January 30, 2025 • 25 mins
Picture This: It’s 3 in the morning on the corner of Melrose & Fairfax. Wilmer Valderrama and Freddy Rodriguez are cracking up with each other telling “Yo Mama” jokes. And now, they have a podcast. Welcome to “Dos Amigos”, come join us in the speakeasy as Wilmer and Freddy pull up a chair and pour a drink in this premiere episode of their podcast. The two dive into the origins of their friendship, exploring the hustle, struggles, and moments that shaped their careers. What was the moment when they said “Why not acting?” and what happened next. In this new series, the guys cut through the noise of everyday life and ruminate on a bevy of topics through fun and daring discussions with guests who defy convention.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
So it's happy. Welcome to those amigos.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to do a media you know, that's that's how
we do things.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I am we.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
So uh here, we are here, We are there.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
You know a little water for them, are we are
we switching.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Up in a little while. Yeah, we'll brobably switch it
to guns, you know.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
But because it's apropos, we are in your speakeasy.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And and and for those.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Of you out there who can't really see this magnificent space,
this is Wilmer Valderrama is wonderful speakeasy. I mean, this
thing is pretty impressive. I hope that one day we
just get the kinda put the camera around. But there's
this awesome bar over there.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Hey, Aaron, you went into the yourself a bit.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Absolutely absolutely, what's going on, y'all. My name is Aaron.
I'm a producer for Docent Migos. Consider me your third
amigo for today's episode. I'm over here. And if you
have any questions or things. If the audience out there
wants to ask any of our wonderful gentlemen a question,
I'll be here to present it to you all.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
But I'm excited for the journey. And yeah, let's have
a good time.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Yeah, Eron Wilmer, I want to know what the inspiration
was behind this thing? And I'm I'm every time I
come here, I just I never want to leave.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Me too, me too so much. Nobody can get me
to go anywhere anymore. What was it?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
What was the inspiration?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Like, you know, I gotta say, I think Timothy Alton
discovered me, right, And everybody knows about this guy for
a very.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Long time, and I discover him late.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
And I just love that every single one of these
pieces has said so much, and every piece had an
opinion about itself.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Like what would you how would you describe his style?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
It's like vintage new, but it's really a vintage, but
it's made new.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
He also uses vintage artifacts and then gives it new purpose, right,
Like there's just stuff like that, and it's just really
you know, the deep collars, I don't know, it feels
like something I've never had before, and I feel inspirational
to me, you know, in many ways. And but yeah,
so so I got my first lamp from him, and
I was like, oh, this is cool. And then he
turned into a couch, and then he turned into a table,
and then he turned into like a in artwork and
(02:22):
it's just start aspiring ball from But I'm like, I'm
like a you know, I'm like a Timothy Olton double
R L guy, you know. So I love that that
stuff is my It's.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Very indicative of the style.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I mean, even even like this, like I don't know
if y'all could see it, woman has this wonderful kind
of bronze tin roof here ceiling should.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I Yeah, yeah, it's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, well yeah, it was definitely like this experiment and
that you imagine telling your your lady that the room
downstairs is something that you even have a stage there man,
And yeah, we have a piano there, we have Sheila,
he's goes there.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I think one day we'll have Sheil come in and
do a thing, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
And we had people perform on that day.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, yeah, I think uh Leo clam who's one of
the ex producers. He's just an incredible producers. Done a beautiful,
beautiful work. And you know, we had we had a
little birthday here and but we had a little piano there.
We have she like the bongos that she gave me
for my birthday and stuff. So we're I mean, I look,
I just I love this. I love music. I love
this this corner.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
I mean you could have like a full band up there, man,
I mean this is like this reminds me of the
space that I would see like in New York, somewhere
like downtown.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I think.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
So, you know, I feel like you know has that
you know I you know you talk about the wells
covered newspapers.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, you know what's that about.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
So my friends found this guy who was selling thirty
years of headlines, real newspapers, thirty years, and he was
selling for a one hundred bucks.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
So he for the whole bundle.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yes, he just wanted it out of his garage. So
I bought the whole thing. And then I said, uh,
you know what am if you put it on the walls.
And so we have like headlines from you know, Mike Tyson,
you know Mike Tyson in the ear and you know
the eighty four Olympics, you know Kobe Bryant joining the
Lakers eighty four.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
He had eighty four Olympics newspaper.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah and yeah, so that became the one paper of
the room, and he just felt like the whole place
had an opinion.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
But speaking of opinions.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
You know, we still and I have some Yeah, we
don't know why we're here, we're doing this kind of
what we're here?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
How do we do this?
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Like?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
What happened?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Did we do this?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Welcome to those? Am he goos?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yes, welcome to those.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
The podcast so you explore the many topics that run
through Freddy's and might.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Have our brains, so that you can get a sense
of what it's like when Wilmar and I get together
and we just talk and all of a sudden it's
like three four hours later.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yeah, well, perfect segway into like how do we ended
up here with microphones and speakeasy and like how did
this happen?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I feel like there was a lead up to that day, though,
because woman and I have known each other twenty five
years or so, and I found that every time that
you and I got together, whether we're on a plane
to London or whatever, it's always like five six seven
hours of us just talking and it always seems so seamless,
(05:15):
it didn't seem forced or anything, and so I always
felt like that was the foundation of why we came
here today. However, that leads us to the night we
got together we had a group text between myself, Wilmer
and shout out to Jay, Hernandez and Rock and we
had a group text, and for like a year we
(05:36):
kept saying, when are we getting together?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
When do we get together? When do we get together?
