Speaker 1: Hey guys, it's Sammy J. And welcome to season three
Speaker 1: of the Letsbie Real Podcast. My goodness, that's weird to say. Um,
Speaker 1: you cannot see me, but I have a ginormous smile
Speaker 1: on my face. I am so honored that we are
Speaker 1: launching our third season with the very talented Wayne Brady.
Speaker 1: This guy can do it all. And when I say that,
Speaker 1: he can dance, he can perform, he can improvise like
Speaker 1: no Weddy's business. And I've watched him for years and
Speaker 1: I'm so honored that he took the time to come
Speaker 1: on my podcast. And I also just want to take
Speaker 1: a quick moment before we get into the episode to
Speaker 1: thank all of you for listening, for subscribing to d
Speaker 1: m NG, me for just supporting this podcast, because I
Speaker 1: honestly never thought we'd be here. I came up with
Speaker 1: this podcast when I was going through a really rough
Speaker 1: time and it was to help myself and to help
Speaker 1: others if I could. And I'm so glad that you
Speaker 1: guys have responded to this podcast in this way. I
Speaker 1: hope you guys love this episode. It's the start of
Speaker 1: so many great episodes in the third season. If you
Speaker 1: haven't already, please subscribe to the Let's Be Real podcast
Speaker 1: and leave a comment and I will see you guys
Speaker 1: very soon. Enjoy it. Wayne Brady, I am so happy
Speaker 1: you're here. Thank you so much for coming on my podcast.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me let alone the first episode of
Speaker 1: season three, which is so crazy to say. Congratulations. That's awesome,
Speaker 1: especially since we did the entire second season during the
Speaker 1: global pandemic. Um, which I want to talk to you
Speaker 1: about because we're finally seeing the light at the end
Speaker 1: of the tunnel, but we've been stuck inside for so long.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna talk about how it affected your mental health
Speaker 1: in a little bit, But first, how did you deal
Speaker 1: with it professionally? Well, my thing is a little different,
Speaker 1: I think because I was working straight through the pandemic.
Speaker 1: I was on the sitcom The Neighborhood. When when everything stopped,
Speaker 1: then we had to pivot. We started working from my
Speaker 1: my home, myself and my my production team, who was
Speaker 1: my ex wife Mandy, who was my partner, and her
Speaker 1: boyfriend Jason. We have a production company, so we started
Speaker 1: shooting things here. We shot the A Tribute to Little
Speaker 1: Richard for the b ET Awards. UM. We've done four
Speaker 1: national commercials here countless corporate shows. So we were back
Speaker 1: at work almost immediately making the hustle happen here. We
Speaker 1: resumed production on some things I think early fall of
Speaker 1: last year. That was a culture shock because now we
Speaker 1: were back around people and everyone's getting tested. It's weird,
Speaker 1: but it was really cool, and we managed to do
Speaker 1: a whole season Let's Make a Deal um in a
Speaker 1: COVID space and it ended up being amazing. So I've
Speaker 1: had a great time working during pandemic. Wow. So was
Speaker 1: the audience virtual? The audience for Let's to Make a Deal?
Speaker 1: We have sixteen people that are part of a virtual
Speaker 1: audience for then we had a small group of six
Speaker 1: people that that were there with us live. So it
Speaker 1: was a small audience, but it was It's so intimate
Speaker 1: and still fun and and a great party Vigon. It's
Speaker 1: like having a game night with your friends. See. I
Speaker 1: feel like we could all use that now, especially I
Speaker 1: don't know about Shoo, but I've been when I watched
Speaker 1: TVs and movies now and I see people in a
Speaker 1: crowded space, I'm like, why aren't they wearing a mask
Speaker 1: or why aren't they social distancing? And the fact that
Speaker 1: that's my instinct now is crazy. Well, it's not crazy,
Speaker 1: because it's actually a part of of life. It's like
Speaker 1: any any event that affects us as a culture, and
Speaker 1: it affects us globally. So I think that the good
Speaker 1: shows are the ones that have been able to reflect
Speaker 1: real life, to show, hey, this has happened, or this
Speaker 1: is happening. Certain shows tend to go, well, we don't
Speaker 1: want to bring it up, and we're just gonna pretend
Speaker 1: it doesn't exist. And for me, those are the ones
Speaker 1: that I get taken out of because I go, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, if you're saying that that happened last week,
Speaker 1: no way, because people are still walking around in masks.
Speaker 1: It's still an issue. That's it's super interesting. Have there
Speaker 1: been any good TV show binges that you've been enjoying
Speaker 1: over the past year. Oh man, I don't even just
Speaker 1: off the top of my head, I don't. I think
Speaker 1: the Marvel stuff absolutely. Uh. One Division was a great binge.
Speaker 1: Um uh, definitely, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier great binge.
Speaker 1: I took this opportunity. I'm an avid reader anyway, but
Speaker 1: there were lots of books that I wanted to take
Speaker 1: advantage of it, and things I wanted to write and
Speaker 1: and and I tried to use this whole period at
Speaker 1: the time to get ready. So so I tried to
Speaker 1: binge on, binge on the things that I hadn't been
Speaker 1: been doing in terms of being a creator. When I
Speaker 1: was a senior in high school, I knew that if
Speaker 1: I was going to watch show, I would binge the
Speaker 1: entire thing. So I made a deal with myself that
Speaker 1: under no circumstances during the fall semester, I would start
Speaker 1: a new show because I knew I wouldn't focus on
Speaker 1: a out. Yes, but I'm now happy to report that
Speaker 1: as a freshman in college, I am ready to start
Speaker 1: binging many shows. Congratulations, that's what I was telling my daughter.
