Speaker 1: My Next Guest is starring in the new Prime Video
Speaker 1: original movie G twenty, streaming on April tenth. He's perhaps
Speaker 1: best known for his role as Andre Johnson on a
Speaker 1: hit ABC sitcom Blackish. I know from a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of movies not to mention a law and order. One
Speaker 1: of the great great actors of our time as far
Speaker 1: as I'm concerned, Please welcome Emmy and Golden Globe nominated
Speaker 1: actor doing and only Anthony Anderson to the house.
Speaker 2: What up, Fred?
Speaker 3: What up?
Speaker 2: Double A? How you doing?
Speaker 3: Bro? How's everything everything? He's going? Good? Baby?
Speaker 4: Hey, my system is falling apart on me. Steve, my bad, baby,
Speaker 4: my bad.
Speaker 2: You can handle it. You can handle it. It's all
Speaker 2: good man.
Speaker 1: Let's get right into it because I want to have
Speaker 1: I want to get into this before you get cut
Speaker 1: off with your damn electronic ass self. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: noting electronic inhibit itself. I don't know what technological inhibited. Listen,
Speaker 1: this film looks like a wild ride and it just
Speaker 1: start alongside the great Viola Davis and your daughter from
Speaker 1: Blackest MARSI Martin, explain the premise and your character, please, well, you.
Speaker 4: Know what, I'm the first man. You know, Viova Davis
Speaker 4: is the President of the United States. I'm or a
Speaker 4: husband and I'm the first man of the United States. Man,
Speaker 4: So that's my character.
Speaker 1: Now listen, I know you personally, your friend of mine.
Speaker 1: I got mad love for you. You as the first man.
Speaker 1: Thinking about the power of the presidency, Well, the presidency
Speaker 1: is under a microscope. The first man might be a
Speaker 1: little bit different, not so much. What kind of nonsense
Speaker 1: did you get yourself into as the first man? I mean,
Speaker 1: what kind of ideas were you throwing out there?
Speaker 2: Because I can only imagine.
Speaker 4: Well, you know what, man as the first man, Like
Speaker 4: most first ladies, our voice really isn't heard that much.
Speaker 3: But we had a great time.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm there supporting Viola's character, supporting our family.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm gonna stay at home.
Speaker 4: Dad, ex military, married to the President of the United States,
Speaker 4: who happens to go over to Cape Town for the
Speaker 4: G twenty World Summer and it happens to be attacked
Speaker 4: by terrorists and we have a great time doing it. Man,
Speaker 4: we kick a lot of butt, get a lot of
Speaker 4: butt kicked. We're both ex military in this film, so
Speaker 4: it makes sense for us to do what we're doing,
Speaker 4: and uh, it's action packed and it's fun field.
Speaker 1: So it's action packed, but it's not it's not comedic.
Speaker 1: I mean because it's you. I mean, anytime we see you,
Speaker 1: you're making us laugh. It's not comedic.
Speaker 4: No, no, not not comedic at all. They may there
Speaker 4: may be some comedic elements here and there, uh, but
Speaker 4: but definitely not a comedy. Uh. You know, we may
Speaker 4: have a joker to to add some levity, but it's uh,
Speaker 4: this is serious business team, this is serious business man.
Speaker 1: So as as the first man, I mean, as you
Speaker 1: imagine a man being in the second position, I mean
Speaker 1: deferential to his woman. As black men, we know that's
Speaker 1: that's that, that's just figured because we all know that listen,
Speaker 1: ninety five of the time the women to get what
Speaker 1: the hell a want. The five percent of the time,
Speaker 1: as Chris Rock would say, give us the big piece
Speaker 1: of chicken. I mean, our rites are very very limited
Speaker 1: when it comes to our black women. So I want
Speaker 1: to know what kind was that part of Was that
Speaker 1: a part of the character that was portrayed by you
Speaker 1: and obviously by Viola Davis at all.
Speaker 2: She's in charge, I.
Speaker 4: Mean, she's in charge and for some reason on repeat
Speaker 4: Beyonce song was playing We Run the World, We Run
Speaker 4: the World, and so that was just I was just
Speaker 4: playing all day for six months in Cape Town, South Africa.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: So I just had to fall in line, Steven. I
Speaker 4: just had to fall in line and play my position,
Speaker 4: as we all do.
Speaker 1: When you think about what you've done in your career,
Speaker 1: comedic and obviously some serious roles, watching in the Law and Order,
Speaker 1: in various other roles. At this point in time of
Speaker 1: your career, what do you enjoy most?
Speaker 4: You know, one, I enjoy going to work. You know,
Speaker 4: this is something that I've always wanted to do. I
Speaker 4: was nine years old and I've been blessed with the gift.
Speaker 4: I don't call it a talent. I call it a gift.
