Episode 142
The Evolution of Aunt Nae Nae: A Conversation with Megan Claire Murphy
Megan Claire Murphy, a professional actress residing in southeast Alabama, epitomizes resilience and creativity in the realm of children's entertainment. In our dialogue, she elucidates the inception of her YouTube series, the Aunt Nene Show, a vibrant variety program designed to engage and educate young audiences through songs, stories, and educational content. This episode delves into her artistic journey, highlighting her formative experiences in theater and the profound influence of her family, particularly her nephew, who inspired the show's creation. Murphy articulates her aspirations to provide wholesome, enriching content that inspires children to pursue their dreams while fostering a sense of joy and learning. We invite you to join this enlightening conversation that underscores the importance of perseverance and creativity in the pursuit of one’s passions.
Megan Claire Murphy, a professional actress residing in southeast Alabama, possesses a rich and diverse background in the performing arts, having cultivated her skills through years of dedication and various experiences across the United States. After completing her theater degree at Troy University in 2008, she embarked on a journey that led her to pivotal roles in Jewish ensemble theater near Detroit and notable performances at venues such as Flat Rock Playhouse in North Carolina. Her aspirations carried her to New York City, where she immersed herself in the realms of television, film, and off-Broadway productions, thereby honing her craft and expanding her artistic repertoire. Furthermore, Megan's creative endeavors have culminated in the establishment of the
Takeaways:
- Megan Claire Murphy, the guest, is a professional actress who has lived in various locations.
- She draws inspiration for her YouTube show, "Aunt Nae Nae," from her young nephew.
- The show aims to provide wholesome, educational content for children aged four to eight years.
- Megan emphasizes the importance of perseverance and not giving up on one's dreams or goals.
- She highlights the collaborative effort with her producers to enhance the quality of the Aunt Nae Nae show.
- Megan expresses her desire to create a positive impact on children's minds through engaging content.
Megan’s YouTube channel: https://m.YouTube.com/@mmurphy47208
Links referenced in this episode:
Transcript
My guest today, Megan Claire Murphy, is a professional actress in her 30s, currently living in southeast Alabama.
Speaker A:She lived in New York City for six years.
Speaker A: eater from Troy University in: Speaker A:After graduating, she worked at a Jewish ensemble theater near Detroit before moving back onto Flat Rock Playhouse in North Carolina.
Speaker A:After that, she returned to New York City, where she worked in TV film, as well as off Broadway and Off Off Broadway theater.
Speaker A:Last year, Megan created her own YouTube show called the Aunt Nene show, which is a variety show for kids that includes songs, stories, jokes, educational content, and more.
Speaker A:So what's that that she's been working on these days?
Speaker A:You'll find out on the Aunt Nene show on Megan's YouTube channel.
Speaker A:We welcome Megan to the podcast.
Speaker A:Well, Megan, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker A:How you doing today?
Speaker B:I'm good.
Speaker B:How are you?
Speaker A:I am excited to talk to you.
Speaker A:Looking forward to this conversation.
Speaker A:I have lots of kids myself, so anything.
Speaker A:Anybody who checks with kids and works with kids and inspires kids are friend of mine.
Speaker A:So I'm going to ask you my favorite question.
Speaker A:What's the best piece of advice you ever received?
Speaker B:Don't.
Speaker B:It sounds cliche, but it's this.
Speaker B:Don't give up.
Speaker A:Oh, I like that.
Speaker B:On whatever your goals are, whatever your dream, whatever you're working towards in your life, don't give up.
Speaker B:Because the ones who give up are the ones who never make it.
Speaker B:And also, like, if you give up, okay, if you don't give up, you've still got a small chance of achieving your dreams.
Speaker B:But if you give up, then you've got no chance.
Speaker B:See what I'm saying?
Speaker A:I do.
Speaker B:So don't give up.
Speaker B:Because at least you'll still have a chance if you take baby steps towards your goal every day.
Speaker A:I heard somebody say, oftentimes people give right before they're about to become successful.
Speaker A:So I like that idea.
Speaker A:Don't give up.
Speaker A:Because you never know when you.
Speaker A:When that successful moment or that breakthrough moment's right around the corner.
Speaker B:Like, you.
Speaker B:You've seen the Facebook meme with the guy who's like, mining for diamonds and like, he's almost to the dot, gets to the diamonds, and then he gives up and turns back around and leaves, but the other one keeps going.
Speaker B:And he gets.
Speaker B:He was this close to, like, finding the diamonds, but he gave up just.
Speaker A:A little bit too quickly.
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:I'm curious, as you think about your life, who are some people in your life who served to inspire you?
Speaker B:Well, the first person I thought of was my wonderful 8 year old nephew.
