The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - South Beach Sessions - David Alan Grier

Episode Date: November 14, 2024

If you don’t get excited to see David Alan Grier, then something is seriously wrong. Like, please, go figure that out… we’ll wait.  David’s got 40 years of experience on the stage and screen - the craftsman of both comedy and drama with the awards to prove it. He didn’t start out as a Tony-winning actor, though… David tells Dan about how his upbringing shaped his lifelong curiosity, from getting his start in comedy as a class clown, to his father’s history as a Black activist and David’s own attempt to join the Black Panther Party. David reflects on the incredible legacy and enduring magic behind “In Living Color”, his approach to the art of balancing comedy and drama today – and how both, coupled with kindness, can help us get through dark times. David stars in the new NBC hit comedy, “St. Denis Medical”, streaming now on Peacock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Copyright 2024, Proximo. Jersey City, New Jersey, please drink responsibly. Welcome to South Beach Sessions. I'm going to need your help as a professional entertainer here because I legitimately don't know how to introduce you when you're talking about 40 years of screen and stage. You're talking about Tony Awards. You've worked with everybody in this business. So help me do it, David Allen Greer. Help me. Legend.

Icon. Okay. Living fossil. All right. A dinosaur still alive. Yes. The past, the present, the future. Thank you for the help. I've admired your work for a long time

and I will tell the people, one of the most legendary interviews in the history of the now dead television show Highly Questionable, because you sat in a newsroom in Bristol, Connecticut, and just shouted in every direction, disrupting everybody's work in a way. You had a part in that. You prodded me. Yes.

Yeah, but it was a busy newsroom. Midday too. Yes, and you were shouting and fun and funny, and you were making Balmany and I laugh uproariously from a million miles away. It was fun. I mean, I had fun. I had fun being prodded into mischief that day. It was great.

Have you always enjoyed performing? Is that something that came to you naturally early in life? I'm gonna be honest with you. I was a class clown since I was like a little kid and that's just it. I mean, when I found comedy, i.e. acting, that was a way to do what I, oh, that's the stuff I shouldn't be doing that people have a career out of.

So it was just kind of a funneling into that. But before that, it was very much don't do that, please stop, you're gonna get in trouble. Your mouth is gonna get you in trouble is what my mom used to tell me. And she was right and wrong. Did it get you in trouble growing up? I remember like the average period,

I went to Schultz Elementary School in Detroit, the average period was 40 minutes. I remember getting kicked out of one class four times so that's pretty bad. What were you doing? What was... Everything man talking making noises fart noises and whispering just inappropriate Mrs. Van Houghton was my teacher's name and she was exactly what you think she was. She looked like the evil, frauline character from a James Bond movie. Remember the lady? She had the look like the spike, the poison spike in her grandma shoe.

That was Mrs. Van Houghton. And so- She had Belle's palsy on one side. You didn't have a choice then. Really though, when it came- Like if you're saying that's who you were from early on, then this is the path you were gonna take toward a career.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Although, you know, there are two parts to me, just like anybody. I mean, there was a part where I always really wanted to be the serious Negro actor, you know, like play the doctor, the lawyer, and LA law, you know, stuff like that., the lawyer and LA law, you know, stuff like that. But I just was funny. So like, but who like Sidney Poitier?

Of course, Sidney Poitier. Like when I started, I did soldiers play in like 83. This is my second job, you know, out of acting school. Denzel Washington was in that cast. We all auditioned for St. Elsewhere. He obviously got it, you know, out of acting school. Denzel Washington was in that cast. We all auditioned for St. Elsewhere. He obviously got it. You know, St. Elsewhere was about doctors, you know, nurse, I'm in surgery. Hand me the scalpel. I just never got those parts.

I really would try to be earnest, serious black man, but you know, I never did. I never got those parts. So a lot of it was trying to find my lane, find my way, what I'm supposed to do. And with young people, if you have kids, or we've all been young, sometimes it takes you a little time

before you find your lane. You even find that there's a lane for you. Because when I started acting, it was very much a world of, there were television actors, there were film actors, there were stage actors. To traverse medium was very rare. Like when John Travolta became a big movie star,

half the story was, this is a guy who's on Welcome Back, Cotter, and now he's like the number one star in the world, which was very rare in the 70s. Now everything feeds everything. You're doing that hospital show now though, aren't you? Like you finally, this is the career achievement that the one you've been, St. Dennis Medical,

is what you're doing, and it's drama and comedy in the form of the Bear Succession, Barry, you're trying to do and it's drama and comedy in the form of the bear succession Barry you're trying to do it. It's the office It's more real. I thank God. I've never spent a night in a hospital, but I grew up my dad was a psychiatrist I grew up in a community in Detroit with doctors black doctors and dentists and lawyers So really straight proper Negroes. I mean, my mother said there's three things you never talk about. Religion, salary, and sex. I mean, you just, you know. But to ask someone's salary was really abhorrent. You were not supposed to do that. You just looked

around and said, well, I think Dan's doing quite well You know stuff like that. Shh. Don't tell that's a kind of household I grew up in but I was you know, I was wild I didn't want to do all that. But your you so your parents are Professionals and I would imagine there was discipline there What were you acting out against to get kicked out of class four times? Like what were you doing? It was just... And how was that going over at home? It was pretty bad, man.

But you know, my mom gave me all of my report cards. I got good grades and at the end of the day, that was it. And then the grand scheme of things, these were mischiefs. It wasn't, you know, now it's like I never brought a gun to school. They never found a kill list. I never, you know, that kind of stuff. So it was mischief. It was, like I said, talking in school.

We used to, during recess, certain time of year, summertime, you could catch grasshoppers on the field. And, you know, me and other boys, we catch grasshoppers. And we come back in class, you put them on the girls' hair and the shoulder, you know, me and other boys, we catch grasshoppers and we come back in class, you put them on the girls' hair and the shoulder, you know, stuff like that. Just constant, constant dumb stuff. It was more little rascals than, you know, gang behavior. And this is a difficult time in Detroit, no? It was pre-riot.

