Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Coleen Witt, and today we have very
Speaker 1: special guest actor Omar Gooding in the building. I'm very
Speaker 1: excited to have you, Thank.
Speaker 2: You, happy to be here.
Speaker 3: I'm not as excited about the dish you're gonna make
Speaker 3: me eat.
Speaker 2: Copy that come.
Speaker 1: Traditionally I ban rahmen across the board unless you're doing
Speaker 1: something crazy with it, but go ahead. You could tell
Speaker 1: our listeners what you're gonna have me eating today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, no, I mean it's it's funny because
Speaker 2: we were talking about the old fashioned cup of noodles,
Speaker 2: how it's in a styrofoam cup, and we weren't even
Speaker 2: supposed to put that in microwave as they say now,
Speaker 2: but we didn't care. We didn't care. You know, back
Speaker 2: in my I used to call it my college years
Speaker 2: when I had a lot of roommates. I never went
Speaker 2: to college, never went to college, but you know, cause
Speaker 2: I was an actor since I was nine years old.
Speaker 2: So when I was like in my twenties, I just
Speaker 2: did a movie called baby Boy. So I had a
Speaker 2: lot of roommates, you know, house full of house full
Speaker 2: of house full of fellas. And I remember I was
Speaker 2: eating a couple of noodles one day and my guy
Speaker 2: was like, yoh man, you don't put the egg in
Speaker 2: the noodles. And I said, what you what you on bumper?
Speaker 2: He said, yeah, man, the cup of noodles. All you
Speaker 2: do is you crack an egg right over the top
Speaker 2: of the cup of noodles after you pour the water in.
Speaker 2: But don't pull the water all the way up to
Speaker 2: where that line is. Just pull it up. Pour it
Speaker 2: up to the top of the noodles right right, can
Speaker 2: you Right when you can see the water, you crack
Speaker 2: a raw egg, set it right on top, throw that
Speaker 2: bad boy in there for three minutes, and watch it cook. Now.
Speaker 2: We did this before we got on air, so I
Speaker 2: remember you were looking at all. Is it gonna be running?
Speaker 2: Is it gonna be cooked? Bro?
Speaker 1: I was watching you like a kid that has never
Speaker 1: seen this project. I literally was like, oh, war like,
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to come over and do this because
Speaker 1: I'm gonna mess this up. But I watched you do
Speaker 1: this and I'm terrified.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we're taking a look inside.
Speaker 3: So we did it. Omar did it.
Speaker 1: He taught me how to put an egg in a
Speaker 1: cup of noodles.
Speaker 3: I okay, now this egg.
Speaker 1: My biggest concern, and I was kind of annoying you
Speaker 1: with this, was what the texture of this egg is?
Speaker 2: But a cook But look at that. Look at that
Speaker 2: that may got mine is a little running. Now, if
Speaker 2: it's a little running, you just dip it into that
Speaker 2: hot water and then you just steer it up and
Speaker 2: it'll cook. It'll all cook.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, this looks.
Speaker 2: See the more the more you stir it up, the
Speaker 2: more it'll cook. Now the key ingredient, because you really
Speaker 2: got to let it sit. I think we did. We
Speaker 2: let it sit long enough.
Speaker 3: Yes, yours sat mindset a little bit longer.
Speaker 2: But yeah, usually once you take it out of the microwave,
Speaker 2: you got to start chopping it up and stearing it
Speaker 2: and making that thing happen.
Speaker 3: Okay, so it's supposed to be thoroughly mixed in there.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't just like eat the
Speaker 2: raw egg off the top of the thing, like what
Speaker 2: does that? No? No, no, no, do you have to make
Speaker 2: sure that the egg After.
Speaker 3: You learn this with the noodle, do you make all
Speaker 3: your eggs with a microwave?
Speaker 2: No, not a chance, No, no, no, this is just this
Speaker 2: was this was the back end the day thing. You know,
Speaker 2: when we was lazy, We wasn't cheffing it up, you know,
Speaker 2: and having women cook for us and then figuring out
Speaker 2: how to do it ourselves and so forth and so on.
Speaker 2: We was like, okay, look, we need to eat. We're
Speaker 2: gonna be drinking tonight. Grab me that cup of noodles.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. Get you a get you
Speaker 2: an egg, set it on top. And then the key
Speaker 2: ingredient is the hot to the sizzauce. You gotta have
Speaker 2: hot to the siss ace.
Speaker 3: You're originally from La.
Speaker 2: I'm from La. Yes, born and raised. My parents were
Speaker 2: born in Harlem. My, uh, you ain't gonna do that. Oh,
Speaker 2: you're really risking it down because hot sauce is the
Speaker 2: only reason I said yes to this. You can't do
Speaker 2: hot sauce.
Speaker 3: Well, that's why I said you're from LA, because I
Speaker 3: feel like La is all about the hot.
Speaker 2: It's all about the hot to the sissauce. Yeah, you can.
Speaker 3: I put a drop in there, a drop.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, don't drop the noodle the egg when
Speaker 2: you can get down right? All right, here we go,
Speaker 2: we go break the diet on.
Speaker 3: He's on a diet guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a you know, you do the interimnute fast
Speaker 2: and you know that's how it is nowadays. You gotta
Speaker 2: stay right. You never know what that phone call is
Speaker 2: gonna be for the next project. Shirt off. Wait a minute,
Speaker 2: I've been eating a couple of noodles for the last week.
Speaker 2: Now you can do that. You want to booge it up,
Speaker 2: put it in, put it in there. Oh yeah, let's
Speaker 2: make it fancy. Hunh Yeah, noodle, gourmet egg noodle. What's
Speaker 2: a cup of noodle? Now it's bowler noodle? Okay, man,
Speaker 2: you know you mix it up a little bit and
Speaker 2: depending on how many noodles you want.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to try it with the egg peace.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you gotta get a little pee, get adventurous.
Speaker 3: Here we go. I'm gonna try it.
Speaker 2: You're I'm gonna watch you when you dry. You just
Speaker 2: kept straight faced. Okay. We don't know if she's wincing
Speaker 2: because it's hot, or she's horrified. Look at the face.
Speaker 2: Look at the face. You ain't got no chase around
Speaker 2: or you see you got the UHU just in case,
Speaker 2: gonna get you some uh You can't do it. I
Speaker 2: haven't done this in about ten years, so I'm a
Speaker 2: little nervous myself. Let me try it.
Speaker 3: Oh that's what I remember.
Speaker 2: So you didn't put enough hot sauce on it.
Speaker 3: I was sucked on a cough drop before.
Speaker 2: Are you just trying to sabotage my whole meal?
Speaker 1: I do it because all our listeners complain if I
Speaker 1: have a little bit of a cough, They're like, oh.
Speaker 2: But we're close to that pandemic still.
Speaker 3: So it's I'm gonna be honest. Yeah, the egg is
Speaker 3: not is.
Speaker 2: Not doing it for You're not an egg person.
Speaker 3: Not in my noodles.
Speaker 2: Oh man, this is taking me back. I'm about to
Speaker 2: call the homies up and started start a dice game.
Speaker 3: Look, this is a terrible way to come off a diet.
Speaker 2: Yeah no, this is right. This is shocking to here.
Speaker 2: I jog home. I ain't even gonna drive. This is it.
Speaker 2: Let me get one.
Speaker 1: Moment, right, So, yeah, your dish, I wouldn't. I would
Speaker 1: probably never do this in my free time. Again, So broke, I'm.
Speaker 2: You can afford a little bit more than the noodle.
Speaker 2: But see the color in the texture of mind. The
Speaker 2: more you mix it, the better it gets you know what,
Speaker 2: just just look like regular little noodles with without no
Speaker 2: hot talk.
Speaker 3: But it has like an egg flavor to it because
Speaker 3: you just took.
Speaker 2: A straight by to the egg, right into the egg.
Speaker 2: I don't know why you've bit the egg like that.
Speaker 2: Let's all mixed together like you have fried rice. Do
Speaker 2: you fish out the egg or you don't really eat
Speaker 2: fried rice? I love?
Speaker 1: I think it's just me mentally knowing that the egg
Speaker 1: was a little runny is messing with my brain.
Speaker 2: Yeah. See, but if you know, the more you mixed
Speaker 2: that jone up, so you gotta constantly have your hands
Speaker 2: moving at all times because the hand moving keeps mixing
Speaker 2: the flavor. Because there's flavor in there that you have
Speaker 2: to get to see that.
Speaker 3: See how look, Yeah, you can barely see your egg.
Speaker 2: You can't see the egg it's got you know, it's
Speaker 2: in there in the broth. See your broth looks a
Speaker 2: little pale too. I don't know why your broth looks
Speaker 2: so pale. Well, let's seit my broth. Look at that thig.
Speaker 3: That's because you have hot sauce.
Speaker 2: Get your hot sauce in there. That is the point
Speaker 2: for the message hot to the sissauce is the bisaus.
Speaker 2: You understand me.
Speaker 1: Take me back to what was going on in your
Speaker 1: life during this time when you're so.
Speaker 2: This time, you know, it's it's like it's bachelor life.
Speaker 2: It's bachelor life. It's it's quick meals and push ups.
Speaker 2: And you in your twenties, so you ain't got to
Speaker 2: worry about your weight. You know, you don't do none
Speaker 2: of this in your forties with two young kids. This
Speaker 2: is nah, this is two bites and that's about it.
Speaker 2: I can feel my stomach saying what are we doing already,
Speaker 2: I can feel it saying what are we doing? So
Speaker 2: I'm just I think I'm eating enough for the program. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but yeah, it was it's about twenty years ago. Twenty
Speaker 2: years ago. Like I said, I was explaining to you
Speaker 2: now behind my wife makes noodles. When we say, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, let's have some some noodles. With the way
Speaker 2: she does it is we take the ramen, we take
Speaker 2: two packets and no, but yeah, you're two packets of noodles.
Speaker 2: You take the spices out of each one, so you
Speaker 2: have two packets one cup of noodles. Throw it in there,
Speaker 2: you know, boil the water, put the noodles in It's funny.
Speaker 2: I made this the other day. It's crazy you say
Speaker 2: this and then while it's cooking, you only cook it
Speaker 2: for like, I think, two minutes. Same thing like it
Speaker 2: in here. Then you crack the egg, throw it right
Speaker 2: on top, and then you just keep stirring it, keep
Speaker 2: stirring it, and the egg cooks right there in the broth.
Speaker 2: But it's in that chili broth, so I don't have
Speaker 2: to add hot sauce to it, because.
Speaker 3: The chili flavor, the chili.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the chili, not just oh any old rama. No, No,
Speaker 2: the chili. That's the only one we use. We use
Speaker 2: two chili packets. And that that that's goodness. That's it,
Speaker 2: doesn't It tastes way better than this I had, And
Speaker 2: the egg is more Cooked're right. It doesn't look like
Speaker 2: the white. You don't see the white fleshy parts of it.
Speaker 2: It looks more like a scrambled egg.
Speaker 1: I think when Tim Chantarrong suit taped with us, I
Speaker 1: want to say he put egg in it, but he
Speaker 1: put peanut butter in it, damn well, And it was
Speaker 1: it was Tim Chantarong suit bless. And the one thing
Speaker 1: that I did like about his was that he chose
Speaker 1: a Thai flavored ramen, which I never think they had,
Speaker 1: and they put like corn and onion. And let me
Speaker 1: tell you something, I went home and try to remake
Speaker 1: it a couple of mons, and I never saw peanut.
