 Hey everyone, it's Neil Brennan. This is the Blocks podcast. We talk to people about their inner lives. I told my guest today what the premise of the podcast was, and he wrote back two words, Jesus Christ. But he is a guy I've known a long time. The good news about you is you've always looked older. Can I give you an intro, please? I'm gonna give you an intro. What is going on? You always look 40. Am I? Yes. I look really good. You look like a distinguished older gentleman. He's always looked 40. Then next thing I knew, he was playing, he was in a retirement home show, which I didn't appreciate. All right, everybody just relax, act like we have Alzheimer's. He's a, I hate all the things they call us now. Legends and us, icons. OG. OG, I don't mind so much. The guy was in living color. Before that, he was in Robert Townsend's shorts on HBO. And before that, he went to Yale Drama School where he did a play with Christopher Walken and in between scenes, while the play was going on, he looked over and Christopher Walken was reading a porno mag, and the name of the porno mag was... Big black titties and asses. Ladies and gentlemen, David Allen Greer is the guest. Can I just put an addendum on the Chris Walken? That made him a hero to me. Oh, no, I don't mean... No, no, no, no, don't get me wrong. Plus, I was in school, man. I was like, oh, this dude is a god. So we can read porn? Yeah, literally. Between... He would throw the thing out. My lady, I beseech the court, like right in it, and he was great. If a actor can be that good that quickly, do you think it's an abuse of power? Dude, do you expect a level of... What's your process with that? Do you expect to be... Do you try to focus just out of respect for everyone around or is it just like, I don't know, I'll be there? No, professionally. I'll give you an example. I was doing Soldiers Play. Uh-huh. Became Soldiers... Were you in the first one? I was in all of them. You were in the first Soldiers Play in the late 80s? Yeah, it was 1984. 1983. 1984. Then myself, Denzel, ain't off Caesar, we went on to do the movie. Right. And this is at a time when... Usually people who did the play, you weren't gonna do the movie. Nah. Denzel was in the play. Yeah, yeah, you know, say it's like, Double Amputee, Southeast Asian Tiger Cage, prison, Cambodian Conflict, and someone like Killian Murphy did it on stage. Well, you know that. If they did the movie, it would be a Disney kid. Yeah. You know what I mean? And they'd be right. Right, right, right. So the fact that we were cast in Norman, so we went right in and did the movie, and that was it. I mean, I thought I was done with it, but... And then you did it again. Because Kenny Leon called me the director, and you know what? I just had to do it. I mean, those were the best jobs. It was two years ago, three years ago? It was a beginning of the... The reboot? So it wasn't a reboot? No, it was the beginning of the pandemic, because we got all the way through our run. We had three shows left, and they shut Broadway down. Okay, so you did it, and did you get... You've been Tony nominated? I have. I've received four Tony nominations. I won the Tony for that particular role. And can I just say, you know, the evening started with, hey, I'm nominated, with my girlfriend, we went to the best restaurant, probably in the country. Sabara, Sabara on 44th Street. Mama Leone's, and no, it was just a great week, a great night, just the vibes, all the love. And then I won, and you know, I just want to say we've been lied to, because winning is... Didn't solve your problems? It did. Oh! It was so fun. It was so even worse. No, it was so fun. Yeah, no, I know. It's not just an honor to be nominated. It's so much better when you win. Oh my God, it is amazing. So, you know, don't believe the hype, kids. Get that reward. Winner's only. It's my brother. I said, you mean award? No, I mean reward. Okay. Okay, I don't see the difference, but God bless. Let's move on. I haven't seen you in a while, but you're one of, you're a great person to me. You, I've never had a bad time spending time with you. And... That may be the highest compliment, by the way. I've never had a bad time hanging out with you? Yeah, because, well, like any relationship, you know, really mostly when I was younger, when you know, like you had a roommate and like when you sour, at least for me, if I sour on you, I just have to... It's over. Yeah, I'm going to block you. Yep. Just move on. We don't have to talk about it. I don't know, like a lot of men who, you know, we're not going to be