0:00

Look how fucking skinny you are. This

0:02

is what I hate about you. I love you, but

0:04

I hate how you can diet for ten days and

0:06

look this skinny. I

0:10

also quit smoking weed and drinking booze too,

0:12

So I know you threw a lot of you threw a lot

0:14

of you threw a lot at it. But dude, you

0:16

look look great. Yeah, you look good. Yeah,

0:19

this is a lot of fun. Man. I had no idea

0:21

that I would get this much love for

0:23

being in the Powerpuff Girls. Real

0:26

man, everybody's you got so much

0:29

chatter. People are so happy for you. I don't

0:31

know anything about the Poweruff Girls. I know it's

0:33

very popular, but I was I missed it, so tell

0:35

us about it. So the Powerpuff Girls are

0:38

there are three superhero little

0:41

girls, uh that were

0:43

created by Professor Utonium

0:46

and uh, you know in

0:49

the cartoon. I'm gonna be honest with you. I've

0:51

seen the cartoon a few times and I don't know. Yeah,

0:54

I'm sorry. Oh so my

0:56

research, my research is beginning

0:59

with watching the cartoon like

1:01

I was watching it with because Rocco was a huge

1:03

fan of the Powerpuff the remake of the

1:05

Powerpuff Girls, like they they

1:07

did one when Joel was a baby.

1:10

I guess it's true. And then they just remade

1:12

the Powerpuff Girls also, so Rocco was

1:14

a big fan of Teen Titans Go and

1:17

Powerpuff Girls. Was it always aimed at little

1:19

kids or was it a grown up things? Well, um,

1:22

it's like if you've ever watched Teen Titans

1:24

Go, it's aimed for

1:27

or SpongeBob, it's aimed

1:29

at kids. But there are some jokes

1:31

in there. There are a lot of jokes in every episode

1:33

that parents will laugh at while watching

1:36

with their kids. Right. I gotta tell

1:38

you, man, I'm really excited that people enjoyed

1:41

the fact that I'm gonna be in this. I'm I'm

1:43

so geeked about it, you know, I'm really

1:45

you know, I've I've tried to stay off of you know,

1:48

the message boards

1:50

and stuff like that, where you know, some

1:52

of the hate can dwell, uh,

1:54

why would you go do that? Don't do that? Yeah,

1:57

I refuse to

1:59

do it. I refuse used to let the haters bring

2:01

me down. But I imagine there are some people that aren't

2:04

excited about me playing Professor

2:07

Drake Uttonium. And that's

2:09

cool. You could eat a dick, are

2:13

you? Are you in rehearsals at this point

2:16

or what's happening. Yeah, so we're doing a bunch of

2:18

rehearsals. We're doing camera tests and wardrobe

2:20

fittings. It's you and you start tomorrow.

2:24

No more rehearsal,

2:26

Tomorrow, more camera shoots, photo

2:28

shoots, and we don't start

2:31

shooting actually until well,

2:34

I can't tell you, but we start shooting soon. Okay,

2:36

good Well, dude, I'm so happy for you,

2:38

and I as someone who loves you, I was

2:40

so happy about all the love you were getting on

2:43

the interweb. I saw you were getting

2:45

lots of adoration. I

2:48

love that. I love that, dude. How's work going, man?

2:51

I shot three days of Cheaper by the Dozen

2:54

and it's the dreamiest job ever. I

2:56

love Gab Union. She has our exact

2:58

sense of humor. She should come on the podcast MO day. She's

3:00

fucking hilarious and cool and

3:03

m and the kids couldn't be sweeter.

3:06

I mean, knock wood, it's too good to be true.

3:08

I love my director. I love you.

3:11

Know the hours. Because of the children,

3:13

you can only do ten hour days, so that's

3:15

kind of dreaming. You have like a normal

3:17

life. And

3:20

I don't know, man, it's just so fun. I think

3:22

the script Kenny Barris wrote such a funny script.

3:24

I you know, sometimes you start a project and go, okay,

3:27

well, we'll make the script better as

3:29

we go, and this is just really great. I

3:31

just it's just going to be such a perfect

3:33

family movie. And but hey, you know,

3:35

and as well as having Kenya's signature

3:38

discussions of race done

3:40

in such an elegant way, because of course,

3:42

if you're going to have a you know, a

3:44

biracial family, you can't deny

3:46

the things that will come up, and he doesn't, and so

3:49

I'm just really stoked to be a part of it. I'm really really

3:51

happy. By

3:54

the way. By the way, we're recording this on

3:56

Sunday, but this airs on Tuesday. So guess

3:59

what. It's my birthday. Yeah,

4:04

birthday too, Happy

4:07

birthday to ye, Happy

4:11

birthday, Happy birthday

4:14

to yeah. Right, come on, sunset.

4:18

I feel really good cowting today.

4:21

I'm very happy. It's my birthday. I

4:23

feel really good. I'm

4:25

on this awesome health kick, which is really um

4:28

I must say, those of you listening who

4:30

know when you go on a health kick, uh,

4:33

obviously your body gets in shape. But I

4:35

just feel a better in my mind and brain

4:38

and just happier overall. This year kick

4:41

so many of our asses and

4:44

as we come out of it a little

4:46

bit. I I'm so

4:48

excited that, you know, I used the excuse of the movie

4:50

to get in shape. I jokingly said, I

4:52

want to look too. I'm gonna tell you right

4:54

now, manatures holy

4:57

shit, Zach, Well,

4:59

don't don't buil up too much. You're

5:02

pretty close to Bradfit fight Club. Don't

5:06

think I'm chucking Zach. Throw up the pictures

5:09

so that people could see it. I'm

5:12

not lying. Where's the lie? But it's

5:14

not ready for a reveal yet. But I do have to

5:16

say turning forty six, when

5:19

I and I had a couple of people over, including

5:21

Casey yesterday for just

5:23

to toast me, well, actually

5:25

my girlfriend surprised me, but um yeah,

5:27

it was nice to hear a handful of people being like, oh

5:30

shit, and I

5:31

ye, dude, you don't

5:34

even have love handles anymore. Man, But the fuck is

5:36

going over well, I've never done you know.

5:38

Listen, I can give you. I can give everyone

5:40

the tricks. The tricks are just diet

5:43

and fucking giving up booze. Yeah,

5:45

are you exercise? Is this the

5:47

best shape? You've ever been in your life. Yeah,

5:50

yeah, and it's and it took seven

5:52

weeks, by the way, and I'm still going like

5:55

it's like you know, it's like anything,

5:57

It's a hobby that if you get into, if you find it. Here's

5:59

my trick that I've done for those of you listening who

6:02

are like, are dreading getting

6:04

in any kind of shape? I just said, what if I try

6:06

and find a way to make it fun this time? Building

6:09

around things I like doing. Okay, I

6:11

like, well, I like spinning, Like

6:13

you know, spinning is that, you know, if you can't afford

6:15

peloton, bike, you know, get on a bicycle or

6:18

or find something that or in Donald's

6:20

case, used to play basketball, you know, find

6:22

it. I love when I can play tennis, find

6:25

something that's fun to do, and then build around

6:27

that. So I genuinely enjoy peloton. I think

6:29

it's fun. I come off feeling high.

6:32

I So I just made that

6:34

a regular part of my and and then

6:36

I start researching healthy foods

6:38

that that I think taste good. So you can find

6:40

a protein shake that taste awesome.

6:42

It's the best thing I eat all day. I look

6:45

forward to it, and guess what it's amazing for you.

6:47

So I don't know, have you cut a bunch

6:49

of h like foods that you

6:51

were eating before out of your diet, like you talked about

6:53

how you're no longer eating like red

6:56

meat. Well, here's the thing.

6:58

This is gonna branch. This is gonna ranch off

7:00

into hold of the thing. And I promised to do the short

7:02

version because we got your mom coming on and my mom's

7:04

on this piece, so

7:08

wait, let me hear it before we get well. I

7:10

really am thinking about seriously changing my diet

7:12

because of the documentary I watched, C Spiracy,

7:15

which I recommended last time, which I really encourage

7:17

you to watch. I'm not telling you to change your diet

7:20

at all, listener, but I do think it's important to

7:22

learn about the food industry.

7:24

And I'm embarrassed to admit that I made

7:26

it forty six years knowing nothing about

7:28

how our food is made. And it was a combination

7:30

of three documentaries, Game Changers,

7:34

C Spiracy, and Eating

7:37

Animals, which I just watched last night, which

7:39

now im Portman narrates because she's very

7:42

into health. And I just didn't know about

7:44

factory farming. I didn't really I didn't

7:46

like everyone you see the pictures of the farmers

7:48

in the grocery store and you go, that's where our food

7:50

and livestock comes from. And I

7:53

was just in denial about it. And the fishing,

7:55

Oh, I'll be Pescuterian fish are great.

7:58

Everything is so healthy. And then

8:00

you can watch three documentaries in six

8:02

hours and go, holy shit. I

8:04

didn't know any of that. And so it's

8:06

inspired me, especially being on a health kick, to be

8:08

like, well, I'm changing, We're coming out

8:10

of this pandemic, We're coming out of this insane

8:13

year long hibernation. Why

8:16

not try some new ways of being? And

8:18

That's what I'm taking on. And

8:21

I will say, even though this is very

8:23

hard for a lot of people, and I get it.

8:26

Um the one of the most powerful

8:28

things I've done is to take this alcohol break. Um

8:32

It. It increases my

8:34

mood over time, even because I think of

8:36

like, alcohol is a depressant, right, So

8:39

if you drink an a lot of alcohol regularly

8:41

every day, every other day, whatever you do, I

8:43

feel like you are think of it

8:45

like, and take the stead of people taking antipressant. You're

8:47

taking a depressant regularly, and it's sort

8:49

of putting a cloud a little bit of a

8:51

cloud over your life,

8:55

right, But let me just finish the point, And the point

8:57

is that you might stop for a week and

8:59

go, Okay, I did it. I mean in a week,

9:01

but you're not really seeing the effects because just like

9:04

if you're taking it, if you start taking any presson, it's going

9:06

to take about a month for you to feel the effects.

9:08

If you stop taking a depressant, I

9:10

find that a month in six weeks

9:12

and seven weeks and you really start to go,

9:14

wow, I'm genuinely overall in a

9:16

better mood right on. So that's

9:19

my speech, that's my soapbox. Yeah,

9:21

it's all good man. You know, I'm on the same kick right now.

9:23

And you know, power I'm using Powerpuff

9:26

as a jump off for it.

