Speaker 1: Look how fucking skinny you are. This is what I
Speaker 1: hate about you. I love you, but I hate how
Speaker 1: you can diet for ten days and look this skinny.
Speaker 1: I also quit smoking weed and drinking booze too, So
Speaker 1: I know you threw a lot of you threw a
Speaker 1: lot of you threw a lot at it. But dude,
Speaker 1: you look look great. Yeah, you look good. Yeah, this
Speaker 1: is a lot of fun. Man. I had no idea
Speaker 1: that I would get this much love for being in
Speaker 1: the Powerpuff Girls. Real man, everybody's you got so much chatter.
Speaker 1: People are so happy for you. I don't know anything
Speaker 1: about the Poweruff Girls. I know it's very popular, but
Speaker 1: I was I missed it, so tell us about it.
Speaker 1: So the Powerpuff Girls are there are three superhero little girls,
Speaker 1: uh that were created by Professor Utonium and uh, you
Speaker 1: know in the cartoon. I'm gonna be honest with you.
Speaker 1: I've seen the cartoon a few times and I don't know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Oh so my research, my research is beginning
Speaker 1: with watching the cartoon like I was watching it with
Speaker 1: because Rocco was a huge fan of the Powerpuff the
Speaker 1: remake of the Powerpuff Girls, like they they did one
Speaker 1: when Joel was a baby. I guess it's true. And
Speaker 1: then they just remade the Powerpuff Girls also, so Rocco
Speaker 1: was a big fan of Teen Titans Go and Powerpuff Girls.
Speaker 1: Was it always aimed at little kids or was it
Speaker 1: a grown up things? Well, um, it's like if you've
Speaker 1: ever watched Teen Titans Go, it's aimed for or SpongeBob,
Speaker 1: it's aimed at kids. But there are some jokes in there.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of jokes in every episode that
Speaker 1: parents will laugh at while watching with their kids. Right.
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, man, I'm really excited that people
Speaker 1: enjoyed the fact that I'm gonna be in this. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm so geeked about it, you know, I'm really you know,
Speaker 1: I've I've tried to stay off of you know, the
Speaker 1: message boards and stuff like that, where you know, some
Speaker 1: of the hate can dwell, uh, why would you go
Speaker 1: do that? Don't do that? Yeah, I refuse to do it.
Speaker 1: I refuse used to let the haters bring me down.
Speaker 1: But I imagine there are some people that aren't excited
Speaker 1: about me playing Professor Drake Uttonium. And that's cool. You
Speaker 1: could eat a dick, are you? Are you in rehearsals
Speaker 1: at this point or what's happening. Yeah, so we're doing
Speaker 1: a bunch of rehearsals. We're doing camera tests and wardrobe fittings.
Speaker 1: It's you and you start tomorrow. No more rehearsal, Tomorrow,
Speaker 1: more camera shoots, photo shoots, and we don't start shooting
Speaker 1: actually until well, I can't tell you, but we start
Speaker 1: shooting soon. Okay, good Well, dude, I'm so happy for you,
Speaker 1: and I as someone who loves you, I was so
Speaker 1: happy about all the love you were getting on the interweb.
Speaker 1: I saw you were getting lots of adoration. I love that.
Speaker 1: I love that, dude. How's work going, man? I shot
Speaker 1: three days of Cheaper by the Dozen and it's the
Speaker 1: dreamiest job ever. I love Gab Union. She has our
Speaker 1: exact sense of humor. She should come on the podcast
Speaker 1: MO day. She's fucking hilarious and cool and m and
Speaker 1: the kids couldn't be sweeter. I mean, knock wood, it's
Speaker 1: too good to be true. I love my director. I
Speaker 1: love you. Know the hours. Because of the children, you
Speaker 1: can only do ten hour days, so that's kind of dreaming.
Speaker 1: You have like a normal life. And I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: it's just so fun. I think the script Kenny Barris
Speaker 1: wrote such a funny script. I you know, sometimes you
Speaker 1: start a project and go, okay, well, we'll make the
Speaker 1: script better as we go, and this is just really great.
Speaker 1: I just it's just going to be such a perfect
Speaker 1: family movie. And but hey, you know, and as well
Speaker 1: as having Kenya's signature discussions of race done in such
Speaker 1: an elegant way, because of course, if you're going to
Speaker 1: have a you know, a biracial family, you can't deny
Speaker 1: the things that will come up, and he doesn't, and
Speaker 1: so I'm just really stoked to be a part of it.
Speaker 1: I'm really really happy. By the way. By the way,
Speaker 1: we're recording this on Sunday, but this airs on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: So guess what. It's my birthday. Yeah, birthday too, Happy
Speaker 1: birthday to ye, Happy birthday, Happy birthday to yeah. Right,
Speaker 1: come on, sunset. I feel really good cowting today. I'm
Speaker 1: very happy. It's my birthday. I feel really good. I'm
Speaker 1: on this awesome health kick, which is really um I
Speaker 1: must say, those of you listening who know when you
Speaker 1: go on a health kick, uh, obviously your body gets
Speaker 1: in shape. But I just feel a better in my
Speaker 1: mind and brain and just happier overall. This year kick
Speaker 1: so many of our asses and as we come out
Speaker 1: of it a little bit. I I'm so excited that,
Speaker 1: you know, I used the excuse of the movie to
Speaker 1: get in shape. I jokingly said, I want to look too.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you right now, manatures holy shit, Zach, Well,
Speaker 1: don't don't buil up too much. You're pretty close to
Speaker 1: Bradfit fight Club. Don't think I'm chucking Zach. Throw up
Speaker 1: the pictures so that people could see it. I'm not lying.
Speaker 1: Where's the lie? But it's not ready for a reveal yet.
Speaker 1: But I do have to say turning forty six, when
Speaker 1: I and I had a couple of people over, including
Speaker 1: Casey yesterday for just to toast me, well, actually my
Speaker 1: girlfriend surprised me, but um yeah, it was nice to
Speaker 1: hear a handful of people being like, oh shit, and
Speaker 1: I ye, dude, you don't even have love handles anymore. Man,
Speaker 1: But the fuck is going over well, I've never done
Speaker 1: you know. Listen, I can give you. I can give
Speaker 1: everyone the tricks. The tricks are just diet and fucking
Speaker 1: giving up booze. Yeah, are you exercise? Is this the
Speaker 1: best shape? You've ever been in your life. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's and it took seven weeks, by the way,
Speaker 1: and I'm still going like it's like you know, it's
Speaker 1: like anything, It's a hobby that if you get into,
Speaker 1: if you find it. Here's my trick that I've done
Speaker 1: for those of you listening who are like, are dreading
Speaker 1: getting in any kind of shape? I just said, what
Speaker 1: if I try and find a way to make it
Speaker 1: fun this time? Building around things I like doing. Okay,
Speaker 1: I like, well, I like spinning, Like you know, spinning
Speaker 1: is that, you know, if you can't afford peloton, bike,
Speaker 1: you know, get on a bicycle or or find something
Speaker 1: that or in Donald's case, used to play basketball, you know,
Speaker 1: find it. I love when I can play tennis, find
Speaker 1: something that's fun to do, and then build around that.
Speaker 1: So I genuinely enjoy peloton. I think it's fun. I
Speaker 1: come off feeling high. I So I just made that
Speaker 1: a regular part of my and and then I start
Speaker 1: researching healthy foods that that I think taste good. So
Speaker 1: you can find a protein shake that taste awesome. It's
Speaker 1: the best thing I eat all day. I look forward
Speaker 1: to it, and guess what it's amazing for you. So
Speaker 1: I don't know, have you cut a bunch of h
Speaker 1: like foods that you were eating before out of your diet,
Speaker 1: like you talked about how you're no longer eating like
Speaker 1: red meat. Well, here's the thing. This is gonna branch.
Speaker 1: This is gonna ranch off into hold of the thing.
Speaker 1: And I promised to do the short version because we
Speaker 1: got your mom coming on and my mom's on this piece,
Speaker 1: so wait, let me hear it before we get well.
Speaker 1: I really am thinking about seriously changing my diet because
Speaker 1: of the documentary I watched, C Spiracy, which I recommended
Speaker 1: last time, which I really encourage you to watch. I'm
Speaker 1: not telling you to change your diet at all, listener,
Speaker 1: but I do think it's important to learn about the
Speaker 1: food industry. And I'm embarrassed to admit that I made
Speaker 1: it forty six years knowing nothing about how our food
Speaker 1: is made. And it was a combination of three documentaries,
Speaker 1: Game Changers, C Spiracy, and Eating Animals, which I just
Speaker 1: watched last night, which now im Portman narrates because she's
Speaker 1: very into health. And I just didn't know about factory farming.
Speaker 1: I didn't really I didn't like everyone you see the
Speaker 1: pictures of the farmers in the grocery store and you go,
Speaker 1: that's where our food and livestock comes from. And I
Speaker 1: was just in denial about it. And the fishing, Oh,
Speaker 1: I'll be Pescuterian fish are great. Everything is so healthy.
Speaker 1: And then you can watch three documentaries in six hours
Speaker 1: and go, holy shit. I didn't know any of that.
Speaker 1: And so it's inspired me, especially being on a health kick,
Speaker 1: to be like, well, I'm changing, We're coming out of
Speaker 1: this pandemic, We're coming out of this insane year long hibernation.
Speaker 1: Why not try some new ways of being? And That's
Speaker 1: what I'm taking on. And I will say, even though
Speaker 1: this is very hard for a lot of people, and
Speaker 1: I get it. Um the one of the most powerful
Speaker 1: things I've done is to take this alcohol break. Um It.
Speaker 1: It increases my mood over time, even because I think
Speaker 1: of like, alcohol is a depressant, right, So if you
Speaker 1: drink an a lot of alcohol regularly every day, every
Speaker 1: other day, whatever you do, I feel like you are
Speaker 1: think of it like, and take the stead of people
Speaker 1: taking antipressant. You're taking a depressant regularly, and it's sort
Speaker 1: of putting a cloud a little bit of a cloud
Speaker 1: over your life, right, But let me just finish the point,
Speaker 1: And the point is that you might stop for a
Speaker 1: week and go, Okay, I did it. I mean in
Speaker 1: a week, but you're not really seeing the effects because
Speaker 1: just like if you're taking it, if you start taking
Speaker 1: any presson, it's going to take about a month for
Speaker 1: you to feel the effects. If you stop taking a depressant,
Speaker 1: I find that a month in six weeks and seven
Speaker 1: weeks and you really start to go, wow, I'm genuinely
Speaker 1: overall in a better mood right on. So that's my speech,
Speaker 1: that's my soapbox. Yeah, it's all good man. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm on the same kick right now. And you know,
Speaker 1: power I'm using Powerpuff as a jump off for it.
