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Reckon we'll need a fleet of about 50 vehicles next quarter. Oh,
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one of our suppliers just pulled out of the market.
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Ten should do the job. Nice, just won a new contract.
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Make that 100 vehicles.
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Why tie up your valuable capital? Whether you need a
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car or van rental for two hours or two years,
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Europecar offers total flexibility for you to get the job done.
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Search Europecar Business to get moving.
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Europecar.
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Moving your business your way.
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How was school, Pat?
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We were learning all about France and Joan of Arc
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and the Eiffel Tower and how they speak.
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Bonjour, Mama!
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We all know how important school is for children's learning,
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friendships and overall development. But one in five children are
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missing a month or more of their school year. And
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when they miss school, they miss out. Every school day
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is a new day. Visit gov.ie forward slash school attendance.
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An initiative of the Government of Ireland.
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Hi, my name is David Oyelowo, and I feel... Conanified.
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Nice!
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About being Conan O'Brien's friend.
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That is a very expensive process to be Conanified. Very
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few people can imagine the most expensive spa weekend.
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Hey there, welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.
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My name, Conan O'Brien.
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Sonam Obsession's joining us too.
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Yes.
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And Matt Gourley is still out on paternity leave, but
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we are joined by David Hopping. Hello. The assistant who
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replaced Sona and made her but a dim memory. Oh, dim.
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Sona's just full celebrity now. Dim memory. Well, I don't
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even remember. We still work with each other. Who are you? Oh, man. Listen,
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when this episode drops, it's going to be tax time. Oh,
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my God. You're actually doing it. We're really talking about it?
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I've been told that this is a dreadful thing to
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talk about, which makes me want to talk about it. No.
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Yeah.
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So tax time. Sona, you got your papers in order?
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No, I just remembered when we were talking about this,
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I said, oh, no, I got to send my accountant
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all my stuff.
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Yeah, well, how hard is that? It's a lot. Do
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you have like a big shoebox that's filled with papers? No,
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that's the old. Why are you laughing? Because I do.
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All of the papers that are emailed are mailed to me.
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I just stick them in a thing, a folder. OK, so, yeah,
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it's like a shoebox, but I don't have like receipts.
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Okay.
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I don't want to write my receipts. Okay. I don't
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do any of that. All right. So you just have
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some papers. Yes. And you got to get them to
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the accountant. Yeah. Like you probably do. That's a fun story. Oh,
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I don't touch anything. I live in a bubble. I'm a,
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you know, I'm an LLC. I'm an offshore illegal company.
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Do you know what I mean? Papers get moved around.
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You know, things are purchased and sold without my knowledge.
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And I'm just sitting in a geodesic dome covered in
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yak butter going, what's happening? What's happening outside? What's happening? Um, David,
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I don't even want to know what your story is.
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You still need to do mine too. Okay. We're all behind. Okay.
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But what do you have? Do you have, uh, papers, receipts, papers?
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So you employ me. Yeah. And so then I have to,
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I get those papers. I don't even know that. Do
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you get paid for what you do? I get paid. You,
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you pay me. That's insane. I don't pay you a
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faceless corporation.
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Yes.
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Again, I don't know what's happening. Um, Eduardo, what's your story?
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How do you get your taxes done on time? But
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who does your taxes? Oh, what a dick. Who does
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your taxes? Do you want me to give like a plug? No.
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Do you have an account? Do you have a guy? Yeah,
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I have a guy. Because you know, my dad does
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his own. Your dad does his own? Yeah. Fraud! There's
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no way he's not breaking the law. How dare you?
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He came from another land.
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What do you mean?
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He doesn't know about our American ways. A lot of
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people do their own taxes. They just fill in things
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on the boxes. I know, but come on. Is he
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on the up and up your pops? Yeah, Gil is all,
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how dare you? What is your issue with my dad?
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You're just jealous he can grow a mustache. I love
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your dad. I love your dad. Gil is the man.
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But I'm just curious, you know, he came to this land, America,
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and I'm curious if he's familiar with all of our ways.
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And he's paying taxes. It's all going well. He's been
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here for almost 60 years. What? Takes a while to
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get used to stuff. You know, that's all. Oh, you're awful.
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You're awful. Look how you're smiling. You love it. You
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love this version of you. This is you. This is
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your real you. Halo. The real you. This is it. No, listen.
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What's this now? Blay, you've got something to say? I
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want to hear who does Blay's taxes.
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Not only do I have nothing to say, I'm trying
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to hide behind Sona's hair so you don't.
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Look at me. No, but who does your taxes, Blay? Okay.
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My mom does my taxes.
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Your mom does your taxes?
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My mom, Mary Blair, bless her heart, does my taxes.
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That's sweet. Um.
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So, I'm sorry.
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It's a very emotional thing between the two of us.
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She demands to do it. It's back and forth.
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She demands to do it. No, she does. I don't
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think she demands to do it.
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She absolutely demands to do it.
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So, she's on the phone with you saying, how come
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you spent this much on a Spider-Man flashlight? You know what?
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She actually is, but.
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Because you buy... Wait, wait, hold it. Wait a minute.
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You don't silence me on Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. Okay,
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all right, fine. You take the punishment. Oh my God.
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So you have to talk to your mom about all
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the shit you buy, the video games, the... figurines, right?
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The swords. The swords. Yes, yes. Does your mom, and
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your mom, then your mom goes over all the stuff
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that you got. Yes, she does.
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Oh my God.
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Yes, but here's the thing that you don't understand.
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She's into it. She's into it.
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I get to talk to her about it. She does
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not say, oh, you bought a Spider-Man costume. She's like,
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how many Spider-Man costumes can we write off?
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That's nice. She's fully into it. Wait, how can you
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write off? She asked me, she asked me. How can
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you write off a Spider-Man costume? Because I work for you.
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What are you talking about?
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Wait a minute.
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Because you work for me, you're allowed to have the
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government pay for part of your Spider-Man costume? No, no, no.
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The whole thing. No, audit him. Audit him. Audit him.
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You're blaming Gil.
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You're blaming Gil for fraud. Look at this. Yes, I'm sorry.
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I think you and Gil are guilty of fraud. It's
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all above board.
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This is how good my mom, this is how cool
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my mom is. She, I was going to go to
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the Renaissance Fair and she's like, maybe you should buy
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another sword.
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We could write that off. And I was like, okay.
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Wait a minute.
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Explain to me. How are we writing it off? Oh,
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wait a minute. I think we have a lawyer who's
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probably not in today, but he could join us.
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I want to know.
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We should call on the phone. But listen, listen, why, why,
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the fact that you work for Conan O'Brien doesn't mean that,
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that I just bought 900 pounds of silly string and
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I don't want to pay for it.
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If I can get you to talk about it on
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the podcast and I bring it, guess what?
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Get you to talk about it? Get you to talk
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about it? Who has... So you're the puppet master? I'm not.
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I'm just saying, I'm the worm tongue. I'm worm tongue.
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I whisper in your ear.
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You did talk about his sword. Wait a minute. This
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is clear to me. Who has talked about.
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Who has managed to bring in his sword two years
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in a row?
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And his new axe. So that means Aaron Blair. This
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wasn't an idea that you thought was good for the podcast.
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You thought, I've got to write this fucker off. And
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I came in and I jammed it into the conversation. Conan,
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be fucked whether it's good or not. And then you
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walk away and Uncle Sam takes it up the old
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star spangled yin yang. It can be both.
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I can write it off and it can be good content.
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I don't like this.
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So if we talk about something on the podcast, it's
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a write-off? That's one. It's part of my job.
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I need it for my job.
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I got to write it off. So how's that Hilary
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Duff ticket going? The Backstreet Boys tickets? Write-off? You should
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talk to my mom. She would say write-off. You can
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easily write it off. Is your mom a therapist? Is
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she even an accountant? No, she's a therapist.
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She uses TurboTax.
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Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Your
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mom isn't even a tax accountant? No. Your mom is
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not an accountant? No, not at all. And she's not
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a tax?
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No, and she's actually bad at it.
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So your mom is insisting on doing it and then
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she just hires TurboTax? She doesn't hire it. And says,
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my son just bought seven Xena Warrior Princess chest plates?
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That's right. And we want our cash back? That's correct. Yes,
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that's exactly right. This is a... I'm dying. I'm dying.
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This is.
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There's just, we are. We are just rotten with fraud.
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There's just fraud permeating this whole... And I'm exposing it
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right now. We're all going to get audited.
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But it's not fraud if it's good content.
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We're making a good... I haven't listened to this. I
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don't listen to this thing. I don't know if it's
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good content. Oh, my God. Okay, I want you investigated.
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I'm going to see to that. We're shutting this down.
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Adam's crying in the corner. Adam, Adam, Adam.
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I've never seen Adam laugh this way.
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Adam, I don't know what you're doing. You're supposed to
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be running this thing. You're the podcast whisperer. I feel really,
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I'm offended by Blake. I'm really offended. I really feel
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like we've all been taken advantage of. He comes in
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with this shit. I'm shocked. And he's like, I'm just
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trying to help the podcast. Oh, help the podcast. The
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podcast is a juggernaut. this thing's a you can't beat
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this thing with a stick and then you come in
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here with your princess galactica helmet and we're supposed to
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get you off the hook Unbelievable. It's such a scam. Unbelievable.
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There are inner city schools that don't have computers, but
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this guy has Xena warrior princess swords. Turbo tax plot
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twist is my favorite thing ever. Turbo tax. Keep bringing
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up Xena warrior princess.
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You've brought her up so many times.
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Lucy Lawless was brought to my house once at a
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party by someone on staff who brought Lucy Lawless. And
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I was like, what is Lucy Lawless doing here? I
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love her. She was great. Frank Smiley brought her to
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my apartment. Oh, that makes sense. And he was like, look,
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I brought Lucy Lawless. And I'm like, I don't know her. Well,
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you'd know her now. Anyway, that got you off the hook,
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my Lucy Lawless story. Okay. Good Lord. My guest today
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starred in such movies as Selma, Lincoln, and The Butler.
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Now you can see him in the new film, Newborn.
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This man is a delight. He's a massive talent and
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a real joy. And I'm so happy he's back on
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the podcast. David Oyelowo, welcome.
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Every time I think of you, it elicits good thoughts.
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Oh, that's so nice of you.
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It's true.
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I can return that favor because not long ago, our booker,
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Paula Davis, brought up your name and said that you
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might be coming back. And I immediately said, I love
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that guy. You are so funny. And we just had
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a joyous time.
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Yeah.
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In our last interview, so I was so happy you
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could come back.
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00:11:58.389 --> 00:11:58.669
Yes.
243
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Really thrilled to have you. Thank you.
244
00:12:00.429 --> 00:12:01.330
Thanks for having me again.
245
00:12:01.429 --> 00:12:03.899
And you're in a good mood. You came in.
246
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I am.
247
00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:07.919
I asked you about your family. You said everything's going well. Yes.
248
00:12:08.220 --> 00:12:11.820
I told you that my eldest son proposed to his
249
00:12:11.879 --> 00:12:13.200
girlfriend last night.
250
00:12:13.580 --> 00:12:14.379
Last night?
251
00:12:14.460 --> 00:12:15.559
Last night.
252
00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:17.870
And I just watched a video of it. Yeah. Which
253
00:12:17.879 --> 00:12:23.009
then I reposted. Oh, no. Yeah, I got excited.
254
00:12:23.029 --> 00:12:23.110
Yeah.
255
00:12:23.750 --> 00:12:26.710
Damn it. Yeah. And guess what? I put ads on it.
256
00:12:27.309 --> 00:12:31.480
You monetized it? I monetized it. And I'm making a
257
00:12:31.580 --> 00:12:33.039
lot of money right now. I'm just impressed you knew
258
00:12:33.059 --> 00:12:37.600
how to repost. No, it was a really beautiful moment.
259
00:12:37.899 --> 00:12:40.870
And you must be overjoyed.
260
00:12:41.179 --> 00:12:43.669
I can't even begin to tell you. It just brought
261
00:12:43.710 --> 00:12:47.450
back so many memories because I proposed to his mom.