friends anymore, Neil. Can we have lunch? I just want to tie up loose ends and go over some things, some tragic questions. No, guys, just bye, I'll see you later. Especially at this point in my life, I'm just going to block, delete, move on. Much like winning an award, it's very rewarding. It is, because mainly the people I've blocked and moved on from is probably a lot of its political views. Now, I don't know, I pretty much can guess your political views, but when it imposes... Imposes based on the clear frame glasses. When it impedes on the friendship. If I'm texting you all day and night, going, man, you got to get on this maga train, man. Trump is brilliant. Then it's an annoyance, man. Because I don't want to argue. We don't have to debate. In my place of work, if I see somebody who's go Trump, I'm going to be like, that's not my choice, but you go, go ahead. I don't care. I don't care, okay? I'm going to do what I can do, but I'm not going to argue about that stuff. But you will end a relationship. You will end a personal friendship. You won't end a relationship, but it will end a personal relationship of like, we're not going to see eye to eye. Well, not if I'm bringing it. Not if the person is shoehorning it in all of our conversations, in texts, in emails, it just... Memes. Yeah, man. You're wearing me down. Yeah. You know, uh-uh. Give them, you throw a baby in there? You're wearing me down, baby. Baby, you're wearing me down. No, man, you know how it is. It's just... I'm the king of ending friendships. We spoke about it before we, on the air. Your, in my experience, you're a good texter. You're a good tweet. You're pretty active on the tweets, especially considering your age and that you should know better. Can I brag on myself a little bit? I would love that. Finally. I'm into a boomer fight. You know, this is like, okay, boomer. And I... How old are you, by the way? 67. Great. And a true little-known fact about David Allen Greer, what could have gone to see Jimi Hendrix live? I could have. And didn't, because you couldn't, you had homework or something? Well, I was 13. Right. And to be honest with you, I still had the fear of my mom. Like, I could have gone to Kobo Hall. I didn't know that Jimi Hendrix in 1969 would be dead within a year, number one. None of them did. None of them did. And I was more concerned with, if I got in that concert, my mother still was of an age where she would come in there, pull me out. Pull me out. By the ear. There may be curlers involved. Perse. Just, yeah. I just was not prepared to defy her like that. Sure. Yet, you know, a couple of years, I was just, you know, whatever. Earth went on fire. Exactly. But, yeah, yes, I wasn't. Okay. You got no boomer fight. Go on. So I, you know, I said some lame joke and these boomer guys started coming after me. And at one point where I was just being pounded, you know, fuck you, you bought your house for a dollar and I had to pay $5 million and my dad's old and guess what, he shits on himself. Nobody told me that. When you're 85 and you had several strokes, I was just, you know. And at one point, when a dude goes, you know, I gotta give it up to you, man. Your meme skills are next level. You were talking amongst themselves. You're like, I don't even know where he gets this thing. Look, I don't know what this, this guy's got much to have a young team around him. Yeah, so I was like, even in the midst of all that, I was like, thank you. What did you say? I got him upset. It was something along the lines of everything's fine. You know, you give your kid a credit card, everything's fine until the bill runs a $2,500. That's so stupid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some rich people should. Yeah, yeah. Not even boomers, dude. Yeah. And, but it was piling on to, and the thing about the internet or social media, there's no sarcasm and there's no irony. You can't, because half the shit, you know what, we can get into this, but half the shit I say, I'm fucking with people. Yeah. And 90% of people don't know. You know, I got in a huge fight one time and these dudes are like, man, what the fuck kind of old soft ass, bitch ass shit. And I was like, okie dokie. What kind of motherfucking says okie dokie? Okie dokie part. I kept saying it to finally this like. Hit him with an okie dokie artichoke. Hit him with an artichoke. Yeah, the teenage white girl goes, David Allen Greer is trolling you. Shut the fuck up. White women to the rescue. Exactly, you know, he didn't get it. He didn't get it. All right, so what has been, what is it