Full Transcript for David Oyelowo

remote. And he said, oh, 86 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:40.500 this will be great. We got some sign spinners. And 87 00:03:40.659 --> 00:03:42.620 he had us shoot it in an empty back lot 88 00:03:42.900 --> 00:03:45.340 at Warner Brothers. And I immediately sensed this is a 89 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:49.620 comedy vacuum. Nothing. There's no one to bounce off of here. 90 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.199 There's like a sign spinning guy, but he's just pretty 91 00:03:52.259 --> 00:03:55.199 serious about it. He occasionally made puns about sign spinning, 92 00:03:55.300 --> 00:03:59.090 and I couldn't do it. And the remote... was going nowhere. 93 00:03:59.169 --> 00:04:01.129 And then I looked up and I saw vultures circling. 94 00:04:01.349 --> 00:04:01.889 Oh no. 95 00:04:01.909 --> 00:04:03.110 Why didn't you guys do it on the street corner? 96 00:04:03.129 --> 00:04:06.030 There's a kind of vulture that circles when it knows 97 00:04:06.090 --> 00:04:08.870 a remote is going down. And if you're in my 98 00:04:08.889 --> 00:04:11.650 line of business, it strikes terror in your heart. Exactly. 99 00:04:11.889 --> 00:04:13.990 Why weren't we out in the world? We were on 100 00:04:14.009 --> 00:04:17.189 the back lot. So I started just saying things into 101 00:04:17.230 --> 00:04:21.009 the lens. Sometimes I think about the writers watching this 102 00:04:21.069 --> 00:04:21.980 later in the edit room. 103 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:22.509 Oh my God. 104 00:04:22.779 --> 00:04:23.959 So I say little things. 105 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:25.480 Like, you did this to me, I'll get you. 106 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:29.720 I'm talking into the future. I know this remote will 107 00:04:29.779 --> 00:04:34.230 not get made. I know that this is all going 108 00:04:34.259 --> 00:04:36.889 down in flames. So I just start saying, having a 109 00:04:36.910 --> 00:04:39.329 good time editing. This isn't going to make it. I'm 110 00:04:39.490 --> 00:04:42.629 literally talking to the writers two days from now who 111 00:04:42.670 --> 00:04:44.810 are going to be looking at the footage. And so 112 00:04:44.829 --> 00:04:46.990 I remember that one. There was that one. And then 113 00:04:47.009 --> 00:04:49.209 there was another remote where one of the writers thought 114 00:04:49.230 --> 00:04:51.629 it'd be really funny if I hooked up with those 115 00:04:51.689 --> 00:04:53.910 people that have those shows where they claim they see 116 00:04:53.930 --> 00:04:57.560 the paranormal. And they took me through an empty studio. Again, 117 00:04:57.620 --> 00:05:01.759 there's a common denominator here. No other people, open space 118 00:05:02.060 --> 00:05:05.050 or enclosed space with nothing in it. And then the 119 00:05:05.089 --> 00:05:07.129 person kept saying, I think I maybe see a ghost, 120 00:05:07.149 --> 00:05:09.610 but I'm not sure. And me going like, trying to 121 00:05:09.649 --> 00:05:15.040 make something happen, saying, oh, not sure, huh? Well, echo, echo, echo, echo. Um, 122 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:17.759 it just didn't go anywhere. Those are two. I wake 123 00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:21.110 up at night sometimes thinking about science spinning remote and 124 00:05:21.170 --> 00:05:25.149 ghost hunting remote. And, uh, I just covered in sweat. 125 00:05:25.310 --> 00:05:26.589 Those are the ones that got away. 126 00:05:26.689 --> 00:05:28.189 Those are the ones. No, those are the ones that 127 00:05:28.250 --> 00:05:28.970 never were there. 128 00:05:29.129 --> 00:05:30.129 I see. There was nothing. 129 00:05:30.149 --> 00:05:33.050 They didn't get away. There was nothing there to catch 130 00:05:33.089 --> 00:05:33.810 in the first place. 131 00:05:34.389 --> 00:05:36.420 You know, science spinning seems fun. 132 00:05:36.709 --> 00:05:38.589 Now you're implying I failed. I don't know. 133 00:05:38.670 --> 00:05:40.980 I feel like it sounds to me like it was 134 00:05:41.069 --> 00:05:41.620 all there. 135 00:05:41.629 --> 00:05:41.699 No. 136 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:46.620 And just, you know, you probably just didn't pull your weight. 137 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:53.540 There's puns. There's signs that are spinning. 138 00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:55.769 What was he dressed like? Was he dressed like Uncle Sam? 139 00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:57.500 Just a normal guy. There's a back lot. He was 140 00:05:57.540 --> 00:06:00.079 just doing it. This is your third Uncle Sam. You 141 00:06:00.100 --> 00:06:01.939 got to dress like Uncle Sam. No, I didn't say 142 00:06:01.980 --> 00:06:03.610 Uncle Sam. You said Uncle Sam. I know I did. 143 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:05.620 And then you said this is your third Uncle Sam. 144 00:06:05.639 --> 00:06:05.899 I know. 145 00:06:05.959 --> 00:06:09.810 So that's a totally... That is such a shitty, you 146 00:06:09.829 --> 00:06:14.029 keep mentioning scuba diving. No. And then I'm like, what? 147 00:06:14.110 --> 00:06:17.050 Let me explain. Hold on, what? Yeah, yeah, scuba diving, 148 00:06:17.069 --> 00:06:20.730 scuba diving. What did you say? Repeat after me, scuba diving. Okay, 149 00:06:20.750 --> 00:06:21.470 scuba diving. 150 00:06:21.610 --> 00:06:21.920 Ha! 151 00:06:22.129 --> 00:06:24.300 You said scuba diving again. What is he with you 152 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:25.079 and scuba diving? 153 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:30.189 Listen. Matt, you're terrible. You're the worst therapist ever. Worst 154 00:06:30.230 --> 00:06:33.370 therapist ever. You sit there with the patient and you 155 00:06:33.410 --> 00:06:36.110 keep saying things. You keep saying things. 156 00:06:36.189 --> 00:06:39.279 Also, the thing is, what I'm talking about hasn't even 157 00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:40.079 come out yet. 158 00:06:40.339 --> 00:06:40.620 I know. 159 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:41.300 Oh, no, no. 160 00:06:41.560 --> 00:06:44.100 There's nine reasons why what you just did is a 161 00:06:44.139 --> 00:06:46.769 shit show. But I'm just picturing you as a therapist. 162 00:06:46.790 -->

00:06:47.689 But this Easter egg. 163 00:06:47.610 --> 00:06:49.230 Is going to pay off for people when they listen 164 00:06:49.250 --> 00:06:52.170 to Summer S'mores. And then I will be vindicated and 165 00:06:52.290 --> 00:06:53.069 riding high. 166 00:06:53.290 --> 00:06:57.149 You're a podcast expert. I think of those things. What 167 00:06:57.300 --> 00:06:59.480 order is it? What's been said? I'm going to contain 168 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:01.839 it to this episode. You're just always shooting off your 169 00:07:01.860 --> 00:07:02.720 mouth left and right. 170 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:06.600 That's because I know the listeners with us, and I 171 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:09.519 know they can do a memento-like time jump back and forth. 172 00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:11.819 This is just a prequel. Okay, this is my impression. 173 00:07:12.459 --> 00:07:16.110 Matt Gourley, therapist. So, Conan, I'd like to talk to you. 174 00:07:18.670 --> 00:07:22.410 Bowl of corn, bowl of corn, bowl of corn. Excuse me, Dr. Gourley, 175 00:07:22.430 --> 00:07:28.230 what are you saying? Bowl of corn, bowl of corn. Dr. Gourley, 176 00:07:28.529 --> 00:07:31.980 why you keep saying bowl of corn? Conan, you seem 177 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:35.600 obsessed with bowl of corn. Did your father molest you 178 00:07:35.620 --> 00:07:38.139 with a bowl of corn as a child? No, you 179 00:07:38.180 --> 00:07:39.040 said it nine times. 180 00:07:39.060 --> 00:07:39.139 Yeah. 181 00:07:40.230 --> 00:07:44.110 Well, that's it for my impression of Matt Gourley. This 182 00:07:44.170 --> 00:07:47.920 is Conan O'Brien. Therapist, therapist, therapist. Matt, why do you 183 00:07:47.939 --> 00:07:48.980 keep mentioning therapist? 184 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:52.160 Ah, the old switcheroo. 185 00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:53.759 Oh, you know the lingo in comedy. 186 00:07:53.800 --> 00:07:55.319 Good for you. 187 00:07:55.339 --> 00:07:56.160 Thank God he's on you. 188 00:07:56.379 --> 00:07:57.240 Incredible. 189 00:07:57.279 --> 00:07:57.879 What happened? 190 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:00.139 Go back to him. No, go on her. She really 191 00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:00.730 took you down. 192 00:08:00.759 --> 00:08:01.550 You got to get her. 193 00:08:01.560 --> 00:08:04.069 I am the T-Rex in Jurassic Park. 194 00:08:04.129 --> 00:08:04.610 Yes. 195 00:08:04.870 --> 00:08:06.850 If I see slight movement, I go to it. And 196 00:08:06.870 --> 00:08:08.110 you just stepped out of an outhouse. 197 00:08:08.370 --> 00:08:10.569 Yeah, I know. And you know what? When the glass 198 00:08:10.610 --> 00:08:11.870 starts to wiggle. 199 00:08:11.889 --> 00:08:17.089 It doesn't wiggle. It makes little concentric circles of movement. 200 00:08:17.110 --> 00:08:18.660 Don't say concentric. We get it. 201 00:08:18.829 --> 00:08:19.189 You know best. 202 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:23.420 Words but it doesn't think like it ripples it ripples 203 00:08:23.459 --> 00:08:26.459 yeah yeah concentric is that a word. 204 00:08:26.449 --> 00:08:30.189 Yeah my actually my formal name is concentric o'brien we 205 00:08:30.209 --> 00:08:33.649 just shortened it to conan i was named my my 206 00:08:33.690 --> 00:08:35.029 father's a geometry. 207 00:08:34.570 --> 00:08:36.090 Fan i was trying to say when you come to 208 00:08:36.110 --> 00:08:38.009 the studio the glasses. 209 00:08:37.700 --> 00:08:40.419 That's true oh that's right you just see it ripple 210 00:08:41.299 --> 00:08:42.440 and then you two jump in the back of a 211 00:08:42.919 --> 00:08:44.399 an open Jeep and try to escape. 212 00:08:44.419 --> 00:08:46.419 Do you remember when Jeff Goldblum was on the podcast 213 00:08:46.460 --> 00:08:48.779 and he left holding a big flare just to get 214 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:50.320 you out of the building? You guys don't really know 215 00:08:50.340 --> 00:08:51.559 your Jurassic Park. 216 00:08:51.580 --> 00:08:52.620 Oh boy. 217 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:55.070 You went a while. It took me a minute. Can 218 00:08:55.110 --> 00:08:57.070 I just say also, you bailed on that as you 219 00:08:57.090 --> 00:08:59.490 said it, which is always my favorite thing. And remember 220 00:08:59.529 --> 00:09:01.370 when Jeff Goldblum left with a big flare, you guys 221 00:09:01.389 --> 00:09:04.570 don't know the reference. Wait, I know the reference. I 222 00:09:04.649 --> 00:09:06.610 saw the look in your eyes. I wasn't laughing, but 223 00:09:06.629 --> 00:09:07.230 I know the reference. 224 00:09:07.289 --> 00:09:09.919 I saw you smelling blood and I just wanted out. 225 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:11.759 Okay, here's a new one. 226 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:13.220 You're so scared of me. 227 00:09:13.259 --> 00:09:18.440 Matt Gourley, stand-up comic. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the show. Yeah, 228 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:21.080 the other day, Hobo asked me for a bite to eat, 229 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:22.519 so I bit him. You guys don't get it. You 230 00:09:22.539 --> 00:09:26.139 don't like it. Why did the chicken cross the road 231 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:27.860 to get to the other side? Why do people hate me? 232 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:29.179 I don't know why they don't like it. It's because 233 00:09:29.220 --> 00:09:33.519 he actually crossed the road. That's not the reason why. Well, 234 00:09:33.620 --> 00:09:37.879 I've demolished you both. Time to introduce our guest. Our 235 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:39.519 guest still wants to be part of this. My guests 236 00:09:39.539 --> 00:09:43.759 today starred in such movies as Selma, Lincoln, and The Butler. 237 00:09:43.779 --> 00:09:47.759 He deserves better than this dumb intro. 238 00:09:47.779 --> 00:09:49.070 Oh, I thought you were laughing because these are the 239 00:09:49.110 --> 00:09:52.230 most serious movie titles. I thought you were like, Selma, 240 00:09:52.350 --> 00:09:54.669 ha ha ha ha, Lincoln, ha ha ha, The Butler. 241 00:09:54.870 --> 00:09:55.750 That's what it sounds like. 242 00:09:55.769 --> 00:09:58.590 I

