Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central. Smith, welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Trying sir. How are you? I am so good. I
Speaker 1: flew thirty hours to be here with you in Bhutan.
Speaker 1: What are you doing? Butanu the n G O Show.
Speaker 1: So you're traveling around the traveling around the world, just
Speaker 1: finding the secrets of life? And are you finding them? No?
Speaker 1: Not yet? Yeah, because we've seen you everyone, I mean you,
Speaker 1: you've been everyone, Like you said Bhutan, you travel the
Speaker 1: Middle Eastern African Were you going next? South Pole? South Pole? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a real thing. But why why? Yeah, like, what
Speaker 1: are you hoping to discover that? Blin people don't like
Speaker 1: the cold Wood? Why are you there? Will know? So
Speaker 1: the show is I don't I don't know if I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to be announcing it yet. But the show is
Speaker 1: called Pole to Pole. So we're going from the South
Speaker 1: Pole to to the North Pole and all the stops
Speaker 1: along the way, and we're we are It's called other
Speaker 1: People's Wisdom, so we're seeking the wisdom. There are people
Speaker 1: who live at the South Pole there researchers, so we're
Speaker 1: going there. We're gonna talk to him. Scientists basically say,
Speaker 1: like the world's knowledge is story with story absolually. You
Speaker 1: got me. You're making me cry, right, yeah, just not
Speaker 1: just the South Pole is just such when I think
Speaker 1: about all that cool surprised you're awake. The guy, the
Speaker 1: guy who discovered this outpole is named Will Smith for real. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true. You said that's so I don't even know
Speaker 1: if you're lying right now. You said that's so convincing. No,
Speaker 1: it's true. It's true. You'll be somebody can google it, somebody,
Speaker 1: I'll just believe. So you're traveling around the world. Emancipation.
Speaker 1: I just I just watched it. It is a I mean,
Speaker 1: it's so hard to describe movies like this because you
Speaker 1: people see it in the clip. But you play one
Speaker 1: of the most famous unknown people's surprising, and you know
Speaker 1: what I mean from America's history, a man whose picture
Speaker 1: went around the world that basically showed many people who
Speaker 1: didn't know innately how brutal slavery was. Let's let's talk
Speaker 1: about this. First of all, Emancipation is not the kind
Speaker 1: of film we would expect to see you and immediately
Speaker 1: as Will Smith. So why this project, Why get into
Speaker 1: the story and why this story in particular? You know,
Speaker 1: when I when I read this script. Man, it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, we we've you've probably seen the image. Um,
Speaker 1: it's a black man and it says, you know, his
Speaker 1: his back and his army sitting. So it's a pretty
Speaker 1: pretty famous we have that image. I think it's one
Speaker 1: of the famous. Yes, yes, so it's it's it's that
Speaker 1: that image. And first seeing that image was one of
Speaker 1: the things that really uh got me, you know, excited
Speaker 1: to explore this because you you see the image, but
Speaker 1: you don't know who he is. You don't know what
Speaker 1: this or he is. And then as I started to
Speaker 1: do the research, and you know, it's American slavery was
Speaker 1: you know, one of the most brutal aspects of human history.
Speaker 1: You know, it was it was it was something that
Speaker 1: was was so incomprehensible, you know, it was just so
Speaker 1: it's hard to understand the the level of human cruelty. Um.
Speaker 1: And the screenplay was spectacular, and Antoine Fuqua just he
Speaker 1: you know, he did his thing on this man. And
Speaker 1: it's gripping the whole way through. I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 1: It's it's scary, it is, it is gripping. It is
Speaker 1: not it's not glamorizing because because it is the story
Speaker 1: of how you know, the union is moving and people
Speaker 1: start hearing whispers of Lincoln has declared that, you know,
Speaker 1: slavery is abolished, it's freed the slaves. But then you
Speaker 1: see how many haven't received that news, and you see
Speaker 1: how that news doesn't change everybody's lives over nights. Yes,
Speaker 1: so the emancipation was January first, and slaves weren't free
Speaker 1: until June nine, so the the period of emancipation. Yes,
Speaker 1: so January one, slaves were free, but the South refused
Speaker 1: to allow the slaves to be free, so the the
Speaker 1: enslaved people started trying to run to get to Lincoln's army.
