Blocks w/ Neal Brennan - David Alan Grier

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

Neal Brennan interviews David Alan Grier ('In Living Color,' 'The Carmichael Show' & much more) about the things that make him feel lonely, isolated, and like something's wrong - and how he is persevering despite these blocks. **Correction from DAG : "It was Dumb and Dumber that was offered to me in hopes of packaging me with Rob Schneider. Not Ace Ventura… my bad ✌🏾"** --------------------------------------------------------- 🎙️ Have a Question about your Blocks for Neal? 🎙️ Email “[e-mail]” to have your question answered on a future episode.  ---------------------------------------------------------- 00:00 Intro 7:12 Boomer Fight / Troll 9:55 Upbringing 22:00 Soldier's Story 28:30 In Living Color 31:15 Ace Ventura 39:10 Always wanting More 43:00 Comfortable with who he is 1:03:00 Acting Philosophy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everyone, it's Neil Brennan. This is the Blocks Podcast. We talk to people about their inner lives. I told my guest today what the premise of the podcast was and he wrote back two words, Jesus Christ. But, he is a guy I've known a long time. The good news about you is you've always looked older than you. Can I get an intro please? I'm going to give you an intro. What is going on? You always look 40. Am I? Yes. I look really old. Now it's, you an intro. What is going on? You always look 40. Am I?

Yes. I look really good. Now it's, you look good. You look like a distinguished older gentleman. He's always looked 40. Then next thing I knew, he was playing, he was in a retirement home show, which I didn't appreciate. All right, everybody, just relax. Act like we have Alzheimer's.

I hate all the things they call us now. Legends and us. Icons. OG. OG. I don't mind so much. The guy was in Living Color. Before that, he was in Robert Townsend's shorts on HBO. And before that, he went to Yale Drama School, where he did a play with Christopher Walken.

And in between scenes, while the play was going on, he looked over and Christopher Walken was reading a porno mag. And the name of the porno mag was? Big Black Titties and Asses. Ladies and gentlemen, David Alan Greer is the guest. Can I just put an addendum on the Chris Walken? That made him a hero to me. No, I don't mean. No, no, no, no, no.

Don't get me wrong. Plus, I was in school, man. I was like, oh, this dude is a god. So we can read porn? Yeah, literally. Between? He would throw the thing my lady i beseech the court you know like right in it and he was great if a actor can be that good that quickly do you think it's an abuse of power do you expect a level of what's your process with

that do you expect to be do you try to focus just out of respect for everyone around? Or is it just like, I don't know, I'll be there? No, professionally. I'll give you an example. I was doing Soldiers Play. Became Soldiers, were you in the first one? I was in all of them. You were in the first Soldiers Play in the late 80s?

Yeah, it was 1984. 1984. Then myself, Denzel, Adolf Caesar. late 80s yeah it was 1984 1984 then myself denzel adolf caesar we went on to do the movie right and this is at a time when usually people who did the play you weren't going to do the movie nah then that was in the play yeah yeah you know say say it's like double amputee, Southeast Asian, Tiger Cage, prison, Cambodian conflict, and someone like Killian Murphy did it on stage. Well, you know that if they did the movie, it would be a Disney kid. Yeah. You know what I mean? And they'd be right.

Right. Right. So the fact that we were cast in Norman Jewison, so we went right in and did the movie. Yeah. And that was it. I mean, I thought I was done with it, but. And then you did it again. Because Kenny Leon called me the director.

And you know what? I just had to do it. I mean, those are the best thoughts. It was two years ago? Three years ago? It was the beginning of the. It wasn't a three years ago? It was the beginning of the— The reboot? It wasn't a reboot? No, it was the beginning of the pandemic.

Okay. Because we got all the way through our run. We had three shows left, and they shut Broadway down. Okay, so you did it, and did you get—you've been Tony nominated? I have. I've received four Tony nominations. I won the Tony for that particular role. And can I just say, you know know the evening started with hey nominated with my girlfriend we went to the best restaurant probably in the country sabara sabara on 44th street

mama leone's and um no it was just a great week a great night just the vibes all the love and then i won and you know i just want to say we've been lied to because winning is didn't solve your problem it did oh even worse no yeah no i know it's not just an honor to be nominated it's so much better when you win oh my god it is amazing so you know don't believe the hype kids get. Get that reward. Winners only. It's my brother. I say, you mean award? No, I mean reward.

Okay. Okay, I don't see the difference, but God bless. Let's move on. I haven't seen you in a while, but you're a great person to me. I've never had a bad time spending time with you. That may be the highest compliment, by the way. I've never had a bad time hanging out with you? Yeah, because, well, like any relationship, you know, really, mostly when I was younger. You know, like you had a roommate, and like when you sour, at least for me, if I sour on you, I just have to.

It's over. Yeah, I'm going to block you. Yep. Just move on. We don't have to talk about it. I don't know like a lot of men who, you know, we're not going to be friends anymore, Neil. Can we have lunch? I just want to tie up loose ends and go over some things, some transgressions.

No. Guys, just bye. I'll see you later. Especially at this point in my life, I just gonna block delete move on much like winning an award it's very rewarding it is because mainly the people i blocked and moved on from is probably a lot of his political views now i don't know i pretty much can guess your political views but when it is based on the clear frame glasses, but when it impedes – Just based on the clear-framed glasses. When it impedes on the friendship.

If I'm texting you all day and night going, man, you got to get on this MAGA train, man. Trump is brilliant. Then it's an annoyance, man. I don't – because I don't want to argue. We don't have to debate. In my place of work, if I see somebody who's go Trump, I'm going to be like, that's not my choice. But you go, go ahead. Yeah.

I don't care. I don't care. Okay. I'm going to do what I can do, but I'm not going to argue about that stuff. But you will end, you will end a relationship. You will end a personal friendship. You won't end a relationship, but it will end a personal relationship. Like we're not going to see eye to eye. personal friendship you won't end a relationship but it will end a personal relationship like

we're not going to see eye to eye and well not if i'm not if i'm bringing it not if the person is shoehorning it in all of our conversations in texts and emails or just memes yeah man yeah you're wearing me down yeah you know uh-uh give me you throw a baby in there you just wear me down baby baby you're wearing me down no man you know how it is it's just uh i'm the king of of ending friendships we we spoke about it before we on the air you're i in my experience you're a good texter you're a good tweet you're all you're pretty active on the tweets especially considering your age and that you should know better can i can i brag on myself i would love that finally i got into a boomer fight you know this is like okay boomer and how old are you by the way 67 great

and uh true or little known fact about david allen greer what could have gone to see jimmy hendrix live i could have and didn't because you couldn't you at homework or something well i was 13 right and to be honest with you i still had the fear of my mom like i could have gone to cobo hall i didn't know that jimmy hendrix in 1969 would be dead within a year number none of them no no one did and i was more concerned with if i got in that concert my mother still was of an age where she would come in there pull me out pull me by the ear there may be curlers involved just yeah i just was not prepared to defy her like that sure yet you know a couple years i was just you know whatever earth went on fire exactly but uh um yeah yeah yes i wasn't okay so you got no boomer fight go on so you know i said

