WEBVTT - THROWBACK INTERVIEW: Malcolm Jamal Warner On The Cosby Show Legacy, Musical Expression, _Accused_ Show + More 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.960 Wake that ass up in the morning, Breakfast Club. 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:08.960 Morning, everybody is Steve j Envy, Charlemagne the guy. 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:10.680 We got a special guest in the building. 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:13.920 You know what's interesting, I was thinking about, you know, organically, 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:16.159 who is going to be the first guest in the 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.079 new Breakfast Club studio, Because to me, that's important because 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.279 you're setting off a new generation, you're setting off for 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:22.439 a new chapter. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:24.520 So who would be the first guest? 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:27.040 And I'm on it, we should be on it. 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:29.840 Come on, man, grew up on them, Come on man. 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:31.880 Ladies and gentlemen, Malcolm Jamon want awake. 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:35.960 You know you said first guest. I didn't really register 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:40.120 before you started. Yeah, but now okay, I got it. 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:44.800 You're the first guest that one new studio, Ye studio. 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:47.120 Somebody you know them is still Huxtable. Ladies and gentlemen, 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:50.680 welcome word, thank you, thank you. I want to for 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:53.080 people that that don't know, I want to. 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:59.480 The most important question. Have you played the Mega millions? 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:01.720 I thought you gonna say how you feeling, how you're doing? 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:05.560 How you I guess I need to you need to 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:06.720 Billy one. 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:07.639 Point three billion? 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:10.840 Okay, I did one? I did. I don't know the 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:13.360 last one was in Billions a couple of months ago. 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:16.320 How'd you do well? I thought I was doing good. 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:17.920 Like I went there, I was like, yo, give me 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:22.039 uh So, my wife has numbers that are like her 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:24.360 lucky numbers, so when the numbers get real big, she 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:26.839 wants to play those numbers. So and there's like three. 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:28.120 So the car took her and I was like, you 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:30.760 know what, play these And I was like, I'm a splurge, 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:33.360 give me three more. And I think I'm doing good. 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:35.440 And this cat next to me and the next one 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:41.320 he was like, give me two hundred. I'm like, it's 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.959 like that. So I'm not you know, I'm I didn't win. 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:51.080 I don't have my own breakfast club. 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:55.320 So clearly you went to Dolls, nothing nothing, so you 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:55.840 didn't do good. 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:58.400 I might go back in though. I mean if it's 0:01:58.440 --> 0:01:59.200 in the Billions. 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.280 Against Billy right now, now, you're from Jersey City. 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:04.760 People that don't know how did you get your start 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:07.320 in show business? Because we heard that you were a 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:09.799 rapper at first. You were in a rap group almost 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.560 signed by Deaf Jam at the time. 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:15.280 Are you true to that? 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:15.480 Yeah? 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:18.960 How did you get your start with show business? 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:24.480 I was doing basically community theater. My mother was always 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:27.720 looking for me to looking for things for me to 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:30.680 do outside of going to school and coming home and 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:34.160 hanging out. Like I played basketball and that was my thing. 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:36.600 I thought it was gonna be a basketball player. And 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:40.240 then one season, one year basketball season was over, my 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:44.160 mother's friend suggested this community theater and I asked him 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:46.240 if I wanted to go. So I went down, auditioned, 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:50.200 got in, and found myself doing theater and just absolutely 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:52.919 loved it. So like at nine years old, I was like, oh, 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:54.960 this is this is what I want to do and 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:56.959 what it was it was really it was the first 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.959 curtain call. Like the first player I did was called Alice, 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.919 Is that You? And it was basically, uh, a takeoff 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.800 of the Whiz like Dorothy gets the Odds and everybody 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.760 thinks she's Alice from Alice in Wonderland, right, And I 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.600 played the ten man. And I just remember the first 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.520 opening night coming out for curtain call, coming out and 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:19.639 people clapping and standing up, and I'm like nine years 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:20.880 old and I'm like, yo, I. 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:21.440 Got that bug. 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:23.800 I can get into this. People stand up and clap 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:24.840 for you. Yeah, I like this. 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:27.399 And at the time, Jersey City wasn't Jersey City now 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:30.240 with these big skyscrapers and people dying. 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.560 To Yeah, it was different. It was a whole. 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:33.720 It was nasty. 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:36.280 No one was scrambling to get the Jersey City. But 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:38.640 but but this was La. I left Jersey when I 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:43.480 was five. My my parents separated, Uh, and my dad 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.920 went back to Chicago. My mom took me back to California. So, uh, 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:50.960 the acting thing started in La. But then when I, 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:54.040 you know, years later, when I booked Cosby obviously moved 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:54.800 back to New York. 