The last year has been trying on us all, there’s no denying it. With the anniversary of lockdown approaching, more and more stories are emerging about what people have been up to during all this time at home. Some stories include people starting businesses, writing novels, or baking sourdough. Others include summoning demons, opening portals, and unlocking secrets from another dimension. However, today we have some exclusive entertainment gossip from two huge stars of TV and stage. According to a report received by our team, over the last year Lin Manuel Miranda has been stuck inside working on ‘Ew! The Musical’ for Jimmy Fallon, based on the popular segment from Fallon’s late night show. And from what we can tell, it’s been trying on both of them.

We caught up with Miranda on a Zoom call earlier this week to hear more about his latest musical project and much-anticipated follow-up to Hamilton. Here is the transcript of our call:

“Good morning, Lin. How are you?”

“Oh I am so good, thank you for asking! Do you like my hat?”

“Yes, it’s an excellent hat. Is that part of this latest project or was that a personal choice?”

“It’s part of the project – Jimmy sent my a whole box of them and told me I have to wear them in order to get into the role. I’m sure you want to hear more about it, right? Right?!”

“Of course, that’s why we set up the call – but Lin, are you alright? You seem on edge.”

“I’m fine. I’m fine! I just love this project and I am really excited to tell you all about it on the record. This is on the record, right? Oh I see the recording is on for the meeting, OK. Yes. So back in April of last year, Jimmy, a good friend of mine, called me up to ask me if I would be interested in working on a musical with him. Now obviously Jimmy is a musical guy, I mean he has music all throughout his show, so I jumped at the idea of working with him. It was then that he told me what his idea entailed.”

“A musical version of ‘Ew!’ from his show, right?”

“Yes, exactly! I had always been a fan of that segment, so when he asked me, I jumped at the opportunity. That was 11 months ago and I’m so close to finishing I can just taste it.”

“Tell us about that process. Has Fallon been involved at all? How were you able to turn a handful of sketches into a coherent musical?”

At this point, Miranda leans back in his chair and lets out a long, boisterous laugh before replying. “Oh he’s been involved alright. Every day I get calls with new ideas, even sometimes late into the evening. Just two days ago I got a call at 3:15am where he told me about an idea he had to get Seth Rogan back on as a guest star. And with Jimmy, you just have to figure out a way to make it work.”

“Sounds like a pretty chaotic relationship, has he done any of the writing himself?”

Again, Miranda lets out a laugh, only this one is shorter and comes across more as a scoff. “Let’s just say that Jimmy is the idea man. By which I mean he has an idea, yells it at me over the phone, and then expects it to be fully fleshed out by the time we talk next, which could be 2 minutes or 2 weeks later, I never know. Actually, can we talk off the record for a minute here?”

“No, that’s not a real thing.”

“Perfect. So if I am being totally honest, I thought this whole thing was a joke when Fallon’s people first reached out to me. But I thought, ‘What’s the harm in humoring them?’ Or at the very least writing a sketch for the show. Now, not only are they expecting this to debut on Broadway, but Jimmy wants the both of us to co-star in the damn thing. He’ll show up at my house unannounced for ‘auditions’ with a random group of musical theater nerds and expect me to drop what I’m doing to help. It’s driving me a little bit crazy and I think it’s having an effect on him as well.”

“What do you mean?”

“He told me that the lack of guests on the show has started to play with his head. That now that he doesn’t have a live audience or in-person guests, he has a harder and harder time understanding what is real and what is fake. He even told me that sometimes when he is in the studio recording, he can’t see beyond himself and is starting to believe that the world doesn’t exist outside of his own mind. I think he needs serious help.”

“Well that’s all the time we have today, Lin. But we appreciate your time and can’t wait to hear about opening night!”

“Wait, please-“