Speaker 1: Questlove Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: What's Up Everybody?
Speaker 3: This is Sugar Steve from Questlove Supreme. We are back
Speaker 3: with part two of our conversation with the incredible Erica Alexander.
Speaker 3: If you have not heard part one, please check that
Speaker 3: out before this. In that episode, Erica spoke about her
Speaker 3: upbringing living in Arizona and New Mexico before moving to Philly.
Speaker 3: She really opened up about her experiences playing cousin Pam
Speaker 3: on The Cosby Show and Maxine on Living Single, two
Speaker 3: very memorable roles.
Speaker 2: One thing I want to add too is that you
Speaker 2: won't hear me or.
Speaker 4: One thing I want to add.
Speaker 3: Too is that you won't hear me or unpaid bill
Speaker 3: in this part too, because one thing I want to
Speaker 3: add too is that you won't hear me or unpaid
Speaker 3: bill in this part too, because.
Speaker 4: Theyre so here's the thing, when, of course it's revealed
Speaker 4: that you know Living Singles main sort of influence, of
Speaker 4: course being right, and you've talked about this time and
Speaker 4: time again about friends, but I do want to know
Speaker 4: because here's the deal.
Speaker 2: I had to go to the.
Speaker 4: Warner Brothers a lot, maybe like a month ago. I
Speaker 4: did a cameo on ABVIOD Elementary, which I think might
Speaker 4: be on right now as we speak. And I remember
Speaker 4: seeing an interview where you were like, yeah, you know
Speaker 4: we were on the same lot. You know, both shows
Speaker 4: were Warner Brothers shows, and I go there now, and
Speaker 4: of course you know you'll you'll go past the wherever
Speaker 4: what do you call it? Like the buildings that they
Speaker 4: build sets.
Speaker 2: Like oh houtages, right, you know, I.
Speaker 4: Always wanted to know what sound stage you guys were on,
Speaker 4: because they now mark off like this is where Ozzie
Speaker 4: and Harriet and and Da Da Da and friends and
Speaker 4: Da Da Da, And I wanted to know where the
Speaker 4: living single one was, but we weren't there.
Speaker 5: We were on the ghetto a lot, I'm not kidding, right.
Speaker 6: So not even in that whole area, a whole different
Speaker 6: area location address.
Speaker 7: You're saying, yeah, what's something.
Speaker 5: Called the ranch? And they had all the big shows
Speaker 5: or all the shows with white casts on the big
Speaker 5: lot and we were on the ranch lot. We didn't
Speaker 5: have air conditioning, wed No, we had to We staged
Speaker 5: a walk out because we didn't have craft service correct
Speaker 5: or you know those types of things. Yeah, we were
Speaker 5: hot in sale on.
Speaker 4: That stage, so okay, I add when I asked the
Speaker 4: Avid people that like, okay, so where's this in proximity
Speaker 4: to work for it? They're like, we're right next door
Speaker 4: to them, And they were like, that's a big deal
Speaker 4: to be right next door to where they shot Friends,
Speaker 4: and I briefly mentioned the whole living single thing, but
Speaker 4: then I got distracted and never got the answer. But obviously,
Speaker 4: to shoot any where in proximity to where Friends was
Speaker 4: means that you're going to get treated better, like you're
Speaker 4: things work, and so you're saying that a lot of
Speaker 4: those things you actually wanted the stage a walk out,
Speaker 4: that's crazy.
Speaker 7: We did stay the watch yeah, really, yeah. I was very.
Speaker 5: Political even then. I wrote a letter and I said
Speaker 5: that you have to understand I had to come off
Speaker 5: of the biggest show in the world, right. I understood
Speaker 5: that we weren't going to get those types of niceties
Speaker 5: to Cosby got, but I understood what we were being
Speaker 5: treated Like niggas say that, yeah, so wait with the
Speaker 5: number one show in America, Black and Latino Household and
Speaker 5: we didn't have any air condition at the time, we
Speaker 5: need to that's crazy advocate for it now. They wouldn't
Speaker 5: do those types of things, and it's nice to be
Speaker 5: in proximity to power and things that are, you know,
Speaker 5: in the zeitgeist. But we were over there building still
Speaker 5: for the black people who were on.
Speaker 6: Those sets, that's the same part of the stories that
Speaker 6: I wish you would have been able to finish that story.
Speaker 6: So they understood how much of a real big deal
Speaker 6: it was to be there in that moment. Who fought
Speaker 6: for them to be there because that's fucking ridiculous.
Speaker 7: Yeah, real quick? What other shows shot at the Ranch?
Speaker 5: The Wayne's Brothers?
Speaker 7: Oh wow.
Speaker 5: For a long time it was mostly us, and then
Speaker 5: season three or so, the Wayne's Brothers dropped in and
Speaker 5: we had a good time with those young fellas. And
Speaker 5: then the Waltons actually came to do like a limited series.
Speaker 5: And I had done a series of something called Common
Speaker 5: Ground with Richard Thomas and we had already won friends,
Speaker 5: so we said, oh, there goes the neighborhood with all
Speaker 5: these white folks. We all got along. We all got along,
Speaker 5: We all joked about it, and they got it. But yeah,
Speaker 5: that's who was on that lot before they fixed it up.
Speaker 5: We were on the Ranch lot, and you know that fountain,
Speaker 5: it's on our lot that wanted to film around that fountain,
Speaker 5: but they didn't let us. That's why we're behind the
Speaker 5: couch eight. That's some shit.
Speaker 4: Wow, that's the things I learned. Oh, was there any
Speaker 4: truth to the rumor that initially NBC was going to
Speaker 4: pick up the show initially before it went to Fox?
Speaker 5: Never because we are a Warner Brothers show and we
Speaker 5: played on the Fox. Okay, so Warren Littlefields. The story
Speaker 5: goes that when we made our first debut, they said,
Speaker 5: is there anything show? There was any show that you
Speaker 5: saw that you wish it was yours? And he said
Speaker 5: single And he was the head of NBC and then
Speaker 5: the next year he created with a different team France.
Speaker 4: I never heard of the cast members response to jay
Speaker 4: Z's Moonlight video. Jay Z infamously uh Alan Alan Yang,
Speaker 4: who who directed Uh uh with with Disease and Sorry Yeah,
Speaker 4: Masters of None, and also uh Maya's current series Lut.
Speaker 4: Jay Z got Alan Yang to basically get the friend
Speaker 4: set to actually recreate Do you remember this vine?
Speaker 2: Remember it was? It was?
Speaker 4: Was it was it?
Speaker 2: Four four four? Was it?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah? The Moonlight song or four four four? What
Speaker 4: were your feelings of that? I guess once that story
Speaker 4: broke out, and then jay Z also gave a statement
Speaker 4: on it as well, what were your Did you have
Speaker 4: a response to that video at all?
Speaker 5: No, I was unaware of it.
Speaker 2: Oh okay.
