Speaker 1: But when I think about it, I would always just
Speaker 1: find all the flyers for like given the basketball team.
Speaker 1: That's how I got on. I found a flyer and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh yeah, I'm in America, Land of opportunity.
Speaker 1: I want to try everything. Hi, my name is Flaki
Speaker 1: Alo for you, and I'm the African Sunder.
Speaker 2: Hello, and good day to you my favorite listeners. As
Speaker 2: you may know, this is Off the Beat and I
Speaker 2: am your host, Brian Baumgartner. Today I bring to you
Speaker 2: an incredibly talented actor and musician, Palakee Alua for Yuku.
Speaker 2: She is the star of the very good show Bob
Speaker 2: Hart's Abi Sholah, which bittersweetly had its series finale just
Speaker 2: last week. It's always hard to say goodbye to a
Speaker 2: show as a viewer like me. I know, I'm bummed
Speaker 2: it's gone, but it is definitely harder as an actor
Speaker 2: or a crew member who has made a show a
Speaker 2: part of their daily life for so long. But onward
Speaker 2: an upward for Flake, who has appeared in shows like
Speaker 2: Law and Order, Modern Family, Transparent, Westworld, and will no
Speaker 2: doubt be back at something very very soon. She's even
Speaker 2: had a second life, maybe even a cooler life. As
Speaker 2: a musician and DJ. Her first love is music. She's
Speaker 2: even played bass with David Bowie himself. Tell me that's
Speaker 2: not cool. That is cool, and so I feel cool
Speaker 2: just having her here in the studio with me. I've
Speaker 2: loved getting to hear her fascinating story about her life
Speaker 2: and two cultures born in Nigeria, her fantastic career, and
Speaker 2: her plans for after Bob loves Abisho La. Now, sit back,
Speaker 2: relax and enjoy my conversation with f lacke Alua Fayuku,
Speaker 2: Bubble and squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeakna, Bubble
Speaker 2: and squeak. I cook get every moment lift over from
Speaker 2: the ninety bore.
Speaker 1: Him.
Speaker 2: I'm so good. It is so good to see you.
Speaker 2: I am such a big fan of yours. I really
Speaker 2: appreciate you coming on. Oh, thank you so much. You
Speaker 2: have a big show that is about to end. I
Speaker 2: want to hear. I want tears, I want emotion. I
Speaker 2: want to talk about that in a little bit. But gosh,
Speaker 2: your history is so fascinating, and I hear you shoot
Speaker 2: the rock like I do. You were going to become
Speaker 2: a lawyer like maybe I was for a while and
Speaker 2: then you got into this business. But I want to
Speaker 2: go back. You were born and raised in Nigeria.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, Legos, Nigeria where Legos Legos.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah. And your dad was a.
Speaker 1: Politician then and a lawyer as well.
Speaker 2: And a lawyer as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and a minister.
Speaker 2: And you were one of twenty kids. Now this is
Speaker 2: a very full household, plucky. I'm not going to lie
Speaker 2: to you. This sounds like like a lot. What was
Speaker 2: it like growing up in that in that environment?
Speaker 1: Well, I'm the last born, so by the time I
Speaker 1: was coming of age and stuff, most everyone had already left.
Speaker 1: I have nieces and grand nieces and nephews that are
Speaker 1: the same age or some opos of me.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, So if you were the last ad a
Speaker 2: bunch of them they were they were gone. Yeah. How many?
Speaker 2: How many siblings did you actually like grow up with
Speaker 2: in the house?
Speaker 1: One?
Speaker 2: One? Oh? Just one?
Speaker 1: Yeah, and my cousin and then I had a couple
Speaker 1: a couple of other like a brother and sister who
Speaker 1: came in and out, but they were mostly in college
Speaker 1: by then.
Speaker 2: Okay, what was it like having such a great family
Speaker 2: and specifically, what what do you how do you feel
Speaker 2: like that helped you even though so many were out
Speaker 2: of the house in your time growing up.
Speaker 1: Well, my upbringing certainly is responsible for the independence and
Speaker 1: the resourcefulness that helped me get through being in America
Speaker 1: by myself and I'm figuring out the entertainment by myself
Speaker 1: independence because by that age, you know, the parents have
Speaker 1: been there and done that with the kids, so they're
Speaker 1: just like, yeah, you go do whatever you want. So
Speaker 1: I could. I could pretty much whatever I want from
Speaker 1: very early on. But I was a good kid, so
Speaker 1: they were lucky maybe because I had so much space
Speaker 1: to do whatever I wanted. I didn't really want to
Speaker 1: do anything. But independence and resourcefulness is something that my
Speaker 1: upbringing and tenacity and strength. That's what my upbringing in
Speaker 1: stood in me so that I could thrive. Really I have.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's my grandparents. My grandfather was one
Speaker 2: of eleven in the southeastern United States, so you know,
Speaker 2: we had a large family, but not I don't know,
Speaker 2: maybe not so dissimilar from you, because you know, you
Speaker 2: didn't have twenty in the house at one time.
Speaker 1: That uh, that seems we're all eleven of you in
Speaker 1: the house at once.
