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[0:00] Justin Guarini: Welcome to Audition Secrets, the podcast. My name is Justin Guarini, and I'm an audition and performance expert with over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry. You see me on huge television shows like American Idol, starring in national television commercials as the character Lil Sweet for Diet Dr. Pepper, on Broadway and six musicals and plays, as well as on Instagram, where I bring you success mindset coaching on the regular. Each week on this podcast, you'll learn actionable strategies, powerful mindsets, and the secrets the pros use to take the guesswork out of auditions and performances. I show you how to stand out from the crowd and increase your odds of getting the job so you can create the career and lifestyle you deserve and work so hard for each day.

If you haven't picked up your copy of the book Audition Secrets, then all you need to do is visit AuditionSecretsBook.com to get instant access to your copy. The Audition Secrets book and this podcast are your secret weapons to rising above your competition, successfully navigating the entertainment business, and keeping your sanity while you pursue your dreams. Kick back, relax, five, six, seven, let's go.

[1:23] Justin Guarini: Hello everybody, it's Morgan Freeman and you're listening to Audition Secrets. I know that's right. Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, and thank you so very much for listening. If you've been listening for a while now, you'll notice that I put in a new intro because I want people who are coming to this podcast for the first time to know exactly what this podcast is all about. If you've been listening even, I would love you to know and reinforce that this podcast is constantly evolving, constantly changing, constantly trying to make it better for you and something that serves you at the highest level. So you are here, thank you so very much for listening. I appreciate you. This week I'm emceeing a marketing conference in New York City called From Passion to Profits for a wonderful entrepreneur named Carolyn Soldo, and I'm recording this pod in my hotel room.

I also recorded the intro in the hotel room, so you might hear some weird noises or the sounds of New York City in the background, but hey, this is real life and I'm committed to bringing you the show. Come rain or come shine, lots of city noises, but we have a fun show for you today. Did you happen to hear that Morgan Freeman gave me a shout out just after the intro? Well, that wasn't Morgan Freeman. It was master voiceover artist, comedian, and impressionist Josh Robert Thompson, and he stops by the show later on to speak with us and share his hilarious impressions and stories about life behind the mic. But first, I want to take a moment to shout out you, my listeners. I love reading your comments and questions that you send me via email, and I love to read the reviews that you leave on iTunes and the other podcasting platforms.

This review is from cat94578, who says, y'all go listen to this podcast. If y'all are in the audition game, yes, if you're of a certain age, he's that Justin, American Idol Justin, but he's also tread the boards in Wicked, In the Tight White Pants, In Transit, Acapella Realness, the entire show, and many more shows, though those two stick out because I was privileged enough to sit in the audience for and seen his talent firsthand. Having sat on the other side of the table on projects I've helped write, what he and his guests are giving you is good, solid advice any aspiring actor should take to heart. Go now, listen, and bring his tips into the room with you at your next audition. Well, thank you so very much, cat94578.

I really appreciate you leaving that review on iTunes, and I would really appreciate it if you left a review or gave me some stars or a rating. It just helps spread the message of Audition Secrets far and wide.

[4:14] Justin Guarini: Okay, let's dive into today's topic. Stop acting and start playing. Chapter five of my book, Audition Secrets, is titled, quote, this is supposed to be fun, end quote. If you haven't picked up your copy of Audition Secrets, just go to auditionsecretsbook.com, and you can see more about what I'm going to share with you today. Right now, I want to share with you a quote that I put at the beginning of the chapter, this is supposed to be fun, and it comes from Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o. It goes like this, quote, it's so funny. You go to acting school thinking that you're going to learn to be other people, but really, it taught me how to be myself because it's in understanding yourself deeply that you can lend yourself deeply to another person's circumstances and another person's experience, end quote.

And that really resonated with me because every single time I get on the stage and or step into a role, I learn a little bit more about myself. And the times I really discover a lot about myself usually come when the business is wearing me down, when the hustle and the grind make me question whether or not I should even be doing this anymore. So as we dive into today's subject, I want to pose a question to you. When did the business of show stop being pure fun for you? Do you remember when the switch happened from pure play, pure fun to the grind? Now, I'm not assuming that you think the business isn't fun or that you don't enjoy it. That's not what I'm saying at all. I know miserable performers who still love their craft, but if you've been in this business long enough, you know that there comes a moment where a shift happens.

