May 14, 2024 • 45 mins
Today Brian sits down with the multi-talented actor and musician Folake Olowofoyeku. She talks about her diverse upbringing in Lagos watching Spanish telenovelas and listening to Irish music, moving to the US as a young student, and bringing it all back around to play a Nigerian woman on Bob Hearts Abishola.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
But when I think about it, I would always just
find all the flyers for like given the basketball team.
That's how I got on. I found a flyer and
I was like, oh yeah, I'm in America, Land of opportunity.
I want to try everything. Hi, my name is Flaki
Alo for you, and I'm the African Sunder.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hello, and good day to you my favorite listeners. As
you may know, this is Off the Beat and I
am your host, Brian Baumgartner. Today I bring to you
an incredibly talented actor and musician, Palakee Alua for Yuku.
She is the star of the very good show Bob
(00:51):
Hart's Abi Sholah, which bittersweetly had its series finale just
last week. It's always hard to say goodbye to a
show as a viewer like me. I know, I'm bummed
it's gone, but it is definitely harder as an actor
or a crew member who has made a show a
part of their daily life for so long. But onward
(01:14):
an upward for Flake, who has appeared in shows like
Law and Order, Modern Family, Transparent, Westworld, and will no
doubt be back at something very very soon. She's even
had a second life, maybe even a cooler life. As
a musician and DJ. Her first love is music. She's
(01:36):
even played bass with David Bowie himself. Tell me that's
not cool. That is cool, and so I feel cool
just having her here in the studio with me. I've
loved getting to hear her fascinating story about her life
and two cultures born in Nigeria, her fantastic career, and
her plans for after Bob loves Abisho La. Now, sit back,
(02:00):
relax and enjoy my conversation with f lacke Alua Fayuku,
Bubble and squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeakna, Bubble
and squeak. I cook get every moment lift over from
(02:21):
the ninety bore.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Him.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I'm so good. It is so good to see you.
I am such a big fan of yours. I really
appreciate you coming on. Oh, thank you so much. You
have a big show that is about to end. I
want to hear. I want tears, I want emotion. I
want to talk about that in a little bit. But gosh,
(02:56):
your history is so fascinating, and I hear you shoot
the rock like I do. You were going to become
a lawyer like maybe I was for a while and
then you got into this business. But I want to
go back. You were born and raised in Nigeria.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yes, yeah, Legos, Nigeria where Legos Legos.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yes, yeah. And your dad was a.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Politician then and a lawyer as well.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
And a lawyer as well.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, and a minister.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
And you were one of twenty kids. Now this is
a very full household, plucky. I'm not going to lie
to you. This sounds like like a lot. What was
it like growing up in that in that environment?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Well, I'm the last born, so by the time I
was coming of age and stuff, most everyone had already left.
I have nieces and grand nieces and nephews that are
the same age or some opos of me.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Oh wow, So if you were the last ad a
bunch of them they were they were gone. Yeah. How many?
How many siblings did you actually like grow up with
in the house?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
One?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
One? Oh? Just one?
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, and my cousin and then I had a couple
a couple of other like a brother and sister who
came in and out, but they were mostly in college
by then.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Okay, what was it like having such a great family
and specifically, what what do you how do you feel
like that helped you even though so many were out
of the house in your time growing up.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Well, my upbringing certainly is responsible for the independence and
the resourcefulness that helped me get through being in America
by myself and I'm figuring out the entertainment by myself
independence because by that age, you know, the parents have
been there and done that with the kids, so they're
(04:53):
just like, yeah, you go do whatever you want. So
I could. I could pretty much whatever I want from
very early on. But I was a good kid, so
they were lucky maybe because I had so much space
to do whatever I wanted. I didn't really want to
do anything. But independence and resourcefulness is something that my
upbringing and tenacity and strength. That's what my upbringing in
(05:17):
stood in me so that I could thrive. Really I have.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, I mean that's my grandparents. My grandfather was one
of eleven in the southeastern United States, so you know,
we had a large family, but not I don't know,
maybe not so dissimilar from you, because you know, you
didn't have twenty in the house at one time.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That uh, that seems we're all eleven of you in
the house at once.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
No, So they were just more like I say, I'm
everybody in like Georgia and North Florida, I'm related to
probably someone because there are just so many offshoots from
from that. But again, in my house, it was just
me my sister, so there were just two of us.
So it was this combination of really large sort of
(06:05):
extended family, you know, relatives around, but you know, not
not so much on the day to day. And I
find that fascinating because you think, like one of twenty,
you've got nineteen other eyes to look after you. But
how would you say. It's like, nah, go ahead, we've
(06:26):
been we've been there, we've done that. Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, that wasn't my experience. My experience was actually completely
opposite from that.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah. I read that you spent some time in London
growing up, So when did you When did you move there?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Well, I never really moved to England, although I considered
moving to England before I moved to Lee, And the
quote was like, get your asked back, Daly. There was
this transition period before I moved to la where I
went trying to figure out where I wanted to do next.
Actually in that same transition period again about roal fly
(07:05):
ten years after. But during that transition period. I went
to Atlanta, I went to England, I went back to Nigeria,
and I came to LA to check it out. And
the reason I was leaving in New York was to
get away from the code mostly okay, and I just
needed a better standard of living in January. But I
(07:27):
never actually lived in England. We vacationed there every summer
growing up as a child, Okay. My father had a
presence there and we studied there London Spit of Economics,
and so I did a couple of my siblings as well,
so we had a presence there and family there as well.
So we will visit every summer. And that was my
time in England, Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
But it sounds like even just with that much time,
I mean, spending that much time in England and you've
got Nigeria. Eventually you go to City College of New York.
As as a young person, you're exposed to a tons
of experience culturally, travel, different people's Do you feel like
(08:10):
that gave you something that you use in your work
now or give you a broad base?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Definitely, especially for this role, because there's this understanding of culture.
As you rightfully said that I became exposed to from
very early on, coupled with the fact that in Nigeria,
we get our content from everywhere. Okay, so we got
content from Like I grew up watching Spanish Nobela's subtitle
(08:42):
subtitled when I was on boarding school like all the girls,
I was in an old girls school for one another
exposed to All the girls are gathered by the living
room at eight o'clock so we could watch Maria de
Los Angeles and we were so into it. So I
grew up with that. We grew up on a lot
of Irish music and Irish content as well, stuff from France,
(09:05):
from the Middle East. We got stuff from everywhere. And
then not to talk about the fact that Nigeria is
also very diverse in itself. A mayoga, but we have
over three hundred ethnic groups. Yeah, and we're exposed to that.
And I grew up in a space and different religions
as well, mostly Christian and Muslim in Islam. But there
was always tolerance in my world as far as I
(09:28):
was exposed to culturally, there was upheaval in other areas,
but as far as being different in the sense that
you had a different tradition and culture and language, that
was well accepted where I was growing up, and then
I've been able to borrow from all this exposure and
(09:48):
that has fed my acting work here in America because
even the portrayal of Afishala, there's an element there is
almost like a Western sensitivity that you have to have
to the timing as well, that's very different from Nigerian time, right,
(10:08):
very different. The melodies are so different, and I think
they're both funny, and it became an interesting thing for
me trying to balance both worlds. It's like, how do
I maintain the comedy of the sitcom world of America
but still borrow from the Nigerian comedy, which makes sense
(10:32):
because Abishalla is Nigerian born in the ring is just
like me.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Right, Was it was that tough for you or because
of your experience that you had, Do you feel like
you already had an understanding?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I had an understanding because I called, I got called.
I started getting called in a lot. I mean my
entire life, In my entire acting life, I've played a
variation of Abela. I've played a more a caricature. When
I did a stage play of the Tale of Martin Chuzzleworth,
I've played her more modern when I did Cabaret and
(11:09):
I played Sally Bowles uh and more sexy obviously. And
then I had like roles of Modern Family where I
played Nigerian and that was a different version of her,
another version where I played the nurse. So I've explored
I got to explore her in different ways before I
actually came to the table to play at the Chelan.