Speaker 1: But I like the way I feel right now. Like
Speaker 1: I was smoking way too much weed, like way too
Speaker 1: much weed, so much weed that I had really bad
Speaker 1: withdrawals from it. And you know, people act like that
Speaker 1: doesn't exist, but it really does. And my wife went
Speaker 1: down the rabbit hole and found all of these natural
Speaker 1: remedies to combat my withdrawals. So within three days I
Speaker 1: was good to go, oh, what are those natural remedies?
Speaker 1: If you like, you want to put potassium back into
Speaker 1: your system because nights you sweat like a banshee, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Drink a lot of water, you
Speaker 1: want to hydrate. Yeah, I see, you got that that
Speaker 1: thing I have with all the inspirational words. This is
Speaker 1: my second day doing it. I'm already at I'm al
Speaker 1: mars done with this boy. By nine o'clock tonight, this
Speaker 1: shit is gone. I know. When you get one of
Speaker 1: those if you guys were talking about those like two
Speaker 1: liter things you can get on the internet, they have
Speaker 1: like drink it by this time, you know, they have
Speaker 1: the times and then it says like you got this,
Speaker 1: keep going, you know, and it's it's so silly because
Speaker 1: it's like a kid. It's like doing it for a kid.
Speaker 1: But it makes it a bit of a game, like
Speaker 1: can I get there by five? Can I get there
Speaker 1: by six? You know? Oh? You know what I do.
Speaker 1: This is the easiest way to do it. So I
Speaker 1: wake up in the morning and I drink to seven, right,
Speaker 1: that's the first thing. Now, if I wake up after seven,
Speaker 1: I'll drink to nine, right, And so at nine o'clock
Speaker 1: I'll drink again, and I'll drink all the way down
Speaker 1: to eleven, and then at eleven o'clock I'll drink again,
Speaker 1: and I'll drink all the way down to one. So
Speaker 1: by the time I get to seven pm at night,
Speaker 1: I'm finished with the bottle before nine o'clock. That's good.
Speaker 1: Then you can pee it all out. So you have
Speaker 1: to get up. So I don't have to get up
Speaker 1: because you have to. You do have to get used to.
Speaker 1: You do have to get used to having a new
Speaker 1: relationship with urinating because it's kind of always on your mind.
Speaker 1: But it's a small price to pay. Yes, But you
Speaker 1: know what, My goal now is to make it to
Speaker 1: the bathroom and stay asleep and still be able to
Speaker 1: pee in the toilet without getting it all over the bathroom.
Speaker 1: I've succeeded a couple of times. There have been times
Speaker 1: where I woke up in the morning to go to
Speaker 1: the bathroom. I was like, God, damn, I just missed everything. Idiot. Hey, um,
Speaker 1: do you did you see the new Black Widow trailer
Speaker 1: or any of you? Oh it looks amazing. Oh hell yes,
Speaker 1: I watched it like four times. But you guys don't
Speaker 1: worry about it, do you guys don't worry about it
Speaker 1: because you're gonna go see in the height. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I think I really got to say. I know I'm biased,
Speaker 1: but I thought that trailer was fucking awesome. It looks amazing.
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? With that moment where she's free
Speaker 1: falling out of the plane. Yes, yeah, and she I
Speaker 1: like how she's just she's just holding the parachute like
Speaker 1: with with with her hand like I know I'm gonna
Speaker 1: need this. I'm not gonna put it on. I know
Speaker 1: I'm gonna need it later, but so fly. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it looks Let's we should probably get my mom and
Speaker 1: let's we do work small before we do that. DJ
Speaker 1: Daniel Joel Monique, What is good with y'all this whole week? Listen?
Speaker 1: Since I to talk to your mom, I want to
Speaker 1: get all the good backstories. I want to know what
Speaker 1: you were like as a kid. I want to know
Speaker 1: about her career. Is it's incredible? Ye, her career is
Speaker 1: is what's really exciting? All right, let's count in and
Speaker 1: bring her in, all right? Stories about show we made
Speaker 1: nurses said he that stories? So around you here, Yeah,
Speaker 1: around here, ladies and gentlemen, give it up for my mom.
Speaker 1: The one and only Shirley where is she? Yeah, let
Speaker 1: let's put my video on. Thank you? Yeah, heym Shirley Fazon.
Speaker 1: Hey are your Mamma? I'm good. How are you? I'm good.
Speaker 1: I spoke to you yesterday. But still, hey, hey, that's
Speaker 1: that picture behind you? Is that me in junior high school?
Speaker 1: I think so right? There's way too much junior high school,
Speaker 1: junior high school? There? Yeah, yeah, Shirley. Hey is Zach grasp?
Speaker 1: How are you? It's good to see you, beautiful. It's
Speaker 1: been far too long. Oh I know mom. That's Joel,
Speaker 1: and that is Daniel. Hi, Daniel, Hi, Joe, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming on. We had my
Speaker 1: mom on and we just want to We just wanted
Speaker 1: to have you on because not only do we uh
Speaker 1: do we want to talk to you about a young
Speaker 1: Donald phase on um and tell us all this all
Speaker 1: the good stories, but also, you know, my mom is
Speaker 1: a psychologist, so she we asked her some psychology questions.
Speaker 1: And we have so many people to talk to us
Speaker 1: about getting into the business as actors, and we thought
Speaker 1: we could pick your brain for people that watch and
Speaker 1: listen to this about what it's like being an agent
Speaker 1: and in the business. So, Mom, have you ever listened
Speaker 1: to the podcast? Yes? Have you ever? Yes? I have.
Speaker 1: How many times have you listened to this podcast? Would
Speaker 1: you like for me to be honest? Yes, I would
Speaker 1: absolutely three Thank you for all three times. But surely
Speaker 1: surely did you? Did you laugh at least? Yes? I did?
Speaker 1: All right? Good, Yes I did? I did? Uh? Okay.
Speaker 1: I think we should start from the very as Zach
Speaker 1: always says, start at the very beginning, A very good
Speaker 1: place to start. When you're saying you begin with do
Speaker 1: ray me. Oh no, but it's not when you say.
Speaker 1: It's when you when you begin, when your BC and
Speaker 1: when you're saying you begin with me. All right, So Donald,
Speaker 1: what beginning you want to start? Let's talk about how
Speaker 1: like how like young Don Donald always talks about the
Speaker 1: theater you and your ex husband Ran. Can you tell
Speaker 1: us like how that came about and what it was
Speaker 1: like Donald hanging out in the young theater, because that's
Speaker 1: clearly he mentions that all the time, is being very
Speaker 1: impactful about what got him interested in the arts. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well I became a part of the theater when I
Speaker 1: now for all of the people that are out there
Speaker 1: that don't know what the theater is it's the National
Speaker 1: Black Theater. Yes, I became a part of the National
Speaker 1: Black Theater after they performed at my college. I was
Speaker 1: at Rutgers University, and um, they performed on my college campus,
Speaker 1: and that's how I was introduced to them. And then um,
Speaker 1: I came to New York and I became a part
Speaker 1: of National Black Theater. When I had uh, well, I
Speaker 1: called Donald Shoon Sorr. They know that, Okay, they know
Speaker 1: how they know they even know how to spell it correctly, Mom, Okay.
Speaker 1: So so when I had Shoon, Um Shon would come
Speaker 1: to all the rehearsals. I was a performer back then,
Speaker 1: and she would come to all the rehearsals and he
Speaker 1: would sit in the front row of all the performances.
Speaker 1: And actually he almost got beat up by one of
Speaker 1: the actors because he would say their lines before they
Speaker 1: so yeah and so. So. He would be in the
Speaker 1: front row saying the lines before the actors would sam
Speaker 1: and the actors would get very angry with him because
Speaker 1: he was saying their lines before they could even say them. Right.
Speaker 1: But let me ask you a question, Mom, at what
Speaker 1: point where you like I got to get him out
Speaker 1: of the front row and onto onto the stage. When
Speaker 1: would you start realizing that he might want to I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously be sitting in the front row and mounting along.
Speaker 1: You might have a sense that he's into this. But
Speaker 1: when did you when you push? No, but he when
Speaker 1: he was a baby and he would be in the stroller. Well,
Speaker 1: the strollers then, Um, they were like I want to say,
Speaker 1: like little cages, I guess, but they had no no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: they had you know, they had these feet things where
Speaker 1: you know, the feet would rest on a part of
Speaker 1: the stroller. And he when you would push him in
Speaker 1: the stroller, he would raise his head like he was
Speaker 1: in a chariot and like there was a horse in
Speaker 1: front of them. So so you all always knew that.
Speaker 1: I always knew that he liked to improvise and he
Speaker 1: liked to imagine. So so um, as part of the theater,
Speaker 1: we created a children's school. It was called the Children's
Speaker 1: School of the Development of Intuitive and God Conscious Art.
Speaker 1: And and all the kids what they did was they
Speaker 1: performed and they created plays. And so he uh, oh,
Speaker 1: I wish I had, I wish I had the video.
Speaker 1: I'm sure we could find it if you do on
Speaker 1: our Instagram, right, And um, he um, and he would
Speaker 1: perform he was so into it. Like all the other
Speaker 1: kids would be singing and dancing, but he would be
Speaker 1: really into it. He would like put one hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety nine percent into his performances. Um. And so we
Speaker 1: knew then that he was destined. And then truly when
Speaker 1: did he he? When did you start submitting him for
Speaker 1: auditions as a child? How old was he? Oh no,
Speaker 1: he didn't. He didn't start doing that until he was
Speaker 1: twelve years old. Boy, he got that one commercial that
Speaker 1: I always joked about the he was twelve. He was
Speaker 1: you have a long time memorized, but you know a
Speaker 1: long time about you know what that he went and got. Okay,
Speaker 1: We had a neighbor that lived on the floor above
Speaker 1: us who was a photographer and her son was a
Speaker 1: big time actress actor, right, and so she took his photograph.
Speaker 1: He had two photos. He had like the two um,
Speaker 1: the two proofs. He took one of the proofs and
Speaker 1: he went to Abrams Artists. Yeah, he went to Abrams
Speaker 1: artist He was twelve years old. They sent him on
Speaker 1: an audition. He had his bus pass. He went to
Speaker 1: the audition with his bus pass. He got a call
Speaker 1: back he went to the callback, he booked it. He said, Mom,
Speaker 1: they tell me I need to bring a guardian. Now,
Speaker 1: you don't sing a guardian to the audition, but if
Speaker 1: you get the job. So so he booked his first audition.
Speaker 1: It was Oatmeal Raising Crisp. Look what they've done to
Speaker 1: my Oatmeal? Yes, I didn't know you've gotten more. I
Speaker 1: just always assumed you only got one commercial, you got multiple. No.