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.400 How did you book Cosby? What was that? That process? 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.320 Like, that's funny. So my my well, my agent first 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:04.360 submitted me. They were looking for a six to fifteen 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.720 year old Jesus. Yeah, they all getting ready for the 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:11.560 well because because you know, Innis was fifteen and was 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:17.839 six two mister Cosby sun So in the original like 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:20.080 in the original script, like there was this this running 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:22.760 joke like you know, THEO would you know, get in 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:25.120 trouble with something and Cliff would be like THEO stand up, 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:28.039 and THEO stands up and he's towering over Cliff and 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.480 cliffould be like THEO sit down. So they were trying 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.680 to get that they couldn't find that kid, and literally 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:36.960 at the uh so, you know, she submitted me. They 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:40.320 didn't want to see me, and at the last minute 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.080 she re submitted me because they couldn't find the guy 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:45.880 and they were doing network callbacks. This is crazy because 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:51.159 it was good Friday eighty four. I auditioned at six 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:56.159 thirty on Friday afternoon and the network callbacks were that Monday, 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:59.479 so they were already flying in somebody from Chicago, flying 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.479 in somebody from New York. So I was literally the 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:06.359 last person they saw. And when I went in for 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:09.800 the network callbacks, I went in and I did the 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:12.280 audition like you know, you see, you know, I was 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:15.159 watching different strokes and whatnot, so you see kids being 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:17.600 smart alex and talking back to the parents and rolling 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.320 their eyes. So I was doing the scene like that, 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:25.240 and in the room is you know network, you know, producers, studio, 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:27.800 and I'm killing. In the room, everybody's like, I'm hitting 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.159 all the all the beats and everybody's laughing and I'm killing. 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:33.839 And I finished, and everybody's like cool except mister Cosby, 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:36.240 and he's looking at me and he's like, would you 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.280 really talk to your father like that? And I said no, 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:41.040 He said, I don't want to see that on the show. 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:44.000 So you go back out and you give me something 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:47.359 else and come back later. And because it was the 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:49.880 network callbacks, like everybody was there, so they had, you know, 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:52.280 audition everybody for other parts. And finally I came back 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:56.240 in and gave him one hundred and eighty degree turn. 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:57.520 Well clearly he saw something men. 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.240 Yeah, yeah, yeah, And and you know they gave me 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.560 a shot to come back and redo it, and that's 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:04.120 how I booked it. 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:06.320 You know, it's interesting about what you said earlier. You 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:09.080 said that you was in theater at nine years old. 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:13.919 So people see these gifty young actors on shows like 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:16.479 Cosby back in the day, and we don't realize the 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:19.480 background because nowadays it feels like it's no point of 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:22.719 entry to you know, get on these TVs anything. 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:25.200 Or social media or social media. 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:28.039 You actually went and were perfecting your craft before you 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:28.600 got to that point. 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:30.880 Yeah, and I still do, like I've always every couple 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:33.120 of years, I do theater, even when I was on Cosby, Like, 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:35.640 I always go back to theater because that is the 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:38.880 I mean, that's the that's the foundation, you know, So 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:43.920 I always say like theater is my favorite platform. Television 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:47.359 is my favorite paycheck, but theater is really like like 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.440 that's I mean, that's that's that's the ship right there. 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.279 Have you ever just sat back and reflected on what 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:56.960 you and The Cosby Show meant to black people in 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:00.560 really the world from eighty four to I need to. 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:05.440 Yeah, yeah, I I mean we it's something that we 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:08.839 still talk about, right, So, I mean, you know what 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:12.080 I'm saying, we like like worldwide the culture, you know, 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:19.200 because it's had a an indelible, irreversible effect, you know 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.840 on the culture. So I mean it's something I'm very proud, like, 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:25.280 no matter what, I'm very proud to, you know, have 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:29.360 been a part of that and part of that, you know, 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:33.760 just to have that kind of I guess influence if 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.640 you will. And when I was younger, you know, it 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:39.560 was always I was always trying to escape this role 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:42.400 model you know title, because I was like, oh my, 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:45.080 what use the role model? And my thing was always 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:50.680 we always equate h perfection with role model. So I 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:55.720 never wanted the pressure of being, you know, being seen 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.400 as flawless because I just I didn't want that, Like 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:03.080 that wasn't me. So I used to kind of kind 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:08.520 of shy away from that, you know, that title. But 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:10.560 and now that I'm older, not that I want to 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:14.840 be considered a role model, but I do understand the 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:21.080 you know, having the platform. I understand, uh, having the 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:24.600 ear of young people like you know. Fortunately, I'm still 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:28.040 at a place where I'm still relevant enough where you know, 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.120 what I say can still have influence on you. 