And what was your initial question?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I told you for that, well, asking about you know,
how how accustomed you were to Okay, yeah, to the
And I'll tell you why I asked not to like
drop names or whatever. But you know, Ricky Gervais and
Stephen Merchant, who obviously created the Office in the UK.
(11:54):
Stephen has said that the greatest mistake, or I'm sorry,
the best thing that they ever did was stay away
from the American Office because they they felt like so
many shows that have been brought from the UK to
America that the British didn't really understand American culture well
(12:16):
enough to have the comedy directly translate. Knew that there
was exactly to your point, different rhythms, different different sound.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Facial expressions as well, and different levels the levels of
Nigeria on the most mundane day is far far suproceeds okay, Okay.
There was a lot of like balancing that had to
be embedded into Abela. I think my experience in America
(12:47):
and my experience in all the other parts of the
world that I've lived in helped prepare me because as
I went into audition after audition, paying all these different
variations of AA, I got to understand what the castler
wanted from me, and I was able to mold this
character to fit those things, and I started booking so
(13:09):
many jobs for that reason. Got to portraying an Africa
I did. I did also have to study, though. I
remember speaking with Chuck and our associate producer as well
as one of our directors, be Beth mccathy, as well
as Pat Doak and Chuck Royy separately speaking to them
(13:29):
about what sitcoms I should go study, okay best for
the best performances.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
And they said, I remember when.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Well, this conversation kind of reached like the level of
new understanding for me when mister Norman Layer passed away
and we were having conversation about him on set because
we had people whould work with him on our set
who got their start working with him, and so they
gave me like I got like on the job futeage
(14:01):
on what it meant and what this phenomenal creator stood
for and the timing that he was able to incorporate
into his shows to make it so magical. Some of
the shows I went back to watch where I Love
Lucy at Doort recommended that Everybody Loves Raymond, and then
I went back and watched some of Mike and Molly
(14:21):
as well. But I'd say my biggest influences would have
been I Love Lucy and Everybody Loves ray Interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah, you're one of twenty. You're in Nigeria, you're spending
summers in London. Two part question with a B and
C under each. No, I'm just kidding. You decide you're
going to come to America, New York, specifically a City
College of New York to go to school. You end
up playing Division three basketball. Nice? That were you coming
(14:57):
to New York? Why New York? And is it true
you just you were going to become a lawyer.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, the plan was I was going to go to
law school in Nigeria. I just finished my A levels
in Nigeria, so I was I just turned about I
just I was about to turn eighteen. You know, getting
a visa is such a big deal in Nigeria. It's
like a whole process that's a wake up five o'clock.
I think it's changed now. Back then you have to
wake up at like four o'clock in the morning to
get in the line for by five am, and you
(15:25):
wouldn't get seen until like nine or something crazy like that. Right,
kind of like the days of background work I've been
I've been getting prepared back in the day with that.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, although we do have something called the DMV here
in the United States is over oh.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no no, no, no, no, no no,
Actually your DMV's here, child's play. They give you somewhere
to sit, okay, fair, no, no no. In Nigeria, it's
like it's a jungle. It's a jungle out there, a
beautiful jungle. I love my people. So I the plan
was to come see my sister for holiday and then
(16:07):
come back to Nigeria and become a lawyer. But things
worked out in a way where my results, my original
with my actual results weren't released, kind of like fraudulent
one was, and it was obvious that that it was
fraudulent because of the score. And I remember telling my
mom like, fuck it, I'm not going to school anymore
(16:30):
it and I think that terrified her, and she was like, Okay,
you're in America. Just see if you can find something there.
And I found something there, and I went to the map.
I went to the subway map, and I looked at
Long Island, where my sister lived, and I looked at
the map of Manhattan, and I was like, what school
is furthest away from Long Island. So I can complain
(16:51):
about the commute because I would take I would walk
to the bus station. First of all, for a little while,
I could afford the love Adam Rover. After a while,
I couldn't afford it. And so I'll take a bus
from Long Island to Jamaica Queens. From Jamaica, I'll transfer
to the Blue Line, get on the Express as soon
(17:12):
as I could get off on one twenty fifth Street
in Harlem. They could bust from there to the City
College in New York. That was like a two hour
treat each way. And I was like, yes, yes, this
is exactly what I need. So I think into my
first year, I head up my mom and I was like,
this commute is too much. I gotta I gotta move
out closer to school.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
No, I see, I see.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I found this this one, this bedroom in someone's apartment
for like two hundred bucks a month and it was
like perfect, right across from school. And I'll go get
like Chinese food for five bucks during lunch and like
portion that out so that be my meal for the day.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Wow, but you loved it. Those are the good old days.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Those were the good old days, man, those those were
the funnest days. I had some of the happiest times
of my life in New York.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Oh yeah, no it is. It will eat you up
and spit you out, and at the same time you're
enjoying it a lot of time. It's very strange.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah, it's really cool. I plan on spending more time
right now.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
And so when did you start thinking, hm hmm, maybe
I'll start auditioning for some things, or like, were you
finding a passion in it? Did someone suggests you do it? How?
How did that transition happen?
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I actually need to speak with this guy I was
dating during that time, so I can get a lot
more clarity about how that worked, because he just made
a comment on my Instagram about how he remembers when
I was teaching myself how to play the guitar, so
he was like he was in my life at a
very pivotal time. I remember speaking to him about it
(19:22):
years ago and he said, oh yeah, I think he
just saw a flyer in school and dislike the decafeteria
something and he went to a tryout, and that's where
I remember it from. I remember from the tryouts. I
don't remember what led me to the tryouts, but when
I think about it, I would always just find all
the flyers for like even the basketball team. That's how
I got on. I found a flyer and I was like,
(19:44):
oh yeah, I'm in America, Land of opportunity. I want
to try everything. And so that's how I got into acting.
I found a flyer and I auditioned and it came
very easy. I wasn't precious about acting the way I
was about music, so I wasn't like overthinking the whole process.
I flourished. I mean, it was one of the best
(20:04):
spaces for me creatively to get my foundation with a
department of City College of New York because we had
access to Aaron Davis Hall. We just we had great.
We had great professors to Gray David Will, Alfred Preiser,
we had great professors.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
You have mentioned. Now, you know, I certainly didn't want
to bury the lead here about music. Was music sort
of your first love? I mean, it feels like you
have two very very legitimate careers. Now, was music something
that you started doing much earlier?
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Music is something I always wanted to start doing at
any point in my life, and it was the thing
I knew I always wanted to do. And I kind
of have a tragic story with music. I'm hoping for
for better days. Okay, let's see how it goes.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
What's what's the tragic story?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
It's just I'm always I always knew I wanted to
be a musician, but I was specifically held away from it.
It was it was almost like a trigger print in
my family. So the idea of me being a musician,
it was ridicled, was talk down on, was laughed at.
There was no there was no outlet in any way.
(21:19):
So it's not like the sort of structure where like
you have in America, we have access to people where
you can learn it. It was very isolated creatively for
me and Nigeria. I didn't get it at outlet until
I was eighteen, and all the trauma and that's when
I moved to America and I was on my own.
But all the traumas that I had from from the
(21:39):
previous years discipline against music, it affected me and still
does to this day.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
What about moving in to beginning to do acting, did
you find support for that?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
No? I didn't find support for that, but I didn't
find the strict hell no. Yeah, and that journey started
when I was now on my own in America, so
no one you really knew what I was up to.
