If you’ve ever watched the web series, Talking Marriage with Ryan Bailey, (If you haven’t, your successful marriage depends on it!), you know Evan Gaustad, Sean Persaud, Josh Meindertsma, and Tiffany Elle have their work cut out for them. With Ryan Bailey dishing out the marital advice right and left, it’s up to them to keep the program centered. We know they love kazoos, cats, Ryan and each other. So, how do they keep Ryan on track? How do they feel about tying the knot? And, did I just get a new roommate? These smartas- uh, upstanding citizens, sit down with Comedy Cake to tell all.
COMEDY CAKE: How does Ryan’s advice give you perspective on your marriage?
EVAN GAUSTAD: How does… hm, that’s a good question. How… Let’s see. Ryan’s philosophy, if you will, it sort of… hmmm. It’s so hard to find the right words. What was the question?
CAKE: Who needs the most relationship advice on the show and why?
EVAN: Ha! Loaded question right there. That’s a fully loaded baked potato. Locked and fully loaded spud with extra sour cream and bacon. I’d say Sean.
CAKE: What made you say “yes” to this project?
SEAN PERSAUD: Well technically, and I want to be really clear about this, I never actually said “yes.” Evan asked me to do it and I said “no, under any circumstances, I’m not even that good at sound and I don’t even own a proper boom pole.” Then he asked me if I wanted to go get free sandwiches, and I said “ok, I love free sandwiches. Wait, this isn’t a plot to get me to do sound, is it?” And he said no and then we went to get the sandwiches, which it turns out were at Ryan’s garage, and Ryan wouldn’t let me have one until I had finished doing sound for the episode. It wasn’t even a good sandwich either. He made it too, I thought we were getting like Mendocino Farms or something, or even Subway. Sandwiches are those guys’ business. Man, what a crappy sandwich.
Anyways, that’s what mostly has kept me coming back, the food. And the chance to meet cool celebs like Nick D’Agosto who stars in my favorite film of all time, Fired Up. Have you seen Fired Up? If not, I can send you a copy, I bought a bunch used from all the local Blockbusters before they went out of business.
CAKE: What are your thoughts on marriage?
SEAN: Here are some thoughts I’ve had about marriage while working on this show: “How is Ryan married?” “Evan’s wedding was tight.” “Man, everyone at Evan’s wedding was already married, I wasted money on all these condoms!” “If I get married, I’m definitely doing a full open bar, not this wine and beer shit.” “What kind of person would marry Ryan?” “What? Nick D’Agosto is getting married? I gotta sit down. This is a game changer.” “I should propose a spinoff show and call it ‘SOUND MARRIAGES BY SEAN.’ Hahaha, that’s funnier than anything Ryan has ever come up with.” “Ryan’s wife is actually pretty cool.” “How am I going to get out of inviting Ryan to my future hypothetical wedding?” and “Oh god. I’m going to die alone.”
CAKE: Josh, You can really wail on the kazoo. Why the kazoo?
JOSH MEINDERTSMA: The ancient Incans once said that a man with a kazoo holds the power to life itself. Now I don’t know if all that is true but I will say that sometimes I feel like I’m filled with the strength of a 1000 men. Also, I like how it makes the noises. It make me have the smile feels.
CAKE: And, you play the ukelele at the same time. How did you become such a comedic musical multi-tasker?
JOSH: Thanks for noticing that I do a lot of things. While I’m playing both instruments I also am writing a book in my head called What’s the deal with clouds. It’s a non fiction piece with some made up characters and plot devices. I can’t give too much away but it’s a page turner and you didn’t hear it from me but the clouds are victorious in the end.
CAKE: What do you think of Ryan’s marital advice?
JOSH: I think of him kind of like a God among ants. This guy is firing on all cylinders. Now I have no interest in ever being married or having any long term relationships with any males or females BUT if I did I have a feeling that Ryan would be preaching the Gospel to me about the ins and outs of dealing with relationships And I would be lapping all that teaching and information up like a junkyard dog that gets hold of a can of mustard after some fat kid dropped it. Also, the dude is a fox. I’m lucky to be around him.
CAKE: Tiffany, what grosses you out the most about the guys?
TIFFANY ELLE: What? What a crazy question. There’s nothing, those guys aren’t gross, they’re… I like them, they’re my friends. They aren’t very gross all the time. Not at all.
CAKE: How did you become involved with the show?
TIFFANY: I just love the show so much. And I wanted to be a part of something great. I think the show is just great and I’m so happy that I’m a part of it and I hope Ryan knows that I just love the show.
CAKE: In season 2, we’re told you have a journalism background. Is that true? If so, what was your most embarrassing blooper?
TIFFANY: That’s so nice of you to ask. We don’t talk about it much on set because we’re very, very busy doing Ryan’s important marriage work, but yes, I majored in journalism and worked for several publications before coming to this wonderful show but that’s all part of my past and we don’t need to talk about that because there’s so much fun stuff to talk about with Ryan’s show.
CAKE: Who sings the most off-key, in the group?
JOSH: Sean, the guy is a real no talent hack. Just kidding. But it is Sean. Funny that the sound guy can’t make good sounds with his mouth hole.
CAKE: Evan, how did you get hooked up with this crew?
