff:it's like I'm gay and then it's like okay gruff like we get it like to see me in different positions but I mean

44:08Amy Poehler:you actually bring up a really good you bring up a good point which is it's it's very hard to do intimate scenes no matter what to be but

44:20Jonathan Groff:it's funny because

44:21Amy Poehler:you didn't care

44:22Jonathan Groff:no in Spring Awakening I was like let's go oh that's true

44:25Amy Poehler:you already did that you already ate ass in Spring Awakening

44:30Jonathan Groff:in a different way in a different way I felt a kind of like um safety with women uh because they didn't feel like there was as much at stake and we could really like go for it it felt like it in some ways like it felt like back then like like what I wished I was like like wishing I wasn't gay wishing I was straight and it was like this is who I wish I could be it felt like dreaming like changing who I was, like a fantasy of what I wished I could be. But then when they send me these scripts and it's actually how I am, it then does become a little bit scary. But I'd seen Andrew Haig, when he became attached as the director, I'd seen his film Weekend at the IFC on 6th Avenue, and I was like a wreck, like crying in that movie theater because I'd never seen something that felt so real.

45:27Jonathan Groff:And so when he became attached as the director, then I was like, no brainer. Yes, I want to do this. I want to work with this man. And that the way that he tells those stories meant so much to me in that movie. And I want to do this with him. But at the audition, I was shaking and I felt sort of like Sutton when I'm talking about the heat coming off of the body. My whole body went hot and I went, I blush. I was like blushing. and it was like Spring Awakening another role that I was like almost like a ring of fire birth into a new version of self like therapy

46:04Amy Poehler:like a somatic exorcism and you knew it was right because you were feeling it so big

46:10Jonathan Groff:and they asked me to be the grand marshal of the gay pride parade I told my parents when I came out like five years before I was like hi so Cody is not my roommate, Cody's my boyfriend and I'm gay but like I'm not gonna like be in a parade

46:31Jonathan Groff:that's what I said when I came out, I was so still full of shame, I was like, but listen I'm not holding the flag, I'm not like that cuts me down eating ass on television and then ultimately on grand marshalling the New York Parade like with a sash a rainbow sash literally like elbow elbow wrist wrists and i felt scared i still felt scared back then i was like this feels like right it feels like the right thing to do but i'm like you were like dorothy screaming as i'm getting pushed what feels like pushed off a cliff this

47:08Amy Poehler:is an amazing theme i'm realizing about you which is really amazing is that you and i i think it may also just come from like familial unconditional love, which I'm learning more and more. Like when artists have it, they can take big chances. You took, you take a lot of chances when you're like, holy shit. You do, you do it though. Yes. Yes.

47:28Jonathan Groff:I think I'm a little drawn to it.

47:31Amy Poehler:Yeah.

47:31Jonathan Groff:I must be like magnetized to it. And like you said, unconditional love. I think you're right.

47:36Amy Poehler:There's a little bit of a thing where like you, I'll speak for myself too, coming from that background where like, I, I don't want to bypass the fact that there's a safety element that I had in my, in my youth that allows me to do that now.

47:49Jonathan Groff:Talk about it. Because I like the, I, I,

47:53Amy Poehler:I think that there's, you cannot discount that feeling that if you had a safe home in your professional life or your creative life, you, you just feel sometimes like emboldened to take these chances when they're given to you. And that's definitely what you did because it is, it is like you're just your career is just like yeah let's try this let's do this and then looking happens and then it it gets cancelled bummer but not really a bummer because all of a sudden guess who's available for Hamilton guess who's tech avail for Hamilton Jonathan Groff

48:31Jonathan Groff:another fear factor thing though of like Brian Darcy James originated that role off Broadway And then he, his show, Something Rotten, got fast-tracked to Broadway, unexpected, while they were in rehearsal for the public theater. And I get a text from Lynn, who I had become friends with through the years, being like, hey, Brian has to bail right after opening. Will you come in off-Broadway and do this for two months? Wow. For the last two months of the off-Broadway run. And he was like, it's basically just one song, and it's not a lot of moves, and you'll be great. And I was like, okay. Wow. And I said yes without hearing it, knowing anything about it.

49:09Jonathan Groff:They sent me the song. I learned the song from like a piano thing. And then I saw it and went in two days later. I was in L.A. at the time. And so I didn't know I had to have a British accent.

