WEBVTT - Growing Up Urkel – Jaleel White Reveals Family Matters 0:00:01.320 --> 0:00:04.680 Really now, really. 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:11.440 Really now really Hello and welcome to really No Really 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:14.239 with Jason, Alexander and Peter Tilden, who suggests that if 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:17.000 you subscribe to our show, you'll swell with joy as 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:19.159 you say out loud, did I do that? 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:21.640 And speaking of that famous line? 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:25.640 Jaliel White is an actor, producer, author, and screenwriter who 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:28.480 is best known as the speaker of that iconic line 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:32.720 Steve Erkele on the ABC sitcom Family Matters. Erkell is 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:35.080 a role he played from the age of twelve until 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:38.559 he was twenty one. In this episode, Jialiel discusses his 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:42.120 instant immense fame and how he dealt with the hostility 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:43.080 it caused within. 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:44.120 His new TV family. 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.200 He also explains the effect an all white writing staff 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:49.800 had on an all black cast and his feelings about 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:53.160 Seinfeld and what that sitcom meant to nineties kids of color. 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:57.280 Julia also reveals why Family Matters could never exist again 0:00:57.440 --> 0:00:59.920 and what happened when a studio boss told him to 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.840 con seal the man bulge in an aging Erkle's pants. 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:10.880 Really no Really, here's Jason and Peter. So there are 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.360 those I'm not one of them. 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:16.840 There are those that would say in the pantheon of 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:21.200 television icons. I might have a a small place. 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:23.320 Or you're playing my own little ship, playing the Huble 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:24.199 thing little. 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:28.880 I might have a small shelf between Carol O'Connor, you know, 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:35.560 Alan all. But but I started as as an adult. 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.280 We have a gentleman on today who you probably know 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:40.039 his actual name. 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.240 But if I said Steve Arkle, I have a feeling, 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.720 and here's what remedia among us would go, Steve Kle. 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.840 And the thing's so fascinating about his career and how 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.120 big he got and how he got big and how 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:53.000 he got cast. I mean, it's so multi tier. But 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.040 there really no really for me, was because everybody knows 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:58.720 Erkele kees and icon in that pantheon. 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:00.840 It's one of those characters that well, the thing that. 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:02.800 Got me though I never thought of that there really 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.600 not really was that he did that character from age 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:12.040 twelve to twenty one, and I go, he was twenty 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.640 one when he was doing Rkle and the network's giving 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.119 him notes like cover up your balls, right, I don't 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:20.120 think the network gives us. They never did that in 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:20.760 the shows. 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.720 We actually I was told to cover yes. In the 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:26.480 eighth season of Seinfeld, they said, cover up your balls. 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:30.720 I don't know why I love I. 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:31.200 Love your guy. 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:33.600 We got it. Hey, there's so many questions I want 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:33.919 to ask. 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:35.960 It is remarkable. Here's the thing. 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:38.080 It's remarkable to me on a number of levels, what 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:40.560 Julia has been able to do. First of all, to 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.840 maintain a character that began as a child. When you 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:46.359 meet characters on television that begin his children, there's a 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:49.520 certain charm that a child has right as the actor. 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.200 It grows up more often than not the thing that 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:58.760 made you attracted to that character kind of and also 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:00.280 they outgrow. 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:03.919 As you grow older. You learned resentment, you learn so contracted. 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:06.640 The character had staying power for as long as it's amazing. 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:12.240 That's one thing. Then we hear, unfortunately, just tragic stories 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:16.280 of of to have the kind of stardom that that 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:19.800 Juliel had at an early age. I mean I was 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:21.720 in my thirties and it messed with my head to 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:23.960 be a kid and undergo it. 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:25.119 It's a really. 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:31.080 Very off putting thing for most kids, and most people 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.120 who have become child stars. 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:37.480 Grow up and they have real emotional problems in life. 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:40.320 Well, also, you saw The Troubles, the documentary The Dark side, 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.920 which just Nickelodeon what went on there? But why am 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:46.720 I talking to you if you're sitting right there because 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:54.760 you're paid to not much. But I think it's audit. 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:55.880 I think it is in order. 0:03:57.320 --> 0:03:59.720 Live Julia White, good to see you right here in 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:01.400 this studio all the way. 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:03.640 From soon to be Why don't. 