Club Shay Shay - Best of Mo'Nique, Johnny Manziel, Terry Crews & Desi Banks

Episode Date: April 18, 2024

Enjoy this recap of some of the best moments from February and prepare for more captivating conversations with Shannon Sharpe because you never know who’s going to stop by The Club… 00:00 - Mo'Nique on Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey and Kevin Hart losing her family $10M+  00:17 - Johnny Manziel on losing 40 lbs, doing heavy drugs in the Hollywood Hills & listening to Future 00:36 - Terry Crews on Katt Williams being homeless during filming of FRIDAY AFTER NEXT 00:49 - Desi Banks on buying 12 houses & owning 18-wheeler trucks #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, I am joined by the greatest alpine skier of all time,

Michaela Schifrin. Michaela talks about the ski accident that changed everything for her, performing while going through grief, and what it's like to release the pressure of being the GOAT, and so much more. Like, I have no right to be winning this race. I really probably shouldn't even be doing it, but I'm here, so I will win. Listen to this episode of Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Now, to Tyler Perry's credit, Tyler Perry called us up, right? And he said, I can see the pain in you and I can hear it. And I want to let you know that I would never do nothing to hurt you. But the conversation kept going on only for Tyler Perry to admit he did start a rumor that I was difficult to work with. He lied only for Tyler Perry to admit he did start a rumor that I was difficult to work with he lied only for Tyler Perry to admit I was wrong and when my movie boo come out I'm gonna say that right now here's where when you did that interview with Kat I could respect how you do it because Cat said, you let them people lie in your face. And your response was, Cat, I don't know if they're lying or not. Right.

Because I can only take them at their word. At their word. Right? Yes. Well, we sent you the audio of Tyler Perry. I don't want you to take me at my word. I want you to hear his words. And what did you hear that man saying And what did you hear that man saying?

What did you hear that man saying? He said it. What did he say? Is that is, you know, you're not supposed to be recording people. No, no, no, no. Let me back up. Everything we did was legal. And here's where a black woman really gets the kick in the ass.

Had I not recorded Tyler Perry, then it would have been my word against his. And then on top of that, it would have been he's so powerful. We can't even pay no attention to that. Right. Well, now I have him on audio, which is legal to do where we live. Right. OK, we have him on audio. And is legal to do where we live. Right. Okay. We have him on audio.

And do you know what some people then said? Why would you record him? Just like you sat there and said, you know, it's illegal. But did you hear what the man said? I violated you. Yeah. I mistreated you. Yeah. Do you know, Shannon, that's cost my family tens of millions of dollars over a lie and a rumor?

Is he going to make a cut? He's going to compensate you for that. I want you to look in your camera. Yes. And I want you to talk to Tyler Perry because you heard what that man said. So ask him, will he compensate my family for that? Tyler, will you come on Club Che Che and let's have a conversation about the fair compensation for what transpired between you and Monique? You can sit right here as she's sitting right here and you and I can have a conversation.

And we'll do you one better. And give me five on that, baby. We'll do you one better, Che. My husband and I'll sit right next to him. See, with this whole situation and some of the people that Kat talked about, ironically, I have issues with those same people. There were people that reached out to Tyler Perry on my behalf. OK. And I was grateful for that. OK. There was Al Sharpton, the Reverend Al Sharpton, civil rights leader.

Yeah. I sent him that audio. He listened to it. He said, baby, what that man did to you was wrong. And you're like my daughter. And we're going to have to get him to fix that. Right. We didn't hear from Al Sharpton for six months.

The next time we saw Al Sharpton, he was on a podium talking about we don't need to fly commercial because we can fly Tyler Perry's private jet. I said, that's why maybe I'm not hearing back from him. OK, then we had our beautiful sister, Stephanie Mills. Yes. OK, who is she don't play. Yes. Right. I told her what happened, sent her the audio. Now, I don't know if she listened to the audio or not, but however, she called Tyler Perry. She said, Monique, Tyler Perry does not want to revisit this. don't know if she listened to that audio or not but however she called tyler perry she said monique tyler perry does not want to revisit this okay fine right while we're on the phone tyler perry

calls her back and says i will meet with monique but not with her husband are you ready for this yeah and then monique has to apologize publicly to say Oprah and I had nothing to do with messing up her career. But that'd be a lie. Look in the goddamn camera. I thought that was a stage the way you. Look in the camera. Yes. Because you heard it.

Yes. Right? Yes. So when you hear what this man is saying. So I said, Stephanie, tell Tyler Perry never will I meet with him without my husband. And I owe no apology. So I'm not going to give one. That goes away.

Kevin Hart. Now, you know, when Cat Williams said gatekeepers. Yeah. Kevin Hart. I do his podcast. Yes. And I want you all to listen to the podcast so you can hear it for yourself. When he first comes on, he says, you're like my mother. You're like my aunt. You're like my sister. OK, then we do the podcast. We speak about the Tyler Perry situation. Oprah Winfrey, he said, I don't really know Oprah, but I'm a reach out to Tyler. I appreciate that. Kevin kept his word. He reached out to Tyler Perry.

Kevin Hart called me back about maybe a week or so later. He said, Mo, I talked to Tyler. He said he don't want to revisit it. He said, but I tell you what, let's move past that, Mo. Let's just move past that and let's just do great things. So whatever you- That's what Kevin said. I want you to hear me, Kevin Hart. Let's move past that, Mo. Let's just do great things. So whatever Kevin said, I want you to hear me, Kevin Hart,

let's move past that. Mo let's do some great things together. Don't even worry about it. Whatever y'all want to do. I will partner with you. Our executive produced with you. You just let me know what you want to do. Now,

let me say that before we go any further, because I want to make sure I give Kevin Hart his proper credit. When my family was up against the wall, Kevin Hart wrote us a check and said, here you go. We're forever grateful for that. When we were able to give it back, we said, brother, we appreciate you with some interest on top because I don't ever want nobody to think my husband.

So I want to make sure I put that out there. That brother really helped us out when we needed to be helped out. Then when he came back with, I got you. I didn't ask Kevin Hart to do anything. He said, I'll executive produce. I'll partner with you. I said, good shit, Kevin, because we're in a deal with Indemol. And we're trying to get our talk show back.

Mo, whatever it is, I got you. Now, Kevin Hart is one of the biggest entertainers right now in the world. And was then. We got off the phone with Kevin Hart. We called Indemaw immediately and said, Kevin Hart said, whatever we want to do, he got us. He's going to partner Executive News. Dave was like, oh, this is incredible because when you put Kevin Hart's name on it,

you already know what it is. Correct. Two weeks go by. We get a call from Indemaw. Indemaw says, we just got a call from Kevin Hart's manager, Dave Becky. And Dave Becky said, Kevin doesn't want anything to do with Monique. So whatever she told y'all, he doesn't want to do anything with her. Nothing. You know, he doesn't want any any kind of relationship with Monique.