49:22Amy Poehler:And did you ever? No, I'm just kidding. Exactly. I mean, your accent is perfect. No, but yes, drag me, but you're right. No, I'm not dragging. Not dragging. Drag. It's its own, it's its own, like, your accent is its own, it's delicious. When you say bake, you'll be bake. It's incredible. Where did you come up with that accent?

49:52Jonathan Groff:When I went on the first day off Broadway, it looked like I had won a contest to be in Hamilton. Because I had no sense of character. I had no, they were like, you have to do like a British accent. I was like, but what? everyone's black like I don't understand why I have to do a British accent

50:08Amy Poehler:you're right no one's historically accurate except for you but I have to do

50:12Jonathan Groff:a British accent and then I saw it and I was like oh I get it I'm like the one thing okay

50:17Amy Poehler:and the choice of your voice your voice is incredible in it thank you I love your accent in it

50:23Jonathan Groff:thank you so then I like Pippa was like there's this woman at Juilliard that can help you so she's I was like what? You're like, oh no. But here's the lesson I learned too when I went on and I had no character at all. I had no accent. I was just trying to remember the words and the notes and then walk off. It was like they put me in a king thing and I walked out there and I did what I could remember and then they pulled me off. But the song killed. I mean, one could even say stole the show. But I was like, oh, I don't have to do anything. I came out here, I have no idea what I'm doing. Such a funny song.

50:58Jonathan Groff:This writing is so

51:00Amy Poehler:genius and the device sorry to interrupt the device of you being the lover the the the jilted lover it's saying you'll be back is such a funny device for it's so surprising it is it's so funny

51:17Jonathan Groff:it's like the first time people aren't rapping so the all the white people in the audience are like oh they're like

51:27Amy Poehler:now this is how I remember this is how I remember Broadway right it's so true and it is this great record scratch moment in the show which you know look we don't we could talk forever about Hamilton it's beyond genius in every way but it is it is so funny because it reminds you for just a second of how things used to be vocally, lyrically, stylistically, on so many levels.

51:59Jonathan Groff:Yes. It's hitting on so many levels. And that like lesson of like, Oh, I have no idea what I'm doing, but this song is killing was then when I was, when then for the next two months, when I started to learn the, uh, the very specific upper whatever accent. And I was watching all the, I'm also so different than Brian Darcy James. I was watching these clips of Barbra Streisand from her TV special, My Name is Barbara, and I was watching her come out on stage and, like, basically, like, fuck herself with her own voice. Like, so enjoy so small, but, like, enjoying every little, I was like, okay. And then I started to build the character, but it was, I'd never built a character in front of an audience in a show before.

52:51Jonathan Groff:Wow. And so that was also a bit of like getting pushed out there. And because the show is so great, I was able to just play catch up because you can be completely unaware of what you're doing, but sing that song and it nails it.

53:08Amy Poehler:And you were like seducing us. You're very seductive and you're very laconic as that character. Laconic. Laconic. Talk about laconic.

53:18Jonathan Groff:Tell me that one. I believe it means.

53:22Amy Poehler:Sleepy. Like, just like, not thirsty. I have so many questions about backstage at Hamilton. Okay. Yeah. Number one, were you allowed to come late?

53:38Jonathan Groff:Did I come late or was I allowed to come late?

53:41Amy Poehler:Because you had about an hour before you were on, right?

53:44Jonathan Groff:I had, no, I was on in the first like 20 minutes, 25 minutes.

53:49Amy Poehler:And then you have a big break. Yeah. How long? An hour?

53:52Jonathan Groff:Oh my God. So much time.

53:56Amy Poehler:What do you do during that time?

53:58Jonathan Groff:It's such a good question. Okay. So Bobby, Darren, I am off stage for 45 seconds in the, in the whatever two plus hour thing. And this is my preferred. I love being out there. when we walked into the dressing room at the Richard Rogers in tech for Hamilton. And Lynn and I were sharing a dressing room space. I was like, whatever, Idina Menzel had done the show right before, if then. And I was, my dressing room was Idina's waiting room. And it was like a little closet. And I was like, oh, this is where I live. I'm on stage for nine minutes, but this is where I live. And I started to get claustrophobic when I walked in of like, what am I going to do?

54:42Jonathan Groff:Back here. And I read so many books. You couldn't leave the building? Couldn't leave? No, because you're in the white wig.

