Reno Wilson Takes the Mic at Dallas Comic Show with Rob | The Clubhouse Podcast

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Hey everybody, it's Rob. I know it's the holiday week, so we're not going to do a full-blown show, but I want to give you guys something to check out this week from the Clubhouse Podcast, or I guess you could call it Clubhouse Podcast adjacent.
One of the things you hear me talk about at the show quite often is the fact that I have the privilege of hosting Q&A sessions at different comic contes around Texas.
In this past weekend, I got to do just that at the Vista Mall in Lewisville for Dallas Comic Show.
So I thought I'd put up one of those Q&As for you to check out.
This one comes from a guy that not only is it his first show he's ever done, it's also his first Q&A.
You'll remember him from Mike and Molly, mainly, but he's done voice work. He was on the Cosby Show back in the day.
His name is Reno Wilson, and we had an amazing conversation that I'm sharing with you guys right now.
Hey, don't forget, follow us on all your social medias, follow everybody here at Sunset Lounge, the FW.
Check out this Q&A.
Let me discern.
Well, all right, let's dive in then.
Welcome to Dallas Comic Show, we're so glad you're here.
I'm going to dive in.
My name is Rob, I am your Q&A moderator for today, and we are coming in hot.
Joining me right now, a man that is flirting with triple digit IMDV credits.
Triple digits.
This is Reno Wilson, how are you, sir?
I'm good, I'm good, Rob.
We're so glad that you're here.
And you said this is your first show?
This is, this is your first Q&A.
This is my first.
I will take it.
Q&A first show, making a lot of rookie mistakes, not having pictures from the shows that I've been in.
You know, but it's been fun just meeting you.
You got a lot of pictures up there, though.
Got a lot of pictures.
There's been a lot of shows.
Yeah.
And we're going to talk about some of them.
I'm fortunate to have been around for a while.
Let's start at the, at the beginning.
Oh my God.
Is this the guy?
Yes.
As am I.
Yeah.
I'm from South Florida.
Yeah.
So technically we're from the same place because people leave New York and go to Florida.
Especially Fort Lauderdale.
Brooklyn, Florida.
Brooklyn.
Yeah.
State University of New York.
You want to see me purchase?
No, you did.
Yeah, I want to see any purchase.
Yes.
Okay.
Oh, wow.
So you, I mean, Rob does his work.
I do.
And you really, your career has been so varied.
Yes.
It's been so many cool things.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I want to start with some of your voice work.
Okay.
Because for people that don't know, you did a lot of Transformers voices.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I did the first five Transformers.
And we had a guy here about a year ago who was one of your cohorts.
Mark Ryan.
What do you mean?
I don't know if you ever, if you ever met Mark.
Mark did a bunch of different ones.
Yeah.
When you do the voiceovers, you really work with the other voiceover artists.
But I think when I did Mudflap, I worked with Tom Kenny a lot.
So it was Mudflap and Skid.
So we worked in tandem a lot.
But otherwise, I didn't see any of the guys who played like, you know,
I never saw Peter, you know, and never saw any of those guys.
Yeah.
So any of those guys.
But Mark talks very highly of that time.
So I was wondering if you guys had any crossover.
But when you get something like Transformers, you and I are roughly the same age.
We'll get it out there.
Yeah.
Because, you know, don't let this fool you.
Come on.
I have no spring chicken.
Don't let the gray in the physique of fool you.
I've been here for a while.
So was that something that was in your wheelhouse and then you get something like that?
And you're just like, absolutely.
As a child, all I did was voices at home.
I'm a comic book comic book guy.
I'm a cartoon guy.
Who was your hero growing up comic book wise?
Comic book wise.
Comic book wise.
Well, let's go to my underuse.
It was I had my Spider-Man and the Hulk.
Okay.
Okay.
So I used to always be in the mirror.
Captain on the Marvel side.
Yeah.
It was definitely Marvel when I was coming up.
I was definitely doing the Hulk faces in the mirror.
I watched the TV show of the Hulk with, you know, a little bit speed.
A little for Rignot.
A little for Rignot.
So, yeah.
So I was doing voices my whole life.
I always wanted to do cartoons.
And to be able to do the Transformers is just like me and my closet at home.
And so you get a gig like that.
Is it just one of those?
You want to go back and tell like eight-year-old you what's about to happen?
My eight-year-old self wouldn't believe it.
You know, to do video games and all that.
It's amazing.
You know that you have a record in the, in the regular series television arena?
A record.
Mm-hmm.
So you were on a little show, maybe a few episodes called Mike and Molly.
Yes.
Which, 27.
My wife has watched that entire series twice.
Oh, yeah.
So it's good.
It still holds up.
And it's playing right now somewhere in the world.
And you had Cleo King played grandma.
Yes.
Okay.
But she was six years and five months older than me playing my grandmother.
That is a record.
Yes.
It is.
Actually a record of the closest between those types in regular series television history.
I did know that.
I read that the other day and I'm like, somebody kept track of that.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
Somebody keeps track of everything.
And you know, that had to have been just like just hanging out with your friends.
