0:00

Question. Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

0:06

Let's Go Kids.

0:09

Supremo Su su Supremo

0:12

Role called Suprema su

0:14

su Supremo Role, Suprema

0:18

Supremo Role, Suprema

0:22

su Supremo Role.

0:24

My team Suprema Yeah, ain't

0:26

no hash Steppie Yeah,

0:28

Robert Townsend Yeah, ain't you got

0:30

no weapon?

0:32

Suprema Supreme

0:35

roll, Suprema Suprema

0:39

Role.

0:40

My name is Fante Yeah, and I'm

0:42

feeling cool. Yeah, I finally

0:44

graduated, Yeah from Black Acting

0:47

School.

0:48

Supreme Suprema

0:51

Role, Suprema Su

0:54

su Supremo roll call.

0:56

My name is Sugar.

0:57

Yeah.

0:58

Back on the hash.

1:00

Wait wait wait wait wait Yeah, did.

1:02

I see you on mash

1:08

because some brea s.

1:11

Brevo roll It's like ear

1:13

Yeah, don't need no BIB Yeah.

1:16

Robert Townson Yeah, can I get

1:18

one.

1:18

Rim Supremo

1:23

rolls Upremo Supremo

1:27

roll came.

1:28

My name is Robert Yeah, I'm

1:30

in town yeah and getting down

1:34

with this crew in town.

1:37

Up the host clown.

1:39

Supremo Suprema

1:42

Supremo roll.

1:44

So I messed up?

1:46

Yeah and.

1:48

Yeah and someone tell me, yeah,

1:50

where is unpaid bill? Supremo

1:55

roll call?

1:56

Signs up Breva supremo,

1:59

Broun

2:03

supremo, Roll.

2:05

Up, Supreme up

2:07

roll, Sorry

2:10

about that the wrong version

2:13

you keep taking two. Well you know

2:15

I forgot that Bill's not here, so I should

2:17

have did it for five people, but instead

2:21

Wow. Yeah, so way

2:23

too many references. This is the pressure. I'm like, I

2:25

want to put the ball in the black and the beautiful.

2:28

It was just too many, It was too much.

2:32

Okay, can we can we I'm right

2:35

about the mash thing, right, yes.

2:36

Yes, you are, yes, you are just checking because all

2:38

right, so.

2:40

Can we just collectively have

2:43

a meeting? Okay, okay,

2:45

let's go because we have a tendency.

2:47

We're not gonna embarrass you.

2:48

Yeah, to sing people's songs and act

2:51

out. I can't promise you that's not gonna happen. I'm

2:53

just making you know. I feel moved to

2:55

see the heart of the house for love that

2:59

brain drops But all

3:07

right, is

3:11

falling on the table for or did you just fall off?

3:14

And I'm so sober? I'm sorry, I'm

3:16

excited.

3:17

All right, all right, we have questions I've

3:20

been wanting to ask you since I was eight years old.

3:22

You don't understand, like

3:25

straight up, let me, let me introduce

3:27

our guests first, Yeah, we know, all

3:30

right, So, ladies and gentlemen, in case

3:32

you don't know where you landed, this

3:34

is called Quest Love Supreme. I'm your

3:36

host, Quest Love and Team Supreme

3:38

of course is strong fo how

3:41

are you brother? I'm with Robert Towns that's automatics.

3:43

Let's talk about him, Steve.

3:48

Al right.

3:48

Look, ladies and gentlemen, look, I will

3:50

just say that maybe or maybe

3:52

not, Emma Thompson household

3:55

Times weren't that happy. I

3:57

will say that this gentleman dingle

4:00

handedly alone probably

4:03

provided eighty five

4:05

percent of all joy and happiness

4:07

that happened at I

4:10

can't say my old address right because there's somebody

4:12

there's oh

4:15

Stage Avenue in West Philadelphia. I've

4:18

I've probably, you

4:20

know, probably second

4:22

to coming to America. I've never

4:25

quoted a film more

4:28

than our guest and his debut

4:31

movie as a director, Hollywood

4:33

Shuffle. All of his films have touched

4:36

our lives. Fonte's

4:38

looking at me like if you just don't say his name. Lady

4:40

and gentleman, Robert Townsend is on

4:42

West Love Supreme. Thank you for coming on our

4:45

show.

4:45

Thank you guys for having me. Thank you. Thank

4:47

you so much.

4:48

Okay, and we should also know Robin

4:51

last night reminded me forty

4:53

two times she said, you're welcome,

4:56

You're welcome, You're welcome. Robin Feedee

4:58

wants to you know up, yes.

5:00

Yes, yes, because of my daughter Scott.

5:04

Yeah, so every twelve

5:06

seconds, Robin wanted to come

5:08

up to let me know that, thank you, thank

5:11

you and all the writers, Robin congrassling,

5:14

the writers getting the getting their money. Yes. Real.

5:16

So I'm

5:18

at a loss for words right now.

5:20

Yeah, I'm thank you for having me. Just

5:22

thank you for having me, guys, because I wanted.

5:24

To start crying on and

5:26

I feel emotional. Come

5:29

on, man, you got a podcast to do. Let's

5:32

go all together.

5:33

You ain't direct line to like our childhoods

5:35

man, and like you know what I was saying in our memories, Yeah,

5:37

memories like you know HBO, like the Partners

5:40

in Crime episodes, Like dude,

5:42

like that was an event, like that was something

5:44

like that.

5:45

Come on me and our family. We be on the floor,

5:47

Like I'm on the floor washing and like all

5:50

of that. Are you wiping your tears with the script?

5:52

I don't know.

5:53

Yeah, I'm sorry, Yeah,

5:55

because he's right, I'm listening to and I'm like, yeah,

5:58

that's showing itself.

5:59

That changed, yeh changed, that changed,

6:02

That changed us.

6:03

We had Patrice Russian on the show like a couple of years ago, and

6:05

like we talked to her about you know, musical

6:07

director, musical direction.

6:09

Man.

6:10

It was really just pioneering in so many

6:12

ways and hilarious. All right, let's get

6:14

the initial stuff out the way. Where were you born?

6:17

I was born in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois,

6:19

on the West Side of Chicago.

6:21

Why do become interview Chicago

6:24

people show? We had Sally Richards,

6:29

So why has Chicago

6:32

been chosen as the epicenter

6:34

of comedy even for like sketch

6:36

shows, for writers, for acting,

6:39

for comedy workshops? Chicago

6:42

is where that starts?

6:44

Is that just an SNL thing

6:47

where you know?

6:48

As a kid, I just remember West

6:51

Side of Chicago, you know, black

6:54

folks. We always been funny, funny,

6:56

funny. But then I started.

6:58

I studied at Second City when I was like

7:01

fourteen, fifteen years old. I started.

7:03

When did Second City start?

7:05

It's been around since the sixties, And

7:08

Second City was like, a no, it's

7:11

been around a long time. They

7:15

had because back then my

7:17

teacher was Joe Forrestburg, but Dale

7:20

Close was like Jim

7:23

Belushi and all those guys. Everybody

7:25

came out in that class. No, I wasn't in that class.

7:27

I wasn't in Dale's class. I was in the other class. Okay,

7:30

yeah, But I started at Second City. I started

7:32

doing Emperor, but I started in theater. I

7:34

was like the youngest member of x BAG Experimental

7:37

Black Actors GIL and it was like,

7:40

you know, one of the actresses that came out, Mary Alice,

7:42

who was inspired. She came out

7:44

of there, and a guy named Felton Perry

7:46

was one of the writers. But my first mentor

7:49

so I started when I was fourteen

7:51

fifteen, So that's when I started, and I did my

7:53

first movie. I

7:56

was in Cooley High. I had two lines. I

7:58

was doing a play at x BAG and Laurence

8:00

Hilton Jacob's Michael Schultze director

8:02

and Glenn Turman came to see

8:04

me in the show and I got a few So that's when I started. And then

8:06

I was an extra in Mahogany with Billy Dan Dinah

8:08

Ross. So I've been like as a baby.

8:11

I started, you know, back in the game. But in terms

8:13

of comedy, there was always comedy

8:15

going around. But then I discovered like

8:18

Rush Street had all the comedy clubs. I

8:20

started performing, like when I was sixteen doing

8:22

stand up seventeen.

8:23

Yeah, what's your domestic situation

8:26

into in your childhood? Your parents, your siblings?

8:28

You know, here's the thing. I have four there's

8:31

four of us. I have two sisters, one brother,

8:34

and my mother raised

8:36

four kids on her own. My father wasn't there. He was

8:38

in our lives, but he was in and out. Right were

8:41

you the baby or I'm the second oldest?

8:43

Oh?

8:43

Okay? Like what are the aspirations

8:45

of your life in your childhood? Are you?

8:48

I want to be a basketball player?

8:50

Okay?

8:50

I mean like I just went back to Chicago

8:52

recently and all my boys were still friends,

8:54

but we were all like my nickname

8:57

back then was Left because I got a sweet left

8:59

hand jump shot. And so then my other

9:01

friend, his name was Ape because

9:04

he had long arms and we used to call him Ape. And

9:06

then you had Brown Chris he

9:09

had he has two sons that were in the NBA.

9:11

Shannon that's

9:13

his dad, and so we were all like

9:16

little kids loving basketball and Dennis

9:18

Olive. We were all like just kids and we used

9:20

to go.