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Finally it was the it was the strike right, and
it was Jay goes, come on, I know none.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Of you bastards are working, so let's go and have dinner.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
And we finally did it, and we got together and
what was that wonderful restaurant.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
We went too.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
It's a it's an Argentina and restaurant on Marroo's my
favorite steak house in Los Angeles. Highly recommend visiting. Beautiful
family own. The mom is still doing all the is
it really?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Everybody who you met was you know, brothers, and it's
beautiful and it's been there forever. I mean it's like
this hidden jam and yeah, it's it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
But so we we ended up showing up who he said, Hey,
you know what six o'clock dinner.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, because you know we're all like like three old men.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Yeah, we can go bed early. Cut to you know,
two thirty in the morning. We're still talking and close
to doing and We're on Merrows telling your mama so
fat jokes. Like it got to a point where we
just started talking about anything.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Okay, hold on, did everybody hear that we were on
Melrose at three in the morning telling your mama jokes?
So you could imagine the cars that were passing by,
and we're watching j Hernandez and Freddie Rodriguez looking like
three three delinquents Mels at three. Yeah, which is a
(07:00):
quick shout out to a Warmer. First show he produced
called Yo Mama, which I was an incredible fan of,
and as we're there al Melrose, I brought it up
and we fell right into the ya Mama jact. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
No, I that was my first Frankenstein.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
That was my first audacious Uh maybe I could be
a producer too, you know.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
And then I created this thing and MTV says yes.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
But speaking of all the you know, origin stories and
all that, I think about our culture, and I think
about the likability, the likability, the likability of all of
us somehow ended up embracing a life of you know, entertainment.
What was that moment for you? Just kind of getting
down to it, like, what was that moment for that
(07:44):
you you were like, oh, you know, I want to
be an actor.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Yeah, well, I mean, and this is the absolute truth.
I really wasn't good at anything else.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
And I'm dead serious.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
I feel like I started acting when I was like thirteen,
and I feel like it's such a crucial age where
you're trying to find yourself and you're trying to find
your identity. And I had cousins who were studious, and
I had friends who were athletes and so on and
so forth, and I just wasn't really good at any
of that stuff. And it wasn't until I found acting
(08:18):
and I found the arts that I really found what
I felt was my calling, which was in contrast to
what my parents had planned for me. Right, My parents
migrated from Puerto Rico to Chicago, didn't speak English. And
I don't know if you experienced this with your parents,
but definitely like one track mind, right, came from Puerto
(08:39):
Rico to Chicago, worked, raised their kids, one of their
kids to go to school, one of their kids to
get jobs, you know, lead a normal life. And then
here I come like, I want to be I want
to get altita, I want Yeah, what it is that
it's a hobby, you know, because there was so many
plays and so much off I was doing in Chicago
(09:01):
at that time, and it wasn't until I started to
do it professionally that they started to see that I
could actually pay the rent.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
But it just it just didn't compute for a long time.
You know, did you have the same.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Experience pretty similar? I mean in the sense that you know,
we are we see, came here to work. We came
from the different country to you know, where'd you guys,
where'd you guys come from? Well, we came from Venezuela.
So my mother is Columbia. My father's Venezuelan, so you know,
we but they had met at Miami, and you know,
we'll get deep into that later. But I but I
think the moment that I said to myself, oh why
(09:42):
not acting right was almost by necessity, in a weird
illusion away, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Necessity.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, necessity.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I felt like you know, I was I was still
in high school, you know, but I was always acting,
singing and dances just for fun. You know, I never
did it professionally. And I remember my dad used to
drive this masta, you know, held put up for sales
sign on the moss die and yeah, something like that
and he would put it for sale sign. And he
would use this car to transport parts from shop to shop.
(10:10):
And if for sale sign, he will sell the car
for a little profit. They would buy another one a
little more expensive, would put it for sale sign, then
buy another one, put it for sales sign. And that
car was just hustling, you know what I mean. And
then one day that car got.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Stolen from the front of the house.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Oh wow, and I saw for the first time, you know,
the uncertainty and the concern, and the and the fear
from my mom and from my dad.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
And because that was the money man, that was the
money maker, that was the train, right, and that was
what was carried in us buy and well that he
was selling that he was also making some money and
using the car and that was a lifeline.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
And you know, in Los Angeles you need a car.
Like you to get around, you need a car. And
you know, honestly, that was the moment when I saw
their concern, I said to myself, I got to get
in the game. And I was maybe fourteen fifteen years old,
and I said, I got to do this. And you know,
remember hearing this commercial. Are you between the ages of
sixteen was it? Oh man, are you between the fourteen
(11:09):
and sixty years old? Do you think you got it
takes to what it takes to to be a TV
personality and commercials and you know morning Saturday morning shows. Uh.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Then come to the Hilton and laxah blah blah. We
do a showcase where industry.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Experts, industry experts, they are going to deem to see
if you got what it is?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
If you got it?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, So I told my dad and my Dad's like,
what what is this?
Speaker 1 (11:29):
You know? So we go we showed up this showcase
and then he was like, but did.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
You do it before that? Or did you just have
a natural I guess I was doing theater right.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I was singing and dancing, you know, but again because
it was like extra codc activities and in school, that
was the why I did it, you know, because it
was fun.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I was like, and I didn't know how to speak English.
So the more I did that, the faster I was
learning how to speak English.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Right.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yeah, but you know the audacity of thinking that you
could be that, That's something that I think culturally we
all have. Yeah, but into it takes a certain amount
of perfect storms to happen, you.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Know, right, perfect storms.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, so what you say to your family, Hey, I
want to audition and or like I wanted to how
does this happen to you?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Decided you in the theater.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Or yeah, I sort of stumbled into it.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
In the Chicago public school systems at that time, the
arts were practically non existent, just to be honest, And
so my school had no arts, no sports, nothing extracurricular.
