Adrianna Mitchell talks CRUTCH w/Tracy Morgan, Snowfall & more | S8 E11 | 1 on 1's w/Deuces - 1-on-1's w/Deuces

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:22):
Let me choose your character.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
All right, all right, all right, welcome back to the
geek Set podcast only podcast that bland hip hop culture
and geek coachure together.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
I'm your boy, Duces and this is one on one
with Deuces, the.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Place where I speak of creators, curators and people that
you should know.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
And right now we got a multi.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Talented Pulitzerprise winner. We have Adrianna Mitchell here. How are
you doing today?

Speaker 3 (00:54):
I really appreciate you saying I'm a cutter surprise winner.
I mean I personally am not, but I was play
that was perprize winning.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Hey, listen here we count that. I don't care what
you say. We counting that. Good.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
It's good to talk to you, hi.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Hey.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
So first things first, my platform is all about giving
people their flowers while they are here, right, And I
want to let you know you know when my first
experience of seeing you on screen was in Snowfall, and
you made such a large impact on that show and
with your character and the way that you portrayed that character.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
And for you know me who a person who loved
that show through and through.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
I had the pleasure of interviewing Gail Bean and kind
of deep dive into that and then you know just
even just you know, your your work in theater and
everything and just you know, coming from an HBCU and
just it's just one of those things that is like
love to see that black representation on screen. So I
want to let you know, from geek set, from me

(01:52):
from the Blurred community, just thank you for everything that
you're putting out into this world in the entertainment game.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
Thank you so much that just to pick.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Me upivity here.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
You know, It's like it's one of those It's one
of those things is when you see an actor just
kind of just like coming into their own and then
you know, I'm a researcher, so I started, you know,
learning about your your history and even the process of
you even getting that Snowfall roll and you know where
like you pretty much had the role, you know, bag,
but they wanted they kind of wanted to, you know,

(02:26):
at least go through due process with you.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
But it's like absolutely it was.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
It was really dope to kind of see that, and
I know that for you that kind of had to
be a big confident boot that like they was willing
to go you know through extreme leinstance to be like Okay, look,
we need we need to get this table read, but
let's figure it out.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
I mean I have a lot of stories like that
where it just kind of feels like, I mean, that's
you know, my my big tip. I'm like, what is
for you is for you, and things that present themselves
as obstacles often are not.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
They're often protect.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Different things that are not for you, and are also
just kind of sharpening you and keeping you ready so
that when it is you, you already done, been through it,
and you know, you know, so I just kind of
feel like those things have really I start to trust
those things. My intuition has sharpened around experiences like that.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
So yeah, yeah, So I want to take it back
a bit before we you know, get into some of
the nitty gritty and everything like that, because you know,
like you said, we talked about your blurred yourself and
one of the things that really inspired you to acting
was a very blurdy things Star Wars.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
You know, you saw Star Wars. You left out of there.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
You were your pops deep diving in the car, going
back and forth. Yes, like what I guess what which one?
Which Star Wars movie that you watched?

Speaker 3 (03:42):
So what episode for okay, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker
and Harry Fisher and Harrison Ford, and I was, I
don't want to age myself. But it was like nineteen
ninety whenever it was re released. The re release that
happened in the nineties, both my father and my stepfather
on different times took me to see this movie because

(04:04):
they were obsessed with it. And then it was theatrically
re released, so it was a big deal. I got
to leave school and I don't know, it was something
about the theme song.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
It was something.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
About the credits rolling at the beginning, it was something
about the star. I was just like I left there
like I had taken like a red bull to my head.
Like I was just like, I don't think anything had
impacted me in that way before. Like I had even
gone to see some theater and I enjoyed it and

(04:34):
thought it was something that you know, you dress up
and go with your grandparents to go do. But I
wasn't necessarily pricked into doing what I'm doing because of theater.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
It was because of Star Wars.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, no, I mean, I mean Star Wars. They call
it a space opera.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Anyways, like it's you know, it's one of those movies
that it's like as a kid, when you think about space,
this is space.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
They're like, yes, this big.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Ships, you got space battles, you got force made the
Force be with you.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
My stepdad's birthday is May fourth, so I always send
him a car Made the fourth fee with you every time.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
Period.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Like I said, I love.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
That, Like, you know, like it's a lot of us
getting into like or even just more speaking about it
now because you're seeing a lot of more black people,
you know, and then you got like, you know characters,
you know, like you know, John Boyega played Fan even
though they did a bogus but still, but then you
got Ahsoka. You know, you got like all these black
representations in there. And I'm just like, man, we hopefully,
like I said, we need one. We do need more

(05:34):
black Jedies, you know, like we say in The Last Man,
the Laurian I forgot I forget the actress name, but
she played amazing.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
Sith oh yes that's yes, yes, let me tell you.

Speaker 4 (05:47):
I saw her said she is living. I was like,
that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
And she went crazy and she was so strong and yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Shout out to her. I say, if you, if you
if you have any context with put in good words.
I know a guy.

Speaker 4 (06:16):
I just saw her the other day.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yes, yeah, but so you know that that was dope.
And then you know, like I said, then even with
like your Broadway debut being fat Ham like and then
just even it just like getting the reception that it
hasn't you know, your personal connection with just kind of
like the story beats.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
Of it, like.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
As an actor jumping into this world and everything and
then being able to kind of jump into like these things,
but knowing your you know, your path that you went through,
those accolades, what did those mean to you?

Speaker 3 (06:51):
I mean, I'm always somebody who's kind of in the
moment that I'm in, so I can't really process the accolades.
Like when I had auditioned for fat Ham. I think
this was in twenty twenty one. It was my first
in person audition in two years because of the pandemic
we used to go you know in twenty nineteen, you good,
I live in you know, I live in the Bronx,

(07:12):
So I lived in Brooklyn.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
Back then.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
I would be going into town and like going to
auditions in person all the time, Like that was a practice.
I would get on the train, learn my lines and
go do that, and that's what.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
They trained you to do.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
And then we hit the pandemic, and now it's like
most of my auditions happened virtually in my house, and
so it was like, you want me to go in
a room and meet people and talk to them and
do this. So I was freaking out about it because
it had been so long, and I went in there
and I was just like, I'm here. I don't even
really you know. I liked this is set in the South.
I'm a Southern black woman, and I loved feeling like

(07:45):
this was a play that was, you know, from Shakespeare,
but was really centering the black experience. Like it's a
black barbecue. And this house looked like a house that
I grew up in in like North Carolina. It's like
one of those like ranch style houses, Like it was
very very specif but living in the moment that I
was in. Like we were still in rehearsals when that
play won the Pila Surprize, so we were like, oh shit, like.

Speaker 4 (08:10):
We gotta we gotta live up to the hype because
the play had.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Already had like a virtual production during the pandemic. They
had shot it as a film and aired it, and
so people had seen a version of it. This was
his first time being on its feet like live in performance.
So we were like, oh, so the play is already good, Like,
it's definitely good. We just got to make sure that
we do our job and for that to lead to

(08:34):
lead to a Broadway run.

Speaker 4 (08:36):
Also a big part of this experience is.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
That I'm a Newish mom.