9:20

To the stock Stadius with the friends from

9:22

your childhood. Oh yeah, oh yeah, that is

9:25

rare, and how does

9:27

that happen?

9:28

Let me say this, through the years, we always

9:30

stayed in contact. And then let

9:33

me say this. When you have a dream as

9:35

a kid on welfare on the West Side of

9:37

Chicago and you just want

9:40

to do something with your life, you need to have a

9:42

circle of people that believe in you.

9:44

And back then, even though my nickname

9:47

was left, they were like, you

9:49

know, I said I could I got you know, I could do voices

9:51

and characters when I was really young. And so

9:54

they were like, left, you got something, you got something left,

9:56

And they always believed in me, and we just stayed

9:58

We just stayed in touch. And so and then and

10:01

Carl eight you know, his name is Carl Brentson.

10:04

He's the president of the West Side INNAACP.

10:07

And so we were always we always had like

10:09

a righteous mindset. We got to do something,

10:11

we got to take action.

10:12

You know.

10:13

So, so you were just neighborhood friends or were you

10:15

connected through some well,

10:18

I mean it was just basketball. It was basketball.

10:20

Everything was basketball, and we met on like or

10:24

no, no, I mean.

10:27

Right, well, no, I'm just meaning like some sort of you

10:29

could be church circles.

10:31

Yeah, yeah, but it was basketball. We would play on the basketball

10:33

court and we played at all the different tournaments

10:36

and stuff. And then uh, I played

10:38

in high school on different teams. I went to three

10:40

different high schools. So I played at Weber

10:43

Catholic, then Proserificational,

10:45

and then I graduated from Austin.

10:47

For me, like

10:49

oftentimes, especially with with with black

10:52

success and black stories, once

10:55

you transition to another platform,

10:58

the temptation to try to take everyone with

11:00

you, right, I mean we can give an example

11:02

like maybe an Alan Iverson or whatever, like try

11:05

to take everyone with you is

11:07

a hard thing to do, and sometimes you can't

11:10

go to these places and

11:13

maintain what was beforehand. So well

11:16

it was for you know, oftentimes you're people

11:18

might see your

11:21

success as their success, and.

11:24

That's hard.

11:25

So I'm really I'm really impressed that you still

11:28

maintain childhood friendships.

11:30

Yeah yeah, no, but they were real friends.

11:33

There were a lot of people you know that are

11:36

not in my life that they are, you know, because there's

11:38

certain you know, like you have frenemies that are friends

11:40

and a part enemy and you just learn eventually

11:43

to clean house and you surround yourself with the

11:45

right people, and so I've been blessed.

11:46

That's what's up. Did you know it

11:48

was acting or were

11:51

you just a thing where like I'm a fan of television and

11:53

I can imitate these people, or how

11:56

do you know acting is what

11:58

your true calling is?

11:59

If so, let

12:02

me give you the story. So I am

12:04

ten years old. I live on the West Side

12:06

of Chicago. Neighborhood is surrounded

12:08

by gangs, the vice Lords, the Executioners,

12:11

the Disciples, the Senator six. And

12:14

my mother is afraid at ten that I'm going to get recruited

12:16

by one of the gangs. And so she goes, when you

12:18

get out of school, run straight in the house. I

12:21

run straight in the house. And all I do is watch television.

12:24

I watched so much TV they nicknamed me TV

12:26

Guide. Now like TV Guy was on the night

12:28

and I go, like, NBC they got a really good lineup. And

12:30

then at ABC, I think kind of cool. I think

12:33

so and so and so and so. And then we

12:36

were on welfare and it's like, when you're on welfare,

12:38

you can't you can't

12:40

buy soap because it's not food,

12:43

it's food stamps. And so you always had

12:45

that problem and so I would always

12:47

try to make my mother laugh. And so then I discovered

12:50

that God had given me a gift to do the

12:52

shows because there was a time for the youngsters.

12:55

There was a time the television went off, right, and when

12:57

television went off, you.

12:59

Know, we're all of aging here, you know,

13:02

you don't know about it, okay, And.

13:06

Television went off, and so if you missed the show, you missed

13:09

a show. And so I discovered

13:11

that I could do every show on television.

13:13

So back when I was ten twelve,

13:16

I could do voices and characters. And like

13:19

if I saw a movie from you know, French film,

13:21

I showed that the levision and

13:24

I'd walk around the house my

13:27

brothers and sisters love the Wizard of Oz. I would do all

13:29

the characters I had never got in my brains. If

13:31

it Wolson for you what the square root of Walton, I would

13:33

do Alfred Hitchcock, good evening they

13:35

found the body in the alley Way.

13:38

I would do the Westerns. No

13:40

Brandish fixed, you got to be out of town by

13:42

Shindim. I was so good.

13:45

I could do Lassie Timmy's

13:51

in the Hood, Timmy. Here's

14:02

a story I got discovered in the fifth

14:04

grade. There was a teacher. His name was

14:07

James Red tall, white dude, you

14:09

know, big nose, and he was just this beautiful

14:11

man and he wanted these little kids

14:13

in the hood to learn about Shakespeare. And so he gave us

14:15

three pages to read. And I just

14:17

remember I got so nervous because it was like

14:20

me, thinks and thou and thou and thus it

14:22

was so yeah. And so I went to the library

14:25

and I stole all the Shakespeare records because

14:27

I wanted to get an a and I listened to

14:29

him on our stereo at home, like Richard the Third,

14:32

and I was like a horse, a horse, my

14:34

kingdom for a horse. All he wants is a

14:36

horse. And then like oh, othello,

14:38

and then I listened to all of them. And we had to read in class,

14:41

and that's how I got discovered, because we had to read

14:45

a scene from Oedipus, and I

14:47

remember he was like, Deborah

14:50

Jenkins, you'll be Ophelia,

14:52

Willie King, you'll be Oedipus,

14:56

and Robert Townsend, you'll be Teresius the Blind

14:59

Prophet. Le read and

15:01

they read like kids. Deborah read like a kid in

15:03

the hood. It up pissed you will

15:05

married. I mother a kid if

15:07

that father and I had been seeing

15:10

shit. You know, I was listening to the Royal Shakespeare

15:12

Company, so I was like their topiss. I played off the rage

15:14

upon night Sari to be creatures. He knaught and

15:16

so I went deep and the kids was like, who

15:19

your ass is crazy? But the teacher

15:22

after it was over, he was like, where did you

15:24

learn that? Come here, Robert Towns. Where did you learn

15:27

that? And I said, what is these records? You know they was

15:29

in the library, but not he in my house. But that's

15:31

how they do it in England at the Royal Shakespeare

15:33

Company. And that teacher took me under his wing.

15:36

And he was the one who was the first one to say

15:38

you could be somebody. And I was like a

15:40

little boy and I was like be somebody and he was like, you could

15:42

be somebody. So my journey started

15:45

there.

15:45

He planned the seed in you.

15:47

He planted the seed and he came, it's like to you, I

15:49

won my first award in nineteen sixty eight, so

15:51

it was like the you know, like I remember

15:54

doing the news for my mother when

15:56

Martin Luther King got killed. I was that, you know, she

15:58

says, what happened again? What happened again. At

16:00

twelve forty two, Martin Luther King was

16:02

leaving and then Martin Luther King said, Mama, Martin Luther

16:04

King said, we have been to the mountaintop

16:07

free of blast, free of blass, and I would

16:09

do all the I was a look a little magical

16:11

kid.

16:12

And did you realize in that moment too, that, like although

16:15

the town, the amazing part was, yes, that you

16:17

found these records and that you also mimicked

16:19

these records. But the also amazing

16:21

part was that you knew, unlike all your

16:23

other classmates, that there were these records at

16:26

the library. And to even do that because

16:28

most kids I didn't even know that.

16:30

I'm just saying even that part to know.

16:32

All right, so I'm a library kid. Same

16:35

thing, not necessarily games where I grew

16:38

up in the crack eighties, so really

16:41

I wasn't It wasn't favorable

16:43

for me to go out. So thus I always stayed

16:46

indoors, right, And we had a

16:48

gazillion records, So that's how

16:50

I ingested all the music. And I knew four

16:53

blocks away on Chestnut Street in Philly, there

16:56

was a library and I would just go there

16:58

listen to all the records. Read all the Rolling Stones,

17:00

all the you know, music books and whatnot. So

17:03

I too would do

17:06

that as well. And like,

17:08

the local library is

17:10

one of my favorite spots. So was that

17:13

like a destination for you if

17:15

you weren't allowed to go out or no?

17:18

You know, you know, The truth was that I don't

17:21

know. I was because of television. I

17:23

was always curious about stuff because

17:26

it was kind of deep. Outside the house

17:29

was like pimps and gangs and drug dealers.

17:31

And then I'm watching Leave It to Beaver, and

17:34

so then I've got this world and I'm watching

17:36

the Andy Griffiths show. And then outside

17:38

it's like if you don't have my money, I'll knock your motherfucker.

17:41

And I'm like, oh oh, And then I was

17:43

like, what is the reality. So when I

17:45

would go to the library, I would

17:47

just look through all the aisles at all

17:49

the different things, and I saw those Shakespeare records

17:51

and I was like, oh, that's interesting, and it

17:54

was just I just remember listening to it on

17:56

our little stereo, and we had the little stereo

17:58

that had the blinking line yes that

18:01

you know, had all the disco music kind of things

18:03

on it, and everybody wanted to listen to the Temptations

18:05

are Gladys Night and stuff like that, And then

18:07

I was like, no, this is my homework and everybody's around

18:10

the house listening to me, listen to Othello,

18:12

and I understood it.