Speaker 4: And it's my responsibility to share this gift that I've
Speaker 4: been blessed with with the world. So, first and foremost
Speaker 4: going to work, getting to do what I do, but
Speaker 4: then getting to work with people like Viola Davis, Anthony Starts,
Speaker 4: you know, Marseille Martin, and just the luminaries that I've
Speaker 4: been able to work with over the years in my career.
Speaker 3: That's what drives me.
Speaker 4: And that's what satisfies me and in this hunger that
Speaker 4: I have as an actor getting up and going to
Speaker 4: work and gracing the stage and gracing the screen with
Speaker 4: some of our elite.
Speaker 2: So I'm looking at it from that standpoint.
Speaker 1: And you know, you talk about the work, and obviously
Speaker 1: in this day and age, if you work and you
Speaker 1: living good, because Lord knows this, because there's not enough
Speaker 1: people that's working in this day and age, and what
Speaker 1: have you. As you think about what's going on again,
Speaker 1: the first man in this film, Viola Davis, is the
Speaker 1: President G twenty coming out April tenth, I'm thinking about
Speaker 1: the climate, the times that we're living in.
Speaker 2: How much did that play a role a in your willingness.
Speaker 1: To accept such a role and be in what you
Speaker 1: guys actually did for for the project itself. How much
Speaker 1: does the president administration or the president political climate play
Speaker 1: a role in all of that.
Speaker 3: I'll answer the former than the latter.
Speaker 4: You know, while we were filming this, this was over
Speaker 4: a year ago, so you know, Vice President Kamala Harris
Speaker 4: was vine for the for the office herself, right, and
Speaker 4: you know we we thought this, you know, we thought
Speaker 4: we were hoping that she would be in office that
Speaker 4: you know, would would resonate with an audience, you know
Speaker 4: while we were making this film. But given the current
Speaker 4: political climate and the new administration off the new administrators
Speaker 4: that are in office right now, I think, uh, that's
Speaker 4: going to drive people to see this movie and gives
Speaker 4: it a set of legs and in a set of
Speaker 4: eyes that we probably wouldn't have had on it to
Speaker 4: begin with, having Viola Davis as an African American woman
Speaker 4: being president of the United States and and and running
Speaker 4: things the way that we would hope and want this
Speaker 4: administration to run these things. So I think it's a
Speaker 4: great juxtaposition of what's happening in real life and working
Speaker 4: parallel with what's going on, uh in this film that
Speaker 4: we're doing.
Speaker 1: This administration has called out George Clooney and numerous other
Speaker 1: contemporaries in your industry for things that have been said,
Speaker 1: manners in which the president has been portrayed, et cetera,
Speaker 1: et cetera, And one would surmise that at some point
Speaker 1: in time, folks in Hollywood may feel a bit compelled
Speaker 1: to be careful about what they do and how they
Speaker 1: do it in an effort to be is really not
Speaker 1: as a as authentic to their craft as they could
Speaker 1: possibly be, while not provoking the ire of politicians in
Speaker 1: this day and age, particularly doing a show of this nature.
Speaker 1: Is that something that entered your mind of Iola Davis's
Speaker 1: mind at all, or is it about I don't give
Speaker 1: a damn. I'm Anthony Anderson and this is the role
Speaker 1: that it calls for me to play, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do what I do.
Speaker 3: You know, I can't speak for vile. I can only
Speaker 3: speak for myself.
Speaker 4: But you know, we have our First Amendment right, you know,
Speaker 4: to free speech, and we have our own opinions about
Speaker 4: the world in which we live. And you know, as
Speaker 4: long as I can be my authentic self, live in
Speaker 4: my truth and speak my truth from my position and
Speaker 4: my perspective, I want people to respect that, just like
Speaker 4: I would respect their position and their perspective. So, and
Speaker 4: it's not about you know what I'm me. I'm Anthony Anderson,
Speaker 4: and this is what I say, and this is how
Speaker 4: I'm going to live and this is what I'm going
Speaker 4: to do. We also have to be conscious of what
Speaker 4: it is that we say and how it may not
Speaker 4: only affect our livelihood, but how it may affect the
Speaker 4: people that are part of what it is that we do.
Speaker 3: But we also have to be.
Speaker 4: Informed about the things that we are going to say
Speaker 4: about the positions that we want to take, and not
Speaker 4: just jump on a bandwagon and say, oh, well I
Speaker 4: heard this. You know, we have to do the work
Speaker 4: ourselves and find out so we're not misinformed and we're
Speaker 4: spreading misinformation. And again, it's just our opinion, our individual
Speaker 4: opinions on the world in which we live and how
Speaker 4: we see it and how it's affecting us. And I
Speaker 4: think that's only fair.
