Speaker 1: The majority of us. Our flex was like coming in
Speaker 1: with McDonald's. You were working on McDonald's.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, we bring.
Speaker 1: A happy meal, we like. Hold on now he on
Speaker 1: my TV?
Speaker 2: Yeah one?
Speaker 1: If y'all at your boy Kevin on stage, or we'll
Speaker 1: welcome you to Not My Best Moment, a podcast where
Speaker 1: I talk to my friends artists, athletes, and entertainers about
Speaker 1: their failures and what they learned from them. My guest
Speaker 1: today is a dear friend and a immensely talented gentleman.
Speaker 1: You may know him from Disney's Holes, from a Roll
Speaker 1: Balance or Friday After Next, any number of TV shows,
Speaker 1: Scream Tour. More recently, you know him from gaming anime
Speaker 1: Four Controllers. You may know him from a myriad of things,
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2: Cleo, Thomas, what's up, Ken? How you feeling? Brother?
Speaker 1: I feel good, Cleo. It's good to have you on here.
Speaker 1: While I got you, I might as well tell you.
Speaker 1: I've told you this in private, but I will tell
Speaker 1: you this in public. I admire you tremendously. You are
Speaker 1: a person who's taken not only their career into their
Speaker 1: own hands, You've taken it personally into your own hands.
Speaker 1: A lot of times. You know, celebrities people have been
Speaker 1: on for a long time. They truly, truly, truly struggle
Speaker 1: to transtransition into any other form of medium, and you
Speaker 1: are so successful. People are finding out that you were
Speaker 1: in movies after knowing you from gaming. Yeah, it's almost
Speaker 1: come full circle now that Hey, you're the guy from homes.
Speaker 1: Now it's wait, you're in homes So.
Speaker 2: We've slightly eclipsed the resume just to bit.
Speaker 1: One thousand percent. So welcome to the show. Cleio Thomas,
Speaker 1: how are you?
Speaker 2: I'm amazing man, Thanks for having me man. I appreciate
Speaker 2: those kind words. Kevin Yees like you mentioned you have
Speaker 2: told me that face with being able to you know,
Speaker 2: for you to reiterate it to me, Man, it really
Speaker 2: does mean a lot because in the same respect that
Speaker 2: you have for me, I have the utmost respect for
Speaker 2: you what you built, knowing that I met you just
Speaker 2: years ago from all death right yeah, and knowing with
Speaker 2: the system what the system was there and compared to
Speaker 2: what you built today. Man, Just believing, keeping your faith
Speaker 2: in God, keeping wife you by your side, making sure
Speaker 2: you're a great stand up not only a husband but father.
Speaker 2: Like all of that is inspiring man.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. So yeah, let's go back to All Death.
Speaker 1: I met you. I want to say, excuse me, I'm
Speaker 1: a little under the weather. Twenty sixteen or seventeen, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe a little early, but it was around it was
Speaker 1: around peak All Death times. I think we just moved
Speaker 1: to the downtown office, and I remember you came. You
Speaker 1: came and did great taste, and Pat was like over
Speaker 1: the moon to have you. He was like, yo, y'all
Speaker 1: got to meet this dude, Cleo. He's so funny. He
Speaker 1: was in all these movies and stuff. So I was
Speaker 1: expecting a pompous a hole. I did not get that.
Speaker 1: Got somebody who was very nice. I mean, immediately disarmed.
Speaker 1: And that's not say anything about you. It's just like
Speaker 1: a lot of times the people that I met there
Speaker 1: the stars, they looked down upon what we were doing
Speaker 1: at All Death. They you know, it was kind of
Speaker 1: like beneath them. So I was like, Okay, here'll come
Speaker 1: this other curly headed guy, handsome, light skin. He's gonna
Speaker 1: think he's better than us. And you, you didn't come
Speaker 1: in like that. And then I remember I hit you
Speaker 1: with a joke and you hit me with a joke
Speaker 1: back so much harder that I was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: this okay, he's gonna he's gonna fit in just fine here. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: something about my hairline follicles. You could hear my hairline follicles,
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, was a joke. Yeah, but that
Speaker 1: was part of your Well where where were you in
Speaker 1: your journey at that time?
Speaker 2: Great question, man, during the rebuilding phase. Really, during the
Speaker 2: rebuilding phase I had, I was I was a really
Speaker 2: early adopter to the Internet, right. I saw I saw
Speaker 2: actors uh starting to waiver and not be able to
Speaker 2: keep a level of consistency when it came to their job,
Speaker 2: no matter if there were child actors or actors were
Speaker 2: way older at me. Right. But then the Internet starts
Speaker 2: taking off. We're seeing YouTube break, all these brand new
Speaker 2: start like like like personalities, and I was like, interesting,
Speaker 2: So do you remember you stream back in the day. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2: I was one of the first people to have a
Speaker 2: U stream deal because I was like, wow, I can
Speaker 2: just go live, I can just do a talk show
Speaker 2: like right here. So I was just going for it, man.
Speaker 2: So little things like that were kind of like the
Speaker 2: building blocks to what I was able to build uh
Speaker 2: in the online space. So when the opportunity came up
Speaker 2: to come to All Death, I was immediately in. I
Speaker 2: had met Pat at like nine thirty at night at
Speaker 2: a at a store and I was buying a Nintendo
Speaker 2: switch and he was buying a Nintental switch, and I
Speaker 2: told him I would love to come in one day and.
Speaker 3: At first switch yo, sh sh ship yo, you guys cute,
Speaker 3: You're like past pass, not gonna let you get that
Speaker 3: one off.
Speaker 2: Bro, PA's gonna come come back to you for that
Speaker 2: one man. So yeah, man. I had told him that
Speaker 2: I'm a huge fan of him and all Deaf and
Speaker 2: I would love to work one day. And about two
Speaker 2: weeks later he reached out to me. He gave me
Speaker 2: a call time, told me to come through, and I
Speaker 2: knew I was walking into a very different arena. Because yes,
Speaker 2: it's one thing for me to be the actor, it's
Speaker 2: one thing for me to have been on set with comedians,
Speaker 2: but All Death was different, and I wanted to I
Speaker 2: wanted to be able to be a part of it.
Speaker 2: I wanted to be able to keep up because I did.
Speaker 2: I did feel if you come in there and you
Speaker 2: and you can't swim you're gonna get destroyed.
Speaker 1: And that that happened to a lot of people. I'm
Speaker 1: so sorry. Not that we can do.
Speaker 2: So. It was that, brother, it was at the it
Speaker 2: was at the right time, man, and I got to
Speaker 2: give you guys credit for this. keV, I have to
Speaker 2: credit all of you for giving me a sense of humor.
Speaker 2: Dog really, yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir.
Speaker 1: At that you you didn't have a sense of humor
Speaker 1: at that time.
Speaker 2: I had a sense of humor.
Speaker 1: Kevin weren't to use it.
Speaker 2: Both both I had a sense of humor, but was
Speaker 2: never able to use it because you know, my roles
Speaker 2: and everything I was booking. I'm not a comedy guy.