So what changed between the two weeks and when? And plus, he gave you a check. You gave the money back, then said he would partner with you, executive produce, whatever you need, Mo. You gave the money back, then said he would partner with you, executive produce, whatever you need, Mo. Hey, we got you. So what transpired or what do you think transpired between then that two that two week period? Well, soon as we got off the phone and they told us what Kevin manager David Becky said, I called Kevin Hart immediately. I said, hey, baby, we just got off the phone. We're in tomorrow. And they said Dave Becky called them up and said, you don't want anything to do with me. He said, Mo, that's that's a miscommunication. I can tell you right now. I said, wait a minute. Are you OK, though, with this white man calling him up?

Getting in between our relationship, something you said, he said, Mo, that's a miscommunication. And we're going to talk Tuesday. Don't worry about it. I'm telling you right now. It's a miscommunication. That was two years ago. If you talk to him, I talk to him. I've never talked back to Kevin Hart again. So that's what we're faced with. When you allow somebody to come in between a relationship with a woman that you said, I'm like your mother. You said, I'm like these things. I didn't ask you for that. So everything that that baby was saying sitting here everything he was saying was only up and up because when you hear people say get the anger out your heart oh man no one saying he's lying no one ever said I was lying it's so easy to discount and devalue because

of what we look like but however when it comes to Tyler Perry, I will not allow you to discount or devalue because that is your voice on that audio. Remember on Good Times when Penny's mother was whooping up on her and she had recorded it? That's you on tape. So how does it go from you saying you're going to give me an apology to now? I owe you an apology. But what do you want an apology for?

What what what could I possibly owe you an apology for when you've admitted? See, when Lee Daniels says to me, because Cookie from the show Empire, I was offered that role. Now, Taraji tore it up, baby. Listen here. However, I was offered that role. Now, Taraji tore it up, baby. Listen here. However, I was offered that. Then Felita called me back and say, baby girl, they said you're too difficult to work with. But you hear on the audio that a man told David Talbot I was difficult to work with. Do you see how that cost my family?

Yes. And with no accountability because, oh, it's the great tyler perry no you've got to be accountable for that oprah winfrey you've got to be accountable for the things you've done with my family you've got to be accountable for that is there any relationship between you and tyler and you and oprah currently no no but i thought there was an apology. I read what there that I thought I read somewhere that Oprah had issued you an apology and Tyler had issued an apology. That's not correct. No, no. The only person that's given you an apology.

You saw it is Lee Daniels. That's the only person. So we are in a place where we're too afraid to call them for what it is. We're too afraid to say if it looked like a duck and it quacked like a duck, what is it, Shannon? It's a duck. Right. So, again, you see the struggle of the black woman as I'm sitting here talking to you and you say, Mova, why would you record him? But you heard the man violate me.

The first thing wasn't I can't believe that cat did that to you. It's why would you record them? But you heard the man violate me. The first thing wasn't I can't believe that cat did that to you. It's why would you do it? And we understand it because we've been conditioned that way. Because when you you had to get somehow, because when you're telling people these are lies, nobody is believing Monique. So now, even though you have him record his voice and that's him and he's saying he made it up now it's no longer oh man i can't believe he lied on mo mo why'd you record it so now they put the owners back on you where's the win how do we win how does a black woman win when you say here he is right here?

And I look to the community and say, how long do we allow us to keep being exploited, used up, taken advantage of? And because we think somebody can give us an opportunity, we just say, I'm not going to say nothing. If we keep operating like that, Shannon, you will have a whole lot of us sitting right here in the same seat, almost telling the same story. Why do you think Tyler is afraid to meet with you and your husband? Why does it need to be you one on one when he meet with other representatives and their client? What is it about you that he feels it needs to be just you and he? Does he think your husband is some kind of negative influence on you?

He thinks the husband is saying things that Monique probably wouldn't say if I just had an opportunity to talk to her one-on-one. What do you think that is? Let me say this. People better be glad my husband is by my side because there are people in Hollywood that know wherever you act up is where I show up.

People know in Hollywood, baby. And I don't say it with a badge of honor. It's just what it is. Well, I've had to say who you think you're talking to. And we sit there with the president of the studio or my patience level is not going to allow. or the my patience level is not going to allow i've been molested i've been violated so the moment i see you trying to do it we're going to have to address it my husband is nothing but a gentleman and you know why people have a problem with my husband because he's right to it there's no we're going to dance around the bush he's right to it and people like tyler perry people like oprah winfrey they look at my husband and say how dare you be so direct right how dare you not put your eyes down when you're talking to

me how dare you do that my husband is also my manager why would he want to exclude my management it's like Tyler you should want my husband to be there you you you may want him to be sitting right there so that way we can have a conversation that everyone can be heard but i appreciate you shannon because most people are too afraid that's heard the tape they're too afraid to say no i heard it and this is what he said i appreciate t.s madison because t.s madison was the first one to say no i heard what he said i appreciate t.s madison because t.s madison was the first one to say no i heard what he said so when folks were trying to jump on her she knocked down for the black woman listen baby y'all don't even understand the fights that's just to be having when ain't nobody watching for the black woman right so i appreciate you looking in that camera right well i mean look sometimes

there are some some black people some not all some that my grandfather used to say mo is that if you're not careful you'll become the very thing you despise the most in a person now what do we despise most about trump supporters, ex-President Trump, is that no matter what he says, no matter what he does, they give him an out. There's some people in our community, no matter what powerful black people say or do in our community, we'll give them an out. And we can't. And we've become the very thing we despise the most. What we despise most about President Trump's ex-President Trump supporters is that no matter what he does or says it's okay yes we can't do that you can't we can't if somebody's wrong like you said mo if somebody's

wrong we have to be man or woman enough to say they're wrong regardless of what comes along with that they don't know they don't understand what them saying i'm sorry will mean for them see when i i read because that's not for you and i'm sorry it's not for the person that you offended it's for you because currently you're in hostage your feelings because you have to live with that you know what you've done so when you see a woman say me turning 70 i'm so happy because I've never hurt anyone. Stop it. Stop it. Because there's a black woman that has been calling your name for over a decade that you seem to want to make go away. And I know I'm not the only one. Would you what would you say if Oprah called Moe today,