Speaker 4 (08:40):
I'm still a new mom. I'm a new mom. I
have a three year old, he'll be three.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
And less and about a month, and I was I
was pregnant with him during the off Broadway run.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
We ended in time for me to go have him.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
I went down to Atlanta, had my child, and then
came back nine weeks later, like nine weeks postpartum, and
went into rehearsals for Broadway. I was pumping in between,
like I would exit, you know, my character came in
like about twenty five minutes, and I would pump before
I would go on stage.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
And then I had another exit.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
I would pump again and then I go back on stage,
and so then I would I Sometimes I would send
the milk in an uber up to my house so
that he would It was a crazy time. So when
I think about that period, I'm like less about like
Obie Award and the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony nomination,
Like getting to go to the Tony's was also amazing,
but like just this new my whole world had shifted,

(09:34):
like trying to keep a human being alive.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
I mean, just you know, just just something small like that,
you know, a little.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
Bit, it's just a whole whole human.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Right, But you know, yeah, that's that that definitely because
that's like really showcases And I'm a big advocate and
vocal person for black women in entertainment because there's a
lot of things like that that you guys have to
deal with and handle that that as a black man,
we generally don't.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
Have to handle, right.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
And I remember listening to a podcast with Kevi on
Stage and you know, he does this podcast with this
actress angel Aikida Moore, right, And one of the things
that he had a realization and I was like, man,
I didn't even think about that, is that when he
would start like thinking of things to do like content,
he would asks his male comedian parts, hey you're down,

(10:28):
you're down, You're down. But he would in his mind
not not purposely, but like kind of like already think
about Okay, well Angel has to worry about getting a babysitter,
she has to worry about her kids. And then he
had to even have a moment with himself where he
was like I got to stop that because he said that,
you know what, I don't do that for my male counterparts,
and you are just as important and I need you

(10:49):
on this. So I'm gonna just give you the opportunity
because as black women, you're going to figure it out,
just like I expect the male to figure it out, right,
And so when I hear stories like that, I'm just like,
that is proof right there, how much that you was
juggling and still putting on that amazing performance, like yeah,
chilling killing.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
I was like, I'm a superhero. I'm not a SEDI,
but I'm close.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
No, absolutely absolutely.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
So I know, like you said, you a lot of times,
you live in the moment. So what was your like,
oh my god, I can breathe moment.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
I mean a couple of moments happened. I took my son,
he was like, I don't know, I guess.

Speaker 4 (11:28):
He was about nine or ten weeks. I took him
on the train and his little douna down to Times
Square and I saw our marquee.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Down in Times Square and I was like, man, I
moved to this city on like the chin of us
and walked through Times Square hoping to, you know, have
this moment. And then I had a similar moment because
so the show that I'm on Crush with Tracy Morgan,
we I mean, that was an AHA moment, like the
fact that I got a phone call that from Tracy Morgan,
you know, from his team being like, yeah, give her

(11:58):
an offer.

Speaker 4 (11:59):
Like I I had not.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
Even met Tracy Morgan when I got that job. I
was like, oh, the next step is surely to meet him, chemistry, read,
opposite him, do all of those things. And he was like,
just give her an offer. So that was another moment
that I was like, Okay, I guess I'm I guess
I do this, you know, but I had Uh there's
a there's a there's a crutch like big banner over

(12:20):
the Disney Store where it's like a big old thing
and they zoom in my face is like really big
for a second and it's like big open the Disney
Store and then it backs out and then you see
the whole cast, and I was just like, that's crazy,
Like I can take my son downtown, which I did,
put him on my hip, and I was like.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
Look, Mama, is about the Disney Store.

Speaker 3 (12:39):
So there's like these little moments where I'm just like wow,
like I literally moved to this city. And there's a
part of the of the trip on the bus when
you when you're taken the bus from Atlanta for like
fourteen hours to get to New York and I packed
all my bags back in twenty and thirteen, where you're
coming into town, like you're coming in from like Queen's

(12:59):
or Jersey or wherever, and you can see the city
as you're coming in. And I saw it and I was like, man,
I'm coming to this city and I'm gonna do what
I do, Like I'm gonna figure this out.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
And so now to have these like moments where I'm like, oh.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
Like I I am, I am a talent in this city,
Like I represent the black talent that is working here,
that is creating here, that is producing and contributing to
what happens in this city.

Speaker 4 (13:24):
It means a lot to me, you know, especially as
I'm not from here.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
So right now and then said, you put like I said,
you did the works like you really with the words,
you know, and and that's the that's the one thing.
I mean, like even like way back in the day,
because I wanted to ask, like I said, I told
you I'm a researcher, and yeah, but I started, I started,
I started listening. I started, you know what I'm saying,
like just trying to like finding different nuggets and everything

(13:47):
like that.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
And I wanted to.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Know, did you still have like the script slash treatment
for the Insulted Detective? I?

Speaker 3 (14:00):
Oh, because it was all basically improv Okay. I had
like beats in my head and I had my friend
Lawncia to Larencia.

Speaker 4 (14:11):
She did and oh what was her name?

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (14:14):
I think her name was Anna, This sweet little girl
Anna and Lawrencia. They would get on the bus with
me and we would come home to my house and
we would go in my backyard and we would rehearse
different setups for things that could happen because they were
the so for context for the audience. I wrote this
sketch in the third grade just to get into the
talent show called The Insulted Detective.

Speaker 4 (14:37):
The Mystery of the Missing jewel and it was like
a comedy sketch.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
And so it's interesting that I'm now doing comedy professionally
because that's kind of where I started. And it was
about this detective who was looking for this jewel and
these two female thieves were sitting on a bench knowing
they had stolen the jewel, and so I would ask
them questions and they would rebuke me in different ways,
they would ignore me, and I would essentially just repeat

(15:01):
everything that would happen.

Speaker 4 (15:02):
So it was a simple setup and then like I
was like.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
Oh, they did this so and then people would laugh
and like I don't have that.

Speaker 4 (15:10):
I don't I wish I had a video of it.
I wish I had a script. I just know I
did it. And I remember the feeling of like.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
When I heard that story, I was like, oh, I
gotta ask her about this because I was like, that's
kind of like just full circle moments.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
I love a good full circle moment, you know.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
And then that was even before Star Wars. I didn't
even know that that was called acting. I was just
literally trying to get into Challenge show. I was like
I tried to play the piano. I sucked a piano.
I was like, all right, I gotta figure something. I
gotta get into talent shows.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
No, but see, but check this full circle moment.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
You said that that was all improv, and then you
talked about on this show, Crutch there was a lot
of improvisation moments that theater helped you get prepared for it.

Speaker 4 (15:52):
Yes, you know, so it was like, it's all full circle.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
And also we did a lot of improv with fat
Ham as well, which was like, because the lead of
the show, A fat Hand, Marcel Spears, is on the
neighborhood and I'm a spin and Crutches a spin off
of his show, so essentially we're TV cousins. So yeah,
but he like, he did a lot of improv and
he was so comfortable in that improvisational space. And even
though it was a play. James Imes, who wrote fat

(16:18):
Ham Politic Prize winning, he gave us some like approved
improvisations that we did that he would let us do
that aren't necessarily published, but he let us do. So
I was just like, oh, I'm really in this space.
But yeah, it was basically entirely like off the dome,
like we said it. But I was like, what if
she did this, like, what if you know it was devised?