Now, after 67, I was 12, puberty. They were bigger concerns. But this is when I was really little. Third, fourth, fifth grade, you know that, like that. About that time, your father is writing about black rage. He was a radical black man. Also, he was on TV. So like, you know, in my neighborhood, anyone on TV, that the phones would ring, you

know, so and so's daughter's cousin down the street. I remember there was an Eastern airline commercial and there was a black extra just a young, pretty black girl Eastern airline. Well, my my mom all of her friends there's a color girl did you see that girl there she was on the commercial oh yeah I remember a friend of mine distant relative there was a stereo chain called stereo city and she was on the radio radio commercial for what do they call radio commercials?

Radio spots. Radio spot for stereo city. Go down to stereo city. And I was like, that's her. I know the dude who's related to that person. So that's how fame was, man. So yeah, I saw my dad on TV. By then he'd left.

My parents separated, but still he was on TV. There was a big, there was a big, he had a big book, it was pretty, pretty wild. What do you remember about Black Rage and how much did it have to do with you trying to join the Black Panthers? Well, first of all, you know, that was a time, all of that stuff, I mean, and as,

my mom was a single mom then, she had two boys, me, my brother, my sister in Detroit. She was just trying to get us safely to adulthood. And the most frightening thing to them was the Black Panther Party. This was a radical group, political group. And I was 15, I went with my friend Ronnie Livingston, we walked all the way down to the Black Panther headquarters and the door, it was like bullet riddled,

it painted 850 times, dude answers, he's like, what can I do, you know, Aslamu alaykum, young black revolutionaries. We're like, we wanna join? Can we join? I think one of us, we're wearing an army jacket because I wanted the beret, I wanted the sexy part, the leather jacket.

You were just. Exactly, the accoutrements. There were no rappers, that's what you did. You had some Black Panther newspapers. You were also, I don't know, I don't wanna assume this about you, but if you would gravitate toward a life of performance and song, you were probably trying to be at least slightly

more armored than you actually were. Yes, but we hid those. I used to hide my stuff like that was in the bushes, outside the back door. So then I put all that stuff on my little jean jacket. We went over there and said, you know, you too young. You too young, brothers. We only accept membership at 16.

So they turned us down. I was relieved, frankly. And we didn't join. But yeah, man, because Bobby Hutton was a Black Panther who was killed by the Oakland police. He was 16. So, you know, the reality of the situation for my parents was very precarious. My dad moved to San Francisco, he bought a waterbed and a dashiki. So I

think he was 41. So clearly a midlife, everybody wanted to go to the circus man, I mean please yeah. And at that time San Francisco was probably the hippest place in America. Music, culture, politics, the whole vibe. I remember going there and it was just electric. Hippies, like for real hippies. We all wanted to be hippies, black hippies, all kind of stuff, grow a big afro. But you're also interested in the arts at this point. So your rebellion is in the arts, right?

Yeah, well I mean then I really loved music. I remember I was showing my mom a Jimi Hendrix album and it was like I was looking at a picture of RuPaul, you know, in 67, she was like, that man is wearing a blouse. I was like, no, it's not, mom, it's just a shirt with flowers. You know, I wanna get these silver platform boots and they had rainbows on them. And back then a rainbow was just a rainbow, okay. It was lightning bolts and she just looked at me like, why would you want that?

And I was like, because he has velvet bell bottoms, his music, she said, this music sounds crazy. This man looks crazy. And no, I'm not allowing it So she tried but we were just that was where the sexy stuff was man. I wanted to break out You were rebelling against your everything. I didn't want to you know Who I'm trying to say the good kids Joe Marshall. These are real things, by the way. Joe Marshall Jr. just got into Harvard, David.

And that kind of thing. That was cool, but I really wanted, I wanted to join the revolution, man. I wanted to go to Woodstock and rock festivals, all that kind of stuff. But then it became musicals. It did. I know, it went from music to musicals.

That came later. Like, you know, when I decided, well, you know, I have always been a pretty mediocre guitarist and I wrote songs and stuff like that. I decided, oh, I'll be an actor because I felt acting, I could grow old being an actor. You know, at 19, it was very much, I have to make it before I'm 30,

because that's old. But you know, an actor, you could be old and graceful and elegant and spend your whole life acting. So that's when I started that whole journey. I didn't know I could sing, really. And it was just at that point in your life when you discover talents, and it was an amazing time. And I was just reveling in it,

finding something that I felt really passionate about and wanting to go in that direction. Of course, my mom was like, just get a degree, something that will get you a job. Like, she didn't want me to major in acting. She wanted me to be, you know, economics with an acting major. So I never really majored in acting until I got to grad school. I was in journalism.

Oh, look at that. Yeah, that was a switch. So my mom just goes, just as long as it's not acting. Respectable enough. Yes. Barely, barely respectable enough. Exactly, to keep her pay in that college tuition. And you find out about singing when?

How do you discover that you like to sing? Well, you know, like I said, I would write songs and stuff. And by this time I was 17, 18, it was all kind of bubbling. This is early 70s going, all we did, me and my friends, is go to rock concerts. The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, all of it. The Motown Revue, everything, music. At Michigan, when I went to Michigan,

University of Michigan, they had just general auditions. So they said, these are the productions they're doing this year. And I just auditioned for everything. And I opened my mouth and sang, and people told me, usually that's, you know, when you're very young, hey, you're good, you're good at this. And I was like, oh wow, okay.