18:15

I'm just mad I didn't think of that as a kid. I would have understood

18:17

Shakespeare even more if I even thought that there were albums

18:19

that I could just listen to instead of reading the work, like.

18:21

Even in Crazier Full Circle, because

18:23

even in that like twenty second

18:26

scene in Hollywood Shuffle where

18:29

you guys are recreating was it Macbeth

18:31

or or was that a fellow?

18:33

It was King Lear.

18:34

At that point that movie was

18:36

such a revelation to me that when you got

18:39

to there half the time, I was like,

18:41

well, I don't know if we will

18:43

ever do that sort of thing. But then I thought about

18:45

it, like, wait, what would

18:49

Black Shakespeare look like? So that

18:51

one scene in particular, like everything else, was for

18:53

humorous, yes, yes, you know, like and I

18:55

took it as humor. But that

18:58

was like one of my rare moments where I was like, hmmm,

19:01

like I wonder what that life would look like.

19:03

In other words, like opening the palette

19:06

and expanding my brains accept

19:08

the fact.

19:09

That we can do anything.

19:10

So yeah, that's that's a weird

19:13

full circle moment because even me watching

19:15

Hollywood Shuffle based

19:18

on your life experience, that even

19:20

planning to see for me like, oh we can we

19:23

could do much more than what we're doing now. Yes,

19:25

sure, yes, sure, yeah. So that's

19:27

amazing. So what are your next steps?

19:30

How did you know about a second city?

19:32

Uh?

19:33

So I'm in theater. So

19:36

I'm at x BAG and then I went

19:38

to the Lamont Zeno Theater on the West side of

19:40

Chicago.

19:41

This is high school. Was this college years?

19:43

This is high school? Okay, And so I

19:45

find my way to theater. And so

19:47

then my first director, Paymun

19:50

Rami, who's in Chicago now, is a powerful brother.

19:53

Him and his wife, Masi Kwon Meyers. They

19:55

were my first mentors. And so when

19:58

you're around actors and people, and he was

20:00

a casting director, so he cast me in Cooley

20:02

High. He did the extras casting for Mahogany.

20:05

And so you're constantly around like, oh, that's

20:07

an agent over there. Oh that's what you know. And you get this

20:10

information and when you're hungry,

20:12

like you know, music for you, you're

20:14

a sponge and so I would just kind of, you

20:17

know, like, okay, you know what's an agent?

20:19

Okay? Where acting class? Okay,

20:21

I'm going to take an acting class. I'm gonna take another acting

20:23

class. Okay, how do I do a movie? If I could

20:26

just say one line in the movie? And so I was

20:28

just hungry, hungry, and I

20:30

wasn't going to have anything stop me. I

20:33

have to tell you this story. I really

20:35

wouldn't be in show business. I

20:38

went. I was going to college at Illinois

20:40

State University in normal Bloomington,

20:43

and I was in the theater department

20:45

and I love theater.

20:48

And then I'm down there and on one side of

20:50

the theater it's John Malkovich and

20:53

what's her name, Lorie Metcalf.

20:56

They were on the other those those are the actors.

20:58

But for the black actors of the school,

21:01

we had like little small parts. And so then

21:03

I was like, oh, there's nothing. So there was this

21:05

one teacher who

21:09

you know, cause I was fascinated with New York, and I was like, what

21:11

are the actors like in New York? I mean, all the

21:14

best actors come out of New York. Even

21:16

as a kid, I was like, oh, James Earl Jones is there

21:18

Cecily Tyson is there, Sidney Poitier.

21:20

They all come out of New York. And I was asking

21:22

her questions about New York this one day and I was

21:25

like, well, tell me about New York. You know the actors in New

21:27

York. And she looked at me and

21:29

she says, stop asking about New York. You

21:31

don't have what it takes to make it in this industry.

21:34

You won't make it. You don't

21:36

have it. Are you done? Are you through?

21:37

An actual adults said that teacher?

21:39

Yes, and the way she said it to me, but let

21:42

me explain something.

21:42

No.

21:43

She hit me so hard I left

21:46

out of that out of her office

21:48

numb, and I was like, I'm not going to

21:50

make it. And I wondered the camp is just like lost,

21:52

and I was like, you know, when an adult said something

21:55

like that to you, it's an adult going

21:57

like, you don't have it. You're not going to make it. And I

21:59

was wondering in around the campus like what the

22:01

what? Oh man, I'm not gonna make it. And

22:04

then I had a moment, and

22:06

I had this moment where I go, she doesn't

22:09

know me, she doesn't know who I am, she

22:11

doesn't know what my talent is what's inside

22:13

of me. And I shook it off, and I said, I got

22:15

to see for myself. So I

22:18

was so lost wondering the campus. I didn't even

22:20

know where I was. I was just like, I'm not gonna make it my dreams.

22:23

And then I stopped. And when I shook it off,

22:25

I looked up and there was a sign that says transferred

22:28

to exchange with any student in

22:30

the country Exchange

22:33

program. And I was like,

22:35

I went in that office, and I want to exchange with a student in

22:37

New York. And when

22:40

I have a school in New York, we have a school in New Jersey.

22:42

I said, I'll take it. And I transferred to Wayne

22:44

Patterson College in Patterson, New Jersey, close

22:47

enough, and so I would get on a bus from Port

22:49

Authority and go to Manhattan

22:52

on the weekends after I left school. And

22:54

you know, but that teacher, if I saw this, this

22:58

is seventy six,

23:01

New York, New York, New York, New York. And

23:04

so that's when I met Denzel. You

23:06

know, it's like, but did

23:08

you see that teacher again? But see,

23:10

here's the thing. If I saw that teacher, I'd give her the biggest

23:13

hug I'd give her the biggest hug

23:15

because like a lot of my friends, never

23:17

left Chicago. And she

23:20

broke me down so hard that day that

23:22

I, you know, like the part of Robert

23:25

Townsend. It goes like, wait a minute, now, who

23:27

am I? What am I? And

23:30

she at that point she I called

23:32

my mother right away. I said, I'm leaving the school. I'm going

23:34

to New York. I'm gonna be in New Jersey. But I

23:36

got to get out of here now. But if she

23:38

hadn't said that, I probably would have still been there,

23:40

and I wouldn't I wouldn't be Robert Townsend.

23:43

It was that one defining moment that she

23:45

pushed me so hard that I was like,

23:48

what am I going to do? And then

23:50

I said, well, maybe I don't have it? And I said, well, you know what, I'm

23:53

going to see for myself, So

23:56

I'm going to bet on me and I you

23:58

know, and I was like, And then I was in New

24:00

York and I was studying with Marlon Brandell's acting

24:02

teacher, Stella Adler. So I started

24:04

studying with her. I started studying at

24:07

the Negro Ensemble Company.

24:08

And how quickly did these things

24:10

happen?

24:11

Because well, once she said that

24:13

to me. I was only at USC

24:16

for one semester. Once she said that to

24:18

me, I got out because I was in the theater

24:20

department and I was enjoying myself. But when she had

24:22

that conversation, because it's like, I'm

24:24

a kid, and so if somebody says that to you

24:27

and you like, you hurt my feeling. I

24:30

felt it, and so then I was like, I got to get out of

24:32

here. So then I was gone.

24:34

But then the Stella Adler Park, like so

24:36

once I got.

24:37

To New York, it's kind of like, you know, I say this to

24:39

artists all the time, you got to have a blueprint. And

24:42

so I was like, Okay, to get

24:44

to the next level, I want to study with

24:46

the best. Stella Adler's Marlon Brandle

24:49

one of my favorite actors. I would watch all of

24:51

his movies, you know, when I was that little boy

24:53

TV guide. So then I'm studying

24:55

with her and then I go, wait, but.

24:57

How did you know to go to the top?

25:00

How she take you? Like she took you? She took me like

25:02

like you.

25:03

Said, I need the best acting teacher

25:05

ever? Where is she?

25:06

Oh?

25:06

How did you even?

25:07

Well?

25:08

So so let me say this, you know cause it's kind of like

25:10

if you're hungry for it, if you really want

25:12

it, then if you go like I really

25:14

want to be an actor. I want to be an actor. You

25:18

know, who's the best acting teacher? Then you

25:20

know Marl, you know, so like

25:23

you know, a smiling brand though, and so I'm

25:25

like that guy, and so I

25:28

just started and then I you know, you ask actors

25:30

in New York who's the best acting teacher? Oh man, so on.

25:32

So it's like if you went on the street right now and went

25:34

on Hollywood Boulevard and he says, who are the actually just then

25:36

somebody would say, I found a Chubbick is really good and

25:38

so on. So fine is good? So I

25:41

asked. And then you got to audition to get in. And

25:44

so when I auditioned to get in, I

25:46

just did characters for you just and I wasn't even

25:48

thinking about doing characters today. Back then

25:51

when I was really in character boy

25:53

mode where I would perform, you

25:55

know, I would go in you know, I made

25:57

a living doing dog food commercials because I could do that

25:59

in visible dog. They would bring me in and

26:01

they say, okay, a little a little chow, wowow

26:06

a big dog he's

26:09

excited to see her, and

26:13

I made money being the dog.

