Orlando Jones talks his record label, #MadTV, #AmericanGodds more | S8 E14 | 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 podcasts only podcasts that blind hip hop culture
and geek coature together. I'm your boy, Duces and this
is one on one with Deuces, the place where I
speak with creators, curators.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
And people that you should know and listen to.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
If you are a fan of my podcast, you know
I sing the praises of not only this guy, but
the things that he's been a part of for a while.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
I am a Mad TV evangelist.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
I'm champion it and I and I and I've told
talk to a lot of people from Mad TV, but
I always talk about, Hey, go back and watch those shows,
go back and watch those episodes. But I have the
one and only. I got Mobile Alabama's finest. I have
a speaker of the culture. I have a writer, director, producer, actor, comedian,

(01:18):
any hat that you can think of, he possibly wore it.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
I have the one only Orlando Jones. Man, how are you?
How are you doing? My brother? I'm good man, I
am so. I am so excited man. And like I said,
I so.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
My platform is all about giving people their flowers while
they can smell it. But also just having really dope
interesting conversations. But bro, I legit love Mad TV. I
had the pleasure to speak with some of your your peers,
you know, Deborah Wilson, Phil Lamar, like these are.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
You know and you guys was so pivotal to the
point like.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
For me, I was I will I'll rolle to the
wills fell off until it ended, I was saying Mad
TV over Saturday Live until the wills. I just want
to say, man, thank you for everything that you have
given to this culture.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Everything that you have given is comedic.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Wise, dramatic wise, acting and just being a voice because
when you speak, I need you to know. I know
you know, but I need you to know from my
from my voice, we listen. We listen and we pay
attention and we move with a purpose when you speak,
because you often are speaking on our behalf. So I
just want to say thank you.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
Oh that's that's mad love, man crazy, That's that's a
lot of responsibility right there. I always you know, I
try and speak for myself, but you know, I just
feel like if you're not trying to at least put
some voice to some folks who don't look like you.
While standing ten toes for the ones that do. I

(02:48):
don't know what you're really doing out here, right.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
You're right? You know, so like I said, you your start,
like in your.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Career has been an amazing journey because you know, you
got a lot of writing credits and things that mean
so important to the culture, you know, writing on things
like rock and a different world, and it's just like
it's one of those things. Was just like whoa like yo,
you you shaped so many people's childhood, family experience and everything,
and I just wanted to get Like, as a writer,

(03:17):
when you approach a project, I just always interested what
is the first thing that you think about when you
approach a project as a writer or a producer?

Speaker 1 (03:27):
I mean, for hold on now or then? You know
what I mean? Oh, is this such different points in
my career, Like we're talking about.

Speaker 4 (03:35):
Like the early nineties when I was writing The Pallet
of Martin and you know, the different world and all
types of stuff or now.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
So yeah, let's start by let's start, let's start then. Yeah,
what was where? Where was where was young Orlando's mindset
at that? And what was your starting point with that?

Speaker 4 (03:49):
I mean, my my first job, you know, aside from
I started my ad agency when I was eighteen. But
my first job job in Hollywood was was writing on
a Different World. So and you know, obviously huge opportunity,
uh you know at the time. I mean, uh so
that was get a job was my mand set at

(04:09):
that at that point, Uh, get that particular job. And
that worked out, and when Susan Fails and Deborah all
hired me. And then you know, I think by the
time we got to Martin and writing that pilot, I
think there was just nothing on that was about young

(04:31):
you know, black folk who was in love.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
And you know, it was.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
The Honeymooners, which was a show I you know, always
loved Jackie Gleeson back in the day.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
So I was always like, how come you know, there's
never been one?

Speaker 4 (04:44):
And and and that was that was really the purpose
of that, was wanting to do that type of content,
you know what I mean. And and then I think,
you know, for Simbad's show and getting that off the ground.
You know, Simbad has sort of been this clean comedian
and I actually.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
Wrote him off of a Different World. That was my
first produced episode.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Oh man.

Speaker 4 (05:03):
So it was crazy, right because you know, he was
going on to greener Pastors and then I ended up
producing his show, so, you know, completely different experience. And
you know, after that, I wanted to try something different,
and we went and launched what y'all know, i'll call
reality Television. And that was me and Jeff Probes and

(05:24):
Karen Bryant and Phil Cogan from Amazing Race and Tom
Burjereron and.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
You know what.

Speaker 4 (05:30):
That was us kind of doing that and then reality
blew up and I didn't want to do that, so
I went and did mat TV. So I mean, for me,
it's been you know, I've had a chance to do
a lot of different stuff. You know, obviously starting off
behind the scenes, my perspective is a little different than
you know, folks who had to come through it in

(05:52):
front of the camera only, right, So I kind of
see it very differently. I think I always have, just
because you know, I came up as a writer producer,
so I wasn't I was in the room listening to
the conversations about actors. Yeah, so by the time I
was on the other side of the camera, I'm like,
I know exactly what y'all think of actors.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
But you know, we didn't play this game.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
If you want to, you know, I don't care, you know,
but I just from being on the other side, you
just kind of know.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
How all the things work. If that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
No, it definitely does.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
You can tell because you know, I'm a researcher at heart, right,
and so I like to see like a lot of
behind the scenes and uh, just even just kind of
just understanding the process of creating, right and like, so
a couple of things that I was able to identify
just even to seeing some of your work. One, like
I said, when you're in it, like I said, you
are all in you're also the ball of light. Like

