SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Hollywood Blueprint. We finally got a clap track. I'm producer A.K.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Moore, and I'm your host, Michelle Goldsmore.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

And today we have Mikey Reed, who's most known for playing Stjin on Victorious. He's since created a successful career for himself in Sketch Digital and stand-up comedy. And I, for one, can't wait to uh hear this episode that Michelle has already recorded.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

We had a lot of fun. We talked about pivoting and being successful, the challenges of working with a live audience versus a digital audience, and what it's like to be a lowercase or uppercase, depending on how you're looking at it, seeing her child actor at 16 on a very popular kid show.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Let's get to it.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Mikey Reed, welcome to the Hollywood Blueprint. Thank you for joining me.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Thank you very much for having me. Excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Yeah, it's exciting to have someone with a very relevant career in uh, you know, vertical stuff, live comedy and stand-up, but you have a background in, I would say it's called considered childhood acting, but like you're 16, so like you're not really a child.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Um, you're not like a proper child, but like it's somewhere there.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

So yeah, it's that's that's always an interesting thing. Because I definitely started when I was a uh a capital C child, but yeah, when Victorious was airing, that was I think yeah, I booked it when I was 16. I started shooting uh as I turned 17, and that ran until I was probably 21 or 22.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Yeah, so you started performing in New York theater before transitioning to TV. And I know that you started all of this because your sister was doing it.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Is she still doing it?

SPEAKER_02 1:48

No, no, she isn't actually. But originally um she had started as a kid as well, and she was killing it. She did like a hundred commercials, and she was a model on the cover of like the babysitters club books, and that was cool. I read those. I know, I know. So she was she was she was everywhere, and I just I thought it was, you know, she's my older sister, I thought it was very cool, and so I wanted to she's doing it, I can do it too. Yeah, and she's yeah, and she's doing well, and it's you know, so it was it's for me, I was I was very inspired by that.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Okay, so was there like something that convinced you to move to scripted children's TV, namely Victorious, or like how did that jump happen?

SPEAKER_02 2:32

I mean, I honestly the same way I think this sort of thing just happens with anybody is you get the right opportunity at the right time and you book something that kind of goes bigger than you even you know expected at the time. Um what's what's funny about the the show is originally the role of Sinjin was a uh it was like an under five co-star.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Yeah, they just kept calling, and so I just kept calling back. But literally my first my first actual episode was episode, it was uh the second episode, it was episode 102. That was the first one I actually shot, and then by the end of it, um they liked me, I guess. So they were like, hey, you know, we've already written 103, but we're gonna write you into 104 uh if you can come back for that. And I was like, absolutely. Incredible. Yeah, you're like, mom, I made it. I think at this point, I think this is pretty uh pretty secure.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

And for many people, Victorious is where they discovered you. I can also out myself to say that I Victorious was 2010 to 2013, which was high school for me, and my god was that what a weird and funny, like teenage, artsy Hollywood school, like not anything related to reality, but so entertaining to watch. And I I can say that the one episode that or scene for your character Stingin that specifically stands out for me, can think about it every time. I don't even know what episode it was, but it's like you are on a surfboard or something, and then you get thrown through a window into a hot tub where everybody is, and you're like, it looks like you're drowning in water, and they like the and they just like lift you up, and you're just like uh, and then they just like drop you back down, which was the comedy of it all. And I was like, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

So, two two points on that. That was the crossover episode with iCarly. It was called I Party with Victorious, and it was an hour-long special that we did that crossed over, which I think was my favorite one that we did because I got to meet the other cast and everyone got to work together, and Keenan Thompson was in the episode as like a surprise. So that was super cool for me as well, especially seeing someone who's so successful in comedy now having similar like roots on you know, Nickelodeon and and programming like that. And then I'm not great in water scenes. I for some reason, every time I do something in water, I do kind of accidentally drown a little bit. And so I don't know how much I like now that you say it, I'm like, I don't know how much I was acting. I just very distinctly remember coming up out of the water again and Avan, who played back, looking at me and being like, Are you good?

SPEAKER_00 5:09

And I'm like, Yeah, but you're actually like drinking pool water and campaign.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

I'll do anything for the bit. So I think I just really committed to the gasping underwater kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Medic, medic.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Yeah, medic, medic, please. It was a really fine, roll again, roll again. I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

You're good. Just don't worry about it. It's fine. I'll do it for the the the show, the integrity. But it just really it was amazing. But also for the role, he Sinjin is this really awkwardly, but also naturally like wide-eyed, socially awkward kid. How did you did they give you notes on how to have like play this role, or did you just figure it out? I know some people do their research, other people just like, yeah, you just got whatever that is, right? Keep doing it.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Yeah, I think it's that's that's a really good question, and I appreciate that you point out the wide-eyedness, um, particularly because that was a specific choice for me as well. Because going into it, all I basically had was the character's awkward, kind of creepy, you know, appears places, right? And I was like, what is the kind of behavior that I would find weird? And it's something, you know, sometimes if I'm lecturing or giving a seminar or any kind of, you know, uh on a panel, I'll I'll kind of tell the same story where it's you know, I'm I'm looking for like, oh, what did I find weird or what would I think is, you know, like unusual behavior, and then kind of mimicking that back. So as a New Yorker, I feel like I have a very naturally like fast pace when I'm talking. Um, but to weird up the character, I was gonna slow everything down. And then I I actually I I have um I I I don't think I've ever lost a staring contest. So I was like, you know what? I think I can use that. I was like, the more I just like if I I'm I bet I can just like I kind of just did it in the audition and I think it it's it's and it just worked, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

