Speaker 1: Hey, y'all, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Colleen Witt, and today we have a
Speaker 1: very special guest actor, author and podcaster Chris Reeva's is
Speaker 1: in the building. What's going on, y'all? Hi, Hi, thank
Speaker 1: you for having me. I'm so excited for you to
Speaker 1: be here today. It's gonna be good. We're gonna have
Speaker 1: some delicious stuff. It's gonna be simple but delicious. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be delicious. It looks like very uh so,
Speaker 1: what are you having us eat today? White rice, black beans?
Speaker 1: And what really makes it special? As you put a
Speaker 1: perfect Friday on top of it perfect Friday and make
Speaker 1: the best Friday eggs. You heard it here. First, I
Speaker 1: make the best fried egg. Okay, I am going to
Speaker 1: rate your fried egg and all's little peep. How you're
Speaker 1: doing it. To make it the best is not to
Speaker 1: touch it. You gotta get the pants. Well, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: show you good layer of butter, crack the egg. Okay, um,
Speaker 1: go ahead and show me. Shall we begin? Yeah? We
Speaker 1: should we can begin a we're good. Um, So, why
Speaker 1: don't you tell me a little bit about yourself? Where
Speaker 1: are you from? Originally? I am from New York City,
Speaker 1: born and raised Queens to be exactly, Queens Burrows the
Speaker 1: most diverse burrow on the planet. I don't actually think
Speaker 1: that's a I think that's the like scientific fact. Oh
Speaker 1: is it? Especially Jackson, I didn't know that. I I
Speaker 1: have a joke amongst my friends that Queen's is the
Speaker 1: only burrow I don't really like. Alright, it's just I
Speaker 1: don't know why I don't like it, really, I just
Speaker 1: feel like it's always out of the way. I'm from Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: but just the way, it's just out of the way.
Speaker 1: All right. So we're gonna I'm gonna fry this up
Speaker 1: a little bit. You gotta get it crispy. Okay, I've
Speaker 1: never rice before. Don't let it do a thing. Did
Speaker 1: you have to put butter or anything in there? Because
Speaker 1: I wanted to crisp up a bit and it's already
Speaker 1: cooked him and let it just sort of like get
Speaker 1: real hot. You've never had crispy rice? No, well, I
Speaker 1: mean when I go to a sushi restaurant. This is
Speaker 1: kind of like I've never done it though. Okay, heat
Speaker 1: up some beans, real simple, Okay, No one's gonna worry.
Speaker 1: So you're an actor, author, and podcaster. I'm going to
Speaker 1: assume podcasters the last uh, like the most recent. Yes,
Speaker 1: it is the most So where did you start in acting?
Speaker 1: I started in acting in like fifth grade. Uh in
Speaker 1: New York. Saw Peter Pan, Sa Beauty and the Beast
Speaker 1: in the same year. Huge for me. Where you saw
Speaker 1: them on Broadway? Fancy my school took me. Uh, And
Speaker 1: then I knew I wanted to act, but it didn't
Speaker 1: really I didn't really settle in until I saw John
Speaker 1: Nke was almost freak. John him, yeah, so a freak,
Speaker 1: so freak was his his Broadway show, one man show,
Speaker 1: just about his life. And he was like, he's a
Speaker 1: Colombian kid. I was Colombian. He's from Queens Your your
Speaker 1: least favorite burrow. Uh you know SOSPC. He was from
Speaker 1: Queen's Colombian like me and I. And it was just
Speaker 1: a person. It was just a person being a person
Speaker 1: telling the truth. And my life changed and I was
Speaker 1: like that's what I want, you know, because when I
Speaker 1: saw Peter Pan, it was it was like cool, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, kid who never grows up, which some could
Speaker 1: argue that I'm still that uh. You know, some people
Speaker 1: argue that that you're still like that, really, I think,
Speaker 1: I think that's something I'm proud of, Like my curiosity,
Speaker 1: it's something I never want to lose. That's what allows
Speaker 1: me to say yes more than say no. And so,
Speaker 1: but I just saw this guy like it wasn't some
Speaker 1: teacup singing like Beauty and the Beast. It was just
Speaker 1: a person being a person. And I saw a room
Speaker 1: full of white people loving it. You know, hearts open,
Speaker 1: and I was like, that's what I want to do. Wow,
Speaker 1: it's funny because now I see. Now I'm starting to
Speaker 1: see why you do what you're doing, just based on
Speaker 1: you saying that it was a room full of white people,
Speaker 1: and he was actually just being himself and he was Columbia.
Speaker 1: That's it. He was just himself and that was so
Speaker 1: powerful to me. And that's the acting part. And then
Speaker 1: you know, fast forward many many many years later after
Speaker 1: like I go to performing arts high school college, did
Speaker 1: some off Broadway stuff. Uh. When I read James Baldwin
Speaker 1: and Eldridge Cleaver, that was the same thing. I've read
Speaker 1: books before, But here were these two people just being
Speaker 1: themselves and they were just being completely honest about how
Speaker 1: they moved through the world. And I saw more of
Speaker 1: myself in their honesty than someone trying to preach me something.
Speaker 1: It's it's funny because acting is Everything you're saying is
Speaker 1: like honestly, but isn't acting acting? Wow? Like that isn't
Speaker 1: acting a lie? You're living a lie? You're fake? No? Sorry, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I didn't. I didn't want to say it
Speaker 1: like that, but then you know what I'm trying to get.
Speaker 1: It isn't yes, no right because we sort of we're
Speaker 1: making things up. But let's be honest. If you watched
Speaker 1: if you watched an actor who didn't believe it that
Speaker 1: you would, it would be trash. Yeah, so you that's
Speaker 1: why you see all these actors go to all these
Speaker 1: extremes to like feel the person. You'll see someone like
Speaker 1: lose three pounds and pretty much try Heroin, pretty try
Speaker 1: almost try Heroin. The day I see an actor actually
Speaker 1: try Heroin to fit into do you think so? Would
Speaker 1: you do it Heroin? I'm just I'm just asking. I
Speaker 1: want to see how committed to like you. I would
Speaker 1: do a lot of things. I wouldn't do Heroin for
Speaker 1: a role. You wouldn't you would draw the line? I
Speaker 1: think I would? You know I'm saving you can hang
Speaker 1: out with a heroin addict and kind of get the
Speaker 1: feel right, Yeah, I think I think like enough descriptions
Speaker 1: of it, uh would do me, would do me the service.
Speaker 1: I don't think now that I asked that question, I
Speaker 1: don't think there's heroin Okay. So I used to say
Speaker 1: this when I was a kid, Please don't judge me, world.
Speaker 1: I used always be like, if I don't accomplish my dreams,
Speaker 1: I just want to be a heroin addict. My philosophy
Speaker 1: And it looks like since I was little, like my
Speaker 1: philosophy was like, at least I won't have to live
Speaker 1: the rest of my life knowing I didn't like hit
Speaker 1: the mark, and then I'd be so addicted to heroin
Speaker 1: I wouldn't even care. So it would be a distraction
Speaker 1: from the fact that I didn't, you know, accomplish my
Speaker 1: goals or whatever. And I think the only reason why
Speaker 1: I even knew about heroin was because I was from
Speaker 1: New York and it's like what we saw all the time,
Speaker 1: you know, I saw a lot of did you see
Speaker 1: that too? On the subway? Just a lot of like
Speaker 1: yeah you do the yes, yeah. My parents would they'd
Speaker 1: always be like, uh, that's what happens when you started.
Speaker 1: My pop. No, but like I didn't get a cigarette,
Speaker 1: but it was always a big deal that my dad
Speaker 1: would be like, you know that pointed it out. Yes,
Speaker 1: they were always pointed this is how you know, like
Speaker 1: either this is how you can lose yourself and be careful.