Speaker 4: Basically, when you're that story got out, jay Z made
Speaker 4: a video in which Tessa Thompson, Uh, Tiffany Hattish Hannibal
Speaker 4: and yeah, yeah, basically I think I did see that.
Speaker 4: Just wanted to know if you word okay, I think that.
Speaker 5: We're understand and I understand that in marketing that you
Speaker 5: want to also speak to a wide audience. If you
Speaker 5: have this huge part of the world that understands that
Speaker 5: friends is this juggernaut. I'm sure that jay Z who
Speaker 5: understands that you stand next to things you want to
Speaker 5: shine on you and vice versa. I don't think he
Speaker 5: needs to stand next to living single, okay, and and
Speaker 5: and not that he needs to stand next to friends,
Speaker 5: But I get it. I get it as a branding.
Speaker 6: Was that his homage to living single in a way
Speaker 6: like was it the supposed to feel like, yeah, okay,
Speaker 6: it was supposed to feel like this is we know
Speaker 6: what the real truth is? And I guess so.
Speaker 5: But it could also be seen in the opposite.
Speaker 7: Yes, it came right, you know, right, you're right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So but I get it, you.
Speaker 4: Know, at one hundred and eighteen episodes, I mean, that's
Speaker 4: nothing to sneeze at for in most shows. Basically, if
Speaker 4: we're really being honest with ourselves, most shows are at
Speaker 4: their best during a five season arc, and then it
Speaker 4: gets a little shaky with season six, seven, eight. You
Speaker 4: know they Fraser was consistent all I didn't watch.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, I watched pretty consistent.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean I agree with that five season or
Speaker 8: like the favor like I mean Breaking Bad or like
Speaker 8: the wh Like five seasons is kind of it's perfect.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, but we're greedy, and so it's like what's
Speaker 4: ringing for? All? Right? Like right now, fell down a
Speaker 4: suit hole and now I'm a little upset that it
Speaker 4: ended that eight seasons, even though two said it ended
Speaker 4: a season five or whatever.
Speaker 2: But are you.
Speaker 4: Satisfied with that particular arc, like those one hundred and
Speaker 4: eighteen episodes or do you feel as though there was
Speaker 4: more in it? Because I'm not I'm not too sure.
Speaker 4: But by the time you guys ended, Max is.
Speaker 6: Pregnant right end, and with Head, I'm gonna get together
Speaker 6: and and then Kadija goes on to another country to
Speaker 6: be with Scooters.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Well that was just them wrapping it up. We
Speaker 5: didn't even really have passed together, like was you know,
Speaker 5: TC wasn't really there. That was my comedy partner. That's
Speaker 5: like I'm dancing with Redistare and Ginger and something I
Speaker 5: ain't got nobody to dance with.
Speaker 7: I love watching y'all dance.
Speaker 5: Yes, there you go. We had a Dallas and we
Speaker 5: had met Williams and things like that. We're starting to
Speaker 5: be incorporated, and I think that it was again it
Speaker 5: found its peak and was starting to round over. You have.
Speaker 5: You need everybody to be engaged. We're saying very intentional
Speaker 5: words of writers and they are. They're building these characters
Speaker 5: in these worlds, and if they're not as engaged, then
Speaker 5: we can only do We're like puppets. We can only
Speaker 5: do so much.
Speaker 4: I've uh one one last living single which is totally
Speaker 4: just off of character. But I gotta know one of
Speaker 4: your directors of the show, John's first thing, JD Lube.
Speaker 4: This sounds like a weird poor name. Are you familiar
Speaker 4: with JD Lube? L o U l O b u E. Okay,
Speaker 4: see I would imagine that on a sitcom there are
Speaker 4: a gazillion directors or whatnot. I wanted to know. I
Speaker 4: know you're looking like, well, no, no, he JD was
Speaker 4: sort of the longest director of Soul Train, which I'm
Speaker 4: absolutely obsessed with, and so the moment that I felt
Speaker 4: that Soul Trained the shark ish, he had left to
Speaker 4: go do living single. But you know, I always just
Speaker 4: wanted to know what what was he like as a director.
Speaker 4: But you don't remember, Sorry we ruined show.
Speaker 5: Right to go on listen?
Speaker 4: But but but my question is actually in that in
Speaker 4: sitcom world or in television world, can you explain to
Speaker 4: me it's weird that the director isn't consistent from soup
Speaker 4: to nuts, Like in most comedies they have different directors
Speaker 4: come in and direct one Do you know generally why
Speaker 4: that's a rule, Like why isn't there just one director
Speaker 4: and one writing staff? I know the staff writers can
Speaker 4: change throughout the seasons or whatnot, but what does the
Speaker 4: deal with like having multiple directors for.
Speaker 2: A series, Like.
Speaker 4: Why is that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm not quite sure, but I would imagine that
Speaker 5: it keeps the show from getting stale. They're also performers favorites.
Speaker 5: Some people don't jail with the performers, and if they
Speaker 5: notice a change or they might want to mix it
Speaker 5: up so people don't get disrespectful and start just doing
Speaker 5: what they want. Sometime it keeps you on your toes.
Speaker 5: It depends on your cast. If you have a problematic
Speaker 5: cast or somebody at the lead, that's a tough when
Speaker 5: you mix it up. I don't know. I just think
Speaker 5: that that energy, that new energy, is important. But our
Speaker 5: shows were mostly directed by Ellen Gettleson, and she knew
Speaker 5: us very well, so I actually seen it both ways.
Speaker 5: I've always been happy with new directors sometimes because I
Speaker 5: know people are getting a chance to build their resume.
Speaker 5: I really really to see somebody I have worked with
Speaker 5: over and over again because I don't explain myself and
Speaker 5: they know what you're capable of, so they also pull
Speaker 5: you back if they're saying, oh, come on, Erica. Like
Speaker 5: I wanted to do a whole scene on the floor
Speaker 5: and they wouldn't let me, and I said, why, you
Speaker 5: can hear me, but you know fine, I'll set up.
Speaker 5: I was pissed, but that was a director I knew.
Speaker 5: I kept. I didn't feel like I was pushing it.
Speaker 5: It's just that these things happen. So I think on
Speaker 5: a drama, I would say it's because you get burned out.
Speaker 5: You can't be the same director. You have to prep
Speaker 5: and do each show, and each show you have to
Speaker 5: prep them, so it's tough. But I think with comedy
Speaker 5: you're more likely to get return directors who are for
Speaker 5: the most part, doing most of the shows because the
Speaker 5: casts and the writers know that they can pull it off.
Speaker 8: Sometimes for you as an actor, is there a particular
Speaker 8: like in terms of comedic acting versus dramatic acting? Is
Speaker 8: one more exhausting? What kind of strenuous than the other?
Speaker 5: No, I never thought about that. I never have. I
Speaker 5: haven't again. I don't have the luxury of choosing my roles,
Speaker 5: and I think that people think that you can. I
Speaker 5: took the roles that I got, and if I didn't
Speaker 5: do well, I try to do better the next time.