It and it's interesting to have to be in a position where you're not one of the you're not number one, two, three, or four on the call sheet, but your character was iconic and people everyone from where I'm from on the I'm from Philly, everyone knows who Sin Jin was, everyone watched Victorious. So it was just it was such an interesting character, and everyone's like, huh, the like, and he's like this underdog guy, but he's like, you love him anyway. Are there any specific experiences or lessons that you took away from being on Victorious that has helped you? Because obviously you have transitioned away from that into comedy and live action and stuff like that, but that's a very being Sinjin was very different from where you are now.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Um, yeah, I mean, for me it was it was at just the perfect time because, like I said, it was that range of about 1617 to 2122. So it was functionally my college years where I was, you know, really in this very professional environment. And I had I had worked before and I done other co-stars, guest stars, I had done theater. So I had experience on sets and stuff, but the day in and day out of it all was um something that was really motivating and something that really kind of gave me my first look as I was coming into adulthood of like, okay, this is what a a professional career of this looks like. Like this is what this this is the that kind of traditional, you know, the uh path and and experience. So uh the the whole the whole thing for me was incredible because of that. And it really I feel like it really empowered me and taught me so much so that I could incorporate that into the other stuff that I have continued doing, whether that's you know, live uh sketch comedy or digital sketch comedy or stand-up or you know, anything, anything in the comedy world is I was like, Oh, I guess I'm I guess I'm professionally funny now.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

I mean, that's a great I wish I was professionally funny. I I was telling AK, he's like, Yeah, you could like try to make him laugh. I'm like, I don't have a single funny bone in my body. I am not innately like I say things by accident, and he's like, that was good.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

And like, thank you, thank you. I love the acknowledgement too when uh of just like that was good, that was funny.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Yeah, I was like, I appreciate that. But you don't just act, as we have mentioned, you do a lot of things. I'm assuming you're writing, you're producing, you're directing, you perform your own comedy. When did you decide that creating your own material was essential to your career? Knowing that since 2020, when you I think that's the earliest video I could find of your digital stuff with I presume the guy was your roommate. But there's a point where people recognize the trend before it blows up and this is what I need to do for my career, or they have their team telling them, but you seem to get it because you've been producing for years.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Yeah, so yes, at the time uh that was my roommate uh Vincent Martella. He is the voice of Phineas on Phineas and Ferb, actually.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Shut up. Yeah, so that's yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

So he and I, he and I, uh he and I have been friends for a very long time since we're both uh teenagers at this point. Like we kind of knew each other as neighbors, and then we were both working on stuff simultaneously, and yeah. So anyway, he and I lived in New York together for uh a point in time, and we were producing a live variety show with two other friends of ours. And the uh in the variety show, he and I were responsible for the live sketches. So we were writing the live sketches and casting and directing them. Um, and and do we we started doing all that stuff live first, and then as you noticed, yes, around COVID is when it was like, well, we want to keep doing this, but this has totally shut out our ability to produce comedy as regularly as we would like to. And so it was a mix, I guess, of of that's where things were kind of trending, and also necessity for us because we were like, we we love this, we want to keep doing this. How do like what form does that now have to take?

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Yeah, and it's I mean, it's funny. I think I watched like I sped watched like every single one because I was like, you have you have so many videos. Um, but the bunker ones are really funny. And I like also the bits where it's like a millennial, but as like an elderly, like how to take care of a millennial as an elderly person. And I think that's the interesting that was interesting thing for me to watch about your content, which is like the buckets of is it relatable? Uh is it delivered well? And it's interesting because I could see that there were videos that were like they were getting views and traction, maybe because it was just because people recognized your face, but then all of a sudden, like it just skyrocketed your numbers skyrocketed, and then they just kept taking off. Do you have any sense of what was working, or you just kept making what was funny to you guys, and then you saw that things just jump?

SPEAKER_02 11:42

Yeah, that's a that's a great question. It's uh it's a little bit, you know. I think people knew uh me from the show, and so that's how I gained a strong kind of initial following, and then kind of giving them something where I was like, hey, I do other stuff, and this is um oops, I hit my microphone. I do other stuff, and this is what um I'm up to now, and like the kind of stuff that I'm making that really has my fingerprints on it. Um, I think that helped to kind of grow an audience and share stuff around um, you know, online. So I I think, yeah, I think I think I was fortunate to start with the kind of victorious inclusion where people knew me and then were like, hey, what is this guy doing? And then saw stuff, and then there was there was a reason to stay, and then new um content coming out.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