(06:45):
you it seemed like you attract you know, the fund,
like you bring the fund to the set while not
distracting everybody from the work that they have to do.
And I said, and that's always important. I feel like,
you know, you make a lot of people feel comfortable
and uh. And so it's like it's one of those
things like, yeah, as somebody like you who knows how
to be behind the scene and it also knows how

(07:06):
to be in front of that camera, you can tell
that you are that person that you know, somebody who
might be a little bit nervous, might lean on or
somebody who you know who's a little bit seasoned will
respect your POV because you wore all those hats, and
again it shows in a lot of your performances as well.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
I just try and you know, be what I would
have hoped.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
I would have you know that anybody would experience a
good experience, right, because everybody's work elevates when everybody's comfortable,
you know what I mean. So if you can create
a space where all of the artists can be comfortable,
then you can really consistently do great work irrespective of
what's going on because you've been able to create an

(07:48):
environment where people can do their best work.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Right.

Speaker 4 (07:52):
It's just often so competitive and you know and petty
that you know, people don't care about that. But I'm
a coach's kid, So for me, how the team rides
is how I ride, So I try.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
For me, that's the whole thing, right.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
Art Art is communication, That's that's what it really is.
So you know, if your communication while creating your art
is foul, then you know, yeah, by and large, the
our art, the art is often then foul or it
doesn't stick around and you don't have no stay in power.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Right, they can be.

Speaker 4 (08:26):
There for the moment and blad blad blad, but people
don't go back to it over and over again because
you know, why would.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
You, you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, And I love how you all, you know, you
always respect to the art because like even with you know,
your record label that you're you know, you created GSR,
like I said.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
You you you often.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
Refer to the artists and what they're working on as
like you said, you said you're a rebel. You said,
you're not trying to step in, so you allow them
to flourish. You allow them to create their art, and
you know, and that's what you want to see.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
You want to see that growth.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
So I want to get into GSR a little bit
because you know, the story of even the inception of it,
of you just kind of having its collective of this
a library of work that you was working on and
you're trying to figure out, Okay, what's my best way
to put this art out to the world, only to
kind of kind of stumble into a whole situation, so
you know, right, And so you know, tell me for

(09:21):
those who don't know, tell me about Gangster Rock Records.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Gang Star Rock Records.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
Yeah, Gangster Rock was you know, I had gangster rock
back in the day. I think two thousand and five
or so, I started playing with you know, just wanting to.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
Do a live funk rock, rap punk record kind of thing.

Speaker 4 (09:46):
And you know, and by virtue of my friendship and
relationship with Dallas Austin, I had access to studios and
engineers and incredible artists, you know, like my boy, Tony
Ray and Novel and those cats, and you know, and
we you know, just started working on music and you know,

(10:07):
we put out stuff, We sold stuff independently. We had
clothing line that did well, and you know, it was
kind of it was fun. And then you know, another
creative project came on and I kind of dropped it
off and my former manager and who now runs my label.
She and my agent at the time or one of

(10:29):
my agents who I still work with, wonderful guy, decided
they were just gonna take it to somewhere and get
it released and they were just gonna bring it back
and let me know, you know what the deal was
to sign off one and after they had a deal,
and long story short, after I had that conversation and
got off the phone, they handed me a label. And

(10:52):
that is kind of you know, what one hundred and
forty days ago or so that that kind of happened, right,
And I I kind of understand it from their perspective now,
because they were like, look, this music isn't all in
the same genre, so you know, so you know, if
you might be interested in something, and also if you're

(11:12):
looking at the paraphernalia and the language that goes along
with the band, you know, it's a gang stir rock, right,
you know, a gang and motherfuckers and stir some shit up.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
You know, rock it out out, you know. But you know,
and also just I've always been.

Speaker 4 (11:35):
About artists who have unique and interesting voices, right, you
know what I mean. Like I remember interviewing Craig mac
when he had just like won the Grammy back in
the day.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
I think he was doing that, you know, and I.

Speaker 4 (11:50):
Was doing FX actually the show in New York, and
he was just a completely original artist, right, you know,
the rap game hadn't previously seen and you know, you know,
someone with that type of flow, right, so you know,
and just I've always been attracted to that.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Right, you know, the people who.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
Were just kind of their own unique thing, and so
I know that that often doesn't fit a machine who,
you know, because if red works, they want more red, right.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
You know, the people won't red, you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (12:27):
You know, blues out of season like that. That's how
they think it, right, But I don't think of it
in those terms. I understand what those terms mean in
marketing terms, but I don't think that, you know, you
just copycat dumped the same thing over and over into
the marketplace and flooded. I just that just seems like
the lamest thing ever to me. But you know what

(12:49):
I mean, But that's you know, but for a guy
who just wants to make his money, what does he care? Right,
So different mindsets altogether, So you know, that's kind of
how the label I think, came together. And then the
artist I knew so many artists that I just worked
with and bumped into.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
Over the years.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
And then you know, the next thing, I know, I've
met another cabal of artists and I think we're thirty
deep or something in GSR right now.

Speaker 3 (13:21):
That's what's up.