And it was fun, it was fun. I didn't really know about music. Musicals are fun to do. Everybody's singing, there's beautiful women, and it's awesome. So I do love doing them. Hey friends, Jeremy here. And you might be surprised to know this,

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what can you tell me about how improbable your journey was to get to success? Like how against the odds do you believe it was or wasn't? You know, I recently went back and spoke to the students at Michigan, acting students at Michigan. Now these are the facts roughly. As I recall, I think less than 1% of the members

of SAG-AFTRA make over $7,500 a year. That just tells you. That doesn't even go into people who are making a living. That's a whole other strata. People you don't know. These are steadily working actors. You may see them. You look familiar, something like that.

And so to become just a known actor, it's almost akin to, hey, I'm gonna play in the NBA, or hey, I wanna be in the NFL. And I always start with, we know these statistics, you guys are still here, so then I'm not gonna dwell on that and we'll just talk about acting. But that never, that never stopped me. That never stopped me. That never stopped me.

Also, like sports, acting is very much public ownership. By, it's only probably two people. Athletes and actors are the, that's the only occupation in which the general public is gonna stop you on the street and critique your your whole life like why'd you do that? You suck last week you drop the ball you're horrible and you're being overpaid So those are the conversations I have I remember I did dancing with the stars and these two brothers in the whole foods They're like me. Why'd you do that? You dance and so yeah, they go right in well

How did that go over? Like do you, yeah, how does that one go over where you're making choices and people feel that entitled to tell you to your face when they have no idea who it is you are. I mean it used to bother me. It used, I would engage. I remember my first wife, we got a divorce,

and I was in Dean and DeLuca's, the sold us, really hoity-toity grocery store in the village in New York, and I said in Dean and DeLuca's, the sold us really hoity-toity grocery store in the village in New York and I said, this Hispanic woman, she's Puerto Rican, she said, how is your wife, my first wife's Puerto Rican, I said, oh we got a divorce. Her face dropped and she said, Ay Dios Mio.

And I'm like, what? I didn't know her. She said, what am I gonna tell my mother? So I was just about to go, well here's what happened. And then I called myself, I'm like, you don't know her. She said, what am I gonna tell my mother? So I was just about to go, well, here's what happened. And then I caught myself, I'm like, you don't even know. That's what I mean, but she said it in a tone too, like we're family, you need that woman. I remember her saying that.

You need to be back with her. You guys need to resolve your differences. Oh wow, really? And I feel this, David, David. You know, and I was hurt, confused, and like trying to legitimize everything, and I went, I don't even know you. It's those kind of interactions that,

just people feel entitled, specifically with television, because television is in everyone's house, in their living rooms, in their bedrooms. in everyone's house, in their living rooms, in their bedrooms. We spend childhoods, years with families, individuals, and they just feel that ownership of your life. I mean, so it took me a while to separate from that

in the sense that I don't owe you an explanation. Well, like I said, when I was younger, I would try to explain everything. Now I go, you know, just happen. Yeah, you learned. Have a nice day. What are the best and worst parts of fame after, you know, 40 years of being in it?

Well, I'll tell you, you know, that's the weird thing. But the great things are probably every day, at least one time a day, a complete stranger comes up and gives me a compliment. My mother was a Detroit school teacher for 30 years. I don't think people just stopped her, you know, hey, Mrs. Greer, I love you. You're doing a great job for no pay.

No, I remember I was in a pet store, and this guy came in, it was a very hot day, he drenched to sweat, carrying 50 pound bags of dog food and he threw this bag down. I thought he was going to punch me and he said, man, you bring me such happiness. And I'm like, come on man, that's a blessing. Nine times out of ten people give me love. They say, hey man, I love seeing you. It's so great, love you, have a great day.

That's the best part. It's hugely flattering. And the intimacy you're talking about, about being in people's living rooms, them feeling like they know you, and your art is out there, not only to make a career out of that is rare, to make good money in a career

because it's so improbable, but these people feel some sort of connection to. I also, I think it's how you carry yourself. You know, I would never carried myself in a way that sparked violence or, you know, I'm gonna whoop your ass. You know, I just never did that. I never had an entourage.

I toured and did standup for many decades and it was just me on a plane. I'd come to the venue and perform and go home. I didn't have bodyguards, henchmen. I never felt a need for it. I never hung out in clubs like throwing my weight around. I tried to appear smaller, but not to my detriment. I just wanted to go through the line and go to my seat.

I didn't wear jewelry and none of that stuff. I think if I did, it would be very much Chad Ocho-Senko, gas station diamonds, you know, but because he said people can't tell. Well, can't tell. I know Manny Ramirez used to have a $60 earring that looked like a big diamond. Yeah, really, really? You know, your dad dies and he comes out, son, yes, dad, what's your last word? Go get that big, cold diamond chain.

It says, puppy, here you go here you go I'm leaving you this now no so I mean even though in living color was a part of hip-hop to this day and I traversed those circles marginally I was always given love man. I was never Yeah, I was never in a club where people were like, you know, the Crips are gonna kill you Because of that joke, you know now I was never that thing So I guess it's how you I think a part of it is how you carry yourself as you know in sports as well I mean there's certain people when they come out it's a fight sports as well. I mean there's certain people when they come out it's a fight. It's just the vibe of how they come through the room. Somebody's gonna get in a fight pushing, shoving. That's just not been my vibe. What are the things that you enjoyed the most doing when

you talk about, because you've had range right, whether it's acting, musicals, stand-up comedy, acting, musicals, stand-up comedy, in love and color sketch comedy. Like what, when you think of the one thing that this brought me the most enjoyment in just the doing of it. Well, a couple of them. What I like is the variety. Because in my business, like you said,

I would do stand-up, then I would go back to my television show, then I would go and do a movie,, I would do stand-up, then I would go back to my television show, then I would go and do a movie, then I would do a play. And I was able to traverse these mediums and it was great. What I enjoy most, what gives me viscerally the most joy, is live performance, because you're getting feedback immediately. I did the color purple,

which was the average lag time of a movie. It was between nine months and a year and a half after you wrap that that movie's released and you have to wait for the audience reaction. No, stage, you go on and people react immediately. People give you love Immediately, you know, so feeling wise That is the best stand-up comedy does the same thing. Absolutely. I'm saying live performance. So so stage and

And stand up I would say are absolutely This on a good night I would say are absolutely this on a good night on a bad night. That's a long ass time. You stand there. Did I tell this joke already? Maybe, you know, you're just flop sweat. But on a good night, when the crowd is just humming there, you control the crowd to highs and lows.

