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The Muppet Scriptmas Carol - Tyler Tafolla & Noah Sunday-Lefkowitz · Muppet Fan Podcasts with ToughPigs.com

• 0:10
  Christmas comes early this year on December 20th in fact, as
• 0:13
  Muppet fans are treated to another live Muppet movie script
• 0:16
  reading, this time featuring the beloved Muppet Christmas Carol.
• 0:19
  Tough Pigs is once again proud to present the show's companion
• 0:22
  podcast where we'll chat with the people involved in bringing
• 0:25
  the show to life with me as always, as an old friend who is
• 0:28
  here at Tough Pigs. He's the director and producer
• 0:31
  of the live script readings and I'm excited is here, it's Matt
• 0:34
  Wilkie. Hello, Matt.
• 0:35
  Hello, Jared. Hello everybody.
• 0:37
  How are we today? Very excited.
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  My guests today are two very talented musicians who make up
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  just a handful of the group of very talented musicians helping
• 0:45
  to score the Muppet script. Miss Carol.
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  What's their favorite song to movie?
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  We'll ask them a little later. Feeling a little like the ghost
• 0:53
  of Christmas yet to come because he did see my questions due to a
• 0:56
  screwed up share screen on accordion.
• 1:00
  It's Tyler Tafola. How are you, Tyler?
• 1:03
  Hi, hello, long time listener, first time caller, happy to be
• 1:07
  here. Pleasure to have you here.
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  And on piano, we're no longer lagging because Zoom is just the
• 1:12
  worst. It's Noah Sunday Lefkowitz.
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  Hi, Noah. How are you?
• 1:17
  Hello, I'm doing just fine and dandy and happy to be on a
• 1:21
  better Internet connection. I am very excited as well
• 1:23
  because otherwise I was going to have to edit out all the lags
• 1:26
  and I wasn't looking forward to that.
• 1:29
  I don't want to be the short end of the stick over here.
• 1:33
  All right, guys, I'm very excited to talk to you today.
• 1:35
  We're just going to talk about the music and the score of my
• 1:37
  Christmas Carol. Like what could be a better
• 1:39
  podcast than that? But I'm going to start with
• 1:43
  Matt, the non musician in the room.
• 1:45
  Actually. Do you play instrument, Matt?
• 1:47
  I cannot play an instrument. I can barely carry a tune.
• 1:51
  I can't. Well, we've got time.
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  The show's the show's over a week away.
• 1:55
  Yeah, not with that attitude. Let's do it.
• 1:58
  All right, all right, what am I learning?
• 2:01
  Piano, you're going to play it. Yeah, I'm going to put Piano 10.
• 2:05
  God. Yeah, yeah.
• 2:06
  Good luck. So Matt, what's the process of
• 2:08
  putting a band together for something like this?
• 2:11
  Well, it's, it's different every time and it's it's a constantly
• 2:16
  evolving thing. So for for our previous shows,
• 2:19
  for our very first show, I'm good friends with a comedian and
• 2:24
  talented improviser in the music realm with Jess McKenna.
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  And so Jess has a a podcast and a show that she does.
• 2:34
  It's a live show now called Off Book the Improvised musical.
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  And when I first pitched the idea to Jess, I said, I want to
• 2:41
  get everybody from the band to be in the show.
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  And they were all willing to come on board and donate their
• 2:48
  time and their talents. It was wonderful.
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  So they kind of formed the base of each band that we've built
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  kind of around them in a lot of different ways since that
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  beginning. But it's always something that I
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  love meeting new musicians. I love bringing different people
• 3:04
  into the fold. I love seeing like, even if we
• 3:06
  have someone who's done something with us before, but
• 3:09
  they play a completely different instrument, that's really
• 3:12
  exciting to me to to bring them back.
• 3:14
  In our New York show, we didn't have our usual music director,
• 3:19
  Scott Passarella joining us. So we had a local New York
• 3:24
  musician named Joel Escher, who is wonderful, who actually it's
• 3:29
  The Muppets Take Manhattan is the only movie where they never
• 3:33
  produced a songbook for it. So the sheet music didn't exist.
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  And Joel basically created it himself from scratch just by
• 3:41
  watching the movie. I I cannot praise him enough.
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  So he did an amazing job. And so he's actually coming back
• 3:49
  as well. He's going to be playing.
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  He's he plays a very classic, like a bass recorder.
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  It's like a very Dickensian instrument, and this is like one
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  of the few places where it really fits in everywhere.
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  So. So there's a great example of
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  somebody coming back and doing something completely different
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  this time. And there he is calling Noah
• 4:10
  right now. Great.
• 4:12
  Had I been a professional, I would have muted everything.
• 4:15
  I apologize. That's.
• 4:16
  Fun, yeah, but but yeah. So each one is different.
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  This show, Scott was also unavailable for us.
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  So I reached out to Tyler and Noah, who who we had talked
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  previously in the past about music and and the shows and the
• 4:31
  different things that go into it.
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  And I just thought they'd be a fantastic match.
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  And so far I've been right. So it's good to be close.
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  You haven't heard any music but yet, but so far you're pleased
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  with it. Well, they're.
• 4:47
  Cute. They're cute.
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  Well, Tyler and Noah, can you talk about sort of coming into
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  the fold like this is the first one of these you've done?
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  What's it been like joining? It's so exciting.