Speaker 4 (13:23):
So it's yeah, no, we've definitely grown pretty fast. And
you know, I think we signed a couple of other
artists today. I mean, I'm not really to be honest
with you, I'm not so much looking for artists, I'm
looking for rebels maybe, but I mean for me, you know,
like I'm not I don't take you. I don't have

(13:44):
anybody's masters, you know what I mean. I'm not taking
your masters.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (13:48):
I'm not not giving you any money, you know, not
because I know how that works, right, right, Yeah, that
game is a very specific game. So I tell people
that's not what I'm doing. So if that's what you
want is for somebody to give you an advance because
you believe your music is worth this, just know the
viig on that is crazy.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
But I mean, I but you know, I watched a
couple of your interviews talking about it, right, and just
as valuable as trying to get like the advanced money
and things like that, it is the resources, right, And
that's what you are offering with your label. It's like,
you know, hey, I can you know, I'm not giving
you the advanced money, but these resources that I actually

(14:31):
have access to, that the other major stars have, artists
have access to, I'm going to help you get that.
And and I feel like in today's world, with a
lot of people kind of like building their brand, building
their independence building who they are. That is just as
important as just like outside of the monetary value is

(14:52):
let me help you get to the people you know,
give you a fair shot at you presenting your art.
Because we live in a world now where if you
like this specific pocket of something, you can find everybody
in that realm.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
But sometimes people don't it up there.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
And so like I do, I again based off of
your personality that you give to the world that we
get out of interviews and movies and things about you
just in general, right about you.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
It fits the mode of how you are actually running
your record label.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah, that was the hope, right, you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (15:27):
You need to know that the most important information any
artists needs today is where your stream is coming from,
in my humble opinion, right right that and to have
a real data chain on where your money is coming from,
knowing that you're getting the lion's share that money and
it's going into your pocket and you know, here are
the fees that you know you got to pay. But

(15:47):
you're not really making your money on streaming. You're making
your money on performing and building your fan base and
interacting with.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
Your fan base and what have you.

Speaker 4 (15:55):
So knowing where your fan base is is the most
important information and unfortunately most platforms won't tell you.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
That, right right, Like I said, you know, I deal
with that, which is crazy.

Speaker 4 (16:07):
To me, right, yeah, it's crazy. So even as a podcast,
you know the same thing. So you know, for me,
it's like the tools I can you know, we can
certainly provide because you know, the parent company has the
infrastructure and that's that's what they do, right and uh,
you know they have a proven track record.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
They do a great job of it.

Speaker 4 (16:30):
But you know, it's a different game today and and
and in some ways it's the same game it was before. Right,
It's it's it's a it's a mix. It's somewhere, it
lives between the two. But for me, collect your digital
pennies because that's what you got to do, and use
your marketing and whatnot there and build your fan base

(16:51):
because that's what it's about.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
That's that's that's what it's all about.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
And I feel like, like you said, it is the
same game, but it's different because you know why, I
feel like they empowered a lot of us to believe
that we we know it, right, There's I feel like
there's way more people who's like, you know what, I.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
Got this game down pack, and it's like, yo, you know,
we still need a little bit of help.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
We still need tidbits, you know, saying we still need
OG's to kind of help us output us on, let
us know, hey, look out for this, lookout for that.
And because so many people are running their own brand
now or so many people building their own who they are,
I think that that's the difference in the shift. You know,
back then, it used to be all right, I need
to get this record deal, I need to get this
executive to greenlight my show, I need to.

Speaker 3 (17:32):
Get this right.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
Where now there's way more people like, Okay, I can
actually build this and kind of build my audience and
build my fan base and build my community and my tribe.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
And now it's just now now it's a different game.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
But still it's still like trying to figure out where
we can get you know, the best output, the best
monetary value, but also still feel moved with a purpose
because the.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
Director audiences is very, very simple, very clean, very everything
else is a bank loan. Yeah, you know, a record
label deals a bank loan. You can go get a
bank loan. Just know the big they charge you is heavy,
and once you default, you're in it forever, and everybody
defaults because it's set up for you to default.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
Yes, it is. I mean that's literally the game.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
That's the that's the game.

Speaker 4 (18:20):
Dude, listen, this is how crazy it is. I'll tell
you the funny story. I just was telling this for
a friend of mine who you know, wanted to sign
on the label. They were like, look, man, I just
I don't want to get a lot of money. I
just want to get, like, you know, three four thousand dollars, right,
I said, okay, I said, so do you know what
the payback is on three thousand dollars? He said what?

(18:42):
And I said, fifteen thousand dollars. He goes, if I
paid back thirteen thousand. I said, if you borrowed three
thousand dollars, you've got to pay back eighteen thousand.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
It's crazy. I go, that's how that deal works, right.