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:05.360 You get that stock? Why don't you believe out? Is 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:07.800 that we believe that out already? Thanks? Kay good. It's 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:10.560 real smart and Jason who lives at and his daughter 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:13.720 going to you know, it's I couldn't wait to get you. 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:15.480 In the book, it's called grown Up with a Forward 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.719 by Item Standler. Congratulations, thank you, so many questions first 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:21.120 of all, but the interesting thing you were supposed to 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:23.960 be on Cosby that started out as you were going 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:25.720 to be, I mean to the point where you thought 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:26.599 you were signed right. 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.880 Yeah, they named the character Rudy after you were going 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:30.480 to play Rudy. 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:32.719 The character was already Rudy. 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:36.880 There were only boys auditioning role and at the last minute, 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.840 this little girl comes walking in and it was came 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:42.000 down between me and her in front of Brandon Tartakov 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:42.680 all people. 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:43.880 He rest in peace. 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.920 You came in as a one time shot like an 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:50.600 episode thirteen on a show that wasn't chuggling along was okay? 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.360 One was okay and you popped? But could you talk 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:56.160 about if you can get back into your twelve year 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:59.080 old head? What did that feel? What was that like? 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:01.760 How did you find out that it wasn't going to 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.760 be one? What exploded? Was it at the table? 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:05.000 Read? 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:07.560 Was there audience response? Because that I don't understand how 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:09.359 that all of a sudden took off and they when the. 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:11.680 Light bulb lit up, it was audience response. 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:14.120 But the thing I love about it when I look 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.080 back on it and I talk about it extensively in 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:22.320 the book is I had no expectation and I'm trying 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.320 to get back to that now as an adult, I 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:28.520 wanted to say a genesis, that's it. 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:29.960 My dad made it. 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.000 My dad made a deal with me that whenever I 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.040 booked a job, I could get one of anything I wanted. 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.240 And now that I'm a parent, what a genius move. 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:41.840 Because I didn't like going on auditions anymore because they 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:44.839 were starting to become too infrequent and they were disrupting 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:49.159 my basketball practices. And as a black kid with braces 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.919 at five foot four, the calls just weren't coming in 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.200 in the in the seventh grade, so I didn't get 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:58.400 an audition like maybe once every six weeks. And so 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:00.440 I'm like, you know, my mom didn't like me having 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.280 one foot in and one foot out because auditions come up, 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:05.400 you gotta go like tomorrow. You know, they don't give 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:06.640 you a lot of time to go on an audition, 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:10.240 even back then. So my dad said, Gail, he doesn't 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.279 see what's in it for. Because my parents never told 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:13.880 me how much money I ever made from any of 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.160 my jobs. I didn't find out how much money I 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.080 was earning until I was fifteen. So I did seventy 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:20.960 episodes of that show and never knew how much money 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:21.679 I was ever making. 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.520 So my dad said, Gail, just give him something. You 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:25.760 know he needs something. 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.320 And he said, well, what if you ever book a job, 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:30.599 you get one of whatever you want. 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:31.680 And so think about it. 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:37.400 Back then, right in Circuit City, Fedco Radio Shack, Toys 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.800 of Rust, these are my places foot locker that I 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:43.120 want to go buy something at the top of the shelf. 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:47.000 One hundred ninety nine bucks absurd, right, a lot of 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:50.000 money to spend, you know, when you translate that to 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:54.800 the initial pay, the residuals. It's nothing. So I was 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:57.599 fired up. All I wanted was the saga genesis I 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:01.080 do the show. A fraternity shows up that week for 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:05.960 our taping and chance my character's names and in between 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:09.160 all the scenes that I wasn't in. And what's what 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.160 I really love about that memory was we filmed at 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:15.240 the Lorimar Lot which is now the Sony Lot, and 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:18.600 we parked our car at the main structure where all 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:21.640 of the crew parks because we weren't cast, so we 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:24.080 didn't give one of the fancy parking spots. And I 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:28.400 remember walking back pretty much with members of the audience. 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:30.760 They were like, man, you did a great job man, 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:32.720 because they're walking back to their cars that I was 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:35.360 walking back to my car, and you know it was. 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:37.840 It wasn't any greater of an exercise. 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.520 Then I hit my mark and I made them laugh 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.920 and I got my sake genesis, and that's it. 