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  I was a fan of everything Matt and the team were doing already,
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  like said, Matt said. We just been talking back and
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  forth about music and everything they've been doing, and when the
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  opportunity came for us to jump on board, we were like, yes,
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  please. So, yeah, it's really exciting.
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  Love A Christmas Carol is so near and dear to so many of us.
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  And yeah, this it's one of those, you know, I, I got to put
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  it on. Otherwise it's not the holidays
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  yet. Yeah, kind of movies.
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  So, yeah, you know, it's been exciting the opportunity to work
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  with, you know, all these musicians and these, like the
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  cast as, you know, it's stacked. So it's pretty rad.
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  It's going to be exciting, you know, just fun opportunity to
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  meet some new people and, you know, make some people laugh
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  that night. Wonderful, Noah, what's it like
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  for you? Well, this, this score is one of
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  those uniquely beloved scores that people seem to unanimously
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  adore this thing and so give to have the opportunity to play it
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  in its entirety is such a rare occurrence that it really is
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  something special to put it on. You know, I, Tyler and I had
• 6:22
  been fans of of the Muppet readings that that Matt and team
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  have put on. And so it was the inherent next
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  evolution of it. And I was just excited to see
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  it, you know, when it eventually happens.
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  And then to be brought into the fold with Tyler, both, you know,
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  who this is in our DNA is so exciting.
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  To not only be a fan of, but to be a small arbiter of is is
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  truly something I'm excited to be a part of.
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  That's excellent. Well, before we get too much
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  into the music of Michael Christmas Carol, what's your
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  relationship like with the movie?
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  Like, is this something that you watched a lot as a kid, or is it
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  something you sort of came into later?
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  Noah, you seem very excited to talk about it.
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  We were just talking about this last night.
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  We talked about this last night and I just, I, I literally 30
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  seconds ago said everybody loves this score.
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  It's so ubiquitous with the holidays, and I'm going to say
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  something right now, which is I saw it for the first time two
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  years ago. Yeah.
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  Look, that's that's that's OK. I, I, we, Tyler and I had this
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  whole discussion where I basically just grew up watching
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  The Muppet Show, and then there was a big gap for me.
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  But it's fascinating because even without having seen it in
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  its entirety, I knew all the songs because they are so they
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  are like I like I just said, they are so ubiquitous with the
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  like 40 year old and and younger like that is your definitive
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  Christmas film. So even if I had.
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  Christmas Carol, too. Yeah, well, that too.
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  Yes, of all the Christmas carols, it is by far the most
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  accurate and most engaging. But I, I knew the score without
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  having sat down and watched the full thing.
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  So when I finally sat down, it was like all the puzzle pieces
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  finally coming together of, of like, oh, yeah, that's why this
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  is so beloved. I can't believe how late I am.
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  So I've spent the last two years just living in it as much as I
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  can to make up for lost time. Well, look you.
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  Weren't a muppet vision shit so you're obviously on the
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  bandwagon. Now that I knew, I knew Muppet
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  Vision. You mean Muppet Vision, but not
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  Muppet Christmas Carol? I don't know how that that
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  doesn't compute in my brain. I don't ask why there are
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  certain holes in my knowledge base.
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  It's a far too it's a it's too long of a conversation.
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  That's a pretty gaping hole. I'm just.
• 9:12
  Happy you got here. OK, it is.
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  I I'm, I'm, I'm happy I finally made it.
• 9:18
  Thank you for having me. I'm.
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  Just I'm just glad that when you said two years ago for a second
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  I was like, did you say 2 days ago because.
• 9:26
  I thought you were going to say weeks.
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  I thought you were coming out with weeks.
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  So Matt called us. Matt called us, and I was like,
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  Muppet, What? He's like, I should probably
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  watch that. That's the one with I've heard
• 9:38
  from the Batman movies. Which one's that?
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  Yeah, this is very strange. I don't.
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  Yeah, no, Thankfully I was very familiar by the time we got.
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  The call? Well, it's a pleasure having you
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  in the fold, Tyler. What about you?
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  Thank you. Yeah, Tyler, you go way back,
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  further than me. Oh, you're awesome.
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  You're wearing my gonzo. Shit, my gonzo wetsy shirt.
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  Yeah, I'm, I'm a product of Jim's work.
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  I'm a 90s kid who grew up on, you know, the VHSS of
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  everything. Yeah.
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  Big Sesame Street kid, big Muppet fan in general.
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  So, yeah, this, this runs near and dear to my heart.
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  This was one of those that as a kid you're growing up watching
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  every year and you're also kind of scared of it.
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  Like when the ghosts come like it's it's legitimately scary.
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  Which it's a fun life building thing when you're a child to
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  confront some pretty heavy stuff.
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  As Gonzo says, it's culture. Yeah.
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  Exactly. But what a but a what a nice
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  like balance of like that that I I love that film for that
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  reason. And they talk about it in the
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  behind the scenes of it all, where it's like they're dealing
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  with the the actual text, the really heavy text of it all.
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  And then finding that balance to, you know, make Rizzo a
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  windshield wiper. Like it's, it's you guess in
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  that way, I love it. Yeah, you're right in that being
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  scary. Like I mentioned this briefly in
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  our episode with Giovanni, but I have made the argument before
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  that this is a horror film and like I watched it with my
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  partner the other couple of days ago and she hadn't seen it for
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  years. And yes, she said the same
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  thing. She said.
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  There are genuinely scary parts of this film.
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  I'll tell you, watching it for the first time as an adult, it's
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  still scary. Yeah.