Speaker 5: So I got dramas at first, and I was known
Speaker 5: as drama girl for a very long girl, long time,
Speaker 5: excuse me. And then I got comedy and suddenly people
Speaker 5: are like, oh, you were comedian type, and I was.
Speaker 5: They didn't know I did drama. There was a surprise.
Speaker 5: I'm like, you kidding, That's what I grew up in.
Speaker 5: And then I do podcasts and I do this or that,
Speaker 5: But what I'm really trying to do is make a
Speaker 5: living and make a life preach.
Speaker 4: I do. Remember you and uh the book that Alex
Speaker 4: Hilly didn't get to finish.
Speaker 5: Mama's by a Flora's Family.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, sorry, it was.
Speaker 5: You know remember one time and they gave me and
Speaker 5: Cecily Tyson a Black Emmy and anybody that has it
Speaker 5: from that award show. It never was done again. We
Speaker 5: have black I have an Emmy. It's a Black Emmy, but.
Speaker 6: It was a it was a Blackamy show, right, a
Speaker 6: black Emmy section. It was a black Emmy show.
Speaker 5: It was a Blackamy Award show. Because they weren't even.
Speaker 2: They got I ain't got no how come I didn't know.
Speaker 7: This no real remember I remember, it's a real thing.
Speaker 5: It only happened once. I'm sure they got sued c
Speaker 5: distance letter, but I got one.
Speaker 6: See that's why we got to keep telling history and
Speaker 6: telling these stories.
Speaker 4: You said that, I thought you meant like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: n w A c. People were I didn't realize that there.
Speaker 5: Was the great felicierer shod has no Emmy. Eight years
Speaker 5: on the top show in the world, created helped create
Speaker 5: must see TV. They weren't given back any awards, they complained. Now,
Speaker 5: I'm like, it was a drought and a durst. So
Speaker 5: they created the Black Emmys, and I have one yo.
Speaker 7: Not to move fast forward, boss.
Speaker 6: But in my mind, I'm like, so when somebody said
Speaker 6: to Erica, we got this roll for you and get Out,
Speaker 6: she must have been like, oh, hell yeah, just get
Speaker 6: all this, Like, oh.
Speaker 5: I like to choose great material on the you find it,
Speaker 5: great material chooses you. So I read the part and thought, oh,
Speaker 5: this is lovely. But frankly I thought it was a
Speaker 5: college students.
Speaker 4: Film, okaye, So listen. I often wondered more with Us
Speaker 4: than get Out. I obsessed with how something looks on
Speaker 4: paper before it even gets to the screen. Fante and
Speaker 4: I sort of had this debate before, especially with US.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I wasn't big on US. I didn't right.
Speaker 4: I liked US, but I also chose to invest eight
Speaker 4: watch throughs. And if you have to watch something eight
Speaker 4: times to see probably the Easter Eggs or whatever. I
Speaker 4: still enjoyed it because you know, I like looking for
Speaker 4: Easter eggs and mystery and whatever. But get out to
Speaker 4: Me on screen was amazing to be whole. But I
Speaker 4: always wondered, what did that script, how did it look
Speaker 4: on paper at the time, and did anyone see what
Speaker 4: was coming? And the fact that you played such a
Speaker 4: straight role in it. I was like, I'm glad she
Speaker 4: because when you came, I was like, oh boy, this
Speaker 4: is about to turn up now. But they didn't let
Speaker 4: you really put your teeth into it. But I don't
Speaker 4: know if you were fine.
Speaker 5: With that one thing. I thought it was a comedy.
Speaker 5: It was. I remember, my scene is only between me
Speaker 5: and little real outrageous story, and I bring in my
Speaker 5: team and we laugh at him. But at first I
Speaker 5: am supposed to look like I'm about to get into it.
Speaker 5: We're gonna ratchet it up.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Jordan always told me when I came on the scream
Speaker 5: beside people going hey that's Max. Oh my god, they
Speaker 5: were like, okay, now now something's going to happen. That's
Speaker 5: gonna happen. So he would joke and say, we need
Speaker 5: to make a Detective LaToya movie. Yes, that character, And
Speaker 5: that's when I started thinking about the ping panther or
Speaker 5: somebody who is a hapless person who stumbles into success.
Speaker 5: But it's not because they're looking for it.
Speaker 7: So no, I do.
Speaker 5: On the paper it looked exactly like it looked. Only
Speaker 5: Jordan knew how it was going to go. And unless
Speaker 5: you were part imagine, you know, there were fantastic actors
Speaker 5: they had all around, and they were cutting people's brains
Speaker 5: open and you know what I mean, and replacing them.
Speaker 5: So I wonder if they thought, hey, this is an
Speaker 5: interesting thing, let's go do it. He's a great guy.
Speaker 5: That's that's what I thought. I loved Jordan Peel. But
Speaker 5: I can assure you I had a call from a friend,
Speaker 5: my co founder Ben at Color Farm here and he says, Yoe,
Speaker 5: I just saw the trailer. Didn't you say you were
Speaker 5: in a comedy. This is a hard film.
Speaker 4: And wait, even then, you didn't realize where he was
Speaker 4: going with it.
Speaker 6: No, because you didn't get to read the whole thing.
Speaker 6: Did you just read your scenes?
Speaker 5: I read my scene? But not only that. It was
Speaker 5: during the election. I was Hillary Clinton's most traveled surrogate,
Speaker 5: that's right. I was on the road Leicester and so
Speaker 5: for your service, and I was doing also at the
Speaker 5: same time Queen Sugar and I was playing there a bipolar.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So I had flown in from Baton Rouge straight to
Speaker 5: Alabama in one night, did all of those things, then
Speaker 5: went to Harlem for a rally for Hillary. I did
Speaker 5: it all like this without even looking. Sometimes you just
Speaker 5: have to go forward. And that was one of those moments.
Speaker 7: Wait wait, wait, wait wait.
Speaker 6: So did you ever get going sneak into a theater
Speaker 6: and hear the reaction of people when you come on
Speaker 6: the screen.
Speaker 7: Did you get to feel that?
Speaker 5: Yes? I did get to feel it once and it
Speaker 5: was really once.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay once, Yeah, my first time seeing it. I
Speaker 2: saw it in Detroit, so it was all the way
Speaker 2: laugh very different, very different.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I was gonna say, I think I watched that
Speaker 4: film twelve times and purposely chose various I chose the
Speaker 4: whitest theater in Denver, Colorado, where the film was absolutely silent.
Speaker 2: In parts.
Speaker 4: That and then I saw I went to Magic Johnson
Speaker 4: to see say that evening Ready Dog, and that's when
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, now that's where it's a comedy,
Speaker 4: Like that's it's not a totally different movie.
Speaker 5: Different movie. Yeah, that's hilarious.
Speaker 4: Now that I think about it, there's another iconic film
Speaker 4: role you did. I'll be very brief, but can you
Speaker 4: talk about Tony Braxton's You're Making Me High? Video?