And Mike and Molly, that set was, we still have a group chat.
And it was filled with some of the most thankful, grateful people that you ever want to be around.
We were aware that we were just, you know, having an amazing time being with each other and to have the show be successful.
And that's what you want when you go to work.
You want people to be thankful.
You want everybody to realize that, you know, we're not curing.
You know, we're just, we're just, we're blessed to be able to play and have fun.
And nobody took themselves too seriously.
And yeah, that was a blessing to be on that show.
And we still talk.
We still still hang on.
And that shows, that shows what a family atmosphere can do.
Yeah.
When you have, when you can say like, yeah, I mean, it's been almost 10 years.
Yeah.
Since that show went off the air.
And you can say, yeah, what else they'll talk about and have.
Yeah.
And especially in this kind of an age having a group chat.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Billy Gardell is something that I'm a big fan of the Bob and Tom show out of Indianapolis.
Okay.
And he's on there.
It's a radio show.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And he just seems like that guy that you just want to sit down and have a beer with.
Absolutely.
Although he's sober.
Well, yeah.
Hypothetically.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No.
And the thing is, Billy and I, we were friends before Mike and Molly.
We did a show called the Heist called Heist Years Going NBC.
Oh, wow.
An episode of Las Vegas where we played best friends.
Love that show.
We were playing like a million dollar game of tag.
We were just smack the crap out of each other in the face.
And he was on the road doing stand-up comedy when I got the script for Mike and Molly.
And I called him.
And I'm like, what are you doing?
It's like, I'm telling these jokes.
That was dead on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm not doing voices.
I was in two days ago.
And I told him, I said, listen, man, stop what you're doing.
Look, get the script called Mike and Molly.
It's our show.
Because whenever we were working with everybody, you guys need your own show.
And the rest is history.
Yeah.
But even before that, I mean, you have hit most people's touchstones.
Yeah.
Because really, I mean, although you've done a bazillion things.
Yeah.
By the way, trying to get all the geek cred, apparently.
Because you've got Star Wars cred, you've got trends.
Oh, yeah, video games.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But you were on.
Again, I didn't bring any Star Wars things.
That's okay.
But you've got plenty.
You've got plenty.
Your table is not empty, my friend.
People have choices.
But would you call the Cosby Show your first big break?
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
I was 19 years old.
The Cosby Show was my first television job.
I was at SUNY Purchase when I got the audition for the Cosby Show.
And I was very happy in college.
And I did four auditions for the show.
And then the next thing, you know, I did the 100th episode of the Cosby Show,
which was an hour episode, like everybody was on that show.
And that was my introduction into that world.
And it kind of changed my life, literally.
When you were at SUNY, was this your trajectory?
Oh, when I was at SUNY Purchase, it was a conservatory for acting.
It was theater.
So theater was where you were?
Theater, kid.
You're New York.
I mean, it makes sense.
Yeah, I'm a theater, kid.
I've been doing theater since I was nine years old.
Do you tend to gravitate?
Because, you know, this weekend is the release of Wicked For Good.
Yes.
Do you gravitate towards films like that?
Oh, I love musicals.
When it's a musical film that you know, it's based on a stage play, does that?
I do.
Wicked isn't one of my favorites, but, you know, I will say this one,
the second one's better than the first one.
Okay, got you.
Okay.
Because, yeah, as you know, with musicals, there's so much world building in the first act.
Absolutely.
You did the second act like that's have some fun.
Now we get into the crux of the story.
Yeah.
But they have really good songs.
Right.
And I'm the, I'm from the Wizard of Oz standpoint.
Yeah.
You and I are of the same generation.
Yeah.
It was on all the time.
It's Wizard of Oz and it's a wonderful life out for the rest of my life.
Yeah, absolutely.
So, I mean, I saw the stage play.
Yeah.
And I like it.
Yeah.
But I'm not a big Wizard of Oz guy.
Yeah.
But I feel like they, they, they since they had the same guy wrote the songs in the musical and the movie got help.
And he had a couple of new ones.
Yeah, he did.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, look consistency.
But again, do you, do you find yourself drawn or do you prefer to watch it live in stage?
I think the, we're not, we, I don't know if we, I think the golden age of musicals on film,
we're not there yet.
Okay.
I think it's past, you know, but I think with this, we could, we might be on our way back to, I'd like to see more musicals on film.
Do you have a favorite musical?
Anything goes.
Okay.
That was one of the very first ones I ever saw on stage.
On stage.
Barnum is my favorite of all time.
So I, I wasn't a fan of the Hugh Jackman version.
I like Hugh Jackman, but I didn't, because they didn't use any of the songs from the original play with Jim Dale and Glenn Close.
The, the redo.
Now we're really geeking out on you guys for the musical theater.
The redo of Phantom, I thought was good.
Yeah.
But they've taken some elements out of it.
Like the sh, with the chandelier is supposed to do, but doesn't do.
Makes me sad.
But I will tell you from a technical standpoint.
Yeah.
If you ever want to watch a musical that'll blow your mind.
Yeah.
Dirty dancing.
Dirty dancing.
