This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jason A. Coombs: Hello, Survivors! Welcome to Survival Jobs, a podcast in collaboration with Broadway World and Broadway Podcast Network. My name is Jason A. Coombs, and I am your host, and this is my co-host with the most, Samantha Dawn Centsilo, and we're here broadcasting from Shiz, if Gosh, I wish we were at Shiz, kind of. Not really, though. It's kind of spooky under there.

[0:27] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Jason, thank you for talking about Shiz. I've been an absolute psycho. I feel like I have mental health problems about this Wicked movie. It exceeded my wildest dreams.

[0:44] Jason A. Coombs: I think that's the consensus of most people, myself included. It's a fantastic film.

[0:51] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: I have loved Wicked, as most, right? I feel like most people in our generation who love theater, who are involved with theater, are like, I loved Wicked since I was a kid, right? Everybody is sort of doing that, and then they're like, this exceeded my expectations. I just need to take a moment of silence for the dance, the additional dance during Dancing Through Life. They sort of extended that a little bit. The Elphaba Glinda moment had me on the ground. The ground. It was so beautiful, so genuine. Cynthia Erivo, let me tell you, I've seen Wicked a lot of times on stage, between the tour, between Broadway. I don't want to say 20 times, but maybe 20 times. I'm not even kidding. That's sick. It's mental illness. I have never felt that much empathy and much sadness for Elphaba. Cynthia broke me open for this girl, for the green girl.

[2:01] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, I think there's, not to get too social, political, but I think having a Black actor play that part just really brings that otherness to it, which I think is so heart-wrenching at times. Can we just give, also, Ariana Grande, who, I'm going to admit, I was very skeptical. Very skeptical. I believed that Cynthia was going to be able to do it. I was skeptical about Ariana Grande, and now, ladies and gentlemen, I have to confess that I am an Arianator. I think that's what she calls her fan base.

[2:38] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Is that what the fans are called?

[2:40] Jason A. Coombs: I think so. Well, maybe not. I don't know. But I love her. I am obsessed. She's perfect.

[2:49] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: She's literally perfect.

[2:51] Jason A. Coombs: She's perfect.

[2:52] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: She's literally perfect from the voice, to the acting, to the dancing, to just, she is Galinda.

[3:01] Jason A. Coombs: Galinda.

[3:02] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yeah. I feel like everybody's been watching all the press. These girls have been everywhere, but I feel like Ari, because we're BFFs, she has also loved Wicked deeply since she was a child, so I feel like, of course, she was going to be perfect. I mean, her talent, you can't even talk about her talent. It's just there. She's just so talented, but then there's the other level of she understood how important this film was and how important the portrayal was to the fans, to the true people who grew up with this, and my God, my God, I'm just like, I can't for part two. Give me part two right now.

[3:45] Jason A. Coombs: I heard that they wanted to hip-hopify popular, and she was like, no, no, no, no, no. She was like, I'm doing this the right way for the fans. This is not Ariana Grande in Wicked. This is...

[3:59] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Glinda!

[4:00] Jason A. Coombs: Glinda in Wicked, yeah.

[4:01] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Oh my gosh. And did you see, I mean, I've been standing so hard for her. Did you see the picture of her with her grandma in the theater?

[4:08] Jason A. Coombs: Yes! I saw that. It's so beautiful.

[4:12] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yeah.

[4:13] Jason A. Coombs: It's so beautiful.

[4:14] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: That's really, really, really, like, ah, just so beautiful, inspiring, and when you hear something meant to be, that's meant to be. Even the pictures of her with Jeff Goldblum and with Christian Chenoweth when she was like a kid, like...

[4:28] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah.

[4:29] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: ...written in the stars. It's so cool when we have, we, but like, those moments happen in life when you're like, oh my God, like, I am where I'm supposed to be, and it's so wild. I do want to take a minute before we introduce our guest for Defying Gravity, because...

[4:46] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, yeah.

[4:48] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: It was perfect.

[4:51] Jason A. Coombs: The whole movie was perfect. The whole movie was perfect. John Chu, he did that. He did that. Choreographer, Chris, I can't remember the last name, did that. Like, everybody. Jonathan Bailey, Fiyero, did that.

[5:06] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Michelle Yeoh.

[5:08] Jason A. Coombs: That clap did that. Sorry, I clapped really hard to the mic listeners, but if you know, you know. If you know, you know.

[5:17] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: I don't get the clap joke.

[5:19] Jason A. Coombs: No, it's not a joke. It's when, I don't want to ruin it, but I mean, spoiler alert for The Wizard of Oz, there are flying monkeys in...

[5:27] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Oh my God, Jason, I get it now.

[5:30] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[5:31] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Oh, that shot.

[5:33] Jason A. Coombs: I got chills.

[5:34] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: That shot when she turns around. By the way, people who listen to our podcast have already seen the Wicked movie. Do you know what I mean?

[5:41] Jason A. Coombs: I would hope so.

[5:42] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: You know, there's no, I don't think unless 90%, 97% of theater kids in this country have seen, and other countries, have seen the Wicked movie. When she turns around after the flying monkeys, and it's just kind of like quiet, and the monkeys are losing their mind, and she's like, you fucking bitch.

[6:04] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah.

[6:05] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Oh my gosh. So guys, in conclusion, I think we loved the Wicked movie.

[6:10] Jason A. Coombs: Did we?

[6:12] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: I've seen it three times.

[6:14] Jason A. Coombs: I've seen it twice. I went last night again. I'm going to see it again. Samantha, before, we don't have a lot of time today.

[6:19] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: I know.

[6:20] Jason A. Coombs: I really want to know, maybe you don't have to give five, but I want to know what are some of your other favorite movie musicals? I want to give some throwback shout outs.

[6:29] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Okay. Okay. I loved the Phantom of the Opera. And I saw the film. That's not true. I was going to say I saw the film before I saw the Broadway play, but that's not true. I loved the Phantom of the Opera. I think the Gerard Butler of it all also helps. He's the Phantom, right? I'm not making that up.

[6:46] Jason A. Coombs: I've never seen it. I've never seen it.

[6:48] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yeah. Guys, if I'm wrong, that's wild. But Gerard Butler is the Phantom. I got to fact check that. But I loved it. Obviously, Chicago.

[6:57] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, Chicago would be on my list too.

[6:59] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: And Chicago won the Oscar, didn't it?

[7:01] Jason A. Coombs: For Best Picture, yeah.

[7:03] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yeah. It was so good. And then...

[7:06] Jason A. Coombs: Can you say another perfect adaptation? Because I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of the actual show on Broadway, but the movie...

[7:14] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Les Mis?

[7:16] Jason A. Coombs: Everybody was giving. Everybody was giving in that movie.

[7:18] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Oh, Chicago.

[7:20] Jason A. Coombs: Chicago. Yeah.

[7:21] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yes. I had never seen Chicago on Broadway until last year because my friends wanted to see Ariana Madix. And I was like, fierce. It's fun, but the movie is...

[7:31] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah. That's Rob Marshall. He also, he did that. John Chu went to the Rob Marshall book of musical directing.