Speaker 1: Let me go back to the film, because the film
Speaker 1: Like You Told You, Like You Articulated was shot in
Speaker 1: Cape down South Africa. What is this some hand about
Speaker 1: you ended up in the emergency room after the fight
Speaker 1: seeing gone wrong yourself?
Speaker 2: Anthony Anderson explain, youse, what the hell happened to you?
Speaker 3: You know what?
Speaker 4: Some guys got a little Overzea was on set, Stephen
Speaker 4: and uh, you know, an accident happen.
Speaker 3: It was a fight scene. We were supposed to do
Speaker 3: some things. I was supposed to be thrown into a.
Speaker 4: Chair, but they threw me into the chair and missed it,
Speaker 4: and the arm of the chair hit me in the
Speaker 4: small of my back and it felt as if it
Speaker 4: had touched my kidney. Man, and I immediately dropped to
Speaker 4: the floor and found out that I had a deep
Speaker 4: muscle bruise that that was just gonna take weeks to
Speaker 4: heal from within.
Speaker 3: But one monkey don't stop, no show man.
Speaker 4: I continued throughout the night and work and ended up
Speaker 4: in the emergency room for five hours.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 4: Nothing was fractured, nothing was broken, And uh it just
Speaker 4: gave me a story to tell. As I'm sitting here
Speaker 4: talking to you, I am mad at that. As long
Speaker 4: as you are right, I'm all right. Why Cape Town,
Speaker 4: South Africa?
Speaker 3: Though?
Speaker 2: Why there?
Speaker 3: You know that?
Speaker 4: That that's you know, the G twenty Summit Global Summit
Speaker 4: takes place all over the world and this particular year
Speaker 4: was taking place in Cape Town. Uh and uh we're
Speaker 4: in our film. Uh so that's where why we decided
Speaker 4: to go there, exotic locale. The people there were great,
Speaker 4: the production uh team that was there. I you know,
Speaker 4: it was a beautiful thing working amongst our brothers and
Speaker 4: sisters in Cape Town, South Africa. Bringing a production like that,
Speaker 4: this huge American production to South Africa was great for
Speaker 4: the country. It was great for us and I'm thinking
Speaker 4: about going there and buying the house. Man that that's
Speaker 4: how beautiful it really, how welcome? Yeah, that's how welcoming
Speaker 4: it was.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, you know, I mean, listen, I got to get
Speaker 1: over there. I've been promising I'm gonna get over there. Well,
Speaker 1: some of my boys have asked me to come to Ghana,
Speaker 1: somebody asked me to come to Rwanda, and obviously Cape
Speaker 1: Town and Johannesburg. There's definitely someplace I'm planning on visiting
Speaker 1: as well. I got to ask you this, as as
Speaker 1: as you sit here right now doing the kind of
Speaker 1: things that you're doing, you reflect on the career that
Speaker 1: you've had. What do you miss most right now in
Speaker 1: this time and your at this time in your life,
Speaker 1: about whatever most joyous perspective that you've had in your career.
Speaker 1: What's missing right now? If anything at all?
Speaker 3: Ah? Wow, good, great, great question, man, great question.
Speaker 4: What's missing? I don't think anything is really missing. It's
Speaker 4: always about the next adventure.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 4: You know, I had a long run with our television
Speaker 4: show Blackish for eight years on ABC.
Speaker 3: I missed the family there that I built with this
Speaker 3: cast of eight years.
Speaker 4: You know, I've watched these young children that we got
Speaker 4: to handpick and be a part of our show grow
Speaker 4: into young adults now and to be a part of
Speaker 4: their informative lives or be an informative part of their
Speaker 4: lives growing up. Was was was a blessing, you know,
Speaker 4: to have children of my own, uh, and then to
Speaker 4: have this second set of children, uh, that that I
Speaker 4: got to work closely with, sometimes even more intimately than
Speaker 4: than my own children, because I spent so much time
Speaker 4: on set.
Speaker 3: So I will say anything is missing from my life
Speaker 3: or my career like that, but I missed.
Speaker 4: Those times that that I spent on that that set
Speaker 4: uh with with with my cast, you know, Tracy, Jennifer.
Speaker 3: Lawrence and and everybody.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 3: It's one of the reasons Marseille Martin is n G twenty.
Speaker 3: You know, we were looking for a daughter, and I
Speaker 3: was like.
Speaker 4: You've got to hire Marseille because I know what she's
Speaker 4: going to bring uh to this role for this and
Speaker 4: I had a great can't I had a great time
Speaker 4: working well for eight years, Let's do it on the
Speaker 4: big screen.
Speaker 1: And why, by the way, the young lady is already
Speaker 1: an executive producer, creating content and all of that stuff.
