# Totally Gleeking Out with Josie Totah

An episode of [And That's What You REALLY Missed](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1645980188), 26 Jun 2025, 55 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/67adaf3b-fc3c-4c67-9613-af12015fa842/7cb496de-e174-4535-b4ca-b308003339d7/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=d5f905ac-eb40-4fc6-9d03-af120160041a

Josie Totah grew up watching Glee as a kid, and then, at the age of 13, she lived out her dreams by being cast on the show as “Myron Muskovitz!” Josie is all grown up now and joins Jenna and Kevin to chat about her time on the show, including her audition process, the crazy way she learned she was going to be on the show for the rest of the season, the Glee actor she connected with immediately, and getting real about feeling overwhelmed on set and the labor-intensive schedule! Josie also talks about her Darren Criss connection, how Lea Michele treated her on set, and her experience in the industry as a trans woman. For fun, exclusive content, and behind-the-scenes scoops, be sure to follow on Instagram @andthatswhatyoureallymissedpod! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: And That's what You Really Missed with Jenna.
[0:04] Speaker 2: And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
[0:09] Speaker 3: Welcome to and That's What You Really Missed podcast. Oh
[0:12] Speaker 3: my gosh, we have another new Bee today.
[0:14] Speaker 1: We have the new Bee.
[0:15] Speaker 3: Today we have Josie Tota, who literally is I was
[0:21] Speaker 3: watching this episode, the Josie's first episode as Myron, and
[0:28] Speaker 3: it's it's unhinged. It's absolutely unhinged, but it's so funny.
[0:36] Speaker 1: I didn't I.
[0:37] Speaker 3: Don't think at the time I knew what to make
[0:40] Speaker 3: of it, like on the show, because you're like, how
[0:43] Speaker 3: are we having like a thirteen year old kid on
[0:45] Speaker 3: our show in high school? Like it just feels crazy. Yeah,
[0:48] Speaker 3: I mean, Dougie Hazer was a hit, but like really
[0:50] Speaker 3: ages me. But Josie's absolutely amazing and I am I
[0:56] Speaker 3: can't wait for you hear this conversation.
[0:58] Speaker 2: And Josie's presence always the reason why Josie like just
[1:03] Speaker 2: stayed on TV at that age. It was just booking
[1:06] Speaker 2: things left and right, because like she had such a
[1:10] Speaker 2: presence and like could come in as a thirteen year
[1:13] Speaker 2: old and like take over.
[1:15] Speaker 3: Yeah, and also like having parents like hers, who you'll
[1:20] Speaker 3: hear in the conversation sounds like like starter with a
[1:24] Speaker 3: really good foundation to be really a person on top
[1:26] Speaker 3: of like being wildly successful.
[1:28] Speaker 1: So yeah, anyway, here's a conversation.
[1:31] Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, hi everyone, woh's so beautiful.
[1:35] Speaker 4: Literally, please your I'm dying. I'm like, forgive me more.
[1:40] Speaker 2: No, it looks it's a dewey it's a dewey skin glowy.
[1:44] Speaker 1: Look, there's what I.
[1:46] Speaker 4: Live above, an elementary school, so I'm just watching young
[1:48] Speaker 4: children in a very no New York. Yeah, I moved
[1:54] Speaker 4: to New York.
[1:55] Speaker 1: Oh my god.
[1:56] Speaker 4: Really, Like the other day, I was like someone was
[1:58] Speaker 4: asking about it. I was like, well, the trip has
[2:00] Speaker 4: been really nice, and they're like, you're not on a
[2:02] Speaker 4: trip like you pay rent, but like I feel like
[2:05] Speaker 4: I've been here for long enough at a time, like
[2:07] Speaker 4: I'm here for like two weeks that I'm somewhere else.
[2:09] Speaker 2: Well because she's booked and busy.
[2:13] Speaker 4: Not even like I'm the most busiest unemployed person you'll
[2:17] Speaker 4: ever meet in your.
[2:17] Speaker 2: Least, you know what I say?
[2:19] Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna say.
[2:21] Speaker 4: Are we are we having a duel?
[2:24] Speaker 2: Employed and busy?
[2:26] Speaker 4: So wait, how are you guys? How are you good?
[2:29] Speaker 1: How are you?
[2:31] Speaker 4: It is so long I know, because did we even meet.
[2:35] Speaker 4: I think we met once, right one on the day
[2:39] Speaker 4: where everyone was a final day.
[2:41] Speaker 2: You came up to me at Elton John's after party.
[2:46] Speaker 2: Is it last year?
[2:47] Speaker 4: Oh yeah, two years ago?
[2:49] Speaker 2: Yes, and you were like, do you remember me? Of
[2:52] Speaker 2: course I remember you? Are you kidding me?
[2:56] Speaker 4: It's always interesting when you when you switch like who
[3:02] Speaker 4: remembers you and doesn't, and so sometimes you kind of
[3:05] Speaker 4: just have to like you. I always just say nice
[3:08] Speaker 4: to meet you, because I don't want anyone to feel bad.
[3:11] Speaker 1: I actually do all the time too.
[3:14] Speaker 4: Well, because you also switch genders. Yeah exactly, no, but
[3:19] Speaker 4: but you know what I mean, Johnna, it's yeah, it's
[3:21] Speaker 4: to save the awkwardness, right, yeah exactly.
[3:24] Speaker 1: Let me just like help you out and like.
[3:26] Speaker 2: Not yeah, but I think what has been helpful is
[3:32] Speaker 2: that you just haven't stopped like working is what it
[3:38] Speaker 2: looks like. I know, there's the appearance of like what
[3:40] Speaker 2: work is, and then there's the actuality of you feeling
[3:44] Speaker 2: like you might not be working. But it was like
[3:48] Speaker 2: I knew you from the show. Yeah, and we'll get there.
[3:52] Speaker 2: But like you came in the show. It came on
[3:55] Speaker 2: the show in like a big way, and like We're
[3:58] Speaker 2: such a presence even if I wasn't working with you
[4:00] Speaker 2: all the time. Yeah, and then every time I saw you,
[4:03] Speaker 2: I was like, yes, this little bitch.
[4:06] Speaker 3: Yes, like a memorable thing from the show. And then
[4:10] Speaker 3: also just like the continuit, we like see you all
[4:13] Speaker 3: the time.
[4:13] Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's also like a proud you know, like
[4:16] Speaker 2: anybody who's on that show your family, regardless of how much, Yeah,
[4:19] Speaker 2: we interacted and.
[4:20] Speaker 1: So yes we're out there.
[4:22] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[4:24] Speaker 4: Oh that's so sweet of you to say thank you.
[4:26] Speaker 2: Oh please, you were just a mini mogul. We were
[4:29] Speaker 2: just talking before you got on, Like, yeah, remember when
[4:32] Speaker 2: Josie wasn't Saved by the Beltin was a.
[4:33] Speaker 3: Producer on the show, like writing, honestly, that was nuts.
[4:42] Speaker 4: I mean to think about that era of my life.
[4:46] Speaker 4: I was eighteen, Like I was having a smoothie for breakfast, lunch,
[4:50] Speaker 4: and dinner. Oh, I'm not an assistant anyway, nothing to
[4:55] Speaker 4: do with me. I just texted her. Her name was
[4:56] Speaker 4: Kylie's erin shout out Kylie and I because this reminded
[4:59] Speaker 4: me of for some reason. And she would do my
[5:01] Speaker 4: homework for me because I was in college, and I
[5:04] Speaker 4: just like, because that's all they like paid for mess.
[5:07] Speaker 4: I was like, what am I to have her do
[5:09] Speaker 4: other than you know, do my homework. I come homework
[5:13] Speaker 4: and shine my shoes.
[5:14] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[5:14] Speaker 4: And then but anyway, that era of my life was crazy.
[5:17] Speaker 4: And then getting to do it with my best friend
[5:20] Speaker 4: who was on that show with me, her name's Alicia,
[5:24] Speaker 4: was amazing. And yeah I still work with Tracy, the
[5:27] Speaker 4: girl who the girl, she's a grown woman with the
[5:29] Speaker 4: woman who created that show. I still work with her
[5:32] Speaker 4: to this day.
[5:33] Speaker 1: Oh amazing.
[5:33] Speaker 4: You haven't stopped working together, which has been so amazing.
[5:36] Speaker 2: And that is how you know that somebody is a
[5:38] Speaker 2: good person is because people burned bridges left and right.
[5:43] Speaker 2: It's a small business. Everybody talks. And the fact that
[5:46] Speaker 2: you have created a work friendship in that way and
[5:49] Speaker 2: it's lasted, it speaks to your character.
[5:52] Speaker 1: Yeah, you're so sweet now you're eighteen, that's crazy.
[6:00] Speaker 2: During Save by the Bell, Yeah, I mean, would you also.
[6:03] Speaker 4: A sophomore in college? And I mean I remember I
[6:06] Speaker 4: went to the first table read of Save by the Bell.
