August 21, 2025 • 36 mins
In this episode, we sit down with the legendary Luis Guzmán a true Hollywood icon whose career spans decades and unforgettable roles like Pachanga in Carlito’s Way and now Gomez Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday.
We talk fatherhood, the importance of being present, and his thoughts on today’s youth including Bad Bunny. He shares the story of how he scored his role in Wednesday, his feelings on immigration, the state of our current presidency, and why he’d rather take risks to speak up for what’s right even if it means facing cancel culture.
From film sets to real-life advocacy, Luis’s passion, humor, and honesty shine through every minute of this conversation.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Grassiers Come Again, a podcast by Honey German. Welcome to
another episode of Grasses Come Again today. I feel so nervous.
I'm so excited. My heart is like because we're sitting
down with the legendary, the iconic Luis Gusman. Welcome to
Grasses Come Again.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Thank you. I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You look good.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Look all that hair, it's all my no extensions, no
nothing I could tell. And you know what, all these
little curls, they just do themselves.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Welcome to Grasses Coming. This show is all about you know,
Latinos living our life in Spanglish and you know, shining
us spotlight on all of our you know, our actors,
our singers, our directors, our photographers, and we're gonna premiere
with you. I've already done tons of interviews and I
even pushed back the premiere day because I was like
what I said, I'm gonna say, we were supposed to
premiere this week and I was like, absolutely not. I
(01:06):
said I need two more weeks because you know what, right,
and here we are. I manifested it. Idiocito delivered.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Pantatico and.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
L E S l E S.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Lower east Side. Well with my first the first time
from Puerto Rico. We live in Controla Park in the Bronx,
and then from there we moved to Chelsea, the West
Village and then the Lower east Side.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
What neighborhood do you claim when they be like, where
are you from.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
In New York?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
What do you say?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
The Lower east Side?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
L e s all day, right.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
All day, every day. I take a lot of pride
coming from that neighborhood. It's taught me a lot. I
wouldn't be sitting here today if it wasn't for that
neighborhood and in some of the influences and mentors that
I came across.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
We're talking acting mentors or just mentors in general.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Mentors in general. You know, people like Chino Gotzia, people
like Bimbo Ribas, Mit Bigneto, you know, Carmen Lopez just
to name a few. Yeah, a lot of my people.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
It's crazy how a group of people can help, you know,
mold you. It's not just Mommy and Poppy.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
No, it's not. Because you know, like Mamy and Poppy,
They're always going to have their influence, you know, teaching
me what it is to be responsible, things like that.
But when you hit the streets. It's a whole different
kind of upbringing. And those people just taught me a lot,
(02:53):
you know, at the street theater, we're brother, Bimbo. I
was with the New York Rican Poets Cafes, the original
one when it opened up on Sixth Street, and that
they you know, and then people like you know Alcia
and doing community work, community development. We had our place
(03:16):
a school on Ninth Street, I said, Yama, we named
it at Bohill, you know, Bimboiqua. And so we used
to run like a lot of community arts projects. And
then I became a social worker.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I saw that and then.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I worked over at Henry Street Settlement.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
How long did you actually work as a social worker
before you broke out into acting.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Man, I would have to say at least twelve years.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Oh, so you had a long run as a social way.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, and that they you know, for me, when I
became an actor, it was a total accident. I had
done acting.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Before because you were moonlighting as I mean, it was
a hobby. Okay, it was favous to friends of mine
and why would they like, can you do me a favor?
Were you funny? Were you colorful? What was it about you?
That they're like, can you do me a favorite acting
as well?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Oh? Because I, like I said, you know, my first
my first acting thing was in high school the high
school play.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Oh so you had you had the acting bug.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
But again I'm being it wasn't something that I was pursuing.
It was just it just became a thing that like, oh,
somebody wrote this and that a part for you. You
want to do it? Yeah? Yeah, you know. So it
was again, it was a hobby. It was for fun.
But my main passion was helping young people to help themselves.
(04:36):
That's why I became a community activist, social worker, and
I took a lot of pride in that. So I
did that for a while. And so what happened was
one day a bunch of kids didn't show up to
my program. I went down to the street looking for them,
something that I didn't do, but I knew the families,
(04:57):
you know. Yeah, So I went out and I ran
into me get Pinedo, who have written Short Eyes, and
I hadn't seen my key in that three years, and
they said, yo, I'm writing for TV shows that coming
to New York. Take down this number, go audition, and
I go, Pappy, I wasn't even thinking about this. I me,
(05:18):
I go audition. Mi huh. Three weeks later, I get
a call from a guy that's his agent saying, Hey,
I represent Miguel. I want to represent you when I
go for what you just book the cold starring part
in the season premiere of Miami Vice.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Doesn't get any bigger than that.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I was like, oh, so, yeah, you want to know something.
All I wanted to get out of that was and
you will know this. I just wanted to make enough
money to buy me a uth car to drive.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
To Orchard Beach and now have to take the train
and the bus.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh yeah, so I got the car. My friend totaled
it the next day.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
You kidding me? I need details.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
It was a Malleble station wagon. Yeah. Over a chick.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
It's always a chick, right, he was going to see
a chick and.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, yeah, no, he told me we're going to the
hardware store.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah right, what borough?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
He went to Manhattan.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
He crossed bridges and he.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Tried to go uptown on the Lower east Side. He
got stuck and crossed in rush hour traffic. So he
came out and he didn't see the car coming. He said,
oh yeah, I came. He paid me for the car though.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Oh that's good because most people be like, no, no, I
don't got it.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
No, no, no, no, he paid me for the car.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
You were like, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Then we went back to Pennsylvania. The next week, I
got another car.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Good for you. You still have some left of the
money for my Ami Vice or with the money he paid.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
You, with the money he paid me.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Oh damn. He paid right away.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
You know people be like, can I get a payment plan?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
No? No, anything they own gij you know, so I'm not.