262
00:12:47.970 --> 00:12:51.389
when she was 19 and I was 21. So we
263
00:12:51.429 --> 00:12:55.769
were babies. They're 23 and 24. My son's 24. And
264
00:12:55.809 --> 00:12:59.149
it just brought back all the memories of proposing to
265
00:12:59.230 --> 00:13:01.320
my wife and watching this video. I was on a
266
00:13:01.409 --> 00:13:05.340
plane from New York last night and my wife sent
267
00:13:05.379 --> 00:13:08.059
me a text which came through as an iMessage and
268
00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:10.659
then she sent the video and it wouldn't
download.
269
00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:11.769
Oh my God.
270
00:13:11.820 --> 00:13:14.659
And I couldn't get on the Wi-Fi and it was just,
271
00:13:14.779 --> 00:13:20.460
it was interminable. Just saying downloading, downloading, downloading, downloading, you know,
272
00:13:20.500 --> 00:13:22.340
just to not be able to. And then it finally
273
00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:25.340
came through. And I just said, and you know, there's
274
00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:28.419
something about the oxygen on planes that makes you more emotional.
275
00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:33.370
And so like watching, I just, the feels were just roiling.
276
00:13:34.049 --> 00:13:35.149
So I am over the moon.
277
00:13:35.320 --> 00:13:38.440
Well, congratulations to everybody. Thank you. I can't wait to
278
00:13:38.460 --> 00:13:44.139
go to the wedding. Awkward. So presumptuous. Presumptuous. He pushed
279
00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:48.740
the video, then invites himself to the wedding. Oh, my goodness. Well,
280
00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:50.679
I'm sorry. I'm just thrilled to be there and to
281
00:13:50.700 --> 00:13:55.879
get to sing a song. My dream. Now, you jest
282
00:13:56.019 --> 00:14:00.190
about this. Yes, I do. Yes, I do.
283
00:14:00.289 --> 00:14:04.190
Well, I only say that because my mom, God rest
284
00:14:04.210 --> 00:14:09.450
her soul, for all of my childhood, threatened to sing
285
00:14:09.509 --> 00:14:14.649
at my wedding. Now, the reason why you may sense
286
00:14:14.690 --> 00:14:17.549
a bit of trauma as I start telling this story
287
00:14:18.210 --> 00:14:21.330
is my mother was also tone deaf.
288
00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:22.509
Yeah.
289
00:14:22.909 --> 00:14:25.029
And she would insist... Also tone deaf.
290
00:14:25.639 --> 00:14:30.000
Oh. We didn't want to tell you, so we had
291
00:14:30.039 --> 00:14:32.639
him come to tell you. Who's the other person in
292
00:14:32.659 --> 00:14:33.799
this story who's tone deaf?
293
00:14:33.940 --> 00:14:34.019
We.
294
00:14:34.809 --> 00:14:37.990
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
295
00:14:38.529 --> 00:14:42.710
And she would take to singing when I was watching
296
00:14:42.789 --> 00:14:46.259
my cartoons, which is incredible. When I tell you, so
297
00:14:46.840 --> 00:14:47.139
she goes.
298
00:14:47.730 --> 00:14:57.570
That.
299
00:14:56.399 --> 00:14:58.659
Is the soundtrack of my childhood.
300
00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:00.879
And you're just trying to enjoy your cartoons. Literally.
301
00:15:00.899 --> 00:15:04.259
Like, mommy, I can't hear David Banner.
302
00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:05.820
I can't hear.
303
00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:08.360
The Incredible Hulk. And she was rebuking the name of Jesus.
304
00:15:08.679 --> 00:15:15.789
Are you telling me I cannot sing? So that's the
305
00:15:15.870 --> 00:15:18.230
backdrop to her saying, one day I'm going to sing
306
00:15:18.269 --> 00:15:25.909
at your wedding. And so we had managed, because she
307
00:15:25.970 --> 00:15:29.700
wanted to sing during the ceremony, the wedding ceremony, and
308
00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:32.059
we're like, absolutely no way. Do not let a mic
309
00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:32.919
anywhere near her.
310
00:15:32.940 --> 00:15:35.200
It got to the speeches.
311
00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:44.090
And just picture it. There's a high table. My dad
312
00:15:44.509 --> 00:15:49.179
finishes making his speech, is passing the mic to my
313
00:15:49.240 --> 00:15:50.539
best man, and all of a sudden.
314
00:15:50.779 --> 00:15:51.500
Oh, my God. Everybody!
315
00:15:58.679 --> 00:16:01.980
I'm going to sing a song because I like to sing.
316
00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:07.409
Not because it's my wedding. Not in like, just because I.
317
00:16:07.389 --> 00:16:11.629
Like to sing. Like to sing.
318
00:16:12.269 --> 00:16:24.799
Life's journey beginning when you are in love.
319
00:16:24.860 --> 00:16:27.080
At the end of every verse, everyone goes.
320
00:16:33.350 --> 00:16:38.330
That's just screaming. Five verses. Five.
321
00:16:39.629 --> 00:16:42.360
She gets a standing ovation.
322
00:16:42.460 --> 00:16:42.840
Yes.
323
00:16:42.860 --> 00:16:46.879
Of course. Because of the relief. Yes. That had stopped.
324
00:16:47.340 --> 00:16:50.259
But her interpretation, you see, if I made an album,
325
00:16:50.299 --> 00:16:54.350
it would sell like hot cake.
326
00:16:54.379 --> 00:16:55.629
Well, see, this is perfect.
327
00:16:56.490 --> 00:16:57.049
You need.
328
00:16:57.980 --> 00:16:59.940
You need to go full circle and you need to
329
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:03.720
have that moment for your son and his bride to be.
330
00:17:03.940 --> 00:17:05.279
And I can do that for you.
331
00:17:05.460 --> 00:17:05.579
Wow.
332
00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:07.680
I can do that for you. It's just, I'm going
333
00:17:07.700 --> 00:17:08.559
to put it out there.
334
00:17:08.819 --> 00:17:09.279
Thank you.
335
00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:11.559
And then you're going to let it drop. And yes,
336
00:17:11.779 --> 00:17:16.539
I never mentioned it again. You're going to start getting
337
00:17:16.579 --> 00:17:19.420
calls from your publicist. Conan keeps. What? Conan wants to
338
00:17:19.460 --> 00:17:24.390
know when. He wants to bring his tuba. He plays
339
00:17:24.430 --> 00:17:24.910
the tuba.
340
00:17:26.069 --> 00:17:29.089
Since he posted that video, he just will not stop calling.
341
00:17:31.480 --> 00:17:33.259
Well, that's really, you know, I don't know if you
342
00:17:33.299 --> 00:17:38.259
have this, but you went through this, you got married,
343
00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:41.400
you said when you were 21, 22, 22. And I
344
00:17:42.009 --> 00:17:44.529
always have this all the time where I think I'll
345
00:17:44.549 --> 00:17:46.509
have done something when I was 22. But now that
346
00:17:46.549 --> 00:17:50.269
I have children that age and approaching that age, I
347
00:17:50.309 --> 00:17:53.049
always think they're too young to be doing any of
348
00:17:53.150 --> 00:17:55.799
the things
that that I was doing at that age.
349
00:17:55.960 --> 00:17:59.950
Absolutely. They can't be walking down the street by themselves.
350
00:17:59.970 --> 00:18:04.549
They're too young. What do you mean you went to
351
00:18:04.630 --> 00:18:09.309
an ATM and got some money? That's something an adult does.
352
00:18:09.369 --> 00:18:12.609
And it's this strange. We all do it. You're going
353
00:18:12.630 --> 00:18:15.119
to do it with your kids where your kids are,
354
00:18:15.190 --> 00:18:16.890
you know, your kids are four now.
355
00:18:16.910 --> 00:18:17.569
They're four.
356
00:18:17.589 --> 00:18:20.230
But you're going to see that when they're 19, the
357
00:18:20.809 --> 00:18:23.269
idea of them doing anything that you did at 19
358
00:18:23.269 --> 00:18:26.809
is going to be just insane. horrifying well even.
359
00:18:26.690 --> 00:18:29.420
Now them having a complete thought and i'm blown away
360
00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:30.799
like just finishing.
361
00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:32.019
A whole sentence and i'm.
362
00:18:31.960 --> 00:18:34.119
Like when did this happen.
363
00:18:33.579 --> 00:18:36.440
Yeah yeah yeah yeah no it it is the joy
364
00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:38.819
about being a parent but it is also terrifying i
365
00:18:38.859 --> 00:18:42.509
mean like jess was literally 19 when we got engaged
366
00:18:42.549 --> 00:18:46.829
my daughter my youngest is 14 the idea that in
367
00:18:46.910 --> 00:18:50.589
five years right i mean it's it's a ridiculous thought
368
00:18:50.630 --> 00:18:52.589
but my dad my dad didn't get married till he
369
00:18:52.630 --> 00:18:54.539
was 40 didn't have me till he was 42 so
370
00:18:55.549 --> 00:18:57.349
And he was my hero. So I just thought that's
371
00:18:57.410 --> 00:19:01.190
what I will do. And then I met this woman
372
00:19:01.250 --> 00:19:05.890
who I just couldn't picture any future days without her
373
00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:09.119
in it. And it just happened early. And I remember
374
00:19:09.170 --> 00:19:13.619
going to my dad and saying, this is the woman
375
00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:19.000
I want to marry. And he was just like, absolutely not.
376
00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:23.920
It is way too early. It is irrational. And I
377
00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:26.720
remember saying to him, well, You're invited to the wedding
378
00:19:26.740 --> 00:19:29.079
if you want to come. If not, I'm doing this.
379
00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:33.809
And that was my position on it. And he had
380
00:19:33.849 --> 00:19:37.630
to kind of find his way to the reality of that.
381
00:19:37.809 --> 00:19:42.289
And two biggest decisions of my life were in defiance
382
00:19:42.329 --> 00:19:44.750
of my dad, who I married and the profession I
383
00:19:44.789 --> 00:19:46.710
went into. Oh, he was not a fan of you
384
00:19:46.730 --> 00:19:49.789
becoming an actor? No, no. He said, why do you
385
00:19:49.829 --> 00:19:51.140
want to go and be a jester?
386
00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:52.220
Yeah,
that's right.
387
00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:54.890
Yeah. Which is what you do for a living.
388
00:19:55.609 --> 00:19:59.509
Oh, Fern! No, I... And accurate.
389
00:19:59.569 --> 00:20:00.289
No, I.
390
00:20:00.430 --> 00:20:04.269
I gave myself a layup. That was terrible. Why did
391
00:20:04.309 --> 00:20:07.309
I do that? You're so nice. I started this by
392
00:20:07.390 --> 00:20:11.500
saying I feel conanified. David, I see myself.
393
00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:12.359
As.
394
00:20:12.299 --> 00:20:17.000
A visionary, and I see myself as a healer. I speak,
395
00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:21.279
it looks like I'm a jester or that I'm clowning about,
396
00:20:21.319 --> 00:20:23.869
but really I'm holding a mirror up to society and
397
00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:32.349
healing it through my craft. Craft? I tried it.
398
00:20:44.569 --> 00:20:46.150
Good nights are about the people.
399
00:20:46.970 --> 00:20:47.450
The laughs.
400
00:20:47.970 --> 00:20:50.730
The real moments you don't want to miss. So why
401
00:20:50.789 --> 00:20:51.569
step outside?
402
00:20:52.470 --> 00:20:55.769
Velo tobacco-free nicotine pouches fit seamlessly into your night.
403
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404
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406
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407
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start with Mellow. You should not use this product if
408
00:21:08.380 --> 00:21:09.660
you do not already use nicotine.
409
00:21:11.400 --> 00:21:15.539
Reckon we'll need a fleet of about 50 vehicles next quarter. Oh,
410
00:21:15.940 --> 00:21:17.880
one of our suppliers just pulled out of the market.
411
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:22.500
Ten should do the job. Nice, just won a new contract.
412
00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:24.480
Make that 100 vehicles.
413
00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:28.009
Why tie up your valuable capital? Whether you need a
414
00:21:28.049 --> 00:21:30.609
car or van rental for two hours or two years,
415
00:21:30.890 --> 00:21:34.029
Europecar offers total flexibility for you to get the job done.
416
00:21:34.269 --> 00:21:36.549
No matter what the job is, simply pay as you go.