Speaker 1: You know, she she's a senior as well, and she
Speaker 1: she got all of her her stuff done. And it's
Speaker 1: amazing to see see seniors with with willpower, because I
Speaker 1: don't know if I would have been able to handle
Speaker 1: it being being a senior, being being stuck at home,
Speaker 1: being responsible for for doing home, the homeschooling, and you've
Speaker 1: got to get get your college stuff together while there's
Speaker 1: such a big world of entertainment. Come on, that's hard.
Speaker 1: So good job, Thank you. But the one good thing
Speaker 1: I will say that out of the pandemic for me
Speaker 1: is that the s E T a CT were canceled.
Speaker 1: And I'm a terrible test taker, So that was the
Speaker 1: one way I was like, thank goodness, because I just can't.
Speaker 1: I'm not a test taker. My brain doesn't work that way,
Speaker 1: and not everyone brains does. I mean, that's a whole
Speaker 1: different conversation in terms of of the standardized testing. You
Speaker 1: know what what is standard? That's that's what I love
Speaker 1: about being a creatively. What is standard? Your standard is
Speaker 1: different than mine. I think a different way than you do,
Speaker 1: So you cannot be expected to be judged on my level,
Speaker 1: nor nor me on you. So judge each person as
Speaker 1: as their individual merits come up, especially when when it
Speaker 1: comes to matters of an intellectual nature. If you think
Speaker 1: about it, everybody's brain is wired differently, So why are
Speaker 1: we introducing things taking tests a certain way for every person?
Speaker 1: It just doesn't make sense because some some sometimes people
Speaker 1: like a cookie cutter. That's why the you know, the
Speaker 1: cookie that shaped differently sticks out. Um. But I find
Speaker 1: that that that, especially in what what we do, it's
Speaker 1: better to have your own point of view. It's better
Speaker 1: to learn the things that you want to learn. And
Speaker 1: that's the only piece of advice that I gave my daughter.
Speaker 1: Or she just committed to to a Loyola Marymount and
Speaker 1: I said, look, do whatever you want to do. She
Speaker 1: wants to study theater, and she got accepted in the program.
Speaker 1: It's great to do whatever you want to do, but
Speaker 1: just make sure that you are approaching it in a
Speaker 1: way that you want because ultimately, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, you know it's your your journey, and be
Speaker 1: as different as you can. Don't don't try to walk
Speaker 1: some someone else's path and and stay in the lines.
Speaker 1: And that's something I really struggled with. High school is
Speaker 1: not my biggest fan ever, um and it was you know,
Speaker 1: when I live in New York City, when you go
Speaker 1: to schools, it's what's popular, it's the way things are done.
Speaker 1: People were the same things. And I always struggled with that.
Speaker 1: And I feel like I'm at a point where I'm
Speaker 1: finally starting to embrace and realize that being different and
Speaker 1: being myself is actually a good thing instead of a negative. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: being yourself is not just a good thing, it's a
Speaker 1: great thing, and I think it's necessary but you know,
Speaker 1: this story never changes. I've been out of high school
Speaker 1: a long time and it's the same. You know, it's
Speaker 1: the same story. You want to fit in because we
Speaker 1: are social preachers, we are social animals. We we we
Speaker 1: like to be a herd. But you can be part
Speaker 1: of the herd, and you can enjoy things that other
Speaker 1: people enjoy. But at the end of the day, you
Speaker 1: don't have to lose your identity. And that's the thing
Speaker 1: that high school. I had a problem with in high
Speaker 1: school as well, until I started acting and I was
Speaker 1: exposed to so much into creativity and two people that
Speaker 1: wanted to think differently, that that wanted to color outside
Speaker 1: of the line, that wanted to do crazy characters, that
Speaker 1: wanted to have weird conversations that challenged you. That that's
Speaker 1: something I think that that you you can take with
Speaker 1: you for for the rest of your life. I always
Speaker 1: remind myself if I'm mad or upset with myself. First,
Speaker 1: I realized to stop comparing myself, because second I realized
Speaker 1: if I wasn't myself, I wouldn't have this podcast. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm glad for that, and I think everyone should embrace that.
Speaker 1: And I think social media also depicts this image where
Speaker 1: especially being a teenager in this time period where we're
Speaker 1: all on our phones, we need to just realize that
Speaker 1: it's fake and if we embrace ourselves, that's what's best
Speaker 1: for all of us. I think we didn't have social
Speaker 1: media when I was growing up, and and and and
Speaker 1: I wonder about that because my generation didn't have that pressure.