Speaker 1: That's that person. Or they'd be like, yo, that was
Speaker 1: a doctor and he'd be like that was like he
Speaker 1: was a lawyer, he had a family. He'd be like,
Speaker 1: oh shore, Like they would tell me. They would literally
Speaker 1: point them out and just tell a story behind them
Speaker 1: where you'd be like, I'm good. Like when people are
Speaker 1: like offering cigarettes in high school, I'm like, I'm good.
Speaker 1: That's that's the gateway that leads to that. I have weird,
Speaker 1: vivid memories of my pops being like, look at that
Speaker 1: dude's track marks, Like really wanted me to see this stuff.
Speaker 1: But that's that's my pops. I mean that I think
Speaker 1: explains the acting in me. It explains the writing in me.
Speaker 1: My dad taught me in New York does this better
Speaker 1: than most places in the world how to observe the world. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like my pops did not let me move through blind.
Speaker 1: It's like I saw everything around me. That was his
Speaker 1: favorite game. You know, we watch people and he'd be like,
Speaker 1: where are they going, where they're coming from? Why do
Speaker 1: they walk that way? Yeah? You know what now that
Speaker 1: you say that, it makes sense because when you're if
Speaker 1: you hang out in New York or you visit New York,
Speaker 1: you know, you ride the subway trains. That's the thing
Speaker 1: about New York. It's like we kind of see stuff
Speaker 1: and we're like it's like we're aware, but we're not
Speaker 1: responding to it. Like you know, we're not even participating.
Speaker 1: We're just watching it. And you will be on this
Speaker 1: go ahead some Larri's. I know it's controversial. Well, the
Speaker 1: way you pour it it should be. Um, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: interesting you say that. I never thought about it. But yeah,
Speaker 1: new York is really observing. It's almost like a pay
Speaker 1: attention observed, but definitely not respond state. I've never seen
Speaker 1: something go down. Huh. They could teach you more than
Speaker 1: a book, you know, if you're if you're just aware
Speaker 1: when you're in it. Yeah, So what did your parents say?
Speaker 1: Do you wanted to be an actor? That's the best part, right,
Speaker 1: Like that's the biggest blessing I guess is my parents.
Speaker 1: My mom's an immigrant, my dad's you know, first generation. Uh.
Speaker 1: They got said no to a lot by their parents.
Speaker 1: And I think one of the things, whether they knew
Speaker 1: it or not, is they decided, like whether it's conscious
Speaker 1: or they decided they were going to let me do
Speaker 1: what I wanted to do as safely as possible. Like
Speaker 1: they tried to say yes to me more than no. Now,
Speaker 1: if something stupid, it was definitely a no. But I'm like,
Speaker 1: I want to be an actor and it brings me joy.
Speaker 1: And my dad wasn't able to be the musician he
Speaker 1: wanted to be, and then he wasn't able to be
Speaker 1: the like the engineer he wanted to be. Uh. They
Speaker 1: wanted to give me any opportunity they could. Wow, So
Speaker 1: they say, yeah, that's pretty awesome. So are they really
Speaker 1: proud of you? Now? Yeah? Do you think that them
Speaker 1: seeing you reach your goals? Do you think that it
Speaker 1: could is me reaching Do you think it can be
Speaker 1: a little bitter sweet for them knowing that they were denied?
Speaker 1: There's have you ever even thought of that? And I
Speaker 1: just literally planning a horrible seat in your brain. I
Speaker 1: have never thought of it. But I also know it
Speaker 1: it is not the case because I want broke his
Speaker 1: hell in college. Feeling really grateful for my parents, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to get them a Christmas gift, but I couldn't,
Speaker 1: so I wrote them a letter. H And in the letter,
Speaker 1: I wrote, everything I do I do for you, and
Speaker 1: my dad said, can we curse? And my pop said,
Speaker 1: the fund is this? I was like crying while I
Speaker 1: was reading it, and he's like, what the fund is this?
Speaker 1: He said, why are you doing this ship for me?
Speaker 1: You're getting loans, taking out loans student death for me.
Speaker 1: He's like, don't do that for me, do it for you.
Speaker 1: He said, everything we did we did because we wanted
Speaker 1: to do it right. We didn't do it for you.
Speaker 1: We wanted to do it not to prove something to someone,
Speaker 1: not to get it. We wanted to do this, and
Speaker 1: we're able to give you these you know, these things. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so that's how I know my pops don't have
Speaker 1: sort of like resentment. My parents don't have some sort
Speaker 1: of resentment or anything. I think they just this is
Speaker 1: exactly what they wanted. I love the way they damn
Speaker 1: that's almost a tear jokeer like I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: think a lot of parents. I'm gonna steal that line
Speaker 1: for when my daughter girls are because I know for
Speaker 1: days sure, I would definitely say. What most parents say
Speaker 1: is like you know how much I did for you?
Speaker 1: Or doing how much we sacrifice you grow I grew up, well,
Speaker 1: a lot of people grow up that's how their parents talked.
Speaker 1: But I love that your parents were like, we did
Speaker 1: it because we we wanted to do and we did it.
Speaker 1: That's you know, how they were. It's why I can
Speaker 1: plagiarize it was so you can plagiarize it said we
Speaker 1: didn't do anything we did for you. We did it
Speaker 1: for us and you get to get these things. But
Speaker 1: we did it for us, not for you. Dope parents.
Speaker 1: I do have dope parents. Were they in New York?
Speaker 1: They're in Miami. Now, you know that's what Latin people do.
Speaker 1: They're still married. They're still married. It'll be forty years
Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks. Wow, how many siblings do
Speaker 1: you have? I got a sister in Austin. You do, Butter, Look,
Speaker 1: it's a big trick to the egg. Let me tell
Speaker 1: you something. You don't want to come up in my house, Butter,
Speaker 1: is like the most used thing when you make pancakes,
Speaker 1: you make good pancakes. First of all, I murdered pancakes,
Speaker 1: but you know I could do. I like them thin,
Speaker 1: like the fluffy like McDonald's kind, but way better than McDonald's.
Speaker 1: But I slab it. I do it so good. You
Speaker 1: don't need syrup because my secred thing is just real butter.
Speaker 1: That's real butter too. I learned that from Nile Evans
Speaker 1: shout out because he was on our show and I
Speaker 1: was like, what's the difference between real butter and fake butter?
Speaker 1: And then I tried it, and then I said, oh,
Speaker 1: that's what That's what they serve at the restaurants. I'll
Speaker 1: be trying to eat that thing whole. It's real butter.
Speaker 1: So now I buy the caseload at Costco. I got
Speaker 1: a homie who's trying to get me into it. He
Speaker 1: turns his own butter, facts his own butter. Yeah. Never.
Speaker 1: First of all, I've never heard of like just to
Speaker 1: put a homie in someone that turns his own butter
Speaker 1: in the same senses. It's crazy because because he would
Speaker 1: never think, like my homie, yeah, you know what he's
Speaker 1: doing at the CREB man, he turned the butter. Right now,
Speaker 1: you want some butter and give him so much. He's like,
Speaker 1: once you turn your own butter, you never go back. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just like he's got a whole machine. He tried to
Speaker 1: get me get an Amazon. It's not simple. You just
Speaker 1: get like heavy whipping creamer. Oh, don't tell me it's
Speaker 1: a heavy cream in there. Please don't tell me that. No,
Speaker 1: no, no no, no, no no, I didn't hear it. I
Speaker 1: didn't hear that. I hate heavy cream. I hate heavy cream.
Speaker 1: No no, no, no, no no, no, no no no. I
Speaker 1: wish you didn't tell me that. Is that what's really
Speaker 1: in there? Yea, you never made butter as a kid
Speaker 1: in New York. You didn't go visit the Amish and like, no,
Speaker 1: never have you. Yeah, that was in a school trip. No,
Speaker 1: I don't know what amazing school you went to, but
Speaker 1: the school I went to. The most you got was
Speaker 1: a trip to d C. Well, there you go, don't
Speaker 1: Queen's published school, Queen's public school showing up? They are
Speaker 1: so tell me more trip, good amount of great amount
Speaker 1: of butter? You did good. I need that pen to
Speaker 1: get hot. So where I started to see that the
Speaker 1: butter go a little and then uh, and then and
Speaker 1: then I'll pop him in and you don't touch him.