know, but I'm laughing because he's such a serious, 243 00:09:58.690 --> 00:10:00.529 good actor, and we're idiots. 244 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:02.879 And I don't know what we're doing. 245 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:05.620 I think you two are idiots and I portray an idiot. 246 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:07.480 That's the way I look at it. I'm a great 247 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:10.470 thespian who portrays an idiot. Anyway, you can now see 248 00:10:10.490 --> 00:10:14.309 him in the Paramount Plus series Lawmen, Bass Reeves. He 249 00:10:14.470 --> 00:10:17.690 is one of the finest actors living. I'm excited he's 250 00:10:17.710 --> 00:10:30.580 here today. Again, unless he's left. David Oyelowo. You've been 251 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:31.919 on the show several times. 252 00:10:31.940 --> 00:10:32.500 Yes. 253 00:10:32.580 --> 00:10:33.720 On the late night show. 254 00:10:33.820 --> 00:10:33.919 Yes. 255 00:10:34.179 --> 00:10:35.980 I remember the first time you came on, I was 256 00:10:36.659 --> 00:10:37.600 a bit intimidated. 257 00:10:37.620 --> 00:10:37.679 Oh. 258 00:10:38.539 --> 00:10:43.139 And I'm being honest, because you're such a superb actor 259 00:10:43.259 --> 00:10:48.200 and you have such great acting chops, and I just thought, 260 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:51.220 this is a very serious man, and I need. 261 00:10:51.139 --> 00:10:53.559 To- Gravitas is probably the word you're looking for. Yes. 262 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:56.139 I know, I know. Although I call it gravitas. And 263 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:01.539 then you came out and you were immediately just so 264 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:02.740 hilarious and charming. 265 00:11:03.220 --> 00:11:05.399 This is a lot of pressure now, Conan. 266 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:09.000 Oh, yes. Yes. Well, I'm saying it all went away. 267 00:11:09.019 --> 00:11:11.789 That was just the first time I met you. Right, 268 00:11:11.830 --> 00:11:13.809 first impression. And then I don't know what happened after that. 269 00:11:13.830 --> 00:11:14.649 I know, I know. 270 00:11:14.669 --> 00:11:15.970 It had just been a complete bore. 271 00:11:16.029 --> 00:11:17.970 And then I was thinking like, Conan, you've been here 272 00:11:18.009 --> 00:11:19.909 before because I've talked to some, been lucky enough to 273 00:11:19.929 --> 00:11:21.549 talk to some great actors in my day who are 274 00:11:21.649 --> 00:11:25.070 also very funny. I always find it it angers me somewhat. 275 00:11:25.870 --> 00:11:28.470 Because I think, how can you have both? All I've 276 00:11:28.509 --> 00:11:31.320 got is, I think I'm kind of funny, and then 277 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.539 that's my excuse for not being able to act my 278 00:11:33.580 --> 00:11:36.639 way out of a paper bag. And here you are, Shakespearean, 279 00:11:36.740 --> 00:11:39.639 accomplished actor, and you're one of the funnier people I've 280 00:11:39.659 --> 00:11:40.059 talked to. 281 00:11:40.179 --> 00:11:42.740 Well, thank you. I appreciate that a

lot. You are 282 00:11:43.080 --> 00:11:46.700 a very statuesque man. I mean, even just greeting you 283 00:11:46.740 --> 00:11:47.259 just now. 284 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:51.940 That's usually what people say about blonde women. in the 1950s. 285 00:11:51.960 --> 00:11:53.370 You're also very voluptuous. 286 00:11:53.419 --> 00:11:55.000 That's how I think of you. 287 00:11:55.230 --> 00:11:55.549 Thank you. 288 00:11:55.570 --> 00:12:00.230 As a blonde, statuesque woman. But no, you have a 289 00:12:00.269 --> 00:12:02.789 certain presence. I have a presence. I'd like to think 290 00:12:02.850 --> 00:12:05.730 I do. So you have some intimidation factor. 291 00:12:05.769 --> 00:12:07.929 I have a presence, but kind of a creepy presence, 292 00:12:07.970 --> 00:12:09.049 wouldn't you say? A little bit. 293 00:12:09.070 --> 00:12:10.070 You know what? 294 00:12:10.269 --> 00:12:13.169 No, no, jump in on that. Wow, you just agreed 295 00:12:13.210 --> 00:12:13.809 right away. 296 00:12:13.830 --> 00:12:15.850 You're not only a great actor, but you're funny. And 297 00:12:15.889 --> 00:12:22.110 he's like, well, you're tall. LAUGHTER Something you. 298 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:26.320 Had nothing to do with. You're tall and not un-womanlike. Well, 299 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:30.399 I think we're off on a really good foot now. 300 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:33.279 Thank you for the interpretation there. That was beautiful. 301 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:37.139 So there's so much to talk about. And I want 302 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:39.620 to talk about your new show. And there's so many 303 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:42.610 things to discuss. First of all, I was nervous for 304 00:12:42.669 --> 00:12:47.509 you when I heard that you were going to play Coriolanus. Oh, yeah. 305 00:12:47.610 --> 00:12:50.509 And I know that you're a Shakespearean-trained actor, but I 306 00:12:50.549 --> 00:12:53.669 think in my nightmare, and you're playing it, where is 307 00:12:53.690 --> 00:12:54.450 the production going to be done? 308 00:12:54.470 --> 00:12:55.789 At the National Theater in London. 309 00:12:55.809 --> 00:12:59.779 Oh, my God. My nightmare would entail being in a 310 00:12:59.820 --> 00:13:04.970 Shakespearean play, playing the main role, because... My whole life is, 311 00:13:05.029 --> 00:13:06.429 I don't know what to do here, so I'll make 312 00:13:06.470 --> 00:13:10.820 it up. You can't do that in Coriolanus. You can't 313 00:13:10.860 --> 00:13:14.700 start to say, well, anyway, so what's going on here? 314 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:16.840 Did you see what's in the paper yesterday? You can't. 315 00:13:17.139 --> 00:13:19.399 And if you do, I think they're going to turn 316 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:20.139 on you pretty quickly. 317 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:23.840 You know what? I actually have that experience. I did 318 00:13:24.220 --> 00:13:27.340 a Shakespeare play at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and I 319 00:13:27.379 --> 00:13:30.470 just had one of those

moments where all the lines 320 00:13:30.710 --> 00:13:32.210 went out of my head. 321 00:13:32.230 --> 00:13:32.659 Oh, my God. 322 00:13:33.169 --> 00:13:36.710 And the weirdest thing, you can make it up, actually. 323 00:13:37.409 --> 00:13:43.600 Not with much success, but I found, the words went 324 00:13:43.629 --> 00:13:46.460 out of my, and I found myself saying, sheeps and goats. 325 00:13:46.740 --> 00:13:51.899 What role is this? I literally, Anthony and Cleopatra. And 326 00:13:52.419 --> 00:13:55.539 sheeps and goats is not something that gives your acting 327 00:13:55.659 --> 00:14:00.960 partner anywhere to go. And the blank expression came back. 328 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:02.840 And you know what was so awful that I did? 329 00:14:03.539 --> 00:14:07.070 I just exited the stage. How terrible. 330 00:14:07.110 --> 00:14:08.169 You screwed them twice. 331 00:14:08.269 --> 00:14:11.070 It's so bad. It is one of the things I'm 332 00:14:11.190 --> 00:14:12.269 the most ashamed of. 333 00:14:12.309 --> 00:14:15.340 I love recreating this because you blank on your lines 334 00:14:15.419 --> 00:14:18.659 and you're up there and this is the worst place ever. 335 00:14:19.139 --> 00:14:20.259 to butcher Shakespeare. 336 00:14:20.620 --> 00:14:24.740 It was in Stratford-upon-Avon at the Royal Shakespeare Company. 337 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:31.389 The ghost of Shakespeare is there watching. He's there every 338 00:14:31.429 --> 00:14:32.250 night just heckling. 339 00:14:32.450 --> 00:14:33.830 And some sheeps and goats. 340 00:14:33.970 --> 00:14:36.210 Yeah, but to just to be there and to shout 341 00:14:36.330 --> 00:14:38.950 sheeps and goats and then turn on your heels and 342 00:14:39.090 --> 00:14:39.789 stride out. 343 00:14:40.029 --> 00:14:44.629 Literally. really bad really bad now you have me thinking 344 00:14:44.700 --> 00:14:47.799 what Shakespeare's expressions go what his ghost must have been 345 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:52.980 looking like at that point bloody actors exactly. 346 00:14:52.259 --> 00:14:54.440 That's kind of a badass move or. 347 00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:58.259 Maybe Shakespeare's like I should have worked that in it worked. 348 00:14:58.179 --> 00:14:59.419 Oh so poetic of me. 349 00:14:59.610 --> 00:15:03.210 You have such a fascinating story because you were born 350 00:15:03.350 --> 00:15:06.580 in Nigeria, moved to England, but then moved back to Nigeria. 351 00:15:06.620 --> 00:15:07.120 Is that what happened? 352 00:15:07.129 --> 00:15:10.480 Born in the UK, moved to Nigeria for about six years, 353 00:15:10.519 --> 00:15:12.399 then moved back to the UK. 354 00:15:13.220 --> 00:15:13.559 Yeah. 355 00:15:13.740 --> 00:15:17.740 And yeah, born in Oxford, moved to London, then to Nigeria. 356 00:15:18.340 --> 00:15:21.399 Formative years of my life spent in Nigeria from age 357 00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:26.019 six to 13. And then born into, you know, an 358 00:15:26.139 --> 00:15:30.480 immigrant family, immigrant parents who... for whom the arts was 359 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:33.100 just not on the docket at all. 360 00:15:33.419 --> 00:15:38.919 Because there's the immigrant experience of you must climb the ladder, legitimacy, 361 00:15:39.090 --> 00:15:41.710 and then you're telling them, I have an idea, I'll 362 00:15:41.730 --> 00:15:45.210 put on costumes and pretend to be people. Literally. 363 00:15:45.330 --> 00:15:48.470 I remember saying to my dad that I was thinking 364 00:15:48.509 --> 00:15:51.389 of being an actor, and he said, why do you 365 00:15:51.429 --> 00:15:55.799 want to go and be with all these promiscuous.... 366 00:15:55.279 --> 00:16:04.059 Oh, would he be proud of you now? This Conan O'Brien. 367 00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:09.200 Here I am with the ultimate court jester. 368 00:16:09.340 --> 00:16:12.220 That is fantastic that he had that attitude. And if 369 00:16:12.299 --> 00:16:14.200 I'm correct, he's royalty. 370 00:16:14.419 --> 00:16:17.639 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. His father was the king of 371 00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:20.539 a part of Nigeria called Awa. So yeah, the idea 372 00:16:20.580 --> 00:16:23.330 of me becoming a promiscuous court jester was very, very, 373 00:16:23.620 --> 00:16:27.169 very low on the royal ambitions my family had for me. 374 00:16:27.409 --> 00:16:29.710 So how did you convince them? Was there a turning 375 00:16:29.769 --> 00:16:32.080 point where your father looked at you and said, I 376 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:33.000 get it. Yes. 377 00:16:33.500 --> 00:16:38.759 And ironically and beautifully, it was tied to royalty yet again. 378 00:16:39.340 --> 00:16:41.879 After that season, believe it or not, after I had 379 00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:46.779 said Sheeps and Goats, I was invited back to the 380 00:16:47.480 --> 00:16:51.059 Royal Shakespeare Company to play Henry VI. And in Henry VI, 381 00:16:51.259 --> 00:16:54.460 it's parts one, two, and three. And on a Saturday, 382 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:57.759 we would perform all three plays in a day. We 383 00:16:57.779 --> 00:17:00.100 would start at 10.30 in the morning and finish at 10.30 384 00:17:00.100 --> 00:17:04.470 at night. Now, my dad, he's no longer with us, 385 00:17:04.529 --> 00:17:07.390 but when he was with us, he was someone who 386 00:17:07.670 --> 00:17:10.250 quite easily would fall asleep in the middle of a 387 00:17:10.349 --> 00:17:14.490 three-minute duologue between actors. You gave him a warm room, 388 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:17.660 a nice comfy seat, and he's out. So my wife 389 00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:21.619 was sat next to him on this Saturday, where he 390 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:24.680 was there to watch all 12 hours of Henry VI 391 00:17:24.700 --> 00:17:27.640 Part I, II, and III. She was armed with mints, 392 00:17:28.059 --> 00:17:31.619 her shoulder to jab him in the ribs, the whole thing. 393 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:35.940 He stayed awake for the entire thing. And he came 394 00:17:36.059 --> 00:17:40.019 on