The tech in that.
Oh, the, is Patrick's ways mind blowing.
Oh, yeah.
In the stage version.
Yeah.
Because what they did is it's a musical, but they don't sing the songs.
They use the actual songs.
Oh, that's cool.
And there's even songs in it that they couldn't get for the movie that they wanted.
Gotcha.
So like there's this huge video wall.
Yeah.
And so in the scene where baby and, and, and Johnny go into the house for the first time.
Yeah.
They walk through the doors and then turn around and come back because the video wall changes the perspective.
So that's what they're doing for the stranger things musical as well.
Oh, I want to see that.
Yeah, that's crazy.
When's the, it's merging theater and film together.
It's part one of the last season.
All right.
But they're dropping it at seven o'clock in the evening.
I've, I've never watched stranger things.
Oh, my kids are telling about it.
Yeah.
I will get there.
I saw something on your IMDB that I was very intrigued by.
Because I did, and I'm a pop culture guy.
Okay.
Like pop cultures half of my podcast.
Okay.
So it has been for six to almost 16 years now.
Okay.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
I'm the guy.
Congratulations.
My in-laws won't play trivia games with me.
Yeah.
So when I see something, and I go, and I go, that's a thing.
His brain is working right now, you guys.
I can see it.
Friday the animated series.
Oh, it was great.
What was this?
It was on MTV.
And I was supposed to do the voice of Ice Cube, but they said it sounded too much like Ice Cube.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If that's where it was like, we need an Ice Cube type.
It's like, you know, you can get Ice Cube.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly.
You know, Ice Cube, you got me.
Yeah.
That was a thing.
And you can actually rent it on Amazon.
It's on Amazon.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What?
Did it pick up, like, where the original movie left off?
No.
It was random stories.
And they just added the characters from the Friday movie.
I did like the cat Williams character.
I did the, I played Pinky.
I was just watching that the other day.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That was Friday after next, right?
Don't ask me.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I was actually, I was somewhere, I was out of bar.
And they were just showing it.
Yeah.
I just, I just wound up just watching.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I just ran them though.
Well, plus you, you've worked with some amazing casts, like Scrubs.
Yeah.
We're just coming back.
Yeah.
In February.
In February.
Yeah.
Oh.
Sergeant Bilko.
Sergeant Bilko was my first movie in Los Angeles.
With the legend.
With the legend Steve Martin.
Uh-huh.
Table read Steve Martin.
Dan Acroid.
Phenomenal.
Yeah.
Since that was like your first feature.
Yeah.
What is it like when you walk into that table read?
Are you able to compartmentalize the.
Yeah.
Oh my god.
Look who's in this room.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
When you're an actor, you just, you take it in.
You freak out first and then you go to work.
You just, you better be on top of your game.
Dan Acroid.
Because I'm on top of my one line.
Hey.
But, but, but it counts.
You know why?
Because it's on IMTV.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And I'm in the movie.
Exactly.
And you can say, hey, there's me.
Yep.
Yep.
I can do this all day.
You guys.
Yeah.
But I'm not the reason that we have this man with us.
Well.
You guys are.
Yeah.
So I got a mic sitting right there.
So if you have a question, come on up.
We'll just keep rolling.
Otherwise.
Because we don't want to make sure you get your questions answered.
Uh-uh.
And you've also worked with Jason Statham a little bit.
Oh, crank one.
And crank one.
And crank two.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
I said, I said to Statham.
I said, how do you stay so fit?
He goes.
Ben Cookies.
That's all right, bro.
All right.
That could be the most Jason Statham thing of all.
All right.
All right, bro.
Was it, uh, Frank Callie Anderson?
If you ever want to learn how to just, just say the words,
do you know what I mean?
Do you know what I mean?
Do you know what I mean?
And then that's, that's your statement, right?
So I did a show with, uh, uh, Hank Azaria.
Who does tons of voices on, uh, The Simpsons.
I was the first sitcom that I did.
I said to Hank, and he gave me, uh, he gave me great advice.
He said, if you want to do voices on, you know, cartoons and stuff
like that, you just do impersonations.
Bad, your bad impersonation creates a fresh voice for a character.
You get it?
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Do you, do you differentiate between the words impression
and impersonation?
Impression.
Because to me, an impression is you do a voice, but an impersonation
means you, like, you, you're like an essence.
Right.
You tap into.
You're addressing in the whole night.
Is that right?
I would, uh, yeah.
I would, impression is surface and, uh, impersonation.
And I'm an actor though.
So I feel like you have to capture the essence of somebody to, like, I, you know,
I'm about to do a show where I play Lewis Armstrong.
I don't, I don't do it in impersonation of Lewis Armstrong.
I kind of tap into, you know, what that character is.
And to me, that's really, that should be the approach.
Yeah.
You know, it's like they say, like, nobody ever does George H. W. Bush.
Everybody does Dana Carvey doing George H. W. Bush.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so it's, to me, that's the essence of it.
Yeah.
Like, just recently, I saw, uh, Christie, the Christie Martin-
Oh, yeah.
Uh, yeah.