I can't.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Can't tell you what then and he paid up good,
and Miami Vice set everything off for you pretty much.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
You know. I didn't understand the business, so I went
back to being a social worker, because again that was
my passion. I thought that the whole Miami Vice thing
was a fluke.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
It was like one off.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah yeah. So but this guy, this agent, kept sending
me out to stuff so I would get I would
get parts. You know, I'd be like Killer ninety seven,
you know, Jesse cab driver eighty two. I was like,
I was my role with numbers. But the day that
I got a part and it said Raoul, and I.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Said, oh, no, they won't number so and.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Now what are the odds? Full circle moment.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, so yeah, I don't know how many raouls I played,
but I think it's been a few.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
And then that took off.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, I took off. And you know, I ended up
doing this movie called Crocodile Dundee and that got me
the Crocodile Dundee too. I got me notoriety, right yeah, yeah,
and then I ended up doing Kalito The Way. And
who doesn't like a good Latino Gangs classic?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Okay? Yeah, Oh you're here is Pachanga everywhere you go.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Everywhere I go, people think I'm Pachanga forever.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
I feel like, no matter how many you could be Gomez,
you could be for us Latino, especially here in New Yorkanga.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Oh yeah, what did you do that to Klito? And
I said, watch your bag? Okay? Without did I on without?
Speaker 1 (09:06):
We didn't expect it, though, And I'm pretty sure you've
spoken about Klito's Way and a million times.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah yeah, but you know what I mean, we love you.
That was the rules in the hood, you know, so
the people that you think got your back. When it
comes down to it, you can't really trust anybody you know.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
So unexpected. They did a Kalito's Way too.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I was in it. I was in it.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Did you bring it to life?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah? But I feel.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Like you're such an important part of the movie that
they would have brought it to you, like we're gonna
bring it back down to do it.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Well, you know, the producers wanted me in the movie.
So yeah, I played this guy that kind of resembles
a bat Chianga, but I think it was more like
Bachanga's uncle that I was playing.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Oh okay, so you were just in it, but not
as yourself. Yes, makes sense. Yeah, we didn't need a
Khalito's Way too. Carlito's Way is so epic and so
iconic that it's like one and done.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Oh yeah, no, it was listening. It was a great
movie for me. It was a dream come true because
you know, a huge fan of pacinos. You know, I
saw Legend, Dog Day Afternoon Circroco. Those were two of
my favorite movies. And and to be a sidekick man,
(10:22):
you know, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
How did you land that role? Like do you remember
did your agent get that or it was just something different?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
No? Actually, so my agent sent me to an audition
and what happened was the night before the audition, two
of my boys came over to my apartment and they
found this this like old school zippered leather jacket in
the park and it was like perfect, you know. And
(11:07):
I tried it on, and you know, jacket, yeah, yeah,
but I have real character, and so I put it
on and I went to the audition wearing this jacket.
So I started doing my thing. Yeah, I hat ThM
Brian the Palmer who directing in and Tom Mardy Bregman
(11:28):
who produced it, and and Michael Bregman Bie So and
and the casting director Buddie Timmerman. So I come in
and do my thing. And then Brian the Palmer starts
cracking up while I'm doing my lines, and I'm like
saying to myself, get me a lot. I thinks I'm funny,
(11:50):
So I do it. I walk. The casting director winks
at me as I'm leaving. I get home. And these
were the days that we had like a little answering machine.
So with the light going on and off, you know,
you got a message. So I check it out. Sure
enough it's her, and she goes.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You got the part from the moment you left to
the moment you got Home.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah. Man, wow, I knew before my agent knew. Oh yeah,
so you know, and ended up doing that and it
was such a great experience, man, such a great experience.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
And we love you for it. It's like an iconic role.
And it's like when people mention you, it's like immediately
Gtarlito's Way it comes up. Yeah, it's like you want
to watch the movie again. You're like, you know what,
let's revisit the It's one of those movies. It's like
it's like I feel like it's Scarface, Galito's Way, he Casino,
those that's like, those are all the movies that we
would just rewatch a million time.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, yeah, because you know they had a certain genre
to them.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Good Fellas too, Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
You know, like everybody like go to Gangster.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And everybody was an icon you we're talking Joe Peshi, Rayleiota, Scarface,
Like these people were like top of the time.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
So do you have a favorite movie?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
If I had a favorite movie, yeah, my favorite movie
was On the Waterfront. You ever heard of that movie
Marlon Brando Black and White?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
No, I gotta check it out.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
In nineteen sixties.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
That's why you.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Ever see that movie, one of the best movies ever
on the Waterfront, On the WATERFRONTO. You know what I
loved about that movie was his performance. Well he was
and he was effortless, and so I always study that
because I always wanted to be effortless. You know. I
(13:38):
don't like acting, and you are. You know, I like
being as real as possible and conveying that.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
And I feel like that's one of the reasons why
we love you so much and we connect with you
so much, because it just feels like you're just being
yourself every role. That it doesn't feel like a different
person every time. It feels like you in a different character,
but still you, and that that connects.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah. Well, I, like I said, I pride myself on that.
You know, I don't think I ever done the same
road twice because I never make a reference to my roles.
My reference to what I do is actually my life.
And you know, I've been in so many different situations.
(14:21):
I've studied people stuff like that. So when I show
up to work, that's what I do.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Life. You were married.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I was married before. I have five children. I adopted
four of them. Oh beautiful, uh semi, Yeah, Maya Yoruba,
iy Maagarita, and Luna is my biological daughter.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I have the names here and I wrote them down.
I'm like, how did you pick the names?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I take a lot of pride in who we are
as Latinos, where we come from, the liture, our history,
and those names mean something to me. You know, their
very loving names. They're very spiritual names. They're powerful names.
(15:12):
And I wanted not so much that I wanted my
kids to be unique, but they really want them to
have their own identity.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
And it's super connected, you know, to the religion, to
Puerto Rican culture, you know, to our ancestors. And I
love that you pick those names because I'm like, wow,
I've never met anybody named yama Yah. I know, I
know who Yamaya is. I've never met anyone name. I
was like, Wow, he's a risk taker with these names.
How do your kids embrase them? I've met Semi super dope.
I love what he's out here doing. They love these names,
(15:42):
they do or they question them, like Bob.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Asked me about that one time a couple of years ago,
matter of fact, and she go by wh why yeah,
my ya, because you know your water sign And I
love that name, and it's beautiful and it fits you
matter of fact, when she because she's my second adopted
and she was born in January February, we went down
(16:10):
to Puerto Rico to get out of the snow because
that was one of the years that New York was
having a terrible, terrible winter. So went down there and
you know, we put her in the water in the ocean.
Beautiful and we blessed her. And yeah, did.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
You adopt or your children from Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Or from the from New York? From the New York Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
And it's all is it public, like people know you
adopted your children.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I love that. It's just it's such it's something I
want to do myself. I feel like it gives you
an opportunity to really change the course of someone's life.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Oh yeah, absolutely. Listen, I love my kids. They're incredible.