Speaker 1: Uh and in Baton Rouge is where Lincoln's army was from,
Speaker 1: from this this place in Louisiana. So it's about that
Speaker 1: period where the slaves were free, but they weren't being freed.
Speaker 1: So it's a it's a you know, it is a beautiful,
Speaker 1: beautiful movie. Um, and you know, so my daughter asked me,
Speaker 1: She's like, Daddy, do we really need another slave movie?
Speaker 1: When I was thinking about it, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I said, baby, I promise you I wouldn't make a
Speaker 1: slave movie. This is a freedom movie. You know, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're alive. Yeah, it is interesting that you say that.
Speaker 1: It is interesting that you say that because the story,
Speaker 1: you know, one of my favorite lines in the movie
Speaker 1: is when um, you know, I think it's one one
Speaker 1: of the he's leading one of the battalions and he
Speaker 1: talks to your character, right, he's like a general commando,
Speaker 1: and he says to your character, says, I was born free.
Speaker 1: And he says, we're allowed to own houses. Were because allowed?
Speaker 1: And your character says to him, if you're if someone
Speaker 1: must allow you to do it, are you really free?
Speaker 1: You know? And you know, this film, what's really what's
Speaker 1: really interesting about it is it centers on faith, you know,
Speaker 1: and the power of faith, you know, to be able
Speaker 1: to endure anything, you know, and this character it's just
Speaker 1: what what he had to endure and what he had
Speaker 1: to survive. Um, only God could you know, make a
Speaker 1: man when you look at those marks on his back,
Speaker 1: you know, only God could make that possible, you know.
Speaker 1: And there there he talks about a period in doing
Speaker 1: the research. He talks about he was whipped into a
Speaker 1: coma and he was in a coma for three months,
Speaker 1: and he said that he met God while he was
Speaker 1: in the coma, and when he came out, he believed
Speaker 1: in a way that he had never believed before. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I learned the difference between faith and revelation. Right. So
Speaker 1: faith is one thing when you have to you know,
Speaker 1: you have to have faith. I'm not crying to my eyes,
Speaker 1: you know, I just got tired. I got airplane eyes.
Speaker 1: I got airplane I got airplane eyes, you know. But
Speaker 1: you know the difference between faith and revelation, right that
Speaker 1: that he walked in the world, um with a knowledge
Speaker 1: of the divine, with the knowledge of God, that was
Speaker 1: just something I've desperately wanted to understand and explore. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you watch the film you Wonder. You know,
Speaker 1: it's one of those movies where you watch it and
Speaker 1: you go, this is harrowing, this is gripping, this is
Speaker 1: it's it's wild. It seems unbelievable, and then you see
Speaker 1: the images of the real person and you you, your
Speaker 1: mind cannot comprehend that it was possible for this to
Speaker 1: happen to a human being and that they actually exist.
Speaker 1: It's a story that you know, that that goes beyond everything,
Speaker 1: And and I'd love to know, like in in the
Speaker 1: telling of the story, you know, beyond faith, beyond revelation.
Speaker 1: What is the biggest thing you took away from it?
Speaker 1: Because it's interesting, you know, I get what your daughter
Speaker 1: was saying, do we need another slave movie? And I
Speaker 1: understand what you're saying about it being a freedom movie,
Speaker 1: But I feel like each story has a different you know,
Speaker 1: because it's it's a movement, it's a revolution, it's a
Speaker 1: question freedom. What do you think was the biggest lesson
Speaker 1: you took away from the story? You know, I think
Speaker 1: that you know, as an actor, anytime you go into
Speaker 1: these characters and you you uh, you go these deep,
Speaker 1: this deep into these roles, it it changes something about you.