And if you haven't hit that shift, you definitely will. And whether you have or not, I want you to be prepared to meet it or to revisit it armed with wisdom and grace. So hold this question in the back of your mind. When did the business of show stop being pure fun for me?

[6:24] Justin Guarini: The death of pure play came for me one night on American Idol. Now, before I begin, let me say that I love American Idol and I'm eternally grateful for all that the show has done for me, for my career, for my life, for my family. As can happen when we step into the professional realm of any business, stepping into the ring of American Idol was like being shot out of a cannon. And if you've ever been shot out of a cannon, you'll know that you can't escape the experience without singeing a few hairs. Well, that pivotal moment I'm going to tell you about came when I uttered these words in response to a critique from Simon Cowell on live television in front of 30 million people. You have been outperformed by three girls on this competition tonight.

That was not your best. Sorry. Well, you know what, Simon? I really respect your pain, but what did you guys think? It was the first time on the live show that anyone dared to talk back to Simon and people lost their minds. People shot their mouths off at Simon during the audition rounds, usually to the tune of a lot of beep, beep, beep. He should beep, beep, beep. He can beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. But no one dared to cross Simon on the live show. And when I did it, newspapers wrote about it. Bloggers blogged about it. Message boards, remember those, went crazy. And the entertainment world weighed in on whether or not I'd gone too far. In business, as in life, there's a saying that goes, quote, you can always tell who the pioneers are because they're the ones with all the arrows in their back who were lying face down in the dirt.

Well, I was that guy and I suffered mightily for my sins. And funny enough, you know, once I broke the dam, everyone in seasons after the first season took their shots at Simon and didn't really suffer for it at all. But such is the way of life in the fast lane. When I spoke my mind that night after receiving poor reviews, pretty much crossed the board. Paula was very nice about it. I came off as a cocky anus. Something that I'm not. Ask anyone who's ever worked with me and they will tell you I don't bring ego to my work. And I'm certainly not trying to be cocky or any sort of anus. But in this instance, I brought what I meant to come out and come off as confidence and a loving nod to the audience to the post-performance chat that week.

And let me tell you, it was not cute. Look, it might be a fun trip down memory lane for you to remember it if you watched it on TV. But for me, it was not so much fun. The moment I basically flip Simon the verbal bird, I hurled myself through that unspoken barrier that separates play from work. The veil that separates passions from profits and losses. The two days that followed that performance were the worst of my 22-year-old life up to that point. Everyone, and I mean everyone, came down on me about it and were shocked. And the tide of public opinion that had up to that point been on my side began to sway. And the very real possibility of my dreams being cut short, being kicked off the show, and being forced to do the 3,000-mile equivalent of the walk of shame from Los Angeles back to my home in Pennsylvania was draped all over me like pizza dough that I'd tried to twirl over my head one too many times.

I was a wreck. The fun stopped. The actual reality of this reality show became forcefully apparent. And the pressure was so intense that I actually had to hide out at a family friend's house in LA to escape the incessant calls and pestering of the press for comments and answers. I ran laps around CBS Television City, and not in sneakers either, to try and relieve the stress. During rehearsals the day of the results show, my castmates were working overtime to make the best out of the situation for me. And they knew, as much as I did, that the situation was grim. Within those three days, the decision was made for me to grow up, take responsibility for my actions, and pull up, as dancers say, or risk losing it all.

And the truth was that even if I did all of those things, I could still lose it all. And everything that I had worked and slaved so hard for for years and years and years could be taken away from me in just a few hours.

[11:13] Justin Guarini: Well, the results show came. One by one, my castmates were deemed safe, and then it came to me, and I was told that I was in the bottom three. I braced myself during the commercial break, and everyone came over to the three of us, as we all always did for our comrades each week when they were in the bottom three, and I really thought this was it. I was done. To make matters worse, when the show came back from the break, I was told that I was in the bottom two. I was in a Romeo and Tybalt moment. You know, either you or I or both must go. The ghosts of one of our careers is but a little ways over our heads. My whole life up to that point and my future in the entertainment industry were in the balance.

I had no idea what I would do if I got kicked off the show, go back to my old life, go back to work at a job that I loved, but an existence that would always pale in comparison to the impossible high of being seen and adored by 30 million people each week by doing exactly what I love to do and being paid more than I've ever been paid before to bring my unique light and life to the stage. I know that I would have survived and thrived like so many of the other contestants who were cut and survived and thrived and still do. Unfortunately, I didn't have to find out because Ryan and Brian told the nation that I'd survive yet another week on the musical island.