would you sit down and have a conversation with her? Let me tell you what I'll do if Oprah called me today, Shannon Sharp. We will sit down and have a conversation with Oprah Winfrey. We will sit down and have a conversation with Tyler Perry. We will sit down and have a conversation with the presidents of Lionsgate. We will sit down and have a conversation with anyone that is, I'm going to say brave enough to sit down and have a conversation. But what happens is within seconds, within seconds, conversation but what happens is within seconds within seconds if Tyler Perry was to sit right here you would say man I heard you what you trying to tell me about this sister within seconds Oprah Winfrey would know that people would say hold up and I'll go back to Tyler Perry you know why Tyler Perry don't want to talk to my husband because he can't talk around him my husband don't care

nothing about that man's money we don't care nothing about that man's money. We don't care nothing about your title. We care about your character, brother. We care about your integrity. And what you're going to pay and what you're going to pay. How you're going to make it right? How you're going to make it right? Because if I am your Aunt Mary and I really belong to you, as I really belong to you right now, Shannon, I am your sister. and you heard something that was wrong yeah how how can Tyler Perry make it right Moe give you a job give you a uh uh your sit give you a sitcom said Moe okay you know what Moe sitcom you're gonna be the executive producer I'm gonna be a co-executive producer you're gonna do the sitcom if somebody cost you Shannon shot millions of dollars yes do you want to be compensated for what they cost you for a lie and a rumor?

Yeah. So at that time, I was making roughly between two and three million dollars a year. Right. I sat in that for over 12, for over a decade, like 12 years. Right. You do the math. Over a lie that he admitted that he told. Now, something I'm making up.

You admitted that, brother. How do you make that right? I'm sure you got lawyers. Have you had a conversation? Well, what happens is when you take somebody at their word, time, time, time. We don't need to go to no lawyer's tower.

You know what you did. Just make it right. And if he doesn't make it right, what will our community do? What will our community say? Because today it's me. Tomorrow it's you. Then what? We've got to hold him accountable.

What did Kat say? We've got to. You've got to tell Tyler Perry. Come on now. You've got to do it, Shannon. You've got to tell him. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast nfl daily with greg rosenthal five days a week you'll get all the latest news

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Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. podcast. Hey everyone, Jake Storielli here from John Boy Media. I want to tell you about my podcast, Wake and Jake. It's

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This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, I am joined by the greatest alpine skier of all time, Michaela Schifrin. Michaela talks about the ski accident that changed everything for her, performing while going through grief, and what it's like to release the pressure of being the GOAT, and so much more. Like, I have no right to be winning this race. I really probably shouldn't even be doing it, but I'm here, so I will win. Listen to this episode of Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. I have to tell you, is this all you or was therapy involved? A lot of self-therapy. I mean, a lot of times. I mean, 2014, after my first season, I went and spent three months in rehab in Redding, Pennsylvania.

And I didn't have a normal off season I didn't get to like I needed to work on myself and at this time like I learned a lot through that and continuously learned as I went on and this is a you know collection of 10 years of not therapy every day not therapy every week week, but a lot of it, a lot of it is with yourself. You have to know who you are. You know who you are. You know what you do good.

You know what you do bad. You know what you need your team for over here to help you with, to make you the best version of yourself. And for a long time, I've been independent in the sense that I feel like I can do it all by myself. When in reality, I've been independent in the sense that I feel like I can do it all by myself. When in reality, I need family. You need a team. I need friends.

I need my team of people who want nothing from me, who want nothing but the best and love for me, and people that I can trust. Because a lot of time in the past, I didn't have people around me that I could trust really genuinely, truly looking out for my best interests. Johnny, you mentioned that you partied, you like to drink alcohol. Was there heavier drugs involved other than alcohol and marijuana? Oh, yeah. A hundred percent. In college? No.

Once you got to the league? Yes. That's when the real like hiding and reclusing started. And man, I've given Cleveland a really, really hard time. And I think it's all more situation than it is really the city itself. Being in a fishbowl city like College Station ate me up because I couldn't move.

I couldn't park my car the wrong way. I couldn't do anything. I was always spotlight. And then I go to Cleveland I Signed with LeBron and man and then and now LeBron comes back and I'm under LeBron's wing So now this lamp a heat lamps even hotter on me. I'm not playing I don't got confidence on the field and now I'm taking out my anger on my day-to-day like interaction my team I'm struggling but not letting anybody know right so like my whole like gripe with Cleveland is not really anything as

what I made it to be and I think that's just a bitterness of like how things went and me not realizing that I did it to myself for a long point in time do you remember the first time you tried hard drugs oh yeah yeah for sure what what what was it about it that made you try it did you think because i'm johnny football i can handle this i can do something that no one else has been able to do do a hard drug and be able to still function and do everything i need to do even though i tried this okay that persona that i had on the football field of being able to have that confidence translated over into the party scene as well. I'm the guy, just like I am on the field, in the club, in the streets. So it's all in front of you if you want it and you're hanging around the wrong circles. It ain't

hard to find at all. So you get around people who you think you look up to or this or that, and then it just goes. And then it kind of goes and it snowballs and it keeps getting worse. And you go from cocaine to Oxycontin to Percocets to mushroom. I mean, to, I look at the mushrooms as a different thing now. That's not a good thing to say, but like the harder drugs, the drugs that like tear you down. I never did anything with needles. Never did anything like that. But the Coke and the Oxys and the Percocet were very, very tumultuous in my life and popped their head, especially the days of wandering around the Hollywood Hills. And it makes sense why you see me so sporadic. I was 210 pounds when I left Cleveland. I was 170 pounds sitting in Vegas that August, that September, October,

whatever it was later in that year. How do you lose 40 pounds? You're on a strict diet of blow. Oh, I was about to say, you don't want either one of them. I mean, you lose 40 pounds in that length of time, you're going to crack. Or I'll zimp it. So that's the new thing now. Touché, touché. You're right about that, bro.

And at that point in time, man, I would look in a mirror and I didn't see myself any different than when I was in Cleveland. Really? Until I stepped on a scale at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, I didn't realize I lost 40 pounds at all. And people were hitting me up like this. And I remember these pictures came out and I was like, damn, what am I doing? Ah, whatever. We'll figure that out later. Let's go again. Let's go there. So as an athlete, you're very competitive when you, when you, when you do drugs, do you still have that competitive nature? Like when you, with your boy, do you like, man, I ain't going to let you one up me. You can't. I'm a tank when it comes to the party.

I mean, I could party. We hang with the best of them. I ain't saying that to brag. It's not something to really sit here and glorify. But it's true. You put somebody in my, that you think in your life can really go that distance with the Henny or with the drugs or whatever you want. I'm going to go 12 rounds with you. I mean, Johnny, you're a small man, bro.