Speaker 1: You understand something that you didn't understand um before. And
Speaker 1: I guess that the the major thing that came through
Speaker 1: from me with with Peter is the the power of
Speaker 1: the direction of love. Right, So this is he's trying
Speaker 1: to get back to his family, and that that comprehension
Speaker 1: of love and how love actually is a superpower. You know,
Speaker 1: when you can fill your heart with that kind of love,
Speaker 1: it's a propulsion that is unlike any other thing, is
Speaker 1: stronger than fear, is stronger than hate, you know, is
Speaker 1: stronger than tired. You know. It's like when you can
Speaker 1: really latch into and fill your heart with love in
Speaker 1: a way, it really is shield an armor, unlike anything
Speaker 1: that exactly that's beautiful, It's it really is. Congrats again,
Speaker 1: you know, congrats on movie. Great seeing you again. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's been a while since I lost Sorry, it's
Speaker 1: been a while since many people have seen you. You know,
Speaker 1: I've been away. What you'all been doing you you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's been I can only imagine what it's
Speaker 1: been like for you, because it has been weird for
Speaker 1: many of us. You know you you Will Smith, you
Speaker 1: know you are you Will Smith. You are you one
Speaker 1: of the biggest movie stars that has existed, you know,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite people that I've ever seen inhabit
Speaker 1: a screen. You know. And then you you had the
Speaker 1: Oscars where in one night you have no independent recollection
Speaker 1: of I can only imagine because you you know you
Speaker 1: you you won. You know, you won your first Oscar
Speaker 1: that night. Well deserved Oscar that night. But it is
Speaker 1: it is simultaneously in many ways, not the worst. I
Speaker 1: won't say the worst because I know the life you've
Speaker 1: lived and read the book, but it is one of
Speaker 1: the best days of your life and one of the
Speaker 1: worst days of your life. And I would I'd love
Speaker 1: to know. I mean, just you know us talking first
Speaker 1: of all, what has the journey been like since that day? Like,
Speaker 1: because we everyone speculates everyone I think this, I think that,
Speaker 1: I think this, I think that. What has it been
Speaker 1: like for you? Yeah? That that was That was a
Speaker 1: horrific night as you can imagine. Um. You know, there's
Speaker 1: many nuances and complexities to it, you know. Um, but
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I just I lost it,
Speaker 1: you know, And I guess what I would say. You
Speaker 1: just never know what somebody's going through, you know. You know,
Speaker 1: in in the audience right now, you know, you're sitting
Speaker 1: next to uh strangers, you know, and somebody's mother died
Speaker 1: last week. You know. Um, somebody's child is sick. You know. Um,
Speaker 1: somebody just lost their job. Somebody just found out their
Speaker 1: spouse cheated. You know, there's it's like there's all these
Speaker 1: things and these there's strangers, and you just don't know
Speaker 1: what's going on with people, you know. And as I
Speaker 1: was going through something that night, you know, and uh,
Speaker 1: not that that you know, justifies my behavior at all.
Speaker 1: I would just say, you know, you're asking what did
Speaker 1: I learn? And it's that, um, we just gotta be
Speaker 1: nice to each other. Man. You know, It's like it's hard,
Speaker 1: and I guess the thing that was most painful for
Speaker 1: me is I took my heart and made it hard
Speaker 1: for other people, you know. And it's like I understood
Speaker 1: the idea where they say, hurt people, hurt people, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's like, you know, it's it's interesting. I remember again,
Speaker 1: everybody was speculating. One of my friends called me and
Speaker 1: we're talking. We're talking, everyone's got these opinions. And then
Speaker 1: someone said, I feel like we saw the real Will
Speaker 1: Smith in that moment, because there's a guy who's so
Speaker 1: full of love and so positive. But I feel like
Speaker 1: in that moment we saw the real Will Smith. And
Speaker 1: and I said, and not because I know you, you know,
Speaker 1: but but I said, honestly, I said, you know, if anything,
Speaker 1: I feel like it was the opposite. Like you know,
Speaker 1: you're talking your book about growing up so afraid of conflict,
Speaker 1: you grow up in your book talking about how you
Speaker 1: always afraid to fight with how you were afraid to
Speaker 1: For me, it felt like in watching that moment, I
Speaker 1: felt like you were like is it's like in a
Speaker 1: weird ways, like you you stood up for the wrong
Speaker 1: thing at the wrong time in a way, do you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. It felt like you're taken everything
Speaker 1: because here we are, you know, human to human, man
Speaker 1: to man. But like people have said some shitty things
Speaker 1: about you and your family, you know, you're a human being.
Speaker 1: It felt like, and I would say this people, it's
Speaker 1: like it is. It's becoming relentlessly shitty now and people
Speaker 1: think it's okay. That's the thing. People think it's okay,
Speaker 1: and not Chris by the way, I'm talking about people,
Speaker 1: the Internet, et cetera. But it felt like this was
Speaker 1: Will Smith for the first time, going okay, is this
Speaker 1: how you want me to respond or not? Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: it was you know, it was a lot of things.