some lame joke and these boomer guys started coming after me and at one point where i was just being pounded you know fuck you you bought your house for a dollar and i had to pay five million dollars and my dad's old and guess what he shits on himself nobody told me that when you're 85 and you had several strokes i you know and uh at one point when the dude goes you know i gotta give it up to you man your meme skills are next level and they were talking amongst themselves they're like i don't even know where he gets these things look i don't know what this this guy's got must have a young team around him. Yeah, so I was like, even in the midst

of all that, I was like, thank you. What did you say that got him upset? It was stupid. It was something along the lines of everything's fine. You know, you give your kid a credit card, everything's fine until the bill runs a $2,500. Something so stupid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some rich people should. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And, but it was piling on to, and the thing about the internet or social media, there's no sarcasm and there's no irony. You can't, because half the shit, you know what I'm, we can get into this, but half the shit I say, I'm fucking with people. Yeah. And 90% of people don't know. You know, I got in a huge fight one time and these dudes are like, man, what the fuck kind of old soft ass bitch ass shit? And I was like, okie dokie.

What kind of motherfucker says okie dokie? Okie dokie part. I kept saying it until finally this like teenage white girl. Hit him with an okie dokie artichoke? Yeah, yeah. Hit him with an artichoke? Yeah, the teenage white girl goes, David Allen Greer is is trolling you shut the fuck up white women to the rescue exactly he you know he didn't get it he didn't get it um all right so what has been

what is it easy to be you is it yeah now it is but was it always easy to be? What have been the big problems of your life? Well, you know, big problems were, first of all, I feel like I've had a blessed life. From the outside in, I would agree. Yeah, my dad was a doctor until he left us when I was 10. So I got half. I got, like, really cool upper middle, 60s, when that meant something. You know, new car for two years and nice big home. And then, well, you know, when my father and my mother broke up, then my mom was on a teacher's salary.

Got it. As my dad was like, you know, he wrote this hit book. He'd be on the news. Picture this. You finally get to the party and it's the usual drinks and small talk suddenly you spot something different the bold seagram 13 a 13 cosmopolitan cocktail you grab a can and take a sip suddenly you're on a fresh adventure becoming the hero of your own night unapologetically full flavored cocktails with a 13% punch. Seagram 13.

Dare to make your own luck. Must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Available at the LCBO. This episode is brought to you by Lego Fortnite. Lego Fortnite is the ultimate survival crafting game found within Fortnite. It's not just Fortnite Battle Royale with minifigures. It's an entirely new experience that combines the best of Lego play and Fortnite. It's not just Fortnite Battle Royale with minifigures. It's an entirely new experience

that combines the best of Lego play and Fortnite. Created to give players of all ages, including kids and families, a safe digital space to play in. Download Fortnite on consoles, PC, cloud services, or Android and play Lego Fortnite for free. Rated ESRB E10+. Gentlemen, in the foreword to your book, United States Senator Fred Harris said that although slavery has not been practiced in this country for over 100 years, the mind of the citizen has not been freed. Do you feel that this is the root cause of the Negro problem? We feel it is a very important cause.

The attitude of the society generally of white people and unfortunately of some black people is that black people are inferior and should in fact occupy an inferior status in this society. And again, you know, in 67 or eight, there's no cable, there's no computers. If your family member were on any program like live at five that was big shit yeah that was like having a netflix special exactly man exactly so so it was april 9th crazy good it's called you know i just talked to my brother the other night and just reminiscing about our childhood you know those are those are important things. I mean, my career, I have never,

this last year is the longest stretch I've had without a job. And that's been because of Strike. Okay. You could sing when you were a kid? Yeah. I mean, I do, one thing that came out of this conversation,

you know, growing up in Detroit, is at a very young age, I was fixated on, I'm getting the fuck out of this town and I'm going to get famous. Because like every kid, it's Detroit. It's boring. Yeah, it's a small town. All my friends were going to law school or be a doctor and dentist. No, I don't want that.

I want to be famous and I want to make money. And that was fixated on it. I did not know. From an early age. Oh, yeah, because I was 11 or 12. But I didn't know how at that point because I didn't know I was going to be an actor. Who were famous to you then?

Rock stars. You know, rock stars. I remember when we were in Berkeley, I was with my mom. You saw Sly Stone? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. Fantastic.

I saw a lot of people. So we're standing in front of this boutique and they had these silver platform shoes with rainbows and stars and stuff on them. And this is before the rainbow meant having silver boots in 1968 was like having a million followers on Instagram. Yeah. So we're just standing. I must have been like 12. And I go, Mom, see, we don't even – I don't know.

I want those boots. And my mom looked at me like, why would you want those boots? I'm very concerned. You know, just like you may be insane. I just want not to be boring, not to be in a fucking little town and get married to my high school sweetheart and just have i i never wanted to have okay do you understand when people think that that's like you have bad values are you just like no i just want to no because i worked very hard i just didn't work at med school got it i worked very hard i mean i got into fucking uh yale i mean and even at that where'd you go undergrad uh university of michigan and you wrote

a very nice letter for al magical's daughter i was told the other day i did i did it was a foreign letter but i did put my heart and soul into it no very very nice have you donated money no great you no one should donate money to the i'm on the board i'm on the board of the drama school oh great so you worked hard you went to u of m then you so you weren't you had good values and a good work ethic about a what someone say a shallow thing yeah but i mean i wanted to be an actor once i once i settled on that because that was the first thing i thought well i can grow old and be an actor i can be that was the first thing for me right there you were no but i mean for me because even with music i was like yeah but you got to be young to make it in music but i really was into it so you thought maybe rockstar for a second yeah i was

a songwriter i dropped out of school and moved i was performing and after about 10 months it was that thing. A bunch of things happened. I saw and started hanging out with like for real actors. And they were the first people to go, you know what? You should be an actor. After watching me, you know, at 19. After watching you sing or watching you? After watching me sing, perform, just hanging out. Right. Podcasting. I worked in this this ice cream store haagen-dazs ice cream store which again in 1975 haagen-dazs was like what is the most premier salt and straw yes it was it was yeah no it was foreign hoity-toity yeah it was foreign ice cream by the way some middle-aged white dude made up the name haagen-dazs oh that's fine it

you know but so anyway it was there and it was crossed from a disco tech barney googles which during do the hustle it was all right there um i remember a guy came in with his girlfriend they used to come in and it was late at night and i did he asked me for an ice cream cone, and I did some song and dance just because I was bored and just 19. And the guy stopped and goes, you're an actor. And he said, I'm going to come back tomorrow at noon, and I'm going to talk to you because I want you to know that I'm legit, that I'm not drunk or high. I'm not trying to exploit you in any way, and we're going to talk. And indeed, he did come back. And so that pushed me.

That started it. And what was he? Was he an actor? He was an actor. He was an actor with his living girlfriend. And he was like, he knew one when he saw one? Yeah. Yeah.