You know, they're doing the thing out in the world.
And that they they taught me a lot, me a
lot about about fatherhood and they told me about being
(17:06):
a better listener, you know. Yeah, and they still teach
me to this day.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
I was going to ask you, do they still teach you,
like yeah, social media?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
No, not not not that type of stuff. I mean,
they just show me. I mean they teach me about
you know, about about life. You know, I'm not you know,
the social media stuff, and I have social media, but
I gravitate more to the real human being in my
life and real conversations. And you know, I'm a dream maker.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
You know what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That means that, Uh my kids went to college and
I say, you know what, you're going to graduate with
a zero? They go zero. I am your scholarship, betiful,
I'm going to pay for you. I am. So when
you graduate, you graduate with a zero. Just take care
of what you gotta take care of. And they've done that,
(18:04):
you know, makes me very proud of them. That's what
I mean by I make dreams happen for my kids,
I try to make dreams happen for other people too.
I try to be the best role model. I don't
forget about my community. Anytime I get a chance, and
you know, make a presentation or just show up and support.
(18:28):
I do that. I guess the most important thing that
I tell young people is never forget where you come from,
and you can influence the next generation just by showing up.
And you know, always give back a.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Little something you have to you know. It's that you know,
that mentality of abundance. You know, the more you give,
the more you get back. Yeah, can't hold on to
everything you have in that you know, that includes your knowledge.
You can't just hold back and not share.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Yeah. Well I always said knowledge is power, you know,
And like I had all these little sayings that I
used to tell my kids, you know, the little bueno
and I'm vocal. Okay, all right, don't spend what you
don't have, be smart, be safe, no regrets.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I'm taking all three of those. Man, those are solid.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
And cause you know, when when your kids become teenagers,
you know, teenagers tend to not have all their wires
right in their brain. So I used to say, Okay,
you're gonna go out, be smart, be safe, no regrets,
because if you're not if you're not smart, if you're
not safe and something happens, you're gonna have regrets. So
(19:53):
you don't want to show up back at the house
say I'm really sorry I didn't listen. No, you didn't
listen to yourself?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Were you a tough dad?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Man? I just try to be as loving as nurturing,
you know, being a parent could be challenging at times
because you know, it's like it's it's just a different
energy and stuff. I have my own regrets of you know,
(20:25):
people don't understand you're very successful. You're successful as an actor,
you do great work, but you know, you end up
missing out on things birthdays, basketball games, soccer games, plays,
things like that, you know, and they tell you that,
(20:46):
and that breaks my heart, you know, So as an adult,
I come back to like, I got to make up
for this. Now you make me cry, no, but but
it's it's the truth because as a man, as a man,
you know, like, as a man, you're the first male
(21:09):
that your daughters are gonna love because you're their dad,
you know what I mean. And so they teach me
now I love them. We joke around. I just took
my daughters to Puerto Rico, Luna and yeah, we saw
Benito's concert.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I saw you spectacular. How proud do you feel? A
bad bunny? And you know how vocal he is and
how you know supportive he is.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
You know, I think he's making a major difference for
our people, not just in Puerto Rico, but you know,
all the Latinos and stuff, you know, I take a
lot of pride in him. I got his back one
hundred percent, and like I said, I'm just really proud
that I'm really super proud that he is outspoken, you
(22:11):
know because like nowadays, like a lot of people, they
get scared of speaking up. And it's like, yo, speak us,
speak your mind, be a voice.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
And I see that you do that. You know when
it comes to Puerto Rico, you're not afraid. And you're right,
A lot of celebrities, whether they be actors, singers, models,
whatever it is, everybody is so afraid of being canceled
that they're afraid to stand on anything at all, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
What, because it's like, let me tell you something. You know,
being canceled, man, you know when you're canceled, When being canceled,
canceling yourself, you know what I mean. You gotta be
outspoken because you can't have fear, because that's what they
want you to be. They want you to be scared,
(22:56):
you know. And I'm just a voice telling the truth.
Will die, yeah man, And you know so yes, and
so I always, I always will speak on those truths.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
And I love you for it. Because so many people
that have microphones that are on TV that can represent
us differently and can speak out on the injustices, what's
happening in Puerto Rico, what's happening with immigration, what's happening
with Latinos here in America? And they'd rather just be
quiet about it because they're like, nah, my career depends
on it. I can't sing anymore. You're being so vocal.
(23:37):
I'm so proud of you, Like I'm telling you, like
I look at sometimes the things you post, and I'm like,
I love what he's doing. He's risking himself for the
better of our people.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah. Well, I just want you to realize one thing.
I don't feel like I'm risking, Okay. I feel like
I'm just being a human. I represent humanity. That's why
I'm coming from. You know, if it was a risk,
I would take it any day, because you know, people
(24:09):
are suffering. Man, we are, we're suffering, but we also
have it to make a change. You know. I had
done an interview and they asked me, why was it
that so many Latino men voted for what's his face?
And it's because they're ignorant, you know, because they did
(24:34):
not look at you know, maybe I could represent my
daughter and vote for a woman, you know, and it's
like that whole machismore thing still exists, you know what
I'm saying. So you know, look, I take pride in
who I am. I love our community, and I love
(24:58):
being out spoken when it comes to our community because
we're good people. Man, We're hard workers. We raise good kids.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
You know, we're honest.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
We could do better, you know. They Unfortunately there's young
people that are lost, you know, that start shooting back
and forth with each other, People get hurt, people die.
We need better role models in our community, and you know,
we need we need not only the men but women
(25:31):
to you know, stand up for who we are, take
pride in who we are. You see, Let's defend each other.
Let's have each other back.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I feel like sometimes, you know, we're afraid of you know,
the repercussions or the consequences, and it's like we have
the love, we have the knowledge, and we fail to
act again out of the risk of how we're going
to be perceived or how it's going to like kind
of like come back on us.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
But yeah, but you know what, if telling the truth
is a risk, then that's a risk I willing to take.
Telling the truth love b DA. You know I can't
make this up, you know what I mean. I remember
when we first moved to the Lower East Side, my family,
it looked like a bomb hit that neighborhood. There were
(26:20):
so many abandoned buildings, the South Bronx Williamsburg. And look
what happened to those neighborhoods gentrified. You know, there's like
two three generations of family that live in an apartment
because who can afford to pay for twenty five hundred
dollars for a studio. There's four people that live in
(26:42):
the studio apartment in New York City, you know, And
so you know, economics have changed. You know, before you
can get a full time job anywhere and get health
and dental benefits. Now you get hired for twenty nine
(27:02):
hours because if you work more than thirty hours, they
got to provide that. And because they don't provide and
then you got to pay out of pocket for your
health care and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Listen, how can you exist?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
This is the only country industrial life country. You know,
you go to Europe, you know, you go South America,
free healthcare, free college education, and their economies don't hurt.