Speaker 1: The first audition I ever went out for was this
Speaker 1: new serial that was coming out called Oatmeal Raising Crisp.
Speaker 1: And I remember I was just like, I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: sing because I never heard the song. It was like,
Speaker 1: look what they've done. It's an old song, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm just gonna sing. And I remember singing
Speaker 1: it and then being like, oh, he's so adorable. And
Speaker 1: then what I did on the audition wasn't exactly what
Speaker 1: I had to do in the commercial. Like in the commercial,
Speaker 1: I had to be like, look what they've done to Oatmeal,
Speaker 1: And in the audition I had, I was and I
Speaker 1: remember in the audition I was like, look what they've done.
Speaker 1: Look what they've done to me. Now, for goodness, say
Speaker 1: the gout and Crisp flakes with the whole new taste. Yeah,
Speaker 1: look or what they've done too Little Meal, right, And
Speaker 1: so I that's what I did. I pretty much went
Speaker 1: on the audition. It was like trying to Christina Aguilera
Speaker 1: the part just like every and I got it. And
Speaker 1: then when I got to the audition, I mean to
Speaker 1: the to the actual shoot, I tried to do that
Speaker 1: and they're like, no, no, no no, no, no. Your line
Speaker 1: is look what they've done to all meal and you
Speaker 1: have to do it in like and you have to
Speaker 1: do it in five seconds for three seconds, and I
Speaker 1: was like, oh shut. So the commercial comes out and
Speaker 1: you know, it's the quickest thing ever at the end
Speaker 1: of every one of them too, and it played everywhere
Speaker 1: for such a long time. Look what they on twolt
Speaker 1: meal And that was it. I gotta look that one
Speaker 1: up on YouTube. I've only find it, I'm sure. And
Speaker 1: then and then after that was Turbo Graphics sixteen, right,
Speaker 1: I don't remember. It was that Turbographic sixteen, which was
Speaker 1: like right around the time Sega came out and all
Speaker 1: of that stuff, and then came to Folders coffee commercial.
Speaker 1: Oh no wait, Foldiers came before Tobo Graphics that's right,
Speaker 1: I take that back. So surely what was it like
Speaker 1: as a mom? You know, and this business is so
Speaker 1: close to impossible and then here's your twelve year old
Speaker 1: book in commercials that must have been exciting. Well, I
Speaker 1: was running a theater and so I couldn't take him.
Speaker 1: So I would take I would hire the actors to
Speaker 1: take him to his shoots because I couldn't go. So
Speaker 1: um yeah, so um. So you really never got to
Speaker 1: experience it and other than watching it, huh, except for
Speaker 1: when we did the Folders commercial. You did come with
Speaker 1: me to that art, Yeah I did. I did go
Speaker 1: to the Folders commercial, and I went to Washington, DC
Speaker 1: when you shot the Polaroid commercial that never aired. That
Speaker 1: never aired, right, right, Yeah, so I did go to
Speaker 1: that one, but I never I never, like one time
Speaker 1: he would go to California and test I'd never went.
Speaker 1: I went once. I went once. I went once. That
Speaker 1: was when Tevin Campbell blew me out the water. No,
Speaker 1: Grandma was with me when that happened. Yeah, what happened.
Speaker 1: So I went on an audition back in the day
Speaker 1: for this Quincy Jones pilot, right, and uh it was
Speaker 1: about the dude who got The star of the show
Speaker 1: was Skippy from Family Ties. Remember Skippy Alice's best friend. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so he's the lead on the show and he plays this,
Speaker 1: he plays like this record producer or something like that,
Speaker 1: and uh, out of New York. I was the one
Speaker 1: that made it out of New York. But I had
Speaker 1: to go to LA. I get how old you at
Speaker 1: this point. I'm not even in high school yet, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? So you end up a guardian
Speaker 1: to fly with you. Yes, And so my grandmother went
Speaker 1: with me, right, and you know, we get there and
Speaker 1: I'm feeling good. I'm singing in the audition. I come
Speaker 1: out to Tina Arnold's there and she's like, wow, that
Speaker 1: was really good. Now I had seen her in little
Speaker 1: Shop already. She was a little Shop of horror already,
Speaker 1: and she was in all of these other things, and
Speaker 1: I was like, holy cow, A bona fide celebrity, a
Speaker 1: bonafide star told me. I did a good job on
Speaker 1: this audition. So I'm like, I think I got this.
Speaker 1: I go to LA with my grandmother. We walk in
Speaker 1: t Shirt Campbell's at the audition. Like now it's like
Speaker 1: big leagues. Now, it's like, holy cow. Everybody is here,
Speaker 1: and there's these two kids there that are auditioning for
Speaker 1: my part, but I had never heard of him. One's
Speaker 1: name was Rosan Patterson and the other kid's name was
Speaker 1: Tevin Campbell. And I'm like, there's no way these two
Speaker 1: suckers is gonna be me for this part. I can't
Speaker 1: wait to go in. So Rasan Patterson goes in first,
Speaker 1: crushes I'm like he was good, yes, but I like,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I got this. Tevin Campbell goes in next.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you people out there know who
Speaker 1: Tevin Campbell is. Tevin Campbell is the one that sang
Speaker 1: uh that way, talk for a minute, not just that,
Speaker 1: but at the time, I guess tomorrow will bring a
Speaker 1: better than you, a better than me, and know the
Speaker 1: will show this world right whatever that song was. And
Speaker 1: then after that he's had songs like can we talk
Speaker 1: for a minute, girl, I'm on to know your name? Right,
Speaker 1: He's had several gonna light a lighter pretty soon, several
Speaker 1: hits six. Then he goes in and fucking slays Now
Speaker 1: to go after him? Yes, Now I go in. The
Speaker 1: piano player is not in my key and he's singing
Speaker 1: that he's playing the ship real high. So now I'm like,
Speaker 1: you and I must make a pat and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I fucking don't get I'm not gonna get this part.
Speaker 1: I was like, at least when when they have me read,
Speaker 1: I know, I'll take these guys out because I know
Speaker 1: I can read, right, I know, I know these guys
Speaker 1: are singers. But I'm the actor in the bunch they
Speaker 1: had me read, No, they didn't even get I didn't
Speaker 1: even get to the read. They were like, after I finished,
Speaker 1: I came out, I sat down and I could tell
Speaker 1: people in the audience were like, I mean in the
Speaker 1: in the audition, like it didn't go that well. They're like,
Speaker 1: and I'm sitting there and my grandmother's like, you did
Speaker 1: all right, baby, don't worry about it, and uh they
Speaker 1: come on, they go, Donald, you can leave now, thank you.
Speaker 1: And I was like and like I had my suit kake,
Speaker 1: like we had just got off the plane, like all
Speaker 1: of that shit, like you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 1: it hurts. And then that night we we hung out
Speaker 1: with the other girl who didn't get the part also
Speaker 1: and we went bowling and all of that stuff. But
Speaker 1: I just remember walking as soon as I was done singing.
Speaker 1: They were like, thank you Donald, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: and all because the pianist wasn't playing it in your key,
Speaker 1: you know, all because Tevin Campbell got in my freaking soul.
Speaker 1: And always it always sucks when you can you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes for those you don't know, when you're in an
Speaker 1: audition room, you can hear it's like you're I just
Speaker 1: outside the door, and so you can hear other people going,
Speaker 1: and that just can be such a mind fuck if
Speaker 1: it's but it could be a boost if the person
Speaker 1: sucks and you're like, oh, I got the I remember
Speaker 1: sitting in waiting rooms when I first got to Hollywood,
Speaker 1: and I look around the waiting room and I'd just
Speaker 1: be so insecure, and all these guys were so good looking,
Speaker 1: and I'd be like, I'm never gonna what the fuck
Speaker 1: am I doing? And these guys are like models. And
Speaker 1: then I'd hear them go and I'd be like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: I can act. I've got a shot. Remember when Sean
Speaker 1: Wayne Wayne sent you to the bathroom. Yeah, so no,
Speaker 1: not Sean Marlin. So I grew up with So I
Speaker 1: grew up with Marlon Wayne's Omar Epps. They went to
Speaker 1: LaGuardia and this my brother, my friend Mitchy, and the
Speaker 1: three of them. They're like best friends. They like the
Speaker 1: three amigoes. But I used to ride the train at
Speaker 1: the bus from my school all the way up to
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty fifth Street where the National Black
Speaker 1: Theater was pretty much every day, so I would and
Speaker 1: they would ride all the way uptown too, So I
Speaker 1: was always with them, and you know, I got to
Speaker 1: know them and we would laugh and shoot the ship
Speaker 1: all the time, and you know, sometimes hang out after
Speaker 1: school like you know. It was. It was they were
Speaker 1: friends of mine. And one I didn't know, Marlon, was
Speaker 1: an actor. And one time I went on an audition
Speaker 1: and he was there and I was like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: what are you doing here. He's like, I'm auditioning. He's like,
Speaker 1: what are you doing here? I was like, I'm auditioning.
Speaker 1: I was like where where where's the room at? Oh?
Speaker 1: He goes. He says, it's down the hall. It's that way,
Speaker 1: go through that door, through that door, and then around
Speaker 1: the corner and then it's like the last door all
Speaker 1: the way down the corridor. And I was like, thanks, man.
Speaker 1: I was like, break a leg. He was like, you two.
Speaker 1: It looked like he was getting on the elevator. I
Speaker 1: walk all the way down there, no after signing it. No,
Speaker 1: I walk all the way down there, and it turns
Speaker 1: out to be the bathroom, and I'm like, what the fuck?
Speaker 1: But I come all the way back and where the
Speaker 1: signing sheet was was the door to go into the audition.
Speaker 1: So I opened the door to go in the audition
Speaker 1: and he's sitting in the room smiling at me like
Speaker 1: hey man, and he totally mind fucked me. I didn't
Speaker 1: get that part either. Man. There's so many tricks that
Speaker 1: people do as as actors in the waiting room, Like
Speaker 1: you'll see there's the guy who tries to keep you
Speaker 1: talking the whole time. Yeah, so you're not, so you're
Speaker 1: not getting in your head about like getting in your
Speaker 1: great headspace to go in and kill it. Did I
Speaker 1: tell you guys about the guy used to come out
Speaker 1: of every audition crying. I forgot in case he was
Speaker 1: that that The short version is he'd come out, he'd
Speaker 1: be crying. We will all be looking at the pages
Speaker 1: like where the fuck is the crying scene? And he
Speaker 1: would just throw it in because he could cry and
Speaker 1: queue like that and he'd be like, he'd be like
Speaker 1: swiping his tears. He'd come out of like good luck everybody,
Speaker 1: bregger leg. We're like, what's going on? And then I
Speaker 1: once finally asked him. I was like, dude, why are
Speaker 1: you crying in every audition? He's like, hell, people love
Speaker 1: them when you can cry like that. They don't care
Speaker 1: if it's even in the scene. They just they think
Speaker 1: you're a good actor. I'm like, well, how do you
Speaker 1: do that? He goes, I just think of anyone doing
Speaker 1: anything mean to animals. And I was like, and I'm
Speaker 1: sitting there like thinking of people doing mean things to animals,
Speaker 1: and no tears are coming. I'm like, I hate that, man.