[12:47] Josh Robert Thompson: And the public shaming I took seemed to appease just enough of the masses to let me stay and work my way back into the good graces of the nation, and ultimately all the way to the finale. Can you see why I put the death of play marker at that point on my timeline? There comes a time, certainly in everyone's life, but related here to your performance life, where the death of play happens. Where we go from careless youth to responsible adult, and more often than not, that experience is accompanied by trauma. Most of us carry that trauma throughout our lives and careers, and it's a millstone that constantly threatens to plow us under. And we expend massive amounts of energy just trying to stay upright.

And then for some of us, we find a way to recover our sense of play. The trauma doesn't leave us. The millstone isn't magically gone. However, instead of allowing that millstone to drag us down, we use it as a counterweight, and we find balance. Because the trauma and the pain can serve us if we also make an investment in the balance that comes with introspection, and the remembering of the reasons and the events that got us into this business in the first place. So the question remains, what was that moment for you where the play went away? I'd encourage you to talk about it with another performer, or write it down, or get it out somehow, because it's part of the foundation of remembering your sense of play inside the audition room and on the stage.

Because at the heart of every great performance is a reckless abandon and a vulnerability that is only accessible by the willingness and the vulnerability to dive deep into trauma, or deep into play. I believe there's not a right answer, I just prefer to play. To balance the two, and to safely access both through the lens of joy, openness, and a deep and abiding connection to my own story. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to answer the question I pose to you, when did the business of show stop being pure fun for you? And if you want to play full out, I have a simple and powerful exercise I call the origin story exercise that you can use anytime that you're feeling beat down by the grind and need a pick-me-up.

The origin story exercise instantly gets you back in touch with the play and the spirit of joy that at some point or another eludes us all in this business. You can find that, other great exercises, and stories, and so much more in my book, Audition Secrets, available now at auditionsecretsbook.com. Up next, my interview with the hilarious voiceover veteran, Josh Robert Thompson.

[15:44] Justin Guarini: So Josh Robert Thompson, thank you so much for being on the show, man. I am so excited to talk to you because I'm a huge fan of your work. I have heard so many things that you've done, but I've never actually seen you. And a guy on my staff actually said, you have got to interview this guy. He is someone that I've interacted with in the past, and he showed me your Instagram, and I was like, no freaking way that this guy has done all of these voices. And so basically, my first question for you is, what is your origin story? When did you know that you had this talent?

[16:31] Josh Robert Thompson: Well, first of all, thank you for having me on the show. This is amazing for me. And this is all coming at the right time because I'm just coming out of this sort of long period of struggling.

[16:44] Justin Guarini: Really?

[16:44] Josh Robert Thompson: Yeah, it's just the clouds, the planets have aligned. It's a really good, fortuitous meeting between you and I here.

[16:51] Justin Guarini: Great, great. Tell me why.

[16:58] Josh Robert Thompson: Well, I'm just saying that it's just been a hard, it was a hard time that I had after The Late Late Show. I was on a show called The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

[17:03] Justin Guarini: Yeah, I've heard of it. I've seen your work. You played Jeff, the skeleton, right?

[17:07] Josh Robert Thompson: Jeff, the robot. Yes, the robot. And you know, the thing with that show is it was a great opportunity. It was I had such a great time doing that show. And but I was hidden behind a wall.

[17:13] Justin Guarini: Right.

[17:13] Josh Robert Thompson: And I was puppeteering this, this talking skeleton, which is funny as hell, by the way.

[17:25] Justin Guarini: Yeah, it was great. It was a great bit. It was such a great thing. It was a great rapport that I had with Craig. And we toured together and, you know, did stand up for several years together. And but then it all went away as things do. And, you know, I didn't have the tools to, at the time, to really know how to navigate that sort of no man's land after something like that ends.

[17:42] Justin Guarini: But it wasn't the only gig that you had. I mean, you've been working with Family Guy, you've been working with a lot of different properties.

[17:54] Josh Robert Thompson: Absolutely. And I guess what I'm saying is this the last month, things have been really great. And it's and it just feels like I've been coming coming out of sort of a tunnel or some kind of clouds of parted.