54:52Amy Poehler:You never ran out to get something and took the wig off.

54:56Jonathan Groff:I never ran out to get something.

54:59Amy Poehler:You're such a good boy.

54:59Jonathan Groff:I mean, it's so boring.

55:01Amy Poehler:Because you did a lot of performances.

55:04Jonathan Groff:Yeah.

55:04Amy Poehler:And I used to think about you backstage and be like, what's he doing back there?

55:08Jonathan Groff:I ended up really learning how to embrace, well, I would have visitations from the cast. Oh, fun. So that there would be like nightly visitations, which was great. And kind of like free hang time. Yeah. It was like, I could have like done this. Yeah. And like we could have done. And done school announcements.

55:26Amy Poehler:Done the morning announcements. Yeah, done school announcements.

55:29Jonathan Groff:It really feels like we're on the morning announcements. It really does. It really does. But then I started reading all the books that I wanted to read. I started to just like boom, boom, boom, boom. knock through them all and it became a very productive time cool very cool yeah and then

55:44Amy Poehler:you had to come back out so that must have also been like did you ever miss a cue because it's hard I can't believe I never missed a cue I know because it's hard when you I mean I know you work with total professionals who will make sure that you don't miss a cue I'm sure like all the stage managers are like, yeah, you didn't miss a cue because I told you. Ten minutes, babe. Yes, exactly. But when you have that long stretch, it's hard to get. It's just like having one or two lines in a sketch. Like you really can screw it up. Yeah, right.

56:15Jonathan Groff:It's like a little sprint. And I also find always having one or two lines to me is the hardest thing. Do you find that? Like coming in, killing and leaving. Yes. Coming in cold.

56:24Amy Poehler:Yes.

56:24Jonathan Groff:I would have five Altoids in my mouth when I came on stage because it was like to open up my.

56:29Amy Poehler:Is that what else they open up here?

56:32Jonathan Groff:Yeah, I've now moved on to sugar-free black cherry halls. I have one of those in my mouth for the entire show since I did Little Shop in 2019. That's my new thing.

56:44Amy Poehler:You're not afraid it's going to pop out or shoot out?

56:47Jonathan Groff:You know, it's never shot out until like five days ago.

56:49Amy Poehler:It did?

56:50Jonathan Groff:Popped out during Splish Splash. And I was like, I lost a tooth. But it bounced into the audience.

56:58Amy Poehler:That's a really good Broadway story. It popped out during Splish Splash. And it's like, thank God it was just your Al toy.

57:04Jonathan Groff:During Bing Bang, I saw the whole gang. It came right out and went...

57:10Amy Poehler:It's like, why did he get fired? It popped out during Splish Splash. And it wasn't supposed to. I mean, there are... It popped it out. Yeah, it popped it out during Splish Splash.

57:20Amy Poehler:I mean, I'm projecting because I used to have a time... I don't know if you... Did you ever have nightmares when... Have you ever had Broadway nightmares where you miss, you're late, or like a stress stream. Oh, yeah, of course. I used to have stress streams all the time that there was like a staircase at SNL where you had to kind of run down to get to the studio that I was running down and I was hearing my cue.

57:44Jonathan Groff:Oh, that's going to give me nightmares tonight. Okay, so sorry.

57:46Amy Poehler:Yeah, but then I was missing a cue, missing a cue. And those used to give me like, and to add to it, everyone I cared about and whose opinion I cared about We'll be on the stairs being like, you're late.

57:59Jonathan Groff:You missed it. We're not mad. We're just like surprised. Yeah, we're surprised. I just can't believe Amy, like of all people, missed the cue. Yeah.

58:08Amy Poehler:I guess it's the disrespect for me.

58:10Jonathan Groff:Oh.

58:11Amy Poehler:And then let's talk about Merrily, if we can. Of course. That experience must have been just so fulfilling in every way. Because to your point of like being turning 40, the show is all about the beginnings and middle and ends of things and how life feels like it's this shuffle of all of those things and the friendships we make along the way. And here you are like now, you know, almost a 20 year vet in the business when you're doing that show. And I know how much Sondheim means to you.

58:45Jonathan Groff:Yeah. Smells like horse.

58:47Amy Poehler:Yeah. He smells like horse.

58:48Jonathan Groff:He helped you like when you were scared of those horses.

