Everything Is Rent

Tony Award winner, John Gallagher Jr. (Spring Awakening, American Idiot) joins Beth and Sarah remotely from the frigid tundra of Brooklyn to talk about a song that can only be appreciated by those (like Beth) who experienced true love in high school. John recounts his journey from playing a street urchin with sideburns in Delaware to becoming a Broadway star, including the years he spent wearing a Rent hat before he had ever seen or heard any songs from the show. They talk about CD and cassette technology, the similarities/differences between Spring Awakening and Rent, and John talks about doing karaoke with Sarah's sister! Say "hi" to your sisters, everyone!

Mumbo jumbo! This week, Beth and Sarah finally get back to the original Rent album with special guest Matt Besser (Upright Citizens Brigade, improv4humans). In addition to doing a lot of surprise singing, Besser reveals that, although he likes Rent, it isn't even one of his TOP FORTY favorite musicals and he describes what he looks for in a musical ("old" and "not a bummer").

Happy Valentine's Day! Jesse David Fox (Vulture, Good One Podcast) joins Beth and Sarah for what is basically another episode about Rent: Live, but is also about the cut song "Valentine's Day," which both does and does not sound like a Prince song. Jesse talks about the exact moment when Rent made him a crier and his theory that the second act of Rent is "all about the seasons."

Zeke Nicholson (A.P. Bio, Ironic Chronic) makes history as the pod's first ever repeat guest in this second special episode discussing Rent: Live on FOX. Now that Beth and Sarah have watched the televised version and compiled all the tweets, emails, and DMs (hi Mario!), wow, there's so much more to discuss. For example, does Beth have a rock finger in her butt? How many followers do you need to be an "influencer"? Shouldn't there should be a TV show called "Who Thinks You Can Dance?"

The first in a special two-part series about the television event of the century -- Rent: Not-So-Live on FOX. Sarah and Beth were lucky enough to be in the studio audience Sunday night, and they dish all the dirt about what went down! They also give their initial reviews of the show and the actors, and they discuss some of the SHOCKING lyric changes -- "December 24th, 9pm, 1991," anyone?? But mostly they talk about how much they love Mario.

Natasha Rothwell (Insecure, The Hasseltones Live!) joins Beth and Sarah as they "tap into their feels" about Happy New Year B, including speculation about what exactly the "B" stands for. Natasha talks about seeing a midnight sing-a-long version of Rent and tells the inspiring story of leaving her day job teaching high school drama. They also talk about why Rent appeals to repressed drama kids, when it's not appropriate to say "no day but today," and how to turn You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown into Rent.

The McDuckster himself, Cedric Yarbrough (Speechless, Reno 911) joins Beth and Sarah to talk about auditioning for the role of Collins in Rent, the various demon roles he has played in musicals, and to do a standard black mother check. They also chat about many, many other musicals, including Once on This Island, Schoolhouse Rock, Sweeney Todd, and Ragtime, and Sarah makes an official declaration: Musicals are great!

The hilarious Jon Gabrus (High and Mighty) is the latest Long Island native to join Sarah and Beth on the pod! He talks about seeing Grease TWICE on Broadway, brags about being offered the role of Rocky in Rocky Horror at his high school, and makes up New Year's resolutions for the main characters in Rent. They also share many memories related to The Phantom Menace, discuss the first Real World cast, and Gabrus threatens to insert his spot-on Trump/dad impression into Rent.

Christmas bells are ringing as Sarah and Beth are joined by fellow Rent super fans, Joel Kim Booster and Brendan Scannell (The Cure, Vulture's Comedians You Should and Will Know) to talk about Scarlett Johansson's agent, how being a democratic socialist has rekindled Joel's love of Rent, and to theorize about all that math Jonathan Larson did for Seasons of Love.

Sarah and Beth are joined by two of their besties, Jake Regal (Scorpion, Angel in Rent at UCB) and Andrew Hansen (A.P. Bio, Joanne in Rent at UCB) to delve deep into the 25 minute version of Rent their improv team put up at UCB as an April Fool's joke. Jake also talks about rebelling against his family by liking mumblecore movies instead of musicals and Andrew (everyone's dad) explains the difference between "quite a few" and "a lot."

