WEBVTT - Lamorne Morris 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.680 Back then, I was really really low on myself, and 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:05.040 it couldn't have come at a better time in my life. 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:07.960 I want to say, I don't know how many commercials 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:11.440 I've done in that year. It was a ridiculous amount. 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:13.080 You got to the point where if I was walking 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:14.760 down the street, people would go, Hi, man, I know 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:20.080 you from uh TwixT was no, no, no, It's all 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:30.960 of them, all them things, all those commercials. Hey folks 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:34.320 on Lamour and Morris, and I played what Steven Spielberg 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:38.560 has called the greatest TV character of all time. I 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:49.479 played Winston Bishop on New Girl. Hello, dear listeners, welcome 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.920 back to Off the Beat. I am your host, Brian Baumgartner. 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:57.320 I'm so glad you decided to join me today because, 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:02.160 my friends, I am so excited about today's guests. If 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:07.600 you didn't catch him in Desperadoes or Woke, you might 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:13.320 know him as New Girls prankster Extraordinary. That's right. There 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:18.640 really is nobody like Winston Bishop, a k a. The 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:24.240 unbelievably talented Lamourne Morris. Now, I have to tell you something. 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:28.800 I spent this conversation with Lamourne smiling the entire time. 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:33.640 When we were done, my cheekbones were hurting from smiling 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.720 so much. Now. Just like his character, Lamourne grew up 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:42.679 in Winston's hometown of Chicago, eventually making his way to 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:47.160 Second City, the Second City Training Center. He is such 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:52.880 a natural comedian and he has just some really amazing stories, 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:56.360 from his early days working in commercials to getting cast 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:01.760 on New Girl after Get This fifth teen auditions, by 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:05.240 the way, I only had one for Kevin Malone. He 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:08.520 has commitment. I have luck. Today you're gonna hear some 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:12.639 of these stories, and you'll also hear his shocking revelation 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:17.880 about cats. Get Ready, without further ado, please welcome my 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:27.360 new friend and yours, Lamourne Morris, Bubble and Squeak. I 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:33.680 love it Bubble and Squeak, Bubble and Squeaker cooking at 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:51.800 every month left over from the Natbyfore, what's up? What's that? Dude? 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.280 I'm good, right, good, good, good man. Oh my gosh, 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.240 I'm such a big fan of yours. Thank you so 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.639 much for coming on the show here to be very 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:04.200 excited to have you. I hear that. Uh, well, you're 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:07.080 you're encroaching on my space now you're in the podcast 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:12.080 business yourself? Is that right? This is correct. We over 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:16.400 at the New Girl headquarters. We were like, we get 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:20.600 all these messages from fans constantly and asking questions constantly, 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:25.320 and I find myself seeing the show being rewatched all 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:28.119 the time with Netflix and Hulu and whoever is purchasing 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:30.760 and buying, and we just thought, man, let's do it. 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:32.680 And then and I didn't know it was the thing 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:34.360 until I saw you do it, and until I saw 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:37.000 the office lady's doing it. I saw you know, I 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:40.640 was like, holy crap, scrub guys. I said, man, it's like, 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.480 this is awesome. I didn't know I could do that. 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.200 You you can, and you guys are doing it so well. 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:48.960 I want to talk about that in a little bit, 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.120 but I want to go back to the beginning. You 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:56.040 grew up in Chicago, right, Yeah, I grew up in Chicago, Uh, 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.840 South Side of Chicago. Then you know, move moved my 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:01.240 way around a little bit, so South Side of Chicago 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:06.040 then West Bourbs of Chicago. That's kind of where I 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:08.760 figured out my sense of humor and things that I 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:11.760 love to do is just having like the best and 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:16.280 worst of both worlds. But you stayed true to your 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.039 South Side roots. You're a big white Sox fan. I 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.200 understand White Sox. Yes, you know, I wouldn't say big 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:26.200 White Sox fan. I I there are five world series. 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:29.560 I do want to take full responsibility for that. I was. 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.680 My first ever TV commercial was a White Sox commercial. 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:36.760 And the year they won, yeah, yeah, the year they won, 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.160 and I know it was because of me. I'm not 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:41.240 gonna I'm not gonna give any love to any of 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.320 the players. Let's just be honest. They didn't do it. 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:46.240 They didn't do it before I did the commercial, they 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:49.200 didn't do it after. No, just only the year that 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:53.400 you you were advertising for them, working for them, exactly, 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:55.599 you were a part of exactly. And I've been trying 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:58.960 to let other sports organizations know that. You know, hey, 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:03.000 I'm a good luck chall you know, give me courtside seeds, 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.080 let me do the commercials, and I promise you a championship. 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:10.120 All right. Back to your your childhood in Chicago, first 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.960 job working for the White Sox in a way, what 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.760 made you interested in theater or in comedy and how 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.400 early did that start for you. There's a couple of 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:21.440 a couple of things, you know. It could have been 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:25.280 something passed down through generations. My mom was very funny. 