Speaker 4 (19:02):
I can't change the mechanics of those because I have
my distribution labeled deal and these legacy deals are already built.
So they are parts I cannot change, right, right, Parts
I can, parts I can't, right. So here's just the basic, Man,
why would you take that money when You could make
that money in so many different ways. Merch streaming shows

(19:26):
like like that, make any split like that three grand,
you could pick that up now, T shirts, mugs, cassettes,
you know, performing, download pictures, autographs, you know, I don't
you know what I mean. There's so many ways you

(19:46):
might engage your fan base, you know, by which to
build you know that, But borrowing it from that, from
from folks, it's like in that structure, it's just not
the way to go. But you know, people dream of that, right,
they want the fans fantasy of it all. Some people
they're caught up in that fantasy. And I go, you know,
if that's what you really want, then go get it.
But just know the cost on it is super super high,

(20:09):
you know what I mean. I mean I was fortunate,
but I came into business at a completely different time.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
It's a whole other game.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
Right, whole another game.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
And you know that's why I often try to champion
the independence, right because like we take we take music
for a while, right, A lot of like when people
talk about music executives and the successful people, right, they
all they you know, they're going to bring up you know,
diddy hole. They're going to bring up all the people,
you know, Russell Simmons and everything, and like respect to
those brothers they got. You know, they definitely built a

(20:37):
you know, a huge, huge variety about you know, their success.
But people often leave out people like Tech nine, like
master P, like these people that we literally saw their
stories selling them CDs out the trunk, selling their merch
like Tech nine. Legit has his own facility that where
he presses up his merch. He has his own trucks

(20:58):
that he owns that when merch go out to stores
and everything, he presses his own CDs. And it's like
these are these.

Speaker 4 (21:04):
Tie in particular is a great example. That's right Midwest boy,
right from and these are different businesses that you're describing, right, Yeah,
one started off some of these scenarios are people were
people were people watching drug money, oh yeah, and using
the entertainment game to do it, and then you know,
moved forward in the entertainment game and stopped the other game. Right,

(21:27):
But that was also a huge part of the entertainment game.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
Right, So in all of its fast.

Speaker 3 (21:34):
I want to talk about the mafia, but we know
they're in entertainment.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
Hey, look, everybody's entertainment. You know, hey, what are we
talking about? This is the most profitable channels on Direct
TV are into five hundreds.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
Ain't nobody got no clothes on?

Speaker 2 (21:55):
The One thing that I absolutely love about the cultures
that it's still embedded in black culture.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
Mike Yek still rock Dumps or Jordan's.

Speaker 4 (22:04):
And they also talked about Badman first, Superman Batman and
super Superman is literally Brown versus Shorgan.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
Dragon ball Z.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
That like, my whole trajectory and life changed.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
Don't nobody talk to me. My shit is on.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
We just been experience. It looks like it's gonna be
real deep then elevation from where King Vader started to now.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
Give Black geek culture helped me through some of the
highs of my life, through some of the lowers in
my life.

Speaker 4 (22:35):
It's always been there, sort of like an undercurrent of
everything I did.

Speaker 3 (22:39):
There was no term for it, there was no it
was just this is what I'm doing. I love us
in it.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
I love the fact that we take things and we
always make it better. So I do want to take
it because, like I said, I know that they got
the mad Rewind podcast and you guys just did like
a reunion when I was taking a comic con and

(23:07):
I wanted to kind of get yeah, I wanted to
get your experience, like just reunited with some of that cast,
and you know, like, how was that for you?

Speaker 1 (23:15):
I mean often for me.

Speaker 4 (23:18):
I mean I was only there the first two years
and I left it ran fourteen years, so the bulk
of it I really wasn't there.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
But in the original eight cast members.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
You know, obviously, anytime I get a chance to see
you know, Phil Lamar and Dave Herman, Brian Callen, you know,
Artie Lang, Nicarl Sullivan, you know that was really that
that was my clique. For Deborah Wilson, you know, that
was my clique. I love Devia Wilson's girl.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
So Deborah Wilson got me into voice acting. And I
want to let you know why because and she is
she is my spirit person, bro. Like she'll send me
photos of her and her scorpion and shit, like, Deborah
is the dopest person that I've ever met in this industry,
because you know, she's one of those people that, like,
you know, I interviewed her same thing that I'm doing

(24:07):
with you. And then generally after these interviews, well I'll
chop it up with a little bit after the end
with the with the recording golf, just to kind of
give details, like, hey, this is gonna come out a
little bit about me, you know, just kind of connect
and Deborah, me and her connected so much that she
was like, you know what, take my number. She was like,
if you need me, just call me. Don't even call
my manager. And we start and then so I'm like,

(24:28):
I'm a researcher. So I'm researching her and feel about
all their voice acting, and I'm like, man, I got
all this stuff at my own studio. And I was like,
and this is during COVID, and I said, you know what,
let me try my hand at it. And so I
would text her actual advice, text her stuff like that,
and she got me. I like, say, I'm the first
American black narrator. I watched Mojo, you know what I'm saying.
So she because and it all became an inspiration of Deborah.

(24:52):
And so I was like, anytime that I meet somebody
who'll be like, hey Deborah, I love Deborah, I'm like, hey,
I understand it, Like she is a you know what
I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (25:00):
Yeah, No, that's my Listen. We came up from MA
TV together. That's the homie right there. That's my that's
that's my sister. That's my girl. Look, man, Deborah is
a savant. People don't really understand Devorah's Deva is so
talented it doesn't really even make sense, you know, and

(25:21):
just her Deborah morphs. That's what Debra does. Deborah morphs
fully into something else. Yes, and that's that's how that works.
And it is magical and crazy. And she's also like
an encyclopedia of nerd knowledge, yes, like like full blown encyclopedia.

