Kevin McHale talks tonight's TGP episode and Glee Season 4
This week, Oxygen’s The Glee Project welcomes Kevin McHale, who of course plays Artie on Glee, to mentor the remaining contestants. Their lesson this week? “Adaptability,” which required the contestants to think on their feet. EW spoke to McHale about tonight’s episode - and didn’t hesitate to grill him for scoop on season 4 and even his thoughts on a Quinn/Artie romance.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Your theme is adaptability. What song did they have to do?
KEVIN MCHALE: They had to do Alanis Morissette… What Alanis Morissette song was it? The one about [oral sex] in a theater.
“You Oughta Know?”
“You Oughta Know” - that’s what I thought! My intention was to be as cruel as possible to them.
That doesn’t really sound like you.
Well, when it comes to those things like music I can be very blunt. I was like, “I’m gonna go all Simon on this and they’re gonna have to deal with it.” But when I got there and they told me what the assignment was and what they had to do, I felt so bad because if I was in their shoes I’d be crying. Like I wouldn’t know what to do.
So what does “adaptability” mean in terms of this show?
The whole show is about learning a whole new different genre of music that you’re gonna have to sing or dance to, or do a comedic scene next to a crazy dramatic scene. The show makes you do a lot. It takes a lot. Your learning curve has to be exceptional. So they were told that they were going to learn the song and there wouldn’t be any choreography. So they performed all that for me, but the actual assignment is that you each have to sing the full song to me and you can’t look at the lyrics. It’s not like that song is easy. It’s a lot of fast singing. It was crazy.
I’m impressed with this crop of kids though.
Yeah, they’re talented. They’re fighters. They’re not just there to be on TV. They really love it. The 10 I met were great.
Ali, one of the contestants, is in a wheelchair and I’m sure Artie means a lot to her. Did you have any interaction with her?
There wasn’t really an opportunity for that. But she was just so brilliant. Her talent alone was just remarkable regardless if she’s in a wheelchair or not. She was just phenomenal.
How does it feel going into season 4 knowing that some of your castmates have graduated?
Um, I don’t know. We still don’t know exactly how everybody will work and the format of everything. I don’t think anybody’s not gonna be on it in some capacity. We’ll see what happens. It’s exciting and these are my best friends - we’re a family now. I prefer them there, but the show’s gotta go where the show’s gotta go. If I don’t see them everyday, I still talk to them outside of it.
Were you disappointed there wasn’t a Quinn/Artie romance? I thought that’s where it was going.
So did I. I was hoping for it. Before the third season, I kept doing it as a joke. I was like, “Quinn and Artie - let’s make that happen.” I never get scenes with Dianna and I was really excited.
Damn that Samuel Larsen!
I know. Damn you and your dreadlocks.
How did you feel about The Glee Project contestants working into the show this year? Was it a success?
I think it was. It was natural to have new people on it anyways, and I guess that’s the whole point of it because people are going to graduate and people are going to move on. I got really close with Damian because Sam came on later. It was just great. They were both super nice and worked hard.
Do you know anything about Artie next year? Is he gonna rule the school?
Well, if I wrote it, yes. I would be in every scene and sing every song. No, I don’t really know yet. Because the format is going to be a little different obviously. It’s like doing a new show, but you have to keep what made the show what it is so it’s definitely a balancing act.
Entertainment Weekly
Glee's Kevin McHale makes his return to Oxygen's The Glee Project on Tuesday and wanted to bring traces of another Fox personality with him during his stint as a mentor: The X Factor's sharp-tounged judge Simon Cowell.
McHale, whose 1:1 winner Lindsay Pearce went on to win a two-episode arc on the Fox series last season, tells The Hollywood Reporter that his plan was to be more critical this season when he checked in to offer his Glee wisdom about "Adaptability" to the remaining Oxygen contenders vying for a seven-episode arc.
"Last season I tried to be a little more honest with [the contestants] because it was getting down to the finals and I wanted to really push them, but this time I told [Glee co-creator and Glee Project EP] Ryan Murphy, 'Look, I’m going to go all Simon Cowell on them," McHale tells THR.
However, not all went according to the actor behind Artie Abrams' plan when the new theme -- "Adaptability" -- threw the remaining 10 Glee Project kids a real curveball with their homework assignment. As per Glee Project rules, the kids receive their weekly song -- this time it's Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know" -- and divide the lyrics up with each taking a particular line or verse to be judged by the weekly mentor.
"The curveball is they now have to -- without looking back at the lyrics -- sing the entire song to me," McHale previews. "They had to come up one by one and perform the song for us."
Because of the challenging nature of this week's theme, McHale says he quickly abandoned his plan to go all Simon on the group. "I wanted to be like, 'OK, I can be the mean one,' but that didn’t happen because the assignment was just so difficult. The fact that they could actually even get through it was just incredible all on its own without me having to be mean and blunt."
"Adaptability is crucial to working on Glee because everyday is adapting to something," McHale says. "Because we’re doing a different genre of music, doing a different type of scene with a different scene partner, recording and dance rehearsals … no day is like another."
As for who ultimately won the one-on-one time with McHale, the actor notes that he picked the contestant who was the "most well-rounded."
"I chose the one who I saw the most potential in, who really just could cross off the most things on the assignment," he says of the field he described as being "wide open." "I was astonished because I just kept imagining myself in their shoes and falling apart."
The Hollywood Reporter