I think it is the most impressive thing ever to do any kind of stand-up, especially live stand-up, because you're just like, okay, I'll hope it goes well.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Let's see, yeah. Yeah, that's that's that's it is a very interesting dynamic. Um, yeah, sketch, uh, you know, live sketch is is really where I got started. Um that was like I said, that was after the show, and I had moved back to uh New York at the time. And I had gotten into yeah, live sketch first. And that's uh I still do live sketch. I I you know it's it's the love of the game. It's I I just love that kind of medium, playing funny characters and kind of short, you know, contained bits. And yeah, from there just evolving that into the digital, even quicker, even you know, goofier sometimes, uh kind of bits, and into stand-up as well. Because uh kind of to circle back on on one of your questions, I don't think I fully answered. Yeah, as far as like taking your career into your own hands, that that was really what was driving it for me. Like, yes, that was a trend, but it was uh a trend is in things were going more online. Um, but for me it was also just like I need to just do the things that I'm like that I love to do. And that in itself is like rewarding and that also supports the overall, you know, goal.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Yeah, and you're ahead of the curve if you're already saying I'm gonna do things that I want to do because I know many, many people are like, I'll just do it because they're telling me this is where to go, but it doesn't necessarily align with who I am or where I think I want to be. Right. So I think at anyone at any stage in the industry of entertainment and business, it's very hard to just go with your gut, but you do it very well. Okay, so your comedy spans obviously the stand-up, you do the sketch and the digital content. How do you decide whether your ideas belong simultaneously on stage, in a sketch, or on social media?

SPEAKER_02 14:12

Yeah, that's great. So when I'm doing online stuff, I try to think in, I try to think in characters and in relatability. So I try to think about like what's a what's a like what's a funny concept um or a funny kind of type of person that I can do more with, like multiple things in shorter spans. When I'm doing stand-up, that's more me thinking out just like I I'm trying to get more personal in stand-up too, you know, and talk about like even some of these experiences, like growing uh up as a teen actor and you know, all those things. So that to me is a different way where I'm like, I get to make funny these parts of my life that I want to like share or that people might not know. And then as far as live sketch, I love I love the format of just writing stuff and the immediate feedback of theater and and getting like getting laughs live and getting to, you know, play these silly characters or these, you know, because live sketch can be very broad. So, you know, playing, yeah, these these very broad, funny characters and getting the immediate kind of feedback and letting the experience, you know, exist like in that in that moment.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

I'm imagining you may test some material in both or all of the different mediums, and then you notice it really doesn't work for them, but it really works for them.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

I imagine that's like you think like, but why? And then you just say, okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

Yeah, sometimes sometimes some something won't work in stand-up, but then it'll make just a great one-liner online or something, or it'll it'll work, you know, just the different the different mediums can it's not always that the idea or the the concept isn't working, it's just sometimes like the way you package it or where you put it.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Yeah. Okay, before I get to like a question I've I really want to ask about your stand-up. Can you do you remember any time when you just really bombed on material that you were like really like maybe not proud of is the right phrase, but just like you were really anticipating what the reaction would be. And you could have either been like, wow, that really did not work, and I'm really surprised by that.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's a yeah, definitely. It's it's it's the same, it's the exact same feeling as like you try to track crack a joke to like a group of people, or even as you know, interpersonal as like on a date or something, and like it just it completely doesn't, and you're like, oh god, and it's just that horrible, it's that horrible sinking feeling. It's that, but you know, in front of a room of people, and it's not it's not really off the dome like it might be in a social situation. You're like, oh, I really like what thought into that. I can't believe uh yeah, they really didn't like that. You keep trying it and you try it other places before you kind of give up on it, um, or you rework it because sometimes it's you know, writing is rewriting and editing.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

So do you do uh crowd work at all?

SPEAKER_02 16:59

Um here and there, yeah, here and there.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Yeah, I was told recently, and by recently I mean like 10 minutes ago with AK, I was told that once you did stand up and your parents were in the audience and your material was about your mom, and I really want to talk about that real quick.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

That's very funny, yes. Uh yeah, and what was funny too is as she got to the event, she's very proud. She's a very proud mom. Um, if we're in the same room together, she'll totally tell people about you know the show or that I'm the she was like literally.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Oh yeah, she like went viral once for saying that you're just very yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

That was that was very cute. That was a very fun, um, that was a fun moment. And then we actually had a group like Zoom with the guy whose uh thread that was that like started the viral moment. And so that was really cool. We got to connect with him. But yeah, she she's she's she's very sweet, very proud. Um, but yeah, at the venue, they were like, oh, you know, who are you here to see? And she was like, Mikey Reed, he's my son, and they sat her right up front. Cut and and yeah, and it was it was very funny because it was a material that I actually think I wrote in the green room. Like I was like, it it like it was very true to life in um kind of uh whatever it was I was discussing. I was like, oh, this actually, I'm like, that's such a funny thing that you know just happened very recently that I was like, oh, you know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna try it. Let's let's see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Have you seen um Is This Thing On the New Independent Bradley Cooper? Not yet. I want to though. Okay. It just made me think of it because I saw it uh I think through Film Independent, but I love going to shows and watching. I don't love the like mandatory two drink minimum that could die. But the rest of it is like really fun and to have like a funny bone and be like, I know how to think of the material, and then the delivery is I think what gets people more than you could like say the dumbest shit ever, but if it's fun, like if you say it right, it's gonna make people laugh.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Yeah, and I think if you if you're if it's your personality and we can see that, you know, like I I I that's something I'm I'm working on more and more as as well, which you know, because it's it's always you're always honing the craft, yeah. Just being more more you in it, and that's what's kind of funny about it, is we see your take and your opinion and you know how you feel.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Yeah, you also do you not co-own founded an NYC comedy spectacular situation.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