(25:44):
So you know, it's yeah, she was just I felt
the same way about Phil. You know, in those years
we were you know, me and David and already was
my roommate and you know Nicole now we were all
running the streets together. So you know, to answer your question,
I'm hoping that we can get fans excited and put

(26:04):
that back together and you know, put together the stand
up side of it, which is obviously me and Harry's
and Brian Callen and Bobby Lee and you know Pat Oswalt, uh,
you know, Blank A.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
Patch and Frank Calliando.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
You know, y'all, y'all have some monsters over there, and
you know what, like I said, when you said that
you was only there for the I'm like, man, that
proves how much of an impact that you made the
fact that you was only there for those first two
because when I think, because when I think about mad TV,
as talented as that casts, there's certain people that you're like,
oh yeah, Mad TV, and you are one of those

(26:42):
names that it's like, oh yeah, Orlando Jones or you know,
we start thinking about your characters and the things that
you contributed to it. So it's like you guys came
out the gate went crazy with it. I used to
get the magazines like.

Speaker 4 (26:53):
Yeah, for sure, Hey Kem Peal, I mean Key and Peel,
And I remember the days when when Kee would always
hit me up and be like, Yo, how did you.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Get to where you are right now? Because she was
on mad TV?

Speaker 4 (27:16):
So yeah, and he got there too, which he was
always going to get there, super talented and smart and hungry.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (27:24):
I just I just loved everybody. I didn't get to
work with most of those people. So for me getting
a chance to do mad Rewine is also getting a
chance to vibe with a bunch of people that I
got to that came from a show that you know,
I started, but I wasn't there, as you know, for
the twelve years that everybody and.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
Will Sasso came from.

Speaker 4 (27:45):
Alex Borstein came through, Mo Collins came through. Stephanie Weir
came through. I mean, you know, some kill, Pat Kill
Bang came. Some killers came through. They came, you know
what I mean, some kill. Michael McDonald came through. I mean,
there was so many killers came through after me that
I never got a chance to even work with, which
was crazy.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
So you you are, you have had the opportunity for
the Internet to kind of create a situation and then
it worked out perfectly. Is you appeared on Abbot Elementary
as the dad and that was like that was one
of those things.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
It was an internet meme about how you.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
How y'all look look alike, like, oh, that could be
your father, and it became an actual thing and it
worked out so perfectly. When you got the call for
Albert Abbott, was you just like I'm in or how
did that happen?

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah? Tyler and Quinta hit me up.

Speaker 4 (28:39):
Yeah, you know, I love Tyler and I've been a
huge fan of Quinta for a while, and you know,
I know what it's like, the long his show and
the difficulty is doing COVID.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
So yeah, it wasn't the thought.

Speaker 4 (28:50):
I mean, I think what people forget is as the
originator of the joke, I am not the little boy
from Everybody Hates Chris.

Speaker 1 (28:59):
Since I was the one doing the joke, I.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Don't know he was the originator. Bro, I missed that part.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
What do you mean we were doing it when the
show was shooting. Yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
I mean they called that show Everybody Hates Orlando Forever,
like that was the joke.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Well, because you know, in this world, it's sometimes it's
hard to tell where a meme starts. So you know,
I saw the meme before I even heard the joke
and everything, So I thought I thought that was a
reactive response of you saying I'm not.

Speaker 4 (29:34):
No, that's been That's been my bio on the internet
since two thousand.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
And one two.

Speaker 4 (29:45):
Okay, my bio has always been not the little boy
from Everybody Hates Chris, not Orlando Bloom, not most Deaf,
not in juwanna man. Uh, there's a couple more. Oh
not Jeff Goldboom in Blackface, you know, not Isaiah Washington.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
It's always been the list of people who I.

Speaker 4 (30:11):
Wasn't Okay, that's always been it, and it's always been
not able to work.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
Everybody Hates Chris.

Speaker 4 (30:17):
That's always been the first one because one of my
friends and writing partners, Ali Leroy created the show. So
that's why I was on the show. Then I was
on Everybody It's Chris as his teacher and for sweeps
weeks in season two when they needed me, and then.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
For season three I came.

Speaker 4 (30:41):
I think I did a Cosby thing for season three,
and then I don't think they did the season four.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
No, I don't think they did. Not mistaken and.

Speaker 1 (30:51):
Yeah I think maybe they did.

Speaker 4 (30:53):
Maybe I'm met wrong, but yeah, but I did two
or three of them because I would go, you know,
give love for sweets week when Tyler was a you know,
a little one, and I known to Shena forever because
to Shina was on Martin and like I said, I
wrote the pilot of Martin, so I knew her from that,
and then you know, obviously when.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
I was doing Mad TV, she was still doing Martin.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Ah Okay, okay, so yeah, so yeah, again, it's truly
just like just connecting connecting, you know people in general,
it seems like once you make.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
Those yeah, because you're on the same network, so you
go get pressed together. So you see each other at
the press events because y'all all in the same network,
that kind of thing, right, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (31:33):
So yeah, I mean we love you. We love you
as as his dad and abbad. I just want to
let you know, man is.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
Yeah, Tyler is crazy talented. Man, He's awesome. He was
an incredibly talented kid.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
I'm glad.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
I'm excited to see him keep moving forward because as
a kid he was he was ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, So we got I got a few like fun
questions real quick.

Speaker 3 (31:54):
Then we get you out here real quick. All right,
all right?

Speaker 2 (31:57):
So one people want to know, Orlando Jones, how would
would you handle it as as as Doctor Lee did
or not? Would you handle mister Wade the same or not?
Because your personality you being a rebel? I feel like
doctor Lee, you know, he was more straightforward and everything
like that.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
He didn't like how mister Wade came.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
However, I feel like you probably would have been a
little bit more mister Wade than doctor Lee.