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  We got scared 2 days ago which is crazy.
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  So yeah, well, it's a it's it's scary also in the way of like,
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  like realizing how puppetry is done, like watching Ghosts of
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  Christmas pass. Come on, you're like, how did?
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  How the heck? Did they do that?
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  Yeah, like that also just, you know, it's one of those the the
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  doors are all open now to just looking and researching up
• 11:55
  everything after. Well, that's what's so
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  fascinating about it, right? This, this, this film is firing
• 12:02
  on all cylinders. The music is top notch, the
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  puppetry's top notch storytelling adaptation from the
• 12:09
  original and all of the like effects and the puppet in water
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  and like everything is at its absolute apex in terms of the
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  art form, which I think is one of the reasons that this film
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  has continued to feel modern. It doesn't feel dated.
• 12:30
  It it feels, I guess, even better than modern it would be.
• 12:34
  I mean, timeless is a better word, but it doesn't.
• 12:37
  It doesn't feel antiquated. It doesn't feel antiquated at
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  all. Yeah, for, especially for a
• 12:44
  Dickensian film, for something to not feel old and antiquated.
• 12:48
  Well, to make it to to to both be that faithful to the original
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  text and yet so engaging to the family audience that is watching
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  it is a difficult line to walk. And that should not be
• 13:06
  overlooked because I think we've all seen some some dusty
• 13:11
  versions of A Christmas Carol and this one is so engaging and
• 13:15
  entertaining. Yeah, I I made the mistake of
• 13:17
  trying to watch the Jim Carrey animated 10.
• 13:22
  It's correct. Looks like a muppet in the wrong
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  way. Yeah, it's what I got.
• 13:27
  That that movie could use some rats.
• 13:29
  Yeah, give me some cheeses for us mesas and maybe we'll have a
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  conversation. Yeah.
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  All right. Well, let's let's get into the
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  music of the whole thing. So this, the music for this
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  movie is a lot more orchestral than the music for the last
• 13:43
  couple of films. How do you go about sort of
• 13:46
  organizing the music for that, putting a band together for such
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  an orchestral film? Well, like Matt was saying, you
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  know, we have a lot of similar people who are coming back to do
• 13:57
  this one. So it's finding those moments
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  and obviously, you know, dynasty typewriter, it's a small space,
• 14:05
  it's intimate, trying to find the the right amount that where
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  it still feels full and, you know, Christmassy and charming,
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  but enough where we can all be for some of us doing multiple
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  instruments, some of us doing instruments that weren't even
• 14:23
  originally in the original orchestra.
• 14:26
  Like we have banjo in this, We have a Lucas Ross banjo, which
• 14:29
  would be so much fun. So it's it's a fun mix of like
• 14:34
  being so true to what came before and then also putting our
• 14:38
  own twist on things and making it an intimate evening of
• 14:43
  theater and making each other laugh that I think that's the
• 14:47
  thing I like about these dynasty typewriter shows.
• 14:49
  The Moppet script shows it. It feels like we're all doing
• 14:53
  this in somebody's living room. Like it feels like we like
• 14:56
  somebody passed around scripts and we're all going to do it
• 14:58
  together while someone's playing the piano by the fireplace or
• 15:01
  something. It's it's that kind of vibe.
• 15:03
  And you know, that's what I'm excited for.
• 15:06
  Yeah, the short answer of of how, how, how do we determine
• 15:12
  what instruments use and what people to bring in?
• 15:15
  It's as many people as we can fit on the stage.
• 15:18
  And that that is that's that's the the short answer of that,
• 15:22
  but that goes. For the instruments, that goes
• 15:24
  for the cast, it goes for the Penguins, it goes for everybody.
• 15:27
  Right. And it's, it's so exciting to
• 15:32
  find who, because it's also a logistic thing of of how many
• 15:36
  people can we fit on stage, how many people are available and
• 15:40
  what the type of musician is. You know, it seems like our our
• 15:43
  whole band that we've gotten together are really adept
• 15:47
  performers and improvisers in in the world of musical improv.
• 15:52
  And so that opens up a world of when we get to rehearse to say,
• 15:57
  all right, we're all familiar with this score.
• 15:59
  We're all familiar with the text.
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  I'm really excited to just say for the first time in rehearsal
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  next week, OK, Scrooge, go and just like see what happens
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  because because again, we all know the score, even you know,
• 16:16
  somebody late like, like I am. So it's really exciting to put
• 16:22
  it in front of everybody and see what they bring to it and see
• 16:25
  the different textures and, and sounds that we can build.
• 16:29
  Because due to the strengths, both the strengths and
• 16:35
  limitations of the size of the ensemble, it's like a new
• 16:40
  arrangement. You know, it's like, it's almost
• 16:43
  like an acoustic version of the Muppet Christmas Carol or it's
• 16:46
  like, you know, it's like coming into our living room.
• 16:49
  And so it's really exciting to see what we can do with all of
• 16:54
  the colors that we have on our on our plate and see like, oh,
• 16:57
  you take that part that originally was the woodwind
• 17:01
  part. That's now going to be the horn
• 17:02
  part, or you take that counter melody that used to be the whole
• 17:06
  string section. But we're going to do it just on
• 17:07
  violin. And like, we need to choose
• 17:09
  these moments musically that are just as iconic while still not
• 17:14
  being overbearing to the band and letting them all cook
• 17:18
  individually and adding their flair and style and heart to it
• 17:22
  all as well. Yeah.