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:29.920 I didn't really follow that itch, but she did some 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.160 theater back in the day. She writes poetry, so she 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:37.000 writes she's very My mom was a very creative person, 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.680 but never really followed that that passion. I met my 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:44.239 grandfather for the for the first time when I was playing, 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:48.440 like ten years ago. Meeting him was so interesting. I 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.000 moved to California. He lived in California and he was 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:54.719 half blind, you know, tiny man sitting in front of 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.840 his small TV and he was watching the Dodgers game. 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.360 And I said, oh, you like baseball, and he's got 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:02.680 one eye like this, and he goes, he goes, yeah, 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.360 but me can only watch half the game. And then 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:09.839 he stares at me like this. I thought, oh, half 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.520 the game because he's got one eye. And I said, oh, 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.240 that's pretty funny. And then the rest of the day 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:18.680 was just preceded by so many jokes, like dad jokes, 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.680 funny jokes, and talking like sharp jokes. And then it 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.440 started to hit me like, man, that maybe that maybe 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:27.320 passed down. You know, I got a very funny family, 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.280 you know, an island family from from Belize. So I 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:34.280 always had it in me to perform when I was 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:36.160 a kid, I used to mock the preacher at church, 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:38.560 you know what I mean. And I didn't know why, 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:41.360 but I would just mimic him all the time. And 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:44.640 I played basketball growing up, and once I got cut 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.719 from the basketball team is when I realized, Okay, one, 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:50.640 I'm not as good as I thought I was, but two, 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:54.320 I need to fill this void with something. And so 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:58.000 there are auditions for theater and choir, and so I 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:00.640 auditioned for both, got in and fell in love with 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:03.600 it immediately, and I couldn't like stop doing it, and 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:05.760 I just thought it was like something I was doing 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:08.120 in the meantime. I didn't really truly realize that I 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.280 could make a career out of it until I was 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:13.360 sent to detention one too many times and the woman 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:16.440 in detention said, hey, you should really figure out which 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:18.320 want to do after you graduate and kind of harness 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.760 this energy that you have, and so she gave me 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:24.280 a pamphlet for Second City. Once that happened, it was like, 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:28.240 oh boy, this is this is it for me? You know. 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:31.240 I started doing theater and college and Second City at 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:33.680 the same time, and I was addicted to it. I 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.200 would literally go wait tables for just enough money for 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.480 food and for train fare just to get tech the 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.160 city back to the Bourbs and move around like that. 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:44.400 And I fell in love with it. You know, that's 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.520 that's gotta be. Where it started. It was always in me, 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.520 but once I was left with no other options, and 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:53.680 it was kind of like, I'm gonna fast forward a 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:56.280 little bit. It was almost the same as I got 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.640 so broke in l A. I was auditioning, but I 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.320 wasn't looking anything, and I didn't know why. I thought 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:04.440 I was pretty talented, said man, you know, I was 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:06.000 in Second City and I did all these things, and 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:07.440 I was like, man, I can't get a job to 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.200 save my life. And I was running late for an audition. 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.000 I was so late, car was reboked. I borrowed a 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:16.800 friend's car. I get there and I was forced to improvise, 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:18.800 like I just made it up. I didn't read the 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:20.520 script the sides at all. I get in there and 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.800 they said, did you read the side? I say, yeah, yeah, yea, yeah, sure. 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:26.360 I just kind of glanced around, and once I made 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.520 everything up. I guess it was refreshing to them that 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.960 day because everyone was just sticking to the script. And 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:34.360 they booked me on the spot, I just said, man, 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.480 you gotta trust your instincts and go with your skill set, 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:39.880 go with the thing that you train doing and you're 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:43.280 passionate about doing, which was in profit time, and I 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:45.480 was left with no choice. And how was it? Wow? 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.000 So much of what you just said is fascinating to me. 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:53.000 My entree, I guess into performing into theater specifically for me, 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.360 was very much the same. I wanted to be a 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:57.880 professional baseball player. That was what I was gonna do. 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:00.880 So for you, it was basketball. I had an injury. 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:02.920 This was a very long story, but basically I was 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:06.079 left a very active kid who didn't have a place 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:09.360 to put his focus and found theater and much the 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.360 same as well. I didn't see it as a career. 