Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Nyambi Nyambi Full Interview

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Nyambi Nyambi Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: how to live a balanced life. My next Chest is
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Speaker 1: a first generation Nigerian American who has transitioned from being
2:03
Speaker 1: the sarcastic waiter on the Mike and Molly sitcom to
2:07
Speaker 1: starting as an investigator and CBA and the CBS All
2:10
Speaker 1: Access series The Good Fight. He's a farmer, athlete, you know, athlete,
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Speaker 1: college basketball player, Bucknell University. You know we say buck
2:17
Speaker 1: now you gotta go deep Bucknell University. Who received the
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Speaker 1: Masters of Fine Arts from the Graduate Arcting Graduate Acting
2:24
Speaker 1: Program at New York University. My guests is a busy actor.
2:28
Speaker 1: We already know that. He's a comic book aficionado. You
2:30
Speaker 1: may not know that. And he's an avid gamer. You
2:32
Speaker 1: may may not have known that either. That's what we're
2:34
Speaker 1: gonna find out about all these interesting side side deals
2:37
Speaker 1: that he's doing in his life. Please work with the
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Speaker 1: money making conversation with my man. Niambi, Niambi, thank you.
2:45
Speaker 1: How you Oklahoma? That's where you're from? Oklahoma? Yeah? Yeah,
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Speaker 1: I was going on the campus at the University of Oklahoma.
2:51
Speaker 1: So I'm I'm sooner born to Breda. When I die,
2:53
Speaker 1: I'll sooner dead. Okay, Now you know that's that's kind
2:56
Speaker 1: of that's almost corner that now, it's almost corner that
3:01
Speaker 1: we do. That's the University of Oklahoma. I didn't make
3:03
Speaker 1: it up. I know, I know, I know, I know.
3:06
Speaker 1: So so being a point in Oklahoma or Trey Young
3:09
Speaker 1: isn't it for Trey Young Smoklahoma right Oma, Okay, one
3:14
Speaker 1: of our Olomo grades. Now as an athlete, Okay, athlete,
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Speaker 1: now you're an actor. You know that the academics played
3:21
Speaker 1: away Buck Nilis wasn't an easy school to get academic
3:24
Speaker 1: training in so so as an athlete. So let's talk
3:27
Speaker 1: about that. H was was was the possibility of being
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Speaker 1: an actor on the horizon or just playing basketball on
3:34
Speaker 1: the horizon? The mb was I was being an actor
3:40
Speaker 1: in the amby was being an actor? Was the goal?
3:43
Speaker 1: Or just being an actor the goal? And you know, um,
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Speaker 1: the goal for me, you know had always been um,
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Speaker 1: basketball and and and and taking it to you know,
3:57
Speaker 1: you know, taking it as far as possible, like and
4:00
Speaker 1: you know the dream of course is to play in
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Speaker 1: the NBA. Uh you know. But looking my father was like,
4:04
Speaker 1: you can put all your ad basket. You have to
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Speaker 1: do something different. You have to you have to find
4:10
Speaker 1: what what what is the thing that you are that
4:13
Speaker 1: you can fall back on. And so I'm like, wow,
4:16
Speaker 1: I want to fall back on basketball. Um. But while
4:19
Speaker 1: doing that, um, you know, I did have other adventures
4:23
Speaker 1: that I was into, you know, as far as the artwork.
4:25
Speaker 1: But I had an uncle. I have an uncle who
4:27
Speaker 1: was a painter who you know, was struggling from you know,
4:31
Speaker 1: from from you know, commissions, commission, you know, very successful,
4:36
Speaker 1: but that's how he was was operating. And then, um,
4:40
Speaker 1: I was thinking about, you know, what if I want
4:43
Speaker 1: to you know, sit at a desk and and you know,
4:45
Speaker 1: being in advertising, and I knew that that's something I
4:49
Speaker 1: didn't want to do. Now. In the meantime, I've always
4:53
Speaker 1: been active, but acting for fun, like it was, you know,
4:56
Speaker 1: doing it as far back as when I first did
4:58
Speaker 1: my first play, se Come to Mayo Is fifth grade
5:02
Speaker 1: had always been some sort of drum. Yeah, I had
5:06
Speaker 1: love for it, but I didn't know that that. I
5:07
Speaker 1: didn't know that I was an actor. I didn't call
5:11
Speaker 1: myself that. It was just something I did as a
5:13
Speaker 1: hobby to have fun. And and it wasn't until I
5:17
Speaker 1: got when I saw the writing on the wall with basketball.