Speaker 1: That's the that's the whole goal of frying and egg
Speaker 1: is not touch it. Too many people touch it. What
Speaker 1: are they touching it for? To pop that yolk? I
Speaker 1: don't know why. I never touch it. I never touched it.
Speaker 1: The only time I may touch it is accidentally if
Speaker 1: I drop a little egg part in it, I'll take
Speaker 1: the eggs shell and like try to scoop it out,
Speaker 1: which really happens, guys. Because I'm gonna semi egg professional thing.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do both eggs at once because I
Speaker 1: talked a lot of game and just in case they
Speaker 1: is kind of weak, I need to step it up
Speaker 1: on the second one. I'm gonna serve you first, make
Speaker 1: your plate. Here we go, great sound, You're hilarious. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna judge the crap out of your eggs, and you
Speaker 1: want it the way you're doing it. He's acting like
Speaker 1: he's putting on a whole production over here. So is
Speaker 1: that the reason why you named your podcast brown is brownish?
Speaker 1: Brown enough, brown enough, brown enough? Sorry? Uh, we I
Speaker 1: mean we named it that mainly because of the book.
Speaker 1: So the brown enough the book, uh, and then Stitcher
Speaker 1: wanted to turn it into a We had done the
Speaker 1: Rubio podcast, which is about the Dominican man James Bom
Speaker 1: was based on, so we did like ten episodes of that,
Speaker 1: and then they wanted to turn the book into a
Speaker 1: podcast as well, where we just kind of put brownness
Speaker 1: on blast, like in this white black world, what was
Speaker 1: happening in that middle space and what we're brown people doing,
Speaker 1: and so we've just had really incredible people on there.
Speaker 1: Just if anything's in a way, it's an ode to
Speaker 1: my building where I grew up, Queens Ah. The impetus
Speaker 1: for the book was when Tana Hussey coats you know,
Speaker 1: I asked him, like as a Dominican Colombian brown kid
Speaker 1: from Queens Whearing and the race conversation, he said, not
Speaker 1: in it. And so I thought of my whole neighborhood.
Speaker 1: I thought of Queen's I thought of my parents. I
Speaker 1: thought of the countries I you know, I come from
Speaker 1: that are in my blood. I thought of Jackson Heights,
Speaker 1: and I thought about being in it. And so we
Speaker 1: sort of built this world of what it means to
Speaker 1: be a brown body in this world and to take
Speaker 1: up space. Why do you feel like your culture is
Speaker 1: so important to you? Because even like when you were
Speaker 1: talking about John langsam Oh, it was just like it
Speaker 1: seems like that's the one thing even when you were
Speaker 1: a little that kind of stood out was like who
Speaker 1: he who he was kind of like by who he represented,
Speaker 1: you know, which he represented Colombian. I think it's yeah,
Speaker 1: the Colombia, I mean, thing really did matter, but it's
Speaker 1: it's more of the word representation that that has mattered
Speaker 1: to me in my work. Like that was I saw
Speaker 1: John Leguizamo as a kid, and it gave me enough
Speaker 1: armor encouraged to say, my dreams can come true. Like
Speaker 1: one moment gave me that White people get that seventy
Speaker 1: times a week. They in every plaything, in every movie
Speaker 1: there and every billboard. You know, they're in every TV show.
Speaker 1: And I was always looking for myself, whether I knew
Speaker 1: it or not, I was always looking for that armor
Speaker 1: and that courage. And and so when I saw it
Speaker 1: look like the life, it gave me the courage. It
Speaker 1: gave me to like keep going even as like bad
Speaker 1: breaks happened, and I lived in my car for a
Speaker 1: year and my broth days making ricing beans. You know
Speaker 1: my salad days like uh, and so that John moment,
Speaker 1: it's one piece of armor, and so I wanted to
Speaker 1: create more armor for more young kids. I wanted them
Speaker 1: to have armor too. Wow. I didn't think representation mattered
Speaker 1: until and I called I consider myself like educationally ignorant.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I just made that up just now,
Speaker 1: but like I try to introduce myself to people, like, look,
Speaker 1: I'm a college dropout. Like, don't don't give me you know,
Speaker 1: but I like to read. But um. I didn't think
Speaker 1: representation mattered until Barack Obama came in office. And even
Speaker 1: then I fought it and I was like, it doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. But the older I get, I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, representation matters. This is the best. Just
Speaker 1: slides right. You didn't even try to double it. No,
Speaker 1: you don't need it. Look that I need to flip.
Speaker 1: I need it flipped. I'm sorry, I need it flipped. Really, yes,
Speaker 1: look at that that's cood. Let me see you need
Speaker 1: a flip. I need a flip. Flip it looks good,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I need a flip. I would feel much better.
Speaker 1: You did a good flip. Yes, were you did you
Speaker 1: feel like like I just ruined your perfect egg because
Speaker 1: I want to flip It's not it's not ruined. You know,
Speaker 1: we all make we all mad, you mess up your
Speaker 1: own eggs. No, I'm just really weird about it and
Speaker 1: told you I get that. How much flip you need?
Speaker 1: You good? I'm good. I'm good, even though barely put
Speaker 1: it on the fire with it. It's okay as long
Speaker 1: as I don't see it's fine. That looks very beautiful.
Speaker 1: And then you get all that juice, the butter juice.
Speaker 1: So I didn't even think of that, your hot saucepers
Speaker 1: quick answer. I'm a jewmaking even though I look Mexican, Cuban, Dominican,
Speaker 1: Puerto Rican, Hispanic. What other Latino race can you? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know what. That's the thing about being mixed. Everyone
Speaker 1: thinks for everything exactly. And that's why that's why I
Speaker 1: use the word brown, you know. And that's why I
Speaker 1: wrote this book and make this work. And because there
Speaker 1: isn't a single box that can contain the twenty four
Speaker 1: different countries that represent nothing need odd, and there isn't
Speaker 1: a single box that can represent you know, the jewmaking
Speaker 1: like in you we are not containable in a box,
Speaker 1: and yet brown felt like such a There's so many
Speaker 1: of us are brown. I think there's more brownness in
Speaker 1: the world than anything else. Yeah, I have a and
Speaker 1: you gotta get into you. I have another ignorant question,
Speaker 1: hit me. What's the difference between culturally? Since you grew
Speaker 1: up in a household with your mom and your dad,
Speaker 1: what's the cultural difference between Puerto Rican and Dominican cultural
Speaker 1: menia your parents? Your mom is Puerto Rican, right, my
Speaker 1: mom's Colombian Dominicans. What's the different cultural difference between a
Speaker 1: Colombian and a Dominican? Ah? What is that one thing
Speaker 1: that they just in the house, like you know that
Speaker 1: that Colombian anyan boy? I like Colombian food more than
Speaker 1: I like Dominican food. I like Cuban food the best. Oh,
Speaker 1: I love Mexican food. I've this hard, but we'll just
Speaker 1: stick to call me in Dominican like Colombian. But what's
Speaker 1: the difference between the two, Like growing up with your parents,
Speaker 1: is there a difference between the two that like they
Speaker 1: can legit like throw shade at each other. I think
Speaker 1: there's a there's a very unique difference in the men right, Uh,
Speaker 1: that's what's kind of beautiful. I have a Columbian mom.
Speaker 1: They're the sweetest moms in the world. They're the sweetest
Speaker 1: moms in the world. And then I have a Dominican father,
Speaker 1: and Dominicans this whole dig at osmo and dig it
Speaker 1: and maybe you heard of it. Ah, the Dominican man
Speaker 1: can be very stereotyped, is very much small like playboy. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you right now, Dominicans. I was driving
Speaker 1: in probably Queens. I was like seventeen or eighteen, and
Speaker 1: it was this fun. I mean, to this day, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I've ever seen him do so fun.