58:52Amy Poehler:He probably has written a song about horses.

58:54Jonathan Groff:I'm sure there's a reference to horse racing in Bobby and Jackie and Jack, one of the songs in Merrily We Roll Along. There's a famous horse that's quoted in that song. But yeah, it was so crazy because I moved to New York in 2004. We did that show in 2024. So exactly 20 years to the year. It takes place exactly over 20 years, and it's about looking back. In Maria Friedman, our incredible director's vision and staging of the show at the very beginning, Dan comes out over here, How did you get to be here? What was the moment? Lindsay comes out over here, over the shoulders of Frank, the character I played.

59:38Jonathan Groff:How did you get to be here? What was the moment? In the exact positions 15 years earlier, John Gallagher Jr. stood here as a ghost in Spring Awakening, and Lea Michele stood over this shoulder. Lindsay Mendez, LM, Lea Michele, LM, the same initials of the actresses standing on this side of the thing. Talk about sense of memory. I had crazy things come up on that one. There would be moments where I, because also it was the most, I think, well, he said, it was the most autobiographical thing he ever wrote. he said that about the song opening doors but i have a feeling from all the people that came through to see the show that we could talk to after and people that knew him and how prince and mary rogers that this was about the his him and his two friends and these relationships that fracture over time and the heartbreak and the disappointment and i would be saying a line i I would be saying a line to Lindsay on stage and I would say it and it would come out and it would feel like Frank talking to the character of Mary.

1:00:51Jonathan Groff:It would feel like Steve talking to Mary Rogers. It would feel like Jonathan talking to Lindsay in this like crazy, like therapeutic exorcism. It was wild.

1:01:04Amy Poehler:So cool. Yeah. Amazing. And then to like have that be so celebrated for it to really feel like people were ready for it when, because for people who don't know this, the history of that show is it really was ahead of its time and it wasn't received the way it was, it should have been received. And it kind of like needed to just marinate for some reason and much like the show itself, like it needs time. so the show needed time and then it came back out and it was celebrated and the way it was celebrated it must have been so so satisfying it must have just been so satisfying it was every

1:01:39Jonathan Groff:dream I ever had to come true yeah and then we made this movie of it yes and that I went on Monday night last week to go see it just in a normal movie theater and I was like weeping just Like, I cannot believe this. Can I believe how Maria, the director, directed it so beautifully for film? And and it's like the hybrid between a like filming of a theater piece and a movie. Like what she made is so unique and special and feeling the audience in the movie theater get the story. and the idea that this was his big flop of his career and apparently his big heartbreak, Stephen Sondheim and Hal Prince, it was the end for many years of their really fruitful, over a decade-long collaboration, that this show is, like, captured in this way and is playing in movie theaters.

1:02:36Jonathan Groff:It's like you can't, it's so surreal.

1:02:38Amy Poehler:Well, it's kind of like why longevity is the goal in work and in life, you know, knock on wood. Right. Which is like, if you stick around long enough, like things come back.

1:02:52Jonathan Groff:Yes. And I, you're exactly right. And I, and this, the ethos too, of like, if you make something well in the moment, the faith that what you did in that moment to make it well, and then push that boat out. And then whatever that boat's journey is, is that boat's journey, but that you put the time and attention to detail and the care in the thing that you were making. Merrily is the perfect example of they put their hearts and souls into that and they pushed out that boat and it was not received. But because it was crafted so well and such a beautiful piece, 40 years later, you're getting this boat is coming back around.

1:03:37Jonathan Groff:And because the people, when they made it in the present moment, took such care, it can exist and have this life. It gives me such faith in when we're creating things that if we do it with the proper intention and with everything we've got, then you just set it free. And if it hits today, we have people from like looking, we were canceled after two seasons. People still come up to me and say like, this show changed my life. There's like a, if you do something with your whole heart, it can continue to resonate and stand the test of time.

1:04:11Amy Poehler:So cool. It's like sending out a missive to space and just like it taking that many light years to get there. Lyrically, what is a lyric for you that like still bubbles in your head that you had to sing? And what is one that was a hard one to get? Like what was one that always felt like a bit of a hurdle? And what was one that just tickles you still like in your brain? it's from the song growing up which is which which the character of frank sings so old friends yeah don't you see we can have it all moving on getting out of the past

1:04:54Jonathan Groff:this is the one for me you ready yeah solving dreams not just trusting them taking dreams, readjusting them, growing up, growing up. This idea that you can have these dreams as a kid, and it's not something that you either make happen or you repress, but that you take this dream and you figure out what it was and what it still means to you. Solving dreams, not just trusting them, taking dreams, readjusting them, growing up.

