The prophecy has been fulfilled. After word spread to Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers that Mandy Moore was a fan (a.k.a. Katie, Finalist, Publicist, Reader) of Las Culturistas, the pair quickly sprang into action (and in the case of Yang, flew to Los Angeles) to have her on the podcast. “This is a moment in podcast history,†Rogers began, before the two introduced their guest by singing (at times literally) her praises at length, dubbing her a J.Lo-level multi-hyphenate icon. The incredibly detailed compliments continued throughout the episode, rightfully so, resulting in Moore replying “thank you†a remarkable 28 times over the course of the hour-and-a-half interview.
The first “thank you†came when the conversation turned to a question plaguing us all: Why hasn’t Moore done Broadway yet? After being fan-casted as both the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods (inspired) as well as Jenna in Waitress, Moore (after a “thank youâ€) revealed that she had been asked to do Waitress, but the timing didn’t work out. But before we could mourn what would have been a groundbreaking “She Used to Be Mine,†more flattery ensued. Rogers dubbed her 2003 covers album, Coverage, “so chic,†they lauded her line-reading of the word “seatbelt†in A Walk to Remember, and Yang praised her voice work in the video game Kingdom Hearts, saying, “There’s something about Mandy Moore doing Aerith that just gets it right. Aerith is the savior of the planet.†And that’s not to mention the obvious love for Tangled, This Is Us, and Princess Diaries.
Moore was also doling out the apologies, specifically for having to break the news to Yang that the formative Xanga blog he read as a child purporting to be Mandy Moore was not in fact her. “I’m literally going to live with this horrific guilt and shame that I had nothing to do with the Xanga thing,†she said after delivering the blow that she didn’t even know what Xanga was. Nonetheless, Yang and Rogers announced that Moore’s 2007 song “Gardenia†(which they also imagined her Tangled co-star Donna Murphy covering) will be up for record of the year at this year’s Las Culturistas Culture Awards on June 15 — up against front-runner “Single Soon,†by Selena Gomez. “I’m not gonna win over ‘Single Soon,’ c’mon, let’s be honest,†a modest Moore said. She should also be in contention for the famed “Melanie Lynskey Award for Most Sweetest Person.â€