Reconnecting with Alimi Ballard AKA Quizmaster Albert!

From 'Loving' to 'Numb3rs,' Alimi Ballard has a long list of hit shows under his belt, but Sabrina the Teenage Witch will always hold a special placein his heart. He remembers the undeniable 'magic' on that set, plus other jobs he loved, and even one he TRIED to get fired from!It's a can't miss candid AND comedic episode of Hey Dude courtesy of the always hilarious Alimi Ballard!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey Dude the Nineties Called with Christine Taylor and David Lasher.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to Hey Dude the Nineties Called podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
I'm David, Hi David, I'm Christine.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
Hi. Hi.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Longtime noo see.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
I well we did. We got to see each other
in New York last week.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
I want to talk about that. That was amazing.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah, we had this incredible experience. We got to do
a live episode of the podcast on the Drew Barrymore
Show where we got to interview Drew and that's aired.
That's been on Drew's show that for a few days now.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
By the time people hear this, it will have aired
on CBS on Drew's show.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yes, so you can look that up to see the
the video of that episode. But because Drew's show is
only a half hour show, that's an edited verse and
for you all our fans, you will get the unedited
version next week, so be sure to what do we do?

(01:10):
Almost it was probably almost an hour.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
We ra was like an hour on her show, just about.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
An hour and yeah, so, I mean it was incredible.
We had so much fun. She was so generous with
her time. We had a blast. We got to talk
to her about most things we wanted to ask her about. Right.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, she's also just so open and honest and genuine.
I mean really she's she doesn't hide anything, right, she
would talked about, my gosh, anything we wanted her to.
She was amazing and so generous to let us take
over her show.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yes, so we had a blast. And there's some you know,
for any of you who have seen it, you've already
seen it, but we surprise her with a co star
that she she worked with in the nineties. And we
will have our full length interview.

Speaker 4 (01:56):
With Drew.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Next week, so please ease tune in. And then we
got Ben and I got to take you out to
dinner that night. Oh my god. Yes, fun.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
It was so great hanging with you guys. I mean
it's just like NonStop conversation. It's just so easy. You know,
you have certain people you're with and it's just so
easy and so fun. And yeah, it was a quick
three days in New York. I will tell our audience
that this was really cool. You know, my friend Dylan Lauren,
he was on the who was on our show? And

(02:29):
I told you that she's like, someone needs to dress
you for your going on, Drew Barrymore, I'm like, well,
what do you mean? Uh? You know, Christine, you always
look so fashionable, and I'm like, I would wear like
jeans and a T shirt or something. So she brought
me to her dad, Ralph Laurence store on Madison Avenue.
A stylus met us. She ran through the store with
like raizor precision, and she said to the stylist, I'm

(02:52):
picking everything. You just grab the sizes and uh. And
so I walked down Madison. Thank you, Dylan, Lauren, and
thank you to your dad Ralph for addressing me. But
I was walking down Madison Avenue like Julia Roberts in
a pretty woman.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
I'm just gonna say, carrying your bags.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
I literally had four bags, shoes, and blazer like one
of those valpack blazer things. It was I never shopped
for myself ever. Yeah, So it was it was really fun.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Well, it was really good. You left it in perfect hands.
Dylan and Dad did an incredible job. You looked terrific,
did Jim and we Yeah, we had so. We had
just had a great time. We had a great time.
It's going to be a great episode. I'm very excited.
We're very excited to share with you because we've been

(03:42):
wanting to have drew on for the last year or
so and when we finally started to figure out this
timeframe and she came to us and was like, how
about this where we'd sort of do a joint venture
and we we get you guys on the show and
it's so we were like, oh, we couldn't even believe it.
It just was the most fun idea.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Thank you for hooking that up. I know you're like
wedding singer co star. You've known each other forever, so
it was so cool to see you guys catch up
to get you know, with each other.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yes, it was all. It was great. It was great.
Now let and please because we have our amazing guest
in the waiting room, David, do you want to give
a little intro because this is a friend of yours from.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yes, Alim Ballard is one of the greatest guys I know,
one of the most positive forces in the world, but
also an incredible actor with an insane career, beautiful family,
and he's part of our Sabrina family. So let's welcome
Ali me. Yes, oh there he is.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
What's the beautiful people? How we do.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Look at that dapper smile. Look at it looking good.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
He is always dapper man. I mean he's wearing the
coolest clothes, always always groomed.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
You. You are very kind. There was an option for
topless this morning.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Oh damn it.

Speaker 5 (05:09):
I ran it by my wife and she said, oh,
hell's to the gnaw, young man, Hell's to the nawa.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
That would have eyeballs though, for sure.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
I put a turtust. So now I'm covered up all
my ski and skins.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
You really went all you went the other direction.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
Sweater turtleneck, so I'm covered all the way up. So
here I am.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
I just have to say, and I want to hear
because you guys have known each other for a long time,
but I just had the great privilege of meeting you
at nineties Con a few weeks ago, and what my takeaway.
First of all, just you You You sparkle like you
sparkle and shine like just literally your eyes sparkle when

(05:55):
you talk, your energy. You are a magnet. I mean truly,
like from that moment David introduced us, during that photo
shoot room that we we all in and we had
it just a quick high and then it was just like,
oh my gosh, look at the there's an electricity around
you and it's like magical, truly truly.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
All right, as my training as I've been trained. First
I say thank you. That's a very kind and a
very generous thing to offer to this space, you know,
and I receive it from you wholeheartedly with I won't guard.

Speaker 5 (06:34):
I won't guard that. I'll just take it into my heart.
And I say that because let me, you know, share
you are so sweet and it's David, it's instantaneous.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
You feel her spirit. I know. You know she's one
of your work wives.

Speaker 5 (06:53):
You got two workwives, and it's instantaneous. Whatever the goodness
you can feel off a person, you know, and we
working on industry and our business and in all businesses,
people could be so complicated, right and it's nothing like
meeting somebody and it's not all of that just distance.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Like a hedge.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
There's no hedge around you because like Hi, I'm like,
oh shit, hello, you know what I mean. And that's
one of the best things for me that you can
feel about people traveling in this world, male or female,
you meet them in there's no distance between you.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yes, listen.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
The best part of nineties con for me, and it
was a great weekend. Was bringing you guys together. Yeah,
and I knew and listen, Melissa Hart and Christine are
good friends now, and you guys have connected and just
bringing people together that you know have similar spirits and

(07:53):
the positivity and yes, Ali, I gotta say you do
you always just You're one of the most positive to people,
and you know, just and your wife as well, and
your kids and just everything you reflect out into the
world always just inspires me. So I was so happy
to bring all you guys together, and hopefully there's a

(08:16):
lifelong friendships here.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
You know.

Speaker 5 (08:19):
It happened the last con I went to, I think
was too twenty twenty twenty two or twenty twenty, I
can't remember it was. It was like the twenty fifth
anniversary of Sabringing. You were there with us, right it
was twenty twenty two.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
We did that Entertainment Weekly photoshoot, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (08:38):
It could have been during COVID, So I'm going to
say twenty twenty two. And as as far as meeting
great people and connecting with people like so this this
is hopefully a theme for me, a trend for me.
Then I'm praying continues to go, I for the first
time I met Elisa Donovan, I met Red.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
You know at last time.

