September 12, 2024 • 22 mins
Josh Andres Rivera, star of FX's American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, joins us to talk about preparing for the role and what we can expect from the new limited series. And Jason Kelce forgets his shirt while packing ahead of his Monday Night Football appearance, so Covino & Rich discuss the worst items to forget while traveling
#FSR #CRSHOW #Overpromised
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
All right, Cabino on Rich Show, Over Promise, the bonus
podcast of Your Dreams.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
In Your Dreams, Padro in your Dame. What's up, buddy?
Normally we're on Fox Sports Radio two to four on
the West Monday through Friday five to seven on the East.
But again, so much fun stuff to get to, we
never have enough time, so we bring it here. I'm
Steve Cavino. If that is Rich Davis. This is over Promised,
and I know you super pumped about football. Oh we're getting.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Into week two of the NFL and this is a
show that you got to be watching if you're a
big football fan. And we got the star of that show.
The show is called American Sports Story. Aaron Hernandez star
Josh Andreday Sravera is joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
What's up man? How you doing? What up? Josh?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I'm great? How are you guys today?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Thanks for being here again, We're always looking for something
great to watch. Like Rich said, this premiere is on
the seventeenth on FX. You Patrick Schwarzenegger and dude, congratulations
first and first mostly congrats all your success. You guys
may have seen him in West Side Story, Hunger Games.
Baut Of Songbirds and Snakes, Hamilton, Richiere a huge Hamilton guy.
(01:15):
I love Hamilton and now portraying Aaron Hernandez, which is
exciting and controversial and all those things.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So yeah, I have a million questions. But I see
the guitars in the background. You got a guitar behind you,
so I'm guessing your music.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
We got so much in common. I got a piano
over here too.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Oh rich he plays the piano.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, So I'll ask you this, Josh, what are your
thoughts about Kendrick Lamar super Bowl halftime show?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Are you a fan? Good idea, bad idea? What are
you thinking?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I think it's a good idea. I mean he's really
hot and popping right now. I mean most recently he's
you really can't go anywhere in the last two months
without hearing not like us. I mean he's been everywhere,
so it makes sense. I've liked Kendrick for a really
long time.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
My thought though was I might like Kendrick Cavin. You might,
But I say, does it pass the mom and dad test?
Like if you ask your parents like Kendrick Lamar, are
they gonna say who's that?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Or are they gonna know Kendrick LaVar. That's a really
good point. I genuinely didn't think about that.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Like, for example, I'm not a big Taylor Swift fan. Right,
I'm not a hater either, but I'm not what you
would call a fan. I'm not Swifty, but I know
twenty twenty of her songs that I could sing along to.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
There's a wide appeal there.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
You're right, right, right, But either way, big news this week.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Yeah, when you put it like that, it is kind
of a specific I'm curious. That's a good question, I wondered.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, people are talking all about it. But let's get
into your show man.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Speaking of Super Bowls and speaking of football, Aaron Hernandez.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
First, I want to talk about the transformation dude, because
I'm guessing to turn into Aaron Hernandez on this show.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I'm guessing fitness. I'm guessing a trainer.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
You had a thing to yourself, right, you know the
when they do the fake tattoos, like, there's a lot
that goes into the transformation process.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I'm guessing.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, initially getting the part,
I was quite a bit lighter than I am now,
and then I and right now I'm a bit lighter
than I was while I was filming. I'm very motivated
by not making a fool of myself.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yeah, pretty much as soon as I got it, I
was like, Okay, I need to get I need to
get freely big, I need to look like the NFL guy.
So yeah, we got a trainer and he helped me
out with some of my diet stuff, and we're just
working out like every day. It was like five days
a week, and then we would do two days of
like dedicated like football practice where I would learn how
(03:41):
to run routes and like catch and just get a
little bit better about that so I look natural. And
it was crazy, man. It was like in the span
of three months, I think I gained thirty pounds and
I was walking around with like just a completely different body.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
It was probably attitude thirty pouns.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah, man, it was so funny, I you know, because
I really sort of dove headfirst into the prep process,
so I wasn't hanging out quite as much with my friends.
And towards the beginning of the show, after I had
finished all of this prep, I saw a friend that
I hadn't seen in a long time, and I had
my head shaved and my ears were pierced, and like
I had all of this new stuff and he was like, dude,
(04:23):
you look like you would bully me.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Well, hold on, there's so many questions there, so you
get the role you put on all this weight. I'm
actually I'm actually interested in how he put on all
this muscle and everything. But what type of research you
said you dove headfirst into it. You're from Colorado, right,
so I'm imagining you know a lot about the Broncos
and things like that. I'm sure you know the story,
but what type of research did you actually do to
be and to learn more about Aaron Hernandez.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
As far as this story in particular, I knew just
about as much as anybody else would that there was
this guy who was on top of the world and
then he murdered somebody, which I thought was as wild
as anybody else. And it wasn't really until I was,
you know, asked about auditioning for it, that I started
to consume everything that was available, and the Boston Globe
(05:11):
had this great podcast that's what the show is based on.