Speaker 2: He was eating broke.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it was like a tie. They got different
Speaker 1: flavored ramins. I never noticed that, but it literally changed
Speaker 1: the game.
Speaker 3: Peanut Butter. I was like, peanut butter, Peanut butter.
Speaker 2: I won't even pretend to act like I'm gonna try
Speaker 2: that ship. I don't really like peanut butter that much,
Speaker 2: for one, and my kid has a slight allergy to it,
Speaker 2: so I think that's probably just in my brain now
Speaker 2: Reese's maybe, But then Halloween try to mess up here
Speaker 2: about all that with the Reese's cups and if I'm.
Speaker 3: Alright, no, no, no, it's sad.
Speaker 2: It was it was recalling all type of candy, finding
Speaker 2: stuff in and poison and little bugs and that, and
Speaker 2: oh yeah, they said, dude, the recism. It's too like.
Speaker 2: Now when you're watching this, hopefully you ain't still eating
Speaker 2: that candy from Halloween. Throw it out, throw it out.
Speaker 2: It gets worse.
Speaker 3: So in your twenties.
Speaker 1: You're with all these roommates, but you were acting, yes, ma'am,
Speaker 1: But you didn't have a day job.
Speaker 2: No that what what do you mean a day job
Speaker 2: with acting? Yeah, that's not a successful actor. I've been
Speaker 2: working since I was nine. Yeah. So yeah, No, when
Speaker 2: you get paid, you ain't have to do shit on
Speaker 2: the day. During the day, you sleep in, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. Acting pays well enough to where, uh
Speaker 2: you can eat noodles and go to Vegas and then
Speaker 2: uh be back to work on Monday. You know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying.
Speaker 3: But at the time you said you had roommates.
Speaker 2: Yes, I did have roommates, but I they they some
Speaker 2: of them were broke.
Speaker 3: So you were like the wealthy roomate.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly exactly. I was. There was just come live
Speaker 2: with me. I got it. The house is big enough.
Speaker 2: There's plenty of rooms. I don't need all these extra rooms.
Speaker 2: You know. We had animals, pets, and you know, women
Speaker 2: walking in and out of the doors every five minutes.
Speaker 2: You know. It was single fun life. That's what it
Speaker 2: was felt like my college years. But I was paying all.
Speaker 3: The bills, but you were paying all the bills, yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1: All right, well, kind of tell me your story starting
Speaker 1: from I guess we'll take it all the way back
Speaker 1: to when you're nine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so when I was nine years old, then we
Speaker 2: were actually broke. That was, you know, because it actually
Speaker 2: my story starts back a little further. So my father
Speaker 2: was a singer with a group called the main Ingredient.
Speaker 2: He's singing hits like everybody plays the food. Just don't
Speaker 2: want to be like everybody plays the food. Yeah. So
Speaker 2: that was my father and my mother was also a
Speaker 2: singer and they were from Harlem, raised in the Bronx.
Speaker 2: They had two kids, my oldest sister and then my brother,
Speaker 2: Cuba Gooding Junior, one year apart to the day, so
Speaker 2: they shared a birthday. Then they moved to La I
Speaker 2: was born five years later, and that makes my brother
Speaker 2: and I our gap is nine years, my sister ten years.
Speaker 2: And then a funny thing happened, not that funny. My
Speaker 2: father went to Africa during apartheid and it was a
Speaker 2: big no no for the act in the US to
Speaker 2: perform out there for them. They were telling him, don't
Speaker 2: go out there, don't support this and that whatnot. My
Speaker 2: father was like, shit, I'm gonna go wherever I want.
Speaker 2: So when he came back, he got blacklisted. They pulled
Speaker 2: his records off the Yeah, he pulled pulled his records down.
Speaker 2: He had to start pretty much start over from scratch.
Speaker 2: So be it that we were in Los Angeles. He
Speaker 2: went on the road, you know, touring, and basically he's
Speaker 2: from New York. He he basically was in New York
Speaker 2: for most time, and he would we would see him
Speaker 2: when would see him type of thing. So I wouldn't
Speaker 2: really see my father. A whole lot going up, and
Speaker 2: you know, we parents they were still together. They actually
Speaker 2: did divorce when I was around twelve years old, and
Speaker 2: then they remarried when I was eighteen years old. My
Speaker 2: father's deceased, so but yeah, no, but they did. They
Speaker 2: did remarry. Like I said, they remarried and they were
Speaker 2: together until till he passed. But yeah, so that time
Speaker 2: in between, my brother had an idea. He said, I
Speaker 2: want to become an actor. So we were living. We
Speaker 2: actually lost the houses that we were in and moved
Speaker 2: back in with my my mother's parents, my grandparents that
Speaker 2: lived in Victorville, So we stayed with them for a
Speaker 2: couple of years until my grandfather said, nah, you got
Speaker 2: to find a way, all right. So we loaded up
Speaker 2: in a Bobcat station wagon, the four of us and
Speaker 2: a great name. It was a great name by the
Speaker 2: side of you, yes exactly. So we had one of
Speaker 2: them in the car with us, and we sat out
Speaker 2: on the road and we traveled from the High Desert
Speaker 2: through Orange County and finally settled in to Luca Lake, California.
Speaker 2: We had our first apartment, and that's when it got
Speaker 2: a little better. You know. My brother kept booking small
Speaker 2: stuff and whatnot. And then when I was nine years old,
Speaker 2: I actually went in to pick up a script for
Speaker 2: him from his agent. She saw me and said, wow,
Speaker 2: you speak very clearly for a nine year old, and
Speaker 2: you got a nice bright smile, no braces. Let me
Speaker 2: send you out on some auditions and see how you do.
Speaker 2: I begged my mom. She said, all right, fine, we
Speaker 2: can try it. Why not, what's to lose? And I
Speaker 2: went on on two auditions and my first try and
Speaker 2: I booked the second one. Wow. Yeah, So and it
Speaker 2: was for a McGruff. The Crime Dog was an industrial
Speaker 2: film that gets played in the schools, right, so I
Speaker 2: kind of stayed at it. Stayed at it. I booked
Speaker 2: a movie called gold Dad. About a year later, with
Speaker 2: starring Bill Cosby, I was on a show called Webster,
Speaker 2: which was like my first speaking robe prior to the
Speaker 2: Cosby And then when I turned twelve years old, I
Speaker 2: landed a regular series role on a show called Wild
Speaker 2: and Crazy Kids for Nickelodeon. And at that time, my
Speaker 2: mother was able to quit her job and become my manager.
Speaker 2: Right at the same time, my brother's still doing his thing,
Speaker 2: and he's you know, he's getting parts like saying elsewhere
Speaker 2: and two to seven, and you know he's doing this.
Speaker 1: Did this bring your guys relationship really close? Because you
Speaker 1: were both in acting? You and your brother?
Speaker 2: Uh No, not at all. And I said, like that
Speaker 2: kind of to be funny, but that's the thing. You know,
Speaker 2: a lot of people that realized that we're actors saying
Speaker 2: why I didn't I I mean, when they realize that
Speaker 2: we're brothers, say, man, I didn't know you guys were brothers.
Speaker 2: It's not that we're not close, but it's really more
Speaker 2: like a father son relationship. As far as the gap,
Speaker 2: you know that nine years, that's like, you know, it's
Speaker 2: ten years, a whole decade, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: He's breakdancing and I'm rapping like it's it's just two
Speaker 2: different almost cultures in a way, you know. But his
Speaker 2: friends weren't my friends. Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: It was more like, you know, go get your own friends,
Speaker 2: big brother type of thing. He was real, you know.
Speaker 2: So it's like when he he left the house at eighteen,
Speaker 2: you know, so he moved out and to pursue his career.
Speaker 2: Now I'm just ten years old, eleven years old, and
Speaker 2: I'm like the man at the house because my father's
Speaker 2: out on the road, so he's never there type of thing,
Speaker 2: you know. So I just kind of grew into my
Speaker 2: own at a young age.
Speaker 1: So when you're booking these young acting roles, did it
Speaker 1: they have the things where like when you're young, your money.
Speaker 3: Gets put in a trust.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, So how was your mom able to quit her
Speaker 1: job and manage you if your money was in a trust?
Speaker 2: Not all of it, just half?
Speaker 3: Oh only hah.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, they don't put the entire money and there
Speaker 2: you got to you gotta live off something. So you know,
Speaker 2: it paid well enough. That's how good acting pace, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. So at half of it, I didn't.
Speaker 2: I wasn't able to touch until I was eighteen. The
Speaker 2: first half I was able to, you know, have bills
Speaker 2: in my name, you know what I mean. So you know,
Speaker 2: so it was you know, it was fun life, you know,
Speaker 2: and I just it just went NonStop for me. You know.
Speaker 2: So when I booked this series Wild and Crazy Kids,
Speaker 2: it ran for three years. Right when it ended, now
Speaker 2: I'm around fifteen years old. I booked a show called
Speaker 2: Hang with Mister Cooper that was on Channel seven that
Speaker 2: ran five years, took me through high school, and then
Speaker 2: right when that ended, I booked a series called hang
Speaker 2: with I mean I'm sorry, called smart Guy. Smart Guy
Speaker 2: ran for another three years. Now I'm twenty four years old. Yeah, right,
Speaker 2: so it's oh, you didn't go to college and then
Speaker 2: went in high school. I was like, I got a
Speaker 2: full time job, you know what I mean. It pays well,
Speaker 2: I got and I'm good, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So then when I was twenty four, I got a
Speaker 2: call from the late great John Singleton who called my
Speaker 2: mother because she was my manager, and he specifically told her,
Speaker 2: I made one of your sons a movie star. I'd
Speaker 2: like to make your other son a movie star as well.
Speaker 2: I have this script called Baby Boy that I want
Speaker 2: you to read. And then I read that, and it,
Speaker 2: you know, blew my mind because you know, my friends
Speaker 2: at the time, which are still my close friends that
Speaker 2: I that I kick it was still you know, we
Speaker 2: stay as touch as much as we can. We're real cats,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. And I say that like
Speaker 2: people say, hell, you grow up in the industry, So
Speaker 2: did you hang out? Do you know this? And you
Speaker 2: know this person? You know that person? I'm like, not really,
Speaker 2: I work with them and then that's that. But I
Speaker 2: don't know, I don't want them to have my back
Speaker 2: and we're out in the streets. I don't know if
Speaker 2: beon Ardo DiCaprio can fight, and I don't want to
Speaker 2: find out if he got hands. And I you know,
Speaker 2: I got got real cats behind me that you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, that I'm rolling with. So when I
Speaker 2: read the script for Baby Boy, it touched home because
Speaker 2: it wasn't my personality obviously, but I was able to
Speaker 2: draw from people that I grew up with, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean for that role. I had some similar experiences,
Speaker 2: believe it or not, you know, just being out and
Speaker 2: God was good. I escaped, you know, a few situations
Speaker 2: I used to carry guns. I got caught with that
Speaker 2: one time. It almost cost me my whole career. You know.