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.199 I saw it as something that I was doing. A 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:18.480 very smart guidance counselor gave you a pamphlet to Second 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.839 City that so did you? You started taking classes there? 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:24.080 Is that how it started for you at Second City? Yeah? 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:26.760 I started taking classes there. They had a program called 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.960 brown co. I remember Second City there was an initiative 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.719 I want to say, Keegan Michael Key started this initiative 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.960 with homanym Diana Griffin out in Detroit, Second City, Detroit, 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.880 where to get more black audience members, black and brown 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:44.200 audience members, because there were none. And it was like, well, 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:45.800 why are there none? It's like, well, because there no 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:50.199 black and brown performers, and so we're like oh. I 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.560 was like, oh, let's let's go. Let's go and let's 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:55.760 open the doors. Let's go figure out where where real 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:59.360 these folks are. And so they started scouting, going to colleges. 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.760 You know, I was doing this um this comedy group 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:05.840 with a guy named Chris Woski, and we were in 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:07.920 this group and he blew my mind with how he 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:09.840 was performing, and I just thought, man, this is amazing. 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.120 Like let's just go big and go broad and just 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:14.640 get weird on stage. And so I started doing that 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:17.520 and I really found my niche for sketch comedy. They 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:20.160 had come to see me perform and asked me to 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:23.200 come audition. That was how it worked out for me. 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:25.880 I already knew I wanted to go there, you know, 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:27.720 I knew that was going to be the trajectory, but 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:30.160 I was, you know it. It helped that they paid 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:34.360 for me to go. I got a scholarship there. Otherwise 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:39.760 I couldn't afford it. Wow, So for you was it? 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:42.000 Was it improv like? That? Was it? It was making 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.160 people laugh performing in that way at the time. Yeah, 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.120 at the time, you know, even though I even though 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.120 at the same time I was studying was studying traditional acting, 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:53.800 different techniques in theater school. You know, how to break 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:55.840 down a character, how to analyze the script, those types 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:57.840 of things. I was doing a ton of that, a 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:00.800 lot of scene work. But there was something about just 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:02.760 showing up and not knowing what the hell is gonna 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:06.600 happen and using your instincts with your friends on stage 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:10.040 that sat with me a lot more. And then it's 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:12.280 a very useful tool obviously when you know, you know, 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:14.120 when you're on set, you gotta make stuff up from 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:18.240 time to down. You know what I mean? Uh, you 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:22.360 save the writer or save yourself? Yes, no, I understand exactly. 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.280 So what made you move to Los Angeles? Did you 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:30.640 stay and try to work in Chicago? Obviously you booked 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:34.320 up a White Sox commercial, So did you start working 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.680 professionally in Chicago? I started working professional in Chicago. I 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:41.000 did a couple of commercials, actually did two White Sox commercials. 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:43.160 The first one was the baseball and it was me 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:47.880 and the first baseman, Paul Knirko, and then the second 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:52.600 one was at McDonald's White Sox and Cubs commercial with 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:57.240 Bobby Jenks and Rob Belushi. So it was it was 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:00.320 a pretty fun time on set for those spots. But 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.400 then in Chicago, the opportunities aren't as I'm not sure 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:06.439 how they are now, but back then it was just 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:08.520 commercial work. You know, it'd be rare if you got 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:10.640 a movie or a TV opportunity there, but it's just 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:14.320 commercial work. B Et came to town, you know, looking 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:17.200 for on air personalities, and I didn't really know what 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:19.760 that was, to be quite honest with you, I just knew, oh, 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.400 this could be the thing. This is it's TV and 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:24.840 there it's a TV host. I guess that's kind of 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.120 the same thing as acting, is it. I had no idea. 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.200 I had no idea. I just gave it a shot. 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.640 All my friends auditioned for it. I auditioned, and I 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.440 booked it, and I had to move to New York. 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:39.960 This is hot wired. This is hot wired. Yeah, And 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:42.280 I got to have some fun with that because the 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:43.920 head of BT at the time was a guy named 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:48.079 Reginald Hudland. Reginald Hudland. For folks out there who might 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.679 not know, his college thesis project was House Party. So 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:55.680 he made that movie in college, and you know, and 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:59.440 he's a second city guy, producer, director, want a Family, 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:03.840 Django producing, He's he's awesome guy. But he understood my 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.000 sense of humor the moment I showed up and gave 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.000 me a job there and wanted me to be myself 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.280 and be silly and be weird. So I was hosting 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.440 for a while and then I just you know, I 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.640 was missing out on a lot of acting opportunities, so 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:20.640 I moved to l A, which was a weird transition, 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.280 going straight from hosting to quit and cold turkey and 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.960 trying to dive into traditional you know, how do I 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:29.200 get an agent? How do I you know, I haven't 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:31.520 acted in a while. What do I do? What's the process? Like, 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:36.040 I'm in a whole new there's marijuana out here? How 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:39.439 what do I do about this marijuana that's here? I 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:43.040 can't stop, I can't. It was a lot of stuff 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.920 going on that that made it difficult for me to 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:53.800 get a job. Yeah, both internal and external. Oh yeah, exactly. 