StarTalk Radio - A Conversation with Queen Latifah

Episode Date: July 8, 2016

Neil deGrasse Tyson has an in-depth, one-on-one conversation with recording artist and actress Queen Latifah about the role science has played in her life, being a Trekkie, hip hop, Ice Age 5, and the science fiction martial arts film she wants to make. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to listen to new episodes ad-free and a whole week early.

Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now. Welcome to StarTalk Radio. I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist. I hail from New York City where I serve as director of the Hayden Planetarium, which is part of the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. You know, every now and then, I conduct an interview oozes, that we use the entire interview for the entire show. I think we've done this no more than two or three times in the six years we've been recording

StarTalk. And I have to tell you, it happened again. This episode features just such an interview with a woman we all know as Queen Latifah. She's got enough personality to fill three people, as far as I can tell. She's definitely the queen. The queen. No doubt about it. And she's had success in many different ways in her in her professional life she's a rapper a songwriter singer producer

model actress talk show host I can go on and on and it's not as though she was just experimenting to see if she was good at it and then went on to something else. She's actively doing all of this at all times. But what struck me in particular about my interview with her was just how genuine and passionate she is about science. She is deeply curious about life, the universe, and everything. And I don't think many people know that about her. And, of course, that's what we use StarTalk at its best, finding that hidden geek underbelly in people that you didn't even know existed within them. And so it's clear that Queen Latifah has got some geek underbelly going on with her.

So the first part of our conversation, we kind of celebrate that geekiness, and we talk about the interconnectedness of science and art, and what kind of science science fiction film she dreams of making who knew who knew and here's a hint whatever that film is she wants to make it's got to involve nunchucks i think she wants to kick some sci-fi ass so let's go to that conversation right now. My mother is an art teacher. So art and fascination with nature and things like that was normal in my household. Music was big in my household. Instruments and how they worked and radio. And my brother loved science.

So he wanted a chemistry set immediately and I was like a hole in the living room he was all about tearing things apart taking that it wasn't a safe radio in my house my brother would instantly you know back in time when you could take things apart you could take it nobody know nothing taking nothing gets taken apart today which is not good I know I have to agree it's not not. This was something that was really big. We missed something there. We definitely missed a step.

I mean, I think we did great in terms of moving things forward and fashioning new technology. But there's something about being tactile and touching things and knowing what they feel like, sound like, smell like. And, you know, I also grew up in Maryland and Virginia, which is where my grandparents are from. I also grew up in Maryland and Virginia, which is where my grandparents are from. So my grandfather had, you know, for us coming down to Maryland in the summers or Christmas time, it was a big old basement with a lot of tools and wood. And that's what we did. We went downstairs and we built things and we made things and we measured and cut. This is before Netflix.

Definitely before Netflix and Nickelodeon. You know, no cable in the house. Just a couple channels that you had to work out with an antenna. So, you know, aluminum foil antenna. So, I mean, you know, it was kind of the practical ways that science sort of invaded your life because you had to use it. But that meant you didn't fear it. There are people who saw it as, well, that's science and I'm not science, so therefore I will shun it or walk around it or avoid it. And so what you're saying, not to put words in your mouth, but...

Help me out here, bro. Help us in the house. Okay. That a person as an adult can embrace science if only it didn't leave a bad taste in your mouth right growing up if it was even just neutral right that's a good that's a good thing at least started neutral and now understand i mean i come from a christian family so of course we could get into creationist versus darwin is all that kind of stuff that wasn't even really a big topic of discussion there was by the way I think I've done a little homework on this you in the traditional black churches however

religious they were it did not include running to the school board to have them change the curriculum in the biology class that was not going on in the black churches no right right it was more about community and this sort of thing which was fine yeah which was a good place for it to be you know um i think you know a kid has to be fascinated about a kid kids i think are fascinated about things and when they really are fascinated you want to feed that so my my the family i came from was one that fed whatever spark they saw in us kids. So my mom and my dad were as curious about us as kids as we were about the world. And so when they saw a spark, they kind of fed that thing and kind of tried to nurture it rather than guide us in one direction or other.

Which happens all too often because then you end up doing something that wasn't even in your own soul of curiosity. It's what your parents wanted for you. Which is no fun. It's no fun. Life's just no fun like that. Now, you are hugely talented. I mean, looking at your resume, there was nothing you haven't done, I don't think. All right?

If there's something you haven't done, I don't even know if you know you haven't done. So what's left? Talk show host, producer, hip hop star, you know, movie star, Oscar nominated, you know, performer, model. Those intros get long. I'm standing on the side of the stage to be introduced sometimes and I'm like, jeez, man. I'm getting tired hearing about all the stuff I did. Do you find yourself having to pick

what you do next? I do have to pick what I do next because time is the one thing that I'm just not given a lot of. I'm glad you noticed that because that's for damn sure. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not I'm not able to be eight eight me's. If I could, I would because I'd get a lot more done, obviously, but I can't. So, yeah, I mean, quality of life is important to me these days.