the night that then Prince Charles also came for 395 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:43.240 all the performances. So you're talking about a man who 396 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:48.539 came to the UK in the 60s, dealt with unbelievable racism, 397 00:17:49.329 --> 00:17:53.750 the notion of, Of any black person playing the King 398 00:17:53.789 --> 00:17:58.799 of England was so impossible. And I remember him coming 399 00:17:58.900 --> 00:18:02.279 to the stage door afterwards. And the phrase he said 400 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:06.160 to me is, I cannot believe they allowed a black 401 00:18:06.259 --> 00:18:09.339 man to play the King of England. And it is 402 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:09.680 my son? 403 00:18:09.700 --> 00:18:10.440 Right. 404 00:18:12.250 --> 00:18:14.859 And that was the moment, that was the turning point. 405 00:18:14.890 --> 00:18:17.319 And that was the point beyond which he became my 406 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:21.039 number one fan until his passing. It was a truly 407 00:18:21.059 --> 00:18:21.619 beautiful thing. 408 00:18:21.799 --> 00:18:26.529 I mean, it's getting all tingly, but just the, I 409 00:18:26.549 --> 00:18:30.450 can only imagine, I mean, I can't imagine, but what 410 00:18:30.470 --> 00:18:33.450 your father, what your family encountered when they come to 411 00:18:33.470 --> 00:18:37.230 a very different England in the 60s. And then to 412 00:18:37.410 --> 00:18:41.240 see this come about, to see, it's unbelievable. 413 00:18:41.579 --> 00:18:46.559 Yeah, it is. And it was. And, you know, it's 414 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:50.059 one of the most beautiful things. My dad was a 415 00:18:50.119 --> 00:18:57.589 minicab driver in London. And years after that moment at 416 00:18:57.619 --> 00:19:01.930 the Royal Shakespeare Company, I've now moved to L.A. and 417 00:19:02.130 --> 00:19:05.450 I'm getting to be in movies and I could always 418 00:19:05.549 --> 00:19:08.589 tell when he had a passenger in the car because 419 00:19:08.650 --> 00:19:11.630 he would go, David, are you doing that movie with 420 00:19:11.690 --> 00:19:20.859 Tom Cruise? And I would go, I would go, Daddy, 421 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:25.680 who's in the car? Nobody's in the car. Have you 422 00:19:25.700 --> 00:19:26.940 met Steven Spielberg? 423 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:28.359 Yeah. 424 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:32.660 I am not making this up. I am not making 425 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:34.180 this up. The worst. 426 00:19:35.339 --> 00:19:38.059 And the background, hey, you missed my house. Exactly. 427 00:19:38.099 --> 00:19:40.400 Exactly. Daddy, please focus. The one that I will never 428 00:19:40.420 --> 00:19:50.140 forget is when he goes, David, where is it? you 429 00:19:50.200 --> 00:19:54.789 live in LA? Is it Beverly Hills? And I said, 430 00:19:55.950 --> 00:19:57.150 Sherman Oaks. 431 00:19:57.430 --> 00:19:58.250 Yes, that is it. 432 00:19:58.329 --> 00:20:04.170 Beverly Hills. I was like, okay. Sorry, whoever's in the car. 433 00:20:04.349 --> 00:20:07.160 Also, you can imagine the person in the car thinking 434 00:20:07.460 --> 00:20:10.180 what maybe or I mean, this could be a madman 435 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:11.819 just calling anyone at random. 436 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:14.900 That is exactly what they are thinking. They are thinking, 437 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:17.759 I want a refund. I'm giving this guy the worst 438 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:21.849 review because that was exactly how he would he would 439 00:20:21.910 --> 00:20:26.150 scream at me on speakerphone with these poor people just 440 00:20:26.190 --> 00:20:27.440 wanting to get from A to B. 441 00:20:27.750 --> 00:20:30.670 What's the pop culture you're growing up with? What are 442 00:20:30.690 --> 00:20:34.140 you watching on TV, for example, that's influencing you when 443 00:20:34.180 --> 00:20:37.559 you're young? What's hitting you? What's tugging at your strings? 444 00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:41.309 Oh, wow. The show I became obsessed with was L.A. Law. 445 00:20:42.369 --> 00:20:46.369 And the reason why is, again, going back to my dad, 446 00:20:46.470 --> 00:20:49.339 my dad had three sons and he wanted a lawyer. 447 00:20:49.750 --> 00:20:53.150 a doctor and an engineer. Um, and I started to 448 00:20:53.230 --> 00:20:56.640 get this acting bug when I was younger, but Blair 449 00:20:56.759 --> 00:21:02.000 Underwood played this very snazzy lawyer in LA law. And 450 00:21:02.420 --> 00:21:05.890 unbeknownst to me, the conflation of the two things was 451 00:21:05.950 --> 00:21:09.450 why I was so gravitated towards that show, because I 452 00:21:09.490 --> 00:21:13.019 was like, gosh, I just love TV, I love films, 453 00:21:13.180 --> 00:21:16.980 I love the whole idea of storytelling, but my dad 454 00:21:17.019 --> 00:21:19.690 wants me to be a lawyer, and that guy is both. 455 00:21:21.529 --> 00:21:25.029 And so I went as far as applying to law school, 456 00:21:25.069 --> 00:21:25.710 the whole thing. 457 00:21:26.509 --> 00:21:27.869 Just because of Blair Underwood. 458 00:21:27.890 --> 00:21:30.470 Because of Blair Underwood. I have told him since, and 459 00:21:30.490 --> 00:21:34.609 he's horrified. But yeah, that was one of the more 460 00:21:34.670 --> 00:21:36.069 influential shows on me. 461 00:21:36.309 --> 00:21:39.930 I was flipping through notes on you, and then I 462 00:21:39.970 --> 00:21:42.509 saw that you were a Happy Days fan. Oh, yeah. 463 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:46.559 Happy Days. Were you watching Happy Days when you were 464 00:21:46.579 --> 00:21:50.660 in Nigeria? I mean, obviously these are reruns because you're 465 00:21:50.700 --> 00:21:53.480 way too young, but why is that show grabbing you? 466 00:21:53.900 --> 00:21:56.119 It was the Fonz. It was all about the Fonz. 467 00:21:56.140 --> 00:21:58.269 It was all about Henry Winkler and how cool he 468 00:21:58.329 --> 00:22:02.490 was and the comb through the hair, the whole thing. 469 00:22:02.529 --> 00:22:04.890 But it was

also a very traumatic thing for me 470 00:22:04.970 --> 00:22:07.970 because I had a little afro. And every time I 471 00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:10.650 took the comb to my afro, it wouldn't go through 472 00:22:10.670 --> 00:22:16.420 like it did for him. And many years later, because, 473 00:22:16.440 --> 00:22:18.859 you know, obviously he was in this with Ron Howard 474 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:21.279 and Bryce Dallas Howard is a good friend of mine. 475 00:22:21.299 --> 00:22:23.420 I was at her wedding. I met Henry Winkler. I 476 00:22:23.420 --> 00:22:26.460 was like, oh my gosh, I'm meeting the Fonz. And 477 00:22:26.740 --> 00:22:28.799 I said, oh, it was so hard for me because 478 00:22:28.839 --> 00:22:31.380 I would always try to imitate the hair, the comb 479 00:22:31.420 --> 00:22:33.670 going through my hair. And he went, ah. I only 480 00:22:33.730 --> 00:22:36.019 ever hold it up. I never put it through my hair. 481 00:22:36.039 --> 00:22:37.720 He never does put it through. And I went, oh, 482 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:39.460 my gosh. 483 00:22:39.619 --> 00:22:43.500 All of that pain. And you never actually ran the 484 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:44.539 coat through your hair. 485 00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:47.640 It's true. He starts and then he realizes it's perfect. 486 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:48.319 And he goes, hey. 487 00:22:48.539 --> 00:22:50.579 And put it in the mirror. And I was like, 488 00:22:50.599 --> 00:22:55.109 that would have been so much more achievable for me. So, yeah, 489 00:22:55.470 --> 00:22:56.269 I got that all wrong. 490 00:23:07.960 --> 00:23:11.720 Good nights are about the people, the laughs, the real 491 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:14.960 moments you don't want to miss. So why step outside? 492 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:19.880 Velo tobacco-free nicotine pouches fits seamlessly into your night. Convenient 493 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:24.309 and full of flavor. No breaks, no interruptions. Velo anytime, 494 00:23:24.430 --> 00:23:28.309 anywhere nicotine pouches. 18 and over contains tobacco-free nicotine and 495 00:23:28.349 --> 00:23:30.549 addictive substance. If you're new to Velo, start with Mellow. 496 00:23:30.630 --> 00:23:32.150 You should not use this product if you do not 497 00:23:32.250 --> 00:23:33.049 already use nicotine. 498 00:23:36.299 --> 00:23:38.859 Due to the leaves falling in autumn and the challenges 499 00:23:38.920 --> 00:23:41.980 this brings, Eireann Road Air in wishes to advise customers 500 00:23:42.019 --> 00:23:44.799 that a revised timetable will take effect on Dart and 501 00:23:44.839 --> 00:23:49.619 Dublin commuter routes from Monday, September 21st until December 12th. 502 00:23:49.859 --> 00:23:52.720 Morning and evening peak services will be affected with some 503 00:23:52.900 --> 00:23:56.109 earlier departure times. Please check travel times on the Eireann 504 00:23:56.130 --> 00:23:59.849 Road Air in app or irishrail.ie. Eireann Road Air in 505 00:23:59.950 --> 00:24:01.930 is part

of the Transport for Ireland network. 506 00:24:04.859 --> 00:24:07.359 Don't miss out on Cash & Carry Kitchens' free fitting 507 00:24:07.460 --> 00:24:10.660 offer which ends on September 26th. For a limited time, 508 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:13.380 you can save hundreds of euro on all our kitchens. 509 00:24:13.660 --> 00:24:17.220 Any style, any colour, any size. The choice is yours, 510 00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:20.480 but the fitting is on us. For free fitting on 511 00:24:20.660 --> 00:24:24.920 all our kitchens, book your free design consultation on cashandcarrykitchens.ie 512 00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:28.700 or visit one of our 17 showrooms nationwide. Cash & 513 00:24:28.700 --> 00:24:33.119 Carry Kitchens. Create something more. Proud to be guaranteed Irish. 514 00:24:33.660 --> 00:24:34.769 Terms and conditions apply. 515 00:24:41.150 --> 00:24:45.089 You went to a, not a military academy, but you 516 00:24:45.130 --> 00:24:48.039 were educated in a similar military academy. In what way? 517 00:24:48.049 --> 00:24:49.549 Did you have to wear a uniform when you were? 518 00:24:49.690 --> 00:24:52.529 Had to wear a uniform. It was very, very regimented. 519 00:24:52.569 --> 00:24:57.700 It was a boarding school in Nigeria, incredibly strict. Yeah, 520 00:24:57.720 --> 00:25:00.839 and when I talk about it, especially in a Western context, 521 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:04.099 because you will get lashed if you did naughty things, 522 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:07.150 and I was a very naughty boy. But yeah, it 523 00:25:07.180 --> 00:25:13.130 was pretty intense. But I was the kid who, you know, 524 00:25:13.170 --> 00:25:17.589 I remember for a dare, this is so stupid, for 525 00:25:17.630 --> 00:25:20.549 a dare, I went in to steal something out of 526 00:25:20.609 --> 00:25:25.940 the headmaster's fridge. I got into his house and I'll 527 00:25:26.099 --> 00:25:30.140 never forget the silhouette of this guy in the door 528 00:25:30.420 --> 00:25:34.089 looking at me with, I'm in his fridge. I didn't 529 00:25:34.119 --> 00:25:36.069 want anything out of his fridge. I just did it 530 00:25:36.130 --> 00:25:39.750 for fun. You know, Browning points. But it was, and 531 00:25:39.829 --> 00:25:42.009 he had one of those voices, you know, those people 532 00:25:42.049 --> 00:25:49.240 who you can barely hear what they're actually saying. And 533 00:25:53.960 --> 00:25:56.700 it's all I heard, but I spent the next term 534 00:25:57.099 --> 00:26:01.250 washing toilets and it was, and our uniforms were white. 535 00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:04.680 which is not the best uniform for doing that job. 536 00:26:04.839 --> 00:26:07.339 The closest I have to anything like that was, I 537 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:09.799 was very happy my parents sent me away to a camp. 538 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:12.250 And then for some reason, they switched me to another 539 00:26:12.289 --> 00:26:14.369 camp the next year and I got there and they 540 00:26:14.450 --> 00:26:17.349 issued

me a uniform. And it had a stripe down 541 00:26:17.369 --> 00:26:19.049 the side. And I remember thinking like, what the hell 542 00:26:19.109 --> 00:26:21.690 is this? But that's the closest I ever came to 543 00:26:22.210 --> 00:26:23.720 feeling like I was in the military. 544 00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:24.220 Right. 545 00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:29.920 It shows. Thank you. I went to a camp where 546 00:26:29.940 --> 00:26:31.960 it was like a camp in every other way, except 547 00:26:31.980 --> 00:26:33.880 there was a stripe down the side of the pants. 548 00:26:34.500 --> 00:26:36.420 And yet when you're telling your story, I'm like, I've 549 00:26:36.460 --> 00:26:41.779 been there, man. I remember roasting a marshmallow. Wow. And 550 00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:44.829 there was a stripe down my pants. So don't complain 551 00:26:44.849 --> 00:26:47.470 to me about your military academy. 552 00:26:47.490 --> 00:26:47.849 It's hard. 553 00:26:47.869 --> 00:26:50.259 It's hard having a stripe down your pants. I get it. 554 00:26:50.349 --> 00:26:50.930 I get it. 555 00:26:54.630 --> 00:26:57.170 There's so much to talk about in your film work. 556 00:26:57.210 --> 00:26:59.630 But I remember when you came on my late night 557 00:26:59.960 --> 00:27:05.539 program for Selma, for your brilliant portrayal of Martin Luther 558 00:27:05.559 --> 00:27:08.920 King Jr. And I remember we were talking about it 559 00:27:09.019 --> 00:27:12.049 and then realizing later on that you had been kind 560 00:27:12.089 --> 00:27:15.049 of method when you did that role, meaning that you 561 00:27:15.089 --> 00:27:18.569 really wanted to inhabit what you did so brilliantly. And 562 00:27:18.589 --> 00:27:21.289 I think there's no more difficult task if you're I'm 563 00:27:21.309 --> 00:27:23.529 talking about you playing these Shakespearean figures. If you're playing 564 00:27:23.569 --> 00:27:26.549 someone from distant history, you can interpret, but when you're 565 00:27:26.569 --> 00:27:31.250 playing someone who lived concurrently with our times, died in 1968, 566 00:27:31.250 --> 00:27:36.019 and there's all this footage, you need to create your interpretation, 567 00:27:36.420 --> 00:27:39.900 but it also needs to ring true. You really felt 568 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:41.839 like you had to inhabit him all the time and 569 00:27:41.900 --> 00:27:44.549 be in character. How long did you do that for? Oh, 570 00:27:44.789 --> 00:27:48.119 it was three months, uh, of, of the shoot. And, 571 00:27:48.140 --> 00:27:50.259 you know, as you can tell, uh, I have an 572 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:55.579 English accent. We were shooting in Atlanta. And the worst 573 00:27:55.680 --> 00:28:00.059 thing about being an actor, especially playing that kind of role, 574 00:28:00.119 --> 00:28:01.180 is imposter syndrome. 575 00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:05.180 You go, well, I am not him, obviously. But you 576 00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:08.740 have all these people daily who you feel the need 577