What's that about? That was so that was the variety show that we were producing uh when we lived in New York. So I produced that with um, you know, a couple of my friends and and Vincent, who we were talking about earlier. And so that was yeah, that was the first kind of foray into producing and live um, you know, getting stuff up live. That's amazing. That was so fun.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Holly, I mean, yeah, I imagine. What did so it's a live show? So what did producing live show teach you about the business side of entertainment that being a child actor turn successful online personality didn't? Because I'm thinking those are two different muscles.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Interesting. Yeah, it's it's I I guess it depends how you think about it, because a lot of the stuff overlaps, but it's not exactly the same as as you're pointing out. Yeah. Yeah, the the live production of stuff, it's you know, you I mean that that for me as a performer, I feel like I just learned a lot because I learned to, you know, go out there and and give it my all and have like, you know, a certain bring my certain stage presence and be able to work with what you're kind of getting from the audience or maybe ad lib or improv something based on you know how how things are kind of going in the scene.

SPEAKER_03 20:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

So I I definitely learned a lot that way um because that definitely gave me more freedom to, you know, it it makes you uh be on your toes more in a way where you know you can't be edited to you know be funny.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

That's fair. Yeah, I imagine also if this is the thing that pulled you uh as your career progressed past Victorious. I'm thinking it's relief that you don't have to memorize lines. You can just you have so much more control over what's going on and the reaction and then how you continue to interact with people that are attracted to what you're offering, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Yeah, if I mean if you're doing more, if you're doing stuff that's more improvised for sure, it gives you a lot of freedom in that. Um with the sketch stuff, we were still learning a bunch of our lines to try. It's just you know, it there there were lines that we were writing for ourselves that were, you know, funny. Um, and there weren't any like uh multi-million dollar national corporations who, you know, are like depending on you have to say this line right. Um this is going on there. You know, like you you can you can make you you know you have a little flub and and you're like, okay, whatever, it was still funny, and people found it funny that you messed up. So it just, yeah, it had a a loose, a looser kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Amazing. So, okay, so for your you've had like obviously a ton of videos go viral. And um, the one that I immediately think of when I mentioned like the virality component is you're you have at least one video where it's like explain it to me like I'm five, which I find really funny because I will ask that. And I'm wondering if what your process was for doing work to figure out what was working online, or did you just go with what you liked and then you just continue to throw it at the wall. See what sticks.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

I think you know what? That was actually a a point where I that was something I think I tried live first in a kind of like character uh sketch setting of this kind of character. If I'm remembering it, um it was like, oh, explain this like I'm five, but then it I think I just became more childish, like I was actually five. Which I love that was a funny concept, and I wanted to try that as a character. And I feel like it the way the way I wrote it, I meant for it to be something that would work on stage, and then it didn't. And then I was like, wait a second, the way this is written, it's so much, so much more fitting for uh digital.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Yeah, the internet rewards, you know, speed and volume. It's all about like how much you turn out and like it's like how many videos you're giving a day and what's going on. But I think comedy often requires practicing and rewriting and really listening to an audience to see who gets it. And as we've already briefly talked about, like which crowd you should be doing what with. Do you get stressed out at all by the challenges of internet culture versus live audience culture?

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Hmm. That's a that's a really good question. I mean, they are different cultures for sure. I I would say, I think when I'm doing a lot of the live stuff works broadly amongst different audiences when I take it around, because that's really trying to lean on the, hey, this is who I am personally, and this is um, you know, maybe something about my experience that's funny. And so that relatability I think translates really well to live audiences where you can kind of do the same material, you know, club to club. The online stuff, it it can be so mercurial because it you don't know what things are gonna go which way. And so to me, those are just like I come up with a funny character idea and I try it. And I honestly I got to a point, as as you're saying, you know, a lot of it is is uh volume, you know, but you don't want to sacrifice quality. So I've started actually getting into a habit of if I do a video that well, if I'm gonna do a video, I'll try to do like three concepts around it while I'm already shooting to kind of keep it all contained, maybe five, depending on how much I like it. And then that way, hey, if it does well, I'm not in a rush to go make another one. I've already kind of got the the bit, you know, um in the can. So that that definitely helps. It's it's a lot of like process stuff where the the more you can simplify your process, I think the easier it gets to sustain long term. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Amazing. Yeah, I think a lot about the algorithm and how people and creators feel trapped by the pleasing nature of entertaining and performing. So, like similarly, social media can make people either feel really empowered or really exhausted.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

So it's just uh it's interesting. Um, okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

