Alfonso Ribeiro

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're on with Mario Lopez? What's up your on with
Mario Lopez joining me now on studio the host of
America's Funny his Home Videos, My man of Fonso Rivera.
How are you man? Somebody I was trying to figure
out when we first met and how long I've known you,
But it's got to be at least twenty five years.
Oh definitely, Like so what when did you because I

(00:22):
remember we have kids incorporated. Yes, but wait, we didn't
know each other back and kids incorporated. I think so
because I was friends, well I was from friends with
Stacy and Mortika back then. Yeah. I would come by
to set every once in a while, so I was
like ten, right, so that's wow. So we're not a
new age but yeah age. But you know the memories

(00:42):
I have is back in the day. Um, we're both
on NBC shows at the time. We kick it at
the NBA All Star Game, right, Yes, those are because
like Jordan was playing, Barkley was playing, So yeah, that
was the Star weekends used to be that. Remember the
it was the summer jams, right, yes, but the NBA

(01:04):
uh NBA summer or something or summer. But well, Saturday
night or yeah, yeah, they had some sort of like
but it was a big party essentially for the whole
weekend right there. So it's cool, man, I'm so glad
you've been busy and everything going well now and let's
fast forward working on a f V and a V.
I couldn't believe this has been on for almost thirty

(01:25):
years talking about time, and I remember I think it
was homeboy from the Full House what's his name? Thank you,
Bob Saget who was here actually like the up Bob
sag It. And then for a hot second it was
like Daisy Fuente right right, yes, Dan Foguson and uh
and then Tom Burge run and you know, you would
think because of the the evolution of the iPhone and

(01:48):
what happened, that it might take it away, but it's
been done, done nothing but contribute to absolutely. So like
everybody has their phone, like my phone sitting right here
on the table right, Like everybody has their phone readily available,
and so people are constantly shooting videos and so we
actually now get more submissions than Bob ever got, right like,

(02:10):
because everybody hasn't available back then you have to have
you know, on your shoulder speaking video. The VCR that
would send in the VCR tape. Now they have an app,
the a f V app, where you can download straight
from your phone right to the computer, right to the
to the producers. So it's become so easy and like

(02:30):
the the The other thing that I find very interesting
is because that was that was really the question when
I came onto the show, was Okay, the Internet, Like,
you want to see stupid videos, you go on the internet, right,
But if you have kids, you don't want them going
on the Internet because eventually you're gonna end up watching
a video or your kids watching video that you don't
want them to watch. Whereas a f V every Sunday

(02:51):
night is a safe haven for stupid, funny videos that
you couldn't see that you don't want your kids seeing
on the internet. Absolutely on family programming, we love to
watch it with the kids. And I got it there.
Maybe I'm a little guilty of saying, but it never
makes me laugh more than somebody wiping out somebody getting
hurd and wipe it out and they put the little
cute music and a lot of track. But then you're like, WHOA,

(03:13):
if you really stopped dig about something about some of them, yo,
that like, yo, that dude had to really hurt himself,
that he had to break something. We're the same because
we call him epic fails and that that. That's basically
my my favorite videos because I just I love watching
people do stuff and you're like, okay, why would you
do that? Right? Like I'm always asking on stage, I'm like,

(03:33):
why why would that person decide to do this? But
I'm certainly happy they yeah, yeah, it never gets old.
Do you have a favorite so far? Um, I don't
have to, Like, there's one that I think is always like,
for the last year and a half have been my favorite. Um.
We had a finalist last season and it was these
two kids going on a slingshot ride and the little

(03:57):
brother asks his older brother to go on the ride
with him. Right, So he's like, you know, come on,
come on, come on, and the older brothers like, okay, cool, fine,
I'll go on. They get strapped in and the older
brother starts losing his mind because he now he's totally scared,
and the little brothers like all in. So the ride
starts off and the older brothers and he passes out right,

(04:19):
and then he comes to and started pass out again,
and the little brothers like, I'm so sorry coming on
the ride, but I'm so sorry. And then the guy
wakes up again. I'm still on it and he's screaming
the whole world. It's just to me, like the stupidity
of the older brother to go on that right, to
me was like, you're out of mind. Footage from the

(04:40):
right itself, the right itself, so like the slaps. That
ride has a go throw or whatever it is shooting
so you can get a video of yourself on the ride,
because that's what people want to do. You want a
video of yourself scared out of your mind you can
take home and show your friends. He loved that on
all the rides. And sometimes cameras just captured things too,
just accident and I'm not mad at it. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Um,

(05:03):
we've talked about this before. Man, But you love golf.
You've golfing for a while, and you're good, like legit
good golfer and like random things too, golf, race, car
driving at one point, I remember that's another memory. I
remember I did. Yeah, used to used to race professionally
for for a while. It was marpile, could he race?