The fact I was.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
I traveled to Dubai, beautiful. I have no homelessness, no this,
no that. I'm like, what is going on with America?
Like why can't we get to a level even half
what they're doing there.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Because they don't have the priorities in order here? They
really don't.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
You know.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I hate to say this, but again I speak the truth.
You know, you send bombs is over to bomb children
and stuff like that. You send all the funds to
uh a place and that people get free college, education,
free health. But hold up, you can't provide that for
(28:15):
your people. Here the greatest country, the greatest nation in
the world, and people have to take Listen, you graduate
from college, you still gotta live with your parents because
that loan that you gotta pay, like pay the mortgage.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
You know, a lot of you know gen z that
I know, they can't afford to live on their own.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Listen, this is a great country. Unfortunately come unhinge a bit,
if not a lot. But the thing is, we still
have really good people that live here. Amazing we have
amazing people. We have people that make differences every day,
you know, and we just got to keep our head up.
(29:02):
He continued to believe in ourselves. We're gonna be okay.
But we got to back each other up every day,
and we got to teach our kids man to be
better people, you know, and get away from that hudlum mentality.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
You know, here in New York we still have a
big problem with that.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, because you know what, it broke my heart a
few years ago when that young man that had the
same last name as me was mine in the Bronx
when he was attacked, when he was attacked and he
was murdered by a bunch of Hudlams, And I asked,
(29:45):
where are the parents to those Hudlums? What are you
teaching your kids?
Speaker 1 (29:50):
You know?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
And I feel that we have lost touch with that.
You know, we have got so much touch that I
will say this when I see a two year old,
a three year old manipulating a phone. When you see
families sitting down at the table and call my door
to eat, and people have to you know, we used
(30:12):
to conversate when I was a kid, We used to
conversate at the table. Now it's like everybody like in
my house. I used to turn the phones off when
we had dinner. I want to hear your voice. You know,
how was your day? You know, how's it going? Is
there anything I could do for you? You know, you
(30:32):
got any good jokes? You know, things like that. We
lost so much of that essence because everything is a text,
you know, everything is a TikTok, you know, and we
lost the essence of human communication of me and you
(30:54):
right here, it's beautiful, you know, we're having a real conversation.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
And it has affected a lot of gen Z their
interpersonal skills, not all, but many. They're like, I don't
like to talk on the phone. My phone is always
on silent because I don't want to speak to people.
I'm like why, and they're like, no, just text me.
Like you don't want to hear someone's voice. You don't
want to connect. You don't want to hear you know,
like the infliction and the voice.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
They're like, kids don't even know how to write in cursive.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Oh that's another word.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Okay. Kids don't even know how to write incursive. Kids
don't even know their own history. You know, where the
parents came from, you know, the core of their of
their abolos and stuff. Yeah, man, you know so.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
But it's like we can't blame the kids. I guess
it's parents, you know, the younger parents. Maybe they're not
going all the way when it comes to you know,
teaching them. You know, put the phone down, blah blah blah.
I feel like, let me tell you about the island,
let me teach you how to make.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
You know.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
It's up to us, you know what I'm saying, Yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Up to us. And again it's something that is so
super important because we're losing that essence.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
But you know what, if you're listening to this episode
and you have children, get on it, talk to them,
put the phone away. You know what I'm saying, Start
teaching them some of your culture.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
And you know what, as an adult, I'm being as
you adults out there, you guys got to take the lead.
You guys got to be the example. You guys got
to be the first ones to put that phone away.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
That's a fact. You know. When I go out to eat,
I put my phone away. I'll be like and then
I look at people and the table, I'm like, hey, everyone,
I have my phone away. Can everyone please do the
same thing. Let's talk noah ma Salil, but no, they
can meet on know TikTok's absolutely not. Let's not do
that now Wednesday, let's talk Gos. I love you in
(32:57):
that character. Yeah, you're perfect as you know, as Gomes Adams.
It's just it was so unexpected, but it was just
so perfect when I saw who they cast up, Like, wow,
I would have never expected Lewis Guzman. As were you
surprised when you when you casted that role?
Speaker 2 (33:15):
I was, man, I was humbled beyond belief. I was like,
I grew up watching The Adams Family when it was
in black and white. I grew up watching the movie
Withrol and Julia, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
And icon legendary.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
And so when I got the call and I spoke
with Tim Burton and Alan Miles, who write the show,
and they they just offered it to me right there
on the spot.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
You didn't have to audition or you auditioned.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
No, I didn't audition.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Oh my, so this was for you.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
I haven't auditioned in like cover twenty five years.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Oh wow. Yeah, that's a real g talk right there.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Oh yeah, you know, but I just felt so honest
to step into that.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
And now we're getting season two.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Season two, and like, let me tell you, the first season,
yeah was incredible. I was like, asking these guys how
are you going to the top season season one? They
blue season two out of the water.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
We're getting something bigger and better than season one, Bigger and.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Better, deeper, more mysterious, more dark, more fun, more revealing.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
I'm happy it's back, and I'm happy you're back with it.
And you know, it's just a dope show and it's
for Latinos. It's just like this is ours.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
I'm like, wow that Adams standily and now one hundred
percent for us Latinos. And you know, if you're listening
to this episode and you haven't watched season one, watch
season one, and by this time season two is already out,
I want you to binge the whole entire show, and
I want you to follow Leuiz Guzman to social media.
He's super vocal, and he's he's super pro Latino and
just he's really what we should all be aiming to
(35:01):
be out here, you know, using our voice, using our platforms,
using our influence, and just you know, going for it.
Don't be afraid, man, say what you want to say,
like he said, if it's the truth, you can't be
canceled for saying the truth.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
And you know, always take pride in who you are.
Never forget where you come from. You know, respect your elders,
our elders, help them out, you know, help each other out,
and you know what you know, let's let's uh, let's
understand that. You know, it's just important that we have
(35:37):
a community to do better for each other and that
we don't have to read about each other in the
newspaper doing terrible, tragic things to each other, because we're
better than that, you know. And please continue to love
your children, nurture your kids, and make wing usapaw Okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
What else can I say after that? Absolutely nothing but
Grassiers Come Again, Luis.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Chris, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
I appreciate you. Grassiers Come Again is a production of
Honey German Productions in partnership with Iheart'smkuntura podcast network.