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:55.800 And that's why I made that move. That's why I 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.920 made that transition. But that takes balls, right. I mean, 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:02.319 like you have a job, Bob, You're working in entertainment, 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:06.080 you're hosting, but you just want you wanted to pursue 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:11.160 more traditional acting, character creation, improv and you just a 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.079 was the place you needed to be. And I think 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.480 back then it was it was the place. You know. 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.960 Obviously nowadays, you know, once the pandemic happened to open 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:21.680 their eyes to a lot of things. People are moving, 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:26.160 people are leaving l A constantly. I mean, I'm still here, 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:28.640 but you know, back then, it was like if you 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:30.360 want to act, if you want to you know, do 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:31.920 it full time. This is the place you have to be. 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:33.560 This is where the best of the best is. This 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:37.040 is where the opportunities are. And it was difficult, to 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.200 be quite honest with you, it was really difficult. I 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:42.600 would drive my friends to auditions sometimes at big studios, 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.120 and I would drop them off and I would kind 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.040 of just linger around the studio, just kind of going, 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:51.560 this is crazy to me, Like this is you know, 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:56.400 walking around a lot without a pass, you know, looking 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.720 at look at that other actors driving pass on golf cards, going, man, 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.280 you got a golf cart. Too, like, this is crazy. 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:06.320 I fell in love with the magic of it. There's 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:10.240 still something very magical about it. And I just knew. 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:12.760 I just said, man, I can't leave until I can't 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:17.520 leave until I'm on a golf cart, until you have 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:23.160 your own golf cart exactly. So you were doing commercials too, right, 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:25.560 You had quite a bit of success in commercials when 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.480 you moved to l A. Oh yeah again. The start 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:31.000 of it in l A was that audition, and I 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.600 got lucky because that casting director kept calling me in 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.320 for things after that, and it was such a blessing 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.480 to my life. I mean, I went from having negative 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:42.200 eleven dollars in my bank account to looking like seven 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:46.480 that week, and you know, traveling internationally for commercials, getting 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:49.600 commercial offers. I was like, this is crazy to me. 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:56.000 That kind of resparked my faith in myself. You lose 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:57.200 a lot of steam, you lose a lot of faith 0:15:57.240 --> 0:15:59.520 in yourself and your ability, and you get down on 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.680 yourself and you're not working and it's um and it 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:05.600 still happens, you know what I mean, still happens now, 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:07.080 you know what I mean. They're like, damn, you know, 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.080 I miss out in certain jobs or it goes a 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.360 while without working, and back then I was really really 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.840 low on myself and it couldn't have come at a 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.560 better time in my life. I want to say, I 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.160 don't know how many commercials I've done in that year. 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:22.720 It was a ridiculous amount. He got to the point 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:24.840 where if I was walking down the street, people would go, 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:28.440 how do man, I know you? From? Uh TwixT? Was no, no, no, 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:34.120 all of them, all of them. It was all those commercials. 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:37.760 A friend told me a story about Keenan every wayains 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.600 did Damon told me. They think either Damon Wayne's Jr. 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:44.320 Told me the story or Marlon I forget. Someone told 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:49.320 me the story where Keenan was watching some sports game 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:51.720 or whatever, some football game or something, and then a 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:53.480 commercial I come on. He said, damn this that this 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:56.320 dude is on every commercial. And then the next commercial 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:58.200 that popped up was a different commercial that I was in. 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.640 Said that he threw his will control the TV. I 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:03.520 don't know how true that is, but I just remember 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:06.000 hearing that. It would be so excited that keen and 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:10.080 every way and to knew who I was, even if 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.680 he hated me, even if he was annoyed. But yeah, 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:19.080 that's amazing. Yeah, commercials, So when you're starting out, I mean, 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.160 especially back then, you could make some real money and 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.520 keep your career going and like you said, get some 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:29.920 confidence and also get some experience on set, right, Because sure, 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.919 you could say live shows are more difficult. It's you know, 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:36.320 there's more pressure you're on stage. But you know, I've 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:39.680 talked about this with a lot of people, but it's 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:43.679 worth at least to me saying again how difficult that 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.000 experience is on set of a movie, of a TV show, 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:50.879 of a commercial, that experience of shooting something experience is 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:55.399 so important, right, Oh, yeah, absolutely, you know the basics. 