NPR
Friday, January 29, 2021
From the NBC musical comedy Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, actors Skylar Astin and John Clarence Stewart check their information of standard songs and unconventional devices. Seems, even a printer may be an instrument in the proper fingers. Heard on Ken Jeong: Mask Me Another.
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From the NBC musical comedy Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, actors Skylar Astin and John Clarence Stewart check their information of standard songs and unconventional devices.
Transcript
OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:
Our first two contestants star within the musical sequence “Zoe’s Extraordinary Playlist,” which airs Tuesdays on NBC. And within the present, the characters’ innermost ideas are expressed as pop songs. Skylar Astin and John Clarence Stewart, welcome to ASK ME ANOTHER.
SKYLAR ASTIN: Hello there.
JOHN CLARENCE STEWART: Good day.
EISENBERG: Good day, Skylar. Good day, John.
STEWART: What’s up?
EISENBERG: John, I like that you simply’re in your automotive, until that is the very best digital background of all time.
STEWART: Oh, it is positively my automotive. It is positively my automotive. Yeah.
JONATHAN COULTON, BYLINE: Yeah – good, quiet place.
EISENBERG: And, Skylar, you might be wherever you might be. Once more, until that’s the most superb digital background, it appears to be like like you might be in an undisclosed location.
(LAUGHTER)
ASTIN: That is proper. I am in my bunker.
EISENBERG: Yeah.
ASTIN: I am really – yeah.
STEWART: Blink if you happen to’re OK.
COULTON: Yeah.
ASTIN: I am positive.
EISENBERG: OK, good, good, good, good.
STEWART: OK.
ASTIN: However I did be taught that this locks from either side, so, , we’ll steer clear of…
EISENBERG: Oh, good.
COULTON: Actually?
ASTIN: Yeah.
COULTON: Fascinating.
ASTIN: Yeah.
EISENBERG: Security.
ASTIN: Yeah.
EISENBERG: And, John, I really feel – , I used to be watching some interviews that you have finished. And I really feel like, , many actors pursue performing, however I believe that is proper to say that performing really pursued you.
STEWART: Yeah. My profession and my life in performing has been – I imply, from the genesis, it was my senior 12 months in highschool, following my pal Crystalette (ph) after a math class to an audition. And Coop (ph), the highschool drama instructor, requested me if I sang, and I stated no. After which she requested me to sing “Glad Birthday,” and I stated, OK. And he or she put me within the present. And it turned out to be “As soon as On This Island,” and I performed Papa Ge. So, like…
COULTON: Hey.
STEWART: The very first thing that I ever did was this highschool manufacturing that I wasn’t aspiring to do. And it wasn’t till I auditioned for Kaiser Permanente – they’d an academic – a preventative instructional program that traveled round to Boys and Women Golf equipment and YMCAs the place I performed the character Juan B. Wholesome.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: What had been the matters?
ASTIN: Maintain on. What had been the opposite character names?
COULTON: That is a great query. Yeah.
STEWART: Juan B. Wholesome – his co-partner was Crisp E. Broccoli (ph).
COULTON: OK, certain.
STEWART: Crisp E. Broccoli. After which we did one on the ABCs of bronchial asthma. And…
EISENBERG: Wild.
STEWART: Hey, hey. Here is the factor. You get in the best way you get in. My factor is…
COULTON: Hell yeah.
EISENBERG: Yeah.
STEWART: The primary – it was the primary performing job that ever paid me. After which I assumed, it is my first time inside a neighborhood of actors that made a lifetime of it. And it wasn’t till a number of different sequences of, , occasions…
EISENBERG: Yeah.
STEWART: …That took me to New York years later, so yeah.
EISENBERG: Proper. And now this – , we’re speaking about Season 2 of this sequence, “Zoe’s Extraordinary Playlist,” which I’d think about, from the viewpoint of an actor, is likely one of the most demanding tv roles since you’re not simply performing, you are additionally dancing. You are additionally singing. There’s choreography. It isn’t only one style, it is each style. It is each sort of type. And it is tv, so it is shifting quick.
ASTIN: Yeah. I believe that that is sort of, like, the blessing of our present. And at instances, not going to lie, like, irritating as a result of it is no person’s fault, however it’s simply – it generally seems like, oh, my gosh, may I please know what I am doing tomorrow?