[7:39] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yeah. You have another one?

[7:42] Jason A. Coombs: And then, you know, I have such a personal connection to Les Mis. So I loved that film. I thought it was great. And, you know, that's another live singing. And I don't know if this is true. People, please fact check me. But I think, I believe, that Les Mis and Wicked are the only two movie musicals that did sing live.

[8:04] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: That might be true.

[8:06] Jason A. Coombs: And shout out to Amanda... What's her name? Seyfried?

[8:09] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Amanda Seyfried.

[8:10] Jason A. Coombs: I did see something on the internet that she was also a contender for Galinda.

[8:16] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yeah.

[8:17] Jason A. Coombs: Sorry, girl. You had your moment as Cosette.

[8:21] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yeah. That's a good one for you. I really can't picture anyone else doing...

[8:26] Jason A. Coombs: Nobody.

[8:28] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: But yeah, I would have to put in, besides Chicago, I gotta shout out Dreamgirls. I think that was such a really good adaptation. I've never seen a professional production, but they ate. Is that Rob Marshall also? No, that's not Rob Marshall.

[8:42] Jason A. Coombs: No idea.

[8:43] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: I forget who directed that bad, bad. La La Land, I will say, which is not like a show, but a great musical. Oh, I can't hear you.

[8:54] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, sorry. I went on mute. I really do love La La Land.

[8:57] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yeah. Yeah. I was watching a clip from that the other day and I was like, wow, I gotta watch this whole movie again. It's been a minute. I gotta say Burlesque. I'm sorry.

[9:05] Jason A. Coombs: I know.

[9:06] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Because you're a girl.

[9:08] Jason A. Coombs: My girl and Cher. My girls.

[9:11] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yes, Christina.

[9:12] Jason A. Coombs: I love Christina. Everyone knows that. Burlesque. And then of course, Hairspray, which I think is another great stage to screen adaptation.

[9:21] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yeah. I was also just going to come back with Hairspray. I forgot about it. It's a good one.

[9:27] Jason A. Coombs: It's so good.

[9:28] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: And then the Hairspray live was so good. We could have a whole episode.

[9:31] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, yeah.

[9:32] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Talking about the live one. The Annie live was so good.

[9:35] Jason A. Coombs: I didn't see that one, but yeah.

[9:38] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Anyway, we could do a whole episode on Wicked in movie musicals.

[9:42] Jason A. Coombs: We can.

[9:43] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: But we have to get into our iconic guest for today.

[9:47] Jason A. Coombs: Who also was in, I guess not really a musical, but his movie is. There's a lot of dancing in it.

[9:53] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: A lot of dancing. Colt.

[9:55] Jason A. Coombs: Colt Prattes is our guest this week, you guys. Currently starring in The Merry Gentleman on Netflix as Troy. Oh, my God. This movie is so good. I was like crying. It just feels the movie is like so warm. And, you know, you know, I'm and I think you are too, Jay, a sucker for like a good Christmas film.

[10:16] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: I do.

[10:17] Jason A. Coombs: Just like you were following the same like love story, conflict, whatever. But this has a whole other aspect to it of like saving the arts in a way. And you guys definitely should check it out. Currently, it's number one on Netflix in the world.

[10:33] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: How iconic is that? That's pretty amazing.

[10:35] Jason A. Coombs: Is that true in the whole world?

[10:37] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So congratulations, Colt and the rest of the team. Chad Michael Murray.

[10:44] Jason A. Coombs: Were you a One Tree Hill girly?

[10:46] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: I wasn't. But guys, Chad Michael Murray takes his shirt off in this movie and I almost felt I almost passed away.

[10:54] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah.

[10:55] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: I said, is that edited?

[10:58] Jason A. Coombs: You should watch One Tree Hill. I feel like you would enjoy the first couple seasons.

[11:02] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: You know, maybe I do need to do that. It's light, right? It's like feel good. What is, I know I don't even know what One Tree Hill is. I know what it is, but I've never.

[11:10] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, it's about these two brothers who are half brothers. They have different moms with the same dad. Dad's like a terrorist of this town. He's such a mean person, Dan Scott. And they both play basketball and they're like the same grade, same age. But their dad like cheated on their mom. I forgot who was the original mom, but got cheated on. So these two brothers had to play basketball. And it's like a small town. It's like drama. It's romance. It's a little bit of lightness, but it gets wild. I feel like it's, it's like a Gilmore Girls and mixed with what's the other show you like? Graze. I feel like if you put those together, I guess I think you would like it.

[11:47] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: I'll have to watch it. I'll have to watch it.

[11:49] Jason A. Coombs: And Sophia Bush is a queen. Sorry, we didn't get to Colt.

[11:52] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yeah, sorry. We are like we are in Thanksgiving brain, you guys. Colt, Colt Prattes.

[11:59] Jason A. Coombs: So The Merry Gentleman, you guys, is amazing. Jason and I both watched this film. It's so good. It's like we said, number one on Netflix. So everybody else thinks it's good as well. But he's also in Aladdin right now, starring on Broadway. He toured with Pink. He is just somebody who's got the hustle and the talent. And he's so nice. He was on his soapbox giving inspiration, telling detailed stories about his career. And we know you guys are going to love this and really feel some inspiration.

[12:31] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Cool. So I hope you all enjoy. I hope you all had a wonderful turkey day. I hope you all ate a lot, if that's the thing you want to do.

[12:40] Jason A. Coombs: And happy holidays to all and to all a good night.

[12:44] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Yeah, this is great. We talk about the holidays a lot, I feel like, the next couple of weeks.

[12:47] Jason A. Coombs: Sure are.

[12:48] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Enjoy.

[12:49] Colt Prattes: Colt, welcome to Survival Jobs, a podcast. We're so happy to have you. Thank you for the Christmas joy right behind you. It's just tying it all in.

[12:59] Colt Prattes: It's that side. Sorry. Yes. Our whole house is decorated and has been for like months.

[13:06] Samantha Dawn Centsilo: Well, it is the season.

[13:09] Colt Prattes: I read that you decorate on Halloween night.

[13:12] Colt Prattes: We do. We are a little crazy. But I think it comes from the fact that we've been touring. My wife is also a performer. We met and both made our Broadway debuts in West Side Story.

[13:25] Colt Prattes: And she was my dance partner, my first rehearsal. And she was my grass when I was riff, like everything. But then we went on a lot of tours. You know, I toured with P!nk for a long time. And then we both did the national tour of Aladdin. And we were just in so many hotel rooms. And you really, when you're on tour, you try to make things as home as possible. You try to get that vibe as quick as possible. And so we just developed this tradition where on Halloween, we would put up the tree and then decorate it with Halloween stuff and watch The Nightmare Before Christmas. And then we were just into the season. Yeah, that's so good. Because it's like that movie. It's like the perfect, it's the perfect segue. And it just really is. Yeah, it always makes us really, really happy.

[14:12] Samantha Tuozzolo: So oh my gosh, that's so good. I mean, we have so much to talk about from Merry Gentlemen, which before we just were recording, we were chatting about how it is the number one movie on Netflix right now across all of the Netflix is in all the country. So congratulations.