I'm a little thick, I guess. I'll never forget, probably about week 13 or 14 of the season, I'm walking out of Coach Petten's office or I'm upstairs in the, where the coaches offices are in Cleveland. And I walked by Jimmy O'Neill's office and he's like, Hey Johnny, come in here for a sec. I'm like, Oh, it's our defensive coordinator. I'm like, what's up coach?

And I'm chill with everybody. Like I'm up, that's just how I am. And he's like, I'm sitting back at his desk. I got his foot up and he goes, you know, we'd be really good football player. If you got your head out of your ass. And I'm like,

so caught off guard. Now this confidence that I'm building is immediately just, I don't know if he meant it in a way or just like, you know, you're two and two and twelve and your team is struggling and you're like you know looking to ways to vent or whatever it was but this happened and when I left that that office and I went back down to the quarterback room I was white as a ghost so white that Josh McCown looked at me just like you are and was like what happened

and I'm like stuttering through this story and josh mccown gets up out of his seat and walks straight up to that to that fucking office now what was said i don't exactly know what it is but when he came back in that room he was pissed he said you don't do that in this league with a young guy and somebody like you just don't build him up you can't break his confidence break me in half and from there i was broken i didn't give a fuck i didn't care about that team i didn't care about that what my role was and there's no excuse all of these things led up to be the perfect failure and at the end of the day it's on my shoulders but when you're starting to get a little momentum and you get broken like that that's's when the running to Vegas happened and me missing the last game of the season. That's when the wig story comes out and when I'm really like

running two, three weeks after this. When this happened, I go straight home. I go straight to my basement. I get the biggest bottle of Hennessy out of the bottom of the drawer. And now I'm sitting in the basement. I'm listening to Future every second, every day. I'm partying by myself just to try and like get out of this reality of a situation that I'm living in with a head coach that wants nothing to do with me, with a DC who's saying, if I get my head out of my ass, we'll have a chance. Just this whole perfect storm of just like, fuck this. And when that happened, I was done. What was your relationship like with Josh Gordon?

You have a guy and we know he's had his issues, his struggles, very similar to what you're sharing with us right now. What was your relationship with Josh? Great. I saw a side of Josh that the rest of the world didn't get to see. I saw a guy that was from that trap, from that bad neighborhood growing up, who would beat the odds to be able to get there. One of the most physically talented specimens that you'll ever see on a football field.

He struggled with a lot of the same things that I struggle with. And I tried my best throughout those times to be a better influence around Josh than a lot of other people were because a lot of his boys didn't give a shit at that point in time and you know should I have done things differently in our relationship to not you know sway him certain ways because I think I definitely had to do this we didn't do drugs together you didn't do use we didn't do drugs together You didn't do drugs. We didn't do drugs together. He would uh He loved the weed man

He loved it and when he would come over to my apartment all he ever wanted to do was roll it and put it on The counter he just wanted to be included on the whole thing right which is the way his mind kind of worked But he never smoked around me. He never Mean we went on trips together. went to aspen we went everywhere like jg was my dog to to the core and funny you asked i just spoke to him yesterday and he sounds like he's in the best place that i've seen him in years and it takes time and getting away from it and for me and him we're talking about golf now and golf is kind of like an avenue that i never thought me and me and jg would be able to like talk about golf go play and like golf is kind of like an avenue that I never thought me and me and JG would be able to

like talk about golf go play and like golf has really shifted my mindset and being able to still continuously give me competition but as much as it is against other people when you're playing golf is always about yourself and battling yourself six inches between your ears and then you know getting in a good head space to go up and hit a good shot john i want to get you out on here you mentioned that once you left cleveland that you contemplated suicide and you spent all your money clearly that's the lowest point of your life was it a culmination of i'm not where i thought i would be as far as in the nfl you're in the nfl but you're not playing and you're not you feel you're not getting the support that you need

or deserves in order for johnny to be johnny because you just sometimes you need somebody just a little support you need somebody to say johnny hey bro you can do this pat you on the back instead of kicking the butt all the time. When did you know? So what happened when you're contemplating taking your own life? It's different. It's it's not that I don't have the support. It's not that I don't have the team, because at that point in time, I had every single person you could ever think trying to reach out. And I'm just blocking people every single turn. trying to reach out and I'm just blocking people every single turn. And I think for me, it was something I didn't find out until I went to play in Canada again.

I remember having this feeling in Cleveland that I didn't love football. Okay. But it was a feeling. And when I didn't play for a while and I'm out of the league and I'm trying to get back in, I ended up going to Canada. And when I walked into that locker room for the first time and walked out on a practice football field, every single feeling that I'd felt in that Cleveland

locker room came back to me in that Canadian locker room. And I knew right then and there that I didn't truly, truly love this game to the point of where I need to do what I need to do to be successful. So the suicide thing comes in when you look at life and you say, I fucked up the biggest golden opportunity that you could have ever imagined. And this is where I think whenever you said what you said about the fan-controlled football league, it is sad, Shannon. What you said on that day is exactly right. It is sad to watch

a guy who had all the potential in the world, all the opportunity, all the resources and team around him, and he still goes, fuck that. But what if I told you today that I don't think that I loved what I was doing enough to ever get into the mix of doing it the right way. I went through that period with Josh McCown where we did it, but it never was over the top. And I'm not in the gym. I'm not grinding. I'm not doing the things that I did back in the day that made me great. So now I realize that I didn't love the game of football like that. I just happened to be immensely talented at it i happen to have great teammates around me great coaches great perfect storm to be able to get me to walk across that

hall at radio city music hall walk across that stage so that feeling came back in canada i realized i don't love the game and then when the game's gone from you, there's a huge transition. And every guy will tell you what the transition is to figuring out your identity and who you are as a person. And I truly feel like from 2017 on, that's seven years that that's what I've been doing. And my mission has been to try and stay away, get a little bit of this hype off me, and just live and find out about life. To be a great uncle, to be a great brother, to be a great son, to be a great role model for Texas A&M, to be a great alumni, you know, a leader. To be a great, like, resource for my guys who play at Texas A&M. And these are all things that I'm trying to do moving forward that I've completely neglected in the past. If I could say, Johnny, you could go back,

what would probably be one of the two things that you wish you could do over? If I could go back to a certain point in time, I would drop myself right after that in the locker room of the Oklahoma game in the Cotton Bowl. Knowing what I know now, I would have known how to handle myself. I would have known how important and imperative it is to be a better teammate than just numbers on a field on Saturday. There's something to be said about how your guys ride for you when you're doing the right things in the building. And that 2013 year for us at Texasxas a&m a lot of internal problems were happening because their leader is distracted their horse that makes this whole carriage go is fucked up and the shame that i have for letting guys down like cedric Aboye and like Jake Matthews and Mike

Evans is the same shame that I carry with me to this day about letting down Joe Thomas as a guy who's in the end of his Hall of Fame career and is looking for somebody to come in and lead this team and then you get me. It's tough you know it's embarrassing it's embarrassing to have been the guy that have let down some overall really great athletes of my time and of my generation something i carry hopefully with my head high right now but at the same time internally i know it eats me alive um because they did more for me than I gave in return to them. And what a shallow kind of selfish way of life that I was living at that point in time. And I have a lot of regret.