And he— He was living with his girlfriend, so he was definitely an actor. Yeah, and he had a spider monkey. I remember that. Fantastic. Like, back then, I was like okay did you and you never really like tripped off a race too much what do you mean meaning like it wasn't a big uh like u of m yale what they would call white spaces yeah well well i can get to that but you

know as a kid i've thought about this as a kid um when there was not a lot of representation. Kids are going to kid, meaning I'm going to be a munchkin. I'm going to be Superman. We just inserted ourselves in any and every possible scenario. That's what kids do. I'm not saying it's the way to go. I'm not saying it was helpful. I'm just saying in a pinch.

Yeah. Kids are going to use your imagination. Yeah. Kids get i'll be elon musk i'll be sure that you know so that's what we did i was aware of it but my energy was like i'm gonna do whatever the fuck i want and i'm not i don't care i'm gonna go for it and that's what i've always thought you know unless i don't make it then i can fall back on race and stuff very smart um really i don't think anyone's ever thought uh okay and then and then so you and you could do it i discovered you know neil you have this belief right you had a suspicion about yourself. Like, I should be on TV. I feel like I should be getting more attention than I am. I just said I should be famous.

I didn't really process how is this going to happen. Because I hadn't yet. So what happened was a girl who lived across the street from me, she was dating this guy. And when we all went to Michigan, he brought me into acting and he jumped me in like a gang. His name is Ron O.J. Parsons. He is from Buffalo, New York. And he was like, basically, yeah, so my girl told me that you funny and I got some stuff for you. Someone needs you to come to the theater and we can do some things it was like being jumped into a gang or the mafia and i'm like oh okay i didn't really know i could act i knew i wanted to try it

and then i did for the attention or for the trance what it does to you to do it well i was still trying to find my place you know but back then, all of my friends were all going to, you know, Dr. Lawyer, Indian Chief. I knew that didn't turn me on, but I didn't know. We'll believe it. It was an old thing that they used to say. They'd say, Dr. Lawyer, Indian Chief. It was a different time. Native American elder. Dr. Lawyer, Native American elder. Go ahead. But I mean, you know, we fantasize and then you got to do it. I started acting and I realized I have some talent here.

I mean, one of the great things about when you're young is when you, we're knowing, we're booting up, we're getting to know ourselves. We have desires and all of a sudden, wait a minute, maybe I can pull this off. That's what it was. It was like, oh, you have a lot of tools though yes but i discovered them i remembered when i talked to my mom i go nobody in our family ever she goes no we have one crazy alice that was my fifth cousin and she she spent a long time in the asylum that's what i was told so no sense of humor like if you would have come to my house um it just would not be it would be well it is a weird thing where you've always looked like yourself do you know what i mean like i remember like bold and beautiful

or black and beautiful alderman dexter mitchell is davider. Daddy's been a naughty boy. Like, oh, that's who he is. This is 1985. I'm 12 or something. And I see him like, yeah, that guy looks like. You knew the joke. You knew how to do it. You knew. But then I went to drama school and all my friends were like, oh, I'm cast as a nursemaid in the Guthrie.

Great, Catherine, you'll be great., oh, I'm cast as a nursemaid in the Guthrie. Great, Catherine, you'll be great. I mean, I wanted that part. But also, you know, someone brought me the first playbill when I did my first professional job on Broadway called First by Jackie Robinson, First Black Ball Player. I digress. But you had to write your bio. I had no credits because it was my first professional job. And I do not remember writing this. But at one point, he says, you know, David has, you know, he has an MFA from Yale. He's done Wine in the Wilderness at the Lab Theater in Ann Arbor.

And he has performed in comedy clubs all over this country, which was absolute bullshit. There barely were comedy clubs all over this country which was absolute bullshit there barely were comedy clubs but you know 81 80 yeah but the comedy boom had started got it got it got it got it and that was where the sexy shit was and and so then that became something i think i want to try this and so i just put it on my i put it on my bio. Damn it, that's so funny. Yeah, I had no idea. And you still didn't do stand-up for a long time, right? No, because I was acting. And what happened was I met Robert Townsend. We did Soldier's Story together.

Oh, he was in the movie, right? We shared a honey wagon. Now, you're a comic, so you'll appreciate this. Robert and Denzel were really good friends. But I thought Robert Townsend was the funniest, most brilliant person I'd ever seen. He came in and we shared a honey wagon, which is like a half of a trailer. It's not even the size of this space. Right.

So we were there together. And he was doing this material. He was doing Mo Money. He was doing all of it. And then at one point I was like going, oh, my God. He has doing Mo Money. He was doing all of it. And then at one point I was like going, oh, my God. He has like 17 routines. I was just rolling. And he goes, oh, yeah, that's my friend Damon.

That's his routine. Oh, he was doing other people's stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he would claim it. He wasn't like, I wrote that. Yeah. But still, and I was not of the comedy world. I was just amazed.

And I was not of the comedy world. I was just amazed. I remember we drove on a day off from Soldier Story. Robert and I, we drove. We were in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1983. So they changed the movie. There was one movie theater. They changed the movie once a month.

We were there for three and a half months. We drove to Tulsa, I think, as a road trip just to see movies. You were shooting like on a barrack somewhere? Yes. Fort Smith, Fort, yeah, Fort Smith, Arkansas. Fort Chaffee, that's the name of the base that we were on. While we were there, Robert says, okay, we're going to go to this comedy club and see my friend Larry Miller. And, you know, I'd seen Bill Cosby when I was 12.

But to sit in that club, Halffield Club, comedy club and see my friend Larry Miller. And, you know, I'd seen Bill Cosby when I was 12, but to sit in that club, Halffield Club, and Larry, my experience then was like, how is he talking for an hour? Like this shit is just falling out of his ass. There's no character. He's thinking it up on the spot. Like I didn't know the process. I just was amazed. Like, how can you do this? And it's funny. And you're holding my attention. And then, you know, Robert was like, no, that's his act.

You know, he was like, what? What do you respect more at this point, stand-up or acting? It's not respect. It's how I define myself. Well, okay. At the end of the day, I always defined myself as an actor, personally. Right. I did stand-up for a long time.

Quite as it's kept, I've quit stand-up. I kind of knew that. Yeah, I didn't make an announcement. Right. Just because I felt I was done. David, we're all feeling it. I know. I mean, when you're in a club and you're like, my sciatica is crazy. Guys, give it up for sciatica.

No, it just felt like I didn't really have anything to say. You know, I just wanted to do something else. But in that moment, though, back to the Larry Miller thing, this was a whole new terrain. I'd seen Richard Pryor, and Richard Pryor was like one of my major idols. Sure. But I never looked into the mechanics of standup until I started doing it. And when I started doing it is because I would hang out with Kenan, Robert and those guys. I was out here doing my first TV show, like in 1985, 86 called All is Forgiven. And that was created by the Charles brothers who just had done cheers.

Oh, wow. So I was at the Porsche dealership. I'm like, I'm going to be back in 10 days, man. Cause you remember the space, baby.