easy to be you? Is it? Yeah, now it is. But was it always easy to be you? What have been the big problems of your life? Well, you know, big problems were, first of all, I feel like I've had a blessed life. From the outside and I would agree. Yeah, my dad was a doctor until he left us when I was 10. So I got half, I got like really cool upper middle class, family, 60s when that meant something, you know, new car for two years and nice big home. And then when my father and my mother broke up, then my mom was on a teacher's salary. As my dad was like, you know, he wrote this hit book, he'd be on the news. Gentlemen, in the forward to your book, United States Senator Fred Harris said that although slavery has not been practiced in this country for over a hundred years, the mind of the citizen has not been freed. Do you feel that this is the root cause of the Negro problem? We feel it is a very important cause. The attitude of the society generally of white people and unfortunately of some black people is that black people are inferior and should in fact occupy an inferior status in this society. And again, you know, in 67 or eight, there's no cable, there's no computers. If your family member were on any program like Live at Five, that was big shit. Yeah, it's like having a Netflix special. Exactly, man, exactly. So it was April 9th. Crazy good. It's calm, ladies and gentlemen. I just talked to my brother the other night and just reminiscing about our childhood. You know, those are important things. I mean, my career, I have never, this last year is the longest stretch I've had without a job and that's been because of Strike. Okay, you could sing when you were a kid? Yeah, I mean, I do, one thing that came out of this conversation, growing up in Detroit is at a very young age, I was fixated on, I'm getting the fuck out of this town and I'm getting famous because like every kid, it's Detroit, it's boring. Yeah, it's small town, yeah. You know, all my friends were going to law school or be a doctor in Dennis. No, I don't want that. I want to be famous and I want to make money. And that was fixated on it. I did not know. From an early age. Because I was 11 or 12. But I didn't know how at that point because I didn't know I was going to be an actor. Who were famous to you then? Rock stars. You know, rock stars. I remember when we were in Berkeley, I was with my mom. You saw Sly Stone? Oh yeah. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Fantastic. I saw a lot of people, but so we're standing in front of this boutique and they had these silver platform shoes with rainbows and stars and stuff on them. And this is before the rainbow meant. Having silver boots in 1968 was like having a million followers on Instagram. Yeah, so we're just standing here. I must have been like 12 and I go, mom, see we don't even, I don't, I don't, I want those boots. And my mom would be like, why would you want those? I'm very concerned. You know, just like, you may be insane. I just want not to be boring, not to be in a fucking little town and get married to my high school sweetheart and just have, I never wanted to have a job. Okay, do you understand when people think that's like you have bad values? Or you're just like, no, I just want to. No, because I worked very hard. I just didn't work at med school. Got it. I worked very hard. I mean, I got into fucking Yale. I mean, and even at that. Where'd you go underground? University of Michigan. And you wrote a very nice letter for Al Madrigal's daughter. I was told the other day. I did, I did. It was a foreign letter, but I did put my heart and soul into it. No, very, very nice. Have you donated money? No. Great. No one should donate money to their kids. I'm on the board. I'm on the board of the drama school. Oh, great. So you worked hard. You went to U of M then you, so you had good values and a good work ethic about what someone would say a shallow thing. Yeah, but I mean, I wanted to be an actor. Once I settled on that, because that was the first thing I thought, well, I can grow old and be an actor. That was the first thing for me, right? There you are. No, but I mean, for me, because even with music, I was like, yeah, but you got to be young to make it in music. But I really was into it. So you thought maybe Rockstar for a second. Yeah, I was a songwriter. I dropped out of school and moved. I was performing and after about 10 months, it was that thing, a bunch of things happened. I saw and started hanging out with like for real actors. And they were the first people to go, you know what, you