26:16

This is the greatest episode of all

26:18

time. So anyway, sorry, Jimmy,

26:20

jim.

26:22

So anyway, when you say, when you say

26:24

the whole thing of that teacher,

26:27

I would hug her because in that moment,

26:29

she challenged me so hard that

26:32

I was like, no, I gotta

26:34

see for me. Rather than like, you're right, I'm nothing,

26:37

I was like no, no, no, no. And I think a

26:39

lot of people get squashed like that all

26:41

the time.

26:43

And so that was your teacher. Imagine if some of

26:45

your family remember saying that to you. Yeah, yeah, I

26:48

know that is squash feeling.

26:49

So Jesus, can you

26:51

answer the question now, what's what's the difference

26:53

with the New York actor?

26:55

What are they like?

26:56

You know, what it is is that it's not a New York actor.

26:58

What it is is that actors

27:01

from all of the country that are really hungry go

27:03

for the dream. They don't sit in like

27:05

I'm in little small town in Iowa.

27:08

They go like, I want it, and they're all hungry,

27:11

and so they all have that same DNA of

27:13

we want it. So like when you see people, it's

27:15

like a bunch of eagles all come together and you've

27:17

left all the pigeons, and so all

27:20

the eagles are standing there and it's like, hey, man, you

27:22

want this. I want this too. You want it too? Yeah,

27:24

I want it too. And so then all the eagles are

27:26

together like this. So when I you know, like when

27:29

I all the people that I met, like I remember,

27:31

you know when you talk about half the talent

27:33

in Hollywood, they all had that eagle eye. They

27:36

weren't sleeping or they were up, you know, like we want

27:38

it? How bad do you want? Like

27:40

today, I'm coming to talk, but I really you

27:43

know, I like you and I'm meeting you today

27:45

and I'm like, oh this brother, Like you're

27:47

about something. So I don't do podcasts.

27:50

You know you're about something. And so when I see it's

27:53

kind of like when you talk about people's work, it's

27:55

like millions of people can hear this.

27:59

You can plant see like I've been in everybody's

28:01

house, but I wasn't really in your house, but I was

28:03

in your house and I was planning

28:05

seeds of like okay, if you see

28:08

you know, like say a man me and

28:10

Howard Hewett. If I believe

28:12

in God, I have faith and so I said, let me plant the seed.

28:15

Boom, it's a variety show. Let me plant the seed.

28:17

Hey, you know what, I'm going to put a mixture of stuff in

28:19

here. Okay, I'm going to do the bowl of

28:21

black to beautiful. We've never seen black people dressed

28:24

up, and I said, you know, the trojan horse

28:26

here is going to be that

28:29

we're going to see black people being funny

28:31

and everything, but we're going to see them in the best

28:33

clothes and the whole thing. And so there

28:35

was always an agenda, you know what I mean, Like everything

28:38

is you know, you're planning seeds, there's always an agenda

28:41

behind it.

28:41

Do you want some tissues? Like, I'm sorry,

28:44

I do need some.

28:47

So sorry, I'm having a real a

28:50

lot because everything you're saying is everything that we feel.

28:52

But you articulated that.

28:53

All right, let's get some tissues and we'll take a break

28:55

and then we'll come back down on Coutlov

28:57

Supreme. All

29:03

right, So we are back at Questlove

29:05

Supreme with the Man with

29:08

the Master Teacher, Robert Townsend.

29:10

Okay, so I have a theory about why New

29:13

York because you raised a question like what

29:16

was it about New York actors? Is it simply

29:18

because in the acting

29:21

world, like the ma athletes or the snob actors

29:23

are their their trial by

29:25

fire is the Broadway stage. Like,

29:29

you know, I'm an actor and I've done

29:31

Broadway. So is that kind

29:33

of well not the good

29:36

version of the scarlet letter, but a

29:38

badge of honor as opposed to just going

29:40

straight to Like what was it about

29:43

La that didn't call

29:45

to you that New York was calling to you?

29:47

Well, you know what it is is that New

29:50

York is about craft, like

29:52

to get on stage. Like when you're on stage,

29:55

it's just you and the stage and

29:58

you don't get to go cut, you know know, Like

30:01

for me what I love

30:03

when I do, you know, perform

30:05

or go in. I love theater

30:07

like when I was doing stand up and all of that. There's something magical

30:10

like so when I see the actors in New York, they

30:13

live it, they eat it, and where

30:16

actors like I work

30:18

with some actors when I'm directing that you know, like you

30:20

got two takes, you got three takes, that said Robert four

30:23

takes, and the really great actors they

30:25

go, how many more you want? You

30:27

want to do? Fifteen? Let's go again, rob Let's go get

30:29

and rob Let's go again. Let's go again. Now I love those actors.

30:32

Now when I have actors, you have it, Robert, I think you

30:34

have it. And I was like, uh

30:36

no, I mean I fought with the you know, don't get

30:38

me started, because because because

30:40

the thing is that you know, so let me let me say

30:42

this, you know, like, okay, coming into

30:44

this room today, all this love. So first, let me

30:47

just say thank you for all the love.

30:48

You know.

30:49

I create what I create because

30:52

at the end of the day, if we get a shot to

30:54

create something special, why

30:56

not strive for a classic? Why

30:59

not drive for a hit? Why

31:01

not strive? And it's not an ego thing,

31:04

but it's kind of like.

31:05

When the full advantage of the opportunity that you have.

31:08

That's all, you know. The thing for me is that I

31:10

love what I do. I really I

31:13

love what I do. So so part of the thing for me

31:16

is that I have to give

31:18

it my all. And I think with New

31:20

York actors, you know, and

31:22

it's not all of them. There there's a select

31:25

group that they focus on the craft

31:27

like nobody's business. And I think it's like

31:29

with comedians the same thing. There are certain

31:32

artists that just focus in it, like Richard

31:34

Pryor would focus as all the demons

31:36

he had. He would always raise that bar in

31:38

terms of comedy. And so I

31:41

think anytime I, you know, I try

31:43

to put you know, put my heart and soul into my work,

31:46

that people would want to watch it again, people

31:48

would want to remember the lines.

31:49

You know.

31:50

My Soldier story was a good example of that, right, because

31:52

that was a lot of New York actors.

31:53

Oh yeah, that was a c that was all of you

31:55

know. It's so funny because that was

31:58

all of us from New York coming together

32:00

because uh, Denzel, you

32:03

know, we were talking, you know the other day,

32:05

we were we would be at the unemployment

32:08

office together, and we would be at the actors

32:11

lounge together, Actors Equity

32:13

Lounge, and so we were all like, Norman,

32:16

you know, Norman dwisn uh you know,

32:19

directed it. But Ruben Cannon cast

32:21

it, and he was like, I want the best purple.

32:24

He did the color purple as well, and he just

32:26

wanted the best actors that he thought for the part.

32:28

Because Hollywood would go, hey, we're going to

32:30

cast so and so in this part and so and so on the casting

32:33

could be all wrong and he was like, no, no, no,

32:35

I want David Allen Grad to play this part.

32:37

Adolf Caesar is going to play this part. Howards,

32:41

What was it like like before

32:43

you asked that?

32:44

Did he cast you in the color purple? Ruben

32:46

Cannon was

32:49

next in the color purple?

32:50

Okay?

32:50

I was like, I mean I was a kid for six, you

32:52

know what I mean? But yeah, I had to audition

32:55

in front of him, and

32:57

so I got cast as a as an extra.

32:58

I was a kid.

32:59

They shot it in Calina, that's my home, and

33:01

so I went and auditioned and

33:03

he was there and I had to read

33:06

what I wasn't reading. But the scene

33:08

they gave us was we had to act like you were hungry

33:10

and that you were angry. So it was like, give me some

33:12

jam, I'm hungry, like you were telling the parent And

33:15

I'm like six years old. And so the girl

33:17

I was going up against, she was nine, and she was

33:19

bigger, and she was like really

33:22

angry. I was like shit, she said hungry for real, you

33:24

know, like

33:26

she played it up so fucking big.

33:28

I was like, what the fuck?

33:29

And so I came out the audition and

33:32

again, I'm six years old. I have no idea, what the

33:34

fuck any of this shit is? Like, no one has told

33:36

me anything, and so I came out and like,

33:39

you know, I'm thinking I failed.

33:40

I'm like, Okay, I don't know.

33:41

What this is, but I feel like I did a very bad job

33:43

at it because I wasn't as animated as her. But I

33:46

got it, and I'm looking back on it,

33:48

I think what it was was that I was so

33:50

young and my fear was

33:52

like kind of palpable. So being

33:55

one of Mister's kids, this big Danny

33:57

Glove just run around beating the shit out of everybody that

34:00

worked in my advantage because I was so young and I was

34:02

so small and actually scared. So I ended up getting

34:05

the part as an extra fook. But I remember

34:07

Ruven Cannon Maan, I had audition for him.

34:09

Good Man, good man man.

34:11

I know that your experiences

34:14

in trying to get to a

34:16

particular platform led

34:18

you to document

34:21

and sort of hone it into a

34:24

script that will eventually become Hollywood

34:26

Shuffle. Yes, sir, can you talk

34:28

about it? It's still relevant today, right.