1:05:34Amy Poehler:Yeah. Come on. Come on. That's major.

1:05:37Jonathan Groff:It's so good. Yeah, that's so good. It's about, because there's like an element of like being in relationship to the past, but not having it hold you down. Yes. It would bring up something for me every single night different. It's so good.

1:05:51Amy Poehler:And it's also kind of the theme of what we've been talking about a little bit today. the idea of if you're open and flexible to readjustment, that is what, like, it's the best you can hope for.

1:06:03Jonathan Groff:Yes.

1:06:04Amy Poehler:Because nothing happens the way it's supposed to ever.

1:06:07Jonathan Groff:No.

1:06:07Amy Poehler:And you have to only just kind of like stay steady and flexible for what's coming.

1:06:12Jonathan Groff:Yes. It's such a paradox.

1:06:14Amy Poehler:Yeah. It's so true. And what I love about that too is, is the friendship in that show is like helps us solve the dream part. Like the solving of the dream. Like it's almost like it can't be done alone.

1:06:31Jonathan Groff:Yes.

1:06:31Amy Poehler:And when I wanted to talk to you today, like one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about today really is about the friendships you have made in the work that you do. Yeah. I know it's really important to you. Like you have really made lifelong friends. Yeah. The people that you share the stage with, like they share your life. Like they're, you know, you do not leave productions and say like, peace out, see you later. Like you're deep friends with people for life that you've worked with. It's really amazing.

1:06:59Jonathan Groff:Yes, it's interesting because I feel like a little bit that starts from a place of like when I was closeted and in high school and in community theater. I wonder if you feel this way too about writing and performing. Like you go there because you need that intimacy and you can't get it in your real life for whatever reason. And there's a, and there's a like deep primal need to go and like connect with people. And so that part of me is still alive. Like I can't, even though I think I'm, I came out of the closet, I'm, I'm better adjusted in my life. But when I go to work, I don't go to work. I go to live and that, and I, I look at the people that I'm with and it's deep And I, and it's, it's like, it's, it's, uh, it's powerful and it's, and it's profound.

1:07:54Amy Poehler:Yeah. Lindsay, Daniel, Leah. And can you tell me, can you tell me about Gavin Creel, who I never got to meet? Will you tell me just something about him? Because I love hearing about him.

1:08:06Jonathan Groff:Oh my God. Yeah. Um, well, he changed my life. He changed my life. Um, because, well, okay. Oh my God. I'm going to tell a memory that I have about him.

1:08:18Amy Poehler:Please. And for people who don't know, Gavin's an amazing performer who passed a few years ago, two years, a year ago? A year and a month or two ago.

1:08:28Jonathan Groff:Okay, a little over a year ago. Recent, yeah.

1:08:29Amy Poehler:An incredibly talented performer and a dear, dear, dear friend of yours. Yeah. Yeah.

1:08:35Jonathan Groff:I think he would appreciate the story that I'm about to tell.

1:08:38Amy Poehler:Great.

1:08:40Jonathan Groff:Gavin, if you don't know Gavin, you have to Google Gavin. Gavin did a lot of amazing things and is a profound, amazing person. The first time I ever met Gavin, I also dated Gavin. We had a whole relationship. He's what gave me the confidence to come out of the closet. He changed my life. But the first time I ever met him was at the stage door of Thoroughly Modern Millie, which he was in, opposite Sutton. He played the role of Jimmy. and I would wait at the stage door. I was in high school and the actors would come out and I was like, I was like crazy. I just couldn't believe they were real people.

1:09:25Jonathan Groff:Like to see them would give me energy and like get me like amped. I have a crazy story about Matthew Broderick that I'll make it share at some other time, but I'm meeting him at the stage door. But Gavin comes out and signs the program. And I was like, whoa. And then he goes back into the stage door. And then Mark Kudish, who played Trevor Graydon, comes out. And he's signing my program. And Gavin comes back out the stage door with an apple in his mouth. And he walks past Mark Kudish, grabs his ass. And Mark goes like, oh! And looks as Gavin is walking by. and Gavin just looks at him and winks with the apple still in his mouth.