(05:25):
He was almost good. People be telling you they're good,
he said, was I mean he wouldn't fast with me.
I was one, but he was my man. But he
come on, I'll show you how to do this. Did
you get older and want to just no pun intended
to pump the brakes on that absolutely. You know, really
when I had my when I had my first kid

(05:47):
was when I realized, oh so I kind of really
do want to be around for her, and you just
have that parent moment where you actually see danger. Before that,
like I never saw a danger, like it just didn't occur,
like okay, and we were talking about this actually earlier today,
like you had to put your blood type on your

(06:07):
helmet in case you got into an accident and needed
like a blood transfusion. They needed to know that blood type.
But like your brain would like I'm not even looking
like you wouldn't see. But the moment I had my kid,
like my brain went, oh so you could really hurt yourself,
like for real, for real, And so then I it
kind of it kind of went away. So I'll pump

(06:28):
my brains the brakes. I didn't. I got to do it.
I loved it. I have a blast. But golf, you know,
as long as you don't stand in front of somebody
you shouldn't note you played with somebody who don't know
how to play a shake? Yeah? Yeah. And then I
had like a great weekend This last weekend, I was
up at the A T and T Pebble Beach Pro

(06:49):
Am and uh me and my partner we finished fifth
out of one and fifty, which was pretty pretty awesome.
So um, but the but the game of golf like
that that's got me fully like, and who are some
of the other uh good celebrity golfers. Well, I would say,
like the best actor golfer is Jack Wagner. Yeah. Jack

(07:12):
Wagner's great. Yeah back in the day, Jack. Um, Like
I'm closer to Jack today than that, maybe, you know,
let's say ten years ago. Another Oliver Hudson is really good.
Um uh Chris O'Donnell is normally pretty good. Um, I

(07:34):
think lately he's been the way my wife always says it.
Angela will always say, um, when you're a scratch, you're
not working enough. So I'm a four right now, so
I'm not working and I'm working definitely enough, not enough
on my golf game. You uh you like to wager? Um,
we we have our games, uh as well. We we

(07:58):
will we will gamble at on our home course. We
have a we do a thing called a five dollar
or ten dollar nassau, which is basically, you got four
or five bets going and uh, you know some people
do skins and those kinds of us. But you know
it could add up. You know. The other day we
played this game called the dot Game and I won
dollars you know sometimes it was the most ever. No

(08:18):
one's ever won that much in the Dot Game in
my group. When you put a wager on anything, it
just goes next. I remember playing racketball or stupid that
you put like okay, gatorade, whoever went? And I'm like
dying And it doesn't matter it's Gator or grand because
we're just we are in it, no question. When you bet,
it adds. It's like the person who has to hand

(08:42):
the other person the money. Actually, like there's a there's
a feeling of like no, I don't ever want to
reach into my pocket and hand you a five dollar
bill like nah, but if I do lose, I'm gonna
do it right away because I don't want to owe anybody. Know.
We we don't get past the starter stand like you know,

(09:02):
we literally okay, you want here's your money. Bang, We're
done good exactly like you know, because I know some
I know some big names that have a hard time
paying their bets. That's not that's not an m O.
You want, no, no, no of the one of the
dudes is on your wall back here there trying. Yeah,

(09:23):
because he lost, he lost the golf bata is he
all right? He'll remain named right. I do sometimes want
to get invited to his tournament. Yeah, you can see
that who that is on the video. We'll leave that one.
I've heard stories. So reboots seem to be doing really
well right now. Grace and full House, uh Fresh Prince

(09:46):
of bel Air it came out about the same time
around that, say by the Belt. So if approached and
they had a new spin on the idea, would you
entertainer or what are your thoughts on revisiting never gonna happen? Um?
And I always reserve the right that there's always a number. Um,
you know, there's always a number to make somebody do
something they don't want to do. UM. But that number

(10:08):
would have to be more than I think the show
would ever or could ever pay me to make me
do it. And the reason mostly the reason is is
I spent most of my career trying to stop being
that person to the world, So to go back to
it would ultimately mean in my mind that basically the