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:45.880 I wish it were deeper. 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:48.360 And then they reached out to your family right away 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:49.280 that oh. 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:51.840 The negotiation was basically taking place. 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.480 That Saturday and snow and then I was in class 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:02.000 at Huntington Junior High in sam Ma Reno and I 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:04.960 got called out of class and it was my mom 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.160 telling me get home work because for the week they're 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:08.840 bringing you back. 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.000 So okay. So the next thing I want to ask 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:14.840 is this. I heard you talk about how they put 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:16.880 this together. There was the Jefferson so there were a 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.320 hit black show or a couple of black shows. So 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:22.559 they started pulling people in to try and form the show. 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:25.680 And these people are all I think you said, they 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:27.239 were all told they're going to be the start. 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:29.440 Well that's kind of my theory when I look back 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:31.960 on it, and I realized why certain feelings might have 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:35.080 been hurt in the beginning. Now that I understand what 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:38.800 the TV development process is, I usurped all of that. Right, 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:41.400 some people resent when you've done that, But I was 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:41.679 a kid. 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:43.760 But how does a twelve year old kid then got 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:47.480 a twelve year old kid who's in a whatever, we 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.400 pick a number one to ten, hostile environment, they're not happy? 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.320 Yeah, it was how did. 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:55.400 You handle that? Did you know it at the time? 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:55.679 Oh? 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:56.240 You know, it was. 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.600 Like I said, it's well documented that I wasn't well 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:03.200 received by the adults in the beginning. However, I just 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:06.120 I like to give them some props because you don't 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:09.920 do two hundred and fifteen episodes and it's all through hostility, 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:14.280 you know, they came around. I made them laugh like 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.520 I made anybody else laugh on set. We had great memories. 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:19.520 I think one of my greatest memories of at least 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:23.160 being with the adults, particularly with Reggie and who played 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:26.920 Carl and Joe Marie, was when we shot two episodes 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:30.360 in Paris in nineteen ninety six. We were the first 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:34.880 black show to ever shoot episodes in Europe, and that 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:36.319 was that was a big deal, and. 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.440 So we were there for ten days. 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:40.800 I was I was there for a little bit longer 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:42.520 because the producers brought me in so I could have 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:44.840 some fun in Paris first because I was in every scene. 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:46.800 So once we started working, they had whole days. I 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:47.800 had no whole days. 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.280 But that was the time, I remember where that was 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:52.440 the height of our bonding, you know, that was our 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:55.280 whole cast, the top of Jules Verne twelve thousand dollars 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:59.240 meal saying like there was no there was no infighting 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:01.720 going on back and so sometimes I like to help 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:03.640 them even remember you had a good time making this. 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:07.600 Great and we came around when most young actors are 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.440 casting as something. They're cast for an essential thing that 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:12.640 they bring to the table. You know they're not They're 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:16.240 not They're not becoming chameleons. They're not transforming into a 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:19.400 character that they don't walk around in. But you know 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:22.160 you ain't hercle and you never were. How did you 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.200 what made you think I need to do something for this? 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:30.000 And how did you find that guy that voice, that persona, 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:31.440 that Sega genesis? 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:34.760 I just I'm telling you I but. 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:36.880 Did you actually think, Oh, if I just walk in 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.280 even though I'm five for him, that's not going to be. 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.480 So the essence of me, Jason is I'm a little 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.200 amateur athlete and I love to find ways to just win. 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.080 I don't care if we're playing ping pong or board 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.000 game whatever. It's like, we got we gotta win, huh. 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:55.560 And And I so when I saw the character description 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:58.760 called for a nerd, I knew I was on the 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:01.560 shorter end of life. And I literally I had a 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:03.240 growth spread on the show that saved my life. I 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:07.640 grew nine inches between fifteen and seventeen. And when I 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:09.360 would get called to play, you know a kid who 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:11.080 stole something, or a tough kid or something like that, 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:12.720 was like they were looking at me and like, get 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:14.679 out of here, kid, John Singles is about to make 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:15.679 some movies to take care of that. 