Speaker 2 (16:39):
No, that's that's fire because it definitely sounds, you know, collaborative,
and I think that for me, for me as a
fan of comedy, as a fan of improv, as a
voice actor, like, I always love a good collaborative effort,
you know, because it helps build upon it helps makes
things bigger because you you know, a lot of times
we get locked into these characters and we see.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
It one way.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
Somebody else was like, wait a minute, I kind of
see this, and it's really good when it's collaborative and
it's not a shutdown.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Because it gets yeah with a crutch, you know, I
want to know.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
Like I said, you know, you got the call from
Tracy Morgan, so that's already like putting.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
You in a high level.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
First first day on set, like like not set but
like table read and got getting there and everything like that.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
How was that for you?

Speaker 4 (17:30):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (17:31):
It was such a momentous day. I was nervous because
I hadn't met everybody. You know, usually you've met everybody
through the process by the time you get to reading,
but this was my first time meeting everybody, and we
hadn't even gotten all of our cash. Yet there are
some people who are still being like solidified, like my kids.
I think we're we're on their way. They found braxt

(17:51):
and Finn, but I mean, I mean I met him
for the first time. But Tracy's so good at like
kind of making you feel welcome, like keep me a
bouquet of flowers.

Speaker 4 (18:01):
And he was like, he has his assistant named Lucas.
I love Lucas. He goes, Lucas, give up a flower
and I was like, thank you, Tracy. So I mean
he's just and also like Lucas is like, here you go.
These are from Tracy. I was like, oh, thank you.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
And then he had everybody over at his house like
that same week. So we had our table read and
we did like a couple of fittings and stuff, and
it was very low key. Both our showrunner and the
director of the pilot episode, Oscott and Owen Smith are
very tall.

Speaker 4 (18:33):
I'm only five to five.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
So I had pulled up to the to the read
through and like these two tall black men were like
towering over me and I was like, oh my god,
They're like hi, and I was like hi, because I
saw Owen on on on screen on on Zoom.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
We did essentially a callback over zoom before I.

Speaker 3 (18:51):
Got the call, and I had no I had no
awareness of how tall he was.

Speaker 4 (18:56):
So that happened.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
I remember how tall people were. I you know, it's
a it's a really momentous set. It's the same sound
stage that was used to shoot the Cosby Show.

Speaker 4 (19:05):
Yeah, out in Cleans, and so that was a really
cool thing.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
And also there was all these pictures from Sesame Street,
and I was like, this is like hallow ground for
some of the shows that I grew up on.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
So there were a lot of feelings.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
I you know, I was feeling nervous, but I was like,
I'm here because I'm supposed to be here. So that
was an ongoing process through this, through the entire season,
just me reminding myself. I get to be in a
room with Cedarthineer Tander, I get to be in a
room with Tracy Morgan.

Speaker 4 (19:30):
I get to be in a room with Tashena Arnold.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
I get to be in a room with Ken Fields,
Arsenio Hall, Dion Cole, like Adrian Martinez who plays Flaco Flacco,
Keisha Lewis, who's a Tony Award winner, Like I'm in
this room for a reason, and I get to be here,
and that was kind of a part of my.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
A part of my growth. I think through the experience
for sure.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
No, because that's like the through line to your like
your biopic.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
I'm here because I'm supposed to be here, because everything
that you're doing, it's always continuously proving that to you.
It's like one of those things that if you ever
have self doubt, you have those reminders that are happening
to you and it's like, no, I did the work.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
I'm supposed to be here.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
Stop.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
I'm not trying to you.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
I'm not trying to but I love my peoples, I
support my people, and I'm again I'm.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
Overly optimistic, you know.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
Like I said, even with this, like with me doing
this all by myself, like I tried to partner up
with people. I try to, like you know what I'm saying,
pitch myself to podcast networks and everything, and nobody's really
nobody really took so. But I was like, but I
still love the work that I'm doing. To me, the
purpose of my podcast and even just doing these interviews
is that we often have moments where somebody passes away

(20:43):
and they're like, oh man, I was such a fan
of that person.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
I wish I got a chance to tell them that.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
Or people are doing certain things that are dope, but
they don't really have that outlet to speak about it
because most podcasts are either negative talking about what men
should do and what women should do. And I said, yeah,
I want. I was like, for me, I want when
my viral clip happens, it's a viral clip of you
talking about a story like you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
Then talk to.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
Detective and people was like, oh, that is a great story,
Like I want that type of viral clip.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
I don't want.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
And also I want you to be happy about this interview.
I don't want you to be like a man I
did douce his interview and I ain't gonna promote that
because I said some stuff or he even got me
tripped up, like I don't that's not me.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
So you know when I still that's why people like
you so.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
Much, because I'm like, you need to know that your
work is definitely seen, loved and appreciate it. So you know, yeah,
so with the show Crutch and you know, with that
type of like you jumping back into like with the
sitcom world, and you know, we kind of straight away
from black sitcoms for a while and entertainment, but now

(21:43):
we're kind of getting back, We're seeing more shows.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
What do you take from this show?

Speaker 4 (21:49):
I hope they just have a good time. I feel
like we are in such a such a.

Speaker 5 (21:55):
We're in a like a nationwide sunken place, like we
are in the second place, and we are stuck, and
there's a way to get you know, you can get
on your phone and scroll through.

Speaker 4 (22:06):
And there's something to just cry about.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
There's just so many horrible things that you're like, oh
my heart is heavy.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
But this show, I feel like, is.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
A reminder that you can just like that. You know,
there's these intergenerational struggles. You know, there's this family there.
It's very Harlem, it's very black, it's very like down
to earth, and it's it's easy watching.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
So I was.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
Talking to my my health coach and she was like, yeah,
I was just watching it in bed and enjoying it.
I'm like, that's that's it's supposed to make you feel good.
It's not supposed to you know, beat you over the
head with anything politically, Like there's something to watch and
de stress, like I know, they say, like lower your
screen time, but like this is like it's like feel
good screen time. You can fall asleep, you can cook

(22:49):
a meal for your family while you listen.

Speaker 4 (22:51):
In and know what's going on. Like that's how The
Neighborhood made me feel.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
Like I'm a big fan of The neighborhoods Oh, you
have to be like, oh, we're doing a spin off
of my show that I actually watched, Like I felt
the way.

Speaker 4 (23:00):
I was also a big fan of Snowfall before I
worked on that show.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
But like I'm like, oh, it's such a good It
just makes you feel good and it's like it's family
and just and.

