Seinfeld: The Understudy

I'll be there for you...to talk about this very theatrical episode of the 90's hit "Friends." Even though Joey doesn't always behave in a professional manner, this episode portrays a refreshingly accurate look of what it's like working on an off-broadway show. Also Phoebe spends the entire episode on a landline phone, Ross has the best fashion sense, and Ben Stiller guest stars as Rachel's highly problematic date. 

What is the deal with this podcast? We watch the classic episode of "Seinfeld" that combines three things every gay man loves: Broadway, Bette Midler, and Tonya Harding! 

Don't you just hate when you land the lead role in a play and then your twin steals the part? That's what happens to poor Tamera Landry in this season two episode of "Sister, Sister." We sip on some Captain Morgan rum and have a 90s throwback while discussing high school theater, why Tim Reid and Jackee Harry are comic geniuses, and how the WB started off strong but slowly became a home for orphaned sitcoms. 

We're back talking about another episode of "The Simpsons"! This one reunites Marge with her high school classmates to revive their senior high school play, "Y2K: The Musical." We discuss why Marge would make the perfect stage manager, reminisce about the 90s and the actual Y2K crisis, and experience extreme existential dread as we come to the realization that we are now officially the same age as Marge and Homer. 

Who should have won the Best Musical Tony in 1999: Fosse, Parade, or Yetta's letters? This week we sip on refreshing Fresca (which Jonathan "absolutely" recommends with a splash of delicious Absolute Vodka for a quick Summer cocktail) and then fall in love with everything Yetta on The Nanny. Join us as we deep dive all that is wrong with the production timeline of turning Yetta's Letters from actual letters into a broadway musical in six weeks, why Fran Drescher is a comedy goddess, and debate whether Yetta should have chosen Richard or Joe. 

If you were ever looking for a cartoon that could touch on pretty much all of theater's tropiest tropes, look no further than Family Guy. This week we sip on Spice Professors' delicious golden starfruit tea (our first non-alcoholic beverage featured on the show. Also apparently we are loose leaf tea people now. Who would've thunk it?) and talk about all of the other amazing tea and spice treasures we found at the Bryant Park Winter Market. Then we enter stage right with the season two Family Guy episode "The King Is Dead", and tread the boards with Peter Griffin as he slowly turns Lois' production of The King and I into a weird mashup of Flashdance, Flash Gordon, and Dune.     

In every generation there is born two snarky gay men to talk about your favorite television episodes where the characters "put on a play." We are talking about ourselves of course! This week we the we sip on Blue Moon (which was delicious and has not turned us into neanderthals...yet) and chat about the season one, episode nine episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer: "The Puppet Show." Listen to us deep dive the humor and the horror of school talent shows, debate whether Principal Snyder or Sid the Dummy is creepier, and review the scoobies performance of Oedipus Rex.       

We're going back to the 90s this week and watching that episode of "Saved By The Bell" where the kids put on a rap version of "Snow White and Seven Dwarves" and Jessie and Zack may or may not have feelings for each other. We sip on Svedka and Sprike (something that Zack may have concocted while raiding his parent's liquor cabinet) and enjoy that gang's antics as they predate "Hamilton" by taking a well known story and infusing it with a hip hop beat. This is a rare episode in which Zack Morris ISN'T complete trash and where Kelly and Slater need to grow up and trust their respective partners. And as always, Lisa Turtle gets all the good lines. 

In this week's episode the boys deep dive The Office and in particular the episode that explores the Scranton, PA community theater scene. We start off by tasting the classic cocktail the 7&7 (made with the delicious Tullamore Dew Irish Whisky we found in the locked bottom drawer of Meredith's desk), discuss The Office and its take on Sweeney Todd, and of course no discussion about theater would be complete without multiple references to the legendary Patti LuPone. 

Jon and Matt discuss that episode of "The Golden Girls" where the ladies are in a production of Picnic (er, or a play that is loosely kinda based on Picnic. Let's call it Not-Picnic) with super handsome womanizer Patrick Vaughn. From Sophia in an adorable pirate costume to a familiar love triangle with the girls all vying for Patrick's attention, this episode is more concerned with slapstick shenanigans than accurately portraying life in the arts. Nevertheless we can't help but laugh at all the familiar community theater tropes this episode portrays. Thank you for being a friend and listening!