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.839 Always listen to you because of that, sure. 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:36.800 Yeah, yeah, yeah, And and and that's something I take seriously. 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:40.720 So I was, I was really fortunate because we shot 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:44.520 Cosby here in New York, and you know during during 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:50.600 the eighties, man, you know y'all didn't show that was 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.200 actually that was actually so we shot in Brooklyn, then 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:58.160 we shot in Queens, but that that stupe, that front 0:08:58.200 --> 0:08:59.920 stoop was actually in the village, in a village. 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:05.120 Yeah, I was gonna ask the THEO you being, you know, 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:06.240 always looked at it steal. 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:07.280 Does that ever bother you? 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:10.360 Because with certain characters that we always look at, whether 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.200 it's Steve Verkle, he's always gonna be Steve Verkle and 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:14.080 you're always steal. 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:15.920 Does that ever bother you? 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:18.839 No, it doesn't bother me. But there's you know there's 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:22.640 been this. I guess this this this wave of interpretation 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:24.920 that it bothers me because somebody caused me THEO. I'm like, no, 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:27.760 one name is Malcolm, but I've always done that, but 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:31.520 some people they misinterpreted as like I get mad when 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:33.560 people come to THEO. I think it's like no. And 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.079 even when I was on Cosby, I wouldn't answer to 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.040 THEO because as far as I was concerned, THEO was 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.120 not going to be the end all be all for me, 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.079 like at fifteen years old, to think like, oh, if 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:45.439 this is going to be the height of my career, 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:50.120 that's a depressing thought. When the show first aired and 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.280 I'm fourteen, you know, the ratings are out the box, 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.480 and my mom sat me down. She said, baby, it's 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.160 great that this show is the phenomenon that it is, 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.079 but you know how this business is, this show could 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.640 be over next year. What are you going to do 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.600 when the show's over? She said, I can type, I 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:09.600 can always get a job, but what are you going 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:11.960 to do in the show's over? So she impressed upon 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:15.880 me the concept of longevity. So I wasn't you know, 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:18.360 when I was on the show, I never answered the 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:23.800 THEO and especially now you should know right like now, 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:26.280 if somebody caused me THEO, they're being a dicky because 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:26.880 they name. 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:29.360 And I also don't think people look at you as THEO. 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.600 Like I got get what I'm saying at this point, 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.040 Like you've done You've done a lot other than THEO. 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:36.440 I mean, you had a whole other show with your 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.839 name in it. You know how long did it take 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:42.760 you to it? Just to Life after Cosby show? Like 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:44.719 how did things look in ninety two? 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:47.840 Well, I'd always prepared for it. That was the thing, 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:50.560 like I was, you know, from that conversation that my 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:54.400 mom had with me, we literally spend each year of 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.120 that show as if it were the last year because 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:02.840 we didn't know. So I had always paired for Life 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.000 after Kazi. So when the show was over, I had 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:08.160 my own show for a half a season on NBC 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:11.920 and then from that I went straight to theater. So 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:16.319 I was, I've always I've always worked. No, there may 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:21.199 there may have been, you know, longer stretches of unemployment 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:23.800 than I would have liked, but we're talking like maybe 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:26.840 you know, two three years, you know, But I always 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:29.800 knew that the transition from being seen as child star 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:33.320 to being taken seriously as an delt actor wouldn't necessarily 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:36.240 be a smooth one. And that's why I started directing early. 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:39.560 Like I started directing like sixteen. By eighteen, I was 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:43.080 directing Cosby episodes. I was directing music videos. I was 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:45.760 directing Fresh Prince of bel Air. So when I came 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:52.439 off of Cosby, I think it was episode with one 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:53.720 of the Ravens and Owns episodes. 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.360 Yeah, I did you look at Bill Cosby as a 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:00.360 father figure because you around him so much, did so 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:03.320 much acting, like right, and and I mean you were 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:05.400 a good actor, but it was believable. It seems like 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:07.920 you admired him as a father when I when I 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:09.480 would watch the show or even see you behind the 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:10.439 scenes of the show whatever. 