Speaker 2: No, So they were just more like I say, I'm
Speaker 2: everybody in like Georgia and North Florida, I'm related to
Speaker 2: probably someone because there are just so many offshoots from
Speaker 2: from that. But again, in my house, it was just
Speaker 2: me my sister, so there were just two of us.
Speaker 2: So it was this combination of really large sort of
Speaker 2: extended family, you know, relatives around, but you know, not
Speaker 2: not so much on the day to day. And I
Speaker 2: find that fascinating because you think, like one of twenty,
Speaker 2: you've got nineteen other eyes to look after you. But
Speaker 2: how would you say. It's like, nah, go ahead, we've
Speaker 2: been we've been there, we've done that. Go ahead.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that wasn't my experience. My experience was actually completely
Speaker 1: opposite from that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I read that you spent some time in London
Speaker 2: growing up, So when did you When did you move there?
Speaker 1: Well, I never really moved to England, although I considered
Speaker 1: moving to England before I moved to Lee, And the
Speaker 1: quote was like, get your asked back, Daly. There was
Speaker 1: this transition period before I moved to la where I
Speaker 1: went trying to figure out where I wanted to do next.
Speaker 1: Actually in that same transition period again about roal fly
Speaker 1: ten years after. But during that transition period. I went
Speaker 1: to Atlanta, I went to England, I went back to Nigeria,
Speaker 1: and I came to LA to check it out. And
Speaker 1: the reason I was leaving in New York was to
Speaker 1: get away from the code mostly okay, and I just
Speaker 1: needed a better standard of living in January. But I
Speaker 1: never actually lived in England. We vacationed there every summer
Speaker 1: growing up as a child, Okay. My father had a
Speaker 1: presence there and we studied there London Spit of Economics,
Speaker 1: and so I did a couple of my siblings as well,
Speaker 1: so we had a presence there and family there as well.
Speaker 1: So we will visit every summer. And that was my
Speaker 1: time in England, Okay.
Speaker 2: But it sounds like even just with that much time,
Speaker 2: I mean, spending that much time in England and you've
Speaker 2: got Nigeria. Eventually you go to City College of New York.
Speaker 2: As as a young person, you're exposed to a tons
Speaker 2: of experience culturally, travel, different people's Do you feel like
Speaker 2: that gave you something that you use in your work
Speaker 2: now or give you a broad base?
Speaker 1: Definitely, especially for this role, because there's this understanding of culture.
Speaker 1: As you rightfully said that I became exposed to from
Speaker 1: very early on, coupled with the fact that in Nigeria,
Speaker 1: we get our content from everywhere. Okay, so we got
Speaker 1: content from Like I grew up watching Spanish Nobela's subtitle
Speaker 1: subtitled when I was on boarding school like all the girls,
Speaker 1: I was in an old girls school for one another
Speaker 1: exposed to All the girls are gathered by the living
Speaker 1: room at eight o'clock so we could watch Maria de
Speaker 1: Los Angeles and we were so into it. So I
Speaker 1: grew up with that. We grew up on a lot
Speaker 1: of Irish music and Irish content as well, stuff from France,
Speaker 1: from the Middle East. We got stuff from everywhere. And
Speaker 1: then not to talk about the fact that Nigeria is
Speaker 1: also very diverse in itself. A mayoga, but we have
Speaker 1: over three hundred ethnic groups. Yeah, and we're exposed to that.
Speaker 1: And I grew up in a space and different religions
Speaker 1: as well, mostly Christian and Muslim in Islam. But there
Speaker 1: was always tolerance in my world as far as I
Speaker 1: was exposed to culturally, there was upheaval in other areas,
Speaker 1: but as far as being different in the sense that
Speaker 1: you had a different tradition and culture and language, that
Speaker 1: was well accepted where I was growing up, and then
Speaker 1: I've been able to borrow from all this exposure and
Speaker 1: that has fed my acting work here in America because
Speaker 1: even the portrayal of Afishala, there's an element there is
Speaker 1: almost like a Western sensitivity that you have to have
Speaker 1: to the timing as well, that's very different from Nigerian time, right,
Speaker 1: very different. The melodies are so different, and I think
Speaker 1: they're both funny, and it became an interesting thing for
Speaker 1: me trying to balance both worlds. It's like, how do
Speaker 1: I maintain the comedy of the sitcom world of America
Speaker 1: but still borrow from the Nigerian comedy, which makes sense
Speaker 1: because Abishalla is Nigerian born in the ring is just
Speaker 1: like me.
Speaker 2: Right, Was it was that tough for you or because
Speaker 2: of your experience that you had, Do you feel like
Speaker 2: you already had an understanding?
Speaker 1: I had an understanding because I called, I got called.
Speaker 1: I started getting called in a lot. I mean my
Speaker 1: entire life, In my entire acting life, I've played a
Speaker 1: variation of Abela. I've played a more a caricature. When
Speaker 1: I did a stage play of the Tale of Martin Chuzzleworth,
Speaker 1: I've played her more modern when I did Cabaret and
Speaker 1: I played Sally Bowles uh and more sexy obviously. And
Speaker 1: then I had like roles of Modern Family where I
Speaker 1: played Nigerian and that was a different version of her,
Speaker 1: another version where I played the nurse. So I've explored
Speaker 1: I got to explore her in different ways before I
Speaker 1: actually came to the table to play at the Chelan.
