The episode was recorded on 24 September, before the death of Gavin Creel. The hosts are Andrew Chappelle, who worked with Jonathan on Hamilton, and Cody Rigsby. Highlights:
Jonathan talks about Cody Smith, his first boyfriend, and says they are still close. They met during 'Bat Boy' and Cody is six years older. "And I love him."
Jonathan talked about his plans to transform '& Sons Steakeasy' (currently a restaurant) back into the gay bar where Barbra Streisand first sang (previously discussed in an interview). He would change the name of the restaurant to 'The Lion' (its original name) and make the upstairs a gay bar and call it BARbra. He has never met Barbra.
Cody talks about meeting Ru Paul that day. Jonathan says he would love to be on Drag Race. He also said he was with Cody (a Peloton instructor) 'on' the bike, crying, during Covid "you are a light".
Jonathan went on a silent meditation retreat after 'Merrily We Roll Along' closed. He has now done three Vipassana meditation reteats in Quebec, Lava Hot Springs Idaho and Massachusetts and gave up his phone for the duration. "With your breath, your demons, a lot of things and yourself... giving shared bathrooms and roommates... The presence you get from being silent, and just with your breath all day is kind of incredible." Jonathan agreed that it was one of the hardest things he had ever done.
Jonathan says he still deletes text messages after replying to them. He says it started from a break-up when he was 24 or 25 [likely Gavin Creel] "and I kept Googling this person, I kept re-reading our texts over and over and over again and I was like, 'Groff, you've got to let go of re-reading everything over and over again. The good, the bad and the everything in between. I need to delete this chain. Let it go.' And then I thought, why am I holding on to any conversation?" He says he's slow at getting back to people, but usually responds (but can respond to a joke a month later).
Andrew says he is the most un-Hollywood person, and Jonathan had warned him about moving to LA. "The alone time is very quiet there, or was for me at least. The tumbleweeds." Andrew said he wanted Jonathan for the podcast and said he would reach out to his publicist, but was concerned when Jonathan said he could just text him, as he may not respond quickly (but he did respond).
Talking about the Bobby Darin project 'Just in Time', Jonathan said: "I'm so excited... It's something I've been working on for about seven years... This guy is fire. He talked about his relationship to the audience. For example he would wear a condom on stage in case he ejaculated. [A video clip of this part has been released.] He was a primal, primal, profound, epic, epic live performer. Sammy Davis Jr said the only person he wouldn't follow was Bobby Darin... The magic of him, and of his essence, was his live interaction with the audience." He brought Alex Timbers on originally because of the 'environment' he creates.
He then describes the conceit of the show [around 23:45, will not be discussed/spoilered here]. But he talks about wanting to evoke Darin's primal energy as a love letter to entertainment and the relationship with the audience.
Jonathan talked about the opening night gift he gave the off-Broadway Hamilton cast and crew [apple cider donuts?] before he was officially announced as being part of the show, even to the cast. Lin-Manuel Miranda told him he had one song and it would be pretty easy, and he was given sheet music and the script but no further information or a video.
Jonathan says King George was the hardest thing he had done because you on stage so briefly, come out cold, sing through your range and then leave. Merrily was easier because he was on stage the whole time.
Andrew said Jonathan as the King made himself available to the cast in Hamilton, and not all people in the role could do that.
In tech for Broadway, Jonathan and Andrew would sit in the mezzanine, and one of Andrew's favourite memories involves sitting with Jonathan and watching Renee Elise Goldsberry in a dispute with the crew about her wig. Jonathan: "And these gays are dying for it. We are loving it so much." [Both cracking up with a lot of cackling.]
Andrew ditched college for three days to see Jonathan in 'Spring Awakening'. They discuss the false rumour about Lea Michele and Jonathan says Lea can read. Jonathan talks about how he was cast in Glee after Ryan Murphy said he would write a show for Jonathan and Lea, and Ryan wrote the role of Finn for him. Jonathan was asked to sign a seven year contract and declined, and Ryan then wrote the guest star role of Jesse St James for him.
They discuss Looking, Raul Castillo and Murray Bartlett. Asked if he hooked up on the show, Jonathan said there was some hooking up on the show but not with the core group. Andrew then discusses Jonathan's cameo in 'Blindspotting' with Emmy Raver, filmed in San Francisco.