417
00:21:36.789 --> 00:21:38.730
Search Europecar Business to get moving.
418
00:21:39.049 --> 00:21:39.509
Europecar.
419
00:21:39.750 --> 00:21:41.170
Moving your business your way.
420
00:21:42.430 --> 00:21:43.250
How was school, Pat?
421
00:21:43.750 --> 00:21:46.609
We were learning all about France and Joan of Arc
422
00:21:46.910 --> 00:21:48.859
and the Eiffel Tower and how they speak.
423
00:21:49.140 --> 00:21:50.119
Bonjour, Mama!
424
00:21:50.920 --> 00:21:54.160
We all know how important school is for children's learning,
425
00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:58.420
friendships and overall development. But one in five children are
426
00:21:58.460 --> 00:22:00.839
missing a month or more of their school year. And
427
00:22:00.900 --> 00:22:04.049
when they miss school, they miss out. Every school day
428
00:22:04.220 --> 00:22:07.890
is a new day. Visit gov.ie forward slash school attendance.
429
00:22:08.369 --> 00:22:09.890
An initiative of the Government of Ireland.
430
00:22:17.269 --> 00:22:20.789
Your last name is so spectacular. What does it mean?
431
00:22:20.829 --> 00:22:24.809
Is there a translation? Does it have a meaning? Yes. Oyelowo. Oyelowo.
432
00:22:25.289 --> 00:22:29.440
So Oyelowo is the Anglicized way of saying it. In Yoruba,
433
00:22:29.500 --> 00:22:32.400
it's Oyelowo. And don't try it.
434
00:22:33.730 --> 00:22:37.710
I don't want you to hurt yourself. Don't hurt yourself.
435
00:22:39.470 --> 00:22:41.349
But it means a king deserves respect.
436
00:22:41.529 --> 00:22:41.730
Wow.
437
00:22:41.769 --> 00:22:43.650
Is what it means. Yeah.
438
00:22:43.789 --> 00:22:47.490
So to have a last name that really means something. Great.
439
00:22:47.609 --> 00:22:49.109
Does your name mean anything?
440
00:22:49.130 --> 00:22:53.240
IAN at the end of Armenian names means son of.
441
00:22:53.299 --> 00:22:55.240
So it's just son of Moses.
442
00:22:55.619 --> 00:22:55.859
Yeah.
443
00:22:56.779 --> 00:22:57.599
Mine's just a verb.
444
00:22:57.619 --> 00:23:05.089
Hopping. Hopping. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I almost hired Jack Skipping,
445
00:23:05.230 --> 00:23:09.130
but I went with David Hopping. I think Conan is
446
00:23:09.319 --> 00:23:15.000
wide face. I looked it up once and I wasn't happy.
447
00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:20.769
Broad of forehead. What is the O? The O, Brian?
448
00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:23.509
I've heard people claim that it means you're related to kings,
449
00:23:23.529 --> 00:23:25.509
but then you walk around Ireland and you go, no.
450
00:23:27.910 --> 00:23:29.670
The internet says little wolf.
451
00:23:30.180 --> 00:23:31.849
Or little hound is what Conan means.
452
00:23:32.029 --> 00:23:32.230
Right.
453
00:23:33.250 --> 00:23:36.430
Oh, okay. That's cute. I've never heard that before, so
454
00:23:36.450 --> 00:23:39.789
I think someone just put that in. It's also, it's
455
00:23:39.869 --> 00:23:46.819
little wolf and little hound. So your father, is this correct?
456
00:23:46.859 --> 00:23:48.640
Your father had tribal markings?
457
00:23:49.019 --> 00:23:49.319
Yes.
458
00:23:50.059 --> 00:23:52.160
And was it Yoruba is the tribe?
459
00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:57.420
Yes, the Yoruba tribe. So yeah, he had four tribal
460
00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:00.720
marks on both cheeks and he had the word ballet
461
00:24:00.920 --> 00:24:05.049
written on his stomach. And this was done with blades
462
00:24:05.069 --> 00:24:08.970
when you were a kid. I know, really intense. But
463
00:24:09.650 --> 00:24:13.369
I grew up with my dad telling me that the
464
00:24:13.410 --> 00:24:16.380
reason he had these four slashes on his cheeks was
465
00:24:16.440 -->
00:24:21.549
because he had fought a tiger. And I completely bought it.
466
00:24:21.779 --> 00:24:24.940
And it was incredibly useful at school every time my
467
00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:27.789
dad came to pick me up because anyone who was
468
00:24:27.829 --> 00:24:29.910
messing with me, I was like, you see that on
469
00:24:29.930 --> 00:24:34.109
my dad's face? Tiger. That was Tiger.
470
00:24:34.130 --> 00:24:35.410
Do you want that man mad at you?
471
00:24:35.470 --> 00:24:35.890
Exactly.
472
00:24:36.150 --> 00:24:38.390
That's incredible. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
473
00:24:38.529 --> 00:24:42.509
But we then moved to Nigeria and I got picked
474
00:24:42.609 --> 00:24:44.789
up at the airport by all of my uncles. And
475
00:24:44.869 --> 00:24:47.720
literally I was like, Did everyone fight tigers?
476
00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:53.700
What is going on? That tiger got around.
477
00:24:53.829 --> 00:24:58.670
It just went rampant on my family, this tiger.
478
00:24:59.690 --> 00:25:02.849
I jumped in to save your dad, and I jumped
479
00:25:02.910 --> 00:25:05.440
in to save him, and I jumped in to save him.
480
00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.779
So you were... Where were you born? You were born in.
481
00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:15.019
I was born in Oxford, England. And I was there
482
00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:17.190
till the age of two, so I don't really remember it.
483
00:25:17.220 --> 00:25:20.089
Then we moved to London and I was there till
484
00:25:20.109 --> 00:25:23.150
the age of six. And then we moved to Lagos, Nigeria,
485
00:25:23.170 --> 00:25:25.349
and I was there till 13 before we moved back
486
00:25:25.529 --> 00:25:26.869
to London.
487
00:25:26.910 --> 00:25:28.890
I've been to Oxford twice and I just went for
488
00:25:28.910 --> 00:25:32.619
the second time, I want to say about five, six
489
00:25:32.650 --> 00:25:37.910
months ago. And it is... it is hard not to
490
00:25:37.970 --> 00:25:41.759
feel erudite when you're walking around in that environment. And
491
00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:43.220
people have asked me what it's like. And I say,
492
00:25:43.299 --> 00:25:45.880
it is the closest thing to Hogwarts on earth that
493
00:25:45.940 --> 00:25:50.079
I have encountered. I've never seen anything like that. And
494
00:25:50.099 --> 00:25:52.299
it's just got so much history. I know Cambridge is
495
00:25:52.339 --> 00:25:55.180
the same thing. You walk around these places that have
496
00:25:55.220 --> 00:25:57.920
been around for 800 years. I don't know how many,
497
00:25:58.259 --> 00:26:02.960
you know, and you think about all the insane talent
498
00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:04.160
that walked those streets.
499
00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:04.579
I know.
500
00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:08.019
I think that's why my dad, really wanted to be there,
501
00:26:08.039 --> 00:26:10.759
just to be around it, which is why I ended
502
00:26:10.839 --> 00:26:14.059
up being born there. And he decided he was going
503
00:26:14.119 --> 00:26:17.740
to go into the medical profession until, as he tells it,
504
00:26:17.940 --> 00:26:23.190
he realized he had an apoplectic fear of blood. And so,
505
00:26:24.109 --> 00:26:25.930
you know, I can't remember if it was a day
506
00:26:25.970 --> 00:26:28.660
that they were supposed to be dissecting a cadaver or
507
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:32.049
something like that. And yeah, he was out cold that's.
508
00:26:31.950 --> 00:26:35.210
Not unlike my dad who went to medical school and
509
00:26:35.250 --> 00:26:39.900
then I think late in medical school was around you
510
00:26:39.940 --> 00:26:43.730
know patients and blood and said, I want to be
511
00:26:43.769 --> 00:26:49.390
in a laboratory. And he did great work there, but
512
00:26:49.470 --> 00:26:51.670
I think he wasn't up for that part.
513
00:26:51.910 --> 00:26:54.329
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, to find
514
00:26:54.369 --> 00:26:57.670
the thing it is that you truly love and that
515
00:26:57.710 --> 00:27:00.490
it loves you back is, I think, Elysium. My dad
516
00:27:00.519 --> 00:27:02.339
took a while to sort of, I don't know that
517
00:27:02.359 --> 00:27:05.759
he ever actually found The thing that he read, because he.
518
00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:07.299
He would try a lot of different things?
519
00:27:07.339 --> 00:27:10.799
Well, he tried the medical profession, decided he didn't like blood,
520
00:27:11.259 --> 00:27:13.619
so he wanted to be an architect, couldn't really draw.
521
00:27:13.640 --> 00:27:19.640
I was going to say, but he hated houses. Fear
522
00:27:19.720 --> 00:27:22.829
of houses.
523
00:27:22.950 --> 00:27:26.970
So, yeah, I mean, you know, the happiest he became
524
00:27:27.170 --> 00:27:30.529
ultimately was he and my mom ran a sort of
525
00:27:30.589 --> 00:27:34.099
minicab firm in in london so that yeah just driving
526
00:27:34.140 --> 00:27:37.069
people around was the thing he sort of became happy with.
527
00:27:37.549 --> 00:27:39.789
Also i've always thought if i needed to pick up
528
00:27:39.970 --> 00:27:43.730
a second job i wouldn't mind being an uber driver
529
00:27:44.069 --> 00:27:46.819
because i love talking to people so much and i
530
00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:49.200
love trying to find out what's going on in their
531
00:27:49.240 --> 00:27:52.000
lives yes and filming them when they don't know i'm
532
00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:59.910
filming what We'll get into that part later. That took
533
00:27:59.970 --> 00:28:03.150
a turn. But you know what's funny is your career,
534
00:28:03.170 --> 00:28:07.569
your start as an actor was, as all the best
535
00:28:07.609 --> 00:28:11.000
things are, a little bit accidental because you said there
536
00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:13.630
was a I've heard that there was a or read
537
00:28:13.650 --> 00:28:16.750
that there was a subway strike happening. And you think
538
00:28:16.829 --> 00:28:19.930
that this contributed to you becoming an actor. And I'm curious,
539
00:28:19.990 --> 00:28:20.809
how does that happen?
540
00:28:21.109 --> 00:28:24.829
Well, because I was at this youth theater group that
541
00:28:24.890 --> 00:28:29.970
I'd only attended because I fancy this girl who, you know,
542
00:28:30.190 --> 00:28:33.490
I don't know that she knew it. And I just
543
00:28:33.549 --> 00:28:37.730
kept on going for her. But I was very shy.
544
00:28:37.750 --> 00:28:41.309
And I we were rehearsing a play. And I would
545
00:28:41.329 --> 00:28:44.950
always just sit, you know, hoping I would maybe be
546
00:28:44.970 --> 00:28:46.880
in the chorus or something so that I could keep
547
00:28:46.950 --> 00:28:49.859
seeing this girl. And then one day there was a
548
00:28:50.039 --> 00:28:53.940
tube strike, like a subway strike. And the three guys
549
00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:56.480
who were being touted to play the lead were all
550
00:28:56.539 --> 00:29:00.299
stuck on trains. And so the director said to me, David,
551
00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:04.119
just read in while we wait for the guys to arrive.
552
00:29:04.140 --> 00:29:06.359
For the real actors to come. Literally.
553
00:29:06.900 --> 00:29:09.880
And I very much thought of them as that. And
554
00:29:10.339 --> 00:29:13.019
I had the page and I guess I just did
555
00:29:13.059 --> 00:29:16.910
it the way I thought it should be done. And
556
00:29:17.970 --> 00:29:22.130
I finished this speech and the room just went completely silent.
557
00:29:22.170 --> 00:29:25.869
And I thought, oh, it was that bad. It was
558
00:29:25.950 --> 00:29:29.740
that bad that these people are speechless with how bad
559
00:29:29.779 --> 00:29:33.119
it was. And then three days later, I was cast
560
00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:36.799
in the lead of this play. And although I didn't
561
00:29:36.859 --> 00:29:39.849
understand the significance of it at the time, this youth
562
00:29:39.869 --> 00:29:43.130
fair was at the National Theater, like the Royal National
563
00:29:43.190 --> 00:29:46.089
Theater of Great Britain on the South Bank in London.