Speaker B:He was the inspiration for the Aunt Nae Nae show because he calls me Aunt Nene in real life because when he was a baby he couldn't say Megan.
Speaker B:So somebody was like, who is this?
Speaker B:And he said Nae Nae.
Speaker B:And so I've been Aunt Nene ever since.
Speaker B:Oh, and I can say this now because his parents have made the news known going to have another nephew.
Speaker A:Oh, congratulations.
Speaker B:My sister in law is having a baby so I'm gonna have two nephews by this time next year.
Speaker A:Wow, Congratulations.
Speaker B:But my, my 8 year old nephew was the inspiration for the show and also my parents have been a big support and also.
Speaker B:Yeah, like I'll tell you the story how the Aunt Nae Nae show came about is my nephew lives in a different state than I do and so he and I would talk over FaceTime a lot and one day I just started playing this game with him on FaceTime and I went, it's the Aunt Nene show.
Speaker B:Hey.
Speaker B:And I started like saying silly stuff and doing funny things and he loved it.
Speaker B:And so the next time we talked he was like, aunt Nene, do the Aunt Nene show game again.
Speaker B:And we did that several for several weeks.
Speaker B:And then one day I just had the epiphany like hey, I could actually make this a real show and why don't I put sing a silly song and put it on YouTube and see what happens.
Speaker B:And so I did that and it got, you know, a modest amount of views at first.
Speaker B:And so I said I kept making these videos, I was doing it just for fun at first, I didn't expect anything to come from it.
Speaker B:And then the 20th video that I made got over 54,000 views so far.
Speaker B:Last time I checked it was around 54,000.
Speaker B:So then I thought, well, this could actually be a real show.
Speaker B:Like this could actually be something.
Speaker B:And so I started working with the these two guys who are my two producers and they're helping me with the editing, they're helping me with finding guest stars to be on the show.
Speaker B:We have guest stars now.
Speaker B:They're helping me come up with ideas, they're helping me like implement like logistics and help me with logistics and stuff.
Speaker B:And anyway, we're going to make the show this year even bigger and better than it has been in the past because I've been doing this for about two years now.
Speaker B:So yeah, it's going to be great.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker B:Sorry, I was rambling.
Speaker A:No, that's great.
Speaker A:How do you Come up with ideas.
Speaker A:I've always, as a writer, I know for me it's sometimes hard to get ideas.
Speaker A:How do you come up with the content for the Aunt Nene show?
Speaker B:Well, in the beginning I used a lot of songs that I knew from Girl Scout camp because I used to be a summer camp counselor.
Speaker B:And I also had some, several books, children's books that I had written myself that I read those on the show.
Speaker B:And now with the help of my producers, Kevin and Hugo, they helped me come up with ideas.
Speaker B:Like, for example, here's how the process goes.
Speaker B:Kevin said, why don't we do an episode about mental health?
Speaker B:And I was like, all right, well, we just have to find a way to make it entertaining and easy for the kids to understand.
Speaker B:And so I said, why don't we use puppets?
Speaker B:And so we got these little.
Speaker B:I don't have one on hand right now.
Speaker B:On hand.
Speaker A:That's too bad.
Speaker A:I would love to see your puppet.
Speaker B:These little finger puppets.
Speaker A:That's so cool.
Speaker B:And we, we have.
Speaker B:Well, I'm not going to give too much away, but we're going to discuss sadness and what to do when you're sad and stuff then and anxiousness, what to do when you have anxiety.
Speaker B:And we're going to talk about like the importance of advocating for mental health and how to know when you need help and how to seek out help and stuff like that.
Speaker B:But all in terms that kids can understand.
Speaker B:It's going to be great.
Speaker B:It sounds like your face is like, what?
Speaker A:No, no.
Speaker A:I was curious to know what.
Speaker A:Because every show has a certain target.
Speaker A:What's your target age group for your show?
Speaker B:I'm around eight years old and younger.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Really?
Speaker B:Around like four to eight years old.
Speaker B:Ms.
Speaker B:Rachel is like for the little toddlers and little, little kids.
Speaker B:But Aunt Nene's show is like for the four.
Speaker B:Four years old to eight years old.
Speaker A:So like you talking kindergarten to first grade.
Speaker B:Have you heard of Ms.
Speaker B:Rachel?
Speaker A:No, I haven't.
Speaker B:It's a lady that has YouTube show kind of like mine, except she's got millions and millions of viewers.
Speaker B:I don't yet.
Speaker A:Okay, so you work it up to that.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:So what are your vision?
Speaker A:What's your vision for the Aunt Nene show?
Speaker A:As you think about where do you want to see this go?
Speaker A:What's your, what are your goals, your aspirations, your dreams for this?