[14:23] Colt Prattes: Thank you so much. Incredible. Y'all go to Netflix right now and watch it. Before we dive deep dive into all of your amazing artistic career paths and gigs and all that fun stuff. Let's try to buy while we are here in the first place, which is survival jobs. So before you were killing it and all the things that you're killing it in, do you have a survival job from your past that was a memorable one that maybe was like a little bit more enjoyable than your typical like survival job?

[14:48] Colt Prattes: Well, I will say like, I got I got lucky. I got started work early, long before I even knew about theater and all of that. So my first job I was seven when I started working for my dad had retired from the police department for a second and he decided I'm going to start a tree cutting company. And I worked the chipper like that's what I did. I we would go and we would pick up folks at the local Home Depot and I would just hang out with them and run the chipper. And that was like what we did. And that's what that was my first job. And that taught me work ethic and all of that.

[15:32] Colt Prattes: And then I was really fortunate once I got into performing my career that for a while I didn't I didn't have a lot of large breaks. And then when I did it, who it just like rocked me. And I got into what a lot of us get into. I got into personal training. I started a fitness company and I don't know anything about business or I didn't then. And so that did not go well. I will say this. I was so this is after I toured with P!nk, which I think resets people's expectations, which is always great to kind of reframe how this really works.

[16:09] Colt Prattes: So I had done a music video with the pop star P!nk called Try and it's just the two of us in it. And then she asked me if I would go on a world tour, go on a world tour. And while I'm out there, I'm like, you know, we're at the O2 Arena in Melbourne. We're breaking records. I'm 30 feet up in the air and I can't hear the music because this 20 something thousand screaming fans. Right. I'm hung upside down. I'm looking down at Alicia. She's getting ready to spring out of the ground on bungee cords and I'm going to catch her 30 feet in the air. Right.

[16:40] Colt Prattes: And all I could think, all I could think, I look to my right and my friend Kassan is like having the best time of his life. And he's toured with J-Lo and Beyonce and Kelly Rowland like everybody. And I just remember thinking, like, I'm not really happy. Like, I don't I don't feel fulfilled. Yeah, I would watch her. She would do a couple of different songs every night that were just her on stage and I would watch them every night. I mean, I literally in the whole tour, I never missed it. She would sing Just Give Me a Reason. And I just remember her pouring her heart and soul into this. And I realized, like, I don't feel like that about this.

[17:18] Colt Prattes: And I learned so much from her. And I realized that if I was going to do what I wanted to do and be able to give that much of myself into something like I couldn't do that. So I left. I was like, I'm done doing dancing at the end of the tour. I was like, I'm done. I'm not going to be a performer right now. I'm going to figure out what it is that I'm meant to do. And so I started this personal training company. I'm living in West Hollywood and I'm not getting clients like I thought I would. And I don't know how to run this business.

[17:51] Colt Prattes: And so I get a job at a few gyms. I'm working at like four gyms. And at one of them, yeah. And it was a 24 hour fitness in West Hollywood. And the trainers there also like cleaned up and did the towel service and all of that. And so I'm in the locker room by the pool. Promise this story. It's almost at its close. I'm getting, you know, I've got my rubber gloves on and I've got my little 24 hour fitness shirt on and I'm walking around and I'm just cleaning up all of these towels are sopping wet. And you're like, what is that? I don't even know what that liquid is. What is this?

[18:24] Colt Prattes: And someone goes, Colt. And I look and they were like, you're Colt Prattes, right? You're the Try guy. And I was like, and they went, what are you doing here?

[18:41] Colt Prattes: I was like, wow. And I have a quick follow up to that. I promise I'm going to talk.

[18:46] Samantha Tuozzolo: No, please. This is a podcast we love when people talk.

[18:50] Colt Prattes: So you want to talk survival jobs. Okay. Here's the best one I can think of. It took me a second to jog my memory because apparently I filed it away and like, please no. But.

[19:00] Colt Prattes: So this is the bad, this is the really bad one. This is the one that was a true like, I'm doing everything I can moment. So I got very fortunate that after that situation, my wife and I talked and she was like, I just want to be putting on my makeup at seven thirty. Like, I just want to be back doing what I like doing. And she booked a show in Vegas. It was a musical theater show that was going to be at the Wynn and a whole bunch of musical theater people were doing it like Carrie O'Malley. And so she goes and does that. I also booked that. And I then ended up booking Rock of Ages out there as Stacey Jacks. And I was like, oh, this feels right. Like I like this.

[19:37] Colt Prattes: So I get out there and I'm doing that. And then I get a call from a manager out in LA and I'd had a meeting with them. And I just said, look, I don't want to just do like ensemble musical theater stuff anymore. I've been very fortunate to do Broadway in that way, but I want to push myself to do more saying that may suck for a second. I may not have a job there, but I'm going to keep doing this until then. And they wrote me and said, hey, I know you don't want to sing and dance anymore, but what if it was on film? And I was like, yes, it turned out that was they were making a remake of Dirty Dancing and Johnny Castle.

[20:16] Colt Prattes: I went in and I found out it was going to be Andy Blankenbuehler, who I used to have kids. There was a thing called a VHS tape. And I used to have this tape. I had a few tapes. One of them was I had recorded TRL and I would watch NSYNC. Yeah. And I would watch and learn their choreography. That's how I learned to do hip hop was watching music videos and watching the dance breaks on like frame by frame by frame. So that's a Darren, right? Right. And then I ended up doing Rock of Ages with Joey Fatone and like doing choreo with him backstage and being like, ah, ah, ah. It was so fun.

[20:52] Colt Prattes: So I, one of the other tapes was the Best of Baryshnikov and it was all of his male solos and pas de deux and I would watch him again frame by frame. How does he at what angle does his leg take off where his arms when his leg takes off, like when does he push for the power? And then the third one was Sing Sing Sing from the 1999 Tony Awards Fosse and Andy Blankenbuehler is in my opinion, just magnetic in a way that he moves in a way that my eye just aesthetically I adored and I locked in and I did everything I could to reimagine that.

[21:35] Colt Prattes: So when I found out and recreate that throughout my whole career. So when I found out that he was choreographing it, I very probably too bold. Like there are certain moments where you're just too bold. And I just told my manager, I said, if I can get a call back and get in that room with him, I can get this. Like, I just need to be in a room with him. And I walked in and he knew my name, which was crazy to me. He was like, are you coming in for Cats? And I was like, I'm kind of hoping I'll be busy with this.

[21:56] Colt Prattes: So I get it. Fast forward. I get it. We film it. It comes out. My wife is in the Aladdin first national tour. They're based in Chicago. They're starting like seven months of their first city. And I'm flying in and out in between like other things. And I get a TV show and it's on the Sundance channel called This Close. First show ever written by and produced by and starring two deaf actors. I'm doing this whole show. I finish it. I'm on a high. I go back and we don't have, you know, you don't get paid when you're at a, in your base city of operations on a tour. You don't get paid per diem.