[6:08] Speaker 4: The morning after I went to this this like festival
[6:11] Speaker 4: in La called Rolling loud Ye, which is very against
[6:14] Speaker 4: type for me. Like that's something that I've always struggled
[6:17] Speaker 4: with because the fact that everyone thought I was a
[6:19] Speaker 4: gay boy for so much of my life and obviously,
[6:22] Speaker 4: like I made a career out of being a gay boy,
[6:26] Speaker 4: Like I never came out as gay in my personal life,
[6:29] Speaker 4: Like no one everyone knew that I was trans. Like
[6:32] Speaker 4: I was four years old when I like talked really
[6:34] Speaker 4: my parents for the first time.
[6:36] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so interesting, but so people just assumed that
[6:40] Speaker 2: you were, just assume a gay boy.
[6:42] Speaker 4: And there's an interview on Wendy Williams that I did,
[6:46] Speaker 4: no one hunt for it. But now I've just set
[6:47] Speaker 4: myself up for failure because everyone probably will. But I mean,
[6:53] Speaker 4: that's iconic in and of itself. But she kind of
[6:56] Speaker 4: was like being gay, and I was like, or I
[6:58] Speaker 4: could be by or trans and like so it's like
[7:03] Speaker 4: it's always been a thing the market that I kind
[7:06] Speaker 4: of cornered in a really weird way.
[7:09] Speaker 2: Oh you not kind of you did? Yeah that was
[7:12] Speaker 2: your Yeah, that corner.
[7:15] Speaker 1: My own little corner.
[7:17] Speaker 4: So funny, that's really funny. It was it was something
[7:20] Speaker 4: that like my friends, now you know, maybe you know
[7:23] Speaker 4: miss Benny. She's amazing. She was glamorous and did a
[7:26] Speaker 4: bunch of other things. But she's one of my best
[7:29] Speaker 4: friends now and she also was a gay boy, or
[7:33] Speaker 4: was perceived as that, and so she talks about it
[7:35] Speaker 4: being like when I would walk into the audition room,
[7:37] Speaker 4: all the gay boys would be like, well, we'll just
[7:40] Speaker 4: let's just see now. And then I had like my
[7:44] Speaker 4: straight counterpart. His name is Thomas Barbuska. We're still friends,
[7:48] Speaker 4: and so with us, it was always like if they
[7:49] Speaker 4: went straight, it was Thomas if they would So it
[7:52] Speaker 4: was funny a little. It was a good community that
[7:54] Speaker 4: I had. That sounds so crazy.
[7:59] Speaker 2: It makes it makes me people aren't used to like,
[8:02] Speaker 2: I don't know, the like audi, I hate say, auditioning circuit,
[8:05] Speaker 2: whatever it is you I know, but like you always
[8:08] Speaker 2: see the same people because you're always going out for
[8:10] Speaker 2: the same types, Like you're just the type. Yeah, I
[8:14] Speaker 2: always had my person that I was always a person
[8:17] Speaker 2: when I was younger, like younger younger, it was this
[8:20] Speaker 2: guy named Bobby Edner, okay, because I don't know that
[8:25] Speaker 2: much better actor, like of drama. So if it was
[8:28] Speaker 2: like drama, it would go to him. If it was comedy,
[8:31] Speaker 2: it was usually me, okay, and so and I'll be
[8:35] Speaker 2: like he was straight when I was like hiding right,
[8:39] Speaker 2: so right, so he did he do it? Yeah? Probably?
[8:43] Speaker 2: I think that was. Yeah, I didn't know what I
[8:46] Speaker 2: was doing.
[8:47] Speaker 4: And when did you start acting?
[8:50] Speaker 2: Like fourth grade?
[8:52] Speaker 4: Oh so super young as well?
[8:54] Speaker 2: Yeah, but I was. But I feel like how did
[8:57] Speaker 2: you start?
[8:59] Speaker 5: Like?
[8:59] Speaker 2: How did because when you were Unglee? How old are you?
[9:02] Speaker 4: I was thirteen or fourteen? I might have been thirteen
[9:05] Speaker 4: when I was cast in fourteen, which is so crazy
[9:10] Speaker 4: to think about because I was just like with people
[9:12] Speaker 4: in their late twenties and yeah, thirty yeah, And I
[9:18] Speaker 4: mean I watched Glee when it first came out in
[9:24] Speaker 4: my I was a newborn when I was three months
[9:26] Speaker 4: old in the hospital room. No, in my childhood home,
[9:31] Speaker 4: before I had ever moved to LA, before I had
[9:33] Speaker 4: aspirations of acting the way. And I mean, I have
[9:37] Speaker 4: a photo.
[9:38] Speaker 1: I have a photo, a photo, Oh my god.
[9:42] Speaker 4: And it's it's of me and my two childhood best
[9:48] Speaker 4: friends who I'm still friends with this day. I'm getting
[9:50] Speaker 4: dinner with them tomorrow night. And it was it was
[9:55] Speaker 4: it was the Glee tour, I think, or maybe it
[9:57] Speaker 4: was like when it first Anderson I was eight years old.
[10:04] Speaker 1: James, Okay, we have to go now.
[10:07] Speaker 2: I have to go now wow, and it makes me
[10:11] Speaker 2: I don't feel that insane because like you're a lot
[10:14] Speaker 2: younger than us, Like, yeah, that's close for yourself, you know,
[10:18] Speaker 2: like that's not even close.
[10:21] Speaker 4: When you did season one twenty twenty. Yeah, so you're
[10:25] Speaker 4: in my age, Jenna.
[10:27] Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, not to think that.
[10:30] Speaker 4: Wait, sorry, wow, now.
[10:33] Speaker 2: It's yeah, it was so great.
[10:36] Speaker 4: It's crazy, like that wasn't It's not you, it'stmely young.
[10:41] Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, That's what I was trying to say.
[10:44] Speaker 4: You should be twenty playing high school. That's like that
[10:46] Speaker 4: feels right.
[10:47] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's pretty normal.
[10:49] Speaker 3: But okay, so you weren't thirteen, but you were living.
[10:51] Speaker 3: You would watch Glee from when you were before you
[10:55] Speaker 3: even had aspirations. So during the duration of Lee before
[11:00] Speaker 3: you came, there was a whole arc that happened for
[11:04] Speaker 3: your your life where you're like, I'm going to go
[11:07] Speaker 3: to make a career and be an actor, actress and
[11:10] Speaker 3: come to LA and then.
[11:11] Speaker 4: Yeah I end up. I mean, so much happened. I
[11:14] Speaker 4: remember being eight years old, I'd watched the show religiously
[11:17] Speaker 4: and there was an episode about like funk music or
[11:19] Speaker 4: like I think Kurt says to someone Chris says to
[11:24] Speaker 4: someone like or no, maybe it's maybe it was. Heather
[11:27] Speaker 4: says this, like before you me, you have to funk
[11:30] Speaker 4: me or something. Is that a lie?
[11:32] Speaker 2: Just sounds.
[11:35] Speaker 4: But I remember going to school that day in third
[11:38] Speaker 4: grade and going up to my friend Zelle and being like,
[11:41] Speaker 4: did you see the Glee episodes last night? Because we
[11:43] Speaker 4: were like two of the only people our age that
[11:45] Speaker 4: were allowed to watch Glee. And my family is like
[11:49] Speaker 4: a cinema family, so they're like, honey, if it's a
[11:52] Speaker 4: good program, you're gonna you don't judge, so we'd watch
[11:58] Speaker 4: it religiously. Really, my sister was, you know, did musical theater.
[12:03] Speaker 4: My sister was did the Broadway tour of Whistle Down
[12:06] Speaker 4: the Wind when she was eight years old, and that's
[12:07] Speaker 4: when I became an actor.
[12:10] Speaker 2: So like he started young, yes, like Chicago.
[12:15] Speaker 4: Was playing in my grandmother's car as a kid, like
[12:18] Speaker 4: it was always a part of me. I started doing
[12:21] Speaker 4: musical theater when I was five years old. My dad,
[12:23] Speaker 4: who is a straight man, I repeat, a straight man,
[12:28] Speaker 4: a Palestinian straight man, would often sing good Morning Baltimore
[12:33] Speaker 4: just like in public.
[12:35] Speaker 2: Incredible and actually fun fact.
[12:38] Speaker 4: I was reminded of this today because I knew I
[12:40] Speaker 4: had a pod, but I was reminded when I woke
[12:43] Speaker 4: up this morning because my dad said, hi, baby, try
[12:46] Speaker 4: try not to trash anyone today And I said what
[12:52] Speaker 4: and he goes to lee pod.
[12:57] Speaker 2: I love your dad, I know.
[12:59] Speaker 4: See, So that's really good.
[13:03] Speaker 2: Oh my god, what a gift. Also to have a
[13:06] Speaker 2: down that would sing that and there was no love that,
[13:09] Speaker 2: there was no other choice, like you were going to
[13:12] Speaker 2: be going.