It's really about am I enjoying what I do? Am I happy? Does it push me in some sort of way? I have to be pushed because I need a challenge. So I get bored very easily. If I'm not doing something interesting, then I'm like, okay, well, it's boring. So it just doesn't feed me very much. So yeah, I do have to do a sci-fi movie. That's definitely on my-

Well, that's on your bucket list. It is so on my bucket list, man. A sci-fi movie. Now, you don't's on your bucket list it is so on my bucket list movie now now you don't count you were in the sphere i was in the sphere but i need to be i need to be number one on the call sheet you know i'm not like number 17 i'm kind of just like you down there i need to actually do something i was getting killed and plus i got killed in sphere i got killed you were not alone in getting killed it's getting too good and getting killed i had to put a no killkill clause in my contract. You didn't even do that? I was like, okay, I got killed and set it off.

No sequel there. I got killed in Spear. No, you didn't do that. I'm like, I died too good. I get that. I'm good at this. Okay, so I told my agent, listen, no more dying in these movies because there'll never be a sequel. So let's just wrap that up now.

Oh, the sequel's the thing. That's where the comeback on the money comes on the sequel. Yeah, shut that down. Let's shut it down. Okay, plus. There's a lot that up now. Oh, the sequel's the thing. That's where the comeback on the money comes on the sequel. Yeah, yeah, shut that down. Let's shut it down. Okay, plus... There's a lot more to do. I mean, I guess we went many decades without black folk being portrayed in the future. We just were not... Yeah, which is...

That meant somebody's thinking about a future where they... Where they round them up and not put them up. But science fiction films have a huge following, loyal followings. And so you're overdue. I'm way overdue. I mean, I've been. Let the record show. Yeah.

I mean, in my household, there was Star Trek and you'd watch Trek and we were Trekkies and we laid in front of the TV and my brother could perfectly imitate Kirk and Spock and, you know, we still wouldn't know words. They'd have a drink. It's called Chanya. And we're like, Chanya, what a word. You know, you could make up things that didn't sound typical. You know, you could create things.

And they didn't have to be what you read in a book. You could imagine something. And that was, it's the whole imagination of it all. I mean, we haven't seen it necessarily. So who says it does or doesn't exist? So you can just make it up, you know, which is kind of cool, especially if you ground it in something that's sort of real. So plus, since you didn't dislike science, it meant you were open to science-y things that might arise in your life. So one of my good friends of recent years is Bill Nye. And I go through the archives. There you go.

There you go. You a guest. How you going to be from the Bronx and let Bill Nye the Science Guy have a rap name and you get your rap name on? You can call me MC Squared. I mean, that is probably kind of cool. Give me that. I give you that. So how do you land on Bill Nye the science guy? How did that how did that happen? Frankly, I it's the same way I found you.

I mean, I enjoy someone who can who is way more advanced and knowledgeable than I. the knowledgeable than I, but translates that to, you know, someone like myself who can understand it and get just as excited about it as they are. And it's that passion, you know, it's the passion you have, it's the passion he has, and taking something simple and explaining it, you know, something that you see in everything. So you were celebrating that fact? I love that. I mean, biology was one of my favorite classes as a freshman. Yeah, but how many, you were already a successful hip-hop star, okay? How does, oh, now let me show up on Bill Nye the Science Guy. Well, that doesn't stop.

I mean, I know a few people around here who are kind of geeks, you know, and proud. We're proud to be. But are they, we got to let them out of the closet? I think Will Smith is a pretty big geek. Okay. I mean, he's a guy, he got into MIT. I mean, for all intents and purposes, had he not been the huge number one movie star that he is, he probably would have been an amazing scientist or developer of some sort.

So this is like a fork in the road that was... We're not just talented at these gifts of music and acting. It all comes from a fascination, a curiosity. And some of us actually do hit the books. I kind of, you know, went left a little bit at some point, and the clubs got a little more fascinating to me. I'm so heartened to see your accommodation and sensitivity to just science-y things, because science is everywhere. It's in our lives.

And I'm hurt almost when I hear someone say, I was never good at science and it's not me. I'm an artist, not a scientist. Or I'm a this, not a that. And by the way, where's my smartphone? I have to call. Right, right. You know, you can't artificially divorce what you think is science from the science that's actually touching your life. Well, it's touching our lives constantly.

I mean, and thank God. What would we do? I mean, there's a lot of things, a lot of us that wouldn't even be here. Right, right. You'd be dead or otherwise. Had someone not, like, done some sort of investigation into something, you know? Be dead or otherwise. Yeah, right.

