Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Anthony Alabi discusses living your life to reach your dreams. Former NFL Player, Actor in Netflix comedy "Family Reunion" discusses overcoming being stereotyped in Hollywood

Transcript

Anthony Alabi discusses living your life to reach your dreams. Former NFL Player, Actor in Netflix comedy "Family Reunion" discusses overcoming being stereotyped in Hollywood · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
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Speaker 1: Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
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0:19
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. It's what he likes to do,
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Speaker 1: it's what he likes to share. Now it's time to
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Speaker 1: hear from my man, Rashan McDonald money making conversations. Here
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Speaker 1: we come. Welcome to money Making Conversation. I'm your host,
0:32
Speaker 1: ra Sean McDonald. Really, it's time to stop reading other
0:34
Speaker 1: people's success stories and start writing your home. I always
0:37
Speaker 1: tell people who watched the shot and listen to the
0:39
Speaker 1: show to leave with your gifts, and my next guest
0:41
Speaker 1: will talk about following his passion and don't let your age, friends, family,
0:45
Speaker 1: or coworkers stop you from planning or living your dreams.
0:48
Speaker 1: Interviews I bring the money making conversations or people celebrity
0:52
Speaker 1: friends that I know every time I don't know CEO
0:54
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and what I like could call industry decision makers.
0:58
Speaker 1: My next guest is Anthony A. Lobby. He's an actor, writer,
1:02
Speaker 1: and former NFL player from the Miami Dolphins in Kansas
1:05
Speaker 1: City Chief. That's one sport. I could never play football.
1:07
Speaker 1: I'll just let you know right now. I can act
1:10
Speaker 1: like I can play basketball, but I can never play football.
1:12
Speaker 1: Anthony co stars in the third season of the Netflix
1:15
Speaker 1: sitcom called Family Reunion. He left the NFL and moved
1:19
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles to pursue his true passion, which is acting.
1:23
Speaker 1: His acting credits include a lot recurring roles on Showtime, Shameless,
1:26
Speaker 1: one of my favorite show, Disney's Ravens Home, CBS, n
1:30
Speaker 1: c I S, ABC S Mardin Family, Foxes, The Mick,
1:33
Speaker 1: and the supporting role in Netflix feature film Peewee's Big Holiday,
1:37
Speaker 1: just to name a few. Just throwing out some credits
1:38
Speaker 1: so you can know who I'm talking to you. I
1:40
Speaker 1: was like Family Unions, one of my favorite sitcoms on Netflix,
1:45
Speaker 1: and then boasting please wiping the money making conversation. I
1:47
Speaker 1: know we're gonna be good friends because he's a good
1:49
Speaker 1: friends one of the writers on the show, co executive
1:51
Speaker 1: producers on the show who now moved on Anthony Hill,
1:53
Speaker 1: Please welcome this Anthony, Anthony a lobby. It's great. How
1:58
Speaker 1: are you doing, my friend, I'm doing great, man, it's
2:00
Speaker 1: a good day. My mother in law is here. She
2:02
Speaker 1: you know, she got fully vaccinated and everything in the visit,
2:05
Speaker 1: so it's a full house. Well, you know, it's the
2:07
Speaker 1: beauty of it. I've gotten fully vaccinated. So it's good
2:09
Speaker 1: to promote that, especially in the African American community or
2:12
Speaker 1: the community of color, that we need to get vaccinated.
2:14
Speaker 1: And you know, it's really I don't know if you've
2:17
Speaker 1: been vaccinated and Anthony, but it really brought a relief
2:20
Speaker 1: to me, you know, because I'm wearing a mask and
2:23
Speaker 1: I'm doing everything I'm supposed to, and I'm not stopping.
2:25
Speaker 1: Even though I've been vaccinated. I still do the things
2:28
Speaker 1: with the mask and the hand sanitizer. But I just
2:31
Speaker 1: feel that now, you know, when a cough or sniffles,
2:36
Speaker 1: maybe it's pollen. It's time. Maybe it's pollen this time
2:41
Speaker 1: and not COVID. You know what I'm saying, what Cole say.
2:46
Speaker 1: People are still getting regular colds, right and so, but
2:50
Speaker 1: not not. But when COVID, You're like, oh, no, I
2:53
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't know, you don't know you better not,
2:55
Speaker 1: you better not and like hold on absolutely so so,
2:58
Speaker 1: so you left the NFL a sport I could never
3:00
Speaker 1: play that totally one of your respect Let's talk about like, say,
3:04
Speaker 1: your Texas board like me, I'm from Western Texas, you're
3:07
Speaker 1: San Antonio. We know Texas football is king brother, so
3:12
Speaker 1: but it's the name football and acting to individual things
3:16
Speaker 1: that don't even don't even live in the same class
3:18
Speaker 1: because one, you know, you and sitcoms done drama as well,
3:23
Speaker 1: and that is kind of like a you know, kind
3:25
Speaker 1: of a theatrical there's not nothing physical about it. You know,
3:28
Speaker 1: you're you're still animated and you're you're animated actor too.
3:31
Speaker 1: But but but you know what I'm saying is it's
3:33
Speaker 1: not the physical contact and every more absolutely absolutely and
3:40
Speaker 1: so so. But but that but that gave you an
3:42
Speaker 1: opportunity to go to college. It gave you an opportunity.