00:28:08.789 --> 00:28:11.910 to convince you are him. But the worst thing you 578 00:28:11.950 --> 00:28:14.109 can do, I think, as an actor is to be 579 00:28:14.309 --> 00:28:19.369 playing that room, in a sense, as opposed to the film, 580 00:28:19.549 --> 00:28:25.549 which is what people are ultimately going to see. the crew, 581 00:28:25.650 --> 00:28:30.079 the extras, my fellow actors, moment to moment, that's too 582 00:28:30.119 --> 00:28:33.759 many things. It's already, you know, the margins for error 583 00:28:33.900 --> 00:28:36.500 are already what they are. So the way to take 584 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:39.359 that out of the equation, I think, is for people to, 585 00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:42.950 by and large, just go, oh, that's not Dr. King, 586 00:28:43.009 --> 00:28:46.690 but that's David's version of Dr. King moving around the set. 587 00:28:46.750 --> 00:28:50.009 So it's not, and roll, camera, action, and it's like, 588 00:28:50.519 --> 00:28:53.900 a switch it's too much to kind of be constantly doing. 589 00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:56.029 No for you to be at the craft service table 590 00:28:56.309 --> 00:28:59.849 joking around with the crew right and then uh okay 591 00:29:00.269 --> 00:29:02.890 you know put down that pretzel and be and it's 592 00:29:02.930 --> 00:29:05.089 time to right we're going to be dr martin luther 593 00:29:05.109 --> 00:29:07.809 king now yeah it seems like that would be uh 594 00:29:07.910 --> 00:29:09.269 impossible it's. 595 00:29:09.210 --> 00:29:11.380 Also you know i had so many speeches whether it 596 00:29:11.390 --> 00:29:13.500 be in a church at a rally or whatever and 597 00:29:13.980 --> 00:29:16.359 there were people there because of the locations we were 598 00:29:16.400 --> 00:29:20.690 shooting who had been at marches with dr king who 599 00:29:20.730 --> 00:29:24.069 had been in churches with dr king i mean john 600 00:29:24.130 --> 00:29:27.579 lewis visited the set one day and decided to stay 601 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:30.339 for one of my speeches i was like dude please 602 00:29:30.380 --> 00:29:34.720 don't that really is doesn't help me at all you're 603 00:29:34.829 --> 00:29:39.329 lovely and i love you please leave um uh so 604 00:29:39.490 --> 00:29:42.059 you're you do any gesture, I can just picture John this. 605 00:29:42.390 --> 00:29:44.380 Nope. 606 00:29:44.420 --> 00:29:45.019 Wrong. 607 00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:50.799 Can you imagine? He was lactose intolerant. Didn't like almonds either. 608 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:53.019 Put the almonds down. It's too much. 609 00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:58.160 It's literally too much. And so the way I oxidize 610 00:29:58.200 --> 00:30:00.579 that is to just kind of be in what I 611 00:30:00.619 --> 00:30:03.960 would call king light, you know, where it's always there 612 00:30:04.039 --> 00:30:07.880 so that the extras aren't suddenly going, oh, look at 613 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:11.490 that trick he's doing. You know, you're trying to not 614 00:30:11.769 --> 00:30:14.710 act is the reality and the best way To do 615 00:30:14.769 --> 00:30:17.009 that is to just be. And so if I'm being 616 00:30:17.089 --> 00:30:19.839 all the time, then hopefully that's what the camera's catching. 617 00:30:19.880 --> 00:30:23.799 People don't realize that this is, for people in your life, friends, 618 00:30:23.940 --> 00:30:28.920 I would think, especially family, if you're trying to maintain 619 00:30:28.940 --> 00:30:34.460 a certain persona or inhabit a character for three months, okay, 620 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:35.960 that's one thing on the set, but what happens when 621 00:30:35.980 --> 00:30:36.539 you go home? 622 00:30:36.819 --> 00:30:42.470 Yeah, it's a nightmare. It's a nightmare, particularly for my wife. 623 00:30:42.910 --> 00:30:45.900 At the time... We were doing Selma. We had also 624 00:30:45.940 --> 00:30:49.519 just moved into a new home. And I remember her 625 00:30:49.740 --> 00:30:57.769 calling me to discuss curtain colors. And I literally went, well, 626 00:30:57.869 --> 00:31:03.400 I think... The gray. And she went, okay, stop, stop, stop. 627 00:31:03.819 --> 00:31:07.279 I am not discussing curtains with Dr. King. I absolutely, 628 00:31:08.099 --> 00:31:11.579 I draw the line there. We will pick this up 629 00:31:12.140 --> 00:31:17.880 after the film. Thank you very much. The other awful 630 00:31:17.940 --> 00:31:18.299 thing is. 631 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:20.559 I have a dream of Venetian blinds. 632 00:31:20.680 --> 00:31:22.259 I know, I know, I know. 633 00:31:22.299 --> 00:31:23.319 She's like, stop, stop. 634 00:31:24.259 --> 00:31:25.940 Time out, time out. 635 00:31:26.119 --> 00:31:28.000 Did you ever ask her to call back as his wife? 636 00:31:30.099 --> 00:31:32.259 I should have done that i should have done that 637 00:31:32.619 --> 00:31:35.619 no but what she what also happened was i put 638 00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:39.880 on about 40 pounds to play dr king and you 639 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:42.809 know he had or i should say i had as 640 00:31:42.869 --> 00:31:45.910 him what you know can only be described as man 641 00:31:45.950 --> 00:31:51.589 boobs um and my my wife was incredibly tolerant of 642 00:31:51.650 --> 00:31:55.230 this you know i i had you know I wasn't 643 00:31:55.710 --> 00:31:59.329 in the shape I normally pride myself on being in. 644 00:31:59.529 --> 00:32:04.799 And the day that this thing wrapped, she came up 645 00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:11.539 to me, jiggled my mamboos, and said, so what are 646 00:32:11.579 --> 00:32:16.099 we doing? What are we doing? I was like, oh 647 00:32:16.779 --> 00:32:19.000 my lord. 648 00:32:19.059 --> 00:32:20.359 Like, give me a second. 649 00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:22.220 I mean. 650 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:24.059 What are we doing here? What are we doing? What 651 00:32:24.119 --> 00:32:24.839 are we doing with this? 652 00:32:24.859 --> 00:32:25.140 Speed bag. 653 00:32:25.200 -->

00:32:25.519 Literally. 654 00:32:25.539 --> 00:32:26.000 Literally. 655 00:32:26.039 --> 00:32:26.480 Oh, come on. 656 00:32:36.930 --> 00:32:39.779 So, yeah, but they they would have been very good speed. 657 00:32:40.099 --> 00:32:44.400 But yeah, I was like, OK, I guess my grace 658 00:32:44.460 --> 00:32:45.420 period is over. 659 00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:48.119 I will say this, though, for you, David, at least 660 00:32:48.160 --> 00:32:51.980 you had that excuse because I step out of the 661 00:32:52.039 --> 00:32:56.619 shower and I can't say no. I'm playing Orson Welles 662 00:32:57.279 --> 00:33:00.750 at the end of his life. Or my skin has 663 00:33:00.789 --> 00:33:05.220 been artificially freckled in a most horrifying way because I'm 664 00:33:05.259 --> 00:33:10.619 playing a striped bass in a movie. There's no way 665 00:33:10.660 --> 00:33:13.920 for me to go. It's like, I'm going to play 666 00:33:13.960 --> 00:33:16.519 Conan in the Conan story. 667 00:33:17.339 --> 00:33:18.259 You're just stuck. 668 00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:22.200 I'm stuck. There is nowhere else to go. How do 669 00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:27.289 you relax? How do you, because you are clearly, you know, 670 00:33:27.819 --> 00:33:31.920 very professional and capable of really focusing. What takes you 671 00:33:32.049 --> 00:33:32.849 out of all of that? 672 00:33:32.869 --> 00:33:38.230 I have a very bizarre way of relaxing, which is 673 00:33:38.430 --> 00:33:43.210 to watch mixed martial arts. I am obsessed with UFC. 674 00:33:44.089 --> 00:33:49.509 And it's completely weird, but watching two men turn each 675 00:33:49.569 --> 00:33:55.599 other's faces into burger meat... literally calms me down. And 676 00:33:56.019 --> 00:34:00.660 my wife, and the reason I know that is because 677 00:34:00.920 --> 00:34:03.950 a lot of my Saturday tends to be dedicated to 678 00:34:04.009 --> 00:34:08.530 this means of relaxation. My wife cannot bear it. Neither 679 00:34:08.570 --> 00:34:11.429 can my daughter, just how bloody these guys can get. 680 00:34:11.489 --> 00:34:14.719 So my wife will watch me watching it in order 681 00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:17.199 to spend time with me on a Saturday. And she 682 00:34:17.219 --> 00:34:21.619 was like, I'm so tense watching this. Why are you 683 00:34:21.659 --> 00:34:25.340 so calm, relaxed? And I realized what it is, is 684 00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:29.090 in what I do, because I produce movies and TV 685 00:34:29.150 --> 00:34:33.289 shows as well, it is so hard to get anything made. 686 00:34:33.329 --> 00:34:35.250 It is so hard to get to the point of 687 00:34:35.690 --> 00:34:39.360 a result. Two men or two women go in this cage. 688 00:34:39.820 --> 00:34:41.860 They have three five-minute rounds. 689 00:34:42.219 --> 00:34:43.139 Someone will win. 690 00:34:43.639 --> 00:34:48.030 Someone will get a result out of this endeavor. It 691 00:34:48.090 --> 00:34:49.929 will be on the basis. You're looking at me like 692 00:34:49.969 --> 00:34:50.809 I'm crazy. 693 00:34:50.889 --> 00:34:54.210 I agree with your wife. For any time I've watched UFC, 694 00:34:54.269 --> 00:34:57.650 I've tensed up and it makes me so, it does 695 00:34:57.670 --> 00:34:59.130 the opposite of calm me down. 696 00:34:59.150 --> 00:35:01.989 So I'm just, I'm shocked. This is how you chill out. 697 00:35:02.010 --> 00:35:05.530 I know, but it's on the basis of so much preparation. 698 00:35:05.590 --> 00:35:10.090 They do something truly unnatural. They have to master five, six, seven, eight, 699 00:35:10.519 --> 00:35:14.030 different disciplines, the amount of training, the amount of the 700 00:35:14.130 --> 00:35:16.389 weight cut, all these things they have to do to prepare, 701 00:35:16.409 --> 00:35:18.230 which is tantamount to some of what you do as 702 00:35:18.250 --> 00:35:22.050 an actor. You prepare, prepare, prepare. And as an actor, 703 00:35:22.130 --> 00:35:23.809 you don't know what the reviews are going to be. 704 00:35:23.849 --> 00:35:25.570 You don't know what the box office is going to be. 705 00:35:25.590 --> 00:35:26.929 You don't know if the film is ever going to 706 00:35:27.010 --> 00:35:30.989 come out. There's something so satisfying that within those 15 minutes, 707 00:35:31.070 --> 00:35:33.079 if it's a three minute, if it's three rounds or 708 00:35:33.079 --> 00:35:36.280 25 minutes, if it's five rounds, you will have a result. 709 00:35:36.420 --> 00:35:39.469 That just puts me in such a zen state. place 710 00:35:39.530 --> 00:35:41.710 it's bizarre but that's how i relax. 711 00:35:41.530 --> 00:35:44.199 Did you when did you discover ufc like when did 712 00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:46.980 you realize this is my this is my drug this 713 00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:47.760 relaxes me. 714 00:35:47.719 --> 00:35:49.699 It is like a drug for me um it was 715 00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:53.489 probably it's probably within the last five to seven years 716 00:35:53.690 --> 00:35:58.030 yeah uh which is it's synonymous with when i've done 717 00:35:58.110 --> 00:36:01.369 some of the work I'm most proud of from a 718 00:36:01.570 --> 00:36:05.730 screen perspective and from a producing perspective. You know, to 719 00:36:05.809 --> 00:36:08.690 be a Black person in Hollywood, to be a producer 720 00:36:08.869 --> 00:36:12.690 in Hollywood, to be someone who has the taste I 721 00:36:12.750 --> 00:36:14.909 have when it comes to the kind of stories I 722 00:36:14.949 --> 00:36:17.380 want to tell. I'm always trying to color outside of 723 00:36:17.400 --> 00:36:22.039 the lines. I'm always trying to give context to hitherto unseen, 724 00:36:22.300 --> 00:36:27.929 unknown characters' stories. My Mantra is how do we normalize 725 00:36:27.969 --> 00:36:32.519 the marginalized? And in an industry that is so fear-based, 726 00:36:32.780 --> 00:36:36.949 so constantly looking for a comp or what has come before, 727 00:36:37.329 --> 00:36:39.690 and you're trying to do

something that is, you know, 728 00:36:39.769 --> 00:36:44.320 hopefully groundbreaking. It's just... You spend your days in a 729 00:36:44.380 --> 00:36:46.599 state of wanting to bash your head against the wall 730 00:36:46.659 --> 00:36:47.500 quite a lot of the time. 731 00:36:47.800 --> 00:36:51.019 Have you considered participating in a UFC fight? 732 00:36:51.260 --> 00:36:54.760 Thankfully, I discovered this when I was a bit older. 733 00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:57.019 You have quite a nice face, and I would hate 734 00:36:57.179 --> 00:36:59.079 to see anything happen to that face. 735 00:36:59.099 --> 00:37:01.059 Yeah, it's not a sport that does well with... Not 736 00:37:01.079 --> 00:37:05.909 the face! Not the face! So, no. 737 00:37:06.050 --> 00:37:08.530 I would be not the body or face in any way. 738 00:37:08.550 --> 00:37:11.380 Not to me, not to me. 739 00:37:11.389 --> 00:37:15.829 Yeah. I would enter with a producer. I would enter 740 00:37:15.869 --> 00:37:16.909 like with Jeff Ross. 741 00:37:16.989 --> 00:37:17.449 Or surrogate. 742 00:37:17.590 --> 00:37:21.809 Or Jordan Slasky, right. And they would beat on that person. 743 00:37:22.269 --> 00:37:22.719 Oh, right. 744 00:37:22.760 --> 00:37:24.659 And then I would, if they for some reason won, 745 00:37:24.679 --> 00:37:26.460 I would take the credit for it. 746 00:37:26.460 --> 00:37:27.579 Yes, you can do the victory lap. 747 00:37:27.820 --> 00:37:31.340 You know, you're talking about the marginalized and getting these stories, 748 00:37:31.380 --> 00:37:34.409 which is, I mean, it's so difficult. It's always been 749 00:37:34.429 --> 00:37:37.170 difficult to get things made. And we're in this time 750 00:37:37.210 --> 00:37:41.230 right now where it's extremely difficult. And I have a 751 00:37:41.250 --> 00:37:44.949 lot of friends that work in, mostly writers, but work 752 00:37:44.989 --> 00:37:47.840 in the industry and less is being made, less is 753 00:37:47.880 --> 00:37:50.159 being produced right now. And there is a lot of fear. 754 00:37:51.679 --> 00:37:55.219 Can it be a superhero? The story that you wanna tell, 755 00:37:55.260 --> 00:37:58.820 can we make it a superhero? And this series that 756 00:37:58.840 --> 00:38:02.420 you made, Lawmen, the Bass Reeves, about Bass Reeves is, 757 00:38:02.820 --> 00:38:05.420 a great story and you're depicting a real person who 758 00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:09.139 I can't imagine a character who's more marginalized than this character. 759 00:38:09.389 --> 00:38:10.650 This is a story you've been trying to tell for 760 00:38:10.670 --> 00:38:10.969 a long time. 761 00:38:10.989 --> 00:38:11.829 For a long time. 762 00:38:11.869 --> 00:38:12.010 Yeah. 763 00:38:12.030 --> 00:38:16.130 It was eight years, um, eight years, an eight year journey. Yeah. I, 764 00:38:16.309 --> 00:38:20.449 I first encountered the, the, the notion of Bass Reeves 765 00:38:21.610 --> 00:38:24.159 in 2014. And as someone who was a fan of 766 00:38:24.219 --> 00:38:26.059 Westerns growing up, as I told you, I was a 767 00:38:26.059 --> 00:38:29.170 bit of a TV addict. So I loved watching them. Uh, 768 00:38:29.670 --> 00:38:32.250 and I never saw anyone who looked like me in them, 769 00:38:32.309 --> 00:38:34.469 but I still wanted to be a cowboy. I didn't 770 00:38:34.530 --> 00:38:38.250 even realize that there was an image I was missing 771 00:38:38.469 --> 00:38:41.969 in terms of, of, of, you know, uh, me as 772 00:38:42.010 --> 00:38:45.369 a black person in relation to that beloved genre and that, 773 00:38:45.670 --> 00:38:51.469 you know, incredible history, uh, in America specifically. Um, so 774 00:38:51.630 --> 00:38:55.489 in 2014, when I found out who Bass Reeves was and, and, 775 00:38:55.980 --> 00:38:58.260 It felt like a story that kind of writes itself 776 00:38:58.500 --> 00:39:00.780 in a sense, in terms of his achievements. Like you say, 777 00:39:01.510 --> 00:39:06.829 born into enslavement, ends up escaping enslavement by beating his 778 00:39:06.909 --> 00:39:10.929 master nearly to death and then living with Native Americans 779 00:39:10.989 --> 00:39:13.269 for a time, which is where he accrued the skills 780 00:39:13.309 --> 00:39:16.309 he used when he was deployed as a deputy U.S. 781 00:39:16.369 --> 00:39:19.110 Marshal and went on to have a 32-year career at 782 00:39:19.190 --> 00:39:22.900 the most dangerous time in the most dangerous place in 783 00:39:22.960 --> 00:39:25.769 America's history. And the only reason we have him is 784 00:39:25.829 --> 00:39:29.269 because of the Reconstruction era that came directly after the 785 00:39:29.329 --> 00:39:31.269 Civil War, where black people were given the kind of 786 00:39:31.469 --> 00:39:35.500 agency that they had never had before. And that's what 787 00:39:35.639 --> 00:39:38.860 enabled him to sort of have the kind of rise whereby, 788 00:39:38.900 --> 00:39:43.320 can you imagine the whiplash of being enslaved and being 789 00:39:43.340 --> 00:39:46.900 treated so poorly by white people and suddenly you are 790 00:39:46.940 --> 00:39:50.300 empowered to arrest those, a lot of who were disgruntled 791 00:39:50.380 --> 00:39:53.960 because you are now no longer a slave, but someone 792 00:39:54.000 --> 00:39:55.000 who has agency. 793 00:39:55.039 --> 00:39:58.590 The very idea that someone who grew up in slavery, 794 00:39:58.630 --> 00:40:00.010 a black man who grew up in slavery would be 795 00:40:00.090 --> 00:40:05.329 able to hold a gun was something that was completely unimaginable, 796 00:40:05.630 --> 00:40:08.300 let alone then be in charge of enforcing the law. 797 00:40:08.360 --> 00:40:09.800 And then have a badge, yeah. 798 00:40:10.059 --> 00:40:12.960 And there's this, I was watching, there's this moment where 799 00:40:13.639 --> 00:40:16.599 early on in the show, it wasn't clear what your 800 00:40:16.639 --> 00:40:21.960 relationship was, you're in battle. And then there's a