Speaker 2: I had one day where they said, you know, it
Speaker 2: was like twenty four hours of hell. It was like
Speaker 2: hanging with Cooper star, hanging in jail. And then I
Speaker 2: had to go, you know, show up at Warner Brothers
Speaker 2: studios and apologize everybody. And thank God through the tutelage
Speaker 2: of Mark Curry, who suggested that over the weekend he
Speaker 2: called me, said, yeah, I heard about what's going on
Speaker 2: with you. I think you should first day when you
Speaker 2: show up, you need to show these people that that's
Speaker 2: not you. You need to apologize. You know, bended me
Speaker 2: and you know, really really let them know how someonce
Speaker 2: here you are. And I did that, and it really
Speaker 2: it saved me. It really did. And you know, I
Speaker 2: appreciate him forever of that for that a little bit knowledge,
Speaker 2: because you know, if he didn't call me in tim
Speaker 2: but I probably just showed up at work and just
Speaker 2: tried to do my job and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: I've probably got a phone call saying you ain't got
Speaker 2: to show up no more, you know, But yeah, man,
Speaker 2: so you know, it's just been It's been NonStop for me,
Speaker 2: and God has been good.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I've I've had a long career, especially in television.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: I finished a series called Family Time. We did ninety
Speaker 2: one episodes of that for Bouncing Network. I just signed
Speaker 2: a deal with Disney I got a show called Saturdays
Speaker 2: that's on Disney Plus right now. We did one season
Speaker 2: of that and then that strike hit, so I don't
Speaker 2: know about the season two, but the season one is
Speaker 2: still going. Season one is still airing on on Disney Plus.
Speaker 2: You can live stream that. And that's a cool show
Speaker 2: man because it's about the roller skating culture in Chicago,
Speaker 2: so I had to learn how to roller skate. I
Speaker 2: was out of Chicago for about six months in the summer,
Speaker 2: so I didn't freeze my butt off.
Speaker 3: Chicago in the summer is amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's it was. It was amazing. It was real.
Speaker 2: Chicago's a real town. It's a real town. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, it's everything that that that they tell you about,
Speaker 2: from the pizza, the food, the culture, the people, u
Speaker 2: the danger you know. I was seeing. I mean I
Speaker 2: literally came out of my apartment one day and walked
Speaker 2: to the store and everything was roped off and the
Speaker 2: cop said, oh man, you look familiar. Man, you out
Speaker 2: of here doing the movie? I said, yeah, so what's
Speaker 2: going on over here? Somebody just jumped off the building. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they died, But listen, can I get autographic sensitized? Like
Speaker 2: he didn't bother him. I was just like, I'm getting
Speaker 2: the buck back inside. But it was, you know, it
Speaker 2: was a beautiful town other than that, you know, and
Speaker 2: it was fun. And then, you know, during the pandemic,
Speaker 2: I kind of spun into stand up comedy, which is
Speaker 2: interesting because I've always been funny and I've always done sitcoms.
Speaker 2: So I hosted a room before the pandemic actually hit
Speaker 2: in Hollywood, and it started off as, why don't you
Speaker 2: just put your name on this comedy show and we'll
Speaker 2: do the rest. So it's all mar Gooting presents such and.
Speaker 3: Such, and you're just hosting.
Speaker 2: And I'm not even hosting. I'm just presenting. So I
Speaker 2: would just show up at the beginning, welcome everybody, crack
Speaker 2: a few like, hey, how's it going all? Look at
Speaker 2: this dude over here? Things for coming right? Here comes
Speaker 2: your host, and then I just sit back and collect
Speaker 2: the job, you know what I mean so that just
Speaker 2: evolved because once you put a mic in front of me,
Speaker 2: I can't just you know, do nothing, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. I remember one time before that happened. I
Speaker 2: actually think it was during while I was doing that show.
Speaker 2: I said, hey, man, once you come down on my
Speaker 2: comedy show. I said sure, and he said, I'll send
Speaker 2: a limo for you. That's all right, fine. He sends
Speaker 2: the limos out in Redlands. So it's a long drive,
Speaker 2: and you know, he's got champagne and liquor in the limos,
Speaker 2: so you know, I'm drinking and whatnot. And we get
Speaker 2: there and we're watching the show and the show's great,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh man, it's a good show. And
Speaker 2: then the owner comes over. He says, you mind getting
Speaker 2: on stage, maybe just saying hi to everybody, you know,
Speaker 2: just just let him know you here. I was like,
Speaker 2: a little weird. I don't think I've ever seen that
Speaker 2: in the middle of a comedy show, but sure, I
Speaker 2: don't care. So we're watching, you know, another maybe fifteen
Speaker 2: twenty minutes goes by, and then I hear the whole say,
Speaker 2: coming to the stage, you got a very very very
Speaker 2: funny comedian. You guys are gonna love him. Oh, he
Speaker 2: is just outstanding. You've seen him, you know. He just
Speaker 2: happened to be in the building. So he's gonna come
Speaker 2: up here and give y'all a little taste. Man, he's really
Speaker 2: really funny. Are y'all ready for that? And I started
Speaker 2: looking around, like, man, I can't wait to see what
Speaker 2: this is. You know, I like surprises. You know. He's
Speaker 2: like I've seen him in Hanging with Mister Cooper. You've
Speaker 2: seen him in Smart Guy, You've seen him in Baby Boy.
Speaker 2: I was like, I must know him. He's been in
Speaker 2: half the stuff I've been in. Who is this dude?
Speaker 2: He's been?
Speaker 3: Was your wife with you?
Speaker 1: Was she looking at b This was before that, before
Speaker 1: I even got married.
Speaker 2: That's so long ago. It was and it was fun
Speaker 2: and then she he called me up. And when I
Speaker 2: got on stage, you know, I just it was a
Speaker 2: ham So I just I just started talking about stuff.
Speaker 2: The light was bright. I was like, damn, it's right
Speaker 2: up here. What is an interrogation? You know? People start laughing.
Speaker 2: And then I got on a roll and I'm feeling
Speaker 2: good and they kept laughing. And then I hit that
Speaker 2: wall because I said, man, I'm surprised y'all to laugh
Speaker 2: with all these hicks in here. I adn't think nobody
Speaker 2: be laughing. And it looked like and it got quiet
Speaker 2: like that, and I was like, anybody see baby boy?
Speaker 2: And it was like, yeah, we started cheering. I jumped
Speaker 2: off stage.
Speaker 3: Okay, so nice, say nice, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So everyone's like, why'd you get off? I was like,
Speaker 2: that's not what I do. I just you know, I
Speaker 2: just tried it. But now it's it's evolved, you know.
Speaker 2: I would when I do stand up or when I
Speaker 2: do regular comedy, like I mentioned I did a family
Speaker 2: time uh for Wolf ninety one episodes, I would bring
Speaker 2: up punch up writers who were stand up comedians because
Speaker 2: we would film without a live audience, and when you
Speaker 2: don't have a live audience, you you still need that energy, yeah,
Speaker 2: because you don't want to tell a joke and then
Speaker 2: me go to the next joke. You need to like
Speaker 2: you need to leave room for the laugh tracks, right,
Speaker 2: So I like, I would have comedians help me come
Speaker 2: up with new punchlines for every joke, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean? So if we did we do a scene
Speaker 2: we're talking about noodles in this and that boom when
Speaker 2: I say something Tommy's noodles a nasty and everybody laughs.
Speaker 2: All right, we're gonna do it again. When I say
Speaker 2: noodles would laugh nasty. No one's gonna laugh because they
Speaker 2: just heard that. So I need something fresh for the
Speaker 2: next joke, for the next take round and we do
Speaker 2: take after take after takes. So anyway, so I got
Speaker 2: used to writing jokes and writing new punchlines and so
Speaker 2: forth and song.
Speaker 3: But so you weren't just acting, you were writing too.
Speaker 2: I was writing. So I was a producer and a
Speaker 2: writer on that show. Yeah, exactly. So so that was
Speaker 2: a that was that was my first voya into producing.
Speaker 2: And uh so what happened is I would always I
Speaker 2: wouldn't really practice my jokes. I would just save them
Speaker 2: and then spring them on everybody so that they were fresh.
Speaker 2: So as I transitioned into stand up, I realized that
Speaker 2: you need a team. I always think about Kevin Hart
Speaker 2: and the Red Cup Boys, how he has his group
Speaker 2: of guys and I'm sure they run jokes past each
Speaker 2: other and that you know, he has a team that
Speaker 2: helps them. The last time that I saw Kevin Hart
Speaker 2: was before he really really took off and he was
Speaker 2: at I believe it was the comedy store, and I
Speaker 2: saw him out the lobby and we were talking with
Speaker 2: just me and a couple of fellas, and we're all laughing,
Speaker 2: and he's getting ready to go on, and he just
Speaker 2: starts talking about things and bringing up certain things, and
Speaker 2: everything you're saying was just funny. We were all just
Speaker 2: laughing at it. That out he's all right, man, I'm
Speaker 2: about to get on stage. It's all right, man, good luck.
Speaker 2: And then twenty minutes later he gets up and everything
Speaker 2: he said on stage was all of the stuff that
Speaker 2: he was practicing with us before he got on.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: So he was rehearsing his jokes and running them by
Speaker 2: us to see if they were funny and if it
Speaker 2: don't work, and then.
Speaker 3: In a regular conversation, in a regular.
Speaker 2: Convers and I said, Oh, that's how you do it.
Speaker 3: So that's different. I never heard a comedian doing that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I mean, you trust me, they do it
Speaker 2: and you don't know. So if you see a comedian
Speaker 2: before he's about to go on and he's just shooting
Speaker 2: the breeze with you and talking and stuff, and he's
Speaker 2: gonna be funny, he's a comedian, you know. Plus he's
Speaker 2: getting ready to go on stage, so he's working out stuff.
Speaker 2: He's working jokes out on you, and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: that is brilliant. So my sister, who shout out to
Speaker 2: April Gooding this was about, oh goodness, is probably about
Speaker 2: seven years ago, she tells us. Because she wasn't in
Speaker 2: the business, she kind of did like a role here
Speaker 2: or there. I think she everybody hates Chris and a
Speaker 2: couple other little sitcoms whatever, And she said, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: start doing stand up and me and my brother were terrified,
Speaker 2: like are you kidding me? Like you're funny, but don't
Speaker 2: just jump in the stand up. She's like, no, trust me,
Speaker 2: come support me. I have a show at the Improv.
Speaker 2: And we're like, oh my god. So we were just
Speaker 2: nervous as hell, and we sat there the whole show
Speaker 2: and everybody that got up was okay. And then she
Speaker 2: got up and she killed it. We were like, oh,
Speaker 2: thank god. And she was so funny. And then after
Speaker 2: she got off, the next person up with Seinfeld. I
Speaker 2: was like, girl, you opened up for Seinfeld on your
Speaker 2: first time, Like, how the hell did you do that?
Speaker 2: And she told me. She took a class and in
Speaker 2: this class they showed her how to build her set,
Speaker 2: her comedy set.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 2: So like the first week of the class, she would
Speaker 2: come up with five jokes. I got a joke about
Speaker 2: rom and I got joke about sage a noodle, something
Speaker 2: about eggs. You try every joke. The ones that work
Speaker 2: you keep, and then the next week you start with
Speaker 2: some new ones. Okay, right, you try those new ones,
Speaker 2: and it's just process of elimination until you build yourself
Speaker 2: a whole set. So you know, that's what I've been
Speaker 2: doing over this last during the strike, which is funny.
