WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Robert Townsend Part 1 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:09.240 Question. Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. Let's Go Kids. 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:15.760 Supremo su su Supremo Role called Suprema su su Supremo 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:22.760 roll Call, Subprema Supremo Role, Suprema su. 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:28.200 Supremo Role, my team Suprema Yeah, ain't no hash Steppie Yeah, 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:31.520 Robert Townsend Yeah, ain't you got no weapon? 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:39.960 Suprema Supreme roll Suprema Suprema rode. 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:44.120 My name is Fante Yeah, and I'm feeling cool. Yeah, 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.440 I finally graduated, Yeah from Black Acting school. 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:56.200 Supremo Suprema Role, Suprema su su Supremo roll Call. 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:57.360 My name is Sugar. 0:00:57.800 --> 0:00:58.000 Yeah. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:02.040 Back on the hash. Wait wait wait wait wait yeah, 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:10.959 did I see you on mash because some brea su. 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:16.039 Brevo roll It's like, yeah, I don't need no BIB yeah. 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:18.440 Robert Townson, Yeah, can I. 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:19.360 Get one rim. 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:28.080 Supremo rolls Upremo Supremo roll came. 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:32.320 My name is Robert Yeah, I'm in town yeah and 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:39.040 getting down with this crew in town. Up the host clown. 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:44.560 Supremo Suprema Supremo roll So. 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:45.480 I messed up? 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:46.600 Yeah and. 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.560 Yeah and someone tell me, yeah, where is unpaid bill? 0:01:55.120 --> 0:02:04.320 Supremo Roll call signs up, Breva supremo, broun supremo, Roll. 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:13.760 Up, Supreme roll Sorry about that the wrong version you 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:14.639 keep taking two? 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:17.400 Well you know I forgot that Bill's not here, so 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:21.560 I should have did it for five people, but instead Wow. 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:24.400 Yeah, so way too many references. 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:26.240 This is the pressure. I'm like, I want to put 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:27.519 the ball in the black and the beautiful. 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:30.519 It was just too many, it was too much. 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:36.520 Okay, can we can we I'm right about the mash thing, right, yes. 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.360 Yes, you are, yes, you are just checking because all right, so. 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:45.680 Can we just collectively have a meeting? Okay, Okay, let's 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:47.240 go because we have a tendency. 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:50.360 We're not gonna embarrass you. Yeah, to sing people's songs 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:52.959 and act out. I can't promise you that's not gonna happen. 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.359 I'm just making you know. I feel moved to see 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:56.239 the heart of the house. 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.760 For love that brain drops But. 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:12.440 All right, is falling on the table for or did 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:13.120 you just fall off? 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.200 And I'm so sober? I'm sorry, I'm excited. 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.320 All right, all right, we have questions I've been wanting 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:21.919 to ask you since I was eight years old. 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:26.840 You don't understand, like straight up, let me let me 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:30.359 introduce our guests first, Yeah, we know, all right, So, 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:34.040 ladies and gentlemen, in case you don't know where you landed, 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.920 this is called Quest Love Supreme. I'm your host, Quest 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:41.400 Love and Team Supreme of course is strong fo how 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:41.960 are you, brother? 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.480 I'm with Robert Towns. That's automatics. Let's talk about him, Steve. 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:48.600 Al right. 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.960 Look, ladies and gentlemen, look, I will just say that 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:57.080 maybe or maybe not, Emma Thompson household Times weren't that happy. 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:03.000 I will say that this gentleman dingle handedly alone probably 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:07.960 provided eighty five percent of all joy and happiness that 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:11.600 happened at I can't say my old address right because 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:12.960 there's somebody there's. 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.120 Oh Stage Avenue in West Philadelphia. 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:23.800 I've I've probably, you know, probably second to coming to America. 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:29.640 I've never quoted a film more than our guest and 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:34.960 his debut movie as a director, Hollywood Shuffle. All of 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:38.520 his films have touched our lives. Fonte's looking at me 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:40.760 like if you just don't say his name, plady and gentleman, 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.800 Robert Townsend is on West Love Supreme. 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:45.360 Thank you for coming on our show. 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.960 Thank you guys for having me. Thank you, thank you 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:48.560 so much. 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:53.120 Okay, and we should also know Robin last night reminded 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.719 me forty two times she said, you're welcome, You're welcome, 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:57.320 You're welcome. 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.880 Robin Feedee wants to you know up, yes. 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:02.520 Yes, yes, because of my daughter Scott. 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:08.760 Yeah, so every twelve seconds, Robin wanted to come up 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.760 to let me know that, thank you, thank you and 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.120 all the writers, Robin congrassling, the. 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:15.680 Writers getting the getting their money. 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:16.240 Yes. Real. 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:20.320 So I'm at a loss for words right now. 