Speaker 1: And what was your initial question?
Speaker 2: I told you for that, well, asking about you know,
Speaker 2: how how accustomed you were to Okay, yeah, to the
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you why I asked not to like
Speaker 2: drop names or whatever. But you know, Ricky Gervais and
Speaker 2: Stephen Merchant, who obviously created the Office in the UK.
Speaker 2: Stephen has said that the greatest mistake, or I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: the best thing that they ever did was stay away
Speaker 2: from the American Office because they they felt like so
Speaker 2: many shows that have been brought from the UK to
Speaker 2: America that the British didn't really understand American culture well
Speaker 2: enough to have the comedy directly translate. Knew that there
Speaker 2: was exactly to your point, different rhythms, different different sound.
Speaker 1: Facial expressions as well, and different levels the levels of
Speaker 1: Nigeria on the most mundane day is far far suproceeds okay, Okay.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of like balancing that had to
Speaker 1: be embedded into Abela. I think my experience in America
Speaker 1: and my experience in all the other parts of the
Speaker 1: world that I've lived in helped prepare me because as
Speaker 1: I went into audition after audition, paying all these different
Speaker 1: variations of AA, I got to understand what the castler
Speaker 1: wanted from me, and I was able to mold this
Speaker 1: character to fit those things, and I started booking so
Speaker 1: many jobs for that reason. Got to portraying an Africa
Speaker 1: I did. I did also have to study, though. I
Speaker 1: remember speaking with Chuck and our associate producer as well
Speaker 1: as one of our directors, be Beth mccathy, as well
Speaker 1: as Pat Doak and Chuck Royy separately speaking to them
Speaker 1: about what sitcoms I should go study, okay best for
Speaker 1: the best performances.
Speaker 2: And they said, I remember when.
Speaker 1: Well, this conversation kind of reached like the level of
Speaker 1: new understanding for me when mister Norman Layer passed away
Speaker 1: and we were having conversation about him on set because
Speaker 1: we had people whould work with him on our set
Speaker 1: who got their start working with him, and so they
Speaker 1: gave me like I got like on the job futeage
Speaker 1: on what it meant and what this phenomenal creator stood
Speaker 1: for and the timing that he was able to incorporate
Speaker 1: into his shows to make it so magical. Some of
Speaker 1: the shows I went back to watch where I Love
Speaker 1: Lucy at Doort recommended that Everybody Loves Raymond, and then
Speaker 1: I went back and watched some of Mike and Molly
Speaker 1: as well. But I'd say my biggest influences would have
Speaker 1: been I Love Lucy and Everybody Loves ray Interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're one of twenty. You're in Nigeria, you're spending
Speaker 2: summers in London. Two part question with a B and
Speaker 2: C under each. No, I'm just kidding. You decide you're
Speaker 2: going to come to America, New York, specifically a City
Speaker 2: College of New York to go to school. You end
Speaker 2: up playing Division three basketball. Nice? That were you coming
Speaker 2: to New York? Why New York? And is it true
Speaker 2: you just you were going to become a lawyer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the plan was I was going to go to
Speaker 1: law school in Nigeria. I just finished my A levels
Speaker 1: in Nigeria, so I was I just turned about I
Speaker 1: just I was about to turn eighteen. You know, getting
Speaker 1: a visa is such a big deal in Nigeria. It's
Speaker 1: like a whole process that's a wake up five o'clock.
Speaker 1: I think it's changed now. Back then you have to
Speaker 1: wake up at like four o'clock in the morning to
Speaker 1: get in the line for by five am, and you
Speaker 1: wouldn't get seen until like nine or something crazy like that. Right,
Speaker 1: kind of like the days of background work I've been
Speaker 1: I've been getting prepared back in the day with that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, although we do have something called the DMV here
Speaker 2: in the United States is over oh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no no, no, no, no, no no,
Speaker 1: Actually your DMV's here, child's play. They give you somewhere
Speaker 1: to sit, okay, fair, no, no no. In Nigeria, it's
Speaker 1: like it's a jungle. It's a jungle out there, a
Speaker 1: beautiful jungle. I love my people. So I the plan
Speaker 1: was to come see my sister for holiday and then
Speaker 1: come back to Nigeria and become a lawyer. But things
Speaker 1: worked out in a way where my results, my original
Speaker 1: with my actual results weren't released, kind of like fraudulent
Speaker 1: one was, and it was obvious that that it was
Speaker 1: fraudulent because of the score. And I remember telling my
Speaker 1: mom like, fuck it, I'm not going to school anymore
Speaker 1: it and I think that terrified her, and she was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: you're in America. Just see if you can find something there.
Speaker 1: And I found something there, and I went to the map.