Speaker 1: But what we did have was we still have the
Speaker 1: same pressure that social media brings, except it was it
Speaker 1: was oh, what jacket are you wearing? What music are
Speaker 1: you listening to? Do you like the same things that
Speaker 1: I do? Um? Uh, those same things. But your generation
Speaker 1: is it's so much harder because you've got pictures in
Speaker 1: front of you every day saying this is how you
Speaker 1: should look, this is the best way to do your makeup,
Speaker 1: these are the artists that you should like. And if
Speaker 1: you don't like these things, then I can then you're
Speaker 1: not great. And social media is dope. It's a really
Speaker 1: wonderful way to disseminate informa shan and and to get
Speaker 1: comedy and to share experiences. But that's the downside that
Speaker 1: I don't like. And as the parent of a team,
Speaker 1: I've seen how it can influence and how it can
Speaker 1: cause a lot of distress. Yeah, and it really affects
Speaker 1: I think affected my mental health more than ever. During
Speaker 1: I think winter break of my sophomore year, I was like,
Speaker 1: I need to cut social media out. So for the
Speaker 1: entire two weeks I shut my phone off and I
Speaker 1: had so much extra time. I taught myself how to
Speaker 1: play the ukulele. Because the amount of time I was
Speaker 1: on my screen, it like my day opened up. You
Speaker 1: taught yourself to play the ukulele. Yes I did, awesome,
Speaker 1: Yes I did. It was fun. Do you have the
Speaker 1: ukulele with you right now? I don't, but those two
Speaker 1: weeks we're so lovely. I was on it. I tell
Speaker 1: myself how to play somewhere over the rainbow. That that
Speaker 1: that's a great use of time. I'm inspired now because
Speaker 1: I keep saying that I won't be able to play,
Speaker 1: and then it really well, Like I half heartedly can
Speaker 1: play play the piano enough to write. But I thought,
Speaker 1: you know the pandemic, I'll sit down and now really focus.
Speaker 1: I didn't learn to play them so so so I
Speaker 1: applaud you for your two weeks. Good job. I appreciate
Speaker 1: that it wasn't out of a place of like motivation.
Speaker 1: It was when my anxiety was at its worst. It's
Speaker 1: actually the time I created this podcast because my anxiety
Speaker 1: was so bad and I needed to take time out
Speaker 1: and really ground myself and think about what inspires me
Speaker 1: and honestly, sometimes negative situations. If I didn't have that,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have this podcast. So I think when you
Speaker 1: turn anything to a positive, you don't know what can happen.
Speaker 1: And that's what life is. And it's great, big you
Speaker 1: nailed it, and and that's why you shouldn't compare, because
Speaker 1: you end up, especially in the entertainment business, you see
Speaker 1: someone's journey and you're like, Wow, they've got X, Y
Speaker 1: and Z. Why am I not there? You're exactly where
Speaker 1: you're supposed to. The each event that has happened has
Speaker 1: led you to that place. Like when I get interviews,
Speaker 1: sometimes folks go, oh, are you saying you dance? You
Speaker 1: actually do this pick one? I go no, And it's
Speaker 1: not be being coy. It's because truly, if I didn't
Speaker 1: do any of the things that I learned to do
Speaker 1: or that are in me, we wouldn't be having this
Speaker 1: talk right now because I wouldn't have been able to
Speaker 1: do the show that got me to that place, so
Speaker 1: that we're doing this, so we just need to embrace
Speaker 1: the things that we've got and keep it moving exactly.
Speaker 1: And though I was off social media for this two
Speaker 1: weeks completely, I will say I have been on TikTok
Speaker 1: way too much because of this pandemic, and I have
Speaker 1: gone down the whole of it. It's possible, it is,
Speaker 1: And I will say I love your TikTok. I am
Speaker 1: I am entertained. How would you say that's your favorite
Speaker 1: app at the moment for social media app? Um? Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: TikTok because I like, for someone who I've I've labeled
Speaker 1: myself in the past, you know that I'm very much
Speaker 1: an introvert and I'm not an incredibly sociable person when
Speaker 1: I'm not on camera or on screen, and and there's
Speaker 1: nothing against other people. I just like my own company.
Speaker 1: So TikTok opens me to the fact that I love
Speaker 1: the TikTok community, Like I like watching people comments on
Speaker 1: each other's pictures and for the most part, they're very positive.
Speaker 1: People love seeing other people win, and that does something
Speaker 1: for me. So that's why I do like that that app.
Speaker 1: And if you'd have told me before the pandemic that
Speaker 1: I would enjoy TikTok. I would have laughed at you.
Speaker 1: In fact, I did laugh when when my daughter first
Speaker 1: brought it up to me my league and she said, oh,
Speaker 1: let's do a TikTok, Like, what, what the hell's it is? Now?
Speaker 1: It's silly, I'm grown right, but but it's fun. It
Speaker 1: really is. And I was hesitant for a while because
Speaker 1: when I was like thirteen, I got into musically, which
Speaker 1: is like what it was, and I would spend hours
Speaker 1: doing these hand motions whatever it was, and it was
Speaker 1: just I was hesitant to go back down that hole.
Speaker 1: But I'm glad I did because it when you there's
Speaker 1: a good and bad to every app of course, but
Speaker 1: when you find the positive side of it, it's so
Speaker 1: much fun. The editing is cool and and jumping on
Speaker 1: the dance challenges are great, and I love watching people
Speaker 1: use it to be creative. I think that's what TikTok
Speaker 1: is really exploded into. The Creativity on TikTok is great. There.
Speaker 1: The comedy on TikTok is great, and you can find
Speaker 1: anything you want. It's almost like if you like battle rap,
Speaker 1: there are people doing battle rap. If you like Polly TikTok.
Speaker 1: Then then then there's an amazing Polynesian TikTok and all
Speaker 1: the cultural dances. If you like modern dance or jazz,
Speaker 1: if you like comedy, a news TikTok, the socially conscious feed.
Speaker 1: It's it's really opened my eyes to social media. So
Speaker 1: I've stopped being angry and going I'm not going on
Speaker 1: social media blah blah blah. Now I truly enjoy it,
Speaker 1: and I will say I've been very inspired on there.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've heard of Emily and Abigail.
Speaker 1: They created bridget In the musical where they love it.