Speaker 2: I'm not the actor to have the comedic timing in
Speaker 2: the moments. I have to credit you guys for giving
Speaker 2: me a sense of humor. And at the same time,
Speaker 2: it was at a space where I was maybe maybe
Speaker 2: very jaded, you feel me, So I was taking myself
Speaker 2: very I think I was taking myself too seriously, Like
Speaker 2: I couldn't take a joke without immediately getting defensive because
Speaker 2: I'm like, or you to throw a shot at me,
Speaker 2: like I ain't did this, this, this, this, and this.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, and then all of a sudden, those credits
Speaker 1: don't matter right now during Great Taste, none of that matters.
Speaker 2: Nope. And at that time, the squad was like on
Speaker 2: that channel, the squad was the dream Team, the All Star.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It was like you could have had a legit celebrity
Speaker 1: to be like, yeah, keep them out of here, bro,
Speaker 1: they're messing up the vibes of the like people who
Speaker 1: work there. So I could see how that could be intimidating.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, it was. It was you know, maybe a
Speaker 2: year or two years before that where I started feeling
Speaker 2: that about myself, like being like, why am I so
Speaker 2: immediately like defensive when people get to talking to me
Speaker 2: and you know, maybe it's just a joke. Is that
Speaker 2: Are they being serious? Why am I taking it personally?
Speaker 2: And then the moment I've got into the All Death
Speaker 2: Arena immediately gave me a better understanding of like, it
Speaker 2: ain't a personal thing, it's not at all, bro, Like,
Speaker 2: this is this is all love.
Speaker 1: We could go from laughing at lunch, go and roast
Speaker 1: each other for for two hours and then come right
Speaker 1: back to laughing. Yeah, and we don't remember half the
Speaker 1: things we said at that time yeah, I want to understand. Okay,
Speaker 1: you said you were rebuilding, right, so you know, I
Speaker 1: know a lot of us know your story, but there's
Speaker 1: listeners to this podcast who are learning about you for
Speaker 1: the first time, and I want to be you know,
Speaker 1: fair to them. Take us back prior to all death.
Speaker 1: Take us back through your journey. I feel like every
Speaker 1: time I talk to you, I learned something else that
Speaker 1: you did. But take so people can understand how how
Speaker 1: hard that rebuild was. Take us back through you know
Speaker 1: you were, you were a child star, You're you're considered
Speaker 1: a child star, so you know, give us kind of
Speaker 1: a brief rundown of your history up until that point.
Speaker 1: And how old were you when you came to Allay?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Do you remember you said it was like twenty seventeen,
Speaker 2: so we're yeah, ten years ago, so you know, twenty
Speaker 2: twenty six, twenty seven.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, okay, So take us back to your early
Speaker 1: the early part of your Hollywood career.
Speaker 2: Man, I told my mom I wanted to be an
Speaker 2: actor when we were five years old. We were living
Speaker 2: in Barstow, we had just got my dad, just got
Speaker 2: out of the military, and she asked me something that
Speaker 2: I still want to pursue. I said, yeah, and we
Speaker 2: just figured it out. We were just running a race
Speaker 2: trying to figure this out, going to auditions, doing commercial auditions.
Speaker 2: The first thing ever booked was like a McDonald's commercial. Right,
Speaker 2: we go and do that. And then after that I
Speaker 2: ended up booking a show called Family Law. Then after that,
Speaker 2: I ended up booking a CBS kid show. I hosted
Speaker 2: the cartoons for CBS every Saturday.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Right, it was really cool. So like second or third grade,
Speaker 2: like I'm writing, like, you know, you see you asking
Speaker 2: you what do you want to be? It's like I
Speaker 2: want to be an actor. And as I'm doing these
Speaker 2: things in school, like my classmates are watching me every
Speaker 2: Saturday get turned into a cartoon and hosts their favorite shows.
Speaker 2: Like that was like the early early stuff.
Speaker 1: So the majority of us our flex was like coming
Speaker 1: in with McDonald's and you were working on McDonald's.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we bring.
Speaker 1: A hoppy meal. We like hold on now he yeah
Speaker 1: on my TV.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, I got a chance to be a part
Speaker 2: of the you know, McDonald's would do the two commercials.
Speaker 2: They would show the regular one and then like the
Speaker 2: kids meal one every time. That used to be their
Speaker 2: promo and I was a part of the Kid's meal
Speaker 2: run for the Little Mermaid re release or something like that,
Speaker 2: and it was it was sick man. So years later
Speaker 2: we book a film called Holes, right, and I had
Speaker 2: done no Disney work prior to that. I did Friday
Speaker 2: After Next right before that. So I went from being
Speaker 2: on a set with Mike Epp and Mike Epps and
Speaker 2: Kat Williams and ice Cube to being on the set
Speaker 2: of Holes, which was a Disney production. And now I'm
Speaker 2: working with Sigourney Weaver, who I was a huge fan
Speaker 2: of because I'm a sci fi guy love Aliens. Right. Yeah.
Speaker 2: After that, then we get Walking Tall with the Rock,
Speaker 2: then we get roll Bounce. Then we do to these
Speaker 2: TV shows like like CSI, which I think I've told
Speaker 2: you about this as far as the episode that I'm
Speaker 2: met with CSI, it's called Popping Tags, cav I'll tell
Speaker 2: you about this. Mmm mmm.
Speaker 1: I knew I was gonna learn some more stuff about
Speaker 1: you today, But go ahead.
Speaker 2: I need to tell you who's the guest stars on
Speaker 2: this episode because you you run production now, so you
Speaker 2: tell me how much did this episode costs? You? Ready?
Speaker 1: I'm ready?
Speaker 2: Method man? Oh snap, We'll start with him Akon, Oh
Speaker 2: my god, Obi Trice really, Travis Barker all in the
Speaker 2: same episode, Rick Gonzalez who's from Roll Bounce as well,
Speaker 2: and Biker Boys, myself, Michael B. Jordan, all of ya
Speaker 2: are in one episode, in one episode. And there's a
Speaker 2: few names I'm not that, I'm not that I'm blanking
Speaker 2: out at the moment, but there's even more credible names.
Speaker 2: Katerina Graham, Page Kennedy's in there as well. It's insane,
Speaker 2: it's insane. So we go on to do that. Man,
Speaker 2: So just just running the race, running the race, you know.
Speaker 2: And I look back at that time, and the one
Speaker 2: thing that I look back and I know that we
Speaker 2: didn't do a great job at We didn't run the
Speaker 2: pr game of Hollywood. That's the one thing I did
Speaker 2: not do. My jobs came from if you asked me
Speaker 2: for you know what was what was my ways of
Speaker 2: landing roles? It was because I was going into these
Speaker 2: auditions and doing my work. I came, I came prepared.