9:28

But I like

9:30

the way I feel right now. Like I was smoking

9:33

way too much weed, like way

9:36

too much weed, so much weed that I

9:38

had really bad withdrawals

9:42

from it. And you know, people act like that doesn't

9:44

exist, but it really does. And

9:46

my wife went down the rabbit hole and

9:49

found all of these natural remedies

9:51

to combat my withdrawals. So within

9:53

three days I was good to go, oh,

9:55

what are those natural remedies? If you like, you want

9:57

to put potassium back into your system because nights

10:00

you sweat like a banshee, you know

10:02

what I mean. Drink a

10:04

lot of water, you want to hydrate. Yeah,

10:07

I see, you got that that thing I have with

10:09

all the inspirational words. This

10:12

is my second day doing it. I'm already at

10:14

I'm al mars done with this boy.

10:17

By nine o'clock tonight, this shit is gone.

10:20

I know. When you get one of those if you guys

10:22

were talking about those like two liter things

10:24

you can get on the internet, they have like drink it by

10:26

this time, you know, they have the times and then it says

10:28

like you got this, keep going, you

10:30

know, and it's it's so silly

10:32

because it's like a kid. It's like doing it for a kid. But

10:35

it makes it a bit of a game, like can I get there

10:37

by five? Can I get there by six? You know? Oh?

10:39

You know what I do. This is the easiest way to do it.

10:41

So I wake up in the morning and I drink

10:43

to seven, right, that's

10:45

the first thing. Now, if I wake up after

10:48

seven, I'll drink to nine, right,

10:50

And so at nine o'clock I'll drink again, and

10:53

I'll drink all the way down to eleven, and

10:55

then at eleven o'clock I'll drink again, and I'll

10:57

drink all the way down to one. So by the

10:59

time I get to seven pm at night,

11:02

I'm finished with the bottle before nine o'clock.

11:04

That's good. Then you can pee it all out. So you have to get up.

11:06

So I don't have to get up because you have

11:08

to. You do have to get used to. You do have to

11:10

get used to having a new relationship with urinating

11:13

because it's kind of always on

11:15

your mind. But it's a small price to pay.

11:17

Yes, But you know what, My

11:20

goal now is to make it to the bathroom and stay

11:22

asleep and still be able to pee in the toilet

11:24

without getting it all over the bathroom. I've

11:27

succeeded a couple of times. There

11:29

have been times where I woke up in the morning

11:32

to go to the bathroom. I was like, God, damn, I just missed

11:34

everything. Idiot.

11:39

Hey, um, do you did you see the new Black

11:41

Widow trailer or any of you? Oh it looks

11:43

amazing. Oh hell yes, I watched it like four

11:46

times. But you guys don't worry about it,

11:48

do you guys don't worry about it because you're gonna go see in

11:50

the height. Oh my god, I

11:55

think I

11:57

really got to say. I know I'm biased, but I thought

11:59

that trailer was fucking awesome. It

12:01

looks amazing. Are you kidding me? With that

12:03

moment where she's free falling out of the plane.

12:06

Yes, yeah, and she I

12:08

like how she's just she's just holding the parachute

12:10

like with with with her hand like I know I'm

12:12

gonna need this. I'm not gonna put it on. I know I'm gonna

12:14

need it later, but so

12:19

fly. So yeah, it looks Let's we

12:21

should probably get my mom and let's we

12:23

do work small before we do that. DJ Daniel Joel

12:26

Monique, What is good with y'all this

12:28

whole week? Listen? Since I to talk to your

12:31

mom, I want to get all the good backstories.

12:33

I want to know what you were like as a kid. I

12:35

want to know about her career. Is it's incredible? Ye, her

12:37

career is is what's really

12:40

exciting? All right, let's count

12:42

in and bring her in, all right? Stories

12:46

about show we made

12:51

nurses said

12:54

he that stories? So

13:00

around you here, Yeah,

13:02

around

13:03

here, ladies

13:09

and gentlemen, give it up for my mom.

13:12

The one and only Shirley

13:20

where is she? Yeah,

13:25

let let's put my video on. Thank

13:27

you? Yeah, heym

13:33

Shirley Fazon. Hey are your

13:35

Mamma? I'm good. How are

13:37

you? I'm good. I spoke to you yesterday. But still,

13:40

hey, hey,

13:43

that's that picture behind you? Is that me

13:45

in junior high school? I think so right? There's way

13:47

too much junior high school, junior high school?

13:50

There? Yeah, yeah,

13:52

Shirley. Hey is Zach grasp?

13:55

How are you? It's good to see you, beautiful.

13:57

It's been far too long. Oh I know

14:00

mom. That's Joel, and that is

14:02

Daniel. Hi, Daniel,

14:04

Hi, Joe, thank you, thank you so much

14:06

for coming on. We had my mom on

14:09

and we just want to We just wanted to have you

14:11

on because not only do we

14:13

uh do we want to talk to you about a young Donald

14:15

phase on um and tell us all this

14:18

all the good stories, but also,

14:20

you know, my mom is a psychologist, so

14:22

she we asked her some psychology questions.

14:25

And we have so many people to talk to us about

14:27

getting into the business as actors, and we thought

14:29

we could pick your brain for people

14:31

that watch and listen to this about what it's like

14:33

being an agent and in the

14:35

business. So, Mom, have you ever listened

14:37

to the podcast? Yes? Have you ever? Yes?

14:40

I have. How many times have you listened

14:42

to this podcast? Would you like for

14:44

me to be honest? Yes, I would absolutely

14:48

three

14:50

Thank

14:52

you for all three times. But surely

14:55

surely did you? Did you laugh at least? Yes?

14:58

I did? All right? Good, Yes

15:00

I did? I did? Uh? Okay.

15:02

I think we should start from the very

15:05

as Zach always says, start at

15:07

the very beginning, A

15:09

very good place to start. When

15:12

you're saying you begin with do

15:14

ray me. Oh no, but it's not

15:17

when you say. It's when you when you

15:20

begin, when your BC

15:24

and when you're saying you begin with me.

15:31

All right, So Donald, what beginning you want to start?

15:33

Let's talk about how like how like young

15:35

Don Donald always talks about the theater you

15:37

and your ex husband Ran. Can

15:39

you tell us like how that came about and

15:41

what it was like Donald hanging out in the young theater,

15:43

because that's clearly he mentions that all the time,

15:45

is being very impactful about what got him interested

15:48

in the arts. Yeah. Yeah,

15:50

well I became a part of the theater

15:52

when I now for all of the people that

15:54

are out there that don't know what the theater is it's the National

15:57

Black Theater. Yes,

16:00

I became a part of the National Black Theater after

16:02

they performed at my college. I was at

16:04

Rutgers University, and

16:07

um, they performed on

16:09

my college campus, and that's how

16:12

I was introduced to them. And then

16:15

um, I came to New York and I

16:17

became a part of National Black Theater. When

16:19

I had uh, well, I called Donald

16:22

Shoon Sorr. They know that, Okay,

16:24

they know how

16:26

they know they even know how to spell it correctly, Mom,

16:28

Okay. So so when I had

16:30

Shoon, Um Shon would

16:33

come to all the rehearsals. I was a performer

16:35

back then, and she would come to all the rehearsals

16:38

and he would sit in the front row of all the performances.

16:41

And actually he almost got

16:43

beat up by one of the actors because he would

16:46

say their lines before they

16:55

so yeah and so. So. He

16:57

would be in the front row saying

16:59

the lines before the actors would sam

17:02

and the actors would get very angry

17:04

with him because he was saying

17:06

their lines before they could even

17:09

say them. Right. But

17:11

let me ask you a question, Mom, at what point

17:13

where you like I got to get him out of the front row

17:15

and onto onto the stage.

17:19

When would you start realizing that he might want

17:21

to I mean, obviously be sitting in the front row and mounting

17:23

along. You might have a sense that he's into this.

17:26

But when did you when you push? No,

17:28

but he when he was a baby and

17:30

he would be in the stroller. Well, the strollers

17:33

then, Um, they were like I

17:36

want to say, like little cages, I guess, but

17:38

they

17:39

had no

17:42

no, no, no, no, they had you

17:44

know, they had these feet things where you

17:46

know, the feet would rest on a

17:49

part of the stroller. And he

17:51

when you would push him in the stroller, he would

17:53

raise his head like he was in a chariot

17:56

and like there was a horse in front of them. So

17:59

so you all always knew that. I always

18:01

knew that he liked to improvise

18:04

and he liked to imagine.

18:06

So so um, as

18:09

part of the theater, we created a children's

18:11

school. It was called the Children's School of the Development

18:13

of Intuitive and God Conscious Art. And

18:17

and all the kids what they did was they

18:20

performed and they created plays.

18:22

And so he uh,

18:25

oh, I wish I had, I wish I had

18:27

the video. I'm

18:31

sure we could find it if you do on

18:34

our Instagram, right, And um, he

18:37

um, and he would

18:39

perform he was so into

18:41

it. Like all the other kids would be singing

18:44

and dancing, but he would be really into

18:47

it. He would like put one hundred

18:49

and ninety nine percent into

18:51

his performances. Um. And

18:53

so we knew then that he

18:56

was destined. And

18:59

then truly when did he he? When did you start submitting

19:01

him for auditions as a child? How

19:03

old was he? Oh no, he didn't. He

19:05

didn't start doing that until he was twelve years old.

19:08

Boy, he got that one commercial that I always joked

19:10

about the he was twelve. He

19:13

was you

19:15

have a long time memorized,

19:21

but you know a long time about

19:23

you know what that he went and got. Okay,

19:26

We had a neighbor that lived on the floor

19:28

above us who was a photographer

19:31

and her son was a big time actress

19:33

actor, right, and so she took

19:35

his photograph. He had

19:37

two photos. He had like the two um,

19:40

the two proofs. He took

19:43

one of the proofs and he went

19:45

to Abrams Artists.

19:48

Yeah, he went to Abrams artist He was twelve years

19:50

old. They sent him on an

19:53

audition. He had his bus

19:55

pass. He went to the audition with

19:57

his bus pass. He got a call back he went to

19:59

the callback, he booked it. He said,

20:01

Mom, they tell me I need to bring a guardian.

20:04

Now, you

20:07

don't sing a guardian to the audition, but if you get

20:09

the job. So

20:16

so he booked his first audition.

20:19

It was Oatmeal Raising Crisp.

20:21

Look what they've done to my Oatmeal?

20:24

Yes, I didn't know you've gotten more. I just always assumed

20:27

you only got one commercial, you got multiple. No. The

20:29

first audition I ever went out for was this

20:31

new serial that was coming out called Oatmeal Raising

20:33

Crisp. And I remember I

20:36

was just like, I'm just gonna sing because I never heard

20:38

the song. It was like, look what they've done. It's

20:41

an old song, and I was like, I'm just gonna sing.

20:43

And I remember singing it and then being like, oh, he's

20:45

so adorable. And

20:48

then what I did on the audition wasn't

20:50

exactly what I had to do in the commercial.