• 17:23
  How many people have you got on stage for it?
• 17:26
  How many musicians have you got for the show?
• 17:28
  Matt, what's the count we have? Yeah, we are 8 musicians right
• 17:34
  now for the show. Yeah, right now.
• 17:36
  Could that could that go up? It it could long shot, it could
• 17:42
  go up by one person, but I think it's going to stay at 8:00.
• 17:46
  Is that you? Is that one person you on the
• 17:47
  piano? Yes, yes, if I if I can get my
• 17:50
  triangle cleaned in time, then yes, we will have exactly.
• 17:54
  Yeah, imagine the the Penguin Orchestra.
• 17:56
  That's what the amount of like, you know, control.
• 18:00
  And I will, for what it's worth, eight people is not unusual for
• 18:07
  a pit orchestra in Broadway like that is.
• 18:11
  It's on the smaller side, but that is not unusual.
• 18:14
  The only problem I'm going to feel on the stage.
• 18:18
  Yeah, it's going to feel pretty big in the space.
• 18:22
  Is there a particular song or even a piece of the skull that
• 18:26
  you guys are most excited to play?
• 18:29
  Oh Gee, we were again on this last night.
• 18:34
  My personal favorite is just the beginning.
• 18:38
  Like when I watch it now as an adult, it's the the beginning of
• 18:43
  the overture when it comes up loving memory of.
• 18:47
  Of. Jim, for me, that opening is
• 18:50
  Christmas, Yeah. Oh yeah, I'm like, this is
• 18:54
  fireplace. I've got my Coco.
• 18:56
  Let's go. Like that's that's the vibe for
• 18:59
  me. I love that song.
• 19:00
  I love one more sleep till Christmas again, 'cause I think
• 19:04
  of Kermit looking at that shooting star and I get a little
• 19:09
  misty eyed and there's some red like we were looking in the,
• 19:15
  the, the sheet music and when it gets into the the Penguins ice
• 19:21
  skating party, some beautiful, like, you know, right hand piano
• 19:26
  in there. It's gorgeous.
• 19:27
  So I'm, I'm excited for that. That'd.
• 19:30
  Be great. I I can't get over.
• 19:34
  I'm going to start that sentence again.
• 19:37
  I think my I think my, my, my cue that I'm most excited about
• 19:44
  is the beginning of Scrooge. I we again we Tyler and I were
• 19:46
  talking about this last night in terms of who to give what part
• 19:50
  and just having everybody go from silence to like 3-4.
• 19:57
  But like there's, there's something so powerful of like,
• 20:02
  oh, we're starting like it it it is such a strong start to the
• 20:09
  score. Yeah, I say it.
• 20:12
  Chills you to the bone. Oh wow, waka waka.
• 20:16
  Thank you. Good night.
• 20:18
  It's I'm just, I'm, I'm so excited for that.
• 20:22
  And also, not to get ahead of ourselves in, in talking about
• 20:26
  specifics and what we love about the score, but so much of the
• 20:29
  score is what I call kachunking, which is just, it's just so
• 20:37
  much, which is great for me because that's the style I, I
• 20:40
  tend to play very percussive piano and let more lyrical lines
• 20:45
  happen in other places. And this score is ripe with
• 20:51
  that. I have to, I have to, you know,
• 20:54
  thank Paul Williams for writing in the style that I have learned
• 20:58
  how to play because it is just I, I was rehearsing last night
• 21:04
  and I was like, Oh, thank goodness.
• 21:05
  This is just rote. Like it is, it is not an uphill
• 21:10
  battle here. It is just so like we we're all
• 21:14
  doing that. Like the the score is this.
• 21:16
  Yeah, the sport. I know your audio listeners
• 21:19
  don't get this, but it's this. Swinging your arms back and
• 21:21
  forth and. Yeah.
• 21:22
  So it's that is a delight to play, Yeah.
• 21:26
  I will say we're also doing the Disney Plus extended version
• 21:30
  with Love is Gone. I was going to ask.
• 21:33
  Yeah. Yes, right.
• 21:35
  And for any. Simple fans, yeah.
• 21:37
  No, no, no, no, no. I've talked too much, please.
• 21:42
  No, I was I was just going to I was just going to make the
• 21:44
  official because I've never said this yet out out loud for an
• 21:47
  announcement. Oh, sorry for the no no, it's
• 21:49
  getting. Fired.
• 21:51
  For the Super fans out there listening, we are doing When
• 21:55
  Love is Gone, but for the Super duper fans out there, we are not
• 22:00
  doing Chairman of the Board or Room in Your Heart.
• 22:03
  Don't expect. Them sorry.
• 22:07
  So I saw this film a couple of years ago in here in Melbourne
• 22:11
  with a full orchestra. It may have ruined the film for
• 22:15
  me because I don't think I can ever see it the same again
• 22:18
  because it was such an experience.
• 22:21
  And when When Love Is Gone played, they did that.
• 22:27
  And as soon as it started, you can see because the audience,
• 22:30
  like there were thousands of people in the audience and it
• 22:32
  was all our super fans. And the second that you
• 22:35
  realized, hang on, we haven't cut to Rizzo crying yet.
• 22:38
  I'm like, is it happening? Like the whole audience
• 22:40
  applauded before the music even started.
• 22:43
  So it's very exciting that you're going to add it in.
• 22:46
  I've had, I've had friends who've gone to like the
• 22:49
  screenings in LA here where they do The Muppet Christmas Carol
• 22:52
  and any screening that doesn't have it is like booed.
