The Irrational’s Jesse L. Martin and Karen David Needed ‘Convincing’ to Do a Musical Episode (Exclusive)

The Irrational‘s musical episode felt like a long time coming — but it wasn’t always the plan for Jesse L. Martin and Karen David to sing on the hit NBC series.

In Us Weekly‘s exclusive clip from the Tuesday, March 18, episode, Martin’s character, Alec, performs the Little Shop of Horrors song “Feed Me (Git It!)” as Audrey II, a.k.a the plant trying to convince Seymour to murder someone. Martin, 56, and David, 45, broke down why they weren’t in a rush to sing on The Irrational despite their respective backgrounds in musical theater.

“It totally took convincing for me. When I started playing this role a couple years ago, the idea of me singing came up and I literally said, ‘Listen, I understand that everybody knows that Jesse L. Martin can sing — but it doesn’t mean that he shows up singing in every role he ever does,’” Martin exclusively told Us. “I’d like to save that for moments when it really should be out there.”

Luckily, a “silly conversation” between Martin and David paved the way for their characters to go undercover in a local play.

“We were fantasizing about what kind of cases we would go on and I was like, ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing — because we’re both theater people — if we ended up infiltrating this local theater company and they were doing, like, a production of Hamlet or something?’” Martin recalled. “We thought Shakespeare and we were not taking a musical. But we sort of casually mentioned it to our showrunner, Arika Mittman, and before you knew it, it came back as we are going to explore a small theater community.”

Martin had only one stipulation when it came to him performing on stage, adding, “It would have to be crafted as an accident. Like, there’s no world where Alec was ever meant to be there — but there I was.”

Before joining The Irrational, which premiered in 2023, Martin originated the role of Tom Collins in Broadway’s Rent. He continued to do stage work with performances in The Merchant of Venice, The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet and more. David, meanwhile, has a background as a singer in addition to musical roles such as Galavant.

“We all have been wanting Jesse to sing since the first day of the show, but for all the reasons that he mentioned, I totally understand [the wait]. I often get asked to sing for different roles, but it does have to make sense and be integral to the story line,” David explained. “But I was secretly hoping that — if the show could orchestrate an opportunity where it made sense to Jesse — that it was possible. So I was so delighted when everything just fell literally into place for this, like, the stars were truly aligned.”

David specifically enjoyed how the episode benefits Alec’s relationship with her character, Rose.

“He’s definitely being pulled into Rose’s world. So we see just how supportive he is as a partner and he wants to help Rose solve this case — even if it means that he might have to throw himself into a role that he never thought he’d end up having to do,” she noted. “I also love that everyone got to learn that much more about Rose including that she is secretly this huge theater darling and loves all things theater and went to drama college and is so deeply passionate about anything on the stage.”

She continued: “Rose living vicariously through Alec having to perform as a plant was just so much fun. We also had a great scene together where she’s trying to help summon up the courage for Alec to go and perform. I just love the roller-coaster of emotions that they took us through in that one scene.”

According to the official synopsis, Alec and Rose “must go undercover to infiltrate a community theater production” of Little Shop of Horrors in order to solve an actor’s murder. However, joining the cast “may put them right in the killer’s crosshairs.”

Martin and David hinted that Little Shop wasn’t necessarily the first choice, but it became the most logical one.

“I gave Arika a list of things that I knew that I could jump into right away because we don’t have a whole lot of time to prep for these things. Also we had to deal with the notion of what rights are available to what. I did put Little Shop on my list only because I knew I could sing the plant. I knew that role,” Martin recalled. “So it became the natural choice. It also fit so well in the story, this idea that I end up playing the plant. I’m not on stage, so I can watch what’s going on with the rest of the characters, which is why I am there in the first place. The choice worked out beautifully.”

Despite feeling apprehensive about performing on The Irrational, Martin had a blast. “It never occurred to me that doing a play within a play on a show would feel exactly the same as it does when you’re doing a play in real life,” he said. “There’s the crew — the people we love and work with every single day — who became the audience and they got to see a play, which normally they don’t get to do either. So it became a real play for us.”

The “biggest shame” was that they weren’t able to perform for more people. “That would’ve been amazing to be able to literally do the whole show and invite not only the crew but people from the local theater company here in Vancouver,” Martin added. “But it felt like a real play [because of that].”

David admitted that returning to the stage reminded her how much she missed theater.

“We’re always told in drama college that it’s so important to get back to your theater roots if you have time because it really humbles you and keeps you on your toes and keeps you sharp. It’s been a very humbling experience,” she shared with Us. “It just took me back to my theater days in London and being in the West End. It is just that sense of community every night going on and it was just so wonderful. I was just holding on to every minute because I knew I would have to enjoy this as it goes by so quickly.”

The Irrational airs on NBC Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.

With reporting by Nicole Massabrook