20:52

Like in the commercial, I had to be like, look what they've

20:55

done to Oatmeal, And

20:57

in the audition I had, I was and I remember in

20:59

the audition I was like, look what they've done.

21:05

Look what they've done to

21:07

me. Now,

21:11

for goodness, say the gout and Crisp

21:14

flakes with the whole new taste.

21:18

Yeah, look or

21:20

what they've done too

21:23

Little Meal, right, And so I that's

21:25

what I did. I pretty much went on the audition. It was like trying

21:28

to Christina Aguilera the part just

21:31

like every and I got it. And

21:33

then when I got to the audition, I mean to the

21:35

to the actual shoot, I tried to do that and they're like,

21:37

no, no, no no, no, no. Your line is look what they've

21:39

done to all meal and

21:43

you have to do it in like and you have to do it in five

21:45

seconds for three seconds,

21:48

and I was like, oh shut. So the commercial

21:50

comes out and you know,

21:53

it's the quickest thing ever at the end of

21:55

every one of them too, and it played everywhere

21:57

for such a long time. Look what they on

22:00

twolt meal And that was it. I

22:02

gotta look that one up on YouTube. I've only find

22:05

it, I'm sure. And then and

22:07

then after that was Turbo Graphics sixteen, right,

22:10

I don't remember. It was that Turbographic

22:13

sixteen, which was like right

22:15

around the time Sega came out and all of that stuff,

22:18

and then came to Folders coffee commercial. Oh

22:20

no wait, Foldiers came before Tobo

22:22

Graphics that's right, I take that back. So

22:25

surely what was it like as a mom? You know, and

22:28

this business is so close to impossible

22:30

and then here's your twelve year old book in commercials

22:33

that must have been exciting. Well, I

22:35

was running a theater and so

22:37

I couldn't take him. So I would

22:39

take I would hire the actors

22:41

to take him to his shoots because

22:45

I couldn't go. So

22:48

um yeah, so um. So

22:50

you really never got to experience it and other

22:52

than watching it, huh, except for when

22:54

we did the Folders commercial. You did come with me to that art,

22:57

Yeah I did. I did go to the Folders commercial, and I

22:59

went to Washington, DC when you shot

23:01

the Polaroid commercial that never aired.

23:03

That never aired, right, right, Yeah, so

23:06

I did go to that one, but I never

23:08

I never, like one time he

23:10

would go to California and test

23:12

I'd never went. I went once. I

23:15

went once. I went once. That was when

23:17

Tevin Campbell blew me out the water. No,

23:19

Grandma was with me when that happened. Yeah, what

23:21

happened. So I went on an audition

23:24

back in the day for this Quincy Jones pilot,

23:26

right, and uh

23:31

it was about the dude who

23:33

got The star of the show was Skippy

23:35

from Family Ties. Remember Skippy Alice's best

23:37

friend. Yeah, so he's the lead on the show

23:39

and he plays this, he plays like this

23:42

record producer or something like that, and

23:45

uh, out of New York. I was the one

23:47

that made it out of New York. But I had to go to LA.

23:49

I get how old you at this point.

23:52

I'm not even in high school yet, you know what I mean?

23:54

So you end up a guardian to fly with you. Yes,

23:57

And so my grandmother

23:59

went with me, right, and you

24:02

know, we get there and I'm feeling good.

24:04

I'm singing in the audition. I come out to

24:06

Tina Arnold's there and she's like, wow, that

24:09

was really good. Now I had seen her

24:11

in little Shop already. She was a little Shop

24:13

of horror already, and she was in all of these other things,

24:15

and I was like, holy cow, A bona

24:17

fide celebrity, a bonafide star told me. I

24:19

did a good job on this audition. So I'm

24:21

like, I think I got this. I go

24:23

to LA with my grandmother.

24:25

We walk in t Shirt

24:28

Campbell's at the audition. Like now it's like big

24:30

leagues. Now, it's like, holy cow.

24:33

Everybody is here, and

24:35

there's these two kids there that are auditioning

24:37

for my part, but I had never heard

24:39

of him. One's name was Rosan

24:41

Patterson and the other

24:43

kid's name was Tevin Campbell. And

24:46

I'm like, there's no way these two suckers

24:48

is gonna be me for this part. I can't

24:50

wait to go in. So Rasan

24:53

Patterson goes in first, crushes

24:55

I'm like he was good, yes,

24:59

but I like, I'm like, I got this. Tevin

25:02

Campbell goes in next. I

25:04

don't know if you people out there know who Tevin Campbell

25:06

is. Tevin Campbell is the one that sang uh

25:10

that way, talk for

25:12

a minute, not just that, but at the

25:14

time, I guess tomorrow will bring

25:17

a better than you, a better than

25:19

me, and know the will show

25:21

this world right whatever that song

25:24

was. And then after that he's had songs like can

25:26

we talk for a minute,

25:28

girl, I'm on to know

25:31

your name? Right, He's had

25:33

several gonna light a lighter pretty soon, several

25:36

hits six. Then he goes

25:39

in and fucking slays

25:42

Now to go after him?

25:44

Yes, Now I go in. The

25:47

piano player is not in my key

25:49

and he's singing that he's playing the ship real high.

25:52

So now I'm like, you and I

25:54

must make a pat and

25:57

I'm like, I fucking don't get I'm not gonna get this part.

26:00

I was like, at least when when they have me

26:03

read, I know, I'll take these guys out because

26:05

I know I can read, right, I know, I know these

26:07

guys are singers. But I'm the actor in the bunch

26:10

they had me read, No,

26:12

they didn't even get I didn't even get to the read. They were

26:14

like, after I finished, I came out, I

26:16

sat down and I could tell people in the audience

26:18

were like, I mean in the in the audition, like

26:21

it didn't go that well. They're like, and I'm

26:23

sitting there and my grandmother's like, you

26:25

did all right, baby, don't worry about it, and

26:28

uh they come on, they go, Donald, you can leave

26:30

now, thank you. And I was like and

26:34

like I had my suit kake, like we had just got

26:37

off the plane, like all of that shit, like

26:39

you know what I mean, Like it hurts. And

26:41

then that night we we hung

26:43

out with the other girl who didn't get the part

26:46

also and we went bowling and all of

26:48

that stuff. But I just remember walking

26:50

as soon as I was done singing. They were like, thank

26:52

you Donald, and I was like, oh, and

26:55

all because the pianist wasn't playing

26:57

it in your key, you know, all because Tevin Campbell

26:59

got in my freaking soul. And always

27:03

it always sucks when you can you know, sometimes

27:06

for those you don't know, when you're in an audition room,

27:08

you can hear it's like you're I just outside

27:10

the door, and so you can hear other people going,

27:13

and that just can be such a mind fuck if

27:15

it's but it could be a boost if the person

27:18

sucks and you're like, oh, I got the I remember

27:20

sitting in waiting rooms when I first got to Hollywood, and I

27:22

look around the waiting room and I'd just be so insecure,

27:24

and all these guys were so good looking, and I'd

27:26

be like, I'm never gonna what the fuck am I doing? And these

27:28

guys are like models. And then I'd

27:31

hear them go and I'd be like, oh, well,

27:34

I can act. I've

27:40

got a shot. Remember

27:42

when Sean Wayne Wayne sent you to the bathroom.

27:45

Yeah, so no, not Sean Marlin.

27:48

So I grew up with So I grew up with Marlon

27:51

Wayne's Omar Epps. They

27:53

went to LaGuardia and this my

27:55

brother, my friend Mitchy, and

27:57

the three of them. They're like best friends. They like the

28:00

three amigoes. But I used to ride

28:02

the train at the bus from my

28:05

school all the way up to one hundred

28:07

and twenty fifth Street where the National Black Theater

28:10

was pretty much every day, so I would and

28:12

they would ride all the way uptown too, So I

28:14

was always with them, and you know, I

28:16

got to know them and we would laugh and

28:18

shoot the ship all the time, and you

28:21

know, sometimes hang out after school

28:23

like you know. It was. It was they

28:25

were friends of mine. And

28:29

one I didn't know, Marlon, was an

28:31

actor. And one time I went on an audition and he

28:33

was there and I

28:35

was like, hey, man, what are you doing here. He's like, I'm auditioning.

28:37

He's like, what are you doing here? I was like, I'm auditioning. I was like

28:39

where where where's the room at? Oh? He goes.

28:41

He says, it's down the hall. It's that way,

28:45

go through that door, through

28:47

that door, and then around the corner

28:49

and then it's like the last door all

28:51

the way down the corridor. And I was like, thanks,

28:54

man. I was like, break a leg. He was like,

28:56

you two. It looked like he was getting on the elevator.

29:00

I walk all the way down there, no

29:03

after signing it. No, I

29:06

walk all the way down there, and it turns out

29:08

to be the bathroom,

29:11

and I'm like, what the fuck? But I come all

29:13

the way back and where the signing sheet

29:15

was was the door to go into the audition.

29:18

So I opened the door to go in the audition and

29:20

he's sitting in the room smiling

29:23

at me like hey man, and he totally

29:25

mind fucked me. I didn't get that part either. Man. There's

29:28

so many tricks that people do as as

29:31

actors in the waiting room, Like you'll see there's

29:33

the guy who tries to keep you

29:35

talking the whole time. Yeah, so you're

29:37

not, so you're not getting in your head about like

29:40

getting in your great headspace to go in and kill it.

29:42

Did I tell you guys about the guy used to come out of every audition

29:44

crying. I forgot

29:48

in case he was that that The short version

29:50

is he'd come out, he'd be crying. We will all be

29:53

looking at the pages like where the fuck is the crying

29:55

scene? And he would

29:57

just throw it in because he could cry and queue like that and

29:59

he'd be like, he'd be like swiping his tears. He'd

30:01

come out of like good luck everybody, bregger leg. We're

30:03

like, what's going on? And then I once finally

30:06

asked him. I was like, dude, why are you crying in every audition?

30:08

He's like, hell, people love them when you can cry like that. They don't

30:10

care if it's even in the scene. They just they think you're

30:12

a good actor. I'm like, well, how do you do that?