EISENBERG: (Laughter).
ASTIN: Is it dancing?
COULTON: (Laughter).
ASTIN: You realize, actually. I imply, it…
EISENBERG: Yup.
ASTIN: Issues are altering.
STEWART: Yup.
ASTIN: Issues change within the movie business. After which, , there’s different components of manufacturing, preproduction and post-production that we’re not part of – making demos, tracks, finalizing the playback, it is not prepared. Mandy really obtained pulled to an enormous group quantity, so your solo quantity’s obtained to go. We misplaced a location, and all of the dominoes that then fall there. So sure, irritating at instances, however on the finish of the day, utterly rewarding.
EISENBERG: Now we have a pair video games for you. Are you into – are you prepared? It’s important to be into it. Are you prepared (laughter)?
COULTON: (Laughter).
ASTIN: We’re. We’re very into it.
EISENBERG: (Laughter) OK, good. All proper. So you are going to be competing on this first recreation, so we’re simply going to shuttle. And here is what is going on to occur. We’re going to play you YouTube clips of some actually well-known songs being performed on some unconventional devices. Your job is to determine the tune and perhaps even the instrument being performed. And we now have hyperlinks to all of those movies on-line. So John, let’s examine the way you go along with this primary one to.
(SOUNDBITE OF BOTTLE BOYS’ “CALL ME MAYBE”)
STEWART: “Name Me Possibly”?
EISENBERG: Sure, that’s appropriate.
STEWART: And that seems like a – it is not a steel – it is seems like a wooden flute, like a…
COULTON: Mmm hmm.
STEWART: Whoo whoo whoo whoo whoo whoo whoo (ph).
EISENBERG: All proper. So yeah, you’ve the mouth motion good.
STEWART: (Laughter).
EISENBERG: (Laughter) You are blowing…
STEWART: I do what I can for the folks.
EISENBERG: …Right into a…
COULTON: (Laughter).
EISENBERG: But it surely’s not right into a woodwind. It’s a glass bottle. These are glass bottles.
ASTIN: Wow.
STEWART: Wow.
EISENBERG: Yeah. Yeah.
STEWART: Shade me stunned.
EISENBERG: I do know.
COULTON: (Laughter).
EISENBERG: I do know. That’s carried out by the Bottle Boys.
ASTIN: Oh.
EISENBERG: They carry out…
COULTON: Aptly named.
EISENBERG: …Plenty of them.
STEWART: All however (unintelligible) (laughter).
EISENBERG: Yeah. I suppose…
STEWART: What number of boys are there?
EISENBERG: There’s 4 Bottle Boys, however they’ve 114,000 subscribers…
ASTIN: Wow.
STEWART: Oh.
EISENBERG: …Which is what they…
STEWART: All proper.
EISENBERG: Yeah, they’re actual. That is actual (laughter).
COULTON: (Laughter).
ASTIN: That is nearly 30,000 subscribers every Bottle Boy.
COULTON: That is proper (laughter).
EISENBERG: (Laughter) Yeah, precisely.
COULTON: It is a good ratio. That is a great ratio.
ASTIN: Yeah. So principally what you are saying is there is not any manner we’ll guess the second a part of the reply…
STEWART: (Laughter).
COULTON: No.
EISENBERG: Appropriate.
ASTIN: …Ever.
COULTON: Yeah. You know the way precisely it really works.
STEWART: Oh.
EISENBERG: Precisely.
COULTON: You might have it precisely.
EISENBERG: Precisely.
STEWART: Properly-played, Skylar. Yeah.
ASTIN: Thanks.
COULTON: All proper, Skylar, right here is one for you.
(SOUNDBITE OF DANIEL NORBERG’S “BAD GUY”)
ASTIN: Ah, sure, sure, sensible.
COULTON: (Laughter).
ASTIN: Billy Eilish, “Unhealthy Man.”
COULTON: Sure, it is “Unhealthy Man,” carried out by Daniel Norberg.
ASTIN: That’s wild.
COULTON: Yeah. You’ll be much more amazed if what the instrument is that it is being performed on.
ASTIN: A soprano kazoo might be not far sufficient.
COULTON: Mmm hmm.
ASTIN: So what I’ll say is it is performed on a kindergarten backpack zipper. No, I am kidding.