Speaker 1: He pulled up on me and he had this confidence
Speaker 1: and he was the most beautiful person I had ever
Speaker 1: physically seen. And I was like, what are you And
Speaker 1: he said he was Dominican. And I said to my girls,
Speaker 1: I don't even know if I've really ever seen a
Speaker 1: full Dominicans since. But I tell people like, Dominicans, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they win, they win, they win. They have a swagger
Speaker 1: that is unique. Yes, so your your father had that swagger. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: but but he's like faithfully married and all that. So
Speaker 1: we had swagger, but he had integrity. He has integrity,
Speaker 1: has swagger, he's got a he likes to say. Early
Speaker 1: on in our relationship, your mom put the fear of
Speaker 1: God in me. She said, you do whatever you want,
Speaker 1: but I swear to guy like you only get one chance.
Speaker 1: Oh snap, And he said, all right, oh wow, that's
Speaker 1: a good way to say it. You can do whatever
Speaker 1: you want, but you only get one chance. Dang. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: go ahead. Mom. She slicked with it too. She locked
Speaker 1: it up, She locked it up. Okay, okay, I liked it.
Speaker 1: I liked it. All right, I'm gonna try this while
Speaker 1: it's hot. You might miss the the yoke, but you
Speaker 1: know no, I said, I'm gonna do it while it's hot.
Speaker 1: We'll see if it running. Do you want me? It's
Speaker 1: gonna the way you cooked it. It's definitely running. That's
Speaker 1: how that's how the things work. No, that's just then
Speaker 1: what it's still a little running. But okay, don't judge,
Speaker 1: don't you were you were talking and distracting me. Wait
Speaker 1: what was your You probably answered this a bunch, But
Speaker 1: what was your eating while broke food? Um? Mine would
Speaker 1: be corn meal, um porridge corn meal part Yeah, tell
Speaker 1: me more. Um it's just when we were growing up,
Speaker 1: my mom would always make hormeal porridge and we loved it.
Speaker 1: And it's super cheap, and that would be it. That
Speaker 1: would be my thing, cormeal porridge. I guess it's similar
Speaker 1: to like a grits. Yeah, I mean we would do
Speaker 1: and I still do a savory oatmeal, which is hell
Speaker 1: it cheap that you can make it. Let me tell
Speaker 1: you something, Your edg is phenomenal. Thanks, why face right now?
Speaker 1: It's it's really happy. I'm trying. I don't even know.
Speaker 1: I don't even know a phenomenal Is it the seasoning?
Speaker 1: It's just the butter. It's the way it sits. You
Speaker 1: don't touch it, kind of let it, let it all
Speaker 1: rip out. You don't want to touch it. Right. That
Speaker 1: is the most phenomenal egg I've ever ate my life.
Speaker 1: And I'm a I don't even eat breakfast food outside
Speaker 1: because I'm a I'll judge you. You should see me
Speaker 1: throw down some scrambled eggs me my favorite food. I
Speaker 1: would love to share it with you, Jared, because I
Speaker 1: know you would love to try this. But this egg
Speaker 1: is phenomenal, So you do it like this now, we
Speaker 1: don't flip in it kissing the rice or the yolk. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it looks yours looks great, but mine tastes amazing. This
Speaker 1: is this is a great broke this ship. I should
Speaker 1: have video. I ate this a lot. I mean, here's
Speaker 1: the thing. I feel like I'm I'm lying to folks
Speaker 1: because I ate it when I was broke by You're
Speaker 1: still eat it now, dude. If you were like, holy
Speaker 1: come dig it, I'm gonna make some of this, I'll
Speaker 1: be okay, cool. I love you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: My friends have come over it and nothing has been
Speaker 1: in my crib but like ricing beans. And I've just
Speaker 1: made ricing beans for a bunch of people. Always got
Speaker 1: ricing beans for some strange reason, always thought when you
Speaker 1: have lucan of beans that you have to do more
Speaker 1: than just heat it up. No, but I do normally
Speaker 1: like to rinse them after the can, rinse them out
Speaker 1: of the can, get that water out, uh, and then
Speaker 1: put him in a in a pot. And if you want,
Speaker 1: like the real way Colombians do it. And this is
Speaker 1: yummy as hell, y'all, anyone listening, throw some vinegar into
Speaker 1: your ricing into your beans. Really fire some red wine
Speaker 1: vinegar when you say some like how much of some
Speaker 1: up to your flavor preference? Just hit it with a
Speaker 1: little couple, you know, spot black. Okay, you know sometimes
Speaker 1: you can't you can't give measurements. You just gotta feel
Speaker 1: it out. I'm still trying to figure out why are
Speaker 1: eggs tastes like this? It is the best egg I've
Speaker 1: ever had in my life. That is the best egg
Speaker 1: I've ever had in my life as a combination of flavor.
Speaker 1: What the I didn't even know you can make that good?
Speaker 1: But I have something that's gonna make you be disappointed.
Speaker 1: I was, I was reading, I was reading up on you,
Speaker 1: and you're like a huge fan of James Bond. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I really know anything about James Bond.
Speaker 1: The only thing I remember was like, not all the
Speaker 1: way through You're seen one? Then, didn't I say? I
Speaker 1: was going to say something, but the only thing well,
Speaker 1: of course you're gonna yeah, But my question is is um,
Speaker 1: the only thing I know about James Bond is like
Speaker 1: he's this like suave a guy, right, and then halle
Speaker 1: Berry was like in one of the movies. Right, That's
Speaker 1: all I know, And you're this huge fan of it,
Speaker 1: So I have to know, like what's so great about
Speaker 1: James Bond, to the point where I'll actually take time
Speaker 1: to like go watch James Bond sell me, Like what
Speaker 1: is it you like about it? I'm gonna sell you,
Speaker 1: not sell you, because let's be honest. As a little kid,
Speaker 1: you don't know this, but as an adult, James Bond
Speaker 1: is widely problematic. He's a womanizer. You know, hello Machismore
Speaker 1: because I'm a woman, you know. Uh he there are
Speaker 1: tons of problems in those films. But as a kid,
Speaker 1: I mean, what do I see? I see? He flies hell,
Speaker 1: he gets all the ladies, he saves the day. He's
Speaker 1: driving a nice whip, he got fun gadgets. He's like
Speaker 1: every check box for a little boy. I'm like, that's tight.
Speaker 1: And I love superheroes, but I was like, ain't no
Speaker 1: lasers coming out of my eyes anytime soon? I don't
Speaker 1: have webbing a spider Man. But like, maybe maybe I
Speaker 1: could be this person, Like this person is just cool.
Speaker 1: According to everything you tell me, this is possible if
Speaker 1: I just be cool. And so as a little kid,
Speaker 1: I kind of told myself this story, that's what I want.
Speaker 1: I want to be cool. I want to be that,
Speaker 1: you know, like up to the point where I would
Speaker 1: run around and like my tidy Whitey's with all my
Speaker 1: nerve guns and pretend to be Bond, trying to be
Speaker 1: some white British dude. What did your dad think about that?
Speaker 1: I not trying to deter you, but I don't think
Speaker 1: he actually thought anything of it until later, you know,
Speaker 1: until the short of Ruby Rosa moment, but with the moment.
Speaker 1: So in college, someone sent me an article about Portfidio
Speaker 1: Rubido Sa and this is the article that changed my life. Truly.