Speaker 4 (32:24):
You know what, I don't know you know, doctor Lee's
a funny cat, you know, So soon this dude heard
he couldn't read music, it was a rap, it was.
It was a non starter. As soon as that information,
how good you could play it?

Speaker 3 (32:40):
Right?

Speaker 4 (32:42):
You know, I probably be like, hey, you know, I'll
probably let you ride on that.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
Go ahead and do your thing, you know what.

Speaker 4 (32:49):
I'm saying, you know, But but no, not doctor Lee,
No no, no.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
That was the whole point. That's where hit him.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
Hit him a theow flight of the bubble be came from.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
So that speech in American Gods, you wrote that, right?

Speaker 1 (33:05):
Which speech?

Speaker 4 (33:06):
The first one of the second the Funeral Home or
the slave Ship?

Speaker 3 (33:09):
First one?

Speaker 4 (33:11):
The slave Ship was written by Brian Fuller and Michael Green.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
The Funeral Home was written by men.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
Okay, so in that first one, the fans want to
know what was your thought process going into shooting that.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
It was just hot.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
Air conditioning was broken on stage and we were in
Toronto and it was like a ninety nine degree day,
So you know, it was slave ship hot on that set.
And honestly, dude, whenever you're you know, doing.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
That type of.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
Monologue, at least for me, I'm sort of there's me
and then there's the character, and we're not We're not
the same person at that time.

Speaker 5 (34:09):
So when I'm in the character, particularly if I'm all
the way in, I don't really have a memory, shall
you say, of anything other than little glimpses here or there.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
So I'm not thinking.

Speaker 4 (34:34):
About it in that way at all. Actually, it's not
intellectual at all. Right, I'm a god who just landed
on this ship because one of my worshipers was praying
to me, and I am amused by the fact that

(34:55):
this worshiper does not understand what's about go down or
the length of time it's about to go down. But
I have a particular need at that time, and that is,
in order for me to move, I need you to

(35:17):
kill yourself. I need you to commit human sacrifice in
my name in order for me to be more powerful.
So as much as I'm telling you the truth of
what you know you want to hear, I'm also using
it to get you riled up so you.

Speaker 1 (35:35):
Will die in my name. Right, And.

Speaker 4 (35:39):
Because I'm a trickster god, it's a trick, right, It's
a trick. So I have to convince you of the
passion of the trick, so you have to believe that
my passion is towards your survival, when in fact, I'm
not interested.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
In your survival at all. I want your blood sacked.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
So yeah, so you're you're When we're in those type
of situations, you just you take the character and you
are in that character, no matter like, and you're not
looking at it from just the writing or standpoint.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
You're more so, this is how.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
This actor is in that moment, and we're shooting it now.
We're not writing it anymore. That period is done. We're
shooting it now.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
I'm here to make y'all kill y'allselves. In order to
do that, I need to I need to have a
charismatic oration about this particular subject matter. It doesn't approach
it like other people have approached it. Because if I

(36:47):
do that, it ain't gonna work.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
Yeah, you gotta be believable you, Like I said, you know,
we're dealing with faith.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
We're dealing with religion. We're dealing with so yeah, I get, But.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
I gotta entice you.

Speaker 3 (36:58):
Yeah, I gotta.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
I gotta seduce you.

Speaker 4 (37:03):
Right, So it's gonna be a dance and and and
so to me, those parts are already there because They're
just the natural part of how that has to happen,
right right, that and and and and so I try,
and you know that part is obviously really important to me,

(37:24):
but I find that I can only really do that
on the set when I've got all the pieces done
and I've figured.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
Out my wardrobe and all that.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
I feel it's really difficult to do that sort of thing, uh,
in the audition processes, because you don't have any.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
Of the information, right yeah.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
Right, So you know it's like that that that that man,
because I'm like the information that I need to make
this special, you haven't given it to me.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
You need you know what I mean, you need your tools,
you need you need you well, I mean if you're.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
Looking for if you want me to create a character,
a specific special character, then I need you know, I can't.
I don't know what information you're gonna give me. It's
gonna make me go, oh, it's this, right, I don't
know what that's gonna be, but I know it's not.
You're usually gonna be what the other person thinks it is,

(38:20):
all right, because I'm not thinking about it from the
same angle they are. Like as a writer, I know
how writers approach things, right, But as an actor, that's
a completely different approach.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
Right.

Speaker 4 (38:32):
And when I'm character building, because I came from Mad TV,
I had all these tools, you know what I mean.
I could change my face with prosthetics. I had wigs,
I had wardrobe, you know what I mean. I could
change the way that that walk. I had contacts and
I had you know, teeth. I had so many tricks
to make a character. Yeah, and I don't know how

(38:56):
not to think in those terms.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
That makes it. That's how my right. So if I.

Speaker 4 (39:04):
Don't have all my toys and I'm like, I gotta
I can use something, but it ain't gonna be a
way it was gonna be if we really talk about
this for Rick, right, right, right, because I can only
give you so much because I'm always looking for you know,
I'm looking for stuff that it's on the page, but
it's normally in the room, if you know what I mean, Like,

(39:27):
like I give you There's a scene I was actually
just reading.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
And the scene is.