So do you have any secret geek underbelly? Well, I don't know. I'm fascinated about a lot of things. You like the science fiction genre? I do. Otherwise, why are you trying to get a gig with one? No, I love the science fiction genre. That goes without saying, but I'll say it.

I love sci-fi and I want to be in a big, giant sci-fi movie or something that's really cool and small, as long as it's good. And how about superheroes? You do a superhero thing? All that. All that. I love superheroes. I still believe I have a karate, kung fu, some sort of picture in me.

There's no way I grew up on that much Bruce Lee and Star Trek to not be able to combine the two as an adult. Bruce Lee and Star Trek? And apply my life. It was just a whole marathon on. You legs. It was just a whole marathon on. You just want to staple together stuff that happened in your life and create a movie role for it. Why not? I'm already on it. This is what I do. So you're into martial arts. What kind of martial arts do you do?

I love them all. I mean, I definitely love karate, kung fu. I love mixed martial arts. I love judo. Do you actually do it or just sort of think about it? Some of it I can do. I mean, my father was a SWAT officer and he knew karate, so he taught us a lot of that stuff as kids. You can kick some ass. I might be able to kick, well, depending on what condition

in the knees. In the knee, in the rheumatism in the knee. I definitely can do a couple things, but yeah, I have some nunchucks at home. Nunchucks? Oh my God. And I just like, that's like my... After Bruce Lee did his nunchuck, we all had to buy nunchucks. We had to. I mean, it was a must. I have some noon chucks at home and noon chucks and I just like that's like my after Bruce Lee did his noon chuck we all had to buy we had to I mean I have noon chucks we all have Chinese stars and throwing things and we still walk around in Chinese you know shoes karate shoes right they're just very comfortable and practical you know and um yeah so those that's

that's kind of my thing but I have some noon chucks that I just kind of use for stress relief. I'll just stand there. When I need to think about something, I'll stand there. And I'm just flipping my noon chucks, and it's okay. You just... I work for it. You are... You tell me when you just want to take your mind off of things, you will just play with noon chucks.

I will. I'm going to grab some nunchucks and just boom. And yeah, and then I'll feel good for it. Like your sound effects do. Get myself going. Since this is radio, it's the indication of how fast you're smortling them around. So I remember, I'm old enough to remember, pre-Bruce Lee, I mean, Bruce Lee was around but not yet a big movie star.

There was this film, Billy Jack. Wow, the legend of Billy Jack. There's my Billy Jack. How about that? And so he was a half-breed. Yeah, yeah. I remember that. And he was sticking up for the local tribes that are getting abused by the thugs.

But he was in the Green Berets, all right? They didn't know who they were messing with. They didn't know who they were messing with. My favorite line. There's some redneck sheriff walks up to him, badmouths him, and he says, and Billy Jack says, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to take this foot.

He points to his right foot. And I'm going to put it on that side of your face wait wait okay that's bad ass that is enough but it continues and he says and you know something else there ain't a damn thing you can do about it damn thing you can do about it and then in slow motion up comes the foot against his face his cheek and there it. There was nothing he could have done about it. And so I saw that, and I said, I want to be. You feel me? That's what will never go away.

That's what is just never going to go away. I got my nunchucks now. I think my brother took them. You should. Just get the padded ones like the ones I have, because I'm not that skillful with them. So if you make a mistake, you don't bruise yourself. No, but that's how you know to not make a mistake after that. Exactly.

You get good quick, I guess, so you're going to put them down one or the other. There's only two ways we're going about this. There's only two ways. Really good or stop. Or stop. For your own safety. Okay, so a sci-fi, kung fu, action, superhero drama. All right. That sounds like fun to me. I don't know what the problem is it's obvious this is a no-brainer well they just introduced wonder woman i mean

that's that's a new thing about that that was a that was a moving moment when she just yeah she's gotta have the invisible plane and i mean but this is what i grew up on so i'm i'm really excited that so it's in reach it's like a whole new generation that they're really just going so hard with these effects that they have nowadays it's just so yeah there's no there's no real right used to be can they make the mechanical model right and now we have virtual reality and I'm really interested in seeing where that's going to go because uh um I just shot a promotion for this American Heart Association thing. And one of the guys, his company directed The Cove.

Okay. But they're also developing virtual reality. The documentary that was so influential. Exactly, about the dolphins and everything. But they developed this VR. And it was like, he's like, come here, try these on. So I put these glasses on and I'm literally under the ocean. And I'm watching sharks swim by and fish.

And it's just you're turning your head in every direction you're moving. You're looking up. You're looking down. It's a little disorienting initially. But once you kind of give into it a bit, you're sort of in an entirely different world. And it's very real to your brain, which is kind of cool to me. That's the whole point of it. Right.