Speaker 1: She's a star, make no mistake about it. Let's not
Speaker 1: forget in. We all love Tracy and the rest of
Speaker 1: the crew. You know, I'm thinking about that. And when
Speaker 1: you think about the Blackish family, remember when we first came,
Speaker 1: you came on First Take. My day job at ESPN
Speaker 1: every weekday morning from ten am the noon. You came
Speaker 1: on First Take to promote Blackish before it launched. And
Speaker 1: remember what I said to you. I said, the only
Speaker 1: thing I worried about is the name. Are you sure
Speaker 1: that the name ain't gonna, ain't gonna, ain't gonna provide
Speaker 1: an impediment to y'all success? And you were supremely confident
Speaker 1: that it would not get in the way that, if anything,
Speaker 1: y'all were gonna be able to build off of it
Speaker 1: and make it into the kind of show that it was.
Speaker 1: And lo and behold, we went from raving for decades
Speaker 1: about the Cosbys to raving about Blackish.
Speaker 2: I know you saw success coming. Did you see that?
Speaker 4: Uh? We hoped for that, Stephen, You know, you can
Speaker 4: only dream for things like that. You know, when when
Speaker 4: Kenya and I sat down and talked about what we
Speaker 4: wanted to produce for television before we even come up
Speaker 4: with the idea of Blackish. We were just sharing ideas
Speaker 4: about our family and it was Kenya's idea to call
Speaker 4: it that because he said, you know what, Anthony, I
Speaker 4: feel like I went from raising a black family to
Speaker 4: a black Ish family and called me a few weeks
Speaker 4: after and said, I got the title for our show.
Speaker 3: And you know a lot of.
Speaker 4: People were hesitant about, you know, even tuning in to
Speaker 4: watching it because of what the name is or and
Speaker 4: and I was like, Yo, that has nothing to do
Speaker 4: with the quality and the portrayal of these characters what
Speaker 4: we were going to do. And you know, Ish is
Speaker 4: adjacent to We're not making a mockery of anything. So
Speaker 4: come watch this, and you know, the Ish is now
Speaker 4: in the zeitgeist. You know, they're they're all kinds of
Speaker 4: issues out there that you know, have to like since
Speaker 4: the creation of our show. So we are happy and
Speaker 4: ecstatic about that we were able to get two spinoffs,
Speaker 4: Grownish and Mixed Fish on the air.
Speaker 3: That's a great time.
Speaker 4: And so for us to build that type of franchise
Speaker 4: and that family amongst the shows was just amazing for us.
Speaker 4: And that's something that we always saw, you know, we
Speaker 4: always saw that, and we took a page from Cosby.
Speaker 4: We took a page from what they did from the
Speaker 4: Cosby Show and a Different World and things like that.
Speaker 3: So you know, that's where it all came from. That's
Speaker 3: where it all stemmed from.
Speaker 2: I love you on Blackish, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: As much as long as we've known each other, I've
Speaker 1: never told you what your.
Speaker 2: Favorite role was. What was my favorite role of you,
Speaker 2: of your portrayal in this movie? What one could play
Speaker 2: that game?
Speaker 1: Two could play that game with Mours Chestnut and Vivica
Speaker 1: fod Man, Because you know, it's like when I watch
Speaker 1: so many movies, right, I ain't gonna say naggscuse. I
Speaker 1: don't want to throw no shade on anybody, but I
Speaker 1: see stars and I see cats and they've got like
Speaker 1: one of their boys that they're tight with. But the
Speaker 1: advice is all it's always it's always lacking with two
Speaker 1: can play that game. You were breaking it down the
Speaker 1: more its testing, you would give it it to them,
Speaker 1: and I was like, take the words. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was just it's the kind of stuff that I would
Speaker 1: say to my boys, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: You had it like that. What was your favorite role.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, we'll start We'll start with that one.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, okay, that's the way they game for
Speaker 4: a second, because yes, I watched it a few weeks
Speaker 4: ago in the middle of the night, it's like maybe
Speaker 4: three thirty in the mornings, slipping through television and it
Speaker 4: came on and I watched it in its entirety, and
Speaker 4: I had to send Vibica and Morris a text message.
Speaker 3: You're like five in the morning. It's like, look, I
Speaker 3: know it's early. I know y'all not see there's no
Speaker 3: time soon.
Speaker 4: But I just watched you can play that game. And
Speaker 4: I haven't seen this movie in almost twenty years. I said,
Speaker 4: it still holds up. It's still funny, and the things
Speaker 4: that we are saying in this movie is still relevant today.
Speaker 4: And what's crazy, Stephen, is that my twenty five year
Speaker 4: old son was going through the same thing that Morris
Speaker 4: Chestnuts character was going through just a few months ago.