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:22.920 Yeah, I'm thank you for having me. Just thank you 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:25.239 for having me, guys, because I wanted to start crying 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.599 on and I feel emotional. 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.000 Come on, man, you got a podcast to do. Let's 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.520 go all together. You aint direct line. 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:36.160 To like our childhoods man, and like you know what 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:38.480 I was saying in our memories, Yeah, memories like you 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:42.400 know HBO, like the Partners in Crime episodes, Like dude, 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:45.000 like that was an event, like that was something like that. 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:47.239 Come on me and our family. We be on the floor, 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:50.320 Like I'm on the floor watching and like all of that. 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:52.400 Are you wiping your tears with the script? 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:52.760 I don't know. 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:57.040 Yeah, I'm sorry, Yeah, because he's right, I'm listening to 0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:58.960 and I'm like, yeah, that's showing itself. 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:03.440 That changed, yeh changed, that changed, That changed us. 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:05.080 We had Patrice Russian on the show like a couple 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:06.719 of years ago, and like we talked to her about 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:08.919 you know, musical director, musical direction. 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:09.240 Man. 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:13.600 It was really just pioneering in so many ways and hilarious. 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:15.360 All right, let's get the initial stuff out the way. 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:16.520 Where were you born? 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.200 I was born in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, on the West 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:20.919 Side of Chicago. 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:25.480 Why do become interview Chicago people show? 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:32.640 We had Sally Richards, So why has Chicago been chosen 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:37.120 as the epicenter of comedy even for like sketch shows, 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.320 for writers, for acting, for comedy workshops? 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:45.960 Chicago is where that starts? Is that just an SNL 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:48.720 thing where you know? 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:52.719 As a kid, I just remember West Side of Chicago, 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:56.719 you know, black folks. We always been funny, funny, funny. 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:59.880 But then I started. I studied at Second City when 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:04.280 I was like fourteen, fifteen years old. I started when 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.120 the Second City start. It's been around since the sixties, 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:11.600 and Second City was like, a no, it's been around 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:18.160 a long time. They had because back then my teacher 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:23.840 was Joe Forrestburg, but Dale Close was like Jim Belushi 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.840 and all those guys. Everybody came out in that class. No, 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:28.560 I wasn't in that class. I wasn't in Dale's class. 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:30.800 I was in the other class. Okay, yeah, But I 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.200 started at Second City. I started doing Emperor, but I 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:35.720 started in theater. I was like the youngest member of 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:39.160 x BAG Experimental Black Actors GIL and it was like, 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:42.280 you know, one of the actresses that came out, Mary Alice, 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.240 who was inspired. She came out of there, and a 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.160 guy named Felton Perry was one of the writers. But 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:52.080 my first mentor so I started when I was fourteen fifteen, 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:54.640 So that's when I started, and I did my first movie. 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.440 I was in Cooley High. I had two lines. I 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:00.840 was doing a play at x BAG and Laurence Hilton 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:04.840 Jacob's Michael Schultze director and Glenn Turman came to see 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:06.000 me in the show and I got a few So 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:07.400 that's when I started. And then I was an extra 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:10.400 in Mahogany with Billy Dan Dinah Ross. So I've been 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:12.080 like as a baby. I started, you know, back in 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:14.920 the game. But in terms of comedy, there was always 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:18.800 comedy going around. But then I discovered like Rush Street 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.520 had all the comedy clubs. I started performing, like when 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:23.440 I was sixteen doing stand up seventeen. 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:27.600 Yeah, what's your domestic situation into in your childhood? Your parents, 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:28.280 your siblings? 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:32.040 You know, here's the thing. I have four there's four 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.640 of us. I have two sisters, one brother, and my 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:38.720 mother raised four kids on her own. My father wasn't there. 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:40.199 He was in our lives, but he was in and out. 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:43.800 Right were you the baby or I'm the second oldest? Oh? 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:46.520 Okay? Like what are the aspirations of your life in 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:48.000 your childhood? Are you? 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:49.800 I want to be a basketball player? 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:50.400 Okay? 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:52.800 I mean like I just went back to Chicago recently 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:56.000 and all my boys were still friends, but we were 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:58.520 all like my nickname back then was Left because I 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.079 got a sweet left hand jump shot. And so then 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:04.320 my other friend, his name was Ape because he had 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:06.400 long arms and we used to call him Ape. And 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:10.280 then you had Brown Chris he had he has two 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:14.240 sons that were in the NBA. Shannon that's his dad, 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:17.640 and so we were all like little kids loving basketball 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:19.800 and Dennis Olive. We were all like just kids and 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:20.480 we used to go. 