[18:10] Justin Guarini: So I want to take it all the way back because we're going to talk about all the things that you're doing now. But I want to go back and I want to ask you, when did you first realize that, oh, my gosh, I can I can I can do these voices? I've got this thing.

[18:23] Josh Robert Thompson: It was it was the Muppet Show. It was the original Muppet Show.

[18:30] Justin Guarini: Right. Way back when it was first on the air.

[18:38] Josh Robert Thompson: Hey, that's not that far. Way back, Mr. Way, way back in the beginning of time. Yes. Josh Robert Thompson was a small boy. I was going to answer all your questions. I'll narrate my own life. You know what? This would be amazing. And by the way, yeah, we're going to get to Morgan and Arnold and all the other people to do, man, for sure. But what's so you saw the Muppet Show?

[18:57] Josh Robert Thompson: I saw the Muppet Show and I used to sit there and watch that show. And I noticed at the end of the show, there were these names, which were the credits. I didn't know about that because I was a little kid, but all these names were associated with the Muppet performers. So I went to the library, a magical place called the library, as one did back then.

[19:22] Justin Guarini: That's right.

[19:22] Josh Robert Thompson: And I checked out a book on the Muppets and I have and I have the book here in my office. And it's the it's called Of Muppets and Men. And it was the history and making of the Muppet Show. And I learned that there were all these different people that did all of these different voices. Like I learned about guys like Jim Henson and Richard Hunt and Frank Oz and Fran Prell. And I realized that each of them did multiple characters.

[19:39] Justin Guarini: Yeah.

[19:39] Josh Robert Thompson: And that's how I sort of started to record my own voice into my old Fisher Price tape recorder when I was...

[20:00] Justin Guarini: You're bringing it all back. How old are you?

[20:00] Josh Robert Thompson: I'm 44.

[20:08] Justin Guarini: Yeah, I'm 40. I'm about to be 41. So I'm right there with you.

[20:08] Josh Robert Thompson: Hello. I had the Fisher Price boombox and all that. I remember. Do you remember that Fisher Price thing that they used to make, which was like the plastic records that you could actually put on the record player thing?

[20:17] Justin Guarini: Right.

[20:17] Josh Robert Thompson: Oh, man, I wore that out. But the Muppets was a huge inspiration for me, too.

[20:22] Justin Guarini: OK.

[20:22] Josh Robert Thompson: And so I definitely get the fact that because I've always felt like I'm a really good mimic, but you take it to the next level. So what was the first voice that you did?

[20:34] Josh Robert Thompson: I mean, it was probably I don't even know if I could do it anymore, but it was probably Kermit the Frog. That was the natural, you know, you know, to the star of the show.

[20:39] Justin Guarini: Sure. Sure.

[20:46] Josh Robert Thompson: And it was and a lot of it was, you know, I didn't I didn't play sports. I grew up in Cleveland.

[20:51] Justin Guarini: Right.

[20:51] Josh Robert Thompson: So it was like either you're in the military or you like sports. And I wasn't either. So I was like just this kid, only child playing with puppets and making plays. And any friend that I hung out with, we usually went inside and recorded like fake radio shows or radio plays. That was what I did.

[21:10] Justin Guarini: You know, you used to put fake radio shows together, but then you actually found yourself on a radio show that I was a huge fan of, especially when I was going to high school. I'd listen every single morning. The Howard Stern Show. I remember he would call the actual Arnold Schwarzenegger early in the morning in California. Now, was that you or the real?

[21:31] Josh Robert Thompson: Yeah, no, that was me.

[21:31] Justin Guarini: That was you.

[21:31] Josh Robert Thompson: Yeah.

[21:31] Justin Guarini: Because I'm like, he's got he's got Arnold's like bedside phone. No, it's really you. That's amazing. And was that part of the Arnold tapes?

[21:43] Josh Robert Thompson: Maybe, of course. Yeah, I would say, you know, hi, Howard. Good morning. How are you? This is fantastic.

[21:47] Justin Guarini: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[21:51] Josh Robert Thompson: First of all, I want to blow up the moon. We're going to pass a bill that we get rid of the moon. It's useless. We don't need it anymore.

[21:56] Justin Guarini: That was that was the big prank phone call that started it all.

[22:01] Josh Robert Thompson: Amazing. That's so great. How did you get hooked up with Howard?