34:31

Can you talk about the experiences

34:34

you had as an actor during

34:37

the shuffle, the audition shuffle, the trying

34:40

to figure out where you fit in and all those things.

34:42

Well, you know. So so back

34:45

then, I'm living Keenan

34:47

Ivory WANs. Keenan moved to la

34:50

first, and then Keenan says, hey, Rob,

34:52

these people are moving slow. I'm living in

34:54

New York at the time. How did you two meet? We

34:57

were both at the both comedians

34:59

at the Improv in Manhattan. We

35:01

were auditioning. We were online to audition

35:04

and we were the only two brothers online.

35:06

And Keenan was coming home

35:09

from Tuskegee because he was in college

35:12

at Tuskegee, and so we were auditioning

35:14

and he was there

35:16

that summer, and then we were hanging out like,

35:19

yeah, bro, I'm trying to do it. I'm trying to do it too,

35:21

man. Yeah, you know. And then Keenan was like, he

35:23

goes, I got to do this for my family. And then he took

35:25

me into the Chelsea Projects one time and

35:29

I go in there and it's like it's a four bedroom

35:32

house and it's like all these kids and I see

35:34

Marlon, I see Sean, I see Kim and they're

35:36

all like these babies. And we used

35:38

to walk from forty

35:41

fifth and ninth Avenue the improv to

35:43

Pearl's Place on ninety six on

35:45

the East Side and walk and

35:48

we would be talking about our dreams and it's like, man,

35:50

and then one day I'm gonna be on the Tonight Show. Man, We're

35:52

gonna make movies, says I'm gonna get my family, my whole

35:54

family out of there. And it was like, you

35:58

know, So that's how we met. So

36:01

we had this thing about family and

36:03

just success and winning.

36:05

Winky Dinky dogs. Right, man,

36:09

So you made that first movie shovel

36:12

credit Cards.

36:13

Yes, sir, ight, talk about it.

36:14

Man, So let me explain the route there.

36:16

Yes, yes, I want to know the route too.

36:18

So I'm a young actor in

36:21

New York. Now I'm doing dog food

36:23

commercials making money. I'm doing extra

36:25

work. I was in the Warriors, I

36:27

was in the Whiz as an extra, one of the citizens

36:30

of Emerald City.

36:32

You're gonna come back to that, you know.

36:33

And so you know, I'm having these experiences

36:37

and I'm like an extra.

36:38

And then do you have an agent? I

36:40

hate to interrupt you, I'm sorry, but you're

36:42

dropping so many gyms.

36:44

Do you have an agent?

36:44

By this point?

36:45

Oh?

36:45

Yeah, Well, see in New York back then, you

36:48

could have many agents because whoever got

36:50

you the job first, whoever

36:52

got you the job first, so you'd be registered with this

36:54

agent, that agent, that agent, that is agent, and then

36:57

whatever the job came in, whoever got to you first,

37:00

cause they didn't want to sign people like you're signed

37:02

exclusively, so they'd go like you

37:04

could freelance. And so you've got nine

37:06

agents or seven, six of the top people and

37:09

commercial theater, film,

37:11

television, whoever got to you?

37:12

What is it like showing up on the because

37:14

you're talking about like Mahogany and Cooley

37:17

High and the Whiz and all these things. What's

37:19

going through your mind? Like your first day on the set,

37:21

like looking at are you I

37:24

remember talking to the actors?

37:25

Or I just remember the first day, Like when you talk

37:27

about Mahogany, that was in Chicago.

37:30

We were into Cole and it was Billy d doing

37:33

this speech and then I was behind

37:35

and then and that was in another scene behind Diana

37:37

Ross in the welfare line. She's like I want to get my old

37:39

man back. And then but I just remember

37:41

being out there and it's like you talk about being

37:43

it, you know, like like like

37:46

my impressionist skills kick in

37:48

because I was watching Billy d and it

37:51

was like he was like I was watching his mouth and then I was

37:53

just studying him, and it's like, you know, the polls

37:55

say we're way behind. You know, the

37:58

polls say we're way behind. And then it's like you're

38:00

on my arm to fall off. You know.

38:01

It was like the way he talked with his mouth, and

38:04

so I channel someone, how

38:06

long does it take before you actually

38:09

nail them? Like, cause that's that's a gift

38:11

where you.

38:12

It's not you know, you know, you know, it's so funny.

38:14

It's like I can watch and listen and

38:17

then there's a certain like if I really study,

38:19

like I haven't done it in years, but back then,

38:22

you know, it's kind.

38:23

Of like like Jeffrey Stoart

38:25

there's a certain sound in his voice

38:27

or Bill Cosby, because you see

38:30

there's a sound, there's a sound, and

38:32

so I would hear.

38:35

Different things. And so when I watched,

38:37

I was out there in Nicole watching him, and I just remember

38:40

that whole speech, and I would just do it and then when

38:42

I got home, you know, I would do it like

38:44

James Earl Jones, you know, like you

38:46

see the daddy gotta beat the breadwind the claud

38:50

the wayfaw and the hip down frown.

38:54

Wait what is stopping you from being just

38:56

black rich little? Because

38:59

that was the thing.

39:00

I was a

39:02

voice like you know, you know, here's

39:04

the thing I enjoyed. So

39:08

let me say this. I've been working on a one man show about

39:10

my life and I think it's it's.

39:12

It's I did it.

39:13

I did it in Berkeley, you know, because of Richard

39:16

Pryor. Because Richard Pryor broke away and went

39:18

to Berkeley, and my friend Don

39:20

Reid was like, you know, Rob, there's a theater up here in

39:22

Berkeley. So I was working the show

39:24

up there, and then now I'm going to

39:26

take the show, you know, and workshopping in New York,

39:28

you know, at the Public Jesus

39:31

Christ. So so I'm in the middle of that. I

39:33

will follow, Okay, you know what I mean. So anyway,

39:35

it's all the stories about my life. But I

39:37

was, you know, I'll just say

39:40

like this, God has blessed me with a lot of talent, so I

39:42

can write, I can direct, I can produce, and I'm

39:44

a performer. But when I was doing

39:46

the stand up, you know, when

39:48

I was doing all of that, then I started doing movies and I

39:51

started, you know, so then Hollywood Shuffle

39:53

came out of that.

39:54

How good is a living being

39:57

in the extra in the seventies

40:00

in the eighties, like as far as

40:02

survivals concerned, like what

40:05

is is the pay good enough for you to say

40:08

okay? Or do

40:10

you also have to like, uh, work

40:12

at a bounclub or you know?

40:14

Well, see I was, I was hustling. I

40:16

was such a hustler back then. I still am,

40:19

but it was like back then, I was like hustling really hard.

40:21

So I did my extra work. I

40:23

did television commercials because I would

40:25

always say I could have dignity in sixty seconds,

40:28

so I I could,

40:30

you know, like they're one of my commercials. Somebody just put

40:33

on social media and it was like, this is

40:35

Eddie. Eddie's trying to get a job. Eddie's trying to get

40:37

an education. He's working hard. That's

40:39

why we're working with Eddie, you know. And and I

40:42

was playing I was Eddie, you know, and so it's just it's

40:44

just somebody just posted it like two days agogo.

40:53

Like what are our expectations? He's working at McDonald's.

40:57

I was, I was the original Calvin, So I

40:59

did TV commercials. I would

41:01

do theater every now and then, and

41:04

like I said, my dog few commercials, and then I was

41:06

doing you know, I was I would do the demos

41:08

for for Bill Cosby for the Ford back then,

41:10

so I would They would say Bill Cosby's not coming in,

41:12

can you do the voice? And it's like there's something

41:14

about Ford motors that I like,

41:17

you know, and I would do all the voices. So I

41:19

was like doing different things and

41:22

auditioning for the movies and then I and

41:24

I was auditioning for all that stuff. So yeah,

41:26

I was the extra work didn't

41:29

pay. But I got to tell

41:31

you, Okay, this is one story is that when

41:33

I was doing the film called The Warriors Warriers

41:37

come out and playa I was in

41:39

the Riffs. So if you don't know the movie,

41:41

there's a gang someming in New York City. All the gangs

41:43

come together and then the leader of the gang,

41:46

Cyrus, is shot, and then they

41:48

go who did it? The Warriors and the whole movies about

41:50

the Warriors trying to get home. So anyway,

41:53

I was in his gang, Cyrus's gang.

41:55

So we were in

41:58

Central Park shooting for five days

42:00

in Central Park in the middle of the night.

42:02

Now here's the thing. They had like seven hundred

42:04

and eight hundred people out there. Now there

42:08

was there were probably one hundred actors

42:10

and the rest were real gang members. Oh

42:13

and so here's how here's how I changed

42:15

my life in one night. So anyways, they've

42:18

got all the gang members and everything, and

42:20

the prop department hands out chains,

42:22

bottles, sticks and all this stuff.

42:25

And so then you heard the first

42:27

ad goes, when you hear the

42:30

gunshot, then start running and

42:32

use your weapons. And people

42:34

were getting hurt, you know, people like where is the

42:36

sag rep Where is the saga? And

42:40

I was seeing people get hurt, and the gang

42:42

members they was loving. It's like, I'm gonna hear somebody else with this

42:44

change next day, I want.

42:46

To knock somebody out with this chain.