Speaker 4 (23:10):
It's it's old school in that way. Like I think
about UPN and WB and like all the Fresh Prince.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Like I think, if this show gets time to grow
and like you know back then, you would get like
a season of like twenty episodes. So I feel like
that family would get a would get a chance to
gel and like the humor would change and like people
could figure out what.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
The storylines are.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
We only got eight episodes for this first season, but
I'm like, if we get another season, like I feel
like we can kind of stretch and kind of find
all of the particles of like this family and you know,
so I just think I think that's what I want
people to take away from it. I think, you just
it just it should feel like home. It feels like
something that you've experienced. My character, Jamila has two kids

(23:50):
who are like nine and twelve, but she has to
move home with her dad. And I just think, you
know a lot of like my millennial, like you know, community,
we're all like.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
Girl, I'm about two checks away from having to go back.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
So expensive kind of the simbils are crazy, and so
I feel like it's nice to be, you know, playing
someone who has to kind of swallow her pride and
be like wow, like I'm at this moment in my
life and it's okay. I'm blessed to have a foundation
of family. Overbearing father Black Tracy Morgan, but he loves
me and I'm here, you know.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
So that's what I think is great, And that's you know,
that's what I love about black story shows because a
lot of the times it's easy for actors to be
able to tap into their own family because it's like,
oh yeah, this this feels familiar and everything you know,
you know, like you know, especially like you got to
think that there's certain beats that we got to hit, Like, Okay,
if we're doing the things giving episode, Oh, I can't

(24:45):
wait to do this episode because I already know we
got to bring these black or we're doing the summertime barbecue.
Oh bet, we got to make sure we, like you're
able to really put some input into this and everything
like that.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
Yes, exactly, we had a summertime barbecue, I think for
our final episode and they threw in this, uh, this
wonderful actress who plays like this black vegan and she
brings her veganlasigna and they're like, don't nobody want to
eat your vegan ASIGNI girl, it's a black cookout on
the roof.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
And but it's like these little things.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
I just had to start my podcast because we was
talking about we was doing like a blind ranking of
like Thanksgiving foods.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
Right.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
Yes, I'm a person, like I.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
Said, Thanksgiving, I don't think about anything but the food, right,
I'm just like I'm just.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
Eating, right.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
But a couple of my podcast hosts, they was like, oh,
that's too many cars, Oh, that's too many sweets, And
I was like, you know what I learned about you guys.
You guys think about your health way too much on
things Giving because to me, that's to me, that's a
free day.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
That's we ain't talking about health on Thanksgiving.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
I don't want no, I don't want the low car
version of anything on Thanksgiving.

Speaker 4 (25:48):
And I love, I love a little health. I'm on
my little health kick, you know.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
I'm working on my little good health and I'm doing
my little thing and getting my blood check and do.

Speaker 4 (25:55):
But on Thanksgiving, guess what I'm about to eat?

Speaker 3 (25:58):
Turkey, some mashed potato, mac and cheese, sweet tato pie.
I am a sweet potato pie connoisseur. My sweetato pie
is perfect. My grandmother gave me that recipe.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
She's still here and I and I make it and
mind challenges hers at this point.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
Oh that's big talk. That's big Talk's big talk, Grandma.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
I love you, big talk girl. But I don't know
if they can tell the difference between yours and mine.
That's all I got to say.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
It's like, Okay, I can't do everything, but I can.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
Do a sweet tato pie now, okay. So yeah, no,
that that's particular day.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
And I'm I'm particularly fond of Thanksgiving because I was
born on Thanksgiving.

Speaker 4 (26:35):
I was a Thanksgiving turkey, born on Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Well, happy early birthday every four years, I'm born on Thanksgiving.

Speaker 4 (26:43):
Every four years, my birthdays on Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 (26:45):
So and like I said, and you do all the
cooking or is it, you know, collaborative, which you should.

Speaker 4 (26:53):
Go home and contribute.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
But this year I'm I'm here, and so we're gonna
go to a cousin's house who throw down. I'm gonna
make my pie. I am getting a turkey donated from
this restaurant. So I'm gonna figure out how.

Speaker 4 (27:09):
To make it.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Oh okay, because.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
We bought a turkey last year and it was trash.
I was like, okay, I gotta figure out how.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
To make it right, right.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
So I'm gonna my friend. My friend has this two
day process with her turkey. She sent me the recipe,
so I'm gonna commit. I'm gonna lock in fall directions
make this turkey. My dad smokes turkeys, my uncle Fry's turkeys.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
I can't do all that. I have a New York
City apartment. But I'm gonna put it in the oven
and it's not gonna be dry.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
That's there. We go. So I do want to take
it back to Snowfall just one more second.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
In regards to I know that you are like I said,
like I say, you're a fan of the show.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
I talked about you know that big emergence in.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
It as a writer because listen here spoiler spoiler on
our spoiler alert, we already know what ended up happening.
But as a writer yourself, where would you take Tea's story.

Speaker 4 (28:03):
I was not happy with what they did with my character,
and I was mad because I'm a fan. I was like,
what do you mean.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
I'm sitting here watching season five and I'm not in it, Like,
what do you mean? So we know where she ends up,
and I'm like, I feel like there's opportunities for redemption.
I feel like there's opportunities for her to be like
because this is why. Because if you go back to
season two, there's a random scene where Franklin goes into

(28:30):
a bar and someone asked him about to Nase to
Nase was looking for you, and I was like, so,
why the hell would they mention my name like some
I'm a character in this neighborhood. I think because they
were planning to introduce my character in season three when
they cast the other actress, and then they ended up
waiting and doing it in season four when I was

(28:51):
able to do.

Speaker 4 (28:52):
It, which is what's for you is for you, So
that's great.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
But I was like this this woman. When I asked
about her, they were like, yeah, I think John Singleton,
you know, God rest his soul, imagined her to be
a kind of like mentor for.

Speaker 4 (29:07):
Franklin.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
That she was gonna be like somebody he knew from
the neighborhood who like had good business acumen but just
wasn't in the same business he was in, and like
an older woman that he could look up to and
kind of get himself together. So they needed to kind
of come She needed to come back because she had
bodies in her house.

Speaker 4 (29:26):
I mean, like she was prob.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
I feel like the next time we saw her, she
should have been in jail and looking for some support.
She should have figured out what happened with her brother,
you know what I mean, like because she did all
this to protect her little brother. So I just kind
of feel like there should have been like a we
should have met her at season five in her situation.
They rekindle, he saves her, They have a little moment

(29:48):
and then she becomes a.

Speaker 4 (29:49):
Part of the empire.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
That's what should have aspen.

Speaker 4 (29:52):
But then we just show up and season five, but
he got another girl pregnant. We don't even know who
she is.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
I was like, what the hell, Elly.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
And we see it didn't It didn't work out in
his favor, not at all.

Speaker 4 (30:06):
It was down She knew.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Him from a long time ago. So they should have
had like a you know, they had a moment when
they was younger. They had a moment here, and then
they kind of come back together.

Speaker 4 (30:13):
That's all. Great love stories have multiple circles.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
It definitely does. It definitely does.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
So it's been off on Gail and it's been off
on me.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
Hey, I'm with it. I'm with it also Gail.

Speaker 3 (30:25):
I feel like Gail, I feel like Wanda and Tanasa
have unfinished business.

Speaker 4 (30:28):
We didn't have scenes together.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
But like.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
I'm about to pitch that to the writers.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
Right in pitching season right.

Speaker 4 (30:36):
We were in a new show. Now It's the Night.
I think it's the Night now in the show.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Yeah, But I like to ask actors who played like
ros that have like as heavy of a tone as
he did, what did you learn about yourself playing that character?

