-Our first guest tonight
is an Emmy-nominated and Grammy-Award winning actor you know him
from his work on Broadway in "Hamilton"
and "Spring Awakening," in films such as "Frozen"
and "The Matrix Resurrections," and shows, like,
"Mindhunter" and "Looking." He recently received
his third Tony nomination for his role
as Franklin Shepard in the Broadway revival
of "Merrily We Roll Along," which is playing now
at the Hudson Theatre. Please welcome back to the show,
our friend Jonathan Groff. [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Welcome back. -Oh, my gosh.
-A very exciting time to have you, Jonathan. -Oh, I'm very excited
to be here. Thank you for having me.
-Third Tony nomination. But based on
talking to you backstage, I don't think it gets old
for you at all. -It does not, no, I -- We had our Tony nominee
press day today... -Uh-huh.
-...and I cannot stop crying. -Yeah.
-I am -- I am a mess. -What part of it,
do you think it's that it's every, like, you're sharing it
with so many people? Like, so many people involved
in the show were nominated. Deservedly so.
-Yes. Thank you. Yes. We got seven nominations total.
-Really exciting. -My co-stars, Daniel Radcliffe
and Lindsay Mendez got nominated for Tonys!
[ Cheers and applause ] Our amazing director, Maria, who's been working on this
production for over 12 years, got a nomination,
it's so incredible. And the show itself is about
a group of friends moving to New York to make art, and it takes place
over the course of 20 years. I moved to New York
20 years ago this year, in 2004, and so, it's very meta, I like. [ Laughs ]
-Yeah. -I cried so much during
these interviews today. And then, I went into
the bathroom at the junket, and I was peeing where --
[ Laughter ] And yes.
[ Laughter, cheers ] And I started crying
again, just to myself. I think, there's something
about the release of urination. -Yeah.
-And I was just like, "Oh, my God,
I'm gonna cry again." And I was crying. And Gordon Cox, who had
interviewed me for<i> Variety,</i> I didn't know it was him,
but he came in behind me and I was like, "Oh my God, now, there's someone else here,
and they're hearing me cry." And I was washing my hands. And then, he was like,
"Are you okay?" [ Laughter ]
-Yeah. I've never seen anyone -- If I saw someone crying
in a urinal, I wouldn't think,
"They probably are real happy." -Totally.
-They probably got nominated for an award today.
[ Laughter ] -That's so true, you'd be like, "What's wrong with that
weird man crying at the urinal?" But it's -- Yeah, it's
so special. It's a special time. I mean, what a cool thing,
and, you know, this is a show that famously,
this is a Sondheim show that famously only had
16 performances. -Yes.
-You said to me backstage, over 300 for you guys, right,
is that accurate? -Yes, between Off-Broadway
and Broadway, we've now done it
over 300 times. -Did you have a moment
when you hit 17 and you knew
that you at least weren't going to go as bad as
the first one where you're like, "Yeah, baby!"
-Just high-fiving. -Yeah, I mean,
300 is impressive, but 17, that was a big one.
-[ Laughs ] Totally. Totally. We had the whole
original cast from "Merrily" come to see the show one night,
which was amazing, that there's this amazing
documentary called the "Best Worst Thing That
Ever Could Have Happened." It's so good, uh, and yeah, they've been, I think,
they've been feeling vindicated. There's something
about honoring the show that's over 40-plus years old, that it's finally getting
its due as this amazing work of art that it is. We're all just so lucky
to be a part of this piece of the story of the show. -You obviously have been,
you've done it so many times. It's no coincidence
that you managed to do it on your birthday
and you didn't -- You were not planning
on getting extra attention, but you got a little extra
attention on your birthday. -I did, yeah.
[ Laughter ] Lea Michele came on the --
-Your dear friend. -Yes, my dear friend
Lea Michele, a year ago, on my birthday, March 26th,
I went to see her, I think, for the third time, play Fanny Brice
in "Funny Girl." And so, this year she said, "I'm
going to come see 'Merrily'." I think, this was her
third time seeing "Merrily." And we were collecting for Broadway Cares/
Equity Fights AIDS. And so, Dan and Lindsay
and I did our bow. And then, we started
the appeal to the audience asking for money,
and she just said, "Happy birthday!"
[ Laughter ] And then, the entire audience
sang "Happy Birthday" to me at the curtain call,
it was so sweet. -Now, you have
such a good voice. Do you feel awful
when people with terrible voices sing to you?
[ Laughter ] Can they tell it on your face? Are you like, "Uh..."
-[ Laughs ] I don't know
if I've ever heard anyone with a terrible voice,
I really -- -Oh, you're one of those.
-I really feel like... [ Laughter ] -Oh, so, you're a liar.