You tell your story. You get these laughs. It's like a musician, like a jazz musician. You riff, you go off, the audience is with you 150%. You talk to them, it's awesome. That's really great, but I don't do it anymore. Do you miss it? I was gonna ask you. You know what, I did it for a long time.

What I don't, I miss the performance, but I don't miss the travel, the getting there, the 6 a.m. flights, the being away from home from my girlfriend. I have a young daughter and I've really tried these last few years to stay with her and be a proper parent and that's why I'm trying to just hang around. I don't know if I'll do standard, but I did it so much. But definitely going on location and going, taking those jobs, you know, can you be in Afghanistan? Yes, I can, you know, but I drove her to school this morning.

So I'm trying to do that and right now. So getting back to what it is that you've learned in the business and about the business, when you take the joys in aging of driving your daughter to school, what are some of the things you missed along the way because your ambition got a hold of you and you wanted to succeed and succeeding is hard? I think, you know, because I had, I didn't have my daughter until I was 50. So she really was not around for the real hustle.

Like when I was on The Living Color, we would work from probably August to March, and we would do over 30 episodes, and I would take two weeks off and then hit the road. And I was gone all summer, and I would take two weeks off and then be back on the show. But I just got burned out. I didn't, although I was making all this much more money, say I increased my income by 200 percent, I didn't feel 200 percent happier. It wasn't

some deep dark depression. I just was not, it wasn't worth it. Not fulfilled. Just a little bit of emptiness. Burned out. Yeah. Burned out. Just running on a treadmill. Exactly. And you know, with agents, they go, oh, but you could do an interview and then you could do a breakfast performance. You know what? You could do a sunrise concert, then a breakfast performance. Then, you know, they just keep piling more and more and more and all. So regulation, I can say no.

That's hard though when you're really ambitious about success and you know that the chances can disappear at any time. That's the biggest problem. Because at 40, thinking, because I know a bunch of people, that I know them from one job, who are the best actor I ever worked with, and I haven't seen them in 20 years.

I haven't seen them on TV, anything. So there's that nagging fear of when am I gonna work again? But I thought I would be retired, I'm 68 now. I didn't even think there would be a place for me in this industry. And I'm finally at a point in which I feel secure, I feel secure in my place and my legacy, and I say yes to the things I wanna say yes to.

And it's much more easy breezy. I call the shots if it's too much, that's too much. I can't, I can't. I'll do Dan next week. And I don't have any guilt. I also don't have a team around me, an agent, a lawyer, who are like, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, this is the last time, they're not gonna go any higher,

please, please, please, please. you know, I don't have that. So I feel much more content. And a lot of that is just with age. I mean, you know, after 20, 30, 40 years, that's not the last role. This isn't the last venue. Sir Laugh-A-Lots Club and Tallahassee, it's fine if you don't play them you know that kind of stuff. There can't be much left for you to accomplish though like in terms of ambition on what it is that you haven't been able to do that you're out here craving? I still do you know it's funny I still crave great roles and in the last few years I've been able to do a lot of interesting, serious singing,

all kind of stuff, a variety of stuff. But I think that's healthy, meaning I still have a desire to do more. I'm not done yet. I don't want to just go home and, by the way, my tomato plants are raging. I'm not ready to just talk about that. I'll talk about it a little bit, but that's not all. I still need to be stimulated. I was friends with an actor and an artist named Martin Maul who recently passed away. Now, he was 75 when we did Cool Kids. And

I was like, Martin, at this point, his paintings were selling for six figures. I was like, why do you do these acting jobs? And he goes, I mean, I gotta get out of the house. And they're gonna pay me? Why not? You know, so yeah, okay. Bobby Bowden used to say there's only one major event where everyone gathers for you after retirement. So like if you're going to fulfill great creative juices

and you can pick your own spots. And I know what I'm doing I find I put in my 10,000 hours I know what I'm doing and it's a lot of fun so I'm gonna keep going I'm gonna keep going till the wheels fall off I guess I mean as long as I'm doing it you know I don't want to be that dude where we're gonna wheel David in Dan we'd ask you not to turn the cameras on till we have him seated. They're saying, don't mind the smell from his diaper.

Exactly, he's fine. If he moans, he's not in pain. No, I don't want to do all that. I don't want to be like Frankie Valli. We've all seen that. And it's funny, I was at home, I was listening to it, I was like, damn, he's still hitting those, no he's not. He is not, that is, he is not hitting them nose. So I don't want to go out like that, but I still feel like I'm having fun, man, he's still hitting those. No, he's not. He is not. That is, he is not hitting them nose.

So I don't want to go out like that, but I still feel like I'm having fun, man. Let's do it. Folks, the Emirates NBA Cup is here. You can win big getting in on the action at Draft King Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. All 30 teams split into six groups every Tuesday and Friday, playing for the right to advance to the single elimination in-season tournament, culminating in the NBA Cup Championship in Vegas.

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168 hours after issuance for additional terms and responsible gaming resources see DKNG co slash b-ball What is the thing because you've mentioned in living color a couple of times now that's the thing most people want to talk to you about because it represents a time and an electricity of We'd never seen anything like that a dynamic black sketch comedy show That is that is beating up all of the things around it and you got to be as talented as Jim Carrey in order to make Your way as a white guy into how uproarious this family of people are. But also, it was free.