Exactly. I remember our premiere. I think it was behind cheers. We pulled a 20 million, 20 million viewership. And the network was like, well... I showed one of the producers on the Carmichaels

the number, and he almost fainted. And still they were like, we just saw you do a little bump. You didn't really do a bump. So you just felt like you had talent, or you wanted to be famous, and then it ended up being that you could. Yes. You could do it.

I discovered these things because back to there, I'm jumping around because, you know, that's what I do. I remember asking my mom because that's awesome thing as a young person. Like I have this talent and I wanted to know where did it come from? It's not like you guys are busting out the dick jokes. No. Yeah. have this talent and i wanted to know where did it come from it's not like you guys are busting out the dick jokes no yeah you know and i was just amazed that i had this gift which that's what it felt like i didn't know it was there and you know let me let me jump off that onto this does it make you what do you do you believe in a god some days usually when there's a semi heading for me but to be serious but with that in mind with like i came out pretty formed to have a very successful professional life it's a big part

of life and for those people who don't haven't seen your show that takes that took a lot i mean for you to get to yes yeah well that's ayahuasca and DMT, right? It wasn't like you were being encouraged. No. So what I'm saying, yes, correct.

Uh, but so what I'm saying is, do you ever, do you feel like, I don't know, this is something I'm, I'm touched in some way. Yeah. But you know,

that varies. I remember when I came out to L.A. and it was pilot season. I'd been acting and pretty successful, making money, taking care of myself. But I hadn't done The Living Caller yet. And I really got to the point where I really did not know if that was my ceiling. You know, a few guest spots. Right, right, right, right. High school friends.

Hey, man, I know that dude. Yeah. I even thought about law school and i you know did some research and i realized early on you're not going to law school dude just shut the fuck up you or not put it down and go put on the clown nose and shortly thereafter living color came and all that shit blew open, man. All of it. And was it ever enough? Because you strike me as somebody that could be like a comparer. Always wanting more.

But that was a certain period. I will tell you, I think I was driving somewhere and I read in the trades when that's when we used to buy like the Hollywood Reporter or Variety Martin Lawrence was getting 20 million on his next film and I was like I need to pull over I need to pull over because I'd just gotten off the phone with my agent he was like they're offering scale plus 10 but I think we can about 25,000 yeah I think we can bump them up you know five ten more I was like but to know you000. Yeah. I think we can bump them up, you know, five, 10 more. I was like, but to know, you know, Martin and I started together. We were good friends. Those are certain times where I just went, Oh God, I really have to recalibrate. I mean, you know,

and also when you're on, you're on a living color with Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans, Keenan Wayans, Jamie Foxx, Tommy Davidson. You guys are, it's like seven hungry dogs. Which is one of the reasons why I didn't want to do it. Because again, I didn't come from a stand-up background. I didn't have Scratchy the pimple guy, my go-to character. And I didn't want that feeling of crabs in a barrel. Everybody's trying to stab everybody else in the back.

I just wanted a good part. But I was talked into doing it because it was after a season of I must have auditioned for over 30 pilots. That was when you could do that. And it was because the casting directors kind of knew me. OK, well, David, this this is an albino little person, but I don't know, just read. You know, those kind of auditions. Well, show us what you have, Neil. You know, this 12-year-old girl, she really hates her dad.

Go. You're like, uh. So nothing panned out. And at the end of pilot season, I moved back to New York. And Kim Wayans, like just an evil cult leader, kept calling going, you're making a mistake. You have got to come back. You've got to come back. You've got to do this show.

This is going to be great. So they offered it to you? Oh, yeah. They offered me a couple times. Yeah, because initially it was like. You were like, and you had done it with them in Robert's movies. Yeah. And were you in I'm Going to Get You Sucker? Yes, I was in that. So they knew me. Yeah. And were you in I'm Gonna Get You Sucker?

Yes, I was in that. So they knew me, you know, in Kenan. And so, you know, you're going to be in the cast. We have to go through this network thing. Because I went to New York and we had to, like, improv for the network, the studio. I auditioned with Susie Essman,in and uh who else i think those are the two those are my friends i didn't know suzy yeah it was something like that and um that's kind of where i first felt oh i can do this it's gonna be fun man because you know kenny would just

call out sketches and ideas and I really got in a groove and it felt really great. And I was, I'm going to try this. But in doing that, after coming out of Yale, that was going against the grain there because they were doing like Shakespeare in the Park. And I was like,

now I'm going to do this show because I knew it was going to be fun. I knew all my friends were going to be there and i fucking just went for it did and did you ever get in your head about it or was it you were very different than all of them so that was the the good news and why they needed you is because like you were you you did have a different tone i realize that now but again when you yeah well okay so you're comparing yourself to who were movie stars and who became movie stars how'd that sound well once we got on the show it was just we're doing we're working yeah but i'm holding my own with you of course but then

he gets ace ventura i know but that happened a while ago. Now, they offered me – no, they offered me Ace Ventura, one of those, because it was a script that was just – Yeah, floating around. These producers came to me and said, well, maybe you and Rob – who's that dude from SNL who's really conservative? Yeah, Rob Schneider. I was like, no, I passed on it. Jim took it and said, I'm going to do what i'm you know everything yeah yes he really was like a cancer patient and he said sir you're dying in six months great only role and action i sat next to him at the premiere and i felt so bad for jim because you know nobody's

going to see this crazy movie we We used to kid each other. And I said, Jim, if I ever win the lottery, I'm going to give you $5 million. And we would play around so you can make your movie. Jim Carrey would do this character called Colon Man where he could pull his colon out of his ass, small intestines, and lasso criminals and suck you right back into his ass and hold you for the police you know shit like yeah just add each other crying so i said i want you to do that okay do that if i ever win the lottery this was going on that's what he did basically he made colon man yeah no he yeah yeah ace ventura yeah there was a point where i think he what was the love interest what's her name from Friends? Courtney Cox. Yeah, they were there.

And it was like, Jim had been so crazy. And I said, you know, literally just like something like, hello, Ace. And I said, okay, this is, Jim's going to be normal. Summer's here, and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parmesan delivered. A cabana? That's a no.

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He went. And I was like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. So I came out. I saw Chris Rock in the lobby. This was at the same screening at Westwood. And I said, man, Chris, I don't know what I'm going to do, man. I feel bad for Jim.

I'm going to support him because I was laughing. He was so nervous. He was crawling out of his seat. But nobody's going to see this movie. It's too crazy. I just thought this is too crazy for america chris put his hand on my shoulder like an older brother he said no one david is going to see this listen to me exactly i said okay i'm not crazy and you know what happened next? Yes. It blew up. Over $27 million.