And I think the idea, you know, is like, oh man,
it's crazy, this guy's a murderer, and it's very easy
to kind of like have this binary perception of what
that means. And the more that you dive into it,
it's like there's so many layers. There's layers and layers
(05:31):
and layers. Him leaving school early, and then the kinds
of stuff that he did in Florida, and his relationship
with his dad, and his relationship with his masculinity and
sexuality as we found out after he passed, and it's
just a ton of different factors that kind of really
complicate this story as a whole.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Right, So, I'm guessing when you dive in like this.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
And you learn all this stuff, like you just said it,
the relationship with the dad, all the lafe, do you
find empathy for a guy that was bad because you're
playing him and so you're sort of putting yourself in
his world?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Is there empathy you feel? In an odd way?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I mean, in order to do my job, well, I
kind of have to write It's it's difficult to make
an authentic, seeming portrayal if you hate the person that
you're playing just totally. So yeah, I mean I did.
I had to approach it from like an empathetic lens.
(06:31):
You know, and it did kind of surprise me. There's
a lot of different perspectives surrounding the whole thing, right,
Like you hear a lot of people, especially in the
months after like all the all of the shit went down,
like talking about how great of a guy he was
and he was always so goofy and he was always
so fun to be around, in good humored And that
(06:52):
was something really surprising for me to learn because I
didn't know about what anybody personally thought about him, and
I found that to be really interesting. And then starting
from that place, it's like, well, you know, I have
to I have to portray him in a way that
he seems likable to some people, right, And yeah, it's
an interesting question in terms of like the level of
empathy I have with the situation in reality, because in
(07:15):
reality it's a little bit different than me playing it
in an adaptation. Right, Yeah, I feel a lot of
ways about it.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
We're here with Josh rivera American Sports Story Aaron Hernandez
again on Fax nine seventeen eight episodes. By the way,
so I'm super pumped about that. Oh he hen, I
was told eight perfect man, So we've been got some
juice we're gonna learn a lot you nice. Nice. Were
you concerned about taking the role? Obviously you're pumped about it.
(07:44):
It's a cool opportunity for you. Any concern there, because
now you are associated with this guy, there's gonna be
a lot of people introduced to you for the first
time that they now think of you in a weird way,
even though it's pretend it's acting, but you're him, and
if you're doing do a great job at it, then
they're really going to associate you with him.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, that was something that crossed my mind in the beginning,
you know, early on, But I I don't know, I
don't think it's just the more that I was reading
about it, the more interesting it was, And that's the
way that I thought about it was. I was like, man,
this is just so it's just so many things, Like
it's so many cool questions that I get to ask
(08:26):
myself and and so many different avenues, and there's this
like existing perspective around the whole situation that the nation
has that it's it's kind of interesting to explore that.
But also there's a reason why I've got some facial
hair and I grew my hair out and so you know,
(08:47):
I wrote it day to day life look a little
bit different, which I think is I think is helpful
in terms of kind of separating the character versus me.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
You know, Josh I saw Doc Rivers when Lawrence Fishburn
played him and clipped he met with him, he picked
up on his mannerisms, and he said he actually enjoyed that.
He really didn't know much about Doc Rivers going into that. Obviously,
Aaron Hernandez isn't here anymore. Did you find yourself watching clips,
watching videos and like look in the mirror and trying
(09:21):
to pick up on those mannerisms and tendencies and cadences
or is that how you sort of prep as well?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Yeah, definitely I did that towards the beginning. Something that
I really tried to avoid though, was doing like a
you know, copying or just like completely imitating, right, because,
like I said, there's like an established perspective around the
whole situation, and people already feel a certain way about
it and have their expectations, and I have to come
(09:47):
up with an embodiment that's like compatible with that rather
than copying that, because if I try to copy it,
it's just not going to be successful. You know, we're
different people, we carry ourselves differently, But what I can
and do is make an adaptation of that sort of
core essence. And uh, and that's what I tried to do.
And there were some kind of anchors that I had
(10:09):
here and there. You know, this guy like smiles a lot,
and he kind of hides behind his eyes a little bit,
and there's there's just something going on underneath at times.
And uh, you know, there were there were, like I said,
I call him anchors. But it's kind of little things
like that that I tried to keep in mind.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Hey, speaking of those little things, you mentioned that he
was perceived as a goofball and somewhat likable. Were there
other things you learned about him in your research that
you were surprised by, any little fun facts? You're like, Yeah,
I would have never thought that about Aaron Hernanitez. I
never knew that.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I don't I don't know that I would call him
fun facts. You know, I think I learned.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
A lot maybe not fun facts, Okay, surprises like yeah,
I didn't know he was.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I learned I learned a lot about his early life
that I didn't know about that was really and in
a lot of ways. I think at times, even though
he became the superstar in a lot of personal growing ways,
he was set up for failure, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I yeah, I know.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I didn't know that he had left high school a
semester early to pursue college football with the Florida Gators,
and so he was playing for Florida I believe at seventeen,
Either that or he just turned eighteen, very very young,
and then he was the youngest player ever drafted into
the league for one of the biggest teams, you know,
(11:34):
in recent history. Just all of that to happen so fast,
so young. I mean, I'm thinking about, like I did
West Side Story how many years ago, and then it
kind of very quickly became you know, sweatstain my bad
very quickly, very quickly became what it is. But you know,
I'm like a realized adult, Like I feel like kind
(11:56):
of in control of for the most part of who
I am. But but when you're in those formative years,
like the way that you absorb information is different. Like, yeah,
I mean, there's a lot of things that contributed to
what ended up happening, but like I think early on
played a pretty big part.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
When you think of the path of Aaron Hernandez and
the you know, interesting people he played with and worked with.