COULTON: (Laughter).
ASTIN: I do not know.
COULTON: That is positively a factor – so it is positively a factor that you simply blow on. You’d maintain it between your thumbs.
ASTIN: OK. A bit of grass.
COULTON: Blades of grass. That’s appropriate.
EISENBERG: Yeah.
ASTIN: OK. However that is – yeah, I believe you helped me just a little bit. So that you would possibly want to assist John out just a little extra on the subsequent spherical.
EISENBERG: (Laughter).
COULTON: Yeah. All proper. I am going to do it.
STEWART: That was good.
EISENBERG: All proper, John. I am enthusiastic about this subsequent one. That is for you.
(SOUNDBITE OF AMOSDOLL MUSIC’S “OLD TOWN ROAD”)
STEWART: (Singing) Previous city highway. I am gonna journey until I can not no extra. I obtained the horses within the again.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: One thing, one thing, one thing. That is “Previous City Street.” That is Lil Nas X…
EISENBERG: Yeah, that is proper.
STEWART: …And Billy Ray Cyrus (unintelligible) the remix.
EISENBERG: “Previous City Street,” that was by Amosdoll Music.
STEWART: OK. So these appeared like cats.
EISENBERG: Yeah, it is a cat keyboard.
COULTON: A cat keyboard.
EISENBERG: It is a cat keyboard.
STEWART: A cat keyboard.
EISENBERG: Mmm hmm. It is formed like a cat’s face. The keys are the cat’s enamel.
STEWART: All proper.
EISENBERG: (Laughter).
STEWART: Nice (laughter).
EISENBERG: (Laughter).
COULTON: All proper, Skylar. That is the final one, and it is for you.
ASTIN: OK.
(SOUNDBITE OF MIDI DESASTER’S “DOT MACARENA PRINTER”)
ASTIN: OK, so it is the “Macarena.”
EISENBERG: (Laughter).
COULTON: That’s proper. “Macarena” by Los del Rio, and it was carried out by Midi Desaster.
ASTIN: And it feels prefer it’s performed on, like, a…
COULTON: It is an previous piece of expertise.
ASTIN: A printer?
COULTON: Dot matrix printer.
ASTIN: A dot matrix printer. OK.
COULTON: A dot matrix printer. Keep in mind these?
EISENBERG: Yeah.
COULTON: They made that noise as a result of they had been simply…
ASTIN: I do not.
COULTON: Properly, there you go. That is why you do not (laughter)…
ASTIN: It is only a area of interest – it is like, for me, I am like, look – and I lived via this. I had, , the floppy disks and stuff…
COULTON: Uh huh.
ASTIN: …In grade faculty and every little thing.
COULTON: Uh huh.
EISENBERG: Yeah.
STEWART: (Laughter).
ASTIN: However I believe, like, if you happen to had been – , if you happen to gave me an AOL dial-up 1994, like, post-prodigy-era Web…
COULTON: (Laughter) Yeah.
ASTIN: …That was actually the place I peaked, ? That is the place I used to be…
EISENBERG: (Laughter).
ASTIN: …Beginning to actually perceive the expertise.
COULTON: I gotcha. I gotcha.
EISENBERG: And I used to be considering, , it was once that the final place they had been nonetheless there was airports. They might print out…
ASTIN: Ah.
EISENBERG: However I really feel like that is lengthy gone, too.
ASTIN: Oh, they use these in “Die Laborious” I really feel.
EISENBERG: (Laughter) Yeah.
ASTIN: The primary “Die Laborious.”
EISENBERG: (Laughter) Precisely.
COULTON: (Laughter) That is completely true.
ASTIN: Or the airport within the second “Die Laborious,” “Die More durable.”
STEWART: Bruce Willis. Let’s get Bruce Willis on the road.
ASTIN: Yeah.
EISENBERG: (Laughter) Yeah, precisely.
COULTON: Yeah.
EISENBERG: He knew it. He knew it.
COULTON: Particular visitor.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
EISENBERG: Extra with Skylar Astin and John Clarence Stewart after the break. Plus, comedians Cameron Esposito and Beth Stelling will hear breaking information experiences from film worlds. And just a little later, Ken Jeong. I am Ophira Eisenberg. And that is ASK ME ANOTHER from NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript supplied by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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