Speaker 4: And he and his boy were sitting in my house
Speaker 4: in my kitchen and I was like yo. I was like, yo, Nate,
Speaker 4: your boy is me in my movie. I did a
Speaker 4: movie about what you're going through right now. You're making
Speaker 4: the same mistake that Morris Chessnut made. You need to
Speaker 4: see this movie so you can understand me, so you
Speaker 4: can understand this problem that you're going through.
Speaker 3: Steve, he watched the movie. He was like, damn Dad,
Speaker 3: you right man? He said, what did y'all make this movie?
Speaker 4: I said, Man, almost twenty years ago, son, and everything
Speaker 4: we talk about it, it's still relevant.
Speaker 1: I gotta look at for your son. I gotta look
Speaker 1: out for your son right now. I gotta make sure
Speaker 1: I give you an opportunity to office. Noris's nose was
Speaker 1: wide open. I mean he was going, he was daring.
Speaker 3: Man had a whip.
Speaker 2: Now you understand.
Speaker 1: I mean that's what That's what happened. You remember when
Speaker 1: you told you coming through the glass window and he's
Speaker 1: just sitting in the way in the gym, staring in
Speaker 1: the space, and you like to see the light, see
Speaker 1: the light. I'm like, yo, you so I want to
Speaker 1: make it. I want to make sure you give give
Speaker 1: your son an opportunity for pops to help him out here.
Speaker 2: You ain't doing you ain't doing that to yourself. It
Speaker 2: wasn't like that, was it.
Speaker 3: No, A see my son showed up at her house. Man,
Speaker 3: I was like, son, you can't do that.
Speaker 4: Are you prepared to see what you gonna see if
Speaker 4: you show up on announce? And my son was a
Speaker 4: man about it, and he was like, you know what, Dad,
Speaker 4: I was ready. I was ready to see whatever I
Speaker 4: needed to see.
Speaker 3: Man. But I just had to go make this move.
Speaker 3: I had to do this.
Speaker 4: And I say all this to say he and his
Speaker 4: lady have a great relationship and they work through whatever
Speaker 4: it is they needed to work out. But I was like, son,
Speaker 4: we need to watch this movie next time before you
Speaker 4: go make mistakes like that.
Speaker 1: That's right, That's right, no question about it. So other
Speaker 1: than two could play that game, anything else stand out
Speaker 1: of your mind. I want to make sure because I
Speaker 1: know you love all the stuff that you've done, but
Speaker 1: all the else stand out.
Speaker 2: I just want to make sure.
Speaker 4: Look here, man, the Departed, you know, getting to work
Speaker 4: with your past that I got to work with, and
Speaker 4: and being directed by Martin Jack Nixon. Yes, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: it just the list goes on and on. Man, Romeo
Speaker 4: must die. You know, I got to work with the
Speaker 4: great Leah and and and jet Lee and things like that.
Speaker 4: Me myself and I ring Jim Carrey. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 4: I've been very fortunate in my career, Steve, so though
Speaker 4: those are the one and look, I ain't gonna lie.
Speaker 4: I enjoyed working on Kangaroo Jack Man k Jack. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, I catch a lot of hell, but from
Speaker 4: behind now with me, I was like, yo, I love
Speaker 4: doing kN Jack as well.
Speaker 1: I got you, I got you, Listen. I know you
Speaker 1: love working with the people that you work with too.
Speaker 1: And recently I had the lovely, the incomparable. I mean,
Speaker 1: she's mama to us, all the lovely Jennifer Lewis. He
Speaker 1: was right here on this show.
Speaker 2: And yeah, she told she wanted to tell me she
Speaker 2: wants she wanted to give you a couple of words,
Speaker 2: a few words.
Speaker 1: Play this, please play this, please and give Anthony Anthony
Speaker 1: and just in my love and telling me he's an
Speaker 1: asshole and I loved him.
Speaker 3: Make sure to do it. Can you imagine working with
Speaker 3: that fool eight years?
Speaker 2: Oh my god, you did it, you did it.
Speaker 3: He won my heart, Anthony, So give him a bit.
Speaker 3: That's crazy, that's good. You know what.
Speaker 4: I don't know if she was on or off her
Speaker 4: medicine that that day that she was on your show,
Speaker 4: but I love hey, Jim, that's that is my baby.
Speaker 4: That that is my second mother right there. That's the
Speaker 4: mother of all black Hollywood right there.
Speaker 2: Yo, that's the serious. I don't I don't think it's
Speaker 2: an exaggeration.
Speaker 1: When you think about black mamas in Hollywood, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's Hallowretta Divine.
Speaker 2: It's one of the two to me, Yeah, yeah, yeah, And.
Speaker 4: I've worked for both of them. The Redda Divine didn't
Speaker 4: play my mama. She played my auntie. Whoopy Goldberg played
Speaker 4: my mom in this this other movie called King of
Speaker 4: Come and Jennifer Lewis. So I've been surrounded by the
Speaker 4: mamas in the unties my entire career, and I love it.