You don't have to be physically real. Right. As long as it's real to your brain. As the matrix is real. Because some of it you're going to want to probably take those glasses off at some point. Okay. And come up out of that world. That's another kind of matrix to live in.

It is. It is. It is. Coming up, Queen Latifah and I discussed hip hop as a kind of a social movement, kind of a force of change in society. And also, perhaps you might remember a recent dust up that I had with another hip hop artist regarding what shape the earth has.

Yeah, well, we went there. And we'll hear all about that and more when StarTalk Radio returns. Welcome back to StarTalk Radio. I'm your host, Neil deGrasse Tyson. In this week's episode, we break format from our normal sort of structure of the show, and we're featuring my interview with Queen Latifah, but without any interruptions at all, just straight through. And that's the entirety of this episode. And in this segment, we reveal how she got her start. And of course, it's as a rapper and a hip hop artist. And of course, she's a damn good one. And she's been nominated for seven Grammys, seven Grammys and five

of them for her rap albums. So she's out there getting the job done. But more than that, her lyrics serve as a kind of a potent source of inspiration for women. And back in the day, female rappers were, you just, there weren't any. I mean, there might've been one or two and she was one of those two. So she had an especially visible and influential platform from which to be heard. And I wondered how that platform might be constructed in modern times to stimulate women to enter the STEM careers, science, technology, engineering, and math. And also, I was curious, you know, when the arts embrace science and the sciences embrace the arts, then people are no longer sort of bounded or contained or boxed in by or labeled by saying they're this or that. And maybe you can be a scientist and be an artist or be one and embrace the other.

And you're really only bounded by your curiosity. So let's rejoin my interview with Queen Latifah as we explore the role of performance art as a vehicle to effect change. the role of performance art as a vehicle to effect change. Some of your earlier hip hop work, and I don't know your more recent work, forgive me, but your earlier work, a lot of it was in the service of empowerment of women. Right. And have you ever considered a dimension of that to encourage women in the STEM fields? Because performance has influence, right? The power of an artist is never neutral.

Right. Right. And so when it's done with a mission, it can be quite potent. I would actually love to do that. And right now STEM, you know, science, technology, engineering, and math, we're trying to sort of move women or at least not have them fear it, as a minimum. And so have you ever thought of leaning that way in any of your output? I would love to.

And maybe that's a new idea that you've given me to really focus on. Because whenever it's sort of come past me or anyone has been involved with it that wanted me to do something, say some sort of promo or just send a shout out to the kids i've always done it but i haven't really driven anything towards it but i know how important it is because yeah yeah it's it's really sad how people are discouraged from doing the things that they're capable of doing and at the end of the day it all holds all of us back plus there's social forces you know Is the girl as attractive to boys if she's smarter than the boy?

We've got to overcome all this. We do have to overcome this, but how do the boys overcome it? The boys who were once supposedly unattractive are now the most attractive. That's true. Like Geek Chic. But this is something that parents should be educating kids on. I haven't thought about that.

There's a whole myriad of things that kids have to get through. Puberty alone is a challenge, you know, and everything's the end of the world. But if you can get them through that to the other side of it, life begins to take over and things begin to appear and it gets exciting. Well, it's the full expression of freedom. That's right. And, yeah, I want to see, I mean, I was one of those girls, but I wasn't dissuaded from it. Right, this is an important fact here. And that's the difference.

You were comfortable. Yes. And it was fun. And kind of cool. Yeah, it's cool. To me, I think it's sexy. I think a female scientist, someone discovering, someone in the belly of the lab discovering.

See, that's where the acting thing, that's where I was not supposed to be a scientist, someone discovering, someone in the belly of the lab discovering. See, that's where the acting thing that's where I was not supposed to be a scientist but an actor. Did we script that? That's all that James T. Kirk coming through me. I'm an actor, Jim. I'm not a doctor. I'm an actor. Dammit, we've got to get these girls in science. Anyway, but no, I would definitely support it. So if you come

up with some ideas for me to... Not that I'm a deer generator there, but... Write a rhyme and bust something out, you know. Okay. Or maybe I'll do some... That's a good idea. I think I'll go back to the lab and figure out how I can integrate some STEM support in there. So I got a little pulled into the hip-hop scene a few months ago,

where the rap star B.O.B. started going off that earth was flat. And I don't know if you know about this. So he started. So I don't care what people think. Wait, I feel like I do know about this. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. So I don't care.

Except there must have been some overlap in the Venn diagram of his Twitter followers and my Twitter followers. Because my Twitter line started lighting up saying, please save B.O.B. from himself. Could you correct him? Could you? They're pleading to me. These were his fans that also followed me. Right. And I still said, no, I can't.