It blew up. And I forgot, Jim was on Howard Stern, and he was saying, like, the next day, you know, that next week, we were back doing In Living Color. And we would come out and play with the audience and stuff. And he described how I came out there, and I was like, you know, doing a whole bit like, Jim's movie opened last week. And I just want to say good luck, you know. I'm not jealous or any fucking thing like you know during the whole bit like uh jim's movie opened last week and um i just want to say good luck you know i'm not jealous or any fucking thing you know so no anger here because that's what we did we made a comedy yeah bit out of everything so but but were you actually uh did you feel less than with at any point in that um in that it's hard it must have been hard on your spirit a little bit because i

was married by that time i didn't have kids um yeah man you want to be with your supposed peers i didn't want want to be doing guest spots on alf and which i did and no i wanted all of that i wanted all of it and that is when i, maybe I've miscalculated. Maybe this is as far as I can go. Yeah, did you ever? So then you get on Living Color, and then it's going great. No, there's always something else. Everybody was doing press.

And at that time, who was the old guy who used to clear talent on The Tonight Show? Jim. Freddie DeCordova. Or no, Jim McCauley. Jim McCauley was still there. Yes. He brought me in. I met with him.

Freddie DeCordova was there. And I'm like, I really want to go on one of these late night talk shows. I mean, when's it going to happen? What do I have to do? And they're like, well, you know, in the show, they're going to go with the main guys. You know, Keenan, Damon. Because Damon blew up. Yep.

He was the first one. I remember when Homie the Clown was like. Right. Have a seat. Let me tell you about what. Entertainment Weekly magazine. I think it was the number one comedy character. I mean, people love. Yes.

And once they cycle through them david they're gonna filter down to your level which is um probably second tier third tier then they'll bring you on and they kept making that mouth noise yeah yeah yeah but still i was like i'm on a tour tier okay cool let's do it um yeah you know that kind of stuff always more always more um how do you uh don't you i mean of course but what i'm saying is how do you deal with that part of yourself do you try to go like go like yo you gotta chill because this is very good or do you or do you think that that's helpful no i started doing stand-up you know i'd'd never really done standup. I would do standup to hang out with Robert and Kenan and those guys. So I started doing spots. Okay. But just for fun,

I'd really, there's no longitudinal thinking that I'm going to get on this TV show. It's going to feed my road work and I'm going to do a special. No, I just thought it's fun because after a certain point, Robert and those guys said, you can't just hang out with us in comedy clubs and observe. You have to do comedy. They actually said like, hey, they kind of intervened like, yeah, this is enough. Yeah. You're funny enough to do this. So we either do it or leave.

It wasn't even you're funny enough. Because it wasn't just you. It was also Eddie Murphy and Rock were around, too. Right. So it was like Chris I'dphy and rock were around too right so it was like well chris i'd met when i was in new york chris i met him what is the special eddie did and uptown comedy express i i met him right around there yes and i lived right around the corner from catch a rising star that was my last shitty fucking horrible apartment i had in New York. So I knew Chris a long time.

Damon, anyway, Damon would go and do stand-up comedy. And I always looked down on it. You're in the saloon telling dick jokes. That's so sad. And he told me how much he made, which I think at the time was like. Tell me more about this saloon. Yeah, he was making like $18,000, $000, 25, something like that for two or three days. I'm like, what?

Literally within 30 days. Hello, D.C. So I wrote my jokes up. I did my spots. And I got an agent. And I started going out. And that changed my career for years because that allowed me a cushion to say no. Like I didn't have to play – what was this dude in this James Spader movie?

Radio? It was worse. The gay window dresser in mannequin. Meshack Taylor type? Yeah, in mannequin. Yes. I remember they called for that. I didn't have to because I started doing comedy and that allowed me to go make this other money.

But I got burned out, man. I got burned out. During In Living Color, I would take two weeks off. Then I would tour all summer until – and you're talking about like from probably May to August. Clubs, some theaters mixed in grinding and i would take two weeks off at the end of summer and then i was back on the show so i did that for like three or four years and i just started getting burned out like i wasn't my income jumped but my happiness didn't jump it was just a grind man and what was what's your inner what is your

inner life like what do people what are your loved ones what negative things do your loved ones say about you um it was more or relationships it was more me because it took a while for me to voice it because i was on a hit show i was was playing sold-out clubs and stuff. I'd done Boomerang in 93, and I remember when I was heading to someplace like Houston or something, and my ticket sales just skyrocketed, you know, because Boomerang was a really big movie. A huge movie.

And all of that. But inside, I just was tired, you know? You get on this plane, you get on this other plane, go to Milwaukee, go to the press, you know, or morning press. It was fucking. Yeah. Yeah, man. So I was getting burned out. And like everybody, I wanted to do a huge fucking born on the 4th of July, one-armed prison escapee crying, I'm a high kid, I'm a high kid, you know, all that stuff.

And that was, that's not what I was getting yet. So there was always more and always questioning. I don't, did not know in that moment if I was really going to get to the level that would shut me up i don't think there is a level well yeah that's what i'm wondering i'm like i'm trying to think of like did you get to the level that would shut you know you know lead in a movie i always said my goal was like to be three movies deep that means you're doing a movie and it's a juicy fucking role right you're going right into another movie that's another juicy fucking role and you're in talks about being cast right in a juicy fucking role yeah you say and then and then you think about let's talk about how many people

are living that life you're very good friend denzel yes yes yes but back then he was probably the only black dude then you know wesley snipes you know the guys who came up but that's where i was then uh and and i thought by the time i get to my age now i thought i would be retired i didn't think that they all thought you were but we i didn't think people would really want me you know well it's funny to explain to i know it's funny to explain to people how like comedians in their 50s by this point 30 years years ago, were doing Westbury. Like, venues you've never heard of. Like, your parents would go to.

Westbury Music Fair. Yeah, Westbury Music Fair. Like, yeah. And, like, Cosby and Bob Newhart and all those guys. And Don Rickles would be in that realm. But now, like, Dave, Chris,vin are doing arenas even jim like when jim really blew up i said jim you should do a two-day national tour you should do one night in yankee stadium then you fly out and do one night at dodger stadium and of course jim was at the same no he says no

i want to be robert de niro man why would i do that yeah and I was like oh god I don't understand this dude well again that's like the disease of more and the disease of I want to be Hamlet right did you and did you ever did you reckon with it did you get to a point where you're like all right I have to this is making me miserable this didn't make me that miserable because like I said I always worked I always made money now I didn't have a $40 million deal at Netflix. But, you know, I was flush. I bought a house. I had a nice life, you know.

So also there was no other avenue where I said, you know what? I'm going to bag groceries at Ralph's because it's more spiritual. No. I mean, this is what it was. And I figured I'd be retired. I did not take into account, you know, at my age, I've done my 10,000 hours. I actually know who the fuck I am. Who? Who are you? I'm an actor, man. I'm really comfortable. I'm a dad. I'm an accomplished performer.

And meaning the insecurities have melted away? Yeah, most of them. I didn't shave, so you're really seeing the real me. If anyone just turns on to this, they're going to think LeVar Burton is on box. No, but I mean, I'm comfortable with who I am, and I'm getting really good roles and offered things and considered for things that are probably some of the best roles in my life. I mean, to do The Patient, that was a limited series. It was such a good role.

It was Carell. Yes, it was such a good role. The only fucked up thing is I couldn't tell one joke because it was so serious. Yep. And I would just sit there and just go to my trailer and yell and scream because it was really, okay, guys, when you're ready. Take your own action. Yeah, right? We would meditate and then go into these takes.