Speaker 3: There you go, there you go.
Speaker 1: Let me transition to something else that's near dear to
Speaker 1: your heart. Evidently you and Cedric d Entertainer are serious
Speaker 1: barbecue enthusiasts, with a line of sauces, rubs, and products
Speaker 1: called ac Barbecue. How did y'all come up with the
Speaker 1: recipes for somebody's family recipe? I mean, what's that about
Speaker 1: a double A? What's going on?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 4: We looked at the We looked at you know, we're
Speaker 4: turned taking barbecue to fast casual man. We were opening
Speaker 4: up a restaurant here at the Century City Mall or
Speaker 4: the Westfield Mall in Century City.
Speaker 3: You know, Set and I have a love for food.
Speaker 3: We you know, we take these fellows trips.
Speaker 4: We always rent these extravagant homes and sed and I
Speaker 4: are always the ones that are cooking and barbecueing. And
Speaker 4: we just had this opportunity to get in this space
Speaker 4: and there's no one that looks like us that are
Speaker 4: in that space. And we are talking about, you know,
Speaker 4: bringing barbecue back to what it once was, or not
Speaker 4: bringing it back, but just talking about what it is,
Speaker 4: the community of it, the community aspect of it, the
Speaker 4: the lovingness, the family buy of what the spirit of
Speaker 4: barbecue is and where it comes from. And so we
Speaker 4: started AC Barbecue and we're having a great time where
Speaker 4: we've licensed our kitchen on seven colleges and universities.
Speaker 3: We have this first.
Speaker 4: Restaurant that's about to open here in April May at
Speaker 4: the Westfield Mall, and so we're excited about that. We
Speaker 4: got products and stores, so we couldn't have been more
Speaker 4: more excited about it.
Speaker 3: We we have this I can't tell you.
Speaker 4: About this collaboration that we had, but we have a
Speaker 4: collaboration that you will hear about in a month and
Speaker 4: it's about to be big with us and another fresh
Speaker 4: food franchise. Uh So we're excited about that.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: And you also partnered with Magic Johnson's what is it, uh,
Speaker 1: Dexo Magic to take AC Barbecue to HBCU campuses.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we partnered with Sedexo Magic, and that's how we
Speaker 4: got our kitchen. AC Barbecue Kitchens on these HBCUs and
Speaker 4: colleges and other all colleges and universities. We're in a
Speaker 4: University of Cincinnati, Jackson State University, Howard University, and there
Speaker 4: are four or five other universities that have AC Barbecue
Speaker 4: kitchens on them. Uh So we're just excited about that.
Speaker 4: Our partnership with the Dexo Magic uh is beautiful and
Speaker 4: we're just here to do it man, and just you
Speaker 4: know being a lane. Uh.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: Look, one of our sayings is, you know, we're rooted
Speaker 4: in culture and fueled by community. That's what AC Barbecue
Speaker 4: is all about. Rooted in culture and fueled by community.
Speaker 4: Just bringing everybody together to celebrate and to love on
Speaker 4: one another through the spirit of barbecue.
Speaker 2: Stay with HBCUs.
Speaker 1: You left Howard University after your junior year, I think
Speaker 1: and I think it was you talked about it being
Speaker 1: because of financial issues or whatever. But how did it
Speaker 1: feel to recently receive your degree from the Chadwick Boseman
Speaker 1: College of Fine Arts in twenty twenty two?
Speaker 2: How did that feel?
Speaker 4: It felt great, Stephen and I'll tell you about this
Speaker 4: full circle moment. Taraji Henson gave the commencement speech the
Speaker 4: year I received my degree. Taraji and I were classmates
Speaker 4: at Howard University in the College of Fine Arts. Denise Sanders,
Speaker 4: who was the assistant Dean of the College of Fine Arts,
Speaker 4: helped me our assisted me in getting back into school
Speaker 4: to finish.
Speaker 3: My senior year.
Speaker 4: She and I were classmates at Howard University and the
Speaker 4: College of Fine Arts. Doctor Felicia Rashad is the dean
Speaker 4: of the College of Fine Arts. She and I are
Speaker 4: colleagues and friends in this industry. She handed me my
Speaker 4: degree from the College of Fine Arts. And that year
Speaker 4: that I received my degree in twenty twenty two was
Speaker 4: the very first year that they renamed the school and
Speaker 4: it was renamed to the Chadwick A. Boseman School of
Speaker 4: Fine Arts. And he and I were colleagues in this
Speaker 4: industry and friendly.
Speaker 3: With one another.
Speaker 4: So it was a beautiful, full circle moment for me
Speaker 4: to go back to the beginning. Really for me, you know,
Speaker 4: it took thirty five years in the making. I started
Speaker 4: Howard University as a freshman in nineteen eighty eight and
Speaker 4: left after my junior year due to financial reasons, and
Speaker 4: had every intention on going back.