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 4: Can you just talk. I think that was maybe the
Speaker 4: last time. Like, once you're in the industry, you just
Speaker 4: watch things different. But I do remember well one I
Speaker 4: was happy because if you were around in the nineties whatever,
Speaker 4: Bryce Wilson's growth theory kind of yeah, Bryce Wilson his
Speaker 4: uh uh and I'm understating this. His adoration for Tony
Speaker 4: Braxton was well known throughout circles. So the fact that
Speaker 4: he got to play in that video, like I was like, yo,
Speaker 4: he like he he's made his crush in love for
Speaker 4: the Stalk of on right exactly, very very much known.
Speaker 4: And so when this sort of came to fruition in
Speaker 4: a video whatnot? Like I actually found myself watching the
Speaker 4: video as like a fan, not an industry person, even
Speaker 4: though I experienced everything, listening to records, watching videos whatever
Speaker 4: you do, like, you see different once you're in it.
Speaker 4: But to me, that looked so much fun. I was
Speaker 4: like wow, like they were having the time their life.
Speaker 2: What was it?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 5: I was pretty intimidated. Really, yeah, because I don't know.
Speaker 5: Teacher Campbell once asked me about this. She said, Erica,
Speaker 5: we don't see you out much. You don't go out,
Speaker 5: and I didn't have. I came into business when there
Speaker 5: were no Ange News, there were no going out, There
Speaker 5: were no young women yet performing, and they didn't have
Speaker 5: many roles for young women. So I didn't come in
Speaker 5: hanging out. And even though I came up in the
Speaker 5: hip hop era and there's Wu Tang and this and
Speaker 5: that and I'm in LA, it was dangerous to go out.
Speaker 5: You get captain the ads. Yeah, So you just didn't
Speaker 5: hang out. And so that was the first time me
Speaker 5: meeting those people. And so to me, I was a
Speaker 5: fan and that's something here I am, and they're like,
Speaker 5: they want me to be in that video with Tony
Speaker 5: Braxton and next to thea Vivica Fox and blah blah,
Speaker 5: and I get I kind of shut down a little
Speaker 5: bit when I'm intimidated, and so I tried to just
Speaker 5: do what they told me to do. I didn't necessarily
Speaker 5: know how a music video was shot. It was a
Speaker 5: learning experience and I was glad to be there. But
Speaker 5: for the most part, I was if you didn't know
Speaker 5: I was in there, wouldn't know I was in.
Speaker 4: When I think of it, I think of you first,
Speaker 4: and maybe I think at tis Campbell like, but yeah, no,
Speaker 4: when when you're there, we noticed, thanks always, Yeah, we noticed.
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask about Queen Sugar.
Speaker 8: You talk about, you know, shows that didn't get Emmy's
Speaker 8: or recognition.
Speaker 2: What was it like working on that show?
Speaker 8: Because that was just such a beautifully shot show and
Speaker 8: beautifully lit, like you know.
Speaker 2: It was just a beautiful show to watch. Why do
Speaker 2: they not announci you a while? Arap Angel.
Speaker 4: Blame Ralph Angel for me now having subtitles on.
Speaker 5: Ava does everything with intention. Avid Duvenet came in this
Speaker 5: world with a black power sign stamped on her breast
Speaker 5: in the front. It's her shield and it's her mantra.
Speaker 5: And I think that you see that as an expression
Speaker 5: of love, and she wants to rebrand black people. That's
Speaker 5: what I want to do. She wanted to show a
Speaker 5: family that had land. We came in and we worked
Speaker 5: the land, but we didn't own that land. And once
Speaker 5: we owned the land, we were sharecropping for that land,
Speaker 5: and then we were thrown off the land. And now
Speaker 5: they say we're not country, and we are country. So
Speaker 5: there's all these things mixed in to Queen Sugar. She's
Speaker 5: talking about money ownership, she's talking about families, she's talking
Speaker 5: about generational trauma, she's talking about politics, she's talking about
Speaker 5: real estate. She's talking about all these things. And she
Speaker 5: did it. So I bravoed to her. And that's what
Speaker 5: it was like. You knew when you walked on that
Speaker 5: you were contributing to something that had very little to
Speaker 5: do with you, but more to do with how could
Speaker 5: we tell this story about a generational family that owned land.
Speaker 8: Did you see your work in American fiction? You mentioned
Speaker 8: kind of rebanded, rebranding black people. Did you see American
Speaker 8: fiction as an extension of that?
Speaker 5: For sure? I mean, poor Jefferson is made for the moment.
Speaker 5: I mean you have to understand American fiction is a satire. Okay,
Speaker 5: let's mention the greater Jeffrey Wright. You just got one
Speaker 5: of the best actors of all time to do it.
Speaker 5: But that character wants to be free of a narrative
Speaker 5: that's been keeping him in the cheap seats. He's a
Speaker 5: spectator in his own life and his reality. Our reality
Speaker 5: is much more complicated and plex then the narratives that
Speaker 5: drive the market. And so we have a problem with
Speaker 5: these stories that endure because black people have been amazingly
Speaker 5: successful by catering to those forces, and they've successfully produced,
Speaker 5: they've supported and these impoverished narratives. But this very durable
Speaker 5: and very self sustained universe is rejected. So that's the question,
Speaker 5: why do we see black people locked in these stereotypes?
Speaker 5: And has blackness become a victim of its own success?
Speaker 5: And that's what that that movie is about. When you're
Speaker 5: playing a narrative that you don't own and yet you,
Speaker 5: you know, push it out so you could be successful.
Speaker 5: You it's I'm surprised we haven't all gone that shit crazy.
Speaker 4: We have, but I also feel like, well, I'm under
Speaker 4: the impression that the reset of twenty twenty is what
Speaker 4: actually allowed us to recharge and come forth. But yeah,
Speaker 4: I too wonder that. Can I ask you something though,
Speaker 4: because it's been a minute since a movie sparked any
Speaker 4: type of conversation use, especially with me, like I'll see
Speaker 4: moving like okay, it's dope or whatever, you know, the
Speaker 4: ending of American fiction, or at least I would and
Speaker 4: we should probably have Chord on the show. We should
Speaker 4: have Chord on the show. So here's the thing with
Speaker 4: the last fifteen minutes of the show without spoiling the
Speaker 4: movie for people was talked about, and the thing was
Speaker 4: I told the group of people I went to see
Speaker 4: it with, I said, look, they could have easily did
Speaker 4: a Hollywood ending where all's well, that ends well. Now,
Speaker 4: for me, the ending of that was much akin to
Speaker 4: like you remember, like maybe the first seven Spike Lee
Speaker 4: films really never ended right, it never yeah, but even
Speaker 4: think of do the right thing, like it wasn't happily
Speaker 4: ever after No Better Blues was QUI fied.
Speaker 2: He found love, but he.