5:19
Speaker 1: But at the same time I found myself on the stage, um,
5:25
Speaker 1: going further than I normally would ever go with with
5:28
Speaker 1: the work and touching on something that where we call
5:32
Speaker 1: in the business of acting, catching the bug, and that
5:36
Speaker 1: just completely it showed, It showed me. The next eighty years,
5:42
Speaker 1: you know, just being in that moment on that stage
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Speaker 1: to where I quickly realized that the dream of all
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Speaker 1: dreams was to be an actor. That's that's that's amazing,
5:52
Speaker 1: you know, understanding that because you said you started at
5:55
Speaker 1: a very early age. You know, I, I know, my
5:57
Speaker 1: degree is in mathematics, and I went to work for
5:59
Speaker 1: Ibby them and I was just doing stand up comedy,
6:02
Speaker 1: you know, and people ask me that you always want
6:04
Speaker 1: to be a stand up you know, I was just
6:05
Speaker 1: a funny guy. Maybe didn't even realize I was a
6:08
Speaker 1: funny guy, but it led me to these opportunities. And
6:11
Speaker 1: the reason I bring that up about you being an
6:13
Speaker 1: athlete and then now you're being a famous actor and
6:15
Speaker 1: a working actor, is that you know, we are we
6:18
Speaker 1: are settling a path in life. You know, our parents
6:21
Speaker 1: can point you in the direction and say this is
6:22
Speaker 1: how you should live your life. And then but you
6:25
Speaker 1: have to figure out how to live your life in
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Speaker 1: a happy life that is comfortable to you. And that's
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Speaker 1: what you're doing right now, even though you had the
6:32
Speaker 1: physical traits and the physical ability to be a superior athlete,
6:35
Speaker 1: because they're just not passing out scholarships, you know, they're
6:38
Speaker 1: not passing them out. So if somebody looked at you
6:40
Speaker 1: on a regular basis said we can invest and he
6:43
Speaker 1: can help our team. And so. But as you went
6:46
Speaker 1: to college, how would you how were your what was
6:49
Speaker 1: your friends saying he was an athlete, he was acting?
6:52
Speaker 1: Why was that whole process started developing college? But for me,
6:58
Speaker 1: you know, uh, college is is a great place to
7:00
Speaker 1: find out who you are. Like it's a time to
7:02
Speaker 1: like sit back and be like, Okay, what do I
7:05
Speaker 1: want to do? What do I want to do with
7:07
Speaker 1: the rest of my life now? Um, you don't have
7:11
Speaker 1: to find the answer while in college, but you can
7:13
Speaker 1: explore all the answers while you're in college. And for me,
7:17
Speaker 1: you know, I started off as a computer science major. Um,
7:21
Speaker 1: but then I found myself uh like up until five
7:25
Speaker 1: in the morning trying to figure out how to make
7:27
Speaker 1: a clock digitally move one second. Um. Then and then
7:31
Speaker 1: an hour later I had to go to practice. So
7:32
Speaker 1: I was like when I ain't gonna work, um, And
7:35
Speaker 1: then uh after that, I was like, well, I'm into art,
7:38
Speaker 1: so let me you know, be an art an art major.
7:42
Speaker 1: But then they had art history right after lunch, and
7:46
Speaker 1: I kept every time you know, they turned off the
7:48
Speaker 1: lights and to go right to sleep, and I was like, uh, yeah,
7:51
Speaker 1: I guess I can't major an art right now because
7:53
Speaker 1: because I just can't get pafter our history. Um. And
7:57
Speaker 1: then I was a going to be a theater major,
8:01
Speaker 1: but theater happened at the same time as basketball games
8:04
Speaker 1: as far as the other plays, so I couldn't do
8:07
Speaker 1: I couldn't do both. So then I was like, all right,
8:10
Speaker 1: how about I just do business? So UM ended up
8:15
Speaker 1: being a business major bucknell um. But then I was
8:19
Speaker 1: still like, I don't know what I would do with
8:22
Speaker 1: this degree in terms of what makes me happy, and
8:27
Speaker 1: and the ultimately what ended up happening. I found myself, um,
8:31
Speaker 1: you know, auditioning for play and getting cast in it
8:35
Speaker 1: senior year and uh, you know, because I was injured.
8:38
Speaker 1: And then my coach I told him he I got
8:40
Speaker 1: cast in this play, as you like it, and then
8:42
Speaker 1: he laughed at me and say, get the practice. You're
8:45
Speaker 1: not doing that. So I was like, okay, all right,
8:47
Speaker 1: but there's something here. There's something about this that I
8:51
Speaker 1: don't know what it is, but there's something here that
8:54
Speaker 1: I need to further explore. And then doing the uh,
8:58
Speaker 1: the eulogy for the Marty children and by Monothor King
9:01
Speaker 1: UM for this um this galla that was being put
9:05
Speaker 1: up about now my senior year, when I did that
9:08
Speaker 1: speech for for an audience, that's when I felt completely
9:14
Speaker 1: met completely where I was supposed to be. UM, more
9:19
Speaker 1: so than I had ever felt even even when I was,
9:22
Speaker 1: you know, playing at the top of my game basketball wise.