3:44
Speaker 1: And where did you go to college? At TCU hard
3:48
Speaker 1: Frog down up in the Dallas for war Ferry. Okay,
3:50
Speaker 1: so I know exactly where you at. Okay, So, so
3:54
Speaker 1: you go to the NFL, and that's that's kind of
3:56
Speaker 1: like your dream or was it your dreams? Still acting?
3:59
Speaker 1: When you went to in that f It's it's a
4:01
Speaker 1: crazy thing because people always always talk about the transition
4:04
Speaker 1: and they and they asked, you know, how did you pivot?
4:06
Speaker 1: And you know what made you want to go into acting?
4:08
Speaker 1: And the truth is acting was it for me the
4:11
Speaker 1: entire time. Football is the thing that kind of swept
4:14
Speaker 1: me up and took over and I had to put
4:16
Speaker 1: my wanting of acting on hold. So you know, I'd
4:20
Speaker 1: like to tell the joke that when you're six six
4:22
Speaker 1: three sixty and you come out of the wound that
4:24
Speaker 1: way you play football in Texas, like that's just what
4:26
Speaker 1: you do. Um, and I'm gonna just tell you to
4:29
Speaker 1: make you six six. It must be a lot of
4:31
Speaker 1: tall people on that class man. You don't look six
4:34
Speaker 1: six on that show. I'm sorry, I thank you, you
4:37
Speaker 1: know what. I appreciate that. That is the best compliment
4:39
Speaker 1: I've gotten, because that's the thing is as an actor
4:41
Speaker 1: coming in when you're all like that, a lot of
4:44
Speaker 1: times you don't get cast because they're just like I
4:45
Speaker 1: can't frame you, or we don't know how to have
4:47
Speaker 1: to do it. But luckily, I mean like for Family
4:50
Speaker 1: Union first of all is first class all the way through.
4:52
Speaker 1: So our camera guys are dps. They know exactly how
4:55
Speaker 1: to kind of angle it and make it look to
4:57
Speaker 1: where I kind of look normal and I don't look
4:59
Speaker 1: like Dan off right. You know, I'm sorry. I want
5:03
Speaker 1: you to continue. But when you said six six, I
5:05
Speaker 1: had to take a step back over he's six six
5:07
Speaker 1: because I don't know what six six looks like. Somebody
5:09
Speaker 1: had six sixth next to me. I go us sick six.
5:12
Speaker 1: But show especially the group, especially look the little kids.
5:16
Speaker 1: You know, they don't look like they died by your ankles,
5:18
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. I mean they got tall
5:21
Speaker 1: to you know, Isaiah and Cameron, both of the boys,
5:24
Speaker 1: they got really tall. So well, that's a good thing
5:26
Speaker 1: for you. Okay, good day for you. But continue your journey.
5:29
Speaker 1: Continue during your transition, you didn't really I can football
5:33
Speaker 1: with just the god gifted talent that you had, but
5:35
Speaker 1: you're blessing passion. It was something I was born in
5:38
Speaker 1: the physicality, so it was it was a nice thing
5:40
Speaker 1: to have. Um and yeah, I got into it. I
5:42
Speaker 1: got into football and it and it kind of took over.
5:44
Speaker 1: So at a young age, I kind of made this
5:47
Speaker 1: decision that football was going to be what took care
5:49
Speaker 1: of me, and eventually I wanted to get to that
5:52
Speaker 1: point where I could just do whatever I wanted because
5:54
Speaker 1: I didn't have to play football. And I think that's
5:57
Speaker 1: that was the most important thing. So I kind of
5:59
Speaker 1: made that decision at eight years old and it worked out.
6:02
Speaker 1: Don't ask me to do it twice. I don't know
6:03
Speaker 1: if it can happen, but it worked out this time.
6:05
Speaker 1: But okay, again, we talked a little bit about your size.
6:08
Speaker 1: You know, you're coming in and do you know you
6:09
Speaker 1: don't want to be the bouncer. You don't want to
6:12
Speaker 1: be the heavy, the thug, and that's what people look
6:15
Speaker 1: at a black man who's six six athletically built. So
6:19
Speaker 1: how did you start breaking that that stereotype? So yeah, naturally,
6:24
Speaker 1: like you said, you come here, you you know, off
6:27
Speaker 1: the boat, per se, you you come here and they
6:29
Speaker 1: immediately you're a bouncer, you're thug, you're a heavy, you're detective,
6:34
Speaker 1: if you're lucky, a cop, you know anything that that's
6:37
Speaker 1: big in intimidating. I mean, the amount of times that
6:39
Speaker 1: I had to say, let me see your license kind
6:42
Speaker 1: of ridiculous. But I think the most important thing was
6:46
Speaker 1: having a team around me that saw the vision that
6:49
Speaker 1: I did because I came here and I said, I'm different,
6:51
Speaker 1: I hit different. I'm a big guy, but I have
6:54
Speaker 1: emotional range. I'm able to be vulnerable. I'm able to
6:57
Speaker 1: kind of go places that guy typically my size don't
7:01
Speaker 1: really go emotionally and enacting. And so I think my
7:05
Speaker 1: my reps saw that, and so we immediately started to
7:08
Speaker 1: kind of brand the other way and kind of like
7:10
Speaker 1: push into those roles that aren't normally for me. So
7:14
Speaker 1: there was a lot of rooms that I sat in
7:16
Speaker 1: where it was like me and like fifteen other Jewish dudes,
7:18
Speaker 1: and They're like, you're here for the same role, and
7:19
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, the same role. And then eventually, you know,
7:22
Speaker 1: we get those roles, and then casting Grecords would start
7:25
Speaker 1: to see us differently, and you know, it's working out.