Speaker 1: It's great we had so we had them on this
Speaker 1: podcast and it's they're doing it all in their house
Speaker 1: and they just finished the concept album. I'm like, that's
Speaker 1: incredible your generation. I'm telling you, I'm so proud of
Speaker 1: you guys. Because TikTok um I was involved in Ratatui
Speaker 1: the Musical and it started off the same way. It
Speaker 1: was a concept, and all of a sudden, the community
Speaker 1: ran with that concept and the next thing you know,
Speaker 1: you have something where all these Broadway stars where we're
Speaker 1: all online doing Ratitui the Musical, and now bridgets in
Speaker 1: the musical has a concept album, and all these people
Speaker 1: have tuned into it. TikTok is changing the way that
Speaker 1: we view getting things done. In response to your first
Speaker 1: question about handling the pandemic, I think that's the coolest
Speaker 1: thing that I've seen. The pandemic has shown me, and
Speaker 1: you're a perfect example of it. Just because your circumstances,
Speaker 1: you're stuck here and you can't do something outside, you go,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm going to get this done and
Speaker 1: it happens. That's amazing to me. You don't need to
Speaker 1: wait for anyone to make something happen, So that's off.
Speaker 1: I think one of the biggest things is that for
Speaker 1: a lot of people with my generation, we don't necessarily
Speaker 1: ask permission to do something. We do it and then
Speaker 1: whatever comes from it comes from it. Yeah, we've been
Speaker 1: going through the pandemic for about a year and a
Speaker 1: half now, and the pandemic mixed with social media, it
Speaker 1: can affect your mental health in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: We have to take a quick break, but when we
Speaker 1: come back, I want to talk to you about the
Speaker 1: cocktail of the pandemic and mental health and how you've
Speaker 1: been dealing with it. We'll be right back, and we're back.
Speaker 1: Let's get into the pandemic and mental health. First off,
Speaker 1: how are you doing? I mean, I suppose it's been
Speaker 1: like everyone in the sense of I and the rest
Speaker 1: of my family. We engage in therapy regularly, so we
Speaker 1: have so we make it a point to reach out
Speaker 1: to our therapists and we talk. We talked to each other.
Speaker 1: We have family therapy and we have individual therapy. And
Speaker 1: years ago, I kind of thought that therapy was, you know,
Speaker 1: the the old thing is, I'm not sicker, I'm not crazy.
Speaker 1: Why do I need therapy? And use those words that
Speaker 1: are very, very rough, you know about therapy, until I
Speaker 1: really realized the therapy it's simply a way of you talking,
Speaker 1: and and the more you can talk and share, you
Speaker 1: can lighten that load, not just for yourself but for
Speaker 1: someone else. So my mental health, I'd like to think
Speaker 1: it was decent because I kept using those tools which
Speaker 1: in a place where we were shut down, you couldn't
Speaker 1: have any interaction with your friends or family. I didn't
Speaker 1: see my mom for a year and a little bit.
Speaker 1: Um it can get dark, and I know that that's
Speaker 1: what Whether you're a teenager, you're an adult or whatever.
Speaker 1: You need that sense of connection, so we really dug
Speaker 1: into the therapy to keep our sense of connection and
Speaker 1: sense of self. I've been going to therapy on and
Speaker 1: off since I was I think seven, and I don't
Speaker 1: understand why there's a stigma with it, because just like
Speaker 1: with exercising your body, it's exercising your mind and becoming
Speaker 1: the best person you can. If you have more strategies
Speaker 1: to help you if you have anxiety or depression or
Speaker 1: O c D, like, utilize those because it can really help.
Speaker 1: Well that that wasn't the narrative, you know, the weird narrative.
Speaker 1: I think the narrative about your mental health goes hand
Speaker 1: in hand with the outdated thing of telling little boys
Speaker 1: to to act like men. I'm telling girls to to
Speaker 1: be a lady. There are all these outdated modes of
Speaker 1: thinking that have been passed from generation to generation, and
Speaker 1: the mental health peace was one of it. Is like,
Speaker 1: it's okay to be physically strong and to suck it up.
Speaker 1: Man up, that's what you heard a lot, man up?
Speaker 1: Man up? Well what does that mean? What does that mean?
Speaker 1: Or like do you play like a girl? It's like, okay,
Speaker 1: I what is that supposed to be men sold I
Speaker 1: am a girl, right those those those are so outdated.
Speaker 1: So I think I think once again, your generation is
Speaker 1: part of the push to change all of those narratives,
Speaker 1: to show that therapy isn't a dirty word. It isn't
Speaker 1: to be stigmatized. You. You are not to be shunned it.
Speaker 1: You shouldn't be afraid of telling your friends, oh, I
Speaker 1: may be in mental distress without it being a thing.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's It should be just as commonplace. You're
Speaker 1: right as going to the gym, Like I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: to the gym, and then after the gym, I'm going
Speaker 1: to my therapist because I'm going to work out here
Speaker 1: here and here, you know exactly, And you know, I
Speaker 1: remember the thing in the beginning of high school, I
Speaker 1: didn't tell anyone I went to therapy, and some of
Speaker 1: my old friends their parents um said it was for
Speaker 1: the crazy. So if I ever brought it up, it
Speaker 1: was for the crazy. So I didn't tell anybody, and
Speaker 1: I think that brought a little bit of shame to it.
