Speaker 1: Pushkin. It doesn't matter how high other heights you reach
Speaker 1: or not. We all go through the same struggles. We
Speaker 1: all come up against crossroads on the daily to have
Speaker 1: to make choices and sometimes the harder choice. Oftentimes the
Speaker 1: harder choice is the more graceful choice. And even though
Speaker 1: you don't always see the dream come to fruition, the
Speaker 1: goal come into reality, it doesn't mean it's not happening.
Speaker 1: That was Doula Hill. I'm Stamford Girls, and this is
Speaker 1: Tom Kase. Welcome to the show everyone. Last year I
Speaker 1: had writer, director actor Coleman Domingo on this podcast. If
Speaker 1: you have not listened to that episode, I'd highly recommended.
Speaker 1: He's in the new film If Beal Street Could Talk.
Speaker 1: He's on Fear of the Walking Dead. He is a wonderful,
Speaker 1: wonderful talent, and I mentioned him because towards the end
Speaker 1: of that conversation with Coleman, the topic of Nat King
Speaker 1: cole came up. We were discussing how NAT's story has
Speaker 1: traditionally been presented in a very sort of surface and
Speaker 1: one dimensional light. Not a lot of details are known
Speaker 1: about him. Is personal life is vague, sort of artistic
Speaker 1: ambitions are often at the forefront to a point where
Speaker 1: you don't really have a true understanding of the man
Speaker 1: behind the music. But what's also revealed in that conversation
Speaker 1: is that Coleman has co written this play with Patrician McGregor,
Speaker 1: called Lights Out Nat King Cole. It is currently in
Speaker 1: previews at the Geffen Playhouse and opening night is February thirteenth.
Speaker 1: It will run through March seventeenth. What's most impressive about
Speaker 1: the piece, which is thoughtful and multifaceted, is the performance
Speaker 1: by Douley Hill. Before we get more into Duley, I
Speaker 1: want to play a snippet that the good people at
Speaker 1: the Geffen Playhouse have sent us. It's a recording of
Speaker 1: Douley singing Orange Colored Sky by Nat King cole Take
Speaker 1: a listen. I was walking along minding my business. I
Speaker 1: have an orange colored sky. Flash Bam, all a couzan.
Speaker 1: Wonder you came by. I was humming a tune, drinking
Speaker 1: in sunshine. We're out of that orange colored few. Flash Bam,
Speaker 1: all of cousan. I gotta look at you one looking night.
Speaker 1: Yell timber, watch out for flying glass because the ceiling
Speaker 1: felling in the bottom felon. I went into a spinning.
Speaker 1: I started to shown I've been hit to this is it?
Speaker 1: This is it. I was walking along minding my business
Speaker 1: when love came. It hit me in the eye for light. Bam,
Speaker 1: all a cousin out of an orange color sky. It's
Speaker 1: pretty good, right, I mean, I think that's the biggest year.
Speaker 1: When you're playing someone as well known and iconic as
Speaker 1: Nat King Cole is how do you do something that
Speaker 1: is not just imitation. It's not easy, and I think
Speaker 1: Dooley does a good job of carving out his own
Speaker 1: voice while still being faithful to the man, the myth,
Speaker 1: and the legend of Nat King Cole. In some ways,
Speaker 1: this piece is really a resurrection of Nat As For Douley,
Speaker 1: you have seen him in West Wing, you have seen
Speaker 1: him in Psych, you have seen him in Ballers. You
Speaker 1: have seen him in the movie She's All That, which
Speaker 1: is a movie I watched way too many times growing up.
Speaker 1: We also get into his upbringing in New Jersey performing
Speaker 1: at an early age. For Jerry Lewis working in scripted television,
Speaker 1: God a lot of God talk. We don't often discuss
Speaker 1: God on the show, and who was really fascinating to
Speaker 1: hear him talk about his faith and how he believes
Speaker 1: his faith has helped him arrive at this place that
Speaker 1: he's at right now. This is episode one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty four, and I will tell you, after you've done
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty plus episodes of a podcast where
Speaker 1: you have to meet strangers and talk to them for
Speaker 1: an hour, it's really easy to spot when someone is
Speaker 1: a good person. It's immediately apparent. And granted, we have
Speaker 1: a lot of actors on the show, and a lot
Speaker 1: of very good actors, so they could be pretending to
Speaker 1: be nice, they could be pretending to be kind. But
Speaker 1: there's a goodness to do lay that I've felt throughout
Speaker 1: this conversation. I think you will too, And if you
Speaker 1: are in the Los Angeles area, please do keep an
Speaker 1: eye out for Lights Out Nat King Cole. It opens
Speaker 1: February thirteenth at the Geffen Playhouse. It will run through
Speaker 1: the seventeenth, and you're not gonna want to miss this,
Speaker 1: so check that out. So here is dule. We have
Speaker 1: exactly an hour before you have to go back and
Speaker 1: continue rehearsals for your new play, Yes, which I was
Speaker 1: just watching right now and I thought, lovely, I can't
Speaker 1: wait to watch And I know Coleman is excited for it,
Speaker 1: and I've heard only good things. Yeah, we're gonna have
Speaker 1: a good time. I think it's going to be, hopefully
Speaker 1: be a piece of theater that packs a little punch
Speaker 1: and brings people on a journey. And also I guess
Speaker 1: we'll be active and reflective at the same time. Right,
Speaker 1: I think that's totally possible. And this is something I
Speaker 1: want to get to at the end because I have
Speaker 1: a whole I want to ask you about Nat King
Speaker 1: cole But I want to start in the beginning as
Speaker 1: much as we can here. Well, in the beginning was
Speaker 1: the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word
Speaker 1: was with God. But no, that's exactly right. I was
Speaker 1: hoping we could really go through the whole shebang in
Speaker 1: about an hour. Some stuff I have written down. You're
Speaker 1: born in Orange, New Jersey, raised in Sayerville, New Jersey.
Speaker 1: Correct that I pronounced that correctly. Yes, you did something
Speaker 1: I really want to hit on. The first opening bit
Speaker 1: is that at ten you pep dance for a telethon
Speaker 1: hosted by Jerry Lewis. I did what's happening at that
Speaker 1: point for you? Well, initially, I, at the age of nine,
Speaker 1: I was going to dance school in New Jersey, East Orange,
Speaker 1: New Jersey, a dance school named me Wildy School of Dance.