Asked about the rumored kiss at Battle Hymn on Pride this year, Jonathan said he did attend and make out with someone. Jonathan said he has gone a couple of times to Battle Hymn by himself. He says he shot a movie in Berlin and learned from friends he had met there the joys of going out all night and dancing all night. So when he came back to New York he wanted to "scratch this itch of going out". The first time he was at Battle Hymn he was in line during Pride ("in my harness, in my shorts") and Oak Onaodowan called him. Asked if he cared about the kiss being made public at Battle Hymn, Jonathan said "It makes me laugh. I'm not bothered by it. It's OK." He said in his early days he would have been scared to even walk past a gay bar due to career ramifications and the thought of being considered gay.
Around 55 minutes Jonathan said he is very lucky to be an out actor at this time, and that he came out publicly because Spring Awakening had been everything he ever dreamed of and wanted, and then he fell in love due to Gavin Creel. He said he was such a fan of Gavin's, they started dating, and then he came out publicly at the march on Washington. He remembers thinking at the time he would rather be in love and be out publicly than have a career if he was giving up movies and television.
Asked if it was difficult to date an actor, Jonathan agreed that "it's been a thing" when work was the priority over a partner. Andrew said Jonathan has dated a lot of peers, and mentioned an ex of Jonathan's has a new series out. Jonathan: "ZQ [Zachary Quinto]? Love ZQ. We are still very close. Love me some ZQ."
Andrew said he still wants Zach and Jonathan to work out as he found them together visually pleasing, and Jonathan said "No, we're friends through and through at this point... It's lovely to... however much time you spend time together as partners, and then you separate, and then you maybe come back together as friends, and the sort of beauty of coming back together as friends, and being reminded of why there was that spark. Reminded why... that connectivity..."
They hosts then ask him to play Marry, F..., Kill with his characters and shows.
Jonathan says a lot of Looking was based on his experiences, for example the uncut d... discussion was based on his talk with the creators about being insecure, and the douching talk was based on his previous boyfriends.
Patrick, King George, Jesse St James: He says he would marry Patrick because he has shown growth, and personal growth is a huge thing in someone he would marry. He would f... the King because there would a lot of rage that would be interesting and a unique experience, and he would kill Jesse St James.
Hamilton, Merrily, Spring Awakening: He would kill Spring Awakening because it was so underage, f... Hamilton because “Hamilton is my sexuality because I was so attracted to every person in Hamilton" and would marry Merrily.
Glee, Looking, Mindhunter: Kill Mindhunter because there is so much depravity there, f... Glee and marry Looking.
Asked to pick between people, he starts with Lin, then Michelle Obama and finally Beyonce, including over Lea ("she would understand"). He saw the Beyonce movie twice and says "she is everything".
Asked for a scam, Jonathan said he doesn't think standing ovations are overdone ("Why not? What's life? Let's live. Let's celebrate.") He discussed drag queen story hour, the protests in Lancaster, the celebration in Lancaster the week before, and said he remains frustrated by drag queen story hour being considered wrong and how hate and discrimination has localised to story hour protests.
The new law will go into effect Aug. 28. Planned Parenthood, Democratic lawmakers and health organizations say the ban will cause the most h
Anna Spoerre at Missouri Independent, via KCUR:
The new law will go into effect Aug. 28. Planned Parenthood, Democratic lawmakers and health organizations say the ban will cause the most harm to low-income Missourians who rely on the clinics for contraceptives, STI testing, cancer screenings and more.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has signed legislation limiting Planned Parenthood’s ability to serve low-income patients at a ceremony in his Capitol office Thursday.
The new law, which will go into effect Aug. 28, will end Medicaid reimbursements to any health centers affiliated with abortion providers. In Missouri, the law would apply to Planned Parenthood.
“This is something Republicans have been working for years, since we captured the majority,” said state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, an Arnold Republican who sponsored a version of the legislation. She added: “It’s a huge victory. Missouri has a long history of being a pro-life state.”
Nearly every abortion, with exceptions for medical emergencies, has been illegal in Missouri since 2022. However, the state’s Planned Parenthood clinics have continued to operate, providing services such as contraceptive care, STI testing, cancer screenings and wellness checks.
Missouri Republicans have argued that no additional money should be going to Planned Parenthood, since Missouri’s locations are affiliated with clinics in Kansas and Illinois, where abortion is legal and where many Missourians travel for the procedure.
Democrats, Planned Parenthood and other health institutes have argued that the bill would cause the most harm to Missouri’s most vulnerable population, who may be forced to find a new provider. But the state’s public health safety net is already strained and will have a difficult time absorbing the thousands of displaced patients.
Two weeks ago, the Missouri House approved the legislation, originally filed by Republican state Rep, Cody Smith of Carthage, though it did so without approving an emergency clause which would have put the bill into effect immediately upon the governor’s signing.