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.240 To the stock Stadius with the friends from your childhood. 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:27.199 Oh yeah, oh yeah, that is rare, and how does 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:27.800 that happen? 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.840 Let me say this, through the years, we always stayed 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:34.000 in contact. And then let me say this. When you 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:37.040 have a dream as a kid on welfare on the 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:40.199 West Side of Chicago and you just want to do 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:42.640 something with your life, you need to have a circle 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.360 of people that believe in you. And back then, even 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.400 though my nickname was left, they were like, you know, 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:51.199 I said I could I got you know, I could 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.719 do voices and characters when I was really young. And 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:55.560 so they were like, left, you got something, you got 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:57.480 something left, And they always believed in me, and we 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.360 just stayed We just stayed in touch. And so and 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:03.959 then and Carl eight you know, his name is Carl Brentson. 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:07.439 He's the president of the West Side INNAACP. And so 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.400 we were always we always had like a righteous mindset. 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:12.280 We got to do something, we got to take action. 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:12.719 You know. 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:15.520 So, so you were just neighborhood friends or were you 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.600 connected through some well, I mean it was just basketball. 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:22.040 It was basketball. Everything was basketball, and we met on 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:25.960 like or no, no, I mean. 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:29.240 Right, well, no, I'm just meaning like some sort of 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:30.560 you could be church circles. 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:33.400 Yeah, yeah, but it was basketball. We would play on 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.839 the basketball court and we played at all the different 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.839 tournaments and stuff. And then uh, I played in high 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.760 school on different teams. I went to three different high schools. 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:45.679 So I played at Weber Catholic, then Proserificational, and then 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:46.840 I graduated from Austin. 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:52.960 For me, like oftentimes, especially with with with black success 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:58.559 and black stories, once you transition to another platform, the 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.599 temptation to try to take everyone with you, right, I 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:03.720 mean we can give an example like maybe an Alan 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.760 and Iverson or whatever, like try to take everyone with 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:09.240 you is a hard thing to do, and sometimes you 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:14.960 can't go to these places and maintain what was beforehand. 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.720 So well it was for you know, oftentimes you're people 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:23.080 might see your success as their success, and. 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.400 That's hard. So I'm really I'm really impressed that you 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.440 still maintain childhood friendships. 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.560 Yeah yeah, no, but they were real friends. There were 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.480 a lot of people you know that are not in 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:38.520 my life that they are, you know, because there's certain 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:40.599 you know, I have frenemies that are friends and a 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:43.920 part enemy and you just learn eventually to clean house 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:45.920 and you surround yourself with the right people, and so 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:46.600 I've been blessed. 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:47.200 That's what's up. 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:51.439 Did you know it was acting or were you just 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:53.719 a thing where like I'm a fan of television and 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:56.839 I can imitate these people, or how do you know 0:11:57.760 --> 0:11:59.480 acting is what your true calling is? 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.559 If so, let me give you the story. So I 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.240 am ten years old. I live on the West Side 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:10.360 of Chicago. Neighborhood is surrounded by gangs, the vice Lords, 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:14.719 the Executioners, the Disciples, the Senator six. And my mother 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:16.600 is afraid at ten that I'm going to get recruited 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:18.600 by one of the gangs. And so she goes, when 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:20.280 you get out of school, run straight in the house. 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:22.880 I run straight in the house. And all I do 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:26.160 is watch television. I watched so much TV they nicknamed 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.599 me TV Guide. Now like TV Guy was on the 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:30.120 night and I go, like, NBC they got a really 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:32.520 good lineup. And then at ABC, I think kind of cool. 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:34.520 I think so and so and so and so. And 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:38.280 then we were on welfare and it's like, when you're 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:42.480 on welfare, you can't you can't buy soap because it's 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.320 not food, it's food stamps. And so you always had 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:47.959 that problem and so I would always try to make 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:50.319 my mother laugh. And so then I discovered that God 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:53.200 had given me a gift to do the shows because 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:55.959 there was a time for the youngsters. There was a 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:59.320 time the television went off, right, and when television went off, you. 