564
00:29:46.789 --> 00:29:49.279
And so the very first thing I did was playing
565
00:29:49.319 --> 00:29:52.180
the lead on what was then the Cottesloe stage, it's
566
00:29:52.220 --> 00:29:57.519
called the Dorfman Theater now, at the National Theater. And yeah,
567
00:29:57.619 --> 00:30:01.279
it literally happened because that That day, those guys didn't
568
00:30:01.299 --> 00:30:02.660
turn up. Wow.
569
00:30:02.700 --> 00:30:05.339
If I had been one of those guys, I would
570
00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:08.200
have suspected that you messed with the tube. I did.
571
00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:10.849
I did mess with the tube. I absolutely did. That's
572
00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:14.609
how my mind works. You know, you're down there. You're
573
00:30:14.650 --> 00:30:15.910
like switching the tracks.
574
00:30:15.930 --> 00:30:18.150
Yeah, that was me. That was me.
575
00:30:18.210 --> 00:30:26.599
I knew a guy. You know, I've always noticed that
576
00:30:27.019 --> 00:30:30.839
it's not a rule to, but it happens about 95%
577
00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:34.869
of the time that people from the United Kingdom actors
578
00:30:35.390 --> 00:30:38.849
are also sort of charming storytellers. And I have not
579
00:30:38.950 --> 00:30:42.309
found that to be true in other places where someone
580
00:30:42.329 --> 00:30:45.779
can be a terrific actor, but it's almost like it's
581
00:30:45.859 --> 00:30:48.420
something in the water or it's something that's prized and
582
00:30:48.460 --> 00:30:55.559
respected that in Britain, Scotland, Wales, whatever, you have to be,
583
00:30:55.579 --> 00:30:58.579
or Ireland as well, You must be a good actor,
584
00:30:58.599 --> 00:31:01.640
but you must also be a raconteur. And it's almost
585
00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:04.359
like that is taught when I know it's not. But
586
00:31:04.400 --> 00:31:06.619
I think it's very much the rule.
587
00:31:06.980 --> 00:31:12.069
It actually is taught because you're around these actors who
588
00:31:12.380 --> 00:31:15.069
there is a tradition of it, actually. And as a
589
00:31:15.109 --> 00:31:19.529
young actor, what you're looking for is to sit at
590
00:31:19.609 --> 00:31:22.490
the feet of a Judi Dench or as I did
591
00:31:23.410 --> 00:31:25.970
with Judi Dench or Alan Bates or Ralph Fiennes or
592
00:31:26.009 --> 00:31:29.420
Kenneth Branagh. You know, these are people I literally had
593
00:31:29.460 --> 00:31:31.950
the opportunity to work with. Like, I did a film
594
00:31:32.009 --> 00:31:33.690
called As You Like It with Kenneth Branagh. I did
595
00:31:33.750 --> 00:31:36.670
a show with Judi Dench. I did a show with
596
00:31:36.789 --> 00:31:42.700
Alan Bates. I worked with actors who were awe-inspiring when
597
00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:46.240
you were on stage with them. They had mastered the craft.
598
00:31:46.400 --> 00:31:49.960
And what I mean by that is... When you get
599
00:31:50.119 --> 00:31:53.730
on the Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage in front of, I
600
00:31:53.750 --> 00:31:57.970
think that stage is about 100, well, 1,500 people or
601
00:31:58.690 --> 00:32:02.109
on the Olivier, which I think is maybe 1,200 people.
602
00:32:02.910 --> 00:32:07.200
When you see someone be nervous in the wings, someone
603
00:32:07.220 --> 00:32:11.750
who you watched in the rehearsal room Playing with language
604
00:32:12.049 --> 00:32:15.539
like Shakespeare that is four to five times our vocabulary
605
00:32:15.779 --> 00:32:18.119
and finding their way to the truth of it, finding
606
00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:21.759
their way to the meaning of it, and finding different
607
00:32:21.859 --> 00:32:25.920
interpretation time and time again, and then watching them nervous
608
00:32:26.380 --> 00:32:29.950
in the wings before they go on and become supernatural
609
00:32:30.289 --> 00:32:35.369
on that stage. When you're around that enough, it gets...
610
00:32:36.339 --> 00:32:38.579
And then when you're with them after the fact, and
611
00:32:38.599 --> 00:32:42.299
they're talking about when they were on stage with Gielgud
612
00:32:42.460 --> 00:32:46.359
or Olivier, because there is something, and this is more
613
00:32:46.380 --> 00:32:51.269
in the British tradition, it is lauded, it is something
614
00:32:51.329 --> 00:32:56.170
that is celebrated, and it is a tradition that is
615
00:32:56.250 --> 00:33:01.950
very much outside of financial remuneration. The gift is the
616
00:33:01.990 --> 00:33:05.230
doing of it. And I think that in and of itself,
617
00:33:06.200 --> 00:33:10.809
creates this aura of camaraderie and being part of a
618
00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:14.950
tradition that has been ongoing. And so there is something,
619
00:33:14.990 --> 00:33:17.390
and I sound so pretentious saying this, but there is
620
00:33:17.430 --> 00:33:25.049
something celestial about, I remember being 21, 22, being in
621
00:33:25.089 --> 00:33:27.609
a rehearsal room with a guy who had been on
622
00:33:27.630 --> 00:33:33.150
stage with Olivier and just going, okay, just soak it
623
00:33:33.559 --> 00:33:37.579
all in. And what I mean is it gets on you.
624
00:33:37.640 --> 00:33:41.599
And what then happens is as you climb the ranks
625
00:33:41.680 --> 00:33:44.660
of being a spare carrier, playing decretas like I did
626
00:33:44.700 --> 00:33:48.109
in Anthony and Cleopatra with my seven lines. And then
627
00:33:48.140 --> 00:33:51.509
within about three years, I was playing Henry VI in
628
00:33:51.569 --> 00:33:52.430
that same theater.
629
00:33:52.450 --> 00:33:56.650
So you go from Holt who goes there to giving
630
00:33:56.710 --> 00:33:58.670
these incredible soliloquies.
631
00:33:59.450 --> 00:34:02.009
Speeches that you will never conquer.
632
00:34:02.269 --> 00:34:02.430
Yeah.
633
00:34:02.990 --> 00:34:11.269
Every night is basically an exercise in humility because it
634
00:34:11.349 --> 00:34:14.170
will kick your butt every night. It's why that playwright,
635
00:34:14.190 --> 00:34:18.550
especially Shakespeare, has lasted over 400 years. He tapped into
636
00:34:18.610 --> 00:34:20.989
humanity in a way that I don't think any writer
637
00:34:21.030 --> 00:34:23.690
has done before and ever will. And so it's the
638
00:34:23.809 --> 00:34:27.030
Everest for actors. And so when you have that and
639
00:34:27.070 --> 00:34:29.429
then you combine it with an audience, and what I
640
00:34:29.489 --> 00:34:33.369
mean by celestial is that there is this vibration where
641
00:34:33.469 --> 00:34:36.210
they start telling you if, and you must have this
642
00:34:36.269 --> 00:34:38.730
as a comedian, they start telling you if you're telling
643
00:34:38.769 --> 00:34:42.349
the truth. And the moment there is fracture in that,
644
00:34:42.409 --> 00:34:45.750
you feel it instantaneously. And if you do that night
645
00:34:45.869 --> 00:34:49.570
after night after night after night, it becomes muscle memory.
646
00:34:49.670 -->
00:34:52.010
We've all been around each other since we crawled out
647
00:34:52.030 --> 00:34:57.400
of the sea. And we pick up on this you
648
00:34:57.420 --> 00:34:59.619
could call it electrical you could say there's a biochemical
649
00:34:59.659 --> 00:35:01.559
reason for it or it's just mystical and you don't
650
00:35:01.579 --> 00:35:03.760
want to think about it too much but we know
651
00:35:03.780 --> 00:35:06.760
when someone's tapped into the truth yes it's why i
652
00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:10.050
think juries you know they can make mistakes but overall
653
00:35:10.119 --> 00:35:12.070
they say let's get a bunch of let's get a
654
00:35:12.090 --> 00:35:14.829
bunch of your peers and have them listen and together
655
00:35:14.869 --> 00:35:17.489
they'll have an intellect a common intelligence.
656
00:35:17.550 --> 00:35:20.150
You've said it's truth yeah i think is the thing
657
00:35:20.170 --> 00:35:24.429
yeah and and it's why Anyone's favorite actors have probably
658
00:35:24.510 --> 00:35:27.989
at some point been on the stage. I truly believe
659
00:35:28.010 --> 00:35:32.449
that because you, you have had the opportunity to be
660
00:35:33.010 --> 00:35:36.079
around the truth enough that that is now, as I say,
661
00:35:36.199 --> 00:35:40.500
muscle memory that becomes applicable to film work where everything
662
00:35:40.619 --> 00:35:43.300
is artifice. You know, it's a room like this with
663
00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:47.280
contraptions like this, and it's, and you're supposed to be
664
00:35:47.300 --> 00:35:50.070
in love with someone you met that morning and And
665
00:35:50.210 --> 00:35:52.710
it is, it is an exercise in artifice, but if
666
00:35:52.750 --> 00:35:55.429
you know what it feels like to tell the truth
667
00:35:55.510 --> 00:35:59.400
under those circumstances you're describing, you sort of have more
668
00:35:59.500 --> 00:36:00.170
access to it.
669
00:36:00.539 --> 00:36:04.179
I just think, I mean, I'm thinking about, um, the
670
00:36:04.239 --> 00:36:09.119
people that you've worked with, not just on the stage, uh, in,
671
00:36:09.400 --> 00:36:13.289
in London, but in your film work, you've worked with
672
00:36:13.869 --> 00:36:19.050
giants in the industry and, um, You know, you said
673
00:36:19.070 --> 00:36:21.570
that you worked with Dame Judi Dench. I don't believe
674
00:36:21.639 --> 00:36:23.119
I've met her. Someone now will come up with a
675
00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:27.019
video of me interviewing her. I'm serious. This happens to
676
00:36:27.059 --> 00:36:29.639
me all the time where someone will pass and I'll say,
677
00:36:29.699 --> 00:36:31.400
a shame I never met them. And someone will show
678
00:36:31.440 --> 00:36:34.760
me seven videos of me talking to them over a
679
00:36:34.760 --> 00:36:35.800
15 year period.
680
00:36:35.900 --> 00:36:38.960
Wow, is this what I have to look forward to?
681
00:36:39.039 --> 00:36:41.079
Oh, I see. Oh, the minute you go, I'll be like,
682
00:36:41.159 --> 00:36:47.869
I would love to meet you. 1998. Damn it! All right. Well,
683
00:36:48.010 --> 00:36:51.789
she made no impression. I've always heard, I mean, she's spectacular,
684
00:36:51.809 --> 00:36:54.130
but I've also heard that she's just lovely. That she's
685
00:36:54.150 --> 00:36:57.730
just a lovely person. So lovely. And funny. Very, very funny.
686
00:36:57.969 --> 00:37:01.989
But what was so surprising about her is she said,
687
00:37:02.010 --> 00:37:05.449
I can't bear to watch myself. Yeah, she's one of
688
00:37:05.489 --> 00:37:08.239
those actors. You couldn't bear to watch her. But the
689
00:37:08.280 --> 00:37:11.639
thing that was really surprising is she said, I learn
690
00:37:11.679 --> 00:37:14.909
my lines and I try to forget them. so that
691
00:37:15.030 --> 00:37:19.650
I am completely fresh and present in the scene. And
692
00:37:19.690 --> 00:37:24.920
I thought, how do you trick yourself into... And I
693
00:37:25.480 --> 00:37:29.090
was in a scene with her, and I saw this thing...
694
00:37:30.070 --> 00:37:33.590
that is happening between you and I right now, whereby
695
00:37:33.690 --> 00:37:35.860
you don't know what I'm going to say next. And
696
00:37:35.889 --> 00:37:39.260
it is affecting your brain chemistry in a way whereby
697
00:37:39.739 --> 00:37:41.099
it's precipitating.