There was no cable. You didn't have to pay. It wasn't on Netflix. Everybody got, so that meant the audience was bigger. There was no paywall to In Living Color. And a hit TV show, we all know, those people are famous for the rest of your life. I mean, I don't know what TV show you saw when you were a kid, but until you die, those

people are famous. Oh, but I remember In Living Color as just a very specific, vibrant energy that wasn't anything. I'd never seen anything like that on television before. Well, I get goosebumps because that was, I remember coming into the green room, there's a green room like the end of the first year and every big star was in this green room. And it was that feeling where, you know, I always wanted to be on that really hip, cool show.

And I was on that show. So yeah, man, it was very exciting. I remember taking my car to get a burglar alarm installed because we did that back then. And the kid who was installing, and by then we'd only been on a few weeks. He absolutely went apeshit crazy. The cab driver who drove me over to pick up the car, I mean it was just such an instant public awareness.

That felt really great, man. It was awesome, it was really awesome. Was it as fun as it looked? Because the hard work, people don't understand the amount of work. You just described the months and the calendar and the grind, but people don't understand. When something looks easy on television,

people assume that it's easy and they don't see the 80 hour weeks. Yeah, but it was so much fun. I'll give you an example. I went to Jenny Craig when I was on In Living Color. Everybody knows everything. So I was on the diet, you know, this is Jenny Craig diet, and they all said I was cranking. Of course I yelled back, I'm not! You know, and Tommy Davidson took, I used to carry this bag with my, you know, script and everything. They filled it with food.

There was sausage, hamburger patties, donuts. And so when I got up to leave, all this food fell out. So we were constantly playing tricks and games and you didn't want to miss the fun. I don't think I missed a day of work until I got injured like on a movie set where I literally couldn't move. So then they took me out and I missed a day or two. But the thought of missing work, then you didn't know what everybody was talking about. Oh, you should have been here yesterday. When they said that.

There's never been anything like that communally for you. No. And I don't even mean it. Plays are great. You've had plenty of work, but I can't imagine that there would be anything that felt like the vibrancy of that with the youth that you had combined with

the amount of people who were awed by discovering something. Oh, absolutely. That's the other thing where everybody was onto it. I remember I went to see Chris Rock at Saturday Night Live and they treated me like I was a star because in LA we would do in living color and we would go, like Kim Wayans and I,

we'd go to Kate Mantellini's, which was a place on Wilshire, and we would hang out and have cappuccinos. But it was very much like we're gonna have a drink after the office. SNL, they had a fleet of limousines, they had after parties, we didn't have no after parties. They had all kind of famous people.

And the way they treated me, I was like, this is just that. I remember thinking, they're treating me like I'm famous or something. So it was a whole different vibe, but sometimes it takes you coming out of yourself to realize the impact of that show. Yeah, the added bonus was all of that.

It was fun. We were young. this stuff was popping, and everyone was getting it. People would stop me in airports, just all over. It was very much the zeitgeist. It was right tapped into that moment, that time. It was great, it was fun. I heard you on Neil Brennan's podcast talking about

just having some errors of judgment as it related to Jim Carrey and his career. Well, he talked about it because, well, Jim and I would, my big fantasy, I used to sit with Jim and I said, Jim, if I ever win the lottery, like a lot of money, say $5 million, I told Jim, I want to give you this money to make the movie that you were born to make. We would always screw around and do characters just to make each other laugh and he did this character called Colon Man who could pull his colon out of his ass and lasso thieves and I would just be rolling on the floor. We would make up mating sounds of weird animals, you know the article

You know stuff silly stuff that would make us die so I said yeah, I want you to do this movie I Went to see What was it Ace Ventura? Yes. I sat next to him because they said, we're gonna sit you next to Jim. This movie was so crazy. Inside, I felt bad for my friend because it's too much. America, no one's gonna get this movie. You're watching it. You're one of the first people watching it.

I'm sitting right next to him. By the way, Jim is crawling out of his skin. He's being paid nothing for this. Yes, I'm laughing extra hard because I want to support him. But inside, I'm like, it was like someone said to Jim, you're dying in six months, and this is your only shot. That's how he was doing it. And I said, no, America's not ready.

This movie will flop. And of course, it became huge. So the next week, we were back at Living Color in front of a live audience. And I think I said we'd go out and play with the audience. And I was like, yeah, I just want to say, congratulations to Jim. Yeah, I don't care.

But it was very funny if you had to be there. So there was always company, always. Yeah, he was. You didn't expect, though, like, how could you be that off? You know what funny is. You've been. No, I've been. I auditioned for Seinfeld and I said, Jerry can't act.

And I don't think he's going to make it. As a matter of fact, you should go the opposite of what I tell you, because I have been wrong so many times. But you know funny. you know you can't. Yeah, but I mean there was nobody, name another comedian, I guess you could say Jerry Lewis or something like that. But in that moment I just thought it was too crazy.

People aren't gonna get it. You knew when you were with Eddie Murphy and you're doing boomerang. But he was already established. He'd already been big. No, Jim, this was out the box. No, I'm just telling you, this was out the box. I believe you.

I'm not arguing with you. I just, I'm surprised that you- As a matter of fact, not just me. The story is, because Jim told me this, on Thursday, before his first movie came out, he couldn't even get on Letterman. I think his price was $350,000. By the mid-next week, it was a million, then two million, three million, five million.