Speaker 1: It was Portio Rubidos. I was twice the richest man
Speaker 1: in the world, married to five different women, lived in
Speaker 1: Hitler's Germany, for Dell's Cuba, rand guns from Mayer Lansky
Speaker 1: and the New York City mob, best friends with Sinatra
Speaker 1: and Kennedy and the rat Pack, followed the FBI for
Speaker 1: seventeen years, and then the real kicker. There was a
Speaker 1: very good chance that James Bond was based on him
Speaker 1: and my father's Dominican. I knew many Dominicans, and I
Speaker 1: thought what if? I what if? For so much of
Speaker 1: my life I wasn't pretending to be some white dude.
Speaker 1: But I got to be my pops. I got to
Speaker 1: be myself. I got to pretend to be like the
Speaker 1: people in my neighborhood. But I have tried less to
Speaker 1: be like them, and what I have had more love
Speaker 1: for myself. There you go. You're gonna have to rewind
Speaker 1: that my brains a little slow. That was a lot.
Speaker 1: So you're saying that the person that James Bond was
Speaker 1: based off of was actually Dominican and essentially what he
Speaker 1: was doing in your neighborhood, if I'm if I'm getting
Speaker 1: this right, was what people Dominicans were doing in the
Speaker 1: crimes in the crime scene. He died. He died in
Speaker 1: the fifty But I'm saying, like him being Dominican and
Speaker 1: being like having the women, and he did, he had
Speaker 1: the women, but he was doing he was obviously doing
Speaker 1: a legal activity and all that stuff. When you found
Speaker 1: out that James Bond was based off him, what shocked
Speaker 1: you more the fact that it was he was Dominican
Speaker 1: or the fact that it was based off a guy
Speaker 1: that essentially was like doing bad stuff. It was the
Speaker 1: fact that he was Dominican. It was the fact that,
Speaker 1: like Hollywood once again took a beautiful body of culture
Speaker 1: and turned it into a white thing. You know, they
Speaker 1: took something from us, like and and that's how I felt.
Speaker 1: So you're, oh, I see what you're saying. So you're
Speaker 1: wondering now if if he was Dominican, if you would
Speaker 1: have looked up to him as much. Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: have looked up to myself more. I think as a
Speaker 1: little kid, I didn't like myself. I wanted to be
Speaker 1: on TV, right, I wanted to be an actor. That's
Speaker 1: why that John Yis I'm a moment is so important
Speaker 1: because all I saw was whiteness portrayed as the best. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and what if the most successful franchise in the history
Speaker 1: of the world was a body of color instead of
Speaker 1: some white British too. Well, how do you feel now
Speaker 1: that we live in a world where black culture has
Speaker 1: been like rob tenfold? Like when I look at the Kardashians,
Speaker 1: like no disrespects to those women, like more power to
Speaker 1: the power that they have or whatever. But I feel
Speaker 1: like there was so much they they took some of
Speaker 1: the attributes of a black woman and then they put
Speaker 1: it on if you if you really break it down,
Speaker 1: it's a light skinned girl, right, And it's like the
Speaker 1: black girls are walking around with these bodies for ages.
Speaker 1: Now every now done wrong. I don't go far in
Speaker 1: l A without seeing like a fake version of the model.
Speaker 1: And it's very hard now to tell which is faking
Speaker 1: which is real anymore. But it's crazy that the Kardashians
Speaker 1: got so big off of like, you know, the lip
Speaker 1: injections and the butt injections and the boo you know, boobs, boobs.
Speaker 1: You know, that's been out for a while, but like
Speaker 1: it's almost like with the weaves, and it's just like
Speaker 1: it's it's horrible because you look at black girls and
Speaker 1: even the way black men or or other men view women.
Speaker 1: It's just like if you're light skinned, it's better. But
Speaker 1: it's like, but these are all the attributes of black women.
Speaker 1: It's just that's why I use the term bodies of culture,
Speaker 1: not bodies of color, because I don't think whiteness is
Speaker 1: trying to take our color, is trying to take our culture.
Speaker 1: They're trying to take anything that they can make money
Speaker 1: off of, and so they take our they take our bodies. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they take our aesthetics, you know, they try to take anything.
Speaker 1: They take our our yoga, they take our you know,
Speaker 1: our philosophies, and if they can make money off of
Speaker 1: it and package it, that's what they want. Do you
Speaker 1: think it's because like, why do you think that we
Speaker 1: have such a huge impact on white people? I mean,
Speaker 1: that's essentially what it is. Actually, that was the first
Speaker 1: time I've ever said that, But like seriously, like, yeah, Africa,
Speaker 1: it's crazy because they tried to kill off and abused
Speaker 1: the very people that they essentially like look up to.
Speaker 1: Don't you think we've been around longer? Like we've been
Speaker 1: around longer. Uh, Whiteness early on became threatened by the
Speaker 1: black body. Very early on. Whiteness did a lot of
Speaker 1: things too. When you're chill, you don't do a lot
Speaker 1: of planning, You don't think anything is coming after you.
Speaker 1: When you feel threatened, you start to galvanize people. You know,
Speaker 1: look at January six, look at politics right now, the
Speaker 1: white people in general right now. Feeling threatened like that
Speaker 1: feeling of being threatened makes some sort of anger and
Speaker 1: rage and action happen. And so early on in history,
Speaker 1: way before you and I are here, and before our
Speaker 1: parents and parents and parents, white people feel threatened by
Speaker 1: by the black body, and so they make up so
Speaker 1: many systems and ways to take advantage of the black
Speaker 1: I mean literally yeah, and also to humanize us, which
Speaker 1: as the worst I think the one of the worst things.
Speaker 1: And as I got older, so one of the things
Speaker 1: I learned about being Jewish is Jewish Um. Jews have
Speaker 1: something called the birthright. Are you familiar with it? As
Speaker 1: you know where you go today? No? I I went
Speaker 1: to Israel, but I didn't. I ended up on a
Speaker 1: plane with birthright the group before. But I had the opportunity,
Speaker 1: and I was young, and I was like culture, who
Speaker 1: gives a crap about culture? Um? But then obviously it
Speaker 1: was like a little too late by the time I
Speaker 1: wanted to do it, but I ended up going to Israel.
Speaker 1: But for all of you that don't know about birthright,
Speaker 1: it's essentially like, as a Jewish person, you can fly
Speaker 1: to Israel for like fourteen days fully paid. Is it
Speaker 1: for free? You get to learn everything about your culture,
Speaker 1: your history. And I think what makes Jewish people the
Speaker 1: most resilient, powerful, one of the most powerful races uh
Speaker 1: the world, is because how tied to keeping their culture
Speaker 1: in their history alive. And I feel like when it
Speaker 1: comes to black people are struggle to find out who
Speaker 1: we were originally before we were robbed and brainwashed and
Speaker 1: raped and whatever. You know, it's like we don't have
Speaker 1: it and we try our hardest to piece together who
Speaker 1: we were. But the world that the media, the the
Speaker 1: world has positioned us and dehumanize us so much to
Speaker 1: the point where it's like we're lost. We're just lost,
Speaker 1: and we don't know what the right example is. You know.
Speaker 1: I think, I mean, I think that's changing. It's changing slowly.
Speaker 1: You know when I look at broken homes, womanizing, and
Speaker 1: the stuff that breaks my heart nowadays and I'm a
Speaker 1: woman is the womanizing. It's like the I feel like
Speaker 1: women the older I get we're slowly becoming like second rate.
Speaker 1: Well we probably have been a long time, but I
Speaker 1: feel like we're we're becoming less and less less valuable. Interesting,
Speaker 1: you feel that now we're more accomplished, but we're still
Speaker 1: not getting the respect. I mean, I can I can
Speaker 1: agree with that because the numbers are there, like we
Speaker 1: and look at all the abortions right like, we're still
Speaker 1: like yesterday, I was in an event the woman that
Speaker 1: runs the third largest budget in the world, which is
Speaker 1: the state of California. She's a black woman, young girl young.
Speaker 1: I think it's like Malia Cohen, y'all shout out to her.