should be an actor after watching me at 19. After watching you sing? Or watching you. Just after watching me sing, perform, just hanging out. Right. I worked in this ice cream store. I worked in this ice cream store, Haagen-Dazs ice cream store, which again, in 1975, Haagen-Dazs was like, what is the most premier brand? Salt and straw. Yes, it was. Yeah, no, it was foreign. Hoity, toy. Yeah, it was foreign ice cream. By the way, some middle-aged white dude made up the name. Haagen-Dazs means nothing, you know, but so anyway, it was there and it was crossed from a disco tech, Barney Googles, which during, do the hustle, it was all right there. I remember a guy came in with his girlfriend, they used to come in and it was late at night and I did, he asked me for an ice cream cone and I did some song and dance just because I was bored and just 19. And the guy stopped and goes, you're an actor. And he said, I'm gonna come back tomorrow at noon and I'm gonna talk to you because I want you to know that I'm legit, that I'm not drunk or high, I'm not trying to exploit you in any way and we're gonna talk. And indeed he did come back. And so that's pushed me, that started it. And what was he? Was he an actor? He was an actor. He was an actor with his living girlfriend. And he was like, he knew one when he saw one? Yeah, yeah. And he was living with his girlfriend so it was definitely an actor. Yeah, and they had a spider monkey. I remember that. Fantastic. Like back then I was like, okay. And you never really like tripped off a race too much? What do you mean? Meaning like it wasn't a big like U of M, Yale, what they would call white spaces. Yeah, well, I can get to that, but as a kid, I've thought about this. As a kid, when there was not a lot of representation, kids are gonna kid. Meaning, I'm gonna be a Munchkin. I'm gonna be Superman. We just inserted ourselves in any and every possible scenario. That's what kids do. I'm not saying it's the way to go. I'm not saying it was helpful. I'm just saying in a pinch. Yeah. Kids are gonna kid. Use your imagination. Yeah, kids are gonna kid. I'll be Elon Musk. I'll be Christopher Depper. So that's what we did. I was aware of it, but my energy was like, I'm gonna do whatever the fuck I want. And I'm not, I don't care. I'm gonna go for it. And that's what I've always thought, you know? Unless I don't make it, then I can fall back on race and stuff. Very smart. I'm no dummy. And I don't think anyone's ever thought that before. Okay, and then it's so you, and you could do it. I discovered, you know, Neil, you have this belief. Right. You had a suspicion about yourself. Like I should be on TV. I feel like I should be getting more attention than I am. Oh no, no, no, I just said I should be famous. I didn't really process how is this gonna happen. Cause I hadn't yet. So what happened was a girl who lived across the street from me, she was dating this guy. And when we all went to Michigan, he brought me into acting and he jumped me in like a gang. His name is Ron O.J. Parsons. He is from Buffalo, New York. And he was like, basically, yeah, so my girl told me that you funny and I got some stuff for you. So I'm gonna need you to come to the theater and we can do some things. It was like being jumped into a gang or the mafia. And I'm like, okay. I didn't really know I could act. I knew I wanted to try it. And then I did. For the attention or for the trans, what it does to you to do it? Well, I was still trying to find my place. Back then, again, all of my friends were all going to Dr. Lawyer Indian Chief. I knew that didn't turn me on, but I didn't know. We'll believe it. We'll believe it. It was an old thing that they used to say that say Dr. Lawyer Indian Chief, it was a different time. Native American elder. Dr. Lawyer Native American elder, go ahead. But I mean, we fantasize and then you gotta do it. I started acting and I realized I have some talent here. I mean, one of the great things about when you're young is when you, we're knowing, we're booting up. We're getting to know ourselves. We have desires and all of a sudden, wait a minute. Maybe I can pull this off. That's what it was. It was like, okay. You have a lot of tools though. Yes, but I discovered them. I remembered when I talked to my mom, I go, nobody in our family ever acted. She goes, no, we have one crazy Alice. That was my fifth cousin. And she spent a long time in the asylum. That's what I was told. So no sense of humor. Like if you were to come to my house, it just would not be. It would be like. Well, it is a weird thing