[13:13] Speaker 1: To know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I did you.
[13:17] Speaker 3: Now did you consider yourself like, well, I'm curious to hear,
[13:21] Speaker 3: like when you decided you were gonna then pursue acting yourself.
[13:26] Speaker 1: And did you feel like you were a writer before
[13:29] Speaker 1: or after that? Like when did you discover that talent
[13:31] Speaker 1: as well?
[13:32] Speaker 3: Because like it sounds like you're kind of on that
[13:34] Speaker 3: same thing where Chris was like both a writer and
[13:37] Speaker 3: an actor and then became this like wildly successful writer.
[13:41] Speaker 1: So I'm just curious to hear, but like.
[13:43] Speaker 4: That to ask, And it's funny now I see Chris
[13:47] Speaker 4: often because he's really good friends with my best friend
[13:50] Speaker 4: Dylan Welvan. You came on the podcast and immediately afterwards
[13:53] Speaker 4: called and was like, you have to go on and
[13:57] Speaker 4: she loves you guys and their neighbors. So I get
[14:00] Speaker 4: to see him a lot, which is so fun.
[14:02] Speaker 1: I love it.
[14:03] Speaker 4: But I mean, I knew I wanted to act my
[14:07] Speaker 4: whole life. I me and my brother would like re
[14:10] Speaker 4: enact sort of like play fighting, and I would make
[14:13] Speaker 4: him like we'd fight each other in kitchen or i'd
[14:16] Speaker 4: often like perform a medley and i'd make him hold
[14:20] Speaker 4: a flashlight at the top of the staircase. Like my
[14:22] Speaker 4: brother with autism, who's like the coolest person that I know,
[14:26] Speaker 4: like was being tortured by me, and I would hold
[14:30] Speaker 4: that's what the siblings do, exactly, hold the flashlight up
[14:33] Speaker 4: for me, and I would yell at him if the
[14:35] Speaker 4: spotlight wasn't right. So it's always known that I wanted
[14:39] Speaker 4: to act. But I think when I was like nine
[14:40] Speaker 4: or ten, maybe I was like, Yeah, ten is when
[14:45] Speaker 4: I discovered like a writing service called cel text, which
[14:49] Speaker 4: is like a free final draft, and I was at
[14:53] Speaker 4: camp with my friends, and I don't know, I think
[14:57] Speaker 4: that's when I started writing. I remember like going to
[14:59] Speaker 4: my first table read and it was like a movie
[15:02] Speaker 4: camp table read and like seeing Samantha not Samantha actually, yes, Samantha.
[15:07] Speaker 4: She goes by Santha.
[15:08] Speaker 2: Now.
[15:08] Speaker 4: She also had a name change. Her name was Sammy
[15:11] Speaker 4: han Raddy. She's actually on Yellowjackets right now. Oh yeah,
[15:14] Speaker 4: oh yeah, she's amazing. She was my camp counselor, and
[15:18] Speaker 4: like she was, she was writer, a writer, she would write,
[15:22] Speaker 4: so I remember she seeing her do that, maybe want
[15:25] Speaker 4: to do that? And then I've just been writing ever since.
[15:27] Speaker 1: Wow.
[15:28] Speaker 4: I wrote like my first back, which was terrible, when
[15:30] Speaker 4: I was like fourteen, and it was about like it
[15:34] Speaker 4: was like for Jennifer Coolidge to star in like before
[15:36] Speaker 4: Jennifer Coolidge, before anyone cared, you know, I mean all
[15:40] Speaker 4: the cool people always cared before the normis cared.
[15:44] Speaker 1: Yeah, And it wasn't until I was I think I.
[15:49] Speaker 4: Was fourteen or no, maybe I was twelve when I
[15:51] Speaker 4: did that. And then when I was fourteen, I did
[15:54] Speaker 4: Chris Kelly's movie, Chris Kelly, who was like the head
[15:58] Speaker 4: writer of SNL with Sarah for many years. I did
[16:03] Speaker 4: like two scenes of his movie, and I remember on
[16:05] Speaker 4: lunch break, I pitched an idea to Adam Scott icon
[16:09] Speaker 4: Adam Scott, yes, incredible actor and writer, and he was like,
[16:14] Speaker 4: let's do it, Like that's a great show and it
[16:17] Speaker 4: was basically a show about me and my aunt who
[16:19] Speaker 4: I had this like fraud relationship with Wow, and we
[16:24] Speaker 4: sold it to NBC. And I remember leaving the room
[16:27] Speaker 4: when I was like I was fourteen or fifteen, and
[16:29] Speaker 4: I told my mom. I was like, this is what
[16:31] Speaker 4: I want to do for the rest of my life.
[16:33] Speaker 4: So it's been almost ten years of also writing, which
[16:36] Speaker 4: is really cool.
[16:37] Speaker 1: Is there one that you prefer?
[16:39] Speaker 4: I think that like I I don't know. I think
[16:45] Speaker 4: like acting is like always first for me, and like
[16:49] Speaker 4: writing feels like a hobby that hasn't yet been taken
[16:53] Speaker 4: over care because it hasn't been a financial dependency for me.
[16:59] Speaker 4: It's always been like if I'm righting off of it, which,
[17:03] Speaker 4: as you guys know, is really rare. Is like this
[17:06] Speaker 4: is this is additional, right.
[17:09] Speaker 2: People don't realize the amount of time and effort it
[17:12] Speaker 2: takes to get something made. Yes, Like there are thousands
[17:16] Speaker 2: of scripts out there every day being pitched and written
[17:18] Speaker 2: and thought about, and then things get bought and then
[17:21] Speaker 2: never seen and never made.
[17:23] Speaker 4: That's all I've done, which is just like sell scripts
[17:26] Speaker 4: and stuff.
[17:26] Speaker 2: So which is so something like that's absolutely like you've
[17:30] Speaker 2: been lunaging, like the ability and the skill to go
[17:33] Speaker 2: into a room like when you were a young teen
[17:38] Speaker 2: full of adults, like the scary suits, Like the people
[17:41] Speaker 2: who make those decisions are often terrifying, they are, And
[17:46] Speaker 2: like if you can do that at fifteen, then I
[17:49] Speaker 2: imagine now going into that room, you're like, all right, yeah,
[17:52] Speaker 2: let's do this again. Sure, yeah, problem because that's such
[17:56] Speaker 2: a huge Like that's such a huge skill to have
[18:00] Speaker 2: that people coming in now at your age for the
[18:03] Speaker 2: first time doing it, like you've know, had a decade
[18:05] Speaker 2: of experience doing that.
[18:07] Speaker 4: Thank you. Uh yeah, I mean I think it's like, yeah,
[18:11] Speaker 4: that's very safe, you're saying. It's just been cool that
[18:14] Speaker 4: I've I think also like if I had been born,
[18:19] Speaker 4: you know, a girl. Obviously I was born a girl,
[18:22] Speaker 4: but had I been assigned that at birth, and had
[18:24] Speaker 4: I not been grew up as like a little boy,
[18:27] Speaker 4: I don't know if I'd have the same like you know,
[18:31] Speaker 4: demand to take up space and maybe jenny to relate
[18:33] Speaker 4: to that where it's like, even since transitioning, I've had
[18:37] Speaker 4: to teach myself like no, you used to like walk
[18:40] Speaker 4: into rooms and just assume that, like you know, you
[18:42] Speaker 4: own the place and now that like you're being you're
[18:44] Speaker 4: perceived as a woman, and I've always felt like girl,
[18:47] Speaker 4: but now that I'm treated like that, it's like I
[18:50] Speaker 4: feel less like I have the right to do that interesting.
[18:53] Speaker 4: So I think it's like re reminding myself that, like,
[18:57] Speaker 4: not that I'm a boy, but anyways, you have the
[19:01] Speaker 4: right to do, you know. And I tell my girlfriends
[19:05] Speaker 4: that you know, who aren't trans it's like every you know,
[19:09] Speaker 4: for every time we as women like hesitate to do something,
[19:13] Speaker 4: a white man has walked in with a baseball cap
[19:15] Speaker 4: and talked with his hands and sold a movie that
[19:17] Speaker 4: like he doesn't even know what it's.
[19:18] Speaker 2: About, yes, and it's like over and over, it's such
[19:22] Speaker 2: a thing.
[19:22] Speaker 4: So it's also something like I'm inspired by myself as
[19:26] Speaker 4: a kid, and I try to myself that now as
[19:28] Speaker 4: an adult woman, what.
[19:30] Speaker 1: An interesting person.
[19:33] Speaker 2: Yeah, what a special perspective to happen because you've been
[19:37] Speaker 2: when you were you know, perceived as a boy for
[19:39] Speaker 2: that long and being able to, I guess, like live
[19:43] Speaker 2: that life to the extent that you could and like
[19:46] Speaker 2: being able to carry that with you now is just
[19:49] Speaker 2: such a unique perspective. And yeah, a very good reminder
[19:53] Speaker 2: to like also that freedom of being younger, Yeah, and
[19:56] Speaker 2: like sort of naive to the world and trying going yeah, yes, exactly.