Guy Montgomery (The Worst Idea of All Time) joins Sarah and Beth in their high tech podcast studio after listening to "I Should Tell You" many, many times, despite actively disliking it. Earning the title of "Guest Who Has Done the Most Research," Guy outlines some differences between the 2008 Broadway Rent revival, a college production, and Vanessa Hudgens' Hollywood Bowl performance.

Paul F. Tompkins (BoJack Horseman, Superego, Spontaneanation) joins Sarah and Beth to share his "thumbnail Wikipedia knowledge" of Rent and his controversial opinions about the Pope. They break down everything that doesn't make sense in "La Vie Boheme," including the idea of putting equipment in a pyramid and the idea that meatless balls taste the same as meat it you close your eyes.

Sarah and Beth are joined by their old pal, Dan Black (Comedians of Wrestling) who uses his real New York accent to talk about the "jump over the moon" song, melting pots vs. salad bowls vs. fruit platters, which wrestler would play who in Rent, and more! Dan is a huge Rent fan and brings up some very good questions: How did Mark and all of these Bohemians meet? What the heck do the metaphors in "Over the Moon" mean??

First, Beth and Sarah go through some of their favorite (and least favorite, Malala) listener emails and tweets and realize that everyone saw Rent in 1997. Then, Mark David Christenson (Aw...Crap, a Hellboy Podcast) finally gets his own mic and joins Beth and Sarah to discuss The Greatest Showman, which he saw alone to celebrate his niece's birthday??? He also talks about famed director of Moulin Rouge, Laz Buhrmann.

Zach Reino and Jessica McKenna (Off Book) kick things off by talking about some of the similarities between La Boheme and Rent (aka La Boheme 2: More La, More Boheme), Zach invents the name "Mimolfo," Jess walks everyone through some hot new slang, and the gang debates whether or not "honest living" is an onomatopoeia. Beth and Jess compare notes on their college productions of Company, Not only does this episode slap -- it's also a bop, it twists, and it's a banger.

You may know him as Mike Scollins (Late Night with Seth Meyers) and he's here to break down the mysteries of the song "We're Okay" -- What's "the Murget case"? Where is "Penthouse A"? Who is "Newt's lesbian sister"? He also talks about his star turn as Kenickie in Grease, everyone breaks down their first onstage kiss, and Mike comes up with a great new improv warm-up in a bonus episode of "Late-2000s Improv Talk." Also, if anyone thinks the musical The Boyfriend is good, Beth will gladly fight you.

The main cast for RENT on FOX was announced yesterday, so you know Sarah and Beth had to drop everything (dogs) to record this emergency episode with their very important thoughts on the casting. Is this very podcast the reason Valentina and Keala Settle were cast? Yes. Will Vanessa Hudgens nail the role of Maureen? Unclear. Will Sarah and Beth go to the cast party and make some "Contact" with this extremely attractive cast? Hopefully!

Eliot Glazer (Haunting Renditions, You’re Making It Worse, Broad City) is a quote unquote “perfect guest” on this week’s episode of Everything is Gwen. He talks about being a Rent kid on the early Rent train, explains why Rosie O’Donnell is actually responsible for the popularity of Rent, and is yet another guest who hates the Rent song they’re talking about. drama teachers. And, at the very end, Eliot performs a special rendition of Voicemail #1 that you’re not gonna wanna miss.

Matt Bennett (Victorious, The Big Bang Theory) joins our hosts to brush the sauce onto the meat and explain the choice every Long Island child must make: sports or musical theater. Other topics include the cool girl who got Matt into Rent in middle school, Matt's cool dad who's too cool for Rent, Anthony Rapp's "La Vie Boheme" parody at LeakyCon, and a reimagining of American Idiot starring Tony Shalhoub. #brushthesauceontothemeat

Carrie Poppy (Oh No Ross and Carrie, Hidden Mickeys) traces music all the way back to the first instrument (rocks) and the first musical (wind). She talks to fellow millennials, Sarah and Beth, about seeing Rent on Broadway with the mistaken expectation that "Doogie Howser" was in it, a sexy karaoke performance of "Take Me or Leave Me," and a rude college boyfriend who told Carrie she wasn't good enough to be in Rent.