42:48

And so then I was like, oh man,

42:50

I don't want to get hurt. So then this is

42:52

where the writer director Robert

42:54

Townsend was born. Cyrus's

42:57

body fell over there, and so

42:59

I was like, you know what, I'm gonna be

43:01

the one soldier that won't run. I'll

43:04

just run to the body and protect the body. So

43:06

then that way I won't get hit by nothing. So

43:08

then they go at camera, A

43:10

camera B comera see and action

43:13

and everybody starts running chaos, and I run

43:15

to the body and I stay near the body, and I stand in the body

43:18

and I'm standing near the body, and then all of a sudden,

43:20

I hear over the speaker the first a D goes

43:22

the guy near the body, stay near the body, and

43:28

so then they go cut.

43:31

First AD runs over to me says, what's your name? I go,

43:33

Robert Townsend. He goes, the director love what you

43:36

did? You just got upgraded. Now I was

43:38

supposed to make sixty six dollars. Then I made

43:40

two hundred and sixty stretch back

43:42

then that was rich. And so then the other

43:44

actors are coming over like why didn't you run? Like

43:47

everybody else is to run. And

43:49

so then something strange happened.

43:52

Then all of a sudden, we took a twenty

43:54

minute break, and then they

43:59

go, okay, we're coming back. And then when I

44:01

came back, I was standing

44:03

where I was standing, and then they had everybody

44:06

standing around me because

44:08

the Walter Hill, the director loved what

44:10

I did. And then all of a sudden he goes, oh,

44:12

wait a minute, that's right. There would be somebody that would

44:15

stay with the body. Not everybody would run away

44:17

and then it looks like, you know, it's

44:19

not in the film, but it you know. But I got

44:21

stills from it because I pretended to be my own business

44:24

manager. I'm

44:28

not sure Childlen would like to get some stills. He was

44:30

in the film and they cut his part out, but he'd like to can

44:32

we come over. I'm gonna send a young black guy over

44:35

there to take a look at it, pretend

44:37

to be myself, you know. And so I went over and I got photos

44:39

of it. But that day

44:43

I was like, I changed the scene. I

44:45

said, I changed the scene. And so then it

44:47

was like the seed of being a director was planned

44:50

because and he says, you get upgraded,

44:52

and then I was like upgraded and he was like, yeah, you're gonna

44:54

make and I was like a silent bit and I

44:56

was like and so then every time I walked on the set, even though

44:59

I was an extra on like I was a director. What are

45:01

we shooting today? What's the

45:03

first shot?

45:09

Okay? I got to ask, since you're in New York

45:12

and you're sort of

45:15

a degree of common well, that's the thing, like,

45:17

because you're also talking about stand up which I think is a

45:19

whole nother animal besides theater acting

45:22

or acting acting. At this point,

45:24

is what's happening at thirty rock

45:28

in in your radar at all? With

45:30

Saturday Night Live? Like by this point, I'm

45:33

assuming it's the late seventies early eighties, Like,

45:35

yeah, you know that Saturday Night Live is a

45:37

thing.

45:38

And I auditioned for Saturday Night Live?

45:40

What year?

45:41

So you don't know the

45:43

history, Okay, So here's the history. I

45:46

am at the improvisation and back

45:48

then, Jay Lennol's the host. You got Billy Crystal,

45:51

you got Rodney danger Phield, you got Robin Williams.

45:54

Everybody's there, and I'm

45:56

one of the few brothers there. And I do my

45:58

characters and still Friedman, who

46:00

just recently passed. She got the

46:03

club from Bud Freeman in the divorce

46:05

and so she runs the club and I

46:07

am doing my stand up and doing it. So

46:10

Saturday Night Live is looking for somebody to be on the

46:12

show, and so I put together

46:14

all my characters and they

46:17

go, you got to have an audition. And I go into

46:19

the audition and I'm just like

46:22

like today you're you're feeling my characters and what

46:24

I do. But then you know, like I'm a kid,

46:26

and I'm like po

46:29

po. And so I get

46:31

done with the audition and I'm

46:33

like, I think I smoked it. I think

46:36

I really smoked it. And so then they

46:39

go, you didn't get it. My agent calls

46:41

and says, you didn't get it. I said, but you

46:43

know, I said, it felt good in my spirit. I felt

46:45

like I was doing it. And they go like, well,

46:48

they're going to go with this guy named

46:50

Eddie Murphy, and

46:53

so Keenan knows him from Long Island and

46:56

from Roosevelt Island, and he goes, you

46:58

know, like, Eddie's really good. And I said, oh, okay,

47:00

okay, okay, I said, I guess. So then

47:03

cut to a book comes

47:05

out about Saturday Night Live and

47:07

so Gene Dominion

47:10

or I think her name is, she's.

47:14

So she.

47:14

I think she wrote a book or something. So then I

47:17

started seeing all this stuff on social media like Rabbert

47:19

Town's supposed to be on Saturday Live, Robert Town's

47:21

supposed to be he lost out to Eddie Murphy. And I was like, what what what?

47:23

What is this end of the book. I

47:26

guess I really did give a great

47:29

audition, and they were there was a

47:31

big war in the room because they were like, no,

47:34

he can do the voices and the characters and dah

47:36

da da da da da dah you know, but I mean, here's the thing.

47:38

Only be one.

47:39

No, we can only pick one.

47:40

We can only pick one.

47:41

So so so so

47:43

in the book it came out that that's really

47:45

that that I was up for it. And then in the ninth

47:48

hour, I guess this guy Neil said no

47:50

we should go. I mean, but here's the everything worked out. But

47:52

it was just, you know, like how you have something

47:54

and you go like, I think I really did good in there. And

47:57

then later on when the book came out, they says like they were debating

47:59

on this new comedian named Robert

48:01

Townsend.

48:02

So you found out how close you would

48:04

have came. Yeah, that's crazy, all right, So

48:06

I totally interrupted your story from hallewid

48:08

shuffle yes, making making that.

48:10

Now what's one?

48:12

I was like, what's the straw? What's the straw

48:15

that breaks the camel's back that leads

48:17

to all right, I gotta

48:20

do this? Is this a string of close but

48:22

no cigar like lost rolls.

48:23

Or that sort of thing, or no, it

48:26

is the day I have the

48:28

uh, the worst audition

48:30

of my life. And so

48:34

there is a director from England. He's

48:36

doing a movie about pimps and hustlers.

48:39

And so I go into

48:41

audition and uh,

48:44

I'm depressed already. And so anyway

48:47

he humiliates me.

48:50

He goes, no, no, no, no, you get out of

48:52

the cadillac. He's a bad mofo. You

48:54

know you sewonda. I know you're

48:56

holding out on me how And then

48:58

I want you to say b uch be oach

49:01

be and

49:04

uh do it again this time and this time you stick

49:06

your ass out? Can you stick your ass out? You black guys

49:08

have big asses. Can you move your big

49:10

ass around? You know? Okay,

49:12

okay, you're me to do it. Okay, hold your cock? Do

49:14

you call?

49:15

Do you say dick? Cock cock dick?

49:17

Hold your cock? Answer Robert, this

49:19

is real?

49:20

And so then what

49:22

is this director? Director? Before?

49:24

I didn't I didn't know. I was just young. So anyway,

49:26

I finished the audition and

49:29

I'm outside the room and

49:32

I'm, you know, like you're it's like you're a cell

49:34

out at that point. You just want the job and you're selling

49:36

your soul and I and I had sold my because I was

49:38

like, you know, would you know, would you like see a dick adjustment?

49:41

You know, anything you can I could do differently? You

49:43

know. I was like selling, and he was like, no,

49:45

no, no, it's fine, it's fine. No, no, no, don't apologize. Don't

49:47

apologize, don't apologize. And

49:49

so I walk out and

49:52

the door is cracked open and

49:55

I can hear him talking and he goes, he's

49:58

all wrong, he's all wrong. I I

50:01

need a nigga wow. And he's

50:03

just screaming and so and

50:06

so I leave

50:10

and I'm like, damn, that's what they think of me. Damn.

50:13

So then I go to Keenan's house

50:16

and you know, and uh, Keenan

50:19

sees a look on my face. And you know, Keenan Keenan

50:21

because he has ten brothers and sisters. He would always

50:23

cook and he could cook his butt off. So keen is in there

50:25

cooking and he goes and he goes

50:28

cockballs and

50:32

I was like so mad. I was like, Keenan,

50:36

this, We're gonna die doing this bullshit.

50:38

Man. I said, fuck this, man, we gotta do something.

50:40

And then that thing came out of my spirit

50:43

and I was like, we got to make our own movies.

50:46

And what year is this in which you declare

50:48

that this is uh eighty.

50:53

Three. Wow, this is

50:55

eighty three, and so Keene

50:57

goes, Rob, you never directed

50:59

anything, never made a short film. You know, you're

51:01

talking about making a movie. And I was like, if we don't

51:03

do this, we're gonna die. We'll figure it out. Let's

51:05

make a movie. And I had done you know, I was

51:08

making money on my dogful commercials, so I'd make a

51:10

lot of money. And I had just done

51:12

a soldier story with Denzel and so I

51:14

had like sixty thousand dollars saved in the

51:16

bank. And I was like, you know,

51:18

and everybody was like, you know, you're gonna get a Porsche, You'll

51:20

get a Jag. What you gonna do with that money? And I was

51:22

like, let's make a movie. And

51:25

it was like, but you never did it before, And I said, that

51:27

doesn't it doesn't look hard. I've been on enough sets I

51:29

could do we could do this, we could do this. And

51:32

I basically taught myself how

51:34

to make a film, and we everything we did.

