COLBY MINIFIE Grew Up Busking In Central Park
81 min
•May 5, 202626 days agoSummary
Actress Colby Minifie discusses her unconventional upbringing in New York City with an opera-singing father who busked in Central Park, family trips to New Hampshire and Italy, and her early entry into Broadway at age 12 as an understudy in The Pillowman. The conversation explores how her parents' creative values and her father's philosophy of treating life as a learning opportunity shaped her career in theater and television.
Insights
- Parental modeling of creative risk-taking and public performance normalizes artistic expression for children, reducing performance anxiety and embarrassment
- Growing up in NYC with limited TV exposure created unique cultural discovery moments (Justin Timberlake in Rome) that became formative memories
- Early professional opportunities in union theater provided immediate credibility and network access that accelerated career trajectory
- Geographic upbringing (NYC vs. rural New Hampshire) creates distinct mental health and social resilience patterns in adulthood
- Family traditions around music and performance create lasting bonding rituals that persist into adulthood despite initial adolescent embarrassment
Trends
Parental philosophy of 'learning opportunities' over risk-aversion in child development and career decisionsNYC-raised professionals maintaining strong East Coast identity despite LA work opportunitiesIntergenerational transmission of performance anxiety management through normalization rather than avoidanceValue of professional performing arts schools in creating peer networks and accelerating career entry for young talentMental health benefits of urban environments (forced social interaction) vs. car-dependent lifestyles in LARent-stabilized housing as multi-generational family anchor in expensive urban marketsFamily reunion culture in rural New England as counterbalance to urban childhoodBusking as legitimate income and cultural contribution in pre-digital NYC economy
Topics
Child actors and Broadway union requirementsParenting philosophy: learning opportunities vs. risk avoidanceNYC upbringing and cultural identity formationPerformance anxiety and public singingFamily traditions and intergenerational bondingRent-stabilized housing in New York CityProfessional performing arts high schoolsBusking and street performance cultureGeographic differences in mental health (urban vs. suburban)Early career entry in entertainment industryFather-daughter relationships in creative familiesItaly travel and cultural discoveryCentral Park as community gathering spaceUnderstudy roles and theater apprenticeshipChildhood media consumption and parental controls
Companies
Gourmet Magazine
Colby's mother worked there for 32 years; magazine gifted the family a trip to Italy and Venice as a 25th anniversary...
Prime Video
Streaming platform where the final season of 'The Boys' (Colby's show) will be released
Grace Church
Historic NYC church where Colby's grandfather was minister; family lived in the 40-room rectory in the 1960s
People
Colby Minifie
Guest discussing her upbringing in NYC, early Broadway career starting at age 12, and family's creative traditions
Seth Meyers
Co-host of the podcast conducting the interview with Colby Minifie
Josh Meyers
Co-host who writes custom songs at the end of each episode; created a Les Mis parody for a friend's birthday
Colby's Father
Busked in Central Park with his children; renovated apartments in Manhattan; lived in squatter loft; taught children ...
Billy Crudup
Lead actor in The Pillowman where Colby was an understudy at age 12-13; mentioned as attractive and inspiring
Martin McDonough
Wrote The Pillowman; Colby met him during tech rehearsals and was impressed by his appearance and work
Jeff Goldblum
Cast member in The Pillowman during Colby's understudy tenure
Michael Stuhlbarg
Cast member in The Pillowman during Colby's understudy tenure
Madeline Martin
Played multiple child roles in The Pillowman; Colby understudied her parts
Annie Funkebone
Friend who hiked the Grand Canyon with Colby in one day; Broadway performer and singer
Ken Burns
Seth mentioned watching his Henry David Thoreau documentary while discussing nature and New England
Justin Timberlake
Colby and sister discovered 'Sexy Back' music video on MTV in Rome hotel; formative cultural moment
Brooks Whelan
Seth mentioned performing with him at Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque
Mark Smith
Guest on a previous episode of the podcast that day
Quotes
"I think he just wanted to instill in us the idea that we could do this anywhere that this is a gift. It's awesome. It's such a cool thing."
Colby Minifie•On her father's philosophy of public singing
"We're not actually mean. We just are, we are supportive and kind, but not nice. Like we're not going to be like, you know, I don't know what night, the difference between nice and kind, but yeah. Like we're going to like, if you're in trouble, we will help you, but we'll do it very quickly."
Colby Minifie•Describing New York City culture
"I realized like halfway through high school that I, even though I grew up in New York City, I felt like I knew nothing and then proceeded to travel as much as humanly possible."
Colby Minifie•On her motivation to explore nature and the world
"If you're in this business, you get to know a lot of them. And anytime they turn out normal, you're very impressed."
Seth Meyers•On children raised in major cities like NYC and LA
"I would, yeah, yeah. I realized like halfway through high school that I, even though I grew up in New York City, I felt like I knew nothing and then proceeded to travel as much as humanly possible. Cause I was like, I don't know anything about nature really."
Colby Minifie•On discovering nature and outdoor activities
Full Transcript
Hi, buddy. Hi, Sue V. How's it going? Good. How are you? I'm good. What are you up to? Yeah, I don't know. Beautiful day here in LA. Beautiful day here in New York City as well. We finally got spring. It was a long time coming. Yeah. Very exciting development that I think is your kids. Also, like I can't quite remember what it was like to be three, four, five years old. So I feel like oftentimes I'm observing my children and I'm like, I don't know if I ever acted like that or did that. But now that they're like eight and 10, especially the boys, I'm like, oh, this feels like being poshie. They really like playing baseball on the weekend. And the only downside is I think we usually only make it like one and a third innings before Axl quits. That's tough. That's tough. But Dad got him one of these nets where you, you know, has like a yellow square. And so you can throw the ball and the net and it'll bounce back. Oh, yeah. So it works really good. It's a backstop when you're playing baseball. You can call balls and strikes and then also if they want to go out and play by themselves. So we're playing like we had this beautiful day of playing basketball. And then the worst thing happened, which is they also got somebody gave them these like plastic bow and arrows. And which I have to have something else to say about that, which is, they had these plastic and they decided, oh, we can play the hunger games. And so they put the bow and arrow and then a bunch of sticks and just like weapons in a pile. I don't know if you know how the hunger games works, poshie. I will admit that I don't. So in the hunger games, the book and then the film, everybody, there's a circle around this like weapons cache. Okay. And on go, everybody like runs to the middle and grabs a weapon. Gotcha. So they played hunger games. And now would you bet that somebody did or didn't get hurt when my kids started playing hunger games? I mean, as soon as you said plastic bow and arrows, I thought one of your kids was in the hospital. And the best thing about the old hunger games was Ash going like, I got hurt. And I'm like, at the hunger games. So, but it was, I was still, you know, a beautiful day, kids outside, you know, they do mountain biking. They're very good. I'm very proud of them for how much they're outside on the weekends. Yeah. Got to be, it's beautiful out there. You know, I've been watching Ken Burns did a Henry David Thoreau. It's not Thoreau, I guess. Thoreau. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. And I've been watching that and it like all of the stuff around Walden and all of, you know, the nature stuff that he was sort of very, very well known for. They show these, you know, beautiful images of New England and these paths and these lakes and the mountains. And, you know, that's where your kids are essentially like it's very close to there. That's where they're spending their their time outside. And it's just beautiful. And if you don't take advantage of it, then yeah, you're missing out. When we moved to New Hampshire, I think that I look because we move mid year. And I remember that I think the first thing we did when I moved was like a Thoreau like unit. Yeah. I think I was a fourth grader. Does that seem right? Yeah. Maybe a little younger. No, maybe fourth. I can't remember. Young and the fourth. But I remember reading about it and like how our teachers were like really hammering home how lucky we were to live in New England. Like that this is this. And I'm sure the kids who grew up everywhere and correctly so are told that where they live is special. I think that's a good thing to get across. Yeah. Can I tell you my new least favorite things the kids do on the walk to school? Yeah, please. They each guess what time we'll get there. So I tell them what time we leave the door. It's like 25 minutes. They each guess. And then do they just leave it? That's how the game is fun. Is they just leave it and we get to the thing. And then but they can't. Ash now has been cheating because I didn't realize he's got a little digital watch. So all of a sudden I look I'm like why is he half black ahead? I'm like oh and then Axel's like it's not fair. He has a watch. And so it just it's a yeah. I was a real watch person and then my watch broke like four months ago now and I just haven't replaced it and it's kind of nice. I've never been a watch person and the only reason I'm kind of thinking about like watch life is just you know like health apps like a health. I don't never care. Obviously. Yeah. I don't know what time it is. But yeah. So anyway, I might watch it up as well. Fantastic conversation today with Colby Minofi. Yeah. This I don't think either of us she hadn't been on your show. You didn't know her? No. Yeah. But she was that delightful first time meeting on the old part. Some good stories. So Little New Hampshire. Little New Hampshire. Little New Hampshire way up there. And and like yeah that hardcore northern New Hampshire little tip. Yeah. Really enjoyed this conversation. Really enjoyed hearing about her sort of path in the theater world is fascinating. And it's a great story. Great parents. Hey Posh do you mind if I use this time real quick to shout out some stand updates? Yeah no go for it. I'm going to be in Denver on Friday May 8th doing a couple of shows at the Paramount Theater. I think a seven and a 10. Seven thirty and a 10. And then in Albuquerque at the Route 66 Casino. I'm going to be with our very good friend Brooks Whelan who's hilarious and do do check it out if you're if you're thereabouts in the area. Great. You can go to SethMeyers.com for tickets Posh. How about that? Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Enjoy it. A cold be and thanks for listening everybody. Hello. Hello. Look who it is. I'm good. How are you? Good. So nice to see you to me to all the things. Yes. See you. You all the things you guys look exactly the same. That's what we hear. And I'm not even wearing it when I when I put my glasses on. Oh man. See. Yeah. That's best. Oh it's the it's your twins. Yeah. How far apart are you? Two years. Oh yeah. So I'm always I just want to start by saying I'm very happy to meet New York New York City raised. New York City born and raised. So I'm very happy because like we're obviously we're like suburban New Hampshire kids and I'm raising New York City kids. And so anytime I meet one that's like sort of a well adjusted good person. It gives me faith. So don't know that. Don't blow this for me. That we're about to find out. Yeah. Yeah. You don't I'm actually a nightmare. If this goes if you ever hear that I moved to the suburbs. No it's because of this interview. There's so much riding on this interview. Yeah. Wait where are suburban New Hampshire where are you guys from? Bedford New Hampshire. That's right. Manchester. Manchester. Manchester. Manchester. Yes I know exactly. I spent every summer in Randolph. So like Northern Northern New Hampshire close to Berlin and Gorham way up there. Yeah. And was that camp time? Not so much camp. No my my dad's a whole my dad's one of six and all of his siblings bought this cabin in the woods in this tiny little town. I'm getting a UPS delivery right now. So if you hear that that's what's happening. You can't you never know when they're going to come. Nope. Yeah. And so they bought this little cabin in the woods and we would all go up there an eight hour drive from New York City. So that's where I spent every summer but we would drive right through. So an eight hour drive and you would go would you really go for the whole summer? No the two weeks and then we'd go home and then we'd come back for another week and then we'd go or it was sorry one first week was one week and then we'd go home and we come back for two weeks. And was that because of there were too many people there or was like your parents like we have to go back to the city for work or was it? It was a share. It was it was probably work related. Yeah. And then also we had we had to like we'd be like well Ned gets this week and then Chad gets this week. Gotcha. And we get these weeks and you know. Yeah. Could you do two families simultaneously or was it really? Yeah. Sometimes it was because there were two two houses. It sounds grand but they're really, really old. They're like built in the 18 set. I'm probably butchering that date. My dad is going to be really mad. Because he's told me the story a million times. There were really old cabins that were built out and then there's a tiny little cabin on the side that's like very cute that has enough space for like one of those 17 inch stoves and like a tiny little kitchen. So oftentimes would be like, oh, Ned's going to stay in the little house and we get the big house and we'd switch or, you know. And did you look forward to this? Were you excited to go? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I learned how to ride a bike up there. I mean learning this is the thing. Where do you teach your kids how to ride a bike in New York? Yeah. By the way, my wife is like on the street. Like she's like, I have a fearless wife who will be like, let's take a bike ride a bike in this city. And she's like, yes. Yeah. I mean, by the way, a different city now, more bike paths. Way more. I used to bike to and from high school every day. And that was before a lot of those bike paths were put in and I had to go through Columbus Circle and, you know, my, because my dad, I grew up, my dad biking in the city. That's how he got around. He had like a little thing on the back of, it was, it was like a car seat that he like took apart and put on the back of his bike. And then he had a, one of those, just a seat that he put on the crossbar for my sister. And so I was in the back bungee corded in and then my sister was on the front crossbar and that's how we got around. So biking has always been safe. Learning how to ride a bike. Yeah. Where do you do that? Yeah, you're right. Where did you, what part of the city did you grow up in? Upper East Side. Great. Yeah. I know. Are your parents still there? My, it's a rent stabilized apartment. My mom moved from DC into that apartment in 1977 and has never left. And so they pay like nothing for a three bedroom, two bath on the Upper East Side. Wow. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Were you aware growing up in New York City that it was a unique upbringing or was it only after you left and met people who didn't grow up in New York City that you realized that? I started realizing it was unique, I think, um, when I was going to Middle School and high school in Times Square and having to like walk through all the tourists and be like, why are you taking these videos of a billboard? I need to get to school. Right, right. Like in a science class and like, you know, and then I was like, oh, people like, like this place. This, this is a cool zone to grow up in. Yeah. Yeah. Josh, do you live in the city? No, I live in Los Angeles, but it's a city. Yeah. Yeah. And, and you have kids? I do not. They do not, do not have kids. Yeah. Cause that's a unique, that's also a rare thing. Having kids that grow up, are born and raised in LA, born and raised in New York, I feel like. Yeah. Yeah. And we know a lot of them. If you're in this business, you get to know a lot of them. And anytime they turn out normal, you're very impressed. It is, it is rare. Would you meet and hang out with local kids when you would go up to New Hampshire? Yes. There were some kids I used to smoke some weed with, which I probably shouldn't say this, a family podcast. Yeah. Family podcast. You heard it was a podcast. That's why you wanted to come on. You're like, I got, yeah, I got stories. The right before we went live, you were like, oh no, no, no, no, a pod. It's a podcast. No, yeah, there were some kids, we would hang out with some local kids, but I do think there is that thing, you know, of, of the city, the like summer people and the local people, and the local people were very welcoming to us. But I think there was that like, who are these kids coming through? Who do you think like, like were you, you know, I don't want to make this too weed centric, but like were they like more weed forward than you were? Or were you like that kid who shut up and was like, hey, I'm from New York. Got the drugs around here. I think later. Real quick, Colby, this is the second podcast