Speaker 4 (30:50):
What did I learn about myself?

Speaker 3 (30:52):
Oh, I mean, I feel I feel so boring saying this,
But at that moment, I had not done a recur
on a TELEVI show before, so I was like, Oh,
this will be my first time really sustaining a character
over a season, not just like a guest star that
pops in.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
So it was like, Oh, I can do.

Speaker 6 (31:08):
This, you know.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
And I what I learned too is that I'm I'm
really paying attention to story that I know that my
place as an actor is to kind of, you know,
bring to life what is given to me. But I
have a producorial mind and I'm tracking and looking at
the whole thing.

Speaker 4 (31:26):
And I also learned really from Damns.

Speaker 3 (31:28):
And I watched him like he's he's got a director's mind,
you know, so he's already thinking about how things may
be cut together. And I was like, oh, I got
to start thinking like that. I've got to start seeing
how we can even you know, quick, get this coverage
so that we can do this. And so I watched
him do that, and I said, Oh, he's gonna be
a great director. He's going to be directing some stuff.
But I felt like I could see, like you said,

(31:50):
story points, so like I was catching little loopholes here
and there. I was like, oh, like there was something
that ended up getting rewritten at the last minute because
I was like, I have two phone calls with man boy,
but I say the same information, and the second time
I say it, I say it as if he had
we haven't already had a conversation. So me and the
show writer, Dave Andrew, and he's so gracious. I was like,

(32:11):
I kind of feel like I'm saying the same thing
twice because I'm giving him the information about Franklin and
what's going on with him, and I feel like he
already knows this in this episode by this point, and
he was like, dang, thank you for catching that.

Speaker 4 (32:23):
We're gonna call melboyn right now because he's about to
shoot that scene and he rewrote it.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
So it was like, oh, I kind of felt like
I was kind of I didn't mean to, but I
was like kind of, you know, entering the writer's kind
of liminal space. I'm an actor, but I'm seeing it
beat by beat and I have thoughts about things, and
I kind of feel this way too when I workshop
plays with wonderful, amazing, brilliant playwrights. It's like, I think
my gift is not only like lending my voice, but
I'm also thinking from a story perspective. I'm like, okay,

(32:49):
not that I'm inside of this person, does this story
be make sense?

Speaker 7 (32:53):
It's a similar thing happened with back him as well.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
I think when we did the show on off Broadway,
my character originally when I first read it.

Speaker 4 (33:02):
She didn't even come out.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
Oh, ultimately comes out during the play as queer, and
in the draft that needs we were when she does
come out. But then I was like, you know, this
play is about soft this is about queerness. It's about
black men being comfortable to say I.

Speaker 4 (33:16):
Love you and you know, feel all those things.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
But you have this female character who never gets to
express that either, and I think softness is.

Speaker 7 (33:23):
An important part of her as well.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
And then we did it on Broadway.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
James Iams added some language for Opal where she gets
to share why she loves women, and what she says
is they bloom, women bloom, and they're so beautiful and
I feel like we're like I can't remember the line,
it was so beautiful, Like we're we're on the other
ends of each other's galaxy.

Speaker 4 (33:45):
It was this most beautiful language.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
It's a simple line that he added, but it was like,
this one moment for Oval, who kind of has this kind.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
Of rough exterior because she's.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
Queer and her mom's making her wear this pink dress
and she's not happy and she's frustrated. But in this
one moment with you see the lead of the show,
she gets to say why she loves women.

Speaker 4 (34:03):
And I was like, James's like, well.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
I felt like I needed to add that because of
what you were saying about Opal, And I feel like
that's my gift, is that I'm an actor, but I'm
hearing things from a writer's mind, right, and I and
I and I'm I'm whiggling in there being.

Speaker 4 (34:19):
Like not here to change anything, but here's.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
What I'm feeling like I'm running up against, and here's
what I think the character wants.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
You know, I'm a conduit. This is what the character wants. So, yeah,
I forgot the question, but that's what I started talking about.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
No, but here's the thing that kind of answers one
of the questions that I had.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Because you often refer to yourself as an artist versus
you know, versus like an actor or a creator.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
Or anything like you you and to me an artist,
and even right when.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
You and I asked you like like your moment of
those recognizing those accolades, you said, no, you was kind
of in the moment. To me, you like it as
a person that when you need a character or you're
a part of a project, you just live in the
moment like you're in the moment, like you're in that world.
And so the reason why you're so aware and able

(35:08):
to add those bits and add those you know, those
punch ups, is because you're in that world. You're like,
wait a minute, what makes sense? What is how does this?
How does this track?

Speaker 1 (35:17):
Does this?

Speaker 6 (35:18):
Like?

Speaker 2 (35:18):
As an audience as a writer, who's gonna you know,
connect to that? And so that that is, to me
is one of the things that again why you're here,
because you're supposed to be here.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
They do that, they needed.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
You're very insightful.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
I love I love this world. The one thing.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
That I absolutely love about the culture is that it's
still embedded in black culture. Mike still rock dumps or
Jordan's and they also talked about Batman first Superman.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Batman and super Superman is literally brown first organ.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
Dragon ball Z that like my whole trajectory and life change.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
Don't nobody talk to me. My shit is on. We've
just been experiencing it looked like it's gonna be real
neat the elevation from where King Vader started to.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
Now Black geek culture helped me through some of the
highs in my life, through some of the loves of
my life.

Speaker 3 (36:19):
It's always been there, sort of like an undercurrent to
everything I did.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
There was no term for it, there was no it
was just this is what I'm doing. I love us
in it. I love the fact.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
That we take things and we always make it better. Hey, everybody,
just a real quick message. So unfortunately, at this part
of the interview, the audio starts to get crazy jumbled,
and it's not our fault. It was just during the
recording process.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
But the conversation was so good that we decided to
keep it in.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
So I do think everybody who sticks with us through
the end, and I promise you we will bring Adriana
back to continue our conversation. One that the Decepticons don't
mess up, because listen here, they was trying to stop
all that manifestation.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
That were putting into this episode.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
So again, man for all those who's stuck through to
the end or who's going to stick through through the end.
I appreciate you, and I do apologize for this audio.

Speaker 4 (37:19):
But let's go.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
I'm again, I'm a visionary myself, right, Like every like
I said, I'm gonna let you know, every interview I do,
I'm like, oh, this is going to be the one
that goes because I'd be like, oh, people, people gonna
see this, they gonna they're gonna attack to this and everything.
And then, like I said, I'm also a person that
likes to connect dots, right, So speaking of connecting knots.
Learned that you played the viola for a while, right, yep?

(37:44):
Are you familiar with Margaret Bonds?

Speaker 4 (37:48):
And why who is that?

Speaker 6 (37:49):
All?

Speaker 1 (37:50):
Right?

Speaker 2 (37:50):
So she's a composer from Chicago, right, She worked with
Langston Hughes, that a lot of Negro spirituals and everything
like that. She played the piano, but she Will also
played the viola. She Will is one of the first
African American women to play with an all white band,
one of the first African Americans to be played on
the European radio station. I believed, Yep, Margaret Bond, I

(38:12):
believe if they ever do a biopic.