If Sinji Yeah, you're right, because it's it's it's it's you're right, because it's it's fine, it's a very philosophical, but it's it's funny like, hey, uh, how much of this is the joy that I get out of doing it versus the reward or at least perceived reward of what you get out of social media, you know, whether that's the perceived reward of like, oh, this did well and that made me feel good, or if it like leads to opportunities, which is actors and people in entertainment, it's like that's what we ultimately wanted to do, is is for this to like be an expansion.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Yes, and essentially I think I just asked you if your ROI is well is doing well.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

For anyone who doesn't know what that means, it's a return on investment, um, which is not a word that I actually really know how to explain, but I'm imagining Yeah, no, it's it's to me, it's it's the it's well, and again, as someone I I guess is as someone who's been in in entertainment for as long as I have, and in the ways that I've been in entertainment, the the return on on your investment, like you can measure that by traditional uh measures of success, but you can also measure it by like the personal gratification you get out of it. So like the fact that I get to do this and I get to be funny and I get to like that's that's my life stream, you know. So so getting able to spend every day going, hey, um, how can I be funny today? What what can I do? That's really fulfilling and that's a great return on investment. Um, and then subsequently, just the more you do it, you kind of naturally just get a return on it of you know, more views, follows, uh auditions, uh opportunities, all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

I have you gotten a lot of auditions off of your digital sketchboard?

SPEAKER_02 26:23

Yeah, and it's it's great because like a lot of um casting people who I've worked with in the past have you know seen the stuff I'm up to now and it kind of like it serves almost as a new like reel. It's like I'm totally in control of like how I'm perceived by casting, and I get to go, hey, this is my voice, this is my comedy, this is you know, it it makes it a lot easier, I think, for them, at least I would assume, to, you know, be able to like picture me and stuff and go, hey, I know how to, you know, kind of place him.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

That's incredible. And speaking of, I'm curious if Stinjin were to go into one of your shows, do you think he would laugh and understand your acts or just be confused and leave?

SPEAKER_02 27:02

That's such a good question. Okay. Let me think.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

Let me think. How would he react? I think he'd be into it. I think he'd be I think I think the shows I do, I'm willing to be a little more like experimental with stuff. And so I think that kind of nature, I think that would appeal to him.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Yeah, yeah, I think so. I was watching a little bit of Victorious today while I was doing like some final question edits, and I was like, I it's because it's interesting. Obviously, you cannot stand next to him. You are him. You are no longer him, but you were him, and you might because I was thinking if I was going to ask you about feeling typecasted, but obviously you're doing well, and I'm sure that you can't it's it's hard to walk away from a character that kind of created a successful experience for you, but it's like, what if, you know, what if you were your doppelganger could be there with you? Like, would they get it? Or or is your real life personality super different from whatever?

SPEAKER_02 27:55

Sure, yeah, yeah. And I think I mean, you know, I think in every character there's gotta be some, you know, some level of you. And and to me, like I was saying, with you know, how I kind of played it, I was just trying to be like, what are the things that I would find kind of like like if I did encounter this person and like what would make me feel like, oh, this guy's kind of weird. So, you know, but but those are yeah, we're we're we're still linked in that in that way.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Of course. Okay, so we mentioned a little bit how you've done material material about your mother, but your stand-up also touches on other things like your upbringing and your Jewish heritage, also hello tribe, um, some politics, and you know, obviously, as we have now talked about many times, the hit show that you are a part of. And I'm wondering if there's any thought process for you when deciding what personal material to use, because cancel culture is a thing, and not that it's like this question is about if you feel concerned about what you put out there, but it's just in a broader um what your thought process is on the chances of offending people or you know, taking risks with material for virality, and then you're known for that question or that moment on stage, or if none of it bothers you and you're just having a good time.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Yeah, I mean, I guess you never know what might go whatever way. I I don't think any of my material necessarily, you know, touches on anything that that was cancelable per se.

SPEAKER_03 29:19

True.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

Um yeah, for me, for me it's it's yeah, it's it's kind of just like about my life and stuff. Um, I'm starting to get more into, like I was saying a little earlier, the kind of more of the experiences like on the show and stuff like that. And so that's that's been an interesting kind of journey for me. I actually so so I had something go viral. It was it was one of my material, uh, one of my bits about being Jewish, and it went like super viral. It had like, you know, uh millions of views, and part of the reason is because it like pissed off the wrong group of people. Um, it just so happens that this group of people uh were Nazis. Uh I somehow uh got on that side of I know, I know.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

Mikey, that is the wrong side.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

It's the wrong well, it's the right side to piss off. That's the side I want to be pissed off. I decided that I would rather be be up in arms.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

It was a bit about uh Yeah, what was how did I miss this?

SPEAKER_02 30:10

I know it was a bit about uh it was a bit about Doc Martin's um.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Oh my god, I saw that. And then I actually think I scrolled because I was like, this is so funny, but I don't know how to respond to it. Right.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

So it's it's just this very funny bit about like, you know, the kind of origin of the shoes being a guy who was a doctor in the Nazi army, and all like not all, but a lot of the comments were like real, real sus.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Well, the funny part too is that you said that it takes 10 years to break in the shoe, so here's a different shoe.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

Yeah, and right, and right. So I'm doing I'm doing this, like, this, this thing. Yeah, and so honestly to me, like that's that's more funny is I'm like all these like super, you know, uh these like Nazi people who are like literally in the comments being like like saying it's just like really anti-Semitic stuff to me. Um I'm like you know what actu uh what I want to actually tag that bit with now is I'm like I have to actually thank these Nazis because they helped it go viral. And that you know, like so you've always you've thank you, you've always hated me.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Just engagement is engagement, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

It's it's just it's so funny. Um yeah, such a such a random because you're right, you never know what's gonna take off for whatever reason. And so that's that's what that was like my most extreme one for sure.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

I actually, gosh, I have such a love-hate relationship with learning about brands that are beloved and convenient and affordable, but then you learn that they've got like really negative ancestral connections, and you're just like, what do I do about this?

