John Grady
Appearances
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
And then you're like, two years in, and a few more years, and a few more years have gone by, and somehow it has become a job. I know. It's like I'm just trying to keep it fresh and alive after show number 2473 or something, whatever. And I'm finding myself trying to fight complacency because you become so adept at doing all the skills that it's just not really a challenge.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
And I find myself walking through the show thinking things like, did I order food between shows? Did I remember to TiVo Sopranos? And like that. So now I'm trying to find and rediscover that thing, that original thing that really connected me with the show. And I find myself trying to recreate those early days.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
For those of you who haven't seen the show, it's primarily about the audience, about connectedness and community. The audience has gathered for the evening for this happening, for this crazy, wild, interactive piece of theater led by these three silent, bald and blue characters.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
One part of the show is we bring up a volunteer, and we refer to her as our feast guest, which is not important for you to know, but just because we sit behind a table and we eventually get to dining with her. But we also take her through a bunch of tasks We're getting to know her and the audience as well by manipulating things and moving things around and opening them.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
And she comes to represent the audience in a way. Because we're going to be up there making, not fun of her, but making fun
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
with her but I mean the audience empathizes with her because you know they're gonna be in on some of the jokes that she's not I mean they'll definitely they'll feel like oh my god I'm so glad that was you up there and not me you were amazing you were wonderful now when I go to choose a feast guest it's my job each night I look for someone who's sort of open and willing just a willing participant someone who I think best represents the the spirit of the show and
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
Like if I was going to choose someone from the audience here to be a Feast guest, it would be like this one right here, just very shiny, available. Yes, it's just that we just make a quick connection, like, good. So I know we're good to go. It's like that. So I'm stepping out into the audience for the first time in the show to go pick out a feast guest.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
In the first few rows, people are wearing ponchos because the show is just a mess. It's just a playground for you, and it can be messy. So we wanted to make sure the audience is covered and protected. So I step out there and I'm having, it's probably show number 2474, just a little less committed to and present than 2473, I don't know.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
When suddenly, bing, chong, bong, I see this shiny, happy person sitting over in the poncho section and she literally just pulls me in on her vortex. Like, wow, I can't remember the last time that I saw someone who was so... willing, so available, just so open. And I was like, okay, fine. You're the feast guest. Make my job easy. Great.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
So now I'm going out to the audience to have a little more fun. The other two blue men come up to me and they tell me, it's time for you to let us know who the feast guest is. And this is all nonverbal. And I say, well, check it out. Shiny, happy person right here. They're like, great, shiny, happy person. Bring her on up. So these two guys run up onto the stage.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
The band kicks into their sort of theme that's going to start our procession up the aisle to the stage. I reach down, I grab her hand, and she's just beaming at me. And she just clings onto my arm. She leans into me. She's so excited. She has no idea what to expect. And I reach down, and I pull off her poncho, and she has one arm. Which is not a big deal, right?