And this is a really important point. You know, what
happens to kids at that age if there's no direction, right,
if there's nothing that they're necessarily interested in, whether it's
the art of sports or something else, then they're susceptible
(12:38):
to becoming a product of their environment.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Okay, and I grew up in Chicago. I grew up
in the inner city.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
I grew up wear a lot of gangs, a lot
of drugs, a lot of graffiti, a lot of everything
that you would imagine is in the urban environment. And
I found myself pretty much going in that direction, or
saw that I could have gone in that direction if
I had no If I had no direction, family saw
it as well. And so when I discovered acting, I've
just found my calling. But a lot of that was
(13:06):
just because I wasn't good at anything else, you know,
and people need to understand that, you know, not every
kid is a is an athlete, not every kid is
a mathematician.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
You know.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
You got to find the thing that that the thirteen
year old kid is good at and then they'll thrive.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
What's the strength and how do you cultivate that? Exactly? Yeah,
And honestly this.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Is one of the purposes of where I feel this
show hopefully be a space for it to explore all
these ideas and all these thoughts, all these subjects. You know,
how do you demystified? Right, how do you how do
you disarm the thought of.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Any ambition you have?
Speaker 3 (13:38):
You know, I think that there's so much in culturally
that we have to kind of fight against, you know,
in order for us to break ground, or break new
environments or go into new roads, right take take new
chapters that perhaps our family never thought realistic for us, right,
you know. So, so I really hope that this space
that this podcast you know, kind of allows us to
disarm those thoughts, to create a new a new way
of thinking, you know, and I think you think about
(14:00):
the generation that we're experiencing right now, and you know,
the youngans who are going to carry the torch from
whatever we were able to humbly achieve.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
And I think that's the.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Part of this experiment, you know. And we'd like to
invite everyone who's who's joining us in this podcast to say, hey, like,
remember when you used to dream big?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Right like, is it too late to keep dreaming?
Speaker 3 (14:20):
You know, bring some friends, you know, but perhaps the
third amigo that can inspire you and me, you know
into other ways you know, that can hopefully translate into
inspiration for others. You know, this is a show for everyone,
and we hope that everyone really really enjoys it.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, this is a show for everyone.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
You know. I want to hear other people's journeys as well,
whether you're in the entertainment industry or not.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
You know, what's it like to be in business, what's
it like to be a doctor or a nurse or
a teacher or that.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I want to know what that journey is like and
how culturally that's impacted you and how that steered your
journey or whatever decisions you made in that journey.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Yeah, and what life hacks you know, what ways do
you can you hack the life that was perceived or
stereotypically given to you, And how do you break that
apart and say, hey, you know, I'm going to rewrite
a new chapter, like how can we do that? And
then you know, also, let's make sure this is fun,
you know, you know, you.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Know, because that's just who we are, you know.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
I think one thing I can say about Latinos is
that when things get a little complicated, you know, we
don't complain about it.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
We turn the music a little. Yeah. So let's I
had a question real quick, how did you two meet?
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Because this is like a dope friendship and I know
it's been years in the making, and I just want
to say, like, when was the first time y'all connected
and knew like, okay, this is going to be like
a brother or like life.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Or something like that.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
Like how did you all come across each other?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
That's a great question, that's a weird question.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I'd say, well, you should go first, because there's multiple
instances in my life when you and I crosspass words.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
It's like, yeah, this is yeah. I remember I was
doing I was doing a show I want to say
nineteen ninety eight, maybe ninety nine, and I remember you
came to visit a friend and you came on set
and I think I was shooting at Sony or something,
and I remember the hair person or the makeup person said, hey, you.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
See that guy.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
He's he's a Latino actor like you.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
And I remember them specifically pointing you out as you
walked in and you said hello to your friend. And
at that point I really hadn't met too many other
Latino Latina actors in Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Man. I really fell alone, you know. And I just
remember looking at you and going.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Like, whoh, there's somebody else like me, you know. And
then I believe your show came out after and obviously
seeing you on that, I was incredibly proud to see you,
you doing your thing. And then I just remember being
out and us having mutual friends and meeting through mutual friends.