Speaker 1: And I was there because my mom was a ballet
Speaker 1: teacher there and my brother and my cousins were going
Speaker 1: so from the age of three, HOUR was going there
Speaker 1: just to be around them. At the age of nine,
Speaker 1: a show called The Tap Dance Kid came looking for
Speaker 1: kids who could sing and dance. I auditioned and by
Speaker 1: chance I got it. The next thing I knew, I
Speaker 1: was understudying Savion Glover on Broadway in The Tap Dance Kid.
Speaker 1: And then a few months later I ended up booking
Speaker 1: the lead role on the national tour. Our first stop
Speaker 1: was in San Francisco, and right right, I think we
Speaker 1: had even started performing the show yet, were only even
Speaker 1: rehearsals for the show. Myself. How Nicholas of the Nicholas
Speaker 1: Brothers and Hitting Battle went out to Las Vegas to
Speaker 1: do the telethon, and they had performed before, and I
Speaker 1: think in that this whole tap section of the of
Speaker 1: that evening, they had how Nicholas, Hinting Battle, Prince Spencer,
Speaker 1: Honey Coles, and a few more tap dances, and they
Speaker 1: also had Emmanuel Lewis and Chris Lewis. That's where I
Speaker 1: met Emmanuel and we we've actually been friends since then.
Speaker 1: But I was told that, Okay, you're gonna go and
Speaker 1: you're gonna do this number from the show. Okay, I've
Speaker 1: done that number from the show Great. Well, first of all,
Speaker 1: no one really told me what to wear, so I
Speaker 1: came in this leisure suit. See, this is my whole question,
Speaker 1: which is you were ten years old and you were
Speaker 1: suddenly thrown into a pretty adult and serious situation. Yes,
Speaker 1: so is there anyone coaching you at all in this? Not? No,
Speaker 1: not no, not really at all. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: i'd met it. I've been working with Harold for a
Speaker 1: few months, so I'd heard about improvisation and things like that.
Speaker 1: But I just I was told that I was coming
Speaker 1: to do this number from the show. Cool. I get
Speaker 1: there in the green room. In the back, everyone has
Speaker 1: on tuxedos besides me. I'm in this leisure suit. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, what is going on? And I remember Honey
Speaker 1: Coles walked in because he was one of the last
Speaker 1: to show up, and he was trying to decide whether
Speaker 1: he was going to wear his casual suit or a
Speaker 1: sports coat or a tuxedo. And I remember, I remember
Speaker 1: sitting on the couch, It's saying, well, everyone else is
Speaker 1: wearing tuxedos, but I have on this this leader suit
Speaker 1: because nobody told me so, which is all I have.
Speaker 1: And he goes, well, you know what, since you have
Speaker 1: on your casual suit, I'm gonna have on my casual
Speaker 1: suit too. So if you go back and watch that
Speaker 1: whole section, everyone else has on tuxedos, besides myself and
Speaker 1: Honey Coles, who has on a like a slack sent
Speaker 1: a sports coat. But I get out there, now have
Speaker 1: to do the number. It was a number called dance.
Speaker 1: If it makes you happy, you have a good memory. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well that was like one of my first It's an
Speaker 1: impressible memory because my first time on national TV, if
Speaker 1: you really think about it, a few months before that,
Speaker 1: I was back and served in New Jersey, playing with
Speaker 1: my friends, and now here I am on this telethon
Speaker 1: with this audience and Jerry Lewis is over there. The
Speaker 1: music is supposed to start, they say, as soon as
Speaker 1: you do your turn and going to the first position
Speaker 1: to the music will start. I get out there, I
Speaker 1: do the term no music, I said, Okay, well maybe
Speaker 1: they just didn't see me do my turn, so let
Speaker 1: me turn one more time, turn going to the pose,
Speaker 1: no music, and start looking back, and I remember over
Speaker 1: the intercom someone says, Jerry, I think we have a problem.
Speaker 1: So then Jerry Lewis comes walking over and he started
Speaker 1: talking to me, and I explained to him, well, they
Speaker 1: said that they were going to have some music from
Speaker 1: the show, and and the band leaders just like, no,
Speaker 1: we don't, we don't have anything. So then Jerry says
Speaker 1: something off of the other, what happens if I just
Speaker 1: we just played some music and you started dancing, And
Speaker 1: I remember my mind, I was thinking like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is that thing that Howard was talking about. You mean
Speaker 1: you mean improvise And he was like yeah, yea. And
Speaker 1: if you go back and watch the footage too, I
Speaker 1: remember I took a little like a subtle step back
Speaker 1: because because my mom, I'm like, are you crazy? You're
Speaker 1: a ten and it's Jerry Lewis. Yeah, it's like but
Speaker 1: I'm like, what do you are? You crazy? Women? Just
Speaker 1: to improvise? What are you talking about? But anyway, so
Speaker 1: I just started doing it, and they played the music
Speaker 1: and I just started dancing, and if you go back
Speaker 1: and watch the footage, there's probably like three or four
Speaker 1: times that I turned and go into a pose while
Speaker 1: I'm dancing because I'm looking to end the number, but
Speaker 1: they keep playing music. So I started dancing some more, so,
Speaker 1: you know, eventually they you know, we got through the number.
Speaker 1: We did it, and I was getting ready to walk off,
Speaker 1: and then Jerry told me to look because everyone in
Speaker 1: the audience had gave me stood up and given a
Speaker 1: standing ovation. And then I and really, if you keep
Speaker 1: watching the footage, once I walk off, you'll see Jerry
Speaker 1: started walking back to his I guess his desk or wherever,
Speaker 1: and he kind of like rolls his eyes a little bit, like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, this is gonna be a long night. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: but the funny thing is years later I went back
Speaker 1: on the telephone, maybe in the early two thousands, and
Speaker 1: Jerry pulled up that footage once again before I came
Speaker 1: on and danced in their early two thousands. That's incredible.
Speaker 1: But it seems like you had a good temperament. I mean,
Speaker 1: it seems you're fairly I'm just doing this, and I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm capable of doing this. I think overall
Speaker 1: I had even temperament. I mean I think, yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I'm sure like if you ask say Hitting Battle are
Speaker 1: Don Lewis people who were on tour with me, they
Speaker 1: probably say, oh, he was such a bad little kid
Speaker 1: because I was always into mischief and things like that. Um,
Speaker 1: I think overall I had a good temperament. But I'm
Speaker 1: sure that there was times at that age where I
Speaker 1: got a little caught up in being because being the
Speaker 1: tapped in a kid, because you would go to each
Speaker 1: town you started. We started in San Francisco, at least
Speaker 1: from my limited mind, it's a big hoopla that the
Speaker 1: show is here. Then we go to La and it's
Speaker 1: a big hoopla that the show is here. Then whatever
Speaker 1: the next place is, it's a big hooplat. So even
Speaker 1: though you're going to all these towns across the country,
Speaker 1: it's always like Opening Night and here you are and
Speaker 1: do this interview and oh you're the taped as kid.