And so my my mom came to visit and I
invited her to a show and she's like, oh shit,
that's good. And right into a fashion show, she's like,
(22:15):
oh my god. Right into a basketball game, she's like,
oh my god, why don't you play professionally? Yeah. So,
once I was out of New York, I was able
to just delve into what I wanted to without scrutiny.
But the trauma for music specifically something I still gott with.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Did you start doing film and television first out of
college or what was the theater your love?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Well, it was musical theater that made me stay okay.
That was my introduction to theater, musical theater, which makes
sense because I got to do to still like delve
into music. I remember during the time I got into
the theater department, they were working on their version of Care,
which is now one of my favorite musicals, and it's
(23:02):
just such a magical experience in the summertime in New
York singing in the train. Uh it was beautiful. Yeah. So,
and then eventually and then I played in the Whiz,
and then I eventually played Sally Bowls and cabaret. But
musical theater is what kept me in theater is what
(23:22):
like it was almost like it was all aligned. I
wanted to do music, but my outlet was going to
be theater. But then I happened to go to theater
and it's musical theater. And it's like, oh shit. But
if I if I had a chance to do it again,
I would do it a little different.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
What would you do different? Uh?
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Well, in terms of what I studied, I started studying
economics as a way to kind of finesse finess through
through family. I then started with a minor in theater
and then eventually graduated with the major in theater. But
what I would have done. I would have studied sonic
arts with a minor in theater. That's what I had then. Okay, yeah,
(24:03):
I eventually went on to study audio engineering, but I
would have started that whole process in college.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Fascinating. Yeah, you mentioned you got a degree in audio engineering. Yeah,
what is it about electronic music specifically that feeds you?
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Electronic music is not really I wouldn't say that's what
feeds me specifically. I started out doing electronic music. My
first single was more electronic than an aphrobeats, but I
always kept the lingo hidjin English em bettered than there
with hints of yoga. I think what drew me to
electronic music at that time was that I didn't have
(24:45):
other tools. What the tools I had was what i'd
learned and audio engineering school they happened to teach us
to programs, pro tools and reason, and within that world
I was able to create for the first time all
these songs I could hear in my head and piss
them together and start writing to them. So that's that
(25:06):
was the draw to electronic music. Now like it's it's
transformed and transcended that where I want to involve your instruments.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Okay, you're a DJ, your producer.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
DJed once. I wouldn't call myself a DJ, DJ Moore, Yeah,
I would have told myself a DJ. But I had
a great time and everybody had a great I picked
some good music, Like anytime I'm having a party, you
should be there because the music is going to be
on point. I'll call myself a music curator more than
a DJ.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Okay, well that's I'm that. I mean, I'm okay, I'm
a music curator. I'm going to tell you a crazy
story because this is why I I don't know if
I've ever told this story before. It's never been it's
never come up. I was at a charity event out
of town for multiple days. This was in the Bahamas.
(26:00):
This is a while ago. I could come up with
a year that makes sense, but fifteen sixteen years ago,
and someone came up to me and said, the DJ
is going to be on your show this year. And
I said, the DJ is going to be on my
show this year? Said yeah, the DJ is going to
(26:21):
be you should you know? He wants to meet you.
You go meet him. The DJ was Idris Elba. Oh
Idris Elba had gotten hired. Now he had done other work.
Obviously at that time he had not become Idris Elba
Idris Elba. Yeah, and I was like, God, you are
(26:41):
I remember, right, I remember, like to this day. We
took a picture and I was like, you are the
coolest guy I know, like that you're that you were DJing,
that you were out there, that you were putting it
like his whole self into it and he just had
a passion for it. It sounds like like you now
you've only done it once, but in in terms of
creating music, writing your own music, this feeds you. Yeah right,
(27:06):
I mean it very clearly does.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Being around music pinetic capacity is just always a good time.
If I'm having a downtime, picking up the guitar and
playing something switches my move.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I mean we started by talking about the broad range
of experience you had as a kid, but I mean
to come over to New York and to be on
the college basketball team, and to be studying economics and
music even through a musical theater, and then eventually the
audio engineering and to start performing. I mean that, seriously,
(27:46):
that is what college is all about. I mean, that's
what that's what it should be all about. Like, let's
freaking go.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
And just do everything, try, try everything, and so how
then you're trying everything, it sounds like succeeding pretty damn.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Well at everything. Yeah, how does how does the path narrow?
How do you make the decision that that being an
actor is what you want to do with the music career?
But I mean, like you're going to pursue that. How
did that decision come about? Well?
Speaker 1 (28:26):
That was the only thing I had training in acting? Okay,
And while I had training and audio engineering, the reason
I went through that process was so I could have
an understanding and how to create my own music. Wasn't
because I necessarily want I didn't want to work as
an audio engineer. I wanted to know how to create
my own and I just all I've gone to school
(28:46):
for was acting. And I had some odd jobs here
and there. I remember I worked at the information desk
the Citycology in New York. But the only thing I
was really qualified to do was act. Is how I felt,
And while I was in school, I always knew as
an immigrant, as a black woman, I had to work
extra hard. So even when I was hearing that it's
(29:06):
too student to be going out into the world and
working as like, fucked that shit. I'm going out into
the world that I'm going to experience so that I
can be prepared when it's actually time for me to
show up professionally. That was the thought process that I
pieced together. That was my strategy, and I've always been
guided by intuition, and intuition told me that this was
(29:29):
the right path.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Well, it sounds like it. Seeing your resume and knowing
your work from a number of these shows me you
basically dominate the tradition. I don't even know the traditional
New York shows. I don't even know what that's talking about,
but all the law and Orders and the thirty Rocks
and all that, and then eventually obviously Modern Family, West
(29:51):
World and Transparent. When did you move to LA.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
I moved to LA I think about twenty thirteen. It's
been about exactly ten years. Yeah, I think about twenty thirteen. Wow,
twenty twelve thirteen.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
And why it was cold?
Speaker 1 (30:10):
It was cold in New York. I needed something different.
I was tired of the winters there. I needed hot
and humid, which is the climate that I come from,
and I wren't looking for that, granted, and there's not humid,
but he was definitely sunnier and hotter than New York.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Have you tried Houston? Houston is hot and humid.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
I haven't. I haven't been to Houston yet, but I've
been to whenever I've gone, like Leans, Florida. Atlanta is
getting cold now, but Florida, Florida, the Florida climate in
the Florida feels the closest to him whenever Miami had
failed that.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Way, Eventually, you have an opportunity. You meet I don't know,
(31:10):
the most prolific creator of television of the last Why
has it been that twenty years? Let's call it twenty
five years, Chuck, Chuck Glory. Talk to me about your
audition process, how you got this role, and how you
(31:31):
felt about the role reading it on Bob Heart's I'll
be Showing Up.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Well, I got an email from my agent's bar stage,
and like every other email I get, I read it
and I was like, oh, yeah, I got this, It's easy,
and like set it aside. And then I started working
on it and it was very easy. The character was
easy for me. I knew her, I grew up with her.
(32:00):
My aunties's my mother's she's like my class teachers. You know,
so I knew exactly how to play her, but I
spent a lot of time trying to balance her out.
So talking about all the things we previously mentioned at
the beginning of the interview, like adding the melodies, the
(32:21):
comedic melodies of Africa, Nigeria specifically, and the melodies of
the rest of the world, as you guys know, the sitcoms,
and also having explored her in all these different elements
over the years at different levels over the years, I
chose that I didn't want her to be a career cuature.
This was going to be a big project. It was
going to be a lot of people's Yeah, it was
(32:41):
going to be a lot of people's introduction to Nigerian culture.
And I felt like I wanted to portray her as
grounded and as human and as multi dimensional as possible.
And throughout the five seasons, boy did they give me
materiy to work with, because there's this season where I
(33:02):
was crying all the time, all the time, and then
you know that she became the hard ass and then
she softened up. But I wanted all of that to
be grounded and a dignified portrayal of my journal.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah, it's interesting about television right that. I was just
talking about this with someone the other day that the time.
