BY CARY GINELL
Continuing our freewheeling talk with producer Quentin Garzon and co-hosts Andrew Metzger and Sarah Watkins regarding the upcoming Following the Mouse revue.
VCOS: So, Andrew and Sarah, how is it going to work between you two as co-hosts?
ANDREW: We’re probably going to kill each other.
SARAH: I might have to do the whole show myself, God willing.
ANDREW: This might end in murder. No – we work off each other really well. The first meeting we had was at an Aroma Cafe: “Hi! How are you? We’re hosting this show together.” And then we just started to see that we worked off each other really well.
SARAH: It actually started before that, on a group Facebook page. I was approached by a friend who was in the show. And I asked her how it was going and she said, “Hey, they’re actually still looking for a host. I know you’ve done comedy before.” And I said, “Yeah, sure, I’m kind of funny.” So she said, “Talk to Quentin; I gave him your information.” So I wrote to him and he said, “I’ll have to think about it.” And then, buh-bam, Group Message. “So you guys are going to be co-hosting.” And I said, “Well, oh…that’s….great!” Then we messaged each other and Andrew said, “Well, I guess we have to come up with things to do now.”
ANDREW: I figured that was a good idea.
SARAH: And we thought we might meet. And then it just kind of snowballed from there.
ANDREW: And now we’ve grown to hate each other.
SARAH: Uh-huh!
VCOS: Everybody who has seen you know that Andrew Metzger is like human rocket fuel. So, Sarah, what do you add to this volatile mix?
SARAH: I guess I’m the moonshine equivalent of rocket fuel.
VCOS: Andrew makes coffee tired.
ANDREW: That’s what I live on: coffee and fish.
QUENTIN: He makes me tired just talking over Facebook chats.
SARAH: I think you’re right. But I can keep up with him.
ANDREW: I don’t know many people who can. That’s the weird thing.
QUENTIN: This concert is actually to see if Sarah can keep up with Andrew. At least they’ll keep the audience awake.
SARAH: I add feminine elegance.
ANDREW: Which I already have.
SARAH: I can add masculine energy, too.
ANDREW: She’s definitely the pants in this relationship.
SARAH: They look better on me. anyway.
ANDREW: A little baggy on the sides, though, but otherwise, it’s actually a nice silhouette. But the wonderful thing is that we work off each other really well. We’re going to have so many Disney-related jokes that won’t go over too many people’s heads.
SARAH: I know this came up in the last big meeting that we had – I didn’t know who the Sherman brothers were. I don’t know how I missed that, because I’m a huge Disney fan, so he kind of educated me on that. My dad’s family is in the toy business, so I grew up with Disney from an animator’s perspective and a graphic designer’s perspective, so that’s why I love cartoons. So I can contribute little art facts, so it’s a nice little yin and yang that we have going on.
ANDREW: If I’m Yang, who’s Yin?
VCOS: He’s the one with the long ears.
ANDREW: Well, there it is. (sings) You can fly! You can fly!
QUENTIN: That’s not in the show.
ANDREW: It’s just going to be a very fun, upbeat show for the whole family.
SARAH: I try to think of us as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. I’m obviously Amy Poehler.
ANDREW: I’ll take Tina Fey.
SARAH: Do I look like Tina’s book with the big arms?
VCOS: So, Andrew, you’re performing in the show as well, correct?
ANDREW: I’m performing three songs. It will be “Andrew Metzger Prevents… Presents Following the Mouse.” I’m doing “Supercalifragilisticexpiealidocious” with Joanna Bert. And then I have the honor of doing “A Friend Like Me,” which was Robin Williams’s song in Aladdin, which, to me, is kind of a weird journey that I’ve been on because Robin Williams as the Genie is what inspired me to want to entertain others and make people laugh. So to be able to do this show is kind of like, “Wow, the path has come full circle.” So that’s going to be a huge honor. And I might cry during it, so we’ll see. There might be tears. And then we have me and Georgie Chavez – we are very much alike: cut from the same mold – we will probably play siblings or father-and-son at some point.
SARAH: You’re not related?
ANDREW: No, we are NOT related.
SARAH: What??!!
ANDREW: I know. I tried to find out if we were, but he just won’t show me any papers. The thing is, we’re doing “Hakuna Matata” together. Quentin is the first genius in Ventura County to put me and Georgie on stage together. There might be an explosion. We don’t know what will happen.
VCOS: Spontaneous combustion, no doubt.
ANDREW: Absolutely. We might both just explode.
SARAH: And break the theater.
VCOS: There will be green everywhere.
ANDREW: Right. But I’ve been wanting to perform with Georgie for a long time, so that will be another full-circle kind of thing. One of the first community theater shows that I ever saw when I moved out here was The Producers. And I saw him as Carmen Ghia, which is such a small role, but I saw this guy ham it up like nothing else. He made every scene his. When Georgie was on stage, even when he wasn’t doing anything, I felt like I needed to watch this guy. I was fourteen or so, and I said, “I want to be THAT guy!”
QUENTIN: It’s amazing how popular and well-known Georgie is. Andrew is doing Shrek in Redondo Beach and half the cast knows Georgie.
ANDREW: He is a hero of mine and also a dear friend now. So it will be wonderful to perform with him.
SARAH: I want to be that guy, too.
ANDREW: Maybe you should just use him. I’ll stand outside and open doors for people. This is getting very hurtful.
(to be continued)
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Following the Mouse plays Friday evening, February 27. For ticket information, click on the Following the Mouse ad on our home page.
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