Speaker 4 (39:35):
Dude's ex wife sneaks into a joint and surprises him,
but they're separated and he's with somebody else and the
somebody else is in the bed, right, and the ex
wife is in there and he's like, oh, what are
you doing?

Speaker 1 (39:54):
You know what time? It is? Right?

Speaker 4 (39:56):
But there's somebody else right there, right right. But to me,
the way you play that scene because there's somebody else
right there is as tricky as the day is long,
because the last thing you're trying to do is wake
that person up, right, and the second thing you try
and do is get rid of this person. But see,

(40:19):
you still got feelings for this person, so you ain't
trying to blow this up. You ain't trying to introduce
them to each other, and you ain't trying to blow
that up either. And the only person that knows that
can see you trying to navigate all them little things.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
Together is you and the person you're dealing with, right.

Speaker 4 (40:43):
Nobody else knows that you're trying to keep this quiet
and keep this entertained.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
And at the same thing right.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
And you might not figure out that dynamic until you
understand the proximity is, and then how loud it is
or not loud it is, Is the door open, is
she in that room? It's based on the physical room
you're in changes, right, and the.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
Size of the place you're in changes.

Speaker 4 (41:14):
Everything about how you how you would play that believability wise.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
Hey, listen as a as an aspiring voice actor.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
I just want to let you know you just unlocked
something in me right now with because I'm thinking back
on some auditions that I had things and I'm just like, oh,
I should have looked at it that way.

Speaker 4 (41:31):
Like, So that's what I'm looking for, right, so that
I know exactly where to put it.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
But if I don't have that information, I don't.

Speaker 4 (41:42):
I can do it, but I can't.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
I can't.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
I can't dial it in right. And my frustration is
I want to dial it in so I can have
all of the little.

Speaker 4 (41:55):
Modulations of when it gets too excited, has to remember
it look over that motherfucker, right, because it's not that
it's comedic, it's just life, right. And because it's life,
it makes you laugh and lean forward into it, and
you like the character because you see yourself in the

(42:15):
life of it all. But it ain't got shit to
do with the dynamic of the words, right. So that's
how our character build. So it's so much about the
physical the thing and what kind of tone. And also
the other big thing is what if I'm playing a

(42:37):
co starring role, it's really hard not to. I can
only make the decision after I hear what the star
is going to do, okay, because that person is going
to be in more of the movie, and y'all, you
probably shouldn't be on their note. If they're talking with

(42:58):
this tone of voice like this right here, and they're
on this note, you shouldn't probably come in and be
on that same note that they're on.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Chose a higher note or a lower note or something.

Speaker 4 (43:11):
Or they're talking like this, you might want to try
to talk like this right here, but stay off of
their cadence and their thing.

Speaker 3 (43:20):
That makes sense, right.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
Yeah, compliment it, but stay off off yeah yeah, because
when you talk to them, y'all sound the same.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
You know that music doesn't feel right together.

Speaker 4 (43:39):
So if I haven't heard what choice that actor has made, oh,
that audition don't mean nothing, because as soon as I
hear that voice on set, everything I did that audition
could have gone cooked like that as soon as I
actually hear and see.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
So that's why I'm like, I can do this, but
this ain't gonna ship to.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
Do and what I'm gonna do on the day when
So when you get to a set, you pretty much
turned to Denzel Washington.

Speaker 3 (44:08):
You sit back like all right, this like like in uh,
what's the movie? Why I'm blaking? What's the movie I'm blaking?

Speaker 1 (44:15):
On?

Speaker 3 (44:15):
Denzel?

Speaker 2 (44:16):
I feel bad now? No, not Training Day the other
movie when he calculates everything and he whoops. Everybody ass Why.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
Am I blaking?

Speaker 5 (44:24):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (44:29):
Oh my goodness, blanking?

Speaker 3 (44:33):
But you know what I'm talking about?

Speaker 2 (44:34):
Equalizer? I know Jack in the movie, you're equal You're
an equalizer actor. You get in that room, you're like, yeah.

Speaker 4 (44:41):
Because until I hear the notes, until I see the room,
until I see the light, until I know what lens
you're gonna be on, how can I possibly tell you
what I'm gonna do? You shooting me waiste up? Okay,
that would be different than if you're shooting me standing up?

(45:02):
Is the sunlight coming in here? Am I playing that?
Am I not playing?

Speaker 1 (45:07):
Like? I don't know?

Speaker 4 (45:08):
I don't know how you arrange this room and put
me and however you put me in that room, it's
gonna largely dictate how we're gonna be able to do
the scene. If you think how you did it in
your mirror, if that's what you do, is how it's
going to be on today, I adapt for the room
and the temperature and the cast and the tools I

(45:29):
have on the day, on the moment, and then for
me entertaining the crew, that's just about keeping everybody's energy up.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
And keeping my energy consistent, particularly.

Speaker 4 (45:41):
If we have in long days, which we usually do,
and I don't know if I'm going to start the
day shooting one scene and then something happens and they
got to go do something else, and then I might
by the end of the day be shooting the other
half of the same scene. I started that scene at
seven am. I'm not finishing that scene and at seven pm.

(46:02):
I need my energy to be exactly the same, otherwise
it looks off camera wise. So I entertained the crew
so that I always know where the top of the
room is.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
So I can control my energy.