30:14

He goes, I just think of anyone doing anything

30:17

mean to animals. And

30:20

I was like, and I'm sitting there like thinking of

30:22

people doing mean things to animals, and no tears

30:24

are coming. I'm like, I

30:29

hate that, man. I mean, I love it. It's a it's

30:32

a great skill to have. But

30:34

you know, crying doesn't make you a

30:36

good actor. No, I know, I'm just talking about

30:38

mine. I'm just talking about going off of what you said about

30:40

all the shenanigans that happened in casting

30:43

waiting rooms and people trying to mind fuck each other. Yeah,

30:46

and it still happens. Like I'll go on auditions

30:48

now, uh, Like

30:50

I auditioned for a television show

30:52

two years ago when everybody was auditioning and

30:54

you could still go out. And this one

30:56

person in the waiting room just

30:59

kept talking to me. I was like, dude, I know what

31:01

you're doing. Please stop,

31:03

and it's okay, you don't have to do

31:05

this. We're all gonna get don't

31:10

have to do this. Man, he

31:13

just kept doing it, and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna just

31:15

step outside. Yeah,

31:17

since since I've been an agent, um,

31:19

we should get into that story before we Well

31:22

we can, we can do them simultaneously, but but yeah,

31:24

surely tell us about what you're about

31:26

to say. And then I want to ask you a question about agent. Right, Well,

31:28

since I've been an agent. Um. Uh,

31:31

there was a mother that would

31:34

take her child to the audition and they would bring

31:36

their Boa constructor with them. So

31:39

if you could imagine a bunch of kids an

31:43

audition and somebody walks in with a Boa

31:45

constructor, right, they're all the kids

31:47

are going crazy for the snake. Yeah, pet

31:49

the snake and hold the snake and not really concentrate

31:52

or be afraid or be afraid of the snake

31:54

or whatever it is. It can be such a you know, you

31:56

can work a week on an audition. It's

31:58

like, you know, it's the analogy. I often

32:00

think it was the Olympics, and that it doesn't matter how long

32:03

you're trained, It doesn't matter how great

32:05

you were in your home gym or

32:07

in your living room. All that matters is

32:09

what you do when you walk in that room, and

32:11

and you can get so easily. Well, it's

32:14

easy to get mind fucked by what's happening outside

32:17

the room and what's going on in your head that day.

32:19

Yeah, it's yea. The distraction

32:22

is real. And you only get one shot

32:24

when you go in an audition too. That's that's

32:26

the thing that they don't you know, that's

32:29

the thing that they don't train you for. You

32:31

can rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse.

32:34

One slip up and you

32:36

know, casting most

32:38

likely is moving on. You know,

32:42

for the most part, if you can walk in and give

32:44

perfection when you audition,

32:46

you're most likely going to get the part. If

32:49

you have if you if you have the look,

32:52

that's a bonus. But if you can deliver

32:55

that one time, right now,

32:57

deliver, they're gonna hire and an

33:00

injury and in an interesting way that's

33:02

unique and different, different from the

33:04

everybody else. But wait, Sureley, I want to go

33:06

back to just like it's keeping in Donald's careers.

33:09

So then what what was the next big thing

33:11

Donald? Was it Clueless or Titans?

33:14

No, I didn't. I did a bunch of really

33:16

small indie

33:19

movies that turned out to be really big before

33:22

that, before I did Clueless, and before I did remember

33:24

the Titans, like I did, um this movie

33:26

sugar Hill. Well, I did a bunch of television

33:28

like you know, like little parts here on TV.

33:31

And we met Wesley Snipes, and I remember

33:33

I auditioned for sugar Hill

33:36

and got the part, and I

33:38

had worked. Wesley Snipes

33:40

walked me and my mom home to the subway?

33:42

Was it to the subway or was it? What

33:44

was it? Oh? I don't remember that,

33:47

Okay. So when I got

33:49

a I got a small part where I was

33:52

where New York was. The name of

33:54

the show was called Help and New and

33:56

New York was overrun by rats

33:59

in the in one of the episodes, and

34:01

I had one line. And you know, they

34:04

made me dress up like a like

34:06

a like I was a street thug, and

34:10

you know, the news is on me and I'm

34:12

rapping to the camera and I go, hey, new York

34:14

don't worry about nothing. We here

34:16

to do some serious rap busting.

34:19

And I got a bat in my hand, right And

34:22

Wesley Snipes plays like a cop on the show.

34:24

And after I did that scene, he

34:26

walked with me and my mom to the subway station.

34:29

He walked us to the subway station. He gave us his old

34:31

spiel on Noah, who

34:33

he was and what he had, you know what he was up

34:35

to. About four

34:38

years later, I

34:41

guess it was my senior year. And it wasn't my senior, junior

34:43

or senior year in high school. I got

34:45

a part. I started getting small parts

34:48

in movies. Juice was first, and

34:50

then sugar

34:53

Hill, and Wesley Snipes was in sugar Hill,

34:56

and I remember we're doing a bunch of scenes

34:58

and stuff and I was like, you know where

35:00

you met me, do you? He's like, of course I do. Man. We

35:02

met one help nine one one

35:04

back, you know, a few years ago. You

35:06

know, I'm really happy you here right now. And I

35:09

was like, holy shit, Wesley Snipes remembers me. This

35:11

big, this big, huge star remembers

35:13

me. But then there were small roles

35:16

in small movies that turned out to be

35:18

like either a hood classic, like Juicon

35:20

and sugar Hill, a Straighthood

35:23

classics man Michael Michael

35:25

writes in one is in sugar Hill

35:27

like it's It's It's. I

35:30

was very lucky to be around

35:32

a lot of the people I

35:35

grew up with in the building

35:37

that my mom lives in now. So like h

35:40

Wesley Snipes, Michael Wright, all of these

35:43

actors would come and frequent Manhattan

35:45

Plaza. Yeah, what was it surely about

35:47

that building that attracted so many actors.

35:49

Well, what happened was that

35:52

UM Manhattan

35:54

Plaza was supposed to be a luxury building and

35:57

UM and because the convention

36:01

Center was supposed to be built where

36:03

it is now, but but years before

36:05

the convention center didn't happen

36:09

then, and so UM

36:11

the actor's Equity and SAG

36:14

lobbied for the building

36:17

to be UM residence

36:19

for artists. But so who

36:22

was the head? Who was the person who

36:24

spearheaded that uh punjab

36:26

from Annie right, the guy who played yes

36:30

Um, Jeoffrey Holder. Jeffrey

36:32

Holder. Jeffrey Holder was one of the

36:34

people seven

36:37

up guy, Yeah, Sebastian

36:42

from a Little Mermaid Too. Yeah,

36:44

So there were quite there were quite a few

36:46

people that that wanted

36:49

it to be an artist. Um complex.

36:52

So seventy percent of the people that

36:54

moved into the building were

36:56

either performing artists

36:58

or artist personnel. So so.

37:01

UM, screenwriters like Angela

37:04

Lansbury lived here Tennessee.

37:06

Williams left here now, Nel

37:08

Carter um and and

37:11

Alicia Keys was grew up

37:13

with shown here and um

37:15

it was a building it is still a

37:17

building for a performing artists. Wow.

37:19

So wow,

37:22

yes, yes, I mean, and it's so amazing

37:24

because Umm,

37:27

I'm on the Tennants Association here, I'm one

37:29

of the vps, and we try

37:31

to make sure that, um,

37:33

we have things in the building

37:36

that support artists and

37:38

support um so

37:40

so so like during COVID we did um

37:44

concerts on the plaza where

37:46

people could where people could

37:48

actually sit on their balconies

37:51

and listen to the music. UM

37:53

yeah um. And

37:56

then on the quiet Park, which is another

37:58

part, we'd have string orchestras

38:01

out there and um, so

38:03

that people that lived in that area would

38:05

be able to view it. When

38:08

I think about it, Mom, you set me up to be

38:10

what I am right now because of you,

38:13

know, your your tenacity

38:16

to get into the building. First of all, like

38:18

you were like, I'm gonna get us into this

38:20

building and I did that. And so

38:22

then now I'm surrounded by all of these actors

38:25

and musicians and entertainers

38:28

and writers. And like Larry David's

38:30

from Manhattan Seinfeld is based on

38:32

Manhattan Plaza, you know what I mean. Larry

38:34

David's uh neighbor,

38:37

right, He's no, he wasn't No Kramer,

38:41

Kenny Kramer. I grew up with

38:43

his daughter, you know what I mean. And so and

38:45

so, like, I was always around

38:48

actor, so it was always a possibility

38:50

in my mind, I can do it. I've seen I've seen my

38:52

neighbor do it, my next door neighbors on freaking

38:54

Broadway. But you know what I mean. So I always

38:57

thought, and you're right in the middle of it. I

38:59

mean, you're you're you're a block from Times

39:01

Square where it's all happening, but not just

39:03

that. But then I would go uptown to Harlem

39:06

and my mom's directing plays, and you

39:08

know what I mean. So I'm like, I can do this. I know

39:10

I can do this. It's in my bo I'm seeing my mom do

39:12

it. I know I can do it. And so

39:14

I knew at a very young age I was going to be an actor.

39:16

And it's really because of you, mom, because you kind

39:18

of set me up to be where I'm

39:21

at right now. No people

39:23

talk about momagers and everything like that. My

39:25

mom wasn't a momager or anything like that. But I

39:28

missed out on quite a few things, Like I was a pretty

39:30

good athlete. I missed out on basketball.

39:32

I missed out on baseball, like

39:34

like real big games and stuff. My mom

39:37

would be like, you have an audition and I would

39:39

never get those parts. But

39:41

she was setting me up for you

39:44

know, success, and I appreciate

39:46

that so much more. Oh, thank

39:48

you, thank you. Let's take a break.

39:51

We'll be right back after these fine

39:53

words. Surely

40:00

tell us about um, like what was what

40:02

was a big like he was getting these smaller parts?

40:04

And then what did you feel? And I don't know the chronology

40:06

if it was clues or titans, but when what

40:09

was like a oh shit, next step for

40:12

Donald's career? Mmmm?

40:16

Um? How about when

40:18

were you like, oh shit, he's going to do it, He's really going

40:20

to do it. No, I knew, I knew it was

40:22

going to do it from the very beginning, and

40:24

it wasn't you know. You know, there's

40:27

sometimes when there are kids that there's

40:29

a point in their life where they do a whole bunch of

40:31

stuff and then they don't do anything else. Yeah.

40:34

Uh, he had a steady,

40:36

constant career. So maybe

40:39

he might do one thing a year or two

40:41

things a year, but he would always

40:43

do something. So I knew that it was

40:45

it was something that was constant. It wasn't

40:48

something that was just oh, he's cute right now,

40:50

and so he's going to work right now. I

40:52

was really clear that he was going to there

40:55

was going to be longevity,

40:57

yeah, in his career and

41:00

um, and so we supported

41:02

him and in doing that. Um.

41:05

And I remember one year we

41:08

went to the movies to see something. I don't

41:10

remember what it was, but but uh, the

41:13

preview for Upcoming Attractions

41:16

came on and there he was

41:18

and it was New Year's Eve. I think

41:20

that we had gone to the movies and it was

41:23

like, oh my god, he's

41:25

His scene was in the Coming

41:28

Attraction and I was I was

41:30

like, oh my goodness, this is amazing.

41:33

You know, the whole movie was that

41:35

Donald probably remember The Titans. No,

41:38

it was before I remember the Titans. Oh yeah,

41:41

I don't think I am okay, sure, I

41:43

remember when I knew

41:45

that it was. I didn't. I knew

41:47

that I had reached a level.