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:16.200 Well, I was doing theater. I was perfecting my job, right, No, 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:19.280 because I you know, I my father has always been, 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:21.280 you know, an integral part of my life. So I 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:25.560 have a father. He was you know, Misconstus was obviously 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:28.600 someone I worked with, someone I respected, but Innis was 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:30.720 also you know, a close friend of mine, so he 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:34.480 was also like Inness's dad, got so it wasn't I mean, 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.040 I would definitely say he was a mentor because he 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:38.600 you know, he schooled me on a lot of you know, 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:43.600 on a lot of things. But the I love the 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:48.839 father's son relationship between Cliff and THEO, but that wasn't 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.440 that wasn't our relationship. But you know, with Matt Coole, 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.880 but it wasn't the It wasn't the father figure. 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:55.880 Now as a mentor, did he school you on to 0:12:56.040 --> 0:13:01.160 contracts and negotiations? Because that thing it's still on now 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:03.079 And I'm like, do you still get paid? And was 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:04.920 everything taking care of the right way? Or is it 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:05.720 you're a new actor? 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:06.280 You got got? 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:08.360 Yeah, yeah, we got it and not once we got God, 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.719 that's that's not that's completely unfair to say we got got. 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:16.000 But I will say this, so, yeah, so we get residuals. Right. 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.440 But the thing that that that people don't necessarily understand 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:23.360 about residuals is every time an episode repeats, you get 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:28.240 a percentage of what your original paycheck was. And that 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:30.319 show has repeated forever. 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:30.880 Correct. 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:34.920 So let's say, to put things in perspective, about ten 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:39.720 twelve years ago, I remember getting an episode check for 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:45.120 sixty four dollars. I thought a residual check sometimes, Yeah, 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:48.199 like I got at some point the sending the checkout 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:50.920 costs more than what the check is correct. So for 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:57.240 a period of time though, that lump sum was a 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:01.040 nice padding. But then after a why you know, once 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.959 it just keeps airing. It's not a whole lot. But 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:08.240 when you have points when you got back in, that's 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.600 when you're forever making money because when they syndicate the show, 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.760 however many times they syndicated, you have a piece of 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:16.680 the show, So you're getting that kind of money. We 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.040 didn't get on the ship. We had no no backend. 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.720 We didn't know about back in, and even if we did, 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:24.320 we didn't have any leverage to negotiate back You. 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:26.880 Said something that made me feel like I'm a fail 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.080 of black history. Trivia question, Which show did you have 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:30.480 on NBC for a half a season? 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.000 Oh man, it was trust me in that a failure? 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.080 They they they dicked me on that too. It was 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.720 a show called Here and Now. Remember that show. Yeah, 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:43.720 it came on, so it came on, It came on 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:47.920 Saturday nights. It was it came on after or came 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:50.720 on before there was a show called out All Night 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:56.680 with Paddle or so. Yeah, so we were with nut. 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:03.960 Got it. 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:08.560 So disrespectful, but he's said he gets mistaken from you 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:12.880 sometimes recently happened and you're the only one like that happened. 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:16.560 Not only that, all right, I'm about all night. I 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:17.200 definitely remember that. 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:21.080 So it was during that time. So this is something 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:24.960 that's really interesting. So we had that show. The president 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:27.320 of the programmer at NBC at the time didn't like 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:30.000 the show, right, and didn't think the show was going 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.360 to do well. And it was basically, you know, it 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:35.720 wasn't THEO, but you know, my character worked in the 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:41.880 community center in Harlem, and uh, the program of NBC 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:43.840 didn't think it was gonna be a funny show, didn't 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.400 think it was gonna work. We shot the pilot and 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:49.760 they do what's called pilot screening Week where they get 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.760 all their pilots, they scream them, then they get raided 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:55.360 and then that's how they decide what's gonna go on there. 0:15:56.640 --> 0:16:02.000 My show came in number two. So really the only 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:06.960 question was do we put this show, you know, on 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:10.760 Thursday night before a Different World or after Different World? Right? 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:14.240 Because for eight years, if my face is you know, 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:16.720 if the America's used to sing in my face at 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.440 Thursdays at eight o'clock. It makes sense that if my 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.560 pilot does well, you're gonna put me on Thursdays, either 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:26.120 at eight o'clock or eight thirty. The programmers still didn't 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.640 like the show, and he put me on Saturday night, 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.200 which is why nobody ever heard, because you know, my 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:35.120 audience is not gonna be watching it on Saturday night. 