Speaker 1: And so I mean, I would not. I mean it's
Speaker 1: hard for me to speak about myself myself mental like
Speaker 1: my mental place at that age, because I don't think
Speaker 1: I had the perspective to really be able to move
Speaker 1: beyond myself and look and look at look at myself.
Speaker 1: But I think if you were to ask people, they
Speaker 1: would probably say he was a good kid, but he
Speaker 1: also was like a little bit of a brat, but
Speaker 1: he was also a kid. Yeah, yeah, which is part
Speaker 1: of them. But also I learned a lot too though,
Speaker 1: because I remember there were people who I had met
Speaker 1: during the show, especially being in Los Angeles during the
Speaker 1: Tap Dance Kid, not Emmanuel, because they always a lot
Speaker 1: kids were great for the time I met them to
Speaker 1: this day, but there were people who I met back
Speaker 1: then that when I left the show and I just
Speaker 1: went back to Sarahville and was back to being a
Speaker 1: kid in school, and I would reach out to people
Speaker 1: they didn't really have the time for me anymore. And
Speaker 1: I remember being at that age saying, oh, wow, this
Speaker 1: is weird, Like what these same people who when I
Speaker 1: was like the Tap Dance Kid would engage me. Now
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I've kind of fallen down on
Speaker 1: the list of people to engage. It was. It was weird.
Speaker 1: I remember being at the age kind of wondering, like,
Speaker 1: what is happening. I thought these people were people who
Speaker 1: who liked me. How did that feel? Well? I didn't
Speaker 1: like it. I didn't like it. I don't think it
Speaker 1: was it was hurtful, but I think also while it
Speaker 1: also was eye opening, it was enlightening of to see
Speaker 1: how people can be subjectors of persons. And at that age,
Speaker 1: I remember being very aware of, oh wow, then it's
Speaker 1: because I'm not the tapped as kid anymore. While you're
Speaker 1: not doing something, Yeah, I'm just I'm here in Sarahville
Speaker 1: playing soccer, going on auditions, and adoration comes and goes. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Which was a good thing though, because as life went
Speaker 1: on and I had different experiences throughout my life that
Speaker 1: continue to teach me that. But as life went on,
Speaker 1: it taught me to not put too much value in
Speaker 1: any of that, which I think has helped me be
Speaker 1: the person who I am today where it doesn't really matter.
Speaker 1: Not put value in people's adoration for you, yes, not
Speaker 1: value in people's adoration of the things beyond me. Yes.
Speaker 1: If it's like you were really genuinely into me being
Speaker 1: Doe Lay, yes, because now we're two human beings who
Speaker 1: are relating to each other on this planet. But if
Speaker 1: it's about oh, yeah, I want to be around you
Speaker 1: because you're doing this, and you're doing that that is
Speaker 1: that is always subject to change. So I've since since
Speaker 1: that moment in life, really, I've looked for relationships and
Speaker 1: friendships that are consistent that it's a it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: whether I'm doing something that's getting any type of notoriety
Speaker 1: or not. It doesn't matter whether there's you know, dollars
Speaker 1: flowing or not. That's a profound lifeless and to learn
Speaker 1: A twelve and it was, it was invaluable. I think
Speaker 1: that it is one of the things that is truly
Speaker 1: helped me throughout my life. Another one was one of
Speaker 1: my best friends, I would say, my best friend, Hassan Tatum,
Speaker 1: who also was one of the tap Dance kids. That
Speaker 1: was myself, Hassan Tatum, Savion Glover. We were all in
Speaker 1: this workshop before any of us went down to be
Speaker 1: in this show. Savian went first, then Hassan, then myself,
Speaker 1: And when I was about fifteen, Hassan was shot and
Speaker 1: killed and he was one of my best friends. And
Speaker 1: it was suddenly and that taught me to the fragility
Speaker 1: of life and how how to put things in proper perspective,
Speaker 1: because you know, you can get caught up in petty issues.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking to you because of this. I'm not
Speaker 1: talking to you because when I came in here, you didn't.
Speaker 1: You didn't shake my hand, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that you didn't shake my hand, but
Speaker 1: I give a pretty good hand. Yeah, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. You did, but you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So then if that it taught me, thank you very much.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Lest For those of you who want
Speaker 1: to know, I'm hungry. I've been in rehearsals, technical rehearsals
Speaker 1: all day and this is doing the lunch break and
Speaker 1: I'm starving, and thankfully someone brought me a little bit
Speaker 1: of food. You're the first person to ever eat on
Speaker 1: the show. You see. I like to be a groundbreaker.
Speaker 1: That's a trailblazer. Look from tap dance and to check
Speaker 1: filim right here. This isn't eating him. People are gonna
Speaker 1: love that. But people are suddenly hungry. But it taught
Speaker 1: me to not be it like to prioritize what is
Speaker 1: important what is not. You know, it's hard to ask
Speaker 1: you a serious question when you have a fry in
Speaker 1: your hand, but um, when your friend passes at fifteen,
Speaker 1: how do you handle that? I was heartbroken? I was.
Speaker 1: I was absolutely heartbroken out. I didn't really know how
Speaker 1: to process that. Um to this day, I still think
Speaker 1: about him. I love his family, the Tatums. I have
Speaker 1: so much love for them. Um. You know, he just
Speaker 1: he's my best friend. Him to be taken away so quickly,
Speaker 1: so suddenly, unexpectedly, I didn't understand. Honestly, didn't understand why
Speaker 1: God would do that. You know, I'm a God fearing person,
Speaker 1: I'm a Christian. You know I didn't understand it. But
Speaker 1: it also taught me to decide whether I trust God
Speaker 1: or not in the midistter of sorrow, in the midst
Speaker 1: of heartache and the midst of things that I do
Speaker 1: not understand. Am I going to trust him? It taught
Speaker 1: me to value relationships, friendships, moments, not to take any
Speaker 1: moment for granted because this could be our last. So
Speaker 1: this is going to be our last moment, how do
Speaker 1: I want to spend it? Even if you started to
Speaker 1: piss me off, that still is always back there in
Speaker 1: the back of my mind. How do I if this
Speaker 1: was going to be the last moment, how do I
Speaker 1: want to spend it? So I was trying not to
Speaker 1: lose my cool. I try my best to be at peace,
Speaker 1: to be loving, to be open, to be giving, sowing
Speaker 1: good seed into the world, because you never know when
Speaker 1: that's going to be it, and when it's going to
Speaker 1: be it, you want to make sure you've left a
Speaker 1: good fragrance in the air. Do you trust God? I
Speaker 1: do trust God. I made up my mind about that
Speaker 1: a long time ago, only through through my own experience
Speaker 1: to say, you know what, it's me and you. It's
Speaker 1: me and you through our through heartache, through setbacks, through disappointments,
Speaker 1: through victories, through joys, through pains, through the sunshines through
Speaker 1: the rains, through the storms. Beyond the clouds. I think
Speaker 1: this is a song? Is it now? It could be? Though,
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe I'll go back and listen to this and
Speaker 1: then and then write something. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Beyond the clouds. We're gonna take a minute break and
Speaker 1: listen to the song and do this. Gonna have some food, Yes,
Speaker 1: a song I'm gonna bite everybody see you soon. Unforgettable.