Grassiers Come Again, a podcast by Honey German. Welcome to
another episode of Grasses Come Again today. I feel so nervous.
I'm so excited. My heart is like because we're sitting
down with the legendary, the iconic Luis Gusman. Welcome to
Grasses Come Again.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Thank you. I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You look good.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Look all that hair, it's all my no extensions, no
nothing I could tell. And you know what, all these
little curls, they just do themselves.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Welcome to Grasses Coming. This show is all about you know,
Latinos living our life in Spanglish and you know, shining
us spotlight on all of our you know, our actors,
our singers, our directors, our photographers, and we're gonna premiere
with you. I've already done tons of interviews and I
even pushed back the premiere day because I was like
what I said, I'm gonna say, we were supposed to
premiere this week and I was like, absolutely not. I
(01:06):
said I need two more weeks because you know what, right,
and here we are. I manifested it. Idiocito delivered.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Pantatico and.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
L E S l E S.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Lower east Side. Well with my first the first time
from Puerto Rico. We live in Controla Park in the Bronx,
and then from there we moved to Chelsea, the West
Village and then the Lower east Side.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
What neighborhood do you claim when they be like, where
are you from.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
In New York?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
What do you say?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
The Lower east Side?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
L e s all day, right.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
All day, every day. I take a lot of pride
coming from that neighborhood. It's taught me a lot. I
wouldn't be sitting here today if it wasn't for that
neighborhood and in some of the influences and mentors that
I came across.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
We're talking acting mentors or just mentors in general.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Mentors in general. You know, people like Chino Gotzia, people
like Bimbo Ribas, Mit Bigneto, you know, Carmen Lopez just
to name a few. Yeah, a lot of my people.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
It's crazy how a group of people can help, you know,
mold you. It's not just Mommy and Poppy.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
No, it's not. Because you know, like Mamy and Poppy,
They're always going to have their influence, you know, teaching
me what it is to be responsible, things like that.
But when you hit the streets. It's a whole different
kind of upbringing. And those people just taught me a lot,
(02:53):
you know, at the street theater, we're brother, Bimbo. I
was with the New York Rican Poets Cafes, the original
one when it opened up on Sixth Street, and that
they you know, and then people like you know Alcia
and doing community work, community development. We had our place
(03:16):
a school on Ninth Street, I said, Yama, we named
it at Bohill, you know, Bimboiqua. And so we used
to run like a lot of community arts projects. And
then I became a social worker.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I saw that and then.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I worked over at Henry Street Settlement.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
How long did you actually work as a social worker
before you broke out into acting.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Man, I would have to say at least twelve years.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Oh, so you had a long run as a social way.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, and that they you know, for me, when I
became an actor, it was a total accident. I had
done acting.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Before because you were moonlighting as I mean, it was
a hobby. Okay, it was favous to friends of mine
and why would they like, can you do me a favor?
Were you funny? Were you colorful? What was it about you?
That they're like, can you do me a favorite acting
as well?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Oh? Because I, like I said, you know, my first
my first acting thing was in high school the high
school play.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Oh so you had you had the acting bug.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
But again I'm being it wasn't something that I was pursuing.
It was just it just became a thing that like, oh,
somebody wrote this and that a part for you. You
want to do it? Yeah? Yeah, you know. So it
was again, it was a hobby. It was for fun.
But my main passion was helping young people to help themselves.
(04:36):
That's why I became a community activist, social worker, and
I took a lot of pride in that. So I
did that for a while. And so what happened was
one day a bunch of kids didn't show up to
my program. I went down to the street looking for them,
something that I didn't do, but I knew the families,
(04:57):
you know. Yeah, So I went out and I ran
into me get Pinedo, who have written Short Eyes, and
I hadn't seen my key in that three years, and
they said, yo, I'm writing for TV shows that coming
to New York. Take down this number, go audition, and
I go, Pappy, I wasn't even thinking about this. I me,
(05:18):
I go audition. Mi huh. Three weeks later, I get
a call from a guy that's his agent saying, Hey,
I represent Miguel. I want to represent you when I
go for what you just book the cold starring part
in the season premiere of Miami Vice.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Doesn't get any bigger than that.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I was like, oh, so, yeah, you want to know something.
All I wanted to get out of that was and
you will know this. I just wanted to make enough
money to buy me a uth car to drive.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
To Orchard Beach and now have to take the train
and the bus.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh yeah, so I got the car. My friend totaled
it the next day.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
You kidding me? I need details.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
It was a Malleble station wagon. Yeah. Over a chick.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
It's always a chick, right, he was going to see
a chick and.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, yeah, no, he told me we're going to the
hardware store.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah right, what borough?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
He went to Manhattan.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
He crossed bridges and he.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Tried to go uptown on the Lower east Side. He
got stuck and crossed in rush hour traffic. So he
came out and he didn't see the car coming. He said,
oh yeah, I came. He paid me for the car though.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Oh that's good because most people be like, no, no, I
don't got it.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
No, no, no, no, he paid me for the car.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
You were like, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Then we went back to Pennsylvania. The next week, I
got another car.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Good for you. You still have some left of the
money for my Ami Vice or with the money he paid.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
You, with the money he paid me.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Oh damn. He paid right away.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
You know people be like, can I get a payment plan?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
No? No, anything they own gij you know, so I'm not.
I can't.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Can't tell you what then and he paid up good,
and Miami Vice set everything off for you pretty much.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
You know. I didn't understand the business, so I went
back to being a social worker, because again that was
my passion. I thought that the whole Miami Vice thing
was a fluke.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
It was like one off.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah yeah. So but this guy, this agent, kept sending
me out to stuff so I would get I would
get parts. You know, I'd be like Killer ninety seven,
you know, Jesse cab driver eighty two. I was like,
I was my role with numbers. But the day that
I got a part and it said Raoul, and I.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Said, oh, no, they won't number so and.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Now what are the odds? Full circle moment.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, so yeah, I don't know how many raouls I played,
but I think it's been a few.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
And then that took off.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, I took off. And you know, I ended up
doing this movie called Crocodile Dundee and that got me
the Crocodile Dundee too. I got me notoriety, right yeah, yeah,
and then I ended up doing Kalito The Way. And
who doesn't like a good Latino Gangs classic?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Okay? Yeah, Oh you're here is Pachanga everywhere you go.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Everywhere I go, people think I'm Pachanga forever.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
I feel like, no matter how many you could be Gomez,
you could be for us Latino, especially here in New Yorkanga.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Oh yeah, what did you do that to Klito? And
I said, watch your bag? Okay? Without did I on without?