With Sidney Sweeney.
Yes.
That was not her.
That was Christie Martin.
Like, I did see Sidney Sweeney.
She channeled like the last 10-10 minutes when you can do that.
Yeah.
Uh, you've also got a kind of a cool bookend in your career.
Because you did the Fresh Prince of Belair.
And you did Belair.
And I did Belair.
Which is just getting ready to wrap up.
Yeah, yeah.
They're in their final season.
Uh, was that kind of a cool full circle moment for you
when you got to do the-
Yeah.
You know, you know, it's a different generation.
You know, and fun, fun fact, my daughter was a production assistant
on the final season of Belair as well.
So that's kind of a bookend as well.
There you go.
Um, but yeah.
So I did the original Fresh Prince of Belair.
The sitcom.
And then now the single camera.
I did that season too.
So, yeah.
But that's a more dramatic version of the Fresh Prince of Belair.
Which I think surprised a lot of people.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you decide, no, we're taking the comedy out of you.
Yeah.
It was amazing.
You know, creatives are incredible.
And there's just so much content out there right now.
Yeah.
A lot of content.
A lot of places to consume.
Was there whether it was a movie, a television show,
a stage performance?
Do you know that there was a moment that you saw something and you said,
I want to do that for the rest of my life?
No.
Um, I've been acting and doing plays since I was a kid.
Um, I never imagined that I would be doing TV or something really cool
happened a couple of weeks ago.
I was doing an event and I got to Marie Osman was there.
Oh, wow.
And I used to love the Donnie and Marie show.
And you know how?
Yeah.
Huh?
Yeah.
It was the 70s.
It was the 70s.
We tech what we were giving it.
But at the end of the show, you know, they would sing the song,
they would sing the song,
Made Tomorrow,
Be A Perfect.
And Marie's at this thing.
And at the end of the show, I'm a co-hosting the show.
And I got to sing that song.
Oh, nice.
Marie Osman was lovely in person.
So I would never think that I had my younger self would never imagine
I had the opportunity to meet the people that I've met,
to act with the people that I've acted with,
to have people come up to me and do what I did when I was a young kid.
Yeah, it's, uh, yeah.
I'm very, very thankful.
What was the first time you were star struck?
If you have that.
Star struck.
That's a tough one.
I've worked with, uh, Denzel in food right now.
He has my favorite movie in the year.
Highest to lowest.
Highest to lowest.
Okay.
I was in the theater in my seat.
Okay.
Before I realized it was a Kurosawa remake.
Oh, yeah.
And I was like, okay, Spike, don't mess this up.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Best work he's done with Denzel since Malcolm.
Really?
And it's my favorite movie in the year.
I did see that.
Okay, that good.
I did see that.
I did see that.
Yeah, I did a fallen with him.
And, um, you know, I just had two, two little scenes.
And, uh, my favorite story from that movie is,
in between shots,
I was watching Denzel and Donald Sutherland have a conversation.
Oh, good lord.
And Donald Sutherland is a giant, right?
In my estimation.
And Denzel was kind of telling him a story
about a party or something like that.
And Donald Sutherland was listening.
He's been there.
He's been there.
Done that.
And Denzel said, like, you know,
stood long and was dead.
And this person was in.
Donald Sutherland was like,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And Donald Sutherland was like kicking his feet, listening.
And while I'm watching them going, wow,
maybe one day I'll be there.
I looked and saw a background artist watching me going,
wow, maybe one day I'm going to be up there.
It was kind of like the full circle of this business, you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's cool.
I didn't realize you were in Fallen.
Yeah, in that time.
Yeah, I'm the only one that sings the bridge.
Really?
Yeah.
I worked at the movie theater back in the day.
I think that was at the time I was still working at the movie theater.
Yeah.
Because I remember we watched that trailer like every 20 minutes.
Oh, yeah.
It was a very freaky movie.
Fallen.
You would touch people in the spirit.
We'd go from one person to the other.
It was very, very freaky.
I want to compare camera acting to voice acting for a minute.
Because you've done both.
Yeah.
Star Wars, the old republic.
That was the video game.
Yeah.
How does your approach change if it does between the two?
Do you feel like you have to?
Is there more of a focus when you're doing voiceover because people can't see you?
Even though there will be a by technical definition representation of you at some point.
Yeah, the challenge is to really play the moments and have people more than hear it, have them feel.
You know, we're only listening, but you want to have them feel.
I would use the final fantasy, that final fantasy 13, that character that I played says,
it was a book, this thick, like super thick.
And it was all, and we re-did the video game, and it was all in Japanese.
So you had, in Japanese, has very different intonations than, you know, when we speak English.
So you kind of had to translate the feeling into the video game.
That's the video game that I get the most response from.
And he was also a father who was trying to save his son.
So I really kind of connected to that.
So you want more than just a voice.
You want people to feel your, I don't know, is this being recorded?
You can feel.
There's video.
Who's that video going on?
You want them to feel your energy.
You know, I think that's the difference.
So it's not, you're not indicating with your voice, but you're really connecting to the material.