(10:30):
rest of my career I get to no longer work. Right. So,
the way I've always explained it is, imagine, for a second,
you create a character that you do so well that
people will never let you act again. That's what Carlton
did for me, right, So I was never really able

(10:50):
to dive into doing what I love to do because
I did that role so well that they basically the
business shut me down in that realm. And so to
go back to it is like, well, what what would
be the reason? I spent twentysome odd years trying to
get away from that character and be able to reinvent
myself and create something that I enjoy doing and I'm

(11:12):
enjoying hosting, So why go back to acting to do
something that I did in the pass. If I'm gonna
go back to acting, I want to go back to
do something that's new and and and inspiring and something
like that. And I get how people love the idea
of the past like you know what I mean, like
and I and I appreciate that love, but I can't
in my mind see where the positive in it for

(11:35):
me would be got it right? So they would have
to figure out a way to make it positive for me,
And I think the only it wouldn't be creative, right,
Like what's creative about doing something you already did? There's
nothing creative about that, So it would have to be
simply money. And I mean like, I mean, I really

(11:58):
say they don't have enough money to produce the show
and make me do it right, So so I and
and I really do believe like the past is the past.
There's a reason why it was special. Um, And I've
even heard Will say this, and it's and I find
it interesting because it's like magic isn't something you can

(12:19):
just create or just call upon when you want to write.
The show had magic in its day, and there was
a reason why it was great. The times have changed,
TV has changed one even if we recreated the magic
we created then, it wouldn't be magic today. So you'd
have to create all new magic with something from the past,

(12:42):
and I don't think you can do that. Well. The
irony is that the shows they have done it with
It's working well. Will and Grace is working critically, it's
working ratings wise, full House number one, Sean Netflix, believe
it or not, Rosan's coming back. There's a lot of
buzz that it might do well. I'm just saying they
have been able to do it, and at the end

(13:02):
of the day, it is nice, flattering. Absolutely still long
for it. Absolutely still long for it. But you don't
want to do the Carlton dance anymore. I'm good. When
I was playing golf this last weekend, um, but my
pro said, if you if you got five dollars for
every time someone asked you to do the Carton dance
in four days, you would have made more money than

(13:23):
the dude who won a tournament. So that's a little perspective, right, Like,
And I always find it funny because it's like, dude,
you ain't the first person I asked all day, Like
the dude next for you asked you, and now you
act like like you said something different. But they think
their original as hell every time. Every man, you know,

(13:44):
you gotta dance. When I'm really in a bad mood.
When I'm really in a bad mood, I will trying
to be cool. Listen to I don't hear the ones
who kissed me off. But like I always say, you know, so,
let me get this straight. You're asking a black man
nance for you just really okay, Yeah it's really not cool,

(14:09):
but you know. But but like like you just said,
like I've I've said many times, it is flattering. I
do get it. The idea that I was able to
create something that even today, twenty some money years later,
people still find enjoyable and um, it really is at
the end of the day and honor that they want
that and that they're asking that, and I get to

(14:29):
feel the love from them for something that I created,
you know, many many moons ago that they still love.
It's definitely a flattering situation. But I ain't dance it
for Yeah, um, two kids, three kids, three kids, three kids.
I've got my fifteen year old daughter, Sienna um Alfonso Jr.

(14:49):
And Anders and hold of the boys four and two,
four and two. Yeah, I said a bit of a gap,
and is your well, not much of a gap the
eight months apart, technically I know that. Yeah. So she's okay.
So she's at the age where she she might be
driving very soon. I'm about to start teaching her how
to drive that too young to listen. I'm having a

(15:11):
race car driver. It's fine still, but but as a
race car driver, you know what could happen? Yeah, right right,
Like you know what can happen, especially in town where
like Arizona and there's a I'm actually trying to figure
out where I'm a teacher right like, I mean, I'm
not doing it on l a streets. Like that's a
little too much to start. Like, It's just a lot

(15:32):
going on. It's it's definitely scary to think about it,
like and definitely all the things that a fifteen year
old girl goes through media, she's got to be she's no.
I told her she's definitely capable of dating. After all,
in you can date whoever you want. A twenty five
before that, I don't know nothing about no dude showing