where you've always looked like yourself. Do you know what I mean? Like I remember like bold and the beautiful or black and the beautiful. Older man Dexter Mitchell is David Allen Greer. Daddy's been a naughty boy. Like, oh, that's who he is. This is 1985. I'm 12 or something. And I see him like, yeah, that guy looks like you knew the joke. You knew how to do it. You knew. But then I went to drama school and all my friends were like, oh, I'm cast as a nursemaid in the Guthrie. Great, Catherine, you'll be great. I mean, I wanted that part. But also, someone brought me the first play bill when I did my first professional job. On Broadway called first by about Jackie Robinson, first black ball player, I digress. Who? But you had to write your bio. I had no credits because it was my first professional job. And I do not remember writing this, but at one point you says, you know, David has, you know, he has an MFA from Yale. He's done wine in the wilderness at the lab theater at Ann Arbor. And he has performed in comedy clubs all over this country, which was absolute bullshit. There barely were comedy clubs at that time. But you know, 81, 80, yeah, but the comedy boom had started. Got it, got it, got it, got it. And that was where the sexy shit was. And so then that became something, I think I want to try this. And so I just put it on my, I put it on my bio. Damn, that's so funny. Yeah, I had no, I had no. And you still didn't do stand-up for a long time, right? No, because I was acting. And what happened was I met Robert Townsend. We did Soldiers Story together. Oh, he was in the movie, right? He shared a honey wagon. Now you're a comic, so you appreciate this. Robert and Denzel were really good friends, but I thought Robert Townsend was the funniest, most brilliant person I'd ever seen. He came in and we shared a honey wagon, which is like a half of a trailer. It's not even the size of this space. Right, so we were there together. And he was doing this material. He was doing mo money. He was doing all of, and then at one point I was like going, oh my God. He has like 17 routine, I was just rolling. And he goes, oh yeah, that's my friend Damon. That's his routine. Oh, he was doing other people stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but he would claim it. He wasn't like, I wrote that. But still, and I was not of the comedy world. I was just amazed. I remember we drove on a day off from Soldier Story. Robert and I, we drove, we were in Fort Smith, Arkansas. And 1983, so they changed the movies. There's one movie theater. They changed the movie once a month. We were there for three and a half months. We drove to Tulsa, I think, as a road trip, just to see movies. You were shooting like on a barrack somewhere? Yes, Fort Smith, Fort, yeah, Fort Smith, Arkansas. Fort Chaffee, that's the name of the base that we were on. While we were there, Robert says, okay, we're gonna go to this comedy club and see my friend Larry Miller. And you know, I'd seen Bill Cosby when I was 12. But to sit in that club, Halffield Club and Larry, my experience then was like, how is he talking for an hour? Yeah. Like this shit is just falling out of his ass. There's no character. He's thinking it up on the spot. Like I didn't know the process. I just was amazed. Like how can you do this? And it's funny, and you're holding my attention. And then, you know, Robert was like, no, that's his act. You know, he was like, what the, it's when- What is your, what do you respect more at this point, stand-up or acting? It's not respect. It's how I define myself. Well, okay. At the end of the day, I've always defined myself as an actor, personally. I did stand-up for a long time. Quite as it's kept, I've quit stand-up, but I just didn't make an announcement. Right. I just because I felt I was- David, we're all feeling it. I know, I know. I mean, when you're in a club, and you're like, my sciatica is crazy. Guys, give it up for sciatica. No, I just felt like I didn't really have anything to say. Yeah. You know, I just wanted to do something else. But in that moment though, back to the Larry Miller thing, this was a whole new terrain. I'd seen Richard Pryor, and Richard Pryor was like one of my major idols. Sure. But I never looked into the mechanics of stand-up until I started doing it. And when I started doing it is because I would hang out with Kenan, Robert and those guys. I was out here doing my first TV show like in 1985, 86 called All Is Forgiven. And that was created by the Charles brothers who just had done cheers. Oh, wow. So I was at the