I mean, if you're lucky enough to be on a
show that runs for multiple years, the character does change.
The writers change how the character is being written for,
and in a good show there's a journey built in
(33:41):
and it's becomes much different than in film or you know,
a guest spot or wherever, where this is the character
and you kind of know everything about this character going in.
As the show is going, you're changing, You're you're changing,
and the character is changing. How how did you find
that experience, the experience of being able to explore her
(34:04):
for five years?
Speaker 1 (34:07):
It was It was interesting. It was interesting because our
writers are obviously fucking amazing and also led by chub Lauri.
It's like magic, but having the lived experience of being
a Nigerian woman in Nigeria. There are the elements that
I wanted to explore, but we never We didn't get
(34:28):
a chance to explore a lot of them. There there
would be times where we could confuse some some of
this lived experience moments into the show, like when during
the wedding, when Bob and I are having an intimate
moment with all the guests gathered around. I remember pitching
it to the director, Beth lafack Mill. It's like, hey, Beth,
(34:49):
it wouldn't it be cool if while we're dancing it's
just chilling out, all the electricity goes off, because that
shit will happen in Nigeria. It was all the electricity
goes off and then we're like groaning, and then the
electricity comes back when I'm like, Nepa. That is such
a Nigerian moment, and I wanted to infuse a lot
(35:11):
more of those moments in there. But I also understood
that this was not a show that was geared towards
journal audience. He's an American show, and so it was
comforting to be able to rely on their expertise in
those ways whilst looking for ways to, you know, reveal
a little bit more and go a little bit more
in debt with a Nigerian experience. Everything else was everything
(35:34):
else was.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Something that's awesome. There's You also had a specific hmmm,
what do you call it, set of circumstances that were
not ideal for your show. I mean, look, show, there's
a worldwide pandemic, there's a writer strike, an actor strike.
(35:57):
But you guys.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Both both in Nigeria and an American.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yes, yet the show survived. What do you think that
that says about the show and what you were doing
or the crew that you were working with that you
unlike so many other shows survived all of those external
those external factors.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
The Chuck glory factor. Man Chuck Chuck would enter the room,
enter like a rehearsal and just say like two words
and wave his hands and everything would just be magical.
And also because I guess of the years of expertise
in this in this field, he has a crew of
(36:44):
people who are fucking phenomenal, from my live producers Christy
Robin to like Scott London and props Sammy to the
makeup department he had department. Everyone works so diligently and
so precisely, there was no room for it. Like it
was just seamless. It was seamless all the time.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Yeah, and there's no global pandemic, there's no like we're
just gonna yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
We but that's the reason why we could function as
efficiently as we did throughout the pandemic because he has
a team of folks who are at the highest level
of their game, and they show up like that all
time and at all times, and they set precedents for
how me and like relatively unknown after coming into the
show then conduct with herself. They've set a bar for me.
(37:38):
Any production I go into, well, I will come with
the wealth of knowledge and an expertise that you acquire
from being in front at the Chuck Ray Universe.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
I'm really glad you said that, because you know, I've
had small experiences, multiple experiences on his shows, and that
is so true. And I don't think that that's talked
about enough. It becomes a cliche like we have the
greatest team, we have the greatest crew, we have the
greatest blah blah blah. But there is an efficiency that
(38:13):
exists on his sets and throughout his shows that is palpable.
And yeah, I mean to your point, you come in
as a lead and you haven't done anything before, and
you you were, You were taught how it's done by
(38:33):
experienced by experienced people who if they didn't know how
to do their job, they wouldn't be there. So good
for you. That's that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
I learned from the best minds in the industry, some
of the best minds in the industry. Very fortunate.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Sadly the series is ending here this month. You've already
shot the finale.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Yeah, we were done shooting about a month ago, and
the finale aired yesterday.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Yesterday. Yes, wow, how it feel? It was?
Speaker 1 (39:08):
You know, Miss Renee that's what I call her, Miss Warrens.
She plays Gloria on the show. She came over and
watched it together and it was laugh out loud, like
we were out here like laughing out loud. It was
a very beautiful moment. I feel good. I feel fulfilled.
I feel like I left my mark in a way.
(39:30):
I feel like I've done something meaningful with my life,
and I want to go rest for a little bit
and reflect on all of it, and then I'm super
excited about the future. I'm very excited about the opportunities
for the future. We just announced that Lion King. I'm
(39:51):
part of the Lion King the Passa and that's going
to be that's gonna premire on December twentia.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Congratulations, thank you. That's credible.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I hit up. I hit up Chuck. I was like,
I said, Chuck the text and I sent him the article.
Thank you, Chuck, Laurie.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah, that's awesome. Uh sad for you to say goodbye
or obviously the people, Yeah, I love with that, but
the character say goodbye to the character.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yeah, it's sad. Like Michelle, I gave me some of
the most dynamic times in my life. And I mean,
I'm always going to be tied to her. So I
love her. I love her. She's a brilliant woman, tenacious.
I would say sadness is a word I think of
when I think about part of the race attactors. We're
going to be syndicated. I can watch her anytime, you know. Yeah,
(40:51):
I just feel proud. I feel very proud of her.
I feel proud of her.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Very good for you. First America can sitcom to feature
a Nigerian family, but not just that. It had respect
and grace, amazing performances, particularly by you. You deserve tremendous
respect and all good fortunes coming down the pipe. Congratulations
(41:18):
on Lion King. I and everyone else is going to
be watching and listen. Anytime you want to shoot the rock,
you give me a call. You I'm closer than you think.
Really you think you just let me, you just let
(41:40):
me know, Well I will.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
I actually would love to. I haven't played in a
little bit. So if you're down and play this week.
I'm down.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Wow, look at that. You're just coming you're just coming
right out to let me. I'll tell you very quick story.
I played in a pickup game against a little a
little there were there were. It was sort of an
organized and you know, I'm backing him down. I got size,
I'm backing him down in a beautiful fade away Jay
(42:10):
and he starts, little guy starts slapping at the ball,
like coming around and slapping at the ball, like taking
it a little too seriously, Like I take it seriously,
but a little too wha wa bang elbow right in
my eye socket. Within seconds, it swells up like like second.
(42:33):
By the time I like put my hand over my
eye and ran to the bathroom. It was like a
baseball whoa. And I was like, well, I guess, I
guess casual pickup games is not happening for me anymore.
Oh but I'll I'll I'll take you. I'll take you
(42:56):
all right, let's see, I'll take all comers. Here's the thing, curious,
my confidence outweighs my ability, But my ability is strong.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
I haven't played in a bit, so I don't know
one of those things, Sad. I have talent, listen, I
have natural talent, so I'm pretty sure i'll fuck you up.
How tall are you?
Speaker 2 (43:19):
How tall? I was literally about to say, how tall
are you? How tall are you? Yeah? I got you?
You got you? Six three? Ah?
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Fuck now I got you. I know I can, I
can box out like a motherfucker and I got hops.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Bring it all right. Uh, congratulations and good luck. I'm
gonna be watching.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Thank you, Thank you, Brian, and well done on the Office.
I really enjoy that show, really really enjoyed that show,
really enjoyed your character.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Thank you. I I appreciate that very much. That's very sweet.
I'm still gonna kill you.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
Let's see get.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Cameras, flacke a pleasure to have you. Congratulations on an
amazing six years of a great show. I am looking
(44:22):
forward to whatever you do next. I promise you I
will be watching listeners. Thank you for well for listening.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. You do
that incredibly well. This is us, right you listen I talk.
Oh and speaking of this is Us, join us next week.
(44:45):
I promise it's going to be a good one. Have
a great week off The Beat is hosted and executive
produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Lang Lee.
Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes,
(45:06):
Hannah Harris and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan
Papa Zachary, and our intern is Ali Amir Sahi. Our
theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one and
only Creed Bratton,
But when I think about it, I would always just
find all the flyers for like given the basketball team.
That's how I got on. I found a flyer and
I was like, oh yeah, I'm in America, Land of opportunity.
I want to try everything. Hi, my name is Flaki
Alo for you, and I'm the African Sunder.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hello, and good day to you my favorite listeners. As
you may know, this is Off the Beat and I
am your host, Brian Baumgartner. Today I bring to you
an incredibly talented actor and musician, Palakee Alua for Yuku.
She is the star of the very good show Bob
(00:51):
Hart's Abi Sholah, which bittersweetly had its series finale just
last week. It's always hard to say goodbye to a
show as a viewer like me. I know, I'm bummed
it's gone, but it is definitely harder as an actor
or a crew member who has made a show a
part of their daily life for so long. But onward
(01:14):
an upward for Flake, who has appeared in shows like
Law and Order, Modern Family, Transparent, Westworld, and will no
doubt be back at something very very soon. She's even
had a second life, maybe even a cooler life. As
a musician and DJ. Her first love is music. She's
(01:36):
even played bass with David Bowie himself. Tell me that's
not cool. That is cool, and so I feel cool
just having her here in the studio with me. I've
loved getting to hear her fascinating story about her life
and two cultures born in Nigeria, her fantastic career, and
her plans for after Bob loves Abisho La. Now, sit back,
(02:00):
relax and enjoy my conversation with f lacke Alua Fayuku,
Bubble and squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeakna, Bubble
and squeak. I cook get every moment lift over from
(02:21):
the ninety bore.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Him.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I'm so good. It is so good to see you.
I am such a big fan of yours. I really
appreciate you coming on. Oh, thank you so much. You
have a big show that is about to end. I
want to hear. I want tears, I want emotion. I
want to talk about that in a little bit. But gosh,
(02:56):
your history is so fascinating, and I hear you shoot
the rock like I do. You were going to become
a lawyer like maybe I was for a while and
then you got into this business. But I want to
go back. You were born and raised in Nigeria.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yes, yeah, Legos, Nigeria where Legos Legos.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yes, yeah. And your dad was a.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Politician then and a lawyer as well.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
And a lawyer as well.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, and a minister.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
And you were one of twenty kids. Now this is
a very full household, plucky. I'm not going to lie
to you. This sounds like like a lot. What was
it like growing up in that in that environment?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Well, I'm the last born, so by the time I
was coming of age and stuff, most everyone had already left.
I have nieces and grand nieces and nephews that are
the same age or some opos of me.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Oh wow, So if you were the last ad a
bunch of them they were they were gone. Yeah. How many?
How many siblings did you actually like grow up with
in the house?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
One?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
One? Oh? Just one?
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, and my cousin and then I had a couple
a couple of other like a brother and sister who
came in and out, but they were mostly in college
by then.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Okay, what was it like having such a great family
and specifically, what what do you how do you feel
like that helped you even though so many were out
of the house in your time growing up.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Well, my upbringing certainly is responsible for the independence and
the resourcefulness that helped me get through being in America
by myself and I'm figuring out the entertainment by myself
independence because by that age, you know, the parents have
been there and done that with the kids, so they're
(04:53):
just like, yeah, you go do whatever you want. So
I could. I could pretty much whatever I want from
very early on. But I was a good kid, so
they were lucky maybe because I had so much space
to do whatever I wanted. I didn't really want to
do anything. But independence and resourcefulness is something that my
upbringing and tenacity and strength. That's what my upbringing in
(05:17):
stood in me so that I could thrive. Really I have.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, I mean that's my grandparents. My grandfather was one
of eleven in the southeastern United States, so you know,
we had a large family, but not I don't know,
maybe not so dissimilar from you, because you know, you
didn't have twenty in the house at one time.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That uh, that seems we're all eleven of you in
the house at once.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
No, So they were just more like I say, I'm
everybody in like Georgia and North Florida, I'm related to
probably someone because there are just so many offshoots from
from that. But again, in my house, it was just
me my sister, so there were just two of us.
So it was this combination of really large sort of
(06:05):
extended family, you know, relatives around, but you know, not
not so much on the day to day. And I
find that fascinating because you think, like one of twenty,
you've got nineteen other eyes to look after you. But
how would you say. It's like, nah, go ahead, we've
(06:26):
been we've been there, we've done that. Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, that wasn't my experience. My experience was actually completely
opposite from that.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah. I read that you spent some time in London
growing up, So when did you When did you move there?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Well, I never really moved to England, although I considered
moving to England before I moved to Lee, And the
quote was like, get your asked back, Daly. There was
this transition period before I moved to la where I
went trying to figure out where I wanted to do next.
Actually in that same transition period again about roal fly
(07:05):
ten years after. But during that transition period. I went
to Atlanta, I went to England, I went back to Nigeria,
and I came to LA to check it out. And
the reason I was leaving in New York was to
get away from the code mostly okay, and I just
needed a better standard of living in January. But I
(07:27):
never actually lived in England. We vacationed there every summer
growing up as a child, Okay. My father had a
presence there and we studied there London Spit of Economics,
and so I did a couple of my siblings as well,
so we had a presence there and family there as well.
So we will visit every summer. And that was my
time in England, Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
But it sounds like even just with that much time,
I mean, spending that much time in England and you've
got Nigeria. Eventually you go to City College of New York.
As as a young person, you're exposed to a tons
of experience culturally, travel, different people's Do you feel like
(08:10):
that gave you something that you use in your work
now or give you a broad base?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Definitely, especially for this role, because there's this understanding of culture.
As you rightfully said that I became exposed to from
very early on, coupled with the fact that in Nigeria,
we get our content from everywhere. Okay, so we got
content from Like I grew up watching Spanish Nobela's subtitle
(08:42):
subtitled when I was on boarding school like all the girls,
I was in an old girls school for one another
exposed to All the girls are gathered by the living
room at eight o'clock so we could watch Maria de
Los Angeles and we were so into it. So I
grew up with that. We grew up on a lot
of Irish music and Irish content as well, stuff from France,
(09:05):
from the Middle East. We got stuff from everywhere. And
then not to talk about the fact that Nigeria is
also very diverse in itself. A mayoga, but we have
over three hundred ethnic groups. Yeah, and we're exposed to that.
And I grew up in a space and different religions
as well, mostly Christian and Muslim in Islam. But there
was always tolerance in my world as far as I
(09:28):
was exposed to culturally, there was upheaval in other areas,
but as far as being different in the sense that
you had a different tradition and culture and language, that
was well accepted where I was growing up, and then
I've been able to borrow from all this exposure and
(09:48):
that has fed my acting work here in America because
even the portrayal of Afishala, there's an element there is
almost like a Western sensitivity that you have to have
to the timing as well, that's very different from Nigerian time, right,
(10:08):
very different. The melodies are so different, and I think
they're both funny, and it became an interesting thing for
me trying to balance both worlds. It's like, how do
I maintain the comedy of the sitcom world of America
but still borrow from the Nigerian comedy, which makes sense
(10:32):
because Abishalla is Nigerian born in the ring is just
like me.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Right, Was it was that tough for you or because
of your experience that you had, Do you feel like
you already had an understanding?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I had an understanding because I called, I got called.
I started getting called in a lot. I mean my
entire life, In my entire acting life, I've played a
variation of Abela. I've played a more a caricature. When
I did a stage play of the Tale of Martin Chuzzleworth,
I've played her more modern when I did Cabaret and
(11:09):
I played Sally Bowles uh and more sexy obviously. And
then I had like roles of Modern Family where I
played Nigerian and that was a different version of her,
another version where I played the nurse. So I've explored
I got to explore her in different ways before I
actually came to the table to play at the Chelan.