Speaker 1: I mean, I love it. It's a it's a great
Speaker 1: skill to have. But you know, crying doesn't make you
Speaker 1: a good actor. No, I know, I'm just talking about mine.
Speaker 1: I'm just talking about going off of what you said
Speaker 1: about all the shenanigans that happened in casting waiting rooms
Speaker 1: and people trying to mind fuck each other. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it still happens. Like I'll go on auditions now, uh,
Speaker 1: Like I auditioned for a television show two years ago
Speaker 1: when everybody was auditioning and you could still go out.
Speaker 1: And this one person in the waiting room just kept
Speaker 1: talking to me. I was like, dude, I know what
Speaker 1: you're doing. Please stop, and it's okay, you don't have
Speaker 1: to do this. We're all gonna get don't have to
Speaker 1: do this. Man, he just kept doing it, and I
Speaker 1: was like, you know what, I'm gonna just step outside. Yeah,
Speaker 1: since since I've been an agent, um, we should get
Speaker 1: into that story before we Well we can, we can
Speaker 1: do them simultaneously, but but yeah, surely tell us about
Speaker 1: what you're about to say. And then I want to
Speaker 1: ask you a question about agent. Right, Well, since I've
Speaker 1: been an agent. Um. Uh, there was a mother that
Speaker 1: would take her child to the audition and they would
Speaker 1: bring their Boa constructor with them. So if you could
Speaker 1: imagine a bunch of kids an audition and somebody walks
Speaker 1: in with a Boa constructor, right, they're all the kids
Speaker 1: are going crazy for the snake. Yeah, pet the snake
Speaker 1: and hold the snake and not really concentrate or be
Speaker 1: afraid or be afraid of the snake or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: It can be such a you know, you can work
Speaker 1: a week on an audition. It's like, you know, it's
Speaker 1: the analogy. I often think it was the Olympics, and
Speaker 1: that it doesn't matter how long you're trained, It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter how great you were in your home gym or
Speaker 1: in your living room. All that matters is what you
Speaker 1: do when you walk in that room, and and you
Speaker 1: can get so easily. Well, it's easy to get mind
Speaker 1: fucked by what's happening outside the room and what's going
Speaker 1: on in your head that day. Yeah, it's yea. The
Speaker 1: distraction is real. And you only get one shot when
Speaker 1: you go in an audition too. That's that's the thing
Speaker 1: that they don't you know, that's the thing that they
Speaker 1: don't train you for. You can rehearse and rehearse and
Speaker 1: rehearse and rehearse. One slip up and you know, casting
Speaker 1: most likely is moving on. You know, for the most part,
Speaker 1: if you can walk in and give perfection when you audition,
Speaker 1: you're most likely going to get the part. If you
Speaker 1: have if you if you have the look, that's a bonus.
Speaker 1: But if you can deliver that one time, right now, deliver,
Speaker 1: they're gonna hire and an injury and in an interesting
Speaker 1: way that's unique and different, different from the everybody else.
Speaker 1: But wait, Sureley, I want to go back to just
Speaker 1: like it's keeping in Donald's careers. So then what what
Speaker 1: was the next big thing Donald? Was it Clueless or Titans? No,
Speaker 1: I didn't. I did a bunch of really small indie
Speaker 1: movies that turned out to be really big before that,
Speaker 1: before I did Clueless, and before I did remember the Titans,
Speaker 1: like I did, um this movie sugar Hill. Well, I
Speaker 1: did a bunch of television like you know, like little
Speaker 1: parts here on TV. And we met Wesley Snipes, and
Speaker 1: I remember I auditioned for sugar Hill and got the part,
Speaker 1: and I had worked. Wesley Snipes walked me and my
Speaker 1: mom home to the subway? Was it to the subway
Speaker 1: or was it? What was it? Oh? I don't remember that, Okay.
Speaker 1: So when I got a I got a small part
Speaker 1: where I was where New York was. The name of
Speaker 1: the show was called Help and New and New York
Speaker 1: was overrun by rats in the in one of the episodes,
Speaker 1: and I had one line. And you know, they made
Speaker 1: me dress up like a like a like I was
Speaker 1: a street thug, and you know, the news is on
Speaker 1: me and I'm rapping to the camera and I go, hey,
Speaker 1: new York don't worry about nothing. We here to do
Speaker 1: some serious rap busting. And I got a bat in
Speaker 1: my hand, right And Wesley Snipes plays like a cop
Speaker 1: on the show. And after I did that scene, he
Speaker 1: walked with me and my mom to the subway station.
Speaker 1: He walked us to the subway station. He gave us
Speaker 1: his old spiel on Noah, who he was and what
Speaker 1: he had, you know what he was up to. About
Speaker 1: four years later, I guess it was my senior year.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't my senior, junior or senior year in
Speaker 1: high school. I got a part. I started getting small
Speaker 1: parts in movies. Juice was first, and then sugar Hill,
Speaker 1: and Wesley Snipes was in sugar Hill, and I remember
Speaker 1: we're doing a bunch of scenes and stuff and I
Speaker 1: was like, you know where you met me, do you?
Speaker 1: He's like, of course I do. Man. We met one
Speaker 1: help nine one one back, you know, a few years ago.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm really happy you here right now. And
Speaker 1: I was like, holy shit, Wesley Snipes remembers me. This big,
Speaker 1: this big, huge star remembers me. But then there were
Speaker 1: small roles in small movies that turned out to be
Speaker 1: like either a hood classic, like Juicon and sugar Hill,
Speaker 1: a Straighthood classics man Michael Michael writes in one is
Speaker 1: in sugar Hill like it's It's It's. I was very
Speaker 1: lucky to be around a lot of the people I
Speaker 1: grew up with in the building that my mom lives
Speaker 1: in now. So like h Wesley Snipes, Michael Wright, all
Speaker 1: of these actors would come and frequent Manhattan Plaza. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what was it surely about that building that attracted so
Speaker 1: many actors. Well, what happened was that UM Manhattan Plaza
Speaker 1: was supposed to be a luxury building and UM and
Speaker 1: because the convention Center was supposed to be built where
Speaker 1: it is now, but but years before the convention center
Speaker 1: didn't happen then, and so UM the actor's Equity and
Speaker 1: SAG lobbied for the building to be UM residence for artists.
Speaker 1: But so who was the head? Who was the person
Speaker 1: who spearheaded that uh punjab from Annie right, the guy
Speaker 1: who played yes Um, Jeoffrey Holder. Jeffrey Holder. Jeffrey Holder
Speaker 1: was one of the people seven up guy, Yeah, Sebastian
Speaker 1: from a Little Mermaid Too. Yeah, So there were quite
Speaker 1: there were quite a few people that that wanted it
Speaker 1: to be an artist. Um complex. So seventy percent of
Speaker 1: the people that moved into the building were either performing
Speaker 1: artists or artist personnel. So so. UM, screenwriters like Angela
Speaker 1: Lansbury lived here Tennessee. Williams left here now, Nel Carter
Speaker 1: um and and Alicia Keys was grew up with shown
Speaker 1: here and um it was a building it is still
Speaker 1: a building for a performing artists. Wow. So wow, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: I mean, and it's so amazing because Umm, I'm on
Speaker 1: the Tennants Association here, I'm one of the vps, and
Speaker 1: we try to make sure that, um, we have things
Speaker 1: in the building that support artists and support um so
Speaker 1: so so like during COVID we did um concerts on
Speaker 1: the plaza where people could where people could actually sit
Speaker 1: on their balconies and listen to the music. UM yeah um.
Speaker 1: And then on the quiet Park, which is another part,
Speaker 1: we'd have string orchestras out there and um, so that
Speaker 1: people that lived in that area would be able to
Speaker 1: view it. When I think about it, Mom, you set
Speaker 1: me up to be what I am right now because
Speaker 1: of you, know, your your tenacity to get into the building.
Speaker 1: First of all, like you were like, I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: us into this building and I did that. And so
Speaker 1: then now I'm surrounded by all of these actors and
Speaker 1: musicians and entertainers and writers. And like Larry David's from
Speaker 1: Manhattan Seinfeld is based on Manhattan Plaza, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Larry David's uh neighbor, right, He's no, he
Speaker 1: wasn't No Kramer, Kenny Kramer. I grew up with his daughter,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And so and so, like,
Speaker 1: I was always around actor, so it was always a
Speaker 1: possibility in my mind, I can do it. I've seen
Speaker 1: I've seen my neighbor do it, my next door neighbors
Speaker 1: on freaking Broadway. But you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: I always thought, and you're right in the middle of it.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're you're you're a block from Times Square
Speaker 1: where it's all happening, but not just that. But then
Speaker 1: I would go uptown to Harlem and my mom's directing plays,
Speaker 1: and you know what I mean. So I'm like, I
Speaker 1: can do this. I know I can do this. It's
Speaker 1: in my bo I'm seeing my mom do it. I
Speaker 1: know I can do it. And so I knew at
Speaker 1: a very young age I was going to be an actor.
Speaker 1: And it's really because of you, mom, because you kind
Speaker 1: of set me up to be where I'm at right now.
Speaker 1: No people talk about momagers and everything like that. My
Speaker 1: mom wasn't a momager or anything like that. But I
Speaker 1: missed out on quite a few things, Like I was
Speaker 1: a pretty good athlete. I missed out on basketball. I
Speaker 1: missed out on baseball, like like real big games and stuff.
Speaker 1: My mom would be like, you have an audition and
Speaker 1: I would never get those parts. But she was setting
Speaker 1: me up for you know, success, and I appreciate that
Speaker 1: so much more. Oh, thank you, thank you. Let's take
Speaker 1: a break. We'll be right back after these fine words.
Speaker 1: Surely tell us about um, like what was what was
Speaker 1: a big like he was getting these smaller parts? And
Speaker 1: then what did you feel? And I don't know the
Speaker 1: chronology if it was clues or titans, but when what
Speaker 1: was like a oh shit, next step for Donald's career? Mmmm? Um?