moment 801 00:40:22.099 --> 00:40:27.519 where it very much looks like you're serving alongside this general, 802 00:40:27.539 --> 00:40:30.559 this officer. And then at one point when the battle's over, 803 00:40:31.179 --> 00:40:34.000 you start to walk in one direction and he says, 804 00:40:34.059 --> 00:40:37.030 where are you going? And you shift your whole tone 805 00:40:37.820 --> 00:40:43.059 to this very servile, which was a great moment. You 806 00:40:43.099 --> 00:40:45.519 could see you're playing a character who also has to 807 00:40:45.559 --> 00:40:46.260 play a character. 808 00:40:46.360 --> 00:40:46.840 Exactly. 809 00:40:47.139 --> 00:40:49.820 I don't understand why, because when you hear about the story, 810 00:40:50.139 --> 00:40:53.090 and I then went and looked up Bass Reeves, you think, 811 00:40:53.650 --> 00:40:56.530 why did this take eight years? This is a fantastic story. 812 00:40:56.730 --> 00:41:00.989 Yeah, and more importantly, why did this take the entire 813 00:41:01.550 --> 00:41:06.650 advent of cinema and TV before we have... a, in 814 00:41:06.710 --> 00:41:10.590 my opinion, a show, a film that is commensurate with 815 00:41:10.690 --> 00:41:13.909 the show. I mean, he's turned up in shows as 816 00:41:14.010 --> 00:41:18.539 peripheral or tangential, but never central, never with this kind 817 00:41:18.599 --> 00:41:21.579 of focus. And when you think about where the Western 818 00:41:21.699 --> 00:41:26.059 occupies in the lexicon of cinema and TV, you can 819 00:41:26.219 --> 00:41:29.699 only point to one thing, which is racism in relation 820 00:41:29.760 --> 00:41:33.550 to why we haven't yet seen this character, someone who 821 00:41:34.070 --> 00:41:36.869 many people believe is the inspiration for the Lone Ranger, 822 00:41:37.070 --> 00:41:40.489 in fact, in terms of the exploits that he engaged 823 00:41:41.090 --> 00:41:46.780 in and with and what the Lone Ranger represents in 824 00:41:46.820 --> 00:41:49.480 terms of what we see in those stories. But, you know, 825 00:41:49.519 --> 00:41:52.219 it's interesting what you talked about there, the code switching 826 00:41:52.320 --> 00:41:55.719 that he has to employ in order to survive, something 827 00:41:55.760 --> 00:41:58.800 that is very much alive and well for the marginalized 828 00:41:58.889 --> 00:42:02.320 in any society nowadays, if you want to get ahead, 829 00:42:02.400 --> 00:42:05.539 especially here in America. But that was what was so 830 00:42:05.659 --> 00:42:08.920 such a gift to play as an actor, because he 831 00:42:08.960 --> 00:42:13.619 was always incredible. It was an opportunity that came along 832 00:42:13.659 --> 00:42:17.150 that he seized that allowed him to be the totality 833 00:42:17.309 --> 00:42:19.789 of who he could be and who he was. And 834 00:42:19.829 --> 00:42:23.409 that was afforded in this country in the 1860s. 835 00:42:23.829 --> 00:42:26.530 And the thing that I am tragically taken away, tragically 836 00:42:26.590 --> 00:42:27.929 taken away with Jim Crow. 837 00:42:28.050 --> 00:42:30.510 Yeah, but it's exactly why it was taken away. Because 838 00:42:30.570 --> 00:42:33.940 people like Bas Rees were rising to the fore and 839 00:42:33.980 --> 00:42:36.389 that was in and of itself a threat. 840 00:42:36.469 --> 00:42:38.710 What's amazing is I was thinking about it because in 841 00:42:38.730 --> 00:42:43.909 your career, you've played so many roles in different historical periods. 842 00:42:44.090 --> 00:42:47.050 And I was thinking you're, you know, from the UK 843 00:42:47.789 --> 00:42:51.090 and Nigeria, but you may know more American history than 844 00:42:51.130 --> 00:42:53.789 most Americans just because of these roles that you're playing. 845 00:42:53.809 --> 00:42:54.449 Yeah. Yeah. 846 00:42:54.630 --> 00:42:54.909 Yeah. 847 00:42:57.659 --> 00:43:02.630 Um, you know, and it's, it's funny, it's 1865 through 848 00:43:02.769 --> 00:43:05.650 to the now. And, and that was, you know, I 849 00:43:05.710 --> 00:43:10.659 had my Daniel Day Lewis moment in Lincoln, um, playing a, 850 00:43:10.840 --> 00:43:15.500 a unionist soldier opposite him, uh, berating him for, for 851 00:43:16.139 --> 00:43:19.280 spouting the Gettysburg address, but not living by its tenants 852 00:43:19.340 --> 00:43:22.190 and saying, when are black people going to get the vote? 853 00:43:22.369 --> 00:43:27.929 And then In Selma, 19 presidents, 100 years later in 1965, 854 00:43:27.929 --> 00:43:31.230 I'm asking the same thing of Lyndon Johnson, when are 855 00:43:31.269 --> 00:43:34.380 Black people going to get the vote? And then in 856 00:43:34.409 --> 00:43:37.340 The Butler, we go from the 50s through to the 857 00:43:37.619 --> 00:43:41.079 2000s when Obama becomes president. I play a Tuskegee Airman 858 00:43:41.639 --> 00:43:44.019 in Red Tails as well. I was a preacher in 859 00:43:44.099 --> 00:43:47.730 The Help. And then you have with Bass Reeves, you know, 860 00:43:48.090 --> 00:43:52.670 the 1860s. So yeah, it's this sort of 150, 160 861 00:43:52.670 --> 00:43:56.719 period in America's formative history that I've been blessed to 862 00:43:56.840 --> 00:43:57.659 tell some of those stories. 863 00:43:57.679 --> 00:43:59.599 Yeah, you've had an American, I mean, you've had an 864 00:43:59.659 --> 00:44:03.510 amazing education in American history in a very unusual way. 865 00:44:03.639 --> 00:44:03.860 Yeah. 866 00:44:04.139 --> 00:44:06.070 I think a lot of people, maybe they don't, They 867 00:44:06.110 --> 00:44:08.590 either don't know it or they forget that right after 868 00:44:08.630 --> 00:44:13.829 the Civil War, there was this moment in Reconstruction where 869 00:44:14.230 --> 00:44:19.159 many former slaves are running for office and they're office holders. 870 00:44:19.219 --> 00:44:22.599 And it really does look like the promise is being met. 871 00:44:23.139 --> 00:44:26.599 And then bang, the door comes down and

it becomes 872 00:44:26.659 --> 00:44:28.420 very regressive the other way. Yeah. 873 00:44:29.059 --> 00:44:30.920 And that was one of the reasons I was so 874 00:44:30.980 --> 00:44:35.159 passionate about telling this story, because that is such an important... 875 00:44:35.139 --> 00:44:39.239 incredible moment in this country's history. And for reasons that, 876 00:44:39.300 --> 00:44:44.659 you know, I'm sure we can guess, that period has 877 00:44:44.739 --> 00:44:48.239 not been mined enough. It's actually a shameful period in 878 00:44:48.300 --> 00:44:52.460 America's history because it was the opportunity to deliver on 879 00:44:52.500 --> 00:44:56.579 the promise of what America wanted or said it wants 880 00:44:56.659 --> 00:45:00.280 to be. And then the reneging on that was so 881 00:45:00.429 --> 00:45:04.969 extreme with with Jim Crow coming in and anyone who 882 00:45:05.010 --> 00:45:08.989 was marginalized, whether it be sharecropping or lynching or all 883 00:45:09.010 --> 00:45:11.389 the way through to the civil rights movement was the 884 00:45:11.469 --> 00:45:14.590 next time there was any kind of push towards the 885 00:45:14.610 --> 00:45:17.650 kind of agency and justice that was promised by Lincoln. 886 00:45:19.110 --> 00:45:22.630 And so it is the moment that birthed Tulsa and 887 00:45:22.710 --> 00:45:28.599 that awful situation. But there are African-Americans who did extraordinary 888 00:45:28.679 --> 00:45:31.679 things in those 12 to 13 years, which I'm just 889 00:45:31.719 --> 00:45:33.619 so desirous that we get to see more of that 890 00:45:33.659 --> 00:45:36.159 because in many ways, it is a celebration of what 891 00:45:36.519 --> 00:45:41.099 America is, could be, should be. And that's why I 892 00:45:41.239 --> 00:45:46.010 love doing these historical films because we are so quick 893 00:45:46.090 --> 00:45:48.409 to forget. I mean, the moment that we're in in 894 00:45:48.570 --> 00:45:52.050 Hollywood right now is a pendulum swing from the Black 895 00:45:52.090 --> 00:45:56.130 Lives Matter movement, the Me Too movement, these moments very 896 00:45:56.190 --> 00:45:59.110 recently where there were huge gains made that are now 897 00:45:59.190 --> 00:46:04.280 being clawed back because... We just refuse to learn from 898 00:46:04.599 --> 00:46:09.659 history and build on the knowledge accrued, which is why, 899 00:46:09.760 --> 00:46:13.940 you know, for me, storytelling is not just about entertainment. 900 00:46:13.980 --> 00:46:19.699 It's about holding culture and our communal community accountable. 901 00:46:19.849 --> 00:46:21.550 I always go back to the same thought, which is 902 00:46:21.989 --> 00:46:23.090 we're a work in progress. 903 00:46:23.150 --> 00:46:24.590 Yeah. 904 00:46:24.730 --> 00:46:27.570 America, the United States, it's a work in progress. And 905 00:46:28.070 --> 00:46:31.250 you have to acknowledge that. the terrible mistakes and flaws. 906 00:46:31.369 --> 00:46:34.409