[22:01] Josh Robert Thompson: Well, so I did a lot of radio. I called into a lot of radio shows when I was in high school in Cleveland, Cleveland State University. Their radio station is WCSB eighty nine point three FM give till it megahertz, one of the greatest college radio stations in the world. So there's a lot of radio influence. And then when I moved to L.A., like in ninety five, I discovered that Tim Conway Jr. and a guy named Doug Steckler, who was a multi Emmy award winning writer for SCTV, which was another one of my favorite shows. They had a radio show in L.A. This was on ninety seven point one FM, which was a talk station at the time. And I used to listen to the show religiously. It was one of my favorite shows, The Conway and Steckler Show.

And I decided one day to call in as Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's just just I don't even know why. And at the time I was unemployed. I was sort of drifting and I thought maybe this would be fun. And that led to many years of doing that show, just calling in probably every week, several times a week as Arnold Schwarzenegger until Tim Conway Jr. generously recommended me to Gary Della Botte, Baba Booey over at Howard Stern Show. And that's how that's how that happened.

[23:29] Justin Guarini: OK, so let's get to some mindset work, because on Audition Secrets, the podcast and in my work, I love to get into and kind of behind the the thoughts behind the thoughts and get into the mindset of auditioning. And so I like to talk about false beliefs. What's the biggest false belief you had to overcome in order just to get out of the way of your own talent?

[23:47] Josh Robert Thompson: Wow, that's a great get out of your way is a great phrase because I had to do that.

[24:01] Justin Guarini: Yeah, get out of my own way so we can keep moving forward. And I think if you're talking about auditioning or in this industry, I think the big one for voice actors specifically is that it's enough just to be able to do silly voices.

[24:13] Josh Robert Thompson: Well, well, it's not enough to just be able to do an impression or a silly character voice. You've got to also be able to bring life to that character. And you've got to also be an actor. You know, there's a there's a mistaken and common perception. Misconception that that that voice actors are not real actors, because if you think about it, you don't have any visual elements, you're creating this entire world and this character with just your voice. And you've got to figure out how to make that real for the person listening on the other side. And that can be a real challenge that but it's a lot of fun to what was your biggest struggle?

[25:07] Josh Robert Thompson: Um, I think my biggest struggle was, you know, you're given so little copy, you're just given a few pages of script.

[25:15] Justin Guarini: Yeah.

[25:15] Josh Robert Thompson: And how do you quickly with just a few lines of dialogue, create this fleshed out character and put them in this specific moment that it's that he's supposed to be in? I think the first first job that I booked was for a video game called Empire's Rise and Fall. And I was playing Alexander.

[25:34] Josh Robert Thompson: Great. Amazing. And also some other fictitious emperor character. And, uh... I didn't... I was just sort of guessing. I think if I went back and redid that audition, I would give the character a bit more life. And also, um... Sticking to the script, you know? Not being confident enough to maybe give it a little pre-life. Have a few breaths, or add a few words here and there, just to make it more real, make it your own.

[26:04] Justin Guarini: Interesting. Now that's something that a lot of people I know struggle with. And especially when they're starting out, they're like, I've got to stick here. But sometimes that can separate you just enough, and show just enough range. So when you say... And so I think that's great advice. And so when you say give the character more life, especially for people who are listening, who are thinking about, or who have been doing voiceover auditions, what do you mean by life? And how can you create that life with your voice, without the visual medium?

[26:35] Josh Robert Thompson: Well, a good example is I did a Call of Duty game. And it was like an expansion pack for Call of Duty World at War. And this was Nazi zombies. Yes, I remember that! I was so excited because I'm a big horror movie fan. I have in my office here, I've got a whole bookshelf with just old VHS tapes of like some of the worst horror movies ever. Just cheesy stuff. But so this leads to my love of horror. And this game, Call of Duty, and this Nazi zombie level, because the script was basically a bunch of generic commands, like fire in the hole, or get down, or a grenade. And I thought, well, yeah, but there's zombies coming at me. So maybe if I throw in a couple of insults to one of the zombies, and I said something like, hey, hey, maggot breath, or hey, rigor mortis face, why don't you suck on this?

Or whatever it was. That's how I got the part, because they said to me, these casting people sit there and listen to 200, 300 of the same read, of the same dialogue. And they said, we heard yours, and we couldn't stop laughing. And clearly you understand the genre. And they left some of those lines in there. So it was kind of a lovely little thing.