7:28
Speaker 1: You know, we're not getting those typical kind of roles
7:31
Speaker 1: that you would see for for a guy that looks like, well,
7:33
Speaker 1: you know, it's really interesting because my background, you know,
7:36
Speaker 1: this sitcom writing and so you know, I did a
7:40
Speaker 1: parent who with WB extually started with Steve Harvest first
7:42
Speaker 1: sitcom on ABC, Me and the Boys, and then went
7:45
Speaker 1: over to a senior Hall ABC sitcom, and then I
7:48
Speaker 1: ran into your co star, one of your co stars
7:50
Speaker 1: own family. You and the very talented Timarre you know,
7:54
Speaker 1: with a sister, Tamarrow Maori on sister sister. So how
7:58
Speaker 1: I always be working with that talent young I mean,
8:01
Speaker 1: she's the thing is from day one. Uh T and
8:04
Speaker 1: I kind of just got each other because we're both
8:06
Speaker 1: goofy and so I think we're having the same kind
8:09
Speaker 1: of brand of comedy. Uh we kind of. I think
8:12
Speaker 1: we have like one conversation about how we want to
8:15
Speaker 1: kind of approach things, and then after that we've never
8:18
Speaker 1: really had to talk about it. I think we just,
8:20
Speaker 1: you know, she throws the ball up, I catch it,
8:21
Speaker 1: vice versa, and we're just our chemistry works and it
8:25
Speaker 1: works off camera too. I think, you know, we talk
8:27
Speaker 1: at least two to three times a week, um constantly
8:30
Speaker 1: in contact, and we just get each other. And I
8:32
Speaker 1: think that's kind of what makes it easy when we're
8:35
Speaker 1: on camera, because if I happen to improvise something that's
8:39
Speaker 1: just that I think it's funny. She knows me well
8:41
Speaker 1: enough and she just plays along and it and it
8:43
Speaker 1: usually works out golden. And the same thing with her
8:45
Speaker 1: she throws things out all the time, and it just
8:47
Speaker 1: it makes her a fun working violence. I look forward
8:50
Speaker 1: to going to work everything because a partner. It really
8:52
Speaker 1: is interesting, that's right there with you. It really is
8:54
Speaker 1: interested in watching the show because y'all are silly, silly,
8:58
Speaker 1: that's compliment and being in front of a live audience. Um.
9:05
Speaker 1: And because they announced when you watch the Netflix sitcom
9:08
Speaker 1: that is take in front of a live audience. So
9:10
Speaker 1: those laughter that you hear and I can their faith
9:13
Speaker 1: they're real, which I love about the show. But man,
9:16
Speaker 1: y'all break that fourth wall. Y'all just laugh, man, you know,
9:20
Speaker 1: and that Loretta divide that fool and I'm saying that
9:23
Speaker 1: it's her fault. Man. She just keeps delivering home runs, man,
9:28
Speaker 1: and you can see you tell us about her those two.
9:35
Speaker 1: It's kind of insane because Meg, what Meg does. This
9:37
Speaker 1: is what happens is we run, we run, We run
9:40
Speaker 1: the scene the way it's supposed to be run, right,
9:43
Speaker 1: And then here comes Meg and I can see her
9:45
Speaker 1: just across the screen and she runs a little atta
9:48
Speaker 1: and she whispered something in her ear and we're all
9:50
Speaker 1: just like, what's going on? So then she runs back
9:53
Speaker 1: the action and Loretta delivers it a completely different line
9:57
Speaker 1: that still works with our with our dialogue on a
10:00
Speaker 1: completely different line that we had never heard. So it's
10:02
Speaker 1: that they want our true reactions. So half the time
10:05
Speaker 1: we're trying to laugh and we're trying or trying not
10:08
Speaker 1: to laugh. But it's fun. And so Meg loves those
10:11
Speaker 1: moments because they are real and they're more grounded. So
10:15
Speaker 1: I enjoy them because they make me laugh. But I
10:17
Speaker 1: just try not to break, but it happens. We break.
10:20
Speaker 1: Just stop trying. You break, you break, you break. Yeah,
10:23
Speaker 1: I can't. I'm finally caught up to the third season.
10:28
Speaker 1: You gotta catch this three seasons of this, and you
10:30
Speaker 1: should go back to the very first season if you're
10:33
Speaker 1: listening to this, even you for the first time. And
10:36
Speaker 1: the third season, Uh, they do a moment with you
10:38
Speaker 1: at the kitchen table when you because you're really struggling
10:41
Speaker 1: with your manhood, your your your your ability to all
10:45
Speaker 1: take care of your family. I'm gonna tell you, man,
10:47
Speaker 1: when you slid that plate off that table, man, I
10:49
Speaker 1: started laughing so hard. Man when I saw you, when
10:52
Speaker 1: you slid, I was just gonna leave it like that.
10:54
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna get it in more detailed Anthony, but
10:56
Speaker 1: when used that pay off the table man, he's said
10:59
Speaker 1: he's silly. I went full Denzel on that one. I
11:02
Speaker 1: was like, I love it. I love it, and so so,
11:09
Speaker 1: you know, because we're gonna I want to I wanna
11:11
Speaker 1: you know, I also want to talk about you as
11:13
Speaker 1: well as the sitcom, and I just want to touch
11:15
Speaker 1: the sitcom a little bit. But I wanted to go
11:17
Speaker 1: back into your just your your acting resume and also
11:19
Speaker 1: your writer, because that's more than you than just uh
11:23
Speaker 1: in front of the screen. That there's there's the ability
11:26
Speaker 1: to go behind the screen. So tell us who Anthony
11:30
Speaker 1: a lobby really is with the future. Because you said athletically,
11:33
Speaker 1: peoples stereotyped you, okay, said you were a football player,
11:36
Speaker 1: an athlete, and then you said, no, that's not me.