Speaker 5 (08:56):
I hadn't known her before that moment, right, yeah, since then,
I mean like we have, like we text, I'd just
be like, hey girl, I love you.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
You know, another.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
One of them. She's another one of those people exactly
like and let me take a second to thank you
for what you said, because but you're right, when we
when we find each other in this you know it
shouldn't be, but it is. As as artists, we we
many of us can be very complicated, but and and
we all you know, we we have all of those layers.

(09:29):
But sometimes you just get put into a situation where
you you're you're there's a magnetic pull to to the
people that you know will make you feel safe and cozy,
because sometimes those things can be so overwhelming. So you're like,
oh my god, that's a safe place.

Speaker 5 (09:44):
You said a buzzword, I said, say, Okay, I'm honest,
I'm gonna I'm gonna hang back on that, but keep going.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Please get But that's what I mean. And Alisa, he's
one of those people too. I think that you know,
we she we had her on our show and I
hadn't seen her in twenty five plus years. We've done
a little work thing together years and years ago, but
it was like when we reconnected. We've been doing the
same ever since, texting, talking, connecting, and it was like

(10:12):
as if no time had passed.

Speaker 5 (10:13):
And the hotel when I was there Connecticut, I woke
up in the morning and I know it was early
San Francisco time, but I'm that kind of friend. I
don't care, So I said hor vidium as like, I
know you're sleeping, but you're not here with us in Connecticut.
Text me back hours like like, Olimi, do not send
me out like Charlie, your husband knows who I am.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
I'm fine. And if I get in trouble with Charlie
apologized my way out of it. I'm good. I'm your brother.
Where are you?

Speaker 2 (10:40):
I was sexying with her last night during the Warriors game.
You know, this is a Lisa Donovan from Sabrina and
Clueless and all these great things. But she's one of
our best friends. She's a diehard Warriors fan.

Speaker 6 (10:51):
Christine, like I know last year when the Knicks were
playing the Warriors and David, you must text everybody during
the basketball games because you were texting me during the
next game too.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
It's yeah, it's playoff time, you know.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Totally.

Speaker 5 (11:07):
Oh and on that note, first of all, thy guys,
thank you for having me on this beautiful space. And
I'm very jazzed, and like I said, my affection level
for the both of you is just through the roofs.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Mutual. Well, just since we're talking about the New York nickt,
so let's go back to you grew up in New York. Yes, yeah,
So take us back to like, how did you get
into acting?

Speaker 5 (11:37):
I got into acting very clear day. It was like
July tenth, nineteen eighty nine. I was in Harlem with
my mom and my family at the CCNY City College,
New York campus, and I was about did I turn
sixteen yet?

Speaker 3 (11:52):
I was sixteen, on my way to being seventeen. Basically
decent kid.

Speaker 5 (11:57):
But you're at that age where you're gonna want to
find your space. You're not loving school, you're not loving
your extracurricular activities.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
And this is the eighties. I'm not sure this is
pre gentrification. New York is a you know.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Oh yeah, I was scared guys in the Triple X
movie theaters.

Speaker 5 (12:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm I'm a kid in the
eighties running around New York City, you know what I mean.
And I hadn't found the arts, so I was just
like looking. You don't know you're looking, but you know
you're looking, but.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
You're not looking at all the right things, right, so.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
You know, say no more.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (12:34):
And a friend of the family's like, hey, what are
you doing. He's like, I'm like chilling man, you know
how it is. He's like, okay, So he's like, listen,
why don't you come up to this this theater arts
program in the Bronx.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
You know, we'll teach you how to dance, how to sing,
how to act, you know, and it'll be great. I
was like, hard pass, you.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
Said, no, that doesn't sound cool.

Speaker 5 (12:53):
I don't know any actors. I don't know any singers.
I don't know any rappers. I'm from the Bronx. There's
no entertainment in my space. Me being in my life
as a complete act of God, a complete active race,
you know what I mean. I have no outliers for this, right,
So I'm just like, this is no thank you, Hart Passing. Okay,
hold on, hold on, We'll pay you thirty dollars a week, like,

(13:14):
hold on.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
That's legal, thirty clean dollars, let's clean money.

Speaker 5 (13:19):
I'm like, all right, all right, cool, I'll give you
some thought now from saying maybe to that next Monday,
because this was like Saturday or Sunday that I walk
into this Creative Art center mind Builders Creative Art Center
as a nonprofit located in New York City in the Bronx.
I don't know what angels grab me by the head

(13:40):
and put me on the bus and make me go there.
But I walk into the door of this Creative Art
Center and the complete trajectory of my life is altered.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Like instant it changed.

Speaker 5 (13:53):
In SI movie, Christine, it's the kid stumbles into the
rec center, you meet you coach.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
You know, now you're in the NBA. Like literally, that's
that's my story.

Speaker 5 (14:07):
And to elaborate just a little bit, David, there was
a nonprofit organization and they were getting teens from the
neighborhood to do plays by for and about teens about
you know, and it was written by you and it
was about you know, peer pressure drugs, which is big
at the time, you know what I mean, dealing with abuse,
and you would do plays in elementary schools, libraries, detention centers,

(14:30):
you as the kids kind of living through some of
the stuff. You know, we must have looked sounded so
horrible and terrible, but you know it had a lot
of passion and then going into other young people, other
youth experiencing the same world and doing arts as entertainment
but as empowerment. And it was it was the summer

(14:50):
of nineteen eighty nine. You know, it was such a pivotable,
pivotal moment in my life, and it transformed me primarily
because of the mentors there. They weren't getting paid a
lot of money, you know, and they cared so they
wanted to hug us. And so I thought they were
you know, creepy Crawley people.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
How they did not touch me. Yeah, I was like,
you know, ward.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
Off boundaries, Yes, this is yeah, But they were more
like mister Rogers.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
You know, they had an elevated spirit.

Speaker 5 (15:23):
And you didn't know that people could care for you
and not take from you, because when your world is guards,
like we were talking about Christine, with all the people
we meet, there's so many guards up, David, there's going
to meet people, there's all of these guards on them
and these people were a different set of people, and
they were like, Okay, calm down. I know you got
your fight or fight or fight or flight on you. Relax,

(15:44):
We're here to teach. And over time they their love
changed my whole world.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
I fell in love with them before I fell in
love with acting.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
I imagine just that exercise and trust too, Like, these
are people what did like you said? What did they
want back from me? They don't know me? Why are
they giving so much of themselves without wanting something back?
When you grow up in a world where that's not
the case, changes everything. Trust, man, that must be huge.

Speaker 5 (16:14):
It's huge to echo what you said earlier, right, to
tie it back to that safe like I met you
felt I met at least a safe you know what
I mean? Like you know, you meet people, there's a
quality and it's hard to you.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
Feel it well. You just safe.

Speaker 5 (16:26):
I mean sometimes you're wrong, but a lot of times
you're right. Safety there, you know, when.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
You learn to trust people, you know as a as
a kid and you're just fighting for survival if you
don't have those influences. And it could be a coach,
it could be a teacher, yes, it could be someone
in an acting program. Every kid needs those people in
their lives.