Speaker 1 (09:06):
We didn't expect it, though, And I'm pretty sure you've
spoken about Klito's Way and a million times.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah yeah, but you know what I mean, we love you.
That was the rules in the hood, you know, so
the people that you think got your back. When it
comes down to it, you can't really trust anybody you know.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
So unexpected. They did a Kalito's Way too.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I was in it. I was in it.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Did you bring it to life?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah? But I feel.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Like you're such an important part of the movie that
they would have brought it to you, like we're gonna
bring it back down to do it.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Well, you know, the producers wanted me in the movie.
So yeah, I played this guy that kind of resembles
a bat Chianga, but I think it was more like
Bachanga's uncle that I was playing.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Oh okay, so you were just in it, but not
as yourself. Yes, makes sense. Yeah, we didn't need a
Khalito's Way too. Carlito's Way is so epic and so
iconic that it's like one and done.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Oh yeah, no, it was listening. It was a great
movie for me. It was a dream come true because
you know, a huge fan of pacinos. You know, I
saw Legend, Dog Day Afternoon Circroco. Those were two of
my favorite movies. And and to be a sidekick man,
(10:22):
you know, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
How did you land that role? Like do you remember
did your agent get that or it was just something different?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
No? Actually, so my agent sent me to an audition
and what happened was the night before the audition, two
of my boys came over to my apartment and they
found this this like old school zippered leather jacket in
the park and it was like perfect, you know. And
(11:07):
I tried it on, and you know, jacket, yeah, yeah,
but I have real character, and so I put it
on and I went to the audition wearing this jacket.
So I started doing my thing. Yeah, I hat ThM
Brian the Palmer who directing in and Tom Mardy Bregman
(11:28):
who produced it, and and Michael Bregman Bie So and
and the casting director Buddie Timmerman. So I come in
and do my thing. And then Brian the Palmer starts
cracking up while I'm doing my lines, and I'm like
saying to myself, get me a lot. I thinks I'm funny,
(11:50):
So I do it. I walk. The casting director winks
at me as I'm leaving. I get home. And these
were the days that we had like a little answering machine.
So with the light going on and off, you know,
you got a message. So I check it out. Sure
enough it's her, and she goes.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You got the part from the moment you left to
the moment you got Home.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah. Man, wow, I knew before my agent knew. Oh yeah,
so you know, and ended up doing that and it
was such a great experience, man, such a great experience.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
And we love you for it. It's like an iconic role.
And it's like when people mention you, it's like immediately
Gtarlito's Way it comes up. Yeah, it's like you want
to watch the movie again. You're like, you know what,
let's revisit the It's one of those movies. It's like
it's like I feel like it's Scarface, Galito's Way, he Casino,
those that's like, those are all the movies that we
would just rewatch a million time.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, yeah, because you know they had a certain genre
to them.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Good Fellas too, Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
You know, like everybody like go to Gangster.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And everybody was an icon you we're talking Joe Peshi, Rayleiota, Scarface,
Like these people were like top of the time.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
So do you have a favorite movie?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
If I had a favorite movie, yeah, my favorite movie
was On the Waterfront. You ever heard of that movie
Marlon Brando Black and White?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
No, I gotta check it out.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
In nineteen sixties.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
That's why you.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Ever see that movie, one of the best movies ever
on the Waterfront, On the WATERFRONTO. You know what I
loved about that movie was his performance. Well he was
and he was effortless, and so I always study that
because I always wanted to be effortless. You know. I
(13:38):
don't like acting, and you are. You know, I like
being as real as possible and conveying that.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
And I feel like that's one of the reasons why
we love you so much and we connect with you
so much, because it just feels like you're just being
yourself every role. That it doesn't feel like a different
person every time. It feels like you in a different character,
but still you, and that that connects.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah. Well, I, like I said, I pride myself on that.
You know, I don't think I ever done the same
road twice because I never make a reference to my roles.
My reference to what I do is actually my life.
And you know, I've been in so many different situations.
(14:21):
I've studied people stuff like that. So when I show
up to work, that's what I do.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Life. You were married.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I was married before. I have five children. I adopted
four of them. Oh beautiful, uh semi, Yeah, Maya Yoruba,
iy Maagarita, and Luna is my biological daughter.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I have the names here and I wrote them down.
I'm like, how did you pick the names?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I take a lot of pride in who we are
as Latinos, where we come from, the liture, our history,
and those names mean something to me. You know, their
very loving names. They're very spiritual names. They're powerful names.
(15:12):
And I wanted not so much that I wanted my
kids to be unique, but they really want them to
have their own identity.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
And it's super connected, you know, to the religion, to
Puerto Rican culture, you know, to our ancestors. And I
love that you pick those names because I'm like, wow,
I've never met anybody named yama Yah. I know, I
know who Yamaya is. I've never met anyone name. I
was like, Wow, he's a risk taker with these names.
How do your kids embrase them? I've met Semi super dope.
I love what he's out here doing. They love these names,
(15:42):
they do or they question them, like Bob.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Asked me about that one time a couple of years ago,
matter of fact, and she go by wh why yeah,
my ya, because you know your water sign And I
love that name, and it's beautiful and it fits you
matter of fact, when she because she's my second adopted
and she was born in January February, we went down
(16:10):
to Puerto Rico to get out of the snow because
that was one of the years that New York was
having a terrible, terrible winter. So went down there and
you know, we put her in the water in the ocean.
Beautiful and we blessed her. And yeah, did.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
You adopt or your children from Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Or from the from New York? From the New York Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
And it's all is it public, like people know you
adopted your children.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I love that. It's just it's such it's something I
want to do myself. I feel like it gives you
an opportunity to really change the course of someone's life.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Oh yeah, absolutely. Listen, I love my kids. They're incredible.
You know, they're doing the thing out in the world.