• 22:56
  It's been booed. And stand up and leave.
• 23:00
  But you know, it's it's it's LA where such cinephiles that it's
• 23:04
  rare that you get that anymore. So it's usually people telling
• 23:06
  me like we saw it. And like when when Love is Gone
• 23:09
  came on, there was like almost like a sigh of relief in the
• 23:12
  audience. Like you can feel people being
• 23:14
  like, oh, good, they didn't. They didn't skip it.
• 23:17
  Well, I was I at D23 in 2022. I was fortunate to be at The
• 23:23
  Muppets Christmas Carol panel. Which is before you'd seen it,
• 23:27
  so. Which?
• 23:29
  Is before I had seen. It.
• 23:35
  That's so true. But I was.
• 23:38
  But I was a fan of I, I'm a Muppet fan, so I was.
• 23:42
  Seated anyway. And I remember I it was the
• 23:46
  panel that they announced that they were putting the extended
• 23:51
  edition on Disney Plus. And I remember looking in the
• 23:55
  back of the theater and seeing the teleprompter of the
• 24:00
  announcement before they had said it.
• 24:03
  And I was like, oh man, this is going to be great.
• 24:07
  And then when it when they finally announced it, it was
• 24:10
  just the room imploded. I think, I think it's a song
• 24:15
  that in my mind needs to be in this movie.
• 24:18
  And so from, from a producer perspective, I was like, there's
• 24:21
  no way we're not doing it. There's no way that that it's,
• 24:24
  it's such an important thing. It shows a Scrooge's evolution.
• 24:28
  His, his, you know, we, we can't blame everything that he does on
• 24:33
  him losing the love of his life, but we can see how much it
• 24:36
  impacts him. And then there's, there's such a
• 24:40
  catharsis when you get to the end of when love is found and
• 24:44
  you realize like, oh, he's lost so much in his life, sure, but
• 24:48
  he's, he's not dead yet. He's got time to turn this
• 24:51
  around. He's got this new appreciation,
• 24:54
  this new family that he cares so much for.
• 24:58
  And so, yeah, there was no way we weren't going to do that
• 25:00
  song. I agree that it needs to be in
• 25:02
  there. As I said, I watched it with my
• 25:05
  partner just three nights ago and she hadn't seen it for
• 25:10
  years. But she didn't know about When
• 25:13
  Love is Gone. And so now for some reason on
• 25:17
  the Australian Disney Plus, we don't have the extended.
• 25:20
  You can watch when love is gone, but you have to pause the movie,
• 25:24
  go to the special features, watch when love is gone, and
• 25:28
  then come back to the film. Really.
• 25:31
  Because they like to move, Yeah, they like to make it difficult
• 25:33
  on us. But so I.
• 25:35
  Did and all of that while the screen is upside down, right?
• 25:38
  Exactly right, But we're also upside down, so it kind of
• 25:41
  works. But blood goes to my head.
• 25:42
  It's the whole thing. Like, you know, I've seen the
• 25:45
  movie a lot, but I also feel like I only saw it two years ago
• 25:48
  because I've forgotten because of the whole blood rushing to
• 25:51
  the head. That joke was funnier in my
• 25:52
  head. But can we forgive you?
• 25:54
  I love that. I love that stuff.
• 25:55
  That's the blood in my head. Well, it's OK, the blood rushes
• 25:59
  to our head when the when that song is cut, but.
• 26:04
  She watched it and said, well, yeah, you needed that.
• 26:06
  Otherwise it didn't even feel necessarily like a breakup.
• 26:10
  It feels like an argument that just doesn't get resolved.
• 26:13
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 26:15
  I grew up with it, in it, and that's why I was like so
• 26:17
  surprised when I went to Disney Plus and they're like, oh, the
• 26:20
  extent. I'm like the extended.
• 26:22
  That was the one on the VHS. What do you mean?
• 26:25
  It's funny? Life's funny.
• 26:27
  Yeah, look, if we're going to cut anything, God bless us all.
• 26:31
  I said it. I'm glad I said it.
• 26:33
  Oh. I said it.
• 26:35
  I love you, Jerry Nelson. God, I was.
• 26:37
  You would do that to Robin? Yeah.
• 26:41
  Yeah, I would. Yeah, I wouldn't like kick his
• 26:43
  little crotch as well. Oh my.
• 26:47
  Gosh. All right, let's move on.
• 26:48
  Before I say something that's really going to get me in
• 26:50
  trouble, Matt, I've got a couple of specifics about songs I want
• 26:54
  to ask you about. OK, great.
• 26:56
  OK #1 how do you go about getting to choose who gives
• 27:01
  arguably the defining line of the entire film?
• 27:05
  No cheeses for us mesas. It months and months of
• 27:10
  auditions. We set the casting that wide on
• 27:13
  this one. I worked with Sarah Finn.
• 27:16
  We made sure to have open auditions.
• 27:19
  We we did a mall tour to make sure that we could try to find
• 27:22
  everyone. You said that.
• 27:25
  So seriously, to a point where I was like, that's going to be
• 27:28
  people. You believe him?
• 27:31
  And let them know no. It is.
• 27:36
  It is a line that is very, very important to the entire
• 27:41
  Christmas season. If you don't sell this line, you
• 27:44
  are not going to get the audience on your side.
• 27:48
  So I went to Muppet super fan Elise Williams, who was in our
• 27:55
  previous She was in the script in Muppet Keeper.