we've recorded today and Seth used that voice in the last one. I used it for Olympic swimmer Mark Smith. It was his impression of Mark Smith's, but anyhow, please, back to you Colby. You need the good voice. We have to have the voices here. Hey, who's maple tree? I got a tap to get some of that good stuff. You got to get, that's where all the good maple syrup comes. Yeah. I will be doing this whole thing in a Brooklyn accent just for fun. No, I'm trying to remember how that went. I feel like it was, I was really into weed in high school, so it was probably me. Yeah, it was probably me. It's good that you weren't so into it that you don't have the memory for it. That's true. Couldn't have, couldn't have spoken that much. Was it, was it Lake Livin'? Was it Lake Life up in Randolph? It was, there was a lake, there was a very cold lake where the water would melt off the white mountains and be extremely cold. And then we dip in that. And then there was a man made lake right close by that we would dip in that was warmer. But it was hiking. It was mainly hiking. Yeah. And you were a kid who was like, I feel like that's very, that speaks well of you, that you were a kid who was like, oh my God, a vacation where we're going to go hiking, but you liked that. You would get excited. I would, yeah, yeah. I realized like halfway through high school that I, even though I grew up in New York City, I felt like I knew nothing and then proceeded to travel as much as humanly possible. Cause I was like, I don't know anything about nature really. Right. Like I remember I, this is really embarrassing, but I bought a house recently in the Hudson Valley and, and the, after the first winter, you know, I had such a hard time mowing my lawn. I was, I was like, I'm not going to make anybody mow. I'm not going to pay for that. I'm going to do that. And I, I, I let it go for like four months and then tried to mow it and then broke this rider mower and then had to get it. I mean, it was like such a, I really didn't know what I was doing. And I remember after the first winter, I had some, um, pest people looking at my house and I was like, I don't know who's been mowing my lawn, but like it's so, it's still short. Like it's been short for months. And I'm like, well, the grass doesn't grow in the winter. And I was like, oh yeah. You're like, and I look back and I, I should not have gone to that town meeting and said, we have a ghost mower while you're all hanging your Christmas decorations. I want to know who's been mowing my damn lawn without giving consent. Pilgrims had a very similar first winter. Yeah. In New England. Yeah. Yes. Were you guys a trip family outside of your like sort of summer in Randolph? Would you guys travel a lot? Not really. We were, we were, yeah, it was like my parent, I think my parents traveled a whole bunch before they had kids and after they had kids, they had kids later in life and after they had kids, they were like, yeah, I think we like comfort. We, this is too much, but we did do, we did have this one magical. This is, when I heard about this podcast, I was like, I know exactly what story I'm going to tell. Very excited. We love, we love this person. Bring it up. Who shows up? Who shows up? My mom worked for Gourmet magazine, which is now defunct. It closed my senior year of high school, but she worked there for 32 years. And this was back when magazines like had, you know, money. And on my, my, my mother's 25th anniversary of being at this magazine, they said, we're going to gift you a trip anywhere you want in the world with your family. And my parents picked Rome and Venice in Italy. And this was like our big fancy trip. And there were a few things that happened on this trip that were really spectacular. One is I wasn't, I didn't grow up watching TV. My parents like, I didn't even know how to turn on the TV. I'm growing up, my dad put the remote behind his back and like snap his fingers when they wanted to watch a movie. We get like a movie a weekend. And so we were like, this magic box, how does it work? By the way, this is, I'm going to tell you something. I'm less and less surprised you didn't know about grass in the winter. Is that what they teach on TV? I didn't know. Wow. Oh, now I'm really, I'm learning a lot. Is that what they taught on like Arthur? Yeah. Yeah. Arthur the art work was basically like, don't embarrass yourself. This is, this is what happens with grass. This is how grass grows. Yeah. No, yeah. So I, I, we got to Rome and we were in this hotel and my sister and I put on the TV and there was MTV and we were like, what is this thing? This MTV thing. I was 12. My sister was 14. She's two and a half years older. She's probably 14 going on 15. And we, Justin Timberlake, what is the song where he's like, I'll have you naked by the end of this song? You know that song? Oh God. Is it Sexy Back? I'm bringing Sexy Back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. See, you. Yes, it is. No. Yes. You guys were raised in the world. Yeah. I was raised in some TV barren land. You were raised in a family of magicians who would snap their fingers. Pure magic. Magic evidence. And so we had, we watched this, this music video over and over again. And we were like, oh my gosh, this is so fun. And my sister was like, I was like, this is like, you know, risky. Like he's saying naked. What is this? He's saying like, ooh, hate it. Like he's saying naked. And my sister was like, he's not saying naked. He's saying, I'll have you naked by the end of this song. And she was so adamant about him having said naked instead of naked to like save the embarrassment of watching this. Oh, she was, she was, she was embarrassed on her own behalf. Perhaps. So she had to make it naked. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. I think she was like, yeah, we're not. It's, this is not like a sexy song. This, even though it's called, I'm bringing sexy back. This is, by the way, every parent's dream when they first bring their children to Italy. This is the culture we want them to get. Exactly. It's, it's just Justin Timberlake really is what we want in Italy. Yeah. And then we, I remember we went to this gelato place every single day called Gio Litti, which we just had our boys' Rome premiere, like the premiere of the last season in Rome. And I went to Gio Litti as much as humanly possible to kind of relive that trip. Did you, are you the kind of like cast of mate who's like, hey guys, Gio Litti's came as a kid, gonna blow your mind. Everybody with me. Yes. But nobody came with me. I was like, you have to go to this place. And they were like, great, great, great. See you later. Did it hold up? Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. I, I, I even compared it to some other place because there's only one, you know, and I compared it to some other places where I couldn't get to Gio Litti. And I was like, I have to go, you know, try some more gelato because we're here in freaking Italy. We have to go and didn't, wasn't nearly as good. Yeah. So it's great. It's so nice to know that your, that your childhood memory held up. Yeah. Oh yeah. Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors. Support comes from Blue Land. Hey, Bashee. Hey, Sufi. You know, plastic, I feel like I, yeah, there was a part of me that knew the plastic wasn't the best thing in the world when we were growing up, but now there's really no excuse to know that plastic doesn't just disappear, breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces that stick around in our environment forever. And that is why it's so nice that Blue Land is on a mission to make it easy for all of us, to make sustainable choices, you know, because I think all of us, if given the opportunity would use less plastic, but sometimes it's hard, you know, you go to the store to get your cleaning products. 