SPEAKER_02 31:39

Stuff out, yeah, it's tough out there.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

It's tough, man. Yeah. The other thing that I like about your comedy is that it sometimes exposes the absurdity of life. And I'm wondering if what made you decide, because it's obviously very easy and fun to make fun of life if you do it right. What made you gravitate towards that?

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Yeah, good question. I I think just it's it's again, it's it's the personal sense of what do I find funny? And the stuff I find funny is like that, you know, this um this concept is ridiculous or this behavior is ridiculous, or or why why do we, you know, why do we all do this? So that that stuff really kind of stands out to me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

Okay. Part of this podcast is about um having a candid conversation about making it surviving, pivoting, thriving, sustaining a career in entertainment when Hollywood has been in New York and anywhere else has been essentially chronically ill for years. And you are fascinating because yes, you had a platform with Victorious, but you've also done something that is hard to do where you have kept the momentum going and you've done other television shows, you've done film. And I'm wondering if you can tell me which area has been the most creatively satisfying, knowing that they are all quite different and offer a lot in their own unique ways.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Yeah. So after the show, the first things I found the most fulfilling were doing films because I was able to really um stretch as far as like characters that I could do and roles that I was playing. So I I really enjoyed um, you know, I always enjoy doing, you know, films and stuff like that. Then then for me, it's just it's it's it it feels like a simple answer because it's just comedy. But that has so many, like it's such an umbrella term though that I over the years I've continued to develop like all these different ways that I can express it. So it's like if if I'm um able to satisfy that through doing stand-up, great, or live sketch, and you know, now I'm using my writing and my my I mean, I'm using my writing and stand-up too, but uh characters and and you know, scenarios um or digitally, it's it's all kind of under the same kind of expression. It's just the different ways it sort of expresses, it's the different mediums that it uses.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Yeah, and it's I also just wanted to, if nothing else, point it out that you are an example of success of sustaining a career in entertainment professionally without you know being it, you don't need to be attached to like these huge titles. You can have a career in digital comedy and breaking through. Yes, it might have helped to have started like way sooner than right now, but like if you've got it, you've got it. And if you believe in your work, like I think Shirley Ralph said, like, if you when you look in the mirror, you be you better be proud of who you see, and you can see that in your work, which is I think also why audiences are attracted to what you produce.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

I appreciate that. Yeah, thanks.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

Yeah, and it's it's I mean, it's sticking through it during the like the the downturns. I mean, especially there's there's been so much in the industry uh between COVID and you know, everything moving to self-tapes that I think impacts a lot of stuff, and then the strikes and like there, you know, there it's it's been a it's been a rough time, I think, for everybody, you know, industry wide. So it's it's staying committed to what you want to do and finding ways to um finding ways to water the tree even when there's not like external uh opportunity necessarily. It's it's generating it for your own sake because you like to do it and this is how you want to spend your life.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Okay, so there are a lot of people, not me, that that want to do this, that want to be performers, whether it's uh all of creating and sustaining your own career as your resume or just trying to like go the more traditional route and get a chemist as far as a chemistry read. And I'm wondering what advice you would have to pro give to performers who want either both sides of the industry. I think a lot of people want more control over their careers, and you you have lots of wise words to probably offer them.

SPEAKER_02 35:49

Yeah, I I think the biggest advice, what I, you know, what's really working for me and what I what I would tell others is the more that you can take control of things, I think the better. The more you can, you know, put yourself in the game where you're making these opportunities or you're writing your own things or you're filming your own things. I think that that can only help the traditional path, and it may well just create its own path as well. Uh, I think we I think we're especially seeing it, I mean, particularly recently with things like backrooms and obsession, um, you know, these kind of like YouTube creators who are doing stuff and and Curry, who directed um obsession, uh, does a lot of Instagram comedy, like a lot of like reels and TikTok stuff. Like that's that's how I knew of him first. And so I think I think just making your own making your own stuff, um, it it supports it supports both.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Also, okay, my last two questions. Um, and thank you for your time again. Oh, of course, yeah. Um, I'm having a great time, which is great. I've never had a bad interview conversation, so you let me know at the end of this.

SPEAKER_02 36:55

I'm happy to be your first.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Because Hollywood is like, I use the phrase chronically ill because I don't know how else to coin this. I'm wondering if you if you could tell people with power and money, if you could give them some advice, what do you wish people who had platform and power that are not using it correctly to help us heal? What would you like to say to them as somebody who's not necessarily affected, but would be like, hey, you are doing this wrong, do this instead, or I wish that you did this instead.