Speaker 2: I had started, Uh you heard about the Montgomery brawl. Yeah, right,
Speaker 2: that happened with the dude with the hat. He threw
Speaker 2: the hat in the air and everybody came fighting and
Speaker 2: jumped in the water and all that. Oh my god,
Speaker 2: it was brilliant. You gotta you guys haven't seen it.
Speaker 2: I don't know where you've been living, but you gotta
Speaker 2: go google the Montgomery I s. Yeah, yeah, So I
Speaker 2: did this bit where I walked him. Remember he had
Speaker 2: on a white shirt and on some black shorts and
Speaker 2: and and and a hat. So I did a bit
Speaker 2: where we started our scene where we started our show.
Speaker 2: We had a white guy. First, white guy opens up
Speaker 2: and he does his set and he's great and he
Speaker 2: finishes all you guys, makes no noise for omar goodding,
Speaker 2: and okay, hey, all right, I have ever seen me do
Speaker 2: standard hords that they're curious And I walk out and
Speaker 2: I whisper and I tell him you got to go
Speaker 2: that way, and he goes, no, I want to walk
Speaker 2: this way. No, no, no, bro, you got to you
Speaker 2: gotta walk on that way. He says, no, I want
Speaker 2: to go this way. I said, cut the music, and
Speaker 2: I take my hat and I throw it in the air.
Speaker 2: So when I threw it and everybody fell out laugh
Speaker 2: and he walks off the stage. And then I start
Speaker 2: my routine. So once you know, hit him in the
Speaker 2: mouth off jump, it was easy. And then I talked
Speaker 2: about the narrator in the video and so forth and
Speaker 2: so on and all that stuff. So that was the
Speaker 2: beginning of my set, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 2: then I also have a show. So I do a
Speaker 2: show every other Wednesday called Funny AF Comedy Show. So
Speaker 2: right now it's at the Culture Lounge in downtown La. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so it's every second Wednesday of the month, So today,
Speaker 2: the twenty ninth, I on the win this air or
Speaker 2: if they're watching it live or whatever the case is.
Speaker 2: But yeah, come on down and check it out and
Speaker 2: you'll see now it's evolved too. I have my host
Speaker 2: do his whole thing. We run through the whole show,
Speaker 2: and then I just close it like a headliner. So
Speaker 2: I'll do like ten fifteen minutes at the end, and
Speaker 2: I'll just you know, I'll spend the night picking off jokes,
Speaker 2: you know, doing the old Kevin Hart getting getting some material,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean saying, some live, fresh material,
Speaker 2: because I'm also good at improv. And that's where's at.
Speaker 2: And I also have a tour that I'm doing called
Speaker 2: the We out Here Comedy Event, which started in San Antonio.
Speaker 2: That's the one that I told you about where I
Speaker 2: did the hed of Here. We did four shows out there.
Speaker 2: We did another four shows in Atlanta. I just came
Speaker 2: back from Arkansas. We did some shows on the ninth.
Speaker 2: We will be in Come on, brain, don't fail me now.
Speaker 2: Not Midland is in Midland, Texas well. Anyway, if you
Speaker 2: follow me online Omar Gooding, you can check the link
Speaker 2: in my bio and I have all my show dates
Speaker 2: and now how.
Speaker 3: Are you juggling your comedy with your acting?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just I'm scatter brained.
Speaker 4: I need it.
Speaker 2: I'm adhd. I'm just it's you know, also do music.
Speaker 2: I dropped the album, I be writing, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: producing a new film that we're filming out in Atlanta.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be one of the leads in that. So
Speaker 2: it's just a schedule. It's just, you know, I just
Speaker 2: put it on my calendar and try not to forget it.
Speaker 2: I'll do this, we'll finish this interview, I'll get a
Speaker 2: power nap, and then I'll get ready for my show tonight.
Speaker 2: Over the weekend, I got a one day gig and
Speaker 2: what is this? I think we're going to be in Glendale.
Speaker 2: And it's just, you know, it's just one thing after
Speaker 2: another for me. I've been doing my whole life forty
Speaker 2: seven years old, started at nine, So it's not it's
Speaker 2: not difficult to try to figure out with that whole journey.
Speaker 1: Was there every any points where there was dips like
Speaker 1: dips or struggles?
Speaker 2: Definitely, And there was definitely struggles, just the lulls, and
Speaker 2: it one just staying relevant. You know a lot of people,
Speaker 2: especially if you start off as a child actor nine
Speaker 2: years old. You show a picture of me nine, people
Speaker 2: always say you don't age. Yeah, right, show up picture
Speaker 2: of me at nine, side by side with me at
Speaker 2: forty seven with a couple of gray hairs. Pop up.
Speaker 2: I may a shaved and I look young or youthful
Speaker 2: or whatever. But just reinventing yourself, staying current without pushing
Speaker 2: it or looking like you're trying to just keep up
Speaker 2: with everybody, you know what I mean. So I found
Speaker 2: a way to just kind of stand my lane, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. Like a lot of actors feel
Speaker 2: like they have to do certain roles. They have to,
Speaker 2: for lack of a better example, put on the dress,
Speaker 2: so to speak, you know what I mean. So like
Speaker 2: with me, is I know which roles I can do.
Speaker 2: I know which lanes I can stay And people said, well,
Speaker 2: damn me, like you do havey You played the thug,
Speaker 2: I played a doctor, I played a dad. I played
Speaker 2: the sun. Like you can do just about anything, just
Speaker 2: about you want to know what an actor is? My
Speaker 2: brother Cuba Gooding Jr. Now that man can play any
Speaker 2: damn thing. That's why you can see him in snow
Speaker 2: Dog's Boat Trip, Radio Men of Honor, you'd I mean,
Speaker 2: that'll be five different things. I've tried just about everything.
Speaker 2: Just about that, I said, oh, you know, like something
Speaker 2: like radio mentally challenging. I tried it, but it wasn't
Speaker 2: in my wheelhouse. When I left the audition room, they
Speaker 2: were laughing. I'm like, this wasn't a comedy. Why are
Speaker 2: they giggling? You know? And I knew to stay off
Speaker 2: that path, you know, so I pretty much just no
Speaker 2: my land.
Speaker 1: Someone told me recently at a party this past weekend
Speaker 1: that acting requires like so if it's like a comedic
Speaker 1: rom com, it's a certain style acting. And if it's
Speaker 1: there's like certain styles of acting within each genre.
Speaker 2: Sure, sure yeah. I mean you know it's funny too
Speaker 2: when you say that, because when I started, I did
Speaker 2: sitcoms in the nineties and it was more like vaudeville.
Speaker 2: It was more animated. Everything was super funny and doing
Speaker 2: these facials hold on this, no, no, no, blah. But then
Speaker 2: as it evolved, you know, I always give my hats
Speaker 2: off to John Singleton because he helped me turn the
Speaker 2: corner in that regard. There was you know, we were
Speaker 2: talking about struggles initially in your question, And I always
Speaker 2: wanted to do movies. I always wanted to be taken
Speaker 2: serious and serious roles. But even though if I auditioned
Speaker 2: and I did well in the audition, they would look
Speaker 2: at my credits and my name, what I'm known for,
Speaker 2: and the producers would go, now we'll go with somebody that's,
Speaker 2: you know, already known for drama. So once I did
Speaker 2: Baby Boy, excuse me, I was then taken serious for
Speaker 2: serious roles. For lack of a better word, you know,
Speaker 2: so comedy, my comedy has evolved into just being more natural,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. So back in the day,
Speaker 2: it was, like I said, it was more animated and
Speaker 2: comedic and you know and arkle and that type of thing. Yea,
Speaker 2: And now it's just just natural comedy. And you say
Speaker 2: something and then you laugh as opposed to here comes
Speaker 2: a joke.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So you know, there is that. There's the sitcom actor.
Speaker 2: There's plays, you know, dramatic where you have to project
Speaker 2: and acting you kind of you ham it up just
Speaker 2: a little bit more. But you also want to be natural,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. There's dramas I did a
Speaker 2: during the I bring up the pandemic a lot, because
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it's a big deal recently obviously
Speaker 2: changed everyone's lives. But during the pandemic, right before it started,
Speaker 2: I negotiated to do a film called Am Radio Right
Speaker 2: And when every time I posted about it, people thought
Speaker 2: I had like an AM radio talk show and I
Speaker 2: was like, no, it's a movie about a recluse that
Speaker 2: started in FM radio and he had a meltdown and
Speaker 2: then you know, was given a second chance on AM radio.
Speaker 2: So it deals with mental health, being alone, feeling alone,
Speaker 2: and it's also a love story and I really got
Speaker 2: to hone in on my serious acting, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. So it's a drama for sure, but it's
Speaker 2: also funny because I can't do anything without making a
Speaker 2: joke here there. And we scaled down the budget all
Speaker 2: the way so that we can just film it with
Speaker 2: a skeleton crew. A shout out to Ricky Burschell, who's
Speaker 2: a film director out of Tennessee who is phenomenal. And
Speaker 2: he came up with the script that he had actually
Speaker 2: wrote for another actor. But during the pandemic, this and
Speaker 2: that happened, the guy couldn't do it, and I said,
Speaker 2: I'll do it. I'm ready to get out the house
Speaker 2: been too much. So we went out. I flew out
Speaker 2: to Tennessee and we filmed it in like two weeks
Speaker 2: and it was brilliant. Man. You know, if you ever
Speaker 2: get a chance to watch it, check out AM radio.
Speaker 3: Can we get it?
Speaker 2: You can see it on I'm sure it's on two B,
Speaker 2: It's on Amazon Prime, it's pretty much everywhere streaming is. Now.
Speaker 3: Were you you were also producing on it or just act.
Speaker 2: I'm a producer as well on there. I helped with
Speaker 2: the editing, you know, it was it.
Speaker 3: Was it was fun being helped with the editing.
Speaker 2: The editing.
Speaker 3: I mean, they said, you were actually editing.
Speaker 2: I didn't like push the button. I gave my input
Speaker 2: put it that way. So they sent me like they
Speaker 2: would send me the first raft and I said, can
Speaker 2: we change this? And we moved this scene? Maybe you can,
Speaker 2: you know, because there was something in there that I
Speaker 2: just I felt like it was just going to make
Speaker 2: people think about the movie in the wrong way. And
Speaker 2: we actually edited it out and replaced it with like
Speaker 2: a flashback. And it was fun. It was fun, and
Speaker 2: it was it was just fun to be on that
Speaker 2: side of it and giving my input after being in
Speaker 2: the business for so long, and that's what started me saying,
Speaker 2: you know, I have to be on the produce the
Speaker 2: production side of every film that I'm in because sometimes,
Speaker 2: and this will happen a lot too. People call me
Speaker 2: the King of two B right now because people will
Speaker 2: call me and say, yo, how much what's your day rate?