Speaker 1: That's why you are unforgettable. Ohly are far like a
Speaker 1: song of love that clings to me. How the thought
Speaker 1: of you does things to me. Never before has someoneven
Speaker 1: more unforgettable in every way. The main thing I'm interested
Speaker 1: in is you you finished high school. Yes, you go
Speaker 1: to Seaton Hall. Yes, a very nice school. I was
Speaker 1: going to Seaton Hall my business to business finance, and
Speaker 1: I was planning on going off to law school. My
Speaker 1: intention was to go to Seaton Hall Law because I
Speaker 1: wanted to be a corporate lawyer. I did not by
Speaker 1: the time I was in my junior year in the
Speaker 1: fall of the of my junior year early in the fall.
Speaker 1: And it's also how dots connected to I mean, I'd
Speaker 1: worked throughout middle school and high school since the Tappan's kid.
Speaker 1: I had done different things, commercials, in some theater and
Speaker 1: even some film. But when I was at seton Hall
Speaker 1: my junior year, Savian called me and said, you'll do
Speaker 1: what you're doing. I said, well, I'm in I seen
Speaker 1: Hall trying to get this degree. I said, I'm doing
Speaker 1: this this show off Broadway at the Public Theater. You
Speaker 1: know we need another dancer. I said, well, which show was?
Speaker 1: That was the show Bring Noise, Bringing Funk? Okay? He said,
Speaker 1: why don't you know? Why don't you come through? So
Speaker 1: I came through. We worked out. He was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: come come be a part of the show. So now
Speaker 1: I'm in the fall. I'm we're I joined the cast
Speaker 1: before we got to even the first performance, and there
Speaker 1: we go. We didn't have any understudies. So while I'm
Speaker 1: at Seaton Hall, there is a class that met on
Speaker 1: Wednesdays at noon. I could not be there and then
Speaker 1: get to New York on time, so I was missing
Speaker 1: that that class. The teacher only gave two tests a
Speaker 1: mid term in the final. So the midterms coming up
Speaker 1: and I have a show. So I go to the
Speaker 1: teacher and I say, sir, I have this. I'm doing
Speaker 1: the show off Broadway at the Public Theater, Bringing Noise,
Speaker 1: Bring the Funk. He's like, what the show called Bringing Noise,
Speaker 1: Bringing the Funk. The point being is you have your
Speaker 1: mid term on Wednesday. I Am not gonna be to
Speaker 1: be at the class. So can I take the test earlier?
Speaker 1: He says no, let's sir, if I don't take that test, like,
Speaker 1: we don't have any understudies. So I'm I can't miss
Speaker 1: the show. But if I don't take that test on
Speaker 1: that day, you only give two tests for the entire year.
Speaker 1: The best I can get. He says, you have to
Speaker 1: decide whether you want to be in show business or
Speaker 1: get your degree. So he said, the best I can
Speaker 1: do is give you an incomplete. I took the incomplete
Speaker 1: for the class, so I pretty much I dropped out
Speaker 1: of that class, finished that semester, and I said, well,
Speaker 1: you know, if the show goes to Broadway, then I'm
Speaker 1: going to take the next the spring semester off, because
Speaker 1: I'm same way with here. With tech rehearsals, I know
Speaker 1: the hours that are needed. There's no way I'll be
Speaker 1: able to do both. Show went to Broadway, I took
Speaker 1: a semester off, I re enrolled in the fall, and
Speaker 1: then I got a Showtime film called Color of Justice,
Speaker 1: which coincidentally starred Gregory Hines. So of course I went
Speaker 1: to that teacher and said, I'm doing this movie in Toronto.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah. She said, dude, she was nice though
Speaker 1: she was liked would really lovet to help, but taking
Speaker 1: five weeks off is I don't really know how to
Speaker 1: make that work, and so I dropped out again. But
Speaker 1: while I was in Toronto, that's when I really tried to.
Speaker 1: I started to take the time to this to ask myself,
Speaker 1: what is it that I really want to do with
Speaker 1: my life, and I realized that I really wanted to
Speaker 1: pursue the arts. Up until that point, the arts was
Speaker 1: only a hobby for me. I did it because it
Speaker 1: was fun, I enjoyed it, and my parents allowed me
Speaker 1: to do it. But at this point I really had
Speaker 1: to decide do I want to go off and do
Speaker 1: the corporate route and be a corporate lawyer or don't
Speaker 1: want to make the arts of my career. I realized
Speaker 1: that I really wanted to make the arts of my career,
Speaker 1: so that when I came back from Toronto, I dropped
Speaker 1: out of Seaton Hall again and then enrolled in acting
Speaker 1: classes with Bill Esper William Esper, who actually just passed
Speaker 1: away this last week. Been working with bill Esper was
Speaker 1: actually one of the most life changing experiences for me.
Speaker 1: I've learned so much by working with him over the years,
Speaker 1: and he really blessed me to learn how to tap
Speaker 1: into the tools that I would need to express myself
Speaker 1: in the way that I desired to as an artist.
Speaker 1: So things are going well for you and your early
Speaker 1: twenties in work. What are you like as a person
Speaker 1: at that edge? Ah? I mean, one of the best
Speaker 1: compliments I've received over the years and one of my
Speaker 1: friends just here the day said it to me when
Speaker 1: he was out here visiting. Was like me, he's talking
Speaker 1: about me to somebody else, and he said, do late.