SPEAKER_02 37:30

Give us the power and money, you know, that's that's that's kind of what I'm thinking. I I feel like that's a a good start. Yeah. Um no, I mean it I it is it that's that's a joke, but it it is in a way, you know, just the the empowerment of the artist and you know, letting people um letting people try stuff. A lot of what we're seeing is these writing rooms shrinking, and so it's harder to even get on the ladder that you normally would have traditionally to be able to like climb in uh rooms or in development. So it's it's harder because as as everything kind of shrinks, it's you know, there's there's less opportunity for people to you know get their foot in the door and then start building something from there.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Um definitely the ladder honestly doesn't exist anymore. If we're if we're being real, the the the mentor ladder broke.

SPEAKER_02 38:18

Yeah, that's that's a really so it's it's very difficult to, you know, like like all those traditional paths are really, you know, few and far between these days, um which is again kind of why I I suggest the the you know kind of making your own stuff. It that that also for me, I was just like as someone who's always been an avid fan of like film and TV, I always just wanted to be part of how things were made and be able to have my finger fingerprint on stuff more than just as a performer. And so that became just the development of a bunch of different skills. So the writing and directing and uh camera work, you know, like some cinematography and um and then like video editing. It's it's you kind of have to learn to be as self-sufficient as possible so you know that you know you're the you're the one person you can rely on the best. While it is it is still completely a collaborative industry, and I love collaborating with people, it always helps just being able to, you know, throw something, go, hey, I want to do something today. I don't have to call anyone else, I don't have to wait for anyone else. I can do it.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

I absolutely agree with that. Yeah, I think the thing that is still working really well, like my answer is it's to trust people and the collaboration and the community that you bring together because it is show business, but it's also relationships and other it's not just on you. Obviously, you can be independent and like showcase that. But I wish that more people trusted other like I wish executives trusted again and gave space and room and time to those trying to climb up because Hollywood used to be this like let's see how it goes, but now no one trusts the let's see how it goes. Um now they do with like success is like obsession, but that's like an anomaly.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

That's that's why I think the community element is so important because you know, while okay, you might have a bunch of skills where you can be doing stuff, you know, on your own, that's great because you you know, you want you want to be able to produce whenever you want, you know. But with a community of people, now you start building infrastructure and you just have more ideas and more hands, and you know, a group of people together can make a lot more stuff um, you know, all at once. And that's like those are the kind of foundations of things that then studios look at and go, oh, this is a pre-packaged success, and we want you know to like join in on this.

SPEAKER_00 40:44

Yeah, totally. Okay. Rapid fire questions. I lied, I have a few more thoughts because I'm having a good time and I have you for like five more minutes. So haha. Okay. Dream comedy person in a crowd watching you perform.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

Oh no. Uh uh, oh no, I don't know. All of them. Uh that's that's no rapid fire, rapid fire makes my brain shut off. Um dream comedy person. Um, I've been thinking about Ben Stiller a lot because I'm a big Knicks fan and I'm watching the finals.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

Wait, stop. I watched game three last night and I was asking all my friends, I'm from Philly. I'm not from New York. I have no business watching the Knicks game, but I love sports and I recognize Jalen Brunson as the talent that he is. And I was like screaming at my TV and I was like, I don't know anyone to talk to about this.

SPEAKER_02 41:31

You know what? Yeah, I know that's that honestly, that's more it is that like if if uh Ben Stiller saw me doing a set or something, I don't even think I would do my material. I would just talk, I would just crowd work him about the next.

SPEAKER_00 41:41

Heck yeah. So so as a rapid fire answer that I'll be able to Yeah, rapid fire out the door. Who is someone that you go to for inspiration?

SPEAKER_02 41:50

Oh, um I'll talk to uh Vincent Martella a a lot about stuff as a as you know, as a a frequent collaborator, you know, he and I have a similar sense of humor sometimes about stuff. So, you know, he's a really good sounding board. I'll, you know, I'll I'll come up with stuff honestly just roaming around. Like I feel like I'll do something that I'm like, well that was kind of dumb. And then I'll go, oh, but there's something funny about that. Like what's what's funny, what's funny about like what's wrong with me? Like like what's what what's funny about my problems or like my flaws? Uh so I you know that that'll inspire stuff. Yeah, I I'm on a I'm on a uh house sketch team at the pack called Darling, and all those people are so funny. Um, really, really talented writers and really funny um actors. So they're there are people who I I get inspired by and and love um you know, bouncing ideas off of.

SPEAKER_00 42:43

Cool, amazing. How do you pitch yourself?

SPEAKER_02 42:45

How do I pitch myself? Hi, I'm Mikey Reed. I'm about this tall. Um I'm I don't know why I'm slating for you. Um that I'm I'm I'm an actor. I'm I'm you know what? I'm trying to just be Mikey, you know? I it's it's um there's there can only be one Mikey at any given time, you know? And so I'm trying to be I'm trying to be just the Mikey.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Yeah. Would you go to a New York uh if there was like I don't know, I'm trying to think of like a famous like Mikey looking person for these like look-alike contests that go viral in New York. Would you go to one if you were or like if there was like a meetup Mikey group?