1:10:11Amy Poehler:Oh my God, so hot.

1:10:12Jonathan Groff:And I was like, I have got to be in the theater. What is this? What is happening here where this beautiful man with an apple in his mouth is like tapping the ass of this other man and they're like, but it's very free and it doesn't necessarily feel sexual, but there's a subtext of sexualness. And I was like, I've got to get into this world. That was the first time I, like, met Gavin.

1:10:38Amy Poehler:Ugh. Just, like, what an entrance. Yeah. What a walk-on from him.

1:10:43Jonathan Groff:Totally.

1:10:44Amy Poehler:And isn't it amazing when people come into your life, like, they just are in your simulation, but you don't know how yet?

1:10:50Jonathan Groff:Yes. Yes.

1:10:52Amy Poehler:They just walk in. Yes. And it's, like, cue the walk-on. And it's, like, in five years, you two are going to be together, babe. Yeah. And, like, who knew?

1:10:59Jonathan Groff:Crazy. And it was, like, primal. I still couldn't see it. The whole thing playing out.

1:11:04Amy Poehler:Ugh! Okay. Thank you for telling me that story and for reminding us about Kevin. And so speaking of friendships that you made and relationships that you made, we spoke to Gracie Lawrence today. A new friend in a way, although she said she feels like she's known you forever.

1:11:25Jonathan Groff:Oh, my gosh.

1:11:26Amy Poehler:And you and her were in your show together. You played Bobby Darin. She played Connie Francis. you had to really connect she's incredibly talented like she told a story about meeting you for the first time you know what and it was really like an apple in the mouth story like you came into the room and she felt this energy like he's he's I mean because that's what I love about you is you are a star and I love stars and don't you're a good boy you're a nice boy but you're a star don't let anyone tell you different so you're tickling me so hard right now so you had just a moment of like right and she has that moment with you and she and so she had a question she wanted me to ask you which i it's very sweet question and also you know she was like get ready for some amazing eye contact she said your eye contact is really great and it is really great and I thought I would be overwhelmed by it but I'm not at all I love it

1:12:33Jonathan Groff:your eye contact is also very good

1:12:34Amy Poehler:I didn't want to say anything but I also have good eye contact and we'll be right back and make sure you guys that you get your your yearbook the yearbooks are being passed out today but I don't mind eye contact from the right person but here's Gracie's question and it was a really cute question and she said like you know she said she she's like I've never seen him nervous or anxious or rattled and she said or frazzled you know is the word I think she used and she said you know he has like a Yoda like calm and um she said why why aren't you more scared of things um have you always been this way and what if anything scares you now a little bitch is what is what she said is what she said how she said it

1:13:27Jonathan Groff:she said you little bitch you little bitch and it's funny because Gracie to me like I love I love her so much I love her so fucking hard and to me like she has a kind of sociopathic calm when she's on stage and her like like her I saw her like in Lawrence at Radio City and she's like she's like singing she's a She's Tina Turner, basically. She's a rock star. The first thing that's coming up for me while I giggle a little bit is, like, my dad also has fainting goats on his farm, on the horse farm. Yes, yes. That freeze and fall over.

1:14:07Amy Poehler:Yes.

1:14:07Jonathan Groff:And there's something, and I feel like it's, like, it's kind of a, I've used it to my advantage. When something scary happens, I go dead calm.

1:14:20Amy Poehler:Ooh.

1:14:20Jonathan Groff:Something scary for me happens.

1:14:22Amy Poehler:Yes.

1:14:22Jonathan Groff:I start to just like talk really slowly. And I bring it all the way down. And I just kind of am like, okay. And like, for example, I got sick for the first time two weeks ago doing the show. It was like the 250 whatever performance.

1:14:41Amy Poehler:You've done that many performances? Dang.

1:14:44Jonathan Groff:And we did the Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning.

1:14:47Amy Poehler:Oh, that's right.

1:14:48Jonathan Groff:On the Thursday.