Just that fast. It was astronomical. I can't think of another performer whose life professionally changed that fast in front of my eyes like what we saw with Jim. Now, over the years we've all prospered, you know, but clearly in the annals of show business, I mean, it was amazing. Who do you regard as the most awe-inspiring talent that you have ever worked with? Like if I put, and these are the famous ones, so it may be off the board, but when I put Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy

in their youth next to each other, I can't tell you who's, like, I'm awed by the both of them. I would say for me, Eddie Murphy, I can't tell you who's, I'm awed by the both of them. I would say for me, Eddie Murphy, because I remember I went to see Nutty Professor and the scene where he's his mom and he comes out, he moved me emotionally. It wasn't just like Groucho Marx or Milton Berle in drag, I was moved emotionally by

his heartfelt performance and I in that moment I was like oh this guy's so great man I love Eddie Murphy man. His range I wish he could have gone farther more serious because he could afford to. I would say that. It's funny I talked to John Landis who directed Eddie Murphy, you know, he said Eddie Murphy the same. Eddie Murphy, man. Coming to America, when I was doing Boomerang, I got in a cab in New York,

and this is an African cab driver, and he said, what are you doing, what's your name? I think I know you. So yeah, I'm doing a movie with Eddie Murphy. He almost drove off the Triborough Bridge, he said, oh my gosh, Eddie movie with Eddie Murphy. He almost drove off the Triborough Bridge. He said, oh my gosh, Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy. He said in his village in Africa,

when coming to America was on the local cinema, that meant a tent, just an enclosure. He said the entire populace would spill over and he watched this movie over and over again. So you have to think about, it embodied everything. It embodied all of their dreams, all of what they thought America really was, and their desire to come here.

And he said, oh my gosh, will you tell him I said hello? He is very famous man. And just that, I mean, I think he's the greatest. I mean, I really do. When you look at the body of work that you have in your career, are there any things and places that you look at? Like, that's a choice I should have made.

I was so close over there with a little bit of remorse. I mean, there's funny stuff. I remember producers came and they wanted to pair me with Rob Schneider to do Dumb and Dumber. Because again, Dumb and Dumber at that time was a script that had just been passed around. And in the beginning of Jim's career, he took roles in which he said,

nobody wants this, I'll do it, but I need absolute freedom. So that was one of those roles. I don't regret not pairing with Rob Schneider. I just didn't see a success to that. But you would have done that, you, when you say Eddie Murphy, you wish he had taken it further.

When you say, I've read you say that you wish that you had Richard Pryor's courage of taking it further. Yeah, well again, Richard Pryor had that because I remember I watched Blue Collar, which was a serious Palschrader. They played autoworkers. He was really, really brilliant. Just a serious role. Lady sings the blues. These were very much inspirations to me. Somebody who was

really funny but could also play serious pathos. Jackie Gleason in, what was it, The Hustler. Just really funny, I mean I always wanted, I think Michael Keaton in one year, he did Clean and Sober, which was a tragic movie about addiction, then he did Beetlejuice. And so that in a nutshell, as a young actor, that was kind of what I wanted to do. You know what I mean?

The range. Exactly, but in one year I think he did both these movies, which are polar opposites, and pulled them both off brilliantly. Always wanted to do that, yeah, yeah, still do. Well, this is a drama comedy that you're in now, right? It's what you're aspiring to. Well, my role is Dr. Ron.

He's the oldest doctor on staff, and he's totally given up. And I said, I know this man. Because I'm sure he was on the vanguard, big Afro. You know, we're going to change the system. Help all the poor people, underprivileged. Get them medicine. And now he's like, I don't care. Just gets chewed up by the industry, the healthrivileged, get them medicine. And, you know, and now he's like, just gets chewed up by the industry, the healthcare, set your own leg. Okay, I give up. Yeah.

So there's some good dark comedy. Yeah, but I mean, you know, just talking to you, I'm still excited about it. And we're in a time where more than any other time in my career nobody knows what's going to happen in this industry. Nobody knows. I do know this that there will continue to be outlets who will have to provide content. That's about it. Nobody knows how that's going to be. It's not going to be the way it used to be. I'm talking about Beyond AI. I'm on this show that I really love, but to decide to do it, it always comes down to the script, the environment. Who's created it? Who am I going to work with? That's why I said yes to St. Dennis, but moving forward I don't really know. Well can you explain because I've now talked to enough people in Hollywood over the last 18

months through the writers strike and everything else and it seems that Hollywood is being churned up by hedge funds and we're headed toward three or five companies instead of Hollywood that are going to do all the production and they might not be making as dangerous things as if everybody was competing and it wasn't just corporate overlords taking things over. So from your perspective, as you say, I've never seen it like this. Okay, there are a few things.

I made a bunch of money during the pandemic because that was a time when streamers were throwing money at people everybody had big deals of course we never knew what constituted a hit on Apple TV or Netflix because they never released their numbers I grew up in a world where the Nielsen ratings say your numbers have slipped. It's so weird that they value and clutch on to the information that way that Netflix is an information company as much as anything else?

Also and I think throughout the history of Hollywood there were auteurs or people who wanted to be artists who wanted to invest in the belief that if I give you 10 million dollars you're going to create a piece of art but when you bring in IT people with an attitude of we're gonna disrupt the way it's always been done, kind of like what Elon Musk did with Twitter, which is like, why are there a thousand people here? We'll get rid of everyone and cut it all down. Also people who own the studios where that's not really where they make their money. Like they don't really need the income or the profit

from this studio they just bought to stay alive. So that creates a whole different paradigm. They're making their money on Wall Street, computers, software, they're not concerned. They're not concerned with that. So I think it's going to settle. You're not sure, you're saying that with no confidence. When I say settle, I say the dust is gonna, don't ask me how it's gonna ultimately turn out. All I know is that content providers

are going to still have to provide content. What that's gonna be, I can't tell you. Maybe one dude behind a blue screen with a bunch of AI creations all around him. I don't know, nobody knows. That creates fear, caution, everybody's holding their wallet because I don't know. Nobody knows. That creates fear, caution. Everybody's holding their wallet because I don't know what you're gonna do.