[20:02] Speaker 4: Do you relate to that, Jenna, do you feel like
[20:03] Speaker 4: it's been hard for you to I mean, especially as
[20:06] Speaker 4: a woman of color, Like I'm sure that's a whole
[20:08] Speaker 4: other level to it.
[20:09] Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely that resonates, I think in all the industries
[20:13] Speaker 3: that I've worked in now or like I mean mainly
[20:15] Speaker 3: the entertainment industry, but across all facets, like as an
[20:20] Speaker 3: actress and as a producer, and I'm kind of like
[20:24] Speaker 3: shifting out of that now. Like I feel I constantly,
[20:28] Speaker 3: even to this day, at thirty nine years old, have
[20:30] Speaker 3: to remind myself.
[20:33] Speaker 1: Not that that's old, but you look like it is old.
[20:35] Speaker 1: It's okay, but thank you, I feel.
[20:38] Speaker 4: I mean, that's not like once you're six, so you
[20:41] Speaker 4: can call yourself old. Okay, you look hot and thank
[20:45] Speaker 4: you look twenty something white.
[20:50] Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, I wish.
[20:52] Speaker 2: Age over here.
[20:55] Speaker 1: You look hot too, Yeah, you do know.
[20:57] Speaker 2: I just have all the filter settings up on high.
[21:00] Speaker 4: Everyone looks really hot.
[21:01] Speaker 1: Everybody looks really hot. They're so hot right now.
[21:04] Speaker 4: I'm actually like sweating. So I'm going to take all
[21:09] Speaker 4: my clothes in a second, but.
[21:12] Speaker 1: Different a different podcast.
[21:15] Speaker 3: Now, I feel like I constantly have to remind myself,
[21:25] Speaker 3: like I've been pitching something recently and it's like I'm
[21:29] Speaker 3: like a million white men have done this without apologizing
[21:33] Speaker 3: before me, and I have to just stop apologizing for
[21:36] Speaker 3: it and just go. And even in Glee, like it was,
[21:41] Speaker 3: there was such a feeling that like, obviously we know
[21:45] Speaker 3: there's like justice for Tina as we've done this podcast
[21:48] Speaker 3: for my character, but you can't help but feel like
[21:52] Speaker 3: either being Asian, or being a woman, or being something
[21:57] Speaker 3: that having to do with the unworthy that like was
[22:01] Speaker 3: embedded inside of feeling like I wasn't good enough. That's
[22:05] Speaker 3: why I wasn't Tina wasn't as loved or you know.
[22:08] Speaker 2: All of that.
[22:09] Speaker 3: It's felt like this, you know, but it's like a
[22:14] Speaker 3: cosmic reminder now that like I am and I learned
[22:18] Speaker 3: so much from being in that position and feeling that
[22:23] Speaker 3: way and like taking the power back. So ye, but yeah,
[22:28] Speaker 3: that definitely resonates for me.
[22:30] Speaker 4: That's beautiful that you've that you've done that though, because
[22:33] Speaker 4: like I'm sure through this pod and just like with
[22:36] Speaker 4: social media, you've learned like how revolutionary your character was. Yeah,
[22:41] Speaker 4: just so many like you color and like young Asian girls.
[22:45] Speaker 4: It's like, yeah, someone like you singing and dancing and
[22:48] Speaker 4: like yeah, to like experience the breath of like young womanhood, teenhood,
[22:55] Speaker 4: Like that's revolutionary.
[22:57] Speaker 3: No, thank you, I appreciate that. I mean, like, was
[23:00] Speaker 3: showing my daughter last night some videos because she's now
[23:02] Speaker 3: gotten to the point where like I can show her
[23:05] Speaker 3: Tina music videos music. So I showed her so she
[23:09] Speaker 3: loves she loved True Colors because trolls played True Colors.
[23:13] Speaker 1: So we know this, we know this.
[23:14] Speaker 3: She's like, oh, mommy saying the troll song. But now
[23:17] Speaker 3: it's actually I did hung up for her, which was
[23:20] Speaker 3: I was like, she's gotta we got to get in there.
[23:25] Speaker 1: Because I know, I know, And then we did. At
[23:30] Speaker 1: one point though she said who's that. She's like, that's mommy, mommy.
[23:37] Speaker 1: And then we did ABC last night and we did
[23:43] Speaker 1: who was the other one that I showed her? Oh
[23:47] Speaker 1: we did. I don't know how to love him because
[23:49] Speaker 1: she tends to like ballads, so she.
[23:51] Speaker 4: Like said, she is like ballads obsessed.
[23:54] Speaker 1: She tends to like ballads.
[23:56] Speaker 3: But you know, it is so important to me that
[23:59] Speaker 3: for her, there's representation out there, and obviously like we've
[24:03] Speaker 3: come a moderate way to more representation on you know,
[24:08] Speaker 3: of of women and Asians on on screen, but like
[24:11] Speaker 3: even that, to be able to show her somebody not
[24:14] Speaker 3: that's not me, but somebody that represents her in a
[24:18] Speaker 3: way is so meaningful totally.
[24:20] Speaker 4: So that's so special.
[24:22] Speaker 3: That's so that's about me, more about you. We need
[24:27] Speaker 3: to know more about the your Glee experience. So I
[24:31] Speaker 3: have to know what the process was like, like when.
[24:35] Speaker 1: Did you get the call? Did you audition where you offered?
[24:38] Speaker 3: Like what was the.
[24:41] Speaker 4: Straight off, straight.
[24:43] Speaker 1: Offer for Glee.
[24:44] Speaker 3: I don't know that we've had anybody except for Justin
[24:46] Speaker 3: Timberlake for that.
[24:48] Speaker 2: I know.
[24:48] Speaker 4: Literally, I guess, yes, we'll be sent in a tape.
[24:56] Speaker 4: I'm pretty sure. Yeah, I mean I remember I was
[25:04] Speaker 4: in the car at Panda Express. Yes sir, yes, we're all.
[25:09] Speaker 4: Great things occur and I got the audition and it
[25:14] Speaker 4: was like the most exciting thing that ever happened to me.
[25:17] Speaker 4: And the thing that my mom taught me at a
[25:19] Speaker 4: young age was like we celebrate the audition, you know,
[25:22] Speaker 4: don't celebrate the audition then, like you're never going to
[25:24] Speaker 4: be happy wow.
[25:26] Speaker 2: Wow, we did that, and we went your parents sound.
[25:29] Speaker 4: One perspective I told I told my mom was like
[25:33] Speaker 4: beyond standby in case I need to add you for
[25:35] Speaker 4: like clarity at some point. But and then we were like,
[25:40] Speaker 4: you know what song am I going to sing? Of
[25:41] Speaker 4: course all that jazz from Chicago and my number first
[25:48] Speaker 4: day with my mother, and I remember going to the
[25:50] Speaker 4: audition seeing every boy in Hollywood, like every shape, size creed.
[25:58] Speaker 4: It was like the most room I'd ever seen in
[26:02] Speaker 4: my life, and I think I literally prayed to God
[26:05] Speaker 4: to like give me the courage to do it, and
[26:10] Speaker 4: I just think I remember doing it, remember being in
[26:13] Speaker 4: that room, and I remember like after I performed the song,
[26:18] Speaker 4: like standing and like imagining that like everyone was applauding
[26:22] Speaker 4: around me, because I remember it at the end of
[26:23] Speaker 4: every single music performance, like there's always that moment where
[26:28] Speaker 4: someone's like I'm looking around, like heavy breathing, like you
[26:33] Speaker 4: just like you didn't just lip saying that, and like
[26:36] Speaker 4: someone didn't just scream at you every dance move to
[26:38] Speaker 4: do so like you're not even thinking you're just a robot,
[26:41] Speaker 4: but like it's as if you put your whole soul
[26:43] Speaker 4: into it. And I remember doing that and being like
[26:46] Speaker 4: no one else did that, you know, And I felt
[26:51] Speaker 4: like in that moment, I was like I'm in the show,
[26:54] Speaker 4: you know, not that I got the part, but like
[26:56] Speaker 4: in that moment, I felt like I had to put
[26:58] Speaker 4: yourself in that world.
[26:59] Speaker 2: Yeah, which is what you have to what you should
[27:01] Speaker 2: do every time.
[27:03] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's such a great wow wow wow, And so.
[27:08] Speaker 4: I remember, so I did that and then I don't
[27:11] Speaker 4: even think there was a callback. I don't And I
[27:13] Speaker 4: remember Ryan Murphy was like going through the tapes, which
[27:18] Speaker 4: I don't think he did regularly. Is my understanding that
[27:21] Speaker 4: it was like the last season and like we were
[27:24] Speaker 4: kind of the newcomers and so they wanted to approval
[27:30] Speaker 4: and yeah, I think it was like literally December fourteenth.