Speaker 1: How about when were you like, oh shit, he's going
Speaker 1: to do it, He's really going to do it. No,
Speaker 1: I knew, I knew it was going to do it
Speaker 1: from the very beginning, and it wasn't you know. You know,
Speaker 1: there's sometimes when there are kids that there's a point
Speaker 1: in their life where they do a whole bunch of
Speaker 1: stuff and then they don't do anything else. Yeah. Uh,
Speaker 1: he had a steady, constant career. So maybe he might
Speaker 1: do one thing a year or two things a year,
Speaker 1: but he would always do something. So I knew that
Speaker 1: it was it was something that was constant. It wasn't
Speaker 1: something that was just oh, he's cute right now, and
Speaker 1: so he's going to work right now. I was really
Speaker 1: clear that he was going to there was going to
Speaker 1: be longevity, yeah, in his career and um, and so
Speaker 1: we supported him and in doing that. Um. And I
Speaker 1: remember one year we went to the movies to see something.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what it was, but but uh, the
Speaker 1: preview for Upcoming Attractions came on and there he was
Speaker 1: and it was New Year's Eve. I think that we
Speaker 1: had gone to the movies and it was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, he's His scene was in the Coming Attraction
Speaker 1: and I was I was like, oh my goodness, this
Speaker 1: is amazing. You know, the whole movie was that Donald
Speaker 1: probably remember The Titans. No, it was before I remember
Speaker 1: the Titans. Oh yeah, I don't think I am okay, sure,
Speaker 1: I remember when I knew that it was. I didn't.
Speaker 1: I knew that I had reached a level. When I
Speaker 1: was Disney rented out a movie theater for my mom
Speaker 1: and all of her friends and myself to go watch.
Speaker 1: Remember the Titans wo word came out, and that was
Speaker 1: when I was like, holy shit, it's it's you know,
Speaker 1: I had done Clueless already. I had done Weight in
Speaker 1: the Exhale already, But that's when I was like, holy shit.
Speaker 1: Like there's a scene in Um Notorious where Biggie's sitting
Speaker 1: down and he's listening in the sky as a limit.
Speaker 1: He's like, hofully shit, I did it. Yeah, I did it.
Speaker 1: I'm the best rapper alive. I did it. I did it,
Speaker 1: And I didn't think I was the best actor alive,
Speaker 1: but I was like, holy shit, I did it in
Speaker 1: a movie with an actor. My mom has always talked
Speaker 1: about my whole ever since. I can remember Denzel like this,
Speaker 1: Like I used to make a joke. There's three pictures
Speaker 1: in the house growing up. There was a picture of Jesus,
Speaker 1: picture of doctor Martin Luther King, and then the picture
Speaker 1: of Denzel Washington. You know. I used to yeah, right
Speaker 1: and so and so my I remember doing being there
Speaker 1: and seeing my mom um, my friends, everybody like caught
Speaker 1: up in this movie and not really thinking about me
Speaker 1: in the movie, just being caught up in the in
Speaker 1: the moment, you know what I mean, in the in
Speaker 1: the magic and saying, holy shit, I did it. I
Speaker 1: fucking I finally I did it. I did it' I
Speaker 1: know I knew walking out of that theater. My mom
Speaker 1: was on cloud nine because of it, even if I
Speaker 1: don't know if she liked Clueless. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you liked. I'm sure you liked Waiting the Exhale, but
Speaker 1: I knew you were on cloud nine when you walked
Speaker 1: out in the theater after watching Remember the Titans, because
Speaker 1: everybody else was, you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: The thing about Remember the Titans also that I loved
Speaker 1: was was the historical, historical element about it. And and
Speaker 1: and I remember watching it and there was a moment
Speaker 1: where everybody, all my friends, we all just stood up.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was just so it was it was
Speaker 1: just so emotional, you know, and m and it holds up.
Speaker 1: I mean I just recently saw it for the first time, uh,
Speaker 1: which Donald loves to talk about, but I you know,
Speaker 1: it holds up today. I was on the verge of
Speaker 1: standing up in the planting when I watched it in
Speaker 1: my house. It's one of those Yeah, I knew after that.
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, whatever happens after this is gravy.
Speaker 1: I had no idea that Scrubs would be next, like
Speaker 1: it went from. My twenties were fucking awesome because of
Speaker 1: the work that I got to do Clueless, remember the
Speaker 1: Titans waiting to exhale Scrubs, Like all of those things
Speaker 1: came into play in my twenties. Surely do you remember
Speaker 1: um just down that he brought up Scrubs? Do you
Speaker 1: remember like that, like finding out that he got it,
Speaker 1: like knowing that he had, that he was a serious
Speaker 1: contender for it, and that all of a sudden he
Speaker 1: got this primetime show. Jan knew nothing about it until
Speaker 1: we came to upfronts and I took it up front. Yeah, really,
Speaker 1: what's that story? You just you didn't because you didn't
Speaker 1: want to. You didn't want to, like hover be well,
Speaker 1: I had been on a television I had been on
Speaker 1: a television. I'd been on several television shows before, or
Speaker 1: Scrubs that you had done Clueless and Felicity and right
Speaker 1: that we're struggling to stay on the air, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, right, like really struggling. So then what
Speaker 1: did you tell her at the upfronts? Like how did
Speaker 1: that go down? I was like, Hey, I got a show.
Speaker 1: Why don't you come and be the upfront. That's the
Speaker 1: year that they were like, Donald, you didn't get the memo.
Speaker 1: It was that year? Oh ye was that year one? Yeah,
Speaker 1: we all went to our first big event and we
Speaker 1: were all dressed up and Donald's like in sweatpants. And
Speaker 1: I remember, like some photographers like, what's the matter? Donald
Speaker 1: didn't get the memo? Right? But anyway, my mom for
Speaker 1: the first time, so because you know, they would play
Speaker 1: a sizzle reel of the show at the upfront and
Speaker 1: she saw it for the first time. She was like
Speaker 1: it's really good. Oh my god, it's so good. I
Speaker 1: can't believe this is so good. And I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll see how it goes. We'll see how it goes.
Speaker 1: And that night I gave Jeff Zucca a nuggie. Yeah
Speaker 1: good times. Yeah, Um, Mom, I want to talk about
Speaker 1: one thing, so, um, let's talk about how you became
Speaker 1: an agent. Yeah, because that was really interesting to me.
Speaker 1: I remember you just always being like, I'm going to
Speaker 1: be involved in your career, and I remember me always
Speaker 1: fighting you, saying there's no way I'm ever gonna let
Speaker 1: you be a part of all of this. And then
Speaker 1: the next thing I know, you were working at my
Speaker 1: agent's office. Yeah. Well, okay, So I became an It
Speaker 1: was a life change, a career change, because I had
Speaker 1: been working in theater. I had been a development officer,
Speaker 1: I've been a director, I've been a producer, I've been
Speaker 1: executive director. And at some point I got burnt out.
Speaker 1: And also, um, me and Donald's father broke up, so um,
Speaker 1: I and I worked with him, and so I wanted
Speaker 1: to do something different. And Shoot was working at the
Speaker 1: agency when he wasn't working, um, you know, pulling pictures
Speaker 1: and director. Oh Carson Evler agency, so famous agency in
Speaker 1: New York. Yeah, so Shon was working at the agency,
Speaker 1: UM as an assistant, and he was gonna go to
Speaker 1: do something. It wasn't clueless because I was there when
Speaker 1: he got clueless. It was something else. He was going
Speaker 1: to test for something. And um and for me, yeah
Speaker 1: you did. You asked me to cover for you while
Speaker 1: because I wanted to shift what I was doing and
Speaker 1: so I covered for him, and when he got back,
Speaker 1: he didn't have a job. This sounds like the funniest movie.
Speaker 1: I would so watch this movie. A guy had a
Speaker 1: job and he's like, mom, I need a favorite I
Speaker 1: came back. They were like, you can't work here no more.
Speaker 1: That we're talking about your mom's running the place, like yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean now now it's to the point where she's
Speaker 1: a partner. And I was saying, of course, we want
Speaker 1: I want to hear that, but I think it's funny
Speaker 1: that your mom was doing your job so well that
Speaker 1: they were like, numb bro, sorry you're gone. Well, I
Speaker 1: was horrible at the job, Like I sucked at it.
Speaker 1: I was really bad. It has a lot to There
Speaker 1: was a lot of typing and spelling and reading involved,
Speaker 1: and Zach, you know me, I'm not strong in any
Speaker 1: of those categories. So yeah, I had to I had to. Uh,
Speaker 1: I had to relinquish that job. And that was and
Speaker 1: that was before UM word processing, so it was a
Speaker 1: type writer, right. UM I went and I and I
Speaker 1: covered for him, and I communicated that I wanted to
Speaker 1: become an agent. And so after about six months of
Speaker 1: being quote unquote an assistant, UM, I got my subfranchise
Speaker 1: and I UM and so UM Carson Adler was known
Speaker 1: as a children's agency, and Nancy asked me what I
Speaker 1: wanted to do, and I it's hard working with parents,
Speaker 1: it really is. And so I said, I wanted to
Speaker 1: focus more on young adults and adults. So I started
Speaker 1: the UM the Young adult adult vision of the division
Speaker 1: of the agency and come quite successful. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: some of the people that you represented or some of
Speaker 1: the people that have come through that agency that are
Speaker 1: now big time in Hollywood. Like well, one of my
Speaker 1: one of my clients was Constant School. I represented her
Speaker 1: right out of college. UM I represented las Alonzo, UM,
Speaker 1: I've represented um bb Winan's Stephanie Mills, UM, Robin Givens Um. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about some of the kids that you used
Speaker 1: to take to her their auditions, Like did you ever
Speaker 1: use is it true, used to take Kristen Bell to
Speaker 1: her auditions? And yes I did. I did because she
Speaker 1: would fly in from Chicago and Nancy would pick her
Speaker 1: up from the airport and bring it to the agency,
Speaker 1: and then I would take her to her auditions, and
Speaker 1: then Nancy would take her back to the airport and
Speaker 1: she would fly back to Chicago. At the end of
Speaker 1: the day, I ran into Liam Michel h yeah, uh
Speaker 1: huh yeah, and the same thing with her, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: well Leah, Leah would Leah lived in New York, right,
Speaker 1: um um and um so so she so she actually
Speaker 1: would go at her own auditions, but she would. She
Speaker 1: would come in the office a lot in Bethany Joy
Speaker 1: lens Um, David Krumholtz, Rum, I remember crum Holts back
Speaker 1: in the day. Yeah, I was a kid actor at
Speaker 1: a place called Fox albert You remember them, Oh, yes,
Speaker 1: I do. I remember Fox Alberts. So that's where I was.
Speaker 1: And I would and it was a similar situation to you.