Speaker 1: It's the same person that he's been since college, like
Speaker 1: one of my college buddies. And so I feel that
Speaker 1: I was relatively the same person who I am now. Thoughtful, fun, engaging,
Speaker 1: caring about folks, being aware of other people, like to
Speaker 1: have a good time, approachable, easy, humble. I think that's
Speaker 1: who I am, you know, I think, and I think
Speaker 1: that's who I've been over the years. I'm not one
Speaker 1: who gets you know. Even when I was doing noise funk.
Speaker 1: I mean, I wasn't caught up in the fact of
Speaker 1: being on Broadway. I'm like, shows open and shows close.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful, but I'm not going to get caught up
Speaker 1: in again because of the tap Dan's Kid experience. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to get caught up in all this hype
Speaker 1: because here's what's going to happen. This show is going
Speaker 1: to close and people are going to move on, and
Speaker 1: they did and they did. So if I start getting
Speaker 1: or hyped about being a part of this cast and
Speaker 1: I start defining myself by being a part of this
Speaker 1: cast what happens when they show close. And that's really
Speaker 1: how I've approach every job through this, through my career.
Speaker 1: It's like, I don't I'm thankful for it, but I
Speaker 1: don't define myself by it. So you didn't define yourself
Speaker 1: by your role on West Way, I do not. I
Speaker 1: did not define myself by Charlie. I do not define
Speaker 1: myself by Gusts. I do not define myself by Alex Williams.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful for it, and I'm glad that people appreciate it,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate that they enjoy the work, but that
Speaker 1: does not change who I am at all. I'm still
Speaker 1: me at the end of the day. And whether I
Speaker 1: pray that I get a chance to work again and
Speaker 1: have an even longer care and golf and do even
Speaker 1: more things that people will be entertained by and affected
Speaker 1: by and moved by, but even if I don't, I'm
Speaker 1: still me now. The way you present this world, you
Speaker 1: know I live here also, and we're in the same
Speaker 1: sort of circus of it all. I like the way
Speaker 1: you describe it. It sounds pure and lovely, and you
Speaker 1: sound like and same, like a very humble person. But
Speaker 1: I'm curious. Has that ever been hard to stay and
Speaker 1: remain who you are in the face of the madness
Speaker 1: that is around us all the time? I mean, I
Speaker 1: also know I've been blessed because, for example, I did
Speaker 1: it a teen movie years ago called Cheese All That,
Speaker 1: and that got me into that whole teen world. I
Speaker 1: have to say this movie. I saw this probably about
Speaker 1: fifteen times growing up. This is a very important film
Speaker 1: in my ring. I was very thankful to be a
Speaker 1: part of that. To be a part of that film,
Speaker 1: you know. You know a funny thing. I booked that job.
Speaker 1: I do audition for it, maybe like four or five
Speaker 1: months before, when I was in LA and I went
Speaker 1: back to Noise Funk for a summer run, and I
Speaker 1: committed to leaving on a certain day. I think it
Speaker 1: was August ninth, I believe. And leading up to that week,
Speaker 1: people were asking me, what are you gonna do next?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm trying to go to LA and
Speaker 1: make it happen. Long story short. The morning of my
Speaker 1: final performance the Sunday, I got a call. My manager,
Speaker 1: Kathy called and said, you gotta be in La by Tuesday.
Speaker 1: You just booked. Sheathe all that I was playing on
Speaker 1: taking a few weeks to kind of get my stuff
Speaker 1: in order, and this and this and that. I forgot
Speaker 1: about it because I auditioned for back in maybe March
Speaker 1: or April. I thought it was long gone and I
Speaker 1: just got to call that morning we went DULA and
Speaker 1: we need we need him in La on set for Tuesday.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, it's funny how just like that. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's funny how things work out. And if I had
Speaker 1: really when I came back for the summer run of
Speaker 1: Noise Funk, I knew that I could be tempted by
Speaker 1: the check to stay longer. So when I came back,
Speaker 1: I committed to a certain amount of time and said, no,
Speaker 1: on this date, I'm leaving because I didn't want to.
Speaker 1: You know, I was getting low on money when I
Speaker 1: was here in La the first time, and I didn't
Speaker 1: want to get used to the check. So no, I'm
Speaker 1: leaving on that day. But if I hadn't done that,
Speaker 1: when She's All that would have our marrimax would have
Speaker 1: called for She's All that, I would not have been
Speaker 1: able to do it if I had just been on
Speaker 1: an open ended contract. But because by chance, on that
Speaker 1: last day of my performance. I was leaving the show anyway.
Speaker 1: They needed me that next Tuesday, and I was available
Speaker 1: to go do it. Who the hell does she think
Speaker 1: she is? I have two thousand girls in this school,
Speaker 1: and I could bumb monkeys with every one of them.
Speaker 1: Tylor Vaughan is totally replaceable. Could EXPERI me this whack
Speaker 1: shit about replaced? Well, because we're talking about Taylor Vaughan here. Sorry, man,
Speaker 1: he's right, It's of course I'm right. I mean, the
Speaker 1: girl's an institution in this place. Every girl wants to
Speaker 1: be here and every guy wants to nail it. Basically,
Speaker 1: she's you. How has money played a role in your career?
Speaker 1: I would say it's played a role in allowing me
Speaker 1: to reinvest in myself. You know, if I don't, If
Speaker 1: I'm not willing to invest in myself, who will. So
Speaker 1: I'm familiar with it. Yeah, It's allowed me to Like
Speaker 1: when I was doing Noise Funk, I was taking acting
Speaker 1: lessons with Bill Esper, so I was being investing there.
Speaker 1: Allowed me to come to LA and and take care
Speaker 1: of myself for a time being, to be able to
Speaker 1: even possibly see what could happen. There have been a
Speaker 1: few times where he got really low. I remember near
Speaker 1: the after She's All that I was living in la
Speaker 1: and I had maybe about a month and a half
Speaker 1: worth of money left. And I remember being over Freddie
Speaker 1: Prince's house and saying, Freddie, if I don't get a
Speaker 1: job soon, I'm either coming to live with you or
Speaker 1: I'm going back to New Jersey. I thought I was
Speaker 1: going to be giving up, but I was going back
Speaker 1: to New Jersey because I just I just don't have
Speaker 1: any more money. I'm not gonna be paid my rent
Speaker 1: after another. I got like this month and next month,
Speaker 1: and that's going to be it. And thankfully by that point,
Speaker 1: I booked chicken soup for the Soul All like within
Speaker 1: a three week period. I though not working for pretty
Speaker 1: much a year, I had booked chicken soup for the
Speaker 1: Soul Men of Honor, which if you blink in that movie,
Speaker 1: you're going to miss me because we never finished my scene.