You want to hit somebody in their heart space.
When you see the final product and something like that.
Is there one project that sticks out to you the most of?
That's exactly what I saw in my head when I did it.
Yeah, I would say, yeah, final fantasy.
Yeah, this dude had like a bird in his afro.
I don't know if you guys know final fantasy.
He had a choke a boat. That's a bird in his afro.
And I was like, what?
You know, and, uh, yeah.
So when you see, when you played a video game, all the action in between the actual play.
Yeah, I thought that was really well done.
You've done reboots.
But you also have done a mini series based on.
Probably I would say one of the films that defined.
The years of my adolescence in the 80s.
When you did the mini series for fatal attraction.
Oh, yes, got it.
Now, a mini series compared to a film.
You're on a completely different level because you've got more material to deal with.
Yeah.
In your process.
Do you have to block that out of your mind and say, this is what I'm doing.
Or do you prefer to pull from that?
Not necessarily verbatim.
But do you prefer that rather inspiration?
Or you're like, no, I need to put that to the side because this is not that.
Yeah, the fatal attraction series was on Paramount Plus.
That was a reimagining of the movie with Glenn Close and Michael Douglas.
So Lizzie Kaplan.
Yeah, Lizzie Kaplan, Josh Jackson.
Yeah, so it was like a reimagining.
So you didn't have to see the original film like for all the young people.
You didn't have to see the original film to connect to what we did with that.
So you had fun and a little bit more leeway to play.
When you wanted to just kind of get away and just kind of reset your brain.
What kind of things do you like to do?
I play the piano.
I play music on my Instagram right now.
I have a thing called throwback joint Thursdays.
You try to figure out the 1990s R&B song.
Okay.
And I am going to go check that out.
I've been a DJ since I was 16.
Oh, really?
So now I'm going to challenge myself.
Oh, no, no, no.
No, no, no.
There's a shirt that I've always wanted to get this is at the love of like 90s R&B.
I don't want it.
Yeah.
And I agree with that.
Oh, but we did a lot of begging.
My poor wife.
My poor wife.
Get that 90s love right now.
You said you won't die man.
Yeah.
I asked somebody.
But that's what I do.
Yeah, I play music at home and I hang out with my wife.
You know, we own a spin in yoga studio in LA.
So you come, you know, come get some yoga.
Come ride outside with the silent disco headphones.
It's called the cycling pigeon.
Okay.
I like that.
The cycling pigeon.
Yeah, the cycling for cycling and pigeon is a yoga pose.
Come with the microphone.
Yeah, you got to talk because I want to get this on the recording so we can hear you.
What's your name, sir?
We have our first Q at the Q&A.
Go ahead.
A while ago, you mentioned the Louis Armstrong project.
Yes, sir.
More about that.
Okay.
More about playing Louis Armstrong.
Oh, so I didn't realize this was going to be a life project.
But I did play Louis Armstrong in a movie called Bolden in 2019 for seven minutes.
But I've been working on my own project about Louis for quite a while now.
And it's, uh, we're working on a stage show.
And, uh, and I actually performed at Lincoln Center with Winton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra,
why I sang, uh, as Louis.
And, um, there's also a limited series that we're getting really close to shooting now.
So without Louis Armstrong, there's no modern music.
Without Louis Armstrong, you know, there's no hip hop.
There's, you know, with Louis Armstrong, all the worlds collide.
It's all about social economic political.
This is a man who started from Abject Poverty and ended up becoming the most beloved artist in the 20th century.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
We're about to bring it to you about the biggest and what that good stuff did.
And when you get to play his stuff with anybody that has the last name Marsalis.
Oh, listen.
Now now, yeah.
I'm going to from Bonified at that point.
That is different levels.
Yeah, for sure.
So yeah, when it comes to what's going to be the exact on my project and uh, so yeah, it's called pop's he and his dad
Did an album Alice of all peanuts music. Yeah, it's called Jocles Blues. That is fantastic
But you have to check out the Marsalis family. They carry the torch. So that's like way too much talent for one family
Yeah, it's crazy share some of it with the rest of it
Yeah, I'm saying all of the Marsalis boys ages musically. What's in heavy rotation for you right now musically like what
What's like you're in the car you're gonna cue something up. What's in heavy rotation for you right like I said, you know 90s
R&B right now
Anybody specific
I almost brought my going coconuts album
And then against my wife and I we we own a spin and yoga studio. So it's like I'm married to a 19 year old
She's playing all the latest, you know little little this little lad
I'm a hip-hop dude. So specifically, you know, I'm playing I'm playing actually right now. I'm playing
Oh my god, I'm playing guy a lot of art. I'm playing guy. I'm playing Joe to see that second album was strong
Joe to see it's gonna be in Oklahoma and yeah, March. I think playing a casino. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah
I'm playing a lot of that, you know new edition is always in rotation new edition
That's that's the list right my bucket list was that when Bobby got kicked out a new edition
I was gonna be in the group
I was ready, but then they got Johnny Gale, but the only that
And I did a lot of people say this sounds blasphemous, but
New edition and the Beatles only two groups where every member
Had success outside of the band and in the band absolutely the only times it's ever you better let them know
Yeah, and that's you know, and I'm a new edition. That's my will
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah me too. I love Bobby. I do
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but heartbreak
That was the any any heartbreak. Yeah
You don't get to start talking about new. You need to start a new edition podcast. That's all boy
You don't even get me started there. So they're doing they're touring. They're about to tour with boys to man and Tony Braxton
That's a lineup. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so 75% of boys to man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah 75% but I've seen both versions of that and it's still great
Yeah, no matter what I saw them out like a concert hall like it like our local like opera house. Yeah
They played there really and it was like a pop-up show because it was local musicians. They're amazing
They were in town because they were here to see Beyonce and Jay-Z and they were like hey, we should do a show
While we show too and and their wind spear opera house is like yuck. Come on. Bye. I play a lot of Jay
I play a lot of Jay cuz he's from Brooklyn. I'm from Brooklyn. So, you know, Hova is always on rotation
Yeah, doesn't doesn't write lyrics. Yeah, yeah, doesn't write off the dome. No, no, no off the top
That's right
Yeah, so who's on your bucket list of people to work with right now?