Coleman’s version of the bill was blocked by a Democratic filibuster in February. A second filibuster by Senate Democrats in April was abandoned after 11 hours when Republicans agreed to remove a provision that would have ended contracts with organizations founded by eugenicists.
Missouri Republicans have twice before tried to pass a similar restriction through the state budget, attempts that were ruled unconstitutional by state courts.
[...]
MO HealthNet, the state’s Medicaid program, serves low-income and disabled citizens and has long banned funding for abortion, with limited exceptions.
Shame on you, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R), for signing a bill to block Planned Parenthood or any abortion provider from accessing Medicaid funding. #HB2634
Remember when we almost drowned in ’03, the woods
so thick we only knew the rainstorm by sound of thunder
and violence of the creek, how every day I’d take you to the Stop-N-Go
for your case of Natty Lights? Think back to summertime,
when after lunch you’d pull your shirt off and wring it in your hands
and count off one beer, wring some more, two beers, how in July you’d sweat
all the way through last night’s binge. Think back to when
we chopped paths across hardwood bottoms for skidders to plow
makeshift roads for Justiss Oil pumpjacks to suck black snot the earth
doesn’t blow. I wanted to call in sick every day, to feel
the sunrise through my bedroom pane instead of the company truck’s
windshield. But this isn’t about that. What was I? Eighteen? Drinking
creamy coffee the color of soupy dishwater, the callouses
of my hands sanding the white Styrofoam cup, whiskey from a flask
stirred into yours. I grew to welcome the start of a day filing blades, the rhythm
I’d find scraping down, down, up and over. I didn’t care
like you did for squaring drill sites with double-knots of orange flagging
for the loggers, how we kneeled, panting in the dirt, how you would pan your head
to take inventory of the beech and white oaks rooted inside
the flagged-off square. I don’t know what it mattered, Steve,
which tree we marked for loggers to fell, which sapling we ourselves chopped
with machetes. Did the thicket not return what we gave?
Did the thorn limbs and briars not cut your flesh into estuaries
of brackish pink creeks of sweat and blood? Nothing changes much,
does it, Steve? I’m filing a brush hook’s edge for the first time
in years and still hear you yelling at me, Not like that, Smith. Just give
that damn thing to me. We spent our days counting off paces, eyeballing
a hundred yards within a few feet, but I don’t think I have
the same distance in me. If I count off these paces, where
does a record go? Those days, I dreamt that John the Revelator mistook
us for Death, the old Chevy a pale horse, us wheeling those blades
through chokecherry and wild honey locust, water vines crawling behind us.
But I don’t know of any Hell that followed that wasn’t there before. I never
learned much as a surveyor that I didn’t already know:
how calloused hands have a way of smoothing wood, or else how there’s
markers all over this country, how sometimes a fence is all we have to pass down.
Jonathan's speech last night at Pride and Pages. Cara Gigliotti Ditzler Kevin L. Ditzler Stacia R. Smith Nick Smith Denise Large Young Edwar
The link above from Niki Boyer Swatski on Facebook includes Jonathan’s full speech at the Lancaster Pride event - the video posted by Lancaster Online on YouTube included some cuts.
In the video Jonathan talks more about the early gay mentors in his life and his first love Cody Smith, who remains a friend and was at the Gala. A short clip from the video is below, and also a photo with Jonathan and Cody, posted by Meghan McLane.
Jonathan Groff spent part of his Thanksgiving weekend supporting local theater in Lancaster County.
Jonathan Groff spent part of his Thanksgiving weekend supporting local theater in Lancaster County.
Groff, a Tony Award-winning actor and Ronks native, attended Prima Theatre's Friday, Nov. 29, performance of "Illumination." Groff was there with longtime friend Cody Smith, who directed the show.
“The theater, the singers, the musicians, the costumes, the choreography—it’s all so beautifully done,” Groff said after the show, according to a news release from Prima. Groff was in town visiting family.
“I looked over, and Jonathan had good tears three times," Smith said in the release. "He said it’s just perfect to put you in the holiday spirit.”
Before the show, Groff dined at the Belvedere Inn.
“I hadn’t been there since I was probably 15 years old,” Groff said about the Belvedere in the release.
After "Illumination," Groff met the cast and crew and posed for photos.
Jonathan with former partner Cody Smith at dinner at the Belvedere Inn in Lancaster, posted by Kristi Pronovost on Facebook, and later with Aaron Pottenger, a cast member at Prima Theatre’s ‘Illumination’, after watching the show.