(15:53):
up at my house. I'm gonna due to Will Smith
and uh and Martin Lawrence and Bad Boys three and
show up with you know, let me like, girl, so
what up? You know ain't coming up in my house.
I got a little time. I got a little time
for it, some time a little bit. I know it's
gonna come to fast bro. I know, I know it's
gonna creep and the boy well yeah they they're kind
of young to be getting in it. Yeah, No, No

(16:14):
four and two we're good, you know time they Yeah,
the shop, we're good. There is the shop closed? Good? Well, um,
my shop wants to be closed. My wife's shop is
not closed and wants to create another, which I don't
quite get. But keep it at that on radio. Okay,

(16:35):
fair enough for I get sent to the to the
little Boys room time hanging out by myself. She's very cool,
so you'll be lucky. Before I let you go on man,
put you on the spot. Quick questions, quick answers. Current
song obsession um Flannel by j T. I don't think
anybody knows that on the albums. It's on the new album.

(16:57):
He's got a great, great song called Flannel. That's my
that's my jam right now. A last show you binge watched.
I don't binge watch at all because I ain't got
enough time to binge watch. That's why you do binge
watch When you don't got the time. You go on
a plane or whatever you band. I don't like I'm
go on a plane. I'm trying to watch a movie, right, yeah,
because like I don't even have enough time to, Like
I don't remember the last time I went to a theater,

(17:17):
Like I'm really excited to go see Black Panther, n
I can't remember the point in the next month, Like
I can get a day to go to a movie
theater and sit there for two and a half hours
and do I just don't have the time to do it.
And by the way, pretty cool problem. Yeah, that's very
that's that's not a pretty cool problem. And the kids
take over the TV to they got the TV at home,

(17:38):
you know. Yeah. Nickname growing up, nickname the Fonds. I
was a huge Happy Days fan and Alfonso, So the
Funds was my nickname going up. I know him. I
know that, like now I'm gonna I'm gonna be out
on the golf course or something. But like the Fons,
I was like, you was watching celebrity crush growing up.

(18:02):
Celebrity cut crush was Porlina Poriskova. Yes, you know, and
I'm sure you're going to You're going o g Superman
Pea And I met her one day and my wife
actually gave me permission to like talk to her and
let her know that She was my like kid crush

(18:24):
and she was very cool. She was very cool. From
the cars, Yep. Absolutely, that dude overachieved, yes know, he
over over over yea yeah yeah, worst job you ever had?
Worst job I ever had? Um? I would probably say, um,
it was great and bad at the same time. I

(18:45):
did this show for uk TV called I'm a Celebrity,
Get Me out of Here, And it's where they take
twelve celebrities and take them to Australia and put them
in the jungle the survivor, Survivor, a celebrity, big brother
and fear Factor all in one. That sounds rough understatement

(19:07):
to say the least twenty one days in there. I
lost twenty four pounds in twenty one days. I don't
want to if you wanted weight that I didn't. I
didn't want to lose it like that. You know. But
if you're work out, um crazy, like they give you
get rice and beans every day, right and it was

(19:33):
a joke, but I ain't going there, um, but rice
and beans every day and then you had to do
stuff to get more food. So but it was more
food like oh okay, like bugs or something like, you know,
just stuff that you would like when you heard of hunger,
you eat anything? Dude? After day three, I was like,
give me the crock. Yeah, yeah, the worst job ever, bro,

(19:57):
that's that's a good one, right and A j was
too weeks old when I left, But they know it's
one of those things where like they made me an
offer I couldn't refuse. Yeah, they put they put a
number on the table. I was like, yeah, you gotta
do what how many days I could do it? I
think I could do it. He came back. I was like,
I shouldn't have done it. Yeah, And last question, who

(20:21):
plays you in the Alfonso Rivero story? Who plays me
in the UM? I don't even know if there's a
young dude out there right now? Um, what's the young
dude from UM Tropic Thunder? Uh Jackson? What's his name?
What is that guy's name? And he's and he's someone
I know. So it's like the worst thing in the
world that I can When you first said that, I

(20:42):
thought Robert down he did a great job. He was
really cool as a black dude. UM, Brendan T. Jackson,
He Brandon Brandon would be my dude, I think to
play me in the Alfonso But He's not much younger
than me, but if they did a story of me,

(21:02):
it clearly is too early to do it. Anyway, he's
a good casting man. Hey, come back and hang any
and meanwhile, watch America's Funny. His home videos airing Sundays
at seven Easter and you can follow him on Instagram
at the Reel. Alfonso Robero, thanks for stoping by On
with Mario Lopez