698
00:37:41.119 --> 00:37:45.239
It's a real hitting the ball back and forth. Correct. Correct.
699
00:37:45.340 --> 00:37:48.989
And she has maintained the discipline of being able to
700
00:37:49.110 --> 00:37:51.550
hold it close enough, but hold it lightly enough that
701
00:37:51.590 --> 00:37:54.670
she's constantly alive. And I just thought, whoa, that is
702
00:37:54.909 --> 00:37:57.949
so brave and why she's so brilliant.
703
00:37:58.590 --> 00:38:04.849
Now, you do hold a distinction of being slapped by Oprah. Yes.
704
00:38:04.909 --> 00:38:06.610
I think we should talk about that.
705
00:38:07.289 --> 00:38:09.309
My claim to fame, guys.
706
00:38:10.309 --> 00:38:12.230
I mean, as part of a scene, I've been slapped
707
00:38:12.250 --> 00:38:16.269
by Oprah just in life. Just for existing. No, I
708
00:38:16.690 --> 00:38:18.760
tried to cut. It was an eight items or less line.
709
00:38:19.929 --> 00:38:22.440
And I tried to cut in front of her. That'll
710
00:38:22.460 --> 00:38:25.010
do it. And this was up near Santa Barbara, and man,
711
00:38:25.360 --> 00:38:28.230
she packs a wallop. But I had it coming, and
712
00:38:28.269 --> 00:38:32.150
mad respect. But what was that like? Well, you know what?
713
00:38:32.389 --> 00:38:34.670
This was during a film called The Butler. Yeah, yeah.
714
00:38:34.909 --> 00:38:37.909
And we were doing this scene, and it was a scene,
715
00:38:38.030 --> 00:38:40.219
and it was a tough scene, because Sidney Poitier is
716
00:38:40.260 --> 00:38:45.320
literally my hero. And it was a scene where my
717
00:38:45.460 --> 00:38:47.260
character was being very.
718
00:38:48.860 --> 00:38:53.849
Shall we say, uncouth about Sidney Poitier. And as a result,
719
00:38:54.030 --> 00:38:58.150
she quite rightly decides to give me what for. Now,
720
00:38:58.210 --> 00:39:01.869
of course, in the film, she's supposed to slap her son.
721
00:39:02.630 --> 00:39:06.460
In the world of cameras, action, all of that, don't
722
00:39:06.719 --> 00:39:12.179
actually slap me. Now, with each take, she got more
723
00:39:12.320 --> 00:39:13.219
and more into it.
724
00:39:15.699 --> 00:39:18.880
And she has probably reserves of anger about things in
725
00:39:18.920 --> 00:39:20.309
her life that she wants to get out.
726
00:39:20.360 --> 00:39:24.010
I could feel her dragging up things that were helping
727
00:39:24.050 --> 00:39:27.530
her tell the truth. And what what was happening is,
728
00:39:27.590 --> 00:39:29.860
you know, so initially, you know, I couldn't feel any
729
00:39:29.920 --> 00:39:32.380
wind as she, as she, as she went. And, and
730
00:39:32.719 --> 00:39:37.360
it started like, I was like, each time she does this.
731
00:39:38.019 --> 00:39:40.099
So I, I could feel, I could feel she was
732
00:39:40.119 --> 00:39:44.550
getting ever closer each and every time. And the very
733
00:39:44.639 --> 00:39:49.429
last time she, she, she, got the end of my nose.
734
00:39:49.650 --> 00:39:50.170
Oh, okay.
735
00:39:50.230 --> 00:39:53.090
It wasn't a full slap, but it was the moment
736
00:39:53.110 --> 00:39:54.130
where I went, I think we got it.
737
00:39:54.230 --> 00:39:58.110
I think we got it, guys. I'm just going to mention,
738
00:39:58.150 --> 00:39:59.639
I don't know if this occurred to you, she has
739
00:39:59.739 --> 00:40:04.239
deep pockets. There's a lot of money there. So I've heard. Yeah,
740
00:40:04.380 --> 00:40:06.619
and you could say my nose, I've never, I don't
741
00:40:06.639 --> 00:40:09.400
think I can act again. I use the tip of
742
00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:13.320
my nose a lot. You know, and then she's living
743
00:40:13.360 --> 00:40:15.730
at the Motel 6 and you're living in her house.
744
00:40:15.789 --> 00:40:18.550
This is where you go. You go straight for the losses.
745
00:40:18.570 --> 00:40:21.610
This is America. This is America and that's all we
746
00:40:21.650 --> 00:40:24.050
do is sue the shit out of each other. If
747
00:40:24.110 --> 00:40:27.780
only I'd met you sooner, damn it. All the billboards.
748
00:40:27.800 --> 00:40:29.260
You could call Sweet James.
749
00:40:30.760 --> 00:40:34.179
Sweet James. Yeah, that's the guy. That is. Oh, his
750
00:40:34.239 --> 00:40:35.880
billboards are everywhere. Sweet James.
751
00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:36.119
Yeah.
752
00:40:36.909 --> 00:40:41.000
Um, it was funny you mentioned that because we did something,
753
00:40:41.119 --> 00:40:44.480
the lovely Sophie Turner was going to be on our
754
00:40:44.500 --> 00:40:47.519
show and I've always had a good time talking with
755
00:40:47.579 -->
00:40:50.780
her and she was coming on and I read the
756
00:40:50.840 --> 00:40:52.780
notes and they said she might want to try something
757
00:40:52.860 --> 00:40:57.210
where she, it involves her lightly slapping you. And I
758
00:40:57.329 --> 00:41:01.469
told her just before the show, so this is really
759
00:41:01.550 --> 00:41:03.909
on me. I said, if those things are going to work,
760
00:41:03.949 --> 00:41:05.769
you really have to go for it. So I told her,
761
00:41:06.630 --> 00:41:08.409
you should, if it's gonna work, you have to really
762
00:41:08.449 --> 00:41:11.329
go for it. You can't kind of half do it. Right. So,
763
00:41:12.210 --> 00:41:15.289
and I'm not thinking. So we get to that part
764
00:41:15.309 --> 00:41:17.369
of the show and it's on tape, but I'm standing
765
00:41:17.510 --> 00:41:21.190
up and Sophie just lets me have it. She's a
766
00:41:21.309 --> 00:41:24.409
very strong woman. Yes. You took a shot of tequila first.
767
00:41:24.429 --> 00:41:26.469
I took a shot of tequila first and then she
768
00:41:26.710 --> 00:41:30.269
hit me and you can see I'm just, I went
769
00:41:30.329 --> 00:41:31.869
to a different place for a while.
770
00:41:31.949 --> 00:41:32.170
Yeah.
771
00:41:32.210 --> 00:41:34.719
For a while. I've traveled through time. I met many
772
00:41:34.800 --> 00:41:39.900
famous people. And then I came back all in an instant.
773
00:41:39.940 --> 00:41:42.059
Give me some context here. Was it for a beer?
774
00:41:42.079 --> 00:41:45.489
It was a game. I think she called it tequila slaps. Yeah.
775
00:41:45.530 --> 00:41:47.349
But I don't know how it's a game. Because it
776
00:41:47.369 --> 00:41:49.769
just involved me having some tequila and then her punching
777
00:41:49.789 --> 00:41:50.909
the shit out of me. Yeah, you just take a
778
00:41:50.929 --> 00:41:53.610
shot of tequila and the person just slaps you. And
779
00:41:53.630 --> 00:41:57.690
that's it. What a fun game. She left the bottle.
780
00:41:57.969 --> 00:42:00.400
Not only did I agree to it, I saw it
781
00:42:00.409 --> 00:42:02.380
in the notes and I said, oh, and if we
782
00:42:02.420 --> 00:42:04.489
do get to that, I like to keep it kind
783
00:42:04.530 --> 00:42:05.820
of loose out there. I said, if we do get
784
00:42:05.860 --> 00:42:07.079
to that and it starts to happen.
785
00:42:07.099 --> 00:42:07.409
Right.
786
00:42:07.820 --> 00:42:09.460
If you do that, it's not going to work. You
787
00:42:09.480 --> 00:42:11.760
have to let me have it. And God bless her. Yeah,
788
00:42:11.780 --> 00:42:14.559
she did. She was like, all right. She went for it.
789
00:42:14.599 --> 00:42:15.920
He told me.
790
00:42:16.119 --> 00:42:18.159
Is this because you wanted to sue her? Is this
791
00:42:18.179 --> 00:42:19.420
why you.
792
00:42:19.440 --> 00:42:23.949
What's that? That was the plan. Unfortunately, she had to.
793
00:42:23.960 --> 00:42:27.679
I wondered why I read she's destitute now. No, it
794
00:42:27.780 --> 00:42:28.800
is something to be.
795
00:42:36.650 --> 00:42:39.090
In that moment where you're hit, which doesn't happen, were
796
00:42:39.110 --> 00:42:41.489
you ever punched at all as a kid or were
797
00:42:41.510 --> 00:42:43.409
you ever in a fight? Yeah. Yeah.
798
00:42:43.449 --> 00:42:46.119
I went to boarding school in Nigeria and I remember
799
00:42:46.159 --> 00:42:51.019
getting into a few fights. It is nothing, until you
800
00:42:51.380 --> 00:42:56.800
experience being punched in the face, nothing can prepare, the ringing,
801
00:42:56.820 --> 00:43:02.929
the flash of white you see, you know, You're saying, yep, yep,
802
00:43:02.949 --> 00:43:03.670
like you've been punched.
803
00:43:03.690 --> 00:43:07.050
Oh, I was, yeah. I was, yeah, punched really hard
804
00:43:07.070 --> 00:43:09.969
in the face. Oh, really? It was a mugging.
805
00:43:10.010 --> 00:43:17.090
By Sophie Turner? It's always Sophie Turner. What happened?
806
00:43:17.349 --> 00:43:20.159
It was, again, it was Sophie Turner. And she was
807
00:43:20.219 --> 00:43:23.280
robbing me. It was about... Two years after she was
808
00:43:23.380 --> 00:43:27.480
on the show. And I had sued her into destitution.
809
00:43:27.579 --> 00:43:29.599
And she said, I want my money back! She's still
810
00:43:29.619 --> 00:43:30.579
carrying tequila.
811
00:43:31.059 --> 00:43:32.050
You kind of deserved it.
812
00:43:32.159 --> 00:43:35.760
No, I think I was 18 and I was walking
813
00:43:35.780 --> 00:43:38.840
around the north end of Boston and some kids wanted money.
814
00:43:38.920 --> 00:43:41.739
And I said, no. And they said, why not? And
815
00:43:41.760 --> 00:43:43.280
I said, I don't feel like it. And just as
816
00:43:43.360 --> 00:43:47.099
I said, like it, as I hit the T... I
817
00:43:47.159 --> 00:43:48.219
saw all the white.
818
00:43:48.239 --> 00:43:48.320
Yeah.
819
00:43:48.400 --> 00:43:51.980
Yeah. Yeah. Then they had to rebuild my nose.
820
00:43:53.579 --> 00:43:56.820
Did you get the blood when you suddenly your own
821
00:43:56.909 --> 00:43:58.789
blood goes down your throat?
822
00:43:59.070 --> 00:44:00.670
Oh, I had the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah.
823
00:44:00.710 --> 00:44:00.949
Yeah.
824
00:44:00.969 --> 00:44:03.429
I think I was like a sprinkler. I think you
825
00:44:03.449 --> 00:44:06.429
had a sprinkler system. No, it's getting dark now. I
826
00:44:06.449 --> 00:44:09.800
was fine. I bear no emotional wounds. So the guy
827
00:44:09.840 --> 00:44:13.489
who's clearly packed with emotional wounds. But what I do
828
00:44:13.530 --> 00:44:16.250
remember is they had to reshape my nose and I
829
00:44:16.329 --> 00:44:18.670
had the whole black eyes and I was bandaged up
830
00:44:18.710 --> 00:44:22.250
for a while. And I'd be, there were bars in
831
00:44:22.289 --> 00:44:24.880
the neighborhood where I lived and I'd be walking home from,
832
00:44:25.199 --> 00:44:28.300
you know, to my house and guys standing in the
833
00:44:28.320 --> 00:44:31.719
doorways of bars. I always thought this was, you know,
834
00:44:31.820 --> 00:44:34.800
something you just see in movies, but they, 201. would
835
00:44:34.820 --> 00:44:37.809
all step out and go, how's the other guy look? Wow.
