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This interview with Schlesinger originally ran in 2019, following theCrazy Ex-Girlfriendseries finale.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriendwas one of themost formally daring showsin recent TV memory.
Its tough to write songs for the show that are more sincere and not just obvious jokes.
But when you start to get more emotional, it can get artistically messy.What are we trying to say?
Is this funny enough?
The song is all Adam.
He busted out Whatll It Be, and it was like, Well, this is perfect.
Out of every song weve done, Im shocked this hasnt gotten radio play on its own.
I know thats naive, but its just such a good song.
I had nothing to do that weekend, so I just sat there, working on the song.
I started with that Piano Man musical vibe, and then let it take me somewhere else.
Rachel Bloom:I think Adam and Jack both really connected with Greg.
There is something about how we all dial in to songs that come from characters we relate to.
Adam Schlesinger:Why do we both connect with the bitter asshole guy, Jack?
Then we found out the day we got ordered to season two that he was not coming back.
This was a choice in our improv game.
Once we find that hook, its not all downhill from there, but then theres momentum.
[But] we were trying to write around not cursing.
I remember just crying in my office.
Adam and Jack were both there, probably not knowing where to look as I was crying.
Rachel Bloom:We did.
That was a CW call.
I said, This is creatively necessary.
Otherwise, the song will fail and this will not work.
And they literally gave two shits.
Thats partially why the song doesnt end with [singing loud and dramatically] shit shooooow!
Im always going to be proud of that song.
I love what it says about relationships.
I love what it says abouttheirrelationship it sounded like Greg.
It was a beautiful story song, and it was a lovely send-off to Greg part one.
Me crying at the end of the scene is not acting.
Im crying at the loss of the character, and sadness and pain.
I Pooped My Pants is not enough to hang your hat for an entire song.
Rachel Bloom:Well, you quickly changed it to I Crap My Pants, which was funny!
you could say, I dont give a crap or Oh crap, I dropped that banana.
But you cannot use crap in referring to defecation.
Jack Dolgen:I forgot about that!
Were going to help you navigate standards and practices.
And they completely followed through on that.
People ask, Would you rather have been on cable?
No, because those places didnt understand what we were trying to do.
FX turned down the pilot, like, We thought it would be edgier.
That meant way more to me than being able to say fuck or, like, show my asshole.
Jack threw that line out in the middle of the brainstorming session.
It was a beat later that we were like, Oh, duh, thats the title.
Rachel Bloom:Ill remember that moment forever.
The first idea I had was an old-school tap number, and it goes.
Fucked ya here, fucked ya there.
And then it was, We banged ya here, banged ya there.
And it was like, Fucking brilliant, motherfucker.
And it got us an Emmy nomination!
So thanks, Jack.
It was just an unbelievable three brains merging.
Adam Schlesinger:Your other brilliant moment while we were working on that was back pati-oooh!
We all just died.
Jack Dolgen: Who came up with Where should we finish?
How about on her chest?
Rachel Bloom:We originally had the guys saying, Where should we finish?
How about on her chest?
And S&P said, No way.
We put in the chest of drawers and it still wasnt enough.
So thats why I go, c’mon not on my chest.
That was how we sold it to S&P.
And it felt like we gave up nothing.
It was a really hard day on set.
I usually start to snap, mentally, around the middle of the season.
So I go to set and burst into tears, just uncontrollably sobbing.
Then I took her note in, and went, How much do I agree with this?
And I do think she was right.
The Darkness (Season 4, Episode 12)
Rachel Bloom:That song is pretty autobiographical.
Rebecca and I are different people I dont have BPD, but I have dealt with depression and anxiety.
And sadness, which I think is pretty universal as a human.
When I describe how anxiety feels to my psychiatrist, all I can say is, Its the darkness.
So I wrote this song with the twist that the darkness is this lover.
Jack Dolgen:When youre watching it, youre really getting straight to the core emotional expression.
And the joke is peppered in there really nicely.
Those songs are always challenging.
Rachel Bloom:There were alotof permutations.
But I was tasked with it because we werereallytime crunched.
It came down to Adam and me finishing writing the song in like an hour.
Rachel Bloom:I was filming on set, so I couldnt do anything.
You guys were on your own.
We were listening to the moms birthing stories and Hailey and I just sat there horrified.
Hailey was like, Well, Im never doing that!
Everyones stories were just so graphic and so intense.
Its so fucking animal.
And also unbelievably impressive.
I brought that to Adam and we tried to quickly write a song about it.
We wouldnt have been able to do that without their contributions.
Once we started going with it, we were just cracking up.
Aline came in at one point and grossified or clarified some things even more.
And that was often a challenge for me, writing a female lead.
It actually made me a better writer and a better human being.
Miracle of Birth was sort of a culmination of that process.
Forget It (Season 4, Episode 7)
Jack Dolgen:Forget It is averyrare situation.
I love that song so hard.
Adam Schlesinger:Me too.
Rachel Bloom:Tovah is a classically trained actress.
Youre going to humiliate yourself?
And that became her catchphrase.
Adam Schlesinger:Its like the Jewish version of fuggedaboutit!
Rachel Bloom:She asked, How do you want me to move?
I said, Tovah, its not Wheres the Bathroom.
She really connected to that.
I just kept saying, Younger, younger!
Picture the camera going over every inch of your body in this kind of voyeuristic gaze.
Adam Schlesinger:Left to our own devices, each of us have certain genres that we gravitate toward.
Mine is usually some slightly dated pop or rock.
And I just thought, I feel like this character would definitely have Huey LewissSports.
That seemed like a genre in which he would be comfortable announcing his bisexuality.
A lot of gay guys say, Oh, theres no such thing as a bisexual man.
Its magical, especially when we do it live.
you’re able to see it in the concert special were airing.
People stand up, they dance.
Its a fucking anthem.
Adam Schlesinger:Luckily, bi is a really easy word to rhyme.