Speaker 5 (16:45):
And every from every socioeconomic background. You yeah, of course,
your alienation, the spirit of not belonging, it cuts across.
I would imagine every youth on the in the world
a place where you're accepted, where you're seen.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
And people are giving to you without expecting anything in return.
That's a great lesson, right bro.

Speaker 5 (17:06):
You know, they just hope you you could do the
dance steps right. The only payment back is you can
do the lines.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
You just do it right, exactly, be good, you know,
just give it up, right.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
Listen.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
So you ended up on a major soap opera, right,
all my children? Was that your first big break?

Speaker 5 (17:35):
It was first of all, Yes, But to clarify, it
was called Loving. They all my children were so popular
they had a spin off show.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
I remember Loving Yes. I remember Loving Yes.

Speaker 5 (17:46):
I started through the work of that Creative Art Center
Mind builds Creative Art Center, and the training and acting
and learning how to you know, be a young professional
doing all these plays. You know, I got an agent
because one of the it branched. I got an agent
and then like one of my first big jobs was
nineteen ninety three on Loving and that was the system

(18:06):
program from All My Children, and Angie and Jesse were
a big the first like big black soap.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
Opera family, you know.

Speaker 5 (18:14):
On All My Children there was Jenny, Angie and Jesse,
Debbie Morgan and Darnell Williams and they had a son
called Frankie Hubbard and I was like the teenage troubled
youth Hubbard, you know. And it was it was transformative
when I went there. Kelly Ripper was on All My Children,
Marcus Suelows. They were dating, you know what I mean,

(18:36):
Oh yeah, they were just dating. I met, I was like, hey,
how you doing?

Speaker 4 (18:38):
You go?

Speaker 3 (18:39):
I was like, okay, she's cute.

Speaker 5 (18:41):
There was a Dondre Whitfield from All My from the
Cosby Show. Dondre Whitfield. He was like the first guy
I knew who like looked like me. He took me
around the studio and I met all the people and
that was my first entry into like legit professional professional
on camera you know series regular contract has no joke.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
I mean, we've had some soap, some soap factors on
and that is like a boot camp in learning your
learning your lines. The amount of pages that you would
have to shoot on a given day. And how was that?
I mean, well, first of all, before you got that,
when you started to kind of lean into this program

(19:21):
and you you know, were learning the dance steps and learning,
were you good right away? Did you know? Were you No, we're.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
Not gonna lie today, you finish it? No? No? Gone? Okay?

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, okay, great? So but you loved it? But you
liked it? Or was it that you wanted to please
them and you wanted to just get better? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (19:44):
Tell me I sucked? No, No latent, talent. I don't
care what they say. You always good. I think they lie. Okay,
I think they lie to be nice to me because
they loved me. Right.

Speaker 5 (19:58):
No, talent not good at any I do have a
decent work ethic, you know. But I know that was
created during this process. It was being safe and wanting
to be there and you wanted to excel in that environment.
And then it was one performance where in the South
Bronx where at like a middle school, it's like an

(20:19):
auditorium full of eighth graders. If you can imagine that
in the South Bronx is nineteen ninety maybe you.

Speaker 3 (20:25):
Know what I mean?

Speaker 5 (20:26):
Like, you know, and I had my character was called
wise and so I had like like he was like
he was. He had on a baggy like suit and
I had a little coofy hat with a little ten.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
It sounds like the quiz master Ohm like, don't get it,
We'll get you it later.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
But know yeah, So my character comes on, he's like, yo,
my ny was why you know? So I need this
little rap as my intro.

Speaker 5 (20:50):
And I remember one like after a couple of months,
I started to know how to get my lines, get
my dancing together, and I go on stage and I
opened my mouth and then rowdy auditorium eighth graders shut up.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (21:04):
I had never commanded an audience in my entire life
outside of my mom and my sisters. Yeah, yeah, you
know that that day what you said it was tangible.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
Bro.

Speaker 5 (21:14):
I was like, they're listening to everything that happens next.
And I was like, oh shit, this is this was
a moment or I can touch people, they will listen
to me. And from that moment, I've always looked for
that moment, even on set on the movies television, where

(21:35):
the where the room gets quiet, where the art is
so tangible that it's like when you when you're done
with that take. Usually the directors like I was a
good one, you know, you know, the focus pullar will
be like, oh man, that was a good taste because
you can all tell when that that little silence is there,
when it's like we hit it, it's like a bell

(21:56):
like a thing.

Speaker 3 (21:58):
And it's been my north star as an artist since.
But to answer your question.

Speaker 5 (22:03):
Christine, that made me want to get good to have
more of that moment.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
That was it.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
So yeah, I mean the soap opera is a great
way to train, right you're shooting an episode a day,
maybe two a day.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Yeah, you're going in the morning and you got and
they're bringing soaps back, that is her.

Speaker 5 (22:23):
CBS is launching a new all black show, you know,
I mean, well black people centered. You know, I doubt
it'll be like an exclusionary cash but like saying around
a rich dynasty black family. Right to just announce it
the other day. But this was My soaps were big
in an eighties, Massive Luke and Laura General Hospital. I
had done theater only you know, so I come in
there and there's a script in the morning, you know

(22:45):
what I mean. You read your lines, you do a
block and rehearsal, do makeup, you come back and do
another rehearsal. Do you do a camera block and get
an you tape? And so soap is like a new
play every day. And I had never encountered that. And
I from the theater, like musical theater, you know, community theater, and.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
So it was such a steep learning curve.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Right because you know rehearsal time, the community theater, it's
all rehearsal time. You get a couple of weeks to
do the show. But this is the opposite.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
It was. It was the very opposite.

Speaker 5 (23:21):
And so I worked as hard as a young man
could positively work. And Debbie Morgan who was like she
is like a black belt at acting. She is like
one of the baddest actors I have ever seen. And
she was so popular and her husband was was show
called Rock was his name?

Speaker 1 (23:39):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, I know, yes.

Speaker 5 (23:44):
Yeah, I mean so she like they were like, I
mean her not that power couple, and she was like
a master at acting. And I was just I remember
a scene where you know, I would be in scenes
with her Christine David, and I would just forget my
lines watching her, like like I would, you know, I
had to get that thing where like the director be like, Okay,
I need you to not.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
Watch her what she's doing and actually react.

Speaker 3 (24:12):
You know, and try to do the same kid, And
I think, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. That's how good she was.

Speaker 5 (24:16):
So she was my my college, she was my finishing school,
watching a brilliant performer do it day in and day out,
and following her lead to be very honest with you,
and having her as a north star to quite possibly
be as good or as close to her as I
can get.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
That's crazy. So you get an hour script maybe the
night before and you.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
Have the morning up, No, you get the makeup chair.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
How do you memorize a whole hour episode and then
just shoot it that same day. I don't even.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
Understand, David, I can remember anything.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
You can.

Speaker 5 (24:56):
Now I can't remember anything, And I think it's because
of that exactly, my retention. Like I'm getting older now,
so now it's like for me, it's like a gate,
Like I have to approach when the gate is open,
you know, because like my brain of memorization has a
it's a sponge. But it's like I don't control when
it turns on all the time, so I have to
get up in the morning.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
Ago can you learn today. My brain is.