836
00:44:37.969 --> 00:44:45.090
And I'd say, the other guy looks just fine. Not
837
00:44:45.130 --> 00:44:52.960
a scratch. No, he looks, he's got the dewiest skin. He's,
838
00:44:53.000 --> 00:44:55.139
you know, just, I mean, he looks better than he
839
00:44:55.179 --> 00:44:55.800
did before.
840
00:45:07.920 --> 00:45:09.480
Good nights are about the people.
841
00:45:10.320 --> 00:45:10.800
The laughs.
842
00:45:11.320 --> 00:45:14.079
The real moments you don't want to miss. So, why
843
00:45:14.139 --> 00:45:14.920
step outside?
844
00:45:15.820 --> 00:45:19.119
Velo tobacco-free nicotine pouches fit seamlessly into your night.
845
00:45:19.360 --> 00:45:22.710
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846
00:45:23.230 --> 00:45:23.550
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847
00:45:23.829 --> 00:45:28.150
Anytime, anywhere nicotine pouches. 18 and over contains tobacco-free nicotine
848
00:45:28.190 --> 00:45:30.510
and addictive substance. If you're new to Velo, start with Mellow.
849
00:45:30.590 --> 00:45:32.110
You should not use this product if you do not
850
00:45:32.230 --> 00:45:33.010
already use nicotine.
851
00:45:34.750 --> 00:45:38.889
Reckon we'll need a fleet of about 50 vehicles next quarter. Oh,
852
00:45:39.289 --> 00:45:41.250
one of our suppliers just pulled out of the market.
853
00:45:41.670 --> 00:45:45.849
Ten should do the job. Nice, just won a new contract.
854
00:45:46.190 --> 00:45:47.829
Make that 100 vehicles.
855
00:45:48.989 --> 00:45:51.349
Why tie up your valuable capital? Whether you need a
856
00:45:51.409 --> 00:45:53.949
car or van rental for two hours or two years,
857
00:45:54.250 --> 00:45:57.369
Europecar offers total flexibility for you to get the job done.
858
00:45:57.610 --> 00:45:59.889
No matter what the job is, simply pay as you go.
859
00:46:00.130 --> 00:46:03.969
Search Europecar Business to get moving. Europecar, moving your business
860
00:46:04.150 --> 00:46:04.530
your way.
861
00:46:05.800 --> 00:46:06.619
How was school, Pat?
862
00:46:07.119 --> 00:46:09.980
We were learning all about France and Joan of Arc
863
00:46:10.280 --> 00:46:12.199
and the Eiffel Tower and how they speak.
864
00:46:12.500 --> 00:46:13.480
Bonjour, Mama!
865
00:46:14.260 --> 00:46:17.519
We all know how important school is for children's learning,
866
00:46:17.679 --> 00:46:21.789
friendships and overall development. But one in five children are
867
00:46:21.829 --> 00:46:24.210
missing a month or more of their school year. And
868
00:46:24.250 --> 00:46:27.630
when they miss school, they miss out. Every school day.
869
00:46:27.570 --> 00:46:28.230
Is a new day.
870
00:46:28.630 --> 00:46:32.429
Visit gov.ie forward slash school attendance. An initiative
of the
871
00:46:32.469 --> 00:46:33.250
Government of Ireland.
872
00:46:40.099 --> 00:46:43.929
Well, I want to congratulate you because I watched your film, Newborn,
873
00:46:44.969 --> 00:46:47.690
and I very much enjoyed it. And it was not
874
00:46:48.130 --> 00:46:50.840
what I expected, which is rare. Usually when I watch
875
00:46:50.889 --> 00:46:53.260
a movie, I think, oh, I can see where this
876
00:46:53.340 --> 00:47:00.170
is going. And I was... Completely surprised by how this unfolded.
877
00:47:00.190 --> 00:47:01.780
It's a very powerful movie.
878
00:47:01.800 --> 00:47:02.619
Thank you.
879
00:47:02.639 --> 00:47:05.599
And you... Am I right? This movie was made a while...
880
00:47:05.280 --> 00:47:08.230
Was it made a while ago? When was the movie made? Yeah.
881
00:47:08.369 --> 00:47:10.369
It was made a little while ago, and it was
882
00:47:10.730 --> 00:47:15.420
one of those... the alchemy of making movies, man, it's, it's, uh,
883
00:47:15.460 --> 00:47:18.010
we made it with a company that went into insolvency.
884
00:47:18.530 --> 00:47:20.369
And so we had to get the film back and,
885
00:47:20.449 --> 00:47:23.050
you know, all that. And then there was a writer's
886
00:47:23.110 --> 00:47:27.650
strike and all this stuff, um, before we're, we're, we're now, uh,
887
00:47:27.750 --> 00:47:31.559
getting the movie out. But weirdly I've had so many
888
00:47:31.679 --> 00:47:34.599
instances like this, like Selma took seven years to get.
889
00:47:34.699 --> 00:47:35.980
Is that true? Yeah. Yeah.
890
00:47:36.019 --> 00:47:36.139
Yeah.
891
00:47:36.159 --> 00:47:36.320
Yeah.
892
00:47:36.340 --> 00:47:39.329
From, from when I first auditioned for it to, And
893
00:47:39.369 --> 00:47:40.369
it's amazing too.
894
00:47:40.449 --> 00:47:43.130
When you see the finished product, you think, well, this
895
00:47:43.170 --> 00:47:47.070
was obvious. And it wasn't. I mean, when you walk
896
00:47:47.110 --> 00:47:49.760
out of the theater after seeing Selma, if someone said
897
00:47:49.800 --> 00:47:52.659
to you, well, that took seven years from beginning to
898
00:47:52.679 --> 00:47:54.900
you think, well, that, no, this just looks like a
899
00:47:54.940 --> 00:47:55.519
slam dunk.
900
00:47:55.699 --> 00:47:55.880
Right.
901
00:47:56.099 --> 00:47:56.539
Exactly.
902
00:47:56.599 --> 00:47:59.820
And it was the opposite. I mean, I watched five
903
00:47:59.860 --> 00:48:03.269
directors come and go before it ended up being Ava DuVernay.
904
00:48:03.389 --> 00:48:06.630
I watched that film go from Lyndon Johnson being the
905
00:48:06.670 --> 00:48:11.309
central character to it finally being Dr. King as it
906
00:48:11.449 --> 00:48:14.400
always should have been. And to your point, you know,
907
00:48:14.480 --> 00:48:18.679
I truly believe these things because I'm a big believer
908
00:48:18.719 --> 00:48:21.739
in the power of storytelling. And I do think often
909
00:48:21.780 --> 00:48:25.909
the ones that really go on to be impactful, they
910
00:48:25.989 --> 00:48:29.630
sometimes take time to come to fruition in the right way.
911
00:48:29.670 --> 00:48:32.789
And what happened with Newborn is that through the course
912
00:48:32.849 --> 00:48:36.360
of this protracted journey to the now that we're in,
913
00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:39.800
we got to go back and do reshoots and really
914
00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:42.480
analyze what it is we wanted to do with the film.
915
00:48:42.500 --> 00:48:45.179
Because the film is about my character, Chris Newborn, who
916
00:48:45.300 --> 00:48:49.130
endures seven years of solitary confinement and is dealing with
917
00:48:49.289 --> 00:48:53.429
the detrimental effects of that mentally and is trying to
918
00:48:53.510 --> 00:48:56.530
reconnect with his family after coming out with his wife
919
00:48:56.889 --> 00:49:00.710
and his son. And that's very delicate, you know, because
920
00:49:01.230 --> 00:49:04.519
I talked to... A few people who had dealt with
921
00:49:04.539 --> 00:49:07.820
that reality is specifically a guy called Richard Rosario, who
922
00:49:07.860 --> 00:49:11.929
had been wrongfully incarcerated for 20 years, seven of which
923
00:49:11.989 --> 00:49:15.829
were in solitary confinement. And the effects of it, I mean,
924
00:49:15.989 --> 00:49:19.969
after 13 days, studies have shown you're never the same again.
925
00:49:20.619 --> 00:49:23.559
because it's 23 hours a day in a nine by
926
00:49:23.619 --> 00:49:27.059
six cell with fluorescent lights on all the time. And
927
00:49:27.340 --> 00:49:31.960
what that does to the mind, the psyche, the soul is,
928
00:49:32.260 --> 00:49:33.500
is it's torture.
929
00:49:33.780 --> 00:49:36.360
What is the possible reason that lights would have to
930
00:49:36.400 --> 00:49:40.090
be on all the time other than to torture you.
931
00:49:40.110 --> 00:49:43.869
There's no rehabilitative effect to having lights on all the time.
932
00:49:44.030 --> 00:49:47.809
It is the opposite of rehabilitation. And that's the point.
933
00:49:48.289 --> 00:49:54.260
It is purely punitive. And so it's the height of punishment.
934
00:49:54.480 --> 00:49:58.000
Anything and everything to make your life uncomfortable is what
935
00:49:58.039 --> 00:50:02.280
solitary confinement is. And you say it perfectly there. It
936
00:50:02.360 --> 00:50:05.980
is the opposite of rehabilitation, which supposedly is what we're
937
00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:08.320
supposed to be doing with prisons. But what people don't
938
00:50:08.380 --> 00:50:12.659
know is that 80,000 people, men, women, and children are
939
00:50:12.719 --> 00:50:17.900
in solitary confinement today in America. And so in order
940
00:50:17.940 --> 00:50:20.739
to tell this story in a way that wasn't just
941
00:50:21.519 --> 00:50:26.599
dark and challenging and traumatic, we chose to see what
942
00:50:26.699 --> 00:50:30.019
life was like for this man post the incarceration and
943
00:50:30.139
--> 00:50:33.840
how he goes on a journey to trying to reconnect
944
00:50:33.920 --> 00:50:36.960
with his family while dealing with this trauma. So it's
945
00:50:37.000 --> 00:50:41.980
a psychological thriller, but that's wrapped around a love story.
946
00:50:42.400 --> 00:50:44.039
This guy trying to get back to his wife, trying
947
00:50:44.079 --> 00:50:46.059
to get back to his son. I thought of this analogy,
948
00:50:46.739 --> 00:50:47.300
which is.
949
00:50:48.940 --> 00:50:52.550
It was proven long ago that if, I think they
950
00:50:52.590 --> 00:50:54.469
found this out at the end of World War II
951
00:50:54.510 --> 00:50:57.690
when soldiers were liberating some of the concentration camps, that
952
00:50:58.070 --> 00:51:00.150
the first instinct is to give all these people who
953
00:51:00.210 --> 00:51:04.000
are malnourished tons of food, which can kill them.
954
00:51:04.139 --> 00:51:04.320
Yes.
955
00:51:04.559 --> 00:51:09.079
Because their bodies have been living with almost no food
956
00:51:09.179 --> 00:51:11.500
for years at a time. And you need to start
957
00:51:11.739 --> 00:51:15.710
very slowly and then slowly raise the calorie count in
958
00:51:15.769 --> 00:51:19.530
order for people... This movie, to me, did a very
959
00:51:19.570 --> 00:51:21.750
good job of showing me that if someone's been in
960
00:51:21.809 --> 00:51:24.610
solitary confinement for seven years and then they're out and
961
00:51:24.650 --> 00:51:27.579
they're free and they're allowed to be out in the
962
00:51:27.659 --> 00:51:33.820
world and... walking down the street and being outside, it's overload.
963
00:51:34.340 --> 00:51:40.050
It's absolute sensory overload and traumatic. And so things that
964
00:51:40.119 --> 00:51:43.550
we think of as, oh, this would be lovely. I'd
965
00:51:43.630 --> 00:51:46.030
love to be with my wife and my son at
966
00:51:46.050 --> 00:51:50.789
a cabin in the woods, wandering around this beautiful countryside.
967
00:51:50.849 --> 00:51:54.940
What a lovely time. That's horrifying. And that came across
968
00:51:55.119 --> 00:51:57.889
really thoroughly in the movie. And I thought this is,
969
00:51:58.289 --> 00:52:00.150
This is a story I haven't seen before. Right. Where
970
00:52:00.190 --> 00:52:02.909
someone's in an environment that I would love.