It was beautiful, but part of me was still like, I just want to tell some stupid joke. We can't. Like, I remember I went in and I was about 10 minutes late because I was trying to find the soundstage. Everyone is there. The patient had already started production. Very quiet, very studious. I come into the soundstage and I said, I was the only black person there. And I just looked around and I said, well, this is clearly racist.

Not a harumph. Not a smile. Not an eyebrow raised. And I went, that was the last joke I told. I was like, dude, just shut the fuck up. This is a great role, just act. But no, after that,

they didn't even look up. It wasn't even like, I know what you're doing, it's not the place. It was just, did you hear something? Yeah. Do you read into that at all?

Do you read into the idea? I read the room. I mean, the other way to go would have been like, I know I'm fucking somebody up in this bitch. Oh, y'all ain't going to laugh at my shit. The fact that you now have like persevered, what do you think was going to happen in your life and what happened? I would probably, you know, be retired. I'd be moved out of la take my little savings get a nice i don't know

two-bedroom and robert guillaume you'd be robert guillaume yes although he worked late he really did he really did but he's a bad example but i'm at a different place man now because now i'm at a different place, man. Now because, now I'm at a place that I strive so hard to get. I feel like I'm more well-known right now than I've ever been. I forget, you know, as a young performer, I forgot that your audience grows old with you.

Yeah. I remember I performed, I forget what city it was in, and we drive out to the club. You know, I checked in the hotel and everything. We drive out to the club, no cars checked in the hotel and everything you drive out to the club no cars i get to the basement club and the club's not full and uh i'm like damn what

the fuck should i sell my merchandise and uh one of the security guards he said oh yeah he said don't worry about it man little brother these are. And I was like, what are you talking about? Just sell your shit. So the club was maybe two-thirds full. Every person in that audience lined up and waited to meet me. First of all, I never did meet and greets the first 10, 12 years. I didn't want to. I just, no, I'm not doing that.

It felt low rent? Yeah, man. I was, no, I'm not doing that. It felt low rent? Yeah, man. Yeah. I was bringing my actor shit in. When I leave the stage, I get into my car. My driver takes me home where I drink four bourbons and take three sleeping pills. Why are you going after Denzel like that? No, but what happened is I made these t-shirts and started selling shit.

I had Dagg merch. The one where was like the third you look like a dictator yes yes i had one of those shirts but i mean in the process of that i started meeting my audience because to sell merchandise it's pretty much a meet and greet right now yeah and i enjoyed it because i was getting older. So by this point, I'm like maybe 40 or something. And I just had a different point of view. I started to view my audience differently. And these were people, your ride or dies, man. And they're still here. They're growing old with me.

And I have the sense that. You get new fans and you keep the old ones i hope so i mean but people go they're just giving me they meaning the public and the industry seems to give me respect and do you have you it's humbling is what i wanted to say it was not like as they should yeah but um it is very humbling and and and humbling in the truest sense not in the i won a tony award and i'm so humbled no no i'm gonna tell you something and this this happened over and over i went it was really hot blistering hot day in la and i was just pissed off i went to the pet store and this doesn't have a

pet just go through to talk wait the dog the dog dude he was delivering dog food. And this is a black guy, middle-aged, drenched in sweat. He's picking up 50-pound bags, slinging them. And he stops and looks at me and he said, man, I just want to tell you, you make my life better. What is better than that? This is a fucking laborer. Yeah. Every day. A low laborer.

Well, no, but I'm saying yeah i'll guarantee you nobody in that fucking store said hey man i just want to thank you for bringing that kibble man yeah no every day strangers at least once a day stop me and say i thank you um i love you uh i've been a fan for many years. No, that is. Can you make sense of it? Do you ever think, why me? Well, yeah, because we're still, I don't know about you, but I'm still a fan. Like the first time when I was a little kid, well, let's roll it back. When I came out to L.A. the first time, this is when they had, I think it was a $5 Monday at the comedy store.

And I went because it was broke. You know, I had $5. I saw Jimmy J.J. Walker. I was like, oh, my God, that's a TV star. For real. Like I was seeing these dudes that I grew up watching. And so I still have that part in me. And I think that when people, especially television, they take you in.

What do you think that means? especially television they take you in like what do you think that me okay explain your life to me meaning like what do you make of it do you just go like wow this is amazing that i got to be jimmy jj walker or one of them do you know what i mean like a my version of that thing i got to be robert Guillaume. I got to be Sidney Poitier sometimes. Like what do you make of it? I just feel blessed. I hold it to heart. And it was a natural progression because, again, when I was younger,

I was trying to get what I got. I'm not there yet. I don't have time to talk to you. Yeah, you like what I did on Living Color. I have a lot more in me you know but you only watched 40 sketches of mine sir there's so much more to me than the hours of me you know i remember when i did shakespeare in the park it was richard iii and like 94 or something living color was still on my goal was to get through a performance and not have someone say,

homie, don't play that. Three snaps. You know, tell some dick and pussy jokes, which is Bronx editing if you've ever performed there. But that was my goal. I hope the audience goes with me and allows me. Yeah, man, they went with me. They went with me and it was gangbusters.

I didn't perceive all of that, all of us, my crowd, all rolling with me until we all grow old. I just didn't see that far. Well, you don't think about it. No, I thought in Living Color, I thought when we went off the air, I was ready. I wanted my own TV show. It became my gold

you know the david allen grier show or whatever then i'll be without all this dead weight of jim carrey damon wayans and stupid keenan get away from me jamie foxx oh yeah sold into syndication rich for days and i never have to work again i just couldn't pull it off it never happened um a bunch of times right that wasn't meant to be no this never happened. A bunch of times where... That wasn't meant to be. No. This was. What do you make of that fatalism?

What do you make of that? I don't know, man. I know that I feel probably the most secure I've ever felt in my life. Just in terms of the mechanics of my career. Because after 40 years in the business, you know who the fuck i am if you don't just watch some footage yeah and uh uh you know i can handle this i can do the job it's a no-brainer now and that's what i think has fed into my expanding career i didn't think it was going to be expanding i thought it would just be you know hey man hey, man, what happened? Is that Neil?

Yep. Man. Now, wait a minute. We met when, this is when I remember, when Dave Chappelle opened for me. He middled. Yes. At the Carolines. Correct.

He was 18 years old. Correct. And you, as I recall, were there every night. You guys were in there. Yes. I was also 18. I didn't know who the fuck you were. I was a club rat. I guess, were there every night. You guys were in there. Yes, I was also 18. I didn't know who the fuck you were. I was a club rat.

Yeah, I guess that's Dave's friend. I was grimy. I was very grimy, stringy. And my friends would come. Like, Joel Siegel came. He was like, hey, man, great. And I said, hey, I wrote two new jokes. Did you see them?