Speaker 5 (25:18):
Like we can receive anything, and I'm like, I can
read page the dialogue. Sometimes I get up and the
brain is like, we're not remembering shit, Allie need so
you're going to have to wait for the gate to open.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
I kid you not.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah, And do you find that that has now changed
because we're a little bit older now or was it
always like that? Because I have a harder time memorizing
now that I'm older. I mean you would think that
with all the practice, But.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
It's just the age for me.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Like, let's face facts, right, it's age.

Speaker 5 (25:48):
And I memorize even faster sometimes if like, if the
writing makes sense to me.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
But David, if the writing makes sense to you, yes.

Speaker 5 (25:59):
If it makes sense, I can almost memorize it instantly.
But the gate has to be open. I'm like a cat.
You got to stroke my brain with like, all right,
how we do it?

Speaker 2 (26:08):
Can I tell you?

Speaker 1 (26:08):
Guys?

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Just on a side story, my daughter Chelsea had an
audition last night. We waited till like ten thirty at night,
and she's been sitting on her desk all week, eight pages.
She looks at it, She's like, how are we going
to do this?

Speaker 3 (26:24):
Right?

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Now I said, listen, look me in the eye, understand
what I'm saying, and listen to me, and it will
make sense you. It was good writing. It's a big movie,
and you know we did like four or five takes
per scene. But this fourteen year old kid crushed it, man,
like you know, at ten thirty at night on a

(26:44):
weeknight after her homework.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah, oh, well done, great, great, great dad coaching right there.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Well, it's what you're saying. If the writing is good
and you listen to the actor you're reading with, the
line should come naturally. You know what to us how
to respond make sense?

Speaker 3 (27:01):
Dude.

Speaker 5 (27:01):
That I mean a quick aside for any young actors listening.
If the writer David just said, if the writing makes sense,
you understand the situation and you're just trying to remember
the facts to talk about. But when you know how
you should feel, you know how they feel, what you want,
what you know, what you don't want, what you're fighting against.
Once you can comprehend that the words are so secondary,

(27:23):
you just lean into it because you have the emotional
choreography already in your heart.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
And that's the best thing about our jobs.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
One of the things I love and by the way.
Just side note. I looked it up and not that
I was being but I had to look it up.
It's Charles Dunton. It was on the tip. Yes, I
could picture him, but I needed to say the name
because it would have been eating away at me.

Speaker 3 (27:46):
So all done, and I think they had got they
were just getting a divorce at the time, stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
But you know, with power, like the level of acting
of power, for sure.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yes it was. It was daunting. And you know, but
I had no ego.

Speaker 5 (28:00):
You All you had was humility and you know, something
to aspire to BECLM.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
So that's and hope and by osmosis like when you
like a sponge hope. Some of it rubs off on
you when you're working with the greats. And like I mean,
I've I've gotten the like the privilege of working with
some of the top comedic actors out there. And I'm
always please she is right there with those guys.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
I don't know, I don't are you sure I am?

Speaker 1 (28:38):
This was This was not to toot my own horn.
This was literally like in those scenes because I like,
you watch and just watch this masterclass in comedy and
how they work the camera, and I just was like, oh, please,
please let some of it wrong off on me. Please.
It always does, this always does. Let some of the

(28:59):
comedic does sprinkle onto me after it does. So it
does when you're there and you're presence, it did.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
You frigging crushed you, all right?

Speaker 1 (29:10):
I was not digging for components.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
No, No, Well I can also be like you know
you kind of but you didn't, you know what I mean,
Because you can.

Speaker 5 (29:17):
That can always happen. You're in these master class these
master rooms, and you're like, you're the one want want want.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
It's the worst.

Speaker 5 (29:24):
Thing, the worst, the worst if you stick out like,
oh my god, that's the only saft spot. You're like
the fact that you held in that space what real comic?
I mean to be honest, these are like some of
the sharpest tools in the shed. Those guys are legendary
in that field. I mean I would be up in
there like shitting bricks.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yeah, but you gotta remember you're there for a reason. Yes,
they chose you to be there for that reason. They
you wouldn't be there if you couldn't hold your own
So you nine of the time wisdom.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
That's some dad wisdom right there. If you got picked.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
You belong in that room exactly, belong.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
In everything you walk into.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
You're right and otherwise they have no problem firing you.
In this business, we know that there is no They
don't keep you just so as they feel sad for you.
Oh what you say they were going in another direction? Yeah,
they never say you're fired.

Speaker 5 (30:21):
We're going to go in a different direction. We thank you,
but we're going in another direction. We I haven't been
there so many times. Go to delicious moments.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
We want to go through your career. Your IMDb is
so there was in our Senior Hall show.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, what was this? Vivica fox Ye in our Senior
Hall Kevin Dunn, Shawnee Smith, Oh my goodness, Winston my
first prime time series regular role.

Speaker 5 (30:58):
I booked in December of nineteen eighty six. I had
just got to l A a couple of months previous, Like
I left three years after the soap was over.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
Contract was over. They were going in a different direction,
and you know, and I was like, what do I do?

Speaker 5 (31:15):
Like, you know, and my agent was like, come to
LA It'll be okay. This I being a scaredy cat,
you know, you'll do fine. So I move in with
my sister who was already out there, and my niece
who's twenty eight now, was like, you know, eighteen months
in pampers, you know, I'm staying in Inglewood, and I'm.

Speaker 3 (31:30):
Like, okay, great, this is great. This is a new
beginning for me. You know, this is going to be awesome,
you know. And I just put my nose to the grind.
That became a monk. You know.

Speaker 5 (31:38):
I went on every audition. I stayed up all night
on every possible opportunity. And then this, you know, this
job came along. This this this.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
Pilot, our senior.

Speaker 5 (31:48):
It was called called our Sidio, produced by dream Works,
you know, and I went to the Ambulance Entertainment you know,
the ambling you know entertainment, which is on the Universal
University Company. Yeah, our dream Works, right, and it was
this back then. We had five auditions. You know, you
have the casting director, you know, then you get the
second time, the cast director.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
You get the producer, you get the studio, then you
get the network.

Speaker 5 (32:10):
Right, that's five, the network test, and everyone's there.

Speaker 2 (32:15):
The pressure just rises on each one.

Speaker 5 (32:17):
All your friends in the waiting room with you, James,
I can't talk to you right now.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
And then you hear them auditioning. You hear whether they're
getting the laughs. You hear like it's so.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
Comedy, Like you hear if they're making ABC and Steven
Spielberg laugh.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
And you've signed the contract. Let me, Christine and I
talked about this. You've signed a five year contract with
the money and everything right there in front of you,
So you know what.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
You're about to lose or get get.

Speaker 5 (32:52):
Is this These kind of nerves are the nerves that
are required to do the job because you know there's
a whole level of pressure on the other side. And
sometimes if you can't get through the audition process, trust me,
the doing process will cook you. And that's why we
hear about all these horror stories. It's so much pressure
in our business. And I always thought the audition process

(33:14):
as an appetizer to all of the pressure. But you
know the weight, the expectations, the pressure on you to
perform and you do well, how the show?