Speaker 1: And then West Wing, and I was a guest start
Speaker 1: for West Wing and then allowed me to U I
Speaker 1: remember I was a guest star for the first four episodes.
Speaker 1: I was guaranteed four episodes, and I remember that check
Speaker 1: was going to allow me to at least paid my
Speaker 1: rent for X amount of time, and I said, okay,
Speaker 1: at least I can make it till next year. But
Speaker 1: the way money has played into it is by allow
Speaker 1: me to reinvest myself by one being able to do
Speaker 1: things like that, and also like when I've had project,
Speaker 1: to be able to get the word out and things
Speaker 1: like that. All that I'm called to do here in
Speaker 1: this space I want to do. In terms of the
Speaker 1: financial side of it, I will. I will take it,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like, I'm like, why not sure?
Speaker 1: If you want to? If I get to point where
Speaker 1: I make me that kind of that next level, sure
Speaker 1: I will take it. But but again I don't define
Speaker 1: myself by it. So for myself, I have Jasmine, I
Speaker 1: have Kennedy, I have my you know, my family. As
Speaker 1: long as we can live our life, I'm good. Right,
Speaker 1: as long as I can take care of what matters
Speaker 1: to me, I'm good. I will take what Yeah, anything
Speaker 1: comes beyond that, yes, but I'm not I always say,
Speaker 1: never chase the dough. I don't chase the dough. Don't
Speaker 1: go out there and doing things just for money. Sometimes
Speaker 1: we have to, but you have to keep challenge yourself
Speaker 1: to look beyond that. Because if you keep, if you
Speaker 1: start chasing the doll, you're gonna always be chasing the dough.
Speaker 1: And I know it's easier said than done, but it
Speaker 1: has to be times we say, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: going to call hold on, I'm going to do this job.
Speaker 1: I'm going to try to do this because this is
Speaker 1: more speaking to me. This is more what I want
Speaker 1: to say as a being, instead of I just want
Speaker 1: to go get a check. There's no there's no there's
Speaker 1: no passion behind that. There's no purpose behind that to me.
Speaker 1: And I say that being very aware that this is
Speaker 1: a type of world where you need to make money.
Speaker 1: Of course, it's like you have all the passion you want,
Speaker 1: but if you're not making any money, you're going to
Speaker 1: get kicked out of your house. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Yeah, you won't have front
Speaker 1: like you didn't have in the nine Yeah, you know so.
Speaker 1: But going back to your your earlier question, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think money has played into a fact, the fact
Speaker 1: of me being able to keep pursuing the goal and
Speaker 1: keep pursuing the vision for my life, but not that
Speaker 1: has not been the mark I've I've never been want
Speaker 1: to go after money because you know, within my family
Speaker 1: there's been times that we've had money and the times
Speaker 1: that we have not. And I've also again seen it
Speaker 1: is seen there where when you have money, people look
Speaker 1: at you one way, and when you things are tight,
Speaker 1: they look at you a different way. So there are
Speaker 1: only those a smaller group of people who look at you,
Speaker 1: the people that you can trust. Yeah, and that smaller
Speaker 1: group of people who look at you the same way
Speaker 1: whether you have money or not. Those are the people
Speaker 1: who who matter to me. Those are people who I
Speaker 1: who I'm putting roots down with in my life. Have
Speaker 1: you had a lot of friends come and go I've
Speaker 1: had not a lot of friends come go out. I
Speaker 1: have not close friends, No, not close from some, but
Speaker 1: not not a lot of close friends. No, but some
Speaker 1: some over the years. Where and something and look at
Speaker 1: the time and place for everything. Sometimes it's for a season.
Speaker 1: I've had close friendships, close relationships for a season that
Speaker 1: it's time it has moved on to something else. Season
Speaker 1: you mean like a television season, no season of a
Speaker 1: of a life season. Whatever that season is findable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I get it. Yeah, I mean I'm interested when you
Speaker 1: get psych and that show goes on I think for
Speaker 1: eight years, eight years or something like that. That is
Speaker 1: not only a lot of time, but you're doing a
Speaker 1: creative show. I thought the show was good all the
Speaker 1: way through it. I mean, it's a really fun show.
Speaker 1: Are you thinking about what you want in your career
Speaker 1: outside of that show in that time or are you
Speaker 1: fully absorbed by Psych? I think I think often I
Speaker 1: would say always, but I would say often, I have
Speaker 1: a vision for what I desire next. You seem like
Speaker 1: that kind of person. Yeah, it was a focus to you.
Speaker 1: So I'm present that I could say doing the Psych years,
Speaker 1: even during the West Wing years, I'm present and I'm
Speaker 1: enjoying it. I'm taking it all in, even doing the
Speaker 1: noise Funk time. I'm present. But I know that, and
Speaker 1: I think it has a lot to do with starting
Speaker 1: in theater where it shows open and closed all the time.
Speaker 1: I know that at some point this is going to end,
Speaker 1: but there is going to be a tomorrow, and you
Speaker 1: have to at least have a vision for what where
Speaker 1: you want to go. You need to set your your
Speaker 1: sales in a certain direction. You're rudder in a certain
Speaker 1: direction if you want to get there. You know you're
Speaker 1: describing each job as something that you've worked for, But
Speaker 1: it seems like starting at ten, even before that, the
Speaker 1: things have worked out for you. Yes, I've heard to
Speaker 1: say I'm very aware that things have worked out wonderfully
Speaker 1: for me. I'm extremely blessed to be on this journey
Speaker 1: that I'm on. I think the more universal reality is
Speaker 1: that I'm curious, what are the disappointments You've had? What
Speaker 1: are the disappointments that I've had? I mean, I've I
Speaker 1: really wish people could sider that was very Um, it's tricky.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously there's there's been things in my life
Speaker 1: that have been heartaches and setbacks and things that have
Speaker 1: caught me by surprise, things I did not expect like
Speaker 1: what uh, or rather, what are you thinking about? I mean,
Speaker 1: I would look, I would say, I would say, I
Speaker 1: would say it put it like this, Going into my
Speaker 1: first marriage, I didn't go into it expecting it not
Speaker 1: to work out, but it didn't. If I had known
Speaker 1: that it wasn't gonna work out, I probably wouldn't went
Speaker 1: into it in the first place, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Of Course, I don't think I'm the kind of person
Speaker 1: that takes steps expecting things not to work out. Um,
Speaker 1: and this. You know, there's other family things over the
Speaker 1: years that have happened that was not what I would
Speaker 1: have hoped and not planned. But in the end though,
Speaker 1: this was this why I say like disappointments. In the
Speaker 1: end life like You've gone through hills, You're gone through valleys,
Speaker 1: You're gone through twist, You're gone through turns, But in
Speaker 1: the end, I've ended up in the most wonderful place.