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.600 Know, we're all of aging here, you know, you don't 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:06.760 know about okay, And. 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:08.680 Television went off, and so if you missed the show, 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.480 you missed a show. And so I discovered that I 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:14.199 could do every show on television. So back when I 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:18.360 was ten twelve, I could do voices and characters, and 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.280 like if I saw a movie from you know, French film, 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:25.480 showed that the levision and I'd walk around the house 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:28.640 my brothers and sisters love the Wizard of Oz. I 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:30.640 would do all the characters I had never got in 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:32.200 my brains. If it Wolson for you what the square 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.160 root of Walton, I would do Alfred Hitchcock, Good Evening 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:38.480 they found the body in the alley Way. I would 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:42.199 do the Westerns. No Brandish fixed you got to be 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.480 out of town by Shindim. I was so good. I 0:13:45.520 --> 0:14:02.599 could do Lassie Timmy's in the Hood, Timmy. Here's a 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.880 story I got discovered in the fifth grade. There was 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:09.000 a teacher. His name was James Red tall, white dude, 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:11.400 you know, big nose, and he was just this beautiful 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:13.920 man and he wanted these little kids in the hood 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:15.880 to learn about Shakespeare, and so he gave us three 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:18.800 pages to read. And I just remember I got so 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:21.160 nervous because it was like me, thinks and thou and 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.280 thou and thus it was so yeah. And so I 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:26.880 went to the library and I stole all the Shakespeare 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.000 records because I wanted to get an a and I 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:31.360 listened to him on our stereo at home, like Richard 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.040 the Third, and I was like a horse, a horse, 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.000 my kingdom for a horse. All he wants is a horse. 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:39.680 And then like oh, othello, and then I listened to 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:41.280 all of them. And we had to read in class, 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:43.440 and that's how I got discovered, because we had to 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:48.080 read a scene from Oedipus, and I remember he was like, 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:56.640 Deborah Jenkins, you'll be Ophelia, Willie King, you'll be Oedipus, 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.440 and Robert Townsend, you'll be terse As the blind Prophet. 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:03.040 Le read and they read like kids. Deborah read like 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:03.800 a kid in the hood. 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:07.600 It up pissed you will married I mother a kid 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:08.720 if that father. 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:10.880 And I had been seeing shit. You know, I was 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.240 listening to the Royal Shakespeare Company. So I was like 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:14.880 there to piss. I played off the rage upon night 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:17.200 Sari to be creatures. He knaught and so I went 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:20.280 deep and the kids was like, who your ass is crazy. 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.680 But the teacher after it was over, he was like, 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:26.360 where did you learn that? Come here, Robert Towns. Where 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:28.680 did you learn that? And I said, what is these records? 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:30.240 You know they was in the library, but not he 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:31.800 in my house. But that's how they do it in 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:34.880 England at the Royal Shakespeare Company. And that teacher took 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:37.360 me under his wing, and he was the one who 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:39.280 was the first one to say you could be somebody. 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:41.160 And I was like a little boy and I was 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:43.200 like be somebody and he was like, you could be somebody. 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:45.760 So my journey started there. 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:46.960 He planned the seed in you. 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:49.080 He planted the seed and he came, it's like to you, 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:51.640 I won my first award in nineteen sixty eight, so 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.320 it was like the you know, like I remember doing 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:57.440 the news for my mother when Martin Luther King got killed. 0:15:57.520 --> 0:15:59.280 I was that, you know, she says, what happened again? 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:02.360 What happened again. At twelve forty two, Martin Luther King 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:04.560 was leaving and then Martin Luther King said, Mama, Martin 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.360 Luther King said, we have been to the mountaintop free 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:09.800 of blast, free of blass, and I would do all 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:11.880 the I was a look a little magical kid. 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:14.160 And did you realize in that moment too, that, like 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.040 although the town, the amazing part was, yes, that you 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:19.960 found these records and that you also mimicked these records. 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.440 But the also amazing part was that you knew, unlike 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:26.680 all your other classmates, that there were these records at 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:29.440 the library. And to even do that because most kids. 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:30.440 I didn't even know that. 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:32.400 I'm just saying even that part to know. 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.400 All right, so I'm a library kid. Same thing, not 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:38.960 necessarily games where I grew up in the crack eighties, 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:44.240 so really I wasn't It wasn't favorable for me to 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.360 go out. So thus I always stayed indoors, right, And 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:51.240 we had a gazillion records, So that's how I ingested 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.280 all the music. And I knew four blocks away on 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.720 Chestnut Street in Philly, there was a library and I 0:16:57.720 --> 0:16:59.880 would just go there listen to all the records. Read 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.200 all the Rolling Stones, all the you know, music books 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:06.600 and whatnot. So I too would do that as well. 