Have has anyone like a Tim Tebow or Tom Brady?
Has there been any communication with the people that were
close to him through his career? Like have you heard
from Bill Belichick or any of the people that actually
supported Aaron through his through the bad times? Like any
(12:36):
family or friends have exis fam you have any has
anyone reached out to you?
Speaker 3 (12:41):
No? No, And uh, you know, in prepping for it,
I didn't really have that resource and and I you know,
I've been asked about that like if I'm if I'm
nervous for for people to reach out and such. But
it's like, I, you know, I got the information that
I got that was available to everybody. I try to
look at it as objectively as possible and then make
(13:01):
the embodiment that I think is most useful for this story.
And you know, I really just I really hope people
take it in a positive way and in an informative way, because, Yeah,
my whole thing is I'm just trying to do my
job the best I can, right.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, And interesting to know that all the people you
name rich, they're all going to be watching. We're all
going to be watching, right, So that's also interesting to know. Now,
you mentioned that Aaron Hernandez knew early on, as a
very young man, not even out of high school, that
he was going to play football. At what point did
you realize you had the chops to do this on
this level? Did you always know that?
Speaker 3 (13:41):
No?
Speaker 2 (13:43):
So when did you gain the confidence?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
How? I don't know, man. I had a funny experience
where I started doing theater and I was in Hamilton
for a little while. You brought that up, and I
was just kind of like, yeah, man, I was singing,
I'll dance for a long is like it makes me
enough money to live and and then I got West
Side Story out of that. And when I got West
(14:07):
Side Story, I was like tight, like I'm Hollywood now
I made it. Yeah, I'm good. And then COVID happened
and I ran out of my money and I was like,
I was gonna go live with my mom. I had
to work at this bar for a little while, and
I remember people at people at my bar would be like, hey,
weren't you in that movie. I'd be like no, no, no, no,
(14:28):
that was the good thing.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It's somebody Oh Wow. We often wonder about that, right,
because you're always waiting for that next gig. I think
it's not easy.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
My wife and I were at a place out of here
in LA having lunch, and I'm like, isn't that the
girl from the show you watch. People don't realize that
gig to gig until you get really established, which is
where you're at now, establishing now you're a couple of
big things.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Deep. It's not easy, man, right.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
It's not, no, and it's not uncommon too. Yeah, that is.
That is something that happens a lot until you get
to like a really certain tier and you know what,
Like I still I still have some mechanisms in me.
It's difficult for me to relax, which I think is
is nice because I keep you hungry.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Bro.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yeah, exactly, But like to to your point of what
you asked, like, I don't know. Now, every time I
get a job, I'm like, I need to do really
really good. I need to knock it out of the park.
I need to be the very best because otherwise, like
I have this horrible destructive thing in my brain that's like,
well it was nice while it lasted.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Like I think anyone, I think anyone in a performing world.
We think that all the time, like maybe this is
the last show, like you, instead of enjoying it, you know,
you worry about that shit.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
I feel you.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Man.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Well, I'll tell you what. Man, I actually have a
confession after meeting you. I'm definitely I was gonna watch anyway,
but now I'm definitely watching because he seemed like a
cool dude, and I'm supporting you. But American Sports Story
Aaron Hernandez, my confession is I never watched West Side Story,
and I grew up loving the original, and that's why
I know you were Chino, right.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, it was Shino. There you go, that's your weekend
watch two weekend.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
So my confession is, I'm sorry, but I put it off.
And my family loved it, and my mom was like,
I don't know if I'm gonna like it because that's
a classic, right, she loved it. I haven't watched it,
but now I'm gonna. I'll be watching it this weekend
and on the seventeenth I'll be watching this new show. Man.
I'm so pumped about it.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
I'm so glad. I'm so glad. I hope you enjoy
the movie. Spielberg knocked that one out of the park.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
All right, man, for sure, I'm late to it.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
More importantly though, next Tuesday, seventeenth, FX, this is gonna
go live, and yeah, I hope everybody tunes in. I
hope you guys like it. You know, everybody worked really
hard on it, so we're pumped.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Man. We'll definitely be watching and supporting you. Ten episodes.
Where can people hang up on social media if they
want to say? What's up?