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Have you guys done multiple, sort of, sorry, international premieres for the boys over the years? We have, but I haven't. This is the first one I've been to. Nice. Yeah. Because I was doing a play. They did some tour of London and Paris and they did some like big multi-city tour. And I think like 90% of the cast got COVID and I was doing a play so I didn't get to join and get the special COVID. Sounds like maybe that was for the maybe dodge and pull it on. Yeah. Say, oh, COVID. I mean, yeah. But, but yeah. So then we went to Venice and I remember this one night. Uh, we were, you know, we were also eating the best food because my mom was doing, she was like, I'm, I have to research. Like I have to do this research trip. So we were eating unbelievable food everywhere we went. And, you know, it was considered research that would go on the gourmet tab as far as I remember. And, uh, we were at this really nice restaurant that was overlooking a canal in Venice and the windows were open in the restaurant. And there was this Italian guy with like, you know, his shirt buttoned down three or four buttons at his chest hair popping out, smoking a cigarette out the window of the restaurant. And my parents were like, oh God, why does he have to smoke on this? It's so annoying. You know, my dad, who used to smoke being like, oh man, I hate this now. In Italy of all places. Yeah. And my dad's an opera singer and he's the most amazing thing about him is that he will just sing wherever he goes. He's just like, it's the, like he'll be mowing the lawn because he understands lawns. Um, and he will just start singing in the middle of mowing the lawn. He'll just stop mowing and it'll just, you know, break out in Aria. And that's, I think the most, he's just shares himself everywhere he goes, which is really, really spectacular. And not quite like opera singers aren't known for singing really. I mean, unless it's truly Soto Voce, but I'm guessing is he, is he belting when he's out of the room? Oh, he is full, yeah, full voice everywhere, everywhere he goes. Yeah. And this was never, uh, there was never an age where this was cause for embarrassment for you. It was always. Um, about this age. Yeah. I mean, probably it was. It's like now or this age when you're in Venice. No, no, in, in, in Venice. I mean, I feel like even at that time, probably, you know, I don't, I actually don't think maybe when I was like a little older, 17, 18, I started getting embarrassed, but then I realized like this guy is so special. Why, why, you know, this is so cool and unique. And that's good. I'm glad you realized that before. Yeah. Well, it was part of our culture too, growing up, like we would, he would go busk at the boat pond in Central Park where they would sail. There's like two boat ponds as the restaurant. And then there's the one where you sail those rental boats in Central Park. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. And he would put his helmet, we would bike there. He would put his helmet out and he would sing and then he'd be like, okay, kids, get up and sing, sing a song. And we would sing too. And so it was always part of the deal with us. So, you know, when he breaks out in Song of Italy, we're like, yeah, this is normal. And he sings this Italian aria. And then he says to my sister, he had taught her, um, Omeo Bambino Cato. So he's like, go, go. Oh, so sorry. Where he's singing is on this bridge that is right outside, that goes over the canal, that's right outside the restaurant. So he like, he's like, I just want to sing right now. So he goes outside to the bridge and we all follow him. I don't even know if we paid our check yet. We were just like, we're just going to do this and we'll come back. And so he's singing on this bridge. And then he gets my sister to go up and sing Omeo Bambino Cato. And she is an amazing voice. My sister's like very skilled and super talented. And it's this beautiful Italian aria that she's singing. And there are people in gondolas like Taurus and gondolas that are going under the bridge on the canal. And they're recording my sister thinking that she's this Italian opera singer at 14, 15. And the guy who had been smoking in the restaurant comes out of the restaurant, goes up to my sister, places his hands on either side of her face and gives her a big kiss on the lips. And my sister, I think this was my sister's first kiss. Like this is. And it was this like epic moment. And then of course, the only songs I knew were like, don't fence me in like some old cowboy clown song, because that's the only kind of singing I do. And dad was like, go up and sing your cowboy song. So I did that and everybody like quickly dispersed because they were like, what the hell is this? Now, what is when your dad's like, go sing. Is he like, go sing because it's fun to sing? Like what did he, or is he like, we're having fun and you're part of your fun is singing. I think. Oh, so great. Or is it like, I want to like, I want you to learn like, like the performance chops of like just doing it right now. Like, cause obviously it paid off, right? Yeah. Well, yeah, I guess it did. Yeah. I mean, I think he, I think he just wanted to instill in us the, the idea that we could do this anywhere that this is a gift. It's awesome. It's such a cool thing. Yeah. It was, it's a really, it was, I really value it now. I think at the time I was like, like at the, not at that time, but a little bit later, I was like, I just, oh, like I don't feel comfortable. When you would go to the, like, would he say like, Hey, we're going to go to Central Park and, and like dad's going to sing a little. Like, would you know that was what you were going for? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it would be fun. Yeah. And how long is that? Like a bike ride into the park, some busking. Is that like, you're there for an hour? Probably a couple hours. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And at one point some guy, I remember distinctly there was this, my dad was singing and then he had us sing and then he came back to sing and some guy in the park said, let the kids sing. We want to hear the kids and my poor dad was like, okay, it's over for me. He's like, hoisted on my own batard. I forced them to sing and now I've been replaced. Oh, yeah, exactly. Fortunately, there's probably like six good opera songs about that exact feeling. Yeah. Being replaced by a younger, yeah. Taking precedence. The all about Eve of opera. Yeah. Did Gourmet fly you guys? Do you remember if you flew first class or? Oh, definitely not. Yeah, we flew economy. Yeah. They were like, we'll do this, but it's, yeah, you're going to throw up on the plane for sure. They were also like, we're going to pay for all your food. No apps. Was that the first time you flew anywhere? No, I think we had flown to see family out in Tacoma, out in, where were we actually? Northern California, where they had orange trees, which they have all over California, but I remember a distinct orange tree in this family's backyard. Where was that? That was Starter than S. Sacramento. Sacramento. It was Sacramento. Wow. Capitol. Oh, yeah, I knew that. State Capitol. Well, I'm out here. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, I've never been to California. No. How long was this trip? How long did you guys, did you go for? I think we went for like 10 days or something. That's a really good trip. It was a great trip. Did you like, do you remember liking Rome more than Venice or vice versa? I remember liking all of it. My dad hated Rome. He was like, it's too busy. There's too many Vespas. They go by you loud and my dad used to drive a motorcycle, so I don't know why he. Right. It seems like your dad, like if there's one takeaway it's that he's a huge, it seems like your dad's a huge hypocrite. Like that's like, hated this guy smoking. He quit yesterday. Like would tool around his motorcycle everywhere. It's the first time he hears a Vespas, but he's like covering his ears. Yeah. He's like, oh, that singing is so loud. Why are they singing? What did, did, what did, I would imagine it's a weird sensation to be mad at a guy for smoking and then moments later he's just fully giving your daughter a kiss. How did your dad react to that moment? He was like, oh, cool. Really good job with the singing there. I mean, I guess that's like, there is something funny about like an opera singer being like, there's no higher praise than being so good that a stranger has to come and kiss you. I do think, I do think that was, yeah. He was like, that's what I've always wanted. Right. In my life. Yeah. Yeah. And my mom, meanwhile, is not a performer and she used to stutter as a kid. So she's like, she was quite shy and she, I remember sitting, she was sitting on the bridge looking at us just like, I can't believe I made these children. These children, like how, how did that happen? But yeah. Yeah. That's the big crazy trip story. We did, I'm just remembering, we did go to France once, but I don't remember when that was. Gotcha. Do you remember where in France you went? I think Paris. Yeah. Got it. I think that might have been after. How was that? Do you remember at Fonly? I do. I remember I threw up a lot. I get motion sickness. Okay. Motion sickness. Motion sickness. Yeah. A lot. And I would, I remember throwing up like consistently on the plane and then after. Do you and your sister travel well together? Like when you were young. We would, we did. Yeah. Yeah. But we, I, we don't, we haven't taken a family trip in a really long time. Yeah. Really long time. Yeah. When I was filming in Toronto a lot, they would, they came to visit Toronto a couple times. And the end, my sister came with her ex-boyfriend and we would, we like, you know, went and ate everywhere and, you know, and that was really fun. But we haven't been, I would love to go on a family trip with them. Yeah. And they, my dad, my, where my dad wants to go is to, he lived in London for nine years and he would love to go back and see how it's different and go to like, you know, our family spot. There's a small town called Honiton that's supposedly our ancestors are from that my dad would like to go. Was he singing then? Was that what he was doing in England? Yeah. Yeah. He was, yeah. He's always wanted to be