Speaker 1: It was the little boy that watched his father beat
Speaker 1: up his mother. You know, it's that, you know, all
Speaker 1: of that just bubbled up in in in that moment um.
Speaker 1: You know, I just that's not who I want to be.
Speaker 1: You know, you've known me for a long time, so
Speaker 1: you know me personally, so you know, um, but you know,
Speaker 1: y'all might not know. Um, you know it's like that
Speaker 1: that that is, that's not who I want to be. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to you know, I'm trying to put it.
Speaker 1: I also think that's not who you are. I'll be
Speaker 1: honest with I think it's not who you are. I
Speaker 1: think everybody can make a mistake, and I think I
Speaker 1: think it's an honest opinion. I mean, I think how
Speaker 1: I how I think of living my life. But I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's honestly. I'll tell you, but I'll tell
Speaker 1: you why. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why
Speaker 1: because so on my side as a human being, I
Speaker 1: go the reason it was shocking is because that's not
Speaker 1: who you are. Does that make sense? Like like I saw,
Speaker 1: for instance, there wasn't There was an article that was
Speaker 1: written I think it was a Hollywood report or whatever.
Speaker 1: They had a list of like problematic actors order I
Speaker 1: was personally offended for you and Letitia funny enough for
Speaker 1: a different reason, but they had you guys in the
Speaker 1: list where I was like, wait, some of these people
Speaker 1: are here for sleeping with underaged kids. These people are
Speaker 1: here for abusing their spouses. And again, what you did
Speaker 1: was I always tell you that I love Chris, I'm
Speaker 1: friends with him, I love you, I'm friends. But I
Speaker 1: was like, this is but I was like, but it's
Speaker 1: not the same world. And that's where it was weird,
Speaker 1: especially I find, you know, because there were all these dynamics,
Speaker 1: so I know that as black people, black people together
Speaker 1: and be like, what was weill doing? What the hell
Speaker 1: happened here? Right? But then I know a lot of
Speaker 1: black people are like, you know when people came out
Speaker 1: and they were like, he should go to jail, Like
Speaker 1: you need to relax yourself. It was a weird, like
Speaker 1: some people overreacting, which made some people underreact. You know, No,
Speaker 1: it's it's the I understand you know how shocking that
Speaker 1: was for people. Man. You know, um when next stage
Speaker 1: you seemed you seemed a little dazed afterwards them, I
Speaker 1: was gone, dude, I was gone. I was gone. I
Speaker 1: was you know, that was a rage that had been
Speaker 1: bottled for a really long time. Um, and you know,
Speaker 1: but it's it's I understand the pain. You know. It
Speaker 1: was like, um, my little my nephew, it's nine and
Speaker 1: he is the sweetest little boy. He's like, you know,
Speaker 1: we came home and it's like he had stayed up
Speaker 1: late to see his uncle, Will you Know, And we're
Speaker 1: sitting in my kitchen and he's on my lap and
Speaker 1: he's holding the oscar and he's just like, why did
Speaker 1: you hit that man? Uncle? Will you know? Damn it?
Speaker 1: You're why are you trying to oprah me? And he's
Speaker 1: string he's sitting on your lap and yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: so yeah it was um, you know it was. I
Speaker 1: was like, it was a mess. You know. I don't
Speaker 1: want to go too far into it to give people
Speaker 1: more to misunderstand. Is it is? It? Is it hard?
Speaker 1: You know? You you have lived. I realized this morning
Speaker 1: when I was thinking about you coming on the show,
Speaker 1: you were one of the rere breed of human who
Speaker 1: has lived more of your life in the spotlight and
Speaker 1: out of it. You got into this industry as a kid,
Speaker 1: you know, you grew up and blew up into it
Speaker 1: as a young man. You had your tax issues, you
Speaker 1: had your life, you had your family, you had you know,
Speaker 1: but you have lived in this world for so it's
Speaker 1: it's funny again. I realized chatting to friends, and I
Speaker 1: was like, you know what's interesting here is for us,
Speaker 1: This is the Oscars for Will Smith, This is like
Speaker 1: a cookout. And I'm not diminishing, but I don't like
Speaker 1: those are your people, that's your world is like you know,
Speaker 1: and I was like I was saying, I think that
Speaker 1: as part of the reason many of us were that
Speaker 1: because you like, it's this lord of event, it's it's
Speaker 1: bigger than life, whereas many movie stars are at the
Speaker 1: astars like oh, nice to see you again. Hey, good
Speaker 1: to be here, good to be good to be back.