Speaker 2: I was making the adjustments in the room if they
Speaker 2: asked me to do them. But that's so, yeah, we
Speaker 2: were able to work, work, work, but we didn't run
Speaker 2: the pr game to elevate the brand of who Cleo
Speaker 2: Thomas is for anyone to care. You throw in the
Speaker 2: fact that during that era, you think of the young
Speaker 2: child stars, everyone had to have the good girl, gone
Speaker 2: bad or bad boy. I didn't run that race. So
Speaker 2: once Cleo's name is out of headlines, who cares?
Speaker 1: You don't have no black leather caught smoking, peeing and
Speaker 1: drunk here, which does give you some life. A lot
Speaker 1: of stars have that, and I'm not saying they do
Speaker 1: it on purpose, but it does keep your name on
Speaker 1: people's minds.
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, yeah, it's it's a It is
Speaker 2: a play. If we're playing sports, it is a play
Speaker 2: to run, is all I can say about it. Yeah, man, Yeah,
Speaker 2: So we go from that, man, and then you know,
Speaker 2: as every child actor gets to a space, you know,
Speaker 2: around I want to say around the eighteen or nineteen
Speaker 2: era is where I saw things kind of shift for
Speaker 2: me where there weren't a lot of black producers, directors,
Speaker 2: writers in charge at that time. Yeah, it wasn't like that.
Speaker 2: So if I'm walking into a room and I have
Speaker 2: the resume and I've worked with already on this project,
Speaker 2: in this project, they're like, hey, yeah, he's black. Yeah,
Speaker 2: let's run it right.
Speaker 1: Yeah that was that.
Speaker 2: Now look at where we are when I say around
Speaker 2: the you know, eighteen or nineteen era, there started being
Speaker 2: a little like a lot more people in charge, and
Speaker 2: they want to tell black stories. So when they say
Speaker 2: black actors, you look at me. I am not what
Speaker 2: is the depiction of what a black actor looks like?
Speaker 2: Especially because you don't like traditional mac and cheese? You
Speaker 2: bring this up? Have I not put this to rest
Speaker 2: with you already? You will never put it to rest
Speaker 2: with me, sir. Just this past Christmas shout out to
Speaker 2: my good friend Tiffany followed the Yellow Brick road Girl,
Speaker 2: huge Wizard of Oz fan. She heard about my craft
Speaker 2: mac and cheese thing, and she said, I refuse to
Speaker 2: be friends with you until you eat my mac and cheese.
Speaker 2: She brought me her homemade mac and cheese, and keV
Speaker 2: I can say, I have been converted, sir.
Speaker 1: You've seen the light.
Speaker 2: I'm here. I'm here, baby. Every year I want it,
Speaker 2: I want it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all my years.
Speaker 1: I can tell you this is why it took so
Speaker 1: long to get you on this episode. And every time
Speaker 1: they were like Kleaw was like.
Speaker 2: Man, I don't know, y'all.
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, that whole mac and cheese thing
Speaker 1: just roughly the wrong way.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I could admit my faults and
Speaker 2: I could tell you now give me the whole plate.
Speaker 2: I'm on the sun, man, I'm on that time now, man.
Speaker 2: So it's that as well. I look at that that era, man,
Speaker 2: and we're seeing so many more when I when I
Speaker 2: saw the ship, the transition of our industry be able
Speaker 2: to let more black creators, writers, director's producers make that
Speaker 2: decision of who's going to be in these roles. I
Speaker 2: did see the pair of the whole pendulum shift to
Speaker 2: where it's like, hey, we want to tell black stories
Speaker 2: and the depiction of a light skinned black guy don't
Speaker 2: really look like you. You know, my mom's Moroccan. You
Speaker 2: feel me?
Speaker 1: Oh, I didn't know that my mom's.
Speaker 2: Moroccan, dad's black. So it's like, I want everyone who's
Speaker 2: watching this episode right now, like I want I want
Speaker 2: to give people listening, and I want to give people
Speaker 2: an example. I want you all to go watch I
Speaker 2: show speeds live stream in Morocco because he did a
Speaker 2: whole eye show speed around African thing. I want you
Speaker 2: to go see I show speed around a whole bunch
Speaker 2: of Moroccans, and that will immediately give you the understanding of, like, visually,
Speaker 2: why I see such a big I don't want to
Speaker 2: call it a roadblock, but it's like when you think
Speaker 2: of a black actor. If you go sit me right
Speaker 2: next a Moroccan guy right next to is show speed,
Speaker 2: They're not going to look at the Moroccan guy and
Speaker 2: be like, that's a black guy.
Speaker 1: For sure, Yeah, for sure, that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1: I noticed you said you say we when you're referring
Speaker 1: to the roles you booked. Why do you use the
Speaker 1: term we?
Speaker 2: Nay, that is a great question, Doug. You know why
Speaker 2: I say that, man, and my mom gives me credit
Speaker 2: for it because I say it in conversation with her
Speaker 2: all the time. I say we because it's my mom
Speaker 2: and dad believed in me at a very early age.
Speaker 2: It took a risk. I'm their oldest son. There was
Speaker 2: no way this was you know, supposed to work out,
Speaker 2: and then it did. So when I say we, it's
Speaker 2: literally everything that has come with me, my mom, my dad,
Speaker 2: my brother's, my sister. I do consider it us as
Speaker 2: a UNI. Right, So that's why I say we. No
Speaker 2: one's ever asked me that. Man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, people have been saying I'm a great interviewer. I've
Speaker 1: been getting better and better, And I agree with them,
Speaker 1: because if you're a child star, especially starting in Barstow,
Speaker 1: it takes a tremendous amount of time to audition, even
Speaker 1: if you lived in Hollywood. And because this is back
Speaker 1: before zoom, so your audition, you know, you your audition
Speaker 1: is maybe two o'clock, right, That means you have to
Speaker 1: leaven enough time to be there by one thirty. Then
Speaker 1: you're waiting. You know, two o'clock doesn't always mean right
Speaker 1: at two. It could mean two, two thirty three, three
Speaker 1: forty five. And then the audition is five minutes, and
Speaker 1: then you drive all the way back. Somebody's got to
Speaker 1: take you and pick you up all those times exactly.
Speaker 1: And then when you book a movie, they are taking
Speaker 1: time off fmla going without like it does take a village,
Speaker 1: you know. And then your other siblings also have to
Speaker 1: sacrifice because of what you are accomplishing. That takes your
Speaker 1: parents away from from them. So I agree with you.
Speaker 1: It is a wee thing more than just cleo did
Speaker 1: it by himself, especially if you're under age. You know,
Speaker 1: you can't drive yourself to those auditions.
Speaker 2: Nah, man, And I heard a thousand no's before I
Speaker 2: ever heard my first. Yes, you know, I remember my mark.
Speaker 1: That really a thousand no's, like literally a thousand but
Speaker 1: like you really didn't have success immediately.
Speaker 2: Oh no, absolutely not, absolutely nothing. There was a there
Speaker 2: was so many auditions, so as far as commercial auditions,
Speaker 2: there were so many films and television shows like, uh,
Speaker 2: I think the Little Rascals. I got that close. I
Speaker 2: got to the very end and they were like nope.