Speaker 1: I went to the subway map, and I looked at
Speaker 1: Long Island, where my sister lived, and I looked at
Speaker 1: the map of Manhattan, and I was like, what school
Speaker 1: is furthest away from Long Island. So I can complain
Speaker 1: about the commute because I would take I would walk
Speaker 1: to the bus station. First of all, for a little while,
Speaker 1: I could afford the love Adam Rover. After a while,
Speaker 1: I couldn't afford it. And so I'll take a bus
Speaker 1: from Long Island to Jamaica Queens. From Jamaica, I'll transfer
Speaker 1: to the Blue Line, get on the Express as soon
Speaker 1: as I could get off on one twenty fifth Street
Speaker 1: in Harlem. They could bust from there to the City
Speaker 1: College in New York. That was like a two hour
Speaker 1: treat each way. And I was like, yes, yes, this
Speaker 1: is exactly what I need. So I think into my
Speaker 1: first year, I head up my mom and I was like,
Speaker 1: this commute is too much. I gotta I gotta move
Speaker 1: out closer to school.
Speaker 2: No, I see, I see.
Speaker 1: I found this this one, this bedroom in someone's apartment
Speaker 1: for like two hundred bucks a month and it was
Speaker 1: like perfect, right across from school. And I'll go get
Speaker 1: like Chinese food for five bucks during lunch and like
Speaker 1: portion that out so that be my meal for the day.
Speaker 2: Wow, but you loved it. Those are the good old days.
Speaker 1: Those were the good old days, man, those those were
Speaker 1: the funnest days. I had some of the happiest times
Speaker 1: of my life in New York.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, no it is. It will eat you up
Speaker 2: and spit you out, and at the same time you're
Speaker 2: enjoying it a lot of time. It's very strange.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really cool. I plan on spending more time
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 2: And so when did you start thinking, hm hmm, maybe
Speaker 2: I'll start auditioning for some things, or like, were you
Speaker 2: finding a passion in it? Did someone suggests you do it? How?
Speaker 2: How did that transition happen?
Speaker 1: I actually need to speak with this guy I was
Speaker 1: dating during that time, so I can get a lot
Speaker 1: more clarity about how that worked, because he just made
Speaker 1: a comment on my Instagram about how he remembers when
Speaker 1: I was teaching myself how to play the guitar, so
Speaker 1: he was like he was in my life at a
Speaker 1: very pivotal time. I remember speaking to him about it
Speaker 1: years ago and he said, oh yeah, I think he
Speaker 1: just saw a flyer in school and dislike the decafeteria
Speaker 1: something and he went to a tryout, and that's where
Speaker 1: I remember it from. I remember from the tryouts. I
Speaker 1: don't remember what led me to the tryouts, but when
Speaker 1: I think about it, I would always just find all
Speaker 1: the flyers for like even the basketball team. That's how
Speaker 1: I got on. I found a flyer and I was like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I'm in America, Land of opportunity. I want
Speaker 1: to try everything. And so that's how I got into acting.
Speaker 1: I found a flyer and I auditioned and it came
Speaker 1: very easy. I wasn't precious about acting the way I
Speaker 1: was about music, so I wasn't like overthinking the whole process.
Speaker 1: I flourished. I mean, it was one of the best
Speaker 1: spaces for me creatively to get my foundation with a
Speaker 1: department of City College of New York because we had
Speaker 1: access to Aaron Davis Hall. We just we had great.
Speaker 1: We had great professors to Gray David Will, Alfred Preiser,
Speaker 1: we had great professors.
Speaker 2: You have mentioned. Now, you know, I certainly didn't want
Speaker 2: to bury the lead here about music. Was music sort
Speaker 2: of your first love? I mean, it feels like you
Speaker 2: have two very very legitimate careers. Now, was music something
Speaker 2: that you started doing much earlier?
Speaker 1: Music is something I always wanted to start doing at
Speaker 1: any point in my life, and it was the thing
Speaker 1: I knew I always wanted to do. And I kind
Speaker 1: of have a tragic story with music. I'm hoping for
Speaker 1: for better days. Okay, let's see how it goes.
Speaker 2: What's what's the tragic story?
Speaker 1: It's just I'm always I always knew I wanted to
Speaker 1: be a musician, but I was specifically held away from it.
Speaker 1: It was it was almost like a trigger print in
Speaker 1: my family. So the idea of me being a musician,
Speaker 1: it was ridicled, was talk down on, was laughed at.
Speaker 1: There was no there was no outlet in any way.
Speaker 1: So it's not like the sort of structure where like
Speaker 1: you have in America, we have access to people where
Speaker 1: you can learn it. It was very isolated creatively for
Speaker 1: me and Nigeria. I didn't get it at outlet until
Speaker 1: I was eighteen, and all the trauma and that's when
Speaker 1: I moved to America and I was on my own.
Speaker 1: But all the traumas that I had from from the
Speaker 1: previous years discipline against music, it affected me and still
Speaker 1: does to this day.
Speaker 2: What about moving in to beginning to do acting, did
Speaker 2: you find support for that?
Speaker 1: No? I didn't find support for that, but I didn't
Speaker 1: find the strict hell no. Yeah, and that journey started
Speaker 1: when I was now on my own in America, so
Speaker 1: no one you really knew what I was up to.