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Well, I got an Instagram. It's just my full name,
Josh and dress Rivera, so you know you can see
me there. I'm I'm pathetic with social media. I'll just
tell you that. Right now. I'm absolutely useless. So I'm
not on very often, but uh, you know everything. Right now,
I'm posting a lot because I gotta, like, you know, you.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Gotta promote that ship.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
But I'm still I'm still getting used to it. I'm
not gonna lie.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
There. You are first traps. Look at you.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
That's the first first trap that I have gotten, like
high end quality, subsidized like production.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
How you say you're not going on social media and
then have that on there? You should see my week
ass social media.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
That's very new. It's a new terrain for me. Like
I'm telling you guys, this is a new landscape.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
You're gonna have production quality first traps from now on.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Nice well, continued success man, We appreciate it and congrats
on everything. Thanks, thank you buddy again, it's over promised
our bonus podcast Caveno and Rich thanks for hanging out
with us. Now, Rich, I know you had one more
thing you wanted to talk about Jason Kelcey.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Well, I feel like we can all relate to Jason
Kelcey because his first day on the job he forgot
his travel bag.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Did you see this? Take a look future gold jacket.
Whar you got a podcast that apparently is doing fairly well.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
And all that said, Jason Kelsey is wearing a shirt
he got at the mall because he left his traveling
back too.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
The bag in the truck.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
My uh, that's my belly.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Now I've lost a little bit away, but my tits
are still on ESPA. The fact that a Hall of
Fame center could shop at Lululemon, that's big, that's a
big accomplishment.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
But it made me think, what's the worst thing you
could leave at home when you travel? Because you and
I travel quite a bit for Fox Sports and serious
ex I'm like, what do you hate leaving behind?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It's very specific depending on what you're traveling for what
you do. Maybe you bring your work with you, right,
so I have an answer, But I think it's also
a matter of what not to pack, and I think
you should leave the goofy outfits his brother wears at home.
That is terrible. Your bucket had it home. I'm not hating,
I'm just stating, what was this So regardless of what
Jason bought at the mall right, it looks better than
(19:00):
this mush mouth bucket hat that he's wearing.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
That's just ridiculous. That's like a six hundred dollars half.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I don't care I'm saying. I'm just said it's a
Gucci bucket. Being a henchman and a state in the
picture of those two looks like they're Mahomes and Kelsey
look like henchmen in a Bad State of movie. Like,
I'm just hating. I guess a little bit of fun
because they're both in the news when it comes to
their wardrobe. But again, it's a question to ask yourself
(19:28):
because if you could answer it, then you know this
should be the first thing I pack every time show
I know when I pack, who gives us about what
I packed? But I always make sure I have contact
lenses because anyone that wears contact lenses or glasses, if
you leave that behind, you could be in a random
city blind. What are you gonna do it? I got
no contacts. But I think that the top.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Answer on the board is how many times have you
got to your hotel or you're on the plane, you're like, fuck,
I forgot my phone charger and then you got to
buy some overpriced garbage one at the air So phone
chargers number one. But I have a couple of stories
of things I have forgotten, and this These are warnings
of anything for you not to forget them. Like I did,
(20:09):
go out of town for a wedding. You pack your
suit and your garment bag. You got your tie, your clip,
your cuff links, your nice watch.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I forgot my dress shoes. So I get there and
I'm like, oh no, So then you.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Gotta follow like a Payless or a Target or something
and pick.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Up, like the lea a pair of your wife's extra shoes.
Because Dala Hoyer recently said on Club Shasha that every
guy wears his wife and girlfriend's clothes from time to time.
I was, like, they do. That's news to me. The
only thing my wife and I share. Yeah, sucks and
I know you think that's weird. I do think that's
where the winter pair of black toope socks take them.
(20:46):
Here's the thing with that, though. You can replace him.
You go to Target, you buy some cheap bows, some
good fellows, whatever they have there. You go to pay
Leaf's shoe store. You can always replace them. It's just
the hassle of it.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
The worst thing is to leave something specific to you
do it at home, like everybody does a podcast. But
we work in radio, right, so if we leave a
specific wire that we need at home, I've done this. Hey,
there might not be a radio shack around to replace that.
Like a charger. Yeah, you could always find a charger somewhere.
But to find that specific wire that you might need
(21:19):
for your equipment, again, depending on what you do, it's
gonna be very specific. That's hard to do. You're looking
for a best Buy, a guitar center, that's very specific.
You don't want to leave those things. I'll give you
one more.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
What would you do and then we'll say farewell to
another over promised. You get to the wedding, you get
to the event, you could be a family party. You
ear in a suit you forgot to pick, you forgot
to pack your dress, socks and all you got, or
you're like you're your not your no show, but like
your ankle was like do you wear that ankle socks?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
You see the Nike emblem that you can't do that? Okay,
And by the way, if you're going to an event,
your credential, your ticket, you might need those things. Right,
you show up and you don't have it, you left
at Homer whatever, just reminders, don't pull the kelsel you.
Luckily he could just go to a mom buy another shirt,
but it didn't look good on his tits, which pally,
you could say. Now on ESPN, who knew you know?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Hey, every week we do this and uh, next week,
we'll give you some great football picks. As we're starting
to get situated with the NFL season.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Week two kicks off tonight. What do you got Bills
or Dolphins? Dolphins? Yeah, no, Dolphins too. Let's go. We'll
see you guys later. I'll We've been there at you baby,
see you in the over promised land. Goodbye,
All right, Cabino on Rich Show, Over Promise, the bonus
podcast of Your Dreams.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
In Your Dreams, Padro in your Dame. What's up, buddy?