EVAN: Ryan and I work together and he told me he had an idea for a show, and I said I had a deadbeat friend with sound equipment, and he said he knew this crazy guy with a ukulele, and I think Tiffany came with Josh one day although she could be Ryan’s neighbor, I’ve actually never asked. And we’ve tried to get other people to help out but no one seems interested.
CAKE: You’re also a stand up. Where can we see your upcoming schedule?
EVAN: Man, I haven’t been able to get a set in since we started doing this show. Between the writing and editing and Ryan’s incessant emailing and crying, I just can’t get a show lined up. Do you have a show I could do? It would be AMAZING if you could set me up with a gig. I’ll do a bringer show, garage show, warm-up act for a bringer garage show, just anything to get me away for a night.
CAKE: We might be able to arrange something (if properly bribed).
CAKE: Josh, you have an array of Hawaiian Shirts on the show. What do you look for in a good Hawaiian Shirt?
JOSH: Something that can be worn day in and day out without having to wash it for a good month or so. And I like it to be cheap. If it’s free, it’s gold.
CAKE: Evan, in season 2 you play an elf on a shelf. What did you discover while exploring that roll?
EVAN: What? No, that was Matty Cardarople. Matty from Selfie. The guy is like 6’4″. How could you possibly mistake him for me? See, this is exactly why I stay behind the camera, so people don’t, you know what, forget it, next question.
CAKE: On the show, you keep Ryan on schedule. What is the most challenging part of that?
EVAN: The hardest part is that he refuses to read the script or look at the schedule ahead of time, so every time I say let’s move on to the next segment, it’s like it’s the first time he’s heard about it and he’ll either say he doesn’t want to do it or try to change it or just start making fun of Sean for like 20 minutes. I mean, you say I keep him on schedule because you watch these 5-minute videos, but that’s after it’s been edited down. These shoots take FOREVER.
CAKE: Sean, in the Holiday Episode, Ryan says you live with four roommates and a cat. How does that work on a daily basis?
SEAN: It’s tough, because our place can legally hold no more than 2 people at a time. It’s a tricky dance, but we all mostly work different hours. If you get there and there’s already 2 people inside, then you have to wait til one leaves if you want to go in. But look, the neighborhood is GREAT.
Also please don’t print the part about the cat, we’re technically not allowed to have her, and my landlord will be so so mad if he finds out. And he is a HUGE Comedy Cake fan.
CAKE: You appeared on Cougartown. Have you ever dated a cougar? What was it like, if you did?
SEAN: No, but I once had a 2-minute conversation with an 80 year old waitress at DuPars – I was informed by a friend later that she was flirting with me. She left us hard candies with our bill. I couldn’t totally get the wrapper off mine, but it dissolved pretty quickly. Have you ever thought about what exactly the flavor of “butterscotch” is? So weird.
CAKE: Josh, how do you think your music enhances the value of the show?
JOSH: Elvis Presley once told me, “the key to music is making a soundtrack for people to do things to especially talk shows. It gives a talk show a roadmap for a beginning and end and special enhancements throughout the show. It also gives the viewer something to hold on to and hum thru the day. “Angie Dickinson has big breasts.” This was at the end of Elvis’s life so he would sometimes go off topic but the gist of it made a lot of sense.
Now I have a question for you? Do you have a couch I can lay down on for a couple of nights?
CAKE: I have a great couch! Can my cat and I move, with it, to your house?
CAKE: Sean, you co-¬narrated the show with no sound; way to make lemonade out of lemons. What was your favorite part of that?
SEAN: The best part was absolutely not having to show up to the garage that Sunday. I keep trying to tell Ryan that it’s against my religion to work on Sundays and then he says that no one would call what I do “work,” and also “what’s your religion, watching football?” and also “no religion forbids work on specific days, you idiot,” so it was nice to just be able to sleep in and watch football.
CAKE: You hold a homemade boom mic, made from a paint roller. What are the advantages of this over a real, “fancy shmancy”one?
SEAN: Well the first advantage is that you get to say things like “I’m an artist, and my sound equipment is my paintbrush” to girls on dates. Also, I’m not an expert sound guy or an expert painter, but you can’t paint a wall with one of those fancy, expensive, “real” boom poles, can you? The answer is no. You can’t. I know this because I tried it. I was fired from that production.
CAKE: Tiffany, in the Season 2 “Cary Brothers” episode you quit and come back. What made you return to the show?
TIFFANY: As soon as I got out the door I realized I made a terrible mistake. The show is so good and who am I to try and leave such a great show and crew and I was afraid, really really really scared that I was making a mistake that could jeopardize… things. So I went back and I’m really really really glad that I did because Ryan and the show are so great.
CAKE: We also see you in an account of the delayed “I love you” text, where your character becomes stressed (to say the least) when her guy doesn’t say “I love you, too” right away. What are your real life experiences with this?
TIFFANY: Oh, that’s funny that you bring that up, that was actually the first time I met the guys because I was hired as an actress for that shoot and had been told it was a commercial. I was surpr– pleasantly surprised when I found out what the show was about and then so happy when Ryan kept calling and stopping by to ask me to be on/work for the show. So that was, wow, just a really special day for me, I remember it really really well. Everything changed that day. Hmmmm. What a fun show.
Mentions: Catch up on seasons one and two of Talking Marriage HERE. Season THREE drops April 8th! Follow Evan, Sean, and Josh at their respective Twitter accounts. Tiffany, you’ll just have to track her down yourself. You can follow Ryan, too.
CakeMama