You also have to acknowledge the great aspects. 907 00:46:34.130 --> 00:46:34.710 Of the culture. 908 00:46:34.730 --> 00:46:37.949 And you just have to keep going back at it. 909 00:46:38.369 --> 00:46:41.590 Keep getting back into the conversation and saying, how can 910 00:46:41.630 --> 00:46:43.949 we move the puzzle piece a little bit further? And 911 00:46:43.969 --> 00:46:46.329 the pendulum will swing. It'll go right. It'll go left. 912 00:46:46.710 --> 00:46:50.590 We just have to keep nudging it along. Absolutely. 913 00:46:50.630 --> 00:46:52.630 I always say you cannot be what you cannot see. 914 00:46:53.230 --> 00:46:55.329 And you need to see it. You need to see 915 00:46:55.389 --> 00:46:58.199 those great moments in order to continue to aspire to 916 00:46:58.699 --> 00:47:01.199 towards them and and to me bass ruse is a 917 00:47:01.239 --> 00:47:03.170 great moment not just a great man but it's a 918 00:47:03.190 --> 00:47:07.050 great moment and and it's it's you know to me 919 00:47:07.070 --> 00:47:09.170 i know it sounds a bit lofty but it's a 920 00:47:09.230 --> 00:47:12.829 clarion call to yeah how do we keep on finding 921 00:47:12.889 --> 00:47:15.400 our way back to our better selves that's what selma 922 00:47:15.840 --> 00:47:17.860 was for me as well that's what queen of cartway 923 00:47:17.880 --> 00:47:21.340 was that's what a united kingdom was That's certainly, you know, 924 00:47:21.599 --> 00:47:24.320 the work I'm most proud of. I think that's an 925 00:47:24.480 --> 00:47:27.539 element of it because I agree with you. That's part 926 00:47:27.619 --> 00:47:30.610 of how we be better is to know more. 927 00:47:30.739 --> 00:47:33.610 Who were the actors that you were watching when you 928 00:47:33.650 --> 00:47:37.170 were seeing cinema, when you're seeing film, when you're coming 929 00:47:37.230 --> 00:47:41.409 along that where you thought, okay, that person is inspiring me. 930 00:47:41.469 --> 00:47:42.829 That person's showing me the way. 931 00:47:43.070 --> 00:47:46.610 Yeah. I mean, my two big heroes are, Uh, probably 932 00:47:46.650 --> 00:47:51.340 Sydney Poitier and Daniel Day Lewis. Um, my mom, my 933 00:47:51.380 --> 00:47:54.900 mom's favorite film was Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Um, 934 00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:57.760 so we would watch that time and time again and, 935 00:47:58.320 --> 00:48:03.400 and his poise, you know, someone who looks like, I 936 00:48:03.440 --> 00:48:06.039 get emotional just thinking about it, but someone who, who 937 00:48:06.059 --> 00:48:10.380 looked like me and, and had the bearing of my 938 00:48:10.539 --> 00:48:15.840 father and my uncles and, um, that was just not 939 00:48:15.909 --> 00:48:21.000 something you saw almost at all. Certainly not in films 940 00:48:21.099 --> 00:48:24.860 that were universally acclaimed, like In the Heat of the 941 00:48:24.960 --> 00:48:28.019 Night as well, which is just a formative piece of 942 00:48:28.079 --> 00:48:31.280 cinema for me. But then also just seeing Daniel Day-Lewis 943 00:48:31.340 --> 00:48:35.219 in My Left Foot and just thinking, I simply do 944 00:48:35.280 --> 00:48:39.940 not understand how it is possible for an actor to 945 00:48:40.039 --> 00:48:43.820 achieve that level of embodiment. When I found out he 946 00:48:43.840 --> 00:48:46.860 was able-bodied. When I found, when I heard him speak 947 00:48:47.539 --> 00:48:50.179 and he was so opposite to that, it was the 948 00:48:50.239 --> 00:48:53.280 moment I determined that as an actor, the thing I 949 00:48:53.320 --> 00:48:56.269 want to aspire to be the most is chameleonic. Someone 950 00:48:56.329 --> 00:48:58.710 who you roll to roll, you're going, which way is 951 00:48:58.730 --> 00:49:01.130 he going to go next? Because that's what I love 952 00:49:01.190 --> 00:49:03.610 about Daniel Day-Lewis. That's what I love about Christian Bale. 953 00:49:04.050 --> 00:49:08.289 That's what I love about what I get to do 954 00:49:08.550 --> 00:49:11.429 is I have no interest in playing some kind of 955 00:49:11.530 --> 00:49:13.920 version of myself. I always want to go to the character. 956 00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:17.650 Yeah, there's also, obviously there's a tradition in movies where 957 00:49:17.730 --> 00:49:22.960 someone's always playing a version of themselves. And not just Americans, 958 00:49:23.000 --> 00:49:26.000 but worldwide, people make room for that and they really 959 00:49:26.039 --> 00:49:29.050 like it. Some of the iconic movie stars are just playing... 960 00:49:29.369 --> 00:49:31.349 you almost want to laugh when they say, well, my 961 00:49:31.409 --> 00:49:32.730 character in this, you're like, what do you mean your 962 00:49:32.789 --> 00:49:36.210 character in this? I'm sorry, Clint Eastwood, I love you. 963 00:49:36.630 --> 00:49:39.750 But you're always, let me guess, you're squinting, you're a 964 00:49:39.769 --> 00:49:42.090 man of few words, and you're going to kick the 965 00:49:42.130 --> 00:49:43.969 shit out of somebody if they wrong you. 966 00:49:44.110 --> 00:49:44.900 And we love you for it. 967 00:49:44.929 --> 00:49:48.090 And we love you for it. But this idea of 968 00:49:48.219 --> 00:49:52.380 that you can shapeshift, I don't understand it. It's mystical 969 00:49:52.420 --> 00:49:52.719 to me. 970 00:49:53.000 --> 00:49:55.440 I'm so glad you used the phrase mystical because this 971 00:49:55.500 --> 00:49:58.099 is where you can kind of get into what kind 972 00:49:58.139 --> 00:50:04.019 of feels conceited territory. But to me, you know, in 973 00:50:04.059 --> 00:50:08.900 the moment of playing Dr. King or even with Bass Reeves, 974 00:50:08.960 --> 00:50:12.780 I remember us shooting on an actual plantation. And it 975 00:50:12.820 --> 00:50:17.099 was a plantation where 80 people had been enslaved back 976 00:50:17.159 --> 00:50:20.639 in the day. It was an incredibly difficult place to 977 00:50:20.699 --> 00:50:22.420 shoot

because I kid you not, the. 978 00:50:22.559 --> 00:50:25.619 Ghosts of that fact were present. 979 00:50:26.099 --> 00:50:28.860 And the nature of the scenes that we were doing 980 00:50:29.760 --> 00:50:33.059 were all the more difficult, all the more true, all 981 00:50:33.119 --> 00:50:36.889 the more lived in for that fact. And there is 982 00:50:36.909 --> 00:50:41.599 a kind of exchange that is mystical, spiritual, and it's 983 00:50:41.719 --> 00:50:45.570 about how much you're prepared to open yourself up to 984 00:50:45.610 --> 00:50:50.449 that in order to be flowed through by the history, 985 00:50:50.550 --> 00:50:54.389 by the writing, by the direction, by the other actors, 986 00:50:54.489 --> 00:50:57.570 with the audience in mind. What are you, by way 987 00:50:57.650 --> 00:51:01.949 of service, offering up to them? And what we do, 988 00:51:02.110 --> 00:51:05.219 what I am so privileged to do, is you're constantly 989 00:51:05.300 --> 00:51:08.559 in the pursuit of trying to capture lightning in a bottle. 990 00:51:08.659 --> 00:51:12.099 And there are certain circumstances under which there is more 991 00:51:12.199 --> 00:51:15.440 likelihood for that to happen than others. And it's about 992 00:51:15.500 --> 00:51:18.420 an openness. And that openness, you know, if I've done 993 00:51:18.480 --> 00:51:21.440 my work, if I am staying to a certain degree 994 00:51:21.500 --> 00:51:24.519 in the character, if I'm open to what is coming 995 00:51:24.599 --> 00:51:26.860 at me by way of stimulus, that has been the 996 00:51:26.940 --> 00:51:32.110 moments where even now when I watch Selma, I have 997 00:51:32.130 --> 00:51:35.349 a complete disconnection from it because I was in a 998 00:51:35.449 --> 00:51:41.019 place I almost can't fully quantify or understand because of 999 00:51:41.340 --> 00:51:44.039 the alchemy of what was happening in that moment. And 1000 00:51:44.079 --> 00:51:46.760 that's the joy. That's the benefit of when you're doing 1001 00:51:46.820 --> 00:51:49.800 it at the highest level with directors like Ava DuVernay 1002 00:51:49.860 --> 00:51:54.489 and incredible actors around you and great writing. It's a 1003 00:51:54.530 --> 00:51:55.090 mystical thing. 1004 00:51:55.349 --> 00:51:58.710 There's also, you mentioned something that I completely believe in. 1005 00:51:59.070 --> 00:52:00.909 Of course, it makes sense that you go back to 1006 00:52:01.789 --> 00:52:06.679 a plantation and pick up on this trauma You know 1007 00:52:06.699 --> 00:52:09.989 what I mean? And that would inform what you're doing. 1008 00:52:10.650 --> 00:52:13.610 I'm so glad that you've talked about this because it's 1009 00:52:13.690 --> 00:52:16.590 one of the tricky things as a producer you face 1010 00:52:16.670 --> 00:52:18.969 when you're trying to tell a true story and you go, 1011 00:52:19.110 --> 00:52:21.570 oh yeah, there's a good tax break in Canada. And 1012 00:52:21.610 --> 00:52:25.449 you go, actually with this

story, I think we've got 1013 00:52:25.489 --> 00:52:29.250 to fight to be in the place. And every time 1014 00:52:29.869 --> 00:52:35.119 it has yielded intangible but indisputable benefits. You know, we 1015 00:52:35.159 --> 00:52:38.500 had that, we shot on the Edmund Pettus Bridge for Selma. 1016 00:52:38.579 --> 00:52:42.059 We were there. We were on the Montgomery State House 1017 00:52:42.260 --> 00:52:46.309 steps where Dr. King gave that speech. And I, it's 1018 00:52:46.409 --> 00:52:49.670 going to sound so crazy, but that morning of giving 1019 00:52:49.710 --> 00:52:52.250 that speech, the FBI had told him, you will be 1020 00:52:52.329 --> 00:52:56.510 assassinated if you do that speech. There's, it's too open. 1021 00:52:56.610 --> 00:52:58.949 We have no way to protect you. And he chose 1022 00:52:58.989 --> 00:53:01.590 to give that speech anyway. And I woke up with 1023 00:53:01.639 --> 00:53:04.719 this just overwhelming sense that I was going to be 1024 00:53:04.760 --> 00:53:07.619 assassinated that day. I know it doesn't fully make sense, 1025 00:53:07.679 --> 00:53:10.219 but it wasn't till the end of that day where 1026 00:53:10.260 --> 00:53:12.300 we had shut the scene and it was done. I 1027 00:53:12.340 --> 00:53:15.239 found myself going, gosh, I'm still alive. And it was 1028 00:53:15.300 --> 00:53:17.920 to do with being in that place. We shot a 1029 00:53:17.960 --> 00:53:20.820 United Kingdom in Botswana. They wanted us to shoot it 1030 00:53:20.880 --> 00:53:24.300 in South Africa. There was a completely different vibe from 1031 00:53:24.519 --> 00:53:27.179 being there. Same thing with Queen of Cartway, shooting it 1032 00:53:27.579 --> 00:53:31.469 in Cartway. There is energy that you pick up finds 1033 00:53:31.510 --> 00:53:34.510 its way onto the celluloid. finds its way through the 1034 00:53:34.530 --> 00:53:36.949 screen into the audience. And at the end of the day, 1035 00:53:37.710 --> 00:53:40.130 the true job of a storyteller is the pursuit of 1036 00:53:40.150 --> 00:53:42.989 the truth. And the audience can feel when they are 1037 00:53:43.050 --> 00:53:46.610 getting a watered-down version of that. And you come out 1038 00:53:46.659 --> 00:53:50.159 just going, well, the film was okay. You're not necessarily 1039 00:53:50.260 --> 00:53:54.039 saying it wasn't true. But when you have been served 1040 00:53:54.119 --> 00:53:57.579 up something that feels truly authentic, it speaks to the 1041 00:53:57.639 --> 00:54:00.340 human being in you, which is why the best films 1042 00:54:00.400 --> 00:54:03.679 we love... You have a protagonist that you can tether 1043 00:54:03.699 --> 00:54:06.880 yourself to and you go, I am relating to this character. 1044 00:54:07.099 --> 00:54:10.179 I am working out what I would do in this scenario. 1045 00:54:10.239 --> 00:54:13.800 That's because they are a three-dimensional, believable human being that 1046 00:54:13.820 --> 00:54:14.659 you can relate to. 1047 00:54:14.719 --> 00:54:15.920 I'm invested in them, too. 1048 00:54:16.019 --> 00:54:16.400 That's it. 1049 00:54:16.500 --> 00:54:19.159 I'm invested in them. I really care what happens to 1050 00:54:19.199 --> 00:54:19.840 this person. 1051 00:54:19.980 --> 00:54:21.860 That can only happen if it's true, if it feels 1052 00:54:21.920 --> 00:54:23.510 true to what it is to be a human being. 1053 00:54:23.690 --> 00:54:25.690 Well, I could talk to you for 50 hours. I 1054 00:54:25.710 --> 00:54:26.869 seriously could. 1055 00:54:26.949 --> 00:54:27.730 Likewise. 1056 00:54:27.929 --> 00:54:31.780 And, you know, the delightful thing, there are many delightful 1057 00:54:31.800 --> 00:54:34.199 things about you, but the fact that we started out, 1058 00:54:34.380 --> 00:54:38.760 there's so much just laughing, just really good natured humor. 1059 00:54:38.820 --> 00:54:41.719 And then we get to this other place that's really beautiful. 1060 00:54:42.159 --> 00:54:45.840 That's my favorite kind of podcast conversation. And just, I 1061 00:54:45.860 --> 00:54:48.820 shouldn't even say podcast conversation. That's my favorite kind of conversation. 1062 00:54:49.400 --> 00:54:52.750 It really means a lot to me. So- Go forth, 1063 00:54:52.869 --> 00:54:56.010 continue to do great things. Thank you. And I am 1064 00:54:56.050 --> 00:54:59.590 just a massive fan. You're welcome here anytime. Oh, I 1065 00:54:59.610 --> 00:55:02.610 appreciate it. And, you know, if you see a really 1066 00:55:02.650 --> 00:55:05.630 good part for me as a producer. You could have 1067 00:55:05.670 --> 00:55:08.130 just said wrap it up. Wrap it up. You could 1068 00:55:08.210 --> 00:55:08.849 have ended it. 1069 00:55:08.869 --> 00:55:09.550 Wrap it up. 1070 00:55:09.610 --> 00:55:11.769 I'm just saying. You could have ended it. Sort of 1071 00:55:11.789 --> 00:55:15.429 a later in life Marilyn just before the end. Oh, 1072 00:55:15.550 --> 00:55:15.989 wrap it up. 1073 00:55:15.989 --> 00:55:19.000 I can see you being a great incompetent senator today. 1074 00:55:20.440 --> 00:55:24.460 I can see that in Coriolanus. 1075 00:55:24.699 --> 00:55:25.159 I'm there. 1076 00:55:25.579 --> 00:55:28.820 Fabulous. I am there. Maybe not your production. 1077 00:55:28.880 --> 00:55:29.389 I don't think you are. 1078 00:55:29.400 --> 00:55:30.940 And you know what? He'd bring it down. 1079 00:55:31.340 --> 00:55:32.820 He'd bring it down. 1080 00:55:32.940 --> 00:55:33.260 Okay. 1081 00:55:33.320 --> 00:55:37.619 David would be recommending me to every other Shakespeare producer 1082 00:55:37.699 --> 00:55:39.929 in London. And they'd be like, well, how come you don't? 1083 00:55:40.030 --> 00:55:40.679 How come you don't? 1084 00:55:40.699 --> 00:55:41.030 No, no, no. 1085 00:55:41.050 --> 00:55:44.150 I think he's better for you. He's going to be fantastic. 1086 00:55:44.329 --> 00:55:45.710 His reviews rave. 1087 00:55:45.769 --> 00:55:45.989 Yeah. 1088 00:55:46.030 -->