51:38

The film was shot in twelve days. The

51:40

whole film twelve of the hardest days

51:42

of my life. I'm co writing

51:44

with Keene.

51:46

I mean, all the things from soup

51:48

and nuts, like, so.

51:52

I have sixty thousand in the bank, right, And so

51:54

then I go, let's just

51:57

make Keenan and I, you know, we started writing

51:59

and we're like, lit's is make a movie about our lives,

52:01

and like people say, write what you know, let's just start

52:03

writing. It's like, let's do that audition, let's

52:05

do that part. Okay, hey you know, and you know what,

52:07

and let's show them what we who we are. So I says

52:10

I want to always play a detective and he goes, yeah, we

52:12

could play a detective and then I could play the bad

52:14

guy. Why don't we call him Jerry Dude,

52:17

that'll be perfect. So then I'll be Sam a'ce

52:19

like Humphrey Bogard wants in the movies and Hmry

52:22

Boguard, I'm Sam Ace and I'll be cool like saying,

52:24

and we do it in black and white, yeah yeaheah yeah.

52:27

And then it's like there's no point and

52:29

what you're just like we're

52:31

in over our heads. Who we kidding?

52:33

Like you know, because because you

52:35

know, I call it the salami

52:38

theory. A salami is a piece of meat

52:40

like this, and you just cut off one little piece one

52:42

little piece, and so I just knew to cut off

52:44

one little piece at a time. I wasn't trying

52:46

to go like ah. I was like, okay,

52:49

this is how much I have for my rent and

52:52

my gas and my car. We

52:54

can't touch that, so we don't take everything

52:56

else and put it on the table. So then how much

52:58

does it cost to make to catering?

53:01

We could do pasta, we could do chicken, We could do so and

53:04

so on and get it.

53:04

You know, da da da da.

53:05

We could get the pastries and blah blah blah blah blah. So

53:07

craft service taken care of Hey.

53:11

Back then, you could rent the camera on

53:13

a Thursday, say you're gonna

53:15

shoot for one day, and then you go like I missed

53:17

the deadline. I'll bring it back on

53:20

Monday. So then you shoot for your

53:22

whole weekend, and then you shot with

53:25

short ends. So I called Norman Jewison

53:27

from a Soldier story and Ron

53:29

Swore, the producer, and I said, I'm

53:32

gonna make a movie. Can I have the leftover film from

53:34

a soldier store? And he goes, you know, they call me Bob, Bobby,

53:36

take it all, Bobby, take it all, take it all. So then

53:38

I get the leftover film. And for

53:40

those of you don't know short ends, okay,

53:43

a short end. So the concept of short

53:45

ends, for those of you that understand film, is

53:47

that a magazine to shoot

53:49

to load on the old school cameras was

53:52

ten minutes long. If the scene

53:55

is seven minutes, you have three

53:57

minutes of them left over. You can't do

53:59

the whole take again, so you just have three minutes to

54:01

go get another mag so that three minutes

54:03

of film. Nobody can really shoot anything with three

54:05

minutes, I go give it to me. So if

54:08

I've got to do one scene and go like sometimes I only

54:10

had like a minute of film and I just say just say winki nicky

54:12

dog, and it's like wiki, dicky Dog. We got it. It is

54:14

rolled out. Okay, let's go moving on and so reload,

54:16

reload, reload, And so it would just be going

54:19

that fast and that quick and short

54:22

end short ends we couldn't afford

54:24

the high editing places.

54:27

So Keenan is always like, this is where we got

54:29

into that brain thing. Because Keenan was like, he says,

54:31

Rob, where do they edit pornos

54:34

at? Because if we go to a porno place,

54:37

we can really edit over there and so they

54:39

said, I hear in Chadsworth they got porno places. So

54:41

we went there initially, what got

54:43

a deal to edit porno? It's me and sixteen

54:46

porn editors. And I

54:48

had never heard anybody. I had never heard anybody

54:50

direct porn. So then you hear like, You're like, I'm walking

54:52

down the hall waiting on my cut, and then I can look

54:55

in other people's room. I look in the room and then you see

54:57

the editor there and he are cigarette and he's editing,

54:59

and he's doing the whole thing. And you can hear the extor's voice.

55:02

Put your leg down, put your leg down, enjoy it,

55:04

enjoy it. Put your head back, put your head back, put your leg

55:06

down, put your head back. Look and I'm like, and they're

55:09

just yeah, cockballs, right,

55:13

And so the actors, you

55:16

know, my whole thing was, look, I'm

55:18

gonna make this movie and I'm

55:21

gonna take you through boot camp because I started in theater

55:23

when I was a kid. So I said, we're gonna do acting exercises

55:26

you do and we did. We actor exercises,

55:28

warm ups and all of that, rehearsing, rehearsing.

55:30

Wait, how did you even rally

55:33

the Troops. Everybody wasn't

55:35

a Marie Johnson sort of established.

55:38

No, nobody was established.

55:39

I've seen her on extras and no,

55:42

not. The first time I've ever seen her was Hollywood

55:44

Shuffle.

55:45

I mean she had done little things, but not really

55:47

like popping.

55:48

Okay, but even like John Witherspoon, and you.

55:51

Know John hadn't really John had done stuff, but

55:53

it was you know, it was like there was a time

55:55

when it was like the Black Exploitation, which

55:57

was not exploitation, it was just movies

55:59

where we with the leads. You had that period

56:02

with Melvin Van Peebles and all

56:04

of them's and Michael Schultz and Cooley

56:06

High and then there was like a little bit of pause

56:09

where there were no movies like where we were.

56:11

And then Spike was in New York doing

56:13

She's Got to Have It, while I was in La

56:16

working on Hollywood Shuffle. Okay,

56:18

So that was that time, and so there were actors

56:20

that were working, but the work at work wasn't consistent.

56:23

So then the thing for me was to

56:25

say, look, I don't have any money to

56:27

pay you, but when you're

56:30

gonna have a great time, we're gonna make a movie. We're gonna

56:32

make history, you know, and we're

56:34

kicking over here at the Craft Services. That

56:37

was right, That was right. And so they were like, he's

56:39

gonna feed us, and he's gonna do this and

56:42

so and I will have respect

56:44

for your time. I will all have day

56:47

jobs, right, all have day jobs. And so we shoot

56:49

on the weekends. So I will get

56:51

you in and get you out. And so the one thing I learned

56:53

early on was I know how to

56:55

plan, and so I was I did

56:57

the call sheets, and I knew we

57:00

had to be invisible so that people wouldn't

57:02

break shut us down. So I go, We're gonna shoot

57:04

at this house, but park three blocks away and

57:06

here's where you can park, and then walk over. And

57:09

hey, don't hang out in front of the house, hang

57:11

in the back. Please be quiet, so that we could

57:13

shoot, shoot, shoot, and then we're gone. And

57:15

then by the time we shot all of our outdoor

57:17

stuff like the Black Acting School, Sunday

57:19

morning. Sunday morning, people met at my house

57:22

at five o'clock. We went to Nicholas Canyon, Nichols

57:25

Canyon and laid everything

57:27

out.

57:27

Jumped into the mountain.

57:28

Yeah where we go, you

57:31

know. Yeah.

57:32

So and so by the time,

57:34

well, what about like the beauty shop

57:37

where Amerby Johnson worked at.

57:39

Like that was in We

57:41

made a deal where we said, hey, we will

57:44

pay one hundred dollars plus clean up,

57:46

you know, for a couple of weeks if you let

57:48

us shoot. And that was like on Crenshaw. So

57:50

we just you know, for the movie theater.

57:52

I'm sorry.

57:53

The movie theater was the old

57:55

Baldwin Theater that's not there anymore,

57:58

and it was owned by these two brothers and

58:00

basically we just said, you know, hey,

58:03

we don't have a lot of money to pay you, you

58:05

know, but we'll clean up. We'll mop the floors.

58:08

And I think I mopped that theater for

58:10

about a couple of weeks after it was done.

58:12

And they said, hey, you can shoot, but

58:14

you got to be out before the movie starts at eleven

58:16

o'clock.

58:17

It was an active movie theater, and you

58:19

guys would shoot on the off hours.

58:22

What we shot before the movie started, like

58:25

back then the morning in the morning. We shot in the

58:27

morning so we'd get there. I think we got there like

58:29

a four o'clock set

58:31

up, started shooting. We had to wrap out

58:34

by ten thirty and then the movie started

58:36

at eleven.

58:37

Dude, the same way that The Disaster

58:40

Artist was made about the room. Oh

58:42

yeah, ye, I need a movie made about

58:45

how this movie got made. First

58:47

met a movie about making a movie about

58:49

a movie about someone that didn't get

58:51

to make movies. So continue.

58:53

So everybody that I had ever auditioned

58:55

against, you know, because the other thing is

58:57

that you go like, oh that guy is really a good actor,

59:00

or oh I've seen her and stuff before, she's

59:02

really good. And so everybody I ever auditioned again

59:04

and said, Hey, I'm trying to do this movie. Do you mind

59:06

being in the movie with me? And they were

59:08

like, sure, have you ever directed us? Says no, you

59:10

know, I said, but they knew coming out

59:13

of the theater. I knew what I was talking about because

59:15

I had been in theater. So

59:17

everybody said yes, and and

59:20

I said, you know, I won't take my money first.