Speaker 4: Lost his gifts right, And for me, the ending of
Speaker 4: American fiction was not only I felt the right choice
Speaker 4: of an ending, but I mean as a person, and
Speaker 4: I know I'm not alone like I often find myself
Speaker 4: in that ending where sometimes you're just like all right,
Speaker 4: fuck it, you know what I mean. And even though
Speaker 4: it wasn't the ideal Hollywood ending, I felt that was
Speaker 4: the most realistic, the realistic ending. And for those that
Speaker 4: were just like yo, man, what do you think about
Speaker 4: the end? And I felt like that's how that shit
Speaker 4: goes that was the truth and it's the sad truth.
Speaker 4: Did you guys sort of wonder that, like in the
Speaker 4: film of How It Ends? Because even for me, I
Speaker 4: was wondering, like, okay, when the big revelation happens, is
Speaker 4: you know, is it redemption for all of us? Is
Speaker 4: in my mind? I started predicting houses sick going to end.
Speaker 4: I can't wait for this at the end, And when
Speaker 4: it ended, I was like, yeah, I guess that's how
Speaker 4: it ends. How did you feel about that at the time?
Speaker 4: And was that ever a subject of discussion where their
Speaker 4: alternate ending shot for it?
Speaker 5: Or I knew the one I was in. I was
Speaker 5: in two of them, the happy ending and the more
Speaker 5: tragic endings.
Speaker 4: Wait, wait, time out you're talking about American fiction? Or yeah? Yeah, yeah, oh,
Speaker 4: because you also, I don't know if you inadvertently know this.
Speaker 4: I didn't realize that Get Out also had two endings
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, the we did, Yeah.
Speaker 6: But I didn't ours just like I felt like it
Speaker 6: was clue yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, get it Out and never showed you other endings.
Speaker 5: But I think we have to just take it from
Speaker 5: the point of view of an author, Okay, and the
Speaker 5: author has posited this question that and this could be metaverse,
Speaker 5: by the way, and you appreciate this. You guys are
Speaker 5: all nerds. When Jeffrey starts to sip his cognact and
Speaker 5: write the movie, he goes into a matter verse and
Speaker 5: makes me wonder what movie are we watching? Is it
Speaker 5: still his real life or is it something he's writing?
Speaker 4: Wait? Was that an Eastern third ending?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 6: He's saying that was the third ending that we didn't win,
Speaker 6: the fourth ending that we didn't see.
Speaker 5: I'm saying that there's a lot of things that switch
Speaker 5: and start to be different once we see Keith David
Speaker 5: and start before we started to get the idea that
Speaker 5: he can manipulate his reality through his fiction. So I
Speaker 5: think we need to ask original source material Percival ever,
Speaker 5: because maybe in erasure exactly, maybe that's where the true
Speaker 5: ending lies. But they shot the ending you saw after
Speaker 5: we were all gone, so I was surprised to see
Speaker 5: the ending. Oh okay, so Corty's to come in here
Speaker 5: and stand and deliver he used this all.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 8: One of my favorite things about that film was I
Speaker 8: liked how it showed relationship, romantic relationships, black romantic relationships
Speaker 8: with people of different ages.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8: Yeah, generational. Yeah, that was so beautiful like you and Jeffrey.
Speaker 8: But then also I forgot the name, but the Old House.
Speaker 6: Is a boss listen, I mean dead pull along. I'm
Speaker 6: like the fact that she pulls American fixture.
Speaker 7: The dead pool.
Speaker 5: She's fucking yeah, she's a back and I got to
Speaker 5: share a green room with her and get all those stories.
Speaker 5: These people are walking around with such genius inside of
Speaker 5: it's such the blueprints to our lives and to the future.
Speaker 5: And she's one of them. So that's the other ones
Speaker 5: is excellent, And you're right, that was remember the housekeepers.
Speaker 2: The housekeeper in the security Guard.
Speaker 5: But you know what, it's trying to give truth to
Speaker 5: the lie that black people don't have generational stories, that
Speaker 5: we only exist inside of the generation we're in and
Speaker 5: we're not having this back and forth communication wisdom and
Speaker 5: also building and architecture in our lives and it's so
Speaker 5: normal in that movie.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I really I literally got like emotional watching you
Speaker 6: and Jeffrey because it's just something that we just don't
Speaker 6: see seeing you in that role and seeing you get
Speaker 6: a chance to show love in that way, like you
Speaker 6: like seeing you as the actors that we know play
Speaker 6: that role was so important and kind of I think
Speaker 6: I'm not the only person that got emotional overseeing you,
Speaker 6: just in that.
Speaker 5: You know, people have said that I get to meet cute,
Speaker 5: I get to meet like and make Ryan. I dropped
Speaker 5: my tomatoes and did he talk over Ryan? I imagine
Speaker 5: that you're not jumping each other phones. I got lotion
Speaker 5: afterwards after we do our little do. It's a seduction.
Speaker 7: And you think high enough of yourself to be like,
Speaker 7: I don't have to be there here.
Speaker 5: No, you confused, don't bring that king, don't disturb my peace. Yeah,
Speaker 5: she's not pining for him. She just let go of
Speaker 5: aok A relationship and I'm sure it was difficult for her.
Speaker 5: So what she took to regain that kind of stability,
Speaker 5: She wasn't willing to give it up his drama and
Speaker 5: that's self empowerment. And it was lovely. It wasn't mean
Speaker 5: or angry. It was just sort of like, you gotta.
Speaker 7: Go, Erica.
Speaker 6: Please tell me what it's like going back and forth
Speaker 6: and playing this game with Jeffrey Wright, Like, what is
Speaker 6: it like in a scene like what he's just He's
Speaker 6: it he's it and.
Speaker 7: Then talk about Sterling.
Speaker 5: Okay, well, Jeffrey is a nerd too. He only watches documentaries.
Speaker 5: He doesn't watch TV, but he knows all for references,
Speaker 5: so he would get along with all of you guys.
Speaker 5: It's from DC. You know those DC light skinned brothers,
Speaker 5: me too. All there you go.
Speaker 7: But he's from Southeast though. He went to Anacostia High School.
Speaker 5: Okay, so you know who you are. He loves his
Speaker 5: mother and he loves his auntie who raised him. He's
Speaker 5: a great lover of women, Black women, and he understands.
Speaker 5: So he's not intimidated by me. He doesn't think that
Speaker 5: I'm a thread and in fact feel like, yeah, well,
Speaker 5: he feels like he's taking care of business. He is
Speaker 5: a man that's perspected on and he understands what he's
Speaker 5: there to do. But here's what he's not there to do.
Speaker 5: He's not there not to make mistakes. So he's trying
Speaker 5: things and experimenting. He's frustrated that. You can see he
Speaker 5: wants a certain result and he's going for it. So
Speaker 5: I like somebody who was expectation is high, but he's like,
Speaker 5: that's your expectation. I came on here to be an
Speaker 5: actor and make my mistakes like everybody else and put
Speaker 5: it together and you it reminds you that you have
Speaker 5: to give yourself grace. Everybody can expect you to be perfect,
Speaker 5: but that's not what you're here for. And that's who
Speaker 5: Jeffrey is. And once he gets permission to do those things,
Speaker 5: he gives everyone else permission. And then the set runs.