11:39
Speaker 1: Now you went to Hollywood, they stereotyped you. Hey man,
11:41
Speaker 1: get all the cop roll, get the thug rolls, get
11:43
Speaker 1: all the get all of anything you need to fear,
11:46
Speaker 1: throw fear in somebody. We want you. And you said
11:50
Speaker 1: that's not me. Now you you rise in the very
11:52
Speaker 1: successful sitcom, very higherious trends. If you not notice, if
11:56
Speaker 1: you follow Netflix, it does trend. I think it recially.
12:00
Speaker 1: I think it was number six recently and the top ten,
12:03
Speaker 1: and that means that. And the way that works on
12:04
Speaker 1: Netflix is the goal is for everybody to watch every
12:07
Speaker 1: one of your episodes. And that's Netflix. If if you
12:09
Speaker 1: don't watch every episode, they're gonna cancel. I'm just sorry.
12:12
Speaker 1: That's our neatural ex operation. The truth, that's the truth.
12:15
Speaker 1: He knows I'm telling truth. And but the beauty of
12:17
Speaker 1: it is that you're airing in a hundred and ninety
12:20
Speaker 1: countries that allows you to send a different message about
12:25
Speaker 1: African Americans people of color. How that betrayed because you know,
12:28
Speaker 1: you've been in the business long enough. How how this
12:30
Speaker 1: industry before streaming would say, hey, this is black sitcom.
12:33
Speaker 1: We're gonna keep you over here. Nobody wants to watch
12:35
Speaker 1: you in Europe, box in this little room that nobody
12:38
Speaker 1: knows about. Just box you in that moment. It was
12:40
Speaker 1: just terrible. And so let's let's talk about that. The
12:43
Speaker 1: ability to be expand your brand as a writer and
12:47
Speaker 1: your directings on your plate and what you want to
12:49
Speaker 1: do besides what you're doing right now. Yeah, I mean
12:52
Speaker 1: you you touched on people always kind of just trying
12:56
Speaker 1: to pigeonhole you. I think the easiest thing that people
12:58
Speaker 1: always want to do is they want to put you
12:59
Speaker 1: in a category or in a box and say this
13:01
Speaker 1: is what you are, so that way they know what's coming.
13:04
Speaker 1: And I'm kind of annoyingly ambitious in that way where
13:08
Speaker 1: I am constantly trying to push, and I think that
13:10
Speaker 1: comes from sports. It's the it's this thing of never
13:13
Speaker 1: being comfortable. Um, just because I believe that every day
13:15
Speaker 1: you either get better you get worse. You never say
13:17
Speaker 1: the same, So if you're not fighting to get better,
13:20
Speaker 1: than clearly you're getting worse. Um. For me, you know,
13:25
Speaker 1: producing and writing is something that I want to do,
13:27
Speaker 1: and that's something that eventually I really really want to
13:30
Speaker 1: get to. I think it's it's important to kind of storytell,
13:33
Speaker 1: and I think it's important to create these worlds that
13:36
Speaker 1: I want to see and in worlds that I kind
13:38
Speaker 1: of want to live in and being that probably won't
13:41
Speaker 1: get casted as or wouldn't be kind of put in,
13:44
Speaker 1: but I can put myself in those situations and right
13:46
Speaker 1: around that. And I think when I do that and
13:48
Speaker 1: still make it work to where people reading go, this
13:50
Speaker 1: is great, but this is interesting and it's not just
13:52
Speaker 1: kind of a piece for me, you know, Um, I
13:55
Speaker 1: think I think that's the important thing. So that's why
13:57
Speaker 1: my writing partner and I we've written a library of
14:00
Speaker 1: shows and and uh, you know, our pitching and doing
14:03
Speaker 1: stuff now. And I think now that the third part
14:06
Speaker 1: has come out, that's where why we're kind of pushing
14:09
Speaker 1: more of the shows that we've written, the movies that
14:12
Speaker 1: we've written, and getting really into producing. People want to
14:14
Speaker 1: get into directing. I'm not. I think that's a lot
14:17
Speaker 1: of work, but we'll see how it goes. But I'm
14:19
Speaker 1: definitely going to end up creating and writing and doing
14:25
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Speaker 1: h s A dot gov slash the Right Seat brought
16:50
Speaker 1: to you by NIZZA and the ad Council. You know,
16:52
Speaker 1: Anthony Alla Tippy was stan your lane. I don't want
16:55
Speaker 1: to direct, you know, I'm I've directed something. I've directed
16:58
Speaker 1: some commercials but didn't know. But there's more improvisational directing,
17:01
Speaker 1: you know. I'm not going to get into the whole
17:03
Speaker 1: process of with the character, the arcs and some of
17:07
Speaker 1: the oh the sketches you gotta get come over. Now,
17:09
Speaker 1: I'm not the person to put in the room, Anthony.