She worked Tom Hardy. Okay big fan
Tom Hardy uh
God
So many people
Sterling K brown. Yes. We got a question. No, what's your name? Oh, Giovanni. Okay, what you got
So we know in your time on Dexter original Cindy. Do you ever get to meet Michael?
Yeah, yeah, we hadn't gotten to Dexter originally. Yeah, but it's on my list. Absolutely. Oh, yeah
We definitely got to meet Michael. I met him at the premiere of Dexter original Cindy and we did our first zoom
A table read. He was on zoom
And uh, yeah, really cool dude
So they they picked Dexter up original sin for uh season two and then unpicked it up
And they kept resurrection
so
You know
Whatever with that
But yeah, yeah, did you did you see it? That's a great cast man
We had a we were all really looking forward to doing a season two, you know, so that's another group chat
We were like, yeah, when I dropped that on the show. My guys were like, I'm sorry. What yeah, I'm like, yeah, I don't understand
The show was a hit, but you know, it's a crazy business and again because there's so much
Thank you Giovanni. Yeah, appreciate it. There's just so much content and it's all hitting at the same time
Yeah, and the purchase with skydads buying paramount all of that stuff got it all
Lost in the butter sauce and you know
It's a rough game if you don't have a thick skin. This is not the business to be in
And but the upside to that though is there's a lot
I think there's a lot more opportunity. Always. Oh because of streamers. Yeah, because of all the content
That's being dropped on a constant base. Yeah. Yeah, there's always seismic shifts in this industry
And the of the first one was silent movies to talkies, right? They're like, oh my god
They're gonna be talking in movies is crazy and you know it
It worked out. Okay, so it's gonna work out. Okay here too
Rashi Rashi, what's your question brother? Hey, so
There's been a steep decline with the traditional sitcom
One of the benefits of doing the traditional traditional sitcom. Yeah, is that you do get the live audience. Yeah, nothing like it. So
So what's been like some some of like a some good audience
Uh
Projects that you've had you know with the live audience. Yeah
Uh, you know, we we talk about that the sitcom the multi so you're talking about a multi is called a multi-camera, right?
Multi-cameras when you have four cameras in as an audience like
Single-camera comedy that's not a sitcom
So I got a real problem when they make that its own category and the Emmys. I think that should be
It's only and then the bear being a comedy. That's just because the bear is 30 minutes long
It's it's not a comedy. Well, they put the Martian in comedy or musical or something one year ago. Yeah, I mean so
But I really love that that genre of the live audience and Mike and Molly
We did 127 of those in front of a live audience directed by the legendary
Jim boroughs who did taxi cheers
Frazier
Will and Grace he's he's just like the master guy. He's he's he's the dude. So
Working with him and Chuck Laurie is like a master class and working in sitcoms
So I always root for the sitcom to come back
It's hard to do hard to do it well
But the audiences is it's nothing like a live audience
Uh, and um, so there's some that are coming out this year and I hope to
He doing another one
Really so now. Oh, no shortly or putting one thing I say
We put it out there to the universe. Yeah, we don't put it out to the universe the universe cannot respond
Absolutely. It's a responsive universe
And it seems like really you might see me back in front of a live audience soon
Yeah, CBS really seems to be the only people really holding on to that well said yes exact you know I
ABC save gone to the single camera. Yeah, you know NPC it kind of comes and goes
Yeah, it's kind of weird. You'll have like 97 of them and then you'll have none of them. Yeah
And but CBS seems to hold on to that they've held on to it. Yeah
And again, it's it's really hard to do on
Shows can be on forever and not be you know in the in the
In the pantheon of the greats
And I feel like Micah Mali is one of the greats like if you put Micah Mali on today
It still holds up with you know like I watch cheers up going on and I'm like ah
It's still it still holds up
Okay, let's talk about that for many what kind of outside of those two
Yeah, what shows are stop downs for you
Stop down like if you're just scrolling scrolling scrolling and that's on I'm watching that right TV show
TV's movies whatever everybody loves Raymond. I'll stop. We're just getting a new. They're rebooting that
It's getting a revival. They just they just all got together this week
And there's no mic there's talk of a micah Mali revival, but you know, we'll see we'll see that would be amazing
If Rocky comes on I got to stop and watch Rocky
If it's at the end of the Rocky movie, I'm crying when he's yelling Adrian. That's a wrap for me
And that's one of those films that the Matrix oh the first one the first one
Okay, so we have a place here. It's where I have the streets called Cosm. Oh you have one out here
Yeah, I haven't been there yet. There's one in L.A. They did the Matrix in there and they're doing it in L.A.