41:50

When I was Disney

41:53

rented out a movie theater for my

41:55

mom and all of her friends and

41:57

myself to go watch. Remember the Titans wo

42:00

word came out, and that was

42:02

when I was like, holy shit, it's it's you

42:04

know, I had done Clueless already. I had done Weight in

42:06

the Exhale already, But that's when I was like,

42:08

holy shit. Like there's a scene in Um

42:12

Notorious where Biggie's sitting

42:14

down and he's listening in the sky as a limit. He's

42:17

like, hofully shit, I did it. Yeah,

42:19

I did it. I'm the best rapper alive. I

42:22

did it. I did it, And

42:24

I didn't think I was the best actor alive, but

42:26

I was like, holy shit, I did it in

42:29

a movie with an actor.

42:31

My mom has always talked about

42:34

my whole ever since. I can remember Denzel

42:36

like this, Like I

42:39

used to make a joke. There's three

42:41

pictures in the house growing up. There was

42:43

a picture of Jesus, picture of doctor

42:45

Martin Luther King, and then the picture of Denzel

42:47

Washington. You

42:51

know. I used to yeah,

42:53

right and so and so my

42:56

I remember doing being there

42:58

and seeing my mom um, my

43:00

friends, everybody like caught up

43:02

in this movie and not really thinking

43:04

about me in the movie, just being caught up

43:07

in the in the moment, you know what I mean, in the

43:09

in the magic and saying, holy shit,

43:11

I did it. I fucking I finally

43:13

I did it. I did it' I know I

43:16

knew walking out of that theater. My mom

43:18

was on cloud nine because

43:20

of it, even if I don't know if she liked Clueless.

43:23

I don't know if you liked. I'm sure you liked

43:25

Waiting the Exhale, but I knew you

43:27

were on cloud nine when you walked

43:29

out in the theater after watching Remember the Titans,

43:31

because everybody else was, you know what I

43:34

mean. Yeah, yeah. The thing about Remember

43:36

the Titans also that I loved was was the historical,

43:39

historical element about it. And

43:42

and and I remember watching

43:45

it and there was

43:47

a moment where everybody, all my friends,

43:49

we all just stood up. I mean, it was

43:51

just so it was it was just so emotional,

43:54

you know, and m and

43:56

it holds up. I mean I just recently saw

43:58

it for the first time, uh, which

44:01

Donald loves to talk about, but I

44:04

you know, it holds up today. I was

44:07

on the verge of standing up in the planting when I watched

44:09

it in my house. It's

44:11

one of those Yeah, I knew after that. I

44:14

was like, you know, whatever happens after this is

44:17

gravy. I had no idea that Scrubs would

44:19

be next, like it went from. My

44:22

twenties were fucking awesome because

44:25

of the work that I got to do Clueless, remember

44:28

the Titans waiting to exhale

44:31

Scrubs, Like all of those

44:33

things came into play in my twenties.

44:35

Surely do you remember um just down that he brought

44:37

up Scrubs? Do you remember like that,

44:40

like finding out that he got it, like knowing that he

44:42

had, that he was a serious contender for it,

44:44

and that all of a sudden he got this primetime

44:46

show. Jan knew nothing about it until

44:48

we came to upfronts and I took it up front.

44:51

Yeah, really, what's that story? You just you didn't

44:53

because you didn't want to. You didn't want to, like hover

44:55

be well, I had been on a television I had been on a television.

44:57

I'd been on several television shows before,

45:00

or Scrubs that you

45:02

had done Clueless and Felicity and

45:04

right that we're struggling

45:06

to stay on the air, you know what I mean, right,

45:09

like really struggling. So then what did you

45:11

tell her at the upfronts? Like how did that go down? I was

45:13

like, Hey, I got a show. Why

45:16

don't you come and be the upfront. That's the year that they

45:18

were like, Donald, you didn't get the memo. It was that

45:20

year? Oh ye was that year

45:22

one? Yeah, we all went to our first big

45:24

event and we were all dressed up and Donald's like in

45:26

sweatpants. And I remember, like some photographers

45:28

like, what's the matter? Donald didn't get the memo? Right?

45:33

But anyway, my mom for the first

45:35

time, so because you know, they would play a sizzle reel

45:37

of the show at the upfront and she

45:39

saw it for the first time. She was like it's really good.

45:42

Oh my god, it's so good. I

45:44

can't believe this is so good. And

45:46

I was like, yeah, we'll

45:49

see how it goes. We'll see how it goes. And that night I gave Jeff

45:51

Zucca a nuggie. Yeah good

45:53

times. Yeah, Um, Mom,

45:55

I want to talk about one thing, so, um,

45:59

let's talk about how you became an agent. Yeah,

46:01

because that was really interesting to

46:03

me. I remember you just always being like, I'm

46:06

going to be involved in your career, and I remember me always

46:08

fighting you, saying there's no way I'm ever gonna

46:10

let you be a part of all of this. And

46:13

then the next thing I know, you were working at my agent's office.

46:15

Yeah. Well, okay,

46:18

So I became an It was a life

46:21

change, a career change, because

46:24

I had been working in theater. I had

46:26

been a development officer, I've been

46:28

a director, I've been a producer, I've

46:30

been executive director. And

46:33

at some point I got burnt out. And also, um,

46:36

me and Donald's father broke up, so

46:39

um, I and

46:41

I worked with him, and so I

46:44

wanted to do something different. And

46:47

Shoot was working

46:50

at the agency when he wasn't

46:52

working, um, you know, pulling

46:54

pictures and

46:55

director. Oh

46:57

Carson Evler agency, so famous

47:00

agency in New York. Yeah, so Shon was

47:02

working at the agency, UM

47:05

as an assistant, and

47:08

he was gonna go to do something. It

47:10

wasn't clueless because I was there when he

47:12

got clueless. It was something else. He was

47:14

going to test for something. And

47:17

um and for

47:20

me, yeah you did. You asked me to cover for

47:22

you while because I wanted to

47:24

shift what I was doing and

47:26

so I covered for him, and when he got back, he

47:28

didn't have a job. This

47:31

sounds like the funniest movie. I

47:33

would so watch this movie. A guy

47:36

had a job and he's like, mom, I need a favorite

47:42

I came back. They were like, you can't work here no more.

47:44

That we're talking about your mom's running

47:46

the place, like yeah,

47:49

I mean now now it's to the point where she's a partner.

47:51

And I was saying, of course, we

47:53

want I want to hear that, but I think it's funny that

47:55

your mom was doing your job so well

47:58

that they were like, numb bro, sorry you're gone.

48:00

Well, I was horrible at the job, Like I sucked at

48:02

it. I was really bad. It has a lot to There

48:05

was a lot of typing and spelling and reading

48:07

involved, and Zach, you know me, I'm

48:09

not strong in any of those categories.

48:12

So yeah, I had to I had to. Uh,

48:14

I had to relinquish that job. And that

48:16

was and that was before UM word

48:19

processing, so it was a type writer, right.

48:23

UM I

48:25

went and I and I covered for him, and

48:28

I communicated that I wanted to become an

48:30

agent. And so after

48:32

about six months of being quote

48:35

unquote an assistant, UM, I

48:37

got my subfranchise and

48:39

I UM and so UM

48:43

Carson Adler was known as a children's agency,

48:45

and Nancy asked me what

48:47

I wanted to do, and I it's

48:50

hard working with parents, it really is. And so I

48:52

said, I wanted to focus more on young

48:54

adults and adults. So I

48:56

started the UM the Young

48:58

adult adult vision of the division

49:01

of the agency and

49:03

come quite successful. Let's talk about some

49:05

of the people that you represented or some of the people

49:07

that have come through that agency that are now big

49:10

time in Hollywood. Like well, one of

49:12

my one of my clients was Constant

49:14

School. I represented her right

49:16

out of college. UM

49:19

I represented las Alonzo, UM,

49:23

I've represented um

49:26

bb Winan's Stephanie

49:29

Mills, UM,

49:31

Robin Givens Um.

49:34

Yeah. Let's talk about some of the kids

49:36

that you used to take to her their auditions, Like did

49:38

you ever use is it true, used to take Kristen Bell

49:40

to her auditions? And yes I did. I did because

49:42

she would fly in from Chicago and

49:45

Nancy would pick her up from the airport and

49:48

bring it to the agency, and then I would take

49:50

her to her auditions, and then Nancy would take

49:52

her back to the airport and she

49:55

would fly back to Chicago. At the end of the day,

49:58

I ran into Liam

50:00

Michel h yeah,

50:02

uh huh yeah, and the same thing with her, right,

50:05

yeah, well Leah, Leah would Leah lived

50:07

in New York, right, um

50:09

um and um

50:12

so so she so she actually would

50:14

go at her own auditions, but she would. She would

50:16

come in the office a lot in Bethany

50:19

Joy lens Um,

50:22

David Krumholtz, Rum, I

50:24

remember crum Holts back in the day. Yeah, I

50:27

was a kid actor at a place called

50:29

Fox albert You remember them, Oh, yes,

50:31

I do. I remember Fox Alberts. So that's where I was.

50:33

And I would and it was a similar situation

50:36

to you. I'd come in and I was too

50:38

young. Sometimes I was too young in the beginning,

50:40

and I'd have a guardian or someone

50:42

with me, and sometimes someone from the agency would take

50:44

me around because I was so young and wide

50:46

eyed and didn't know New York. Yeah,

50:49

it's really interesting how many people come up to

50:51

me in Hollywood. You

50:54

know. It used to be everybody who

50:56

was African American, like your mom

50:58

was my agent and New York City. It

51:00

happens to me too anyway. When I when

51:02

I walk around Manhattan, or the theater district.

51:05

People know that I know you

51:07

obviously, and they use Shirley

51:09

as a way to start talking to me. They're like, I

51:12

know Shirley phase on, and I'm like, everybody

51:16

knows Shley, Pa, we're in the theater district. But

51:20

that's something that you really like. That's

51:23

where you thrive. Also, like you had, You've

51:25

had, you have people that turned into movie stars and

51:27

stuff like that, But you thrive on Broadway

51:29

and off Broadway, right m hmm, yeah,

51:32

well before the pandemic, because Broadway is not

51:34

happening right now. But um, Hamilton,

51:38

Lion King name Michelle?

51:41

What about what was the one that Zach and

51:43

I love so much? You'll

51:46

have to be more specific, the

51:48

one the one with the Josh Gad that

51:50

Josh Gadd was in Oh Book of Mormon. Oh,

51:54

yes, I've had, I've had people in Book of Mormon.

51:56

Yes. Um, surely

51:59

this is a question I get all the time and

52:01

I never know the answer to it because I was a kid actor

52:03

and uh and I had and I had a weird

52:05

kind of waning into the business. But for

52:07

those people listening who either

52:10

they or they have a child that aspires

52:12

like, how do you even begin to get an agent in

52:15

two thy twenty one, Like, I don't even I

52:17

don't even know what to tell people how to how to do it.