He's like, yeah, that's really cool. Who was that guy that meant it? I swear to God. Wow. Man, he was really great. Great seeing you dave there's somebody told me a story about dave that dave's in high school and i have two high school dave stories dave's in high school he's on stage martin is in dc for the weekend martin's blowing up from dc he's from dc he was

there he uh in uh do the right thing and just come out dave's on stage and someone says to martin what do you think of this kid martin goes i don't know but i can't stop fucking looking at him well he was he was great yeah he was professional and i really liked him yeah you know like my main thing honestly was i'm headlining stay out of my way and don't fuck up the dressing room. I didn't know you. I don't even think he went in the dressing room. He was there.

I remember him. He had a different girl, probably brought about almost every night. He's not going to throw an opportunity like that away to show off. He was 18. Come on, man. And so I remember him. Yeah, he was great. He was really good.

He was a fucking great comedian. He was very poised uh like a professional comic because he was he wasn't like you know what's crazy in high school no he wasn't doing that he had a joke in high school about alf to bring to bring out back around uh it's a good thing alf landed in a white neighborhood and not a black neighborhood because if he landed in a black neighborhood three weeks later you would have seen brothers wearing alf skin coats yes yes this is a high school kid wrote that joke yeah but i felt that way about him i felt that way about chris rock the joke that really sent james earl ray no that was my chris rock joke where he's when i first saw chris he said at catch your eyes and sorry he said well you know uh we had a science fair at my school and all the kids brought their

science projects i brought my dad under glass because i had one i had a father so really smart really funny you know yes so i was like i can roll with this okay um and you seem like a sunny guy yeah but i mean i feel like if someone if a loved one a daughter a wife girlfriend wants to talk to you about something is your attitude like okay or is it like okay i'm a human being man i'm a human being i i've not gone through no i'm not you know if you're saying like just get out of the dressing room because david's known to punch mom no no no no no i'm just wanting you don't you you seem not that interested in your uh you don't feel especially sorry for yourself you don't get you don't get caught you don't get in your feelings so to speak i do but i just don't feel

like i have a lot to get in them about. Like when I was growing up, I never heard my parents argue. I actually, when my dad left, he came back for that first Christmas and they were fighting. We were all like on the stairs, but the fight was like, that is a falsehood. Bill, you're avoiding what I am trying to lay out. That is absolutely false. And I would like to find my flute. So this was a level.

And then he played the flute. Right. This was a level of arguing, man. I mean, I grew up with upstanding Negroes. I didn't grow up with no crazy shit, even though my friends. Where did you grow up in? Was middle class ever middle class? Yeah, man. did you grow up in was middle class ever middle yeah man my neighborhood looked like uh griffith

park around their old house like old tutor house built in the 20s about 4 000 square feet no it was nice i mean but i've never that's who i am that's who i grew up that's i mean you're like not a dark guy but you can play you can play whatever yeah but uh you know it's funny i remember there was a show it was a musical called big river and it was about huck finn you know i it's impossible to imagine it looking at you david go ahead wait wait jim the slave yes well you know there's a book now called James. Yes. His real story. Yes. It's like when a rapper names the album after their real name.

Yeah. Right. You know. Okay. These nuts. No, this is Damien Luquacious Smith. Uh-huh. And there's like usually a Sunday school picture.

Yeah, that's correct. That's correct. He looks like a human being. Yeah. So I auditioned for this over and over for Jim the Slave. And I didn't get it and this is after i'd been on broadway already and i've been nominated for tony i was just crestfallen i was really really like if you didn't give it to me who'd you give it to right well they

hired a guy who looked like he was runaway slave you know me and this is a folly of youth i was like why didn't i get this role as a slave you know ha yeah hello yale exactly hawk i think i can petition someone for my freedom you know it's like no bro no bro you know and i look back on that shit and i laugh because in the moment i really thought uh i can get this i can pull it not knowing where my parameters were and not you know i mean where my strength was you know it's funny because we now we are we're aged men and uh we've got perspective and but you can't get perspective without perspective yeah it takes time you can't you literally can't you don't have the ingredients to see a longitudinal thing where you're like

considered one and the ups and downs of like so-and-so's hot now they're not now they died of a drug overdose now that and you just have to the older you get the more you can sort of like be cool but you don't want to hear that you know in 1920 i actually went to a uh fortune teller a medium or whatever you heard the mooney or not uh george wallace and jerry seinfeld fortune teller story been confirmed by both of them they drive out here from new york literally in like a ford ltd they're here they're on melrose it's 1977 neither of them are they're here, they're on Melrose. It's 1977. Neither of them are, they've both been doing stand-up two, three years. Go to a fortune teller and a fortune teller looks at George Wallace's hand

and is like, or Paul Marader, and says, wow, you're going to be very, very rich, right? George is like, fucking great. Next one up, Jerry Seinfeld looks at Jerry's hand and goes, I thought you were going to be rich. Whether you're practicing your morning breath work, waiting for your favorite artist to come on stage or running errands at the perfect pace. Liquid IV powder helps you turn ordinary water into extraordinary hydration so you can live a more extraordinary life.

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we understand that your business is unique, so your business insurance should be too. Whether you're a shop owner, a pet groomer, a contractor, or a consultant, you can get customized coverage for your business. Contact a licensed TD Insurance advisor to learn more. Ha ha ha! Oh, my life is more like this as wrong as i was about jim carrey's movie oh i auditioned for seinfeld and i came away like well this sucks number one jerry can't judge any joke yeah jerry can't act his way out of a paper bag. Good luck.

And wrong again. We saw him on Benson. Right, right. But the historical society is coming to dinner. Got some great jokes the governor can use. You want to hear them?

You're not a joke writer, Frankie. You're a messenger. Please, I'm a curry. Then go curry. Wrong again. So whatever I say, go the other fucking way.

Yeah. Similar to that story. It was numerology. So he I say, go the other fucking way. Yeah. Similar to that story. It was numerology. So he does my wife's numbers. Wow. Well, you know what? There's a lot of struggle. A lot of issues.

It looks very dark for you now, but you're going to make it out and there'll be some daylight in a few years. Something like that. Tied right in their story. She gets to me and she goes, same thing. Wow. You are, I've never seen numbers like this. You haven't even come into your own. She said, you're probably going to start really coming into your career and your fame and your fortune when you're 33 uh i was like really and we get how old are you at this point 30 okay something like that just wait it out we get in we get on we get in a gypsy cab to go home and she was crying we just fought for two days yeah because i Because I got a better reading. Yeah. Well, no, I know you got it.

Sure. Did she get half of the 33-year-old money? She got half of whatever that money I got. Okay. And we've built back since then. Fantastic. Yeah. And I hope she's happy.

But wait, what did George Wallace do? Was he an insurance salesman? He had some straight job. I can't remember. Like an accountant? Yeah. For a while. Dude, when I started going on the road, I think it was Indianapolis, something like that. I come into this club.

My shit was I'm doing two shows. I don't give a fuck how many tickets I sell. I'm not doing three shows because I went through that and I get burned out. And three shows a night for me, one of those shows is going to suck so fucking bad. The last one. Exactly. Yeah. Have you ever been on, this happened to me, where you tell a joke and it's like, did I already tell you that joke?