[22:38] Colt Prattes: So that's seven months of no per diem when you're on a tour, wherever you start. And because that tour was so big and did so well in Chicago, seven months there, it's an expensive city. And she lived, we lived like next to the theater. That way she could walk there because I wasn't there all the time. And we also have another apartment in LA that we're paying for. And the TV show first season on an independent channel doesn't pay what people think it pays. So I started driving Lyft when I was in LA while I'm filming. So I'm driving in between, like I'm filming a television show for the Sundance channel. And then I would leave there and get in my truck and go drive Lyft until three or four hours for the next morning.

[23:25] Colt Prattes: I'd go to sleep and I'd wake up and I'd go right back to set. I ate all my meals on set. I slept as much as I could on set. And then I go to visit her in Chicago. And now that the show's over, we got rid of the apartment because we needed to knock some, you know, some expenses off. And I've never told this story. I hope she's okay with it. It would be because of the lesson that it's, it's, I hope, I hope I can give someone the lesson without the scar. Right. And so I'm working at Instacart and I'm working eight hour day, like as much because they wouldn't let you work more than a certain amount of hours.

[24:05] Colt Prattes: Like I would sign up for every shift, every shift. And they were like, well, you can't work more than this because then you're a full-time worker. And then we have to do this and that. Like, okay. And, and she's also doing it while doing Aladdin and she's doing less hours, but I'm, I'm clocking in, I mean, nearly a 40 hour work week and I would take other people's shifts and I'm just walking around the store, bop, bop, bop, bop. And finally my last day, my manager comes up to me and he goes, Hey man, um, I was watching, I was watching TV last night and, uh, like this new preview came on for, um, this Dirty Dancing movie. Do you have a brother? And I was like, nope, no, I don't. And he goes, what are you doing here?

[25:00] Colt Prattes: Wow. And I was like, again, again, I have, uh, I have a family. Like I, when we got married, I said I would do everything I could to provide, you know, and she's out there doing everything she can and I took my words seriously. And like my ego doesn't, doesn't carry more weight than my word.

[25:20] Samantha Tuozzolo: So here we are. I thank you for sharing all of that because I love the journey of the survival job, tying into the art, tying into the hustle. Um, I actually taught a class yesterday to a college conservatory and that they, they asked me, what is something very common that you hear from people a lot on the show? And I said, the hustle that you can be in a Broadway show, you can be in a TV show, you can be in a movie, but you have to do the side gig because this is what we sign up for as artists.

[25:42] Jason A. Coombs: Jason has 900,000 things going on at once because that is the hustle you have to do. You have to always be doing something to either keep the art going, keep the creative juices flowing and keep the money in the bank. So boom, drop, make that, make that drop.

[25:59] Colt Prattes: Hello.

[26:05] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yeah, make that drop. No, no, no. Let's just lock that in. Make that drop. So thank you for sharing all of that. Uh, so we saw that you grew up in Marietta. By the way, Marietta is parade, isn't it?

[26:11] Colt Prattes: It is.

[26:16] Samantha Tuozzolo: Um, so can you take, take us back to the younger version of yourself and tell us how you got the bug for performing and how your love of, of art came to be and, and when you knew you wanted to do this professionally?

[26:29] Colt Prattes: Oh, okay. So, um, I, I got a late start. I was very fortunate that, um, I just kept having the right conversations with people at these pivotal moments in my life. Um, where, how do I say this? So I was on the school bus when I was in,

[26:50] Colt Prattes: Eighth grade. And it was early on in the year. And I had some stuff going on at home. And I decided to deal with that by not dealing with it. But because I was a child and dying my hair, I buzzed my head, I dyed it blue, what was there. It was bright blue. This was for years in my life. So like seventh and eighth grade, I was fully in the—I don't know if it's acceptable to say this anymore—but I don't know what the group is called anymore. We were called the freaks, like they openly called us. Everybody was like, "Oh, you're a freak." Like, that's what you are. Yeah. And I was in all black, but not cool black, like New York black, like Metallica shirts. I didn't like Metallica. I didn't like Tool, but I was always in a heavy metal band, you know, JNCOs, which somehow are coming back.

What is happening? You know, the '90s are coming back. And chains everywhere. And like, I looked like Hot Topic came to life. Like, that's just the best. And I also—I had, you know, these eyebrows were still one, like one big giant eyebrow. And then I had my braces and glasses because I hadn't had braces again. It was just—it was a real moment. And you were memorable for sure. And I was on the bus. And I remember somebody who I deemed to be far cooler than me took it upon themselves. He was an older brother of my friend. And he just said—he was in choir. And I kind of like made a joke at him about it. And he was like, "That's where all the girls are, dude. They love guys who can sing." And I was like, "What?"

And ironically, through all of this, I played baseball for like 15 years, but it wasn't attached to the school. So nobody there cared whether I was athletic or not. And I just—I couldn't get it together. So I did that. And then I was—so I joined choir. And then I'm in gym class one day, and we had to be picked teams for basketball. And I always got picked last even though I also played basketball, because not at school. And because I looked how I did, which is understandable, I guess. And a guidance counselor comes in and said, "Hey, if you're going to audition for Pebble Brook, the Performing Arts School, you can just come with me. And, you know, we'll go into the auditorium, and we'll do your auditions."

And I was like, "Great." And I just walked out and followed her. And I went into—I remember I went into the boys' locker room, and I went and lost and found. And I got a hoodie out of lost and found because it looked better than what I was wearing. And I was like, "Okay." And I go in there, the first person gets up and sings. And she just has this beautiful voice. I just remember it was like this beautiful, just natural voice. And she's got her accompaniment and all of that. And then this boy gets up and sings. They're both in the choir with me, so I feel relatively comfortable. He gets up and sings, and he's the star of the choir. And we'll go on to do lots of beautiful vocal things in his life.

And he's got his accompaniment. And she had a tape, and he had sheet music, and they had a pianist. And I was like, "Wow." And I got up there, and I was like the only other person, and I said, "Hey, I don't have the form that I was supposed to fill out. And also, I don't know what this music thing is. I don't have that though. But I could sing 'America the Beautiful,' and my voice hadn't changed, so I was still in that falsetto the whole time." And I sang it. And a week later, a guidance counselor came into school and was like, "Your mom's on the phone. She called me. She's in tears. She's like, 'You got into this school. It's about an hour away, but it's a performing arts magnet program.' And she knew that I needed to get out of the situation I was in.

So she was like, 'Please, I know you don't want to do this. Please do it.'" And I just accepted it. So I go to this school. And that was how I got into performing. And while I'm there, I'm in the choir, I'm a vocal major. There's majors and minors. And I'm a vocal major. And our first vocal concert, we have blue robes. And it matched exactly my blue hair. So they asked me to put it back. They were like, "Please, it's just—it's too much. Please do it."

[31:17] Colt Prattes: And I was walking with this girl. And I had a huge crush on her. She was extremely talented. And I thought, "Oh, the cool thing to do will be to make fun of someone else. That'll make me look cool." And I saw a guy wearing—and I'd seen him around. He was wearing a leather jacket. And I was like, "Leather jacket? That's so stupid." Yeah, that was like the stupid—and she goes, "Oh, really? Because that's Tyler Haynes, and he's the most popular kid at our school. And he's also the most talented, and all the girls like him because he's so good." And I was like, "Oh." She—and then I put it together. Her name was Whitney Haynes, and that was her brother. And I just like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," just like cutthroat in Georgia.