Normally we're on Fox Sports Radio two to four on
the West Monday through Friday five to seven on the East.
But again, so much fun stuff to get to, we
never have enough time, so we bring it here. I'm
Steve Cavino. If that is Rich Davis. This is over Promised,
and I know you super pumped about football. Oh we're getting.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Into week two of the NFL and this is a
show that you got to be watching if you're a
big football fan. And we got the star of that show.
The show is called American Sports Story. Aaron Hernandez star
Josh Andreday Sravera is joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
What's up man? How you doing? What up? Josh?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I'm great? How are you guys today?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Thanks for being here again, We're always looking for something
great to watch. Like Rich said, this premiere is on
the seventeenth on FX. You Patrick Schwarzenegger and dude, congratulations
first and first mostly congrats all your success. You guys
may have seen him in West Side Story, Hunger Games.
Baut Of Songbirds and Snakes, Hamilton, Richiere a huge Hamilton guy.
(01:15):
I love Hamilton and now portraying Aaron Hernandez, which is
exciting and controversial and all those things.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So yeah, I have a million questions. But I see
the guitars in the background. You got a guitar behind you,
so I'm guessing your music.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
We got so much in common. I got a piano
over here too.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Oh rich he plays the piano.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, So I'll ask you this, Josh, what are your
thoughts about Kendrick Lamar super Bowl halftime show?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Are you a fan? Good idea, bad idea? What are
you thinking?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I think it's a good idea. I mean he's really
hot and popping right now. I mean most recently he's
you really can't go anywhere in the last two months
without hearing not like us. I mean he's been everywhere,
so it makes sense. I've liked Kendrick for a really
long time.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
My thought though was I might like Kendrick Cavin. You might,
But I say, does it pass the mom and dad test?
Like if you ask your parents like Kendrick Lamar, are
they gonna say who's that?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Or are they gonna know Kendrick LaVar. That's a really
good point. I genuinely didn't think about that.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Like, for example, I'm not a big Taylor Swift fan. Right,
I'm not a hater either, but I'm not what you
would call a fan. I'm not Swifty, but I know
twenty twenty of her songs that I could sing along to.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
There's a wide appeal there.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
You're right, right, right, But either way, big news this week.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Yeah, when you put it like that, it is kind
of a specific I'm curious. That's a good question, I wondered.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, people are talking all about it. But let's get
into your show man.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Speaking of Super Bowls and speaking of football, Aaron Hernandez.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
First, I want to talk about the transformation dude, because
I'm guessing to turn into Aaron Hernandez on this show.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I'm guessing fitness. I'm guessing a trainer.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
You had a thing to yourself, right, you know the
when they do the fake tattoos, like, there's a lot
that goes into the transformation process.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I'm guessing.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, initially getting the part,
I was quite a bit lighter than I am now,
and then I and right now I'm a bit lighter
than I was while I was filming. I'm very motivated
by not making a fool of myself.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yeah, pretty much as soon as I got it, I
was like, Okay, I need to get I need to
get freely big, I need to look like the NFL guy.
So yeah, we got a trainer and he helped me
out with some of my diet stuff, and we're just
working out like every day. It was like five days
a week, and then we would do two days of
like dedicated like football practice where I would learn how
(03:41):
to run routes and like catch and just get a
little bit better about that so I look natural. And
it was crazy, man. It was like in the span
of three months, I think I gained thirty pounds and
I was walking around with like just a completely different body.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
It was probably attitude thirty pouns.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah, man, it was so funny, I you know, because
I really sort of dove headfirst into the prep process,
so I wasn't hanging out quite as much with my friends.
And towards the beginning of the show, after I had
finished all of this prep, I saw a friend that
I hadn't seen in a long time, and I had
my head shaved and my ears were pierced, and like
I had all of this new stuff and he was like, dude,
(04:23):
you look like you would bully me.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Well, hold on, there's so many questions there, so you
get the role you put on all this weight. I'm
actually I'm actually interested in how he put on all
this muscle and everything. But what type of research you
said you dove headfirst into it. You're from Colorado, right,
so I'm imagining you know a lot about the Broncos
and things like that. I'm sure you know the story,
but what type of research did you actually do to
be and to learn more about Aaron Hernandez.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
As far as this story in particular, I knew just
about as much as anybody else would that there was
this guy who was on top of the world and
then he murdered somebody, which I thought was as wild
as anybody else. And it wasn't really until I was,
you know, asked about auditioning for it, that I started
to consume everything that was available, and the Boston Globe
(05:11):
had this great podcast that's what the show is based on.