I remember seeing you, I don't know if it was
(17:14):
Conan O'Brien or whatever, and you were dancing sad side.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
And I was like, he dances sas like man, like,
you know, I.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Grew up dancing South Simon didn't get you know, And
that you spoke Spanish, and which is crazy. You tell
me that Spanish was your first language and you didn't
speak English because your English was so impeccable, I would
have never guessed that you only spoke Spanish. So there
were a lot of elements that you possessed that felt
very familiar to me.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And you just felt like somebody that I had grown.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Up with, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
And then when we actually met and we started talking,
I was like, this guy's the coolest freaking guy in
the world, man, you know.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
And every time we as I said in the beginning
of the show, every time we talked, it was always
like three four hours and we always.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Just you know, just enjoyed each other's company.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Well, my mine is very similar, you know.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I think first of all, I remember seeing you a
six feet under and I was like, and then see
your Rodriguez, you know, Rodriguez and the credits, I was like, damn,
you know, and I'm telling you, you what you say
to me, I feel incredibly just telling of the environment
and the climbing in which we're coming up as performers,
(18:23):
you know, I didn't have anything else to compare ourselves to, right,
and there was like maybe a few of us on
network TV and cable TV, and you know, I saw
you a six feet under and you were I mean
incredible in that Then I realized I started then seeing
you in so many other movies before that, and I
was like, oh, this is the same guy I liked
in this movie.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
This is the same guy I liked in that product.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
And so to me, it was like just to see
that almost created this mirage that like we weren't just
the one person in the room, right, Like we weren't
like the only Latino on the show, the only Latino
in the movie. And it made me realize that I
wasn't that I wasn't that alone. But you know, it
(19:04):
goes full circle to say, like, you know, the moment
I met you, your your and you know, you were
unapologetically Latino, and I was like, dude, like it's really
is it was really beautiful.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
To see that.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
And I say, you know, to your point, some of
these conversations that we were having, you know, kept untapping
and un rambling some of the many layers that we
have never been allowed to talk about because you know,
you get kind of corner into you know, promote the
show and you know, talk about the why the show
and about your character, and you never have the space
to kind of talk a little bit about what it
(19:38):
took for you to have the tools that you did,
and back then you were doing some of the most
pop culturally moments in history. And I remember seeing you
go through the ALBUMA Awards and whatever, and I was like,
of course, I mean like you were.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
You were absolutely lifting our community for.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
So long, but they weren't that many of us, so
the signal was like just brewing, you know, like we
were just making them, you know, and but you were
part of this community that was just breaking ground for
all of us. And I was it was more than proud.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
I was.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I just wanted to be like that. I just wanted
to continue to aspire to do that, you know. And
but it was our conversations. And I remember when I
truly fell in love with Freddie Rodriguez was when we
were on a flight to London, That's right, yeah, yeah,
and we ended up sitting together like just randomly and
I'm like, oh, Freddie, nice to see you, and like yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
And You're like the same.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
And then we did not take one blink of a
nap as from the moment we boarded to the moment
we landed, to the moment.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
We got our bags, we were talking. I don't know
how long.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
That flight was like thirteen hours, thirteen hours, and we
talked about all of it, and that's when I knew,
you know, you're gonna be my family for life.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, thank you, brother. I received that.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
And you know what's interesting about that, you know, us
talking like that for thirteen hours, I mean, what does
that say. It said is that there's a lot that
we were holding back. Right. I don't want to say
it's like a therapy session, but you know it goes
to show that that, at least as I'm speaking for myself,
you know, like I didn't really have too many other
people that I can talk to like that that understood
(21:16):
the journey, that understood the steps, that understood starting how
we started and what it was to be there. You
said something a minute ago that was really interesting. A
lot of the projects that we've done, we're always the
only Latino in that project, you know, and that gets
lonely man, right, you know, you know, you go from
(21:37):
movie to movie, show to show, and you're always the
only Latino person, you know, and you don't have somebody
else there that you can relate to or talk to.
And so so then when you get on a plane
in London for thirteen hours.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
It's like I gotta let it alone.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
I gotta let it out.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
But there was a lack of community, right, there's a
lack of.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Awareness, you know, And we were all, you know, lone
ranger in this thing in different directions, right, we were
segregated from each other and not allowed to technically commute
artistically because you're right, like tokenly, you know, we were
placed in different projects. And by the way, we were
also where able to play against stereotypes and so many
different ways, you know, and some all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
So it's pretty unbelievable. For me.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
It was like, you know, I had an accent, So
when I was looking at you as a Latina and
you did not have an accent but also spoke Spanish,
I was like, I gotta be like this guy because
I literally could have ship my accent. And I think
for right now, I think you can hear that I
decided to give up on that question.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Yeah, I never but I never felt it was like
at the forefront.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, it wasn't strong enough to be the night in jobs,
but it also wasn't like clean enough to play you know,
the full American guy, you know. But but I mean,
I to your point I think having our journeys, you know,
clashing this way, and for us to be able to
historically record these moments and and say like, we can
leave this behind and you know, not just for our children,
(23:02):
but humbly to those who are next. And there's a
beautiful community out there that has been waiting for this space,
and I dare to say they're inheriting a space that's
so much more open, so much more marketable, so much
more fruitful. And I think the idea that this podcast
can start this conversation in many ways.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
On that level, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
And I you know, I invite everybody in the studio
system in Hollywood and all other industries to kind of discover,
you know, how much of a partner this community can be,
how much of.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
A partner, how vast our audiences, how big our audiences,
The audience that's going to tune in to listen to this,
the audience that has followed us for the last thirty years,
that have watched all our things.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
And we're going to talk about all those things.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
We're going to bring all of our friends, you know,
to come and validate these stories. Don't take it just
from us, but yeah, the idea that we can bring
other individuals that were part of that journey and also
individuals that may be part of the journey we're going next,
and we hope everyone enjoys it.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
And that leads me to my next wondrous question.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
We've been able to talk a little bit of like
the inspiration, what like what kicked our butts into artistry?
You know, but I think a lot of people have
not had the opportunity to hear who is Freddie Rodriguez?
Speaker 1 (24:18):
You know, like where do you come from? Who are
your parents? You know, who were you as a kid,
who were you as a student?
Speaker 3 (24:24):
You know, like what what things happen in your life
that kind of shape what Freddie Rodriguez is today? Because
although we have to artistry, there's a whole lifetime that happens,
the play of factor and the choices you make as
an actor in the in the in your views and your.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Philosophies of life. And I love to hear that, Oh, well,
thank you.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
I hope we have another episode in us maybe maybe
we'll well look at that.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
We got to refill our cup refilled and we welcome
Maryant Episode two.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Who is Freddie Rodriguez?
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Salute?
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Dos Amigos is a production from WV Sound and iHeartMedia's
Michael Tuda podcast network, hosted by Me, Freddie Rodriguez, and
Wilmer Valderama.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burlison and Sophie Spencer's Zebos.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Our executive producers are Wilmer Valderama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlison,
and Leo Klem at WV Sound.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
This episode was edited by Ryan Posts and Aaron Burlison
and features original music by Madison Devenport and Halo Boy.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Our cover art photography is by David Avalos and designed
by Deny holtz.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Claw and special thanks to every single interview for joining
this journey and I hope you continue to enjoy us.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
For more podcasts from my Heart, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
See you or hear us in a week or so.