Speaker 2: And I remember crying on the right in the back
Speaker 2: of my mom's camera on that one, the original Little Rascal,
Speaker 2: the one that, of course not the black and white joint,
Speaker 2: but yeah, the one that no.
Speaker 1: No, the one with alfalfa, alfalfa and dark. So that
Speaker 1: was with ninety four now.
Speaker 2: Somewhere around that era. Yep. Wow, yeah, man, I remember
Speaker 2: crying about that. But I remember my mom driving my
Speaker 2: mom and dad driving me to these auditions, man, and
Speaker 2: going into these rooms and it's full, it's just you know,
Speaker 2: a cattle call. It's not just the parents, it's the kids.
Speaker 2: And then around the corner. They're having a commercial audition
Speaker 2: for something else. It's grown folks there. It's it was chaos,
Speaker 2: you know. Yeah, so to have made it through it, man,
Speaker 2: it's it's it's really you know, it's a testament to
Speaker 2: where we are today in Hollywood and entertainment, which is
Speaker 2: very different. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So before we get to your current I want to
Speaker 1: go to the screen tour. Hey, taking a quick break
Speaker 1: here and support the show by supporting this concert. How
Speaker 1: did you end up as bow?
Speaker 2: Right? Man?
Speaker 1: It might be my favorite fun fact about you man.
Speaker 2: So here's how it goes down. Coming off of Holes.
Speaker 2: I had wrote the theme song for the film right,
Speaker 2: So music had always been something.
Speaker 4: Wait, look theme song for Holes? Yeah you wrote that? Yes,
Speaker 4: I didn't know that. Yeah, it's me. Dougie Fresh was
Speaker 4: in the studio with us, and yeah the rest of
Speaker 4: the cast.
Speaker 1: Yeah wow yeah, bro Okay, continue, I told you I
Speaker 1: was gonna learn some more stuff about you.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Brother, So I wrote the theme song for the
Speaker 2: film Holes, So music I was always drawn to, Uh,
Speaker 2: we're getting ready to do roll Bounds. Bows geared enough
Speaker 2: to do his next you know, album, drop and next tour,
Speaker 2: and we just became friends playing video games. We played
Speaker 2: Madden NBA Live every single day on set, and that's
Speaker 2: how we became friends. And then he, Uh, one day
Speaker 2: and I gotta tell this story, keV. Check this out.
Speaker 2: You remember a couple of years ago, Bao got caught
Speaker 2: like on the Instagram catfish and stuff like he was
Speaker 2: on a private but wasn't. And it's a photo of him. keV.
Speaker 2: The only time I personally have ever been on a
Speaker 2: private jet was with Bow. It's it's the second month
Speaker 2: of filming Roll Bounds. He's got a dip from set
Speaker 2: to go do a show like in Florida. He's like, Yo,
Speaker 2: you want to come? You off set? You want to come?
Speaker 2: I was like sure, I'm thinking I didn't know what
Speaker 2: was going to happen. We put up to a private airport.
Speaker 2: Private jet flies us to Florida, flies us right back.
Speaker 2: So like I I've been in that experience with him.
Speaker 2: And then he go and do that dumb thing. I'm like,
Speaker 2: damn it. So uh we have that moment and Bow
Speaker 2: just asked me man. We had wrapped the set and
Speaker 2: he's like, Yo, do you want to call on screen?
Speaker 2: So you're gonna be my hype man. And I didn't
Speaker 2: really know what he meant. I didn't know what he
Speaker 2: needed me to do. The new album's coming out, it's rehearsals.
Speaker 2: Maybe a week before tour, he sends me the CD,
Speaker 2: and I know, looking back on it, there was some
Speaker 2: doubt from his team because by this time, this is
Speaker 2: bow Wow, three albums in three screen, tour level arenas. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so anyone just brand new stepping into that space, and
Speaker 2: like I know, they were distant. They were like, oh,
Speaker 2: this ain't gonna be it, right, risky, yeah, a risk,
Speaker 2: A risk for sure. I showed up to rehearsals with
Speaker 2: every bow Wow lyric memorized, including the new stuff. Day one.
Speaker 2: Day one of rehearsals, Bow's not even there. It's just
Speaker 2: me and the DJ, and I wrapped every single song.
Speaker 1: Front to bath.
Speaker 2: I knew the records. All I needed to know is
Speaker 2: how we were gonna do. Just tell me how we're
Speaker 2: setting the records up.
Speaker 1: So would you say that the actor part of you
Speaker 1: was like, come prepared and then you can be directed
Speaker 1: once you're prepared.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent, one hundred percent. There was no way
Speaker 2: I was showing up down there just thinking like oh,
Speaker 2: I'm the guy, Like oh, like no, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: I need to know what lyrics and which songs were dropping. Wow,
Speaker 2: you probably.
Speaker 1: Put so many people's minds at ease that first day.
Speaker 1: Oh bro, I'm sure I didn't. I'm sure I did.
Speaker 2: Shout out to his manasmin team shout out to his mom,
Speaker 2: shout out to the label, like I get I do
Speaker 2: understand it. I get it. Yeah, it's like, yo, he did.
Speaker 2: You're bringing a kid. You did a movie with that
Speaker 2: kid from holes like the Disney Kid, which I've always
Speaker 2: thought was funny as far as the label is Disney Kid,
Speaker 2: because it's like I was talking to a few of
Speaker 2: the other people who come from that you know that machine,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, I'm technically not a Disney.
Speaker 1: Kid, right, not the way like Mighty Cyrus.
Speaker 2: Is not even close. I didn't come through the machine.
Speaker 2: I didn't come through that machine.
Speaker 1: That machine is like you are the sidekick on one
Speaker 1: show three seasons. You might be the side kid more
Speaker 1: high Up three seasons. Then you get your show, you know,
Speaker 1: present day it was on something that Kick It In
Speaker 1: or something issues on Casey Undercover. Then they got the music,
Speaker 1: Like it could be a ten year process if you're
Speaker 1: really part of the machine.
Speaker 2: But you just did a Disney movie. I did one
Speaker 2: Disney film which was technically just Disney distributed, and it
Speaker 2: just happens to live forever because it's an incredible story. Yeah,
Speaker 2: incredible book, cult classic, great film. I'm the black Harry Potter.
Speaker 2: I'll take it.
Speaker 1: That's the thing I want to ask you, and then
Speaker 1: we're gonna move to your career. A lot of people
Speaker 1: who are known a lot for one thing tend to
Speaker 1: be angry about that and they want to be so
Speaker 1: much more. You are so much more. But you you
Speaker 1: never seem to be frustrated that people know you from holes.
Speaker 1: Whenever I've seen you in aront I remember when we
Speaker 1: did the podcast, Mecca and Jamila were like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: it's Kleil Thomas. You're always very open and speak positively
Speaker 1: about that experience. Is it because you have so many
Speaker 1: other things going on? Or have you always been like that?
Speaker 1: Was there any moment where you were like, I'm so
Speaker 1: much more than this one movie, you.
Speaker 2: Know, kep great question, and I know from other people's
Speaker 2: experiences that that does exist. It is hard for some folks.