[ Laughter ] Do you mean that, though? Are you someone who,
like, loves the, like, you just love the idea of, like,
people singing so much that? -Yes, that, like,
my friend Alexis, uh, Forte. Ooh, I'm outing her now
as being tone deaf. She will sing, like,
she sent me a video. Like, we went to see
Beyoncé together. The Beyoncé tour.
I saw it four times. Uh, and she would sing
the Beyoncé songs, and they would be
unrecognizable as Beyoncé songs. -Because they're kind of
famously catchy songs. -Yeah, and you're like,
somehow it's like, [Singing] All the single la -- Like, she can't quite get
the melody, but I love it. Like, however, you're
going to express. -[ Laughs ]
-Go off, Alexis. Yeah. -I would love to live
with at least one of you, because I, my wife
and then, now, so quickly, all three of my kids
are like, "No." -[ Gasps ]
-Yeah. When I sing,
they tell me to stop singing. -No.
-Isn't that awful? -But I feel like that must
be a parent-child thing, because Idina and Kristen
and Josh from "Frozen," they say that their kids also
are like, "Please stop singing." -Oh.
-Yeah, so, maybe it's -- -I had a heartbreaking
thing the other day. I was dancing with my son,
and he was like, "That's really good.
You should only do that here." [ Laughter ] They're bad. They're --
They're bad people. -[ Laughs ]
-They're bad people. Uh, you guys do have
an incredible chemistry, which I imagine,
did you guys have it right away? The three of you?
Do you feel? -Yeah. There was like --
There was Dan and Lindsay and I, yeah, we like -- A lot came for free
from our first, um, day of rehearsal. I'm not going to cry
on your show. I swear I'm not gonna cry
on your show. But we, like, um -- -Can I say it looks
like you're gonna? [ Laughter,
cheers and applause ] I mean. -A lot.
-Yeah. This is the best. -Seth!
-No. I'm so happy for you guys.
-I know, but interviews should
not be therapy for the people being
interviewed. Uh, but, um, yes,
a lot came for free when we first met
the first week. And then, we spent
the last 2 years together, and Dan and his partner
had a baby, and Lindsay
is 4 months pregnant. -That's great.
-And I just officiated Lindsay's wedding,
and Dan was the ring bearer. And there's just,
like, so much, um, actual life
that we've lived with each other that during the show, it's like,
it's so meta and so fun. Even though, I'm crying,
it is so joyful and such a blast and such a blessing
to be able to go to the theater 8 times a week with the entire
cast and do the show. It's been --
-What an amazing thing. You, uh, one of the things that made me so excited
about the three of you, and I could tell,
"Oh, this is not a chemistry that can be faked." You guys did a thing
for<i> Vanity Fair.</i> It was the<i> Vanity Fair</i>
lie detector, and I've seen it
with other people, but I've never seen it
with a group. I feel like I hadn't seen it
with a group of people together. So, they hook you up
to an actual lie detector. -Yes.
-And they ask you questions and vice versa. You went around?
-Yes. -But there was a thing
that went viral that I watched so many times, and I ran in to tell
our producer, Sarah, who you're friends with, I was like, "Oh, my God,
have you seen this?" She's like,
"I can't stop watching it." And so, I'm just going to
show it to the audience. This is, you're being asked a
question by Lindsay and Daniel, and they're aghast at the way
you choose to answer it. -Yes. Yes. Okay. -I get wet when I... -No, man.
-No. Say something else. Please say something else.
[Chuckles] Try again.
-Can you repeat the question? -What's your secret to staying
so hydrated?
-How do you stay so hydrated? -I get wet when I -- -No. No. Stop.
Say it another way. -Oh. How do I stay hydrated? -Yes.
-Okay, I drink water. -There you go. There it is.
-There it is. The end. [ Laughter,
cheers and applause ] I was like, wat -- The funniest thing
about watching it is, first of all,
that you take two runs at it and you say,
"I get wet" both times. Also, it's an insane way
to answer any question, like, it's not even
a common phrasing. -I get wet. I get --
I get wet when -- when I -- Yeah, when I -- Yeah.
-Yeah. -But it's all different
sorts of wetness. -Yeah.
-Yeah. It's -- -Why do you keep wanting
to explain this to people? [ Laughter ] I'm so happy for you
and your cast and I'm so -- I'm so excited
to get to see you next week. I'm going to see a bunch
of Tony-nominated people that I really care about, so.
-Oh, my God, I'm so excited you're coming.
-Congratulations. -Thank you, Seth.
-Jonathan Groff. "Merrily We Roll Along"
is playing now at the Hudson Theatre
till July 7th. We'll be right back
with Adam Pally.