So it's happy. Welcome to those amigos.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to do a media you know, that's that's how
we do things.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I am we.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
So uh here, we are here, We are there.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
You know a little water for them, are we are
we switching.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Up in a little while. Yeah, we'll brobably switch it
to guns, you know.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
But because it's apropos, we are in your speakeasy.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And and and for those.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Of you out there who can't really see this magnificent space,
this is Wilmer Valderrama is wonderful speakeasy. I mean, this
thing is pretty impressive. I hope that one day we
just get the kinda put the camera around. But there's
this awesome bar over there.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Hey, Aaron, you went into the yourself a bit.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Absolutely absolutely, what's going on, y'all. My name is Aaron.
I'm a producer for Docent Migos. Consider me your third
amigo for today's episode. I'm over here. And if you
have any questions or things. If the audience out there
wants to ask any of our wonderful gentlemen a question,
I'll be here to present it to you all.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
But I'm excited for the journey. And yeah, let's have
a good time.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Yeah, Eron Wilmer, I want to know what the inspiration
was behind this thing? And I'm I'm every time I
come here, I just I never want to leave.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Me too, me too so much. Nobody can get me
to go anywhere anymore. What was it?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
What was the inspiration?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Like, you know, I gotta say, I think Timothy Alton
discovered me, right, And everybody knows about this guy for
a very.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Long time, and I discover him late.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
And I just love that every single one of these
pieces has said so much, and every piece had an
opinion about itself.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Like what would you how would you describe his style?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
It's like vintage new, but it's really a vintage, but
it's made new.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
He also uses vintage artifacts and then gives it new purpose, right,
Like there's just stuff like that, and it's just really
you know, the deep collars, I don't know, it feels
like something I've never had before, and I feel inspirational
to me, you know, in many ways. And but yeah,
so so I got my first lamp from him, and
I was like, oh, this is cool. And then he
turned into a couch, and then he turned into a table,
and then he turned into like a in artwork and
(02:22):
it's just start aspiring ball from But I'm like, I'm
like a you know, I'm like a Timothy Olton double
R L guy, you know. So I love that that
stuff is my It's.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Very indicative of the style.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I mean, even even like this, like I don't know
if y'all could see it, woman has this wonderful kind
of bronze tin roof here ceiling should.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I Yeah, yeah, it's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, well yeah, it was definitely like this experiment and
that you imagine telling your your lady that the room
downstairs is something that you even have a stage there man,
And yeah, we have a piano there, we have Sheila,
he's goes there.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I think one day we'll have Sheil come in and
do a thing, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
And we had people perform on that day.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, yeah, I think uh Leo clam who's one of
the ex producers. He's just an incredible producers. Done a beautiful,
beautiful work. And you know, we had we had a
little birthday here and but we had a little piano there.
We have she like the bongos that she gave me
for my birthday and stuff. So we're I mean, I look,
I just I love this. I love music. I love
this this corner.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
I mean you could have like a full band up there, man,
I mean this is like this reminds me of the
space that I would see like in New York, somewhere
like downtown.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I think.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
So, you know, I feel like you know has that
you know I you know you talk about the wells
covered newspapers.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, you know what's that about.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
So my friends found this guy who was selling thirty
years of headlines, real newspapers, thirty years, and he was
selling for a one hundred bucks.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
So he for the whole bundle.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yes, he just wanted it out of his garage. So
I bought the whole thing. And then I said, uh,
you know what am if you put it on the walls.
And so we have like headlines from you know, Mike Tyson,
you know Mike Tyson in the ear and you know
the eighty four Olympics, you know Kobe Bryant joining the
Lakers eighty four.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
He had eighty four Olympics newspaper.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah and yeah, so that became the one paper of
the room, and he just felt like the whole place
had an opinion.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
But speaking of opinions.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
You know, we still and I have some Yeah, we
don't know why we're here, we're doing this kind of
what we're here?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
How do we do this?
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Like?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
What happened?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Did we do this?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Welcome to those? Am he goos?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yes, welcome to those.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
The podcast so you explore the many topics that run
through Freddy's and might.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Have our brains, so that you can get a sense
of what it's like when Wilmar and I get together
and we just talk and all of a sudden it's
like three four hours later.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yeah, well, perfect segway into like how do we ended
up here with microphones and speakeasy and like how did
this happen?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I feel like there was a lead up to that day, though,
because woman and I have known each other twenty five
years or so, and I found that every time that
you and I got together, whether we're on a plane
to London or whatever, it's always like five six seven
hours of us just talking and it always seems so seamless,
(05:15):
it didn't seem forced or anything, and so I always
felt like that was the foundation of why we came
here today. However, that leads us to the night we
got together we had a group text between myself, Wilmer
and shout out to Jay, Hernandez and Rock and we
had a group text, and for like a year we
(05:36):
kept saying, when are we getting together?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
When do we get together? When do we get together?
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Finally it was the it was the strike right, and
it was Jay goes, come on, I know none.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Of you bastards are working, so let's go and have dinner.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
And we finally did it, and we got together and
what was that wonderful restaurant.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
We went too.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
It's a it's an Argentina and restaurant on Marroo's my
favorite steak house in Los Angeles. Highly recommend visiting. Beautiful
family own. The mom is still doing all the is
it really?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Everybody who you met was you know, brothers, and it's
beautiful and it's been there forever. I mean it's like
this hidden jam and yeah, it's it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
But so we we ended up showing up who he said, Hey,
you know what six o'clock dinner.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, because you know we're all like like three old men.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Yeah, we can go bed early. Cut to you know,
two thirty in the morning. We're still talking and close
to doing and We're on Merrows telling your mama so
fat jokes. Like it got to a point where we
just started talking about anything.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Okay, hold on, did everybody hear that we were on
Melrose at three in the morning telling your mama jokes?