Speaker 2: It's hard. They don't want to be just known for
Speaker 2: everything right, for sure, for sure, But then I have
Speaker 2: to look at it from other perspective of how many
Speaker 2: actors have been working for years and never had something
Speaker 2: on that resume to stand the test of time. It's
Speaker 2: one of those things from him my dream came true
Speaker 2: at thirteen for me to be here years later, and
Speaker 2: that role still gets talked about, it still resonates, if
Speaker 2: I have to look at it, that's at any given moment, right,
Speaker 2: that's that check can get cashed in from something in
Speaker 2: the world. I'm grateful for that aspect of it, man.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I've never ran from it because even if
Speaker 2: that character was not portrayed by me, I would have
Speaker 2: been a fan of that movie. I would have most
Speaker 2: likely loved that character.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. I get that, all right.
Speaker 1: So let's let's so catch.
Speaker 2: Me up to now.
Speaker 1: You you are active in gaming and anime, you're still acting.
Speaker 1: When did you when would you say like, when would
Speaker 1: you say it started turning around? Because I remember when
Speaker 1: we first were talking, you were like like you like
Speaker 1: you guys took your own your life into your heads,
Speaker 1: You got your own channels. You work at this job,
Speaker 1: but you all have your own channels like I see
Speaker 1: the value in that and that as a traditional Hollywood actor,
Speaker 1: especially from the time you came up early nineties, Like,
Speaker 1: not only did that not exist in the way it
Speaker 1: does now, it didn't exist at all, Like there was
Speaker 1: no you have your career, your own personal career. You
Speaker 1: only have what you book, your IMDb, what you've done,
Speaker 1: what you're doing, and what's what's coming. So at what
Speaker 1: point were you like, even though I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: start all over, I'm gonna have to do this, Like
Speaker 1: what made you decide that I'm you have to begin again?
Speaker 2: I got listen, man, I don't like sitting still, I
Speaker 2: don't like being bored, and I was hungry. Period. I
Speaker 2: had already lived a life up to that point and
Speaker 2: accomplished so much in compared to my friends, my peers,
Speaker 2: and other people in the industry. But the mo that
Speaker 2: phone don't ring, you don't eat. I'm the oldest of
Speaker 2: my siblings. My dream came true at thirteen years old
Speaker 2: with this film that now the rest of the world knows.
Speaker 2: But just because I'm famous does not mean that there's
Speaker 2: a check coming in guaranteed. So me waiting on the
Speaker 2: industry to do what it said it would do. When
Speaker 2: it's like, hey, you're you're gonna go here, we're gonna
Speaker 2: do this, We're gonna do this and this, and none
Speaker 2: of those things go exactly according to plan. And now
Speaker 2: I've watched eight months of my life go by with
Speaker 2: no phone ringing nah nah, We're gonna absolutely not. So
Speaker 2: the battery got put in my back just out of
Speaker 2: a sense of like maybe maybe anger, maybe like a
Speaker 2: lot of anger, being vindictive against the industry for not
Speaker 2: just doing it. I'm not the only one with that story,
Speaker 2: you feel me sure? I know that. I think of
Speaker 2: the actors who were before me generationally, who were child
Speaker 2: actors who didn't have an opportunity to monetize themselves at
Speaker 2: all once they were offset, you know what I mean. Like,
Speaker 2: that's the other aspect of it. When I think of
Speaker 2: those late those are those nineties actors on this sitcom
Speaker 2: or this show bro. Once it was done, it was done,
Speaker 2: and that's when you saw the stuff wild out, That's
Speaker 2: when you saw the headlines because they couldn't get a.
Speaker 1: Job, right. Yeah, and you're also seen as this young thing.
Speaker 1: You're just that guy from that thing. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: So now you get nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Yeah,
Speaker 1: much to my surprise. You make a video saying this
Speaker 1: is your first time being nominated for anything. What was
Speaker 1: it like to get nominated for something that you were
Speaker 1: doing currently when your career has already been twenty plus
Speaker 1: years in the game.
Speaker 2: Validating for sure? And let me know that you know,
Speaker 2: I'm I'm I guess I had always walked a different
Speaker 2: path in this business. You know. I tell the story
Speaker 2: about how I thought I had to book a role
Speaker 2: in which that character that I play would become an
Speaker 2: action figure. All I ever wanted was to be a
Speaker 2: to I wanted to be able to hold myself as
Speaker 2: an action figure. Yeah. And then the fact that I
Speaker 2: sharpened my skills during the pandemic as a gamer and
Speaker 2: a host when I launched my Twitch channel to the
Speaker 2: point where Hasbro said, hey, we weren't cleared host Hasbro
Speaker 2: Postcon and we're rolling out the selfie series and Hasbro
Speaker 2: gives me all these action figures with my face on it. Wow. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know I.
Speaker 1: Love that because I've talked, I've talked and linked about
Speaker 1: your dream coming true in the different package than you thought, right,
Speaker 1: Like I've been able to work with Will Smith and
Speaker 1: Martin Lawrence and growing up watching them, the only way
Speaker 1: you would have ever thought you could work with them
Speaker 1: is you book a TV show that they're on or
Speaker 1: a movie. Yep, that cause you're but being able to
Speaker 1: do a sketch with them that I wrote and directed
Speaker 1: to promote their movie was like, I'm working with Will
Speaker 1: Smith and Martin Lawrence right now. Yeah, and I'm not
Speaker 1: even an actor in this movie. What was it like
Speaker 1: for you to achieve your dream even though it wasn't
Speaker 1: in the exact package you thought as far as coming
Speaker 1: directly from a movie, But it is the exact thing
Speaker 1: you dreamt about.
Speaker 2: Humbling, and just more proof to me. It's like, Yo,
Speaker 2: you're doing this the right way, whatever it is is
Speaker 2: and guiding you and leading you in that direction. Run
Speaker 2: run that way, keep going in that direction. And it's hard, keV.
Speaker 2: It's hard, man. It's hard to have experienced all these
Speaker 2: things that I've experienced up to this point and not
Speaker 2: get a little, as I mentioned earlier, jaded, or you
Speaker 2: start second guessing because it's like, well, I did all this,
Speaker 2: how come this doesn't cross over to here? And that
Speaker 2: still happens. I'm telling you this story right now, as
Speaker 2: far as as this this action figure and my face
Speaker 2: on end has bro having me do it. And even
Speaker 2: after that, there's moments where I'm like, am I Like,
Speaker 2: am I should I just call it? Really? Just because keV,
Speaker 2: I've been doing this since I was five. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: feel me. I've been doing it since I was five.
Speaker 2: I've seen and done a lot of things in my life.
Speaker 2: But I but I know the journey's not over. But
Speaker 2: I am. I will make sure to put that in
Speaker 2: stamping in a stone. It's like, Yo, there are days
Speaker 2: where I'm like, do I just called it? Because I'm like,
Speaker 2: what else? I don't know if I'm doing this the
Speaker 2: right way. We're not doing it, like I'm not elevating.