Speaker 4: When you are paired with an acting partner that you
Speaker 4: know that your your characters sort of connected to. Are
Speaker 4: there conversations beforehand of what the chemistry is going to be?
Speaker 4: Because I've heard, and I'm asking this as a new
Speaker 4: director and as a director that hasn't done scripted yet,
Speaker 4: I've heard. I've talked to a lot of directors and
Speaker 4: they've told me ideal stories of like, these actors are
Speaker 4: the ones who gravitates towards I've heard nightmare stories of
Speaker 4: established actors who you know, this actor will only give
Speaker 4: you two takes and if you don't got it, tough titties,
Speaker 4: that's your fault. I don't give a fuck next scene.
Speaker 4: That sort of thing. Is it a speed dating process?
Speaker 2: Like how long?
Speaker 4: Because the thing is is that one with Jeffrey, but
Speaker 4: also your relationship with uh, what's his name? No, no, no, no,
Speaker 4: I'm going back to to Bobby, to h who's playing him? Okay,
Speaker 4: So I'm wondering how long is the speed quote air
Speaker 4: quote speed day process between you and an actor to know,
Speaker 4: like to at least get to know each other or
Speaker 4: is this just like cold like you automatically know what
Speaker 4: to do.
Speaker 5: So I want to first say something about the bad
Speaker 5: behavior that they might be speaking to. I have not
Speaker 5: experienced that, and I've been in Shobiz forty years, so
Speaker 5: I've been a little bit. I don't know. I give
Speaker 5: a little side eye to the stories because I think
Speaker 5: that people attract certain things because they put either oh,
Speaker 5: that person must be in that role, knowing that the
Speaker 5: person is problematic, instead of giving somebody who can do
Speaker 5: the role just as well and not give those type
Speaker 5: of problems. And so everybody has a reputation. No one
Speaker 5: is operating in a vacuum. So if they're experiencing that,
Speaker 5: I think it's hard for you not to know where
Speaker 5: actor lands, and you have to consider do you really
Speaker 5: want that? Because that could be that can ruin you.
Speaker 5: A bad attitude can ruin everything, the crew, everything. So
Speaker 5: I haven't, but I haven't experienced that. I've experienced some
Speaker 5: issue with younger actors because they haven't been properly trained.
Speaker 5: And I'm not talking about on stage because I only
Speaker 5: did a very small amount of training. I mean, no
Speaker 5: one tells them the truth and they get away with
Speaker 5: bad behavior and there's no consequences. If somebody did that
Speaker 5: on my set, I would replace them almost immediately.
Speaker 8: Yeah, So when you check after check a young actor,
Speaker 8: what do you say, like, how do you check them?
Speaker 5: You take them aside, You don't embarrass them. You ask
Speaker 5: them if there's something wrong, because sometimes they can come
Speaker 5: to set and there's something wrong and you ask them
Speaker 5: if they need help. You have identify somebody they can
Speaker 5: talk to. They could be another actor who's willing to
Speaker 5: mentor them and they can be open, honest with and vulnerable.
Speaker 5: It could be a psychiatrist. They could just be scared
Speaker 5: and not know how to say it. They may need
Speaker 5: help with lines and they're freaking out. Get them a
Speaker 5: dialogue coach, get them the help they need. They'll calm down.
Speaker 5: They also need sleep, and some people these people sleep
Speaker 5: working these kids, what's too they're more soft than not.
Speaker 8: We work that is actual and factual.
Speaker 5: Thank you, But I'm saying that all those things are
Speaker 5: playing in part. So that's what I would say. I
Speaker 5: first maybe see that, and then I might have a
Speaker 5: conversation outside whether their manager or agents, and not to
Speaker 5: scare them, but they need warning that it is and
Speaker 5: they need to know that you're on their side. If
Speaker 5: it continues, then you need to start looking into it
Speaker 5: right away and reshift your schedule to shoot things they're
Speaker 5: not in.
Speaker 8: Did you have any like any ogs who was who
Speaker 8: did that for you?
Speaker 5: Like, who gave you that need to I came into
Speaker 5: the set pristine. I'm a preacher's daughter. I know how
Speaker 5: to act, I cook, and I'm from girls high studied.
Speaker 5: I know and I'm learned. And if I was scared,
Speaker 5: I might not have known you talked to That's true.
Speaker 5: I think I experienced a lot of trauma because I
Speaker 5: couldn't really tell what I was feeling. But that came
Speaker 5: later on in life. But I didn't have problems showing up,
Speaker 5: knowing my lines, being prepared. We did twenty six show
Speaker 5: a year. Now people do ten and they freak out.
Speaker 5: I'm learning to play a week. No, I ain't got
Speaker 5: no problem.
Speaker 4: All right, is this hit me right now? When you
Speaker 4: started saying those words like it's something wrong and can
Speaker 4: I help you? You know, sometime I just realized, surely
Speaker 4: Ralph just sunned me. And I'm realizing it, right.
Speaker 2: Baby, Oh yeah you.
Speaker 6: Are.
Speaker 7: I love that.
Speaker 4: She pulled me to his side. She pulled me to
Speaker 4: the side. Are you a little nervous right now? And
Speaker 4: I was like, and just hit me. I got the
Speaker 4: quasi defensive no no, no.
Speaker 2: I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm I'm good. No no, no, listen, listen.
Speaker 4: You could just breathe and say it is lower. No, no, no,
Speaker 4: and she like, now do it And I was like,
Speaker 4: and I just realized, oh shit, I was fucking up.
Speaker 4: I was that perfect. I didn't realize it until you
Speaker 4: said that.
Speaker 5: But a mirror. She did that with respect. What she
Speaker 5: was trying to do is give you permission. And if
Speaker 5: you said to her me, I'm a little nervous, then
Speaker 5: it goes away. You know how if you say something,
Speaker 5: you could lean into it because everyone's nervous.
Speaker 4: But the thing was that in my mind, like when
Speaker 4: you said that, then I'm like, okay, you're an experienced actress.
Speaker 4: You could tell what a newbie doesn't know any better,
Speaker 4: or they might be doing something wrong, or da da
Speaker 4: da da da. And I'm now realizing that maybe the
Speaker 4: first three takes that I did, because you know, they
Speaker 4: do ship over there like nine times in a row.
Speaker 4: So now I'm realizing my first four takes were like
Speaker 4: he's not getting it. And they kind of had this
Speaker 4: magic circle thing, you know, when people were together and
Speaker 4: they just look at each other and you know you're
Speaker 4: being talked about, but no one's saying it, Like I
Speaker 4: felt like maybe there's something on my teeth or it was.
Speaker 4: It was rather significant nice and so she was the
Speaker 4: designated She's the leader of the group.
Speaker 2: Chat damn.
Speaker 7: That an elder sister who was like mighty queen because.
Speaker 5: Thinking that a lot of the I don't know if
Speaker 5: you did a read through and all that, but some
Speaker 5: of these things, yeah, and that's that's the issue. You're
Speaker 5: fitting into their world and you're trying to take it
Speaker 5: all in all at once, and you're also trying to
Speaker 5: do all this other stuff. By the way, any guests
Speaker 5: feature performer has that extra burden. So I think that
Speaker 5: she was just giving you PERMISSI, but she wasn't sonning you.
