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'New Girl' star Jake Johnson explains why it's not easy to sing at Wrigley Field

'New Girl' star explains how to sing at Wrigley

Sure, singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field seems like a lot of fun -- after all, there you are, in front of thousands of people, watching baseball, and singing something that you've heard roughly 18 million times in your life. 

Turns out it's a bit more stressful than that as Jake Johnson, Chicago native and star of "New Girl" can attest to. 

Recently, on Grantland's Hollywood Prospectus podcast, Johnson discussed how he has become Twitter friends with Cubs catcher Miguel Montero, and, more importantly, just how terrifying it is to sing at the stretch when you have no musical chops. 

Approximately 58 minutes into the episode, Johnson reveals how happy he was, having just finished doing a half-inning in the broadcast booth, that he was now with a microphone, essentially talking directly to his favorite team. Of course, that's when he realized: 

"'Hey dummy. You've got a song to do.' I hear the organ. I'm now in the register, maybe that's not the way singers would do it, but I'm screaming. I'm screaming at the top of my lungs.

"I'm thinking while doing it, 'This doesn't sound right. This, in fact, sounds bad.' And I'm thinking, 'How do I transition back to a song?' I don't have the tools to do it."

Johnson would finish the song, though I'm surprised he didn't panic moonwalk out of there. 

Afterward, Johnson admits to texting Montero "Good game, sorry you had to listen to my singing," with the catcher replying, "LOL, that's probably why you're an actor."

While I would normally assume this is just an actor embellishing his story to make it more interesting, watch the video of Johnson singing above. You certainly can't fault him for his effort, though. 

And if you want to watch Johnson in his inning in the booth, discussing Kyle Schwarber's rookie season and how much he enjoys Joe Maddon's managerial style, that's below: 

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