9:27
Speaker 1: UM like that that that same freedom that I felt
9:30
Speaker 1: on the basketball court when I'm like completely letting go
9:32
Speaker 1: and at my best, you know, um not thinking, that's
9:37
Speaker 1: how I felt on the stage. Freedom and so yeah,
9:42
Speaker 1: And I think basketball actually prepared me for that being
9:45
Speaker 1: an athlete, you know, it's just you know, uh, the
9:50
Speaker 1: you know, the practices would be like rehearsal, Yeah, the discipline,
9:55
Speaker 1: all of that, man, Like the things that you that
9:57
Speaker 1: go into becoming you know, the best athletes you can become. Uh,
10:03
Speaker 1: those those same things apply to to um. Uh, not
10:07
Speaker 1: only acting, but to any sort of discipline that you're
10:10
Speaker 1: you're you're working on, the the very foundation of those
10:15
Speaker 1: different things that we work on, UH really require that
10:20
Speaker 1: work that's really interesting that you're bringing in because it
10:22
Speaker 1: really is you know, whether you're repeatedly practicing your free
10:25
Speaker 1: throw where you really practicing jump shots and rempleatedly practicing
10:31
Speaker 1: drill will try to get bit that that level of discipline.
10:34
Speaker 1: That's what we're talking about right now, when you're when
10:36
Speaker 1: we're talking about success of being consistently successful or trying
10:39
Speaker 1: to rise to a level that you can be successful.
10:42
Speaker 1: I want to answer this question because I do get
10:44
Speaker 1: athletes on my calls a lot, and and and you're
10:47
Speaker 1: an individual who got a college scholarship, so you had aspirations.
10:51
Speaker 1: I believe to be an NBA player. We all want
10:53
Speaker 1: to be Michael Jordan, we all want to be Kobe Bryant,
10:55
Speaker 1: we all want to be Charles Barkley. We always want
10:57
Speaker 1: to be If you got the boat to be a shock?
11:00
Speaker 1: What did at what point in your athletic career you realize,
11:03
Speaker 1: you know, some I'm not gonna be at that level?
11:06
Speaker 1: Or did you ever realize that you said I was
11:08
Speaker 1: just gonna go in this direction to or something I
11:10
Speaker 1: feel I can I can exhale in for me, Um,
11:16
Speaker 1: you know, I always wanted to be Magic younger because
11:18
Speaker 1: you know that that was my my my, my favorite
11:21
Speaker 1: player of all times. Um, And I just assumed that
11:26
Speaker 1: I would grow to be six eight. Um, when I
11:29
Speaker 1: stopped to six feeds, H think nobody was like, you
11:32
Speaker 1: know what's good. You're good at six feet. You don't
11:34
Speaker 1: need you don't need to go any first to see UM.
11:38
Speaker 1: But I want me back six see UM. So all right,
11:43
Speaker 1: six were trying to work with this UM. But then
11:46
Speaker 1: you know, uh, sophomore year in college. UM, you know
11:51
Speaker 1: it was actually a turning point for me because I
11:53
Speaker 1: actually wanted to transfer. I wanted to actually go someplace else.
11:57
Speaker 1: And because the you know, as far as silo play
11:59
Speaker 1: and relationship to coach just wasn't you know, I wasn't
12:02
Speaker 1: there and I wanted to. I wanted, I wanted to
12:05
Speaker 1: go somewhere else, but I could, you know, I can
12:08
Speaker 1: maximize my skill set and uh. And what was said
12:11
Speaker 1: to me then when I had spoken to the coach,
12:16
Speaker 1: UM actually put me in a place that made me
12:20
Speaker 1: and this is truth be told, honestly, UM made me
12:25
Speaker 1: fall out of love for playing organized basketball. Yeah. I mean,
12:30
Speaker 1: I love the game and I've always loved in that
12:32
Speaker 1: will never leave me. But there's something about organized basketball,
12:35
Speaker 1: organized sports that all of a sudden became UM. It
12:41
Speaker 1: no longer became the sort of a fun than a
12:46
Speaker 1: passion for you. Thanks, Yeah, the passion, yeah, exactly. So
12:50
Speaker 1: um so yeah. So so that's when it started for
12:54
Speaker 1: me because i mean, look, I'm you know, I'm working
12:57
Speaker 1: these basketball camps, were working at Georgetown University of Basketball camp,
13:00
Speaker 1: playing with those guys afterwards, work in the University of
13:03
Speaker 1: Maryland basketball. Can't playing with those guys afterwards if you
13:05
Speaker 1: think about it, back then, that's when Steve Blake was there,
13:08
Speaker 1: when uh, when Juan Dixon was there, a lot of
13:12
Speaker 1: profit to come back and ball Tony Massenburg with ball
13:15
Speaker 1: and and I'm balling with them, holding my own and
13:18
Speaker 1: then these guys are like, man, can't wait to see
13:20
Speaker 1: what you do. But now you know, can you know,
13:22
Speaker 1: can't wait, can't wait? And then I get to school
13:25
Speaker 1: and then somehow something would happen. That's just you know,
13:32
Speaker 1: because it wasn't it was no longer you know, working out,
13:37
Speaker 1: and it just maybe be like, you know what I've
13:40
Speaker 1: got to look at this and and really and really
13:42
Speaker 1: see is this is where I'm supposed to be. This
13:46
Speaker 1: is what I'm supposed to be doing, you know, And
13:48
Speaker 1: the thing is is that it basketball is what what
13:52
Speaker 1: makes me happy in terms of it being my happy place.