[27:54] Justin Guarini: That's amazing. That's so cool. And I think I played that level, and probably have heard you at some point. But it's funny, it's improv. I mean, improv is very important, I think, to, specifically to, well, all forms of acting. But in voice acting, improv is just an indispensable tool, because it really allows you to add that flavor here and there.

[28:16] Josh Robert Thompson: Yeah, yeah, without a doubt. I have, I am certainly an infant in comparison to you with voiceover work. But I, even in just auditioning for things, have tried to do a little bit of that. And while it's much harder, the one job that I booked was for a kid's TV show called Blaze and the Monster Machines. And they're not exactly interested in improv when it comes to like, church shows and Nickelodeons. They're very carefully chosen words. But it's just so much fun to be in the room, and to just mess around. And I found that kind of when you don't care, and I mean, besides the fact that you care, that you want to do a good job, right? But when you kind of just don't care, and just let fly and have fun, and not worry about the consequences, is when a lot of the best stuff comes out.

[29:06] Josh Robert Thompson: You know, you're so, that's a great point. And one of the things you have to learn to do as an actor is once you've done the audition, and you're out of the room, and you're headed home, or once you've recorded your voice audition, and you've sent it off to your agent or whomever, let it go. Walk away and go about your day, because you may hear back in a week, you may hear back in six months. I've booked jobs that I auditioned for a year ago. And who knows, they had to rewrite things. There's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, but if you just let it go, trust me, you'll end up feeling a lot better, because you don't want to walk around worried about, what did I do wrong? Why didn't I book it? I didn't hear back from anybody. That's just a waste of your time.

[29:52] Justin Guarini: And it's hard to do. It is hard to get out of that pattern. It really is. But when you realize that so much of it has so little to do with you, the actual performer in person, I mean, then that certainly helps. But it's a challenging thing to do. Okay, I have one more technical question before we get to the Josh Robert Thompson show, because I want to talk about that and all the coolness that's happening there. So how do you prevent and even then overcome vocal fatigue?

[30:21] Josh Robert Thompson: I mean, I don't know if I have it that way. I mean, you do a lot of, I mean, aren't you doing a lot of classes? You're teaching a lot, you're singing a lot. I mean, you're doing a lot with your voice.

[30:34] Justin Guarini: I do, but I don't think I overdo it. I don't think I stress it. I think one of the important things is if you have a recording session where at some point in the script, there's going to be a lot of yelling, like it is one of these war games or something like that, or you have a scene of intense combat, you know, save all that stuff for the end of the session, because then if you blow your vocal cords out, then you're fine. But I think that actually what you do is very indispensable. Singing, I think, is a great way to train yourself. Breathing exercises is a great way to train yourself for voiceover, because you know how to better use your throat and your diaphragm, your throat muscles and all that, so that you don't wear it out. You know, because when I started out, I would just have these scenes where I'd have to yell and I would just yell.

[31:32] Josh Robert Thompson: You'd be screwed. As loud as I, yeah. So I have one last technical question. What do you think has, what's one lesson that you've learned or the thing that you've just realized that has been a huge contributor to success in your career?

[31:49] Justin Guarini: Oh, well, in terms of auditioning or just anything in this?

[31:54] Josh Robert Thompson: I would just say anything, really. Like, what's your biggest lesson? If there was something that you could go back and tell yourself at the beginning, what would you tell them?

[32:03] Justin Guarini: If you're working with someone in this industry and maybe you don't get along, because it's gonna happen. Yes. If you encounter some personality that's, let's say, difficult to deal with, because it's gonna happen, just keep it to yourself. Don't talk about it publicly. Take the higher road and just, I know it's hard, gang, but you gotta keep it to yourself. It's smart. And what you said is so important. It's this thing of, look, I never gave up. I mean, I would say I'm gonna give up or it's over, I'm throwing in the towel. Hello. Listen, it's all right to take a break and step back and recharge and clear your head, because in fact, I think you can do that. I think you gotta do it all the time in this business, because you're gonna go insane if you don't. People do. But you're right.