And that they they taught me a lot, me a
lot about about fatherhood and they told me about being
(17:06):
a better listener, you know. Yeah, and they still teach
me to this day.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
I was going to ask you, do they still teach you,
like yeah, social media?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
No, not not not that type of stuff. I mean,
they just show me. I mean they teach me about
you know, about about life. You know, I'm not you know,
the social media stuff, and I have social media, but
I gravitate more to the real human being in my
life and real conversations. And you know, I'm a dream maker.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
You know what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That means that, Uh my kids went to college and
I say, you know what, you're going to graduate with
a zero? They go zero. I am your scholarship, betiful,
I'm going to pay for you. I am. So when
you graduate, you graduate with a zero. Just take care
of what you gotta take care of. And they've done that,
(18:04):
you know, makes me very proud of them. That's what
I mean by I make dreams happen for my kids,
I try to make dreams happen for other people too.
I try to be the best role model. I don't
forget about my community. Anytime I get a chance, and
you know, make a presentation or just show up and support.
(18:28):
I do that. I guess the most important thing that
I tell young people is never forget where you come from,
and you can influence the next generation just by showing up.
And you know, always give back a.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Little something you have to you know. It's that you know,
that mentality of abundance. You know, the more you give,
the more you get back. Yeah, can't hold on to
everything you have in that you know, that includes your knowledge.
You can't just hold back and not share.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Yeah. Well I always said knowledge is power, you know,
And like I had all these little sayings that I
used to tell my kids, you know, the little bueno
and I'm vocal. Okay, all right, don't spend what you
don't have, be smart, be safe, no regrets.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I'm taking all three of those. Man, those are solid.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
And cause you know, when when your kids become teenagers,
you know, teenagers tend to not have all their wires
right in their brain. So I used to say, Okay,
you're gonna go out, be smart, be safe, no regrets,
because if you're not if you're not smart, if you're
not safe and something happens, you're gonna have regrets. So
(19:53):
you don't want to show up back at the house
say I'm really sorry I didn't listen. No, you didn't
listen to yourself?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Were you a tough dad?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Man? I just try to be as loving as nurturing,
you know, being a parent could be challenging at times
because you know, it's like it's it's just a different
energy and stuff. I have my own regrets of you know,
(20:25):
people don't understand you're very successful. You're successful as an actor,
you do great work, but you know, you end up
missing out on things birthdays, basketball games, soccer games, plays,
things like that, you know, and they tell you that,
(20:46):
and that breaks my heart, you know, So as an adult,
I come back to like, I got to make up
for this. Now you make me cry, no, but but
it's it's the truth because as a man, as a man,
you know, like, as a man, you're the first male
(21:09):
that your daughters are gonna love because you're their dad,
you know what I mean. And so they teach me
now I love them. We joke around. I just took
my daughters to Puerto Rico, Luna and yeah, we saw
Benito's concert.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I saw you spectacular. How proud do you feel? A
bad bunny? And you know how vocal he is and
how you know supportive he is.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
You know, I think he's making a major difference for
our people, not just in Puerto Rico, but you know,
all the Latinos and stuff, you know, I take a
lot of pride in him. I got his back one
hundred percent, and like I said, I'm just really proud
that I'm really super proud that he is outspoken, you
(22:11):
know because like nowadays, like a lot of people, they
get scared of speaking up. And it's like, yo, speak us,
speak your mind, be a voice.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
And I see that you do that. You know when
it comes to Puerto Rico, you're not afraid. And you're right,
A lot of celebrities, whether they be actors, singers, models,
whatever it is, everybody is so afraid of being canceled
that they're afraid to stand on anything at all, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
What, because it's like, let me tell you something. You know,
being canceled, man, you know when you're canceled, When being canceled,
canceling yourself, you know what I mean. You gotta be
outspoken because you can't have fear, because that's what they
want you to be. They want you to be scared,
(22:56):
you know. And I'm just a voice telling the truth.
Will die, yeah man, And you know so yes, and
so I always, I always will speak on those truths.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
And I love you for it. Because so many people
that have microphones that are on TV that can represent
us differently and can speak out on the injustices, what's
happening in Puerto Rico, what's happening with immigration, what's happening
with Latinos here in America? And they'd rather just be
quiet about it because they're like, nah, my career depends
on it. I can't sing anymore. You're being so vocal.
(23:37):
I'm so proud of you, Like I'm telling you, like
I look at sometimes the things you post, and I'm like,
I love what he's doing. He's risking himself for the
better of our people.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah. Well, I just want you to realize one thing.
I don't feel like I'm risking, Okay. I feel like
I'm just being a human. I represent humanity. That's why
I'm coming from. You know, if it was a risk,
I would take it any day, because you know, people
(24:09):
are suffering. Man, we are, we're suffering, but we also
have it to make a change. You know. I had
done an interview and they asked me, why was it
that so many Latino men voted for what's his face?
And it's because they're ignorant, you know, because they did
(24:34):
not look at you know, maybe I could represent my
daughter and vote for a woman, you know, and it's
like that whole machismore thing still exists, you know what
I'm saying. So you know, look, I take pride in
who I am. I love our community, and I love
(24:58):
being out spoken when it comes to our community because
we're good people. Man, We're hard workers. We raise good kids.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
You know, we're honest.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
We could do better, you know. They Unfortunately there's young
people that are lost, you know, that start shooting back
and forth with each other, People get hurt, people die.
We need better role models in our community, and you know,
we need we need not only the men but women
(25:31):
to you know, stand up for who we are, take
pride in who we are. You see, Let's defend each other.
Let's have each other back.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I feel like sometimes, you know, we're afraid of you know,
the repercussions or the consequences, and it's like we have
the love, we have the knowledge, and we fail to
act again out of the risk of how we're going
to be perceived or how it's going to like kind
of like come back on us.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
But yeah, but you know what, if telling the truth
is a risk, then that's a risk I willing to take.
Telling the truth love b DA. You know I can't
make this up, you know what I mean. I remember
when we first moved to the Lower East Side, my family,
it looked like a bomb hit that neighborhood. There were
(26:20):
so many abandoned buildings, the South Bronx Williamsburg. And look
what happened to those neighborhoods gentrified. You know, there's like
two three generations of family that live in an apartment
because who can afford to pay for twenty five hundred
dollars for a studio. There's four people that live in
(26:42):
the studio apartment in New York City, you know, And
so you know, economics have changed. You know, before you
can get a full time job anywhere and get health
and dental benefits. Now you get hired for twenty nine
(27:02):
hours because if you work more than thirty hours, they
got to provide that. And because they don't provide and
then you got to pay out of pocket for your
health care and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Listen, how can you exist?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
This is the only country industrial life country. You know,
you go to Europe, you know, you go South America,
free healthcare, free college education, and their economies don't hurt.