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:59.399 I've been on set with people who are just who 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.920 are really talented, but this is their first project, you know, 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:05.359 and they couldn't hit their mark to save their lives. 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:09.200 They don't understand how to take direction a note from 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:11.560 a director. I don't understand how fast pace we're moving there. 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:14.080 There's a lot of things that you just get innately 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:16.359 when you're doing You do so many commercials, and you 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:18.800 when you finally get that opportunity, you're you're used to it. 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:21.400 You're used to a hundred people running around, you, used 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:23.800 to putting makeup on your face constantly and doing touch 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:25.600 ups and all this stuff where you're trying to think 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.280 of your lines and it becomes a muscle. You become 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:30.440 so used to it, you know what I mean. It 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:32.160 got to the point now, it got to the point. 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:35.000 I remember being a new girl and you'll be talking 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:38.200 to your same partner in between takes or maybe running lines, 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:41.520 and there's so many people touching you that you have 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:44.320 know just someone someone literally has their hands in your pants, 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:48.800 you're not face and sometimes different people a person and 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.160 the sound person coming in one angle and going down 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:56.679 the other angle exactly, and Jake Johnson that I think 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:58.480 it was, wasn't Max with Jake, can't forget who was. 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:01.119 We would walk up behind that part, we put our 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.280 hands behind their in their pants too, and see if 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.120 they noticed it. And they never would it never would. 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.600 It just started like literally playing with the butt cheeks 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.680 and they're just like, doesn't they have no idea who's 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:15.040 playing with the butt cheeks right now? But that's something 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.240 you gotta get used to. That's something that that happens. 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:19.560 You know, it could throw you could be very jarring 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:40.760 if you your first day on set. That's true, speaking 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:45.000 of a new girl, I have been told you auditioned 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:51.439 many times fifteen? Is that correct? Yeah? I could be 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:56.680 off by one maybe maybe maybe before fourteen or sixteen 0:19:57.280 --> 0:19:59.200 it was. I think it was three or four times 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:01.639 for the Coach character and then the rest for the 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:05.520 Winston character. It was a grueling process. It's a story 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:08.080 that you could write about when you're teaching people, how 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:11.360 the process goes, and how unpredictable it is, and how 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:13.760 there's no one way to get a job. I went. 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:16.399 I auditioned for the Coach character, like a lot of 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.359 the other actors did, didn't book it. In fact, I 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:21.680 think my audition was so weird to them. I want 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:24.080 to say. I dressed up in tight shorts and did 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:27.040 the whole thing. I took the script too literal, and 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:30.600 they were like, it's too much. So then they keep 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:32.560 auditioning people. Then they asked me to come back just 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:36.359 minus the get up, please put put on regular people clothes. 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:38.919 And simultaneously I had the same day, I had an 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:43.280 audition for a CBS pilot called The Assistance with t J. Miller, 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:46.440 Heather Locklear, Sarah Right, David Henry. It was really cool 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:51.879 multicamp show, and I got passed on by casting for 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:55.320 that after my first read, because the casting assistant who 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:58.679 was reading with me kept dropping lines, and so I 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:00.840 had these big chunks of monol dogs and whenever she 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:03.199 would drop a line, it would fast forward me to 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:06.520 two scenes ahead and I would be so off what 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:09.160 she was saying that they passed on me. And I 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:11.520 told my agent, I said, listen, I need to get 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:13.520 back in there in an audition. I said, I guarantee 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:15.520 you I'll book this. I said, I know this is 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:17.600 this is a perfect character for me. You just gotta 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:19.640 get me in. It was her fault, said, it wasn't 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:22.960 my This is the assistance is yea, And they get 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:25.040 me into They get me into this, back to for 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:27.679 the assistance. Then I get a phone call saying that 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:29.960 they want me to test for New Girl now for 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:33.440 the coach character. And I said, okay, great. So then 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:36.000 they bring me back into read for the assistance, but 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:39.439 this time with the producers, and so they stopped me 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:41.600 halfway through my audition. I get through most of the audition, 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:43.359 and they stopped me halfway through my audition, and then 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:45.840 I thought, oh, maybe it was me. Maybe I was 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:49.679 just bad. And then they go we hear you're testing 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:52.920 for New Girl tomorrow. I said, yeah, can we ask 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:56.960