52:19

Um. There's several ways um

52:22

as an agent, I go to showcases so

52:25

UM and if there's a reputable

52:28

school, um that

52:30

you go to when they do a showcase, I'll

52:33

go to the showcase if they hold a showcase,

52:36

and I will UM see

52:38

who I like and speak

52:40

to the person who teaches the classes about

52:42

that particular person. Or a teacher

52:45

might say, you know, I have an incredible student

52:47

that I would like for you to UM to

52:49

see. Also um.

52:53

Also UM,

52:55

I go to shows um

52:57

off Broadway, off off Broadway, UM

53:01

little theaters, and if there's someone that

53:03

I like, I will speak

53:05

to whomever to get

53:08

in touch with them. UM. Sometimes

53:11

UM, I might see a

53:13

YouTube video and

53:16

and and it's like, oh my god, that person's

53:18

amazing, UM,

53:21

and I might try to reach out to them. That's a little

53:24

you know, if a person has a whole lot of followers

53:26

and you know, a larger agency is gonna

53:28

try to scoop them, grab them before I

53:30

can get to them. But but

53:32

um, the most important thing, it

53:34

seems like is to find a way to not

53:37

only be in something right, but then

53:39

get talent agents

53:42

to come to the thing. I mean, that's that's the most important

53:44

thing, is to have them see you do

53:46

something right. Yes, exactly. You guys don't

53:48

do open calls anymore, like have people come

53:50

in and just well I have to

53:52

do that with screen actors guilt and

53:55

with Actors' Equity Association, um.

53:58

But as far as people just coming

54:00

into the office and doing an open call that way,

54:02

No, I make appointments and

54:05

now during COVID, I do zoom appointments.

54:07

When I was at my last year in Northwestern,

54:10

they had a we had a showcase and that was really

54:12

that was really helpful. We did they invite

54:14

casting directors and agents and managers

54:16

and you do like a dramatic

54:19

monologue and a no sorry, I did a

54:21

dramatic scene in a comedic scene. And you

54:24

know, I don't think anything really fully materialized

54:26

from it, but it was like a good It was good experience.

54:29

And I got some some nimbles, and I

54:31

remember one of them was from Blue Man Group because

54:34

they were just they were just looking for anyone that was six

54:36

feet tall

54:39

blue makeup. Yeah, and I was like we Basically

54:42

their attitude was like, we could teach you everything. We could

54:44

teach you to drum, we could teach you to whatever

54:46

you need to do, but we need to be six foot tall and milling

54:48

to shave your head and turn blue. I was

54:50

like, no, I'm good, thanks, and didn't

54:53

flash forward to Blue Man Group on Scrubs,

54:55

right, and then we had them on Scrubs. There

54:58

you go. Yeah, we

55:00

have a caller mom. Yeah, usually

55:02

your mom might not even know that we take callers. We

55:05

take callers on this show for you

55:07

know, the three times that you've listened, I'm

55:09

sure you. We don't know if you've made

55:11

it to the caller section. Yes,

55:14

I have, I have. Okay,

55:16

we're gonna have it. We're gonna bite a callering and

55:18

we're gonna they're gonna ask two questions, right Joel,

55:21

and then we're gonna and then we do a segment called

55:23

fix their Life or you're gonna We're gonna list you

55:26

to help us fix their life. Okay,

55:28

we become pop psychologists for ten

55:30

minutes. Um, we need to

55:32

do that. We'll go to break though, right, Okay, we're gonna say a

55:34

commercial break and we'll be right back for

55:47

um. All right, so Joel Daniel,

55:49

bring in the guest and let's wow them on

55:51

a Sunday or it comes day my birthday.

55:53

When you're listening to thee, here

55:56

comes Teddy Shapiro. Teddy Shapiro,

55:58

give it up for a theory Chapiro

56:10

under as applause. Oh

56:13

my god, there you are? Are

56:16

you? How are you? Theodore?

56:19

I am great? Thank you? Donald? How

56:21

are you? I am well? Thank you for asking.

56:24

You're having my lovely mother

56:26

Shirley phase on with us. Missus

56:28

Payson, how are you? I'm good?

56:31

How are you to? I'm good? Thank

56:33

you? And we have some course legendary

56:35

Daniel in legendary Joel pleasure,

56:38

welcome, and that right there is the one and only

56:40

Zach Brath. Yes, I have on my terry

56:42

cloth shirt for you today because it's a gorgeous

56:44

daye Los Angeles and beautiful day in Chicago.

56:47

I didn't want you to see me naked, so I put

56:49

my terry cloth shirt on. Thank you. Um,

56:52

how welcome to the program. We're

56:54

so happy you're here. You have the added advantage

56:56

of having the legendary Shirley phaise On

56:58

on the program. Do you have a question

57:01

for us that we can answer. I do,

57:03

I do. Um. My first question

57:05

is for Donald and Zach,

57:08

is you know, I know you guys are best friends,

57:10

But when do you guys first feel like that

57:12

connection and when do you guys first realize

57:15

like, oh, this is gonna be my man and my man for

57:17

like ever? Instantaneously?

57:20

Yeah? It was? I mean, well, Donald

57:22

has a different answer. It instantaneous.

57:25

He had me at first hip hop hug. But it

57:28

wasn't a hip hop hug. It was a hip hop

57:30

hug. Donald, it wasn't Dick. I'm

57:32

implying we went growing to growing in Bill's

57:34

living room. I don't think so. I'm pretty sure we went

57:36

growing to growing. No, I think there was the arm

57:38

barrier. There was no

57:40

barrier. There was no barrier.

57:43

There was. It was a hey, hey, heyy,

57:47

and then a big Donald was I've said this before,

57:49

but I was nervous because I was

57:51

I knew that I knew who he was, obviously he

57:53

was a famous actor, and I was kind

57:55

of like, what's it gonna be, Like, he's gonna play my

57:58

best friend? Will he be cool? Will he be a right

58:00

again? Well? What was su vibe going to be? And we were

58:02

in bills in Christa's living room and he was

58:04

at the bar. There was a you know, a little

58:06

bar area, and he turned around he went hey,

58:10

and I was like, oh, I already loved this guy. And

58:12

then we had a big hug which may or

58:14

not been grun to growing didn't recall and

58:16

um, and we never looked back. Donald,

58:19

When did you think that you realized that I knew

58:21

we were best friends when we were living in New York

58:23

one year after the first season of Scrub.

58:25

We were living in New York and we were in

58:27

our underwear playing ping pong. Yes,

58:30

And I was like, I asked my best friend,

58:32

Yeah, legendary.

58:37

And I had to break into Donald that his

58:40

room was the laundry room because I had gotten my first

58:42

and he was like, I'm not Benson.

58:45

So I wound up staying like on a

58:47

cot right outside of him. No, it wasn't a cot,

58:49

it was a bed. It's just it was very intimate. We we

58:52

basically shared a room. Yes, I'll look at the

58:54

martini coming out of Teddy. All right, Teddy,

58:57

look at you.

58:58

It's not what it's

59:00

seven or six six six? All

59:03

right? All right, go for yours,

59:06

all right, Teddy next question, go um,

59:08

and then just what kind

59:11

of what actor, producer, writer,

59:13

director kind of had the most profound

59:15

impact on yours and Donald's career from

59:18

you know going forward. Well,

59:22

I'm gonna give a controversial answer, but it's

59:24

not it's the answer. I'm gonna

59:26

be the true answer, which is Woody Allen. And

59:28

I know that that's extraordinarily because

59:31

of all the stuff we're learning now. But when

59:33

I was growing up, he was a

59:35

godhead to my family. It was my parents'

59:38

favorite. It's all. You know, if we if

59:40

the humor was what we grew up on, it

59:43

was, you know, that sort of East Coast neurotic

59:45

Jewish guy, and

59:48

I think it did. It didn't form a lot of my

59:50

comedic timing. He wasn't the only one. There were others

59:52

like Neil Simon and mel Brooks and

59:55

but definitely my mother and father's

59:57

love of his movies was was sort of

59:59

ingrained upon on us that that's that's what was funny.

1:00:01

That was that comedic timing

1:00:04

and and and and his style

1:00:06

of storytelling was was definitely

1:00:08

very impactful, and I think impactful

1:00:10

on on the films that I'm that I made as

1:00:12

well. Um,

1:00:15

So I was. I'm a huge fan of

1:00:17

Star Wars, so Harrison Ford and Billy d Williams

1:00:19

are you know, like when

1:00:22

I was a kid, that was what was

1:00:24

cool to me when I

1:00:26

became When I got to high school

1:00:28

though, Codeem Hardiston was

1:00:32

my like. I idolized

1:00:34

Codem Hartist. I even had the glasses that flipped

1:00:36

up, you know what I mean. He played Dwayne

1:00:39

Wayne on A

1:00:41

Different World, which was a spin off from the Cosby

1:00:44

Show, and I

1:00:47

thought he was, you know everything,

1:00:49

Like I even tried to dress like him. Any

1:00:51

movie that he was in, from like School Days

1:00:53

to Vampire in Brooklyn. I had

1:00:56

to see it, you know, and um,

1:00:58

white men can't jump and

1:01:00

uh.

1:01:03

He's also the one that kind of when

1:01:05

I was at a point where I needed to Okay,

1:01:07

what am I gonna do? How am I gonna do this? I

1:01:10

performed in front of him once and

1:01:12

he came up. Um, you know it was

1:01:15

it was a bunch of us performing, but I had

1:01:17

a monologue and after

1:01:19

the show was over, he came to me and hugged

1:01:22

me and squeezed me tight. He's like, yo, man, that

1:01:24

was all amazing, and

1:01:27

he kind of set me on the adult path

1:01:29

of yo. If Kadem, Hardison says,

1:01:31

I could do it. If the dude that I tried to be like

1:01:33

came here and told me I was amazing, I'm

1:01:36

going forward. I'm going for this and Kadem

1:01:39

and then also Denzel Washington. Yeah

1:01:44

does Kadem? What? Did he still work?

1:01:46

He was absolutely. I haven't seen him that

1:01:48

much, but he was so good. So something

1:01:52

I saw him in something recently. Um, there

1:01:54

was a it was a short lived TV series.

1:01:56

Now he was on a long lived TV series with Zindeya.

1:01:59

He was on her Tell. They did a television show

1:02:01

together on Disney. I think

1:02:03

okay, um

1:02:06

easy he and and I

1:02:08

think he might be working right now on something.