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:17.959 For us in the next few years. 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:20.960 I really felt like I could get this role, and 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.440 so that fired me up. I just I looked on 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:25.760 the page and like, I can do that. So then 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:31.120 my character references actually were where I was starting to 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:33.760 at that point just look at other people and just 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:37.760 try to impersonate them. So I had a VHS tape 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:42.480 of the Best of Saturday Night Live, and Martin Shortt 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:45.960 was on that doing Ed Grimley. So I popped in 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:50.600 that tape and I just started borrowing his mannerisms. And 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.160 so the reality was, and I didn't think about this 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:56.560 at the time, but because I was black and because 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:59.040 it was the nineties were then like we have today, 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.520 nobody really caught on to this kid doing a bad 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:07.679 Ed Grimley or and pee Wee Herman mashup, and so 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.080 it became my own. And also, quite frankly, nobody would 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:14.560 even give me the intellectual capacity to even think to 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:15.440 reference that. 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:16.240 And do it. 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.320 So me, I love and I've always loved hearing when 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:23.480 when an actor had an actual reference, like like Johnny 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:29.360 Depp the pick the guy from the Rolling Stones Richard. 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:31.360 So like, when I heard that story, I was like, Yo, 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:31.920 that's what I did. 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:32.360 With ed River. 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:38.280 There's another layer that in at that point in television 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.880 history your writing staff, you have black shows with all 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:46.040 white writers. Did that help the ercle character because they're 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:48.640 writing a nerd from their experience of in the white 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:50.040 world what a nerd would be. 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:55.040 So I think that's part of the the frustration examining 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:55.800 the show. 0:12:58.520 --> 0:12:59.480 Looking backwards. 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:02.720 You have to respect what television was, and you have 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:05.880 to respect how much we've grown, you know, and there's 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:07.800 no need to castigate it back this just no, it 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.440 is what it was, and you know it was. If 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:17.640 ABC wanted a family show, they didn't say, oh, we 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.160 want white producers. They just went to the most proven 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.920 producers they actually go to, and they just would happen 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:24.160 to be white at that time. 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:24.640 Got it. 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:27.880 Now we've evolved to a different era where oh, nobody 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:29.640 would think to put on a black show that didn't 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.199 have black writers because that would be authentically insulting. 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:34.640 But at the time that wasn't the thinking. 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:39.000 So getting back to your something you brought up about 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:43.559 the adult leads, I feel like when they conceived the show, 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:46.480 they went to Miller Boy at ABC and they said, 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:48.400 all right, we need a black family show. 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.599 So they did the the tried. 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:52.640 And true thing, pick a character off of an existing 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:55.000 show and let's do the spinoff. So they went to 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.280 Joe Marie and she was the elevator operator on Perfect Strangers, 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.719 and so of course that's a big moment. Further, this 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.520 is your show, your show, just your show, Oh my god, 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.880 my own show. She's thinking, okay, but then behind the scenes, 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:09.920 executives being executives, trying to reduce risk and hedge their beds. 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:12.719 We need some more star power though. We got to 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:13.440 add to her, you know. 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:16.800 But they gotta be careful going out getting too big 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:18.840 of a star because now that star is gonna want 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.160 to change maybe aspects of the show that mill Boy would. 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.000 So they got to go and hire an actor and 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:24.640 not a star. 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.840 So okay, and even back then, you know what, what 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:29.800 black actors or stars are you going to get the 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:35.000 short list? They get Reginald vel Johnson from Diard. Right, oh, 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.440 this makes perfect sense. But to show you their lack 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:40.320 of creativity, they actually make the guy wear the same 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:46.440 uniform that he wore and die hard on our shot. Right, 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:52.800 you're kidding me, right, I don't know what that conversation was. 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:55.120 I'm exhibiting it like a professor, not looking back, and 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:57.480 I'm going, oh, I see exactly what took place here. 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:00.880 So you throw them all on the set and now 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.320 and now for the big cherry on top. You give 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.560 them all white writers who don't understand much about black 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:08.960 nuanced comedy at all. 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:10.240 Congratulations. 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:12.520 So they get on the set and they start quarreling 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:14.440 with each other, right, like I wouldn't say it. 