My God. And now Tyler Haynes, who's one of my best friends, who was turned into my idol there. Who like, do they own Haynes underwear? But instead, he just has a resume of like 11 Broadway shows. And, you know, it's like, insanely one of the most talented people I've ever met. And that moment made me go, "Wait a second. Did you say? Did you say girls like guys who can dance?" "Yeah." "Okay, I'm in." And I auditioned, and I auditioned for the program. And they had this like show choir on steroids called Company. And I auditioned, and my friends auditioned, and they got in, and I did not. And I spent the summer—I went to a place called Ruth Mitchell Dance Academy. And it was in the Marietta Square.

And I took as many classes as I could. We didn't have a lot of money, so I could only afford so much, but I was the only boy in the school. So she let me come a lot of times for free. And I think she knew our situation. And I got a call two weeks before school started. And it said—and they said, "Hey, one of the guys in the company, his grades fell below the 3.5 required for him to stay in the group." "Oh, wow." "You were the next worst person, the best of the worst people we didn't accept. Can you be here tomorrow?" And I went in, and it was 12-hour days for six days a week, two weeks before school started, and then four hours a day every day after school. 12 hours on Saturday, 12 hours on Sunday.

And yeah, and then I heard you. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And then I got to a place where I would take the bus in about an hour or two before school started, or my mom would drive me sometimes. My mom and dad were both police officers. They were separated, but my mom had me most of the time. And she would drive me to school for this hour away that was 40 minutes. And I would go in. I made friends with the custodian named Byron. And Byron would let me into the school early. Shout out to Byron. I mean, all the love to Byron. He's a genuinely good, good person. And he was a friend when I needed one there. I love that. Yeah, it was really—it was just someone being kind and seeing me for me, not for the silly blue hair, for the problems that I caused for myself, for the—you know, he just saw me, and I really appreciated it.

[35:00] Samantha Tuozzolo: I think I knew.

[35:01] Colt Prattes: Yeah. And so did that—oh, no, sorry. Go ahead.

[35:04] Samantha Tuozzolo: No, no, no, I didn't mean to cut you off there. No, I was just gonna say that probably that experience, feeling, you know, having someone support you in that way, that's like—I mean, we have your parents supporting, of course, they're gonna support you, right? Like an outside figure and like finding your place and being part of a community.

[35:20] Colt Prattes: Yeah. After school, you guys are all after school together on the weekends together. That really probably helped you propel you to say, "Hey, I want to do this."

[35:29] Colt Prattes: 100%. Okay. It was, I think, for me at least, I can't speak for anyone else. But for me, I thought, "Oh, well, if my parents support me, or if my friend's parents are being supportive, it's because that's what they're supposed to do." But this guy had no vested interest in me. You know what I mean? This—he was a custodian at the school. He didn't care whether or not I came in earlier, what I was like. He was just a good person. He was very kind to me, but he would let me in early. And I would practice something as simple as PKs. And I know it sounds so silly, but I practiced PKs for—I mean, collectively, probably like weeks, if you added up each hour that I've done just for—it's like weeks of time.

And then my mom would give me money for lunch, like I think it was three or $5 for lunch a day. And I wouldn't eat. I would use $1 to get an orange soda, and that would sustain me through the day. And then I would pay the rest to other people in the company that would—I would have them come up, and they would teach me like the better dancers. And I would be like, "How do I get better? Like what, what, I don't understand how to do this." And they would show me, "Okay, well, think about it this way. Now reach here." And they were my first teachers and coaches. And then I would stay after school. And sometimes, especially once I learned to drive, like that, I was there—sorry, language—but I was there all the time.

I would stay, you know, we'd finish our four-hour rehearsal. And I'd be like, "Byron, how long do I have before you have to get out of here?" And he's like, "Oh, we'll clean the rest of the building. I'll come back here in two hours." I'd stay right there. And I'd go over all the choreo. And I would work on all the things that I couldn't do. And that was what got me into it was it suddenly gave me, for one, it gave me something to focus on that wasn't what was going on at the house. It gave me—there's an escapism, I think, for a lot of us in this.

[37:36] Colt Prattes: But totally. And I think that's—honestly, I think that's the hardest part for us is that when we grow up is, is no longer escaping it. Because we use it for escapism at the beginning. And the only way to actually get really good at this is to come back to yourself. And it's so hard to find that path. For a lot of us, I know it was for me. And especially when you get success still being escapist from yourself. So it's—that's how I got into it. It's a super short answer, you know. I wish I had more detail to give.

[38:15] Samantha Tuozzolo: We love the details. We love it. And you know, our listeners appreciate that because it just—everybody has a story. And so your story will touch someone and inspire them. And I'm about to go on the orange soda diet.

[38:28] Colt Prattes: So let's see. I just heard this the other day, and I listened to it again today, because I need repetition in my life. But someone said, "Commitment is essentially the relinquishing distractions in your life." So when you find something that you really, really want, the focus is really just going, "How do I get rid of the distractions?" It's not—it's not, okay, how do I say this? The way he said it was, there was an Olympic coach who was talking about champions, like who the winners versus losers, as it were, the people who win the medals and the people who don't. He said, "A lot of times the people who lose, quote, unquote, are going, 'Well, they must have something I don't. The winners must have something I don't.' And the irony is," he said, "it's the losers that have something they don't, and it's called distractions.

Well, the winners just—they take everything out of the way that is not the main goal." And I think for us as performers, it's—we miss the—it's not we miss the forest for the trees. It's almost the opposite. Like we—I know I—I shouldn't speak for we, but so much for us creatively, and there's so much this kind of ethereal nature of what we do, the magic of it. And you're like, "Well, should I be doing this? Should I be doing this?" Figure out what the one main problem is, and dig down on that. And once you clear that away, it just—I feel like it becomes more clear.

[40:13] Colt Prattes: Oh, did I lose you? Sorry.

[40:16] Jason A. Coombs: Can you hear me?

[40:16] Colt Prattes: Yes.

[40:17] Jason A. Coombs: Okay. No, thank you. Thank you for sharing. And I hope Byron's listening. Let's shout out Byron.

[40:21] Colt Prattes: I hope so.

[40:24] Jason A. Coombs: Hopefully, you know, one day he'll come to New York and see you live.

[40:26] Colt Prattes: Yeah, I mean, I would love that.

[40:30] Jason A. Coombs: Right.

[40:31] Colt Prattes: That'd be cool.

[40:32] Jason A. Coombs: But I want to say congratulations on The Merry Gentlemen. Like I told you before, I just watched it before interviews. I want to get into the Christmas spirit. I haven't watched any Christmas movies yet. And I was like, perfect.

[40:42] Colt Prattes: We're the first one. I love that. I appreciate it.

[40:45] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, you're the first one for me for the season. Can you tell us a little bit about the audition process for your role, Troy, and where you found out? Where were you when you found out that you got cast in this Netflix Christmas movie that's now number one?