1:02:11

He was So there was a point in our you

1:02:14

know, our childhoods when he

1:02:16

that show was at its height of popularity

1:02:18

and everybody looked up to that

1:02:20

guy. He was. He was like the ultimate you

1:02:23

know, he was kind of like a Ferris Bueller type

1:02:25

character. Yeah he was. I hate

1:02:28

to compare it like that, but yeah, he was like the black

1:02:30

Ferres Bueller like. He was the dude that was

1:02:32

kind of a geek but somehow

1:02:34

got the hot girl. And yeah, yeah

1:02:36

he was on Casey Undercover. That's what it was with he

1:02:39

used his charms to win over

1:02:41

the ladies, Jasmine Guy and

1:02:43

Lisa Boone. With the two ladies that he used,

1:02:47

you know what, I you know what happens when when you say the

1:02:49

word Lisa Bonet to me, I

1:02:51

hear this. I

1:02:59

heard that. I heard that

1:03:03

man. Zoey fared too. Don't get it twisted. She

1:03:05

looked just like her mom, Dan, I need

1:03:07

this put in the sound pad. Who No,

1:03:21

she's still she's still a knockout

1:03:23

man. She's she's prettier than

1:03:25

ever. Yeah.

1:03:28

Her daughter is like an amazing actress too. Yeah,

1:03:30

all right, it's time for Chicago's favorite

1:03:33

segment, Shirley. This is when we fix

1:03:37

yo. All

1:03:42

right, sir, we are here and we have a very brilliant

1:03:44

mind, Shirley phase On, who's a great mom and

1:03:47

a great agent. She can help to. What

1:03:49

is your question? So I'm twenty

1:03:51

four, you know, um, just out of college,

1:03:53

and I'm still trying to find my passion.

1:03:55

I'm in a job that you know, I like where

1:03:57

I do, but I don't that's ships at

1:04:00

leaste myself doing it long term, and I'm

1:04:02

just trying to figure out. You know, you've all clearly found

1:04:04

your passion and what you want to do in your

1:04:06

life, and I'm just trying to figure it out. How do I do that with

1:04:08

mine? What do you love

1:04:11

more than anything? That's a hard question.

1:04:13

I mean, what do you do? What? What? What? Like? When you when

1:04:15

you forget anything that is a job related

1:04:18

thing like take money out of the equation? When

1:04:20

you what? What do you What's happening

1:04:22

in your life that you're looking forward to that you go, oh

1:04:25

my god, I can't wait for that. I mean it could be camping,

1:04:27

it could be traveling, it could

1:04:29

be anything and everything that lights

1:04:31

you up that makes you go yes, X y Z

1:04:34

is happening. What is

1:04:36

that? Well? I don't

1:04:38

know if Joel told you, but um, I actually

1:04:40

am a cant survivor. I'm a pedetric cantrasurvivor.

1:04:43

So something that I do find a lot of joy

1:04:45

and passion in is working with

1:04:48

you know, kids who are in that kind of community

1:04:50

and you know, helping with that, Well,

1:04:53

Bro, that's a good That's a pretty

1:04:55

amazing place to start. That

1:04:57

sounds that. I mean, if you're not doing

1:04:59

that now, I would suggest, I

1:05:01

mean getting into that, especially if it makes

1:05:04

you happy at the at the

1:05:06

foundation of everything. You have to

1:05:08

be happy, right. We all get

1:05:10

into jobs and at some point

1:05:13

we realized this is this

1:05:16

isn't for me. For me, it was being an agent, an

1:05:18

assistant at an agent's office. I knew

1:05:21

I didn't want to do that after a few

1:05:23

days of doing it, even though I was getting paid.

1:05:25

What made me happy was being an actor, and

1:05:27

so I my whole

1:05:30

life. I pursued that my

1:05:32

mom was in theater. You could

1:05:34

tell him, You could tell them if you want to, But she was in theater

1:05:36

and halfway through her

1:05:39

well, you know, I don't know what it's.

1:05:42

How old were you when you decided to

1:05:44

switch? Mom? You never asked. I

1:05:47

was forty, so you

1:05:51

were forty years old. At forty, she was

1:05:53

looking for something that would make her happy and

1:05:56

she became an agent. Um, you

1:05:58

know, if that makes

1:06:00

you happy, why not? Teddy? I just want to point

1:06:02

something out to you. You were kind of like shoulders

1:06:04

over a little bit, kind of soft spoken, and

1:06:07

then as you started talking about being a pediatric

1:06:10

cancer survivor and helping someone, your shoulders

1:06:12

went back, your face lit up, your

1:06:14

whole posture changed. It's like it's

1:06:17

there's something in you that that lights up giving

1:06:19

back the fact that the fact that those people

1:06:22

who obviously I'm sure made a difference in

1:06:24

your life when you were a child battling cancer,

1:06:27

And I mean that

1:06:29

just goes to show you, like that's when when Donald and I talk

1:06:31

about performing or

1:06:33

entertaining, directing

1:06:36

writing with that, that's what happens to us. We lean forward,

1:06:39

we get passionate, and we start just gesticulating

1:06:41

all over the place. And I

1:06:43

think for you, that's a good place to look. Now.

1:06:46

I don't know you would know better

1:06:48

than us about what that looks like if

1:06:50

you're not going to go to medical school, but I'm

1:06:52

sure there's lots of different people that made

1:06:54

a difference in your life that you that you

1:06:56

could take on a similar role for children

1:06:59

other children, right, M definitely

1:07:02

right. I guess welcome.

1:07:05

What was your major? Not

1:07:07

yet? What was

1:07:09

your major in college? I

1:07:12

majored in management and minored

1:07:14

in general business and finance. What

1:07:16

are you doing now? I'm working

1:07:19

as an audit and accounting at

1:07:21

a fortune five hundred company. So you're

1:07:23

doing what you went to school for pretty much more

1:07:26

or less. Yeah, I'm just yeah, doing

1:07:28

numbers and you're ready to shift. I

1:07:31

think I mean, at a certain point I think I am because

1:07:34

this is I'm not driven by what I'm currently

1:07:36

doing, you know. Yeah,

1:07:38

Now, what could you do to set you on the

1:07:41

course to to to something

1:07:43

that that that's

1:07:45

in the spirit of what we're talking about, I

1:07:47

mean something I mean I want to parlay to

1:07:49

be able to if I could be able to like work in this

1:07:52

industry and be able to provide for let's

1:07:54

say, in my future family and beyond, that's

1:07:56

something I want to take an interest in

1:07:58

because you know, having that, you know, support,

1:08:00

having you know, monetary game is semi

1:08:03

important to me as well, not just not

1:08:05

just you know, um,

1:08:07

but yeah, so it's just kind of trying

1:08:10

to find something where I can marry, like having

1:08:13

a job that I'm comfortable in, as

1:08:15

well as doing something that like I can I'm

1:08:17

able to help you know, someone in my position

1:08:19

or someone like that, and and it's just kind

1:08:22

of it's not an easy medium to

1:08:24

find, is what I've been looking

1:08:26

into. Yeah, the good thing

1:08:28

about twenty four is, um, you don't

1:08:30

have a family yet, and you know obviously have to

1:08:32

pay for your rent and your food and your your

1:08:34

survival. But um, but you but

1:08:37

now while you're young and wide

1:08:39

eyed. It's a great time to be trying and

1:08:42

exploring these things out. You know,

1:08:44

the second you start getting

1:08:48

you know, having people that are reliant

1:08:50

on you, you have a lot less freedom and can

1:08:52

be way less nimble. You're in a twenty

1:08:54

four is like, let me try different things.

1:08:57

I mean, obviously, I'm not an idiot.

1:08:59

I know you need to make enough money to pay for

1:09:01

your life. But it's a great time to

1:09:03

try out different things and and and you

1:09:07

know, get it, get exposed to new things.

1:09:10

I agree, Joel Daniel. Do you have any thoughts

1:09:12

on the matter. Yeah, it doesn't

1:09:15

last forever. As soon as I turned

1:09:17

thirty, suddenly it was like, oh, grab so many

1:09:19

things and people to take care of. And yeah,

1:09:22

I would say, if you're gonna do the switch, do it,

1:09:24

do it now, and like, just fully

1:09:27

embrace it. I have a lot of friends who switched

1:09:30

their careers around the same age as you are

1:09:32

now, and like, it's a it's

1:09:34

a hustle, but once you get there, oh man,

1:09:37

what a joy to do the thing that you love. Like

1:09:39

it's still worked. Don't let anyone tell you it's not work.

1:09:41

It's still work, but it is. It's

1:09:44

better work. Yeah, and also,

1:09:47

you know, your skills apply to so

1:09:49

many different things, like even if you're not

1:09:52

um, you know, specifically

1:09:55

reaching out to people and talking about

1:09:57

your experience being able to you

1:09:59

know, use your accounting skills, use

1:10:01

the skills you've learned in schools to help out an organization

1:10:04

that does that already, and then including

1:10:06

yourself into the story of what

1:10:09

that organization does. It's a

1:10:11

way to you know, start that transition into

1:10:13

a new career without having to completely

1:10:16

change your life. Oh my god, that's great, great,

1:10:18

gonna say, come through, fantastic,

1:10:25

Daniel, Daniel. Only one phrase comes

1:10:27

to mind, you honor me. No,

1:10:32

listen, by the way, Teddy, that was really

1:10:34

that was better advice than I because

1:10:37

you no,

1:10:39

because it's smart, he's smart. What he's

1:10:41

saying is, take your skill set, bring

1:10:43

it to an organization that I'm just

1:10:45

making it up, that that specifically caters

1:10:49

to and helps families dealing with pediatric

1:10:51

cancer, and say, hey, not only can

1:10:53

I help with the face to face stuff

1:10:55

I'm interested in that. I'm a survivor myself. I know

1:10:58

I no one has more empathy than me, but

1:11:00

I can also bring my accounting skills set.

1:11:02

Do you guys need that in your organization. I

1:11:05

mean, you're you're a home run candidate for

1:11:07

someone who could be working for an organization

1:11:09

like that. That's great, Daniel, And let's

1:11:11

let's also be real. It's like, in the sector

1:11:14

of helping people, it's the area

1:11:16

that has it has the

1:11:18

least in terms of people who are like able

1:11:20

to crunch numbers and people who know money

1:11:22

and people who know business. It's like, so often

1:11:25

those kinds of people and this is not a dig at

1:11:27

those kind of people at all, or those kinds of work,

1:11:29

but so often those people look for and

1:11:32

move into huge companies, big

1:11:34

money positions and stuff like that. And you

1:11:36

know, certain organizations that need money

1:11:38

or people that are good with money sometimes flounder

1:11:40

in those scenarios because people who want to help

1:11:43

people have the compassion but don't necessarily

1:11:45

always have the business mind or the skill set.

1:11:47

So I think you can be a huge asset to those companies.