Speaker B:Well, we wanted to make something that was good and wholesome for the kids minds as opposed to some of the what I call junk TV that's out there for Kids nowadays, no offense to those people who create those things, but we're just looking for something different.
Speaker B:I am.
Speaker B:My inspiration was like all those shows on PBS like Mr.
Speaker B:Rogers, Sesame Street.
Speaker B:There was another one called under the Umbrella Tree that I used to love to watch.
Speaker B:Lamb chops.
Speaker B:But we wanted to make something that was healthy for kids minds and something that the parents would feel good about their kids watching.
Speaker B:And we wanted to inspire kids to go after their dreams.
Speaker B:We wanted to inspire kids to learn new things.
Speaker B:We wanted to make it educational.
Speaker B:We have the, a new educational element to the show now.
Speaker B:I started doing Aunt Nene's Facts of the Day.
Speaker B:And my dad used to be a pharmacist.
Speaker B:He's retired now, but he has like this white lab, pharmacist lab coat.
Speaker B:And so I put that on like I was a scientist and I made the character of Professor Nene.
Speaker B:And she talks like this and she says, hello kids, I've got a fun fact for you today.
Speaker B:Did you know?
Speaker B:And then she says the fact.
Speaker B:But it's, it's been, it's doing pretty well.
Speaker B:So far the, the Professor Nene Facts of the Day have been getting over a thousand views each, which is pretty good for me.
Speaker B:That's about average for my videos.
Speaker A:So what's been, what's been your greatest challenge?
Speaker A:I know that you don't have the, the PBS platform, so what' greatest challenge to get the word out about your show to people.
Speaker B:The fact that we are a very low budget production right now.
Speaker B:We don't have a lot of fancy equipment or a lot of money.
Speaker B:But that's okay because we're still doing our best with what we got.
Speaker B:And it's turned out great so far, if I may say.
Speaker B:But we had thought about raising money through sponsorship.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Okay, let me just.
Speaker B:We had thought about last year, we talked about raising money through sponsorship.
Speaker B:Like I would have a video, like a video reel of the Nae Na show on my phone.
Speaker B:And I would get like small business owners or individual donors to say like, will you pledge $5 a month?
Speaker B:Like looking on the phone, is this something that you would like to see more of?
Speaker B:Well, you can help us because we had been in talks with this one TV network based out of Chicago to work with them and get.
Speaker B:And they were interested in putting the ANA show on their TV network.
Speaker B:The invitation is still open.
Speaker B:We just haven't been able to raise the funds yet to, to, to get on the TV network because there's a financial aspect involved with getting on the network.
Speaker B:And We've all been so busy with all our different schedules, me and Hugo and Kevin, and we just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Speaker B:But it is something that's in the.
Speaker B:It's on.
Speaker B:It's on our minds, and we're gonna do it eventually.
Speaker B:But right now, we're focusing on developing the show further and, you know, just developing the show further until we feel like we're ready to present it to the TV network.
Speaker B:You know I'm saying.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I do.
Speaker B:That's kind of where we're at right now.
Speaker A:So if somebody wanted to support what you're doing and support your show, how can they do that?
Speaker B:Well, I would.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I'm gonna start a GoFundMe page, which I haven't done yet, but once I have started that, I can send you the link to that, and that's where they can donate.
Speaker B:Donate the money.
Speaker A:Okay, great.
Speaker A:So as an actor, how did you get started?
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What inspired you to go into acting?
Speaker A:I'm just curious.
Speaker A:I love to act, but I don't.
Speaker A:I didn't actually go study it.
Speaker A:But what made you decide to go study acting?
Speaker B:I had always been singing and dancing around the house ever since I was, like, 2 years old.
Speaker B:My mom says I started to sing as soon as I could talk.
Speaker B:And I was always performing in front of my parents or my friends when I was a little kid.
Speaker B:And then in the fourth grade, I was in elementary school.
Speaker B:And the high school theater group came to our elementary school and performed some scenes and some songs from the play that they were doing that year, which was Guys and Dolls, the musical.
Speaker B:And I thought that the name of the group of high school students doing theater was Guys and Dolls.
Speaker B:I didn't understand that it was the name of the play, so I went.
Speaker B:I loved it.
Speaker B:I was completely mesmerized.
Speaker B:And that's when I caught the acting bug, was that day.
Speaker B:And I went home that day in the fourth grade and told my mom, mama, I'm gonna be in the Guys and Dolls when I get to high school.
Speaker B:So when I did get to high school, as soon as I had the chance to audition for the high school musical theater group, I did.
Speaker B:And they were doing.
Speaker B:What were they doing that year?
Speaker B:In the ninth grade.
Speaker B:When I was in the ninth grade, they were doing Bye Bye Birdie.