SPEAKER_02 43:21

A meetup Mikey group, that's so fun. Maybe we should have uh maybe we should have a Singin look-alike contest. And we should get we should get whoever.

SPEAKER_00 43:27

We would find some weird dudes, man.

SPEAKER_02 43:30

Like we'll get some people. We'll get some people. I'm sure it'll kill. I'm sure though there'll be a lot of a lot of handsome people.

SPEAKER_00 43:36

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

You would have what you're talking about, yeah. Good looking, attractive, new.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

Super Jewish people, yeah. You have to you gotta grow the hair out though, because you gotta win the your own contest.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

No, I can't win my I I would just have to appear, you know, I'd come out of the crowd or whatever. Um I don't you know what that's such an interesting thing because I feel like these days it's it's it's sometimes honestly, when I start talking, most people recognize. Me. Um it's the voice I think that gives me away because I just with my hair different now. Um and I I you know I grew into my shoes.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

Uh I you went from a capital C child to I mean, I consider myself a lowercase A adult. I don't know if you're an uppercase A adult yet, but that's up to you.

SPEAKER_02 44:21

I'm a I'm a youth. I'm uh I don't know. I don't know. That's that should go in my pitch. Uh hi, I'm Mikey. I'm actually Gen Z.

SPEAKER_00 44:29

I pass as Gen Z.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

That's great. That's great. Yeah, you know, it's always it's always good to play younger.

SPEAKER_00 44:32

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:34

No, I I don't know. I I guess I I pitch myself um I'm Jewish, I'm from New York, I love the Knicks. Um, you know, I don't know. I have I have I have opinions. I have so many opinions.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

So that's good. Are you Ashkenazi or Sephardic?

SPEAKER_02 44:45

Uh Ashkenazi.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

Okay, so Russian and Polish.

SPEAKER_02 44:49

Uh Pol uh well uh Hungarian Austrian is where my uh Jewish comes from.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

Nice, cool. Well, Mikey, thank you so much for your time. This has been incredible. I've learned a lot. It makes me wish that I knew how to do comedy or sketches. But I if when the next time if I'm in New York, I will try to seek out one of your shows.

SPEAKER_02 45:12

Yeah, come to I in New York, LA, wherever you are, you know. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:16

Do you perform in LA?

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Yeah, yeah, both.

SPEAKER_00 45:18

Okay. I'll have to it's on your website, probably, right? Yeah. When you do stuff, yeah, I'll jump in.

SPEAKER_02 45:23

Or on Instagram or wherever. It's you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:25

You can find Mikey on Instagram and on TikTok, and probably on YouTube and on Google.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 45:34

On Google.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

You know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna throw this out. I'm gonna throw this out to the world. I'm trying to get my wiki name changed. For some reason, on wiki, it's my like full government name, and I'm like, I have not gone by that. Like, I'm I'm wait, like Michael Eric Reed? Yes, I'm like, I've been Mikey since I'm like born.

SPEAKER_00 45:53

Oh my god. Who has a deal?

SPEAKER_02 45:57

And I've been like, I've been like, hey, I am I'm the contributor, it's me.

SPEAKER_00 46:02

It this is me, yeah. So if any if any of you out there someone help this poor man, someone help me. I forgot that what your full name is. So my weird thing relationship to your full name, which is a very weird way to say that, but I'm named after a Michael. My twin brother is named Eric, and my father is named Reed.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

Whoa, yes, that's like that's wow. That's that's really that's a lot.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

It's very weird when I saw what your full name was. I was like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_02 46:31

You're like, how does this happen? Wow, how am I?

SPEAKER_00 46:34

I am because it never happened who names their kid Michael Eric Reed? And then I'm literally associated with all of those names.

SPEAKER_02 46:40

You're like, those are all that's really crazy.

SPEAKER_00 46:43

Yeah, yeah, I know. But yeah, thank you so much for your time. This has been absolutely wonderful, and I laughed at least once, so I'm pleased.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

That's you know what? That's a good it's a record. It's uh at least at least one. Uh now I can now I can sleep tonight.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

Well, I didn't ask you to make, you know, I didn't ask you to tell me a joke, so I know, I know, I know.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

This is all it's the blueprint. So you know, we're just we're talking about we're talking about the journey. Yes. We're talking we're getting we're getting we're getting, you know, we're dissecting all the how much math do we need to do?

SPEAKER_00 47:12

What do we need to figure out?

SPEAKER_02 47:14

Right, that's right. No, this is about the that's what this is, it's about it's about our journeys and you know.

SPEAKER_00 47:19

Yeah, the like, how the hell did you do this? Because I am I just I'm so over the gatekeeping of it all, and I'm like, whatever. Um, but yeah, this was really wonderful, and thanks for making the time. All right, hope you have a good night, and we'll be in touch.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Hollywood Blueprint. I'm producer AK Moore.

SPEAKER_00 47:38

And I'm your host, Michelle Goldsboro. Woo!

SPEAKER_01 47:41

Got that soundtrack going. Okay. I haven't listened to the episode yet. As always, I was out of the room, but I can't wait to listen to it, and I hope you all enjoyed. Thank you so much for listening andor watching, and we will see you guys on the next one.