You don't know what I'm gonna do. So you go first. You know, that's, I feel where we're at. McPops from McCafe are a new sweet treat available in three delicious flavors. Berry, white chocolate, and hazelnut and cocoa. Perfect to add onto a small $1 plus tax premium roast coffee. It's a match made by Nick Cafe. At participating McDonald's restaurants, prices exclude delivery.

Well, let me ask you a little bit about fear because I have, since I've gotten to 50 years old, whether it's, I'm not even talking about fear in business, although that too, I don't imagine you have too much career fear at this point. Even though this uncertainty is unsettling, I find myself with age and seeing just everything that's happening all over the globe more afraid than I've ever been when I've never considered myself a fearful person. And so I wanted to ask you as somebody who has lived and seen everything from your dad writing about black rage to like what the hell is happening with race relations in this country now.

It's listen man when I was 12 I remember I ran in the house and this is a democratic convention they were beating the students they were putting them in paddy wagons and my best friend I was telling you Ronnie Livingston I ran around the block and I ran in the house and he was with his mom was making dinner. I was like they're beating the students into the world. You know like the whole world spots you. And Ronnie's mother turned around she went David that ain't nothing but some white folks they beating. They all right. Now you gonna stay for dinner? Or when my mom having lived through World War II, the Holocaust, lynchings, all kind of stuff,

when we were fired up about 1968, she was like, okay, I mean, you know, this too will pass. I'm older, I grew up in a time where everybody got assassinated, an entire movement. But these are scary times, man. I don't. I do know what I'm gonna do. I try to concentrate on what I can do. My daughter, my family, I'm going to vote for who I'm gonna vote for. The last election I got really hung up on, well, who are you gonna vote for? How are we gonna be friends if you're not gonna vote for who I'm voting for and

you live right across the street from me? At this point, I'm gonna do what I'm doing and I don't get in arguments. I don't ask. I just, I'm going to do what I'm going to do. Oh, but so many people are doing that one because they've learned of where families are broken apart and oh, we can't be friends anymore. Right, we lived through it though. Also we've lived, this is Act Two, this is not the first act, you know, but I don't know. Israel, the Ukraine, Africa, America, I'm left out Haiti.

I mean, there's famine, war, destruction, hatred. I try to reach out to people I know and in my daily life, I try to walk in grace. Just don't be an asshole, just be kind of nice. I say please and thank you, not a corny thing, but just cool out, cool the fuck out. You don't have to argue with the fucking Uber driver and all this kind of bullshit.

Real basically, that's what I'm trying to do. I don't know, I don't know what's gonna happen November 7th, 6th, you know? I just got in a nice house. I just fixed it up. I'm not trying to move, but I don't know. Maybe you do. But no, I don't.

But what do you do with the fear? Are you any more afraid or do you have the peace of knowing? Look, I've lived a good life. I've accomplished many of the things that I wanted to know. Of course we're not in control, but the absence of control is one of the things that creates the fear for me. When we're talking about guns in schools and things happening in America that don't happen anywhere else and your experience is different than mine because you've seen more and you've

lived more but where it is that the divisions are today you and I both know that if January 6 had happened and those had been black people in an insurrection they'd be stacked up like logs on the front of. I'll give you a micro example I was online it was a guy sprouting all this right-wing stuff on my feed. Now before I would call him out, ridicule him, we'd been in a big fight. And at this point in this day, I was like, well, you know what? We just don't agree. It's fine. We don't agree.

And his reaction was And his reaction was shock and dismay. And he said, you didn't call me any names. You didn't curse me out. He was flabbergasted. And he said, I wish more people did that. I didn't sacrifice, I didn't subvert or prostitute myself in any way. I just said, I don't agree with you.

I never will. And it's fine. And you're okay with how and where that can feel either helpless or hopeless? No, I don't like it. I mean, I don't like that. I just don't, I'm flummoxed that Harris and Trump are neck and neck.

After all the stuff we've, I'm like, really? I don't know, but I try to calm myself this time, because again, that last election, until Trump got on that helicopter and it flew in the air, I was not convinced he was getting on the helicopter. And it was that long period in which Biden won, but there has to be the transfer of power. I'm just not as emotionally chained,

listening constantly to every update, every this, the polls. That's another thing. We as a populace have gone through this before. When Hillary Clinton was running, I would at the end of every day, I would look at the New York Times poll and it said Hillary Clinton has a 98% chance of winning. And I'd go to sleep quelled with that. I don't, I mean you could give me a poll but I don don't put stock in polls because we've already been through it. I think very securely that we're going to see what we see when we see it.

I can't tell you who's going to win. I know who I'm voting for. I don't know how it's going to happen. I know one thing, you better get some popcorn, because either way, it's going to be buck wild and everybody with sense would tell you that. I don't know how it's gonna turn out. I think that I'm happy that we're having more serious and adult conversations as opposed to last time,

oh, it's gonna be okay, America would never do that. You know, this isn't in our blood. No, it is, yeah, it is. We've already seen it. So I think going through this process, that is a maturity. You and I, we've already been through this cycle. We really don't know what's going to happen and stand by. I mean... What are the ways that you were most obviously shaped by Detroit? Wow. Detroit, I call it, this is a compliment I got by this older black man when I was in Michigan.

He said, you know the reason why I like you is because you can talk to white people and black people, and you're the same. Like I'm not selling out. I think part of that, I'll say to some, because I'm sure some people think I have sold out. There are always someone who thinks that. I think it's called self-imposed schizophrenia.

I went to predominantly white prep schools, and I went to public school. I saw an intermingled with both sides, which makes you uniquely aware of both parts of society. So I'm comfortable. I remember in my freshman year in college, black kids, and for them, it was really weird. This is the most white people they'd ever been around. And for me, I really wasn't fazed. And I thank my parents for exposing me to both sides of our society, the top and the bottom. I mean, not everybody gets that. And it was to my benefit, man.