Speaker 1: I would love to get on, but it's just like
Speaker 1: seeing her, it's like, dang, you're so powerful, You're soul powerful,
Speaker 1: you know, Like I would say, damn, Like that's the
Speaker 1: type of person I would love to be, Like, you know,
Speaker 1: the woman in a suit or or whatever. But I
Speaker 1: know that there's men out there or you know, whoever
Speaker 1: out there that's never gonna look at her the way
Speaker 1: I look at her, because like we're just dehumanized. Like
Speaker 1: we can cook, we can clean, we could be well rounded,
Speaker 1: we could damn all be perfect, but we can't seem
Speaker 1: to get that full round of respect in the world.
Speaker 1: And it just sucks. I don't yes, I mean, you're like,
Speaker 1: I'm not a woman. I don't know what the heck
Speaker 1: that's I can only get you and say, I hope it.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it happens in our lifetime. I
Speaker 1: do believe I have both hope and and and no hope.
Speaker 1: Like uh. At the same time, when you were talking
Speaker 1: about James Bond, one of the things you said was like,
Speaker 1: you know, as a kid, he had all these women
Speaker 1: and it's just like it's it just sucks because it's
Speaker 1: like I get it, but I don't get it. I
Speaker 1: just don't get like the fascination of like, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: don't be wrong, I'm attracted to those swagger puppies. Let
Speaker 1: us swagger puppy come up in here. I'm like, girl,
Speaker 1: you'll never save. But like you know, I'm getting older
Speaker 1: and wise and I just value different things now. But
Speaker 1: I really ish that the media and the powers that
Speaker 1: be took more responsibility and humanizing. That's what it is.
Speaker 1: It's the image that is sold to young boys forever. Yeah,
Speaker 1: especially when they're young, Like it is sold to be
Speaker 1: to be this, to be that kind of person. Uh,
Speaker 1: and young boys fall into this really hard. I know
Speaker 1: the porn industry doesn't help with that. I know so
Speaker 1: many things don't help with the storytelling that we give
Speaker 1: to young boys. Well, and then if you're one of
Speaker 1: those young boys that are fortunate enough to have a
Speaker 1: great dad or a dad that's in your life, well, no,
Speaker 1: a great dad. Let's let's be honest, A great dad matters,
Speaker 1: not just a dad. But you know, if you're one
Speaker 1: of the ones that you know, you're the seed that
Speaker 1: fell on good soil, you know. But if you're the
Speaker 1: one that didn't, and your only option is the TV
Speaker 1: or the radio, it's going to be a rough road ahead,
Speaker 1: you know, and a lot of damage. Win be lining
Speaker 1: up to get swung at essentially, you know, because that's
Speaker 1: what happens, and you become a product of your environment.
Speaker 1: And women do too though, of that TV, that that
Speaker 1: information out there is being sold to every So I
Speaker 1: can't go nowhere. If I go on Instagram, I'll be like, yo,
Speaker 1: I'm beautiful. I look at me. I'm beautiful. I got
Speaker 1: Astagram like, well, yeah, look at that girl. So I'll
Speaker 1: be like, that's a filter, be like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's pretty good to me. That Instagram is dangerous as hell. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just constantly telling people that where you are is
Speaker 1: not enough. That's the more important part of Brown Enough.
Speaker 1: Whether it's the book of the podcast, it's the word enough.
Speaker 1: Like this, everything in this life is trying to tell
Speaker 1: you you are not enough. You need to do this,
Speaker 1: You need to buy this, you know, workshop, or drink
Speaker 1: this green juice or get these pills like you know,
Speaker 1: or get this botox or you name it. You are
Speaker 1: not enough. You got to do something, and so I'm
Speaker 1: hoping to create art and spaces of belonging. That's say,
Speaker 1: you are enough just as you are, regardless of brown, black,
Speaker 1: white juice. Like you are enough just as you are
Speaker 1: right here, right now, and that if more people walk
Speaker 1: through the world taking up that space, I do think
Speaker 1: some powerful change would take place in workplaces amongst women,
Speaker 1: amongst men, yeah, amongst boys. Where you are it's you know,
Speaker 1: you you're not just an actor. You're an actor with
Speaker 1: a mission. Where do you see yourself going when it
Speaker 1: comes to acting? Because I feel like your mission seems
Speaker 1: more important. Well, I don't want to say more important,
Speaker 1: but it definitely seems like you're well invested in it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I think I think both can happen. Meaning I
Speaker 1: do think it is important. I've been very fortunate to
Speaker 1: be on television. And it is also important to see yourself,
Speaker 1: Like when a little kid sees me and they're like tight, okay,
Speaker 1: it gives them some armor, right, even in the smallest way.
Speaker 1: Look at the beautifulness within New Black Panther. Right, have
Speaker 1: you seen that movie? By Yeah, don't spoil it, don't
Speaker 1: spoil you've seen it tonight. I can't spoil it. It's
Speaker 1: like you already say Queens is bad and and so
Speaker 1: what I'm hoping to do is to create content. What
Speaker 1: I'm going to do and I am doing, is creating
Speaker 1: content that I can act in that tells a different story.
Speaker 1: Like I'm just out here trying to put us on
Speaker 1: blasting ways where we're not extraordinary. We're just it's just us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just us and being us like when Harry met Sally,
Speaker 1: but you know, starting to brown people. Yeah, well I
Speaker 1: do want to. I know you and I will we
Speaker 1: get in a room. I'm starting to see we we
Speaker 1: we definitely go very wide. But I would like to
Speaker 1: I would like to ask you, like, when did you
Speaker 1: realize you had arrived in acting? I mean, that's it,
Speaker 1: like that pivotal moment where you're like, yo, Pops it,
Speaker 1: what's up? Yes, what I did. That's a tough one
Speaker 1: because it's twofold with Pops. I always told my pops,
Speaker 1: your Pops. I ain't trying to be Brad Pitt. I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to like pay my rent and play ball
Speaker 1: whenever I want. That's what I told him I wanted
Speaker 1: from acting. That kind of evolves you know like I
Speaker 1: hit that because I remember I remember pulling up to
Speaker 1: the court. I used to play with the same like
Speaker 1: a group of guys, and I remember pulling up to
Speaker 1: the court and my Pops called me and he said,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? And I said, you're about to
Speaker 1: play ball? Like I'll call you back, because that was
Speaker 1: my dad's joke always when I would call him when
Speaker 1: I was a kid. I would call him. I said,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? He said, I'm playing basketball. Do
Speaker 1: you think I'm doing I'm working? Yeah, yo. I would
Speaker 1: love to me tell Pops. You know, fast forward, I
Speaker 1: pulled up to the court. He calls me, what are
Speaker 1: you doing. I'm about to play ball? Call you back
Speaker 1: and he starts to cry and he says, you did it.
Speaker 1: You actually did it, so I know, I know I
Speaker 1: accomplished that one. I do think you were having all
Speaker 1: these tearjerker moments like I do think there is the
Speaker 1: next level now because we get to evolve and take
Speaker 1: on bigger challenges. And yet I have I have a
Speaker 1: problem with your question because it you know, like when
Speaker 1: Lebron James won his last championship, he yelled into the microphone,
Speaker 1: put some respect on my name. Bro, they got statues
Speaker 1: of you, like you are a billionaire. Put some respect
Speaker 1: on my neck. Problem, problem, that's not enough, Like put
Speaker 1: some respect and and I had a moment where I
Speaker 1: was like, that's exhausting. Oh I must, I must sucking
Speaker 1: away slash. I recognize it so much because I know
Speaker 1: the mornings when I wake up, I'm in my whip
Speaker 1: and I'm like, put some respect on my name. And
Speaker 1: I don't like that feeling, you know why, because I
Speaker 1: don't think it ever ends. Well, I have not even
Speaker 1: when the ego I win the Grammy, I'll do this,
Speaker 1: and like I think somehow I'll still have that feeling
Speaker 1: put some respect on my name. And when you say
Speaker 1: put some respect on your name, mean and like you
Speaker 1: keep moving the needle for you keep I gotta keep
Speaker 1: doing stuff I noticed doing this show. Every person that
Speaker 1: I have interviewed pretty much says and I think it's
Speaker 1: just it's just the faith gets so strong after accomplishing
Speaker 1: things that the goal just keeps getting higher and higher
Speaker 1: and higher. But I would say, like we've done almost
Speaker 1: for forties five episodes, and I will say, like, for sure,
Speaker 1: one thing that everyone on this show has in common
Speaker 1: is that the goal post keeps getting moved back. Okay,
Speaker 1: I love that so much, he said. The faith gets stronger,
Speaker 1: gets stronger, the goal just gets higher and higher, because
Speaker 1: once you start to have that confidence, it's just like,
Speaker 1: what's next, Sign me up, let's do it. Um. There
Speaker 1: have been times where I've failed and it goes in
Speaker 1: the opposite direction. When have you failed and it has
Speaker 1: kind of swung in the opposite direction. The pandemic was
Speaker 1: hard for me because I had booked my first series regular.