Speaker 1: But when I realized how much I was growing as
Speaker 1: a person and other people weren't, it just made me
Speaker 1: realize Okay, I'm doing what's right for me. If they're not,
Speaker 1: that's their issue, right, It's health. Yeah, that's why it's
Speaker 1: mental health. It's so weird to me that there is
Speaker 1: not a stigma in everyone's head about smoking or doing
Speaker 1: some something that can damage your body, but there's stigma
Speaker 1: about getting health, health and healthy forward for your mind
Speaker 1: and your heart. For example, jeweling right, social media and
Speaker 1: teams they normalize and be like, oh, I'm just going
Speaker 1: to hit the jewel and so that became normal and
Speaker 1: not a bad thing. So why don't we just normalize
Speaker 1: therapy whereas actually, because it's that's actually normal, and don't
Speaker 1: do that with things that aren't good for you. Well,
Speaker 1: you're a part of that conversation by you having this
Speaker 1: talk right now, and you're using your platform, you're a
Speaker 1: part of the normalization process to your peer group. So
Speaker 1: that's why why we need conversations like this. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: that's what I set out to do with this podcast.
Speaker 1: You know, I feel like there's so much fakeness, and
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of the time there are so
Speaker 1: many media trained answers and things are so protected. But
Speaker 1: if we're just have an honest conversation and it helps
Speaker 1: one person feel less alone, Like, think of what that
Speaker 1: could do. Yeah, that's why I just realize. I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: like the name of your podcast, that's the thing, you know,
Speaker 1: Let's be real. That's what it is. That that that
Speaker 1: if you can just cut to the chase of of
Speaker 1: be be real with with where where you are mentally,
Speaker 1: be real with the fact that if you need help,
Speaker 1: be real with how you're feeling. No, nothing bad can
Speaker 1: come out of you truly connecting with your feelings. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And it's also it's okay to not be okay all
Speaker 1: the time. I think that's important to Yeah, yes, just
Speaker 1: say that. And that's fine because we're are new changes,
Speaker 1: you know. Ah, thank goodness for for you man. That's
Speaker 1: really we need this message spread far and wide and
Speaker 1: it has to come out just as naturally as all
Speaker 1: the other stuff that we end up spreading on social media.
Speaker 1: So so for so feel like to me that if
Speaker 1: somebody wants to be an influencer, you know, no, no,
Speaker 1: that every young person wants to be an influencer in influence,
Speaker 1: this influence, mental health, influence, being able to connect and communicate. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a good thing. And I think the other thing
Speaker 1: that's so interesting is to normalize something is important. But
Speaker 1: sometimes if you don't, especially on TikTok or social media,
Speaker 1: people are like, I'm having an anxiety attack. It's like, no,
Speaker 1: you're anxious. There's a difference, and I think when people
Speaker 1: don't distinguish that it takes away from people who are
Speaker 1: actually struggling. So there's a balance with everything. Well, it's education.
Speaker 1: So if we normalize everything, and if we have the
Speaker 1: discussions about mental health, then people will know the difference
Speaker 1: between that they too. They will know how to communicate
Speaker 1: in the language of therapy. They will know how to
Speaker 1: talk about how they feel right now, because it's not common.
Speaker 1: People are just taking their best stabs at it. That's
Speaker 1: why why they say saying things like that. I will
Speaker 1: say something that's helped me with my anxieties distraction. When
Speaker 1: I'm distracted, I don't worry about my thoughts and I
Speaker 1: will say I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes when I've been
Speaker 1: really anxious, I do watch whose lines it anyways, and
Speaker 1: it actually does really help distract me and it brings
Speaker 1: me some laughter. Right up, I have some questions for
Speaker 1: you regarding that, so I know it's all on the spot.
Speaker 1: But do you not have any preparation at all? No,
Speaker 1: there's no preparation none. That's beyond amazing to me. I mean,
Speaker 1: besides improv and having no heads up, it's also the
Speaker 1: songs you guys create on the spot. It's genius. Thank you.
Speaker 1: You've done whose Line for many years now, what would
Speaker 1: you say your favorite memories are? There are things that
Speaker 1: we've done on whose Lines that that have touched me
Speaker 1: because of the people I've done it with, Like getting
Speaker 1: improvised with Robin Williams. That's a dream to to to
Speaker 1: be able to do things things like that with with
Speaker 1: and this is the old version, not the version that
Speaker 1: we have on the c W now, but Robin Williams,
Speaker 1: Whoopie Goldberg, to meet some of my comedy heroes. Those
Speaker 1: are the moments that I go, oh, man, I remember
Speaker 1: that that. That was completely awesome. But in terms of
Speaker 1: remembering the moments and the specific game, not necessarily because
Speaker 1: you're just having fun for us doing the show. It's
Speaker 1: like when you hang out with your friends, you're just
Speaker 1: doing the thing that's in the moment, and then it's
Speaker 1: finished and then you look at it later. I'm still
Speaker 1: surprised when when I go back and like my daughter
Speaker 1: will be watching something or a couple pop up on
Speaker 1: BuzzFeed or someone goes, hey, you look at this. I go, oh,
Speaker 1: that's really cool. Oh my gosh, that's funny as hell. Okay,
Speaker 1: so so I kind of yeah. So so that's that's
Speaker 1: my fun is being it later and being reminded of it.