Speaker 2: All can I get you for a day in my
Speaker 2: film out here? And blah blah blah, Like h sounds
Speaker 2: like an easy job. You fly out of town, you know,
Speaker 2: first class accommodations, They give you what you want, pay wise,
Speaker 2: your film for one day and then you're done. But
Speaker 2: then when people go on to B they say starring
Speaker 2: Omar Goode and they think I'm all through the film
Speaker 2: and it's like one or two scenes that they shot
Speaker 2: in that one day. And then I look at the
Speaker 2: film and the quality of the film and I'm like, man,
Speaker 2: I should have pushed to be a producer on the
Speaker 2: film so that I can give my input. Let me
Speaker 2: see the final product before this thing is released to
Speaker 2: the world, so that I can help you out, you know,
Speaker 2: you know, just just just the transitioning, maybe the music,
Speaker 2: scoring a little bit everythingcause there's so many things that
Speaker 2: go into to making a successful film.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: Wow. So where do you see yourself comedy wise now
Speaker 1: that you're entering Well, you've been in the comedy arena,
Speaker 1: But like most comics, I think it takes like an
Speaker 1: average of like ten years before they're really where they.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, it's funny. It's kind of
Speaker 2: like it depends on where it goes opportunity wise, because
Speaker 2: there's so many things that you can do. I mean,
Speaker 2: I think the top everyone I was, Oh, you want
Speaker 2: your special. You know you're a one hour special on Netflix.
Speaker 2: You know you say an hour and I go, damn
Speaker 2: an hour. You know, a long five minutes is of
Speaker 2: stand up comedy. That's a lot, you know. When I
Speaker 2: went on stage, and it's funny because what I would
Speaker 2: always do. I started off as a presenter, right, which
Speaker 2: was like something that I invented. I felt like because
Speaker 2: I just I walk out. I think about Russell Simmons
Speaker 2: when he would just come on at the end of
Speaker 2: Death Comedy gen and say thank you will come and
Speaker 2: God blessed good night. Right, So that was gonna be
Speaker 2: my role. But I started at the beginning of the
Speaker 2: show rather than at the end. Now, if anybody knows
Speaker 2: anything about stand up comedy, the hardest part is the beginning. Yeah,
Speaker 2: because people just getting there ain't nobody full of liquor.
Speaker 2: You know, they want to laugh, but they're just say, man,
Speaker 2: I'd be warmed up just yet. So to get a
Speaker 2: crowd ready to laugh, there's a tough spot, you know.
Speaker 2: That takes a special skill in itself. I was just
Speaker 2: jumping out trying that at first, and then I transitioned
Speaker 2: into hosting, which was also fun because it's the same
Speaker 2: idea where you welcome people there. He told them what's
Speaker 2: going to go on a joke over here and there.
Speaker 2: But it's easy. You kind of have a safety net
Speaker 2: because if you run out of material or if you
Speaker 2: feel a little stale, you just say, all right, let
Speaker 2: me bring your first comic cup. Yeah, and then you
Speaker 2: jump off stage. Yeah, you know, and then in between
Speaker 2: comics it's the same type of thing. How you guys
Speaker 2: feeling that guy was funny? Right? Do you talk about this? Yeah?
Speaker 2: That is crazy? All right, let's bring your next comic cup?
Speaker 2: You know. So I did that in San Antonio. I'm
Speaker 2: a man, Charles Allen. I got a shout out, you
Speaker 2: got to shout out Charles allen Man because he's He's
Speaker 2: really the reason why I do stand up now. He said,
Speaker 2: why don't you try just doing a set at the
Speaker 2: end of the show. And my initial response was hell no,
Speaker 2: Like that's.
Speaker 3: A lot of pressure and how long was the set
Speaker 3: that he was saying?
Speaker 2: So he said, do do a set? You know, because
Speaker 2: when we did the when I did the hosting the
Speaker 2: first night, I did the hosting, so I was up
Speaker 2: for maybe six minutes at the beginning, and then I
Speaker 2: do maybe a minute and a half in between tween
Speaker 2: each person. But it was new material, you know. I
Speaker 2: would come up and I'd look at my jokes that
Speaker 2: I wrote, and I said, I'm try this one. I
Speaker 2: come on, hey, what's up over anybody married? I do
Speaker 2: a marriage Joe? Oh, that pandemic was crazy, right, you
Speaker 2: couldn't call froun nobody el yet. But I'm gonna try that. Joe,
Speaker 2: try that joke. And he said, just put them all
Speaker 2: together and do a set. So I said, I'll try it,
Speaker 2: and boy, it was nerve wracking. I've been nervous in
Speaker 2: about thirty years. But I got up there and I
Speaker 2: felt like it went fast, and I got off. I said, man,
Speaker 2: I only did ten minutes. He said, bro, you was
Speaker 2: up there for eighteen minutes. I was like eighteen minutes.
Speaker 2: He said, yeah, I got the footage, watch it back.
Speaker 2: And then when I watched it back, I realized I
Speaker 2: was speaking fat. I was talking real quick. I said,
Speaker 2: a bunch of line and go right to the next one,
Speaker 2: you know. And he's like, man, if you learn to
Speaker 2: breathe and calm down and space out your jokes in
Speaker 2: between you, you probably got thirty forty minutes of material.
Speaker 2: And I did, so moving forward, that's what I did.
Speaker 2: So we also, like I said, we were on tour now.
Speaker 2: So I have a couple of show dates coming up
Speaker 2: and I'm doing the headline thing now, so I'll come
Speaker 2: at the Deana. I got like four shows in Indiana
Speaker 2: coming up, which is also fun because I do adult comedy.
Speaker 2: But they said, can you do a clean show for us,
Speaker 2: no cursing? And I was like, ooh, I'll try, you know.
Speaker 2: So I've been working on that, and you know, I
Speaker 2: have to march to uh to kind of perfect my set.
Speaker 2: Like I said, I've got my show every two weeks,
Speaker 2: so I just work out new stuff and then just
Speaker 2: keep building and building for comics.
Speaker 1: I feel like there's a lot of pressure right now
Speaker 1: because there's cancel culture, and I have a very my
Speaker 1: positioning on it is that comics need to not be
Speaker 1: afraid of cancel culture, because you know, comedy is laughing
Speaker 1: at real life, right and different perspectives on it. But
Speaker 1: once these comics start to get more filtered, I mean,
Speaker 1: can you really be funny. I've seen a couple of
Speaker 1: specials that dropped that I thought were like, okay at best.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, obviously we have the icons like
Speaker 1: Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy, and we have you know,
Speaker 1: we have so many good icons where you can watch
Speaker 1: that same tape one hundred times and be like, this
Speaker 1: is amazing, But then the news.
Speaker 2: To watch it now, I feel like an old I
Speaker 2: still think they're funny. I mean, during this cancel culture,
Speaker 2: we would people if you if they released any of
Speaker 2: that old stuff now, people would be like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: they'd be outraged. Oh it is. It is a challenge.
Speaker 2: I remember I was on I was on set a
Speaker 2: Harmless Mistake. We were trying to rehearse our lines and
Speaker 2: there was a that's funny. I've never told a story
Speaker 2: on filming because this happened who about six months ago
Speaker 2: and there was a person female gender that was Sam.
Speaker 2: So I'm still trying to figure out how to say this.
Speaker 2: She was the DP, which means she was setting up
Speaker 2: the shots and trying to figure out how to film us.
Speaker 2: But we were going over our scene. So we're going
Speaker 2: when when when actors, when when the director says and
Speaker 2: action and we start our lines, it needs to be
Speaker 2: this quiet. If we hear anything going on, it'll throw
Speaker 2: us off. And we're guys, we gotta be you guys
Speaker 2: be quiet on set, please, because we're trying to rehearse
Speaker 2: and we shouldn't have to say that. That should be
Speaker 2: an ad saying quiet. You guys got to be quiet.
Speaker 2: My actors are trying to rehearse their lines. It's hard
Speaker 2: enough to do this job and remember all their lines,
Speaker 2: and they're blocking and their placement and the lighting and
Speaker 2: all this and that other. They got enough on their minds.
Speaker 2: Please just be quiet while they're rehearsing. Right, So anyway,
Speaker 2: so we're going over our scene and that's what was
Speaker 2: just keep out of years and I was just like
Speaker 2: I couldn't stand it. I said listen, you guys gotta
Speaker 2: be quiet when we're rehearsing our lines. I know this
Speaker 2: isn't the most professional production, but it's good enough to
Speaker 2: where you guys need to respect your actors. And they said, well,
Speaker 2: you want to look good, then you need to let
Speaker 2: us talk this out. And I'm like, listen, I've been
Speaker 2: in this business for thirty years and I've never been
Speaker 2: told that I need to be quiet or that I
Speaker 2: need to ignore you when I'm trying to do my
Speaker 2: you know. And they wound up going into it back
Speaker 2: and forth, and then another person joined in and said, well,
Speaker 2: you need to let her do da da da da da.
Speaker 2: Let them do blah blah blah. And then a friend
Speaker 2: of mine said, hey, hey, young lady, listen, we're trying
Speaker 2: to put and she said, oh my god, that's not
Speaker 2: even the right pronoun you know. And then I said, oh, damn, okay, hmm.
Speaker 2: I mean it's respectful as for him to say, young
Speaker 2: lady that in our generation, all right, that's about the
Speaker 2: nicest thing you can say to a female, you know.
Speaker 2: And not to know that I had to go the
Speaker 2: right pronoun or I should have looked at this person
Speaker 2: and known that they didn't want to be referred to
Speaker 2: as a young lady, a woman, or her or she
Speaker 2: at all. Like I have to filter all that in
Speaker 2: in an instant while trying to do my job here,
Speaker 2: and I was just like, wow, we're we're on a
Speaker 2: slippery slope. And you know, in comedy, I kind of
Speaker 2: feel like if you lead with that, you may be okay,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: Lead with what the disclaimers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like, you know, for one, I think I
Speaker 2: think if you're gonna get canceled or if you're going
Speaker 2: to get upset with something someone says, then it should
Speaker 2: be a someone that you believe should know better. So
Speaker 2: if you're in I don't know, your twenties and under,
Speaker 2: that's about the end of the No better is in
Speaker 2: my opinion, maybe thirty. But if you're forty fifty years old, Like,
Speaker 2: if my mom walks in the room and says something
Speaker 2: crazy about somebody, everybody's gonna be like, it's okay, she's
Speaker 2: you know what, she's seventy eight, Yeah, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean, she's sixty says, They're like, all right, like
Speaker 2: you know what she means. She didn't mean it like that,
Speaker 2: or maybe she did in her age, and you you know,
Speaker 2: you'd be fine. Well, there's got to be some latitudes
Speaker 2: given to people that are that grew up in a
Speaker 2: certain era. I mean, I was in trouble for saying
Speaker 2: and the F word and not the U because I
Speaker 2: was but I was referring to a man who had
Speaker 2: two women with him and I was just angry in Vegas.
Speaker 2: So I didn't mean him to be a homosexual in
Speaker 2: any way. Yeah, yeah, I was just using that word
Speaker 2: because I was angry. We were liquored up and I
Speaker 2: wanted him to try to do something, you know. And
Speaker 2: then the next morning I had to my Bubba. Sis
Speaker 2: was like, hey, you're gonna have to apologize if people
Speaker 2: are outraised dat dad down. And it's like, what I
Speaker 2: can see if I was talking to a person that
Speaker 2: was gay, yeah, you know, and I tried to slander them,
Speaker 2: that would be one thing. But then again, like I said, slippery, So.
Speaker 3: We're definitely a sensitive world.
Speaker 1: It just sucks because a lot of these actors, comics
Speaker 1: or people in front of the camera already have It's
Speaker 1: already such a hard gig as it is to get
Speaker 1: in and to stabilize, and then you have to now
Speaker 1: walk on eggshells because of society. I don't know where
Speaker 1: the pronouns meets disrespect. Like you know, if I see,
Speaker 1: you know, someone and they look like a woman, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say female, But then like now off camera will
Speaker 1: be like, whoa am I supposed to say female?