17:11
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying about that whole process, but
17:14
Speaker 1: the whole process of like you, you appeared in some
17:17
Speaker 1: of my favorite uh series like Shameless, that that's not
17:22
Speaker 1: an expensive wardrouble Shameless, by the way, you know, you
17:24
Speaker 1: just can just to show up on just your regular
17:27
Speaker 1: looks like everybody looks terrible, everybody looks like a step
17:31
Speaker 1: above homeless. Okay, just having that they didn't have to
17:34
Speaker 1: throw dirt on me to right right, you know. And
17:38
Speaker 1: then uh, and then a good friend of Raven's home
17:41
Speaker 1: that was on Disney, a classic when you walk into
17:43
Speaker 1: a show like n C I s WO that family
17:46
Speaker 1: has been there for fifty sixty years, you know what
17:49
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So that's and Shameless. I mean you look
17:51
Speaker 1: at Shameless ten years years and so so talk about
17:54
Speaker 1: going into those or those particularly type of productions that
17:57
Speaker 1: I mentioned spically Shameless as well as n C I
18:00
Speaker 1: S and then trying to build that same momentum, that
18:04
Speaker 1: same type of professional behavior which is laid by Meg
18:07
Speaker 1: the Loach, which is the decative producer and creator of
18:11
Speaker 1: Family Reunion. Talk about that, yeah, and you know, I
18:14
Speaker 1: think it all. I like to stem a lot of
18:16
Speaker 1: things back to sports, just because it's the first thing
18:18
Speaker 1: that I related to growing up. So it's the same
18:22
Speaker 1: thing when you are you know, I was an offensive linement.
18:25
Speaker 1: So when you're like the sixth man, right, and you
18:28
Speaker 1: have the starting five, and you have that six guy,
18:30
Speaker 1: and somebody goes down or somebody gets hurt or you know,
18:33
Speaker 1: they're playing bad or whatever, and they pull that guy
18:35
Speaker 1: and you go in. The goal is to maintain the standard,
18:39
Speaker 1: is to not be the weak link. It's too you
18:41
Speaker 1: don't necessarily have to outshine anyone, but you got to
18:44
Speaker 1: make sure you keep the boat going and don't let
18:46
Speaker 1: it sink. And I think that's the same kind of
18:48
Speaker 1: concept when you're going into a show that has been
18:50
Speaker 1: on for a decade decade and a half, um like
18:54
Speaker 1: an n C. I s like a shameless These people
18:56
Speaker 1: this is a well oiled machine. Everybody knows what they're
18:58
Speaker 1: doing every day, every minute of the day, and so
19:01
Speaker 1: when you come in, it's not to disrupt that, but
19:03
Speaker 1: it's too kind of almost like a double dutch thing.
19:05
Speaker 1: Where you're waiting for your turn. You're waiting for your turn,
19:07
Speaker 1: you pop in, you do your thing, and you pop out.
19:10
Speaker 1: And I think that's the That was the kind of
19:13
Speaker 1: the message that I told myself going into all these things,
19:16
Speaker 1: and it worked out that it ended up being a
19:18
Speaker 1: really good role and shining in those in those uh
19:21
Speaker 1: in those series. But at the same time, it's maintaining
19:25
Speaker 1: the standard that they've already set over those years. Okay,
19:28
Speaker 1: with that being said, now you're in the third season
19:31
Speaker 1: of Family Union, which Arizon Netflix. So you saw how
19:34
Speaker 1: do you went in the first time? Like you said,
19:36
Speaker 1: when you saw when you walk to Netflix, the serious
19:38
Speaker 1: Family Union, you said, this is golden. But each year,
19:42
Speaker 1: you know, there's a conference zone because just the reality
19:44
Speaker 1: of Hollywood ladies and gentlemen. You know, you get a
19:47
Speaker 1: gig and that can get That doesn't mean it's gonna land.
19:50
Speaker 1: So you know, just suddenly get an acting gig and
19:51
Speaker 1: just go buy a new car or a new house.
19:54
Speaker 1: There's a certain level of uncertainty. So that first season,
19:58
Speaker 1: you didn't know if they're gonna get picked up. You
20:00
Speaker 1: is happy to get a check. I know that, I know. Okay,
20:03
Speaker 1: now the second season now you know Thursdays, where are
20:06
Speaker 1: you ad mentally with the series and how's does overall
20:09
Speaker 1: staff and production? What changes have come about over the
20:12
Speaker 1: last three years. Well, naturally you're gonna have, you know,
20:15
Speaker 1: changes in staff, changing changes and crew. But I think
20:18
Speaker 1: the message overall is the same, and it's to tell
20:21
Speaker 1: authentic Black stories, and it's to tell stories of real
20:25
Speaker 1: families and to give everybody a voice and a point
20:28
Speaker 1: of view. And I think that's what you see in
20:30
Speaker 1: Family re Union that you don't see in a lot
20:31
Speaker 1: of kind of other other shows that are written kind
20:34
Speaker 1: of by white people about black people, filter through their
20:38
Speaker 1: view of it. I think when you're have in all
20:39
Speaker 1: black writers room, they're black people writing for Black people
20:43
Speaker 1: about us. And I think when you have that, you
20:46
Speaker 1: get those little corners of the culture that aren't normally
20:48
Speaker 1: there with other kinds of sitcom. So the goal every
20:52
Speaker 1: single year is to to not shy away from any
20:55
Speaker 1: topics that come up, to not shy away from themes
20:59
Speaker 1: that other people wouldn't explore, like death or interpersonal relationships
21:03
Speaker 1: between a husband and wife, or you know, dad's dealing
21:05
Speaker 1: with their daughters, but in a real way, not in
21:07
Speaker 1: a sit Commy way, like Jade ran away, you know
21:10
Speaker 1: what I mean, Mose has, you know, problems dealing with
21:12
Speaker 1: his friend dying, or Mose and Coco having financial issues
21:15
Speaker 1: and having to really parent their kids instead of throwing
21:18
Speaker 1: money at any kind of problem, which is what they
21:20
Speaker 1: used to do. And I think when you do that
21:22
Speaker 1: and you don't shy away from those things, and you
21:23
Speaker 1: try and tell it as authentically as possible, and you
21:26
Speaker 1: bring in directors that hold you to a certain standard
21:29
Speaker 1: that keeps a show going, that's what maintains the the
21:34
Speaker 1: the overall kind of greatness of a show, which is
21:37
Speaker 1: which is why you have shows like n C I
21:38
Speaker 1: S and Shameless that continue to go and continue to
21:41
Speaker 1: grow because of the fact that they maintain that standard
21:44
Speaker 1: other show And You're right, in Hollywood, you can get complacent.
21:46
Speaker 1: It's easy after season you know, three or four, to
21:49
Speaker 1: just be like it's automatic. Now we're gonna get renewed.
21:51
Speaker 1: This is how it goes. And that's not how it goes.
21:52
Speaker 1: And that's when you get blindsided with the cancelation sticker
21:54
Speaker 1: and you're worried about your rent. And I'm gonna just
21:58
Speaker 1: tell you how significant that. What are you talking about
22:00
Speaker 1: when he said, all black writing staff for sitcom, just
22:03
Speaker 1: do your little history about my life. My first writing
22:06
Speaker 1: sitcom was Me and the Bars on ABC. The showrunner
22:09
Speaker 1: was white. It was only two black writers. It was
22:12
Speaker 1: three black writers in that room. Okay. And then my
22:14
Speaker 1: second show, it was Parenthood, Robert Townsend show. He was
22:18
Speaker 1: an executive producer. But the two but the showrunners, they
22:21
Speaker 1: were white, good people, only white people. I'm not saying
22:23
Speaker 1: nothing negative. I'm just saying but still not delivering a
22:26
Speaker 1: black point of view for a show because they have
22:28
Speaker 1: to ask questions and sometimes they would take story arcs
22:31
Speaker 1: that was comfortable to them because they understood it. But
22:33
Speaker 1: we're not comfortable to the style, and you start debating
22:36
Speaker 1: why are we doing this? And then and then we
22:38
Speaker 1: went over. I went over to Arcinio. He was struggling
22:41
Speaker 1: with his showrunner who was white, and that show eventually
22:44
Speaker 1: that counseled after one season. And then I went over
22:46
Speaker 1: to Um went over to Sister Sister. That show runner
22:49
Speaker 1: was white. But then that's when I met the incredible
22:51
Speaker 1: Felicia Henderson and really and she had a lot of
22:54
Speaker 1: influence on those storylines. Because she had a lot of
22:57
Speaker 1: influence on the showrunner. And then finally I wrapped up
22:59
Speaker 1: my sitcom career with the amazing Sara Finni sera Fanny
23:04
Speaker 1: Johnson on The Parkers and she's a black show runner
23:06
Speaker 1: who also created Moitia. And so each each layer tells
23:10
Speaker 1: a different story because there was different battles that you
23:12
Speaker 1: fight in the room. And if you have a mixed
23:15
Speaker 1: room that really doesn't understand the culture of what they're
23:17
Speaker 1: supposed to be writing about, it creates a sense of
23:20
Speaker 1: why are we doing this? In debating where I like
23:22
Speaker 1: to believe that a room doing a black sitcom and
23:26
Speaker 1: the writers are black delivers a lot of real, honest
23:28
Speaker 1: script for you guys, and also allow you to question
23:31
Speaker 1: stuff without any kick back exactly. And I think that's
23:34
Speaker 1: when I talk to Anthony about this, um. I think
23:37
Speaker 1: in that writer's room, the reason why we get such
23:39
Speaker 1: gold that comes out of that room is because there's
23:42
Speaker 1: no egos involved. Anyone can pitch any joke at any time,
23:46
Speaker 1: and if it's funny, it's funny. If it's not, then
23:48
Speaker 1: it's not. And if it's not funny and Anthony, you know,
23:50
Speaker 1: or Meg pitched it, it's just not funny. But if
23:53
Speaker 1: it's funny, and the staff writer or a p A
23:54
Speaker 1: pitched it it's funny and put it in. And I
23:57
Speaker 1: think when you do that and you take the ego
23:59
Speaker 1: out of it and you just want the best product possible,
24:01
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, you're gonna end up
24:03
Speaker 1: with a show that is a banger that every episode
24:07
Speaker 1: just makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes you jump,
24:09
Speaker 1: makes you dance. And when you have that, it's something special.
24:12
Speaker 1: And I think that's what we have. You do have
24:14
Speaker 1: something pressure. I'll tell you something, Anthony. I haven't thought
24:18
Speaker 1: about writing on the sitcom wow twenty years. Twenty years
24:22
Speaker 1: at least seriously. And and I miss it. After watching
24:28
Speaker 1: this show, this serious family Reunion, I miss it, and
24:31
Speaker 1: it was like, wow, I'm very serious. I'm like wow, man.