Speaker 1: I'd come in and I was too young. Sometimes I
Speaker 1: was too young in the beginning, and I'd have a
Speaker 1: guardian or someone with me, and sometimes someone from the
Speaker 1: agency would take me around because I was so young
Speaker 1: and wide eyed and didn't know New York. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: really interesting how many people come up to me in Hollywood.
Speaker 1: You know. It used to be everybody who was African American,
Speaker 1: like your mom was my agent and New York City.
Speaker 1: It happens to me too anyway. When I when I
Speaker 1: walk around Manhattan, or the theater district. People know that
Speaker 1: I know you obviously, and they use Shirley as a
Speaker 1: way to start talking to me. They're like, I know
Speaker 1: Shirley phase on, and I'm like, everybody knows Shley, Pa,
Speaker 1: we're in the theater district. But that's something that you
Speaker 1: really like. That's where you thrive. Also, like you had,
Speaker 1: You've had, you have people that turned into movie stars
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, But you thrive on Broadway and
Speaker 1: off Broadway, right m hmm, yeah, well before the pandemic,
Speaker 1: because Broadway is not happening right now. But um, Hamilton,
Speaker 1: Lion King name Michelle? What about what was the one
Speaker 1: that Zach and I love so much? You'll have to
Speaker 1: be more specific, the one the one with the Josh
Speaker 1: Gad that Josh Gadd was in Oh Book of Mormon. Oh, yes,
Speaker 1: I've had, I've had people in Book of Mormon. Yes. Um,
Speaker 1: surely this is a question I get all the time
Speaker 1: and I never know the answer to it because I
Speaker 1: was a kid actor and uh and I had and
Speaker 1: I had a weird kind of waning into the business.
Speaker 1: But for those people listening who either they or they
Speaker 1: have a child that aspires like, how do you even
Speaker 1: begin to get an agent in two thy twenty one, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't even I don't even know what to tell
Speaker 1: people how to how to do it. Um. There's several
Speaker 1: ways um as an agent, I go to showcases so
Speaker 1: UM and if there's a reputable school, um that you
Speaker 1: go to when they do a showcase, I'll go to
Speaker 1: the showcase if they hold a showcase, and I will
Speaker 1: UM see who I like and speak to the person
Speaker 1: who teaches the classes about that particular person. Or a
Speaker 1: teacher might say, you know, I have an incredible student
Speaker 1: that I would like for you to UM to see.
Speaker 1: Also um. Also UM, I go to shows um off Broadway,
Speaker 1: off off Broadway, UM little theaters, and if there's someone
Speaker 1: that I like, I will speak to whomever to get
Speaker 1: in touch with them. UM. Sometimes UM, I might see
Speaker 1: a YouTube video and and and it's like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: that person's amazing, UM, and I might try to reach
Speaker 1: out to them. That's a little you know, if a
Speaker 1: person has a whole lot of followers and you know,
Speaker 1: a larger agency is gonna try to scoop them, grab
Speaker 1: them before I can get to them. But but um,
Speaker 1: the most important thing, it seems like is to find
Speaker 1: a way to not only be in something right, but
Speaker 1: then get talent agents to come to the thing. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's the most important thing, is to have them
Speaker 1: see you do something right. Yes, exactly. You guys don't
Speaker 1: do open calls anymore, like have people come in and
Speaker 1: just well I have to do that with screen actors
Speaker 1: guilt and with Actors' Equity Association, um. But as far
Speaker 1: as people just coming into the office and doing an
Speaker 1: open call that way, No, I make appointments and now
Speaker 1: during COVID, I do zoom appointments. When I was at
Speaker 1: my last year in Northwestern, they had a we had
Speaker 1: a showcase and that was really that was really helpful.
Speaker 1: We did they invite casting directors and agents and managers
Speaker 1: and you do like a dramatic monologue and a no sorry,
Speaker 1: I did a dramatic scene in a comedic scene. And
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think anything really fully materialized from it,
Speaker 1: but it was like a good It was good experience.
Speaker 1: And I got some some nimbles, and I remember one
Speaker 1: of them was from Blue Man Group because they were
Speaker 1: just they were just looking for anyone that was six
Speaker 1: feet tall blue makeup. Yeah, and I was like we
Speaker 1: Basically their attitude was like, we could teach you everything.
Speaker 1: We could teach you to drum, we could teach you
Speaker 1: to whatever you need to do, but we need to
Speaker 1: be six foot tall and milling to shave your head
Speaker 1: and turn blue. I was like, no, I'm good, thanks,
Speaker 1: and didn't flash forward to Blue Man Group on Scrubs, right,
Speaker 1: and then we had them on Scrubs. There you go. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we have a caller mom. Yeah, usually your mom might
Speaker 1: not even know that we take callers. We take callers
Speaker 1: on this show for you know, the three times that
Speaker 1: you've listened, I'm sure you. We don't know if you've
Speaker 1: made it to the caller section. Yes, I have, I have. Okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have it. We're gonna bite a callering and
Speaker 1: we're gonna they're gonna ask two questions, right Joel, and
Speaker 1: then we're gonna and then we do a segment called
Speaker 1: fix their Life or you're gonna We're gonna list you
Speaker 1: to help us fix their life. Okay, we become pop
Speaker 1: psychologists for ten minutes. Um, we need to do that.
Speaker 1: We'll go to break though, right, Okay, we're gonna say
Speaker 1: a commercial break and we'll be right back for um.
Speaker 1: All right, so Joel Daniel, bring in the guest and
Speaker 1: let's wow them on a Sunday or it comes day
Speaker 1: my birthday. When you're listening to thee, here comes Teddy Shapiro.
Speaker 1: Teddy Shapiro, give it up for a theory Chapiro under
Speaker 1: as applause. Oh my god, there you are? Are you?
Speaker 1: How are you? Theodore? I am great? Thank you? Donald?
Speaker 1: How are you? I am well? Thank you for asking.
Speaker 1: You're having my lovely mother Shirley phase on with us.
Speaker 1: Missus Payson, how are you? I'm good? How are you to?
Speaker 1: I'm good? Thank you? And we have some course legendary
Speaker 1: Daniel in legendary Joel pleasure, welcome, and that right there
Speaker 1: is the one and only Zach Brath. Yes, I have
Speaker 1: on my terry cloth shirt for you today because it's
Speaker 1: a gorgeous daye Los Angeles and beautiful day in Chicago.
Speaker 1: I didn't want you to see me naked, so I
Speaker 1: put my terry cloth shirt on. Thank you. Um, how
Speaker 1: welcome to the program. We're so happy you're here. You
Speaker 1: have the added advantage of having the legendary Shirley phaise
Speaker 1: On on the program. Do you have a question for
Speaker 1: us that we can answer. I do, I do. Um.
Speaker 1: My first question is for Donald and Zach, is you know,
Speaker 1: I know you guys are best friends, But when do
Speaker 1: you guys first feel like that connection and when do
Speaker 1: you guys first realize like, oh, this is gonna be
Speaker 1: my man and my man for like ever? Instantaneously? Yeah?
Speaker 1: It was? I mean, well, Donald has a different answer.
Speaker 1: It instantaneous. He had me at first hip hop hug.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't a hip hop hug. It was a
Speaker 1: hip hop hug. Donald, it wasn't Dick. I'm implying we
Speaker 1: went growing to growing in Bill's living room. I don't
Speaker 1: think so. I'm pretty sure we went growing to growing. No,
Speaker 1: I think there was the arm barrier. There was no barrier.
Speaker 1: There was no barrier. There was. It was a hey, hey, heyy,
Speaker 1: and then a big Donald was I've said this before,
Speaker 1: but I was nervous because I was I knew that
Speaker 1: I knew who he was, obviously he was a famous actor,
Speaker 1: and I was kind of like, what's it gonna be, Like,
Speaker 1: he's gonna play my best friend? Will he be cool?
Speaker 1: Will he be a right again? Well? What was su
Speaker 1: vibe going to be? And we were in bills in
Speaker 1: Christa's living room and he was at the bar. There
Speaker 1: was a you know, a little bar area, and he
Speaker 1: turned around he went hey, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I already loved this guy. And then we had a
Speaker 1: big hug which may or not been grun to growing
Speaker 1: didn't recall and um, and we never looked back. Donald,
Speaker 1: When did you think that you realized that I knew
Speaker 1: we were best friends when we were living in New
Speaker 1: York one year after the first season of Scrub. We
Speaker 1: were living in New York and we were in our
Speaker 1: underwear playing ping pong. Yes, And I was like, I
Speaker 1: asked my best friend, Yeah, legendary. And I had to
Speaker 1: break into Donald that his room was the laundry room
Speaker 1: because I had gotten my first and he was like,
Speaker 1: I'm not Benson. So I wound up staying like on
Speaker 1: a cot right outside of him. No, it wasn't a cot,
Speaker 1: it was a bed. It's just it was very intimate.
Speaker 1: We we basically shared a room. Yes, I'll look at
Speaker 1: the martini coming out of Teddy. All right, Teddy, look
Speaker 1: at you. It's not what it's seven or six six six?
Speaker 1: All right? All right, go for yours, all right, Teddy
Speaker 1: next question, go um, and then just what kind of
Speaker 1: what actor, producer, writer, director kind of had the most
Speaker 1: profound impact on yours and Donald's career from you know
Speaker 1: going forward. Well, I'm gonna give a controversial answer, but
Speaker 1: it's not it's the answer. I'm gonna be the true answer,
Speaker 1: which is Woody Allen. And I know that that's extraordinarily
Speaker 1: because of all the stuff we're learning now. But when
Speaker 1: I was growing up, he was a godhead to my family.
Speaker 1: It was my parents' favorite. It's all. You know, if
Speaker 1: we if the humor was what we grew up on,
Speaker 1: it was, you know, that sort of East Coast neurotic
Speaker 1: Jewish guy, and I think it did. It didn't form
Speaker 1: a lot of my comedic timing. He wasn't the only one.
Speaker 1: There were others like Neil Simon and mel Brooks and
Speaker 1: but definitely my mother and father's love of his movies
Speaker 1: was was sort of ingrained upon on us that that's
Speaker 1: that's what was funny. That was that comedic timing and
Speaker 1: and and and his style of storytelling was was definitely
Speaker 1: very impactful, and I think impactful on on the films
Speaker 1: that I'm that I made as well. Um, So I was.
Speaker 1: I'm a huge fan of Star Wars, so Harrison Ford
Speaker 1: and Billy d Williams are you know, like when I
Speaker 1: was a kid, that was what was cool to me
Speaker 1: when I became When I got to high school though,
Speaker 1: Codeem Hardiston was my like. I idolized Codem Hartist. I
Speaker 1: even had the glasses that flipped up, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. He played Dwayne Wayne on A Different World,
Speaker 1: which was a spin off from the Cosby Show, and
Speaker 1: I thought he was, you know everything, Like I even
Speaker 1: tried to dress like him. Any movie that he was in,
Speaker 1: from like School Days to Vampire in Brooklyn. I had
Speaker 1: to see it, you know, and um, white men can't
Speaker 1: jump and uh. He's also the one that kind of
Speaker 1: when I was at a point where I needed to Okay,
Speaker 1: what am I gonna do? How am I gonna do this?