Speaker 3: Like what you know, which is it's a weird. It's weird.
Speaker 1: But we're definitely from a different air, you know, we're
Speaker 1: from the era of you know, tomato is a tomato?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's it's definitely tricky. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's like talking about the N word and who can
Speaker 2: say it? When you said and how are you supposed
Speaker 2: to say it? The B word? Same thing two women
Speaker 2: like yeah that oh ship, Now I'm in trouble, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so it's it's tough. I don't I don't think it's
Speaker 2: it's you know, I think personally, I think comics would
Speaker 2: have it it easier in the sense of like, okay,
Speaker 2: obviously he's just making a joke, so he might get
Speaker 2: let off the hook, you know, but other people doing
Speaker 2: interviews and you know, talk show hosts and people and
Speaker 2: you know, in your job, you know, it's you know,
Speaker 2: good luck, good luck to do a podcast. No, I
Speaker 2: shouldn't know.
Speaker 3: Oh, I say things on here.
Speaker 1: I get calls from uh one of my cousins shout
Speaker 1: outs to Heather, she listen to my podcast, and I
Speaker 1: get a text pretty often from her like I can't
Speaker 1: believe you said this on your show, And I'm like,
Speaker 1: I still can't believe you listened.
Speaker 3: To this show.
Speaker 2: Thank you for the comment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks, But yeah, I've said stuff on here. I
Speaker 1: don't care about being canceled at all.
Speaker 3: I like.
Speaker 1: I like the hate attention. I don't know why I
Speaker 1: like it. I like it more than I like the
Speaker 1: nice attention.
Speaker 2: I know, I remember you said something about that. I'm
Speaker 2: sensitive in that regard, but I'm easy. I'm quick with
Speaker 2: the block button. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. If you call
Speaker 2: me too much, text me too much, you'll be blocked.
Speaker 2: If you're online and you say something crazy, you know.
Speaker 2: I'll let that first comment go. But if I feed
Speaker 2: into it and start giving this person block, that block
Speaker 2: button is awesome hat oh yeah, and they'll be like, oh,
Speaker 2: leave those comments on there. That's how people know you're authentic. Authentic,
Speaker 2: my ass. I don't want to read that block block
Speaker 2: block block. I won't report them, but I'll block them
Speaker 2: and they'll be like, I can't find this dudecause you're blocked.
Speaker 2: I block friends all about my mama once.
Speaker 1: Okay, well I did block one fan from our show
Speaker 1: because he was disrespecting one of the guests on my show.
Speaker 1: He was like in my DMS in the in the
Speaker 1: eating while broke DMS on, like, are YouTube like any
Speaker 1: form of contact to me? And he was like talking
Speaker 1: so derogatory about this guest and I was like, had
Speaker 1: he actually listened to full episode, he actually would have
Speaker 1: had more respect for her. But like, you know, for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, but he was like stalker level and I
Speaker 1: ended up reaching out to the guest and was like, yo,
Speaker 1: I think there's something unsafe here, you know, And she
Speaker 1: was like, oh yeah, I put a restraining order on him.
Speaker 3: Could you keep all those records?
Speaker 1: I was like he knew like everyone in her camp,
Speaker 1: and I was like, he's like after Charlemagne, And I
Speaker 1: was like, yo, so I let the black effect know,
Speaker 1: like you know what there is there's a problem, the
Speaker 1: mental health issue, because they'd be really invested. You'd be like, dude,
Speaker 1: they don't.
Speaker 3: Really know you. You don't know that you know you're
Speaker 3: really losing sleep over here.
Speaker 2: It's funny too, you know, and I work with the
Speaker 2: comedian shout out to damn, can I shout him out.
Speaker 2: I'm about to get this story.
Speaker 4: I won't, but he's he was being heckled by this person.
Speaker 2: It's funny. Everyone at the show and it's funny. It
Speaker 2: was an all black room. You know, do mostly these
Speaker 2: black shows and U but there was you know, I
Speaker 2: have white fans and a couple of you know, a
Speaker 2: couple of white fans showed up and they were just
Speaker 2: just completely drunk, like he was just three sheeted away
Speaker 2: and he was completely a mess. And every time he
Speaker 2: said yeah, homeorko, it's come up, he and he's like
Speaker 2: right up front. So every comic was kind of being
Speaker 2: bothered by him, but the more seasoned comics knew to
Speaker 2: just ignore him, maybe give him an okay guy all right,
Speaker 2: and then relax. But this one comic got up there
Speaker 2: and he was like, you know, close to our headliner,
Speaker 2: and he has a whole routine and it's a rhythm
Speaker 2: and a it's all about you know, the first joke,
Speaker 2: and it all kind of snowballs from there, and this
Speaker 2: guy started yelling and he just started engaging with the guy.
Speaker 2: Now it just ruined his whole set because he's going
Speaker 2: back and forth. And then somebody else came to his defense,
Speaker 2: actually believe it or not, and was like, heah, he's
Speaker 2: not the only white guy here, so who you mean
Speaker 2: by white people? And he's like, oh my god, somebody
Speaker 2: did it. And then he was just going back and
Speaker 2: forth with these people. I had to yell at him like, bro,
Speaker 2: finish your set, we love you, ignore them, you know.
Speaker 2: And then when he got off out to tell us, well,
Speaker 2: you can't engage with them, you know. And it's sounded
Speaker 2: the same thing with these trolls online. As soon as
Speaker 2: you give him a little life now, they're like, I
Speaker 2: got it. They're just seeking attention. That's all they want
Speaker 2: they need. And then you see, I've seen I've made
Speaker 2: a comment or I've made a post, and then somebody
Speaker 2: will comment positive, and then someone will comment negative, and
Speaker 2: now these two people are going at it on my post,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, I got to block both of these people,
Speaker 2: like I don't hear any of this conversation. Can y'all
Speaker 2: take that somewhere else or go to her page or
Speaker 2: his page, whatever the case is Yeah, it gets great.
Speaker 1: I am curious before we close out your situation with April,
Speaker 1: your sisters. She started going on our comedy journey, where like,
Speaker 1: what does your relationship with her look like in regards
Speaker 1: to you now joining comedy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's awesome. I mean she's kind of taking a
Speaker 2: step back to because she had she had a day job,
Speaker 2: you know, a day job because she wasn't a full
Speaker 2: time actress. She do it here and there, and she
Speaker 2: worked actually at an airline, and then there was an
Speaker 2: incident towards the end that was very traumatic for she
Speaker 2: was actually attacked leaving the airport and she's never like
Speaker 2: fully recovered from that. So it's like, you know, with
Speaker 2: the pandemic and then kind of being pushbom. So she's
Speaker 2: taking a step all the way back. I actually threw
Speaker 2: which actually got me really jump started my stand up
Speaker 2: comedy career, is that I threw her a party at
Speaker 2: the beginning of the year because she said she wanted
Speaker 2: to just be around it again and she just wanted
Speaker 2: to laugh. So are you gonna go up? She's like,
Speaker 2: oh no, I'm not ready for that yet, but I'll
Speaker 2: come and have a good time. And I brought five
Speaker 2: or six comics out shout out to comedian Warren V
Speaker 2: and a couple of his friends, and we had a
Speaker 2: terrific show because her birthday is January second, and so
Speaker 2: is my brothers because.
Speaker 3: They're born Yeah, same day exactly.
Speaker 2: Part so you know, it was funny. I always throw
Speaker 2: a party for it and be like, yeah, keep a
Speaker 2: good a junior's coming back. Yeah, you know, and he's like,
Speaker 2: I don't go to parties. But anyway, So, so she
Speaker 2: still hasn't got back all. You know, she hasn't got
Speaker 2: back off the sale, and I keep trying to eat
Speaker 2: so edger on, but she's very supportive. I'll come and say,
Speaker 2: you know, she's come to everyone, well not everyone, she
Speaker 2: comes to a bunch of my shows, and then we'll
Speaker 2: talk about it afterwards.
Speaker 1: Now, all three of you siblings are very close, I
Speaker 1: would assume, right, And then when have any of you
Speaker 1: guys hit a low pocket and then you had to
Speaker 1: pull one out?
Speaker 3: Yeah, obviously your sister went through that one.
Speaker 2: Yeah that happened my brother. My brother's more guarded, you know,
Speaker 2: so all the things that happened with him, he kind
Speaker 2: of you know, we're like, are you good? I'm good man,
Speaker 2: I'll be all right, all right. I was like, bro,
Speaker 2: I'm telling you we upset here. We were ready to
Speaker 2: you know, rush in know, go Craze. He's like, nah, nah,
Speaker 2: can everybody be cool. I'm gonna trust the system. And
Speaker 2: I said, a man, you know, and he's a different
Speaker 2: breed than me. I'll tell you right now, they've been it.
Speaker 2: Don't come after omar because if I got anybody had call,
Speaker 2: I would be like, yeah, you want to do something, Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 2: I'm outside, Yes, help, I need help. I'm not doing
Speaker 2: do this by myself.
Speaker 3: I'm more like your brother.
Speaker 1: I'm like, let's wait until the last, last final moment
Speaker 1: before I push that red button.
Speaker 2: Yeah no, I'm quick, like I told you a block
Speaker 2: of you need something? Yes, yes, me over here. I'm outside.
Speaker 2: The address is two two five note seven. Yeah no,
Speaker 2: but that's happened. I mean, I've had emotional times and
Speaker 2: I had to call him both and we all showed
Speaker 2: up and then when hung out and been like, yeah, man,
Speaker 2: is this going on? And that going on? And you know,
Speaker 2: and especially since I started having kids late in life.
Speaker 2: You know, I started at forty. My brother had already
Speaker 2: had two or three kids. So I'd love to call
Speaker 2: him up just pick his brain about women and children
Speaker 2: and kids and just being that family man type of thing. So,
Speaker 2: you know, I've kind of I've had my father who
Speaker 2: wasn't around and my brother who traveled a whole lot
Speaker 2: because he was so successful when he had his kids.
Speaker 2: So then I took that as like what not to do,
Speaker 2: but also how to stay engaged and then still try
Speaker 2: to stay relevant. So it's tough to juggle at all,
Speaker 2: but you know, there's there's opportunities that I've definitely kind
Speaker 2: of said, nah, I don't want to do that because
Speaker 2: I had to keep me await form my kids for
Speaker 2: too long. Like when I had to do this thing
Speaker 2: in Chicago was brutal, and I brought my kids out
Speaker 2: for like a month, and one of them got really
Speaker 2: sick and we had to go in hospital, and it
Speaker 2: was it was just a lot. It was so much.
Speaker 2: So you know, the strike was, you know, it was
Speaker 2: important because there's a lot of things that needed to
Speaker 2: be addressed. I mean, I know we're closing, but I
Speaker 2: can go on and on about that strike. It's in
Speaker 2: my comedy set. So I'll wait and I'll wait and
Speaker 2: talk about it. Then but you know, if if if
Speaker 2: the Chicago, if we don't get a season two, I'll
Speaker 2: be fine with that because it was a lot. It
Speaker 2: was a lot. But I did love the culture and
Speaker 2: I did love being out there. But you know, my
Speaker 2: kids are too young. They need daddy.