Speaker 1: So that's why I'm like that, That's really what I
Speaker 1: was thinking when you said disappoints. I'm like, well, you
Speaker 1: see it, It's all a part of the journey, So
Speaker 1: I'm not disappointed about it at all. At the time, Yes,
Speaker 1: at the time, I was heartbroken. At the time, I
Speaker 1: really was trying to re establish my my my my
Speaker 1: footing because I felt the ground was shifting underneath me.
Speaker 1: My marriage was ending and psych was ending at the
Speaker 1: same time. So it was career impersonal you know, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, how did you manage to get
Speaker 1: through it? Well? One, putting my trust in the Father above,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I truly believe that in
Speaker 1: life He's always asking us do you trust me? It's
Speaker 1: very easy to say I trust you when things are
Speaker 1: working out well. It's extremely easy to say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I trust you. If I gave you a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of dough right now, you'd be like, oh yeah, and
Speaker 1: I said, I'm gonna come back next week, and I
Speaker 1: do it again next week and give you whole bunch
Speaker 1: of dough. But what happens when I haven't given you
Speaker 1: any money in so long, or what happens when things
Speaker 1: aren't working out the way that you would expect it
Speaker 1: that you know, say from myself, weapons with things aren't
Speaker 1: working out the way I expected it to, can I
Speaker 1: still trust you? Because that's really when you earn your value,
Speaker 1: that's really when you to me, that's when your world
Speaker 1: really means something. In the midst of sorrow, in the
Speaker 1: midst of tragedy and the midst of pain, it midst
Speaker 1: of hurt, when I could say I still trust you,
Speaker 1: isn't a challenging to trust When yes, you're heartbroken over
Speaker 1: a divorce and the show's ending heart broken over divorce,
Speaker 1: shows ending in unexpected deaths, any type of tragedy, it
Speaker 1: is hard to trust. But then you have to say,
Speaker 1: but for me, anyway, at the time it was look
Speaker 1: back on your yesterday. Have I ever left you? Yes,
Speaker 1: You've gone through things because you know, over the years
Speaker 1: we've gone through things as a family, and this that
Speaker 1: I've brought you through all of that. You're talking to
Speaker 1: God now, Yes, I brought you through all of that.
Speaker 1: So why do you think I would leave you now?
Speaker 1: If I brought you through all of that and brought
Speaker 1: you here, why do you think that now I would
Speaker 1: leave you? I'm the same yesterday, today and forever, all right,
Speaker 1: I trust you and now and now being able to
Speaker 1: pull the lens back and look back at that time
Speaker 1: but also see where I am now, I'm like, Wow,
Speaker 1: that's all you wanted me to do, was to trust you,
Speaker 1: because he has done abundantly beyond what I could have
Speaker 1: thought was even possible at that time. I mean, for
Speaker 1: the life that I'm living now with Jasmine, with Kennedy,
Speaker 1: with our child on the way, I could not have
Speaker 1: even imagined that that was even in any possible realm
Speaker 1: of truth, that it could actually come into existence. But
Speaker 1: it has. Have you figured out a way to reconcile
Speaker 1: as someone who is religious the dark side inside of you?
Speaker 1: I think I would say that's a part of humanity.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's why he extends himself to us
Speaker 1: in the first place, because from the foundations of the earth,
Speaker 1: that has been a struggle within, within beings, within man too,
Speaker 1: of where to where to, like, what's what part of
Speaker 1: yourself to give energy to? Which even I mean even
Speaker 1: going back to the as this piece that common and
Speaker 1: Patriction have wonderfully put together, it is still dealing with
Speaker 1: that same thing, right, how do you navigate these the
Speaker 1: sides of me? So I felt like that's why that's
Speaker 1: a part of christis sending himself to us. To me
Speaker 1: is that battle is always there, has always been there.
Speaker 1: It's not new. There's nothing new under the sun. That's
Speaker 1: not new at all. What does Nat King Cole talking
Speaker 1: about being a man? Ah? Wow? What does Nat King
Speaker 1: Cole taught me about being a man? Is that it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter how high of an height of the heights
Speaker 1: you reach or not. We all go through the same struggles.
Speaker 1: We all are come up against crossroads on the daily
Speaker 1: to have to make choices, and sometimes the harder choice.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes the harder choice is the more graceful choice. And
Speaker 1: even though you don't always see the manifestation of your
Speaker 1: of what you're trying to do. If the dream come
Speaker 1: to fruition, the goal come to come into reality, it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's not happening. For example, he was one
Speaker 1: of the first, if not the first African American to
Speaker 1: have his own variety show on national television. It lasted
Speaker 1: thirteen months. To him. During that time, it could have
Speaker 1: felt like it was not a success. But again, even
Speaker 1: going back to what I was saying about my own life,
Speaker 1: about how I felt near the end of psych and
Speaker 1: what I was going through then to how life is now,
Speaker 1: as you can pull the lens back and go down
Speaker 1: the road a little bit, it was a success. The
Speaker 1: fact that I was even able to be on the
Speaker 1: West Wing, be on Psych, be on suits right now
Speaker 1: has everything to do with the fact that Nat King
Speaker 1: Cole dared to have his own variety show on network television.
Speaker 1: And even though they didn't get a national sponsor, he
Speaker 1: was victorious because look at all of us now, whore
Speaker 1: not even just me, look at all of us Coleman Domingo.
Speaker 1: Coleman Domingo does not exist in his world without Nat
Speaker 1: King Cole. So no, you were victorious. You did move
Speaker 1: the ball down the court, you did get us closer
Speaker 1: to the victory, the Promised Land. All of that. So
Speaker 1: for me in terms of even as a man, remember
Speaker 1: that dolt, keep pressing towards the mark. All those things
Speaker 1: that are inside of you to do, keep doing them,
Speaker 1: because even though you may not necessarily see them all
Speaker 1: come to pass right now, does not mean it's not
Speaker 1: coming to pass. And even bringing it back to a
Speaker 1: biblical thing, Moses was able to go to the mountaintop
Speaker 1: to see the promised Land. He wasn't able to go,
Speaker 1: but he was able to see it and people and
Speaker 1: the Israelites did get there because of choices he made.