Speaker 1: And so my my mom came to visit and I
Speaker 1: invited her to a show and she's like, oh shit,
Speaker 1: that's good. And right into a fashion show, she's like,
Speaker 1: oh my god. Right into a basketball game, she's like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, why don't you play professionally? Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: once I was out of New York, I was able
Speaker 1: to just delve into what I wanted to without scrutiny.
Speaker 1: But the trauma for music specifically something I still gott with.
Speaker 2: Did you start doing film and television first out of
Speaker 2: college or what was the theater your love?
Speaker 1: Well, it was musical theater that made me stay okay.
Speaker 1: That was my introduction to theater, musical theater, which makes
Speaker 1: sense because I got to do to still like delve
Speaker 1: into music. I remember during the time I got into
Speaker 1: the theater department, they were working on their version of Care,
Speaker 1: which is now one of my favorite musicals, and it's
Speaker 1: just such a magical experience in the summertime in New
Speaker 1: York singing in the train. Uh it was beautiful. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: and then eventually and then I played in the Whiz,
Speaker 1: and then I eventually played Sally Bowls and cabaret. But
Speaker 1: musical theater is what kept me in theater is what
Speaker 1: like it was almost like it was all aligned. I
Speaker 1: wanted to do music, but my outlet was going to
Speaker 1: be theater. But then I happened to go to theater
Speaker 1: and it's musical theater. And it's like, oh shit. But
Speaker 1: if I if I had a chance to do it again,
Speaker 1: I would do it a little different.
Speaker 2: What would you do different? Uh?
Speaker 1: Well, in terms of what I studied, I started studying
Speaker 1: economics as a way to kind of finesse finess through
Speaker 1: through family. I then started with a minor in theater
Speaker 1: and then eventually graduated with the major in theater. But
Speaker 1: what I would have done. I would have studied sonic
Speaker 1: arts with a minor in theater. That's what I had then. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I eventually went on to study audio engineering, but I
Speaker 1: would have started that whole process in college.
Speaker 2: Fascinating. Yeah, you mentioned you got a degree in audio engineering. Yeah,
Speaker 2: what is it about electronic music specifically that feeds you?
Speaker 1: Electronic music is not really I wouldn't say that's what
Speaker 1: feeds me specifically. I started out doing electronic music. My
Speaker 1: first single was more electronic than an aphrobeats, but I
Speaker 1: always kept the lingo hidjin English em bettered than there
Speaker 1: with hints of yoga. I think what drew me to
Speaker 1: electronic music at that time was that I didn't have
Speaker 1: other tools. What the tools I had was what i'd
Speaker 1: learned and audio engineering school they happened to teach us
Speaker 1: to programs, pro tools and reason, and within that world
Speaker 1: I was able to create for the first time all
Speaker 1: these songs I could hear in my head and piss
Speaker 1: them together and start writing to them. So that's that
Speaker 1: was the draw to electronic music. Now like it's it's
Speaker 1: transformed and transcended that where I want to involve your instruments.
Speaker 2: Okay, you're a DJ, your producer.
Speaker 1: DJed once. I wouldn't call myself a DJ, DJ Moore, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would have told myself a DJ. But I had
Speaker 1: a great time and everybody had a great I picked
Speaker 1: some good music, Like anytime I'm having a party, you
Speaker 1: should be there because the music is going to be
Speaker 1: on point. I'll call myself a music curator more than
Speaker 1: a DJ.
Speaker 2: Okay, well that's I'm that. I mean, I'm okay, I'm
Speaker 2: a music curator. I'm going to tell you a crazy
Speaker 2: story because this is why I I don't know if
Speaker 2: I've ever told this story before. It's never been it's
Speaker 2: never come up. I was at a charity event out
Speaker 2: of town for multiple days. This was in the Bahamas.
Speaker 2: This is a while ago. I could come up with
Speaker 2: a year that makes sense, but fifteen sixteen years ago,
Speaker 2: and someone came up to me and said, the DJ
Speaker 2: is going to be on your show this year. And
Speaker 2: I said, the DJ is going to be on my
Speaker 2: show this year? Said yeah, the DJ is going to
Speaker 2: be you should you know? He wants to meet you.
Speaker 2: You go meet him. The DJ was Idris Elba. Oh
Speaker 2: Idris Elba had gotten hired. Now he had done other work.
Speaker 2: Obviously at that time he had not become Idris Elba
Speaker 2: Idris Elba. Yeah, and I was like, God, you are
Speaker 2: I remember, right, I remember, like to this day. We
Speaker 2: took a picture and I was like, you are the
Speaker 2: coolest guy I know, like that you're that you were DJing,
Speaker 2: that you were out there, that you were putting it
Speaker 2: like his whole self into it and he just had
Speaker 2: a passion for it. It sounds like like you now
Speaker 2: you've only done it once, but in in terms of
Speaker 2: creating music, writing your own music, this feeds you. Yeah right,
Speaker 2: I mean it very clearly does.
Speaker 1: Being around music pinetic capacity is just always a good time.
Speaker 1: If I'm having a downtime, picking up the guitar and
Speaker 1: playing something switches my move.