1:14:49Amy Poehler:You guys got to stop. I'm sorry. it's too much I need to talk to Broadway's agent and manager because when I see you guys out there in the morning I'm like Broadway

1:15:00Jonathan Groff:please file a complaint

1:15:01Amy Poehler:Broadway no more of that I'm sorry it's too much work

1:15:05Jonathan Groff:it was fun I was into it you gotta say that what are you gonna say it's morning time

1:15:11Amy Poehler:but then look what happened

1:15:13Jonathan Groff:I was like let's go I wanna sing live we got there it was freezing Julia one of the sirens it looked like she was Beyonce say the wind like the wind was coming at us so we were like

1:15:27Jonathan Groff:and then you got sick and then the next day we had a matinee on the friday because it's thanksgiving week and i was i woke up and i was like huh oh no i was like i think i might have to call out of the show for the first time but it started to come back 250 and then i say to our music director this is going to be raw I think this might be rock and roll Bobby Darren for the weekend just so you know because it's pretty raw and then I get out there and I'm kind of feeling myself I was like okay it's kind of coming back and then I was like this song this could be the start of something big I was like this could be the stuff and just sand like in the mummy came out of my throat all over and I was like

1:16:18Jonathan Groff:and then I was like I'm Jonathan I'll be your Bobby Darin today and I was like my voice gone and I get to answer Gracie's question completely calm

1:16:32Amy Poehler:yeah

1:16:33Jonathan Groff:and I didn't he was just like okay and now I'm gonna see if it comes back I'm gonna sing the next song couldn't sing it do the next song couldn't sing it Dude, the next song couldn't sing it.

1:16:48Jonathan Groff:The sirens, the girls in the show were like.

1:16:50Amy Poehler:And the band just started playing. And the band is like, Grof? What's happening?

1:16:55Jonathan Groff:And then I was like, I'm going to wait until I'm alone on stage because I don't want to put any of the rest of my casemates through this. And 20 minutes in, I'm alone. And I was like, hi, everyone. This is Jonathan. And I start the show as myself. So it was kind of like they thought it was part of the show. And I was like, I'm Jonathan. And I really wanted to turn it out for you today because it's Thanksgiving week and I know it's really an important time. But I've lost my voice and I'm going to hurt myself if I continue. Matthew Magnuson is going to come on stage right now and be Bobby Darin.

1:17:28Jonathan Groff:And he's amazing. And the show is amazing. And please stay and enjoy the rest of Just In Time without me. and I walked off stage and it was sort of like nightmares. Like you're talking about the idea of losing your voice in a musical on Broadway could be like a nightmare, but I felt I went, I was in shock.

1:17:46Amy Poehler:But also may I just say wisdom experience? No, it just experience like experience sometimes can just, you know, it's just like you've just done the show a lot. You've been on stage a lot for someone else that could have been And truly, it would have, like, could have taken them down in a way where they'd never recover. And instead, you're like, this is one night in 250, and I'm going to be back here again. And I know how this goes. I'm going to take care of my cast. Like, that's what, like, it's a very leader mentality.

1:18:16Jonathan Groff:Thank you.

1:18:17Amy Poehler:And I think you should sue NBC. And you should sue Radio City. And you should never, ever.

1:18:24Jonathan Groff:Sue Macy's.

1:18:25Amy Poehler:Sue Macy's. Sue all of those balloons. Outrageous. they make you do that okay um so you have to go you have to go to your show but i have one very last question for you which is what what what are you watching listening to you said you love your youtube what do you where do you go right now to laugh i mean obviously you're laughing on stage you're having a good time at night but what's your laughy place yeah yeah what do you it's youtube i

1:18:51Jonathan Groff:am like i was like youtube i'm not on any social media incredible and the one like internet thing that I struggle with an addiction to is YouTube. And I'm like scrolling and I'm laughing. And even like back in the days of Spring Awakening, I had the like...

1:19:09Amy Poehler:Even back then?

1:19:10Jonathan Groff:Yeah. What were you watching? I mean, there's... This is like maybe 16 years ago. Like they would come over and I would be the one. This was like before the iPhone. It was like when the iPhone came out. But weirdly, even though I'm not on any social media, I was the one that like knew the YouTubes that would make us laugh.

1:19:30Amy Poehler:Who was making, what was making you laugh back then?

1:19:32Jonathan Groff:Like, have you seen Gay Everest?

1:19:34Amy Poehler:Okay, first of all, let's just prepare ourselves before we watch this. A news blooper. Is the best.

1:19:42Jonathan Groff:Is the best. That's my favorite.