Speaker 5: She was just sort of like a big sister going yeah.
Speaker 4: Oh no, no, no cool. I mean, let me let me
Speaker 4: make it clear. Yes, she wasn't sonning me disrespect. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but you know, I think maybe because I only entered
Speaker 4: situations that I know, like the back of my hand,
Speaker 4: like if it were music or that sort of thing.
Speaker 4: Is like, I'm not saying you can't tell me nothing,
Speaker 4: but you know, this is definitely an area.
Speaker 5: That in your world you're king, it's hard to come
Speaker 5: in spaces and you direct and you do all these things,
Speaker 5: and then you're putting in a position where suddenly it's like, okay,
Speaker 5: wait a minute, I'm not on you know what what again,
Speaker 5: you're an artist, So she approached you as one, and
Speaker 5: that's respectful, and she it wasn't a matter of whether
Speaker 5: you could do it. It was a matter of sort
Speaker 5: of saying, you know who told me that Cely tithe
Speaker 5: it he could breathe. Breathe When these sisters tell you
Speaker 5: it sounds ridiculous, like I am breathing, but you know,
Speaker 5: but she they're trying to remind you to be in
Speaker 5: your body also to give you permission that you ain't
Speaker 5: got to be perfect. And she I've been told that
Speaker 5: by whoopee, I've been doing and these people are that.
Speaker 5: I'm there for those Wu Tang kids. They come up
Speaker 5: and say, you're tired, You're not getting you sleep. Okay,
Speaker 5: so let's let's get you some water. You know what
Speaker 5: I mean? Stand up, stand up, shake your body, let's
Speaker 5: go outside and get some sun. And I remind them
Speaker 5: that they're human, they're not a freaking robot. But they're
Speaker 5: talented and that's why they're there, and they need to
Speaker 5: not think about the talent, just think about being present.
Speaker 5: And it's all right to have that. But I do
Speaker 5: want to say something to what you said. You asked
Speaker 5: about you know, how do you how do you.
Speaker 2: Talk to your scene partner?
Speaker 5: You don't usually it if when I say, you don't
Speaker 5: usually if unless you need to. I'm at a point where,
Speaker 5: for the most part, if somebody needs to talk to me,
Speaker 5: they'll pick you aside. So, Erica, I'm not sure about
Speaker 5: this scene. I don't know where it's headed, but I
Speaker 5: think this and that. What do you think? And I said,
Speaker 5: I don't know. I don't know, Jeffrey, but I'll follow
Speaker 5: your lead. He goes, okay, we'll work it out and
Speaker 5: then it's just one of those things where in a
Speaker 5: way he's just convincing that maybe hasn't settled on how
Speaker 5: the scene goes or I and I know to be
Speaker 5: ready for changes, and he's just putting me on blasts,
Speaker 5: but also not on a blast. He's giving me heads up,
Speaker 5: but he's also telling me, support me, look out for me.
Speaker 5: And I'm glad when somebody says that because I've said that.
Speaker 5: By the way, when I was on Queen Sugar, I
Speaker 5: had medication because I have colitus and sometimes it it's
Speaker 5: a steroid. It can make you feel like, really like
Speaker 5: if you can get emotional, everything feel heightened, like you
Speaker 5: can faint. And so I told Omar, who plays I've
Speaker 5: got to do this emotional scene. And if I get
Speaker 5: overwhelmed and faint, because that's how I said, you got
Speaker 5: to tell them I'm all right. But you know what happened.
Speaker 5: He says, I got you, girl, I got you. And
Speaker 5: once I did that, I actually calm calm down and
Speaker 5: I was able to do the scene because I was
Speaker 5: worried about fainting. That's what it is. The director can
Speaker 5: sometime give you that kind of confidence, because that's the
Speaker 5: person you want to impress and you sometimes don't want
Speaker 5: to be too friendly with the performers, but you do
Speaker 5: have to make a connection with him that you're they're
Speaker 5: not there to hit a line, a bar, a vis
Speaker 5: or that, and that you enjoy their mistakes. So that
Speaker 5: was fun. Give them encouragement and don't give them encouragement
Speaker 5: just because they get it and cried. Just say thank
Speaker 5: you each time. Say thank you for whatever they get me.
Speaker 5: It's no different thank you for the crime. Then when
Speaker 5: if they don't do it, and then they say, okay,
Speaker 5: they're not making a big deal out of it, I
Speaker 5: can be whatever and still get approval. The actors will
Speaker 5: do anything for you because they know they can't fail.
Speaker 8: I want to ask about the Wu Tang show, which
Speaker 8: I loved, How did you get that role? And did
Speaker 8: you actually meet Rizz's mom before you know?
Speaker 2: Oh man, I didn't know that, so.
Speaker 5: Long straight short. I love the Wu Tang but at
Speaker 5: the time, I didn't think it was a role for me.
Speaker 5: I didn't know if I wanted to be a mother
Speaker 5: of all these may ask.
Speaker 8: Kids, well, you look like you could be their sister
Speaker 8: on the camera, So I mean, yeah.
Speaker 5: Career, but I didn't know. So I didn't really step
Speaker 5: up for the audition because there was an audition and
Speaker 5: they said, Erica, they coming back to you, would you
Speaker 5: And I said, all right, so I did, and they said, well,
Speaker 5: Rizzon wants to meet you. And I said, oh, I
Speaker 5: don't know if I wanted to go any further, and
Speaker 5: I don't want to lead anybody on, but I decided,
Speaker 5: you know what, Erica, go on, do what's in front
Speaker 5: of you. So I met him and Ris is very
Speaker 5: you know, charismatic and lovely and respectful, and I did
Speaker 5: my thing, and he said after I got the partner,
Speaker 5: I accepted it because I did get it that you know,
Speaker 5: there's only four represented in the show, but I got
Speaker 5: eleven brothers and sisters including me, and they all had
Speaker 5: to say you were okay to play our mother because
Speaker 5: the whole real America can play Linding Diggs. So then
Speaker 5: I learned about their mother, and their mother had experienced
Speaker 5: abuse and it's one of the reason why they think
Speaker 5: she died. She was married twice and unfortunately she experienced
Speaker 5: domestic abuse, which is portrayed into there. So I knew
Speaker 5: that it was something very special that Rizzo wanted me
Speaker 5: to project. So I said to her. And I'm not
Speaker 5: very religious, but those spiritual said, miss miss Linda, your
Speaker 5: children want to see you. You showed me the way.
Speaker 5: And then I didn't do anything because I knew they
Speaker 5: had already seen what they wanted and I just needed
Speaker 5: to not perform. I need to just get out of
Speaker 5: the way and let her be there. And to me,
Speaker 5: she's a ghost. In that series, Rizza wanted to see
Speaker 5: his mother, so he wrote her in I fulfil the mean?