Like I regret wasting a couple of Joe Thomas's last years in Cleveland. I regret disrespecting LeBron and not making sure that's making sure what it meant to me showing him that i give a fuck enough to just do what's right to listen to mav and listen to the team they built around me you know it fucks me up that i messed up our second year at texas a&m and we went seven and four or whatever because that was our chance to win a national title off the game against duke had a cool game against duke one that was like a to win a national title. We got them off the game against Duke. Had a cool game against Duke. One that was like a legendary kind of tail on it, but like I almost wish to this day that we lost that game because I would have came back.

Right. So us having that legendary run against a bowl game that's kind of like, I kind of wish we would have lost because then I would have came back with a vengeance and I probably wouldn't have got drafted because I would have gotten in trouble. Right. But it doesn't sit right with me, certain things. And those are three things. How I wasted my 2013 season.

How I treated the legends in that building in Cleveland. And how I treated LeBron and Matt. And, you know, from there I can even take it a step further and say in 2016, I don't think I treated Drake the way that I should have with representing the clothes that I was wearing and his OVO brand and his label and everything. You know, at that point in time, I was so selfish that I was dragging everybody that was tied to me through the mud. Now, it's regret. I'm not harboring on this in this in any kind of way. I'm just calling it exactly what it is in the way that I feel about it.

And I owe those people apology, and hopefully one day down the line, I'll be able to have the opportunity as a man to be able to look them in the eye and be able to do that. As we sit here today, how is Johnny Manziel doing? Probably the happiest I've ever been in my life. And I think I went through a period of time after the documentary came out

where I maybe acted a little bit like I did in the past. And it's easy to let ego and fame and stuff kind of creep back in. And what I've done now since really, you know, December-ish, you know, it's new, three months, but I've insulated myself in a way with a team that I can trust. People that I love that are doing nothing but looking out for my best wishes, best regards. They know me. They're not letting me cheat. They're holding me accountable.

And it's not going to happen overnight. It is going to be a slow, gradual process to get to who I want to be as a man. But in my opinion, sitting here today with you and joining the hell out of this conversation, I feel like I'm on the right path to where I need to go. And as Johnny Manziel, not as Johnny football. You were once married, and this is the last one, you were once married. Could you see yourself being married again? Or is there someone in Johnny Manziel's life that's keeping Johnny grounded? Nope. It is my friends right now, my family. It is my two nieces with a third one on the way that I talk to every single day on FaceTime that are really my reason why I'm still here.

Right. And a huge reason of my success is based off my sister and my mother and my father and my true core friends and my team I have around me. So love will come when it comes. But for right now, I'm focused on getting a bag, taking care of my money, getting back to where I need around me. So love will come when it comes. But for right now, I'm focused on getting a bag, taking care of my money, getting back to where I need to be, being the best brother, being the best uncle and being there for my family and my university in a way I need to be to make people proud that I want to make proud. I don't want to continuously keep letting people

down when I feel like I'm destined for bigger, greater things than that in life. I am so proud that you're sitting here today. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game, every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claibon, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook,

Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl window, why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day.

Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone. Jake Storielli here from John Boy Media. I want to tell you about my podcast, Wake and Jake. It's your go-to spot for anything and everything sports. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf, college, whatever's hot in the street, we're talking about it on Wake and Jake. So if you're a diehard fan or looking for the latest buzz,

we've got you covered. No matter your favorite sport, we're breaking it down with the passion that'll make you feel like you're in the stands with us. Plus we've got a bunch of guests, foolish Bailey, jolly olive, Chris Rose,

and more mock drafts, rankings, whatever you want. It's the sports world and come on and join our friends in the Wake and Jake family. You will not regret it. So, new episodes Monday and Wednesday. You can watch along on the Wake and Jake YouTube channel or listen

to Wake and Jake on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, I am joined by the greatest alpine skier of all time, Michaela Schifrin. Michaela talks about the ski accident that changed everything for her, performing while going through grief, and what it's like to release the pressure of being the GOAT, and so much more.

Like, I have no right to be winning this race. I really probably shouldn't even be doing it, but I'm here, so I will win. race. I really probably shouldn't even be doing it, but I'm here, so I will win. Listen to this episode of Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And you found your reason to live. It was me, Cat Williams, sitting next to each other in a little bitty room. And he was like, man, come on in. We got this because Tiny Lister didn't want to do, my good friend. Yeah. God bless his soul. Tiny Lister didn't want to do, my good friend. Yeah. God bless his soul.

Yeah. Tiny Lister didn't want to do the third one. And they said, we got a new character, a guy named Damon. Right. I was like, and see, you got to understand, too, I had nothing to lose. Right. Like, when I say nothing to lose, I came in there like Craig and Day-Day. Just the niggas I want to see.

You know? Bro, I had nothing. I went back to Flint on them. I was like, this is where I came. These are the cats I knew. And I came in there, man, and off to Cube. Everybody was like, ah! And then Cat came in

and just the audition. And they said, you in? You in? And Friday after next. Listen, I saw Cube probably about a month ago and i walked up to a man i said dude thank you thank you i said you have no idea how many careers you started just by giving us that shot right a lot of people never ever really give props what props do you know because they're like well i didn't get that much money. But dude, that was my start.

Man, I was just thankful. I was walking around. And listen, what was so crazy is me and Cat, Cat was homeless at the time. So Cat was living in his trailer. And me and Cat said, hey, man, and I remember talking to Cat. I said, Cat, I said, we never

get another opportunity we got to make sure they remember us i said because we did two new cats in this whole thing they know everybody else right i said but it's me and you and remember man i was not gonna let what happened in my football career happen to my entertainment career man i'm listening to you tell the story, T. And the way you're telling the story, football never gave you the high that what you got by just doing that. Exactly. I knew I was in my destiny.

This is what I'm saying. I found my destiny. I was gone. When people see that scene in Friday After Next, look, you turn the sound down. It ain't a comedy. We was crying. Right. We were deep.