So you could imagine the cars that were passing by,
and we're watching j Hernandez and Freddie Rodriguez looking like
three three delinquents Mels at three. Yeah, which is a
(07:00):
quick shout out to a Warmer. First show he produced
called Yo Mama, which I was an incredible fan of,
and as we're there al Melrose, I brought it up
and we fell right into the ya Mama jact. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
No, I that was my first Frankenstein.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
That was my first audacious Uh maybe I could be
a producer too, you know.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
And then I created this thing and MTV says yes.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
But speaking of all the you know, origin stories and
all that, I think about our culture, and I think
about the likability, the likability, the likability of all of
us somehow ended up embracing a life of you know, entertainment.
What was that moment for you? Just kind of getting
down to it, like, what was that moment for that
(07:44):
you you were like, oh, you know, I want to
be an actor.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Yeah, well, I mean, and this is the absolute truth.
I really wasn't good at anything else.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
And I'm dead serious.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
I feel like I started acting when I was like thirteen,
and I feel like it's such a crucial age where
you're trying to find yourself and you're trying to find
your identity. And I had cousins who were studious, and
I had friends who were athletes and so on and
so forth, and I just wasn't really good at any
of that stuff. And it wasn't until I found acting
(08:18):
and I found the arts that I really found what
I felt was my calling, which was in contrast to
what my parents had planned for me. Right, My parents
migrated from Puerto Rico to Chicago, didn't speak English. And
I don't know if you experienced this with your parents,
but definitely like one track mind, right, came from Puerto
(08:39):
Rico to Chicago, worked, raised their kids, one of their
kids to go to school, one of their kids to
get jobs, you know, lead a normal life. And then
here I come like, I want to be I want
to get altita, I want Yeah, what it is that
it's a hobby, you know, because there was so many
plays and so much off I was doing in Chicago
(09:01):
at that time, and it wasn't until I started to
do it professionally that they started to see that I
could actually pay the rent.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
But it just it just didn't compute for a long time.
You know, did you have the same.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Experience pretty similar? I mean in the sense that you know,
we are we see, came here to work. We came
from the different country to you know, where'd you guys,
where'd you guys come from? Well, we came from Venezuela.
So my mother is Columbia. My father's Venezuelan, so you know,
we but they had met at Miami, and you know,
we'll get deep into that later. But I but I
think the moment that I said to myself, oh why
(09:42):
not acting right was almost by necessity, in a weird
illusion away, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Necessity.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, necessity.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I felt like you know, I was I was still
in high school, you know, but I was always acting,
singing and dances just for fun. You know, I never
did it professionally. And I remember my dad used to
drive this masta, you know, held put up for sales
sign on the moss die and yeah, something like that
and he would put it for sale sign. And he
would use this car to transport parts from shop to shop.
(10:10):
And if for sale sign, he will sell the car
for a little profit. They would buy another one a
little more expensive, would put it for sale sign, then
buy another one, put it for sales sign. And that
car was just hustling, you know what I mean. And
then one day that car got.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Stolen from the front of the house.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Oh wow, and I saw for the first time, you know,
the uncertainty and the concern, and the and the fear
from my mom and from my dad.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
And because that was the money man, that was the
money maker, that was the train, right, and that was
what was carried in us buy and well that he
was selling that he was also making some money and
using the car and that was a lifeline.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
And you know, in Los Angeles you need a car.
Like you to get around, you need a car. And
you know, honestly, that was the moment when I saw
their concern, I said to myself, I got to get
in the game. And I was maybe fourteen fifteen years old,
and I said, I got to do this. And you know,
remember hearing this commercial. Are you between the ages of
sixteen was it? Oh man, are you between the fourteen
(11:09):
and sixty years old? Do you think you got it
takes to what it takes to to be a TV
personality and commercials and you know morning Saturday morning shows. Uh.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Then come to the Hilton and laxah blah blah. We
do a showcase where industry.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Experts, industry experts, they are going to deem to see
if you got what it is?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
If you got it?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, So I told my dad and my Dad's like,
what what is this?
Speaker 1 (11:29):
You know? So we go we showed up this showcase
and then he was like, but did.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
You do it before that? Or did you just have
a natural I guess I was doing theater right.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I was singing and dancing, you know, but again because
it was like extra codc activities and in school, that
was the why I did it, you know, because it
was fun.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I was like, and I didn't know how to speak English.
So the more I did that, the faster I was
learning how to speak English.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Right.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yeah, but you know the audacity of thinking that you
could be that, That's something that I think culturally we
all have. Yeah, but into it takes a certain amount
of perfect storms to happen, you.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Know, right, perfect storms.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, so what you say to your family, Hey, I
want to audition and or like I wanted to how
does this happen to you?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Decided you in the theater.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Or yeah, I sort of stumbled into it.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
In the Chicago public school systems at that time, the
arts were practically non existent, just to be honest, And
so my school had no arts, no sports, nothing extracurricular.