1:19:43Amy Poehler:Me too. I could watch and have watched compilations of news bloopers forever. Wait, me too. You know who else loves a news blooper? Who? Name drop, Paul Rudd, who was on the show and we watched a lot of news bloopers. And he loves a news blooper.

1:19:57Jonathan Groff:okay that they are to me because there's like the pretense of seriousness it's literally us right now right now yeah it's really us like if we were live yeah we would be in this is us in a morning

1:20:10Amy Poehler:show yes trying to hold it together together yes um liz kakowski a writer in snl and emily spivey used to always laugh and talk about like wanting to write a morning show where they're violently hungover and trying to hold it together and that but i feel like there's also a story somewhere in like we are

1:20:28Jonathan Groff:we're a small town news show and like the gay guy and the female best friend and now we're on the local news like we've worked our way up to like the big leagues like WGAL is the one in Lancaster WGAL? That's great! It's so good! Gal? Wait, why did I never put together it's WGAL?

1:20:53Amy Poehler:WGAL, that's great! WGAL.

1:20:56Jonathan Groff:And then they have a huge falling out. And now we're on this, like the idea of like holding the tension. Right? Suddenly he's gay. Move over

1:21:05Amy Poehler:morning show.

1:21:07Gracie Lawrence:Right after the break, we're going to interview Eric Weyemeyer, who climbed the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. But he's

1:21:15Jonathan Groff:gay. I mean, he's gay. Excuse me. He's blind.

1:21:22Jonathan Groff:It's her. You know what it is? It's like, but he's gay. I mean, he's gay. Excuse me. I mean, he's gay. Excuse me. That's my favorite part.

1:21:34Jonathan Groff:But he's gay. I mean, he's gay. Excuse me.

1:21:37Amy Poehler:He's blind. Which begs the question. It's like a Sondheim lyric. Which begs the question. Is he gay?

1:21:46Jonathan Groff:So there's another video on there of him reacting and being like, what? He's not gay. I've looked it up. Okay. Okay.

1:21:56Amy Poehler:Because why does she say it twice?

1:21:58Jonathan Groff:But if I could say something now, I'd love to like publicly ask a question. Yeah.

1:22:02Amy Poehler:We can. You know what? That's actually no one's ever publicly asked a question after being asked a question. So now's the time.

1:22:07Jonathan Groff:I'd like to probably ask a question, which is another YouTube I love, which is the grape lady.

1:22:11Amy Poehler:Yeah.

1:22:12Jonathan Groff:Insane. I want to know if she's okay.

1:22:15Amy Poehler:Okay. So if someone could get, let us know if the lady who was stomping grapes who fell down and really, it sounds like really hurt herself.

1:22:24Jonathan Groff:She took a hard fall off that. Hope she's okay. Well, yow. We're going to make sure she is.

1:22:34Amy Poehler:And they're laughing. Yow.

1:22:36Jonathan Groff:She took a hard fall off that. Hope she's okay.

1:22:43Amy Poehler:Jonathan Groff, I loved our time together. Friends for life, I hope. Friends for life.

1:22:49Jonathan Groff:Let's go.

1:22:50Amy Poehler:At the very least, co-host.

1:22:52Jonathan Groff:Yes. Of the morning news.

1:22:57Amy Poehler:Oh, thank you so much, Jonathan Groff. That was so fun. We knew it would be. What a hang. What a doll. Ah, in love. What a dreamboat. So for this Polar Plunge, I guess I just wanted to talk about Sondheim for a second. Because he is so incredible and his work is so incredible. And there's a lot of people that come through this, this studio talking about him. And I would just like to say that the thing I love the most about Stephen Sondheim is how his music feels like a song rolling down a hill. Like it's, it's never really starting. It's always kind of going, but it's not. It's just kind of talking and then it's going and the song is starting and it's starting this way and it's going over here.

1:23:46Amy Poehler:But don't forget it started over there And it's about to start, but it's not starting yet And we're going over So I just, I love, I love the rhythm of it And it's so hard to sing and I'm so glad I'm saying it So Stephen Sondheim, thank you for your work and your genius Thank you, Jonathan Groff, for joining us Thank you for listening always to Good Hang Have a great day, week, month And see you soon, bye you've been listening to Good Hang the executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman and me Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paper Kite. For The Ringer production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane Kaya McMullin and Alea Zanaris for Paper Kite production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell and Jenna Weiss-Berman original music by Amy Miles all I ever wanted was a really good hang

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