They were so in it. He was crying. I was crying. People were sitting by the monitors like, what are we looking at right now? Because I was so gone in and I said, this is where. And then it was so wild because I didn't even want money anymore. I said, I want that feeling again. You know what I mean?

It's true because you could talk about athletes and money and all that stuff, but there's a point when I'm sure when you're just catching and doing everything right, you want to chase that again. They call it the zone. They call it what? It's just flow, whatever that is. And let me tell you, you know when I hit that blow again? When I was doing White Chicks.

That movie, White Chicks. Everything I said just blow. Friday After Next, White Chicks came off of that. It came after that. Right. Because, again, you're talking about the whole, the black Hollywood is very small. And once Friday After Next next hit people were like this dude and so what was so great is keenan ivy williams was like hey man we gotta get this dude

a shot right you know what i mean because they're like man we want some of that on us and then and it kept on all my business shannon in this town has been repeat business. I mean, the reason I was with all these Sandler movies, Adam Sandler called me. But the thing is, when I did Longest Yard, which was my revenge on the NFL. Right. Me and Michael Irvin, the whole movie. I was like, this is the one everybody's going to remember. Like, good God. Like, who gets that?

You know what i mean and then and i remember chris rock was like hey man he's on the movie longest shot he said dude you're killing i got something for you i said what is he's don't worry about it i got something for you i go home the script for everybody hates chris is literally on my doorstep. I open that up. He's like, I want you to play my dad. Because he saw me and my wife and my two kids out there in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when we was filming Longest Yard. He was watching. And that's the thing on other people. You got to remember, everybody is watching.

Everybody is watching. And so then I played Chris's dad and everybody hated chris for four years straight this man when i look at my life man i just think i just thank god for every every opportunity and now this is another thing because i've now reached the point because i play with all these guys and they're gone. Now I'm losing actors. Man. Andre Bauer passed away last week. And he took me under

his wing, man. You talk about one of the best actors of our generation. I mean, Juilliard trained. Absolutely incredible. Emmy Award winning. Dramatic beast. generation right i mean julia trained absolutely incredible emmy award-winning dramatic beast right brooklyn 99 brooklyn 99 who was able to come and flip it to a comedy like that and i was like man what is the secret and he never this is nothing he was he was like a super all pro who could have looked down on all of us, but decided he was just going to pull us all up with him. 61 years old.

He was like my big brother. I look at guys that are dying. When I look at Michael Clarke, Duncan's gone. Tiny Lister, gone. Lance Reddick, gone. I'm like Chadwick Boseman, gone. We diddick, gone. I don't know. Chadwick Boseman, gone. We did a movie draft day together.

Okay? And I'm going, man, you don't have forever. You don't. You got to go for it. You got to get what you are coming to get now. And you can't waste time. You can't treat it like, well, whatever. Because I've seen it in a bell

And everybody thought and this is the thing everybody had to turn in certain people that already won Like I won like you won, you know people say a1 the internet whatever it ain't never over it. It's never how you start It's how you finish, right? And let me tell you but when I'm done and I'll be honest with you, man. I'm just getting started. I truly, truly feel I have the same energy that I had when I first started. I'm really thankful to be sitting here with you right now. But I admire you for it. But just your transition, you know what I mean? And the energy that you bring, you do. Your passion is palpable. And I'm the same way. I'm 100% passion.

Right. That's all I am. Right. You know what I mean? I don't know no other way. I have no other way. I'll do everything like I'm getting a million dollars.

When you sat down for the audition to read with Cat, did you know Cat prior to that? Nope. Not at all. And you guys became pretty cool after that.

We became amazing friends. And what's so crazy crazy i used to watch him because i was because we you know remember a movie when you shoot a movie then you got to wait a year and a half for it to come out correct so you just wait like people you're like man well i got this thing coming they're like yeah right whatever and you know what's so funny after friday after next i had to go back to insecurity i had to go back right because i didn't have nothing else turned to right but i knew it was coming right and well it was so crazy i would do commercials and different things but i would go watch cat williams at the hollywood park casino he had his own room and this man was the funniest man

i ever seen which was crazy and then i'll never forget when he started selling out the Universal Amphitheater and watching them blow up. It's another thing, too, to watch people all... It's funny because I've seen kids that's been on set, and now they're superstars now. You know, like Tyler James Williams is now a superstar.

I've watched people... You never, never know what's going to happen. You know, you look at things and you go, oh my God, this, this man was, listen, one great example. We were at the BET Awards and I saw this little kid walking around with a little hat on. And I was like, hey, hey, I got his mixtape. I said, Kendrick, Kendrick. He's like, you know who I am?

It's Kendrick Lamar, bro. I said, man, your mixtape, dude, Section 80 is amazing. I said, you are the next. I said, Rebecca, this is Kendrick. He was like, you know who I am? I said, who? I said, I love you. I said, I think you are going to be the future.

And what's so crazy is that he called me a few years later. He ended up doing a video with him. Right. Because he said, remember when you told me you knew who i was remember this you told me i was gonna be i was gonna be doing something great look at this man now look and tell me he's not the best in the world right now and i'm so proud and the thing is too man another thing i had to learn and that the NFL taught me that I had to unlearn competing I

Decided to never compete with people. This was my problem Because what this is they call it the sin of comparison, right? When I'm looking at what you got and Comparing what I got It's always gonna be a problem. Yeah. Always. Right. Because you're always going to come up short. Yes. Somebody always got more. Right. And then somebody always got less, but you always want more.

Right. And I realized, man, that creativity was the exact opposite of competition. If I'm being creative, I'm not competing. So I decided, you know what? Because everybody was like, hey, man, you got to be tiny. You You got to be this. You got to be that. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going to be me. I'm going to be me. And they was like, yeah, but you kind of weird. I said, yeah, I am. That's what made me unique. I am. All right. Listen, first of all, you can't even, it got to the point where if you read scripts now and then, we want a Terry Crews type.

Because they know that's just me. Right. And I decided by just being creative, that was my ticket out of that world of competition. Because this is the thing, man. The league is always, was always. It's got to be competition. It's like, hey, man, you versus so-and-so. Right. Wait. First first of all you got to fight the people in your own locker room first yeah before you even go up against another team

you know what i mean and then you always being judged like well you missed a step and uh uh uh did you miss that but he didn't right the coaches would never they will always tell you what you messed up on right and then being black we would go into the locker room and if you hurt they act like you act like you don't want to play i'll say hey man first of all white kids getting hurt and they're like oh yeah yeah he's hurt right but i've never ever treated they never ever treated any black guy i knew in the locker room like he was really hurt like he was trying to cut out on the game so in other words you said i gotta unlearn because you know it's a it's a it's a jungle mentality because someone is literally trying to take food off your table someone is trying to take a roof from over your kid and your family head to make sure they have one but once you got into the entertainment space

you're like i'm not competing against him yeah yeah. Yeah. I mean, what can I do? I'm in my lane. First of all, I didn't go to school that. Right. I didn't go to Juilliard. Right. You're talking to a dude

who ain't supposed to be here. Right. Everything I'm getting ain't, I ain't supposed to have. Right. So I'm already behind. Right.