I don't have time for this. He would, no. And then I looked at his Twitter stream. He said, I use physics and math to show the earth is flat. Now, those are fighting words, right? Then I said, no, I've got to rise up to this. And so I showed that he was wrong. But then I said, but it's okay for you to think the world is flat.

Just don't try to influence anyone else. Right. Well, he wasn't serious, right? It was just some creative license kind of thing, right? Maybe. I don't know. No way he was serious. And then.

Come on. You've flown around a bad boy. Then he sang a diss track, all right? You haven't made it. You are wild. I went wild. So I'm not a rapper. So I had to call my nephew, Stephen Tyson Jr., who is himself a rapper.

He's got his own little fledgling career. And I said, what am I, what do I do now? And he said, I'll help you write a diss track. Let him write you some rhymes. That's right. And so, no, I didn what do I do now? And he said, I'll help you write a diss track. Let him write you some rhymes. And so, no, I didn't rhyme it, he did it. And so he wrote a diss track. So then I'll end up on Sway.

Oh my God, I love it. I'm just an astrophysicist. Pulling me into all of this. I'm on Sway, on Sirius XM. You can't have it both ways. Now you can't separate science from the creative. We just discussed this. The creative is connected now. It is true.

It's all full circle. It's true. It's full circle. I'm just saying, it was, I was like. And you're from the boogie town. I was pulled in briefly. And I quickly said, okay, that's enough for now. Yes.

So, you had an Oscar nomination for Chicago. I saw that film, and it was like you were born to play that role. I feel like I was. Oh, my gosh. It was like I cannot imagine anyone else in this role. That's how I knew. It was like, wow. I haven't had to fight for a role that hard since then.

You fought for that role? I fought. I took three auditions to get that role. Oh, my God. Three. Three. I was like, listen. Who did you beat out?

I think I beat out a lot of people. A lot of people of note who would have been great in that role. But I had to fight. Well, I know it's properly cast when someone else is unthinkable in the role. And you have to really, you know, I think I've sealed Matri Mama Morton in people's minds, and I hope that they don't ever see anybody else other than me playing it in that way. But yeah, I had to audition for Rob Marshall, the director, in New York. And it's tricky because when that whole thing came up, it was just

after 9-11, Broadway was shut down. And people just started performing again and I had to go see the play because I hadn't seen the play. So I went to see the play and I made it through intermission. And I just was so kind of nervous because it was literally less than two weeks after 9-11 I was nervous so I just I was like okay I got it I'm out you know I'm good I'm okay I'm gonna take a break on this and that was that but yeah there's still the jitters yeah yeah it was a very tough time in New York you know such a sensitive time in New York for all of us um but yeah so so I auditioned once. I had to wait for a call back.

Got the call back. Then I had to sing, go up there and sing. Then I got that. That's right. Everybody sang in that movie. Yeah. And then I had to fly up to Toronto. Zeta-Jones sang?

Everybody sang? I had to audition with her. I had to read and sing with her. And after that, they gave me the role. Okay. I was like, come on, man. Didn't Richard Gere sing his own? Everybody sang.

Everybody sang. Everybody sang. Everybody did their own thing. He was a great director to really get that out of everybody and make them feel so comfortable. People who hadn't really done that. I didn't see your film, Bessie, but I know Bessie. I mean, I'm a huge Blues fan. You know Bessie?

Well, how old is you? No, no. You got to be pushing the 130. The 130. Getting the rheumatism. Yeah, your hip is killing you right now. Damn. It's going to rain in a couple hours.

I need a porch. Oh, my gosh. Some New Yorkers don't have that old people on the front porch mentality. I know, right? But I'm just a fan of the blues, and some people's stories were undertold historically. So I'm glad you found that medium and that story to tell. Yeah, we needed to tell that story. She was something else. She changed a lot.

Congratulations on that. Thank you. Yeah. Look at that face. This must be a good one. I'm going to. Congratulations on that. Thank you. Yeah. Look at that face. That's a good one. I'll tell you something stupidly geeky. So I read that you sang in, was it New Jersey Performing Arts Center, which is right in the middle of Newark. You did a version of Oh Happy Day. I did. That song from the Edwin Hawkins singers. Yes.

Okay. So that was one of my favorite gospel songs when I was a kid. And one time I was very young and my mother had to go out and for some reason she didn't take me but was a little worried about leaving me at home. So she put me on the, I must have been four or something, I don't know, five, put me on the couch, played Oh Happy Day in repeat mode, which you could do on the record player in the day. Oh, wow.

And, because she knew I liked the song, so I wouldn't leave as long as the song was playing. Wow. But I decided to count how many times they said, Oh Happy Day in that song. Are you serious? And to this day, I have that number. Which is? It's 59 times. Oh, wow. It's not more than that.