[27:32] Speaker 4: I remember the day. I also have an insane memory,
[27:36] Speaker 4: and people get really scared who are friends with me,
[27:38] Speaker 4: because like I remember literally everything.
[27:40] Speaker 2: Wow.
[27:41] Speaker 4: That we got the call about it and it was
[27:44] Speaker 4: like the best news in the world, And it was
[27:49] Speaker 4: like one of two Hollywood moments that I can remember
[27:53] Speaker 4: where I would like where I went to the studio
[27:56] Speaker 4: lot and like saw the set and then saw myself
[27:59] Speaker 4: as a kid. You know, I've only had that moment
[28:01] Speaker 4: once before, which is my very first show I was on,
[28:04] Speaker 4: which is a Dizzy Channel show that I had also
[28:06] Speaker 4: watched the premiere of on my childhood couch with my family.
[28:10] Speaker 4: Wow wow, And I just remember having a moment and
[28:13] Speaker 4: it being like insane, and my mom and I just
[28:15] Speaker 4: looking at each other and just being like, this is Hollywood.
[28:21] Speaker 1: Yeah that too, Yes, definitely, yeah, a lot of history,
[28:28] Speaker 1: it didn't.
[28:28] Speaker 4: And then I remember running into this guy from my
[28:32] Speaker 4: middle school. He was like kind of mean to me,
[28:34] Speaker 4: and he was like he was like, Oh, what are
[28:37] Speaker 4: you doing here? And I was like, oh, I'm on Glee,
[28:40] Speaker 4: Like what are you doing? Yes? Yes, he was like
[28:43] Speaker 4: I have an audition and I was like, well, good luck.
[28:46] Speaker 4: And I was like, so, are you just like doing
[28:48] Speaker 4: an episode or something? And then the PA who was
[28:51] Speaker 4: with us was like you know, well, she said he'll
[28:55] Speaker 4: but you know, he'll be here for the rest of
[28:57] Speaker 4: the season. And it was almost like the PA I knew,
[29:00] Speaker 4: like this like an opposition person, this was an enemy,
[29:05] Speaker 4: and but that was the first time that I learned
[29:07] Speaker 4: that I was going to be on the rest of
[29:08] Speaker 4: the season. I just thought it was in an episode,
[29:11] Speaker 4: like am I.
[29:13] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so you thought you were going to do
[29:23] Speaker 3: the show for one episode. Did you know when you
[29:27] Speaker 3: came into audition your auditioning for Myron and like that
[29:31] Speaker 3: was the storyline or do you remember if it was
[29:34] Speaker 3: like you read somebody else, because oftentimes people would read
[29:38] Speaker 3: for roles, would read like thin sides or something that
[29:42] Speaker 3: anything to do with the role, but it's such a
[29:44] Speaker 3: specific thing.
[29:45] Speaker 4: It was like, yeah, the first of many like Jewish
[29:51] Speaker 4: characters I played, But it was an honor to have
[29:54] Speaker 4: a barment stode. I'd wanted to my whole life. I
[29:57] Speaker 4: grew up going to Barmins fast As were the Cooperman's,
[30:00] Speaker 4: our extra Neighborman's, our extra Sebers. So by the way,
[30:07] Speaker 4: our next neighbors were the Cooperman's and they had multiple children,
[30:12] Speaker 4: so we saw all of their abommanzas and I was like,
[30:15] Speaker 4: when is mine gonna happen?
[30:16] Speaker 3: Right?
[30:17] Speaker 4: And I actually asked my parents to throw me a
[30:20] Speaker 4: barnmu stow when I was like twelve, and they were like,
[30:22] Speaker 4: we're Catholic, that's not like we don't have an excuse
[30:27] Speaker 4: to like spend this money on you, Like we can
[30:29] Speaker 4: have a party from in the backyard. So then when
[30:32] Speaker 4: I had that moment.
[30:34] Speaker 2: It was like, this isn't you And I paid for
[30:37] Speaker 2: it and I got paid to have it, So you
[30:40] Speaker 2: got casts. A lot of the other people we've talked
[30:42] Speaker 2: to of like the New Kids had to audition on
[30:45] Speaker 2: the auditorium stage in front of everybody, which seems, yeah, terrifying.
[30:49] Speaker 4: Billy and.
[30:52] Speaker 1: Noah, they all like literally to perform on the auditorium stage.
[30:55] Speaker 2: Is that?
[30:55] Speaker 4: Yeah, off, all that is terrifying.
[31:00] Speaker 1: It's terrible.
[31:00] Speaker 4: Because I was with Phineas, we were in the same
[31:03] Speaker 4: plot right and.
[31:04] Speaker 1: You guys came on the same episode, right on.
[31:07] Speaker 4: The same episode. I remember thinking, like, who is this
[31:10] Speaker 4: seventeen year old homeschooler? Like I was like because he
[31:13] Speaker 4: was like, yeah, I me my sister are homeschooled by
[31:15] Speaker 4: my parents. And I was like, that's so weird that,
[31:19] Speaker 4: like they're not in traditional school. Little did I know
[31:22] Speaker 4: they'd be like the biggest pop stars in the world. Yeah, literally,
[31:27] Speaker 4: Oscar Award winning people. But it was just so funny.
[31:32] Speaker 4: He was the sweetest. But I remember immediately connecting with
[31:37] Speaker 4: Samantha Marine and sam and like we just immediately off
[31:43] Speaker 4: the bat, like she like took me in and because
[31:47] Speaker 4: originally I think my character was supposed to be friends
[31:49] Speaker 4: with Becca's character or like we had a kinship, which
[31:53] Speaker 4: we did in real life, like I loved her as well,
[31:57] Speaker 4: but something about Samantha and I just like, I don't know,
[32:02] Speaker 4: we just clicked. Yeah, And so then in every group
[32:04] Speaker 4: scene it was like, you know, they put us together
[32:08] Speaker 4: and you can see the evolution of the episodes, like
[32:11] Speaker 4: we're just always next to each other, and she was
[32:14] Speaker 4: just always my person who like was my safety net,
[32:17] Speaker 4: which is really nice to have. Because it was really overwhelming.
[32:21] Speaker 2: That was gonna be my next question. Coming into a
[32:23] Speaker 2: set like that, especially at your age, which I mean
[32:28] Speaker 2: it was not your first time being on set full
[32:30] Speaker 2: of adult crew member. Yeah, but you're on a show
[32:33] Speaker 2: that you watched since you were eight, and like there's
[32:38] Speaker 2: all of these people. You know that lots of people
[32:40] Speaker 2: are going to see it. Like what was that feeling
[32:43] Speaker 2: like for you when you actually started working?
[32:45] Speaker 4: It was amazing but overwhelming, and I learned very quickly.
[32:48] Speaker 4: I remember someone you know, they would often say like,
[32:51] Speaker 4: if you can do Glee, you can do anything. That
[32:54] Speaker 4: was the frit I'm sure you guys have heard that. Yeah,
[32:57] Speaker 4: and it felt like that maybe was like this sentence
[33:00] Speaker 4: if they say to excuse themselves from like putting you
[33:04] Speaker 4: through such strenuous yes, yes activities, which was like and
[33:08] Speaker 4: I remember breaking down. I broke down a few times,
[33:11] Speaker 4: especially after because like I'm sure you guys have talked
[33:13] Speaker 4: about it, but like, you know, you're in a van
[33:16] Speaker 4: and you're on set and then they drive you to
[33:18] Speaker 4: Capitol Records and then you're recording, you know, for hours.
[33:22] Speaker 4: And I'd never made music before. I'd never sung publicly
[33:25] Speaker 4: other than once where I famously replaced a boy who
[33:29] Speaker 4: got the swine flu who was supposed to perform at
[33:31] Speaker 4: the Harvey Weinstein Oscar party in twenty fourteen. Aside from that,
[33:37] Speaker 4: I hadn't performed before in a professional setting. Wow. Now,
[33:43] Speaker 4: I had met Oprah that night and like Taylor Swift
[33:46] Speaker 4: and Lana del Rey and I was like eleven years old.
[33:48] Speaker 4: I mean, it was, oh my god, insane. But so
[33:53] Speaker 4: that was my only experience sort of like professionally singing.
[33:58] Speaker 4: And I remember leaving the recording you just feeling like
[34:01] Speaker 4: absolute because I'm like.
[34:02] Speaker 1: Oh, we all felt that way.
[34:06] Speaker 2: That was universal feeling.
[34:07] Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, Well, and I remember Laura saying who was on?
[34:11] Speaker 4: Had been on? Broadway before and pursing something similar one day,
[34:15] Speaker 4: and that made me feel a lot better because I'm like,
[34:17] Speaker 4: this is like, you know, one of the best singers
[34:18] Speaker 4: I've ever met, and so for her to, you know,
[34:22] Speaker 4: have that breakdown moment was like maybe I'm not so terrible.