Speaker 1 (38:15):
You already got the viola skill sets that would be
perfect to do that.

Speaker 2 (38:22):
I'm a connected person and that's why I was like
when I heard that, I said, ooh, I.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Think that this would be something to manifest.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
I received that child. How do you feel her last name?

Speaker 1 (38:34):
I need right now, Hans v O n ds.

Speaker 4 (38:37):
A bonds here it is.

Speaker 6 (38:38):
I found her.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
She she she has she She's done some amazing work
in that classical sense. And I think that, like I said,
once I learned that, I'm like, oh, let me let
me put that in the air.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
For you might need to grab some rights or on this.
There's a book about her or something very cool. And
now I have to take private lessons because I played
in very public school settings, so I got to I
got to be as good as one gets in a
classroom of seventy kids.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
Okay, I was like.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
It's time to take private lessons.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
And I have it in my closet because I've been
meaning to get new strings and just practice again. So
it's been a while, but I've all you know, I
loved music as well. I used to write songs as
a kid. I did a lot of stuff children. The
child version of you really answers a lot of questions
for you. You know, I think your child self knows
who you are, and then you kind of go through

(39:32):
the world and learn what society expects of you, and
so you kind of get like, oh, I gotta make money,
I gotta go to school, I gotta do all these things.
But like I you know, I think I think children
always know.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
Children always know. Do you have like a dream role
like your white Well, I mean my dream.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
Role if I were thinking about film and television is
if they were to do a sequel to Woman King.

Speaker 4 (39:58):
I would yeah to be in that because you haven't
want that. And I was like, why am I not friends?

Speaker 1 (40:09):
Because you haven't really got to show off your action
chops yet, have you.

Speaker 4 (40:11):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (40:12):
No, man, I I'm trying to tell you. Like in
twenty twenty, I was lean when I was doing Snowfall.
I was working out six days a week.

Speaker 4 (40:18):
I was lean.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
I remember Aman Joseph was like you like you ready
to push somebody in the face and.

Speaker 4 (40:22):
Said, because I am, I'm like I can do it.
I can do it now.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
I've had a baby and I got you know, I
gotta work my way back. But you know, I I
Woman King was so incredible to me.

Speaker 4 (40:34):
It blew me away.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
It was another one of those Star Wars moments because
I was like, Okay, you've seen Star Wars, but like
I haven't seen like I guess Black Panther was that
moment for me, but there was something about Woman King. Yeah,
that was like a second coming of Star Wars for me.

Speaker 4 (40:48):
I was like, oh my God, like that would be
a dream.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
You know what Woman King for me?

Speaker 2 (40:54):
Is that because like I love Black Panther, you know, like,
like I said, Black Panther is really the reason for
the birth of my podcast. My me actually doing this
because when Black Panther came out. So I'm a hip
hop I love hip hop, and I love these geek
shit like you know they comic books, video games, all
that graphic novels. Right if I don't know if you remember,

(41:15):
but the very very first commercial for Black Panther, it
had run the Jewels on the audio of the commercial,
And I would watch all these podcasts Deep Dive about
Black Panther and Marveling MTU, but nobody was highlighting the
fact that this grassroot hip hop group, you know, with
Killer Mike, It's all Disney's Marvel's first black superhero led

(41:38):
like and I said, that's what I want to bring.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
I want to bring the barbership.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
I want to talk about the importance of hip hop
culture and geek culture and that emergence.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
Right.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
So I fell in love with the Dormalaja And when
I saw Woman King, I said, that is the inspiration.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
That's where they got it from.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
Because the dorm laj is such that that that having
a a team of warriors and all women that are
the front line to protect the whole country. And then
you see Woman King and you're just like, oh, you
see that uprising, you see how powerful a whole like, yeah,
that that It just mirrored together and I loved it so.

Speaker 4 (42:14):
Much amazing, and I think I realized that too. I
was like, Oh, this kind of.

Speaker 3 (42:18):
Fictional female warrior domlage in Black Panther was actually based
on the people that the Woman King film was about.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
Oh man, So that would be my dream film role.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
My dream television role would be would be to be
on Severans, Oh.

Speaker 4 (42:36):
Because that is my show. Okay, I'm telling you.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
That was the most recent show that I had a
time deployment. I had the baby down, I had the
house shut down and at midnight with the episode dram
on Apple TV Plus, I was watching that show that
is a good show. I ran into I actually ran
into Oh my god. Ben Steler was on port side
when I went to go the Knicks, and I ran

(43:02):
over to him like a schoolgirl and I was like,
I love. I was like, I didn't even tell my name.
My pastmate Adrian Martinez, who was in season two, was
like there and I was like, yo, Tramell Tillman is
like my big brother. Like we went to the same
like theater, theater, like conservatory.

Speaker 4 (43:21):
Like I just told him. I was like he was like, oh, yeah,
nice to meet you. And I was like, nice to
meet you too.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
So seven would be my other my TV dream role,
my theater dream role.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
Oh there's a couple.

Speaker 4 (43:35):
So one would be playing interesting enough Viola in Twelfth Night.
I gotta do that.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
The other theater role would be a thing that I've
actually done with my best friend already, but we want
to do a full production. There's a show called top
Dog Underdog written by Susan loryd Parks and won the
Pulitza for Drama in nineteen ninety nineteen ninety something. It's
about brothers. It's a story about brothers. But it's a
brilliant play. It's perfect from top to bottom, and it's

(44:04):
really about family and power struggles and all these other things.
And so me and my best friend, another black woman,
like loved this play so much that we used to
read it in our room because we used to live
and live together.

Speaker 4 (44:16):
And we did a.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
Version of it in school where we played Lincoln and Booth.
These brothers are called Lincoln and Booth.

Speaker 4 (44:21):
Have you read this play? You would love this play?

Speaker 1 (44:23):
Not yet, but.

Speaker 4 (44:26):
It is two black men named Lincoln and Booth.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
Okay, so think about don.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
Willis Booth and Abraham Lincoln, but two black men who
live in a roominghouse together, and like just like the
fate of their names and also all the different things
that happens.

Speaker 4 (44:40):
It's comedy, it's drama, it's it's it's a perfect play
in my opinion.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
But it was written by a black woman's Glory Parks,
And so we were like, well, it's interesting that people
always challenge and Luria Park's about this play, like how
did you come up with these two black male characters
when you're a woman. And I was like I feel
like she's a conduit and like she tapped into this thing.
But I also feel like we're conduits and we love
this place so much. We're just gonna play these brothers.

(45:04):
So we did a production of it in school, and
then we just did a production of it up in Boston,
Massachusetts area, and we did it really a short, kind
of trunketed thing. So my dream would to do that
full out, full budget. My other dream is a play.

Speaker 4 (45:19):
That is coming out.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
And so I'm speaking and manifesting on here because this
feels like a manifesting space absolutely, and you suld check
it with me.

Speaker 4 (45:27):
If it happens, and we can do this again and
then we can celebrate.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
So the amazing black female director, her name is Whitney White.