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:40.960 And then when the number one rated, the number one 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.600 pilot they put in that eight o'clock slot, they canceled 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.280 after two weeks. Wo, so like, okay, cool, they're putting 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:48.320 number two in that slot, kept me on Saturday night. 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.040 Then they put out a night in that slot like 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:53.960 NBC just they were not trying to hear that show, 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:55.840 no matter how well it did. So we got we 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:57.560 got canned half a season in. 0:16:57.720 --> 0:16:59.440 I think NBC dropped the ball because you know how 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.240 different world was Lisa growing up being in college. 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:03.840 They could have did that with all the kids, like 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:04.400 they could. 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.240 Have did that with you growing up. I feel like 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:07.800 your adult life should have been exploreding that way. 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:09.359 You know, it's interesting, different world. So let me go 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.960 back this real quick. So, uh so what you don't 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:13.680 know about that show? 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:13.880 Here? 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:17.639 And now, uh this cat named Dante Bizet was on 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:21.400 the show, right, everybody knows himing as y'all seen Bay 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:26.760 right now. Oh, Lauren Hill was on the show. What Yeah, 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:30.520 Omar Epps was on the show. Yeah. Yeah, but they 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:32.840 they NBC this did they didn't dig the show and 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:34.720 so of course this is before they blew up. But yeah, 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:35.640 but they were all on the show. 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:38.000 If they'd have made one little adjustment that made you 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.800 THEO on that show and you older, now, I bet 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:41.560 you would have worked. 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:44.320 You know what, it's possible. 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:46.439 I want I want to ask you know, out of 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.160 all your episodes, I'll ask Alla, So, my most memorable 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:51.679 Cosby show is of course the Going to Control season 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:53.800 one episode, and of course that's not the most memory. 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:57.720 Maybe the two of them. That was episode eighth. 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:01.960 I think it was okay, of course the end. I 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:03.959 did the same thing when I got my Eric. So 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:06.280 what was your favorite. 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:10.080 All of those? But I think that at the top 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:14.040 of this would be the pilot when THEO was getting 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:17.359 d's in school and they did the whole Monopoly money thing, 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:25.360 and you know, THEO gives that that was ther and 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.720 you know, THEO gives this speech, you know, like you know, Dad, 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:30.360 I just want to be regular people like I don't 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:32.600 want to be a doctor like you. I don't want 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:34.800 to be a lawyer like like mom. I just want 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:37.080 to be regular people And why can't you love me? 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:39.440 For me? It was like this beautiful heart held Remember 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.080 I remember that. I remember the audience collapsed and the 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:48.000 whole nine and Cliff looks at and it's still It 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.000 was the dumbest thing I've never heard in my life. 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:54.800 And so for me that was significant because it's set 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:56.920 the tone for the show. Like any other show at 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:59.120 that point, the music would have started correct, the father 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:02.120 and son would have but he, you know, he went 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:05.359 left with that, and I just love that because that 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.200 said the tone that this was going to be a 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:09.240 different kind of show. 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:11.560 We're gonna talk to about other stuff other than copy 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:16.399 As a fan, I gotta get the first time, no doubt. 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:18.640 Did you ever keep the Gordon Guardrail show? 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:20.320 I did not. I think it's in the Smithsonian if 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:24.439 I'm not sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was. That was 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:26.119 one of our That was that was definitely one of 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:30.200 our our most fun and for me, most memorable episodes. 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:32.840 You never get approached about doing a Gordon Guarntrail clothing line, 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:34.119 Malcolm Jamal warns. 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.160 Gordon, I'm surprised I have not, but I see there's 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:40.520 a Gordon Guartrail like t shirt line out there. Yeah. Yeah. 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:42.480 I was asking how much of. 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:45.800 The show was free, free done and how much was 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:48.240 actually written? Like were you allowed to go off script 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:50.600 because some of that stuff just seemed like y'all were going. 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:53.440 We we had to often go off script because it 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.520 so it takes it typically takes five days to do 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:00.560 a sitcom. We were doing the he got down to 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.600 like three and a half days, and you know most 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:08.720 of those uh storylines came from mister Cosby's monologues, right, 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:13.680 So we were a very under rehearsed show. So when 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:17.400 it was time to tape the show, oftentimes, you know, 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:19.600