[34:27] Speaker 4: But I remember being really, really difficult. And I couldn't
[34:31] Speaker 4: do any of the dance rehearsals longer than like forty
[34:34] Speaker 4: five minutes because I had to be in school and
[34:36] Speaker 4: I also worked that long. They'd film it and my
[34:40] Speaker 4: mom and I would do it at all. That's in
[34:45] Speaker 4: my living room.
[34:47] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a lot.
[34:48] Speaker 4: Because of the Sony Korean scandal of seth Rogen, if
[34:52] Speaker 4: you guys remember that, or if there was another reason,
[34:56] Speaker 4: but it seemed like everyone was very very suspicious to
[35:00] Speaker 4: something getting leaked. I would get my scripts. I don't
[35:03] Speaker 4: know if this is what you guys were like the
[35:05] Speaker 4: night before. Yeah, an episode would start and it was
[35:08] Speaker 4: hand delivered to us. Yeah, it was never emailed, and
[35:12] Speaker 4: I wouldn't know if I was in the next episode
[35:14] Speaker 4: until that script got that script crazy, So it was
[35:18] Speaker 4: like a PA may come and knock on your door,
[35:22] Speaker 4: and I just remember like waiting by the door idle.
[35:25] Speaker 4: You know that's crazy, and or like I was like
[35:29] Speaker 4: at the movie theaters and like you know, it's you
[35:31] Speaker 4: find out. It was like so chaotic and so stressful,
[35:35] Speaker 4: and then when you'd get that knock on the door
[35:37] Speaker 4: like that young Pa, it was like, I don't know,
[35:39] Speaker 4: covered in mildew from like their eight hour you know
[35:42] Speaker 4: tour around the city. I would give you the script
[35:44] Speaker 4: and then you'd like flip to it. Even some days
[35:47] Speaker 4: where like I got a call sheet from a napkin,
[35:49] Speaker 4: like written on a napkin.
[35:52] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a new one.
[35:54] Speaker 4: Yeah, I had a call sheet written on a napkin
[35:57] Speaker 4: saying what time everyone was doing? What? It was?
[36:03] Speaker 2: Chaos? Oh sad, fallen off?
[36:07] Speaker 1: Yeah, it was not at that point. But also we
[36:10] Speaker 1: ran out of paper. We don't have the budget out of.
[36:12] Speaker 4: Paper, you know when I was there, they ran out
[36:15] Speaker 4: of paper and all resources. But no, I seeing that,
[36:20] Speaker 4: Oh Jesus was crazy too, you.
[36:22] Speaker 3: Know, like and that was like your first episode in
[36:24] Speaker 3: you were doing like all of all numbers with all
[36:27] Speaker 3: of them.
[36:28] Speaker 4: And like Darren Chris, who's like Angel on Earth. Yes,
[36:32] Speaker 4: you know we have this weird connection because my uncle
[36:35] Speaker 4: was his teacher in high school.
[36:36] Speaker 1: Oh that's great.
[36:39] Speaker 2: Darren was connected to everyone.
[36:40] Speaker 4: He's I famously have like a million cousins, so like
[36:45] Speaker 4: I'm related to everyone.
[36:47] Speaker 2: Great. So with your powers combined, you two know every
[36:51] Speaker 2: single person.
[36:51] Speaker 4: Actually, yeah, we're the center of the universe. But like
[36:54] Speaker 4: he was so amazing. And then, like I remember Leah Liah,
[36:58] Speaker 4: Michelle was like the first person to meet me like
[37:00] Speaker 4: an adult, you know, but I just there's no part
[37:04] Speaker 4: of her that was like making any sort of adjustments
[37:07] Speaker 4: for the fact that I was a kid. And I
[37:08] Speaker 4: remember really liking that, you know, because I'm sure like
[37:11] Speaker 4: you guys know, being adults and set like the language
[37:14] Speaker 4: and like the vernacular. Yeah, it's like, you know, people
[37:19] Speaker 4: just talk like adults and I was like a little kid.
[37:21] Speaker 4: And I remember she never censored herself around me and
[37:24] Speaker 4: even towards me, And I think, like, you know, as
[37:28] Speaker 4: a little trans girl, like that's very iconic that like age,
[37:32] Speaker 4: like you know, she was talking to me like that.
[37:37] Speaker 4: Like I remember at one point and I can I
[37:40] Speaker 4: can say this. I mean not that I can say this.
[37:42] Speaker 4: No one gave permission to say this, but I'm giving
[37:43] Speaker 4: myself permission to say this. But at one point she
[37:46] Speaker 4: called me over and she was like, Josie, what's your
[37:49] Speaker 4: favorite musical And I was like, I don't know. I
[37:53] Speaker 4: think i'd have to say Chicago, and she was like
[37:58] Speaker 4: that's always been my least favorite music. I wanting to die,
[38:05] Speaker 4: but I was I was like, that is fears. Like
[38:08] Speaker 4: she didn't mince words with me, like she doesn't like
[38:10] Speaker 4: that musical and but like I grew up on Chicago. Yeah,
[38:17] Speaker 4: that was like, I don't know, most honest, she's always
[38:21] Speaker 4: the most the most honest. For one other day, her
[38:25] Speaker 4: and Darren, she was like, just want to let you
[38:27] Speaker 4: know me and Darren are your real parents, and that
[38:31] Speaker 4: was really fulfilling for me. Wow wow I feel that
[38:35] Speaker 4: way too, Mom and dad.
[38:37] Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, wow, that's really good.
[38:42] Speaker 3: I just remember hearing like words that they're like there's
[38:46] Speaker 3: this new character on the show, and like at that
[38:49] Speaker 3: point I had really mentally and emotionally departed.
[38:53] Speaker 1: So I apologize that, like we didn't cross paths in
[38:57] Speaker 1: that way.
[38:57] Speaker 4: Oh so understandable, but.
[39:01] Speaker 3: I like heard such wonderful things about you and about
[39:05] Speaker 3: just like showing up and being like uh he or
[39:10] Speaker 3: you know, at the time, was like he's amazing, Like
[39:12] Speaker 3: he just performed and did it and like again, to
[39:16] Speaker 3: be honest, like I hadn't.
[39:17] Speaker 1: We were watching this sixth season for the first time
[39:20] Speaker 1: that we really haven't.
[39:21] Speaker 4: That makes sense.
[39:22] Speaker 3: So it was really fun to watch and really exciting,
[39:26] Speaker 3: and we love the new like you guys, the newbies
[39:29] Speaker 3: are just so exciting and.
[39:31] Speaker 4: Quirky and different and really.
[39:35] Speaker 2: But you're also so because you're all such great new
[39:38] Speaker 2: characters that we have not seen at all, and you're
[39:41] Speaker 2: also like special individually, like what you are bringing to
[39:45] Speaker 2: the show, which is like what the show at its
[39:47] Speaker 2: core is obviously about, and it's like this is the
[39:50] Speaker 2: new crop of like yeah, very.
[39:54] Speaker 1: What was it like working with Jane Lynch? Like did
[39:57] Speaker 1: you know that? Must have been and liked you asked me.
[40:03] Speaker 4: That because to this day, I mean, she is one
[40:07] Speaker 4: of the nicest And when I say one of the
[40:08] Speaker 4: I mean like top three, yes, nicest people. I mean,
[40:12] Speaker 4: I guess number one that I've ever worked with. She
[40:17] Speaker 4: saw me at such a young age. Yes, talk about
[40:20] Speaker 4: treating you like an adult in like a comedy way too. Yeah,
[40:25] Speaker 4: And it's crazy because I think it's like her John
[40:28] Speaker 4: Michael Higgins, like, uh, maybe Jennifer Coolidge. Who else? I
[40:34] Speaker 4: mean There's been so many amazing people. But like when
[40:36] Speaker 4: I think about people that have like sort of chaperoned
[40:40] Speaker 4: me in that way Amy Poehler, like it's weirdly like
[40:43] Speaker 4: these like comedy people who all start the same circle
[40:45] Speaker 4: and then they were humbled at such a young age,
[40:48] Speaker 4: like that, why they're so kind that's a shade. Yeah,
[40:54] Speaker 4: you know, those are the people to me that like
[40:56] Speaker 4: were like they saw me, you know, because I've always
[40:58] Speaker 4: identified as like a can you know, I wasn't ever
[41:02] Speaker 4: calling myself an actor or an actress until like recently,
[41:06] Speaker 4: like maybe like four years ago. I saw interesting manager
[41:10] Speaker 4: and I was like, I want to be an actress
[41:12] Speaker 4: and she was like, bitch, are you on? Basalt's like
[41:14] Speaker 4: that's what do you'd like to hang up? And I
[41:17] Speaker 4: was like, no, I want to actually act. I don't
[41:19] Speaker 4: want to just like be funny. Yeah, but I remember
[41:22] Speaker 4: Jane seeing me, and I remember us just having that
[41:25] Speaker 4: like camaraderie.