971
00:52:03.159 --> 00:52:03.389
Right.
972
00:52:03.719 --> 00:52:05.739
And to them, it's a nightmare.
973
00:52:06.139 --> 00:52:10.360
Well, so perfectly put there, Conan, because it's also about
974
00:52:10.380 --> 00:52:15.260
the things we take for granted and how desperately as
975
00:52:15.320 --> 00:52:19.239
human beings we need connection. Like human beings are designed
976
00:52:19.699 --> 00:52:24.030
for connection. And the ultimate way you dehumanize someone is
977
00:52:24.070 --> 00:52:26.869
to extricate them from human connection. I mean, we all
978
00:52:27.289 --> 00:52:29.710
to a certain extent, felt that during the pandemic. And
979
00:52:29.750 --> 00:52:32.250
that was one of the most debilitating things is this
980
00:52:32.289 --> 00:52:35.050
feeling of a lack of connection to other people. But,
981
00:52:35.550 --> 00:52:39.630
you know, that's exactly it. Him trying to reconnect, having
982
00:52:39.670 --> 00:52:43.530
been denied connection for so long with the very people
983
00:52:43.869 --> 00:52:48.110
that essentially their existence is what kept him going. So
984
00:52:48.170 --> 00:52:50.780
he wants nothing more than to reconnect with his wife.
985
00:52:50.840 --> 00:52:54.090
His son has become nonverbal. Because of some of the
986
00:52:54.170 --> 00:52:57.750
trauma he sees in his mother due to what has
987
00:52:57.789 --> 00:53:00.989
happened to his father. So, you know, all of that
988
00:53:01.170 --> 00:53:05.530
is happening and you can't tell what's in his mind and,
989
00:53:05.670 --> 00:53:07.780
you know, what's perceived and what is real. And that's
990
00:53:07.800 --> 00:53:10.519
where the psychological thriller aspect comes in.
991
00:53:10.539 --> 00:53:10.619
Yeah.
992
00:53:11.619 --> 00:53:14.179
You know, what we also hoped to do is, is
993
00:53:14.260 --> 00:53:17.920
to tap into how we can all relate to feelings
994
00:53:17.960 --> 00:53:20.960
of isolation, whether it's loneliness, whether it's, you know, in
995
00:53:20.980 --> 00:53:23.800
your own head, whether it's, you know, childhood trauma, whatever
996
00:53:23.840 --> 00:53:27.510
that may be. And the, what is the path to
997
00:53:27.550 --> 00:53:31.190
healing for that? I believe it's love. And, um, you know,
998
00:53:31.250 --> 00:53:35.110
Richard Rosario, the extraordinary thing, his wife stuck by him
999
00:53:35.150 --> 00:53:39.190
for the 20 years he was incarcerated. And her name
1000
00:53:39.230 --> 00:53:42.650
is Minerva. And, uh, And it's extraordinary to see him now,
1001
00:53:42.650 --> 00:53:46.650
10 years after he's been released, still dealing with a
1002
00:53:46.750 --> 00:53:49.670
lot of what he dealt with. But it is extraordinary
1003
00:53:49.730 --> 00:53:53.110
to see how love in relation to that thing you
1004
00:53:53.170 --> 00:53:56.050
talk about of how you slowly bring someone back as
1005
00:53:56.130 --> 00:53:58.840
opposed to just giving them a full meal has sort
1006
00:53:58.880 --> 00:54:01.119
of got this guy to a place where, you know,
1007
00:54:01.179 --> 00:54:02.880
he can now stand up in front of people and
1008
00:54:02.920 --> 00:54:04.119
talk about his experience.
1009
00:54:04.539 --> 00:54:08.059
You know, I was watching the film and your performance
1010
00:54:08.079 --> 00:54:11.829
is extraordinary as your performances always are. Then I was
1011
00:54:11.869 --> 00:54:15.050
thinking about your, quote, accident getting into acting. You go
1012
00:54:15.070 --> 00:54:18.590
to the acting class because you have a crush on
1013
00:54:18.610 --> 00:54:21.840
this girl and you just want to tag
along. And
1014
00:54:21.860 --> 00:54:25.480
I look at... I think, wait, something isn't right here
1015
00:54:25.559 --> 00:54:29.599
because someone who can act at that level must know
1016
00:54:29.619 --> 00:54:31.659
when they're a kid they have this inside of them.
1017
00:54:32.000 --> 00:54:34.179
That could not have been a complete surprise to you.
1018
00:54:35.239 --> 00:54:38.420
It was. Really? It was. But.
1019
00:54:39.019 --> 00:54:45.449
And this is where... Gosh, especially as an artist, if
1020
00:54:45.809 --> 00:54:48.969
there is someone who sees in you what you haven't
1021
00:54:49.070 --> 00:54:53.650
seen in yourself yet, that is just the greatest blessing.
1022
00:54:53.889 --> 00:54:56.650
And often Oprah talks about this. I've heard a lot
1023
00:54:56.690 --> 00:55:01.369
of artists, whether they be actors or musicians, that music
1024
00:55:01.429 --> 00:55:06.650
teacher or that drama teacher or that literature professor or
1025
00:55:06.710 --> 00:55:11.800
teacher that goes, hold on, you. Yeah, yeah. There's something
1026
00:55:11.880 --> 00:55:13.739
going on here. And I had that in a teacher
1027
00:55:13.760 --> 00:55:18.179
called Jill Foster, who, you know, I continued to do drama,
1028
00:55:18.239 --> 00:55:21.130
but it was baked into me by my parents that
1029
00:55:22.269 --> 00:55:24.789
that's not a proper job. That's just not what this
1030
00:55:24.869 --> 00:55:27.510
is going to be. And I idolized my father. And
1031
00:55:27.530 --> 00:55:30.789
so therefore, it wasn't going to be that. But this teacher,
1032
00:55:31.309 --> 00:55:33.840
who I remember her accosting me outside of a tube
1033
00:55:33.880 --> 00:55:36.940
station when I was all set to go and do
1034
00:55:36.980 --> 00:55:39.679
a law degree, and saying, David, I wouldn't say this
1035
00:55:40.179 --> 00:55:42.599
to any of my other students. I think you could
1036
00:55:42.619 --> 00:55:49.679
do acting professionally. And I didn't even know what that entailed.
1037
00:55:49.719 --> 00:55:51.599
And she went, well, have you considered drama school? I said,
1038
00:55:51.619 --> 00:55:53.960
I don't know what that is. And she introduced me
1039
00:55:54.019 --> 00:55:55.900
to what drama schools are. And she helped me with
1040
00:55:55.940 --> 00:55:59.300
my auditions. And that's how I ended up, well, getting
1041
00:55:59.340 --> 00:56:03.250
a scholarship to go to Lambda. And, you know, the
1042
00:56:03.409 --> 00:56:07.389
full circle of this, because within the last month, I
1043
00:56:07.469 --> 00:56:11.400
went to see my son at the drama school I
1044
00:56:11.480 --> 00:56:17.199
went to playing in an adaptation of the play that
1045
00:56:17.300 --> 00:56:22.889
I met my wife doing. And it made me think
1046
00:56:23.070 --> 00:56:27.210
all the way back to Jill Foster that what she
1047
00:56:27.349 --> 00:56:30.550
gave to me by way of advocacy is now having
1048
00:56:30.610 --> 00:56:35.000
a generational impact, not just for actors I will never meet,
1049
00:56:35.119 --> 00:56:40.519
my own son. And, you know, when I went to Lambda,
1050
00:56:40.639 --> 00:56:45.050
I was the only black student of 300 students at
1051
00:56:45.110 --> 00:56:48.289
that drama school. I went to see my son in
1052
00:56:48.349 --> 00:56:51.969
his play and I graduated 27 years ago and I
1053
00:56:52.010 --> 00:56:54.150
now go and talk at Lambda every now and again.
1054
00:56:54.909 --> 00:56:58.030
And a decent portion of the school is people of
1055
00:56:58.110 --> 00:57:00.650
color from all walks of life, from all over the world.
1056
00:57:00.670 --> 00:57:03.579
There's been some really great work done. And when I
1057
00:57:03.719 --> 00:57:05.820
say to those students, when I say to my own son,
1058
00:57:06.829 --> 00:57:09.530
I cannot believe what I'm seeing in relation to what
1059
00:57:09.570 --> 00:57:13.309
my experience was. They have no real connection to what
1060
00:57:13.329 --> 00:57:15.630
I'm saying. And I, and I, and I find myself
1061
00:57:15.670 --> 00:57:18.610
thinking that's exactly what you want. You want them to
1062
00:57:18.949 --> 00:57:22.710
not be able to understand what it would feel like
1063
00:57:22.769 --> 00:57:26.110
to be the only, I want you to take this
1064
00:57:26.469 --> 00:57:32.780
level of, of diversity for granted. Um, and, and that,
1065
00:57:33.219 --> 00:57:35.739
is the driver for me with storytelling, you know, in
1066
00:57:35.780 --> 00:57:39.070
terms of the characters I play. I'm always, to a
1067
00:57:39.130 --> 00:57:45.289
certain degree, taking roles as a kind of gift to
1068
00:57:45.329 --> 00:57:48.389
my 12-year-old self in terms of the things that I
1069
00:57:48.429 --> 00:57:52.420
didn't see on screen. Sidney Poitier was my hero because
1070
00:57:52.440 --> 00:57:56.940
he was like looking at a Martian in relation to
1071
00:57:57.000 --> 00:57:59.280
what I saw on British television, in relation to what
1072
00:57:59.320 --> 00:58:02.530
was possible growing up on a council estate in Islington.
1073
00:58:03.159 --> 00:58:07.429
And to be in a world now where that is
1074
00:58:07.469 --> 00:58:10.369
not the experience of my kids, where they're going, oh,
1075
00:58:10.670 --> 00:58:14.230
I have no one to aspire to in terms of
1076
00:58:14.269 --> 00:58:18.280
someone who looks like me. That is a big, big
1077
00:58:18.340 --> 00:58:19.860
driver for why I do what I do.
1078
00:58:20.099 --> 00:58:22.820
Yeah, it's really incredible. There's an amazing book. I don't
1079
00:58:22.840 --> 00:58:25.519
know if you've come across it ever, but it's called
1080
00:58:25.579 --> 00:58:29.389
Pictures at a Revolution. And it's about it's a snapshot
1081
00:58:29.489 --> 00:58:32.349
of the movie industry and I think 1967 when it's
1082
00:58:32.750 --> 00:58:34.639
all changing, but there's a big part of it that's
1083
00:58:34.699 --> 00:58:39.579
about Sidney Poitier and how he came
along and what
1084
00:58:39.599 --> 00:58:41.920
a pivotal figure he was. And I think in 67,
1085
00:58:41.900 --> 00:58:44.139
he's in two big movies and he's in heat of
1086
00:58:44.159 --> 00:58:47.460
the heat of the night where he slaps a white man,
1087
00:58:48.000 --> 00:58:52.320
which is still, still, I get chills every time I
1088
00:58:52.360 --> 00:58:56.260
see that scene, he slapped and he slaps the man
1089
00:58:56.429 --> 00:58:57.289
instantly back.
1090
00:58:57.510 --> 00:58:57.650
Yeah.
1091
00:58:57.940 --> 00:59:01.820
And it took people's breath away in the theater. And
1092
00:59:01.880 --> 00:59:03.179
it still has that power.
1093
00:59:03.360 --> 00:59:04.429
Absolutely.
1094
00:59:04.449 --> 00:59:06.769
Like you can see in some frames of a film,
1095
00:59:07.590 --> 00:59:08.489
the world changed.
1096
00:59:08.570 --> 00:59:09.050
Absolutely.
1097
00:59:10.059 --> 00:59:12.019
In Guess Who's Coming to Dinner that year. So those
1098
00:59:12.059 --> 00:59:14.070
are the two films he does in that one year
1099
00:59:14.329 --> 00:59:18.650
and but then you think about okay he fought those
1100
00:59:18.730 --> 00:59:23.250
battles and then Denzel Washington had his battles to fight
1101
00:59:23.269 --> 00:59:26.869
that were, you know, different. And it just keeps getting
1102
00:59:27.150 --> 00:59:30.210
passed on and on and on. And you want your
1103
00:59:30.289 --> 00:59:32.789
son to grow up thinking, what's the problem? Yes.