13:56
Speaker 1: But I can play basketball and anywhere anytime I want to, right,
14:00
Speaker 1: you know, um at six Uh you know what I mean,
14:07
Speaker 1: I could, um so so yeah, so that's why. So
14:12
Speaker 1: that that's when it started a software year in uh,
14:14
Speaker 1: in college where I was, I got at something something else.
14:19
Speaker 1: I'll just in case, just in case. That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah,
14:24
Speaker 1: I'm talking to Nembi ni Ambie. We're talking about his
14:27
Speaker 1: career as an athlete in college, about his experiences as
14:30
Speaker 1: a in his academic train. We come back, we're gonna
14:33
Speaker 1: talk about his acting career when he's making his money
14:36
Speaker 1: with he's paying the bills. He went from I think
14:39
Speaker 1: six seasons on Mike and Miley said, come up, it
14:41
Speaker 1: was six seasons. Saw I'm on their playing a roll
14:43
Speaker 1: over waiter. But this, uh, this if you have not
14:46
Speaker 1: seen the Good Fight, Okay, when we described the breakdown
14:49
Speaker 1: of this show, I think you're gonna become a fan
14:52
Speaker 1: and you're gonna like find time to figure out how
14:54
Speaker 1: to watch the shows on CBS All Access. We'll be
14:56
Speaker 1: right back with more. Uh from buck now to to
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Speaker 1: T E R dot Ai. That's right. He's the man.
17:13
Speaker 1: He's been on the series an athlete, and I always
17:15
Speaker 1: i'd love bringing people who are who on people. You
17:18
Speaker 1: see how they've made a transition in his in their lives.
17:21
Speaker 1: You know, because you can be so successful in one
17:23
Speaker 1: direction and sometimes you can hold onto that that direction
17:26
Speaker 1: for too long because you're afraid to make change. And
17:29
Speaker 1: when you're an athlete, you can be driven by the
17:32
Speaker 1: physicality of That's what defines you. And that's why I
17:35
Speaker 1: love and that's why I wanted to bring you on
17:36
Speaker 1: the show now be because you are you know, you
17:39
Speaker 1: all that athlete. You are defined by the possibilities of
17:42
Speaker 1: what you could do as a physical person. Like you said,
17:45
Speaker 1: you're competing against the Steve Blake's and the Walan Dick
17:48
Speaker 1: and he's a very familiar names for me. Okay from
17:50
Speaker 1: that whole uh you know Maryland Maryland Yard Time era
17:54
Speaker 1: or the back then when when they when they were
17:55
Speaker 1: just just winning on the regular. Maryland is still having it,
17:58
Speaker 1: has a really successful program and Patrick Human trying to
18:01
Speaker 1: bring back to jargetown program. But more importantly, you understood
18:04
Speaker 1: that God gave you more than one talent. You understood
18:08
Speaker 1: that you you had multiple layers of opportunity. You just
18:11
Speaker 1: had to figure out how to use those and acting
18:14
Speaker 1: came along. Let's talk about that transition to becoming a
18:17
Speaker 1: working actor. How did that all come about? You know,
18:20
Speaker 1: because you said you were passionate about it. We could
18:23
Speaker 1: have a lot of passion. You know that but you
18:25
Speaker 1: gotta have the brakes, and when you get the brakes,
18:26
Speaker 1: you gotta take advantage of it. Talk to us about that. Well,
18:31
Speaker 1: here's the thing. So for me, the when I made
18:34
Speaker 1: the when I made the decision to be UM, it
18:38
Speaker 1: was made because I or I magic, I should say UM.
18:43
Speaker 1: But I could see myself doing it when I'm native,
18:47
Speaker 1: and I could see that every decision made in terms
18:51
Speaker 1: of going to you know, sell a lad lists, going
18:55
Speaker 1: to the public Theater of Shakespeare Life to study course
18:58
Speaker 1: summer um, you know, going to regional theater, going back
19:02
Speaker 1: to school, going back to n YU to get my master's,
19:04
Speaker 1: to bin acting. All of that thump like a blimp
19:08
Speaker 1: on that long scale of of my career that would
19:13
Speaker 1: last through the age of nineties. See. So like any
19:17
Speaker 1: of those decisions I was making, I knew that I
19:19
Speaker 1: you know, I have time. I have time. I have time.