And I think the idea, you know, is like, oh man,
it's crazy, this guy's a murderer, and it's very easy
to kind of like have this binary perception of what
that means. And the more that you dive into it,
it's like there's so many layers. There's layers and layers
(05:31):
and layers. Him leaving school early, and then the kinds
of stuff that he did in Florida, and his relationship
with his dad, and his relationship with his masculinity and
sexuality as we found out after he passed, and it's
just a ton of different factors that kind of really
complicate this story as a whole.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Right, So, I'm guessing when you dive in like this.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
And you learn all this stuff, like you just said it,
the relationship with the dad, all the lafe, do you
find empathy for a guy that was bad because you're
playing him and so you're sort of putting yourself in
his world?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Is there empathy you feel? In an odd way?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I mean, in order to do my job, well, I
kind of have to write It's it's difficult to make
an authentic, seeming portrayal if you hate the person that
you're playing just totally. So yeah, I mean I did.
I had to approach it from like an empathetic lens.
(06:31):
You know, and it did kind of surprise me. There's
a lot of different perspectives surrounding the whole thing, right,
Like you hear a lot of people, especially in the
months after like all the all of the shit went down,
like talking about how great of a guy he was
and he was always so goofy and he was always
so fun to be around, in good humored And that
(06:52):
was something really surprising for me to learn because I
didn't know about what anybody personally thought about him, and
I found that to be really interesting. And then starting
from that place, it's like, well, you know, I have
to I have to portray him in a way that
he seems likable to some people, right, And yeah, it's
an interesting question in terms of like the level of
empathy I have with the situation in reality, because in
(07:15):
reality it's a little bit different than me playing it
in an adaptation. Right, Yeah, I feel a lot of
ways about it.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
We're here with Josh rivera American Sports Story Aaron Hernandez
again on Fax nine seventeen eight episodes. By the way,
so I'm super pumped about that. Oh he hen, I
was told eight perfect man, So we've been got some
juice we're gonna learn a lot you nice. Nice. Were
you concerned about taking the role? Obviously you're pumped about it.
(07:44):
It's a cool opportunity for you. Any concern there, because
now you are associated with this guy, there's gonna be
a lot of people introduced to you for the first
time that they now think of you in a weird way,
even though it's pretend it's acting, but you're him, and
if you're doing do a great job at it, then
they're really going to associate you with him.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, that was something that crossed my mind in the beginning,
you know, early on, But I I don't know, I
don't think it's just the more that I was reading
about it, the more interesting it was, And that's the
way that I thought about it was. I was like, man,
this is just so it's just so many things, Like
it's so many cool questions that I get to ask
(08:26):
myself and and so many different avenues, and there's this
like existing perspective around the whole situation that the nation
has that it's it's kind of interesting to explore that.
But also there's a reason why I've got some facial
hair and I grew my hair out and so you know,
(08:47):
I wrote it day to day life look a little
bit different, which I think is I think is helpful
in terms of kind of separating the character versus me.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
You know, Josh I saw Doc Rivers when Lawrence Fishburn
played him and clipped he met with him, he picked
up on his mannerisms, and he said he actually enjoyed that.
He really didn't know much about Doc Rivers going into that. Obviously,
Aaron Hernandez isn't here anymore. Did you find yourself watching clips,
watching videos and like look in the mirror and trying
(09:21):
to pick up on those mannerisms and tendencies and cadences
or is that how you sort of prep as well?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Yeah, definitely I did that towards the beginning. Something that
I really tried to avoid though, was doing like a
you know, copying or just like completely imitating, right, because,
like I said, there's like an established perspective around the
whole situation, and people already feel a certain way about
it and have their expectations, and I have to come
(09:47):
up with an embodiment that's like compatible with that rather
than copying that, because if I try to copy it,
it's just not going to be successful. You know, we're
different people, we carry ourselves differently, But what I can
and do is make an adaptation of that sort of
core essence. And uh, and that's what I tried to do.
And there were some kind of anchors that I had
(10:09):
here and there. You know, this guy like smiles a lot,
and he kind of hides behind his eyes a little bit,
and there's there's just something going on underneath at times.
And uh, you know, there were there were, like I said,
I call him anchors. But it's kind of little things
like that that I tried to keep in mind.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Hey, speaking of those little things, you mentioned that he
was perceived as a goofball and somewhat likable. Were there
other things you learned about him in your research that
you were surprised by, any little fun facts? You're like, Yeah,
I would have never thought that about Aaron Hernanitez. I
never knew that.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I don't I don't know that I would call him
fun facts. You know, I think I learned.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
A lot maybe not fun facts, Okay, surprises like yeah,
I didn't know he was.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I learned I learned a lot about his early life
that I didn't know about that was really and in
a lot of ways. I think at times, even though
he became the superstar in a lot of personal growing ways,
he was set up for failure, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I yeah, I know.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I didn't know that he had left high school a
semester early to pursue college football with the Florida Gators,
and so he was playing for Florida I believe at seventeen,
Either that or he just turned eighteen, very very young,
and then he was the youngest player ever drafted into
the league for one of the biggest teams, you know,
(11:34):
in recent history. Just all of that to happen so fast,
so young. I mean, I'm thinking about, like I did
West Side Story how many years ago, and then it
kind of very quickly became you know, sweatstain my bad
very quickly, very quickly became what it is. But you know,
I'm like a realized adult, Like I feel like kind
(11:56):
of in control of for the most part of who
I am. But but when you're in those formative years,
like the way that you absorb information is different. Like, yeah,
I mean, there's a lot of things that contributed to
what ended up happening, but like I think early on
played a pretty big part.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
When you think of the path of Aaron Hernandez and
the you know, interesting people he played with and worked with.