Speaker 3: And I was finally able to go back and receive
Speaker 3: my degree in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: I was getting ready to ask you how much of
Speaker 1: a role did Nathan play in inspiring you?
Speaker 2: Says he's also a Howard grad.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, he played a great role. He's unfortunately he
Speaker 4: didn't graduate yet, but he was. He got accepted in
Speaker 4: twenty eighteen, and he inspired me to go back to school.
Speaker 4: I always wanted to go back to school, and I said,
Speaker 4: you know what, Son, You've inspired.
Speaker 3: Me to go back to Howard. So this is what
Speaker 3: I'm going to do.
Speaker 4: I'm going to walk with you in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 4: and unfortunately, real life got in the way of him.
Speaker 3: Of my son.
Speaker 4: You know, my son's a young artist, a musician, and
Speaker 4: an actor, and his career started taking off. So he
Speaker 4: followed that path, but I stayed true to mine as
Speaker 4: a promise to myself and as a promise to him
Speaker 4: and my family and my mom and everybody. Because when
Speaker 4: I started Howard, I would have been the first person
Speaker 4: in my family to graduate from a college or university.
Speaker 4: And so I had to finish the task that I started,
Speaker 4: and it took thirty five years to do so, but
Speaker 4: I was able to do it.
Speaker 1: He was also honored with the how with the Distinguished
Speaker 1: Alumni Award from the university.
Speaker 2: Right, yes, I was, Yes, I was. I can't imagine
Speaker 2: how that must have felt for you.
Speaker 4: I felt great, you know, to to receive not only
Speaker 4: that award, but the United Negro College Fund gave me
Speaker 4: an award the following week for the work that I've
Speaker 4: been doing with them in raising.
Speaker 3: Scholarship money for other HBCU students.
Speaker 2: And you know, I have my own.
Speaker 4: Family foundation, the Anderson Family Foundation that this year I'm
Speaker 4: transitioning from the charities that I've been donating to for
Speaker 4: the last six years. But in my seventh year, because
Speaker 4: I went back to Howard University and received my degree,
Speaker 4: I'm starting a scholarship at Howard University. So you know,
Speaker 4: some students don't have to go through what I went
Speaker 4: through and put that on hold for as long as
Speaker 4: I put.
Speaker 3: It on hold.
Speaker 1: You often tag your social media post just a kid
Speaker 1: from Compton because that's where you're from, Compton in LA.
Speaker 1: I want to know, did you say out or do
Speaker 1: you said go ahead dog when you saw Kendrick Lamar
Speaker 1: giving it to Drake.
Speaker 2: That's what I wanted, That's what I want, That's what
Speaker 2: I want.
Speaker 4: Well, look, hey, first off, I gotta say this, I'm
Speaker 4: a fan of both of the artists, so yeah, but
Speaker 4: you know what, it was great to see what kay
Speaker 4: I was doing for the culture, for the city of
Speaker 4: Compton and what he did, so I had to root
Speaker 4: for him, you know, a thousand percent. And just to
Speaker 4: see where he is, where his career has elevated to
Speaker 4: from where it once was. I mean, you know, he
Speaker 4: was always a star in our eyes. But to see
Speaker 4: you know, this this last year and a half of
Speaker 4: where it's gone, uh, and just to see it's halftime
Speaker 4: performance show and just what it symbolizes and what it meant, uh,
Speaker 4: you know, to people who were watching who understood it,
Speaker 4: what it meant to the culture, and what.
Speaker 3: It spoke to and what it spoke about was just uh,
Speaker 3: it was just a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2: So I let you get on out of here. Man.
Speaker 1: You would diagnose with type two diabetes at age twenty nine.
Speaker 1: You've been a vocal advocate for better understanding and management
Speaker 1: of the condition, particularly in a black community. I want
Speaker 1: you to talk real quickly about what life changes you've
Speaker 1: made and how important of an issue this is for you,
Speaker 1: because it definitely is for me. I was like point
Speaker 1: one point away from being a full blown diabetic a
Speaker 1: few years ago until I really prioritize my health in
Speaker 1: a big time fashion.
Speaker 2: Talk to me about yourself and your journey in this regard.
Speaker 4: Uh. Yeah, you know I've become a diabetic at that age, man,
Speaker 4: and you know I always took it seriously. But you know,
Speaker 4: there comes a time where you just have to make
Speaker 4: dramatic changes in your life and your lifestyle. And that's
Speaker 4: what I did. Unfortunately, I lost my father to complications
Speaker 4: from diabetes and one, but I was the first person
Speaker 4: diagnosed with diabetes in my family. My father had gone
Speaker 4: unchecked for over for more than twenty twenty five years.
Speaker 3: And.
Speaker 4: I realized that once I was diagnosed, I look back
Speaker 4: at the symptoms that my father had when I was
Speaker 4: growing up, and they were the same as the symptoms
Speaker 4: that I was having now, and so that's when my
Speaker 4: dad got checked out and so we lost them to that.
Speaker 4: And that's why I partnered with No Hole Oritis to
Speaker 4: bring awareness to everybody out there who may be suffering
Speaker 4: from it or.
Speaker 3: Adjacent to it. We started a campaign called get Real
Speaker 3: about Diabetes, and they can go to get real about
Speaker 3: diabetes dot com to find out information about this disease.
Speaker 3: And it's really informational.
Speaker 4: And I go out to the communities and I talk
Speaker 4: to the communities, but in particular Black men because we
Speaker 4: are the ones that rarely go to the doctors, you know,
Speaker 4: myself included. My dad didn't go for twenty twenty five
Speaker 4: years and we lost him because of that. So I
Speaker 4: get out on this campaign and I share my story
Speaker 4: and my testimony with them, and I just talk about
Speaker 4: the changes that I've made in my life in order
Speaker 4: to live with the disease and manage it instead of
Speaker 4: dying from it. And it comes with sacrifice, it comes
Speaker 4: with hard work, but in the end, in the long run,
Speaker 4: it pays off.
Speaker 1: That's your personal journey, obviously, you're trying to help many,
Speaker 1: many lives, not just yourself. Tribute to you for doing that, major,
Speaker 1: major props to you for that. That's on a personal level,
Speaker 1: on a professional level, considering all that you have done,
Speaker 1: and considering the show that you're on here talking about
Speaker 1: right now, G twenty streaming April tenth on Prime Video
Speaker 1: starring you, Viola Davis and others. Of course, when you
Speaker 1: talk about it, when you think about what you shared
Speaker 1: on a personal level, what are you on a mission
Speaker 1: to share at this point professionally since you're clearly qualified
Speaker 1: to share because you've done so many great things.
Speaker 4: I just want to continue to make opportunities for myself
Speaker 4: and make opportunities for my.
Speaker 5: Mother, but also, you know, make opportunities. Pause right now, mama,
Speaker 5: one who's better than you at Dobbinoles. Let's not forget that.
Speaker 3: What I mean? Yeah, yes he is. You know, I
Speaker 3: learned from the best, you know.
Speaker 4: But I just want to continue to make opportunities for
Speaker 4: creators and storytellers, like people made opportunities for me to
Speaker 4: come out and be my authentic.
Speaker 3: Self and tell my stories from my point of view.
Speaker 4: Uh, And I just want to continue to be a
Speaker 4: part of that you know, So that that's what I'm
Speaker 4: striving for, to start directing more, to start creating more, uh,
Speaker 4: and to start collaborating more with with with people that
Speaker 4: you know, you would never know. I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: I never knew this is what you did or this
Speaker 4: is what you wanted to do. Let me be a
Speaker 4: part of that, because you didn't know, this is what
Speaker 4: I wanted to do and be a part of. So
Speaker 4: it's all about collaborations and just telling you know, and
Speaker 4: being your authentic self and being in that space.
Speaker 1: I love you, bro, proud of you. So good to
Speaker 1: see you, looking forward to connecting yet again. I know
Speaker 1: you've been on the road a lot, doing a lot
Speaker 1: of great things. I'm just happy for you, happy to
Speaker 1: see you in this space, in this place in your
Speaker 1: life right now, Really proud of you, really happy for you.
Speaker 2: You one of the great ones.
Speaker 1: You know how I feel about you, know nor much
Speaker 1: love I got for you, so much so that I
Speaker 1: got a surprise for you because my my my career is.
Speaker 2: Kind of going decent.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm doing all right, you know, okay, And
Speaker 1: I got something I got something new coming up.
Speaker 2: I have been I have been asked to appear or
Speaker 2: law and order. I'll take it up. There After, I
Speaker 2: was like, what what what I mean?
Speaker 3: What I mean?
Speaker 2: I got I got to get I got to get
Speaker 2: some tips from my brother. I got to get some tips.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: Let me know, I'll run lines with you. If that's
Speaker 4: what your need, Steve, we can do it. Got you, Hey,
Speaker 4: welcome to the l and O family.
Speaker 2: Your baby, then, did you know? I mean, there are
Speaker 2: worse things to achieve in life, no doubt about that.
Speaker 2: I mean everybody, there's anybody been on law and order.
Speaker 2: So that's the way I learn is to start of
Speaker 2: something new. Appreciate you, bro, love you man.
Speaker 3: Appreciate it even always great seeing you're my friend, no doubt.
Speaker 2: All right, talk to you soon.
Speaker 3: Fig