And what was your initial question?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I told you for that, well, asking about you know,
how how accustomed you were to Okay, yeah, to the
And I'll tell you why I asked not to like
drop names or whatever. But you know, Ricky Gervais and
Stephen Merchant, who obviously created the Office in the UK.
(11:54):
Stephen has said that the greatest mistake, or I'm sorry,
the best thing that they ever did was stay away
from the American Office because they they felt like so
many shows that have been brought from the UK to
America that the British didn't really understand American culture well
(12:16):
enough to have the comedy directly translate. Knew that there
was exactly to your point, different rhythms, different different sound.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Facial expressions as well, and different levels the levels of
Nigeria on the most mundane day is far far suproceeds okay, Okay.
There was a lot of like balancing that had to
be embedded into Abela. I think my experience in America
(12:47):
and my experience in all the other parts of the
world that I've lived in helped prepare me because as
I went into audition after audition, paying all these different
variations of AA, I got to understand what the castler
wanted from me, and I was able to mold this
character to fit those things, and I started booking so
(13:09):
many jobs for that reason. Got to portraying an Africa
I did. I did also have to study, though. I
remember speaking with Chuck and our associate producer as well
as one of our directors, be Beth mccathy, as well
as Pat Doak and Chuck Royy separately speaking to them
(13:29):
about what sitcoms I should go study, okay best for
the best performances.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
And they said, I remember when.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Well, this conversation kind of reached like the level of
new understanding for me when mister Norman Layer passed away
and we were having conversation about him on set because
we had people whould work with him on our set
who got their start working with him, and so they
gave me like I got like on the job futeage
(14:01):
on what it meant and what this phenomenal creator stood
for and the timing that he was able to incorporate
into his shows to make it so magical. Some of
the shows I went back to watch where I Love
Lucy at Doort recommended that Everybody Loves Raymond, and then
I went back and watched some of Mike and Molly
(14:21):
as well. But I'd say my biggest influences would have
been I Love Lucy and Everybody Loves ray Interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah, you're one of twenty. You're in Nigeria, you're spending
summers in London. Two part question with a B and
C under each. No, I'm just kidding. You decide you're
going to come to America, New York, specifically a City
College of New York to go to school. You end
up playing Division three basketball. Nice? That were you coming
(14:57):
to New York? Why New York? And is it true
you just you were going to become a lawyer.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, the plan was I was going to go to
law school in Nigeria. I just finished my A levels
in Nigeria, so I was I just turned about I
just I was about to turn eighteen. You know, getting
a visa is such a big deal in Nigeria. It's
like a whole process that's a wake up five o'clock.
I think it's changed now. Back then you have to
wake up at like four o'clock in the morning to
get in the line for by five am, and you
(15:25):
wouldn't get seen until like nine or something crazy like that. Right,
kind of like the days of background work I've been
I've been getting prepared back in the day with that.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, although we do have something called the DMV here
in the United States is over oh.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no no, no, no, no, no no,
Actually your DMV's here, child's play. They give you somewhere
to sit, okay, fair, no, no no. In Nigeria, it's
like it's a jungle. It's a jungle out there, a
beautiful jungle. I love my people. So I the plan
was to come see my sister for holiday and then
(16:07):
come back to Nigeria and become a lawyer. But things
worked out in a way where my results, my original
with my actual results weren't released, kind of like fraudulent
one was, and it was obvious that that it was
fraudulent because of the score. And I remember telling my
mom like, fuck it, I'm not going to school anymore
(16:30):
it and I think that terrified her, and she was like, Okay,
you're in America. Just see if you can find something there.
And I found something there, and I went to the map.
I went to the subway map, and I looked at
Long Island, where my sister lived, and I looked at
the map of Manhattan, and I was like, what school
is furthest away from Long Island. So I can complain
(16:51):
about the commute because I would take I would walk
to the bus station. First of all, for a little while,
I could afford the love Adam Rover. After a while,
I couldn't afford it. And so I'll take a bus
from Long Island to Jamaica Queens. From Jamaica, I'll transfer
to the Blue Line, get on the Express as soon
(17:12):
as I could get off on one twenty fifth Street
in Harlem. They could bust from there to the City
College in New York. That was like a two hour
treat each way. And I was like, yes, yes, this
is exactly what I need. So I think into my
first year, I head up my mom and I was like,
this commute is too much. I gotta I gotta move
out closer to school.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
No, I see, I see.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I found this this one, this bedroom in someone's apartment
for like two hundred bucks a month and it was
like perfect, right across from school. And I'll go get
like Chinese food for five bucks during lunch and like
portion that out so that be my meal for the day.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Wow, but you loved it. Those are the good old days.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Those were the good old days, man, those those were
the funnest days. I had some of the happiest times
of my life in New York.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Oh yeah, no it is. It will eat you up
and spit you out, and at the same time you're
enjoying it a lot of time. It's very strange.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah, it's really cool. I plan on spending more time
right now.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
And so when did you start thinking, hm hmm, maybe
I'll start auditioning for some things, or like, were you
finding a passion in it? Did someone suggests you do it? How?
How did that transition happen?
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I actually need to speak with this guy I was
dating during that time, so I can get a lot
more clarity about how that worked, because he just made
a comment on my Instagram about how he remembers when
I was teaching myself how to play the guitar, so
he was like he was in my life at a
very pivotal time. I remember speaking to him about it
(19:22):
years ago and he said, oh yeah, I think he
just saw a flyer in school and dislike the decafeteria
something and he went to a tryout, and that's where
I remember it from. I remember from the tryouts. I
don't remember what led me to the tryouts, but when
I think about it, I would always just find all
the flyers for like even the basketball team. That's how
I got on. I found a flyer and I was like,
(19:44):
oh yeah, I'm in America, Land of opportunity. I want
to try everything. And so that's how I got into acting.
I found a flyer and I auditioned and it came
very easy. I wasn't precious about acting the way I
was about music, so I wasn't like overthinking the whole process.
I flourished. I mean, it was one of the best
(20:04):
spaces for me creatively to get my foundation with a
department of City College of New York because we had
access to Aaron Davis Hall. We just we had great.
We had great professors to Gray David Will, Alfred Preiser,
we had great professors.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
You have mentioned. Now, you know, I certainly didn't want
to bury the lead here about music. Was music sort
of your first love? I mean, it feels like you
have two very very legitimate careers. Now, was music something
that you started doing much earlier?
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Music is something I always wanted to start doing at
any point in my life, and it was the thing
I knew I always wanted to do. And I kind
of have a tragic story with music. I'm hoping for
for better days. Okay, let's see how it goes.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
What's what's the tragic story?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
It's just I'm always I always knew I wanted to
be a musician, but I was specifically held away from it.
It was it was almost like a trigger print in
my family. So the idea of me being a musician,
it was ridicled, was talk down on, was laughed at.
There was no there was no outlet in any way.
(21:19):
So it's not like the sort of structure where like
you have in America, we have access to people where
you can learn it. It was very isolated creatively for
me and Nigeria. I didn't get it at outlet until
I was eighteen, and all the trauma and that's when
I moved to America and I was on my own.
But all the traumas that I had from from the
(21:39):
previous years discipline against music, it affected me and still
does to this day.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
What about moving in to beginning to do acting, did
you find support for that?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
No? I didn't find support for that, but I didn't
find the strict hell no. Yeah, and that journey started
when I was now on my own in America, so
no one you really knew what I was up to.
And so my my mom came to visit and I
invited her to a show and she's like, oh shit,
that's good. And right into a fashion show, she's like,
(22:15):
oh my god. Right into a basketball game, she's like,
oh my god, why don't you play professionally? Yeah. So,
once I was out of New York, I was able
to just delve into what I wanted to without scrutiny.