[40:58] Colt Prattes: Number one in the world. It's still wild to me because I just found out so recently. I'm like extra blushing right now.

[41:07] Jason A. Coombs: I love it. Congratulations.

[41:08] Colt Prattes: Thank you. I'm. Yeah, it's in. It's a it's perfect timing for a lot of reasons. Especially with Thanksgiving in a couple of days and gratitude just being such a big part. It Oh, yeah, the amount of gratitude that I have for this to be a part of this. We may get into why to such a degree, but we'll see if we have time. The audition process was a self tape. I was actually on tour with Aladdin. We were in Alaska. And I got a, you know, reach out for a self tape. And I just I read it. And I laughed so many times at Troy. I like I liked him so much. And I love the script. But selfishly, I really just, you know, because you try not you love a script, but you try not to get too attached to it. Because it, you know, if we're fortunate, we read so many of them.

And even if we're fortunate, a bunch of them don't come to fruition. So I try to read the script with a little bit of distance. But it's just research. And then the role itself, I'll allow myself to get attached to that. Because if you like somebody like somebody, and I love Troy, he's just, he's, I think he is a great metaphor for the movie itself, where he seems simple. And then every at every little turn, there's something a little more nuanced where he's looking at his friend, and he could just like everybody else in that scene, just walk away, be like, let's take five and go. But instead, he, he knows, I don't have to say anything. I'm not going to be nice. I'm not going to let him. I'm not going to be nice, which I believe that this is probably not what part of the podcast is.

But nice is trash. I think nice is selfish. Nice is trash, because nice, nice is something we do for ourselves. Nice is something that we do so that we don't have to be uncomfortable. Kind, if you're being nice to your friend, you will go, Oh, no, that's, you know, make that decision. That's totally fine. That of course, I support you 100%. Whatever it is. That's nice, because you don't want to make anybody uncomfortable, mostly yourself. Kind is, I might have to push you a little bit, I might have to push back on this. But it's because I love you. Yeah. And it's, I may have to be uncomfortable myself. This may cause a rift with us. But because I love you, because I'm being kind, I'm willing to do this.

And I think that Troy seems nice, but is kind. He'll go out of his way to make sure that everybody around him, even at his own expense, knows, here's the whole situation to Ashley in the diner. Here's the whole situation. You don't know that. That's okay. Even if that causes a rift with him and Luke like, it is what it is. I think he would have told you that. But even if not, I'm willing to say it because I think y'all's relationship needs to have this. And I just love him for that. Because he seems like this silly just, you know, dude. And instead, he can be both. Two things can be true. He's very true. Yeah. He's a silly guy. But God, I love him so much.

[44:23] Jason A. Coombs: We love Troy.

[44:25] Colt Prattes: Yeah, I know. Where Troy stands here.

[44:28] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah. So we just said, you know, this is number one. It's being seen by so many people. Netflix is so accessible. These streaming services. What does that feel like for you to know that so many people are receiving this movie so well, and watching you and you know, getting them into the Christmas spirit? And second part of that question is what do you hope people walk away from this movie with?

[44:49] Colt Prattes: I think it's the same thing. I think that the reason that obviously the season, but I think there's something special in I don't I don't know how else to explain it other than this is the most I've said it a couple of times, but this was the most joyous set I've ever been a part of. Like, we were cackling in the first rehearsal, the first dance rehearsal, it's the best like the four guys and Christine and Lakin and our choreographer and Anna White, her associate. We were all four of us dying. Chad came in, this superstar comes into rehearsal and is just immediately one of the guys.

[45:31] Colt Prattes: Literal superstar. Chad Michael Murray, big shout out.

[45:35] Colt Prattes: Yeah, like, he I mean, he was such a leader on that set. I learned so much from him. And I've talked about it, probably ad nauseum to everyone else. But I just, he really came in there and, and was a hands down leader from, from the way that he carried himself the way that he came in his preparation. The knowledge that he had about the film itself and what it could look like if we weren't careful, and then knowing how to talk to people, and helping us all communicate better to make sure we were making the right film. And I think that all of that leads into what I hope that people take away from it and why, why it's doing so well. And that's that. I mean, for one, Marla, I mean, just threw a great hook, like, the full Monty or Magic Mike meets a Christmas movie.

Let's go like, no, how can that hasn't happened yet? I was like, I mean, I'm so happy that it has it so that part of it because whoa, no, it's the it's the joy. I think it at the end of the day, the thing that I want people to take from this is a little bit of cheekiness, a little bit of joy. The world, inevitably, as beautiful as it is, can be extremely brutal. And it can be a hard place. And for a lot of people, especially right now, it's a hard place. And so true, if we can offer a little bit of light, and just remind people to laugh. And even if it's just I mean, it's why it's why a lot of us got into this, right? We talked about escapism, but that escapism also comes at this beautiful kind of reverse price where you get to help other people.

You know, I get asked, I've done I've done Aladdin over 1100 times. And I get asked, because I did the first national tour, the second national tour, and Broadway now and a little bit of Broadway in between there during COVID. Yeah. And my wife has done it over 2000 times. So I Yeah. Um, but that said, I get you know, you always get the question whether it's when you're teaching. You know, we have a private teaching studio. We also teach at studios around the world called the Broadway studio. And

[48:04] Colt Prattes: shout out tying back in survival jobs.

[48:05] Jason A. Coombs: Right. Hello. That's it's my favorite thing. And it's it's being in service. I believe that is, I believe that as artists in general, what we are as storytellers, and what medium you choose to tell that story through and what stories you choose to tell, that's, that's personal, that's, you know, choose your own adventure. But I do believe we're storytellers. And therefore, I believe we are in service to both the story and in many cases, the audience. And that's what we did in this movie. That's what I get to do every night on stage is focus on being in service. How do I tell this story, the best way possible? Because as as Arthur Lawrence famously said to us, and Arthur Lawrence was our director of West Side Story, the revival that I did, and how in the world lucky was I to get to sit in the palace theater with my future wife at midnight after doing West Side Story with Arthur Lawrence in the audience, and he's doing a note session.

And he says, it doesn't matter what you feel. It matters what the audience feels. That's a fact. I was like, that's a big fact. What? And that's, that's what matters most to me anymore. Like, we're all going to have those days where you don't want to be there. And you you don't really, you know, you're thinking about your dinner list and you're doing this. But in reality, it doesn't matter what you feel. It doesn't matter what you're thinking. It matters what that audience feels. So we just, I happen to love this movie, and I happen to love this experience and everything. All I want is for them to get a little bit of a break. And to to get some of that joy. And to see that even in the midst of these hard times, like there, there is a light.

[49:37] Jason A. Coombs: There is. Oh, I love that. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, I want to I want to get some little bit more advice from you before we go. We're almost at the end of our interview goes by so fast. No, seriously. But you've gotten to work, like you said, with P!nk and with iconic Chad Michael Murray. I was the One Tree Hill stand in high school. And then I saw that you would also did Dancing with the Stars with Nicole Scherzinger. So you—

[50:06] Colt Prattes: Oh, yeah, he's like Titans. And you're Titan too. You've been around for a long time. Of course. Yes. Has there any, have you gotten any advice from anyone that you really stick that sticks with you?