Speaker 3 (33:24):
Do well? Every week? Checking your Nielsen numbers, I mean
it's non stop. Do I get more? Am I doing
well this time? And so I do?

Speaker 5 (33:33):
Anyway, so I booked the show and it's the They
paid me like ten thousand dollars an episode more money
that I had seen in my entire life. They flew
me first class. This is the nineties. I'm going to
give all the young people. Back then, young people on
American airlines, there was a chef in first class, you guys, right.

Speaker 3 (33:51):
Like I had a tomato sauce Rigatoni with.

Speaker 5 (33:58):
Broccley prepared by chef in the galley in first That
doesn't exist in America anymore.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
Maybe Emirates has it. I don't know. We don't have
it in this country.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
You know, we all remember those first flights. For the
only time I've ever flown first class is when I'm
traveling for work. It's so crazy that that is part
of the SAG contract.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
You know, these are like crazy, you said, amazing crazy. No,
I said, give me the blessing.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
Give me the money.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
Yes, let me look a coach sing it on Jeed
Blue and give me the five thousand dollars and added
to my paycheck. I mean, that's I think a lot
of actors probably feel that way. And it's like it's
very expensive, expensive to fly SAG actors around the country
and the world. At least first got ticket. But we
all remember and appreciate it when we were younger. That
was the only times I've flown first class.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
No I I first of all, that was David.

Speaker 5 (34:50):
That was my very first time being at it was
it was a kid in the candy store.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
Yeah, we have children.

Speaker 5 (34:56):
Now that money, you can give me that money at
that point, like I don't even know if I had
any debt. It was like it was just like it was.
It was just nothing in my bank account. It was
like eighty five dollars, but I owed no one in
the world.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Five thousand dollars flights.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
I was just like, maybe this is what living is.
Like They're gonna pay me ten thousand dollars an episode.
I didn't care about after taxes.

Speaker 5 (35:16):
It was just it was The show got canceled after
seven episodes, only four aired.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
But I was the happiest person in the world.

Speaker 5 (35:25):
And because what I took away from that is everything
I learned in the Bronx, everything I learned on the
soaps was applicable, you know. I it wasn't just like
a soap actor going there like I could make it.
Like even if that show didn't go forever, I had
what it tech, what it took to make it. In Hollywood,
it was a big blessing for me, and I didn't

(35:46):
care if it went on forever.

Speaker 3 (35:47):
I knew that I could go on. You know, you know,
you know you get in the big leagues, you don't
know if you know your you know if you if
you can cut it. And it showed me that young man,
young kid, if you keep working, you got with it
takes to make it in this world. Man. And it
was a big thing for me and I had a blast.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
Oh well then that then that confidence boost is what
you're saying. It was like that that must have when
you because I always feel like when you have that
feeling and then you go to the next audition and
you just exude this sort of confident and there's something
attractive about that. It's not a desperation. It's almost like

(36:28):
even though you needed the work and wanted the work,
you had that under your belt to be able to
sort of bring in this like, hey, you guys would
be lucky to have me. I can just that show.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
That's always Christine's always the vibe, because that's actually what
they want to hire. They want to hire you if
you're going to make their thing better, not make it suck.
That's actually the point that's the equation, right. Why they
think you're going, like what you were saying, you belong there.
They're hiring you, David, because you're going to make it better,

(37:00):
actually is the mindset. I went right from that that.

Speaker 5 (37:03):
That that show being over to doing a pilot for NBC.
I was flushed with like fifty thousand dollars cash money
and my bank account.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
I thought I was wealthy at that. And I did
a pilot for NBC at which I won't name, and.

Speaker 5 (37:17):
I hated all the people. I didn't like it. They
had paid me like four times as much money just
about right, and.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
You like, everybody, what do you mean, how did you know.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
This is right? This?

Speaker 5 (37:31):
Yeah, I won't It was another network, wasn't ABC. Maybe,
I don't know what it was. I walked into someone
with the pilot the first at the table read and
I was like, this is not my place.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
It was like instantaneous.

Speaker 5 (37:44):
I called my agent and I was like, can you
get me off this show?

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Now? How young I am?

Speaker 5 (37:51):
I have no children, I'm not married, I owe nobody nothing,
I've got forty thousand dollars in the bank.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
I am free.

Speaker 5 (37:58):
This is some of the good things about being young.
You don't have to do the job. You can walk away.
You own yourself, having sovereignty. And my agent was like,
what are you talking about?

Speaker 1 (38:10):
Who do you think you are.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
I was like, I'm getting a bad vibe. He was
like okay, okay. He's like, okay, okay, let's just let's
just see how the week goes.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
It was like day one, day one, right, and you
were what twenties? You were in your mid twenties A.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
I'm twenty four.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Oh my gosh, yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
I fear No one like, yeah, I'm invincible. I'm gonna
live forever.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
You're getting a bad vibe and I want at the table.

Speaker 3 (38:37):
They fired me on Friday, and I'm the happiest man
in the world.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
See, yeah, you got yourself fired.

Speaker 3 (38:44):
Well no, no, no, I just it didn't go well.
But it didn't click. It didn't click, and it was
more commed I did the sitcom. It was another sitcom.
It didn't click, it didn't feel right, and they fired me.
So I had more money. And that was for a
week's worth of work. I was like, this is the
best job in the world. And then the very next
job was Sabrina the teenage Witch.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
Wait a minute, is that before numbers, way before numbers.
No way. All right, let's let's talk about Sabrina. We've
had pretty much the whole cast on here, solet Melissa Elisa, Yeah,
tell us how that came about for you and what
your experience was, like.

Speaker 5 (39:24):
Good fortune, it was, it was, it was an abundance
of blessings. The sitcom I did our Sinio I happened
to have done very well. Right, So, like your comedy
is working, like you know, ABC is, ABC is front
Row and it gets canceled, but people are watching.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
They know what a good job. They're like, Okay, that
kid is good.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
He's brand new, but he liked him, and let's flag
that and let's find something for him.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
Yes, and Sabrina the Teenage which was also ABC. Right,
so I kind of went back home. I was on
another new work. I was like, I don't like these
people over here.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
Did you go to that network with the little stage?
Oh my god, that was the test stage.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
CBS had a dungeon. I'll get to that.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
When I get CBS was in the basement. I remember it.
I remember all of them.

Speaker 3 (40:11):
Yes, Oh, I spent a decade with those folks. Oh
my god. So this one is a different one. It's
like it was one.

Speaker 5 (40:21):
It was like one audition, because now you're like, you
got a little bit of a rep going. It was
one audition with Paula Hart, and it was wonderful in
their offices, I forget where it was. And then she
took me out to lunch and she was like, I
want you to come in here, blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah, and it was kind of instantaneous.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
I got there.

Speaker 5 (40:36):
I loved Melissa, and you know, and it was a
different kind I found the challenging because it wasn't a
live studio audience. So I had gotten really good at performing,
you know what I mean. I had gotten really good
at a performing for a stage, you know, or an
in house studio and Serena the teenage, which did not
have that the writers.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
You were kind of performing for the writers and it.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Was their own jokes and they knew it. It was
not fresh in that way, right when you have the
writers kind of fake laughing for you just the air,
you know, that's hard.