But the trauma for music specifically something I still gott with.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Did you start doing film and television first out of
college or what was the theater your love?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Well, it was musical theater that made me stay okay.
That was my introduction to theater, musical theater, which makes
sense because I got to do to still like delve
into music. I remember during the time I got into
the theater department, they were working on their version of Care,
which is now one of my favorite musicals, and it's
(23:02):
just such a magical experience in the summertime in New
York singing in the train. Uh it was beautiful. Yeah. So,
and then eventually and then I played in the Whiz,
and then I eventually played Sally Bowls and cabaret. But
musical theater is what kept me in theater is what
(23:22):
like it was almost like it was all aligned. I
wanted to do music, but my outlet was going to
be theater. But then I happened to go to theater
and it's musical theater. And it's like, oh shit. But
if I if I had a chance to do it again,
I would do it a little different.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
What would you do different? Uh?
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Well, in terms of what I studied, I started studying
economics as a way to kind of finesse finess through
through family. I then started with a minor in theater
and then eventually graduated with the major in theater. But
what I would have done. I would have studied sonic
arts with a minor in theater. That's what I had then. Okay, yeah,
(24:03):
I eventually went on to study audio engineering, but I
would have started that whole process in college.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Fascinating. Yeah, you mentioned you got a degree in audio engineering. Yeah,
what is it about electronic music specifically that feeds you?
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Electronic music is not really I wouldn't say that's what
feeds me specifically. I started out doing electronic music. My
first single was more electronic than an aphrobeats, but I
always kept the lingo hidjin English em bettered than there
with hints of yoga. I think what drew me to
electronic music at that time was that I didn't have
(24:45):
other tools. What the tools I had was what i'd
learned and audio engineering school they happened to teach us
to programs, pro tools and reason, and within that world
I was able to create for the first time all
these songs I could hear in my head and piss
them together and start writing to them. So that's that
(25:06):
was the draw to electronic music. Now like it's it's
transformed and transcended that where I want to involve your instruments.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Okay, you're a DJ, your producer.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
DJed once. I wouldn't call myself a DJ, DJ Moore, Yeah,
I would have told myself a DJ. But I had
a great time and everybody had a great I picked
some good music, Like anytime I'm having a party, you
should be there because the music is going to be
on point. I'll call myself a music curator more than
a DJ.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Okay, well that's I'm that. I mean, I'm okay, I'm
a music curator. I'm going to tell you a crazy
story because this is why I I don't know if
I've ever told this story before. It's never been it's
never come up. I was at a charity event out
of town for multiple days. This was in the Bahamas.
(26:00):
This is a while ago. I could come up with
a year that makes sense, but fifteen sixteen years ago,
and someone came up to me and said, the DJ
is going to be on your show this year. And
I said, the DJ is going to be on my
show this year? Said yeah, the DJ is going to
(26:21):
be you should you know? He wants to meet you.
You go meet him. The DJ was Idris Elba. Oh
Idris Elba had gotten hired. Now he had done other work.
Obviously at that time he had not become Idris Elba
Idris Elba. Yeah, and I was like, God, you are
(26:41):
I remember, right, I remember, like to this day. We
took a picture and I was like, you are the
coolest guy I know, like that you're that you were DJing,
that you were out there, that you were putting it
like his whole self into it and he just had
a passion for it. It sounds like like you now
you've only done it once, but in in terms of
creating music, writing your own music, this feeds you. Yeah right,
(27:06):
I mean it very clearly does.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Being around music pinetic capacity is just always a good time.
If I'm having a downtime, picking up the guitar and
playing something switches my move.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I mean we started by talking about the broad range
of experience you had as a kid, but I mean
to come over to New York and to be on
the college basketball team, and to be studying economics and
music even through a musical theater, and then eventually the
audio engineering and to start performing. I mean that, seriously,
(27:46):
that is what college is all about. I mean, that's
what that's what it should be all about. Like, let's
freaking go.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
And just do everything, try, try everything, and so how
then you're trying everything, it sounds like succeeding pretty damn.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Well at everything. Yeah, how does how does the path narrow?
How do you make the decision that that being an
actor is what you want to do with the music career?
But I mean, like you're going to pursue that. How
did that decision come about? Well?
Speaker 1 (28:26):
That was the only thing I had training in acting? Okay,
And while I had training and audio engineering, the reason
I went through that process was so I could have
an understanding and how to create my own music. Wasn't
because I necessarily want I didn't want to work as
an audio engineer. I wanted to know how to create
my own and I just all I've gone to school
(28:46):
for was acting. And I had some odd jobs here
and there. I remember I worked at the information desk
the Citycology in New York. But the only thing I
was really qualified to do was act. Is how I felt,
And while I was in school, I always knew as
an immigrant, as a black woman, I had to work
extra hard. So even when I was hearing that it's
(29:06):
too student to be going out into the world and
working as like, fucked that shit. I'm going out into
the world that I'm going to experience so that I
can be prepared when it's actually time for me to
show up professionally. That was the thought process that I
pieced together. That was my strategy, and I've always been
guided by intuition, and intuition told me that this was
(29:29):
the right path.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Well, it sounds like it. Seeing your resume and knowing
your work from a number of these shows me you
basically dominate the tradition. I don't even know the traditional
New York shows. I don't even know what that's talking about,
but all the law and Orders and the thirty Rocks
and all that, and then eventually obviously Modern Family, West
(29:51):
World and Transparent. When did you move to LA.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
I moved to LA I think about twenty thirteen. It's
been about exactly ten years. Yeah, I think about twenty thirteen. Wow,
twenty twelve thirteen.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
And why it was cold?
Speaker 1 (30:10):
It was cold in New York. I needed something different.
I was tired of the winters there. I needed hot
and humid, which is the climate that I come from,
and I wren't looking for that, granted, and there's not humid,
but he was definitely sunnier and hotter than New York.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Have you tried Houston? Houston is hot and humid.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
I haven't. I haven't been to Houston yet, but I've
been to whenever I've gone, like Leans, Florida. Atlanta is
getting cold now, but Florida, Florida, the Florida climate in
the Florida feels the closest to him whenever Miami had
failed that.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Way, Eventually, you have an opportunity. You meet I don't know,
(31:10):
the most prolific creator of television of the last Why
has it been that twenty years? Let's call it twenty
five years, Chuck, Chuck Glory. Talk to me about your
audition process, how you got this role, and how you
(31:31):
felt about the role reading it on Bob Heart's I'll
be Showing Up.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Well, I got an email from my agent's bar stage,
and like every other email I get, I read it
and I was like, oh, yeah, I got this, It's easy,
and like set it aside. And then I started working
on it and it was very easy. The character was
easy for me. I knew her, I grew up with her.
(32:00):
My aunties's my mother's she's like my class teachers. You know,
so I knew exactly how to play her, but I
spent a lot of time trying to balance her out.
So talking about all the things we previously mentioned at
the beginning of the interview, like adding the melodies, the
(32:21):
comedic melodies of Africa, Nigeria specifically, and the melodies of
the rest of the world, as you guys know, the sitcoms,
and also having explored her in all these different elements
over the years at different levels over the years, I
chose that I didn't want her to be a career cuature.
This was going to be a big project. It was
going to be a lot of people's Yeah, it was
(32:41):
going to be a lot of people's introduction to Nigerian culture.
And I felt like I wanted to portray her as
grounded and as human and as multi dimensional as possible.
And throughout the five seasons, boy did they give me
materiy to work with, because there's this season where I
(33:02):
was crying all the time, all the time, and then
you know that she became the hard ass and then
she softened up. But I wanted all of that to
be grounded and a dignified portrayal of my journal.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah, it's interesting about television right that. I was just
talking about this with someone the other day that the time.