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:12.479 And like, the local library is one of my favorite spots. 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:15.520 So was that like a destination for you if you 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:18.399 weren't allowed to go out or no? 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:21.200 You know, you know, The truth was that I don't know. 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:25.119 I was because of television. I was always curious about 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:28.920 stuff because it was kind of deep. Outside the house 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:31.760 was like pimps and gangs and drug dealers. And then 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.680 I'm watching Leave It to Beaver, and so then I've 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.520 got this world and I'm watching the Andy Griffiths show. 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:39.920 And then outside it's like if you don't have my money, 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.840 I'll knock your motherfucker. And I'm like, oh oh, And 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.240 then I was like, what is the reality. So when 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:48.000 I would go to the library, I would just look 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:50.520 through all the aisles at all the different things, and 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:52.800 I saw those Shakespeare records and I was like, oh, 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.520 that's interesting, and it was just I just remember listening 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.040 to it on our little stereo, and we had the 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.280 little stereo that had the blinking line yes that you know, 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:03.520 had all the disco music kind of things on it, 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.280 and everybody wanted to listen to the Temptations are Gladys 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:08.359 Night and stuff like that, And then I was like, no, 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:10.840 this is my homework and everybody's around the house listening 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:15.200 to me, listen to Othello, and I understood it. I'm 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:16.439 just mad I didn't think of that as a kid. 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:18.640 I would have understood Shakespeare even more if I even 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:20.160 thought that there were albums that I could just listen 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:21.480 to instead of reading the work, like. 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.840 Even in Crazier Full Circle, because even in that like 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.240 twenty second scene in Hollywood Shuffle. 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.560 Where you guys are recreating was it Macbeth or or 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:33.480 was that a fellow? 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:34.440 It was King Lear. 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.800 At that point that movie was such a revelation to 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:40.760 me that when you got to there half the time, 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:43.800 I was like, well, I don't know if we will 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:44.919 ever do that sort of thing. 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:48.560 But then I thought about it, like, wait, what would. 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:50.159 Black Shakespeare look like? 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.159 So that one scene in particular, like everything else, was 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:55.720 for humorous, yes, yes, you know, like and I took 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:56.639 it as humor. 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.480 But that was like one of my rare moments where 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.160 I was like, hmmm, like I wonder what that life 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:03.639 would look like. 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:07.600 In other words, like opening the palette and expanding my 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:10.560 brains accept the fact that we can do anything. 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:12.879 So yeah, that's that's. 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:16.360 A weird full circle moment because even me watching Hollywood 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:21.480 Shuffle based on your life experience, that even planning to see. 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:23.880 For me like, oh we can we could do much 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:25.120 more than what we're doing now. 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.280 Yes, sure, yes, sure, yeah. So that's amazing. 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:30.720 So what are your next steps? How did you know 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:32.240 about a second city? 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:33.000 Uh? 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:38.159 So I'm in theater. So I'm at x BAG and 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:40.159 then I went to the Lamont Zeno Theater on the 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:41.160 West side of Chicago. 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:41.960 This is high school. 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.800 Was this college years? This is high school? Okay, And 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:47.880 so I find my way to theater. And so then 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:51.920 my first director, Paymun Rami, who's in Chicago now, is 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:55.040 a powerful brother. Him and his wife, Masi Kwon Meyers. 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:59.000 They were my first mentors. And so when you're around 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:01.680 actors and people, and he was a casting director, so 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.199 he cast me in Cooley High. He did the extras 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.719 casting for Mahogany. And so you're constantly around like, oh, 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:09.440 that's an agent over there. Oh that's what you know. 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:12.920 And you get this information and when you're hungry, like 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:15.720 you know, music for you, you're a sponge and so 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.639 I would just kind of, you know, like, okay, you 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:22.000 know what's an agent? Okay? Where acting class? Okay, I'm 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:23.600 going to take an acting class. I'm gonna take another 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:25.840 acting class. Okay, how do I do a movie? If 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:27.560 I could just say one line in the movie? And 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.760 so I was just hungry, hungry, and I wasn't going 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:33.480