Today’s show welcomes actor Jonathan Bennett who has held lead roles like Aaron Samuels in the classic Tina Fey film Mean Girls, to being Steve Martin’s son in law in Cheaper by the Dozen 2. He has also acted in many other films and made multiple tv appearances such as Dancing With The Stars, Celebrity Big Brother, and on The Food Network as a host.

Thanks to a decades-long friendship with your host Nick, you can count on this conversation to cover a lot of ground.

 

Key Takeaways

[2:10] Nick welcomes Jonathan and asks him to talk a little bit about where he grew up and what his childhood looked like. They also touch on the implications of the pandemic for auditions and the current exodus from large cities.

[8:00] Jonathan talks about his Otterbein College experience with his best friend Tony Gonzalez, as well as dropping out to move to the Big Apple.

[11:20] All my Children was a strange audition; Jonathan speaks to how he landed the job and ended up working with Josh Duhamel, Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, Susan Lucci, and Rebecca Butig in what he now calls acting boot camp.

[15:42] Jonathan recalls Eastwick, the pilot with Chris Evans, Riley Smith, Laurie Laughlin, Kelly Rutherford; Jason O'Mara played the Devil!

[19:33] Jonathan made Lindsey Lohan blush during the screen test for Tina Fey’s Mean Girls, then he went back to folding sweaters at Abercrombie and Fitch. Jonathan talks about the phenomenon that the film became.

[28:49] Cheaper by the Dozen 2 was the opportunity to work with a legend; Jonathan talks about how easy emotions came just by having the chance to work with a childhood hero like Steve Martin.

[34:21] Jonathan and Nick discuss the ‘asshole’ behavior Hollywood adopted about sexual orientation before the Me Too movement, or what Jonathan calls the pre-Glee era.

[40:00] Jonathan talks about doing ‘fine’ — he calls it horrible! — on Dancing with the Stars and the very touching connection the show has to his late father.

Nick is very excited about The Food Network — let’s talk about it! Jonathan touches on that freeing experience as well as the cakes… All the cakes that make you go from a size 32 to a size 36 by the end of the season.

[47:52] An Ariana Grande video added itself to Jonathan’s weird pop culture life; he explains how it all unfolded and how Ariana held up production specifically for him to sell a book!

[48:57] Nick wraps up and invites Jonathan and thanks him for coming on and sharing so much of his experience.

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts and tune in next week.

 

Find out more about today’s guest, Jonathan Bennett

Find out more about your host, Nick Terzo

Mentioned in this episode

Book: The Burn Cookbook: An Unofficial Unauthorized Cookbook for Mean Girls Fans,
by Jonathan Bennett

 

People

@ArianaGrande

@JoshDuhamel

@KellyRipa

@ReallyMarcia (Marcia Cross)

@KellyRutherford

@JasonO'Mara

@ChrisEvans

@RileySmith

@LindseyLohan

@RachelMcAdams

@TinaFey

@SteveMartin

@Gene Levy

@CarmenElectra

@HillaryDuff

@TaylorLautner

@RobbieAmell

@WillieNelson

@AmandaBynes

@TomBergeron

@Mark_Sonic (Mark Waters)

@LaceyChabert

@AmandaSeyfried

 

Projects

All My Children

Eastwick

Mean Girls

Cheaper by the Dozen 2

Dukes of Hazzard: the Beginning

Van Wilder: Freshman Year

Love Wrecked

The Food Network

Dancing with the Stars

Harvest of the Heart

Ariana Grande: “Thank U, Next”