[50:19] Colt Prattes: 100% or 100 and 50%. I mean, the reason that we started the Broadway studio is because of that. We've learned so much from everybody. And it is our job, I believe, again, to pay it forward to give that information out. And I will say the most recent one was my favorite. When we were filming this, and this stays with The Merry Gentlemen, which is great. When we were filming this, went over to Chad's house, my wife and I and met his wife and his kids and Chad and I, so we're over there for like six or eight hours. And I saw my wife maybe twice with Sarah, his wife, and the kids hanging out. And, and he and I were talking and I said, I do you have any advice about like self tapes in this audition process?

Because I'm not I'm not giving up like, I'm here. It's, it's not an it's not an if it's a win, because I refuse to not let it happen. That said, that said, what am I missing? Like, because you know, when you you go back to your Vimeo, and you're like, Oh, wow, that's 1000 self tapes, and I've booked like, six jobs. And it may seem like one thing from one perspective, and from another, it seems like, wow, that's 1000 self tapes. And that's 994 no's. And he said, here's the hard thing. I've been on both sides, obviously, he said, but I've cast movies, and I've cast, you know, TV shows that I'm directing or whatever. He said, you're either the guy or you're not the guy. And sometimes, as soon as it starts, they're like, it has nothing to do with your talent.

You're just it's just you're not what they're looking for. It doesn't mean you're not going to do a great job at it doesn't mean any number of things. He said, you're either the guy or not the guy. And sometimes it will go to someone who is not as quote, quote, talented. Because they're just there's something about them that just fits that what they want for that, but the whole team wants. And it released me from a lot of self doubt and, and really nitpicking apart myself tapes and my auditions in general. And I ended up calling a friend of mine who is a casting director here. And I was like, Hey, can I assist you or just sit in? Like while I'm doing in between shows on a Saturday, I went and did like, or maybe it was Yeah, in between shows, I went and did, I think it was like, Mystic Pizza.

I think I was sitting in there as a reader. Because I was like, I just want to watch and I want to see what it looks like from this side with no pressure. And then we have stable and just listening to the things that you would think are, oh, it's because I said this this way, right? I did this or it's none of that. It's not even it's none of that. It's you're either the guy or not the guy. You're either the you're either the character or you're not the character in their mind.

[53:28] Colt Prattes: Yeah, it's released me from worrying about doing anything other than everything that I could from my version of it.

[54:10] Colt Prattes: It's your first Netflix film and I went, what? It's just an added cherry on top. Such a huge blessing. That's amazing. If I may, I know we're a little over time. Can I take 90 seconds?

[54:25] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yes, please.

[54:29] Colt Prattes: I'm probably still going to make a post about this because I feel like every once in a while you get really lucky and your cup runneth over but it feels like your cup's just too full so you keep wanting to express it or give it out and just say thanks. I don't know what that is about human nature but I'm in the heart of it right now and it's because when I was in Alaska, we'd had some things happen personally and health-wise and also we had two weeks before that gotten into a horrible car accident that totaled.

[55:06] Samantha Tuozzolo: Oh, geez.

[55:07] Colt Prattes: It's okay. Everything's okay. Everybody's happy, healthy, and whole now but it was a terrifying experience. We drove the tour so that truck was our life. It had everything of ours in it and it was totally totaled in the middle of the mountains of Montreal in a horrible blizzard. We come out of that and we get to this place and we have these health issues coming on and something else is happening. I remember I called my dad and I never do this but I called him and I said, I just need to talk and please just listen and don't say anything. I don't want advice. I just need to talk and I started crying and I couldn't even get it out. I was just upset because I didn't see how after the tour, how were we going to get all of this back?

How are we going to move forward? I promised my wife that I would take care of her. I promised a certain life and I'm not doing it. I don't know. How am I the most successful failure I know? How is this happening? I'm crying so hard that a homeless person comes up to me with their cart and says, are you okay? I was like, yes, I'm okay. They just sat there and I hung up with my dad and I just sat there until I was okay and then walked on and walked back to the hotel. I got Ang and we walked to work and on the walk to work, I got a call that I was going to get this movie. So that feels cool but you're like, well, that's a limited time, right? So then we had bought a house sight unseen in Alabama.

It's near Atlanta where I was. It's just a good return on investment, investment property but that's where we were going to move and we were like, okay, I don't know what else to do so let's just go there. We get down there and we're pulling into the driveway and I get the call, hey, you're going to be Kasim on Broadway. So eight months ago, I was so downtrodden and lacking in options that I was numb. I was just past the point of sad. I was on the brink of a version of giving up and eight months later, I am 30 minutes away from sitting in my principal dressing room at the New Amsterdam Theater as Kasim in Aladdin on Broadway while the Netflix movie that I'm a part of is number one in the world.

It's an insane thing to know how quickly this business can turn and as Tom Hanks said in a Hollywood Reporter Roundtable, this too shall pass. When everything is dark and nobody will return your calls, this too shall pass. When you are on top of the world and everything is perfect, this too shall pass. So don't hold on to either as if it's going to be forever. Just acknowledge that this is the ebb and flow of this business that we call show, right?

[58:30] Samantha Tuozzolo: That we call show. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that and getting so deep with us. I know Jason and I really appreciate that. We always love a little inspiration, but we know our listeners really do.

[58:39] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah. And congrats on Aladdin, 10 years.

[58:46] Colt Prattes: Yeah. And Disney gave me my first job out of college. I was in the High School Musical national tour. So I've been working for them for almost 20 years.

[58:49] Samantha Tuozzolo: And Disney on the dancing.

[58:57] Colt Prattes: Yeah. And then getting to do Dancing with the Stars is crazy. Shout out to Disney.

[59:05] Jason A. Coombs: Shout out to Disney. Disney and Netflix. What is my life? I'm so incredibly blessed.

[59:12] Samantha Tuozzolo: So beautiful. That's amazing. Before we jump into our game, is there one role that you want to manifest for yourself to come to you down the pipeline? Just one. If you could pick one role that you want to manifest. We manifest a lot on the show. Jason and I are huge, huge manifestors.

[59:28] Colt Prattes: Yeah. So manifest here with us and then we're going to play a really fun game.

[59:32] Samantha Tuozzolo: Okay. And then everyone's going to go watch Merry Gentleman.

[59:41] Colt Prattes: I'm going to because I've never done it before. Because I've always said I was very fortunate. My dream role was to play Riff in West Side Story and I got to do it for Arthur Lawrence. So you know what I mean? I count those blessings as everything that I could want. If they were to do A Star is Born, I wouldn't mind being Jackson Maine.

[1:00:08] Samantha Tuozzolo: You know what? We need the Broadway version of that immediately, number one.

[1:00:14] Colt Prattes: I've got a little bit of work to do to get it where I want to.

[1:00:18] Jason A. Coombs: Any producers or developers or directors listening, let's get that going.