You might think it was more than that. But, oh, happy day when Jesus walked. You know, and then the chorus comes in. 59 times. And then there's that, oh, happy day. Yes, yes. And this song just keeps ascending. That's a lot of time.

You were in heaven when that song was done. Right, right. So wherever you were, you end up in heaven. And so it's 59 times. That's why you are who you are. Because who sits there four years old and counts? I might have been five, but it was... My feet didn't leave the couch. You couldn't hit the ground

on the couch. And I'm glad you could count to almost 60. Good job. Actually, I wonder maybe I didn't know how to count to 60 and it was 59 plus. Right. Double check. I love that. Good job. Actually, I wonder maybe I didn't know how to count to 60, and it was 59 plus. Right, right? 59 plus. I love that. So I have to tell you that story, because if you sang that song.

And you stayed put, too, huh? I stayed put. I didn't budge the whole time. See, Mama knew. She knew. She had me figured out. She's like, this will keep him occupied. Also, did you cut an album called Traveling Light?

I did. Okay. So, that's the punchline of a joke. Really? A geeky joke. Yeah. Hit me. You have to.

You can't go there and not give it up. This is very good. Okay. So, a photon walks into a bar. You got me at that already. No, no, no, that's the stupid. That's a first. I messed it up.

So a photon checks into a hotel. Okay. Okay? And the bellhop comes and says, hello, do you have any luggage? He says, no, I'm traveling light. Oh my God. Give it up. Give it up! No, I'm traveling light! That's totally peak Joe. A photon is traveling light.

It's so good. That's good. And I saw that album and I said, no, I got that. I'm there. The best part of it? I don't know what's in the album, but I got the joke. Look, the best part of it is your laughter before the joke. I knew you were going to mess the joke up if I say you're laughing too hard. No, because it's too many of them going to a bar. That's how my mother starts a joke. I, because it's too many of them going to a bar.

I love that. I want to hear some more. You want to hear a couple more? Yeah, you might as well hit me with a couple more. So what denomination religion are you raised in? Christian. I mean, what denomination of Christianity? Baptist.

Baptist, okay. Catholic and Baptist. Catholic and Baptist, okay. I'm all confused. So do you remember the year, a couple years remember a year and a half ago, over in Switzerland they discovered what was called the Higgs Boson, which was this particle long sought. This particle has a field around it where if you're another particle and you go through that field, the Higgs Boson grants that particle mass. It's a badass particle to do this.

You have the power to give mass to other particles that come through. So it won a Nobel Prize. It was a very, very important particle. Okay. In fact, there's a book published called The God Particle. Right, right, right. In anticipation of the discovery of that particle. Right.

Okay. So that's the setup. Now, this is a joke where I know who invented the joke. How often do you know who invents a joke? Like, hardly ever. You hardly ever. Yeah, you hardly ever. It's lost.

No, you just don't know. It's lost in the ether, right? Right. I know who invented this joke. His name is Brian Mallow. Wow. And he's got a Twitter handle called Science Comedian. You're not about to check that out.

So, we got people who try to make you laugh. So this is his joke. You ready? A Higgs boson walks into a church. And the priest says, I'm sorry. Sorry, we don't allow Higgs bosons in church. And the Higgs boson says, but without me, you can't have mass. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. the Higgs bonds I said oh but without me you can't have mass you've been missing

out on some geek jokes you're gonna have to get my geek joke and we get an education it's in humor and I can't wait to hear one where I'm like no not so much on that so we got good people. We got people thinking this stuff up. That's a good one. I'm about to do some Higgs boson research because I'm all excited about that, to be able to give math. Yeah, think about it. Look at all the, you know, sex and relationships and New York versus LA, the tired subjects that everyone composes jokes on, think of the limitless cosmos. Oh, man.

Literally the limitless cosmos. And ever expanding, yes, cosmos. When StarTalk returns, you will not have to hear any more of my corny, geeky jokes. But if you want to tweet your own at StarTalkRadio, we'd love to see what you've got. When StarTalk returns, you will not have to hear any more of my corny, geeky jokes. You will not have to hear any more of my corny, geeky jokes. But if you want to tweet your own at StarTalkRadio, we'd love to see what you've got up your sleeve.

Coming up, Queen Latifah and I talk about the new film Ice Age 5 Collision Course. In it, she plays a woolly mammoth named Ellie. And I have my own cameo in it. Shh. It's my animated movie debut. I play Neil deBuck Weasel. Stay tuned. You'll get more in a moment. Welcome back to StarTalk Radio. I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Tonight, every now and again, we have an episode. It's not even every now and again. It's every couple of years, maybe. An episode is so full and so rich in content that we just run my interview just as it happened. And that's what you're getting tonight with my conversation with Queen Latifah. And you're just going to hear the whole thing, basically. And in this next part of the conversation, we talk about her latest movie, Ice Age 5, Collision Course. You heard me right. Ice Age 5.