Speaker 3 (41:13):
I found it a little bit interesting.

Speaker 5 (41:15):
It didn't click the same exact way, but I click
with Melissa, you know what. I mean, I you know,
let me just give her her flowers. You're talking about
completely unaffected by her work, by a success, by fame,
by money, whatever you want to call it, whatever the
thing that crushes young actresses.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
She didn't have any of that shit. They could. She
was untouchable. I was so impressed by how direct, matter
of fact, practical and sweet she was on day one. Yeah,
it was it really, I was like.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
To be all of those things and to be a
young woman and to be the boss, you know, like
when you threw in all like that was a period
of time where women couldn't be all of those things
and be the boss. Like, you couldn't be sweet and
be the boss. You couldn't be you know, warm and
welcoming and approachable if you were the woman in power

(42:14):
back then, you know. And for her to be as
young as she was, I mean this just getting to
hear you guys, and you all talked about it at
our dinner when we all had that beautiful dinner in Hartford.
Was what the early seasons of working on that show
was like. Because of all of the effects and how
long it would take to shoot things. It was like

(42:35):
it was not like shooting a half hour comedy. Even
though it was a half hour comedy, you guys were
like shooting had the shooting schedule of like an hour
drama because of all the technical It was so aspects
right aspects.

Speaker 5 (42:48):
You didn't have the bump of the live audience, the
rhythm of that, the rush that you get of performing.
You know, it was before the tech crew, I mean
the actual camera crew and the writers. So you kind
of like we're trying to make the writers laugh at
their own jokes, which always is for me anyway, one
of those interesting spaces. I'd rather try the material on

(43:09):
an audience who we need to laugh, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
And also there'd be scenes where you're like, okay, now
Melissa disappears, or you know, now you're looking You're looking
at you know, some crazy cavern.

Speaker 3 (43:21):
Yeah, it's like you're doing like like now like Marvel.
That's all they do, you know, you do.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
You have to imagine a lot of the scene work
in Sabrina.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
Hold, she's going to move out, We're going to do
an effect and then do again.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
And now she's on a volcano in Hawaii and she's
about to fall into it. You know, the thing about
Melissa and yes, we've spoken about Paula and Melissa and
how they are very amazing entrepreneurial women. And yes they
were our bosses, but like they were friends and family

(43:56):
to me before I ever thought of them as a boss, right,
they became my friends and in my family, And that's
what I think that was why the set was such
a positive vibe.

Speaker 5 (44:08):
They I agree, they had quite a family environment, you know,
it felt close knit, you know, and I was very
I mean I only used there for one season, but
it was a blast, like I and it stays as
a seminal piece of you know, of the good fortune
you know, of my career as an artist and as
a person of meeting people.

Speaker 3 (44:27):
It's just one of those bright spots. And the further
away I get from it, the brighter it gets. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
Is that Well, that's what's so interesting about this, you know,
why we're doing this podcast. Why it's ninety centric that
happens to be a period of time, but for us
as artists and performers and actors who are now thirty
years out of that decade, yes, and seeing the impact

(44:56):
it had at those conventions, at the cons with the fans,
This next generation of people discovering the shows. Like you said,
it gets brighter. Strangely, we get more connected to the
work we did. Then I'm connected to things I did
in the last five ten years.

Speaker 3 (45:14):
Yeah, it has a greater well of gravity on you.

Speaker 5 (45:17):
Yes, And I don't know what Einstonian new Tonian principle
that is, but it shines in your heart like it
has like a star, but it has a gravity. And
as you as time increasy, it shines brighter. It's like perspective.
Over time, you see how beautiful the thing is. And

(45:38):
it's why the nineties and Sabrina and Melissa and that
whole period. And you know, like you said, while we're here,
you know, stands in our hearts, but not just our hearts.
There's a lot of people out of the fan base
is massive, and they appreciate the sweetness. Not that life
wasn't complicated, but I think we gave something sweet. We

(45:59):
gave something that you can hold onto even though life
was doing, life was lifing, but this piece of sweetness,
it lands in the heart of the shines and people
really appreciate it sincerely. And it's a comfort show. And
that's what we heard on the press line. That's my
comfort show. I watched them for comfort and as a comparison.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
When me and the kids get together, I have an
eighteen year old and a sixteen year old.

Speaker 5 (46:25):
We'll watch Pepa Pig right now, yep, like you feel me?

Speaker 2 (46:32):
Is that the British the British accent pig.

Speaker 5 (46:35):
Pig pig, random, random, random, and we'll watch Despicable Mean.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
It said something it comes them that you talk about
safe right, we see going back to safe faith.

Speaker 1 (46:49):
Yes, yes, we do that with when the kids come
back and they're you know, twenty twenty two and eighty eighteen,
and it's literally like the things that will unite overwatch
The Incredibles, Monsters, inc. The movies from that literally and
then we'll watch The Incredibles as like a cinematic masterpiece

(47:09):
of like the production he's looking at like this was
this was.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
Like about it each time? Right, I got that right?

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Yeah, not even just the heart of it, but like
how visually esthetically pleasing it is. Right, that's sort of
bed century. So we're all seeing it in different ways,
but we can all come together and just the sweetness
of it, the memory of that time that the kids
were little when we first watched it, and yeah they're older, and.

Speaker 5 (47:37):
It's just yeah, it'll be It'll be your families, It'll
be your family favorites. Twenty more years from now, you'll
put on your movie like it'll be it's those movies
and die Hard for me, you know, we watch them
and then we'll watch die Hard and'll I lose it.
Every time I've watched the movie no less than seventeen
thousand times, we all have.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
Then you should answer the question is it a true
Christmas movie? That's the big dilemma. Is it a Christmas
movie or is it an action movie.

Speaker 5 (48:04):
I want to help everyone that's confused. Okay, I want
to really offer a bomb of a bomb of healing
for the soul if you find yourself conflicted on whether
Ho Ho Ho is a part of die Hard. Die
Hard starts with Christmas music. It starts at Christmas time.

Speaker 3 (48:29):
It is the quintessential Christmas movie. There is no debate.
He says. The dead body down in a.

Speaker 5 (48:37):
Santa up in that movie.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
It is the best outside. It's a wonderful life. I'm
going with Diehard.

Speaker 1 (48:46):
I love that you got them in the same category too,
because it's a Christmas movie. You said the opposite no,
I know that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (48:56):
Right.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
We can debate this. No, but I hear, I hear
the argument. I hear. I believe it. It's a I
always thought of it as an action movie that has
the Christmas background. But you're from the first music uttered
on screen, it's it's setting up it's a Christmas movie.
So I hear you. I understand it.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
Oh, thank you.

Speaker 5 (49:17):
Well, how about when we get together we watch it,
like as a nineties crew, we watch this movie and
we go through it. Okay, they the soundtrack is Christmas
based Monday MC song. Bruce Wills in the car talking
to our guyle, who's his limo driver. He's like, what
is this crop It's a Christmas song. He had a
Christmas song on the radio.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
Only might know Diehard better than we do. Yes, I
would not debate you on this issue.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
These are not questions, actual facts.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
Do you had a big hit show called Number Right
with with David Crumholtz and Rob Marrow and Rob Marrow? Yeah,
so that was five seasons. How was that experience?