• 27:57
  She played Dorkas and Oscar the Grouch in a very brief cameo.
• 28:03
  One of the funniest people I know and someone who I knew
• 28:07
  could really, really sell it. Yeah.
• 28:11
  Yeah. Good to know.
• 28:14
  The next thing is, and I'll play the little bit here now for the
• 28:17
  audience so they know what I'm specifically talking about.
• 28:21
  It is the season of the Spirit. OK, Matt, as you heard, there's
• 28:29
  a tiny little meow after and it is the season of the Spirit.
• 28:35
  Can you commit to me now that we will hear a meow?
• 28:43
  That's my favorite bit of that. That's the favorite of the film.
• 28:46
  And if it's not in there, I write.
• 28:48
  I literally have to bring up the script because I may be
• 28:51
  disappointing you and I want to get it exactly right.
• 28:54
  Hold on. It's gonna happen.
• 28:56
  We're gonna make it happen. I know.
• 28:58
  I want both entire to be. Yeah, the entire band.
• 29:02
  The entire band in unison. Will.
• 29:06
  Stands up, salutes and goes meow.
• 29:08
  Yeah. And then pause and say for you
• 29:10
  Jared. And then salute and then kick,
• 29:12
  that is. All we'll have to do so so I'm
• 29:18
  I'm a sucker for authenticity and for sticking as close to the
• 29:21
  script as humanly possible. The problem with Muppet scripts
• 29:25
  is that you get to a point in every script where all of a
• 29:28
  sudden there are like 17 speaking parts of every Muppet
• 29:34
  that has appeared on screen. And you have to find room on the
• 29:37
  stage that is not that big to get 17 people around 1
• 29:41
  microphone. And So what often happens is we
• 29:44
  double up or triple up on the rolls and things like that.
• 29:47
  And what had to happen for this show in some cases is that also
• 29:52
  contributed to the music. We couldn't have too many
• 29:54
  singers on stage, so we had to improvise a little bit.
• 29:59
  So for It Feels Like Christmas, I am very sad to say that there
• 30:04
  is no cat written in my version of the script because of this
• 30:08
  restriction that we had to put in place.
• 30:10
  But. Boy.
• 30:11
  Will it be in our score? But for us?
• 30:16
  I will commit right now. I'm going to find a way to put a
• 30:19
  cat back into that scene. That is, yeah, you've made,
• 30:22
  you've made a Muppet fan very, very happy.
• 30:25
  And of course, my final obscure reference, Matt is about I'm.
• 30:31
  Ready. Arguably the greatest Muppet
• 30:33
  who's ever existed. I speak, of course, of Mr. Curly
• 30:37
  Twirly, Tyler and Ella. You won't really probably know
• 30:42
  the law of Mr. Curly Twirly in me in my life.
• 30:45
  Mr. Curly Twirly is a particular Muppet whose name is only Mr.
• 30:50
  Curly Twirly because of something completely unrelated
• 30:53
  to Disney's Muppets. But he's just a beautiful design
• 30:58
  of a creature. Tell you what, I'm going to
• 31:02
  pause this because I'm going to get him up so.
• 31:03
  I'm I'm pulling up a picture. Right now for.
• 31:05
  You. Yeah, me too.
• 31:07
  Yeah, I know this guy. Yeah.
• 31:10
  Yeah, yeah, we all know him, all right.
• 31:12
  We all know him then. All right, so look, I'll leave
• 31:14
  all that in while we talked about how much we love that guy.
• 31:17
  He is just my fate. I think he's just the most
• 31:19
  beautiful looking puppet and I've just decided he's the
• 31:22
  greatest puppet who ever existed.
• 31:24
  Matt, it's Mr. Curly Twirly in the script and who will be
• 31:27
  playing him? He has some singing lines.
• 31:33
  What? What here's Here's a woman.
• 31:36
  Here's what we'll do. And here's the real answer.
• 31:38
  Yeah, give me one of his lines and I'll tell you whoever placed
• 31:41
  it with. Nah, but we're going to move on
• 31:46
  because I'm going to. Cry Very unfortunately Mr. Curly
• 31:52
  Twirly did not make that. And for the record, I am a Curly
• 31:55
  Twirly lover myself. I He reminds me so much of
• 31:58
  people like the Mutations or Murray the Minstrel from Fraggle
• 32:03
  Rock. So I I love his look as well.
• 32:07
  Trust me, I do. But sometimes you just got to
• 32:11
  say, you know what? That's going to be a bean Bunny
• 32:13
  line because we got to we got to use who we have and not adding a
• 32:17
  curly twirly all Willy nilly. That's fine.
• 32:19
  Don't even worry about it. Like don't worry about it.
• 32:21
  Like it's fine. Like it's fine.
• 32:23
  Well, it's fine, he. Twirly, his last curly.
• 32:28
  Is there any sort of little bit from any of the songs?
• 32:31
  Any sort of tiny, absurd little detail or whatever it might be,
• 32:34
  guys that you're sort of excited about or like a favorite little
• 32:38
  bit of one of the songs you've got anyway.