Speaker 1: I find improv so interesting and so fun to watch,
Speaker 1: and from the outside looking in, you make it seem
Speaker 1: so easy, even though it is so not. My cousin
Speaker 1: actually took a couple of improv classes, that's good, and
Speaker 1: he was telling me how hard and difficult was at first,
Speaker 1: but that the more he got comfortable with it, he
Speaker 1: had a new sense of confidence. Do you remember the
Speaker 1: first time you ever improvised? No, not really, because I
Speaker 1: think it was in a class setting thing. Um. But
Speaker 1: oh but but I will say, I'm so happy for
Speaker 1: for your cousin. And even though I don't remember the
Speaker 1: first time I did it, I do remember the sense
Speaker 1: of of of confidence that does come from once it's
Speaker 1: a skill that you've started to open. And this is
Speaker 1: where people get get tripped up just because you see
Speaker 1: us do it on who's line, You aren't supposed to
Speaker 1: be able to do it. I mean like, really, when
Speaker 1: you watch a football game, are you gonna run down
Speaker 1: on the field and you mean to tell me you
Speaker 1: think right now you can play as well as any
Speaker 1: of the guys on that football team that have put
Speaker 1: in years of work. It's a it's a skill set.
Speaker 1: It's a real skill set. Do you go and you
Speaker 1: tell tell your doctor, oh, you know what the surgery
Speaker 1: thing looks like. No, it's a skill set, so first
Speaker 1: let that go. If you take an improv class, don't
Speaker 1: worry about being funny. This is the methodology that I
Speaker 1: try to tell people. It's about learning the skills that
Speaker 1: can unlock that self confidence for you, like you're saying
Speaker 1: that that your cousin has. When when I've taught in
Speaker 1: the past and there's there's a curriculum that I'm working
Speaker 1: on and I and a piece of my company that
Speaker 1: we're going to start doing doing applied improvisation to to
Speaker 1: core to businesses and this has been happening for years,
Speaker 1: I would do that, well, well, that's part of what
Speaker 1: what what we're gonna be doing and part part of
Speaker 1: what different companies have have done. It's to teach the
Speaker 1: skill set of yes and of listening, of the communication.
Speaker 1: It's not about being funny. It's to be able to
Speaker 1: give you the power to stand on stage, to be
Speaker 1: able to speak to someone. Because if you really think
Speaker 1: about the energy that it takes for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: not not everyone, because there are people who are born communicators.
Speaker 1: I'm not one of those people. The energy that it
Speaker 1: takes me to be able to start a conversation with
Speaker 1: someone that I don't know, right, Like you're starting from zero, right,
Speaker 1: it's amazing you. Oh no, I've got to talk to
Speaker 1: this person. What am I going to say? Huh? Improvisation
Speaker 1: or learning those basic tenants gives you a foundation in
Speaker 1: public speaking. You can look someone in the eyes, you
Speaker 1: can talk to them, you can make your point clearly.
Speaker 1: You you don't have to beat around the bush. You
Speaker 1: can open your mind to different avenues of thinking and quickly.
Speaker 1: The funny part, that's an that's an add on. That
Speaker 1: is a very skill specific thing, the basic skills of it.
Speaker 1: That's what I wish that because those skills are actually
Speaker 1: kind of tied into what we're talking about. Those are
Speaker 1: therapeutic skills. The the the listening piece and and the
Speaker 1: communication piece. Those are all therapeutic pieces that improv locks
Speaker 1: into what would you say your favorite go to improv
Speaker 1: exercises when I'm teaching or my favorite Uh, I think
Speaker 1: that I love any exercise that opens that opens your
Speaker 1: mind in terms of your pathways and and makes your
Speaker 1: thinking flexible. So so it can be any exercise. It
Speaker 1: just has to be something that gets you thinking. So
Speaker 1: even if it's something silly, like there's an improv because
Speaker 1: called called one Worder Time Story where you're listening to
Speaker 1: somebody else and trying to tell a story. Or this
Speaker 1: thing called Bunny Bunny Bunny where where it's a physical
Speaker 1: game where you're in a circle and you're passing a
Speaker 1: money and people are jumping around. It's it's it's big
Speaker 1: and silly, but it's designed to free you up. So
Speaker 1: those are the things I think so in a classroom setting,
Speaker 1: those are good good exercises. I loved what you said
Speaker 1: about how it's it's like the therapy exercises is communicating,
Speaker 1: is looking people in the eye. Um, you've done so
Speaker 1: much is or something you haven't done yet that you
Speaker 1: want to do the list of things that I haven't
Speaker 1: done is almost greater than the list of things that
Speaker 1: I've done. Um, I have so many things that I'd
Speaker 1: love to finish. UM and projects that i'd love to
Speaker 1: be involved in, Films that I'd love to do, roles
Speaker 1: on Broadway that I'd love to create, projects that I
Speaker 1: want to write, songs that I want to sing. I
Speaker 1: think that you should have that list until the day
Speaker 1: you lead the earth. That you should never just go ah,
Speaker 1: I'm done. You should write a musical. Have you Have
Speaker 1: you written a musical? I feel like it would be incredible.
Speaker 1: Oh well, I thank you for that voter confidence. Were
Speaker 1: We're working on a Broadway show right now that we
Speaker 1: had a development for about a year and a half
Speaker 1: to two years that will have music in it that
Speaker 1: knock on wood. That will be something that that I'll
Speaker 1: be taking a Broadway next year. But I just like
Speaker 1: telling stories, so if it happens to take the form
Speaker 1: of musical, then I would be on. I'm so excited
Speaker 1: that Broadway is coming back. It's official. Like I've seen
Speaker 1: on Instagram people like at these shows and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: but one time I want to be in New York. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Last time I was on Broadway was a was over
Speaker 1: a year and like almost a year and a half ago,
Speaker 1: when I was with Freestyle Love Supreme, I saw that
Speaker 1: Broadway come on Back, Baby. Yes. So one of my
Speaker 1: favorite things about Freestyle of Supreme is they take your
Speaker 1: phone that you can't access them. That was like that.