Speaker 5 (50:11):
It's the biggest show to change my life out each
stage of my life, I guess says something like that.
That happens for me and you know, you're like early
late twenties, early thirties something like that, and it's the
show that helps me.

Speaker 3 (50:26):
That was the family Man part of my life. And
I love that movie. By the way, Nicolas Cage uh
Tayloni uh it.

Speaker 5 (50:36):
I was praying like for a lot of years, like
I just want my I just want top my gun
and the badge. I want to be on CBS and
I just want to just I just want to rock.
I want to jump on people, handcuff them, you know,
size stuff, you know, with some maybe some hard And
this job came around and it was the best thing.
So I landed and we shot two pilots. The first

(50:57):
pilot we shot thirty years ago, two thousand and four.
Me Gabriel Mack was the original Rob Morrow and Gabriel
Martin suits.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
Yeah, we did two pilots.

Speaker 5 (51:10):
Judd Hirsch was John Hurst wasn't even there, but it
with me and David Crumbholts and Navi Rowatt and a
couple of us were there.

Speaker 3 (51:16):
I think Peter p.

Speaker 5 (51:17):
Nichol was there. And they did they retooled it. They
bought in Rob Marrow, They born in Judd Hirsch. They
kind of wanted to really get a great family unit,
and those three guys really have a beautiful family connection.
And then and then we got started and it turned
out to be one of the best jobs I know.
I just was working on All American yesterday. Half of

(51:39):
the crew was from Numbers. There's not a country a
set I don't go to where I'm not surrounded by
my Numbers family. Currently working today, I just did a
film with David crumbhol instead of coming out some time
this year, an independent film Crazy. It's called four Lock
or Razy.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
Now. That crew as like my adult crow Rob Morrow.
We text Navi. We have like it's like your adult
fan you know what I mean, where your college friends.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
Like brotherhood, right, Yeah, that's a that's a talented group.

Speaker 3 (52:16):
Man.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Did you ever watch Northern Exposure? Did you guys like that?

Speaker 3 (52:20):
Only bits? It was kind of wasn't completely my tea,
but please.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
Yeah no, Rob Morrow on that show Northern Exposure was
like I was obsessed with it. And you know, like
his working Quiz Show and from Quiz Show, I was
so good.

Speaker 3 (52:36):
He taught me so much. Rob was such a pro
by the time I'm working with him, Like he like
he showed me how like how to plan your day,
do all your rehearsal.

Speaker 5 (52:47):
Don't take work home. I learned from Rob Morrow, don't
take your work home. Because he was you know, he
had already had kids at the time. He was married
for a long time before me, Like I was just
married like two years before the show happened, right, and
he was like, oh, let me, so here's what you
want to do. Like he really he really did a
lot of big brother vibe mentor and I love that

(53:07):
he was like, learn all your tomorrow's work today, So
in between breaks, he didn't goof off.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
He learned all the tomorrow's work so he can so.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
He can be present for his family. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:17):
Yeah, wow, I get that skill for him directly.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
That's a great piece of advice. That's especially for a
show like that, where you are you sort of know
the drill and you know what you're is going to
be expected of you, that you can take those time
when you've got lunch, when you've got to focus on
the next day, and you stay in there, you're in
that headspace all throughout the day.

Speaker 2 (53:38):
Then you get.

Speaker 5 (53:38):
To episodes of season I want to say that again,
the first season was twenty four like you did twenty
four episodes.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
It was all year you did a.

Speaker 5 (53:47):
Show like that, an episode of drama. Lines and lines
and lines. I am an expositional master. I can make
expositions sound like the most entertaining romantic thing. Give me
a dictionary, I will read them.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
Out of that.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
And how long were the days?

Speaker 3 (54:03):
The days were fourteen sixteen hour day. He's ten months
out of the year.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
It's like shooting a movie that never ends. I mean,
our drama series is the hardest job in all of entertainment.

Speaker 3 (54:15):
I guess it was.

Speaker 5 (54:17):
It was beautiful me for me to go from that
and we did like a five and a half season
just to nearly six seasons and it was great. And
the friends that I made from that show and the
fans are perennial. And it's for and then money like
network money. Just to be on a business level, that
was you bought my home. You were able to get
your nest egg together. It gave me the confidence to

(54:39):
make a baby with my wife and make.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
A number one. I was like, you know what I mean, yes.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
Yeah, I'm a little security now this I can I
can feel good about this right now, at this that's
amazing and to have to do that kind of work,
and I love that you actually sort of wanted to
take a job like that. You hear a lot of
actor say I wouldn't be able to do that kind
of job. It just is too much, it's too all in,

(55:05):
it's too the same. But you know, that's why there's
something out there for everyone, because for you to sort
of you knew, you're like, I want my badge, I
want I want to chase bad guys. I want to
be that guy. And you manifested it and it and
to have it be with people that you know you
love and still yet like what a gift? Like those

(55:25):
are so few and far between, because you could get
stuck on one of those with the other network show
and that didn't click, and that would have been your
worst thing.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
I try to see how to respond without naming names,
you know what I mean, Like.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
Yes, don't worry, don't say anything.

Speaker 3 (55:42):
There are people stuck. I work with people back then,
stuck on shows where you really dislike the people you're
working with, and then you're in hell.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Christina and I talk about this all the time. We
cannot even understand someone that shows up onto a set
with anything other than gratitude, and you know, coming to
with prepared on time, and you know.

Speaker 5 (56:04):
They thankful for that moment, hoping to pour into it,
to make more good stuff, to make more bounty for
you and the team stirs, and to have the presence
of mind. That show made me love working with adults, Like,
you know, adults have another level of appreciation, you know
what I mean in mind.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
That's true. I will say I was a punk and
when I was a kid a few years I.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
Wanted to be off that that highloight, like I had
no responsibility.

Speaker 5 (56:35):
So you can you can make calls like that. Adults
are like, okay, hold on, First of all, it's all temporary,
you know, you know, you know, they have a level
of appreciation. They can understand when a blessing is upon
them and seek to pour into it.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
Right, We're lucky and we're a small part of this thing.
Like showing up on set is such a humbling thing
because you're one little piece of a hundred person project. Yes, sir, yeah,
you know.

Speaker 5 (57:05):
Yeah, that's how I show up now all the time,
very very quiet. I just did All American yesterday, and
you know, a lot of my numbers people were there and.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
That's a great show, Oh my god show.

Speaker 5 (57:17):
And Catchee is the creator and the Executiveroducer is a
friend of ours for about fifteen twenty years. She is
a goddess man and a creative marvel. She's just a genius.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
So yeah, my son Casey loves that show. Let's just
talk about Queen of the South real quick, because yeah, man,
I remember all of you. You spoke so highly that
show and it was so well received by everybody.

Speaker 3 (57:40):
Oh see, see that's like the numbers. There's a couple
of things in between, you know, and then it's Queen
of the South.

Speaker 5 (57:45):
Queen of the South has become the second act of
my life as an artist.

Speaker 3 (57:51):
Okay, I'm fifty, you know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (57:54):
Did that show about five years ago, and it is
what I call watch it. It's the machation like to
play a full bodied I like to call him a
community leader. People call him a criminal, but I thought
he was more of a community leader.