Speaker 1: And then what did you do to avoid the plague
Speaker 1: that happens with young talent?
Speaker 2: Yeah? That one.
Speaker 3: Or do you think your mom played a role?
Speaker 2: My mom definitely played a huge role. I mean, I
Speaker 2: have a praying mama. You know, I watched her pray
Speaker 2: things in New Existence, from poverty, from a better job
Speaker 2: for herself to an apartment for us, from living in
Speaker 2: a car to living in an apartment. She prayed me,
Speaker 2: you're going to get a series. One day that happened,
Speaker 2: you know. Not when I say pray, she need to
Speaker 2: say one prayer and then oh it just happened. No,
Speaker 2: every single day it was a mantra. She would pray goodbye, this, hello, this,
Speaker 2: and we would sing it driving in the car over
Speaker 2: and over again till these things happened. And it was
Speaker 2: just you know, I know that God is real and
Speaker 2: I've seen his power work. So it's it's it's faith
Speaker 2: first and foremost, and then having people around you that
Speaker 2: want the best for you as opposed to that are
Speaker 2: just leeching off you, or just happy that you're paying
Speaker 2: the rent, you know what I mean. And I had
Speaker 2: gentlemine people saying, nah, bro, we don't need to do that.
Speaker 2: I'm like, what are you sure? Yeah? You know I
Speaker 2: I do music too, And I have a line where
Speaker 2: I say I'm tired of watching peers raising peers, you know,
Speaker 2: but that happens.
Speaker 3: Wow, that's such a deep statement. Raising peers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it is. It hadn't happens all the time,
Speaker 2: you know. And I remember my father. I loved him
Speaker 2: to death, but he would he said something to me,
Speaker 2: and most of the time I'd be like, yes, absolutely,
Speaker 2: But you know, I got in trouble and talked about
Speaker 2: having guns and whatnot. And remember he's like, yeah, you
Speaker 2: got one of those. You gotta give me that gun, bro,
Speaker 2: And I was like, not a chance. If anything, I'll
Speaker 2: get rid of it, but that's not going to happen.
Speaker 2: And my friend was there and always said not give
Speaker 2: it to him. And that was when I went seriously,
Speaker 2: all right, cool, and I gave it to him. And
Speaker 2: it's like I'm not a follower by any means. I've
Speaker 2: always been a leader in every aspect of my life.
Speaker 2: And that was the one time that I remember, not
Speaker 2: too clearly to this day. I remember my friend said it,
Speaker 2: and I went, huh, all right, fine, and then he
Speaker 2: kind was like, yeah, man, we can get another one.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know how deep it was, but
Speaker 2: it's still okay. Near dad, you know, he was like, yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: and my son's listening. But I was like, yeah, it's
Speaker 2: only because my friend said it, because initially I was
Speaker 2: just gonna fight him on it and be like, yo, man,
Speaker 2: I got this. I'll figure it out on my own,
Speaker 2: you know. And it's tough, you know, especially raising kids now.
Speaker 2: And I remember had a conversation with my friend with
Speaker 2: a guy that I just met when I was out
Speaker 2: in Chicago, and he said how his son is very
Speaker 2: successful as a very successful athlete, gifted athlete, but he's
Speaker 2: having problems following the rules. You know, he loves girls
Speaker 2: too much and he's getting trouble this, in trouble with that,
Speaker 2: and he's trying to tell his son things. But what
Speaker 2: he does is he appeals to his son's friends and
Speaker 2: he takes them all out here, treats him to this,
Speaker 2: talks to them directly because he knows they'll have a
Speaker 2: bigger influence.
Speaker 3: On Okay, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So he has a real good relationship with his son's
Speaker 2: friends and they're helping him stay on the right path.
Speaker 2: And I thought that was very deep.
Speaker 3: Someone once told me that too.
Speaker 1: They said, uh, you know, part of raising a kid
Speaker 1: is who their friends are, like being mindful of who
Speaker 1: their friends are. I know, growing up, my mom used
Speaker 1: to always be like, show me your friends and I'll
Speaker 1: tell you who you are.
Speaker 2: That.
Speaker 1: It was her basic like every time she was around us, like,
Speaker 1: let me see what your friends are looking like.
Speaker 2: That's it was funny my mom. We always said to
Speaker 2: where'd you learn that from? Who taught you that? Where'd
Speaker 2: you get that from? And I'd be like, what, nobody,
Speaker 2: I probably saw it on this and that. I always
Speaker 2: would get offended, you know, as like a young man
Speaker 2: like I don't follow nobody. Everybody says, oh, Mark, what
Speaker 2: are we doing today or where we're going or what's
Speaker 2: the next move? They come to me, I don't follow nobody,
Speaker 2: you know. But now that I have sons, like a
Speaker 2: young boys, I see when son comes on with and oh,
Speaker 2: I want to hear this song. Where's you hear that?
Speaker 2: Oh Bobby said this? He was get it all day.
Speaker 2: Oh Bobby does it? Who the heck is Bobby. It
Speaker 2: was like, now I got to talk to their parents
Speaker 2: because they're now raising my son because he's coming up
Speaker 2: with new stuff and new things. You know, he meets
Speaker 2: his cousin and he teaches him how to armpit fart
Speaker 2: or something like that. You know, now he's doing this
Speaker 2: at the table. I'm like, look, boy, you have to
Speaker 2: find out, you know what I mean. So I'm like,
Speaker 2: who is this? And always cousin taught him that. Now
Speaker 2: I want to talk to their parents, like yo, for real.
Speaker 2: So they're like, oh, let's all have a play date
Speaker 2: and I'm like, I don't know about this play date stuff.
Speaker 2: You know, it's cool when you want to go hang
Speaker 2: out or whatever or meet some people and you know
Speaker 2: they see him at school and want to hang out,
Speaker 2: but you got to be involved. You can't. You definitely
Speaker 2: can't leave in the front of no iPad.
Speaker 3: No more, no, no, that's over.
Speaker 2: Well that's I thought it was cute when they can
Speaker 2: just as soon as they learn how to scroll on
Speaker 2: their own. It's like, all right, okay, let me see
Speaker 2: what we're watching. No headphones, no, no, I'm listening in
Speaker 2: and what is that now? Oh? Ad came on? Because
Speaker 2: they're real sneaky with these ads. I'm watching that one.
Speaker 2: I'm scrolling all of a sudden, How did I get
Speaker 2: down this rabbit hole. I'm not following none of these people,
Speaker 2: but I've seen all these reels of stuff that I
Speaker 2: didn't really necessarily want to know about. Now then've found
Speaker 2: out about all type of things going on. I'm depressed,
Speaker 2: I'm nervous. I'm scared about all type of shit because
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 3: I try hard to stay off the socials as much
Speaker 3: as possible. It is terrible. I wish we could go
Speaker 3: back to like my era where we just had aim.
Speaker 2: Yes, right, no business. It's been there. My wife be like,
Speaker 2: am you on the phone, Like no, you're you're scrolling
Speaker 2: memes and then sending me something that you found out
Speaker 2: about the spoons and the forks and all this craziness
Speaker 2: that you can't No, no, no, I'm actually it's business.
Speaker 2: Every time I post, then I go on my DM
Speaker 2: it's new job opportunity, so I have I'm talking every time, like,
Speaker 2: oh man, you look at good. So how much is you? Hey?
Speaker 2: Can I get you on that? I said, yeap, call
Speaker 2: my agent Neil set it up every I'm talking every
Speaker 2: single time, so I have to check on it. Wow,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? That's be blocking.
Speaker 3: I needn't get my MS popping.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 3: We have a we have a but we get a lot.
Speaker 1: Of requests for talent from people trying to pitch talent
Speaker 1: on the show. But we I use application so I
Speaker 1: don't have to do it manually.
Speaker 3: From my phone. Like literally, it's like a calendar.
Speaker 1: It's called later and we just put all our socials
Speaker 1: in a calendar and it drops it like in advance,
Speaker 1: so like whether I touch my phone or not, something's
Speaker 1: gonna drop today. So it looks like and it's all scheduled,
Speaker 1: and then they'll like set parameters like best time of
Speaker 1: day to post or whatever. Between that and chat GPT,
Speaker 1: we do the whole caption and drop or whatever, and
Speaker 1: then we have a clip team that just generates clips.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so does that happen if you're on TikTok?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: When you went there yet I tried it, I said, Wow,
Speaker 2: this is a lot you have to be engaged constantly,
Speaker 2: but you get way more traffic than Instagram. But I'll
Speaker 2: go live on Instagram to be like one hundred people.
Speaker 2: I go live on ig with like I got about
Speaker 2: three hundred thousand on Instagram. I go on TikTok, I
Speaker 2: got maybe fifteen hundred. But then I go live and
Speaker 2: it's like fifteen hundred people are watching you right now.
Speaker 3: I don't even know TikTok had a live feature.
Speaker 1: You have a lot, But I will say that TikTok
Speaker 1: does give a good interaction, Like I'll go on TikTok
Speaker 1: and it'll be like, compared to Instagram, a video will
Speaker 1: probably get like one hundred thousand or eighty thousand years.
Speaker 2: I thought it was a joke. I was like, what
Speaker 2: are you talking about?
Speaker 3: I want to I'm.
Speaker 2: Telling you I went on live a couple of times.
Speaker 2: And then when you're on live, they'll put the little
Speaker 2: hat on you and the glasses while you're talking and
Speaker 2: like what is this? And then it's over. It's like
Speaker 2: you've made fifty dollars. I'm like, what do you mean?
Speaker 2: I made fifty dollars? I look on every time they
Speaker 2: put one of those hats they buy it. It's called
Speaker 2: a badge. I believe, no, buy a badge? Who I
Speaker 2: want to interact with him? I thought, hat and I'll
Speaker 2: be like, oh, thanks for the hat, such and such
Speaker 2: dot whatever whatever, and TikTok on TikTok your life.
Speaker 3: I'm just try and do that.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you it's crazy. I'm like, look a, where
Speaker 2: does the little fifty dollars come from? People just keep
Speaker 2: tacking on a dollar here. Dollar. There's crazy. It ads up.
Speaker 2: I said, well, that's smart. I don't know if people
Speaker 2: know about that.
Speaker 1: What would be your main piece of advice for the
Speaker 1: longevity you've had in your career, in addition to the
Speaker 1: pivots to people trying to get into your position.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the longevity part for me is it's it's it's
Speaker 2: about it's called compromise, not compromising. Don't feeling that you
Speaker 2: have one shot and you have to compromise either your
Speaker 2: beliefs or your sexuality or your you know, your religion
Speaker 2: or whatever the case is, and and go all in
Speaker 2: on like one role. Because I've seen people take the
Speaker 2: wrong role and then you never hear from him again.
Speaker 2: I've seen people be you know, their career was going
Speaker 2: pretty well, and they said, you know, I gotta do this,
Speaker 2: and then that was it for them, or they got
Speaker 2: discouraged because of the backlash they took for that role.
Speaker 2: You know, you gotta be careful too, you know, you
Speaker 2: don't don't feel that you have to do something and
Speaker 2: then don't do something that you're not going to be
Speaker 2: able to live with. Like I'll you know, I always
Speaker 2: take I'll be honest, I'll take like the hero role
Speaker 2: or the macho role of the role that I know.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be at the bar and someone gonna say, hey, man,
Speaker 2: you that dude that I saw in this such and
Speaker 2: such role. I said, yeah, I was. I was that one.