19:22
Speaker 1: I have time to be the best that I can
19:24
Speaker 1: be to to figure this out to you know, I took,
19:29
Speaker 1: you know, to do background work on all my children,
19:32
Speaker 1: to do UM, you know, background on on on um
19:37
Speaker 1: you know, law and order, just so I can see
19:40
Speaker 1: what it likes to be on a set, you know.
19:42
Speaker 1: So like I could take the time to do things
19:44
Speaker 1: like that, to to study my craft and see other
19:47
Speaker 1: people doing it, to get us close to other people
19:49
Speaker 1: that do it, um, you know, and you know, watch them,
19:53
Speaker 1: observe them, and then be able to say for myself, Okay,
19:56
Speaker 1: that's great, I know what that is. Um, I know that,
20:00
Speaker 1: and this has been fun. Every experience that I've I've undertaken,
20:03
Speaker 1: I've tried to have the most fun with it. And
20:06
Speaker 1: I think the you know, any undertaking that you take on, uh,
20:09
Speaker 1: joy has to be a part of it. And so
20:12
Speaker 1: even when I was a background actor, it was like joy,
20:15
Speaker 1: you know, it was was a big part of it.
20:17
Speaker 1: But I said to myself, now that I've done that,
20:20
Speaker 1: I know that this was a great experience. This isn't me.
20:24
Speaker 1: And so then I would move on to the next thing. Um,
20:27
Speaker 1: you know, because I knew exactly the sort of projects
20:30
Speaker 1: I wanted. I wanted to be a part of the
20:32
Speaker 1: type of actor that I that I know that I am,
20:36
Speaker 1: and if I'm not that yet, I was going to
20:38
Speaker 1: do the things that I needed to do to um
20:42
Speaker 1: to bring myself there. Um So um yeah, it's really
20:48
Speaker 1: it was. It was really a journey of just trying
20:50
Speaker 1: to figure out, you know, who who am I? And
20:53
Speaker 1: then who am I in this business? Who told you,
20:56
Speaker 1: you know, Bill out funny? Yeah? Who told you you
21:01
Speaker 1: was funny? Though, Okay, this is a comedian. This is
21:02
Speaker 1: a professional comedian talking to you, you know what's funny?
21:08
Speaker 1: So like I always knew that I was funny when um,
21:11
Speaker 1: because when I was in when I was in like
21:14
Speaker 1: high school college, I was the dude. I was the
21:17
Speaker 1: quiet dude. But like at the same time somebody would
21:22
Speaker 1: say something I've heard and whispered my friend and say
21:24
Speaker 1: something funny and then he bursts out laughing, and everybody'd
21:26
Speaker 1: be like, well, well it would happening, and then he
21:28
Speaker 1: could be like, oh, he just said something funny, but yeah,
21:33
Speaker 1: and then it wasn't. It wasn't until later, like acting
21:37
Speaker 1: all that whatever. Actually, I just you know, came out
21:41
Speaker 1: of my shell and I was just like, you know,
21:42
Speaker 1: I just started being goofy and just like saying whatever
21:45
Speaker 1: I thought, and and you know, try to make people
21:48
Speaker 1: laugh and and and bring joy to people even if
21:51
Speaker 1: it was you know, even if it is uh, you know,
21:55
Speaker 1: I'm soon born in the red out and you know
21:58
Speaker 1: I'll sooner die whatever, So like but like saying those
22:01
Speaker 1: things just to like, um, you know, make somebody smile
22:06
Speaker 1: like it's it's well, you know, I'm gonna say this
22:11
Speaker 1: to you. You know, and you know about your your talents,
22:15
Speaker 1: because to make to be funny, it's very difficult to
22:19
Speaker 1: be fun you know that. To be dramatic, it's still
22:22
Speaker 1: a talent, but you're not forcing people to react. See
22:26
Speaker 1: when you're when you're being you're forcing people to laugh
22:29
Speaker 1: or to smile. So you could do a dramatic scene
22:32
Speaker 1: for a long period and people just can sit there
22:34
Speaker 1: and just internalizing emotionally and they might not react. He
22:38
Speaker 1: may not cry, they might not show any facial features.
22:41
Speaker 1: And so so when I look at your career and
22:43
Speaker 1: you're doing that, my man, that's that's the compliment that
22:46
Speaker 1: I gotta throw to you. Very few people that have
22:49
Speaker 1: done that in Hollywood very well. Robin Williams, I think
22:53
Speaker 1: he did it fantastically. Kevin Hart, I think it's doing
22:57
Speaker 1: an amazing job of it. Jim Carrey has most monumentual
23:02
Speaker 1: serious the comedic transitions on the on the on the
23:05
Speaker 1: big screen. And you're doing it too now with the
23:08
Speaker 1: with the good Fight. Now, I don't want to steal
23:10
Speaker 1: any thunder from the show. But tell everybody, set up
23:14
Speaker 1: everybody exactly what that show is. I got it right
23:16
Speaker 1: in front of me. I could tell him, but you know,
23:18
Speaker 1: I got to start the show on here. You you
23:20
Speaker 1: got my boy Michael Boltman in there. I love him
23:22
Speaker 1: to death. On my Michael bodian Der Orlando, that name
23:27
Speaker 1: right there. Let you know you got some acting chops
23:31
Speaker 1: around you right there. You gotta bring it when dear
23:33
Speaker 1: Orlando is in the scene. And then and she can sing,
23:36
Speaker 1: and she can sing like the wind. That's Ardra McDonald.