[41:28] Speaker 1: It's so funny too. She guys are so funny.
[41:31] Speaker 4: She's so funny. She's the most you know, talented woman
[41:35] Speaker 4: on earth, and she's underrated beyond belief always and yeah,
[41:42] Speaker 4: just such a cool person. I'm so glad that you
[41:44] Speaker 4: asked you about.
[41:45] Speaker 3: Her, Well, I mean like to work with somebody like
[41:47] Speaker 3: that who's such an I like comedic icon, and then
[41:51] Speaker 3: like to have like Jennifer Blutch on the show too.
[41:53] Speaker 3: It felt like so I mean even during the pilot,
[41:56] Speaker 3: like she walked up in her tracksuit and that was
[41:57] Speaker 3: the first time we met her and knew she was
[41:59] Speaker 3: attached to the show at all, and we were like wow, literally,
[42:01] Speaker 3: like I looked up like the Empire State Building.
[42:05] Speaker 1: Was like wow you, Like I can't believe you're on
[42:08] Speaker 1: our show.
[42:08] Speaker 2: And we were terrified to work with her. And we
[42:10] Speaker 2: were in our.
[42:11] Speaker 4: Twenties seen her, You've seen.
[42:12] Speaker 1: Like best thing, I assume, yes, everything.
[42:16] Speaker 3: She's like so nice, but every time she'd walked on
[42:19] Speaker 3: walk on set, she'd have these like monster monologues, monster
[42:23] Speaker 3: lines that made zero sense, but she would like spit
[42:26] Speaker 3: them out with such grace and like never mess up,
[42:28] Speaker 3: and she'd make you laugh so hard that you're like,
[42:30] Speaker 3: don't break her take, because like.
[42:34] Speaker 1: I don't want to make her have to do it again.
[42:36] Speaker 4: Yeah, so you're like trying not to laugh, but that's
[42:38] Speaker 4: so funny.
[42:39] Speaker 3: Best person in the whole world. But you guys have
[42:41] Speaker 3: really funny interactions too, like when you step on the mast,
[42:44] Speaker 3: it's just so so funny.
[42:46] Speaker 4: She really she was also one of those people that
[42:48] Speaker 4: like I felt really safe.
[42:51] Speaker 1: With Hitchcock too. I feel like really took you guys
[42:54] Speaker 1: best with him.
[42:55] Speaker 4: Yeah, we actually did a movie together after the fact,
[42:59] Speaker 4: my dad in a film that I did. Yeah, he
[43:03] Speaker 4: wrote my episode Michael Hitchcock. I remember that also from
[43:06] Speaker 4: the best in Show.
[43:07] Speaker 5: World people all the most amazing body feels so like
[43:13] Speaker 5: connected to his work and those people. Yes, yes, and yeah,
[43:18] Speaker 5: Michael Hitchcock is one of the best super on Earth,
[43:20] Speaker 5: one of the most talented humans on Earth.
[43:23] Speaker 4: Weirdly, Also, I don't know if you guys ever met him.
[43:25] Speaker 4: He played super Gay Warbler and he's now he's been
[43:29] Speaker 4: my brother's best friend from college. But Mason Trueblood, he's
[43:35] Speaker 4: like one of the most music people and he was
[43:36] Speaker 4: also my friend too, Like he was like, and.
[43:39] Speaker 2: He's been great this season. They were like.
[43:43] Speaker 4: They were like, we're going to give him some lines now. Yes,
[43:46] Speaker 4: and he's straighter. He's like married now and lives in beach.
[43:50] Speaker 4: Like he's probably the most heterosexual person on earth, for
[43:53] Speaker 4: better for worse. But like, I just love that he
[43:56] Speaker 4: played that and now I get to see him. But yeah,
[44:01] Speaker 4: I probably definitely had a crush on him when I
[44:03] Speaker 4: was a kid because he's gorgeous.
[44:04] Speaker 2: Oh same, I did too. I couldn't talk to him.
[44:10] Speaker 1: Do you have any favorite.
[44:13] Speaker 3: Numbers that you did on the show, like one that
[44:16] Speaker 3: you were completely terrified and like, yeah, I mean like my.
[44:20] Speaker 4: First numbers was like so good, insane, ridicul you know,
[44:26] Speaker 4: so I think that I mean that one I remember
[44:28] Speaker 4: the most vividly. There's a song that Darren Chris wrote
[44:34] Speaker 4: for the show. Yes what it's called, but it was
[44:39] Speaker 4: so good, and I remember that being like a really
[44:41] Speaker 4: beautiful experience because I got to see him. Somebody didn't
[44:45] Speaker 4: know that.
[44:45] Speaker 1: Well, but like live there this time, this time, that's right, Yes, yes.
[44:52] Speaker 4: I mean the Ariana Grande's song. This is the part.
[44:57] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know when you were on the show
[45:03] Speaker 2: and like people would be texting us like, oh my god,
[45:05] Speaker 2: these numbers are amazing. This kid is amazing. I was like, yeah,
[45:09] Speaker 2: I feel like I'm like I know who this person
[45:11] Speaker 2: is obsessed. I was like I don't. How do you
[45:15] Speaker 2: people not know? Like obviously, like this person is thirteen
[45:20] Speaker 2: and is more talented than all of us. That's how
[45:22] Speaker 2: I felt when you got into the show.
[45:24] Speaker 4: Untrue. But I do remember going trending on Twitter for
[45:27] Speaker 4: the first time when the show.
[45:29] Speaker 2: First came out, which was something because people were not
[45:32] Speaker 2: watching our show as much. So that's that's how good
[45:35] Speaker 2: you were.
[45:35] Speaker 4: It was my Ron Muscat, It's trending, and I remember
[45:38] Speaker 4: then I was like I made it. Yeah, And then
[45:42] Speaker 4: I also got so ill after the show. I don't
[45:45] Speaker 4: want to Oh, oh my god, I don't know who
[45:49] Speaker 4: it's from. I want to say Leah just for fun,
[45:53] Speaker 4: but I don't know. I don't know. I not actually
[45:56] Speaker 4: don't want to. But like I think it just went around.
[45:59] Speaker 2: You know, yeah, I think.
[46:03] Speaker 4: Yeah. I think we all had the ill. And I
[46:05] Speaker 4: was like ill for seven months and I still have
[46:06] Speaker 4: it to this day. Like when I relapsed, I'm like
[46:08] Speaker 4: it was Glee. In any time I was sick or
[46:11] Speaker 4: like worried about something. My mom will text me to
[46:14] Speaker 4: is like, you know, remember he did you can do anything.
[46:17] Speaker 2: Oh my god, true.
[46:21] Speaker 4: Me that Kevin.
[46:23] Speaker 1: That's where you get all your illness from.
[46:25] Speaker 2: They did It did start during Glee.
[46:27] Speaker 1: Then maybe it was.
[46:28] Speaker 4: In the walls I got was sitting for a really
[46:31] Speaker 4: long time.
[46:33] Speaker 2: It is true in Moldy Wall I think that is
[46:38] Speaker 2: why I had back problems. Probably yeah, yeah, you played
[46:42] Speaker 2: Jewish characters. I played someone in a wheelchair.
[46:44] Speaker 4: We all, we all do your thing. I did much
[46:46] Speaker 4: worse than that. I also, I mean, I don't know
[46:48] Speaker 4: if my pulpo is on here, but I did. It's
[46:51] Speaker 4: not my fault. I had a black mom in my
[46:53] Speaker 4: very first serious regular role. Didn't have a dad, just
[46:56] Speaker 4: had a black mom. Her name is Leonora Critchlow and
[47:00] Speaker 4: the most incredible British actresses.
[47:02] Speaker 2: There was a time we used to like joke about this,
[47:04] Speaker 2: not in like, oh isn't this funny? We joke about
[47:06] Speaker 2: the absurdity of it, where like people would say like, oh,
[47:11] Speaker 2: I'm like TV black or though, because it's like when
[47:16] Speaker 2: you're racially ambiguous enough, yes.
[47:18] Speaker 4: And that's why I could play maybe anything in that
[47:22] Speaker 4: era of television, right right, because like I'm an Arab woman.
[47:26] Speaker 4: But some days they thought it was.
[47:28] Speaker 2: Not for Hollywood people who were not willing to do
[47:33] Speaker 2: any sort of work. They're like good enough, yeah.
[47:37] Speaker 4: Exactly, But now looking back, you know, obviously that's crazy.
[47:42] Speaker 1: We learned, yeah exactly, And I please in't a time capsule.
[47:46] Speaker 1: We call it.