You know what I mean? But then I realized, wait a minute, if I just bring what I bring, I'm ahead. You know what I mean? Right. If I can, if I bring what only I bring, I'm ahead. You know what I mean? If I bring what only I bring to a project, because you can't do what I do. You know what I mean?

And this is one thing that the magic, and this is what I want to tell every young man is trying to transition out. That's the way it works for everything. trying to transition out. That's the way it works for everything. You have something that no one else has, but it's up to you to find it. You got to find it.

You don't find it by comparing yourself with everybody else or whatever. You find it by finding out what you want to do. And this is when I had to make the hard realization that, man, maybe football wasn't, it wasn't, it just, it wasn't for me, but it got me to where I am, and I'm very thankful for it. Let me tell you, I love the game. In fact, I don't

even have a team. I just love the players. Sitting here with players, talking about, you know, what we came through, it feels like a fraternity, man. It feels like something we can, we can therapize each other, you know what I mean? Because we all know it. We all seen it, can we can therapize each other. Right. You know what I mean? Because we all know it. We all seen it. Right. And we all played those games together. I was there when it was like, hey, no, CTE, sit down. You just wait. Right. I mean, my head hurt. I'm seeing double. Right. And they're like, man, look, you just wait. I was there when it was telling everybody it wasn't it wasn't real. Right. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, no, this is real, man. This is real.

You've been buying land lately. How many properties have you purchased? What's the meaning behind that? It's been about 12. I'm on my 12th house now. But I always said that I've learned that when it comes to income, I want to fit it somewhere in the end and

Wake and grow. Mm-hmm, you know So just be I explored and stuff like that I think investments is really big and I feel like real estate buying land and stuff like that It's one of the best investments in the world. You know I'm saying It's especially in Atlanta, Georgia. Yeah people moving that crazy. You know I'm saying if if you got any income man i feel like real estate is it's been good man shout out to my my guy gene man and and you know it's been he was the one that that set me up right when it came to it man and we've been building um for a long time you know i'm saying and we got a lot of great stuff in store

you know uh we got a workshop coming up that uh i would love for people to be a part of man if you're in atlanta georgia february 17th and 18th um we're doing a workshop you can go to my real estate page there'll be designs and you can get the information so we want to you know get people learning about real estate you know how to build you know how to get money um how to find the right money to invest you know so how to find the right money to invest, you know, how to get that right loan, you know, stuff like that, man. Yeah. Well, you seem very, very frugal with your money,

very wise, but everybody's made a dumb purchase. Oh, yeah. What was your dumb purchase? My dumb purchase? I ain't going to say it's dumb, but I got a Porsche so crazy. i ain't gonna say it's dumb but i got a porsche so crazy ain't done with but i had to get them off i swear to god that porsche would you get a 911 turbo i had to get that yeah um and i like cars i love fast cars right yeah um so do you have do you do you have

i mean are you like old school cars or there's 84 SS Monte Carlo? I got one of those. I got a hair cap. I'm a hair cat truck. I got a Vince Vince truck. What else I got? Yeah, I said, yeah, but I love cars though.

Like if I make crazy person, it'd be car. I love car. You're not that big of a jewelry gas splurge guy in jewelry. Nah. And my homeboy be getting on me all the time. I got jewelry, he be wanting me to wear all of them on stage. He be like, boy, if it was me, what a whole box.

So that's what my dad did, he be like, what a whole box. What's your biggest purchase outside of real estate? My biggest purchase outside of real estate, I own two 18-wheeler trucks too. Okay. Yeah, I got that too.

So do you have a trucking company or just trying to build a trucking service? Yeah, there's a bunch of trucking. Yeah, I got that too. What do you haul? Well, I'm invested with FedEx. Okay. Yeah, so I'm connected with them. So I got them on a roll.

I got my four drivers now they they switch out but yes that's another investment that I got as well that's that's been doing pretty good for me um but I would say other crazy person of course jury jury is a thing that you know but now you know I can give me a nice little watchers just women nice little chain and shine look baby seems really simplistic when it comes to jewelry yeah I'm cool I ain't gotta come in with a big chain on right if they mean I can do it and I might do it sometime I pop out to the club and shine a little bit yeah and then like I said my boys I've been on all of them I

might be on to her to her and I might be dead they real bust down on and I you know I have to do I gotta do yeah do. When it shine, it shine. You mentioned earlier that you started your own production company. What have you learned most about the business of comedy? The business of comedy, I would say is serious. But I think

a lot of people out there, I think they should of course have their own business when it comes to this, man. Because, like I said, you never know when you will not get an opportunity. And me having my own production company allows me to continue to work whenever I want to work. I ain't got to wait on Hollywood to give me a movie or whatever it is. you know and also i've learned that you know even with that it take time for me to to to connect and get my stuff to that level you know i'm saying sometimes you just got to play the game right for your stuff to get there the long game you got to play the long game you know i'm saying of course one day days of production will be a company that would be big um but like i said it take time i got

plenty of ideas of stuff that we are already presenting to different companies that, you know, that we want to partnership with. You know, that we have meetings with TV shows, feature films, you know, stuff like that. And there's always presented. Daisy Banks Productions want to present you guys this script for this, this treatment for this. And, you know, like I said, I got my team that always with me when it comes to me, you know, being in these meetings or whatever it is. But like I said, I always had a goal. And, you know, a lot of stuff that I've shot already, it's like a proven, like the numbers are already there. So I'm letting people know it already worked. The TV show I want to do, I already shot it.

The sitcom I want to do, it's already there. The short film I want to turn into a feature film, the numbers are already there. I'm telling you, it works already. So it's like, it's just up to that company or whatever it is to actually believe in it. Because I know people say all the time, just continue to do it on your own. Put it out yourself, whatever it is. But man, hey man, for me, my goal is to have my show on Netflix. I want to be big. I want to be with the Lions. I want to be with the Paramounts. I want to have my stuff connect to those people. You know big I want to be with the lines I want to be with a pair of months I want to have my stuff connect to those people you know I'm saying that's what I want to do yeah why was it so important for you to believe and invest in Desi um I think that's what at the time I didn't

know but I think that's what God wanted me to do okay yeah i think that what god wanted but god wanted me to believe in myself first and to to know that you can still be successful with yourself then having to worry about other people right you can have your goals whatever it is but you can still be successful right you know what i'm saying so i can say it in this in this world is in this industry a lot of people wait on opportunities, man. We see it all the time. Just imagine how the writer's strike hit, man. A lot of actors wasn't working.