Speaker 2: I mean we started by talking about the broad range
Speaker 2: of experience you had as a kid, but I mean
Speaker 2: to come over to New York and to be on
Speaker 2: the college basketball team, and to be studying economics and
Speaker 2: music even through a musical theater, and then eventually the
Speaker 2: audio engineering and to start performing. I mean that, seriously,
Speaker 2: that is what college is all about. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: what that's what it should be all about. Like, let's
Speaker 2: freaking go.
Speaker 3: And just do everything, try, try everything, and so how
Speaker 3: then you're trying everything, it sounds like succeeding pretty damn.
Speaker 2: Well at everything. Yeah, how does how does the path narrow?
Speaker 2: How do you make the decision that that being an
Speaker 2: actor is what you want to do with the music career?
Speaker 2: But I mean, like you're going to pursue that. How
Speaker 2: did that decision come about? Well?
Speaker 1: That was the only thing I had training in acting? Okay,
Speaker 1: And while I had training and audio engineering, the reason
Speaker 1: I went through that process was so I could have
Speaker 1: an understanding and how to create my own music. Wasn't
Speaker 1: because I necessarily want I didn't want to work as
Speaker 1: an audio engineer. I wanted to know how to create
Speaker 1: my own and I just all I've gone to school
Speaker 1: for was acting. And I had some odd jobs here
Speaker 1: and there. I remember I worked at the information desk
Speaker 1: the Citycology in New York. But the only thing I
Speaker 1: was really qualified to do was act. Is how I felt,
Speaker 1: And while I was in school, I always knew as
Speaker 1: an immigrant, as a black woman, I had to work
Speaker 1: extra hard. So even when I was hearing that it's
Speaker 1: too student to be going out into the world and
Speaker 1: working as like, fucked that shit. I'm going out into
Speaker 1: the world that I'm going to experience so that I
Speaker 1: can be prepared when it's actually time for me to
Speaker 1: show up professionally. That was the thought process that I
Speaker 1: pieced together. That was my strategy, and I've always been
Speaker 1: guided by intuition, and intuition told me that this was
Speaker 1: the right path.
Speaker 2: Well, it sounds like it. Seeing your resume and knowing
Speaker 2: your work from a number of these shows me you
Speaker 2: basically dominate the tradition. I don't even know the traditional
Speaker 2: New York shows. I don't even know what that's talking about,
Speaker 2: but all the law and Orders and the thirty Rocks
Speaker 2: and all that, and then eventually obviously Modern Family, West
Speaker 2: World and Transparent. When did you move to LA.
Speaker 1: I moved to LA I think about twenty thirteen. It's
Speaker 1: been about exactly ten years. Yeah, I think about twenty thirteen. Wow,
Speaker 1: twenty twelve thirteen.
Speaker 2: And why it was cold?
Speaker 1: It was cold in New York. I needed something different.
Speaker 1: I was tired of the winters there. I needed hot
Speaker 1: and humid, which is the climate that I come from,
Speaker 1: and I wren't looking for that, granted, and there's not humid,
Speaker 1: but he was definitely sunnier and hotter than New York.
Speaker 2: Have you tried Houston? Houston is hot and humid.
Speaker 1: I haven't. I haven't been to Houston yet, but I've
Speaker 1: been to whenever I've gone, like Leans, Florida. Atlanta is
Speaker 1: getting cold now, but Florida, Florida, the Florida climate in
Speaker 1: the Florida feels the closest to him whenever Miami had
Speaker 1: failed that.
Speaker 2: Way, Eventually, you have an opportunity. You meet I don't know,
Speaker 2: the most prolific creator of television of the last Why
Speaker 2: has it been that twenty years? Let's call it twenty
Speaker 2: five years, Chuck, Chuck Glory. Talk to me about your
Speaker 2: audition process, how you got this role, and how you
Speaker 2: felt about the role reading it on Bob Heart's I'll
Speaker 2: be Showing Up.
Speaker 1: Well, I got an email from my agent's bar stage,
Speaker 1: and like every other email I get, I read it
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, yeah, I got this, It's easy,
Speaker 1: and like set it aside. And then I started working
Speaker 1: on it and it was very easy. The character was
Speaker 1: easy for me. I knew her, I grew up with her.
Speaker 1: My aunties's my mother's she's like my class teachers. You know,
Speaker 1: so I knew exactly how to play her, but I
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time trying to balance her out.
Speaker 1: So talking about all the things we previously mentioned at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the interview, like adding the melodies, the
Speaker 1: comedic melodies of Africa, Nigeria specifically, and the melodies of
Speaker 1: the rest of the world, as you guys know, the sitcoms,
Speaker 1: and also having explored her in all these different elements
Speaker 1: over the years at different levels over the years, I
Speaker 1: chose that I didn't want her to be a career cuature.
Speaker 1: This was going to be a big project. It was
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of people's Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of people's introduction to Nigerian culture.
Speaker 1: And I felt like I wanted to portray her as
Speaker 1: grounded and as human and as multi dimensional as possible.
Speaker 1: And throughout the five seasons, boy did they give me
Speaker 1: materiy to work with, because there's this season where I
Speaker 1: was crying all the time, all the time, and then
Speaker 1: you know that she became the hard ass and then
Speaker 1: she softened up. But I wanted all of that to
Speaker 1: be grounded and a dignified portrayal of my journal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting about television right that. I was just
Speaker 2: talking about this with someone the other day that the time.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you're lucky enough to be on a
Speaker 2: show that runs for multiple years, the character does change.