Speaker 4 (46:14):
It's easy to go down in energy, it's very hard
to go up and energy. So I keep my energy
up up no matter what, and then I shift in
the scenes where I need to go to because down
is easy.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
Up is the problem.

Speaker 4 (46:30):
And if I'm already up and I have an up scene,
I'm ready for it. Because that's why I entertain the crew,
Because I want to keep the energy up on the
off chance that I might need it in the scene.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
Okay, man, thank you for that. All right, So last
two questions. One, I love asking this question.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
Two actors like yourself, if you could make a Buddy
Coop movie with two of the characters that you portrayed,
what two characters would you put in a Buddy Coop movie?

Speaker 4 (47:00):
I would put Frank Irving from Sleepy Hollow because he
don't think nothing's funny and.

Speaker 3 (47:08):
He loved his gun, so he's a straight man.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
He's a straight man. Yeah, he's humorless.

Speaker 4 (47:14):
And I would put Dig McCaffrey from Say It Isn't
So Okay, because that paraplegic cocaine addict is out of
his mind.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
That's the wild card right there.

Speaker 4 (47:33):
Listen, as wild as the day is long, and he
got a pilot's license. He is a big McCaffrey is
a wild card. Yeah, yeah, Frank even have his hands
full with that.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Yeah all right, So all right, the last question we
do the thing called geek set hypotheticals.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
Right, So this is you, Orlando Jones, your skill set.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
What do you think that you will be able to
survive the longest a zombie apocalypse?

Speaker 3 (47:57):
Alien apocalypse or robot apocalypse.

Speaker 4 (48:01):
Oh, survive the longest for me? Yes, uh wow, I'm
gonna go with robot apocalypse.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
Okay, okay, I'm.

Speaker 4 (48:16):
Gonna go because see the thing about robots is all
you got to do is unplug them.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
See you turn you turn the power off. They stop
robot immediately. Whatsoever?

Speaker 4 (48:31):
I don't even know if these guns are killing alien
they might eat that am copper and gunpowder are delicious.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
Who the thunk to put this combination together?

Speaker 4 (48:41):
I don't know what their situation is, so I can't
I can't speak to them. And then zombies there's too
much flesh eating for me. They want to eat flesh.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
And there's too many variables because the like am I
getting the ones that race at you, speed at you?

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (48:55):
Yes, with the ones the drag you know, the drag
delaya like you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (49:05):
I was like, which zombie is me talking about?

Speaker 3 (49:08):
Right?

Speaker 1 (49:08):
You know what I mean? So I'm not really sure?

Speaker 3 (49:11):
So robot you'll go to all right?

Speaker 1 (49:13):
All right?

Speaker 4 (49:13):
So yeah, robot, Yeah, absolutely, because I can figure that out.
Their machines. I should be able to work my way
around this machine, all.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
Right, all right?

Speaker 2 (49:20):
So I know that you're currently on tour and everything
like that doing your comedy tour.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
Uh, yes, we're as we're ending.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
Where can people find tickets to where you're going to
be at and what do you need people to support
you at?

Speaker 4 (49:33):
You know, Hey, come see me in Las Vegas March
thirteenth and fourteenth at Jimmy Kimmel Comedy Club. I've got
two shows on Friday, two shows on Saturday. There I'll
be at City Winery in New York City March twenty second,
Please come down. That's gonna be a crazy show with
my man King Malonious, you know, ai influencer, you know,

(49:56):
BBL Drizzy in the building.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
And and then the.

Speaker 4 (50:01):
Next day March twenty third, I'm going to be in
Philly also at City Winery. My man Cookie Rabinowitz, who
is on my label, is actually performing, Hey in my show.
He's gonna open and King gonna be there too. That's
gonna be a crazy show because I'll be music and
comedy together at City Winery. Under twenty third and you

(50:22):
go to Orlando Jones dot com. You know my day
to day are you know, check the bio on Facebook
or Instagram and I'm in the building come see.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
Me March April. May you know we out were having
a good time.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
Hey man, make sure y'all go tap in and ask always.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
This is the only podcast that blame hip hop culture
and geek coachre together.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
I've been your boy, duces.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
This has been the amazing, amazing Orlando Jones and we.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
Are out piece. I mean, what the fuck were talking
about here?

Speaker 2 (50:50):
Fridays we are talking a brand new show bringing you
hilarious commentary about black characters like Goofy.

Speaker 3 (50:57):
In the whole, the whole game. We all know that black.
They've been nig p black, he unckered Rutgers, He yeah,
Black of the cartoon intro Dark queen up.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
Nobody gonna joint you.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
You gotta have around the anime drip.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
And jo our adventure.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
What I'm talking about it I want to be able
to have my polls just want I want to throw
it in there.

Speaker 3 (51:20):
Game nights.

Speaker 2 (51:21):
I feel like Twister is gonna get people in some
positions that they don't need to be on.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
That's an HR Nightmarriage, a lawsuit and video games would
have to be a two.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
K hey sometimes sometimes two K Man and More.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
Brought to you by Geek Set featuring Deuce.

Speaker 2 (51:39):
Car Trippy and King Tune in Fridays only on YouTube.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
I mean, what the we talking about here,

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Orlando Jones talks his record label, #MadTV, #AmericanGodds more | S8 E14 | 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;}Orlando Jones talks his record label, #MadTV, #AmericanGodds more | S8 E14 | 1 on 1's w/Deuces