Speaker 2: And if it's something negative that I'm not gonna be
Speaker 2: able to respond to, and I'm not taking that role.
Speaker 2: You know, I have a fan base, you know, and
Speaker 2: they're always proud of what I do. And then they said, well,
Speaker 2: every actor does this, and every actor eventually blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: Denzel Washington is my favorite actor of all time, next
Speaker 2: to my brother. And I've never seen him letting me
Speaker 2: down once. I haven't seen him come up anything. I said, Damn, Danzel,
Speaker 2: you see his name, You're gonna enjoy yourself. That's you
Speaker 2: know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I didn't think Fences was that great.
Speaker 2: I you know what, I thought it was a lot
Speaker 2: I was, but I was it was impressive. I was
Speaker 2: you memorized all that, like that ship was impressive to me.
Speaker 2: That's all I was doing as an actor. I was
Speaker 2: just watching him, going, look at this man. I said,
Speaker 2: he didn't take a breath, they didn't cut nowhere. I
Speaker 2: could tell he memorized all that, And I'm sorry that
Speaker 2: him self, to me is a lot. That's a big
Speaker 2: deal for me. Then the acting, you know, you kind
Speaker 2: of get you know what you're gonna get. He's already
Speaker 2: done everything, so it's just one of those like, well
Speaker 2: it's gonna be what to be. But I'm just talking
Speaker 2: about the choices. There's nothing that's like, maybe go I
Speaker 2: can't look at him if again, I don't I don't
Speaker 2: like him. Yeah, you know what I mean, nothing nothing,
Speaker 2: nothing is wrong anyway.
Speaker 1: So that's how I feel about Diddy right now. I
Speaker 1: mean I used to, let me just tell you something.
Speaker 3: I used to look up to Diddy.
Speaker 1: I was like when I was in high school, you know,
Speaker 1: but then as I got into the industry, I would
Speaker 1: hear so many bad rumors about him. But now it's
Speaker 1: just like, I can't even believe how much as a
Speaker 1: young person I looked up to this dude and to
Speaker 1: hear like and I one hundred percent believe everything.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry all.
Speaker 2: The Will Smith stuff that's pouring out now, and we've
Speaker 2: heard about that for years.
Speaker 1: Let me tell that I believe Will Smith stuff, so
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: Look.
Speaker 1: What I've learned is some with every story, there is
Speaker 1: a true underline, especially in the entertainment business.
Speaker 2: Just it's just how far will those believing it take you?
Speaker 2: As far as are you still gonna watch the movies? Like, Okay,
Speaker 2: this movie comes on? Now, you're not gonna watch it again? Yeah? Right?
Speaker 2: This song is on, gonna tell him turn it off?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I'm sure they'll stop playing R Kelly.
Speaker 2: But if I'm out somewhere and it comes on, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna still nod my head. I'm not gonna be like
Speaker 2: I'm out here.
Speaker 1: R Kelly's situation is kind of very It sounds terrible
Speaker 1: what I'm about to say.
Speaker 3: Jesus, I get a call later about this, But R.
Speaker 1: Kelly, I feel like is a is a two edged
Speaker 1: sword because he came from abuse. He came from a
Speaker 1: lot of you know, abuse, like sexual abuse. So I
Speaker 1: definitely feel terrible for the victims, but I also feel
Speaker 1: like that is definitely.
Speaker 3: A a like that.
Speaker 1: It was both both victims, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like R Kelly, you know, everyone's a victim of that kid.
Speaker 2: Is But it's like a matter of knowing right from wrong.
Speaker 3: Well, the people around you, No, no, no, he definitely
Speaker 3: knew what was wrong.
Speaker 1: But like when you have mentally normal people and they're
Speaker 1: like co siding, coldning and playing a role, then it's like, yo, no,
Speaker 1: I don't care how much someone pays you.
Speaker 3: You know it's wrong, right.
Speaker 1: And so there was a person, a person like that
Speaker 1: definitely had a room full of people that were looking
Speaker 1: the other way. But I'm not I don't give I
Speaker 1: don't give nobody a past though I don't mine.
Speaker 2: I'd probably get backlash for saying the fact that it's
Speaker 2: I just don't think it was necessary for a man
Speaker 2: that could get pretty much any woman. You can get
Speaker 2: a woman that looks young, go to Thailand. They got
Speaker 2: the little kid, they look like girls to actually go there.
Speaker 2: You know, when it wasn't necessary. That's that's where I
Speaker 2: have an issue with. I got two sons. I can
Speaker 2: imagine I had a daughter, I'd probably be trying to
Speaker 2: go to jail. Just be next to them for a
Speaker 2: minute and get well.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of parents that play a role in
Speaker 1: a lot of the kids to minds. Like people approach
Speaker 1: me all the time about my daughter getting into entertainment,
Speaker 1: and I'm absolutely against it. And my main reason is
Speaker 1: is the industry doesn't necessarily always support those parents that
Speaker 1: are guard dogs, like you know, like some of those
Speaker 1: parents that are guard dogs get blacklisted for being guard.
Speaker 2: Allowed to say about that. And I talk to women,
Speaker 2: especially in the industry, and I think it's it's a
Speaker 2: matter of common sense and your upbringing. It's some people
Speaker 2: are far more susceptible to peer pressure than others. I mean,
Speaker 2: I guess that goes without saying. For me, it always
Speaker 2: seemed obvious, it seemed easy. I'm in these rooms and
Speaker 2: they're passing around the coke and they're doing this, and
Speaker 2: they're doing that, and I'm like, look, I'll smoke some weed,
Speaker 2: I'll drink some drink, and I'll wake up the next
Speaker 2: day and have black spots like I don't remember what
Speaker 2: happened the rest of the night. I don't need to
Speaker 2: do anything the hell out When they're passing it around,
Speaker 2: I'd be like, no, I'm good. They're not gonna be like,
Speaker 2: get out. You know what I mean. For young females,
Speaker 2: they invite you where they invite you to the hotel.
Speaker 2: All right, go to the lobby, but don't go up
Speaker 2: to the hotel room. There's a there's a there's a
Speaker 2: point where you know that don't but don't go up
Speaker 2: to the room and then tell me something crazy happen.
Speaker 2: You didn't know something crazy have in a room.
Speaker 1: I will I agree with you, but I will say
Speaker 1: when I first moved here from New York, there was
Speaker 1: a couple incidents where I and my sister both put
Speaker 1: ourselves in positions where I mean, had us not had
Speaker 1: really solid good streets smarts, I would say we would
Speaker 1: have definitely been compromised. But yeah, there was some dudes,
Speaker 1: and it's usually to be honest, for my experience, it
Speaker 1: wasn't dudes that were actually in the industry. They were
Speaker 1: like the fake industry dudes like that house skirt dudes
Speaker 1: walk up to you.
Speaker 3: In the mall and they're like be a.
Speaker 1: Model and like no, no, they you know those ones
Speaker 1: that are like come be me here. But I will say,
Speaker 1: like even in the open, like I've seen dudes with
Speaker 1: power that were in the industry across the line where
Speaker 1: I remember I was as.
Speaker 3: Good as done.
Speaker 1: I went to my uncle like I'm I'm good, like
Speaker 1: I'm good, like this dude touched my leg and was married,
Speaker 1: and I just remember being scared death, you know, like
Speaker 1: oh my god, like this is this is terrible, and
Speaker 1: I started making rules. But even with men in general,
Speaker 1: I don't I personally don't do dinner dates. I only
Speaker 1: do breakfast and lunch dates. I don't want to hear no, and.
Speaker 3: Guys will literally like if they hear breakfast and lunch,
Speaker 3: will be like I'm good, and I'll be like, no,
Speaker 3: that's cool. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: We both on the same page, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But I'm not trying to walk into no setup or
Speaker 1: manipulation or any misconfusion or whatever.
Speaker 3: But we will. We're on a clock.
Speaker 1: So anyways, how can your fans, our fans keep up
Speaker 1: with you?
Speaker 2: Omar keep up with me? The easiest way to find
Speaker 2: me is Instagram at Omar Gooding period. I don't hide it, TikTok.
Speaker 2: I threw my middle name in there, Omar Miles Gooding. Yes,
Speaker 2: my initials are O MG. And that's the easiest way
Speaker 2: to find me. Many what I would I Yes, Yes,
Speaker 2: I named my oldest son Omar Junior, because, believe it
Speaker 2: or not, when I'm out and people say, oh, keep
Speaker 2: Gooding Junior's brother. Yeah, so his name is Omar Gooding Jr. No,
Speaker 2: that's not how it works. That's not how juniors work. People.
Speaker 2: The Omar Gooding Junior is my son and he's seven.
Speaker 2: Uh well he will be seven. And then my my
Speaker 2: my youngest son is named Miles. So I give, I
Speaker 2: give myself, like, oh you just hold on a name. Listen.
Speaker 2: My wife's name is Mia, and I was trying to
Speaker 2: think of names for a boy. We went Michael, Miles,
Speaker 2: I have two boys. I have two boys. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's right, you know. It's uh, that's that's where we're
Speaker 2: at with it, you know. And then it's this culture.
Speaker 2: I don't know that that's that's it's tough. You want
Speaker 2: him just to be boys and be you know, and
Speaker 2: I'm a manly man for man, I got to look,
Speaker 2: I gotta I'm gonna start a culture, like, can I
Speaker 2: be a man? Please? Is it okay for me to
Speaker 2: just be a man? I'm not, you know, hating on
Speaker 2: any other gender or race or or cumul unity or
Speaker 2: whatever the case. I'm just saying I'm a man and
Speaker 2: I'm raising men. So that's that. Now, something happens down
Speaker 2: the line that I have no control over, and you know,
Speaker 2: we'll have that conversation and we'll cross that road when
Speaker 2: we need to. But as far as what I'm raising,
Speaker 2: I know how I was raised. So you know, if
Speaker 2: that's what's in me, that's how I figured that should
Speaker 2: be in them. And we'll go from there. For it's
Speaker 2: my young my OLDESTKI cries a lot. It's it's still
Speaker 2: he's very sensitive. It's very sensidive. And my father said
Speaker 2: that to my wife. He said, you know, I was
Speaker 2: worried about him when he was younger. But you're all
Speaker 2: man now, I said, all right, he pulled out of that,
Speaker 2: he pulled, he pulled up quick. But uh but yeah, no,
Speaker 2: but that's that's where you can find me. You know,
Speaker 2: I got a lot on the plate. You know, I
Speaker 2: got music, I got comedy shows, I got some movies
Speaker 2: I'm doing. I even signed on to do a play
Speaker 2: in May.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll be keep it up with you on your socials,
Speaker 1: and I will retire this dish.
Speaker 2: Yeah, please don't here. Yeah please don't nobody try this
Speaker 2: at home, because first of all, we shouldn't even have
Speaker 2: the style phone and the microwave as we led with
Speaker 2: you try to put it in tap.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna let you.
Speaker 1: I'm a save y'all fans from yourself. Okay, don't in
Speaker 1: the cup of noodles cup unless you're apps.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, It's good for a cleanse because I feel like
Speaker 2: I'm not doing nothing for next week.
Speaker 3: All right, Peace out, guys. Peace for more eating while
Speaker 3: broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.