Speaker 2: People are asking me when are you gonna be in
Speaker 2: the next film? How come You're not? Like? People ask me,
Speaker 2: how come I'm not doing that? And I'm like, I'm
Speaker 2: literally doing everything else I've ever dreamed of. Right. I
Speaker 2: don't have that answer, my gee, but I can take
Speaker 2: inspiration from guys like Kevin on stage, who said, you
Speaker 2: know what, I knew? This is all I ever wanted
Speaker 2: to do. I'm gonna figure out how to get it done,
Speaker 2: and I can. I you are my blueprint. Your my blueprint.
Speaker 2: Come on, man, keV, I'm not joking, brother, you are
Speaker 2: my blueprint. This industry changed overnight, it really did. And
Speaker 2: my experience, I was a part of that last little
Speaker 2: era of golden Hollywood where we played by old school rules.
Speaker 2: You were only famous if you are in movies, you're
Speaker 2: a singer, you were on TV. And there were some
Speaker 2: of the little characters that just continue to pop in
Speaker 2: and out.
Speaker 1: Maybe you were the Snapple Lady.
Speaker 4: Other than that, that's that you were the Verizon.
Speaker 2: Can you hear me now, guy? You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: That's what you add exactly.
Speaker 2: And look at where we are today. It shifted. Everyone
Speaker 2: has the power of themsel. You don't have to wait
Speaker 2: on someone to record you. You can record yourself. You
Speaker 2: can edit it. There was no device in my household
Speaker 2: when I told my mom I wanted to be an
Speaker 2: actor that I can record, edit, put the music to
Speaker 2: it and put out there to the world. I can
Speaker 2: do that every day. Every day I get a chance
Speaker 2: to add another title to my resume. And kef you work, bro,
Speaker 2: you work hard. And if you think I'm not sitting
Speaker 2: on the sideline like yup, go, because that's the formula
Speaker 2: to do it, and we do it ourselves. No, I
Speaker 2: agree with you.
Speaker 1: I think it's so interesting that in just the thirteen years,
Speaker 1: thirteen years since I moved to LA, being an influencer
Speaker 1: or having a channel was like it was, it was
Speaker 1: a knock on you if you wanted to be seen
Speaker 1: as an actor. You know, there's an actor that I know,
Speaker 1: and I won't put this out his name out publicly,
Speaker 1: but he's said he was a big time influencer and
Speaker 1: in order to be considered a real actor, he had
Speaker 1: to stop social media. His agent and team was like,
Speaker 1: they won't take you seriously. So he did book, book, book,
Speaker 1: book book, and now people are like when they book him,
Speaker 1: they're like, well, what where's your followers at? And he
Speaker 1: was like, I did y'all told me not to, and
Speaker 1: the ground shifted underneath you. And then it's hard to
Speaker 1: get that back, you know what I mean, It's not
Speaker 1: so easy. And also I was thinking, you know, the
Speaker 1: same way people probably grew up watching you on homes
Speaker 1: and watching that movie over and over. If they're like
Speaker 1: the way my kids are fans of people, they're much
Speaker 1: more fans of people who are on the Internet and
Speaker 1: they spend much more time with them, so that celebrity
Speaker 1: feels infinitely stronger. Like when we would be on you know,
Speaker 1: we've been like say the Spider Man premiere, and they'd
Speaker 1: be like legit celebrities. But if ARTC World is there,
Speaker 1: they're like, oh my god, oh my god. And it
Speaker 1: could be an NBA player, you know, Marvel actor, but
Speaker 1: ARTC World they're like, but that's ARTYC World, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean.
Speaker 2: That's Mark and Leland and Ben and yeah, that's a
Speaker 2: whole different space. Man.
Speaker 1: It's like and that's you now as well.
Speaker 2: It feels great to be able to have adapted my
Speaker 2: whole thing life like was adapter parish keV when you
Speaker 2: ask me as far as like what you know what
Speaker 2: when I said I was hungry, I had to adapter.
Speaker 2: We were gonna perish keV. There was no other option here.
Speaker 2: They weren't calling even with the resume. You just did this,
Speaker 2: did this? Did this come up? And there's no six
Speaker 2: seven months go by? Nah, brother, can't have this.
Speaker 1: Hey guys, taking a quick commercial break.
Speaker 2: We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: So now, how does it feel to have so much
Speaker 1: more control over your career? Is it, is it validating
Speaker 1: or do you still long for that, you know, traditional
Speaker 1: actor's life.
Speaker 2: Oh crav that is a great question. You were asking
Speaker 2: at an amazing time because it is Tomorrow was my
Speaker 2: very first day on my own production. Oh go, Tomorrow's
Speaker 2: the first day of my pilot episode that I'm shooting. Really, yes, sir, Yes, sir,
Speaker 2: Tomorrow's my very your project, my project written and co
Speaker 2: written by me, produced by me, happening tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: So when I say that you are the blueprint and
Speaker 2: you're the example, I am not blowing smoke up you.
Speaker 2: But bro, I'm dead serious about that. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: I'm dead serious about it. Man. So there's but I
Speaker 2: will answer this honestly. Right. This is the one thing
Speaker 2: on my board in the last three months that I
Speaker 2: am not taking a lot of time to think. I
Speaker 2: am just going full speed ahead whatever it is. However
Speaker 2: this is supposed to work out, I refuse to get
Speaker 2: in my own head mentally and start doing the thing
Speaker 2: where I'm like okay, and then I get ultra. I'm
Speaker 2: an aquarius, you can throw that in there. I'm trying
Speaker 2: to plot anything and everything to go wrong. I saw
Speaker 2: a clipper. You saying production is chaos anyway, Okay, lot
Speaker 2: of stuff, but I'll be listening.
Speaker 1: It is chaos anyway.
Speaker 2: I'll be listening.
Speaker 1: Whether you have a million dollar one hundred million dollar budget,
Speaker 1: it's chaos and there will be the best thing that
Speaker 1: ever happened to me is seeing that Game of Thrones
Speaker 1: episode where that Starbucks cup made it into the final edit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because there are you've been on set. You know how
Speaker 1: many people's job it is, both on physical production and
Speaker 1: in editing to make sure that doesn't happen. And the
Speaker 1: fact that it got through on a show that the
Speaker 1: episode probably costs fifteen million dollars to make, and they
Speaker 1: had plenty of time. They might have shot a page
Speaker 1: or two that day. Come on, okay, and that mistake happens,
Speaker 1: and if they with all those people, all the graphics,
Speaker 1: they could have keeped that out for whatever reason that
Speaker 1: made it. How do you think I'm gonna not make it?
Speaker 1: And I got seventeen thousand dollars? You think I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna make them with?
Speaker 2: You?
Speaker 1: Ain't think there's not gonna be a boom shadow. It
Speaker 1: was in a shot man. Watch every movie. I used
Speaker 1: to spend so much time when I worked at Boeing
Speaker 1: going through my favorite movies and going to the continuity
Speaker 1: mistakes section of them just to be like, man, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't impact what I think about the movie.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're still good.