I don't take anyone for granted. I always introduce myself. After times, we know who you are. Well, I don't assume that. That's not how I was brought up anyway. My kid, my daughter, all her friends, how you doing, David? I'm like, you're my girl, but it's Mr. Greer.

Hello, Mr. LeBattard. Can Suzy come out to play? No, kids don't do that. How you doing dad? I gotta mention though that laughter is the thing that made you fit everywhere. Yes, well that's always because you know since Tartuffe, since Roman times, there was you know for years I thought well why is the clown the most dangerous and powerful character in Shakespearean plays? Because he can tell the truth under the guise of comedy. If you make someone laugh, you can talk all about them.

I know who you are. I know what you did. But you put a laugh on there and people laugh, ha ha ha. You get away with that. What would you want people to know about what you were trying to accomplish with the American Society of... Let me finish the question. I haven't finished the question yet. I gotta tell people what you're laughing at. The American Society of Magical Negroes.

I was intrigued by the character. You know, this is a guy that offered a way out. It's not what I believe in. It was basically for people who didn't see the movie. This is a guy who could shape shift. I see this young artist played by Justin Smith. I bring him in and I say, I think you could do what I do.

Basically they come and they intercede in racially tense situations, the Jedi mind trick, and cool it out, and in order to survive for black people under the premise that what's the most dangerous thing to black people in America, white people? Well, you can imagine. I remember my girlfriend, she goes,

what's this movie that just got released? Some white dude on Facebook, man, this is the most racist movie I've ever seen in my life. The other day, a woman on threads, black woman, you set us back 50 years. So I said, you know, and then there's some people who liked it, I mean, I didn't say everything I did was brilliant or whatever, that's the choice I made.

It's not my political belief, it's just a character. But now, sometimes you do something, I mean, black folks, young black folks, they wanted it to be like, they cloned Ty They wanted to be wanted it to be like they cloned Tyrone They really wanted to be like a secret society of black people who killed all racist white people. It's like yeah, okay well, that's a different movie and So there you know so that's that and I as a matter of fact I grew up around older black people

with the attitude of my character. My grandmother was born in 1900. She would tell me about the world she grew up in in Mississippi, in which a caste system, a racial caste system was such, you know, as a little kid, I would be like, well, why didn't you do anything? And my grandmother said, well, that's just the way it was you know that's not a message or a point of view that younger black people want to hear you know but it was a reality in a certain time in our country so yeah that's all it is this one movie. That's 40 years. I

Think you're assuming I didn't like Battering my face with laughter You're assuming I didn't like it, and I'm simply asking you about your choice. Wait, I'm laughing because usually when I do something wild, my brother, he calls up, I didn't see this yet, but just tell me, what the fuck is going on? No, that's not why I was asking you that. Okay, I'm going to go see the movie, but just you tell me, what the fuck? That's not what was happening here. I want to tell the people that St. Dennis Medical on NBC is something that he is proud

of and he has had an enormous body of work that has a ton of range in it and I don't know if you exceeded your expectations but I got to imagine that you did on whatever it is that you thought your career would be for decades of growth and with all the range from laughter to dramatic to song, the Carmichael show, like a lot of range in everything that you're doing. So thank you for this time spent together. Thank you. You know what? The greatest compliment I get is when a total trained stranger, I'm promoting a new show

and they say, well, look, I don't know anything about this, but if you're in it, I'm going to give it a shot. That's great. Yes Well the the reputation is earned. So thank you so much for thank you. Dan See, this was much more low-key. It wasn't till the end until I There's one last thing I gotta mention you talked about when you had to put your dog down and It was very moving. Oh, thank you. I went through the exact same thing,

and this is fame in the most awkward position. I'd gotten this new puppy, he had encephalitis, and I was carrying him into urgent care, and there's an older white woman, she goes, "'Is he all right?' I said, "'I don't know, you know, they just told me "'he's dying,' white woman, she goes, is he all right? I said, I don't know, they just told me he's dying. And as I was leaving, you look familiar. I'm like, yeah, but I was getting my dog,

can you tell me what you've done? I was just like, and I stopped with the limp body of my dog crying going, well I did some stuff, I did some plays, I was on Living Color, as Karen Connery, it was on in the 90s, I don't know if you've in place. I was like living color as good Is there anything else I did a commercial So I thought about you and it's right man that is a brutal I should tell the audience that that story involves me being a convertible two o'clock in the morning I'm trying to find an emergency vet dies in my arms when I'm

telling him it's okay to go but the person who pulls up next to me can't see that the dog has died in my arms so it's a shirtless me two o'clock in the morning sobbing at a stoplight. And the person then says, Dan Lebatard. But, but, but my story's, my story is easier than yours. I don't feel the need to then engage with that person and go through my resume. My better story on that front was being having a testicular exam where somebody is waving a wand, I've got my legs up in the air, and at the end of it he says, hey, love your work. You're like, ah, people don't have, they people ain't got no chill. It's always like that, always in the most fucked up

situation. My legs were up in the air. Speaking of booty hoes, Dan, is that you? I love your take on the giants, you know, of booty hole, Dan, is that you? I love your take on the giants. You know, you're like, damn, oh yeah, it was brutal. It was brutal. But what are you going to do now?

Pleasure, sir. Thank you for the time. Absolutely. To finally meet you and tell Poppy I said hey. I will pass along your regards. Absolutely. All right. Hey, friends.

Jeremy here. And you might be surprised to know this, but Halloween isn't actually my favorite holiday. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving, and that's because it's a wonderful time to gather around with friends, to gather around with family, loved ones, and just enjoy something together, reflect on the year. Whether it's family gatherings or holiday parties with friends, this season is for enjoying time with the most important people in your life. Make the holidays even better with Miller Lite. You know sometimes when I'm sitting around after Thanksgiving and everybody's just kind of hanging out

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