Speaker B:They only did one play a year because it's a small Alabama high school, But I auditioned for it in the ninth grade, and I didn't make it.
Speaker B:I didn't.
Speaker B:I didn't get a part at All.
Speaker B:And then in the 10th grade, they were doing hello, Dolly, and I auditioned for that, and I finally got a part.
Speaker B:I was in the chorus, and I was so happy.
Speaker B:And then in the 11th grade, we did Gersh.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Is it Gershwin?
Speaker B:Crazy for you?
Speaker B:I'm not sure.
Speaker A:Not sure.
Speaker B:But I was in the chorus for Crazy for your.
Speaker B:And then I finally got my first lead role.
Speaker B:In the 12th grade.
Speaker B:I played Aunt sue in a play called no, no Nanette.
Speaker B:It's a musical.
Speaker B:I always seem to play an ant.
Speaker A:And now you're playing an ant every time you do a podcast.
Speaker A:I mean, a YouTube video.
Speaker B:And so then I graduated high school, and I went to a junior college for the first two years of college, because I wasn't sure what I wanted my major to be.
Speaker B:So I just got a associate's degree in liberal arts.
Speaker B:Like, I just took all the core classes and all the, you know, math, science, literature, English, all those classes.
Speaker B:And then I was.
Speaker B:I was also in the show choir for those two years of junior college.
Speaker B:They didn't have a theater group, but they had a show choir, so I was in the show choir.
Speaker B:And one day when I was thinking about where I wanted to go next, I thought, hey, you know, this theater thing is no longer just an extracurricular activity.
Speaker B:Like, this is what I want to do for my life.
Speaker B:And so a nearby school called Troy University was having auditions for theater scholarships.
Speaker B:So I said, hey, maybe I could major in theater.
Speaker B:And so I auditioned for the scholarship, and I got the scholarship, and next thing you know, I have my bachelor's degree of theater from Troy University.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker A:And the rest is history.
Speaker B:Yeah, what.
Speaker A:What advice would you have for young people who have a passion like you did for acting?
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What direction, what path would you encourage go on if they want a career in acting?
Speaker B:First off, start off, see if there's any community theaters that, if you're a student, see if there's any communities theater.
Speaker B:See if there's any community theaters in your area for kids, like children's theater.
Speaker B:Did I mute myself?
Speaker A:It's easy for you to say, oh.
Speaker B:And just.
Speaker B:If your school has plays, be in your school plays and practice, like, if you can.
Speaker B:If you're really serious about having a career acting, get an acting coach.
Speaker B:Especially if you're young, if you're a student, just be involved in your community theater and get as much practice as the of theater in as you can.
Speaker B:Practice as much as you can through community theater and your school plays.
Speaker B:And, yeah, just.
Speaker A:So just practice as much as you can in front of people and kind of hone in.
Speaker B:When you grow up, you can go to college to major in theater or when you get to high school, you can be in your high school theater plays.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:I'm curious, Megan.
Speaker A:As you think about what you're doing now and the important work you're doing in the space of young people in education and the videos you're doing, what do you want your legacy to be?
Speaker B:I want to be remembered for making people happy and for leaving something good behind, which is the Na Na show.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:I never really thought about leaving a legacy.
Speaker B:It wasn't really that important to me.
Speaker B:I guess I'm more focused on the present moment and what I can do in this life first.
Speaker B:But the legacy I want to leave is just to be.
Speaker B:To be remembered that I did some good in the world and that I made people happy through the Aunt Nene show.
Speaker A:Where can people find the Aunt Nene show on YouTube?
Speaker B:Okay, the name of my YouTube channel is @ Aunt Nae nae show.
Speaker B:All one word, no spaces.
Speaker B:Here I can.
Speaker B:Want me to type it in the chat?
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Oops.
Speaker B:You just go to YouTube.com and type in the search bar.
Speaker B:Type at Aunt Nene show in.
Speaker B:And that's the name of my channel.
Speaker A:And where can they find you on social media if they want to know more about you?
Speaker B:I'm also on Instagram under the same handle Nay nayshow.
Speaker B:And I'm on Facebook under the name Megan Claire Murphy.
Speaker A:Well, Megan, thanks so much for coming on and sharing what you're doing.
Speaker A:May your show go viral and many kids find it, especially parents looking for good content for their young people.
Speaker A:I think what you're doing is amazing and awesome.
Speaker A:So thank you for coming on and sharing that.
Speaker B:Thank you for those kind words.
Speaker B:And I want to say the thing that I say at the end of each Aunt Nene episode, which is, remember, kids, you are kind, you are smart, you are important.
Speaker B:Thanks for watching.
Speaker B:Have a great day.
Speaker B:Bye.
Speaker A:Thank you.