The fact I was.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
I traveled to Dubai, beautiful. I have no homelessness, no this,
no that. I'm like, what is going on with America?
Like why can't we get to a level even half
what they're doing there.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Because they don't have the priorities in order here? They
really don't.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
You know.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I hate to say this, but again I speak the truth.
You know, you send bombs is over to bomb children
and stuff like that. You send all the funds to
uh a place and that people get free college, education,
free health. But hold up, you can't provide that for
(28:15):
your people. Here the greatest country, the greatest nation in
the world, and people have to take Listen, you graduate
from college, you still gotta live with your parents because
that loan that you gotta pay, like pay the mortgage.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
You know, a lot of you know gen z that
I know, they can't afford to live on their own.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Listen, this is a great country. Unfortunately come unhinge a bit,
if not a lot. But the thing is, we still
have really good people that live here. Amazing we have
amazing people. We have people that make differences every day,
you know, and we just got to keep our head up.
(29:02):
He continued to believe in ourselves. We're gonna be okay.
But we got to back each other up every day,
and we got to teach our kids man to be
better people, you know, and get away from that hudlum mentality.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
You know, here in New York we still have a
big problem with that.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, because you know what, it broke my heart a
few years ago when that young man that had the
same last name as me was mine in the Bronx
when he was attacked, when he was attacked and he
was murdered by a bunch of Hudlams, And I asked,
(29:45):
where are the parents to those Hudlums? What are you
teaching your kids?
Speaker 1 (29:50):
You know?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
And I feel that we have lost touch with that.
You know, we have got so much touch that I
will say this when I see a two year old,
a three year old manipulating a phone. When you see
families sitting down at the table and call my door
to eat, and people have to you know, we used
(30:12):
to conversate when I was a kid, We used to
conversate at the table. Now it's like everybody like in
my house. I used to turn the phones off when
we had dinner. I want to hear your voice. You know,
how was your day? You know, how's it going? Is
there anything I could do for you? You know, you
(30:32):
got any good jokes? You know, things like that. We
lost so much of that essence because everything is a text,
you know, everything is a TikTok, you know, and we
lost the essence of human communication of me and you
(30:54):
right here, it's beautiful, you know, we're having a real conversation.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
And it has affected a lot of gen Z their
interpersonal skills, not all, but many. They're like, I don't
like to talk on the phone. My phone is always
on silent because I don't want to speak to people.
I'm like why, and they're like, no, just text me.
Like you don't want to hear someone's voice. You don't
want to connect. You don't want to hear you know,
like the infliction and the voice.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
They're like, kids don't even know how to write in cursive.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Oh that's another word.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Okay. Kids don't even know how to write incursive. Kids
don't even know their own history. You know, where the
parents came from, you know, the core of their of
their abolos and stuff. Yeah, man, you know so.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
But it's like we can't blame the kids. I guess
it's parents, you know, the younger parents. Maybe they're not
going all the way when it comes to you know,
teaching them. You know, put the phone down, blah blah blah.
I feel like, let me tell you about the island,
let me teach you how to make.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
You know.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
It's up to us, you know what I'm saying, Yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Up to us. And again it's something that is so
super important because we're losing that essence.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
But you know what, if you're listening to this episode
and you have children, get on it, talk to them,
put the phone away. You know what I'm saying, Start
teaching them some of your culture.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
And you know what, as an adult, I'm being as
you adults out there, you guys got to take the lead.
You guys got to be the example. You guys got
to be the first ones to put that phone away.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
That's a fact. You know. When I go out to eat,
I put my phone away. I'll be like and then
I look at people and the table, I'm like, hey, everyone,
I have my phone away. Can everyone please do the
same thing. Let's talk noah ma Salil, but no, they
can meet on know TikTok's absolutely not. Let's not do
that now Wednesday, let's talk Gos. I love you in
(32:57):
that character. Yeah, you're perfect as you know, as Gomes Adams.
It's just it was so unexpected, but it was just
so perfect when I saw who they cast up, Like, wow,
I would have never expected Lewis Guzman. As were you
surprised when you when you casted that role?
Speaker 2 (33:15):
I was, man, I was humbled beyond belief. I was like,
I grew up watching The Adams Family when it was
in black and white. I grew up watching the movie
Withrol and Julia, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
And icon legendary.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
And so when I got the call and I spoke
with Tim Burton and Alan Miles, who write the show,
and they they just offered it to me right there
on the spot.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
You didn't have to audition or you auditioned.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
No, I didn't audition.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Oh my, so this was for you.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
I haven't auditioned in like cover twenty five years.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Oh wow. Yeah, that's a real g talk right there.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Oh yeah, you know, but I just felt so honest
to step into that.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
And now we're getting season two.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Season two, and like, let me tell you, the first season,
yeah was incredible. I was like, asking these guys how
are you going to the top season season one? They
blue season two out of the water.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
We're getting something bigger and better than season one, Bigger and.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Better, deeper, more mysterious, more dark, more fun, more revealing.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
I'm happy it's back, and I'm happy you're back with it.
And you know, it's just a dope show and it's
for Latinos. It's just like this is ours.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
I'm like, wow that Adams standily and now one hundred
percent for us Latinos. And you know, if you're listening
to this episode and you haven't watched season one, watch
season one, and by this time season two is already out,
I want you to binge the whole entire show, and
I want you to follow Leuiz Guzman to social media.
He's super vocal, and he's he's super pro Latino and
just he's really what we should all be aiming to
(35:01):
be out here, you know, using our voice, using our platforms,
using our influence, and just you know, going for it.
Don't be afraid, man, say what you want to say,
like he said, if it's the truth, you can't be
canceled for saying the truth.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
And you know, always take pride in who you are.
Never forget where you come from. You know, respect your elders,
our elders, help them out, you know, help each other out,
and you know what you know, let's let's uh, let's
understand that. You know, it's just important that we have
(35:37):
a community to do better for each other and that
we don't have to read about each other in the
newspaper doing terrible, tragic things to each other, because we're
better than that, you know. And please continue to love
your children, nurture your kids, and make wing usapaw Okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
What else can I say after that? Absolutely nothing but
Grassiers Come Again, Luis.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Chris, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
I appreciate you. Grassiers Come Again is a production of
Honey German Productions in partnership with Iheart'smkuntura podcast network.
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