Speaker 1: This is refreshing, not only for the social media aspect.
Speaker 1: I love the fact that Lynn and Tommy wanted to
Speaker 1: do that. But to your question about some something like
Speaker 1: who's lying, I love the fact that that experience that
Speaker 1: you have as an audience member that night, that's it.
Speaker 1: You don't have the video, you can't go back, you
Speaker 1: can't post it. It speaks to the essence of improvisation.
Speaker 1: The thing that you like that night is only going
Speaker 1: to live on in your memory, and that is such
Speaker 1: an amazing way to present arts. My grandma's professional pianist.
Speaker 1: We grew up on musicals. Is there a certain musical
Speaker 1: that you wish you could be in on Broadway? If
Speaker 1: you could choose any musical, be any character in that musical,
Speaker 1: what would it be? Hm. I'm lucky enough that I've
Speaker 1: gotten to be in some of the musicals that I
Speaker 1: really loved, Like I was Lola and in Kinky Boots,
Speaker 1: Hamilton and Hamilton's Billy Flynn in Chicago, and and I
Speaker 1: mean I wish I was Tom Collins and Rent Uh.
Speaker 1: I wish that I could have been seaweed in hair spread.
Speaker 1: I wish that I would have been seaweed and hairspray.
Speaker 1: That that's something that yeah, yeah, I really wanted to
Speaker 1: be seaweed and hairspray. Okay, we have to take one
Speaker 1: more quick break. But when we come back, as a
Speaker 1: huge Hamilton's fan, I want to hear about your experience
Speaker 1: playing Aaron Burr in Hamilton's. We'll be right back, and
Speaker 1: we're back. Let's talk about your experience in Hamilton's. Okay,
Speaker 1: first of all, what was that? Like, I've done a
Speaker 1: lot of musicals in my life, but doing Hamilton's was
Speaker 1: the closest that you could get to being in a
Speaker 1: rock concert or a spectacle that as soon as you
Speaker 1: walk out, like starting off the show was berg. You know,
Speaker 1: we hear whether they done, done, done, my open night,
Speaker 1: you hear then, and then it's just so you can't
Speaker 1: even hear the music when to come in on how
Speaker 1: how does the Bestard Orphan sona? But you can't hear
Speaker 1: that because the audience, especially at that point because it
Speaker 1: really was just a year after the first cast, so
Speaker 1: it's still like an event. So people are watching that
Speaker 1: show like it's their favorite pop star or their favorite
Speaker 1: rapper or someone they came knowing every word so like
Speaker 1: singing along with you and looking you in the eye
Speaker 1: in the front row. You're like, I can't mess these
Speaker 1: words up because these a little sixteen year old kids
Speaker 1: will will will be mad at me after the show.
Speaker 1: It's it's amazing. It truly is one of the highlights
Speaker 1: of my career. Just amazing. When when I saw it after,
Speaker 1: I felt like I was floating. It was the weirdest experience.
Speaker 1: It was the most because you feel every emotion in
Speaker 1: that show quite everything. It's a it's a to roller coaster.
Speaker 1: I felt that Lynn Lynn has an amazing job in
Speaker 1: Tommy Tomic Kale as the director as a team. When
Speaker 1: I first saw In the Heights, I felt that way.
Speaker 1: I saw In the Heights like five times right off
Speaker 1: the bat before I ever met you met Lynn, And
Speaker 1: then in seeing Hamilton's for the first time, I felt
Speaker 1: that way. You know that you're seeing something that is new,
Speaker 1: it's broken the paradigm of what musicals are. You leave going,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I'm so inspired. I'm ready to just
Speaker 1: oh this is great. That's I felt the same way.
Speaker 1: I love that feeling. I love that feeling. It's magical,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what That's what musicals do. They
Speaker 1: tell a story in a way that when it's live,
Speaker 1: it's so incredible. Nothing like it. What would you say
Speaker 1: the best advice you've ever received is that you wish
Speaker 1: you could pass on? Um, I'd say the best advice
Speaker 1: is actually very simple advice that it's not gonna sound
Speaker 1: like it's groundbreaking, But the older I get, and the
Speaker 1: longer that I've been in business, the longer that I've
Speaker 1: been alive, it makes more sense to me. It truly
Speaker 1: is know who you are. Get to know yourself, and
Speaker 1: the reason why I think it's such good advice, and
Speaker 1: it's easier said than done, especially when you're in a
Speaker 1: business where your job is to play, make believe or
Speaker 1: it's too even if you're a personality on TV or
Speaker 1: a talk show or a podcast, you are a heightened
Speaker 1: version of yourself. If you get to know who you are,
Speaker 1: right decisions become easier. If you know the things that
Speaker 1: you like, if you know the things you don't like.
Speaker 1: If you know the people that you want around you,
Speaker 1: if you know the things that you will fight for,
Speaker 1: if you know the things you will settle for, if
Speaker 1: you know the crap you won't take. If you know
Speaker 1: those things, your decisions almost become magically easy. You don't
Speaker 1: have to stress about it. If if something is presented
Speaker 1: to you and you know I will not accept that, no,
Speaker 1: thank you, Well that's really what I want to do.