24:37
Speaker 1: You know, because I watched a lot of television. I
24:39
Speaker 1: watched a lot of sitcoms, and you know, like said,
24:42
Speaker 1: I was in that little banner run where you know,
24:43
Speaker 1: all I sitcom for buried on W B and c
24:46
Speaker 1: W and up N and all those things, and they
24:49
Speaker 1: were just using our shows to launch networks and things
24:51
Speaker 1: like that. And and just to see this show man,
24:54
Speaker 1: and and nobody has not seen the show, please make
24:58
Speaker 1: it a part of your watch because to the fact
25:00
Speaker 1: that it just brought back fund memories about what the
25:03
Speaker 1: show is about. And the show is about you know, you,
25:06
Speaker 1: your African American man was a successful football player and
25:09
Speaker 1: then had to from Seattle, had to move your family
25:12
Speaker 1: back down to the south, the great city of Atlanta
25:14
Speaker 1: in a great state of Georgia, and you and you're
25:17
Speaker 1: living with your mom and your dad played by my man.
25:19
Speaker 1: The Shaft, the original Shaft is gonna be real, richar
25:23
Speaker 1: round tree And I'm gonna ask you about that and
25:25
Speaker 1: minute and then then then you know, because we already
25:27
Speaker 1: talked about her, you know, Loretta Divine, the Amazing and
25:30
Speaker 1: Loretta Divine and you know timm Are and and it's
25:33
Speaker 1: it's it's you know. The thing about it is that
25:35
Speaker 1: when you're working around anthem, when you're working around such
25:38
Speaker 1: legendary actors and actresses like a Loretta and Alarika Richard,
25:44
Speaker 1: how does that help you? Well? I think you you
25:48
Speaker 1: study how they work. You study, you know, just the
25:52
Speaker 1: work ethic and and even just what they bring to rehearsals,
25:57
Speaker 1: what they bring to run throughs, and then what they
25:58
Speaker 1: bring to shoot That is you know, Loretta really did
26:02
Speaker 1: the best thing she could for me, which is I
26:04
Speaker 1: think our first ever network run through. And I've done
26:08
Speaker 1: tons of run throughs, it's notthing issue, but I've never
26:10
Speaker 1: done a run through his league, and so I was
26:12
Speaker 1: a little nervous, you know, more than the normal uh
26:16
Speaker 1: this time. And I had this big sequence. I can't
26:18
Speaker 1: remember the episode or what it was, but I know
26:19
Speaker 1: I had a big kind of like comedic sequence that
26:22
Speaker 1: I was hoping it would be funny because I was
26:24
Speaker 1: going to improb some stuff but who knew. And I
26:26
Speaker 1: did it, and the network cracked up and they were
26:28
Speaker 1: laughing to the point we had to stop run through
26:30
Speaker 1: for a second because they were cracking up, and then
26:32
Speaker 1: kind of resumed. But I remember I went to the
26:34
Speaker 1: back of the kitchen afterward to exit, and Loretta was
26:38
Speaker 1: sitting there because that's what she was gonna enter from,
26:39
Speaker 1: and she looked up at me and she was just
26:41
Speaker 1: like this, do you just make it look so easy?
26:44
Speaker 1: And she was like you did? I love it? I
26:45
Speaker 1: love it. And then it made me feel very confident
26:48
Speaker 1: that someone of that stature recognized me and was like,
26:52
Speaker 1: good job. And from then on it's just been it's
26:55
Speaker 1: been a fun dance and play every day with with
26:58
Speaker 1: her and with Richard. Well, you know they you know,
27:01
Speaker 1: you know, I love the series, right The only the
27:04
Speaker 1: only thing that I was skeptical of this whole series
27:08
Speaker 1: was you trying to fix the Mercedes Been. I said
27:12
Speaker 1: the exact same thing. That is, like, that is the
27:15
Speaker 1: most impossible things. Pull me all if one pull me
27:22
Speaker 1: a shamby or something. But for you to be under
27:25
Speaker 1: the hood of say these trucks holding some piece that
27:28
Speaker 1: I don't think belong inside that engine area, was trying
27:32
Speaker 1: to fix an iPhone. It's ridiculous, it really is. But
27:37
Speaker 1: you know, and at first he was supposed to be
27:39
Speaker 1: I think it was supposed to be something else. But
27:41
Speaker 1: you know, Meg being mag She's like, now let's get
27:43
Speaker 1: the Mercedes truck in here. I was like, that's a
27:46
Speaker 1: writer's moment, you know what I'm saying, That's a writer's
27:49
Speaker 1: moment right there. But it didn't. It didn't hurt the
27:51
Speaker 1: show at all. I'm just that's just me and you
27:52
Speaker 1: talking having fun in this interview about you. They're trying
27:56
Speaker 1: to fix the Mercedes Being and talk about that. I'm
27:59
Speaker 1: not gonna get the episodes very well. You should watch that,
28:02
Speaker 1: watch all that pros. Like I said, I'm talking about
28:05
Speaker 1: the third season right now, but you need to go
28:07
Speaker 1: back to season one to really see the arc of
28:09
Speaker 1: the series. Watch these kids, these amazingly talented kids, uh,
28:16
Speaker 1: grow as as young actors, young people. I'll talk about
28:20
Speaker 1: the the kids who play your children on the show.