Porsche dealership. I'm like, I'm gonna be back in 10 days, man, because you know. Remember the space, baby. Exactly. I remember our premiere, I think it was behind Cheers, we pulled a 20 million viewership. And the network was like, whoa. I showed one of the producers on the Carmichael's, the number, and he almost fainted. And still they were like, we just saw you do a little bump. He didn't really do a bump. So you just felt like you had talent and or you wanted to be famous and then it ended up being that you could. Yes, I discovered these things because back to there, I'm jumping around because that's what I do. I remember asking my mom because that's awesome thing as a young person, like I have this talent and I wanted to know where did it come from? It's not like you guys are busting out the dick jokes. No. And I was just amazed that I had this gift, which that's what it felt like. I didn't know it was there. And, you know. Let me jump off that onto this. Does it make, do you believe in a God? Some days, usually when there's a semi-heading for me. But to be serious. With that in mind, with like, I came out pretty formed to have a very successful professional life was a big part of life. And for those people who haven't seen your show, that took a lot, I mean, for you to get to. Yeah, well, that's ayahuasca and DMT. Right, it wasn't like you were being encouraged. No, so what I'm saying is. To be a clown. Yes, correct. But so what I'm saying is, do you ever, do you feel like, I don't know, this is something I'm touched in some way. Yeah, but you know, that varies. I remember when I came out to LA and it was pilot season, I'd been acting and pretty successful, making money, taking care of myself. But I hadn't done the living color yet. And I really got to the point where I really did not know if that was my ceiling. You know, if you guest spot, high school friends. Amen, I know that dude. I even thought about law school and I, you know, did some research and I realized early on, you're not going to law school, dude, just shut the fuck up. You're not put it down and go put on the clown nose. And shortly thereafter, living color came and all I shit blew open, man, all of it. And was it ever enough? Cause you strike me as somebody that could be like a comparer. It was always wanting more. But that was a certain period. I will tell you, I think I was driving somewhere and I read in the trades when that's when we used to buy like the Hollywood Reporter variety. Martin Lawrence was getting 20 million on his next film. And I was like, I need to pull over. I need to pull over. Because I had just gotten off the phone with my agent. He was like, they're offering scale plus 10. But I think we can It's about 25,000. Yeah, I think we can bump them up. You know, get five, 10 more. I was like, but to know, you know, Martin and I started together. We were good friends. Those were certain times where I just went. Oh, God, I really have to recalibrate. I mean, you know, and also when you're on you're on a living color with Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans, Keenan Wayans, Jamie Foxx, whom I'm Tommy Davidson, you guys are it's like seven hungry dogs, which is one of the reasons why I didn't want to do it. Because again, I didn't come from a standup background. I didn't have scratchy the pimple guy, you know, my go to character, you know. And I didn't want that feeling of crabs in a barrel. Everybody's trying to stab everybody else in the back. I just wanted a good part, but I was talked into doing it because it was after a season of, I must have auditioned for over 30 pilots. That was when you could do that. And it was because the casting directors kind of knew me. Okay, well, David, this isn't now buying a little person, but I don't know, just read, yeah. You know, those kind of auditions. Yeah. Well, show us what you have, Neil. You know, it's 12 year old girls. She really hates her dad. Go. You know, you're like, oh. So nothing panned out. And at the end of pilot season, I moved back to New York and Kim Wayans, like just an evil cult leader, kept calling going, you're making a mistake. You have got to come back. You've got to come back. You've got to do this show. This is going to be great. So they offered it to you? Or like audition for it? Oh yeah, they offered me a couple of times. Yeah, because initially it was like- And you had done it with them in Roberts movies? And were you and I going to get you, sucker? Yes, I was in that. So they knew me, you know, and Keenan and, so, you know, you're going to be