23:39
Speaker 1: So those are just three names, like because the show
23:42
Speaker 1: is based on a white talent being introduced into a
23:46
Speaker 1: black world. So I've set it up, explained everybody what
23:50
Speaker 1: goes on on The Good Fight, which is available on
23:52
Speaker 1: All Access CBS. Yeah, so like you know the answer
23:57
Speaker 1: your question before that, I say, you know, as far
23:58
Speaker 1: as like comedy versus dramas, like the way I say
24:03
Speaker 1: the people, it's just you know the difference is that
24:05
Speaker 1: it's just when you decide to say say something. It's
24:08
Speaker 1: the timing, you know, it's literally timing pitch all of
24:11
Speaker 1: those things, you know, and and and and just surprising
24:15
Speaker 1: people and I think when you surprise people, it's like
24:17
Speaker 1: tickling them and then they and they laugh, you know,
24:19
Speaker 1: and and I love doing that. I love finding that,
24:22
Speaker 1: you know, just trying to surprise someone with with with
24:26
Speaker 1: you know, a well timed joke, you know, and and
24:30
Speaker 1: and there's there's some elements that with even with a
24:32
Speaker 1: good fight. But but you know, good fight, the good
24:34
Speaker 1: fight drama. Uh. We got, like you said, the amazing
24:37
Speaker 1: Dogan Lindo um who is the the the head of
24:42
Speaker 1: this law firm, um reading Boatsman at the time when
24:45
Speaker 1: you first start ready Bowsman col Stad and we have
24:48
Speaker 1: this um uh we have Christine Baranski amazing acts as well,
24:53
Speaker 1: beautiful were beautiful, beautiful Christine beautiful. She's a beautiful, wonderful
24:59
Speaker 1: Christine Ransky who they spent off from The Good Wife. UM.
25:03
Speaker 1: As you know her character Diane Lockhart, and she was
25:07
Speaker 1: going to retire but then besides to come back because
25:10
Speaker 1: you know, she gotta make some money. Um. And the
25:12
Speaker 1: only people that would hire her were there were Adrian
25:17
Speaker 1: Bowsmand or Lenda's character because they needed they needed a
25:20
Speaker 1: diversity higher. So so yeah, and so then this is
25:25
Speaker 1: us now uh with with Christine with Diane at our
25:29
Speaker 1: law firm. We're now at a traditionally um uh black
25:35
Speaker 1: law firm, UM watching the ins and outs of this
25:39
Speaker 1: company over the next several seasons. So it's um, it's
25:43
Speaker 1: actually amazing. I mean the actors that come through. I
25:45
Speaker 1: mean we've had we had uh Ruegata Jr. Come through,
25:50
Speaker 1: which she was great. Um who who is the head
25:55
Speaker 1: of the law firm. So he came in then and
25:57
Speaker 1: did did an episode where we have so many eight
26:00
Speaker 1: guest stars that come through, and it's like the rioting
26:02
Speaker 1: is incredible. We're always we're always talking about what's current
26:08
Speaker 1: and and and what's current and what's new. Something that
26:11
Speaker 1: went viral not too long ago was this video of
26:15
Speaker 1: Adrian Bozeman, which is del Roy Lindo. It's from season
26:17
Speaker 1: two where he's on a news outlet and they're talking
26:20
Speaker 1: about the N word and then he's like, you know what,
26:23
Speaker 1: go ahead, man, say it. You know you want to
26:26
Speaker 1: say it, say a and and like and and you know,
26:32
Speaker 1: and it went viral and people like, well what is this?
26:34
Speaker 1: What is this? And it was like, now that was
26:35
Speaker 1: from something two years ago that we shot on our
26:37
Speaker 1: show is a good fight and we're but we're always current.