1:11:50

And also think about it. If you're a parent or

1:11:52

a child going through cancer and

1:11:55

the young man counseling you is

1:11:57

twenty four years old, super articulate,

1:12:00

has the empathy and he went through it and survived,

1:12:03

Think how think of the connection the young

1:12:05

person would feel as opposed to some older

1:12:08

senior citizen or someone they might not

1:12:10

be able to relate to. That kid's gonna be like, oh my god,

1:12:12

look at Teddy. He's he survived and he's

1:12:15

great and he's thriving. And you'd

1:12:17

be such a motivation to a young person. I think,

1:12:21

Wow, I'm fired up, Teddy. All

1:12:27

right. The good news is because you're an

1:12:29

inspiration and because um we

1:12:32

like you extra special amount, and

1:12:34

in honor of Shirley phazons a visit, we

1:12:36

are going to send you a case of

1:12:39

GT's kombucha. Yeah, there

1:12:45

is a tap at work of kombucha. I've not tried

1:12:48

GTS, but I'm trying to try. Well, Buddy. I

1:12:50

see a fridge behind you, and what I like to do is stack

1:12:52

mine up like I'm in a supermarket, and like so

1:12:54

it looks all nean and a lined. It might be my ocd

1:12:57

read by lind I like all my bottles

1:12:59

stacked up neatly and with the labels

1:13:01

facing out. You are getting

1:13:03

a do we know what what? He's probably getting

1:13:05

an array of flavors, right, Joel, Well,

1:13:08

A little bit of everything, A sample sampler,

1:13:10

A little sample a sample case. So

1:13:12

thank you, thank you to the folks

1:13:15

at GTS for that. And um and what

1:13:17

can we say. What we say is you're welcome, Teddy, You're

1:13:19

welcome. Thank you. M

1:13:23

I have no doubt that you're going to make a difference

1:13:25

in people's lives. Donald and I go out and hopefully

1:13:28

make people laugh a little bit and hopefully take their mind

1:13:30

off some shit. But you're you're someone who's

1:13:32

getting to really have a noticeable impact

1:13:35

on people's lives. Yes, amen,

1:13:39

surely, yes, don't

1:13:42

don't don't be shy. You can talk. It's okay. Oh

1:13:45

no, no, I'm not being shy. I

1:13:47

think I think Teddy's going to make a tremendous

1:13:49

contribution to UM.

1:13:52

There's there's so many organizations you

1:13:54

know, um that that do such

1:13:56

great work. They send me letters every month

1:13:59

to give contribution. M hm. And

1:14:02

if Teddy, if Teddy changes his mind again and wants

1:14:04

the audition for the National Black Theater in

1:14:06

Harlem, would there be any opportunity

1:14:08

for him there? And hold

1:14:11

on, now, don't get all crazy. They let white people

1:14:14

do. All you gotta do is live in

1:14:16

Harlem. And I thought it was an African

1:14:18

American company you're saying you can be well,

1:14:21

you can you can be white and be in the company.

1:14:23

They do, they hope

1:14:25

for you. You

1:14:31

know, She's like, you can be white

1:14:33

and be in the company. We need bad guys. But

1:14:55

Teddy, it's true, that's true. I'm

1:14:58

just kidding or

1:15:00

a great wife hope. All

1:15:07

right? That

1:15:10

way, we'll wrap it up, Joel. What are

1:15:12

we missing? What do we gotta tell people? Um?

1:15:15

Not much? Really, I mean we should. We

1:15:17

should thank everybody for that live show

1:15:21

show Holy cow man, Like

1:15:24

we kept it up for a week

1:15:26

and the response was amazing, and

1:15:28

so thank you so much for thank you so much

1:15:30

for watching. We're probably gonna we we we had a lot

1:15:32

of fun. We're talking about doing one in the summer again,

1:15:35

right for some summer jam. I'm ready.

1:15:37

And then I think we should have I think we

1:15:39

have. We have Sarah and Johnny c on next

1:15:41

one. We've got a lot of requests

1:15:44

for those two to make up appearances again.

1:15:46

So I definitely think we should do one with Sarah and Johnny

1:15:48

CE. So so look for that information coming

1:15:50

to you this summer. We should shout out

1:15:52

all the people that are on the front lines, you know, people

1:15:54

that we don't talk about somebody

1:15:57

hitting me up on the internet, and was like, you know,

1:15:59

you got as always talk about the people that work

1:16:01

in the hospital and stuff,

1:16:04

but there are other people on the front line that

1:16:06

are I think we got this. Our

1:16:08

trash collectors who are still out here. Thank you. Where

1:16:10

would the world being without you? People who

1:16:13

work in a grocery store, my god, saviors,

1:16:15

thank you for keeping us stopped and fed.

1:16:17

We appreciate you. Our

1:16:20

teachers and cross guards, everyone who's works in school

1:16:22

systems helping keep children educated when it's

1:16:24

really scary to go outside of your house. Bless

1:16:26

you. Thank you whom I missing. So

1:16:29

many more, there are so many more. I just want you to know

1:16:31

that if you're out there and you're fighting,

1:16:34

you're helping us fight against

1:16:37

COVID and keeping America or

1:16:40

the world safe. We appreciate

1:16:42

you to the max,

1:16:44

like I can't tell you enough. I

1:16:47

can't tell you enough. Your contribution

1:16:49

is definitely appreciated,

1:16:52

and so thank you very much. I want to sit yes,

1:16:54

thank you for that, And I want to say that the

1:16:56

DGA Awards. Surely I'm nominated for a

1:16:59

DG Award. Can you believe that's

1:17:01

amazing? Amazing?

1:17:03

They're April tenth, and um, I

1:17:05

don't think we're going to record another show before

1:17:08

then, right, Um no,

1:17:12

send this the next Sunday. It's

1:17:14

sorry, next Saturday. Okay,

1:17:18

so we won't. We're doing one a week for now, guys,

1:17:20

because as you know, Donald and I are both working, and

1:17:22

we'll come back with a episode rewatch

1:17:25

for you next weekend. But um

1:17:28

so, anyway, I've been working on my face because

1:17:30

you know what the award shows. The camera's on you, it's

1:17:32

going to be a zoom camera, but they're gonna and you

1:17:34

suppost if you don't win, you have to be happy

1:17:36

for the other people. So I've been practicing that in

1:17:39

case I do you do you want to see what it

1:17:41

looks like? Yes? Yeah, all right, so Donald,

1:17:43

you to say and the winner is not

1:17:46

Zach Braf. Wait,

1:17:50

what can I ask you a question? Who

1:17:53

are you looking at when? Well?

1:17:55

It's funny because you know when normally, when you're in an audience

1:17:58

and an award show, you look around your

1:18:00

people around you and you're in the room by

1:18:02

yourself right now, I know, but my natural instinct

1:18:04

as an actor was to act like I

1:18:06

was looking around at my fellow audience members that he

1:18:08

deserves. You know what I

1:18:11

think I combine that with a smile and a head

1:18:13

nod. No, this is what I think. If you're

1:18:15

going to do that, you need to make it so the camera

1:18:17

is square up on your face like it

1:18:20

is with me right now, so when you look to the

1:18:22

side, it's like situation.

1:18:25

You could even down probably okay,

1:18:29

because you mean the zoom window will be all of us like

1:18:31

this. Absolutely, that's funny. Okay,

1:18:33

good, let me let me try it one more time. Okay,

1:18:35

here we go, and the winner is Revel

1:18:39

Wilson. I

1:18:58

guess it's sort of a visual joke. I

1:19:00

think it would be better

1:19:02

if you look disappointed. Okay,

1:19:06

let me do a disappointed version and

1:19:12

the and

1:19:16

the winner is Diablo

1:19:19

Cody disappointed

1:19:28

money like everyone always does the they

1:19:31

deserve to win. I'm happy for them. Clad What if I just did it

1:19:33

the other way? Like this is fucking an

1:19:37

instant Twitter meme, and I threw something

1:19:39

like through I dare you idle

1:19:42

my table? What if I flipped my table?

1:19:44

Don't do that. Don't don't do that. Don't

1:19:47

do it, speaking of Diablo Cody.

1:19:49

Speaking of Diablo Cody, she wrote

1:19:51

power Puff and so I'm working

1:19:54

with her right now. I

1:19:56

did not know that. Oh my god, I'm so this job

1:19:59

is so cool. I'm so happy for you.

1:20:02

So I'm all right excited about that. Anyway, We love

1:20:04

you. Please watch C Spiracy. You

1:20:07

want to say something, Teddy, Teddy, I

1:20:09

mean, yeah, when I was going

1:20:11

through chemo, it was over nine months and you

1:20:13

know it's back in twenty fifteen, so I was winning scrub

1:20:15

over but having that rewatch and having that,

1:20:18

you know, I know you guys say how I was so thankful for it now,

1:20:20

but I was so thankful for the show as

1:20:22

it was going on and having that through you

1:20:25

know, my nine months a year of chemotherapy

1:20:27

and surgery and all that, it was just such

1:20:30

a helpful thing for me. It would helped me connect with

1:20:32

my doctors and nurses around me. So I just think,

1:20:34

I just thank you guys for what you guys did and what

1:20:36

you guys continue to do today. Thank

1:20:39

you, Thank you man. That means a lot of us. I

1:20:41

hope you know how much that means to us. It really

1:20:43

does mean a lot, and it makes it all worth

1:20:45

it. It makes you know, we just do it

1:20:47

to a camera and we don't have any idea. So to hear

1:20:50

an anecdote like that from you, it means a great deal

1:20:52

to us. So thank you so much, absolutely, and surely

1:20:54

you are an awesome guest. I hope

1:20:56

you'll come back and uh and visit us again.

1:21:00

Talk about your book, mom, Is there anything you want to plug? Oh?

1:21:02

Yes, Um, so I wrote a workbook

1:21:05

for actors. It's called Seven

1:21:07

Rules to Thrive as a

1:21:09

Performer and you can get it

1:21:11

on Amazon. It's a workbook, so it's

1:21:14

um interactive, so you have to write

1:21:16

things down. Um. Yeah,

1:21:19

seven Rules to Thrive as a Performer.

1:21:22

Yes, yes, okay, Joelle. Joelle

1:21:25

will put a link in our in our show notes, and

1:21:27

Donald and I will put a link in our bios

1:21:29

and we will. If you're an actor, this is uh,

1:21:31

this could be hell. And it's a workbook, so it's an

1:21:33

interactive thing you have to participate in, so don't

1:21:35

be lazy. You got to do the work. Yes, yes,

1:21:38

all right, um that note

1:21:41

on that note, we love you all. I'll have a great week, will

1:21:43

say next time. Seven eight

1:21:46

about show we made about

1:21:49

a bunch of nurses story,

1:21:58

So und do here a yeah

1:22:02

around you here as wretch me watch

1:22:04

your Wesa. Mm

1:22:07

hmmmm