Speaker 1: I'm doing this. It took me a long time to
Speaker 1: learn myself, to become myself. And I tell that to
Speaker 1: my daughter or two young actors when I teach. I
Speaker 1: spent I think the first five years of my on
Speaker 1: TV career not knowing who I was because that wasn't
Speaker 1: the path that I thought that I would be presented.
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, I've got all these options.
Speaker 1: I wasn't prepared to go yes or no. I was like, sure, okay,
Speaker 1: I guess no. Good decisions are not made with I guess.
Speaker 1: So if you're younger and you start the process now
Speaker 1: of saying this is what I want, and it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that it's gonna stay that way, because you're gonna
Speaker 1: change who you are now, different, who you will be
Speaker 1: as some of that graduate college, who you will be
Speaker 1: at thirty, who you will be for the rest of
Speaker 1: your life. But you can keep updating that list as
Speaker 1: long as you've got a good baseline. That's the thing.
Speaker 1: Don't wait until you're thirty to start figuring out who
Speaker 1: you are. That's what I did. It was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: I guess, I guess I'll start that work now. No,
Speaker 1: get into it. That's a great piece of advice. It's
Speaker 1: so important. We should all live by that more well, lad,
Speaker 1: I can help when you're creating projects. How do you
Speaker 1: balance your vision for something while pleasing other people and
Speaker 1: trying to make something that the audience will still like.
Speaker 1: I've created a couple of shows, but I mean, I
Speaker 1: think I can speak from the perspective of working with
Speaker 1: great people who have created the shows that that I've
Speaker 1: been on. Once again, you can't you can't worry about
Speaker 1: making the audience happy. Now I say that, of course
Speaker 1: the audience has to be happy. You want to create
Speaker 1: a show that people watch, so that just goes without saying.
Speaker 1: So when I say don't worry about making the audience happy,
Speaker 1: I don't mean you creating a vacuum and go whatever.
Speaker 1: What I mean is, if you've got a story like
Speaker 1: this is the story that is going to be told,
Speaker 1: as long as the story is told masterfully, and he's like,
Speaker 1: this is the story. You're not going to make everybody
Speaker 1: happy because not everyone has the same taste. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: we sit at home all the time. There are some
Speaker 1: my favorite shows that I watched and I go, no,
Speaker 1: she shouldn't be with him. I would have had her
Speaker 1: go with the other boyfriend that she had in high school,
Speaker 1: but that wasn't the story that they told. So I
Speaker 1: think as long as you pick a lane, this is
Speaker 1: the story, and you rock with it and you go
Speaker 1: and you are fully committed to it, even if someone
Speaker 1: doesn't like it, they have to respect the effort and
Speaker 1: what it is. I completely agree with you, and I
Speaker 1: think that's something that I'm struggling with a little bit,
Speaker 1: focusing on what I want but also trying to make
Speaker 1: things marketable, what's appealing. And it's a really interesting balance.
Speaker 1: But I think you're so right, and you just have
Speaker 1: to follow your instincts. But but there is a balance,
Speaker 1: and so I think the balance starts with, you know,
Speaker 1: the marketplace. What's an idea that people would like to
Speaker 1: see present that idea, but do it your way. My
Speaker 1: dad always says, he says, you know, if everyone could
Speaker 1: do it, that it would be easy. Exactly, if everyone
Speaker 1: could do it, it would be easy. That's that sums
Speaker 1: it all up. And that goes back to whether you're
Speaker 1: at home going oh, I can't do that improv thing,
Speaker 1: or or whether you're watching How How I Met your
Speaker 1: Mother going well, that ending stuck. You didn't do it.
Speaker 1: Someone did it. Someone else put a lot of work
Speaker 1: and became an outlier to be able to crash that thing.
Speaker 1: I think also it's appreciating the art and just the
Speaker 1: journey of it. I think that's we are a lot
Speaker 1: of time as a society we focusing on We focus
Speaker 1: on the ending of something, then we forget about how
Speaker 1: wonderful the entire thing was as a whole. I feel like, yes,
Speaker 1: go ahead, speak on it. Your so good? Yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: thank you Wayne for coming on my podcast. I this
Speaker 1: conversation has really inspired me, and I'm excited good for
Speaker 1: everything that's to come. And I know you're working on
Speaker 1: a lot, and I'm excited for the possible Broadway sometime
Speaker 1: next year. Keep your eye out, it's gonna be good.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be really good. Okay, I will come many
Speaker 1: times to the show. Okay, I hold you to that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: absolutely well, thank you. It's my pleasure and I truly do.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that I got it off to to you.
Speaker 1: I support you, and I'm wishing the best for you.
Speaker 1: Go out there and kill it. Thank you guys so
Speaker 1: much for listening to the first episode of season three.
Speaker 1: I hope you guys enjoyed it. Wayne if you're If
Speaker 1: you're listening, thank you so much for coming on my podcast.
Speaker 1: I cannot express to you how surreal and special that
Speaker 1: conversation was to me. If you haven't already subscribe to
Speaker 1: the podcast, leave a comment something you like, maybe something
Speaker 1: you didn't like, suggestions for other people you want to
Speaker 1: have on. I love to read your moments. You can
Speaker 1: also DM me and follow me on Instagram at it
Speaker 1: Sammy J. That's I T S S A M M
Speaker 1: Y J A y E. I love talking to you guys,
Speaker 1: season three. Get excited, you guys. Next week I have
Speaker 1: a very special guest, a friend of mine that, trust me,
Speaker 1: you won't want to miss. I'll see you next week.
Speaker 1: By