28:24
Speaker 1: You know, they're amazing. I think I was the last
28:26
Speaker 1: one kind of cast on this show because they were
28:28
Speaker 1: kind of looking for that role. They were looking for
28:30
Speaker 1: that actor for the longest and um, when I came on,
28:34
Speaker 1: the kids had already kind of been there week. They
28:35
Speaker 1: went through like an acting camp. Uh, and it showed
28:38
Speaker 1: and Eric Deane Seedon, I mean, he's just he's such
28:41
Speaker 1: a professional. Um. And it was such a gift for
28:43
Speaker 1: them because I think when as soon as we started
28:45
Speaker 1: kind of getting into filming, those kids were professional. They
28:49
Speaker 1: knew everything about what they needed to do. They knew
28:52
Speaker 1: where their cameras were, they knew about lighting, they knew
28:54
Speaker 1: where to stand, they knew how to pause for laughs,
28:56
Speaker 1: they knew all the technical kind of stuff that comes
28:59
Speaker 1: along with this sitcom because I mean, you know, the
29:01
Speaker 1: sitcoms are a little more technical. There's a lot more
29:04
Speaker 1: to them. As an actor, it's a little heavier on
29:06
Speaker 1: you because you have to worry about blocking someone's light
29:09
Speaker 1: and you know where you're blocking and where you're standing,
29:11
Speaker 1: and you know making sure you're on turn to the
29:13
Speaker 1: right camera, different things. And those kids just picked it
29:17
Speaker 1: up and they just got it and they've gotten it
29:20
Speaker 1: ever since. And they and they're funny and they're just
29:22
Speaker 1: they improve their little so they're so talented. They all
29:25
Speaker 1: sing and dance. And except for you. I noticed you're
29:28
Speaker 1: not singing there, sir. That's one talent you don't possess.
29:31
Speaker 1: It's the singing skills. But here's the thing I'll give
29:34
Speaker 1: myself a little credit is I can hold a tune.
29:37
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna make an album, but you know I can.
29:39
Speaker 1: I'll be your I'll be your background. I love it.
29:47
Speaker 1: I love it well. You know. The beauty of it
29:49
Speaker 1: is that you have a you have a wonderful career
29:52
Speaker 1: that you resume. You're working on the show that successful
29:56
Speaker 1: and I like to believe it they will bring you
29:58
Speaker 1: back for another season. We never know the guards play
30:00
Speaker 1: out there, but it's definitely uh as great value. Like
30:04
Speaker 1: I said, when I'm watching the third season, I'm going,
30:07
Speaker 1: I'm trying to and he's the thing, and I'm trying
30:09
Speaker 1: to fit this writing in my schedule. I'm going, how
30:12
Speaker 1: can I get you can write? Well? I could do
30:15
Speaker 1: expect script. Maybe I can say Meg expect grip and
30:18
Speaker 1: then she goes, I don't want to write again, no way,
30:22
Speaker 1: but but just what you come on to our showman.
30:25
Speaker 1: You're gonna have a good time. That's the thing. I know,
30:28
Speaker 1: I know, I am. And it takes in Atlanta, correct,
30:31
Speaker 1: you know? No, No, we're right here. Paramount Studios, Paramount Studios. Okay, cool,
30:34
Speaker 1: just the same where the family is based. Madea's houses
30:38
Speaker 1: in Columbus, Georgia. But we go we go to Atlanta, bunch,
30:40
Speaker 1: but it's in Columbus, Georgia. It's a small town in Georgia.
30:43
Speaker 1: You know, I know what Columbus right, just just go
30:45
Speaker 1: east like you're going to Burmingham. That's what it's like.
30:49
Speaker 1: I know exactly what Columbus gearg is at. But I can't.
30:51
Speaker 1: I would not close this interview. I'm from Houston, Texas.
30:55
Speaker 1: You've from San Antonio, Texas. I love text next you know,
31:00
Speaker 1: I will eat that for breakfast, I would eat it
31:02
Speaker 1: for lunch. I I just can't get enough of. I
31:05
Speaker 1: just had to clothes and find out where was your heart?
31:08
Speaker 1: When it comes to text Max, where's your heart? It was?
31:11
Speaker 1: It was so obsessed with text Max that I had
31:14
Speaker 1: to leave Texas to stay my heart because if not,
31:19
Speaker 1: it would be clogged, that I'd be, I'd be on medication.
31:23
Speaker 1: Right now, I just eat, I eat, I eat flower
31:26
Speaker 1: gee right all day than when my brother, you look fantastic,
31:31
Speaker 1: and I'm glad you lost that offensive line, work weight,
31:36
Speaker 1: why receiver that you want to play in this sitcom?
31:38
Speaker 1: Today you look fantastic, Anthon, And I'm glad I got
31:42
Speaker 1: the interview on my show man and just also just
31:44
Speaker 1: to spread the greatness of this sitcom. Man, then you
31:47
Speaker 1: guys are doing a great job setting a great message
31:49
Speaker 1: and brought back so many great memories, man about what
31:53
Speaker 1: I did. And I always feel blessed about because a
31:56
Speaker 1: lot of people see a lot of my sitcoms now
31:58
Speaker 1: that I wrote on and produced on Netflix. Now you know,
32:01
Speaker 1: and it gets to people you wrote this, Yeah, that
32:03
Speaker 1: was me, that was me. That was me. So so
32:05
Speaker 1: I'm kind of like getting some Netflix love, Anthony. But again, brother,
32:08
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on money making Conversations. Thank you
32:11
Speaker 1: for having me man, I really appreciate it. This is
32:13
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. Absolutely. If we want to hear
32:15
Speaker 1: or see more interviews of money Making Conversations, please go
32:17
Speaker 1: to money Making Conversation dot com or our YouTube channel.
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