Have has anyone like a Tim Tebow or Tom Brady?
Has there been any communication with the people that were
close to him through his career? Like have you heard
from Bill Belichick or any of the people that actually
supported Aaron through his through the bad times? Like any
(12:36):
family or friends have exis fam you have any has
anyone reached out to you?
Speaker 3 (12:41):
No? No, And uh, you know, in prepping for it,
I didn't really have that resource and and I you know,
I've been asked about that like if I'm if I'm
nervous for for people to reach out and such. But
it's like, I, you know, I got the information that
I got that was available to everybody. I try to
look at it as objectively as possible and then make
(13:01):
the embodiment that I think is most useful for this story.
And you know, I really just I really hope people
take it in a positive way and in an informative way, because, Yeah,
my whole thing is I'm just trying to do my
job the best I can, right.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, And interesting to know that all the people you
name rich, they're all going to be watching. We're all
going to be watching, right, So that's also interesting to know. Now,
you mentioned that Aaron Hernandez knew early on, as a
very young man, not even out of high school, that
he was going to play football. At what point did
you realize you had the chops to do this on
this level? Did you always know that?
Speaker 3 (13:41):
No?
Speaker 2 (13:43):
So when did you gain the confidence?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
How? I don't know, man. I had a funny experience
where I started doing theater and I was in Hamilton
for a little while. You brought that up, and I
was just kind of like, yeah, man, I was singing,
I'll dance for a long is like it makes me
enough money to live and and then I got West
Side Story out of that. And when I got West
(14:07):
Side Story, I was like tight, like I'm Hollywood now
I made it. Yeah, I'm good. And then COVID happened
and I ran out of my money and I was like,
I was gonna go live with my mom. I had
to work at this bar for a little while, and
I remember people at people at my bar would be like, hey,
weren't you in that movie. I'd be like no, no, no, no,
(14:28):
that was the good thing.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It's somebody Oh Wow. We often wonder about that, right,
because you're always waiting for that next gig. I think
it's not easy.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
My wife and I were at a place out of here
in LA having lunch, and I'm like, isn't that the
girl from the show you watch. People don't realize that
gig to gig until you get really established, which is
where you're at now, establishing now you're a couple of
big things.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Deep. It's not easy, man, right.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
It's not, no, and it's not uncommon too. Yeah, that is.
That is something that happens a lot until you get
to like a really certain tier and you know what,
Like I still I still have some mechanisms in me.
It's difficult for me to relax, which I think is
is nice because I keep you hungry.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Bro.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yeah, exactly, But like to to your point of what
you asked, like, I don't know. Now, every time I
get a job, I'm like, I need to do really
really good. I need to knock it out of the park.
I need to be the very best because otherwise, like
I have this horrible destructive thing in my brain that's like,
well it was nice while it lasted.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Like I think anyone, I think anyone in a performing world.
We think that all the time, like maybe this is
the last show, like you, instead of enjoying it, you know,
you worry about that shit.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
I feel you.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Man.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Well, I'll tell you what. Man, I actually have a
confession after meeting you. I'm definitely I was gonna watch anyway,
but now I'm definitely watching because he seemed like a
cool dude, and I'm supporting you. But American Sports Story
Aaron Hernandez, my confession is I never watched West Side Story,
and I grew up loving the original, and that's why
I know you were Chino, right.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, it was Shino. There you go, that's your weekend
watch two weekend.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
So my confession is, I'm sorry, but I put it off.
And my family loved it, and my mom was like,
I don't know if I'm gonna like it because that's
a classic, right, she loved it. I haven't watched it,
but now I'm gonna. I'll be watching it this weekend
and on the seventeenth I'll be watching this new show. Man.
I'm so pumped about it.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
I'm so glad. I'm so glad. I hope you enjoy
the movie. Spielberg knocked that one out of the park.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
All right, man, for sure, I'm late to it.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
More importantly though, next Tuesday, seventeenth, FX, this is gonna
go live, and yeah, I hope everybody tunes in. I
hope you guys like it. You know, everybody worked really
hard on it, so we're pumped.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Man. We'll definitely be watching and supporting you. Ten episodes.
Where can people hang up on social media if they
want to say? What's up?
