Everything Is Rent

Philip Labes (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., K.C. Undercover, MORE GUNS!) talks to Beth and Sarah about Rent as well as pretty much every other musical ever. Philip describes working with Anthony Rapp on a movie before ever having seen Rent and prepares for his upcoming nostalgia podcast, Everything is Beyblades. Beth blows minds with the reveal that the song “One Night in Bangkok” is from a musical and Sarah reminisces about her years being “heavy in choir.”

Oscar Montoya (Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, Inside the Disney Vault) is scarf. In addition to being scarf, he tells Sarah and Beth about an all-girls, elementary school production of Rent he saw, his childhood dream of being in Stomp, and he boldly describes “Another Day” as a gender-reversed “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” Sarah claims Rent is for “cool kids” and Beth proclaims herself the “Weird Al of Rent.”

Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, an old Harry Potter Musical) joins Sarah and Beth to record many episodes of a new podcast, "Late-2000s Improv Talk." They also talk about Rent, including Rachel's show-stopping Klingon rendition of "Seasons of Love" and the best argument yet for why the characters in Rent should have jobs. And don't forget to join us in our campaign to have Rachel play Maureen in Fox's live version of Rent using #pleasepushthedateback!

Lindsey Kraft (Grace and Frankie, dELiA*s catalog) and Jamie Lynn Sigler (The Sopranos), who grew up together on Long Island, stop by to talk about the simple, catchy harmonies in “Life Support.” Lindsey was never in a musical as a kid, but watched Jamie perform in a ton of them and, one time, she got to sit on the edge of the stage with her legs dangling off and do a solo in a show choir Rent-medley. Jamie gives us the scoop on her audition and multiple callbacks to play Maureen at the Hollywood Bowl.

John Flynn (Oh, Hey Guys) wanted to talk about any song EXCEPT “Tango: Maureen,” so Beth and (former swing dance champion) Sarah invited him to talk about “Tango: Maureen.” John talks about seeing Rent shortly after it opened on Broadway, watching Daphne Rubin Vega’s final performance as Mimi, and his seedy side hustle handing out infrared listening devices to Rent audience members.

Demi Adejuyigbe and Kevin T. Porter (Gilmore Guys, Punch Up the Jam, Good Christian Fun) help Beth and Sarah settle an age-old, Laurel-and-Yanni-esque Rent lyric debate. They also improve upon several of the rhymes in Rent, imagine an alternate universe in which “You’ll See” was the breakout hit instead of “Seasons of Love,” and discuss how they’d adapt the movie Chappie into a hot new Broadway musical.

Allegra Ringo and Renee Colvert (Can I Pet Your Dog) join Beth and Sarah to unpack one of the catchiest, but also most problematic Rent songs. Renee, who spent high school with a blown-up picture of Adam Pascal above her bed, explains the questionable logic she used to reconcile being a dog lover AND a Rent lover. In contrast Allegra’s experience with Rent begins and ends with fast-forwarding through the movie in preparation for coming on the podcast.

Well, Joanne, we’re off! You’ll most definitely get “‘90s chills” listening to Kate Spencer (Forever35, The Dead Moms Club) talk about seeing Rent multiple times with ex-boyfriends, performing in the equally groundbreaking Vagina Monologues, and the very mean, Rent-themed antics she got up to in college.

The hilarious and talented Daphne Rubin-Vega originated the role of Mimi in Rent on Broadway! She joins Sarah and Beth to talk about her experience auditioning for and performing in Rent, including the time she forgot her lines in “Light My Candle,” her uniquely un-Broadway singing voice, what it was like working with Jonathan Larson, and the trauma that can come with being in the public eye.

Will Hines (Wrecked, Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About Spider-Man) comes in HOT in this episode, with questions like “Who cares about Rent?” “Why are we talking about Rent?” “Why do you guys like Rent?” and “What’s good about it?” Will saw Rent on Broadway in 1998 and some of his fond memories include Sweater Dude, Guitar Guy, and the song with the numbers.

Grant O’Brien (CollegeHumor) hates Rent and was NOT looking forward to listening to Tune Up #3, a song he describes as the “most bananas 24 seconds of a show ever.” Beth and Sarah try their darndest to convince Grant that Rent isn’t boring, but he really thinks the show would benefit from some tap dancing.

Nicole Byer (Loosely Exactly Nicole, Nailed It, Why Won’t You Date Me) joins Beth and Sarah to talk about her love of Rent, show off her beautiful singing voice many times, and change her name to Bond, Nicole Bond. In the most topic-packed episode yet, learn about Nicole’s surprising favorite musical, enjoy the longest discussion anyone has ever had about Tom Collins’ name, and hear why Angel is a combination of characters from the movie Michael and the TV show Drop Dead Diva.

Anthony King (Silicon Valley, Beetlejuice the Musical) has seen every musical except Rent, which was the most rebellious thing to do in the 90s. He’s worked with Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs and Anthony Rapp on other projects and can safely say: If everyone in Rent had AIDS, it would be a little too much.

The delightful Lauren Adams (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Masking for Trouble) stops by to talk about the great lengths she went to to force her mom to take her to Rent as a child, explain her confusingly named show choir, and greenlight an all-dog production of Rent. Beth, Sarah, and Lauren also discuss who "Cindy" is, re-cast Rent with "modern day actors," mostly from The Greatest Showman, and Beth uncovers a heart-stopping Easter egg/continuity error in the musical.

Sarah and Beth are up bright and early talking to their good pal Zeke Nicholson (A.P. Bio) about the magical day when he first saw the Rent movie with his mom, before a basketball game, but after shopping for Timberland boots. Despite multiple mic-drop-moments for Zeke in this episode, he does not enjoy himself during a game of Rent Trivia and he definitely isn't happy to be talking about a song he doesn't "give a f*** about."

Jonathan Larson's groundbreaking musical Rent premiered on Broadway in 1996. Over the years, musical theater fans all over the world have become Rent-heads, Rent-haters, and Rent-indifferent-istas. Comedians (and die-hard Rent fans) Beth Appel and Sarah Claspell shoot without a script as they dedicate each episode to a song from Rent, bringing on fellow comedians and musical theater nerds to talk about what they love, hate, and are baffled by in this divisive musical. Everything Is Rent - coming June 19th.