There's almost as many of these things as the Fast and Furious series. It caught me by surprise, too. If you're not alone, if you're saying five, there have been five of these. She plays the woolly mammoth named Ellie. And I even have my own cameo in the film. Shh. I play Neil deBuck Weasel, which I'm not roaming with the rest of the mammals. I exist in the head of Buck the Weasel, helping him make important decisions.

Let's check it out. So, you're a mammoth. I am. Ellie. You got the word out, huh? Yes, I am Ellie, the wooly mammoth. Once thought she was a possum. She's clear about that at this point.

So this is like the most successful animated series ever, or something? Huge, yes. That's crazy huge. Worldwide, it's huge. Now, isn't that a mystery to even the producers themselves? You know, I'm sure they're happy about it. No one's going to argue that it wasn't a fun subject, but I'm betting they didn't think this was going to be a worldwide phenomenon. And you all have almost as many episodes as the Fast and Furious series.

And that's saying something. This is our fifth one. That's crazy. Okay. I mean, I've been a hero in my household to my nieces and nephews, rather. They didn't call me Aunt Dana is my real name. They called me Aunt Ellie for months. Auntie Ellie.

Auntie Ellie. Oh, Auntie Ellie is on the phone. Okay, Aunt Ellie. I'm like, you know I'm not a woolly mammoth. They don't exist anymore. I'm still dysentery. So does that sensitize you to any, this is the obvious cliche question they always ask actors. So are you now sensitized to climate or extinct animals or the fate of the earth?

I don't think I've always been sensitized to climate or extinct animals or the fate of the earth? I think I've always been sensitized to that. I'm a Pisces. Where's that in your cosmos, man? So yeah, I think I am because not so much because of Ice Age, which I think is going to be huge and funny and exciting all over again. And I love doing it every time. But just because I travel the world, I like I love going different places on this planet. And when you get to see some of the beauty and harshness as well, you just kind of want want it to be. I mean, I want the damn planet to live. I mean, the harshness empowers you to appreciate the beauty all the more.

It really does. It makes, you know, you realize that, I mean, we're all here together. We need to share this one planet. So what just disturbs me the most, I guess, is the fact that we even have the power, that much power, to be able to harm our own planet, own planet, that we could actually be capable, physically capable of doing something like that. They're debating what to call the new geologic era, where the Earth is now influenced by the conduct of one of its species, the human beings.

I mean, listen, I think the Earth is going to win eventually. It always does. Everybody's saying, oh, let's save Earth. No, Earth don't need... No, Earth is going to be fine. What's not going to be fine is us. Don't you get this? I've done that. Listen, we get wiped out every time. Right.

You know, you better realize. The fossil record shows it. We lose this fight every time. The Earth and, you know, nature is always going to take over. So it'll have its way. So did they tell you? I don't know if they told you. Told me what? They told me what they told me i have

a cameo in ice age you do i do know about that oh yeah wait aren't you in aren't you i'm not gonna tell aren't you in i know where you are too i know exactly where you are i'm just a little thing it's just a little thing i got the word on it aren't't you in, you're in the. I'm in the thought process. You're in a good place, though. Yeah, it's a good place. It's a good place. You're in a great place. Because once I get to be, I wouldn't agree if it was just completely, rather, I don't

mind people having fun with science in a movie, provided they have fun in a, I don't know, if in the right moments they don't take themselves too seriously and you're just having fun, then everybody has fun and then I'm all for it. And if an artist taps me on the shoulder and says, can you bring some of your science expertise to my art project? And if an artist is reaching for me, I got to come and call. Of course you do. I do.

Especially when you can pop some reality in it. Something that is really possible. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. You know, God bless them. Every time they have to figure out, they have to figure out some way, some plausible way to create

a distinction level of big. Every movie they got to figure out. Everybody's going down. You know what I mean? So how did it happen? It can be playfully plausible. And a squirrel did it. A squirrel.

A prehistoric sort of squirrel. A squirrely thing. A rat. A rat, squirrel, whatever it is. Right. And he's the hero. He's my favorite character. He's everybody's favorite character.

Every movie is like nobody can blow him off. Everybody's got a stuffed Scrat. Right. And he doesn't even. He's my favorite character. He's everybody's favorite character. Every movie is like nobody can blow me off. Everybody's got a stuffed Scrat. Right. And he doesn't even speak a word. He's just. I'm like, damn, that's a good gig. Thank you. I like to think I love Scrat enough to imitate him.

Well. So it's funny because I don't do. It's not what I do. So I'm an interloper. And it was just fun. Don't you do it. I did my lines. And then they said, OK, now this is the part where

we just need you to make noises for when you're doing things. So I need you to grunt. Right. I need you to, in case you're climbing something. It's trippy, right? Yeah, it was a whole just sort of the sound effects. How was that experience for you? It was surreal.