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Well, I got an Instagram. It's just my full name,
Josh and dress Rivera, so you know you can see
me there. I'm I'm pathetic with social media. I'll just
tell you that. Right now. I'm absolutely useless. So I'm
not on very often, but uh, you know everything. Right now,
I'm posting a lot because I gotta, like, you know, you.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Gotta promote that ship.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
But I'm still I'm still getting used to it. I'm
not gonna lie.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
There. You are first traps. Look at you.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
That's the first first trap that I have gotten, like
high end quality, subsidized like production.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
How you say you're not going on social media and
then have that on there? You should see my week
ass social media.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
That's very new. It's a new terrain for me. Like
I'm telling you guys, this is a new landscape.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
You're gonna have production quality first traps from now on.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Nice well, continued success man, We appreciate it and congrats
on everything. Thanks, thank you buddy again, it's over promised
our bonus podcast Caveno and Rich thanks for hanging out
with us. Now, Rich, I know you had one more
thing you wanted to talk about Jason Kelcey.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Well, I feel like we can all relate to Jason
Kelcey because his first day on the job he forgot
his travel bag.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Did you see this? Take a look future gold jacket.
Whar you got a podcast that apparently is doing fairly well.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
And all that said, Jason Kelsey is wearing a shirt
he got at the mall because he left his traveling
back too.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
The bag in the truck.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
My uh, that's my belly.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Now I've lost a little bit away, but my tits
are still on ESPA. The fact that a Hall of
Fame center could shop at Lululemon, that's big, that's a
big accomplishment.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
But it made me think, what's the worst thing you
could leave at home when you travel? Because you and
I travel quite a bit for Fox Sports and serious
ex I'm like, what do you hate leaving behind?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It's very specific depending on what you're traveling for what
you do. Maybe you bring your work with you, right,
so I have an answer, But I think it's also
a matter of what not to pack, and I think
you should leave the goofy outfits his brother wears at home.
That is terrible. Your bucket had it home. I'm not hating,
I'm just stating, what was this So regardless of what
Jason bought at the mall right, it looks better than
(19:00):
this mush mouth bucket hat that he's wearing.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
That's just ridiculous. That's like a six hundred dollars half.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I don't care I'm saying. I'm just said it's a
Gucci bucket. Being a henchman and a state in the
picture of those two looks like they're Mahomes and Kelsey
look like henchmen in a Bad State of movie. Like,
I'm just hating. I guess a little bit of fun
because they're both in the news when it comes to
their wardrobe. But again, it's a question to ask yourself
(19:28):
because if you could answer it, then you know this
should be the first thing I pack every time show
I know when I pack, who gives us about what
I packed? But I always make sure I have contact
lenses because anyone that wears contact lenses or glasses, if
you leave that behind, you could be in a random
city blind. What are you gonna do it? I got
no contacts. But I think that the top.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Answer on the board is how many times have you
got to your hotel or you're on the plane, you're like, fuck,
I forgot my phone charger and then you got to
buy some overpriced garbage one at the air So phone
chargers number one. But I have a couple of stories
of things I have forgotten, and this These are warnings
of anything for you not to forget them. Like I did,
(20:09):
go out of town for a wedding. You pack your
suit and your garment bag. You got your tie, your clip,
your cuff links, your nice watch.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I forgot my dress shoes. So I get there and
I'm like, oh no, So then you.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Gotta follow like a Payless or a Target or something
and pick.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Up, like the lea a pair of your wife's extra shoes.
Because Dala Hoyer recently said on Club Shasha that every
guy wears his wife and girlfriend's clothes from time to time.
I was, like, they do. That's news to me. The
only thing my wife and I share. Yeah, sucks and
I know you think that's weird. I do think that's
where the winter pair of black toope socks take them.
(20:46):
Here's the thing with that, though. You can replace him.
You go to Target, you buy some cheap bows, some
good fellows, whatever they have there. You go to pay
Leaf's shoe store. You can always replace them. It's just
the hassle of it.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
The worst thing is to leave something specific to you
do it at home, like everybody does a podcast. But
we work in radio, right, so if we leave a
specific wire that we need at home, I've done this. Hey,
there might not be a radio shack around to replace that.
Like a charger. Yeah, you could always find a charger somewhere.
But to find that specific wire that you might need
(21:19):
for your equipment, again, depending on what you do, it's
gonna be very specific. That's hard to do. You're looking
for a best Buy, a guitar center, that's very specific.
You don't want to leave those things. I'll give you
one more.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
What would you do and then we'll say farewell to
another over promised. You get to the wedding, you get
to the event, you could be a family party. You
ear in a suit you forgot to pick, you forgot
to pack your dress, socks and all you got, or
you're like you're your not your no show, but like
your ankle was like do you wear that ankle socks?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
You see the Nike emblem that you can't do that? Okay,
And by the way, if you're going to an event,
your credential, your ticket, you might need those things. Right,
you show up and you don't have it, you left
at Homer whatever, just reminders, don't pull the kelsel you.
Luckily he could just go to a mom buy another shirt,
but it didn't look good on his tits, which pally,
you could say. Now on ESPN, who knew you know?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Hey, every week we do this and uh, next week,
we'll give you some great football picks. As we're starting
to get situated with the NFL season.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Week two kicks off tonight. What do you got Bills
or Dolphins? Dolphins? Yeah, no, Dolphins too. Let's go. We'll
see you guys later. I'll We've been there at you baby,
see you in the over promised land. Goodbye,
Hosts And Creators
Rich Davis
Steve Covino
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