00:55:47.769 And all the other ones. 1089 00:55:47.809 --> 00:55:48.050 Yes. 1090 00:55:48.230 --> 00:55:51.820 Mission accomplished. We took him down. Conan O'Brien has ruined 1091 00:55:51.860 --> 00:55:56.840 yet another Shakespearean play. David, bless you. Thank you so 1092 00:55:56.860 --> 00:55:57.679 much for being here. 1093 00:55:57.699 --> 00:55:59.090 This was great. Thank you so much. 1094 00:56:09.889 --> 00:56:13.659 Good nights are about the people, the laughs, the real 1095 00:56:13.699 --> 00:56:14.820 moments you don't want to miss. 1096 00:56:15.300 --> 00:56:16.860 So why step outside? 1097 00:56:17.780 --> 00:56:21.820 Velo tobacco-free nicotine pouches fits seamlessly into your night. Convenient 1098 00:56:22.019 --> 00:56:26.239 and full of flavor. No breaks, no interruptions. Velo anytime, 1099 00:56:26.360 --> 00:56:30.239 anywhere nicotine pouches. 18 and over contains tobacco-free nicotine and 1100 00:56:30.280 --> 00:56:32.480 addictive substance. If you're new to Velo, start with Mellow. 1101 00:56:32.559 --> 00:56:34.079 You should not use this product if you do not 1102 00:56:34.179 --> 00:56:34.980 already use nicotine. 1103 00:56:38.230 --> 00:56:38.789 Due to the. 1104 00:56:38.750 --> 00:56:41.949 Leaves falling in autumn and the challenges this brings, Eireann 1105 00:56:41.969 --> 00:56:45.230 Road Airan wishes to advise customers that a revised timetable 1106 00:56:45.269 --> 00:56:48.849 will take effect on Dart and Dublin commuter routes from Monday, 1107 00:56:48.929 --> 00:56:53.360 September 21st until December 12th. Morning and evening peak services 1108 00:56:53.400 --> 00:56:56.860 will be affected with some earlier departure times. Please check 1109 00:56:56.900 --> 00:57:00.500 travel times on the Eireann Road Airan app or irishrail.ie. 1110 00:57:01.019 --> 00:57:03.860 Eireann Road Airan is part of the Transport for Ireland network. 1111 00:57:06.789 --> 00:57:09.289 Don't miss out on Cash & Carry Kitchens' free fitting 1112 00:57:09.409 --> 00:57:12.610 offer which ends on September 26th. For a limited time, 1113 00:57:12.650 --> 00:57:15.320 you can save hundreds of euro on all our kitchens. 1114 00:57:15.610 --> 00:57:19.159 Any style, any colour, any size. The choice is yours, 1115 00:57:19.449 --> 00:57:22.420 but the fitting is on us. For free fitting on 1116 00:57:22.599 --> 00:57:26.860 all our kitchens, book your free design consultation on cashandcarrykitchens.ie 1117 00:57:27.179 --> 00:57:30.639 or visit one of our 17 showrooms nationwide. Cash & 1118 00:57:30.639 --> 00:57:35.059 Carry Kitchens. Create something more. Proud to be guaranteed Irish. 1119 00:57:35.599 --> 00:57:36.699 Terms and conditions apply. 1120 00:57:42.500 --> 00:57:44.860 We're actually recording a segment when we did not expect 1121 00:57:44.900 --> 00:57:45.440 to do one. 1122 00:57:45.719 --> 00:57:48.780 That's right. And so we have no idea for a segment. 1123 00:57:48.800 --> 00:57:50.639 We just sat around

trying to think about what to 1124 00:57:50.699 --> 00:57:51.119 talk about. 1125 00:57:51.139 --> 00:57:53.300 We really did. Let's just dive in. We spent about 1126 00:57:53.300 --> 00:57:55.480 30 seconds, and then you said, let's just dive in. 1127 00:57:55.500 --> 00:57:55.920 Yeah. 1128 00:57:56.139 --> 00:57:57.840 Because you guys seem to be allergic to thinking about 1129 00:57:57.880 --> 00:58:01.300 anything beforehand. Yes, our guest, who will not be named, 1130 00:58:01.679 --> 00:58:04.260 has been delayed. And so we thought, let's get some... 1131 00:58:04.780 --> 00:58:05.599 Let's get some work done. 1132 00:58:05.619 --> 00:58:05.940 Right. 1133 00:58:06.199 --> 00:58:09.320 You know, so we're here. Let me describe the scene. Oh, right. 1134 00:58:09.530 --> 00:58:12.469 You can watch this on these nice high def cameras. 1135 00:58:13.090 --> 00:58:14.670 So there goes that whole idea. Do you guys ever 1136 00:58:14.769 --> 00:58:18.190 look at the camera when you're saying anything? Because you, especially, 1137 00:58:18.250 --> 00:58:20.269 you know, late night TV, you were always looking down 1138 00:58:20.309 --> 00:58:20.869 the camera. 1139 00:58:20.909 --> 00:58:21.070 Yeah. 1140 00:58:21.090 --> 00:58:22.929 You know, it's funny. And this is a true story. 1141 00:58:23.369 --> 00:58:26.590 Maybe a week ago, I went into a store and 1142 00:58:27.269 --> 00:58:29.769 it had the security camera that has the big screen 1143 00:58:29.789 --> 00:58:32.849 where you can look at yourself. And I started walking 1144 00:58:33.030 --> 00:58:37.349 backwards and forwards. To the security screen. Oh my God. 1145 00:58:37.510 --> 00:58:39.159 And I was just having fun the way I did 1146 00:58:39.179 --> 00:58:43.059 when I was a kid. And then I remember, I 1147 00:58:43.239 --> 00:58:46.460 do this, I did this for a living for 9,000 hours. 1148 00:58:46.820 --> 00:58:47.099 Yes. 1149 00:58:47.300 --> 00:58:51.119 And I'm like, look, there's me there, but here's me here. 1150 00:58:51.139 --> 00:58:55.619 I know it was very sad, but I really did that. 1151 00:58:55.980 --> 00:58:58.820 But I don't understand. Most people just listen. They don't watch. 1152 00:58:59.280 --> 00:59:00.599 Or is it half and half? Yeah. 1153 00:59:00.699 --> 00:59:01.440 Adam, let us know. 1154 00:59:01.440 --> 00:59:03.400 Maybe you can break it down for us. And Don't 1155 00:59:03.400 --> 00:59:05.760 be afraid to approach what we in the business call 1156 00:59:05.760 --> 00:59:08.239 the microphone. Still more people listen than watch. 1157 00:59:08.239 --> 00:59:09.099 I think that's good. 1158 00:59:09.099 --> 00:59:12.019 But we do have clips that go out on video 1159 00:59:12.059 --> 00:59:15.860 that will sometimes get up as high as our podcast episodes. 1160 00:59:15.920 --> 00:59:18.250 Like, actually, recently, the Dr. 1161 00:59:18.289 --> 00:59:18.889 Arroyo. 1162 00:59:19.650 --> 00:59:20.349 Oh, my God. 1163 00:59:20.449 --> 00:59:21.929 He

was so funny. That did huge numbers. 1164 00:59:22.030 --> 00:59:22.250 Yeah. 1165 00:59:22.630 --> 00:59:24.610 Separately, when you broke down your experience on Hot Ones, 1166 00:59:24.650 --> 00:59:26.789 that did huge numbers on video. 1167 00:59:27.070 --> 00:59:27.210 Right. 1168 00:59:27.699 --> 00:59:30.719 But typically the podcast audio episodes is where we get 1169 00:59:30.739 --> 00:59:31.099 this raw. 1170 00:59:31.119 --> 00:59:32.760 I like to act like no one can see what 1171 00:59:32.800 --> 00:59:33.280 we're doing. 1172 00:59:33.519 --> 00:59:36.460 It feels like anything referencing Hot Ones does well. So 1173 00:59:36.480 --> 00:59:37.780 why don't we just talk about. 1174 00:59:37.699 --> 00:59:40.000 Hot Ones all the time? There's a whole generation that 1175 00:59:40.039 --> 00:59:43.210 thinks I'm a guy who came out of nowhere, did 1176 00:59:43.250 --> 00:59:45.090 Hot Ones, and now I'm trying to cobble together a 1177 00:59:45.130 --> 00:59:47.050 career based on Hot Ones. 1178 00:59:47.610 --> 00:59:50.530 If we start to lose listeners, we could turn this 1179 00:59:50.550 --> 00:59:52.050 into a Hot Ones rewatch podcast. 1180 00:59:52.070 --> 00:59:53.840 Yeah. Great idea. Right. Yeah. 1181 00:59:54.110 --> 01:00:00.130 Good idea. Or else just occasionally... Say, man, that's a 1182 01:00:00.139 --> 01:00:02.530 crazy thing that happened to me. And then, Sony, you 1183 01:00:02.550 --> 01:00:04.010 could say, what are you talking about, boss? And I 1184 01:00:04.030 --> 01:00:06.349 could say, oh, no one would care. Just a really 1185 01:00:06.389 --> 01:00:09.460 insane behind the scenes at Hot Ones story. Yeah. That 1186 01:00:09.539 --> 01:00:10.559 nobody knows about. 1187 01:00:10.880 --> 01:00:11.559 Or we could. 1188 01:00:12.269 --> 01:00:17.099 Start making the guests eat chicken wings that get increasingly 1189 01:00:17.320 --> 01:00:18.119 more spicy. 1190 01:00:18.199 --> 01:00:20.400 Right. And then when the hot ones people come after 1191 01:00:20.460 --> 01:00:23.219 us say, this in no way has anything to do. 1192 01:00:23.559 --> 01:00:23.900 Yes. 1193 01:00:24.179 --> 01:00:25.409 How dare you? 1194 01:00:25.909 --> 01:00:29.090 And then we'll get a black tablecloth and you'll shave 1195 01:00:29.110 --> 01:00:29.550 your head. 1196 01:00:29.610 --> 01:00:30.269 I'll shave my head. 1197 01:00:30.650 --> 01:00:32.010 We'll call it scorching ones. 1198 01:00:32.030 --> 01:00:38.909 Yeah. Temperate. Warm ones. Temperate warm ones. 1199 01:00:39.010 --> 01:00:40.239 Oh, we're going warm? 1200 01:00:40.340 --> 01:00:40.920 Lukewarm ones. 1201 01:00:41.000 --> 01:00:42.480 We're going cooler than hot. 1202 01:00:43.079 --> 01:00:43.199 Oh. 1203 01:00:45.400 --> 01:00:45.460 Oh. 1204 01:00:46.780 --> 01:00:47.360 Oh, yes. 1205 01:00:47.480 --> 01:00:50.579 Thank you. This one's better than the Conan one. 1206 01:00:50.599 --> 01:00:51.440 This is hot ones. 1207 01:00:51.820 --> 01:00:53.969 This is the latest one with Chris Hemsworth. 1208 01:00:54.230 --> 01:00:57.789 Oh, they started a new season. Okay. And how'd it go? 1209 01:00:58.070 --> 01:00:58.710 Anyone watch it yet? 1210 01:00:59.250 --> 01:01:03.449 It's Chris Hemsworth. So I think it's going very well. 1211 01:01:03.710 --> 01:01:03.849 But. 1212 01:01:04.250 --> 01:01:05.329 Because it's Chris Hemsworth. 1213 01:01:05.429 --> 01:01:07.210 You know, that's the thing. Look what I had to 1214 01:01:07.250 --> 01:01:11.090 do to get the viewer interested. I had to destroy 1215 01:01:11.429 --> 01:01:14.909 my intestinal tract, okay? But then Chris Hemsworth can just 1216 01:01:14.989 --> 01:01:18.119 be there and smile. How cute he is. Oh, look, 1217 01:01:18.139 --> 01:01:18.739 they're having fun. 1218 01:01:18.760 --> 01:01:19.719 Sorry, are you still here? 1219 01:01:19.739 --> 01:01:21.679 Yeah, we're kind of busy right now. 1220 01:01:21.800 --> 01:01:22.460 I hate it here. 1221 01:01:23.099 --> 01:01:23.719 You're still here? 1222 01:01:23.739 --> 01:01:24.239 I hate it here. 1223 01:01:24.260 --> 01:01:25.400 I'm sorry, I thought you left. 1224 01:01:25.579 --> 01:01:29.139 I was cursed with this puss. God gave me this face. 1225 01:01:29.179 --> 01:01:31.090 You can turn that off now. I mean, it's ridiculous. No, 1226 01:01:31.110 --> 01:01:32.769 you can turn it on. No, no. Turn it off 1227 01:01:32.789 --> 01:01:32.989 for now. 1228 01:01:33.110 --> 01:01:39.550 Conan O'Brien is cursed with this puss. 1229 01:01:39.590 --> 01:01:40.809 Can I just say when I was born? 1230 01:01:41.030 --> 01:01:41.769 Yeah. 1231 01:01:41.789 --> 01:01:44.510 The doctor held me up to my mom and she said, 1232 01:01:44.989 --> 01:01:48.170 oh my God, what happened to his puss? Which is 1233 01:01:48.190 --> 01:01:49.110 how people talked back then. 1234 01:01:49.150 --> 01:01:50.050 Is that a true story? 1235 01:01:50.369 --> 01:01:50.550 No. 1236 01:01:50.730 --> 01:01:52.710 Because my mom cried when she saw my face. 1237 01:01:52.789 --> 01:01:53.050 What? 1238 01:01:53.269 --> 01:01:55.860 Yeah, she thought I was a really ugly baby. I'm 1239 01:01:55.889 --> 01:01:57.739 not joking because my nose was crooked too. 1240 01:01:57.800 --> 01:01:59.030 Even so, who told you this? 1241 01:01:59.159 --> 01:02:01.019 My mom did. She did. 1242 01:02:01.280 --> 01:02:04.400 Oh, that's not cool. Now, a lot of babies get 1243 01:02:04.440 --> 01:02:05.639 sort of smushed on the way out. 1244 01:02:05.719 --> 01:02:06.539 I got smushed. 1245 01:02:06.820 --> 01:02:08.099 Yeah. 1246 01:02:08.260 --> 01:02:09.380 And I was smushed. 1247 01:02:09.420 --> 01:02:11.320 And then it takes a while for things to pop back. 1248 01:02:12.260 --> 01:02:14.769 I don't know if pop back. is, like, the right 1249 01:02:14.849 --> 01:02:15.269 way to describe it. 1250 01:02:15.269 --> 01:02:17.050 Well, how long was your nose smushed for until you were... 1251 01:02:17.050 --> 01:02:18.230 It's still a little