Speaker 1: I performed in front of him once and he came up. Um,
Speaker 1: you know it was it was a bunch of us performing,
Speaker 1: but I had a monologue and after the show was over,
Speaker 1: he came to me and hugged me and squeezed me tight.
Speaker 1: He's like, yo, man, that was all amazing, and he
Speaker 1: kind of set me on the adult path of yo.
Speaker 1: If Kadem, Hardison says, I could do it. If the
Speaker 1: dude that I tried to be like came here and
Speaker 1: told me I was amazing, I'm going forward. I'm going
Speaker 1: for this and Kadem and then also Denzel Washington. Yeah
Speaker 1: does Kadem? What? Did he still work? He was absolutely.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen him that much, but he was so good.
Speaker 1: So something I saw him in something recently. Um, there
Speaker 1: was a it was a short lived TV series. Now
Speaker 1: he was on a long lived TV series with Zindeya.
Speaker 1: He was on her Tell. They did a television show
Speaker 1: together on Disney. I think okay, um easy he and
Speaker 1: and I think he might be working right now on something.
Speaker 1: He was So there was a point in our you know,
Speaker 1: our childhoods when he that show was at its height
Speaker 1: of popularity and everybody looked up to that guy. He was.
Speaker 1: He was like the ultimate you know, he was kind
Speaker 1: of like a Ferris Bueller type character. Yeah he was.
Speaker 1: I hate to compare it like that, but yeah, he
Speaker 1: was like the black Ferres Bueller like. He was the
Speaker 1: dude that was kind of a geek but somehow got
Speaker 1: the hot girl. And yeah, yeah he was on Casey Undercover.
Speaker 1: That's what it was with he used his charms to
Speaker 1: win over the ladies, Jasmine Guy and Lisa Boone. With
Speaker 1: the two ladies that he used, you know what, I
Speaker 1: you know what happens when when you say the word
Speaker 1: Lisa Bonet to me, I hear this. I heard that.
Speaker 1: I heard that man. Zoey fared too. Don't get it twisted.
Speaker 1: She looked just like her mom, Dan, I need this
Speaker 1: put in the sound pad. Who No, she's still she's
Speaker 1: still a knockout man. She's she's prettier than ever. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Her daughter is like an amazing actress too. Yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: it's time for Chicago's favorite segment, Shirley. This is when
Speaker 1: we fix yo. All right, sir, we are here and
Speaker 1: we have a very brilliant mind, Shirley phase On, who's
Speaker 1: a great mom and a great agent. She can help to.
Speaker 1: What is your question? So I'm twenty four, you know, um,
Speaker 1: just out of college, and I'm still trying to find
Speaker 1: my passion. I'm in a job that you know, I
Speaker 1: like where I do, but I don't that's ships at
Speaker 1: leaste myself doing it long term, and I'm just trying
Speaker 1: to figure out. You know, you've all clearly found your
Speaker 1: passion and what you want to do in your life,
Speaker 1: and I'm just trying to figure it out. How do
Speaker 1: I do that with mine? What do you love more
Speaker 1: than anything? That's a hard question. I mean, what do
Speaker 1: you do? What? What? What? Like? When you when you
Speaker 1: forget anything that is a job related thing like take
Speaker 1: money out of the equation? When you what? What do
Speaker 1: you What's happening in your life that you're looking forward
Speaker 1: to that you go, oh my god, I can't wait
Speaker 1: for that. I mean it could be camping, it could
Speaker 1: be traveling, it could be anything and everything that lights
Speaker 1: you up that makes you go yes, X y Z
Speaker 1: is happening. What is that? Well? I don't know if
Speaker 1: Joel told you, but um, I actually am a cant survivor.
Speaker 1: I'm a pedetric cantrasurvivor. So something that I do find
Speaker 1: a lot of joy and passion in is working with
Speaker 1: you know, kids who are in that kind of community
Speaker 1: and you know, helping with that, Well, Bro, that's a
Speaker 1: good That's a pretty amazing place to start. That sounds that.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're not doing that now, I would suggest,
Speaker 1: I mean getting into that, especially if it makes you
Speaker 1: happy at the at the foundation of everything. You have
Speaker 1: to be happy, right. We all get into jobs and
Speaker 1: at some point we realized this is this isn't for me.
Speaker 1: For me, it was being an agent, an assistant at
Speaker 1: an agent's office. I knew I didn't want to do
Speaker 1: that after a few days of doing it, even though
Speaker 1: I was getting paid. What made me happy was being
Speaker 1: an actor, and so I my whole life. I pursued
Speaker 1: that my mom was in theater. You could tell him,
Speaker 1: You could tell them if you want to, But she
Speaker 1: was in theater and halfway through her well, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know what it's. How old were you when
Speaker 1: you decided to switch? Mom? You never asked. I was forty,
Speaker 1: so you were forty years old. At forty, she was
Speaker 1: looking for something that would make her happy and she
Speaker 1: became an agent. Um, you know, if that makes you happy,
Speaker 1: why not? Teddy? I just want to point something out
Speaker 1: to you. You were kind of like shoulders over a
Speaker 1: little bit, kind of soft spoken, and then as you
Speaker 1: started talking about being a pediatric cancer survivor and helping someone,
Speaker 1: your shoulders went back, your face lit up, your whole
Speaker 1: posture changed. It's like it's there's something in you that
Speaker 1: that lights up giving back the fact that the fact
Speaker 1: that those people who obviously I'm sure made a difference
Speaker 1: in your life when you were a child battling cancer,
Speaker 1: And I mean that just goes to show you, like
Speaker 1: that's when when Donald and I talk about performing or entertaining,
Speaker 1: directing writing with that, that's what happens to us. We
Speaker 1: lean forward, we get passionate, and we start just gesticulating
Speaker 1: all over the place. And I think for you, that's
Speaker 1: a good place to look. Now. I don't know you
Speaker 1: would know better than us about what that looks like
Speaker 1: if you're not going to go to medical school, but
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's lots of different people that made a
Speaker 1: difference in your life that you that you could take
Speaker 1: on a similar role for children other children, right, M
Speaker 1: definitely right. I guess welcome. What was your major? Not yet?
Speaker 1: What was your major in college? I majored in management
Speaker 1: and minored in general business and finance. What are you
Speaker 1: doing now? I'm working as an audit and accounting at
Speaker 1: a fortune five hundred company. So you're doing what you
Speaker 1: went to school for pretty much more or less. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm just yeah, doing numbers and you're ready to shift.
Speaker 1: I think I mean, at a certain point I think
Speaker 1: I am because this is I'm not driven by what
Speaker 1: I'm currently doing, you know. Yeah, Now, what could you
Speaker 1: do to set you on the course to to to
Speaker 1: something that that that's in the spirit of what we're
Speaker 1: talking about, I mean something I mean I want to
Speaker 1: parlay to be able to if I could be able
Speaker 1: to like work in this industry and be able to
Speaker 1: provide for let's say, in my future family and beyond,
Speaker 1: that's something I want to take an interest in because
Speaker 1: you know, having that, you know, support, having you know,
Speaker 1: monetary game is semi important to me as well, not
Speaker 1: just not just you know, um, but yeah, so it's
Speaker 1: just kind of trying to find something where I can marry,
Speaker 1: like having a job that I'm comfortable in, as well
Speaker 1: as doing something that like I can I'm able to
Speaker 1: help you know, someone in my position or someone like that,
Speaker 1: and and it's just kind of it's not an easy
Speaker 1: medium to find, is what I've been looking into. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the good thing about twenty four is, um, you don't
Speaker 1: have a family yet, and you know obviously have to
Speaker 1: pay for your rent and your food and your your survival.
Speaker 1: But um, but you but now while you're young and
Speaker 1: wide eyed. It's a great time to be trying and
Speaker 1: exploring these things out. You know, the second you start
Speaker 1: getting you know, having people that are reliant on you,
Speaker 1: you have a lot less freedom and can be way
Speaker 1: less nimble. You're in a twenty four is like, let
Speaker 1: me try different things. I mean, obviously, I'm not an idiot.
Speaker 1: I know you need to make enough money to pay
Speaker 1: for your life. But it's a great time to try
Speaker 1: out different things and and and you know, get it,
Speaker 1: get exposed to new things. I agree, Joel Daniel. Do
Speaker 1: you have any thoughts on the matter. Yeah, it doesn't
Speaker 1: last forever. As soon as I turned thirty, suddenly it
Speaker 1: was like, oh, grab so many things and people to
Speaker 1: take care of. And yeah, I would say, if you're
Speaker 1: gonna do the switch, do it, do it now, and like,
Speaker 1: just fully embrace it. I have a lot of friends
Speaker 1: who switched their careers around the same age as you
Speaker 1: are now, and like, it's a it's a hustle, but
Speaker 1: once you get there, oh man, what a joy to
Speaker 1: do the thing that you love. Like it's still worked.
Speaker 1: Don't let anyone tell you it's not work. It's still work,
Speaker 1: but it is. It's better work. Yeah, and also, you know,
Speaker 1: your skills apply to so many different things, like even
Speaker 1: if you're not um, you know, specifically reaching out to
Speaker 1: people and talking about your experience being able to you know,
Speaker 1: use your accounting skills, use the skills you've learned in
Speaker 1: schools to help out an organization that does that already,
Speaker 1: and then including yourself into the story of what that
Speaker 1: organization does. It's a way to you know, start that
Speaker 1: transition into a new career without having to completely change
Speaker 1: your life. Oh my god, that's great, great, gonna say,
Speaker 1: come through, fantastic, Daniel, Daniel. Only one phrase comes to mind,
Speaker 1: you honor me. No, listen, by the way, Teddy, that
Speaker 1: was really that was better advice than I because you no,
Speaker 1: because it's smart, he's smart. What he's saying is, take
Speaker 1: your skill set, bring it to an organization that I'm
Speaker 1: just making it up, that that specifically caters to and
Speaker 1: helps families dealing with pediatric cancer, and say, hey, not
Speaker 1: only can I help with the face to face stuff
Speaker 1: I'm interested in that. I'm a survivor myself. I know
Speaker 1: I no one has more empathy than me, but I
Speaker 1: can also bring my accounting skills set. Do you guys
Speaker 1: need that in your organization. I mean, you're you're a
Speaker 1: home run candidate for someone who could be working for
Speaker 1: an organization like that. That's great, Daniel, And let's let's
Speaker 1: also be real. It's like, in the sector of helping people,
Speaker 1: it's the area that has it has the least in
Speaker 1: terms of people who are like able to crunch numbers
Speaker 1: and people who know money and people who know business.