an opera singer and he was there. He played Henry VIII for eight months at a theatre and doing that. I know. Isn't that cool? You, I'm going to diverge because I believe if your bio is right, you were in a show that I, to this day, kicked myself because I didn't see it on Broadway, which is Pillowman. Oh yeah. My bio is correct. Although I was never on stage in Pillowman. I was an understudy. Gotcha. But you were there. How old were you for that? I was, I booked it when I was 12 and I think I started when I was 13 or turned 13 when that was happening. But I had the gift of getting to watch it. I can't imagine. For six months. Yeah. Yeah. Billy Crude up, man. Yeah. We had him on. He was talking about it. He, you had, yeah, I heard that episode. I was like, oh my God. Oh my God. His father. His father. Yeah. I, I'll, I'll, I'll name drop London. And I'm pretty cool. I just was in London and I had dinner with Martin McDonough. Yeah. Is he still as hot as he was when I was 13? Yeah. Cause I mean, I only, I'm only saying that cause I don't think that, yeah, I don't think it's possible that a person could be hotter than he is now. So he's still as hot. Yeah. He was, he, I remember meeting him. He's got that great like gap to thing. Yeah. That I borrowed. Um, you inspired you early on. Yeah. Yeah. That's why I didn't wear my retainer. Yeah. He, I remember meeting him once cause I came on so late, you know, the understudies come on in tech. I remember being there my first day and when they were teching the show and being like, who is this man that wrote all these children killing stories? Like, what, what is this? And I remember just being enamored with him. And yes, it was, it was Billy. It was Jeff Goldblum. It was Michael Stuhlbarg and Joe Kowhevonik. And I understudied all of the kids. So there was a boy that was supposed to be young Billy Crudup and then, and then Madeline Martin who played like three different kids. And because I was prepubescent, you just put a wig on me and I looked like a young Billy Crudup. So my brows and a wig, I looked exactly. Yeah. Like a young Billy Crudup. And I just remember watching that show as much as possible and loving it. And for Halloween that year, I was a girl who committed suicide because, because I was like, oh, this is a dark show. I'm a dark person now. Like, yeah, it is really funny though. It's like every, it's like the, every parents nightmare about letting their kid do that play. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They're like, oh, my child will be really into blood and guts and gore. Yeah. Did, uh, was that your first? Yeah, it was my first job. And so what was that life like when you're that age and you're obviously still going to school and was it exhausting or did you just figure it out right away? How to manage it? I was so into it. There was no, I also went to a middle school and high school that was made for kids who worked. So it's called professional performing arts high school. And so you like, we, we, they would take attendance and there would be a kid that would be on tour with the Lion King and they'd be like, they'd call her name out and we'd say, she's on tour in the Lion King. She's not here. And, but we never met her. Um, and, and, but they would send her work to the tour and you would, you'd had, you'd had to have a, a tutor required by the union there. And you'd have to have like three hours of tutoring. So I was in school and then on Wednesdays, I'd go to the theater, leave school early and go to the theater. And the school was right on 48th between eight and ninth. So it was right there. So I'd walk through, I had like my path through the Edison hotel to like get to the theater at the booth and, um, I was great. To say your commute to the, to work must have been, I mean, like nothing. It was nothing. Yeah. And did you, how, how young were you that you, when you enrolled in that school? Um, 11. So yeah, I got to the, I got to that school and I was, I met all these kids who had been in a bunch of Broadway shows at like five Broadway shows before the age of 11. Like there were multiple kids who had that resume already. And I remember going home and sobbing, being like, I'm behind. I need to get it. I need to get an agent. Like I need to do this. I was just like, my career is suffering. Did it help to have a, you know, a dad who'd, you know, been in that professional world and understood the ups and downs of it? Like was he like, when you had that feeling? Cause again, like, I mean, it's amazing how young kids are, when they think they're behind. And anyway, like sports, you know, everything, they're just like so clocked into their peers. So I can imagine how real that felt. Was your dad like, no, it's everybody succeeds in their own? I think he was, I think he was just excited that I had direction and wanted to do this. And I think it was a conversation that they had. My parents have like, is this something we want to do now? And I do think they were like, well, let's see. You know, this is agent that one of her classmates, mom said, reps kids, like, let's have Colby go and talk to this person and it probably won't work out. And we'll just have to console her. And that's fine. And then the agent was like, no, I'll rep her. But if she doesn't get a callback, she's signed with me and she's trapped here. So it was like this like weird first agent that I had, but they, they did it. Yeah, they were like, let's just see what happens. And I think it just kind of surprised them. But I don't, my dad has taught me a lot in that he, he's, he's always looking at things as a learning opportunity. So when I was, you know, even now I'll be like, I don't know, I got this audition for this thing. And I'm not sure it doesn't just, it's not really hitting the thing I want to do. And he's like, well, you could learn something. Yeah. You should do it. Just do it. It's a learning opportunity. And there are times I have to quiet that voice sometimes, you know, there are those, there are those parts for children. And it's like, well, a child is going to play this. There's always something striking about a very young child coming out on stage. Yeah. And a Broadway show, any show really. And it's like, oh, right. Like, yeah, there's a, this play has a five year old in it or whatever. And, and it is, it's sort of always strikes me in the moment as an audience member when, when one of those kids comes out. And it's like, if you're, if you're not auditioning for it, there's another 11 year old who's going to audition for those things and do them. And yeah. Exactly. And why not you? Yeah. And also it got me in the union immediately and that was really helpful. And I also think like it's like dogs and babies and children coming out on stage. It's like that, that's the only thing that people think can watch because they're like, oh my God, there's like a real life thing that doesn't know what's on stage. Like what's happening? Like what's going to happen with this dog? Yeah. But I didn't start as like, you know, there, I don't, there was some Jez Butterworth play where there was like a eight month old baby on stage. There was a, I can't remember the name of that play, but I remember I was like, I didn't, that's crazy. Like that's wild. I did not start that. What's that audition process like? Yeah. Does it cry on cue? What if you pinch it? Yeah. Yeah. Well, it stopped crying. So have you stayed in on the East Coast for most of your career? Did you ever, have you ever moved? You did well done. Yeah. I never, I've never moved. I've worked in LA twice, two or three times maybe. And I really like it out there working. It's really nice. But I also am worried, I have a really great group of friends out there. And I think that's the key with LA is finding a great group of friends. But I, I would be worried about my mental health if I wasn't working out there. Just because I, what I like about New York is that if you're in a terrible mood, you're on the train and something will happen and you have to get shoved out of whatever mental state you're in. Right. You know? Whereas in LA, I feel like if I were to get in my car and you know, you're kind of, I mean, it depends. And maybe I just haven't spent enough time there, but you're in your house and then you get in your car and then you go to wherever you need to go and then you get back in your car. There's not enough being shoved in your face to change your sense of being alive. That's a very good way of putting it. I do feel like, yeah, it's less incumbent upon yourself to figure out a way to like, shake yourself out of a funk. Yeah. Yeah. Of course, you can often get shaken or shoved into a worst funk in New York. Yes. That's very true. I just, I, yeah. Josh and I are very close and feel very differently about our home cities. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I do like when I am in LA, I'm like, oh, you can just go on a hike in the middle of the city and it's right there and you don't have to get in a car or you don't have to drive anywhere or take a very long train and the food is amazing and the air is incredible. It's just, yeah. Last time Josh and I, last time I was there, Josh took me on a hike and I will say, I saw the appeal. It was a wonderful way to spend the day. You mentioned your dad was one of six siblings. Did you guys, was cousins a big part of your upbringing? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Did you like your cousins on the whole? Oh, yeah. I don't think there's a cousin I don't like. Let me think about that. If you come up with one, maybe just don't say it. Yeah, yeah. I'll say it publicly. Yeah, this is good. No, I don't have any cousins I don't like. Bill, no one likes Bill. We don't even count Bill. Yeah, but Bill knows. He's cousin by blood only. Yeah. No, they, I have like 18 cousins. I have a lot of them and they're all so interesting and have done. My family is a kooky family, man. My dad grew up with those six siblings in Grace Church, which is on 10th Street and Broadway, downtown New York. They moved there in 1959. My grandfather was the minister there. Oh my God. They lived in Grace Church? They lived in the 40 room mansion that's the rectory attached to Grace Church. Oh my God. And like, yeah. And so there were these six kids like running around downtown New York. My dad was a flower delivery boy, like stealing random stuff that he found on the street. They did all kinds of stuff. And so they are very unique people. And my uncle, That's right. By the way, we live right down there. I walk by that. I cannot believe people lived there. In my head, I'm like, nobody lives there. Yeah, it's crazy in there. I went there. I haven't been in there in a really long time. I've been in the church just to take a look. There's like a plaque of my grandmother and grandfather in there. My dad's name is up on the head choir boys plaque area. And but they, yeah, the rectory, you enter the rectory and there's this huge red staircase that goes all, like goes, it's like in the center of the room and it goes up. And then there's a balcony up at the time. I mean, it's wild in there. And my dad, my grandfather one time, I remember this story of him, you know, New York was so different back then. And much more dangerous. My dad said, you wouldn't go to Union Square unless you wanted to die. And you wouldn't go to the Bowery. You know, there were just certain areas that are now totally like they're like Disneyland, you know. And my grandfather woke up in the middle of the night one night and a man was standing over him with a hammer in his hand. And my grandfather was such like an imposing presence that he got up out of bed and said, you're going to leave my house right now. And the guy left, like didn't do anything, didn't steal anything. But yeah, that was the kind of place they grew up in. So I have, my uncle Ned had a farm when we were growing up in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. So we go up there a lot for Christmas. We'd spend a lot of Christmases up there after my grandmother died. And when my grandmother was living actually in Newport, Rhode Island until she died. And we would go and stay in a Howard Johnson's hotel in Newport. And we would take over the hotel, like as many cousins as we could get to get up there. And we would, I mean, I'm sure they, every time they saw us coming, they were like, oh my God, not these people again. Did it have like a little diner attached or was there? There was an apple bees, an apple bees attached. Yeah. I don't work. We were just on a, my son this winter had like a school skiing trip where it was at a hotel and the parents stayed and the kids stayed. And like that thing of like a group of kids taking over a hotel. And just like running down hallways, which is absolutely the worst thing that could happen for anybody who's not connected to that group of kids. Because we showed up the second night and all the parents were like, get ready for a phone call. They were like literally calling around every, be like, get your kids out of the hallway. But it's so, it's like, it's a kind of freedom that is just impossible. It's so narcotic. Yeah. There's no, when you're a kid and you have free reign like that, you're in like a new space like that. There's nothing to stop you. Speaking of which, the plane that I took back from Rome just a couple of weeks ago, it's like a 10 hour flight from Rome to New York. And there were about a hundred lawless Italian teenagers that were coming for the UN debate, something in New York. I have never seen a plane like this. I was like, how is this not affecting how the plane is flying through the air? They were running down the hallway, just standing in the hall. You tried to like get past them in an aisle and you'd be like, excuse me, like, scoozy and they would just not move whatsoever. I was like, how is this? How old were these Italians? Like 15 through 17 probably. Yeah. So you don't want to mess with them. Yeah. They had, and they must have had the best time of their lives, the best time. I love that the minute they flew into like US airspace, they were like, let's be the real stereotype of what people think the worst version of us is. Like he's an out of your aisle. I'm a Marcus Spitz. I'm a little of a Marcus Spitz. Yeah. Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors. We have one for our mom and she loves it, Posh. 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Support the show by mentioning us to check out terms and conditions apply. Christmas in the Berkshires. Was that a bunch of families getting together? Or was that just like you and that uncle and his? His three kids. Yeah, it was mainly Ned and us and there is, they had about 13 horses up there and there was one Christmas where one of the horses went to pee. And I think they like extend their penis when they pee and it got. Nature show offs. Nature, exactly. The show off to the animal kingdom. Nature's foot long. And they, they, the horse went to pee and it was so cold that winter that the, his penis got frozen open. Elongated. And so we showed up in our car to the house and we look over. And there is a horse with like this huge penis with like 12 socks duct taped to the penis. And my dad, my dad who finds a story in everything, he just, he'll write, he'll write a story about any little thing he finds. He wrote a story that year called Christmas in the Frozen Penis, which I have to find because. My wife is an equestrian and I can't wait to ask her about this, but can they get frozen open? It's very, like that seems like a thing. That seems like a thing at like, I don't know, like a skivvy horse is like telling the cops, like, no man, get frozen open. I can't put it away. I can't. They're like, hey man, there are colts out here. He's like, I don't know. I don't know. I freeze a colt. Yeah, yeah. It's just, it's not my fault, officer. Hey, come on. Look at this. I wonder if Mackenzie is going to say like, yeah, what you do for that is you just take a bunch of wool socks. Wool socks. He's just. Wool socks and duct tape them. To the horse. Yeah. She's an equestrian. Yeah. Yeah. She's an inventor and a trainer. What? Yeah. That's your deal. How does she, where, I guess. Well, she grew up near the Berkshire. It's like just sort of western Massachusetts. Yes. Yeah. Shelburne Falls, but she grew up riding there and. I know that. Shelburne, we were, they were in, yep, can't remember, Springfield? Close to Springfield? Yeah. Kind of close to Springfield. Yeah. But it's the Bridge of Flowers. If you have been to Shelburne Falls, you would know the Bridge of Flowers. The Bridge of Flowers. Feels like a very good place for your dad to break into song. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we need to get him there ASAP. Bridge of Flowers sounds so lovely. It is. It is. I proposed on the Bridge of Flowers. That love. Well, that was a good spot. Yeah. I wasn't the first, but. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but it was the right call. Those flowers are like, we've seen so many. Proposals here. Yeah, they were like, all right, move on, move along. Was like, so I'm starting to go back to this because I'm so fascinated by the logistics of like your dad bikes you guys to the Central Park, busks for a couple hours, helmet, bike helmet now, like cash in the bike helmet? Yeah, yeah, lots of bike helmets. My mom wouldn't let him leave the house without a bike helmet. But then he like, he like just piles the money out of the cash. The cash is in the helmet. Cash is, oh, cash is in the helmet. And then it goes into his pocket probably. Gotcha. And is it like, yeah. And was there a real like, good job everybody? Like, look at us. I think it was like, I mean, he would sing all the way home too on the bike. Like he would sing at the, so it never stopped. There was no like, and the show is done. It's like. Right. And it wasn't like, I only sing for money. I sing because I sing and if sometimes I get money for it. It's really great. Good than great. I mean, it is like, do what you love. I mean. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. And he loves it. It's his favorite thing. And he'll, he'll, he, it's Thanksgiving. He'll be like, I'm going to break down into song. Everybody ready? And he brings his, he brings his pitch pipe with him everywhere. And he, and I'll be like, whoa. It's really, it's really spectacular. Yeah. People ever sing along? Would he take kindly to that? If you, if he was singing a classic, you know, is it, typically Italian would he's singing if he's singing opera stuff? And I'm assuming. I think he, yeah. He's, he's moved on to some cabaret stuff. So I think if people join, he's like, hell yeah. I think he comes from a, from a place of loving people singing together of like, that was a time that he, I mean, that people don't really do that anymore. You know? Yeah. Do you sing around Christmas? Is there like, if you were. Yes. Okay. He plays the piano. So he starts singing a, he'll just get, sit down at the piano and start playing a hymn. And my sister and I will come run, even if we're helping mom in the kitchen, we'll come running around the piano and we'll, you know, join in on, on stuff. Yeah. It must be like, that must be his dream come true that like, you guys love it as much as you do. Yeah. I think it is. That's really awesome. How did your parents meet? Blind date, believe it or not. They had their first date on the TV show, on the MTV show. Yeah, that's right. It was actually love is blind. And they were like, we're going to be so embarrassed if our kids ever find out about this. And they'll be like, we just won't let them watch TV. They'll never know. And then they took us to Rome and we found flashbacks. And they're like, I'm all places. We left a, we let our guard down in Rome. Yeah, that would have been really great. But she was never, your mom was never in the arts, right? She just went on a blind date with them. No, I mean, she's an artist in her own right with the cook. She's like unbelievable. But she did art in school when she was in college. She did ceramics and she studied art history. So that's, they've all got this making brain. Yeah, I know. Where was their blind date? Yeah, blind date was at Fasalca and they had Borscht. And then they went, I think, to McSorley's. And the lorries side was totally different then. And my dad lived in a loft that he had renovated. It was just, he was squatting in this loft that he had renovated. And my mom was like, we'll move into my apartment when it's time to get married because she was, I mean, it was very different back then. And then- Yeah, I was gonna say, what do you call an opera singer who squats in an apartment? I feel like it's the opposite of a catch. I mean, like who set her up on this blind date? She was like, what's your type? Yeah, just a man who sings and squats, singing, squatting while singing. Oh, he sings, he squats, he's got everything he wanted. Yeah, I do think there was, I mean, he did, he started a business renovating people's apartments all over. I was gonna say America, but no, just Manhattan. Which a lot of New Yorkers, that's it. You were born there, you didn't leave. That's the world. The entire world is there. Yeah, so he was making money that way. But I do think it was a thought for a second of like, is this, is this, my mom was, she had such a great job that it allowed her to marry for love. Love and music, love and song. Yes, love and song. That's fantastic. It's so nice to meet you and congrats. The boys is such a fun show, such a good show. It seems like the people who work on the show are just lovely. Yeah, we have such a blast. I mean, when you have exploding, this one, this penis wasn't frozen, but when you have an exploding 10 foot high penis, you have to be able to laugh easily. And so that's the kind of people you have on that show. Everybody works so hard. So it's sad for it to be ending. I know. You've done it, you've done it all. I know, I can't believe it. We get to see it, but you've done your part. Yeah, I know. Well, thank you for your service. Oh, you're welcome. Yes, it was such a hardship. But before you go, Josh is going to give you our speed round question. Oh, speed round. Good luck. Here we go. Good luck to you. You can only pick one of these. Is your ideal vacation relaxing, adventurous, or educational? Adventurous. What is your favorite means of transportation? Train. If you could take a vacation with any family, alive or dead, real or fictional, other than your own family, what family would you like to take a vacation with? First thing that pops my head is the family from running on empty. That's a same choice. Literally. I mean, it's inspired, but I'm like, you want to go on vacation with a family literally on the lamp. No matter what they do, it's a vacation. They can't rest. They were creative. They were creative. That was a movie where they're like weather underground, right? Yeah. Yeah. They're like radicals and they're on the run. And I remember, did River of Phoenix have like, he had a little piano, but like the roll out like fabric piano? Yeah. It was made of wood, but it had no sound. So he'd practiced without sound, which I mean, how do you even do that? I know. Well, look, it sounds like a great vacation. They would know how to do some stuff though. If you could work. They would know how to do some stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And they're scrappy. Like they don't need a lot. They were very much in love too. It's a great movie. Oh yeah. They also knew like value systems were really high. Them singing in the kitchen to fire and rain is like one of the greatest scenes of all time. And they attract people like Martha Plimpton, which I mean, what could be better? I would like to be a legend. Yeah. Still going here. If you had to be stranded on a desert island with one member of your family, who would it be? If I have a boyfriend, but we're not legally wed, does that count? No. No. Okay. Rejected. Yeah. I got to break up with my family. I just enjoyed it. I don't think I've ever said no. So I was like, I'm going to try this out. No. Okay. No boyfriend. I would say my cousins, Hart or Hannah, both of them grew up on that farm. They are really strong women. Hannah was on the rugby team. She can do anything. Hart was on the trail crew in the White Mountains at the Appalachian Trail Crew. She's super strong. I'll take either of those. All right. Great choices. What is your dream destination for a family vacation? Oh my god. Oh my god. You can bring your boyfriend to this one. Oh, thank god. Oh, that changes everything. I felt bad about it. If you got left out of the last trip. Thank you. I would say Japan probably. Yeah. Yeah. That might be mine. It's a great album. You are from New York City. If you had to get more families to come visit New York City, what would you tell them? We're not actually mean. We just are, we are supportive and kind, but not nice. Yeah. Like we're not going to be like, you know, I don't know what night, the difference between nice and kind, but yeah. Like we're going to like, if you're in trouble, we will help you, but we'll do it very quickly. We're busy. And yeah. Yeah. We might not invite you up, but we'll make sure you're okay. I think that's a big, like we're very, we're very busy, but we're also nice. Yeah. And we're not going to leave you alone stranded. Like you ask us how to get to where you're going and we will take you there. There's a great new collection. I think it's old essays, but a collection of Zadie Smith essays. And she has this great essay about New York City because she lived here for a long time and doesn't anymore about a woman falling and how like this, this, this like throng of street people all like, stop what they were doing and like came and like got her on her feet, made sure she was fine. And then just dispersed again. And she was like, that is kind of New York at its finest, which is like, this like thrombing mass of people that are all going about their thing. They will come to your rescue and then everybody to move on and like nobody is going to be like, whoa, that was crazy. Like keep it moving. Yeah. We do, we do, we really show up. I do think it's that like, you know, I mean, it's like, it's like when the, that plane went down on the Hudson River, the amount of boats and fishermen and barge people that were like, we're making this, we're getting there, you know? Yeah. Because it's so hard living in this city. I got this tugboat. I'm not going to not use it right now. Yeah. I mean, if I had a tugboat, I would use it every day to get to where I need to go. Yeah. Wherever, wherever it needs to go. Yeah. Shlepen. There's a book that we were just talking about. There's this children's book called The Fireboat and it's about this old decommissioned fireboat in New York City and I was reading it to my son a few years ago. He's nine now, so he's like six. And I'm reading this book and I had no idea that this is, the story was about, this was a decommissioned fireboat that like came back into action on 9-11. Like, oh, and so you don't realize like halfway through the book, there's like, you know, it's an illustrated book of like a plane flying in its tower and I