[1:00:23] Colt Prattes: You know what? If they are beautiful and if they're not, we'll figure it out. We'll figure out how to do it.

[1:00:28] Samantha Tuozzolo: Totally. This was such a great interview. Thank you for all of your words of wisdom and your inspirational stories. Like I said, our listeners are loving this right now. We just know them.

[1:00:39] Jason A. Coombs: But before we wrap up, Jason, can you tell us about our fun game to tie it back into the holiday cheer?

[1:00:45] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, so I am a big fan of the Christmas movies every year. And like I said, I watched yours today and I thought it'd be a little fun to do a little holiday movie trivia texture knowledge on the other ones that came before yours.

[1:00:59] Colt Prattes: Okay, I'm nervous.

[1:01:06] Jason A. Coombs: Multiple choice. I think you got it. I think got some multiple choice, some true or false. And Samantha is known to do a little bit of hinting.

[1:01:10] Samantha Tuozzolo: I'm a huge cheater when we play the game. So thank you. Just look at me if you're stuck.

[1:01:16] Colt Prattes: Exactly. I'll take the I'll take the first one. Boom. Here we go.

[1:01:22] Jason A. Coombs: All right. This is multiple choice. What is the name of the fictional town where It's a Wonderful Life takes place? A. Miami Falls. B. Springfield Falls. C. Bedford Falls. Or D. Santa Monica Falls.

[1:01:39] Colt Prattes: B. C. Springfield. C. I think it was C.

[1:01:50] Jason A. Coombs: I'm saying B for Bedford.

[1:01:56] Colt Prattes: Exactly. Exactly. I definitely didn't cheat. I'm not googling anything. I also didn't do any winks. So no worries there.

[1:02:04] Jason A. Coombs: Okay, next. Which actor plays Santa Claus in the 2004 movie The Polar Express? I'm also gagged that that was 2004. Wow. In The Polar Express? A. Tom Hanks. B. Tim Allen. C. Will Ferrell. Or D. Bill Murray.

[1:02:20] Colt Prattes: Tom Hanks. No, wait, wait. Yes, that's correct.

[1:02:26] Colt Prattes: Okay, I was like he played most of the characters in that. He did. Yeah, he does. He sure did. So it is kind of a trick question, but you aced it.

[1:02:31] Jason A. Coombs: All right. Well, you right up until you said Bill Murray. And I was like, honestly, I haven't seen it in a minute. It could have Bill Murray could sneak in to any movie and you'd be like, Oh my God, that was Bill Murray. I love The Polar Express. It's a big cry movie, though. So like, I have a hard time. I can only watch it like every other year.

[1:02:47] Colt Prattes: Yeah. I'm a sucker for these things.

[1:02:54] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah. Okay, true or false? Steve Carell plays Buddy the Elf, who was raised at the North Pole and doesn't know he's human. So he visits New York City in the film Elf.

[1:03:01] Colt Prattes: False.

[1:03:06] Jason A. Coombs: Correct. Will Ferrell. Will Ferrell all day. Let's go.

[1:03:13] Colt Prattes: You're literally acing this game.

[1:03:19] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, not at all with you helping me. I only did once. To tell everybody the truth, I only winked once at the correct answer. Everything else, you're killing it yourself.

[1:03:25] Colt Prattes: All right. Okay. Next, which 1990 shout out year I was born. Hello. Which 1990 Christmas movie features a young boy who was left home alone while his family goes on vacation? Do you want to get it without the multiple choice?

[1:03:38] Colt Prattes: I mean, I'm gonna guess Home Alone.

[1:03:45] Jason A. Coombs: Correct. Yes. Double points for not getting the multiple choice.

[1:03:53] Colt Prattes: We lost. I like this. The game where the rules are made up and the points don't matter. It's brilliant.

[1:03:57] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah. Whose life is it anyway? The points matter, man. The points matter.

[1:04:04] Jason A. Coombs: All right. This is the bonus that you clearly don't need. It's also true or false. In The Merry Gentleman, the movie Ashley is watching at the five-minute mark is another popular Netflix movie, Christmas movie called A Christmas Prince.

[1:04:15] Colt Prattes: A Christmas Prince. True or false?

[1:04:21] Colt Prattes: Okay, so technically it's a trick question because if I'm not mistaken, if I'm not mistaken, is that the Christmas Prince? Because I haven't seen, I'm not gonna lie, I haven't seen A Christmas Prince, so I thought they remade A Christmas Prince or The Christmas Prince for that shot. Or is it the actual one from?

[1:04:41] Jason A. Coombs: Well, according to IMDB, which I looked it up, that was the trivia. It was directly from The Merry Gentleman. It's A Christmas Prince 2017. So, I mean.

[1:04:55] Colt Prattes: Perfect score. I couldn't tell. I thought they, I genuinely thought they remade A Christmas Prince as like shot, like a couple of shots from it for them.

[1:05:01] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, yeah. Well, you'll have to fact check us and let us know if this is accurate, but.

[1:05:05] Colt Prattes: I love it. We think it is. We think it is. Congratulations, Colton. You know, your prize is that you are a VIP guest to the Survival Jobs season four launch party sometime in 2025.

[1:05:20] Colt Prattes: Hit me. Hit me. You let me know and I am there. Everybody listening, go watch Merry Gentleman on Netflix. Go get your tickets to Aladdin and we're gonna support Colt and all we can. Thank you so much for joining us.

[1:05:38] Samantha Tuozzolo: Before we go, can you please let our listeners know where they can keep up with you on Instagram, social media, TikTok if you have.

[1:05:44] Colt Prattes: Absolutely. You can catch me on most things at Colt Pratis and then we have a YouTube channel for the Broadway Studio coming out soon and a new website called thebroadwaystudio.com. So you'll be able to check us out there if you want any private training, audition training or college prep, all that stuff.

[1:06:06] Samantha Tuozzolo: Amazing.

[1:06:09] Colt Prattes: Yeah, it's exciting. We're gonna open up to, I think we have a cohort of like five students that we're accepting in January, five new students, so.

[1:06:15] Samantha Tuozzolo: Congratulations.

[1:06:19] Colt Prattes: Yeah, it'll be cool. It'll be cool.

[1:06:19] Samantha Tuozzolo: Congratulations. You'll be in good hands of Colt, y'all.

[1:06:24] Jason A. Coombs: Yes, you will. And if you guys are tuning in for the first time because you're a Colt fan, obviously, and you don't follow us yet, check us out at survivaljobspod on Instagram and TikTok. On Facebook, we are survivaljobsuppodcast. Shoot us an email at survivaljobspod at gmail.com. Follow my boy Jason at jasonacoons and follow me at sammituts.

[1:06:37] Colt Prattes: Yes.

[1:06:45] Samantha Tuozzolo: Happy Thanksgiving.

[1:06:49] Colt Prattes: Happy Thanksgiving, y'all. Turkey day.

[1:06:52] Samantha Tuozzolo: Joyful season. Thank you, Colt. You're amazing.

[1:06:52] Colt Prattes: Thanks, y'all. Y'all are absolutely the best. Thank you so much for this. This is a blessing.