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
I mean, even though in this piece we're going to be grabbing things and manipulating them and moving them and opening them and, oh God, we're going to be up there making fun with her, not of her, and now I'm beginning to panic and I look up on stage and the other two blue men are staring down at me in horror going, what did you do? I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
And now I'm running the entire piece frantically through my mind because I know it forwards and backwards and I am going to accommodate it for her. I am going to make, so I could probably skip that part or instead of her doing that, and actually we'll just leave that part out. Actually, he probably doesn't have to do that for her. You could probably just skip that part and leave that part out.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
Actually, we're going to skip that part and skip that part. Why don't we just put it back down on the scene? Just skip the whole thing. And at this point of the show, we're supposed to be sort of afraid, you know, that we're bringing someone, an audience member, into our space for the first time, and we are terrified.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
I mean, we are sitting behind the table in a row, and our knees are knocking together, you know, and there is this awkward silence coming from the audience that I have never experienced before. But she is loving it. She is having the time of her life. So I bring out the first object, which is this electric candle, and I put it on the table,
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
It has a little switch on it, and she leans over and switches it on. That's okay. We're good. Pretty good there. The next blue man next to me, he pulls out a desk lamp, and he puts it on, and he stretches it out. And she reaches over to click it. Click, click, click, click, click. The switch doesn't go on.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
And what is about to unfold in my brain, and I'm trying to communicate with him, screaming, going, No! Don't! because the joke of the piece is it's attached to a clapper light so he goes and pops the light on which usually elicits a laughter from the audience but not this time dead silence because it was like he was saying well if you had two hands you could turn on the light
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
Oh, dear God, help us. The last blue man brings out a box of Twinkies for us to dine on. For those of you who've seen the show, that'll make sense. He passes them out. And the Twinkie for the blue man is a very curious object. The way it's shaped and sculpted, the way the light hits it, and the way it sort of reflects off its golden, cakey shell and
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
If this is something that's meant to be consumed, why would you put it in this package? And if it's, is there an opening to this package? And I mean, how would you open it? And this is something that we play with and oh my God, how is she going to open this package? But I look over without missing a beat.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
She's already taken the Twinkie, taken the package, put it under her, what's left of her arm right here and just goes, pops it open, puts it on her plate. with such speed and dexterity, I had to see it again. So I hand her mine, she goes, pops it open, puts it on my plate. And I look at the other two guys who are still struggling with theirs, I pick it up, I'm like, check it out.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
They are completely blown away, they reach over, he gets his to hers, she pops it open, he gets it, pops it over, and now we're good. And that thing, that thing that is starting to happen, that can only happen in a live performance, where the event on stage is starting to mirror what's happening with the audience's experience,
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
There we go. So I spent eight years of my life here in New York City performing with Blue Man Group. Thank you. Thank you. I know. No, it's like, seriously, dream job. I'm serious.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
And it exists somewhere in between and creates this biofeedback loop of event and experience and experience and event and event and experience and experience and event. And now we are with the audience and they are with us. And the two blue men beside me reach down and pick up their forks because they're going to dig into this Twinkie. And that's when I feel her shut down beside me.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
I literally feel her heart light go out. And I look out of the corner of my eye, and she's staring down at the knife and the fork, and I see panic in her eyes. And I reach over, and I just grab my fork, and I just gesture to her, just the fork, right? And she just beams back at me and says, yeah, that's all we need. And the two other blue men follow suit. Yeah, I'm exactly what he said.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
And we dig in, and it's all good. I'm feeding her, she's feeding me. We're all cross-feeding each other. It's a big flirt fest, and the piece just crescendos and explodes in this huge celebration, and the audience bursts into this enormous applause for her, really, because she was beautiful, she was amazing, and she was... the catalyst for this whole thing to happen.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
And she brought that element back that I had completely forgotten about. She brought this innocence, this childlike innocence, that ability to remain present and be honest and fearless and not try to manufacture anything again. And we sent her back into the audience. And they've completely changed, and the space has completely changed.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
Tiny Astor Place Theatre has become as large and as opulent as the Bolshoi. And we go back behind our PVC pipe instruments to play our first piece of music, and each tone that we're paddling out is just echoing into the darkness, like launching a flare into a cavernous cave. And I just start to cry.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
And I look over at the other two guys and they are crying because we were just raw and exhausted but even more so we were exhilarated that we made it through this experience together.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
And afterwards I went up and met up with her in the lobby and I thanked her for being such an amazing participant in the show and for making it such an incredible experience for everyone involved and for making the show for me alive again. Thank you.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
I mean, where else do you get to learn, you know, to be a precision expert drummer, to learn to throw and catch with, you know, laser-like focus and, you know, and also to communicate non-verbally with two other blue men on stage and with the audience because that's what it is. We don't speak. We don't talk. But it was a great job to have.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: A Blue Bonus
I mean, it's my first time living in New York City, my first off-Broadway show, and I'm so excited. The show is just addicting to do. Once you do your first show, you're just like, ah, I can't wait for the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one. Then a week goes by, and then a month goes by, and then a year goes by, and you celebrate your first anniversary.