They're just now starting um
Willy Wonka in the chocolate factory
And they just announced the next one they're doing after first of the year
It's going to be Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone yes in 10 and a half years. So it's immersive. It's like the sphere in Vegas
It's it's and that's how I tell people it's a mini sphere. Yeah, yeah, because they they also carry a lot of the WWE events
So I've seen a couple of those there. I watched the game six of the Stanley Cup finals over there. Is it awesome? It's
You know how they do what they do
No, so they have contracts
So let's just say you're going to go watch a football game. Yeah
They have their own cameras in the stadium
So you'll get two sub screens up top which is the network feed got it
But the rest of it is there
So you're getting stuff that people at home. Yeah, okay, and again 10 and a half game video
Yeah, that's crazy and it's
Immersive doesn't even say that's too much for my wife. My wife can't watch that. She's like that's too much. She's like
Sit sit in the second level. Yeah, yeah, but it goes up and over you. Yeah, yeah, which isn't say it's yeah
I'm fine with that. Atlanta's getting the next one. Yeah, wow. Okay. They're going to want to do that
See the matrix, but those are stop downs from me matrix rocky everybody loves Raymond cheers
Frazier if you get the chance to make to remake another film what would it be to remake another film?
I don't know. I want to be my I'd love my wife thinks it's crazy. I want to do a Star Wars movie
Why wouldn't you and the Star Wars Star Trek? I want to I'm a I'm a trekkie. Just want to be clear
I'm a trekkie. What's what's your number one series?
Star Trek of the franchise of TOS
Because I love TOS, but strange new world is crushing it. Yeah, I love straight
Streets. I'm watching that currently and I love that. I don't care. I'll be anything in the Star Trek
And I'm a big DS9 guy. I have the DS9 is like that's my jam
PS5 DS9. I don't care. I let him know. I would love to be in a Star Trek franchise
You know, like I think we need a new Star Trek movie. They've only done three
So the rumors that came out this week is you have your directors for your next Star Trek. Okay, who?
It's the guys that did Dungeons and Dragons honor among thieves. Yeah, those guys are doing your next Star Trek movie
And are they going to keep the same like Zoe Saldani? They haven't said who the cast is going to be
I love I love the JJ film. Yeah, those yeah
The way he started that series off of like here's how we're going to tie it all together. Genius. Genius. Yeah, I just those are very
I want in
Okay, I'll play a thing on eight. I'll play I'll wear a red shirt. I don't care. I got a actually. I've got a red shirt coming in
You got a red shirt that means you're going to get killed immediately. Yeah, I've got one coming in the mail that says once they once they beam you down
That's a wrap. Well, I thought I saw you heard the talk. Yeah
Mine's coming. I got a shirt coming today or tomorrow. I think it says really? I beat the Kobayashi Maru
And all I got was this red t-shirt. I saw that in my guts. That's yeah. Yeah, you got to get that. Let's see
Any other hobbies that you have?
No, no, I play music. I work out a lot and you know, any sports you want that you keep up with?
I currently I'm watching basketball usually who's your team?
Uh, you know, I've been in LA for 32 years so uh, so the Clippers
Uh, I like the I like the Clippers. I'm a Laker fan. Um, I'm more of a fan of players
Ultimately when LeBron first got into the league
You remember the sprite commercials and he had the little doll named first with the after I used to do the voice for 30 really
Yeah, yeah, so that that was I should have brought some to see. So you're up in my stack. I didn't bring any make a list
Just make a list. These are the 85 fans. I got to bring for the next. Yeah. Yeah, yeah
So I've been uh, following up in a LeBron fan for a long time as a Jordan fan
You know, uh, but currently I think Wimba Yamma is a problem for the league
If you watch basketball and my Florida Gators now have that kid that's seven nine
Is this football basketball basketball? Oh, really?