Speaker 1: I had a tour of my one man show planned
Speaker 1: for eleven different cities. I was about to go from
Speaker 1: my rice and being days to like most money I
Speaker 1: haven't made in my life. And I remember that Wednesday
Speaker 1: and the Wednesday they said, you know, the play is
Speaker 1: canceled at this location. I said, that's fine, I'm doing
Speaker 1: TV show, yes, whatever, couple and then uh, TV shows
Speaker 1: like we gotta hold back a week to the table
Speaker 1: read Was this before the NBA took any Was this
Speaker 1: before the NBA took an me? Because that's when I
Speaker 1: realized the end of the world was coming. When the
Speaker 1: NBA was like, yeah, remember that game, I remember that.
Speaker 1: I don't know it's it's it's in that window like
Speaker 1: two days where everyone's life started. Yeah, and oh and
Speaker 1: uh so the TV shows like all right, we gotta wait,
Speaker 1: and then two weeks go by. You remember when we
Speaker 1: thought it would be two weeks to be like calling
Speaker 1: you in two weeks and then they were like, oh,
Speaker 1: we'll checking in July, we'll checking in August, and um,
Speaker 1: she'll never got made, you know, like I was, I
Speaker 1: was an unemployment and I was at least unemployment was
Speaker 1: being fruitful. There was a lot of people like I
Speaker 1: don't get on employment today for real. Uh yeah, amen? Uh?
Speaker 1: And and that was I've had many I mean, like
Speaker 1: I said, I lived in my car at some point,
Speaker 1: Like I've had many downs, and yet the faith always remained.
Speaker 1: And I was broken during this pandemic, like I got
Speaker 1: I worked so hard just to get that thing that
Speaker 1: series regularly that and uh and I lost it, you know,
Speaker 1: like but so many people lost, so many things, including
Speaker 1: loved ones. And you know, my meditation teacher always says,
Speaker 1: we're never more selfish than when things aren't going our way.
Speaker 1: And and things weren't going my way, and I was
Speaker 1: feeling selfish and broken, and I went home to Miami
Speaker 1: for a long time. I hung out with my parents.
Speaker 1: They they built me back up. Piece piece, my mom's food,
Speaker 1: my dad's love. M they built me up. They restored
Speaker 1: my faith. I'm not gonna lie. I've never wanted to
Speaker 1: meet someone's parents for my right. Doesn't want to meet you,
Speaker 1: just want to meet him and hug them. They're good people. Um,
Speaker 1: they're great people. So what do you do when well,
Speaker 1: I guess you. You went back home and you got rebuilt.
Speaker 1: I got rebuilt, came you know, came back to l A.
Speaker 1: Pandemics for the change, I booked a role, turned into
Speaker 1: a series regularly, the irony shot on the same stage
Speaker 1: as where the show I built was gonna shoot stage
Speaker 1: and Warner Brothers, and you were financially recovered obviously, right yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean from that, and then the book the book
Speaker 1: deal happened. You know, all this happened at the same
Speaker 1: time the series regular, the book deal and the two
Speaker 1: podcasts deal, like all happened in a year when you
Speaker 1: came back to l A. And you did you when
Speaker 1: you were coming back, did you know that any of
Speaker 1: that was gonna happen? So you would come back like
Speaker 1: rehabilitated but also scared a little bit broken. I really
Speaker 1: thought it was broken. Yeah, it's funny you said that
Speaker 1: line about when things aren't going your way, you get
Speaker 1: the most selfish, because, um, when the pandemic it happened
Speaker 1: my business. I had an events company. It was doing
Speaker 1: extremely well. I was like making good money. I was confident.
Speaker 1: I was like, yo, events is taking over. This was
Speaker 1: the best you know. I had my business for like
Speaker 1: ten years, but events were just doing phenomenal. And then
Speaker 1: I was in Lake Tahole doing an event and I
Speaker 1: was glued to my phone, which I usually i'm not,
Speaker 1: but I was just like, please, God, don't let the NBA.
Speaker 1: Don't let them take a break, because the rest of
Speaker 1: the world's gonna follow. And all my clients were like, Colleen,
Speaker 1: there's a thing called COVID and corona and uh, you
Speaker 1: know they're saying it's serious. Do you think we should
Speaker 1: cancel all events? And I'm a consultant, I'm like, uh,
Speaker 1: the Budweiser flu come on, it's cold, Like, don't worry.
Speaker 1: And I was literally like on conference calls after conference calls.
Speaker 1: Banks were calling me. Um, everybody's sponsors were calling me,
Speaker 1: what do you think is going on? What is your
Speaker 1: opinion on this, and I was just like, I really
Speaker 1: didn't know, but I was just like, this has to
Speaker 1: be like the worst media's frenzy of all time. But
Speaker 1: I just was please because the NBA was like figuring
Speaker 1: it out. And I was like, if the NBA publicly
Speaker 1: says they are not doing this game, it's done. And
Speaker 1: I sat there by the phone and when the NBA
Speaker 1: announced it, I promised you. I was sitting at a
Speaker 1: table sending people and I just was like, oh, it's
Speaker 1: over the next day. Cancelation, cancelation, cancelation. Most of my clients, um,
Speaker 1: we're with me for years. I never charged. I stopped
Speaker 1: charging deposits. It was like they're good for it. Or
Speaker 1: I was out of money, fashioning a blink and um.
Speaker 1: And at the time I had worked so hard because
Speaker 1: I was trying to buy another house. I was like, yo,
Speaker 1: I cannot lose my business because you know, the banks
Speaker 1: will be like you have to start all over. It's
Speaker 1: so hard to get alone as an entrepreneur. I was like, yo,
Speaker 1: So I kept my business on like barely life support,
Speaker 1: like and I was like, please, God, don't let me
Speaker 1: have to go through my savings, like you know, I
Speaker 1: was in sheer panic. My parents are super poor, so
Speaker 1: it's like there's no rehabilitation center. No. I mean, I
Speaker 1: appreciate yours, but it was like, yo, it's just we
Speaker 1: welcome to the ten candids, Like it's just you're done,
Speaker 1: you know, And and uh PPP came out and all
Speaker 1: these first it didn't look like they were catering into
Speaker 1: small businesses. I was like and share, like what was me?
Speaker 1: And every time I got on the phone with someone,
Speaker 1: they'd be like everyone's going through And BE like, I
Speaker 1: get it, everyone's going through it, but I'm really going
Speaker 1: through it. And he'd be like, yeah, but Colleen, the
Speaker 1: whole world shut down and be like, yeah, I get it,
Speaker 1: but yeah. And every time someone will point out the
Speaker 1: whole world was going through it, I would say, yeah,
Speaker 1: but you don't understand. It's me, you know, and you're right,
Speaker 1: you know. Um. But then I ended up um you know, creativity,
Speaker 1: Like I was so bored. I started dating. I Uh,
Speaker 1: I made a baby, like I did murals, I created
Speaker 1: like like, oh man, it's crazy because when you think
Speaker 1: about the pandemic, we're out of it. But it was
Speaker 1: literally two years, you know, and I did so much
Speaker 1: in two years. Just you know, I also got a job.