1104
00:59:33.530 --> 00:59:34.769
What's the big deal? Absolutely.
1105
00:59:34.789 --> 00:59:35.429
That's the gift.
1106
00:59:35.639 --> 00:59:39.000
Absolutely. It's the gift. And what's great about that story
1107
00:59:39.019 --> 00:59:43.579
you tell, anyone who knows Sidney Poitier's body of work
1108
00:59:44.159 --> 00:59:47.889
always thinks he won the Oscar for in the heat
1109
00:59:47.909 --> 00:59:52.110
of the night because of the impact of that slap
1110
00:59:52.500 --> 00:59:56.639
and that role and how groundbreaking it was. And he
1111
00:59:56.679 --> 01:00:00.699
wasn't even nominated for that. Neither was he nominated for
1112
01:00:00.719 --> 01:00:03.860
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. He won for Lilies of
1113
01:00:03.880 --> 01:00:09.820
the Field earlier and for a role where he was
1114
01:00:09.840 --> 01:00:16.230
being nice to white nuns. That was what was deemed
1115
01:00:16.309 --> 01:00:21.769
permissible for him back then. It was deeply controversial to,
1116
01:00:22.010 --> 01:00:25.090
in one year, you're going to slap a white man
1117
01:00:25.289 --> 01:00:27.909
and then fall in love with a white woman on
1118
01:00:28.010 --> 01:00:30.789
our screens with us having given you an Oscar?
1119
01:00:31.230 --> 01:00:31.630
Oh, no.
1120
01:00:31.650 --> 01:00:36.250
Oh, no. And, you know, this is the thing about,
1121
01:00:36.429 --> 01:00:38.989
I've heard it said, it's not about any given role.
1122
01:00:39.010 --> 01:00:42.010
It's about a
body of work. And that body of
1123
01:00:42.159 --> 01:00:44.860
work is the thing that someone like me now takes
1124
01:00:44.900 --> 01:00:47.599
for granted. I look at Sidney Poitier and I go, wow.
1125
01:00:48.099 --> 01:00:50.480
But when you read about him, I met him and
1126
01:00:50.500 --> 01:00:54.780
it was just, oh my gosh, I can barely believe
1127
01:00:54.820 --> 01:00:58.590
it actually happened. And I remember Oprah introducing me to
1128
01:00:58.650 --> 01:01:00.289
him and she said, oh yeah, David's going to play
1129
01:01:00.909 --> 01:01:03.309
and Martin Luther King and his eyes lit up and
1130
01:01:03.329 --> 01:01:05.969
I just thought, okay, just be present. Just be present.
1131
01:01:06.010 --> 01:01:06.670
Just soak it up.
1132
01:01:06.750 --> 01:01:07.309
Soak it up.
1133
01:01:07.469 --> 01:01:09.769
This is really happening. Don't say anything stupid.
1134
01:01:09.829 --> 01:01:11.650
Just, you know, and you were saying that out loud.
1135
01:01:11.730 --> 01:01:13.329
I was, I was, I was just getting out of
1136
01:01:13.349 --> 01:01:16.750
my presence, but you know, as you say, you know, that's.
1137
01:01:17.030 --> 01:01:18.769
That's, that's what you want, you know, is to look,
1138
01:01:30.869 --> 01:01:34.289
I think at its height, storytelling, and this is what
1139
01:01:34.329 --> 01:01:37.050
I tried to do with Newborn. That was an incredibly
1140
01:01:37.150 --> 01:01:41.639
uncomfortable role to play. My dad passed away on the
1141
01:01:41.780 --> 01:01:46.019
first day of filming. He was dealing with colon cancer. And,
1142
01:01:46.599 --> 01:01:50.119
you know, I had considered not taking the role. I
1143
01:01:50.199 --> 01:01:54.110
said to him, look, daddy, I just can't leave you.
1144
01:01:54.139 --> 01:01:57.730
We were shooting in Canada. And he was like, no,
1145
01:01:57.750 --> 01:02:01.610
you must go. you must go. This is what you're here.
1146
01:02:01.630 --> 01:02:03.880
This is what you're on this earth to do. You
1147
01:02:04.050 --> 01:02:07.860
must go. And this is from my dad who originally
1148
01:02:08.039 --> 01:02:12.079
was so against it, against what I, I, I wanted
1149
01:02:12.219 --> 01:02:16.440
to do as a vocation, as a profession to, that
1150
01:02:16.519 --> 01:02:18.519
was his, his last gesture.
1151
01:02:18.739 --> 01:02:23.670
What a, I mean, what a gift that your.
1152
01:02:23.469 --> 01:02:25.630
Dad got to see it all happen.
1153
01:02:26.550 --> 01:02:29.780
And as much, you know, As much as we'd still
1154
01:02:29.820 --> 01:02:33.820
like these people to be here, I always think about
1155
01:02:33.860 --> 01:02:36.920
the fact that, well, my parents got to see plenty.
1156
01:02:36.940 --> 01:02:39.219
They got to see plenty and they got to know
1157
01:02:39.300 --> 01:02:41.030
that it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for them.
1158
01:02:41.150 --> 01:02:45.010
So that's a gift that just keeps on giving.
1159
01:02:45.150 --> 01:02:49.690
It's huge. It's the only reason I went and I
1160
01:02:49.769 --> 01:02:54.349
did it. But I watch Newborn now and I can see...
1161
01:02:54.750 --> 01:02:58.230
I can see... I'm now removed from it because I've
1162
01:02:58.269 --> 01:03:00.570
gone through my, or I'm in the middle of my
1163
01:03:00.650 --> 01:03:02.949
process of healing from the loss of my dad, but
1164
01:03:03.050 --> 01:03:06.349
I can see the price. You know, I still carry
1165
01:03:06.389 --> 01:03:09.900
guilt about, you know, going off and doing this movie,
1166
01:03:09.960 --> 01:03:12.719
even though I felt very passionate about doing it. My
1167
01:03:12.760 --> 01:03:15.639
dad insisted I go and do it. But, you know,
1168
01:03:15.739 --> 01:03:18.860
at its height, I do think these stories cost money.
1169
01:03:19.510 --> 01:03:22.610
you know, to hold up a mirror to humanity, especially
1170
01:03:22.650 --> 01:03:25.250
when it's humanity is going through these very challenging things,
1171
01:03:25.309 --> 01:03:28.679
but it's, it's just, it's the greatest thing in, in
1172
01:03:28.719 --> 01:03:32.460
the world to, to sort of in service of humanity,
1173
01:03:32.519 --> 01:03:35.280
kind of try and show us who we are.
1174
01:03:35.380 --> 01:03:38.159
I always go back to, it's a crazy world. Um,
1175
01:03:39.159 --> 01:03:42.059
it's always been a crazy world and there are bad
1176
01:03:42.099 --> 01:03:44.659
things happening and bad things have always been happening. And
1177
01:03:44.739 --> 01:03:48.690
everyone just has to try and be, uh, do their
1178
01:03:48.789 --> 01:03:53.630
work well and be a good citizen, whatever that, I mean,
1179
01:03:53.650 --> 01:03:58.250
be a good person. And so, because sometimes that's all
1180
01:03:58.269 --> 01:04:01.139
you can do. Everything is so big. But I think
1181
01:04:01.199 --> 01:04:02.619
this is a tragic story because I think you would
1182
01:04:02.639 --> 01:04:09.780
have made an amazing lawyer. We have a lot. David,
1183
01:04:09.820 --> 01:04:14.780
we have many good actors. But to find a really
1184
01:04:14.940 --> 01:04:19.239
good lawyer is hard. Yeah, he could have been the
1185
01:04:19.260 --> 01:04:23.099
next Sweet James. You could have been Sweet James. Sweet
1186
01:04:23.139 --> 01:04:26.050
James and his new protege, David.
1187
01:04:26.070 --> 01:04:29.889
Darn it, all those billboards I could have been on.
1188
01:04:29.929 --> 01:04:31.889
You could have been on so many billboards, but whatever.
1189
01:04:32.409 --> 01:04:37.619
Keep fucking around with acting. Well, the movie is Newborn.
1190
01:04:37.639 --> 01:04:42.219
I loved it and I am just enthralled by you.
1191
01:04:42.260 --> 01:04:45.500
You're such an amazing person to talk to. And it's
1192
01:04:45.519 --> 01:04:48.420
like a tonic when you come by. I always feel
1193
01:04:49.000 --> 01:04:51.940
good after you've been here because you're delightfully funny and
1194
01:04:51.980 -->
01:04:55.829
insightful and just lovely across the board. So I will
1195
01:04:55.849 --> 01:05:03.019
see you at the wedding. you know what this funny
1196
01:05:03.059 --> 01:05:05.780
thing is he thinks i'm kidding it's gonna be like
1197
01:05:05.800 --> 01:05:08.840
the graduate where this ceremony is happening can't wait to
1198
01:05:08.860 --> 01:05:10.840
do it all right thank you sir thank you this
1199
01:05:10.920 --> 01:05:11.280
is great.
1200
01:05:20.219 --> 01:05:23.960
Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, with Conan O'Brien, Sonam Ovsessian,
1201
01:05:24.219 --> 01:05:28.349
and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced
1202
01:05:28.409 --> 01:05:32.110
by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Nick Liao. Theme song
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by The White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.
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01:05:36.019 --> 01:05:36.900
Take it away, Jimmy.
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Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair. And our associate talent
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01:05:43.719 --> 01:05:47.440
producer is Jennifer Samples. Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez
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01:05:47.519 --> 01:05:51.460
and Brendan Burns. Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent
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01:05:51.500 --> 01:05:54.679
booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brit Kahn. You
1209
01:05:54.719 --> 01:05:57.260
can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and
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01:05:57.300 --> 01:05:59.860
you might find your review read on a future episode.
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01:06:00.219 --> 01:06:03.880
Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline
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01:06:04.239 --> 01:06:07.619
at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It, too, could be
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01:06:07.659 --> 01:06:10.179
featured on a future episode. You can also get three
1214
01:06:10.239 --> 01:06:14.380
free months of SiriusXM when you sign up at SiriusXM.com
1215
01:06:14.440 --> 01:06:17.570
slash Conan. And if you haven't already, please subscribe to
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01:06:17.630 --> 01:06:21.389
Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.
1217
01:06:28.230 --> 01:06:32.369
Reckon we'll need a fleet of about 50 vehicles next quarter. Oh,
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one of our suppliers just pulled out of the market.
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01:06:35.179 --> 01:06:39.349
Ten should do the job. Nice, just won a new contract.
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01:06:39.670 --> 01:06:41.349
Make that 100 vehicles.
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01:06:42.469 --> 01:06:44.849
Why tie up your valuable capital? Whether you need a
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01:06:44.889 --> 01:06:47.449
car or van rental for two hours or two years,
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01:06:47.730 --> 01:06:50.250
Europe Car offers total flexibility for you to get the
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01:06:50.289 --> 01:06:52.949
job done. No matter what the job is, simply pay
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01:06:52.989 --> 01:06:55.550
as you go. Search Europe Car Business to get moving.
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01:06:55.889 --> 01:06:58.050
Europe Car, moving your business your way.
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01:06:59.269 --> 01:07:00.110
How was school, Pat?
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01:07:00.590 --> 01:07:03.449
We were learning all about France and Joan of Arc
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01:07:03.750 --> 01:07:05.690
and the Eiffel Tower and how they speak.
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01:07:05.969 --> 01:07:06.829
Bonjour, Mama!
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01:07:07.739 --> 01:07:11.010
We all know how important school is for children's learning,
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01:07:11.150 --> 01:07:15.269
friendships and overall development. But one in five children are
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01:07:15.289 --> 01:07:17.679
missing a month or more of their school year. And
1234
01:07:17.739 --> 01:07:20.880
when they miss school, they miss out. Every school day
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01:07:21.059 --> 01:07:24.739
is a new day. Visit gov.ie forward slash school attendance.
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01:07:25.199 --> 01:07:26.730
An initiative of the Government of Ireland.