Speaker 2: The writers change how the character is being written for,
Speaker 2: and in a good show there's a journey built in
Speaker 2: and it's becomes much different than in film or you know,
Speaker 2: a guest spot or wherever, where this is the character
Speaker 2: and you kind of know everything about this character going in.
Speaker 2: As the show is going, you're changing, You're you're changing,
Speaker 2: and the character is changing. How how did you find
Speaker 2: that experience, the experience of being able to explore her
Speaker 2: for five years?
Speaker 1: It was It was interesting. It was interesting because our
Speaker 1: writers are obviously fucking amazing and also led by chub Lauri.
Speaker 1: It's like magic, but having the lived experience of being
Speaker 1: a Nigerian woman in Nigeria. There are the elements that
Speaker 1: I wanted to explore, but we never We didn't get
Speaker 1: a chance to explore a lot of them. There there
Speaker 1: would be times where we could confuse some some of
Speaker 1: this lived experience moments into the show, like when during
Speaker 1: the wedding, when Bob and I are having an intimate
Speaker 1: moment with all the guests gathered around. I remember pitching
Speaker 1: it to the director, Beth lafack Mill. It's like, hey, Beth,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't it be cool if while we're dancing it's
Speaker 1: just chilling out, all the electricity goes off, because that
Speaker 1: shit will happen in Nigeria. It was all the electricity
Speaker 1: goes off and then we're like groaning, and then the
Speaker 1: electricity comes back when I'm like, Nepa. That is such
Speaker 1: a Nigerian moment, and I wanted to infuse a lot
Speaker 1: more of those moments in there. But I also understood
Speaker 1: that this was not a show that was geared towards
Speaker 1: journal audience. He's an American show, and so it was
Speaker 1: comforting to be able to rely on their expertise in
Speaker 1: those ways whilst looking for ways to, you know, reveal
Speaker 1: a little bit more and go a little bit more
Speaker 1: in debt with a Nigerian experience. Everything else was everything
Speaker 1: else was.
Speaker 2: Something that's awesome. There's You also had a specific hmmm,
Speaker 2: what do you call it, set of circumstances that were
Speaker 2: not ideal for your show. I mean, look, show, there's
Speaker 2: a worldwide pandemic, there's a writer strike, an actor strike.
Speaker 2: But you guys.
Speaker 1: Both both in Nigeria and an American.
Speaker 2: Yes, yet the show survived. What do you think that
Speaker 2: that says about the show and what you were doing
Speaker 2: or the crew that you were working with that you
Speaker 2: unlike so many other shows survived all of those external
Speaker 2: those external factors.
Speaker 1: The Chuck glory factor. Man Chuck Chuck would enter the room,
Speaker 1: enter like a rehearsal and just say like two words
Speaker 1: and wave his hands and everything would just be magical.
Speaker 1: And also because I guess of the years of expertise
Speaker 1: in this in this field, he has a crew of
Speaker 1: people who are fucking phenomenal, from my live producers Christy
Speaker 1: Robin to like Scott London and props Sammy to the
Speaker 1: makeup department he had department. Everyone works so diligently and
Speaker 1: so precisely, there was no room for it. Like it
Speaker 1: was just seamless. It was seamless all the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's no global pandemic, there's no like we're
Speaker 2: just gonna yeah.
Speaker 1: We but that's the reason why we could function as
Speaker 1: efficiently as we did throughout the pandemic because he has
Speaker 1: a team of folks who are at the highest level
Speaker 1: of their game, and they show up like that all
Speaker 1: time and at all times, and they set precedents for
Speaker 1: how me and like relatively unknown after coming into the
Speaker 1: show then conduct with herself. They've set a bar for me.
Speaker 1: Any production I go into, well, I will come with
Speaker 1: the wealth of knowledge and an expertise that you acquire
Speaker 1: from being in front at the Chuck Ray Universe.
Speaker 2: I'm really glad you said that, because you know, I've
Speaker 2: had small experiences, multiple experiences on his shows, and that
Speaker 2: is so true. And I don't think that that's talked
Speaker 2: about enough. It becomes a cliche like we have the
Speaker 2: greatest team, we have the greatest crew, we have the
Speaker 2: greatest blah blah blah. But there is an efficiency that
Speaker 2: exists on his sets and throughout his shows that is palpable.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I mean to your point, you come in
Speaker 2: as a lead and you haven't done anything before, and
Speaker 2: you you were, You were taught how it's done by
Speaker 2: experienced by experienced people who if they didn't know how
Speaker 2: to do their job, they wouldn't be there. So good
Speaker 2: for you. That's that's amazing.
Speaker 1: I learned from the best minds in the industry, some
Speaker 1: of the best minds in the industry. Very fortunate.
Speaker 2: Sadly the series is ending here this month. You've already
Speaker 2: shot the finale.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we were done shooting about a month ago, and
Speaker 1: the finale aired yesterday.
Speaker 2: Yesterday. Yes, wow, how it feel? It was?
