R421 Here's your report, by request: 😊 (Sincere apologies for the delay)
Mark introduces him by referencing his role as Lyle Menendez in Monsters and now Grotesquerie. NAC is their second guest, after Maria Menounos.
NAC comes out to cheering and applause, touching hands with some of the audience members, seemingly shocked by the reception to him. After hugging Kelly and Mark, he takes in the crowd again, with someone even yelling "Spencer!"
Kelly and Mark immediately tell NAC how freaked out they are by his level of talent; NAC replies with a "Whaaaat," seemingly surprised. Mark comments that when he came in, he almost had to go the other way, because it freaked him out.
NAC references that they all come from similar backgrounds, General Hospital for him and All My Children for them, with Kelly and Mark saying All My Children in unison with him.
Kelly then redirects the conversation, saying when she started on All My Children, the real Menendez trial was going on- because that's how old she is, which leads Mark to chuckle.
Kelly then says they know NAC from two huge shows, however she wants to know his origin story- when did he start acting and how old was he when he began.
NAC says that he got into acting in high school- he was in the speech & debate program, then the person in charge took over for the theater department, which led him to acting. He did a couple plays, "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Hairspray," where he portrayed Edna, which was "a lot of fun" for him, adding that he "got to throw on the heels."
He goes on to say that he got to do a couple fun things before he met the director of the National Theater Conservatory, who became like his first big mentor, who helped him get ready for college auditions, then he "fell down the rabbit hole from there."
Mark references his career officially starting by saying "So General Hospital was your first gig." NAC replies, "Correct, General Hospital was my first professional gig." The audience applauds in glee; they show a still of Esme and Spencer.
Mark mentions how nervous he was when he first started at AMC; he said his story is similar, moving from another state to start on the show. He asks NAC, "How was it for you?" NAC says he had full body shakes, that he couldn't really get any air in for that's how nervous he was, adding "If you go back and look at the tape, it's pretty funny." He went on to say that you settle in pretty fast; Mark agrees that you have to, with NAC adding, "Because you're working everyday, it's such great training for an actor." Kelly then says "It's the best training."
Kelly states that he wasn't there for very long, because of his second big job as Lyle Menendez. NAC says "It was nuts, like a paradigm shift, for you go from that, which is great, now I work with Academy Award winning actor Javier Bardem, Chloe Sevigny, Nathan Lane and all the great- it was completely nuts."
Mark asks what the audition process was like for Monsters. NAC says he sent in a self tape, then received a call back from the casting associate, where Ryan Murphy came to meet the actors, including him and Cooper Koch. NAC showers Ryan with compliments, saying he sat down with the actors for about 20-30 minutes, while explaining everything in regards to the show. He also says that he "got full body chills" when Ryan led them into a room where his staff were situated, telling them "I have the boys, let's do this."
Kelly repeats that phrase, asking if that meant they were both hired. NAC laughs, saying he definitely knew it didn't mean that, but he was hopeful. She also asks if it was a daunting task for him to play a real life living person; he says that it was, while also different than Dahmer in the sense that they are still living so he was aware of sensitivity, yet ultimately you're led by the script.