Speaker 1: It's like, so often those kinds of people and this
Speaker 1: is not a dig at those kind of people at all,
Speaker 1: or those kinds of work, but so often those people
Speaker 1: look for and move into huge companies, big money positions
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. And you know, certain organizations that
Speaker 1: need money or people that are good with money sometimes
Speaker 1: flounder in those scenarios because people who want to help
Speaker 1: people have the compassion but don't necessarily always have the
Speaker 1: business mind or the skill set. So I think you
Speaker 1: can be a huge asset to those companies. And also
Speaker 1: think about it. If you're a parent or a child
Speaker 1: going through cancer and the young man counseling you is
Speaker 1: twenty four years old, super articulate, has the empathy and
Speaker 1: he went through it and survived, Think how think of
Speaker 1: the connection the young person would feel as opposed to
Speaker 1: some older senior citizen or someone they might not be
Speaker 1: able to relate to. That kid's gonna be like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, look at Teddy. He's he survived and he's
Speaker 1: great and he's thriving. And you'd be such a motivation
Speaker 1: to a young person. I think, Wow, I'm fired up, Teddy.
Speaker 1: All right. The good news is because you're an inspiration
Speaker 1: and because um we like you extra special amount, and
Speaker 1: in honor of Shirley phazons a visit, we are going
Speaker 1: to send you a case of GT's kombucha. Yeah, there
Speaker 1: is a tap at work of kombucha. I've not tried GTS,
Speaker 1: but I'm trying to try. Well, Buddy. I see a
Speaker 1: fridge behind you, and what I like to do is
Speaker 1: stack mine up like I'm in a supermarket, and like
Speaker 1: so it looks all nean and a lined. It might
Speaker 1: be my ocd read by lind I like all my
Speaker 1: bottles stacked up neatly and with the labels facing out.
Speaker 1: You are getting a do we know what what? He's
Speaker 1: probably getting an array of flavors, right, Joel, Well, A
Speaker 1: little bit of everything, A sample sampler, A little sample
Speaker 1: a sample case. So thank you, thank you to the
Speaker 1: folks at GTS for that. And um and what can
Speaker 1: we say. What we say is you're welcome, Teddy, You're welcome.
Speaker 1: Thank you. M I have no doubt that you're going
Speaker 1: to make a difference in people's lives. Donald and I
Speaker 1: go out and hopefully make people laugh a little bit
Speaker 1: and hopefully take their mind off some shit. But you're
Speaker 1: you're someone who's getting to really have a noticeable impact
Speaker 1: on people's lives. Yes, amen, surely, yes, don't don't don't
Speaker 1: be shy. You can talk. It's okay. Oh no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not being shy. I think I think Teddy's going
Speaker 1: to make a tremendous contribution to UM. There's there's so
Speaker 1: many organizations you know, um that that do such great work.
Speaker 1: They send me letters every month to give contribution. M hm.
Speaker 1: And if Teddy, if Teddy changes his mind again and
Speaker 1: wants the audition for the National Black Theater in Harlem,
Speaker 1: would there be any opportunity for him there? And hold on, now,
Speaker 1: don't get all crazy. They let white people do. All
Speaker 1: you gotta do is live in Harlem. And I thought
Speaker 1: it was an African American company you're saying you can
Speaker 1: be well, you can you can be white and be
Speaker 1: in the company. They do, they hope for you. You know,
Speaker 1: She's like, you can be white and be in the company.
Speaker 1: We need bad guys. But Teddy, it's true, that's true.
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding or a great wife hope. All right?
Speaker 1: That way, we'll wrap it up, Joel. What are we missing?
Speaker 1: What do we gotta tell people? Um? Not much? Really,
Speaker 1: I mean we should. We should thank everybody for that
Speaker 1: live show show Holy cow man, Like we kept it
Speaker 1: up for a week and the response was amazing, and
Speaker 1: so thank you so much for thank you so much
Speaker 1: for watching. We're probably gonna we we we had a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. We're talking about doing one in the
Speaker 1: summer again, right for some summer jam. I'm ready. And
Speaker 1: then I think we should have I think we have.
Speaker 1: We have Sarah and Johnny c on next one. We've
Speaker 1: got a lot of requests for those two to make
Speaker 1: up appearances again. So I definitely think we should do
Speaker 1: one with Sarah and Johnny CE. So so look for
Speaker 1: that information coming to you this summer. We should shout
Speaker 1: out all the people that are on the front lines,
Speaker 1: you know, people that we don't talk about somebody hitting
Speaker 1: me up on the internet, and was like, you know,
Speaker 1: you got as always talk about the people that work
Speaker 1: in the hospital and stuff, but there are other people
Speaker 1: on the front line that are I think we got this.
Speaker 1: Our trash collectors who are still out here. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Where would the world being without you? People who work
Speaker 1: in a grocery store, my god, saviors, thank you for
Speaker 1: keeping us stopped and fed. We appreciate you. Our teachers
Speaker 1: and cross guards, everyone who's works in school systems helping
Speaker 1: keep children educated when it's really scary to go outside
Speaker 1: of your house. Bless you. Thank you whom I missing.
Speaker 1: So many more, there are so many more. I just
Speaker 1: want you to know that if you're out there and
Speaker 1: you're fighting, you're helping us fight against COVID and keeping
Speaker 1: America or the world safe. We appreciate you to the max,
Speaker 1: like I can't tell you enough. I can't tell you enough.
Speaker 1: Your contribution is definitely appreciated, and so thank you very much.
Speaker 1: I want to sit yes, thank you for that, And
Speaker 1: I want to say that the DGA Awards. Surely I'm
Speaker 1: nominated for a DG Award. Can you believe that's amazing? Amazing?
Speaker 1: They're April tenth, and um, I don't think we're going
Speaker 1: to record another show before then, right, Um no, send
Speaker 1: this the next Sunday. It's sorry, next Saturday. Okay, so
Speaker 1: we won't. We're doing one a week for now, guys,
Speaker 1: because as you know, Donald and I are both working,
Speaker 1: and we'll come back with a episode rewatch for you
Speaker 1: next weekend. But um so, anyway, I've been working on
Speaker 1: my face because you know what the award shows. The
Speaker 1: camera's on you, it's going to be a zoom camera,
Speaker 1: but they're gonna and you suppost if you don't win,
Speaker 1: you have to be happy for the other people. So
Speaker 1: I've been practicing that in case I do you do
Speaker 1: you want to see what it looks like? Yes? Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, so Donald, you to say and the winner
Speaker 1: is not Zach Braf. Wait, what can I ask you
Speaker 1: a question? Who are you looking at when? Well? It's
Speaker 1: funny because you know when normally, when you're in an
Speaker 1: audience and an award show, you look around your people
Speaker 1: around you and you're in the room by yourself right now,
Speaker 1: I know, but my natural instinct as an actor was
Speaker 1: to act like I was looking around at my fellow
Speaker 1: audience members that he deserves. You know what I think
Speaker 1: I combine that with a smile and a head nod. No,
Speaker 1: this is what I think. If you're going to do that,
Speaker 1: you need to make it so the camera is square
Speaker 1: up on your face like it is with me right now,
Speaker 1: so when you look to the side, it's like situation.
Speaker 1: You could even down probably okay, because you mean the
Speaker 1: zoom window will be all of us like this. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: that's funny. Okay, good, let me let me try it
Speaker 1: one more time. Okay, here we go, and the winner
Speaker 1: is Revel Wilson. I guess it's sort of a visual joke.
Speaker 1: I think it would be better if you look disappointed. Okay,
Speaker 1: let me do a disappointed version and the and the
Speaker 1: winner is Diablo Cody disappointed money like everyone always does
Speaker 1: the they deserve to win. I'm happy for them. Clad
Speaker 1: What if I just did it the other way? Like
Speaker 1: this is fucking an instant Twitter meme, and I threw
Speaker 1: something like through I dare you idle my table? What
Speaker 1: if I flipped my table? Don't do that. Don't don't
Speaker 1: do that. Don't do it, speaking of Diablo Cody. Speaking
Speaker 1: of Diablo Cody, she wrote power Puff and so I'm
Speaker 1: working with her right now. I did not know that.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I'm so this job is so cool.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy for you. So I'm all right excited
Speaker 1: about that. Anyway, We love you. Please watch C Spiracy.
Speaker 1: You want to say something, Teddy, Teddy, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: when I was going through chemo, it was over nine
Speaker 1: months and you know it's back in twenty fifteen, so
Speaker 1: I was winning scrub over but having that rewatch and
Speaker 1: having that, you know, I know you guys say how
Speaker 1: I was so thankful for it now, but I was
Speaker 1: so thankful for the show as it was going on
Speaker 1: and having that through you know, my nine months a
Speaker 1: year of chemotherapy and surgery and all that, it was
Speaker 1: just such a helpful thing for me. It would helped
Speaker 1: me connect with my doctors and nurses around me. So
Speaker 1: I just think, I just thank you guys for what
Speaker 1: you guys did and what you guys continue to do today.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you man. That means a lot of us.
Speaker 1: I hope you know how much that means to us.
Speaker 1: It really does mean a lot, and it makes it
Speaker 1: all worth it. It makes you know, we just do
Speaker 1: it to a camera and we don't have any idea.
Speaker 1: So to hear an anecdote like that from you, it
Speaker 1: means a great deal to us. So thank you so much, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and surely you are an awesome guest. I hope you'll
Speaker 1: come back and uh and visit us again. Talk about
Speaker 1: your book, mom, Is there anything you want to plug? Oh? Yes, Um,
Speaker 1: so I wrote a workbook for actors. It's called Seven
Speaker 1: Rules to Thrive as a Performer and you can get
Speaker 1: it on Amazon. It's a workbook, so it's um interactive,
Speaker 1: so you have to write things down. Um. Yeah, seven
Speaker 1: Rules to Thrive as a Performer. Yes, yes, okay, Joelle.
Speaker 1: Joelle will put a link in our in our show notes,
Speaker 1: and Donald and I will put a link in our
Speaker 1: bios and we will. If you're an actor, this is uh,
Speaker 1: this could be hell. And it's a workbook, so it's
Speaker 1: an interactive thing you have to participate in, so don't
Speaker 1: be lazy. You got to do the work. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: all right, um that note on that note, we love
Speaker 1: you all. I'll have a great week, will say next time.
Speaker 1: Seven eight about show we made about a bunch of
Speaker 1: nurses story, So und do here a yeah around you
Speaker 1: here as wretch me watch your Wesa. Mm hmmmm