Speaker 1: I called the startup that had been wanting to be
Speaker 1: to work with them. I was like Kanye West when
Speaker 1: he like, uh lost the deal his record, the Fresh Record,
Speaker 1: he was like, is that deal still on the table.
Speaker 1: I immediately called them like do you still want to
Speaker 1: hire me? And they're like hell yeah, And I was
Speaker 1: like done. And that's how I got through without training
Speaker 1: my savings um and then I was like, I have
Speaker 1: insurance and I ended up. I was like, oh, while
Speaker 1: I have insurance, I was probably have a kid and
Speaker 1: really make it work. You know. But if it wasn't
Speaker 1: for the pandemic, Like, you know, it's funny. The pandemic
Speaker 1: was like the greatest thing that ever happened to humanity
Speaker 1: in the sense that you know, when I moved to
Speaker 1: l A, you know, if you want, if I wanted
Speaker 1: to hang out with you, it'd be like, let's go
Speaker 1: out to drink, let's go out to eat. It was
Speaker 1: during the pandemic was great. It was like my high
Speaker 1: school days where you go over to your home girl's
Speaker 1: house and you kick it and yeah, like it was amazing,
Speaker 1: Like people didn't like, you didn't have to have money
Speaker 1: to kick it with your friends and you didn't care
Speaker 1: what anybody did. It would be like, Hi, how are
Speaker 1: you doing? What are you doing to survive? Like you know,
Speaker 1: it was never like what are you doing for work?
Speaker 1: And people were so vulnerable. It was like the most
Speaker 1: human people had ever been and I loved it. I've
Speaker 1: been reading a lot of articles about people being like, hey,
Speaker 1: when does a kind of that version of life come
Speaker 1: back where I'm less stressed and like panicky? What am
Speaker 1: I going to do it? Because at some point we
Speaker 1: all just kind of were like, this is yeah, this
Speaker 1: is it, this is what I'm in right now. Now.
Speaker 1: Did you ever think when they had did the mask mandate? Um,
Speaker 1: did you ever think about robbing anybody when they did
Speaker 1: the mask mandate? Did you ever at least think about
Speaker 1: it once? I'm sure because I promised you when the
Speaker 1: mask mandate came out, I said, wait a minute, I
Speaker 1: could go into a store with a mask on and
Speaker 1: am I literally the only sick person in the world.
Speaker 1: I was thinking, like everybody thought it right right, Like
Speaker 1: it was like you legit. I was like, you want
Speaker 1: me to know, you want me to go into the
Speaker 1: bank and be broke? Okay, like I wasn't right. It's everybody,
Speaker 1: so you thought it. I don't know if I thought
Speaker 1: it in the bank, but I think I often thought
Speaker 1: like we all covered up right now, especially I'll put
Speaker 1: some shades on. I don't exist, yo. And there were
Speaker 1: some people walking around with shades and mask. It was
Speaker 1: just like, yo, we're really doing this best thing for celebrities.
Speaker 1: It was the best. They were like yeah, and then
Speaker 1: people people let me tell you the people that really,
Speaker 1: let me tell you, the most gangster entrepreneurs appeared at
Speaker 1: the pandemic. You're not really a gangster entrepreneur unless you
Speaker 1: were one of those entrepreneurs that started selling masks immediately.
Speaker 1: I mean they were. They were in my neighborhood. I've
Speaker 1: been like this block and like Hollywood, most Folice area.
Speaker 1: That's they lined up. They had every style mask, Dodgers mask,
Speaker 1: this mask, every team Lakers. Dude. There were people like
Speaker 1: maybe three weeks in getting million dollar contracts for like masks.
Speaker 1: Like there were people and weed was like at a
Speaker 1: premium COVID testing. Anyone who picked up on that, let
Speaker 1: me tell you, I don't even think those kind have
Speaker 1: been even entrepreneurs. Those were like real hustlers. They were
Speaker 1: just like, Oh, everybody's gonna want and get it, get
Speaker 1: all the sugar. But but no, the pandemic was it
Speaker 1: was a gift and a curse. Um. But like now
Speaker 1: that we're in the real world, I do look back
Speaker 1: at it like probably one essentially, I mean, aside from
Speaker 1: the people that lost their lives, essentially, it was like
Speaker 1: probably one of the most human moments, even with the
Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter, Like it was the first time it
Speaker 1: was so successful. Everybody was home and there was no games.
Speaker 1: There was nothing to distract you from something that has
Speaker 1: been going on for years. It was going on for years,
Speaker 1: and it took that it's funny about basketball and no games.
Speaker 1: So I was I was about to make all this money,
Speaker 1: and so I went and bought some court side like
Speaker 1: nice seats. Dallas Mavericks l A Lakers canceled. What did
Speaker 1: you get your money back? Yeah, it's like a year
Speaker 1: and a half later from ticket man. They kept being
Speaker 1: like do you wanna were like, we'll give you more
Speaker 1: if you keep it here. That money as it is pleasing,
Speaker 1: thank you. I kept sending emails that were like we
Speaker 1: get it, we get it, we get it. Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: actually going to a basketball game tomorrow. Something spurs risk Clippers.
Speaker 1: Oh you're not impressed. I could tell no, you were impressed.
Speaker 1: You were in president. Okay, I was impressed with take
Speaker 1: your shot. Your shot. Well, um, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for hanging out with me. You were a breath of
Speaker 1: fresh air. Truly, and uh, this is amazing. Next time,
Speaker 1: don't don't come on this show without your pops and
Speaker 1: your mom. Bring him out. Let's go. If they come
Speaker 1: to town, like mama cook, let me tell you she
Speaker 1: taught you how to make that egg. She taught you
Speaker 1: how to make that I be honest, the egg thing
Speaker 1: is a self taught kind of Look, guys, if you
Speaker 1: ever get a chance to come across Chris reab Us,
Speaker 1: I'm going to say right now, find a way to
Speaker 1: have him make you an egg. This is the truth
Speaker 1: because you know me, guys, like you see me take
Speaker 1: one bite out of food. You know, when I like something,
Speaker 1: I brag about it. I try to do it at home.
Speaker 1: And I honestly did not believe in the such thing
Speaker 1: as a great egg. So this episode, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell you what I saw him do before we close out.
Speaker 1: For all your listeners. He put a lot of butter
Speaker 1: in the pot. Difference, It's almost like when I may pancakes.
Speaker 1: I do a lot of butter in the pot too.
Speaker 1: And then he did crack the egg. Um, he did
Speaker 1: not touch it like he said. He also didn't flip
Speaker 1: his egg, which I wish I would have actually taken
Speaker 1: his advice. Um, but I will say that he was
Speaker 1: seasoning throughout. I saw him doing it, pouring the seasoning
Speaker 1: in his hand and sprinkling it on like dust. So um.
Speaker 1: He did the lorries, the salt and the pepper for
Speaker 1: all y'all. But it was the best egg, best rising
Speaker 1: beans combo. You clearly ate this a million times. Still
Speaker 1: do still do well next week. I'm gonna probably eat
Speaker 1: this tomorrow or something. Um, but thank you so much
Speaker 1: for your time. You guys could catch Chris Revas. Can
Speaker 1: you tell everyone your socials? Yeah? Instagram, Christopher double underscore Revos.
Speaker 1: That's probably the best way to find me. Christopher Revas
Speaker 1: dot com. Get the book brown Enough everywhere you get books, Amazon,
Speaker 1: Bars and Obos, all the things, and then listen to
Speaker 1: the ruby doosan bra enough cast peace see for more
Speaker 1: eating while broke from I Heart Radio and the Black Effect.
Speaker 1: Visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.