Lin-Manuel Miranda Answers the Web's Most Searched Questions

Hi, I'm stage and now screen's Lin-Manuel Miranda

and I'm doing the Wired Autocomplete Interview.

Let's go.

[lively Latin jazz music]

[laughing]

Is Lin-Manuel Miranda

gonna get through this interview alive?

Puerto Rican?

That's a big yes!

Wepa!

An EGOT?

Not yet.

EGOT is a made up term that reporters like to use

to characterize one's self-worth.

I have a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur genius grant,

but if I don't have four letters, I'm nothin'.

Is Lin-Manuel Miranda a tenor?

I am.

But man, I miss the days when I was a first soprano

in Hunter Elementary School chorus.

Is Lin-Manuel Miranda in Rent?

Not yet.

♪ December 24th, 9:00 p.m., Eastern Standard time ♪

This was my audition.

Oh, it's a no.

I'm sorry.

Is Lin-Manuel Miranda nice?

That's really sweet that that's one of the autocompletes.

Is that real?

If I wasn't nice to you one day,

I was probably running to the bathroom, I'm sorry.

That's half the time I'm rude to people.

I just really have to go to the bathroom.

What is Lin-Manuel Miranda?

Full stop, full stop.

I don't have to pull this off.

What is Lin-Manuel Miranda's favorite food?

I guess it depends on the day,

but I'll take a chicken pad thai any day.

I'll take a penne a la vodka.

Basically carbs.

What is Lin-Manuel Miranda's favorite Hamilton?

Alexander.

Song?

That changes every day.

I'm relearning the lyrics right now as I prepare

to go back into the role for a few weeks in Puerto Rico.

My favorite song is Wait for It

because I don't have any lyrics in it.

What is Lin-Manuel Miranda's zodiac sign?

Capricorn.

And right now you're saying: oh, such a Capricorn.

What color are Lin-Manuel Miranda's eyes?

Sort of mid-level shade of poop brown.

What was Lin-Manuel Miranda's first musical?

The first musical I ever wrote

was for an eighth grade project

based on Chaim Potok's The Chosen.

It was three songs and I got an A.

This is fun.

Who inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda?

Everybody.

I'm looking in my brain, it just says File Not Found.

Who did Lin-Manuel Miranda play in The Little Mermaid?

Nobody.

But as a child, the one I related to the most

was Sebastian the crab.

And I think as an adult,

he's still the one I relate to the most.

He just wanted someone to sing in his concert.

Poor guy, he's a frustrated musician.

I relate.

When did Lin-Manuel Miranda cut his hair?

[laughing]

Literally the moment I stepped off stage

from my final performance in Hamilton.

Fred, my hair guy at Hamilton was ready with the clippers

and we chopped it off and here we are.

How old is Lin-Manuel Miranda son?

I have a four-year-old and a 10-month-old.

That didn't go where I thought it was gonna go.

Can Lin-Manuel Miranda pay off my credit card debt.

Can Lin-Manuel Miranda run for president?

I'd rather do anything.

I'd rather eat this poster board.

Is Lin-Manuel Miranda?

I don't know, some days I don't know, guys.

Is Lin-Manuel Miranda a descendant of Hamilton?

I love that that's misspelt in the auto-fill.

I am not.

But I've met them, they're very nice.

Is Lin-Manuel Miranda writing music for Mary Poppins?

No!

I'm very happy to report that the music

for Mary Poppins Returns is written by

the great Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman

and I get to sing the songs.

Is Lin-Manuel Miranda going on tour?

I will be doing Hamilton in Puerto Rico in January.

I'm only on one stop of that tour.

I'll go raise a ton of money for Puerto Rico

and then that tour goes on to San Francisco from there.

Is Lin-Manuel Miranda knighted?

Is that allowed?

Am I allowed to be knighted?

Is Lin-Manuel Miranda writing another musical?

Constantly.

I got more!

Does Lin-Manuel Miranda?

Does he ever.

Does Lin-Manuel Miranda have an Instagram?

Nope!

Does Lin-Manuel Miranda speak Spanish?

Si!

Does Lin-Manuel Miranda respond to fan mail?

I do my best.

I'm very backlogged.

Does Lin-Manuel Miranda have any siblings?

Yes!

I have an older sister, she's six years older.

Her name is Luz.

It was just her birthday a couple days ago.

Does Lin-Manuel Miranda live in Washington Heights?

Yes.

Wrote a whole show about much I like it.

[laughing]

Does Lin-Manuel Miranda play an instrument?

Yes, I write an piano.

I wish I could play guitar,

but I just can't seem to develop the callouses for it.

What did Lin-Manuel Miranda?

See, this is now genuinely frightening to me,

what I'm gonna pull up here.

What did Lin-Manuel Miranda win a Grammy for?

One for In the Heights, one for Hamilton

and I have one for Moana.

I'm very proud of all of those.

What inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda to write

♪ Dun, dun, dun, dun ♪

Hamilton?

Ron Chernow's great biography of Hamilton.

You can buy that anywhere books are sold.

What Hogwarts house is Lin-Manuel Miranda?

I both self identify as Slytherin

and I took the Pottermore test that literally,

I didn't even know this was possible,

it just said: You're so Slytherin.

I'm so Slytherin.

What was Lin-Manuel Miranda's first job?

I worked as a cashier, the cash register

at the McDonald's on 91st and Columbus Avenue.

I also worked in the Playland space on family nights

and painted kids' faces and did story time.

I was much better at the story time than the kids' face.

You have never seen disappointment

like the kids walking away from my face painting jobs.

What college did Lin-Manuel Miranda go to?

I'm a proud graduate of Wesleyan University

in Middletown, Connecticut.

Go Wes.

How tall is Lin-Manuel Miranda?

I'm 5'9 and a little bit, depending on the heel.

Where did Lin-Manuel Miranda go to high school?

I'm a proud graduate of Hunter College High School

in Manhattan, New York.

How did Lin-Manuel Miranda peel this off?

Get his name?

My name was the subject of a poem by a Puerto Rican poet

and my dad read the poem when he was 12 years old.

It was called Nana roja para mi babe Lin Manuel.

The poet was a Vietnam War vet

and so the Lin is the Vietnam part

of his half-Vietnamese, half-Puerto Rican son

and that's how I got my name.

How Lin-Manuel Miranda,

I'm already scared at the syntax of this question.

How Lin-Manuel Miranda changed the world?

[laughing]

I don't know how he changed it, we're just getting started.

How does Lin-Manuel Miranda write music?

Very slowly,

by talking to himself in front of a piano

until it feels true and then he writes it down.

It's as simple as that and it's as complicated as that.

Can Lin-Manuel Miranda dance?

You tell me!

[singing gibberish]

Fosse!

S'go!