Speaker 1: So it's not always about you. Sometimes you do things
Speaker 1: because it's about the journey of the whole thing. It's
Speaker 1: about moving the ball forward again. I would not be
Speaker 1: on West Wing, on Psyche on suits without Nat King
Speaker 1: Cole being on the Nat King Cole Show back in
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty six, nineteen fifty seven. It's directly affected. To
Speaker 1: bring it back to a biblical vantage point. Has your
Speaker 1: faith ever faltered? M has my faith ever faltered? In
Speaker 1: the end, I would say, I don't think so. There's
Speaker 1: times that it has been challenged, but I remember years ago.
Speaker 1: I'm from a young age. I just prayed. I said,
Speaker 1: I said, Father, I want to know you for myself.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to be mine dad's God, my
Speaker 1: mom's god, the god I read about the Bible. I
Speaker 1: want to know you for myself. So take me through
Speaker 1: whatever I have to go through so that I know
Speaker 1: that you're real. And then I've had to go through
Speaker 1: things in life. But because of those experiences, I've been
Speaker 1: able to say I know he's real in the midst
Speaker 1: of those challenging situations. Has always come back to me, Well,
Speaker 1: when you ask to know me more intimately. Again, Like
Speaker 1: it's easy to say I trust you when things are
Speaker 1: going great, what about when your world is falling apart?
Speaker 1: What about when so much, so much things that you
Speaker 1: put value in start crumbling? And then as you go
Speaker 1: through that. Now this is the crossroads we have to say.
Speaker 1: Are you in it for the long haul? Are you
Speaker 1: gonna jump off? Jump ship? Cool? You staying? And now
Speaker 1: I will start building it all back up. This is
Speaker 1: a quote that I ready years ago. I'm sure I
Speaker 1: haven't written down somewhere where it talks about love being
Speaker 1: like a vase or something like that, that love is
Speaker 1: not this beautiful vase or vise. I don't know how
Speaker 1: you say yes, I don't know. I've heard of both ways.
Speaker 1: But love is, say love is a's not this beautiful
Speaker 1: vise that's just up there on a mantel looking so lovely.
Speaker 1: It's when it gets knocked over and it shouters on
Speaker 1: the floor into all these pieces. The effort that is
Speaker 1: that is taken to put it back together. And when
Speaker 1: it's put back together, it's glued and it's it's jagged.
Speaker 1: It's not it doesn't look as beautiful as it did before,
Speaker 1: but it's but it's together. That's what love is. And
Speaker 1: I look at the same thing, and that's what faith is.
Speaker 1: That's what life is. It's not oh, you want to
Speaker 1: hit TV show for eight years? Is yeah, but at
Speaker 1: the end of the day years your marriage is falling
Speaker 1: a part now and now you're this, this life that
Speaker 1: you've been used to, this TV show is ending and
Speaker 1: you don't know what you're doing next. Can you still stand?
Speaker 1: And as you do that, that's what And then look,
Speaker 1: and I'm talking from a very I would say luxurious,
Speaker 1: because I don't know what the right word is. I'm
Speaker 1: very aware that I'm talking about being on a hit
Speaker 1: TV show for eight years. Privilege, that's the word, yes, privileged.
Speaker 1: It's a conversation coming from a very privileged place. But
Speaker 1: the principle is still the same. The principle is still
Speaker 1: the same in life. I have to make a choice
Speaker 1: about am I going to like stand and keep pressing
Speaker 1: through or am I going to throw my hands up
Speaker 1: in and run away? And when we look at Nakin Cole,
Speaker 1: you look at doctor King, you look at Gandhi, you
Speaker 1: look at anyone who is who is? It's always that
Speaker 1: that choice that we're that we're having to deal with
Speaker 1: and even dealing with this play. That's what this play
Speaker 1: really starts to ask us in the midst of the
Speaker 1: struggles that we see, in the midst of these cross
Speaker 1: roads that we come come across in life, whether it'say
Speaker 1: even about us or what we see happening to other people,
Speaker 1: are we going to stand and engage and press towards
Speaker 1: it and make a difference even if you don't actually
Speaker 1: see the difference that we're hoping to make, Or are
Speaker 1: we going to throw our hands up and turn the
Speaker 1: blind eye and run away? That is always the question
Speaker 1: that we're being asked, and I think God is in
Speaker 1: that that intersection right there where he's saying, do you
Speaker 1: trust me? Because if you trust me, you're going to
Speaker 1: press towards being engaged. You're going to press towards making
Speaker 1: a difference. You're going to press towards giving you all
Speaker 1: to right or wrong that you know is out there. Well,
Speaker 1: I deeply appreciate you're pushing forward and for helping me
Speaker 1: the show put together some of the pieces of your life.
Speaker 1: My pleasure. Thank you for having me, Thank you for
Speaker 1: spending the time to have this conversation. It was a
Speaker 1: fun conversation. I really enjoyed it. I wish your luck
Speaker 1: with the show a hell. I appreci thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Come on and see it. Lights Out Special thanks this
Speaker 1: week to Zenon, Marissa, Amanda Kiara, and the one and
Speaker 1: only Colman Domingo. Opening night for Lights Out Nat King
Speaker 1: Cole is February thirteenth. It will run through March seventeenth
Speaker 1: at the Geffen Playhouse. You can still get tickets on
Speaker 1: their website at www dot Geffen Playhouse dot org. If
Speaker 1: you'd like to learn more about Dooley or our show,
Speaker 1: you can do so at www. Dot talk easypod dot com.
Speaker 1: On the website you'll find the archive for the show.
Speaker 1: We've had on so many wonderful actors in the past,
Speaker 1: Figo Mortensen, Coleman Domingo himself, Lena Waite, Alia Showcatch any Slate,
Speaker 1: Alan Alda, Willem Dafoe. There's so many great people who
Speaker 1: have come on the show, and so if you enjoyed
Speaker 1: today's episode, I suspect you may like some of those conversations.
Speaker 1: Talk Easy can be listened to on our website like
Speaker 1: I mentioned, but also SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, pretty much wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your podcasts. We're on Twitter, Facebook, and
Speaker 1: Instagram at talk easypod. And if you enjoyed the show,
Speaker 1: please do not feel shy about sharing it online. Public
Speaker 1: support is really the best way for new listeners to
Speaker 1: find the podcast. As always, Talk Easy is the executive
Speaker 1: produced by David Chen, Graphics by Ian Jones, illustrations by
Speaker 1: Christian Chanoy. Our new social media person is the wonderful
Speaker 1: Crystal Farmer. Our talent coordinator is Ian Chang, our intern
Speaker 1: is Elliott Weintraub, and the show is produced by Dylan Peck.
Speaker 1: I'm san Fragoso. Thank you for listening. To talk easy.
Speaker 1: Next week is Matt Walsh. I'll see you then