If you’ve ever wanted Jonathan Groff to spit on you, all you have to do is ask… or, you know, share the stage with him in a Broadway musical.
That’s just one of many juicy secrets revealed when the handsome gay actor joined his Merrily We Roll Along co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez for Vanity Fair‘s popular “Lie Detector Test” series.
The concept is simple: Celebs are attached to a polygraph and then barraged with questions that range from the silly to the personal, all while a technician calls out in real-time whether or not they’re telling the truth. Hijinks ensue.
The “Lie Detector Test” has become a veritable meme machine—giving us classics such as Keke Palmer’s “sorry to this man,” or the fact that Troye Sivan has never seen a Cher movie—and the latest edition is no different.
Groff, Radcliffe, and Mendez have been praised for their chemistry in the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s infamous flop Merrily We Roll Along, and that natural camaraderie takes center stage as they grill one another with questions.
Each actor take their turn on the polygraph, but the standout moment comes near the end when Groff is in the hot seat:
“You’re a notoriously ‘spitty’ singer,” Mendez says of her co-star, unlocking a saliva fetish we didn’t know we had. “Is that because you want to make sure everyone can see how hard you’re singing?”
“No,” Groff responds. So far, so good—he’s telling the truth.
“How many times do you think you’ve spit on us during the production of Merrily We Roll Along?,” the Tony-winning Mendez presses on. “A lot,” Groff concedes, admitting that it happens every day.
Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez co-star in a revival of Sondheim’s musical about failed friendships.
But it’s her follow-up, “What’s your secret to staying to hydrated?,” where things start to go off the rails.
“I get wet when I…,” Groff begins to answer, which is met with disappointed head shakes from his colleagues. “No, say something else,” laughs Mendez. “Please day something else. Try again.”
No matter how much Mendez and Radcliffe try to get Groff to avoid talking about how “wet” he is, the Looking star just keeps doubling down. When he tries to explain himself, he only makes it worse.
(l to r) Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez in ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ at New York Theatre Workshop. Photo by Joan Marcus.
“I don’t think the spitting is from being hydrated… I get wet… Everything gets wets.”
“What do you mean?,” asks Radcliffe incredulously. “What you mean by that is you sweat, and people won’t know that because you just said, ‘everything gets wet.’
“But it isn’t just sweat,” Groff replies—wait, Jonathan, what else is it then???? Should we be concerned? Intrigued? Thirsty? Whatever it is, it really isn’t just sweat, at least according to the polygraph technician.
The clip—which was shared on Twitter X by user @jarretsays—is both adorable and an absolute riot. By the time Groff, Radcliffe, and Mendez are all in tears from laughing so hard, you will be, too.
Check out a few of the reactions below:
god bless this moist musical cocker spaniel— Billy Flanagan, pissed-off faguette (@waflanagan) October 18, 2023
And, for the record, the rest of the Merrily We Roll Along cast’s “Lie Detector Test” is worth watching, too. Come for the Jonathan Groff spit take, stay for Daniel Radcliffe discussing the gay Harry Potter fan fiction he’s read and Lindsay Mendez revealing which of her two co-stars is the “bigger daddy.”
rick Swayne
(@pswayne7) October 18, 2023