26:40
Speaker 1: We're always current, hitting me with new stuff, hitting me
26:42
Speaker 1: with the things that you that that people want to
26:44
Speaker 1: talk about and should It's one of those U call
26:48
Speaker 1: it a watercooler shown. It's one of those shows where
26:51
Speaker 1: you know, you act the watercool or you're thinking about
26:52
Speaker 1: what you watched last night, and then somebody else comes
26:54
Speaker 1: up to the water cool and get their water and
26:55
Speaker 1: you look at them and say, hey, see what happening
26:57
Speaker 1: on the Good Fight last night? You know yeah, uh,
27:00
Speaker 1: you know it's crazy. What is your character? Whats your
27:04
Speaker 1: what is your character? I know you investigator on the show. Yeah,
27:07
Speaker 1: I played Jade, the Persia, the the in house investigator
27:10
Speaker 1: at Reddi Reddick Boseman Cold stat and for those who
27:14
Speaker 1: are up to date, Reddi Reddick Boseman, Lockhart and you
27:18
Speaker 1: know this cool dude somebody who just who who you know,
27:22
Speaker 1: gathers all the information and he may he may not
27:25
Speaker 1: give you what you want, but he'll always give you
27:27
Speaker 1: what you need. Uh, you know, very mysterious, uh sort
27:30
Speaker 1: of you know investigators. Uh in terms of his methods,
27:35
Speaker 1: but but um, but but reliable. He's a dope like
27:40
Speaker 1: he's dope, like you're just like he's dope like you
27:43
Speaker 1: gotta you gotta watch this the show to understand what
27:45
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. This terms not only my character how
27:48
Speaker 1: dope that you know, Jade the Persia is, but then
27:50
Speaker 1: also they're just the world that these characters all live in.
27:55
Speaker 1: But not only that the great acting. Like I said,
27:58
Speaker 1: you know, I don't want to gloss over the fact
27:59
Speaker 1: that your talented actor or young up and coming when
28:02
Speaker 1: you compare yourself to a Dari Rolando or or the
28:04
Speaker 1: resumes that Michael Boatman has putting out that put out
28:08
Speaker 1: there over the years, over the decades. You know, these
28:10
Speaker 1: guys are they're they're truly working actors in this business.
28:13
Speaker 1: And from an African American standpoint, you you look at
28:16
Speaker 1: them and realized that because it's difficult just just to
28:18
Speaker 1: do anything consistently. But from an African American standpoint, you
28:21
Speaker 1: can say, I work as an actor for a living.
28:24
Speaker 1: That's a testament to your talent and your testament to
28:27
Speaker 1: how you handle relationships, because relationships is very important in
28:31
Speaker 1: all business, but especially in Hollywood. The argient McDonald. But
28:34
Speaker 1: there's a little little negative information I wanted to say
28:36
Speaker 1: about this about Christine Baranski's character, like she was doing well,
28:41
Speaker 1: really really really well. She's about to walk out in
28:43
Speaker 1: the sunset. Her husband got caught up in a made
28:45
Speaker 1: off type scam and when he got called from that
28:48
Speaker 1: madeoff type scam, he lost all her money and his
28:52
Speaker 1: money too. So she had to go find a job.
28:56
Speaker 1: Anyone come please to kind of maintaining her job, which
28:59
Speaker 1: kind of like keep so locked into this firm. They
29:02
Speaker 1: offered her a job when nobody else wanted to hire
29:04
Speaker 1: because she had a little attitude out there, people that untouchable.
29:07
Speaker 1: She was a queen bee and so when everybody seems
29:10
Speaker 1: saw the queen bee gets stung, they were like laughing,
29:12
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you don't ask me for a job, I
29:14
Speaker 1: have nothing for you. Well, this African American law firm,
29:17
Speaker 1: law firm offered her job, but guess well it it's
29:21
Speaker 1: not sitting very well with all African Americans at the firm.
29:25
Speaker 1: That's the beauty of this show because of the fact
29:27
Speaker 1: that I love it because they're classic shows on TV,
29:31
Speaker 1: and you involved in one of the law and or
29:33
Speaker 1: the series Homeland series. I have watched this show and
29:37
Speaker 1: and enjoyed the I'm gonna just tell you this, I'm
29:40
Speaker 1: a fan of yours. From a standpoint of just watching
29:43
Speaker 1: you grow as a young man on the screen. I
29:45
Speaker 1: do believe, Yambie, you have a career. In twenty years
29:49
Speaker 1: from now, you'll be there or Lindo, you'll be Michael Boatman.
29:53
Speaker 1: Because you're showing that you have a virtual palette. You
29:57
Speaker 1: can play serious, you can play dramatic, and that's how
30:00
Speaker 1: you last in this business. If you look at dear
30:01
Speaker 1: Ror Lndle's resume comedy drama. You look at Michael Boltman's
30:06
Speaker 1: resume comedy drama, look at Neil's resume comedy drama. Do
30:11
Speaker 1: not change, my friend. You're on a path for long
30:14
Speaker 1: term success. Keep winning and keep understanding that. I want
30:17
Speaker 1: to make a quick shift, right quick, because I want
30:19
Speaker 1: to talk about You've been a comic book aficionado, So
30:22
Speaker 1: I brought that up early. I don't want nobody to say, man,
30:25
Speaker 1: he said he gonna talk to me about those comic books,
30:26
Speaker 1: and did say nothing. Tell us about that, and tell
30:29
Speaker 1: us about your gaming background. Yeah the day. Um, I'm
30:37
Speaker 1: actually in many ways playing catch up because you know,
30:41
Speaker 1: we moved around a lot when I was a kid,
30:42
Speaker 1: and so the stuff that I was into as a
30:44
Speaker 1: kid were comic strips and cartoons. But I never I
30:49
Speaker 1: never knew a comic bookstore existed. Not um I was
30:53
Speaker 1: in grad school or one of my classmates was like,
30:55
Speaker 1: a kid go to the comic bookstore every Wednesday. I
30:58
Speaker 1: do this for an other Wednesdays while day and he's like, yes,
31:01
Speaker 1: the babe, that comics come out. And I'm like wow,
31:03
Speaker 1: like that doesn't make sense. I was like, can I
31:05
Speaker 1: follow you to a comic book story. It's like yeah, yeah,
31:07
Speaker 1: So I follow him to Midtown Commics in New York,
31:10
Speaker 1: one of the largest comics stores in the French hip.