• 32:41
  I will say, because me and Noah already do this and I know it
• 32:47
  will be bound to happen at some point during rehearsal, whenever
• 32:50
  I go or one of us goes, is it this, this whatever, whatever,
• 32:54
  is this thing like this in the music and one of us answers it
• 32:58
  is it goes. It's a horrible bit that has
• 33:03
  just plagued us that is just like it is this 1/4 note on
• 33:09
  measure 133. You're at your house like so
• 33:14
  dumb. I, I'm also excited we, Tyler
• 33:19
  and I keep referencing a call yesterday, like like we had some
• 33:23
  great breakthrough, but we were just working on on it last night
• 33:27
  and I'm so excited. There's one or two songs that
• 33:32
  I'm changing the keyboard from a piano sound to like a 90s
• 33:38
  twinkly organ. Like When Love is Gone has no
• 33:42
  piano. It has that like 9 like late
• 33:46
  80s, early 90s organ twinkly sound.
• 33:50
  And I'm very excited as a piano player.
• 33:55
  Whenever I get to play something that is quote UN quote not a
• 33:58
  piano, it is very exciting because it's just a, a new
• 34:02
  texture and that song has no piano.
• 34:06
  So I'm like, OK, well, we're, we're pulling this rabbit out of
• 34:09
  a hat and it's going to be an organ now.
• 34:11
  So that's what I'm excited about.
• 34:13
  Beautiful. Matt, I know you won't be
• 34:15
  playing. I mean, you'll be playing
• 34:16
  triangle and piano, but any other little moment that you're
• 34:19
  excited to see? I am no lie.
• 34:23
  I'm very, very excited to see not reactions, but kind of like
• 34:32
  when we do these, we encourage the audience to sing along.
• 34:35
  And it's my favorite part. So I'm excited to see what
• 34:38
  things they're going to shout out.
• 34:40
  Like, like, we were talking about no cheeses for us Mises.
• 34:43
  Yeah, huge line. One of the most important lines
• 34:45
  of that whole movie. And I can't wait to see, like,
• 34:49
  how many people are, like, squeaking out as a mouse.
• 34:52
  No cheeses for us Mises. And just like an entire audience
• 34:56
  of mice. That'll be so much fun.
• 34:58
  Beautiful. I'm very, very excited to say it
• 35:01
  as we sort of begin to wrap up, guys, I've been asking people on
• 35:04
  the podcast about their holiday traditions because everyone's
• 35:08
  got weird holiday traditions as except for, as we learned in the
• 35:11
  Giovanni episode, Matt, Matt has none, but yeah, cookies.
• 35:16
  Whereas I have a drinking contest with my entire family
• 35:19
  that includes plaque. So for you guys, we'll start
• 35:25
  with you now. What are your sort of holiday
• 35:28
  traditions? Well, for one, I fly back to
• 35:34
  Pennsylvania where we actually have seasons and with all if
• 35:39
  everything goes well, snow. So that's that's my biggest
• 35:43
  thing is actually wearing a scarf.
• 35:46
  It sounds so silly, but we our two seasons here in Southern
• 35:50
  California are hot and rain. So to get the opportunity to go
• 35:56
  feel the cold wind chilling me to the bone is is a delight unto
• 36:01
  itself. But one of my favorite
• 36:05
  traditions is decorating under the tree.
• 36:09
  Obviously we decorate the tree, but my family has little houses
• 36:16
  from the 50s called Plasticville.
• 36:19
  That was very like post war like little house with the white
• 36:26
  picket fence like this is America like it it it's this
• 36:29
  little glimpse into Christmas from the 50s, which is where so
• 36:37
  many of the modern so much of the modern holiday aesthetics
• 36:40
  started, whether it's Coca-Cola, Bing Crosby, all of these
• 36:44
  Christmas standards, the the classic look of Christmas, Santa
• 36:49
  wearing the red, all that started in the 50s.
• 36:51
  And so to be able to put stuff under the tree that is literally
• 36:56
  from them is just so. It's such a delight.
• 36:59
  And for what it's worth, it all smells so old.
• 37:04
  Yeah, but. But I think that adds to it,
• 37:06
  doesn't it? Like it?
• 37:07
  That smell just adds to the Christmas.
• 37:10
  Yeah, it's just, you know, asbestos and lead.
• 37:13
  It does something to you. Well, hopefully it's all healthy
• 37:19
  stuff, I hope. And you, Tyler?
• 37:23
  I got, I got 2, which I'm almost done with one of them, which is
• 37:27
  my, it's, it's my holiday bingo, which is just like crossing out
• 37:31
  the things that I do like Christmas cookies.
• 37:33
  Coco, I saw lights, you know, that's almost done.
• 37:37
  I'm happy about that. Second, I'm a, I'm a parent.
• 37:41
  So my daughter's 9 now and I, we wake her up first thing in the
• 37:47
  morning to somewhere in my memory from home alone.
• 37:50
  And then we go open presents. So that's really special still.
• 37:54
  Like that's like it's the, it, it kicks off everything before
• 37:58
  we go into the, you know, our big family, you know, lunches
• 38:02
  and dinners. Just having the, you know, me
• 38:04
  and my wife, my daughter. And now we're a puppy that I
• 38:07
  just got. So the four of us now.
• 38:10
  Yeah. Having the four of us and just
• 38:11
  having that nice sweet moment first thing at like 5/30, 6:00
• 38:15
  in the morning is always great. See, I wake up at like 10:30 I.
• 38:20
  Also wake up super duper early so I I'm quite upset that I
• 38:24
  don't wake up at like 10 ten $30.00.
• 38:26
  So thanks for rubbing that in. That was nice.
• 38:30
  Tyler, what's your puppy's name? OK, it's it's, I swear I'm not
• 38:36
  doing it for the the brand of it all, but his name is Barkley.