Speaker 8: Yeah, wow, were you Au Tang fan? Prior to the
Speaker 8: did you Tang fan?
Speaker 5: Not as much as everybody didn't know their music as much.
Speaker 5: But I'm a Wu Tang fan because I really love
Speaker 5: how intellectual they are are. I love methic man and
Speaker 5: and I like men who are working it out and
Speaker 5: they're individualists. Again, they're an individualists and then they decide
Speaker 5: to come together to make a super group and then
Speaker 5: their brand becomes bigger than them all. I'm sorry, I
Speaker 5: love that kind of story.
Speaker 7: Did you see?
Speaker 6: And I'm curious because there's a lot of great actors,
Speaker 6: great young actors in that cast. Do you see a
Speaker 6: couple of them as like leading in the in the future,
Speaker 6: like the next like not the next they're doing their thing.
Speaker 5: But Julian Elijah Martinez who played my son, he played
Speaker 5: the elder.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he played divine.
Speaker 7: Sometimes he.
Speaker 5: Does look like there of course, Ashton Sanders there, You've
Speaker 5: got Marcus Callender, their genius performers, and Elijah is on fire.
Speaker 5: There is not enough film are television to absorb this talent,
Speaker 5: and my goal is to find ways so they can
Speaker 5: show the world what they can do. We've got more
Speaker 5: talent than we've got content for them to be in.
Speaker 5: So yeah, look out. All of them are wonderful. I
Speaker 5: love them all.
Speaker 8: I have one last question, Eric, I need the face routine.
Speaker 8: I need what's what's your face routine?
Speaker 6: What's your so thank you for that.
Speaker 5: I had a huge breakout because I came here and
Speaker 5: started eating stuff I didn't know. But you know what,
Speaker 5: I think, I really appreciate that when you saw me
Speaker 5: in person, you see the lines.
Speaker 7: See no, no, no, that's not true. I saw weeks ago.
Speaker 7: Don't tell tales.
Speaker 5: Well, you know what black does crack. But I think
Speaker 5: if you keep yourself smiling and laughing about things, I
Speaker 5: think people see the brightness in my face really and
Speaker 5: the openness, and I like to believe that I can
Speaker 5: still be young and enthusiastic and not jaded and not tired.
Speaker 5: I'm enthusiastic after forty years to be here, and I
Speaker 5: know what it feels like to be tired. But Harriet
Speaker 5: wasn't tired until she was tired. So I'm all right.
Speaker 7: My hair is strenders.
Speaker 5: Shit, that's in your DNA. I'm good, by the way.
Speaker 5: I don't believe in all this hustle. I get your sleep,
Speaker 5: get your rest. It's important. Listen read and go outside
Speaker 5: and let the sun hit you and listen to read.
Speaker 5: Take off all the things and just the ambient noise
Speaker 5: get to you.
Speaker 4: I don't think I ever heard an episode where I
Speaker 4: don't want to say goodbye to the person. No. Once again,
Speaker 4: thank you so much for coming on our show. And
Speaker 4: this is definitely you know, this is a dream for us.
Speaker 4: We talked about this for a long time of having you.
Speaker 7: And shout out your organization.
Speaker 6: Please, because when you say you're trying to uplift these
Speaker 6: people and these creatives, you're doing it in real time.
Speaker 7: Please please Color Farm.
Speaker 5: We call ourselves the town of film, television and tech.
Speaker 5: You're trying to change the face to the media and
Speaker 5: rebrand blackness. We produced John Was Good Trouble. I co
Speaker 5: directed the reparations documentary The Big Payback. You're doing a
Speaker 5: Diet and Carol documentary. You're also doing collaborations partnerships in
Speaker 5: the scripted space as well. Remember us a mirror and
Speaker 5: for everyone there, we appreciate your support because we don't
Speaker 5: have a deal. Just worked really hard and we got
Speaker 5: the DuPont Columbia word for something we did called Finding Tamika,
Speaker 5: which was the top true crime audio series that I
Speaker 5: created a road and I really am very proud of
Speaker 5: that because we're talking about missing white woman syndrome and
Speaker 5: to do what we use this black girl's life to
Speaker 5: show Mika. She was used as the discussion around it
Speaker 5: and we maybe made Neil no Oir ghost story and
Speaker 5: we thought it was lovely and their family was lovely
Speaker 5: to let us do it. But I'm here, I want
Speaker 5: to say something to you. Yes, you are not only agot,
Speaker 5: You're a person who is in power to empower and
Speaker 5: I'm very gratified that you're from Philly. I see all
Speaker 5: the stuff that you do, and I say stuff that
Speaker 5: you do, the amazing things that you accomplish. But I
Speaker 5: also love that you have the curiosity intellectual and the
Speaker 5: deep dives that most people don't allow themselves to have.
Speaker 5: And so you're very generous with your mind and your brilliance.
Speaker 5: And I appreciate that, brother, because all the people, all
Speaker 5: those people would recognize that you are their son. So
Speaker 5: thank you all for creating this for us to have
Speaker 5: these long conversations, because I think we're also archiving history.
Speaker 6: One do the thank you, Yeah you made it, thank you,
Speaker 6: thank you for making that, thank you.
Speaker 2: For yeah doing your ship, thank you, thank you. I
Speaker 2: appreciate you, and you're back.
Speaker 4: That is probably the greatest ending of quest love supreme.
Speaker 5: We could just get that plate of Patty.
Speaker 4: Okay, yes, to let the world know Patty invited me
Speaker 4: and the guy who sang about her pies and talked
Speaker 4: about oh.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, the viral a viral.
Speaker 4: Yeah all right, she invited both of us to our
Speaker 4: house for Thanksgiving, and I ate my ass off. It
Speaker 4: was oh this happened like this happened in twenty fourteen
Speaker 4: years ago.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, gotcha.
Speaker 4: Yes, after a lot of begging.
Speaker 7: Erica wants to be invited.
Speaker 6: I will guest, if you watched eightieth Birthday, I'm saying
Speaker 6: we just make it a family.
Speaker 5: Thank you, golface.
Speaker 4: I appreciate, thank you, Thanks see all the next ye
Speaker 4: around y'all, Thank you for listening to Quest Love FREEK.
Speaker 4: This podcast is hosted by.
Speaker 8: Emir West, Love Thompson, Boss Man, Like Here, Saint Clair
Speaker 8: So Blackly Black, Myself, Fontigerlo Fonte, Coleman, Sugar, Steve Mandel
Speaker 8: and Unpaid Bill Sherman. Executive producers are a Mere.
Speaker 4: Quest Love, Thompson, Sean g and the US Father Brian Calhoun.
Speaker 8: Produced by Freaking Benjamin, my dog cousin, Jake Payne, my
Speaker 8: Motherfucking man and like Is Saint Clair My work wife
Speaker 8: edited by Alex Conrad, Produced by iHeart by Noel Brown.
Speaker 1: And That's Love Supreme is the production of iHeart Radio.
Speaker 4: For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Speaker 4: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.