'The Hamilcast's' Gillian Pensavalle Shares the Story Behind Lin-Manuel Miranda's Epic 100th Episode Gift

Earlier this week, one of the theatre community's most beloved podcasts, "The Hamilcast" celebrated two years of episodes. En route to becoming "the official unofficial podcast of HAMILTON," the show's creator, host, and producer Gillian Pensavalle has released more than 100 episodes, which include conversations with many of the show's performers and creatives, in-depth discussions of the Ron Chernow biography that inspired the musical, and an epic, four-part October sit-down with creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, appropriately dubbed #Lintoberfest.

Then, in anticipation for breaking the 100 episode milestone, Miranda sent Pensavalle a special, one-of-a-kind gift, and now she is sharing the remarkable story with fans and listeners.

Also, how many HAMILTON references can you spot in Gillian's responses below? (Hint: It's a lot!)

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BWW: When you launched "The Hamilcast" what were your goals?

Gillian Pensavalle: I always think this is such an interesting question, because I didn't really have any goals in the sense that I had a numbered list or anything.

I was essentially teaching myself how to podcast so the main goal was to make my weekly Monday deadline. And I did!

The only Mondays I've skipped were two Mondays in December of 2017 on purpose because they were Christmas Day and New Years Day and I hated skipping them. But I, of course, wanted to get to a point where people associated with Hamilton wanted to be on the show; from the very first episode I was talking about having Lin-Manuel Miranda on.

BWW: In the fall, you famously dedicated an entire month to #LintoberFest. How did you go about getting Lin on the show initially?

GP: Famously?! You are too kind. But yes, after talking about it since the first episode, Lin-Manuel Miranda came over and spent an afternoon recording and drinking cocktails in the middle of the day with me and my husband and co-host for #Lintoberfest, Michael Paul Smith. There was enough audio for three episodes with Lin and two B-Sides, in which Mike and I told stories from the recording and played the very rare times audio hit the cutting room floor.

The full story is bananas and surreal. In May of 2017 (a year and a half into this podcast), Lin followed @TheHamilcast on Twitter and wrote verbatim something I've been predicting since day one: "I see you @TheHamilcast." Lin often says "I see you @ whoever" on Twitter so it's not like I chose those words and then willed it to happen, that would have been out of control and this story is crazy enough already.

But, I knew that one day, if I kept working hard and cranking out episodes, he'd know about the podcast and tweet that. He somehow knew (Twitter?) I was at HAMILTON the night before, and he wrote that he enjoyed the Shockwave episodes that came out the month before and he hoped I enjoyed the show. Lin told me on his first #Lintoberfest episode that he'd only heard about the podcast in May, when he tweeted about it. I say that because I think it's important for people to know that if they still have the drive and passion, they should always keep working on the thing.

Since we followed each other, I could have sent him a direct message but I didn't. He was in London and at that time it wasn't clear when he'd be home. And the last thing I wanted to do was abuse my DM privileges and make him immediately regret following and mentioning the podcast. It just didn't feel like the time to formally invite him. If he was listening to episodes he'd heard the countless invitations I'd extended on the air. And come on, he made the thing that made me want to make the thing - he had to have known he could come on whenever.

So I thanked him for the shout out and then replied to his tweet with a gif from The West Wing and that was it.

Cut to August 11th. Lin was in the middle of his social media summer hiatus and hadn't tweeted in weeks and weeks. Which is why the shock of getting a direct message from him hit me even harder. "Even better, it said..."

He wrote simply: "Okay. Loved your Mandy ep. I think I'm ready. Talk in September?"

I had to literally ground myself. I stood up, paced around my living room, held on to the back of a chair, and did this weird downward stretch. I read his message about 500 times both to myself and to Mike, who was home at the time, and told Lin that September really wasn't a good time and that I'd be in touch if I had any availability. NOPE. I thanked him for listening, told him that September works, said that I'm already working on his custom cocktail, and wished him a great rest of his vacation. I also started to drop reminders that I record in my apartment, so I said that we should be out of The Heat Dome by then; I was waiting for him to say that he wanted to record somewhere else.

I wrote down in my day planner on September 12th: "Follow up with LMM." But that proved to be unnecessary.

On September 4th Lin wrote, "How's Thursday?" Cut to me doing what Mike talked about on the first #Lintoberfest episode; I immediately went from a laying to sitting up position a la The Undertaker.

I did my grounding myself/breathing routine, said yes, and told him my address once again expecting him to say something about how he'd prefer to record elsewhere.

He replied with "How's 1?" I sent a Leslie Knope breakdancing gif and immediately started cleaning my apartment.

He came over at 1pm on Thursday, September 7th and didn't leave until after 5pm.

Fun fact: Lin played us a bunch of secret Hamilton audio including super early demos, cut tracks, and the super catchy Ben Franklin's Song by The Decemberists.

Listen to the #Lintoberfest Episodes HERE

BWW: When you started getting close to your 100th episode, where did the HAMILTON House Part idea come from, and how did that all come about?

GP: The idea came about backstage at HAMILTON. I was recording with Anna-Lee Craig, part of HAMILTON's sound team that week and she invited me to watch the show from her booth so I could get a real sense of her job (that's another whole story I'll never get over).

After the show, I was talking to some cast members who said that they wanted to come back on and asked if I'd ever consider having them on in groups. And that's when it hit me - I needed an idea for my 100th episode and what better than a HAMILTON House Party?

The cast members I was talking to were really excited about it, so Anna-Lee and I talked about it after her recording and I'm so grateful for her help in the preliminary plans. I had to record it in December which is always a busy time and everyone in HAMILTON is already super busy as it is. I reached out to everyone who had been on the show knowing full well that the majority of people would have scheduling conflicts. I was excited that any of these people wanted to come over one time, and the idea that any of them would want to come back again, on a Sunday night, in the middle of December? That is too amazing for words and I am so thankful to Lexi Lawson, Jevon McFerrin, Lauren Boyd, Eddy Lee, Anna-Lee Craig, and Emily Roney. And, my Right Hand Man Michael Paul Smith.

I knew that the episode was going to be fun and scrappy since I'd have more people than microphones and Mike and I always want people to feel as comfortable as possible when they're in our apartment - and that goes for life in general, not just when I'm recording.

Mike and I spent the day cleaning and setting up the apartment; Mike was in charge of the cocktails, and my parents were generous enough to supply the food. My parents have always been incredibly supportive and wanted to help me celebrate this milestone. It was a wonderful feeling.

BWW: Over the first 100 episodes, are there a few moments that stand out as being especially significant for you?

GP: So, so many. Scott Wasserman was the first person associated with HAMILTON to be on the show, and he was episode nine. I don't think he knows how much that meant to me. Seth Stewart was the first cast member to come on and that was special because we recorded right after the Tony Awards. To be honest, every single cast and crew member since has been a milestone for me. Almost like, "Okay, wow, another one wants to come on?!"

They're always so generous with their time and what they talk about. And then sometimes they say really amazing things about what the podcast has done for the HAMILTON community and how it actually helps them do their jobs better and then I blackout with gratitude.

Lin-Manuel Miranda not only coming on, but becoming a listener, tweeting about episodes totally of his own volition is just... I don't have any words for it.

Even people who haven't been on the show yet have been part of it, and that is really mind-blowing. Alex Lacamoire wrote out arrangements based on a joke about "Barbershop Beastie Boys" during #Lintoberfest, and then he and Tommy Kail recorded a little skit about it and sent it to me. It's crazy.

Listen to the episode with Lac and Kail's skit HERE

And of course, the interaction with the listeners has been so incredibly rewarding. They are the best and the closed Facebook group for the Patreon Peeps is the best, most supportive, most fun, and most beautiful corner of the internet.

BWW: So, what's the story about the custom song Lin wrote for you? When did you know he was doing that? What did you think when you heard it? Can you die happy knowing that Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote something specifically for your show?

GP: When I invited the cast and crew over for my Hamilton House Party, I humbly requested that if they couldn't make it would they mind sending a short audio message because my goal was to include as many people as possible. I didn't harass anyone, I didn't hunt anyone down, if they were/are on vacation I wasn't going to bother them about it, I kind of let the universe and podcast gods take care of it (although I did have some spies on the inside at the Rodgers).

The 100th episode came out at 12:01am EST on January 8th. At 2pm on January 7th I had this crazy strong urge to email Lin and follow up about the audio message. It was like my gut was screaming at me to not throw away my shot. So I took a deep breath and emailed him, following up on my request and promising that he won't regret giving me his email address.

Lin replied almost immediately and said, and I quote, "Ooh I can do it! You'll get it around 6pm."

I couldn't believe it. What was that exclamation point all about? Was he excited about it? It reads like he's excited about it. What is he going to say? Is it 6pm yet? But seriously, that exclamation point.

I would have been thrilled beyond words with "Hi! It's Lin! Happy 100!" That would be enough, truly.

A little bit after 6pm, I get an email from Lin with the subject line: "Hope you can rip the audio from this! Congrats!" And my first thought was, "Hm, I guess he sent a weird audio file of some kind? Whatever, I'm sure I can figure it out. If anything, I'll just record it on my voice memo on my phone and use that."

No, he sent a video. He sent a video. HE SENT A VIDEO. The video is Lin-Manuel Miranda and Kurt Crowley performing a custom "Guns and Ships" rap about me and my 100th episode. Even thinking about it brings me right back to the moment when I opened the email, realized it was a video, and suddenly everything was in slow motion and underwater. I sat there, listening to it in my headphones, and had an emotional reaction that is unlike anything I've ever felt; disbelief, excitement, pride, shock, you name it. I still can't believe it or even say the words out loud. Lin-Manuel Miranda did WHAT? For ME? Because I've made HOW MANY episodes? It's all too much.

Listen to "The Hamilcast" 100th episode with Lin's custom rap HERE

And of course I cried. I cried so hard that Mike went from excited to asking if I was okay and if he needed to be worried. I watched it over and over again and then had to stop watching because I wasn't sure if I could handle it emotionally.

I showed it to the Patreon Peeps who lost their collective minds and the rest of the night was celebrating with them and also finishing the episode that needed to be finished and published by 12:01am.

I tweeted the lyrics to Lin's custom "Guns and Ships" (check out the lyrics HERE) and one of the Patreon Peeps made a gif of the video for me (check out the gif HERE). Right now, the full video is only for the Patreon Peeps, but I plan to post it publicly in the future.

Lin's audio comes in at the end of the Hamilton House Party recording and kicks off what ended up being about 10 minutes of audio messages from podcast alums saying things that yes, made me cry. I never used to cry this much, but this podcast has turned me into an emotional basket case. I'm fine with it.

I don't think I'll ever get over it, ever. I'm so grateful for the love I get from the cast and crew and again, the listeners and Patreon Peeps are the best around. This has been the most fun journey I've ever had, and I promise you I'm just getting started.

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Follow along with Gillian's show by subscribing to "The Hamilcast" wherever you get your podcasts- including Apple Podcasts and I Heart Radio- and follow the show on social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.