I enjoyed it, but because then it was learning how the sausage gets made that any any veal person knows You know and so yeah, you can literally pass out trying to do that stuff I mean some of the voiceover studios some of the studios have this sort of almost a ballet bar. It's like a Bar, that's a horizontal and vertical kind of shape and you can lean on it to run So that you make the right cut without making too much noise with your clothes but getting the breath out to sound like you are running and chasing because you can, I mean people have passed out doing these effects. You know trying to make the sound of running or breathing so hard that they're like, I've

heard some funny stories through the years about people who like knock themselves out from like. There's one other video I was asked, okay, in this scene you're falling into a black hole, so give me the anguish and pain that that is. And you said... What was that like? Let's hear it. Well, you get extruded through the fabric of space as you get ripped head to toe. So it's quite a, yeah, it's a. That's some good extrusion. I don't know how you can conjugate that word. Some good extrusion right there.

Yeah, you have to feel like you're being stressed out. That was really good. I'm getting better. I like it. It's in your faces and your voices. I really feel like you're being stressed out. That was really good. I'm getting better. I like it. It's in your faces and your voices. I really feel like you got extruded just then. I'll miss you. Acting.

I'll miss you, bud. Acting. See you next lifetime. For this last part of the show, Queen Latifah had a burning question for me. In my experience interviewing artists and celebrities and folks who you may know for other reasons on StarTalk,

it's often that I'm the first astrophysicist they've ever met or at least the first one they had a chance to sit down with. And being the curious folks they tend to be, artists are not only curious about how to find new ways to portray the world, they're curious about the world itself. Some people may be surprised to learn that. And I'm delighted to have found that out here on Star

Talk. And so usually when given the chance, they'll just pelt me with questions about the universe. When I ask them if they have any questions, and sure enough, I asked it of Queen Latifah, and she charmed me with hers. Let's see what it was. Okay, I got too many questions, so I'll just ask you. I want to know just one thing then. So you have an asteroid in your desk.

Is that true? I do. In my desk, in my it's in my drawer in your office in my lower left drawer an asteroid in your lower left yeah that's a meteorite yeah but it was once an asteroid but yeah right i'm sorry not an asteroid yeah but a meteorite so what is it like to actually touch something that was in outer space for the first time? I mean, to have studied this, but to actually physically have something in your hands that was there and that's now here. That is a beautiful question. And let me give you a slightly long answer. I'll take it. Okay.

Let me give you a slightly long answer. I'll take it. Okay. At the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Air and Space, they have the original Apollo 11 capsule that went to the moon. Occasionally you have tourists coming through, and they say, oh, so this is the capsule that went to the moon and came back. And they say, oh, is it a replica? No, it's the actual capsule.

And when you tell them that, then they take higher interest. And we live in a time where you can make an exact replica if you wanted to every detail, but the knowledge that it's real matters. I could have perfect knowledge of what an asteroid is and how it enters Earth's atmosphere and you find it and I can know it intellectually, but until you hold it in your hand, it is never as real as it can possibly be. And so this asteroid, which is this piece of an asteroid, this relic from the early

solar system, it's four and a half billion years old, sitting in my desk drawer. Every time I pull it out and you feel how heavy it is, how dense, how uncommonly dense it is. And it's got, it's craggy and magnets stick to it. And it's, and you realize that it contains iron forged in stars from long ago that manufactured iron that is also in the hemoglobin of your blood. So the iron of this asteroid, of this meteorite, and the iron in your blood have a common origin. So there's a cosmic connectivity that has no equal as I hold that meteorite in my hand. Yes!

Oh, and by the way, I collect old science books written in the day of when the discoveries were made. So they go back several centuries. My wife is always telling me, oh, why don't you just get it online? Why are you paying for this? You can read the content. Google scanned the book, find the page, and I say, no, I can hold the book that's been held by generations of people before me. There's margin notes of people trying to work through the equations when no one before had ever seen these equations.

In that way I commune through time with those who have struggled mightily to understand our place in the universe. You owe me an interview thank you so much alright we gotta wrap up this episode of Star Talk and I hope you had as much fun listening to this conversation as I did having it and no you can't not be enchanted by Queen Latifah I

am an even bigger fan of hers now than I was before because she's warm and smart and talented and kind, giving all the things that I think most people aspire to be. People aspire to be the bits and pieces that she is. And yet she has all those bits and pieces in one person. And so I tip my hat. No, I bow to the queen, to Queen Latifah. Ladies and gentlemen, you've been listening to StarTalk Radio. And I've been your host, Neil deGrasse Tyson. And as always, I bid you to keep looking up.