Speaker 1: And it stops people so many times from even trying,
Speaker 1: Like what if I make a mistake.
Speaker 2: You will embrace that. You will now what?
Speaker 1: Okay, you're gonna make a mistake, now what? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was talking about that we just shot at the airport.
Speaker 1: My producer head of TV and film, Rich was like,
Speaker 1: I just feel like we're gonna make mistakes. Yes, Yeah,
Speaker 1: somebody's gonna come late, something's gonna work, the camera's gonna fall,
Speaker 1: We're not gonna get a shot.
Speaker 2: It's fine.
Speaker 1: The audience doesn't know what didn't make it. They only
Speaker 1: know what made it, keV.
Speaker 2: That curtain has been pulled back so far. The magic
Speaker 2: of Hollywood that's gone. When you're seeing guys at south
Speaker 2: By Southwest or any of the film festivals and they're
Speaker 2: up there talking about their film, and then that's so
Speaker 2: what inspired you? What made you do it? At the
Speaker 2: moment I realized that absolutely no one knows everything, and
Speaker 2: no one knows everything that I was supposed to go.
Speaker 1: Watching. Ryan Coogler has been I've watched a lot of
Speaker 1: him over the Centers thing, and he was talking so
Speaker 1: much about his first his time shooting Black Panther. He
Speaker 1: he was like, I did so poorly with that. I
Speaker 1: was so in my head that I didn't appreciate the moment.
Speaker 1: I just thought I was gonna get fired the whole time.
Speaker 1: And I was like, man, I can see how that
Speaker 1: level of job is both a blessing but also like
Speaker 1: a tremendous burden. And he I'm thinking he's having the
Speaker 1: time of his life. He was like, it was terrible, man,
Speaker 1: it was absolutely terrible. And I think that's so key
Speaker 1: to what you said. Let's get back to your new production. Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: what made you decide that, all right, I got the experience,
Speaker 1: I got the financing, or I can get the financing.
Speaker 1: I'm now taking my traditional job in my own hand.
Speaker 1: Because like this new job streaming YouTube gaming, this was
Speaker 1: a new thing. But you're taking your old job into
Speaker 1: your own hands. What was that thought process?
Speaker 2: Like? There was a girl who I've known for the
Speaker 2: last two years, and she kept saying, I'm gonna write
Speaker 2: something for you. I'm gonna She would just drop it
Speaker 2: over the last two years, and then I would always
Speaker 2: say the same thing, if you write it, I will
Speaker 2: make sure it's filmed. Hm. We go into the holiday
Speaker 2: break at twenty twenty five. She comes back first week
Speaker 2: of twenty twenty six. She's like, I wrote something. Can
Speaker 2: I show it to you? I said, sure, I read it,
Speaker 2: and keV, it is nothing I would have ever written
Speaker 2: for myself. And that is why I did. That's why
Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, let's go, because I would have
Speaker 2: never written something like this. Let me just like, let
Speaker 2: me give you at least the context of what people
Speaker 2: would expect from someone like me for sure. For sure
Speaker 2: the anime, the action, the fighting, like people people fan
Speaker 2: cast me in comments every time they announce something new.
Speaker 2: They're like, Clear needs to be in that movie. Clear
Speaker 2: needs to be that superhero, he needs to be in
Speaker 2: the X Men. Like people do all that already, right,
Speaker 2: So yeah, that that lets me know that even for
Speaker 2: consumer people want to see me there. Yeah, and I
Speaker 2: would have written that myself. I have called gee, we
Speaker 2: did u a La Part fifteen and just ran that race.
Speaker 2: She brought me something, keV, that is I would It's weird.
Speaker 2: It's the best way I can put it. It's weird.
Speaker 2: It is a Cleo Thomas satire. I do play a
Speaker 2: child star, a former child star.
Speaker 1: Oh this is greatt oh, I can see it clear
Speaker 1: as day.
Speaker 2: Who is dealing with the changing landscape of entertainment and
Speaker 2: here we go. Just shut up. I give it to her.
Speaker 1: The best compliment I can give another writer or comedian
Speaker 1: is I am jealous that I did not think of that.
Speaker 2: Wow. I mean you were.
Speaker 1: Right there in my life and I looked you in
Speaker 1: the face, and that I did never popped into my head.
Speaker 2: Oh you can kill that role, yeah man.
Speaker 1: Because people might not have seen you in Vigilante. I
Speaker 1: saw you in the short film with What's Good called Vigilante,
Speaker 1: and you're acting. Chops are really there, thank you, They
Speaker 1: are really there. And I could see you playing jaded.
Speaker 1: Oh oh that's gonna be good.
Speaker 2: Yeah man. She she came with something really different and
Speaker 2: it won't be the How can I? How can I?
Speaker 2: I could just say sattire. It's the best word I
Speaker 2: could put on. It is a sat tire thing. And
Speaker 2: there are some elements in here that I laughed at.
Speaker 2: I said I would never write or say anything like this,
Speaker 2: but I get how it can exist in the world
Speaker 2: that she perceived me from. So let's go. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: I'm just keeping my words. Oh that's so.
Speaker 1: I mean that makes me so happy because one it's brilliant.
Speaker 1: Two I think you can kill Three it doesn't exist,
Speaker 1: and there's not much that doesn't exist today now.
Speaker 3: M M.
Speaker 1: I was that hasn't been done.
Speaker 2: I was just having a conversation where you mentioned Wes
Speaker 2: and Wes just got through filming his first directorial feature
Speaker 2: length film, Man and to hear what was on it.
Speaker 1: For three weeks, I watched all their content West, I
Speaker 1: watched his rails about him prepping for the month ahead
Speaker 1: of time. I mean, it might as well have been
Speaker 1: me there. I was so happy, so happy. This is
Speaker 1: what he wanted and he got it. He's been working
Speaker 1: for this for a long time. Yes, I'm so glad
Speaker 1: he got there.
Speaker 2: We were he was here at my crib just not
Speaker 2: too long ago, and we were talking about h He
Speaker 2: had brought up some of the projects had worked on,
Speaker 2: and then he mentioned this film a day called Going
Speaker 2: to the Mat and it's about a blind collegiate wrestler
Speaker 2: in high school and he was like wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 2: wait wait. So the film is about a blind kid
Speaker 2: who joins the wrestling team, and I'm like yeah, He's like,
Speaker 2: how is that possible? I was like, it's a true story.
Speaker 1: Right, See these I've seen people like this, wrestling, football,
Speaker 1: all kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So that was his thing as far as like
Speaker 2: what what hasn't been made or what can't be done?
Speaker 2: So that's why even this connection with the writer Laana,
Speaker 2: like this is this is gonna be something. It's gonna
Speaker 2: be fun days one tomorrow. And like I told you,
Speaker 2: I'm just going full steam ahead.
Speaker 1: So do you even have a plan on what you
Speaker 1: want to do with it or you just want to
Speaker 1: make it right now?