Speaker 3 (58:15):
The state developer, you know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (58:19):
And it takes I love to come into that role
as a mature person, you know, as a full grown
adult with some more lived experience. Because I was able
to pour into Marcel Dumas really what I know, and
all of my neighborhood friends. If you watch my work
and then you watch that, all of my buddies from

(58:41):
back Home from the Bronx. When that show aired, I
got phone calls from from from Snoop, I got my
buddy name Snow, I got from from my buddy Dre
from Oh They'd be like, yo a.

Speaker 3 (58:52):
Lee, yeah dog, we like that ship right there though.

Speaker 2 (58:56):
That's that It's like, like you're talking about you have
friends named Snoop and Dre.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
Oh oh ko, Rob mckeesh, I'm talking about neighborhood guys.
My neighborhood guys called me up because it's the first
thing that I'd done. Really that my neighborhood guys reminds
us in small slivers of some of the world that

(59:25):
we walked through as kids, right, you know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (59:27):
So I'm I'm mimicking some things that I saw, Like
you know, you working more of a dangerous world. You
do a cop show, you being in the teenage witch,
and it's all a bit you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (59:37):
It's fun, but it's.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
A right yes, yes, Queen of the South.

Speaker 5 (59:42):
What made it so great? On USA at least a hem, key,
my dad, I've found so hot that you I'm working
with some monsters, like some heavyweight actors, and I love
cinematic work. Like I'm a method actor, right, So I
love when we get to not act and be and

(01:00:04):
you don't get to do that on network television. It
just the nature of the beast is different. Cable allows
you to be. There is no acting on that show.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
You go there and so yeah, and you're drawing on
life experience and that's some of that's when the best
work happens. I think.

Speaker 3 (01:00:22):
So my wife like I, I, you know, and we
shot it out of state. I shot it in New Orleans,
New Orleans. I was going to say, the city of
New Orleans. You talking about cinematic, that city is a
character in the show, David.

Speaker 5 (01:00:34):
I stayed in my hotel. I came to set in character,
like the people didn't know who I was until like
two months in the producers. I showed up to set
the first day. The show came at such a pivotal
time in my life. I have poured my heart and
soul to it. So I came to set com completely
locked in. So I meet the lead girl at these

(01:00:57):
said but go. And I'm looking at her in character like, hey,
how you doing. She was like, I'm doing great, pleasure
to pleasure to Mechi. I put my headphones on and
walked back into my corner. I was in the ring
that is.

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
The opposite would have given a hug and I all
love David, none of that, So I was I felt
like a cage tiger.

Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
I was just waiting for the director to say action.

Speaker 5 (01:01:22):
I was looking at people like, get out of my way.
The direct yeah, the director said action, and I left.
Remember I'll never figure her face. She was like, oh shit,
you're on that ship. I was like, yeah, I'm on
that ship. She'll tell you my character was supposed to die.

(01:01:44):
We shot the first scene the first day. She walks
downstairs because she's the execut producer. She was like, this
fucking guy doesn't die.

Speaker 3 (01:01:52):
He doesn't die. We fight to the end. She was like, no,
oh my god. She saw what was complete devotion.

Speaker 5 (01:02:02):
You know that you you absorbed their world and you're
going to give one hundred percent. And there's no wider
executive producer actor that does not appreciate that that you've
come to give your heart and soul to their production.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
They already got a show. This show is already a hit.
You know what I mean. It's your job to come
and add.

Speaker 5 (01:02:21):
And in that instance, she was like, oh this this
fucker has come to play.

Speaker 1 (01:02:27):
He's not dying. He's not dying.

Speaker 5 (01:02:29):
She went downstairs. She was like, you went out of
video village. She's like, Marcel Dumons does not She made it,
he does not. That's what the diet for ten episodes.
She was like, he does not die. We'll fix it later,
comes back up, see and like a war on day one.
It was the best feeling to be fully realized in

(01:02:50):
the character and be met with people like bring that smoke.

Speaker 2 (01:02:54):
Yeah you were at the time in your life or
you were ready for it. Brother, That's the beauty of
being a grown up, right, you can see it. The
opportunity meets you know your preparedness. Ollie, we gotta let
you go. I'm are you talking about another hour?

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
I know it's blue by.

Speaker 3 (01:03:14):
You're the greatest size. Thank you for having me, Christine,
my love.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
This was the best. Thank you for joining us. This
was so good. I loved hearing your stories and we
need to hear more and we'll watch Diehard together. Is
it a.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
Christmas movie or not?

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
Ollie.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
I always feel good when I'm with you. Man, You're
just the greatest. Please send my love and and your
whole family.

Speaker 5 (01:03:42):
Man from our hearts back to you, David Christine, Thank
you guys for having me.

Speaker 3 (01:03:47):
You are the sweetest, You are the.

Speaker 5 (01:03:51):
You are the kindest of people and in this world
today invaluable.

Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
So thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
It's mutual.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
I want to hug you. I want right now.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
I mean, he's the real, the real deal. That's not
that's not for show. That's real.

Speaker 1 (01:04:14):
No, that's so real and what a like forget the
fact that he is one of the sweetest people. And
I meant it when I said when you pulled me
over and said, this is one of my favorite people
and I need you guys to meet and he was
about to do his photos and we just had that.
What an fascinating listening to him talk about acting and

(01:04:35):
that like that last story he told like never would
have expected that he's a method actor that he got
to like I I didn't see I haven't seen that
show and now I need to check it out because
it just seems yes and wow, wow, wow wow, and
just you can just tell. And I, you know, sitting

(01:04:56):
next to him at that dinner a few weeks ago,
I just got to hear him ray gosh about his kids, and.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
You guys did sit next to each other, so you
really got to oh good, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Yeah, yeah, so we got to we had a lot
of quality time. And what a sweetheart really truly, like
he's just that you're magnetically drawn to him, you know,
And and yeah, thank you for putting us all together
at that dinner and asking him to be on the show.

(01:05:25):
And I had no idea he was only on one
season of Sabrina. Like that's the other thing when you're
good and you make an impact. I think of him
as having been on that show.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
Well yeah, because we've all been friends for twenty years
since then, Like he's part of our whole crew. But
he also did a show called Queen Sugar that was
ava du Verney show produced by Oprah Winfrey. There was
so much more to talk about. He's a fantastic actor,

(01:05:56):
but honestly, he's the greatest family man. He calls his
wife Queen, So there's like a theme here, Queen of
the South, Queen Sugar. His wife is Queen. He is
the just he's just a beautiful person.

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
Yeah, very special, very special. That was great. That was great.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
Yeah, let's.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
Well, well that's all. That's all we've got. And and
so next week is our we can we can talk
about that. Next week is going to be our big
unedited Drew episode that you will have seen already potentially
if you haven't seen it on on your TV screens,

(01:06:39):
then you can stream it, download it. We did a
you know, as as we talked about, we did the
The Drew Show. And so next week tune in for
the unedited.

Speaker 2 (01:06:53):
Nineties Call.

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
Yes, thanks everyone, thanks for listening. Make sure to subscribe
and give us five stars

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
And please follow us on Instagram at Heydude the Nineties
Called See you next time.