Speaker 4 (45:34):
We work together one time in twenty twenty one.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
She is directing carry Out, who was the first two
Timey Award winning actress.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
She's been nominated for Tony four times in a row.

Speaker 7 (45:46):
She's amazing.

Speaker 3 (45:47):
Contempt, Pary of Mind, and Carrie carry Up, Carry Washington
are all going to be in the blogs bival. So
Whippie she started, she did a one woman show. She
put all these different characters. It was just her, and
that's how she blew up and got you know, the game,
we'll we'll be go over. So now they're taking both

(46:09):
my locks and actually creating a show.

Speaker 4 (46:11):
I don't think they're changing the show, but they're.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
Just letting a cast of female actresses play all these
different characters. So carries it, carries in it and white directing,
and I feel like I should be in it too.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Right right, It's like it's it's it only makes sense.
It only makes sense.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
So summer twenty six I expect to be in there,
and when it comes out, please.

Speaker 4 (46:37):
Let's talk about it, because I said.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
It here first, absolutely absolutely all right, So I got
one more question and then we're going to get into
some fun questions and then I'll get you out of here.
Whatever happened to the Don't Act Broke podcasts? That that
premise sounded amazing?

Speaker 7 (46:55):
Bye you.

Speaker 4 (47:01):
I'm going to tell my.

Speaker 7 (47:01):
Husband that because that was something that we started the.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
Pandemic and we haven't continued it because well, we we
planed a wedding, we had a baby, we started a
phooting a booth business which we have called Black After
Phone Booth Company.

Speaker 7 (47:15):
We did a lot of stuff, so those are those
are a.

Speaker 3 (47:18):
Lot of we have a couple of babies that are
kind of just so incubating.

Speaker 7 (47:24):
We got to get back to that. Yeah, I mean
I was part of what I wanted.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
To start that as I feel like there were a
lot of money questions that you don't even get to
broach or just steps because you're trying so hard just
to book and work, Like I just want to get
to place for people are even paying me at all.
But then once you get to that place, you're like, oh, heang,
like fifty percent of.

Speaker 7 (47:44):
My income goes to taxes, my agent, my manager, So
how much am I really making?

Speaker 4 (47:52):
Like how?

Speaker 3 (47:52):
And I think Taraji talked about it too, which she
was very frank about like the cost of being a
Taraji like.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
You are expected.

Speaker 3 (48:02):
Parents that I look at way that all costs money.
I'm a businessman if you have an account, so like
all those things. And I also learning about incorporating and
how like certain networks want to you know, want you
to be you know, an X corp.

Speaker 7 (48:15):
If you're you want to be able to write off
the business expenses like these little granular things that like in.

Speaker 8 (48:21):
The pandemic, I was like, man, I shouldn't have a
lot of money, but I was paid like an employee
on a W two and so I was overtaxed and
now got a way for them to give it back
to me.

Speaker 7 (48:31):
Like those things I think after.

Speaker 3 (48:33):
We get caught across theirs because we're we are really
contract workers. I only worked for CBS for two months
at best or six days or whatever, but we're paid
like we're employees, but we're not.

Speaker 7 (48:46):
So it's just and I don't think there's there's a
lot of them. I don't know. I think we need
I'm sure the union's lobby on our they need.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
To do better.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
There's a lot of things that I just they don't
cover the giddy economy really after our part of the economy,
no one's taking jobs and staying with a company for
twenty years years need more.

Speaker 4 (49:06):
So I just think that the texts that.

Speaker 7 (49:08):
All of things need to be explained in school.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
And you know, but I'm not an expert, so I
think I probably got black.

Speaker 6 (49:15):
Probably should just interviewed experts.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
I should have did, But but you know, it's it's
more so.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
The experience, like you know, like you are in it,
and so we're just more so like if we can
learn just from hearing your stories, the people that you
talk to, you know, if you're bringing in other actors
to tell their stories and just kind of talk about
you know that, because you gotta think as black people,
we are inherently creative and and like you know, big goals.

(49:44):
Oh I can do this, I can do that. We're
often not taught that financial literacy priest that goes with
our dreams and our aspirations. So being able to talk
to somebody who's in it, or talk to somebody who yeah,
you might like you might not be the expert, but
you know something that you learned, and it's really just
really just you know what I'm saying, given like you
know how black people do.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
Like I'm gonna put you on.

Speaker 2 (50:05):
You're like I said, you know, when you first get
a job, somebody walking through orientation.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
All right, let me tell you how this job really
is though, that's what it is exactly.

Speaker 6 (50:17):
No.

Speaker 7 (50:18):
I love that.

Speaker 4 (50:18):
I think it's right even just talking about the experience.

Speaker 1 (50:22):
Yeah, all right, let's get it.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
So let's get into some fun topics. So we we
did talk about you being a blurred and I know
that you're a star wars head. What else did you
nerd out about oh card captain.

Speaker 7 (50:37):
The last I am a die hard.

Speaker 4 (50:43):
Soccer.

Speaker 7 (50:44):
Uh god, so love that shoe.

Speaker 4 (50:48):
What else do I say?

Speaker 1 (50:49):
The food?

Speaker 4 (50:50):
Oh my god, the food. I don't know why that
as I come up yet.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
Save the mood is like siminol for me, like you
both we got like Star Wars.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Oh okay, I speed down.

Speaker 7 (51:03):
You don't find sale homes and start at the color green.
I don't keep up with all the news, the old
ones her I loved her. I made.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
I used to cut out pictures of her, and I
made like a collage for like a vision board with
all the sam scouts on it. I had all the
manga I had. I started. I watched all of Sammer
Moon's episodes in English. But then you know they were
serious the whole season that they never done English because
they had like trans characters and like queerers, so they

(51:38):
didn't know how to figure out how to make that American.

Speaker 4 (51:40):
I guess I don't know why.

Speaker 7 (51:42):
So I back in.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
The day before they took took everything down, I found
them in Jack and Jack Japanese and watched them with
the subtitles, and then I realized, I was like, damn,
Like the story is so much more expansive than the
way they cut and screwed it down for English. That's
what they're saying, all that you cut whole parts of
the episodes out, that we're more interesting if you left

(52:05):
them in, and then they did some weird stuff.

Speaker 7 (52:08):
I was like, the dumbing process is horrible. Like it's amazing,
Like there's a.

Speaker 3 (52:14):
Whole season five that I would have never foresee it
if I hadn't.

Speaker 7 (52:17):
Watched it with so got down in college.

Speaker 3 (52:21):
I was like, oh my god, there's the food I've
never seen so car capture the books.

Speaker 7 (52:28):
I didn't watch the cartoons.

Speaker 4 (52:31):
After what else I heard about Shakespeare?

Speaker 7 (52:35):
I like Shakespeare.

Speaker 3 (52:36):
I don't know everything but the ones I know I know,
mm hmm, trying to think about what else I don't.

Speaker 1 (52:43):
I know.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
The anime community would be happy with you with what
you just said, because you know, it's the big debate
over DUB versus SUB.

Speaker 1 (52:49):
That's the all. That's always the big debate.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
And the fact that you that you enjoy SUB like
something Because me I end up watching well, not so
much no more.