Speaker 1: And I feel like that that was part of the disconnect.
Speaker 1: I feel like that was part of But but what
Speaker 1: I what I do? One thing that's killing me? Um,
Speaker 1: you know, so Emancipation is Antoine's masterpiece. That's what he
Speaker 1: has created, an absolute masterpiece. UM. Bob Richardson, the DP
Speaker 1: and Ben Foster and just all the way down. It's
Speaker 1: like these top artists in the world have done some
Speaker 1: of the best work of their career and the idea
Speaker 1: that they might be denied because of me, it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like that that that is killing me dead,
Speaker 1: you know, And it's like the thing that is so
Speaker 1: critical for me is that, you know, these people came
Speaker 1: and they trusted me, and they were down for for me,
Speaker 1: and you know, I just I hope that their work
Speaker 1: will be honored and their work will not be tainted
Speaker 1: based on, you know, a horrific decision on my part.
Speaker 1: I honestly hope and I don't think that that will happen.
Speaker 1: I um, I you know, I have conversations with people
Speaker 1: all the time about restorative justice, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: but restorative justice about like atonement about we have all
Speaker 1: these comments, We have them at the highest levels often,
Speaker 1: and what I realized is we we often don't have
Speaker 1: these conversations as they pertain to daily life. You know,
Speaker 1: what somebody says, what somebody does, and especially in isolation,
Speaker 1: I don't That's why I say the sum of the
Speaker 1: person is oftentimes how I define them as opposed to
Speaker 1: a moment, you know, and and on a personal level,
Speaker 1: you know, I think I speak for many people if
Speaker 1: I don't forgive me. But you know, obviously people were
Speaker 1: hurt because we love you and we love what you do. Um.
Speaker 1: People were shocked because you know, will submit, it's Chris Rockets,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, so oscars all these things. But
Speaker 1: I also think I speak for people when I say, like,
Speaker 1: I don't want that to define you. I don't think
Speaker 1: it should define you. You know what I mean, likeness
Speaker 1: that I don't think. Yeah, I don't think any one
Speaker 1: of us. I don't think any one of us in
Speaker 1: life deserves to be defined by our like you know,
Speaker 1: if anything, I mean like you and Chris have the
Speaker 1: biggest story to handle on your own. It's not you know,
Speaker 1: our our foray. But but yeah, man, Um, I hope
Speaker 1: you don't stay hidden forever. I hope I hope you
Speaker 1: know that you don't always have to bottle it up.
Speaker 1: I hope you know that you you you you, not
Speaker 1: being perfect is what will make you for you will
Speaker 1: smith Man? Do you know what I mean? You dude,
Speaker 1: we love you, Tucker? Did that? Do you know the
Speaker 1: big guy was? That was one of the big things
Speaker 1: for me over this last couple of months. You know
Speaker 1: that I had to forgive myself for being human, you know.
Speaker 1: And it's like, trust me, there's nobody that hates the
Speaker 1: fact that I'm human more than me, but I know
Speaker 1: that um and just you know, finding that um space
Speaker 1: for myself within myself to be human, you know, It's
Speaker 1: like I want I've always wanted to be Superman. I've
Speaker 1: always wanted to swoop in and save the damns an distress,
Speaker 1: you know. Uh, And I had to humble down, you know,
Speaker 1: and realize that that I'm a I'm a flawed human,
Speaker 1: and um, I still have an opportunity, you know, to
Speaker 1: go out in the world and and contribute in a
Speaker 1: way that fills my heart and hopefully helps other people.
Speaker 1: You know. Sorry, I think we've got that. Man. Hey, look,
Speaker 1: we want to watch The Daily Show weeknight eleven ten
Speaker 1: Central on Comedy Central in stream full episodes anytime. I'm
Speaker 1: on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast
Speaker 1: and stre