You know what I'm saying? They was out of work. Wasn't making the income they wanted. You know what I'm saying? Thank God they finally got what they deserve. But I just think that, you know, what they deserve, you know. But I just think that's the leeway when you want to do your own thing. When you want to build up your own fan base, you want to, you know, get that going. I think that's up to you and what you want to do.

I'm just one of the guys, like I'm a hustler, man. I don't want to sit and wait. You know, I like to grind. You know what I'm saying? So I know this is going to pay off one day. It's going to, they's going to tap in soon. Have you gone on, if any or how many, have you gone on some auditions? Auditions? Yeah.

Oh, tons. I've auditioned so many. I got close to a lot of different movies, man, that I was numbered up against the lead. You know what I'm saying? I've been up close to a lot of guys. You know what I'm saying? I've been up close to a lot of guys. You know what I'm saying? Thank God I can say it. I just booked a major film, a 24 film, that I'll be shooting soon.

We're still waiting on the dates to get for that. Can't wait for people to see that. But that is a step that I feel like that's going to open up doors for me as well. Like I said, I'm also in pitch meetings with other movies that i'm the lead of you know tv shows that i'm the lead of you know that people don't know right now you know what i'm saying but uh yeah people don't see that the the other work that goes on right you know so they just see what they see um but like i said it take time it's a process but like i said this is an opportunity this this interview is i guarantee this interview, this is going to open up some doors for me.

You're going to open some doors for me? For sure, for sure. I think so. I hope so. Yeah, exactly. That's what it's about. Has this audition, have any audition you've gone on and you've turned down like, damn, I probably should have taken that one?

Yeah, it's been some movies. Yeah, it's been movies that, yeah, that I've seen, I've turned down that gave other people opportunities. Yeah. And the only reason why I didn't accept it, well, one movie I didn't accept it was because I just felt like it wasn't right. It was just too much going on with it.

You know what I'm saying? I was like, you know, and then I think they wanted me to, at the time, it was like late. They wanted me to like cancel a show, a weekend that I had. And I was like, nah, it's too late for that. I'm finna go. My show already sold out here so i'm gonna go i'm gonna go do this and whoever y'all give this opportunity to hey man it was just meant for them i await my chance to get my right you know i'm saying i went it was no pressure so what have you learned about the

auditions that you have gone on i i've done well with all of them it's just uh i feel like it's just up to the people deciding on who they want you know i'm saying that's okay too and that's what i had to learn with my ethnic code duane boy and todd they used to always tell me all the time it's something it ain't it ain't you you know i'm saying sometimes they they may need a guy with a full beard you know you probably act it well but we need a guy with a full beard or you know um you did great but you sound southern you know or uh we need a uh a person that can play a doctor instead of you know it's just little stuff like that it i do my thing on audition right now i'm saying um and i'm all about the finding the right project right i don't want to just be in no movie just to be in just say i mean no man like that right project. Right. I don't want to just be in no movie

just to be in it. Just say I'm in it. Nah, man. Like, that's what, they don't make it legendary. Right. You know what I'm saying?

I feel like, like I said, let's go back to Chris Tucker. Friday was for him. I hear, you know, I was trying to say the OGs who auditioned for that,

I know it was a guy that was supposed to play that role, but I feel like it wouldn't have, maybe not been done like if Chris Tucker wasn't the guy. Mike, they, they, can't nobody be they, they. Correct. You see what I'm saying? Just little stuff like, But I feel like it wouldn't have maybe not been done like if Chris was the guy. Mike is day-day.

Can't nobody be day-day. You see what I'm saying? Just little stuff like that. Those films was for them. You know what I'm saying? I just, and that's what I want for myself. I want that film to be for me. You know, it's no rush for me to get, just being something.

The stuff that we're working on, it's around Desi. It's around what's going to be good for me. Would you ever do a Tyler Perry movie? Man, I auditioned for Tyler Perry. Did you? A few times. Okay. Yeah.

I mean, if it's the right role. Yeah. I mean, I ain't against working with Tyler. Right. I think Tyler dope. Tyler, he's a legend. Is there a role that you wouldn't play? That I wouldn't play?

Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't play, like, I don't want to do nothing outside of what makes me feel uncomfortable. Right. Yeah. Another where you don't want to dress up. What do you mean? Put a dress on, put a wig on. I mean, look, bro. If necessary? I mean, on the wig on oh I'm look right like if necessary I'm just put up I'm because you do you do my character I'm dead short films but dang

I did that I did that cuz my grandma loved it right like she loaded a car to recipe my grandma like that did that for her you know saying hey I ain't worry about that you know and that character is based off her. You know what I'm saying? So all that, I don't care about that. You know what I'm saying? But now I ain't feeling it.

You ain't feeling it coming to my dressing room. I probably be playing this role and you say, hey, can you put this on? Nah, I'm not doing that. Hell nah. Nah.

How was it acting with Issa Rae and Regina Hall? A little. When I was on set i seen regina i didn't see i didn't see isa though okay um yeah i seen regina so yeah i didn't i really i seen will packer too yeah i didn't really have a you didn't have an interaction yeah i ain't really connecting you know i was my scene was quick it was real quick so yeah isa ray said hollywood is scared and clueless after her show was canceled she said she also said black stories are less of a priority

and there aren't a lot of smart execs anymore what's been your experience your personal experience with holly well that's crazy though like the black show because like what i'm presenting is black shows and you know i would say on these pitches know, we we got these ideas that work. Like I said, we understand the culture. I feel like Hollywood should really allow us to. We got the numbers. We showing y'all this shit work. You know what I'm saying? It works. It works. So it's like. Let us like at least try. You know what I'm saying? Like at least try. And, you'm saying like at least try and you know of course y'all got guys if y'all got rights or whatever it is i mean we can connect let's bring it together

and see how we can like make this really work right you know i'm saying and understand who coming to the table like me being a part of the culture i got a fan base these people want to see me on that level this is what's going to bring numbers to you guys platform platform. Because at the end of the day, it's a numbers game. Right. You know what I'm saying? Y'all trying to get y'all money back or whatever it is. You know what I'm saying? So we got to think about stuff like that.

You know? And we take it serious. Yeah. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week,

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