University of Florida's got a kid seven eight seven nine
Yeah, I don't know what basketball player on the world. I don't know what's happening
And he could probably handle the ball shoot the rock. That's what I'm hoping. Yeah, that's crazy
I see I'm a heat guy because I got I got a room for my hometown for the Maverick
Yeah, they got Cooper flag. He's doing well. He's
Yeah, he's showing. I've got to carry that whole thing right. Yeah, and he is
You know, they had some players have that gene that you know that clutch gene
I think he has it. I think Wimba Yamma has it. They're they're not afraid in the moment
But we'll see
We talked about people you want to act with. Mm-hmm. Who do you want to have direct you
Who's on your bucket? Oh Antoine Fuqua. Love him. Yeah replacement killers. Let's go Ryan Kugler
He said he said this week black Panther three's next. I know. I know and he's also doing ex files
It that's that he's coming and going. It's like make a decision. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and
TV show. Yeah, they're doing and it's it's a reboot, but it's still gonna connect. Yeah, yeah
um
Sinners blew me away. It's amazing
It would that was one of those films that was just like is that up for it'll be up this year? It better
It better because yeah
That that film
Yeah, I waited until it was on HBO because I have a policy other by code. Yeah, I thought that was a horror movie
So I don't watch horror movies because I refuse to give somebody my time or money to try to make me pee on myself
Uh, well, that's not fair, but my my co-host was like no, dude
This one I'm telling you you because he loves horror movies. It was it was a horror of them
So yeah, and I like it was from dust cell dawn for a different generation. Yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I love like rock and roll horror. Yeah, yeah, and I was just like and it's one of those
Like oh, so no, we got 30 more minutes to go. Yeah, it's about to get more. Yeah, it was really good
Michael B. Jordan was crazy, and I missed the iMex re-release in that because I wanted to see that
Oh, yeah, it was it was phenomenal
The next series I got coming out of Michael B. Jordan is actually executive producing it
It's called the greatest about Muhammad Ali. Oh, let's go and I play a Boudini Brown
Okay, who you know created folk like a butterfly sting like a bee and
It's a limited series. So it's gonna do about three seasons the first season is
caches clay
And it ends with him fighting sunny listed and when I tell you it's gonna blow your mind as kid Jalen best
Who's playing caches clay Muhammad Ali?
Phenomenal where the wise man won't say his mama name mcclay. I'm gonna call him clay. Mama name mcclay. I'm gonna call him clay
I just watched that documentary this week to be in Murphy. It's so good. Well, that's a hero
So so good. He's so much of a hero for me. I don't want to meet him. I could I could understand that. Yeah, but I do want to meet him
That's one of those things like these different. It's like hello, sir. Do you know who you are?
That's who I would be star struck with. I think I would see any Murphy and when he came back to host S&L
That was I have a whole book of SNL skits that were inspired because I watched him. Oh really?
When I was growing up, so and he was and he just crushed it. Yeah, cuz he's any Murphy
When I did you hear what else Michael B. Jordan is allegedly working on
The town Thomas Crown affair. Well, he's doing that. Yeah. Yeah, he is in talks
Oh
Him and Austin but are you yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I want to go to that. Yeah, that'll be sick
Yeah, yeah, that's gonna be sick because again, that's in our wheelhouse from back to the day Friday night. Oh, Josh
And yeah, the soundtrack alone
Yeah, you got in the air tonight playing in that first episode. Oh come on
John hammer in that theme song
Absolutely, I feel like we've just lost everybody else
That was it man, we're getting close to the end of our time. That's good. That's good. That's good. No. No. No. No meaning. This has been great
This has been good. Oh the last few minutes
I always like to reserve for blatant self-promotion. Oh, so we want people to go to your table and say hello
Yes, that's after this weekend. Yes, after again his first show ever. Yeah, this is yeah, yeah, yeah
Thank you. Thank you guys. Thank you website social media the whole night. I want you to give that out. Oh, yeah, Reno Wilson won
On Instagram so you can see my throwback joint Thursdays
Uh, I mean, I'm really on and I'm on TikTok as well and it's also Reno Wilson won because somebody else took Reno Wilson
I don't know who that is and that's pretty much it with the socials Reno Wilson underscore Reno underscore Wilson is the website
I mean you could just Google me
Anything coming up you want to plug real quick? Yeah, the the the the greatest series
That's going to be absolutely amazing. That's next year. Who's going to be on Amazon. Okay. Uh, it's me
The kid Jalen Bess was said is amazing Giovanni Rebisee
Like him a lot. Oh, Mari hardwick plan. Right. Giovanni is playing
Angela. I was going to say it has to be Angela and this point in his life
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean and listen, it's going to be amazing
Uh, yeah, so that's coming out next year. Is it going to be one of those weekly? Are they going to dump it all at once?
Do you know? I don't know how they're going to do it. I honestly don't know how they're going to release it
Phenomenal cast and that I'm excited about that. I got a movie called above the line which is a Christmas
Heist movie
Uh, that is premiering at the Sun Valley Film Festival next week and oh wow nice
We'll see that towards the end of the year very funny
Also anybody else the who else isn't that? Uh
Sophia Ali okay, and uh much a young young young talent
That that's coming up and really really fun. Do you think you see that day you start referring to others as young talent?
That's me
You know, I'm at the point where I'm working with actors who have never auditioned in a room
They've only done self-disk
So now when you audition for stuff you record in a room. You don't sense the pandemic. You don't go to a place
And see people you record and you send the tape in
You know, so yeah, that's what I am now. Oh school. This was so much fun. Wow. Thank you so much
For you know, what's it you guys
You
This is a stolen water media production