And this is a really important point. You know, what
happens to kids at that age if there's no direction, right,
if there's nothing that they're necessarily interested in, whether it's
the art of sports or something else, then they're susceptible
(12:38):
to becoming a product of their environment.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Okay, and I grew up in Chicago. I grew up
in the inner city.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
I grew up wear a lot of gangs, a lot
of drugs, a lot of graffiti, a lot of everything
that you would imagine is in the urban environment. And
I found myself pretty much going in that direction, or
saw that I could have gone in that direction if
I had no If I had no direction, family saw
it as well. And so when I discovered acting, I've
just found my calling. But a lot of that was
(13:06):
just because I wasn't good at anything else, you know,
and people need to understand that, you know, not every
kid is a is an athlete, not every kid is
a mathematician.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
You know.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
You got to find the thing that that the thirteen
year old kid is good at and then they'll thrive.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
What's the strength and how do you cultivate that? Exactly? Yeah,
And honestly this.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Is one of the purposes of where I feel this
show hopefully be a space for it to explore all
these ideas and all these thoughts, all these subjects. You know,
how do you demystified? Right, how do you how do
you disarm the thought of.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Any ambition you have?
Speaker 3 (13:38):
You know, I think that there's so much in culturally
that we have to kind of fight against, you know,
in order for us to break ground, or break new
environments or go into new roads, right take take new
chapters that perhaps our family never thought realistic for us, right,
you know. So, so I really hope that this space
that this podcast you know, kind of allows us to
disarm those thoughts, to create a new a new way
of thinking, you know, and I think you think about
(14:00):
the generation that we're experiencing right now, and you know,
the youngans who are going to carry the torch from
whatever we were able to humbly achieve.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
And I think that's the.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Part of this experiment, you know. And we'd like to
invite everyone who's who's joining us in this podcast to say, hey, like,
remember when you used to dream big?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Right like, is it too late to keep dreaming?
Speaker 3 (14:20):
You know, bring some friends, you know, but perhaps the
third amigo that can inspire you and me, you know
into other ways you know, that can hopefully translate into
inspiration for others. You know, this is a show for everyone,
and we hope that everyone really really enjoys it.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, this is a show for everyone.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
You know. I want to hear other people's journeys as well,
whether you're in the entertainment industry or not.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
You know, what's it like to be in business, what's
it like to be a doctor or a nurse or
a teacher or that.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I want to know what that journey is like and
how culturally that's impacted you and how that steered your
journey or whatever decisions you made in that journey.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Yeah, and what life hacks you know, what ways do
you can you hack the life that was perceived or
stereotypically given to you, And how do you break that
apart and say, hey, you know, I'm going to rewrite
a new chapter, like how can we do that? And
then you know, also, let's make sure this is fun,
you know, you know, you.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Know, because that's just who we are, you know.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
I think one thing I can say about Latinos is
that when things get a little complicated, you know, we
don't complain about it.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
We turn the music a little. Yeah. So let's I
had a question real quick, how did you two meet?
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Because this is like a dope friendship and I know
it's been years in the making, and I just want
to say, like, when was the first time y'all connected
and knew like, okay, this is going to be like
a brother or like life.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Or something like that.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
Like how did you all come across each other?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
That's a great question, that's a weird question.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I'd say, well, you should go first, because there's multiple
instances in my life when you and I crosspass words.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
It's like, yeah, this is yeah. I remember I was
doing I was doing a show I want to say
nineteen ninety eight, maybe ninety nine, and I remember you
came to visit a friend and you came on set
and I think I was shooting at Sony or something,
and I remember the hair person or the makeup person said, hey, you.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
See that guy.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
He's he's a Latino actor like you.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
And I remember them specifically pointing you out as you
walked in and you said hello to your friend. And
at that point I really hadn't met too many other
Latino Latina actors in Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Man. I really fell alone, you know. And I just
remember looking at you and going.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Like, whoh, there's somebody else like me, you know. And
then I believe your show came out after and obviously
seeing you on that, I was incredibly proud to see you,
you doing your thing. And then I just remember being
out and us having mutual friends and meeting through mutual friends.
I remember seeing you, I don't know if it was
(17:14):
Conan O'Brien or whatever, and you were dancing sad side.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
And I was like, he dances sas like man, like,
you know, I.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Grew up dancing South Simon didn't get you know, And
that you spoke Spanish, and which is crazy. You tell
me that Spanish was your first language and you didn't
speak English because your English was so impeccable, I would
have never guessed that you only spoke Spanish. So there
were a lot of elements that you possessed that felt
very familiar to me.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And you just felt like somebody that I had grown.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Up with, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
And then when we actually met and we started talking,
I was like, this guy's the coolest freaking guy in
the world, man, you know.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
And every time we as I said in the beginning
of the show, every time we talked, it was always
like three four hours and we always.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Just you know, just enjoyed each other's company.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Well, my mine is very similar, you know.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I think first of all, I remember seeing you a
six feet under and I was like, and then see
your Rodriguez, you know, Rodriguez and the credits, I was like, damn,
you know, and I'm telling you, you what you say
to me, I feel incredibly just telling of the environment
and the climbing in which we're coming up as performers,
(18:23):
you know, I didn't have anything else to compare ourselves to, right,
and there was like maybe a few of us on
network TV and cable TV, and you know, I saw
you a six feet under and you were I mean
incredible in that Then I realized I started then seeing
you in so many other movies before that, and I
was like, oh, this is the same guy I liked
in this movie.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
This is the same guy I liked in that product.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
And so to me, it was like just to see
that almost created this mirage that like we weren't just
the one person in the room, right, Like we weren't
like the only Latino on the show, the only Latino
in the movie. And it made me realize that I
wasn't that I wasn't that alone. But you know, it
(19:04):
goes full circle to say, like, you know, the moment