Speaker 1 (52:59):
But when my daughter would young.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
Because she she said it was too hard for her
to read along, I would end up watching shows twice.
I would watch it in sub for me, and then
I would watch it in DUB with her. You know,
now that she's old enough, she know she watches her
own anime on her own time. So I watch a
lot more Sub, but you know dub. Like I said,
I enjoy both. But I agree, there's a lot that's
always left on that floor.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
Music and the.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
Way they produced it, and how do you remember it,
Like the music is completely different.

Speaker 7 (53:25):
And stuff like it's a little love, it's a little different.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
I love just getting the whole story.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
Yea, and not getting the Now.

Speaker 2 (53:39):
Is voice acting in your future? Is that something that
you would want to jump into.

Speaker 7 (53:44):
I would love to do that.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
I would love to do that was part of it,
So then I think.

Speaker 6 (53:49):
I wanted to do it.

Speaker 7 (53:50):
Just hasn't happened yet.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
You're a voice actor, right, Yeah, I do.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
I do the I do Watch Mojo and then I'm
just I'm one of the first black narrators on Watch
Mojo and and like I said, I'm just, I'm out
here auditioning trying to get a couple of roles. I
just did this this production. It's an audio drama podcast.
So the story of ignitis so I did that. I
got to do work with a dialect coach, which is crazy.

(54:16):
I was like, man, I had to do a Sudanese accent.
But yeah, man, it's one of those things that But
here's the thing, how you're like, you're interested in voice acting.
As I've been doing more voice acting and everything like that,
I've been getting.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
Interest in theater.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
It's like it to me because I get to play
around with my voice and everything and trying to be
And my journey into voice acting was because I'm a researcher.
I started interviewing voice actors and I realized I got
all the stuff that they have at my studio here.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
So I was like, well, let me give my shot,
you know, during the pandemic.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
And then I started going to different classes doing and
everything kind of get familiar with it, and I realized like, oh,
voice acting ain't just all right voice acting like you're
literally acting it out and doing everything. And so that
was where I became. I was like, I want to,
I want to. I want to stretch myself and get
into theater as well. Now because I've been interviewing a

(55:10):
lot of you, you know, I think.

Speaker 6 (55:12):
It's the true actor's media.

Speaker 3 (55:14):
I think everything else is impacted by someone in some way,
you know, in field them in television and even in
voice of raping, someone's editing, Like they get to choose
what people get to experience from your performance. And I
feel like acting you on stage, you rehearse it so
people have control room, you know, the rehearsal process.

Speaker 6 (55:33):
But once you open and the show was locked, your
job is over. Your time is over. You know, the
same thing.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
Don't give you a couple of notes about okay, that
a little loll y'all added like five minutes of the
show today, but you know, stuff like that.

Speaker 6 (55:46):
You've got to say your lines. But like the show
will grow.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
With you because if from start to finish, ain't nobody
gonna cut.

Speaker 6 (55:53):
You just get to run with it, you know. I
mean it's so freeing that way. Like once you get
to that, get past.

Speaker 3 (55:59):
All the learning a lot I ain't wearing, the blocking,
integrating all that, justifying all that, and then you know,
getting into your flow.

Speaker 6 (56:07):
Once you're in your flow, it's the best thing. It's
so funny.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
Yeah, all right, So I so top five from you.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
It doesn't it does not have to be in order,
but I need top five influences for you.

Speaker 6 (56:21):
Top five influences, five influences.

Speaker 7 (56:29):
Grandparents.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
I feel like, oh, the Star Wars, amazing movie and
television shows, things like that, nature moving up there.

Speaker 4 (56:42):
And I told you.

Speaker 9 (56:46):
Influence influences, Yeah, what are they? Some some some some movie.

Speaker 3 (56:56):
Scores, Hon Zimmer would be another one. I love all
the movies scores, my conception and uh, yes, what's the
other movie, the space movie, the Nolan.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Movie, Oh Space, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
Yeah, Interteller, So that's in their music.

Speaker 4 (57:15):
Music movie scores are in their influences. Influences. My teachers
at ATT.

Speaker 3 (57:23):
I had really great teachers in graduate school, Jeffrey Crockett,
Stephen Bisher.

Speaker 4 (57:30):
There are people who really.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
Nancy Benjamin, who really like poured into me and helped
me kind of find myself and find how I move
as as a performer.

Speaker 4 (57:40):
I would put them in there as well. I don't
know how many that is.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
That was fine, all right. So we have a segment
called geek set Hypotheticals.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
So I need to ask you robot apocalypse, zombie apocalypse,
or alien apocalypse.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
Which one do you believe you could survive the longest?
Robot apocalypse nobody apocalypse?

Speaker 4 (58:02):
Yeah, yeah, robots are just robots. I can get around that.

Speaker 1 (58:06):
What if it's the terminator.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
The robots they're made from whatever we make them into,
and I can get.

Speaker 6 (58:13):
Past the robot.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
I do want to say again, this has been an amazing,
amazing interview. Even though that they was trying to they
was trying to block us, but they ain't to day
and can failed. We're gonna get We're gonna make sure.
We're gonna make sure we get this out. But again,
like I said, I just need to need you to
you know, like we appreciate you. We we're we're going
to be tapped in for we're gonna be speeding in.

(58:35):
We're gonna be all the time they have to deal
with and.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
For anything that comes out. We got support us from
us over here.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
We're gonna continue to support and continue to be loud
about even a Mitchell.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
We're gonna be all your accomplishments. Okay, it was.

Speaker 6 (58:54):
Such a pleasure to talk to you.

Speaker 3 (58:55):
It's really nice Richard people.

Speaker 6 (59:02):
What a good time. You know what?

Speaker 1 (59:07):
No, No, that's that's what I'm here for. That's what
I do.

Speaker 2 (59:09):
And as always, man, this is the only podcast that
Geek Coaching together.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
I've been your boy Deuces.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
This has been the amazing talented Adrian and we're out.

Speaker 1 (59:31):
I mean, what the were talking about here?

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Fridays we are talking a brand new show bringing you
hilarious commentary about black characters like Goofy.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
And the whole the whole game. We all know that black,
they've been nigga. You said, Pete Black, he Uncle Ruki, Yeah,
Pete Black of.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
The cartoon Intro Dark Queen.

Speaker 9 (59:52):
Nobody gonna join you.

Speaker 1 (59:54):
You gotta have around the anime Drip and Jose our Adventure.
What I'm talking about it. I want to be able
to add my post. I want to throw it in
there game nights.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
I feel like Twister is gonna get people in some
positions that they don't need to be on.

Speaker 1 (01:00:09):
That's an HR nightmare. It's a lawsuit and have video
games would have to be a two K Hey sometimes
sometimes two K Man and more. Brought to you by
Geek Set featuring du.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
Card, Did Trippy and King Tune in Fridays only on YouTube.

Speaker 1 (01:00:29):
I mean, what the fuck were talking about here,

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Adrianna Mitchell talks CRUTCH w/Tracy Morgan, Snowfall & more | S8 E11 | 1 on 1's w/Deuces

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Adrianna Mitchell talks CRUTCH w/Tracy Morgan, Snowfall & more | S8 E11 | 1 on 1's w/Deuces