crooked. 1252 01:02:18.530 --> 01:02:21.070 It's not, like, normal. My nose is not normal. But 1253 01:02:21.130 --> 01:02:23.690 it was, like, really crooked. And I saw the first 1254 01:02:23.750 --> 01:02:25.610 picture that they take. You know, they take the first 1255 01:02:25.650 --> 01:02:28.030 picture of you in the hospital. And I was like, ugh, 1256 01:02:28.260 --> 01:02:28.630 I get it. 1257 01:02:28.780 --> 01:02:32.530 My baby picture is horrifying. It's just horrifying. And I 1258 01:02:32.550 --> 01:02:36.019 just have this... It looks like copper wiring on my head. 1259 01:02:36.559 --> 01:02:36.639 Oh. 1260 01:02:36.739 --> 01:02:38.579 And I was the only one in my family of 1261 01:02:38.659 --> 01:02:40.840 six kids that had this copper-colored hair. 1262 01:02:40.960 --> 01:02:41.280 Yeah. 1263 01:02:41.539 --> 01:02:42.360 And, uh. 1264 01:02:42.860 --> 01:02:47.650 It was just a freak show. I asked my mom 1265 01:02:47.750 --> 01:02:49.989 once and she said, you were a fat little Buddha 1266 01:02:50.449 --> 01:02:53.070 with orange hair. And I was like, okay. She said 1267 01:02:53.110 --> 01:02:55.269 it like that? She said, a fat little Buddha with 1268 01:02:55.329 --> 01:02:57.730 orange hair. And then she gets all happy when she 1269 01:02:57.789 --> 01:02:59.090 talks about my brothers and sisters. 1270 01:02:59.889 --> 01:03:02.469 Oh, that's your mom's way of saying you were not 1271 01:03:02.510 --> 01:03:03.449 the cutest baby. 1272 01:03:03.710 --> 01:03:04.630 And unloved. 1273 01:03:05.690 --> 01:03:07.769 But you knew that. 1274 01:03:07.849 --> 01:03:11.699 I did know that, which always helps. Thanks. Hey, thanks, 1275 01:03:11.719 --> 01:03:16.920 good friend. But no, it gave me this drive to overcome. 1276 01:03:17.639 --> 01:03:18.460 No, it didn't. 1277 01:03:18.760 --> 01:03:19.280 Yeah, it did. 1278 01:03:19.559 --> 01:03:19.980 Sure it did. 1279 01:03:20.099 --> 01:03:20.780 No, it didn't. 1280 01:03:20.840 --> 01:03:23.500 It always goes back. There's a rosebud somewhere. And mine 1281 01:03:23.519 --> 01:03:26.389 is my mom saying, you fat little booner with orange hair. 1282 01:03:26.409 --> 01:03:30.130 Your rosebud is your cursed puss. Yes, my cursed puss. Yeah. Yeah. 1283 01:03:30.650 --> 01:03:32.829 It's just, look, I got a face for radio. Let's 1284 01:03:32.869 --> 01:03:33.389 put it that way. 1285 01:03:33.409 --> 01:03:34.289 Come on, man. 1286 01:03:34.820 --> 01:03:35.380 No. 1287 01:03:35.780 --> 01:03:37.639 Well, that's good that we're doing a podcast. You didn't 1288 01:03:37.679 --> 01:03:39.699 come up with one thing. Oh, this part of you 1289 01:03:39.719 --> 01:03:42.519 looks good. This part of you. You just went, oh, no. 1290 01:03:42.539 --> 01:03:45.090 Let me tell you something. For years, people have said, hey, 1291 01:03:45.110 --> 01:03:49.050 you're real funny. Too bad about your puss. I get 1292 01:03:49.090 --> 01:03:49.969 that all the time. 1293 01:03:49.989 --> 01:03:50.889 You've never gotten that. 1294 01:03:50.909 --> 01:03:51.829 All the time. And you know what? 1295 01:03:51.969 --> 01:03:54.030 It's not fair to talk about this after we saw 1296 01:03:54.070 --> 01:03:56.750 Chris Hemsworth. Because he is a freak. Like, he is 1297 01:03:56.789 --> 01:03:57.329 just like a. 1298 01:03:57.349 --> 01:03:58.210 I know. 1299 01:03:58.269 --> 01:03:59.230 I'd hate to look like that. 1300 01:03:59.369 --> 01:04:00.110 I know. 1301 01:04:00.219 --> 01:04:03.280 Awful. To go through life like that. Gross. That's a 1302 01:04:03.300 --> 01:04:05.139 perfect puss. That's perfect. 1303 01:04:05.280 --> 01:04:07.360 And it's not just the puss. It's the whole package. 1304 01:04:07.409 --> 01:04:09.969 I'll tell you something else. What a charming fellow. I know. 1305 01:04:10.030 --> 01:04:11.030 That's the other thing. 1306 01:04:11.050 --> 01:04:12.230 Yeah. God damn it. 1307 01:04:12.550 --> 01:04:12.849 That's okay. 1308 01:04:12.889 --> 01:04:15.150 And he also seems kind of funny. You know, he 1309 01:04:15.190 --> 01:04:17.190 seems like he's got the whole thing. That's where I 1310 01:04:17.210 --> 01:04:17.630 get mad. 1311 01:04:17.710 --> 01:04:18.869 Adam's really nodding. 1312 01:04:18.929 --> 01:04:19.550 He is funny. 1313 01:04:19.570 --> 01:04:21.710 Because of Thor. He's funny in Thor. 1314 01:04:21.750 --> 01:04:25.329 No, he's a very funny actor. He's got the whole package. 1315 01:04:25.789 --> 01:04:27.679 I bet his Hot Ones is hysterical. 1316 01:04:28.130 --> 01:04:30.590 Well, it probably is. It's not important. I'm not a 1317 01:04:30.630 --> 01:04:34.920 competitive person. I'm someone who's just happy that my Hot 1318 01:04:35.039 --> 01:04:36.880 Ones was considered the greatest of all time. 1319 01:04:37.820 --> 01:04:38.360 That's all. 1320 01:04:39.320 --> 01:04:46.820 By virtually every periodical. Now, let's move on. 1321 01:04:46.920 --> 01:04:47.199 Can I? 1322 01:04:47.340 --> 01:04:51.710 I'm sorry. Just for my mom's sake. She doesn't think 1323 01:04:51.769 --> 01:04:56.239 I'm ugly now. Well, that's because everything popped out because 1324 01:04:56.280 --> 01:04:57.960 she was like, you were an ugly baby. But I 1325 01:04:58.239 --> 01:05:00.820 actually appreciated the honesty instead of her. 1326 01:05:01.400 --> 01:05:04.199 There's no reason to be honest at that point. That's 1327 01:05:04.219 --> 01:05:06.219 just that's something you're supposed to be honest about. 1328 01:05:06.340 --> 01:05:06.860 What do you know? 1329 01:05:06.909 --> 01:05:09.119 You don't have to be honest. It's like, OK, mom, 1330 01:05:09.139 --> 01:05:10.590 you know, you were going through a lot. You just 1331 01:05:10.610 --> 01:05:12.969 gave birth and you had an ugly baby and you 1332 01:05:12.989 --> 01:05:13.960 were sad about it. 1333 01:05:14.010 --> 01:05:14.309 That's OK. 1334 01:05:14.510 --> 01:05:16.369 Yeah, but maybe she smushed you a bit on the 1335 01:05:16.429 -->

01:05:16.750 way out. 1336 01:05:17.260 --> 01:05:18.320 She smushed me. 1337 01:05:18.380 --> 01:05:21.539 Well, you had to pass through your mother, and so 1338 01:05:21.559 --> 01:05:22.539 maybe she smushed you. 1339 01:05:22.679 --> 01:05:23.059 How? 1340 01:05:23.400 --> 01:05:24.559 Please, explain. 1341 01:05:24.619 --> 01:05:28.739 Contracted. Maybe gave you a little smusharoo. So maybe it's 1342 01:05:28.780 --> 01:05:29.239 her fault. 1343 01:05:29.260 --> 01:05:30.320 She did it on purpose? 1344 01:05:30.360 --> 01:05:30.619 Yeah. 1345 01:05:30.699 --> 01:05:32.699 Maybe she felt you coming out, and she said, tell 1346 01:05:32.739 --> 01:05:34.980 me when the face is coming out. And then they said, 1347 01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:37.500 the face now, and she went, I smush you. 1348 01:05:37.659 --> 01:05:38.780 She is a cursed puss. 1349 01:05:39.760 --> 01:05:44.030 I smush her face. Your mother timed it. 1350 01:05:44.090 --> 01:05:45.150 What is wrong? 1351 01:05:45.489 --> 01:05:47.610 Your mother timed it and then did, what are they, 1352 01:05:47.650 --> 01:05:51.969 Hegel crunches? Kegels. I thought they were named after Dr. Hegel. 1353 01:05:52.429 --> 01:05:52.610 No. 1354 01:05:52.630 --> 01:05:56.610 Oh, whatever. There's Hegel crunches and kegels. Kegel exercise. Okay. 1355 01:05:56.789 --> 01:05:58.690 So anyway, your mother was like, just tell me when 1356 01:05:58.730 --> 01:06:00.170 face come out so I can give it a hard 1357 01:06:00.230 --> 01:06:01.429 time for the first 15 years. 1358 01:06:01.469 --> 01:06:04.900 The accent is so insulting. 1359 01:06:04.980 --> 01:06:05.340 That'll be. 1360 01:06:06.480 --> 01:06:09.039 Very accurate. But tell me, doctor, tell me when face 1361 01:06:09.079 --> 01:06:12.619 come out and I do kegel. And then the doctor's like, OK, 1362 01:06:12.659 --> 01:06:14.659 if you want. And the face is out now. I 1363 01:06:14.820 --> 01:06:15.539 smush you. 1364 01:06:15.619 --> 01:06:21.820 Oh, my God. What is wrong with you? 1365 01:06:25.530 --> 01:06:27.869 She just got dizzy. Oh, no. I just laughed so 1366 01:06:27.929 --> 01:06:29.909 hard that the blood went out of my head. You know, 1367 01:06:29.929 --> 01:06:32.730 to come full circle... I smush you! Who says that 1368 01:06:32.750 --> 01:06:35.429 to their baby as it's coming out of the vaginal canal? 1369 01:06:35.489 --> 01:06:37.179 I'm giving a look to the camera like. 1370 01:06:37.300 --> 01:06:40.239 To come full circle, you look at that camera and 1371 01:06:40.260 --> 01:06:42.039 you apologize to America right now. 1372 01:06:42.219 --> 01:06:44.460 America, I smush you! 1373 01:06:45.199 --> 01:06:46.000 And my mom. 1374 01:06:46.599 --> 01:06:51.230 You know you did, Nadia. You smush her! She's beautiful now, 1375 01:06:51.289 --> 01:06:56.619 but all those years of unsmushing... The operations, the procedures. 1376 01:06:57.420 --> 01:07:00.559 Just tell me when face pass through. Okay, that's unusual. 1377 01:07:00.579 --> 01:07:05.380 We don't... I smush you! All right, I need a 1378 01:07:05.460 --> 01:07:08.440 drink and I need some pills immediately. I went too far. 1379 01:07:08.460 --> 01:07:10.550 I love your mom. Love you, Nadia, but you know 1380 01:07:10.570 --> 01:07:13.989 what you did. Peace out, everybody. 1381 01:07:16.630 --> 01:07:20.289 Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. With Conan O'Brien, Sonam Ovsessian, 1382 01:07:20.469 --> 01:07:24.079 and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced 1383 01:07:24.099 --> 01:07:27.150 by Adam Sachs, Nick Liao, and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, 1384 01:07:27.289 --> 01:07:30.550 and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. Theme song 1385 01:07:30.590 --> 01:07:33.539 by The White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. 1386 01:07:33.840 --> 01:07:34.719 Take it away, Jimmy. 1387 01:07:38.199 --> 01:07:41.360 Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair. And our associate talent 1388 01:07:41.400 --> 01:07:45.099 producer is Jennifer Samples. Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez 1389 01:07:45.199 --> 01:07:49.150 and Brendan Burns. Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent 1390 01:07:49.190 --> 01:07:52.369 booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brit Kahn. You 1391 01:07:52.409 --> 01:07:54.949 can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and 1392 01:07:54.989 --> 01:07:57.550 you might find your review read on a future episode. 1393 01:07:57.909 --> 01:08:01.590 Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline 1394 01:08:01.789 --> 01:08:05.309 at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It, too, could be 1395 01:08:05.349 --> 01:08:07.960 featured on a future episode. And if you haven't already, 1396 01:08:08.179 --> 01:08:11.199 please subscribe to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend wherever fine 1397 01:08:11.260 --> 01:08:12.860 podcasts are downloaded. 1398 01:08:27.020 --> 01:08:30.779 Good nights are about the people, the laughs, the real 1399 01:08:30.819 --> 01:08:33.979 moments you don't want to miss. So why step outside? 1400 01:08:34.920 --> 01:08:38.939 Velo tobacco-free nicotine pouches fits seamlessly into your night. Convenient 1401 01:08:39.149 --> 01:08:43.369 and full of flavor. No breaks, no interruptions. Velo anytime, 1402 01:08:43.510 --> 01:08:47.369 anywhere nicotine pouches. 18 and over contains tobacco-free nicotine and 1403 01:08:47.409 --> 01:08:49.609 addictive substance. 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