Speaker 1: You know, Miss Renee that's what I call her, Miss Warrens.
Speaker 1: She plays Gloria on the show. She came over and
Speaker 1: watched it together and it was laugh out loud, like
Speaker 1: we were out here like laughing out loud. It was
Speaker 1: a very beautiful moment. I feel good. I feel fulfilled.
Speaker 1: I feel like I left my mark in a way.
Speaker 1: I feel like I've done something meaningful with my life,
Speaker 1: and I want to go rest for a little bit
Speaker 1: and reflect on all of it, and then I'm super
Speaker 1: excited about the future. I'm very excited about the opportunities
Speaker 1: for the future. We just announced that Lion King. I'm
Speaker 1: part of the Lion King the Passa and that's going
Speaker 1: to be that's gonna premire on December twentia.
Speaker 2: Congratulations, thank you. That's credible.
Speaker 1: I hit up. I hit up Chuck. I was like,
Speaker 1: I said, Chuck the text and I sent him the article.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Chuck, Laurie.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome. Uh sad for you to say goodbye
Speaker 2: or obviously the people, Yeah, I love with that, but
Speaker 2: the character say goodbye to the character.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's sad. Like Michelle, I gave me some of
Speaker 1: the most dynamic times in my life. And I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm always going to be tied to her. So I
Speaker 1: love her. I love her. She's a brilliant woman, tenacious.
Speaker 1: I would say sadness is a word I think of
Speaker 1: when I think about part of the race attactors. We're
Speaker 1: going to be syndicated. I can watch her anytime, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just feel proud. I feel very proud of her.
Speaker 1: I feel proud of her.
Speaker 2: Very good for you. First America can sitcom to feature
Speaker 2: a Nigerian family, but not just that. It had respect
Speaker 2: and grace, amazing performances, particularly by you. You deserve tremendous
Speaker 2: respect and all good fortunes coming down the pipe. Congratulations
Speaker 2: on Lion King. I and everyone else is going to
Speaker 2: be watching and listen. Anytime you want to shoot the rock,
Speaker 2: you give me a call. You I'm closer than you think.
Speaker 2: Really you think you just let me, you just let
Speaker 2: me know, Well I will.
Speaker 1: I actually would love to. I haven't played in a
Speaker 1: little bit. So if you're down and play this week.
Speaker 1: I'm down.
Speaker 2: Wow, look at that. You're just coming you're just coming
Speaker 2: right out to let me. I'll tell you very quick story.
Speaker 2: I played in a pickup game against a little a
Speaker 2: little there were there were. It was sort of an
Speaker 2: organized and you know, I'm backing him down. I got size,
Speaker 2: I'm backing him down in a beautiful fade away Jay
Speaker 2: and he starts, little guy starts slapping at the ball,
Speaker 2: like coming around and slapping at the ball, like taking
Speaker 2: it a little too seriously, Like I take it seriously,
Speaker 2: but a little too wha wa bang elbow right in
Speaker 2: my eye socket. Within seconds, it swells up like like second.
Speaker 2: By the time I like put my hand over my
Speaker 2: eye and ran to the bathroom. It was like a
Speaker 2: baseball whoa. And I was like, well, I guess, I
Speaker 2: guess casual pickup games is not happening for me anymore.
Speaker 2: Oh but I'll I'll I'll take you. I'll take you
Speaker 2: all right, let's see, I'll take all comers. Here's the thing, curious,
Speaker 2: my confidence outweighs my ability, But my ability is strong.
Speaker 1: I haven't played in a bit, so I don't know
Speaker 1: one of those things, Sad. I have talent, listen, I
Speaker 1: have natural talent, so I'm pretty sure i'll fuck you up.
Speaker 1: How tall are you?
Speaker 2: How tall? I was literally about to say, how tall
Speaker 2: are you? How tall are you? Yeah? I got you?
Speaker 2: You got you? Six three? Ah?
Speaker 1: Fuck now I got you. I know I can, I
Speaker 1: can box out like a motherfucker and I got hops.
Speaker 2: Bring it all right. Uh, congratulations and good luck. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna be watching.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, Brian, and well done on the Office.
Speaker 1: I really enjoy that show, really really enjoyed that show,
Speaker 1: really enjoyed your character.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I I appreciate that very much. That's very sweet.
Speaker 2: I'm still gonna kill you.
Speaker 1: Let's see get.
Speaker 2: Cameras, flacke a pleasure to have you. Congratulations on an
Speaker 2: amazing six years of a great show. I am looking
Speaker 2: forward to whatever you do next. I promise you I
Speaker 2: will be watching listeners. Thank you for well for listening.
Speaker 2: I've said it before, I'll say it again. You do
Speaker 2: that incredibly well. This is us, right you listen I talk.
Speaker 2: Oh and speaking of this is Us, join us next week.
Speaker 2: I promise it's going to be a good one. Have
Speaker 2: a great week off The Beat is hosted and executive
Speaker 2: produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Lang Lee.
Speaker 2: Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes,
Speaker 2: Hannah Harris and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan
Speaker 2: Papa Zachary, and our intern is Ali Amir Sahi. Our
Speaker 2: theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one and
Speaker 2: only Creed Bratton,