I met you, your your and you know, you were
unapologetically Latino, and I was like, dude, like it's really
is it was really beautiful.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
To see that.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
And I say, you know, to your point, some of
these conversations that we were having, you know, kept untapping
and un rambling some of the many layers that we
have never been allowed to talk about because you know,
you get kind of corner into you know, promote the
show and you know, talk about the why the show
and about your character, and you never have the space
to kind of talk a little bit about what it
(19:38):
took for you to have the tools that you did,
and back then you were doing some of the most
pop culturally moments in history. And I remember seeing you
go through the ALBUMA Awards and whatever, and I was like,
of course, I mean like you were.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
You were absolutely lifting our community for.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
So long, but they weren't that many of us, so
the signal was like just brewing, you know, like we
were just making them, you know, and but you were
part of this community that was just breaking ground for
all of us. And I was it was more than proud.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
I was.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I just wanted to be like that. I just wanted
to continue to aspire to do that, you know. And
but it was our conversations. And I remember when I
truly fell in love with Freddie Rodriguez was when we
were on a flight to London, That's right, yeah, yeah,
and we ended up sitting together like just randomly and
I'm like, oh, Freddie, nice to see you, and like yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
And You're like the same.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
And then we did not take one blink of a
nap as from the moment we boarded to the moment
we landed, to the moment.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
We got our bags, we were talking. I don't know
how long.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
That flight was like thirteen hours, thirteen hours, and we
talked about all of it, and that's when I knew,
you know, you're gonna be my family for life.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, thank you, brother. I received that.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
And you know what's interesting about that, you know, us
talking like that for thirteen hours, I mean, what does
that say. It said is that there's a lot that
we were holding back. Right. I don't want to say
it's like a therapy session, but you know it goes
to show that that, at least as I'm speaking for myself,
you know, like I didn't really have too many other
people that I can talk to like that that understood
(21:16):
the journey, that understood the steps, that understood starting how
we started and what it was to be there. You
said something a minute ago that was really interesting. A
lot of the projects that we've done, we're always the
only Latino in that project, you know, and that gets
lonely man, right, you know, you know, you go from
(21:37):
movie to movie, show to show, and you're always the
only Latino person, you know, and you don't have somebody
else there that you can relate to or talk to.
And so so then when you get on a plane
in London for thirteen hours.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
It's like I gotta let it alone.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
I gotta let it out.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
But there was a lack of community, right, there's a
lack of.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Awareness, you know, And we were all, you know, lone
ranger in this thing in different directions, right, we were
segregated from each other and not allowed to technically commute
artistically because you're right, like tokenly, you know, we were
placed in different projects. And by the way, we were
also where able to play against stereotypes and so many
different ways, you know, and some all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
So it's pretty unbelievable. For me.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
It was like, you know, I had an accent, So
when I was looking at you as a Latina and
you did not have an accent but also spoke Spanish,
I was like, I gotta be like this guy because
I literally could have ship my accent. And I think
for right now, I think you can hear that I
decided to give up on that question.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Yeah, I never but I never felt it was like
at the forefront.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, it wasn't strong enough to be the night in jobs,
but it also wasn't like clean enough to play you know,
the full American guy, you know. But but I mean,
I to your point I think having our journeys, you know,
clashing this way, and for us to be able to
historically record these moments and and say like, we can
leave this behind and you know, not just for our children,
(23:02):
but humbly to those who are next. And there's a
beautiful community out there that has been waiting for this space,
and I dare to say they're inheriting a space that's
so much more open, so much more marketable, so much
more fruitful. And I think the idea that this podcast
can start this conversation in many ways.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
On that level, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
And I you know, I invite everybody in the studio
system in Hollywood and all other industries to kind of discover,
you know, how much of a partner this community can be,
how much of.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
A partner, how vast our audiences, how big our audiences,
The audience that's going to tune in to listen to this,
the audience that has followed us for the last thirty years,
that have watched all our things.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
And we're going to talk about all those things.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
We're going to bring all of our friends, you know,
to come and validate these stories. Don't take it just
from us, but yeah, the idea that we can bring
other individuals that were part of that journey and also
individuals that may be part of the journey we're going next,
and we hope everyone enjoys it.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
And that leads me to my next wondrous question.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
We've been able to talk a little bit of like
the inspiration, what like what kicked our butts into artistry?
You know, but I think a lot of people have
not had the opportunity to hear who is Freddie Rodriguez?
Speaker 1 (24:18):
You know, like where do you come from? Who are
your parents? You know, who were you as a kid,
who were you as a student?
Speaker 3 (24:24):
You know, like what what things happen in your life
that kind of shape what Freddie Rodriguez is today? Because
although we have to artistry, there's a whole lifetime that happens,
the play of factor and the choices you make as
an actor in the in the in your views and your.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Philosophies of life. And I love to hear that, Oh, well,
thank you.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
I hope we have another episode in us maybe maybe
we'll well look at that.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
We got to refill our cup refilled and we welcome
Maryant Episode two.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Who is Freddie Rodriguez?
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Salute?
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Dos Amigos is a production from WV Sound and iHeartMedia's
Michael Tuda podcast network, hosted by Me, Freddie Rodriguez, and
Wilmer Valderama.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burlison and Sophie Spencer's Zebos.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Our executive producers are Wilmer Valderama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlison,
and Leo Klem at WV Sound.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
This episode was edited by Ryan Posts and Aaron Burlison
and features original music by Madison Devenport and Halo Boy.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Our cover art photography is by David Avalos and designed
by Deny holtz.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Claw and special thanks to every single interview for joining
this journey and I hope you continue to enjoy us.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
For more podcasts from my Heart, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
See you or hear us in a week or so.
Hosts And Creators
Wilmer Valderrama
Freddy Rodriguez
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