Speaker 2: I would love I would love to talk with you
Speaker 2: once it's made. I want to talk with you about
Speaker 2: all right, I have it done. Here's one of my
Speaker 2: next steps. And here's what I'm thinking. Very good?
Speaker 1: All right, before we let you go, Kleio, is there
Speaker 1: anything else that you are excited about, want to chat about,
Speaker 1: or want to tell people about before you do the
Speaker 1: end of things you do at the end of podcasts.
Speaker 2: Man, just continue to look out for everything that's being built. Man,
Speaker 2: I got it once again. Give my phrase to Kevin
Speaker 2: on stage for being a blue friend. Boy. Man, I
Speaker 2: see the lands. I saw the landscape shift, and I
Speaker 2: saw the landscape shift again like even like very quickly.
Speaker 2: When we think of streaming, right, we're all in the
Speaker 2: pandemic gaming and that. But then what happened when the
Speaker 2: when the world opened up, all the IRL streaming took off.
Speaker 2: Now we're seeing every big streamer. They're all their own
Speaker 2: walking episodes of jackass. You feel me. Their controduction value
Speaker 2: is crazy.
Speaker 1: They spend a lot of money to make you feel
Speaker 1: like they're not spending a lot of money.
Speaker 2: Oh bro.
Speaker 1: I went to three Yeah, it's production. I met with
Speaker 1: producers who produced that and who have produced TV and
Speaker 1: movies and said, that's easily the hardest thing they've ever
Speaker 1: produced because it works like live TV, yep, which is hard.
Speaker 1: Live television is very hard. Everything is hard, but on
Speaker 1: the scale of hard, live is harder. And you got
Speaker 1: celebrity bookings twenty four hours a day, like it's insane.
Speaker 1: These people are legit like paving a whole new path
Speaker 1: for what entertainment is.
Speaker 2: And are you asking all these questions? I have a
Speaker 2: question to ask you. Then return if we're talking about
Speaker 2: them specifically as far as these IRL streaming and it's
Speaker 2: can it sustained? And is there a crossover because when
Speaker 2: I look at some of the ones who were who
Speaker 2: are the pillars of it? Yeah, I'm like, they're gonna
Speaker 2: run out of gas eventually. Yeah, these antics are only
Speaker 2: gonna go so far. You've got I show speed now.
Speaker 2: In WrestleMania, he has a match with Logan Paul and
Speaker 2: Austin Theory going up against the USOS in l a Night.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm gonna be there too.
Speaker 2: I was supposed to be there, but I gotta go
Speaker 2: do my pilot.
Speaker 1: You're making the right choice, trust me, you're making the
Speaker 1: right choice. No, I think the path is always there.
Speaker 1: The format can change, you know. I think about like
Speaker 1: Peutie Pie, who was on top of YouTube for years
Speaker 1: playing games. He totally changed his whole thing up, and
Speaker 1: Logan Paul, for example, vine snapchat, YouTube, daily vlogs. He
Speaker 1: was the first person that I remember, maybe not first,
Speaker 1: but that I remember who hired an editor on the
Speaker 1: other side of the world and sent him the footage
Speaker 1: or him or hear the footage at the end of
Speaker 1: the night LA time and when they were waking up.
Speaker 2: In London.
Speaker 1: They're editing while he sleeps, so it can be up
Speaker 1: at eight am in the morning. But and then he
Speaker 1: completely shifted and went to wrestling. KSI and Simon they
Speaker 1: you know, they're on Netflix, mister Beast is doing his show.
Speaker 1: Like if you have that sort of star power, I
Speaker 1: think the medium can change. But you you are who
Speaker 1: you are as long as you don't get you know,
Speaker 1: addicted to drugs or in jail like you can you can.
Speaker 1: Speed could take up reading and do a book club
Speaker 1: and read books out loud, and he probably would have
Speaker 1: a New York Times bestseller. Like some people just got it.
Speaker 1: So I think that I don't think. I do think
Speaker 1: there's a certain level that you know, once you've done everything,
Speaker 1: you've done everything, but there's always new things to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely at the success and market Player is the
Speaker 2: one that got me for sure.
Speaker 1: Oh I can't know how many times I have used
Speaker 1: that as an example. Yeah, that Iron Lung I believe
Speaker 1: it's called and then Hollywood basically being like, actually that
Speaker 1: movie ain't there no more?
Speaker 2: What do you mean?
Speaker 1: It was number two, him making I think seventeen or
Speaker 1: nineteen million dollars opening weekend off of something he paid
Speaker 1: for himself. That was all I needed to hear.
Speaker 2: keV.
Speaker 1: I said, hey, I've I've been doubted myself. I said,
Speaker 1: I don't think I could go get people to go
Speaker 1: in movies and buy a ticket to see me. And
Speaker 1: I'm I was talking to a friend of mine. He
Speaker 1: was like, people buy a ticket to see you every year.
Speaker 1: Why wouldn't they go into a movie theater, cav you
Speaker 1: sell tickets every year all over the United States, London.
Speaker 1: You don't do that well in Paris, in Berlin, but you.
Speaker 2: Know you speak of the bone speak. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't say this. You don't do the begin I
Speaker 1: don't do I do the begett. I just say it
Speaker 1: in English. But that Marketplier story was like, Okay, this
Speaker 1: is a new thing. And I had not I hadn't
Speaker 1: heard of him, and I didn't need to because his
Speaker 1: people really showed up for him. So my hope for
Speaker 1: you is that your people show up for you. And
Speaker 1: I'm your people too, So congratulations on that. I love
Speaker 1: I love that. I can't wait to support that. However,
Speaker 1: you need me to tell people about it wherever it
Speaker 1: comes out. I'm very excited, but before we let you go,
Speaker 1: tell people where they can find you and all that
Speaker 1: and all that.
Speaker 2: Jazz Man. Make sure you guys follow at Cleo Thomas
Speaker 2: across all social media platforms at Clio Thomas, look at
Speaker 2: to the four controllers. That's four controllers, but a k
Speaker 2: by the way, on all social media platforms as well,
Speaker 2: and continue to see us build something special. Man. I
Speaker 2: can't wait to continue to work with keV and raise
Speaker 2: some amazing stuff to life.
Speaker 1: My dog let John Cleo Thomas. Not my Best Moment,
Speaker 1: God bless you guys, will.
Speaker 2: See you again.
Speaker 1: This has been a Unanimous Media original. Not My Best
Speaker 1: Mama was produced by iHeart Podcast and Unanimate Media. It
Speaker 1: was hosted by Me Kevin Fredericks. The executive produced by
Speaker 1: Stephen Curry, Eric Payton and Charlotte Sumter Rigette Co executive
Speaker 1: producer Klena Maria Cutney. The executive producers of the iHeart
Speaker 1: Podcast are Sean ty Tone and Jason English. This series
Speaker 1: was produced by Peter Calter and Jabari Davis, Co producer
Speaker 1: Kurt Redmond. Special thanks to Stephen Curry and Will Pearson.
Speaker 1: Not My Best Moment as a production of Unanimous Media
Speaker 1: and iHeart Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts.