WEBVTT - Featuring Dulé Hill 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:04.400 Hi, guys, It's Sammy J. And welcome back to this 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:07.560 week's episode of the Lesbie World Podcast. This is our 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:11.640 season four finale, which is absurd to think about the 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:15.600 past fifty two episodes and four seasons. I'm more grateful 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:18.720 for this experience than I can ever say. And to 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:22.239 kick off this finale, what better way than to chat 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:27.320 with the incredible after performer dancer Dole Hill. This might 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:29.560 be one of my favorite episodes of all time. I'm 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.600 just gonna say it. I started the episode by bringing 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:34.800 a pineapple because if you are a fan of the 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:38.400 show psych and you are a psycho, you know you know. Anyways, 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:40.680 I love you, guys, and I hope you love this episode. Two. 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:45.320 Hello everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of the 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:48.839 Letsbie Oral Podcast. I am so honored because I am 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.880 sitting next to the one and only Dole Hill. Thank 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.360 you so much for coming on. It's my pledge, is 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.280 my pledging. You have such a unique perspective, and I 0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:59.840 think you're such an underrated artist because you've been in 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:01.920 the business for so long and you've been in such 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:06.480 a variety of stuff. But before we start, I feel 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:10.360 like it needs to be sad that I'm a psycho 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:15.240 and and I'm so excited to get into this conversation. Well, 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:17.200 I'm glad that you are a psycho. I'm glad to 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:19.080 be here, and I'm glad that you are a fan 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:22.640 of Delicious Flavor. Absolutely, the psych world really holds a 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:25.399 place close to my heart, like the entire fan base. 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:27.920 Not just it's it's a it's a whole, it's a 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.360 whole thing, figger than itself at this point, it really is. 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:31.959 And what I love about the psyche world is that 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.520 I feel like I feel that psychos celebrate and appreciate 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:40.080 our unique idiosyncrasy is what makes us different. You know, 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:42.680 some folks may think we're like in general, made me 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.120 think we were Like people might think Gus is a cornball, 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:49.840 but psychos celebrate that like that's Gus is who he is, 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:52.400 and it's and he's worth celebrating. And not not only 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.400 on the show itself, but I think that is translated 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:58.400 into the whole site community. We celebrate what makes us unique, 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.560 our unique glow full like a pineapple. Have you ever 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.200 tried white pineapples? A real question? I have not. I've 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.320 never even heard of white pineapples. Okay, so when I 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:10.680 was in Hawaii, they have white pineapple and it's white 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.280 on the inside and it's like pineapple without the acidity. Really, 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:18.440 you're sweeten. Really it is heaven. If you can never 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.400 get your hand on some white pineapple was underrated fruit 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:23.239 I've ever had in my life. And everyone needs to 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:24.799 be aware of you. See, I need to check it out. 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:26.560 Check it out. And if you turn on Psychle one 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:28.480 day and here is talking about and they say Psyched 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.600 the movie whatever, and here is talking about a white pineapple, 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:33.160 then you know where it came from. You know what? 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:36.399 I think you just have to try and get ready. Um. 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:38.360 Something that I also need to tell you that I 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:40.359 did mention before is I did join a top class 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:43.839 because you inspired me. I think that's phenomenal. I would 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.480 love to start with tap. What drew you to that sport? 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:48.880 Because it is a sport. I mean, yes, it is 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:50.600 a look. It is a sport that I do think. 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:52.560 You have to be athletic in your own way to 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:55.640 be able to dance in general, but especially to tap dance, 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:59.880 just the way your body moves and contorts to create rhythm. 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:02.640 For myself, I started at the age of three, and 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:04.680 I really was just following the crowd because my brother 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:06.440 and my cousins were going to a dance school. My 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.079 mom was a ballet teacher there at the dance school. 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:11.679 It's a school called Marie Wildly School of Dance in 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.800 eastern New Jersey, and I went there just to be 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:17.040 around them as I was about the age of three, 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.119 and I was took jazz, tap in ballet, and as 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.520 I kept going, I started to get more affinity for 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:27.560 a tap and then at the age of nine, I 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:30.800 booked this show called The Tap Dance Kid, which was 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:32.760 on Broadway, and I just studied Savior and Glover on 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.240 Broadway for really about like five or six months, and 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:37.040 then I did the lead role on the national tour 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:40.360 for another year. But on the national tour I performed 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.640 with somebody by the name of Harold Nicholas, who was 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:45.560 of the legendary tap group the Nicholas Brothers. They're an 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:48.480 iconic tap duo. And being able to see what Harold 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:50.800 was doing day in and day out compared to what 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:55.120 I was doing really inspired me to go deeper in 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:58.600 dance because that's I was able to see the musicality 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:00.520 of dance and all of what you can do with it, 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:02.800 I guess. A few years later I ended up doing 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.200 a show called Black and Blue on Broadway at the 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:08.160 same Minskoff Theater, and you see what I'm saying, And 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:12.040 that was with our Bunny Briggs, Lin Cheney, Ralph Brown, 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:16.279 Buster Brown, Chuck Green, Jimmy Slide. These are all the 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.080 hoover Is, the legends of legends of tap and being 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:21.720 around them and really seeing what they were doing continuous 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.560 had me go deeper and deeper. And then finally, when 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:28.360 I was about twenty, Savioan Glover called me to see 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:29.720 what I was doing. And I was a junior at 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.560 cton Hall University of New Jersey, and he needed one 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:35.279 more dancer for a show called Bringing Noise, Bring the Phone, 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:37.480 and I did that off Broadway, and then we went 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:39.680 to Broadway. And that's really when I started to grasp 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:41.680 onto tap as my own because I started to really 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:44.680 understand how it is music, how it is communication, and 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:47.719 how it is really it's a language, and for me 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.760 it started to become a thing that was very cathartic. 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.960 I was able to deal with my emotions and speak 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.640 on things that I didn't have the vocabulary to speak on, 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.040 just by putting it into my dance. We watched a 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.680 short film on top my class. It was amazing and 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.240 if there was a stylog just through their steps, and 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:07.960 I've never seen anything so just mesmerizing like that. The 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:10.160 reason why I think tap is mesmerizing is because of 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.840 the musicality, because that's the only dance form that's both 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:17.400 a dance and music. You know, if you hear music, 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:20.000 it can just draw you in the how melodic it 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:23.080 is and the phrasing of things, and tap is the 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.320 same way that as people are expressing them themselves through 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:28.360 dance and through music, I think the music side of 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.440 it really can draw you, draw you into that way. 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:33.239 Do you have any other creative outlets. I've been trying 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.680 to learn how to play the piano. I've been using 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:39.880 this app called Simply Piano Piano. Has it been helping 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.000 very much? I took it. I picked it up around 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:45.520 Christmas time. I did not know how to read music 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.280 or anything, and it has really been helping me out. 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.400 I can now reach heat music, I can know where 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.360 how to play on the on the keys. That's huge. Yes, 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:56.720 it's pretty impressive. And this is not a paid endorsement 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:58.920 or anything. I just really picked up Sampo piano and 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.000 I love it. You know, I paid my monthly fee 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.840 every month. It's like you know, some app costs, and uh, 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:08.839 you learn all these songs? What songs I've played? What's 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.120 the what's the song that that's in my head right there? 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:13.320 It's a song from Poor Game Best that I I've 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:15.359 learned how to play. I've learned how to play the 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:19.360 James Bond theme song. I've learned how to play a 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:21.640 whole bunch of like some of a Room five song. 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.359 All these kind of like the library of music that 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:28.279 they have in here is pretty impressive. So what are 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:31.080 you working on now? What's the goal next? Well? All right, 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:33.640 I mean I can open up my app because if 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:35.120 you look at it, a simple piano right there on 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:39.080 my is buffering this so I can come back to 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:40.599 when it when it actually comes on, because I guess 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.720 the signal side here is not you we'll come back 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.279 to it. Yeah, but I love it, so I've been 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.320 doing that. And then also because of the show that 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.760 I'm on now, The Wonder Years, Hey, I talk about it. 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.520 I'm looking forward to it. But okay, hold on, I 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:57.080 write along to me simply piano. It's loading, guys, I 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:59.640 got a feeling. Okay, see you're right here. That's gonna 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:00.960 be the next thing I work on set right there? 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.720 How long do you spend a week generally playing piano 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:09.080 when I'm working a lot, because in between setups, we 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:10.960 have a piano on the set, and in between setups, 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:13.840 I'll go and play. And I'm filming Atlanta, so I'm 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:15.720 by myself. My family is still here in l A. 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:18.560 So I will at home at night just to entertain 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.880 myself and to learn. I'll do that. It's a little 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:25.640 more challenging here to spend the time. Yeah, I mean, 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:27.400 I'm like I said, then be on a piano for 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:29.920 forty five minutes when I can spend time hanging out 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.720 with LEVI. So it's been harder at home. It's been 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:35.320 really hard at home to pick up my other thing 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:38.680 which I'm doing, which is the saxophone. But the saxophone, 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:42.000 I've played saxophone when I was in middle school. I 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:44.680 played it for about four years. Then I put it 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:47.280 down for about fifteen years, and then I did a 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:52.240 show off broad on Broadway in twenty thirteen around there 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:56.960 called After Midnight. That was with Fantasia Barrino. Desmond Richardson, 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:01.360 all these phenomenal in a cast full of phenomenal artists 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.160 in the Jazz at Lincoln Center, all stars. So in 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:06.440 my mind, I'm working with these great musicians. I might 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.560 also trying to maximize the time. So I dusted off 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:11.880 my saxophone, and thankfully a lot of the cats there, 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.560 especially Mark Gross who's a brilliant saxophone player. He uh, 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:17.880 I started teaching me how to play. So I started 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.520 learning thing, and then of course once the show ended, 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:25.119 I put it back down. And then now for wonder years, 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:27.720 my character Bill Williams on the show, he plays the saxophone. 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.680 Actually he plays the guitar, the piano, and the saxophone. 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:32.880 That told Salady and Patterson, who's the show creator, that 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:35.320 I'm having more of an affinity for the sacks, and 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:37.040 I know that better, so the more we can use that, 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:39.680 the better. So now he's leaning more into him playing 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:41.800 the saxophone. And I have a teacher out there too, 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.680 who comes to the setting is uh Shepherd. He thought 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:46.600 there teaching me how to how to play the sacks, 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:48.920 and I love it. Always learning, always learning. I think 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.160 it's important to always keep learning, you know, That's how 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:52.960 you keep expanding in mind. That's how you keep leaning 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.600 into tomorrow, that's how you keep growing. This years ago, 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:57.600 I was, you know, I'm a tap dancer, and I 0:08:57.640 --> 0:08:59.960 was talking to Jimmy Slide, who was one of the 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:03.560 legends of dance, and I was always enthralled with the 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:06.240 idea of the journey of a hoofer, you know, like 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.400 the journey of tap dancers, and really jumping through without 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:12.280 going all into the whole conversation. He's told me, you know, 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:15.120 people call me a tap master, but you can never 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:17.360 be a master of tap. Every time I put on 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.400 my shoes, I keep learning, I keep growing. The day 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:21.840 I put on my shoes and I stopped learning, and 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:23.319 I stopped growing, is it danny to take my tap 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:27.000 shoes off? That always stuck with me that no matter 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.079 how good you are at something, no matter how prolific 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:31.679 you are at something, whether it's an art form, or 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.760 whether it's what you do with your job, or whether 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:37.120 it's how you interact with people, always keep leaning into 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:38.839 it because it's always something to learn, is always a 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.480 place to grow. It really struck me that this is 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:44.400 somebody who had been dancing for half a century by 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:47.839 that point and he was a tap master. He's passed 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:50.200 away now, but he was a tap master. But in 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:52.679 his mind, you can never master that. You have to 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:54.560 keep leaning into that. I just think that that's a brilliant, 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:57.800 agrelliant way to approach life, absolutely, And I feel like, 0:09:57.880 --> 0:09:59.560 what's the fun of life if you're not learning and 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.920 keeping your mind open and just keep expanding your horizons 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:07.760 and trying things that you can't get right away, failing, 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:11.000 failing up. You're only failing if you don't get back up. 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:13.440 That's right, You're just trying. It's like, come on, let 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:14.920 me let me try to get this thing. Let me 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:16.560 try it again, Let me try it again, let me 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:18.360 try it again. It's the way that I tried to 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:20.520 live my life. It's a good way too. And I 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:22.520 think you have a very unique perspective. You've been in 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:24.280 the business a very long time and there are a 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:26.840 lot of ins and outs that people don't see. And 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:29.520 I was wondering what the most difficult part of the 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:33.000 entertainment industry that you face that isn't discussed much. I 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:35.080 think it varies depending on which stage of life that 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:38.840 you are in stage of your career. When I first 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:41.520 was looking to create space for myself as an actor. 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.160 That was the biggest challenge was getting people to see 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:45.760 me as an actor because I started as a tap 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.920 dancer mostly on Broadway. I was doing musicals and trying 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.520 to create that space of I'm an actor. I can 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.600 do scene work. I think one of the most flattering, 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.200 our most appreciative compliments I ever got was when Aaron 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:01.000 Sorkin said to casting he said, if more dancers act 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:03.880 like Dole, than we need to hire more dancers. And 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:06.720 that really was because I was fighting so much trying 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.000 to create space as an actor. It's kind of funny 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:12.320 because now people don't realize always that I'm a tap dancer, 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:14.679 because that was like you dance. It's funny how life 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:18.400 can evolved that way. But when I was younger, that 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:20.520 was the part about the career, just trying to create 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:23.319 space and in terms of trying to get people to 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:24.880 see me as an actor, but also trying to just 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:27.760 create space for myself in the business. Like I felt 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:29.120 like I was a good actor. I felt that I 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:33.079 had something to offer and getting someone to see that, 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.040 especially someone like Aaron Sorkin and being on a show 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:40.560 that is so dialogue heavy and it's you know, it's 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:43.400 so fast paced. Was being on that show? Do you 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.240 think that helped you um grow as an actor? Just 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:48.600 being around that kind of right and that kind of 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.120 you know, go go go, oh, yeah you can. You 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:53.760 can't be around doing the words of Aaron Sorkin being 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.320 directed by Tommy Schlami, working with Martin Sheen and Alison Jenny, 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:01.640 John Spencer, Richard Schiff, Brad for you know, Rob low 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:04.600 Stocker chanting. I mean, the list goes on. You can't 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:09.000 be around that group of creative people and not get better. 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:11.840 It's like if I played basketball every day with Michael Jordan, 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:16.000 Lebron James, Magic Johnson and Larry Birds, you would improve exactly. 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.600 And I'm not a good basketball player, not at all, 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.079 but I wouldn't. There's no way that I could keep 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.959 playing with them for seven years, day in day out 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:27.920 and not get better. I think you are known by 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:29.600 the company you keep, which is why I tried to 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:32.560 always get around people who who can inspire me to 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:35.000 reach reach further. Yeah, it's surrounding. You know, you are 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.040 who you surround yourself with. And when you surround yourself 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:38.840 with other driven people that make you want to be better, 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:40.600 you want to do the same same thing. You know, 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:42.600 it's funny to talk about the West Wing to being 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:45.720 a tap dance to help me understand how to tackle 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:51.200 the dialogue of it's all rhythm. And once once I 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.240 got that that, it all made sense to me. I said, Oh, 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.760 this is a song. Yeah, this is all just musicality 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:59.000 right here. West Wing truly is just musicality like it 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.679 is so it is so brilliant. What is the biggest 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:06.760 takeaway you learned from that show? I think one. There's 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.040 a few things, so I guess it wouldn't be the biggest. 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:12.280 It would be a few of the big takeaways. One 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:14.400 was to always stay humble in the midst of what's 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:16.920 going on because it's not going to last forever. I 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.559 really appreciate how Martin Sheen was is such a humble person. 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:23.200 He's always connected to his fellow beings. He's not a 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.120 subjector of persons, meaning he's not going to talk to 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:28.400 you one way because he doesn't look at you as 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.760 as being a value. Everyone is a value involved in 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.880 the creative process, from Aaron Sorkin to a p a 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:38.160 who just came on set for one day. And I 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:40.800 was aware of that. I could see because I very rare. 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:42.240 It is very rare, and I had just done a 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:44.600 team movie before that name She's all that. And I've 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:47.040 seen how a lot of my peers we're acting on 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:50.200 the set. It was my first studio film, and being 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:52.439 on that set and seeing how the egos that were 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:54.800 there that could be amongst a lot of a lot 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:56.920 of people, but in that case a lot of young people. 0:13:57.520 --> 0:13:59.120 And then to come to the West Wing set and 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:01.839 see how Martin, who it's such a great, vast body 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.959 of work, how humble he was, how connected he was 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:08.120 really stuck with me, And for myself, I said, that's 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:10.280 more the path that I want to follow. That seem 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.280 that resonates more with me of appreciating people. And I 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:14.840 guess for myself too, because I've been on the other 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:18.040 side of the coin, especially being in Noise Funk where 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.640 Savian was the you know, the big quote unquote star, 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:24.800 and that's that's that was my brother, my my my man, 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:26.480 and we would roll tight and I would go to 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:30.360 places with him. But because people then I recognize me, 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:33.320 Oh yeah, I got the soft handshake that hey, how 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:34.840 are you doing, brother? And moving on, you know what 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:37.160 I mean? And even and even after she saw that 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:39.440 because me and Freddie Prince are very close and hanging 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:42.920 out with Freddie Prince during that time, he was Freddie Prince. Yes, 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:45.920 I was in the movie, but I wasn't Freddie. I 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.040 would get that same thing here in l A two 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.760 of The Brush Off. Really, it is not until West 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:52.840 Wing came along that people started to now they want 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.400 to be up in my face. But I took that 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.640 in of I'm still me, and I think it's important 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.480 to always engage people, no matter who they are, where 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.760 they are, you know. So that's something that took away 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.800 from it. And then the other thing that I took 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:09.240 away from it, from the art, from the craftmanship of 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.680 it is to keep reaching. It's like a theme. I 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.240 keep going back to this, but I remember, you know, 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.080 the first season we got we won Best Drama, and 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.200 we're getting all these awards, and the collective energy of 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:22.600 the past and the crew was let's go higher, let's 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:25.720 go deeper, let's not live off of our laurels of yesterday. 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:27.680 We had a great first season. The second season is 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:31.600 even harder. Let's keep digging, and that I like, that's 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:34.000 still how I am. As a tap to answer on 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:35.240 that way and as an actor on that way, and 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:36.880 I hope that as a person on that way where 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:38.880 it's let's keep going further, it is more to get 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:41.520 you know what. That's so funny you say that, because 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.800 I think that shows and everything you've done, but also 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.960 with Psych alone, the movie is just keep getting better. 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:51.640 It's like it's the thing that it's like it just 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.400 doesn't want to stop. It just doesn't want to stop. 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.880 So it's one of those things. And I know that 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:01.560 Psych it's such a collective, a unit. And so those 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:04.040 lessons you learned from West Wing, did that translate into 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:06.720 that show as well? I think so. I think, uh, 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:08.920 I think coming to Psych from the West Wing, it 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:10.440 was I came to the show now in a different 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:12.600 position because I was more of a lead, one of 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.400 the leads of the of the show. But Martin's energy 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.080 stayed with me of respecting everybody and this is how 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:20.000 we're going to do it on this set. Really it 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:21.400 still stays with me. And he said that I go 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:23.600 to I try to keep that energy where it's like, well, 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.680 we're all here trying to make something, make somethings exactly. 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:31.440 Let's respect everybody, Let's love everybody, let's let's just give 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:33.600 our best best sells. I always say, I'm kind of 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:36.120 going down a side street. But if you get a 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:39.760 group of brilliant people together, a group of talented people 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:42.760 together in a room who respect each other and give 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:46.320 space for each other to show their gifts, something brilliant 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:49.520 is bound to happen. It will always happen. Now, mind you, 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.840 that may not always turn into this commercial success, but 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:54.720 it depends on how you define personal success. Well I 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:57.520 said commercial success. Yeah, yeah, it will be a personal 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:00.560 a personal success. But that's just it's just the art 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:02.920 world and not everything you do with a commercial success. 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:04.960 But if you get people in the room and we 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:08.000 all respect each other, give space for each other, give 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:10.560 space for your voice and my voice, and hear each other, 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:14.080 and then allow our gifts to shine, something brilliant is 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.960 going to happen. And that's really what I tried to 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:18.960 bring to every set that I come to. On the site, 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:22.200 set was the same thing of it's all I mean, 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:24.280 some bits could come up from somebody in the crew 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:28.159 just saying that we'll try sure, like if if it 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:30.800 made sense. It wasn't just the type of thing of no, 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:32.320 you sit there and you do your job and I'll 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:35.120 do my job. Or no, only Sean Spen's only James 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.080 Rode Mariguez, He's the only one that gets to be funny. No, 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:40.760 Tim Momson can be funny. Maggie Lawson can be funny. 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:43.600 I could be funny, curs to Nelson Corporate Burnton. If 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:45.240 it made the peace funny, then that's what we were 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:47.440 going to do. It wasn't about one particular person having 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:49.480 to get all the shine. It seems like it's also 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:52.000 about the process of making and I feel like so 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:53.960 much is focused on the end result a lot of 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:57.320 the time, but you know, enjoying the actual process of 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:00.359 being in the moment and going off of other people's refs, 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.560 like it's the most collaborating is I have found personally 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.000 in film school one of the most satisfying things. That's 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:08.120 one of the parts about this industry that I love 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.080 the most is being in this space with people and 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:13.760 all right, let's create. Let's see what we come up with, 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:17.119 and let's see if we hit the hit the target, 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.080 and if not, then will try again. You know, if 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:20.600 we didn't get it right this episode, we're gonna try 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:22.720 again next episode. If we didn't get rid of this performance. 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:24.920 If it's on stage, we're gonna go deeper. Well let's 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:27.480 try it again. Yeah. I love the creative process. I 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:29.600 really get off on it. And I feel like there's 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:32.520