• 38:40
  Beautiful. I too have a pet named after a
• 38:44
  Sesame Street character, so do not worry about it.
• 38:46
  That's. What is yours?
• 38:48
  I have a cat and his name is Little Murray Sparkles.
• 38:54
  Not curly twirly. Murray came before the curly
• 38:59
  twirly. But you know what?
• 39:01
  You know what? Do you know what Jared's cat
• 39:03
  does do? He does meow at the correct time
• 39:06
  in in that song. There we go.
• 39:11
  Wonderful. All right, well, perfect way to
• 39:13
  wrap this up. But before we do, Matt, can you
• 39:15
  remind us the charity that we'll be supporting?
• 39:18
  Yes, I'm going to cough real quick for one second.
• 39:22
  Keep it in. Yeah, keep it in double I'm.
• 39:25
  Going to put in. I'm going to put in the meow.
• 39:27
  From It was like Christmas then. When you saw.
• 39:31
  That's how I sound like when I sneeze too.
• 39:34
  Yes. So we are always doing these,
• 39:38
  these shows for a charitable organization, somebody that
• 39:41
  needs some help. And so for our show this time we
• 39:45
  are sponsoring or excuse me, we're supporting One Simple
• 39:48
  Wish. One Simple Wish is an amazing
• 39:50
  organization that is centered around foster care.
• 39:54
  It helps children who have been through the foster system with
• 39:58
  simple wishes, things that they need.
• 40:00
  I know I was just looking kind of through it before.
• 40:03
  And sometimes they just need something simple, like something
• 40:06
  to help with their hair, like a hair straightener, a hair curly.
• 40:08
  And that seems like something that's you're like, OK, well, do
• 40:11
  they need something like that? No, but it's a wish.
• 40:14
  It's something that these kids who have been through so much,
• 40:17
  they just want these simple little things that that, you
• 40:21
  know, like they see their friends in school have or
• 40:23
  something like that. There's there's people who, this
• 40:25
  is a great one. Alexis, she loves crab legs.
• 40:28
  She just wants to go out and have crab legs one night.
• 40:30
  And if we can like contribute a little bit of money to her, we
• 40:33
  can get her to eat some crab. And that's a wonderful, amazing
• 40:35
  thing. Sometimes I think when we think
• 40:37
  about charity and donating, we think, how are we changing the
• 40:40
  world? But with one simple wish,
• 40:42
  they're really focusing on how are we changing one person's
• 40:45
  world. And these are such amazing,
• 40:47
  beautiful things. I'm so happy that, you know,
• 40:50
  this year we've gotten, we've raised over by my last count,
• 40:53
  $45,000 this year for these organizations.
• 40:56
  And that's thanks to everybody who watches, who listens to a
• 41:00
  podcast like this. And it says, yeah, I'm gonna
• 41:02
  watch that show. And even if if they're doing it
• 41:05
  just for the entertainment, thank you, thank you, thank you
• 41:07
  so much. But what you're also doing is
• 41:09
  helping change lives behind the scenes.
• 41:11
  And that's such a wonderful, amazing thing.
• 41:14
  So I'm so happy that we're working with once a bullish.
• 41:17
  Beautiful. Well, I'm very, very, very
• 41:19
  excited to see the show. I said, oh, where can people see
• 41:22
  it? Matt?
• 41:23
  I should probably do that for. You great question.
• 41:24
  Yeah. So we are doing 2 performances
• 41:28
  of this show. So we have our live theater
• 41:31
  Dynasty typewriter here in Los Angeles.
• 41:34
  We'll have a 2:00 PM show which still has tickets available and
• 41:37
  a 6:30 PM show. That one is sold out, but that
• 41:40
  one, just the 6:30, we are doing a live stream of the
• 41:44
  presentation as well. So everybody all around the
• 41:46
  world can watch it. I love having viewers.
• 41:49
  It's it's one of my favorite things is after the show, I'm
• 41:52
  running around so much backstage.
• 41:54
  I don't watch it. I don't get to see what we did.
• 41:56
  I can I can hear it and it's like, oh, that got a good laugh.
• 41:59
  Great. But I don't see stuff.
• 42:01
  And then so I love to go back and I rewatch the shows and I
• 42:04
  watch the chat replays and it's my favorite thing in the world
• 42:08
  because it's just these people who are watching and they're
• 42:10
  like, I can't wait to see how they do this song.
• 42:12
  I can't wait to see who plays Sam Eagle.
• 42:14
  I, I'm like, I'm watching from New Zealand.
• 42:17
  Where are you watching for? I'm watching from Germany right
• 42:19
  now. And it's just this amazing
• 42:21
  community that comes together to watch these things and just
• 42:25
  share their, their laughter. And at a time like this where
• 42:30
  you know, there are people who don't have families around the
• 42:32
  holiday times, that's really tough for them.
• 42:35
  Please, if you are are listening to this and you, you want to
• 42:38
  have just a good night, get in the chat, say hi to folks and
• 42:43
  just just you're welcome here. Everybody is welcome at the
• 42:47
  Muppet Scripts and I hope everybody gets a chance to
• 42:49
  watch. Beautiful and I'll see you in
• 42:51
  the chat. As I'm saying, they better do
• 42:53
  the meow they promised that they put in the meow, that meow that
• 42:56
  meow. Thank you very much, gang, and
• 42:59
  we'll see you for the next one. Thank you for having us.
• 43:03
  Thank you so much.