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:17.000 There's literally an episode of Family Matters. 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:19.200 I went back during pandemic and I started watching the 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.440 early episodes. I wasn't in because obviously during pandemic you 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.720 only have time to watch yourself. So so an early 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:30.800 episode wasn't in and Tema Hopkins enters the door as 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:33.160 Aunt Rachel. She throws up in the front door. She says, 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:39.720 after a long dad work. She goes oivey, not authentic. 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:43.400 Wow, And I'm like. 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:45.120 And I say this like, I had to play it 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.320 back again. I was like, are you serious? He throws 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:50.440 up at the door, just like this guy right. 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:51.160 Over here, Jason. 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.240 She says, ohivey and Listen. 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:56.520 She put her heart and soul into that oid Vey 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.440 you could tell too, like Teba was a company woman. 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.560 Wow, was working on a lot of levels. I was 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:07.960 working on a lot of levels for her, right, wow, wow. 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:09.760 Wow. 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.080 When I talk about the show and how I've gone 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:17.320 back and taken it apart, like like Legos, I'm like, 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:21.000 I was just the last guy that made sense out 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:21.720 of Oise. 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:24.240 Yeah, oh my god. 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:27.400 But the writers must have found it easier to if 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.800 somebody during an episode doesn't deliver the way they think 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:34.560 they should, the entire writer's room goes let's now write 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.320 more for that when it diminished that they punish people 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.240 behind the scenes, and people don't realize that that goes on. 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:42.520 It's my faith. Listen, it's are you kidding me? 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:44.560 Of course, I mean it's it's it's one of the 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.480 bigger jokes that most people would never be privy to. 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.400 But a lot of the writers' rooms don't even think 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:51.520 a lot of the actors are. 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:55.640 Good, right right, Oh yeah, I've heard there'll. 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.600 Be a regular cast member and it's like, oh, she's awful, 0:16:57.640 --> 0:16:58.800 she can't deliver that line. 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.400 Okay, make it something different. But they keep that to 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.000 themselves and that's how a lot of you know. 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:08.360 Unfortunately, I think kids who grow up as being a 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:12.240 family member on a show grow up with an overinflated 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:16.400 idea of their acting ability. And that's because they had 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.439 to be pacified to be in episodes of the show. 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.720 But nobody ever pulled them aside and said, hey, don't 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:25.240 you take some classes in the off season. Do you 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:27.280 want to continue to act? You want to act in theater? 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:29.199 Do you want to do this on Broadway? Don't you 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.160 get with this person? Nobody ever thinks to elevate their 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:33.840 skills or ask them if they want to do this 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:35.720 long term, beyond just this show? 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.639 And what was How did that relate to you? 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:43.080 Were you aware that that you wanted to continue to 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:47.399 forge a path in this and how? Because I'm sure 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:49.720 I invite you, and I'm sure you will correct me 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.080 if I'm wrong. You seem to have come out of 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:58.199 child's stardom more intact than most child actors do, not 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:03.400 only intact spiritually, but as you have a I think 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.680 you have a pathway in this business that's wide open 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:06.120 to what. 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:06.720 You want to do. 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:08.639 And you know, thank you, well, you have to do 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:10.439 what we all have to do these days is we 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:12.399 can't sit and wait for somebody to do annoyingt this. 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:14.240 We have to create something and bring it to them. 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:16.560 But you're actively doing that and it feels like the 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:19.080 doors are wide open, and that would make you sort 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:22.479 of breathing rare air. How did you How did you 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.280 chart that course with family or on your own? 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:27.280 You know, I'm not going to pretend like it wasn't 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:32.560 difficult at times. Talk about those times specifically in the book, 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:36.399 like I didn't feel like I became an adult and 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.560 I started learning about people in the world to the 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:42.960 show inded the day the show inded, there were certain 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:46.800 individuals that delighted in letting me know you've been canceled 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.840 and we don't have to treat you that way anymore. So, 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:53.000 like I said, man, at the at the end of 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:54.720 the day, I got it. I got a great mom 0:18:54.760 --> 0:19:00.680 and dad who, for all of their shortcomings not knowing 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:06.320 certain aspects of the business, they had one instinct that's 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:08.639 just a miracle if it lands in your life, and 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:11.359