[47:46] Speaker 3: We call it the time capsule exactly. It sort of
[47:49] Speaker 3: lives and dies there. We ask everybody this, so I
[48:00] Speaker 3: just I'll just ask it to you. What is the
[48:03] Speaker 3: feeling that Glee leaves you with? Obviously we wish there
[48:07] Speaker 3: was more Myron in the show is such like a
[48:10] Speaker 3: short stint for you?
[48:12] Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess that was my question. It's like, do
[48:15] Speaker 1: you did you wish there was like more time or
[48:17] Speaker 1: was bad enough?
[48:19] Speaker 4: No? I think it was perfect and you know it
[48:23] Speaker 4: was perfect the amount of time.
[48:25] Speaker 1: And I mean I think so.
[48:29] Speaker 4: With you know the line, being a part of something
[48:31] Speaker 4: special makes you special. Like I've said, you know when
[48:35] Speaker 4: I like I was in a sorority regrettably in college,
[48:40] Speaker 4: as you know, I think I told that to a
[48:42] Speaker 4: bunch of white women once, but like I you know,
[48:46] Speaker 4: we'll often say that. And also just like the idea
[48:49] Speaker 4: that like dreams come true, which is really like the
[48:51] Speaker 4: core of the show.
[48:52] Speaker 2: Yea.
[48:53] Speaker 4: And like the fact that I could be this you know,
[48:57] Speaker 4: closeted trans girl in the a small town that's like
[49:02] Speaker 4: called Cowtown, Davis, California, and from Davis. I'm from Davis, squirrel.
[49:08] Speaker 2: Wow.
[49:10] Speaker 4: Yes, like I've been around. No, but you know, to
[49:15] Speaker 4: think that I could be from there and I could
[49:18] Speaker 4: you know, perform at my local theater and dream of
[49:21] Speaker 4: getting to be in the show. And the fact that
[49:23] Speaker 4: I got to be on it. In that way, it
[49:25] Speaker 4: proves to me that like anything is possible anyways. So no,
[49:29] Speaker 4: I'm running for president and do not that I can't wait.
[49:33] Speaker 4: Dreams come true.
[49:34] Speaker 2: Yeah, well, twelve years, you can come on.
[49:36] Speaker 4: Twelve years you can run, true, and I mean it
[49:38] Speaker 4: runs for a third term, then I think everything's off liments,
[49:41] Speaker 4: so then I might as well run. I probably the
[49:43] Speaker 4: best bet.
[49:44] Speaker 2: I'm all for it. I don't need to hear any
[49:47] Speaker 2: of your policy issues and I don't.
[49:49] Speaker 4: Have any, and I don't have any.
[49:51] Speaker 2: Great I'm in amazing, Jose.
[49:56] Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm here.
[49:57] Speaker 3: I'll do your PR. Sorry, I know you have a
[49:59] Speaker 3: PR person. It's okay, right, well, amazing amazing tell us
[50:06] Speaker 3: about blacking Buccaneers.
[50:07] Speaker 2: So you have to remember when I said, you haven't
[50:09] Speaker 2: stopped working work, right.
[50:12] Speaker 4: So if you want to see me play a cist
[50:15] Speaker 4: gender queer woman struggling with her lesbian identity in the
[50:18] Speaker 4: Lady eighteen hundreds, you should watch the Apple series Buccaneers.
[50:24] Speaker 2: On Apple TV plus Exactly What I Want Okay and.
[50:27] Speaker 4: Two comes out this year. There's lesbian related sexual stuff.
[50:32] Speaker 4: There's like tears, I like, am repressed, but like it's not,
[50:37] Speaker 4: it's not traumatic. It's like good repression and it's great.
[50:44] Speaker 4: It's like a bingie show.
[50:47] Speaker 2: How's that experience? Working on that show I had.
[50:51] Speaker 4: Changed my life? It really did change my life because
[50:54] Speaker 4: I was living away from home for the first time.
[50:56] Speaker 4: We were filmed in Scotland. Wow, I've been living on
[50:59] Speaker 4: and on in the UK for three years now and
[51:02] Speaker 4: so not because of it. I have a whole community.
[51:04] Speaker 2: Yeah, and some of my.
[51:06] Speaker 4: Best friends are from that show. I talk to them
[51:09] Speaker 4: every single day. And getting to do like a drama
[51:13] Speaker 4: was so different.
[51:15] Speaker 2: Right, you wanted to be an actress?
[51:16] Speaker 4: You do?
[51:17] Speaker 1: Come true?
[51:18] Speaker 4: I did.
[51:19] Speaker 2: You were the most powerful manifestor I've ever seen.
[51:22] Speaker 4: I guess, So what should I say next? I'm like,
[51:24] Speaker 4: I know, please, I want for us?
[51:26] Speaker 1: Do you feel like do you feel like the thing
[51:29] Speaker 1: is true?
[51:29] Speaker 3: When they said when you could do Glee, you can
[51:32] Speaker 3: do anything like like this is this has been an easy.
[51:36] Speaker 1: Easier I guess challenging a different ways, but like, yeah,
[51:39] Speaker 1: that different.
[51:40] Speaker 4: Has ever been a part as glean will ever be,
[51:43] Speaker 4: you know, and even with I could wake up at
[51:46] Speaker 4: any hour of any day and like be asked of
[51:49] Speaker 4: almost anything and be okay, not that I'm inviting, not
[51:53] Speaker 4: that I'm inviting that, but like, you know, on at
[51:56] Speaker 4: four am, because at six am you might have to
[51:59] Speaker 4: be performing, right, you know. So it's something that like
[52:04] Speaker 4: is a part of me now. And even on this
[52:07] Speaker 4: show is like, yeah, like work compared to what to do?
[52:13] Speaker 4: We were Traumatnam's kidding, no, no, I'm talking about it.
[52:18] Speaker 4: Like it was like I'm like John McCain from Vietnam.
[52:21] Speaker 4: It was a very like we had like Chipotle every day,
[52:25] Speaker 4: Like it was very comfortable. I like had like a
[52:27] Speaker 4: PA dedicated to taking care of me. I think his
[52:29] Speaker 4: name is Kevin Kevin, and he was phenomenal. I love
[52:36] Speaker 4: him so much. He was like in the military, Like
[52:41] Speaker 4: I had a very comfortable life.
[52:43] Speaker 1: I like, I got a bike.
[52:45] Speaker 4: You can't complain.
[52:46] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. I get it.
[52:49] Speaker 3: Well, You're amazing, And everybody go watch The Buccaneers Season two.
[52:55] Speaker 1: It airs on Wednesdays on Apple TV.
[52:58] Speaker 2: The first two episodes are out now go watch it.
[53:01] Speaker 2: And when you're in London, can you please hit me up?
[53:03] Speaker 4: Oh? Absolutely, thank you so much.
[53:07] Speaker 1: You really really appreciate it.
[53:08] Speaker 4: You. Oh, thank you. It was so good hanging out
[53:10] Speaker 4: with you guys. You're too I know.
[53:12] Speaker 1: I wish I had like spent more time on the
[53:13] Speaker 1: show together. Although this is actually better.
[53:16] Speaker 4: There's gonna be future stuff and also like now we
[53:19] Speaker 4: like ye know each other.
[53:20] Speaker 2: I'll make you jealous, Jenna, and hang out with Josie and.
[53:23] Speaker 4: Yeah, please send me pictures and when I come to
[53:25] Speaker 4: La I'm calling you.
[53:26] Speaker 1: Thank you, Josie. Josie's amazing. That was incredible.
[53:33] Speaker 2: She's an adult.
[53:35] Speaker 1: She as an adult.
[53:35] Speaker 3: Which is funny because like I say, like I wish
[53:38] Speaker 3: we had spent more time on the show, but actually,
[53:40] Speaker 3: like I'm sure we would have connected, but.
[53:42] Speaker 1: Like in a different way, you know what I mean.
[53:44] Speaker 1: Like it's just a totally different thing.
[53:47] Speaker 3: The whole thing is so fascinating to here because like
[53:52] Speaker 3: we weren't there and Myron was like the doogie houser.
[53:57] Speaker 2: On the show and the only kid to be on
[53:59] Speaker 2: the show that ever it was.
[54:01] Speaker 1: That is crazy. That is so crazy.
[54:04] Speaker 2: It is a hard job for a full theater trained adult.
[54:09] Speaker 1: I can just throw our thirteen year old into that.
[54:11] Speaker 1: It is just absolutely bunkers by.
[54:14] Speaker 2: Josie's super talented and modest, but she has talent coming
[54:19] Speaker 2: out every limb, just every absolute best.
[54:24] Speaker 3: Go watch Buccaneers Hunts on Apple TV and thank you
[54:29] Speaker 3: Josie for your time and for coming on and sharing it,
[54:34] Speaker 3: and that's what you really missed.
[54:36] Speaker 2: Thanks for listening and follow us on Instagram at and
[54:39] Speaker 2: that's what you really miss pod. Make sure to write
[54:41] Speaker 2: us a review and leave us five stars. See you
[54:43] Speaker 2: next time.

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