like gasped. Oh my God. Because, and then I was like sobbing through the end of this book because it's like the little engine that could, but it's about this thing that I lived through and I was like, and my son's like, wait, what happened? I'm like, don't worry about it. Oh my God. Geez. Yeah. But a great book. I'm really true to it. Were you guys in the city for that? I was. I just, just moved here. You must have been here. I was here, I was in fourth grade. Wow. Yeah. But I remember, I remember getting, now we're talking about 9-11. We got there. We got there. We needed to get there at some point. Now I remember every kid got pulled out of class throughout the day and I remember going, I was just left in school and I was like going up to the teachers like, why is everybody leaving? And they were like, oh, there's a transportation issue. So, you know, students want, parents want to make sure their kids get home safe. And I was like, well, Allie Greenberg just got, you know, sent home and she lives across the street from me. So what the hell is going on? And I remember leaving school at the end of the day and those streets were full of people. And my parents were there and they're like, this is what, this is what happened. And then, you know, my God, we went down there actually really soon after and saw the rubble, which is like a weird kind of form of tourism. Yeah. You know, very strange. It did, like, it felt like it was bearing witness, I think. Yes. Because I did the same thing. Yeah. It was, I mean, it's like people, people will go check out Al-Tadina and all the stuff that the fires and the palace ate up in LA now just to sort of wrap their heads around it. I'm just glad that when every kid, when every kid left and you were like, what happened, they didn't say, they got cast in a play. You're the only one. That would have actually been super upsetting. They got touring thoroughly modern Millie and you're so far behind. You're so far behind. You're never going to catch up. I would have had a hard time coming back from that. Wait, Josh, maybe it was more. You've got, Seth has the final questions. Have you been to the Grand Canyon? Yes, I have. I have hiked down and up in a day. In a day? They have signs everywhere saying, we do not recommend doing this in a day, but I did it with my friend, Annie Funkebone together. We, thank God. If there's someone to go with. I mean, you got to go with the Funkebone. You got to go with the Funkebone. If that, by the way, if that's your friend that's telling you, we get to be fine. Exactly. She did all the research. We started at five in the morning and we got to, it was, it's like 7,000 feet of elevation or something. It's like 26. I'm wrong on all of these numbers. It's like 26, 27 miles. And we did it, I remember, I mean, talk about singing. We got through the whole thing. She's a great actor and a great singer and has been on Broadway a bunch. Musicals and she, we sang our way all the way through that and that really got us through. It's amazing, right? That's perfect. Have you been to Grand Canyon? To peak over the side. Oh yeah. Yeah. It's scary down there. I mean, I'm impressed you did it. You got to look, it's scary down it when you're in it, when you're in there, it's not scary, but looking down, I think it's way, way scarier. Yeah. Yeah. Because how did that happen? We kind of went there. We were, had a weekend nearby. I've driven by it and like stopped with a dog, but I couldn't take the dog below the rim. You're not allowed to do that. So I still haven't been below the rim. They don't allow that. I don't know. National parks. National parks aren't great with where you can bring your pets. Oh boy. That's making me second guess, getting a dog. Yeah. You know what? It cost you the canyon. You know what? It cost you the canyon. You love the canyon too much. I got thrown away for some dumb dog. Yeah. Yeah. No. Never. This was a delay. Can I ask you a personal question? Yeah. Who writes the songs at the end of your episodes? Great question. I do. Yeah. That's amazing. Isn't it amazing? Wait, Josh, you do that? Yeah. By himself every week. Sometimes two in a week. That is so, oh my God. That is so cool. I was like, who does this? This is amazing. It's me. I've not used any AI yet. So. Wow. Yeah. But I do buy like a karaoke track. I'm not writing the music, but I'm writing the lyrics. Unbelievable. And going, recording it in a closet. Are you excited? Does that mean you're excited to hear yours? I am so. I won't, I'm not excited to listen to myself talk, but I'll cut to the end. Right. You'll skip to the end. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Yeah. No one needs to hear. It's very exciting to know that someone's looking forward to it because it's an incredible gift that Josh gives. It's amazing. I heard it and I was like, well, they surely don't do this for everyone. Yeah, I know. And then I listened to Billy Critups. And by the way, I burned them. It was my idea when we started this. Because Josh, I know Josh has skill. Josh just did it for a friend's birthday. A friend's 50th who loves Les Mis. And I did one day more at the end of every night when you're hanging out with my friend Molly Kloss. She's always like, should we have one more drink? And it's just like her refrain. She just wants to keep hanging out. She loves friendship. Like she loves friendship more than just about anything else. And so she was having this weekend in Ojai, which was great. And we had kind of taken over this hotel, but we had like a 40-person dinner. And I had recorded all the parts, rewritten the lyrics. My God. And cast it out, reached out. And I was like, if anyone wants to participate, so we had just like great people who stepped up to, you know, I had two Marius's. I had one happening. Did you sing it live or was it a recording? No, we sang it live. We did it live. At dinner and afterwards, she said, that might have been the greatest moment of my life. So I was really happy without it. I would shook out. Did you record it? Yeah, it's recorded. You record it. Yeah. But I like, I recorded every part. And then if you wanted to do it, I would send you a version where it was me singing all the parts. I would sing, I would have your part boosted, and I would send you a version with your part eliminated so you could practice however you saw fit. So you made it easy for everybody to participate? I tried to make it as easy as I could, and it worked. Like people really rehearsed on their own. They showed up and they were ready, and they wanted to deliver and they did. So my compliments to everyone who was part of that performance. It was great. Wow. That's a move right there. One day more, one more drink. He's a real your dad when it comes to singing. Yeah. Yes. You just have to share it. It's my niche. I found my niche. So I hope, now we've talked about it so much, I really hope I deliver on your song, Colby. You deserve nothing less. You've been a wonderful guest. So. I think, yeah, it better be amazing. Now it's on me. You know what? Just to burn you, I'm gonna do yours. And I'm gonna put very little thought into it. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. That sounds fitting. Giant frozen horse day. Singing for no money. Wrapping up with socks now. So great to see you and talk to you. Great to meet you guys. You too. Thanks. This was really fun. And congrats on the boys. By the time this comes out, the fifth season will be out. Oh my God. On Prime Video. So. Wow. Yeah. Good luck to everybody. Hope they have their therapy session scheduled. All right. Good. Thank you guys. So much Colby. Great meeting you. Great meeting you. Bye. Nice to meet you. Bye. Bye. And for denture. Dad had a cabin with his siblings. They each got a couple weeks. Colby kid did with local kids. You know she brought the weed. City girl. Out in the country. What a word. They go rock high. City girl. But even back in the city, they were a family who biked. Colby ride on the back who sister up on the handlebars. And they go sleep in the park make sunken cash in a couple hours. Thanks to mom and go maybe magazine. They went to Italy. Got the world's best gelato it holds up that G or T. The father sang a verse, so to say Death was pressed, how well the guy's smoking a scene Kissed her sister on the mound If there's a piano, death puts on a show His daughters rush right to his side Could there be anything better for her father? Sisters like Omi-O, and Bino-Karo But when Goldie is singing it's don't fence me in Go see Grandma on Rhode Island, check out the beach Oh, Josue, full of cousins, no doubt they'd hit up the Applebees Pulling into the birches, a force had pulled it out Wrapped up in dick knitwear, what's all that about? Frozen, horsed-been-ness, Wrapped in croissant, But wouldn't they just fall off? You summed up tape at the top Oh, Josue, full of cousins, Wrapped in croissant, But wouldn't they just fall off? You summed up tape at the top Wrapped in croissant, But wouldn't they just fall off? You summed up tape at the top Wrapped in croissant, But wouldn't they just fall off?