Did I already tell you that joke? All the time. Oh my God. Anyway, they said George Wallace. As bad as my concussion is? I can't remember. This is what the chick said. George Wallace was doing six shows a day.

They started at two in the afternoon. And between shows, he would have dinner at the bar. And talk to people the whole time. As they were coming in. The most affable guy. Oh, yeah. Literally energized by the presence of people, loves comedy, came to see me in Atlanta last night when I was there.

A fantastic guy. I love George, but I could never, ever do that. Of course not. But that's just, that's personality-wise. Yes. And I, so I would perform. I didn't party. I would go back to my hotel, watch and get up again you know what is your what

what's your acting process i'm i'm in that i don't know anyone that's probably as trained as you what is your like it's real basic i'll tell you this you know like when we did the whiz the which one the whiz live on tv that was a couple years ago like five six years ago now i did the cowardly lion and artistically and creatively my goal was with every role i want to make this a three-dimensional person a complete human being we're talking about the whiz do you think about results meaning like do you think about i can get a laugh with this? No. I try to start from a neutral place. I try to peel away all the tricks that we know we all have, you know, whatever really boosts the joke.

And I try to find whatever humor is there organically from the material. But like any other desperado follows fails you know grabbing nuts and clock a little bit say what no you know but uh that's what i try to do i mean so are you good memorizer yeah yeah i can't that's just a muscle that you've developed or now i can yes yes yes it was hard but um I mean, I didn't really have a lot of lines before. Oh, that's funny. It was not like I'm doing two-page. But you're doing plays.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. But you're doing Shakespeare. I mean, like. Yeah, no. Yeah. I mean, come on.

That's what we do. I can do that. Anyway, that's my basic philosophy is to humanize, find everything. I also don't feel like, you know, these actors will go, oh, you have to be in love with your, you know, fucking pedophile. Right. Fucking vampire role. No, you don't. Because most people I know hate themselves.

So I never got in this trap like I have to love my character. No, I just have to understand why this person is doing what they're doing. A lot of times I know you've had this kind of encounter, someone who is emotionally stunted. So in any kind of environment in which they are tested or pressured or, or needled and emotional, they will revert back to a meltdown, physical violence, acting horribly. So understanding that is that inside they're triggered,

man. Yeah. They're triggered. They go right back to where they were right i don't and they don't think they're wrong or they may think they're wrong and right in 10 minutes but they're not like a person okay the real thing is i'm gonna punch neil because fuck him i'm gonna yeah so it's gonna be months and months now when i see neil i'm gonna punch him um we're somewhere i fucking punch you and i feel just like when I was a kid.

I fucked up. I'm an asshole. I just made a fool of myself. I just, why did I do this? You know, you feel terrible, horrible. That's a human reaction. So that's the back story of a character if I were playing them. That is how I approach it approach it not i love her i love him

no that doesn't work and you also don't get too hung up on whatever a method there's no right or wrong method it's just like uh it's how do you get there no i do you are you you ever do scenes with people and be like this shell of motherfucker is going to make me worse? Yes. And immediately I start devising how I'm going to act around them. How am I going to preserve my performance? You know, because. Yeah.

They can drag you into there. I'm not in it. Also, I'm trying to be good. You've got to stay above the fray. So how can I repair this? How can I survive this ordeal? I've worked on movies in which, you know what, Neil, you can go home. I don't really need you off camera.

For people who don't know, you know, usually in a traditional movie, I do my close-up, you do your close-up. When you do your close-up, you need me. But, Neil, why did you step on my bunion what yes yes and I've had that and because if I feel like the actor I'm working with which has happened is trying to undermine my performance so you've had oh people try to undermine you I'm not even talking. Laughing, giggling. Do you think they know they're doing it? Yes, we're adults. And it doesn't have to be subversive like I'm going to kill you and bring you down.

It's just I already did my shit, so I'm going to take a call or look at it. Oh, sorry. Yeah, Neil, why did you kill the guy? Like, you're not giving me anything? It's cool. I got it. I'd rather read with the AD and be by myself. Are there performances where you're judging other people's performance in the movie or show and you can tell? What do you mean?

While I'm acting? Yeah. I hope not. No, I hope not. I mean, half the time is I'm just trying to make it work. I'm trying to make it good. You know what the greatest joy is for an actor? Getting pussy?

Well, that's what Jonathan Winters said when I finally met him. He said, I bet you get a lot of pussy. This is one of my heroes. Yeah. Were you here when Cosby said to Kenan? What? When they were doing Fat Albert. He goes, you're going to be getting so much plus you're going to need three dicks.

Yeah, that hits a little different now, you know, in the present Cosby. I worked with Cosby. He mentored. When we did Damon, I think our director, Whitesell, John Whitesell, maybe? Yeah. He took us to lunch at Bill Cosby's townhouse. And this is one of the most incredible afternoons of my life. It was after Ennis, I think his son died.

He was open with all that. He talked about that. He served us lunch. Now, what I was waiting for was for the hammer to drop because he was so nice so gracious um so loving and mentoring please don't curse why do you have to do crackheads that never came never came um it, it was crazy. At one point he took us downstairs and there was a little watercolor and it looked like a child's watercolor. And he said, um, I think maybe his son had painted it when he was a little kid.

And he said, well, look at it again. I'm looking at it. And he said, that's the site of my son's murder. And I just, my heart stopped. And he said, but look again. You see that in the corner? I'm like, he said, that's the son. That is positive.

That means we're going to get through this. I mean, just, I didn't know this motherfucker. He was like, when people open like that, I'm like, oh my God. You know, I came out of there like, I wish people could see this, man. And yeah. I know. But people are what they call complex. They really are.

And he can mean that and mean the other stuff. Yeah. That's the rub's the rub yes yes yes but um it was really you had the farrakhan interaction well when we were on living color we all went out the classic famous black interactions there's the everybody's got a cosby's or in a farrakhan story well well we were all eating out so it's like me damon kim like half a living color and some fish plays and uh one of the nation came over and he said look we have tickets for you uh all you young uh kings you know come see the minister it's like oh where's the point you know dodger stadium some shit they look huge thing yeah in the 90s and was like, thank you very much. And I'll just give you these. You ask for a brother.

So and so, we're going to put you on the dais right behind the minister, which is a place of honor. And I was like, oh, my God. That's incredible. So the dude leaves, and I'm like, so should we carpool? They're like, man, go to that motherfucker. Are you out your mind? You're never working yet.

That's the best we can do. And they're just ripping the tickets up. And you're like, hey. I was like, my shit, my whole, my fucking dome is about to get blown off.

Yeah. With all this real knowledge. I fucking died laughing. He was like, hell no. What the fuck is wrong with you? We got to wrap it up. No,

that's, we got to wrap it up. That's enough. That's enough. That's enough of your experience and life. David Unger, one of the greats. A great guy. A ray of sunshine. Genuinely.

He's helped us all along the way. Just like the dog guy. Yep. And he's a great, he's one of the greats. ... ... ...

Open up your hand, my man. I met her when she was 19 years old.