[32:55] Josh Robert Thompson: It can happen any time. You can have this great success at any time, but it's how we perceive what great success means. Like, in other words, to me, now I realize I'm already doing it. I said that earlier where it's like I gotta sort of slap myself and go, hey, man, you're doing it. You're actually doing it now. This is the thing you're doing. It's not like, well, I hope someday this thing will happen. No, it's happening. You're already on it. It's already going, man. The one thing I want to impart, and the thing I always tell people that ask me about this industry is I say, just remember what it was like to make those tapes when you were a kid. Remember what it was like to just put on a play just to do it with your friends.

Remember what it was like before likes and views and going viral. You gotta get back to creating something just for the sake of creating it because you will find that if you do that, that energy will come back to you a thousandfold. I mean, that's just the way you gotta do it. You gotta approach it that way.

[34:00] Justin Guarini: Amazing, that is beautiful advice, and I wanna end it there, but before we do, I want everyone to know where they can find you and follow you.

[34:10] Josh Robert Thompson: Well, you can follow me at the J-R-T show, T-H-E J-R-T show.com. That's the one. It's got the V in front of it. Very important thing. Amazing. Yes, very important. Always gotta have the V.

[34:24] Justin Guarini: Always gotta have the V. Gotta get the web address right. And if you could do me a favor, because I just really just wanna hear it because it'll tickle me so much. Can you, in as many voices as you'd like, you know how they have those things in the beginning of podcasts? It's like, hi, I'm so-and-so, hi, I'm so-and-so, hi, I'm so-and-so, hi, I'm so-and-so, and you're listening to Audition Secrets. Can you do, I would love if you started out with Morgan and then do all, whomever you want, other than Trump, whomever you want. I mean, that's the only caveat.

[35:01] Josh Robert Thompson: All right, now you want me to say something. Hey, this is Morgan Freeman here. And hello, everybody. This is Morgan Freeman, and you're listening to Audition Secrets. I know that's right. Somebody better tell me.

[35:11] Josh Robert Thompson: I'll do my Jeff Goldblum, Jeff Goldblum. Yes, Jeff Goldblum here, and you're listening to Audition Secrets. Sure, sure, it's a great show where you can learn all the secrets of the universe.

[35:35] Josh Robert Thompson: Okay. Go for it. Well, who else, who else? Okay, here we go. Hello, this is Robert De Niro, and you are listening to Audition Secrets. I wish I had this when I was an actor, although I'm better than you. I'll break your legs if you give away the secret. Thank you.

[36:05] Josh Robert Thompson: That's so good. And then how about one is Arnold, and then...

[36:09] Josh Robert Thompson: Arnold, yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, yeah. Hi, it's fantastic, yeah, yeah. Hi, how are you? How are you? It's Arnold Schwarzenegger, and you're listening to Audition Secrets, yeah. Yeah, the secret is that you're an idiot. What's the matter with you? Let me tell you what the secret is, is to pump the iron. Get busy. What am I saying? I don't know what he's really getting at.

[36:29] Justin Guarini: It's great. No, that was great. That was perfect. You don't need to redo it. Thank you very much, man. Josh, this has been so much fun. Thank you for coming and playing and talking to me. I really, really, really wish you well with the JRT show and with everything that you're doing because, man, you really truly have the right of it. And I just keep going, man. I'm going to call Ted and be like, I heard, you'll never guess what I just tripped over.

[37:05] Josh Robert Thompson: Yeah, man, I really appreciate it. And like I said at the top of this interview, I just sort of was saying that this is like, it's just like the right place, right time for the planets to align. And it's just a good, positive energy being on this show. So I really appreciate that. Really, thank you for that, man.

[37:12] Justin Guarini: I feel exactly the same way. Thank you very much, brother. All right?

[37:15] Josh Robert Thompson: All right, man.

[37:21] Justin Guarini: Well, that wraps it up for this week's episode of Audition Secrets. Thank you so very much for listening. Thank you to my friend Josh Robert Thompson for stopping by and for being absolutely hilarious. I had such a great time emceeing Carolyn Soto's event, Passion to Profits. And now I am back in New York in rehearsals for the new Britney Spears musical, Once Upon a One More Time. It is so awesome. I cannot wait for you to see it. In the meantime, if you want to overcome the anxiety, you want to rise above the competition, and you want to get the part, make sure that you go to auditionsecretsbook.com to pick up your copy of Audition Secrets.

[38:00] I'm Justin Guarini. This has been Audition Secrets. And remember, at the end of the day, you're just one audition away.