31:13
Speaker 1: And I walked in there, man, and it was like
31:14
Speaker 1: it was Candy Gland. I could not believe all of
31:18
Speaker 1: the comics that I had missed, and that was like
31:22
Speaker 1: in front of me, and that had to be. That
31:24
Speaker 1: was That was fifteen years ago, and I'm telling you
31:28
Speaker 1: from then on, it's just been devouring comics NonStop and
31:33
Speaker 1: so like like comments are a huge part of who
31:36
Speaker 1: I am, a part of of what I do. Um,
31:41
Speaker 1: you know, I use it. I use it in terms
31:43
Speaker 1: of in terms of like foundational work, even for my
31:45
Speaker 1: acting as far as you know as because I'm a
31:48
Speaker 1: sketch artist, so as far as sketching, I'll sketch like
31:51
Speaker 1: if I see a scene and I see a scene
31:53
Speaker 1: where I may not you know, like you know, uh
31:58
Speaker 1: so in terms of what something may look like or
32:00
Speaker 1: or have a relationship to that particular object or relationship
32:04
Speaker 1: with that person, I'll draw the person. I'll draw the
32:07
Speaker 1: object looking a relationship with that person because I'm actually
32:13
Speaker 1: looking at the details of that object or the details
32:15
Speaker 1: of that person. So it's like really dope. Um, you know,
32:18
Speaker 1: in terms of how comics have inspired that, um, you
32:21
Speaker 1: know for meat, for those comic strips that inspired that,
32:24
Speaker 1: and now it's comic books that are doing that format. Um.
32:28
Speaker 1: And then um, what else do you whatever? The gaming? Gaming? Yeah,
32:33
Speaker 1: huge gaming, Like the thing is you know, I just
32:35
Speaker 1: the game a lot of the kids. And then again
32:37
Speaker 1: that brought me back into the fold. Was was Metal
32:40
Speaker 1: Gear back in two thousands? I want to say, two
32:42
Speaker 1: thousand two, two thousand three on the on the PS
32:47
Speaker 1: so I want to see the PS two. I think
32:49
Speaker 1: it's kids to maybe the p S one, p S
32:51
Speaker 1: one and and like like game like like you know
32:57
Speaker 1: anything and everything you know, games like the you know,
32:59
Speaker 1: Class of Us, Shadow Motor, you know, and of course,
33:02
Speaker 1: play the two K games, NBA two K people, Cuphead,
33:06
Speaker 1: I'm playing again on my Nintendo Switch, one of the
33:09
Speaker 1: hardest games you lever play, my boy. You know, we're
33:12
Speaker 1: arguing whether or not Cuphead. You know the villains and
33:14
Speaker 1: cup Head are are as hard as Tyson from the
33:17
Speaker 1: from Mike Tysons punch Out. Absolutely, That's something that we
33:20
Speaker 1: argue about you no daily. So like, um, you know,
33:24
Speaker 1: like gaming is a huge part of what I do
33:26
Speaker 1: in terms of just passing the time and just like
33:28
Speaker 1: engaging the mind, because you got to engage the mind
33:31
Speaker 1: every day. Wow, I'll tell you. I want to take you.
33:34
Speaker 1: I want thank you for coming on my show. I'm
33:36
Speaker 1: talking to the I'm beating the I'm beat the star
33:38
Speaker 1: of the CBS All Assets series. Uh, the good Fight,
33:42
Speaker 1: my friend. No, you have a home here with Ruean
33:44
Speaker 1: McDonald mony Making Conversations. I enjoyed the conversation. Hope you
33:47
Speaker 1: enjoyed the journey and allowed me to share a small
33:51
Speaker 1: portion of your life very quickly in my formatic called
33:53
Speaker 1: money making conversation. I appreciate you coming on the show.
33:57
Speaker 1: Well man, thank you so much, thank you, thank you,
33:58
Speaker 1: thank you. If you want to hit interviews of money
34:00
Speaker 1: Making Conversations, go to money Making Conversation dot com. I'm
34:04
Speaker 1: Rushan McDonald. I'm your host. In this season of giving,
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