I mean, if you're lucky enough to be on a
show that runs for multiple years, the character does change.
The writers change how the character is being written for,
and in a good show there's a journey built in
(33:41):
and it's becomes much different than in film or you know,
a guest spot or wherever, where this is the character
and you kind of know everything about this character going in.
As the show is going, you're changing, You're you're changing,
and the character is changing. How how did you find
that experience, the experience of being able to explore her
(34:04):
for five years?
Speaker 1 (34:07):
It was It was interesting. It was interesting because our
writers are obviously fucking amazing and also led by chub Lauri.
It's like magic, but having the lived experience of being
a Nigerian woman in Nigeria. There are the elements that
I wanted to explore, but we never We didn't get
(34:28):
a chance to explore a lot of them. There there
would be times where we could confuse some some of
this lived experience moments into the show, like when during
the wedding, when Bob and I are having an intimate
moment with all the guests gathered around. I remember pitching
it to the director, Beth lafack Mill. It's like, hey, Beth,
(34:49):
it wouldn't it be cool if while we're dancing it's
just chilling out, all the electricity goes off, because that
shit will happen in Nigeria. It was all the electricity
goes off and then we're like groaning, and then the
electricity comes back when I'm like, Nepa. That is such
a Nigerian moment, and I wanted to infuse a lot
(35:11):
more of those moments in there. But I also understood
that this was not a show that was geared towards
journal audience. He's an American show, and so it was
comforting to be able to rely on their expertise in
those ways whilst looking for ways to, you know, reveal
a little bit more and go a little bit more
in debt with a Nigerian experience. Everything else was everything
(35:34):
else was.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Something that's awesome. There's You also had a specific hmmm,
what do you call it, set of circumstances that were
not ideal for your show. I mean, look, show, there's
a worldwide pandemic, there's a writer strike, an actor strike.
(35:57):
But you guys.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Both both in Nigeria and an American.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yes, yet the show survived. What do you think that
that says about the show and what you were doing
or the crew that you were working with that you
unlike so many other shows survived all of those external
those external factors.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
The Chuck glory factor. Man Chuck Chuck would enter the room,
enter like a rehearsal and just say like two words
and wave his hands and everything would just be magical.
And also because I guess of the years of expertise
in this in this field, he has a crew of
(36:44):
people who are fucking phenomenal, from my live producers Christy
Robin to like Scott London and props Sammy to the
makeup department he had department. Everyone works so diligently and
so precisely, there was no room for it. Like it
was just seamless. It was seamless all the time.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Yeah, and there's no global pandemic, there's no like we're
just gonna yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
We but that's the reason why we could function as
efficiently as we did throughout the pandemic because he has
a team of folks who are at the highest level
of their game, and they show up like that all
time and at all times, and they set precedents for
how me and like relatively unknown after coming into the
show then conduct with herself. They've set a bar for me.
(37:38):
Any production I go into, well, I will come with
the wealth of knowledge and an expertise that you acquire
from being in front at the Chuck Ray Universe.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
I'm really glad you said that, because you know, I've
had small experiences, multiple experiences on his shows, and that
is so true. And I don't think that that's talked
about enough. It becomes a cliche like we have the
greatest team, we have the greatest crew, we have the
greatest blah blah blah. But there is an efficiency that
(38:13):
exists on his sets and throughout his shows that is palpable.
And yeah, I mean to your point, you come in
as a lead and you haven't done anything before, and
you you were, You were taught how it's done by
(38:33):
experienced by experienced people who if they didn't know how
to do their job, they wouldn't be there. So good
for you. That's that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
I learned from the best minds in the industry, some
of the best minds in the industry. Very fortunate.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Sadly the series is ending here this month. You've already
shot the finale.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Yeah, we were done shooting about a month ago, and
the finale aired yesterday.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Yesterday. Yes, wow, how it feel? It was?
Speaker 1 (39:08):
You know, Miss Renee that's what I call her, Miss Warrens.
She plays Gloria on the show. She came over and
watched it together and it was laugh out loud, like
we were out here like laughing out loud. It was
a very beautiful moment. I feel good. I feel fulfilled.
I feel like I left my mark in a way.
(39:30):
I feel like I've done something meaningful with my life,
and I want to go rest for a little bit
and reflect on all of it, and then I'm super
excited about the future. I'm very excited about the opportunities
for the future. We just announced that Lion King. I'm
(39:51):
part of the Lion King the Passa and that's going
to be that's gonna premire on December twentia.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Congratulations, thank you. That's credible.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I hit up. I hit up Chuck. I was like,
I said, Chuck the text and I sent him the article.
Thank you, Chuck, Laurie.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah, that's awesome. Uh sad for you to say goodbye
or obviously the people, Yeah, I love with that, but
the character say goodbye to the character.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yeah, it's sad. Like Michelle, I gave me some of
the most dynamic times in my life. And I mean,
I'm always going to be tied to her. So I
love her. I love her. She's a brilliant woman, tenacious.
I would say sadness is a word I think of
when I think about part of the race attactors. We're
going to be syndicated. I can watch her anytime, you know. Yeah,
(40:51):
I just feel proud. I feel very proud of her.
I feel proud of her.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Very good for you. First America can sitcom to feature
a Nigerian family, but not just that. It had respect
and grace, amazing performances, particularly by you. You deserve tremendous
respect and all good fortunes coming down the pipe. Congratulations
(41:18):
on Lion King. I and everyone else is going to
be watching and listen. Anytime you want to shoot the rock,
you give me a call. You I'm closer than you think.
Really you think you just let me, you just let
(41:40):
me know, Well I will.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
I actually would love to. I haven't played in a
little bit. So if you're down and play this week.
I'm down.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Wow, look at that. You're just coming you're just coming
right out to let me. I'll tell you very quick story.
I played in a pickup game against a little a
little there were there were. It was sort of an
organized and you know, I'm backing him down. I got size,
I'm backing him down in a beautiful fade away Jay
(42:10):
and he starts, little guy starts slapping at the ball,
like coming around and slapping at the ball, like taking
it a little too seriously, Like I take it seriously,
but a little too wha wa bang elbow right in
my eye socket. Within seconds, it swells up like like second.
(42:33):
By the time I like put my hand over my
eye and ran to the bathroom. It was like a
baseball whoa. And I was like, well, I guess, I
guess casual pickup games is not happening for me anymore.
Oh but I'll I'll I'll take you. I'll take you
(42:56):
all right, let's see, I'll take all comers. Here's the thing, curious,
my confidence outweighs my ability, But my ability is strong.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
I haven't played in a bit, so I don't know
one of those things, Sad. I have talent, listen, I
have natural talent, so I'm pretty sure i'll fuck you up.
How tall are you?
Speaker 2 (43:19):
How tall? I was literally about to say, how tall
are you? How tall are you? Yeah? I got you?
You got you? Six three? Ah?
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Fuck now I got you. I know I can, I
can box out like a motherfucker and I got hops.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Bring it all right. Uh, congratulations and good luck. I'm
gonna be watching.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Thank you, Thank you, Brian, and well done on the Office.
I really enjoy that show, really really enjoyed that show,
really enjoyed your character.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Thank you. I I appreciate that very much. That's very sweet.
I'm still gonna kill you.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
Let's see get.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Cameras, flacke a pleasure to have you. Congratulations on an
amazing six years of a great show. I am looking
(44:22):
forward to whatever you do next. I promise you I
will be watching listeners. Thank you for well for listening.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. You do
that incredibly well. This is us, right you listen I talk.
Oh and speaking of this is Us, join us next week.
(44:45):
I promise it's going to be a good one. Have
a great week off The Beat is hosted and executive
produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Lang Lee.
Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes,
(45:06):
Hannah Harris and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan
Papa Zachary, and our intern is Ali Amir Sahi. Our
theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one and
only Creed Bratton,
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