59:22

Your money will be the first money. As soon as the money comes

59:24

in, you're you will get paid first. And so that

59:27

was the best day of it.

59:28

I made a spect deal like if this goes

59:31

to the theater and makes money and whatnot.

59:33

There was no deal. It was my word. It

59:36

was my word because I we didn't have a lawyer or anything. So

59:38

it was just my word, like I go, you have my word

59:40

if there's nothing on paper, you

59:45

know, so so so basically, so

59:48

here's here's the deal. So that

59:50

was the happiest day of my life because when

59:52

the film is done, I'm just going to jump ahead a little bit and

59:54

come back. But when the film is done, I

59:56

say to the Samuel Gowan Company, Sam

59:58

Gohan says, I love this, I want to distribute

1:00:00

it. And so then I say, hey, can

1:00:03

I get my check like now? And he goes like, well, you

1:00:05

know why you like you need it? He says, I said, well, I

1:00:08

charged the rest of the movie on credit cards. And he was

1:00:10

like, you charge your film on credit cards? And I was like

1:00:12

yeah. And so then I go it's

1:00:14

like forty thousand dollars and I need that money like now.

1:00:17

And he was like you did, and he says, this is the

1:00:20

best story ever. And I told him, I said,

1:00:22

hey, I couldn't pay for you know, food,

1:00:24

but I could charge it. I said, I couldn't put

1:00:26

you know. So I went through how I did all

1:00:29

this, the charging. So then he goes, he

1:00:31

goes, we'll do that and we'll take care everything.

1:00:34

I said but the first thing is that I got to pay all these actors

1:00:36

because I said, I told him,

1:00:38

and so he says, okay, he says, how soon

1:00:40

do you want to do it? We're going to sign a deal. And I said,

1:00:43

how soon can you do it? And he goes, you know, it's it's

1:00:45

Thursday. He says, it's going to take me some time to get

1:00:47

it together for Friday. I said, can we do it Sunday at my house?

1:00:50

And so Sunday at my house. I

1:00:52

was living on Orange

1:00:55

Drive and right

1:00:57

off a mail Rose and I said, tall,

1:01:00

just meet meet at my house at this time. The

1:01:02

accountant from the Golden Company is going to be there.

1:01:04

I have a one bedroom. You'll meet, you'll sign your

1:01:06

contract in the bedroom. You'll wait in the living

1:01:08

room. I have drinks and food and everything.

1:01:11

And they got their checks before I

1:01:13

got mine, and they all did it and came in my bedroom

1:01:15

and they signed their contracts and that was

1:01:17

the happiest day, you know, my life.

1:01:22

Yeah, what act specific we want to

1:01:24

ask you about? Loudi Washington, Yes, sir,

1:01:27

what dogs

1:01:29

we played?

1:01:30

Don Michael

1:01:33

Jackson's.

1:01:35

Right?

1:01:36

That did Gregory right, He's he's

1:01:39

just one of them.

1:01:39

Actors that Lidy showed up,

1:01:41

you know, because there were certain people that uh,

1:01:44

Jackie Brown was the casting director, because there were

1:01:47

certain people that we knew and people

1:01:49

that we didn't know, and Loudy showed up and just

1:01:51

and and here's the thing. Uh I

1:01:55

worked at a place called Yankee Doodle Dandy in Chicago

1:01:57

and Keenan worked at McDonald's in New York,

1:02:00

and so we both combined our experiences and

1:02:02

so Ludi was one of the cats that we they

1:02:04

we used to work with.

1:02:05

It was like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, whose

1:02:07

idea was it about hoe cakes?

1:02:10

Because the only person I ever heard

1:02:12

mentioned hoe cakes was James Brown

1:02:15

on Live of the Power Volume

1:02:17

three where he talks about.

1:02:18

That was John Weatherspoon. Spoon

1:02:20

was improvising Spoon. Here's the thing

1:02:23

again, when you ask these people say hey, I'm

1:02:25

going to do a movie and you haven't done a movie before, and

1:02:28

they were like, what the hell are you? Who

1:02:30

do you? You know? And so he was like, man,

1:02:32

whatever you want me to do. And John

1:02:35

Weatherspoon was like, he

1:02:37

would just give you the world. And so when

1:02:39

I said, okay, this is a flashback

1:02:41

now, he's down and out and so and so on and so on and so

1:02:44

then and John just started going off

1:02:46

and I had never heard Hoe Cakes either, and I just thought

1:02:48

it was just brilliant.

1:02:49

At that point, did you know who

1:02:53

Melvin Van Peeples was and that that was his

1:02:56

exact experience making Sweet

1:02:58

Sweetbacks? Badass?

1:03:00

You know, I didn't know anything

1:03:02

because I you know, I kind of knew

1:03:05

some directors, but I didn't know because

1:03:07

I wasn't like I'm going

1:03:09

to be an independent filmmaker. I was just so fed

1:03:12

up that I just go, I'm not going

1:03:14

to complain. I never complained. It's like, let

1:03:16

me just do something about it. Let's take action. So

1:03:19

then later on I discovered who he was in his

1:03:21

films, Well.

1:03:22

Probably the most established person of

1:03:25

that ensembles

1:03:27

maybe Patrese Russian, who by

1:03:29

then was a platinum selling yes

1:03:32

artist. So how did you get

1:03:34

her involved in the scoring of the film

1:03:36

and all that stuff?

1:03:37

Well, you know what it was was that because

1:03:40

I love movies, I know that music

1:03:43

is really important, and so I

1:03:45

was looking for different people

1:03:48

and then sending stuff to different

1:03:50

people's agents, you know, because even though we

1:03:52

were small, it was like it's a small

1:03:54

film. But you know, at that point we had

1:03:56

something in the can that people could look at. So

1:04:01

her agent reached out

1:04:03

and sent us a thing her real

1:04:06

because she had never really composed. She

1:04:08

had done you know, music, but then it's like, you

1:04:10

know how people go like you know, and even Sam going,

1:04:13

you know, they were like and like, wait, you

1:04:15

know you got an artist. Maybe they can't compose.

1:04:17

Maybe they you know what I mean, are two

1:04:19

different skills.

1:04:19

They have, like songwriter versus a So so

1:04:24

I met with her and she was

1:04:27

like, I'd love to do it, and you

1:04:29

know, it's just kind of like for me, there

1:04:32

aren't a whole back then. They might be a little

1:04:34

bit more now, but there weren't a lot of black

1:04:36

women composers or black

1:04:39

women musical directors. So

1:04:42

when she said,

1:04:44

hey, I want to do it, you know I knew her music,

1:04:46

but then I saw her passion to like, I can give

1:04:48

you some music underneath here, and I can do this, and I can

1:04:51

do this. And then when I did Partners in Crime, I said,

1:04:53

you could be my musical director and come up, you know, it

1:04:55

could be the play ons, playoffs and so and

1:04:57

then she went on to do the you know, the Emmys and

1:04:59

every thing. So you know, it's just like, but

1:05:03

it's just seeing it, just seeing it.

1:05:04

So what's is there a moment of

1:05:06

for you, like like

1:05:10

completion? Is it after

1:05:12

the first screening of it at whatever?

1:05:15

I don't know if you guys did a premiere or not. Is

1:05:18

it when Eddie Murphy

1:05:20

hears about this and rents out the theater

1:05:23

to see it? Like, at what

1:05:25

point do you realize that, holy

1:05:27

shit, this is going to be a

1:05:30

thing.

1:05:31

You know? Let me say this. When

1:05:33

we were putting it together, editing

1:05:36

and doing the whole thing, you know, Keenan

1:05:39

and I, it made us

1:05:41

laugh. We don't it's like if we really

1:05:43

laugh, like on this Jerry Curl stuff. We were

1:05:45

laughing and it was just us right

1:05:48

laughing, having a good time. So I

1:05:50

wasn't really like everyone's gonna love

1:05:52

this. It really doesn't.

1:05:53

You know.

1:05:54

There's a part that you want to be loved and

1:05:56

then there's another part like I just want to

1:05:58

do what makes me happy. I

1:06:00

just period, And I think we were being

1:06:03

true to that.

1:06:06

Okay, QLs fam this is where we're

1:06:08

stopping part one.

1:06:09

And I know you heard a mirror.

1:06:10

Say it during the episode, but I have got

1:06:12

to reiterate this yere

1:06:14

episode is top ten Quest

1:06:17

Loft Supreme episodes of all time.

1:06:19

Okay, and you know every year Quest

1:06:21

Love Supreme celebrates Black History Month.

1:06:23

You know I do it every day.

1:06:24

But anyway, Robert Townsend is

1:06:26

Black history, which means what class He's

1:06:29

American history. So make

1:06:31

sure you come back for part two next

1:06:33

week or check out the podcast. In

1:06:36

the second part of this conversation, he speaks

1:06:38

about meteor Man and his talent

1:06:40

and now Emmy Award winning daughters.

1:06:43

Guy has so much more.

1:06:44

Okay, can y'all tell I really love this conversation.

1:06:47

Make sure you come back.

1:06:55

West Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

1:07:01

For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit

1:07:04

the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

1:07:06

or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.