in the cast. We have to go through this network thing because I went to New York and we had to like improv for the network, the studio. I auditioned with Suzy Essman, Martin, and who else? I think those are two, those are my friends. I didn't know Suzy. 88. Yeah, it was something like that. And that's kind of where I first felt, oh, I can do this, this is going to be fun, man. Because, you know, Keenan would just call out sketches and ideas and I really got in a groove and I felt really great and I was, I'm going to try this. But in doing that, after coming out of Yale, that was going against the grain there because they were doing like Shakespeare in the park and I was like, now I'm going to do this show because I knew it was going to be fun. I knew all my friends were going to be there and I fucking just went for it. And did you ever get in your head about it or was it, you were very different than all of them. So that was the good news and why they needed you is because like you were, you did have a different tone. I realize that now, but again, when you're young. Okay, so you're comparing yourself to who were movie stars and who became movie stars. How'd that sound? Well, once we got on the show, it was just, we're working. Yeah, but you're all- I'm holding my own with you. Of course, but then he gets Ace Ventura. I know, but that happened a while ago. Now they offered me, no, they offered me Ace Ventura, one of those because it was a script that was just floating around. And this producer came and he said, well, maybe you and Rob, but who's that dude from SNL who's really conservative? Yeah, Rob Schneider. I was like, no, I passed on it. Jim took it and said, I'm going to do, but I'm going to put this out. Yeah, everything. He really was like a cancer patient. And he said, sir, you're dying in six months because you're the only shot. Role and action. I sat next to him at the premiere and I felt so bad for Jim because nobody's going to see this crazy movie. We used to kid each other. And I said, Jim, if I ever win the lottery, I'm going to give you $5 million. And we would play around so you can make your movie. Jim Carrey would do this character called Colon Man where he could pull this colon out of his ass, small intestines and lasso criminals and suck you right back into his ass and hold you for the police. You know, shit like just to add each other crying. So I said, I want you to do that. Okay, do that. If I ever win the lottery, this is going on. That's what he did. Basically. He made Colon Man. No, yeah, Ace Ventura. There was a point where I think, what was the love interest, what's her name? From friends. According to Cox. Yeah, they were there. And it was like, Jim had been so crazy. And I said, you know, literally just like something like, hello, Ace. I said, okay, this is, Jim's going to be normal now. He went. And I was like, oh my God. Oh my God. So I came out, I saw Chris Rock in the lobby. This was at the same screening at Westwood. And I said, man, Chris, I don't know what I'm gonna do, man. I feel bad for Jim, but I'm gonna support him because I was laughing. He was so nervous. He was crawling out of his seat, but nobody's going to see this movie. It's too crazy. I just thought this is too crazy for America. Chris put his hand on my shoulder like an older brother. He said, no one, David, is going to see this movie. Oh, listen to me. Exactly. I said, okay, I'm not crazy. And you know what happened next? Yes. It blew up. Over 27 million dollars. It blew up. And I forgot, Jim was on Howard Stern and he was saying like the next day, you know, that next week we were back doing In Living Color. And we would come out and play with the audience and stuff. And he described how I came out there. And I was like, you know, drew in a whole bit like a Jim's movie open last week. And I just want to say good luck. You know, I'm not jealous or any fucking thing. You know, so no anger here because that's what we did. We made a comedy bit out of everything. But were you actually, did you feel less than with at any point in that? In that it must have been hard on your spirit a little bit. Yeah, because I was married by that time. I didn't have kids. Yeah, man, you want to be with your supposed peers. I didn't want to be doing guest spots on Alph and which I did. And no, I wanted all of that. I wanted all of it. And that is when I thought maybe I've miscalculated. Maybe this is as far as I can go. Yeah, did you ever, so then you get In Living Color and then it's going great. No, there's always something else. Everybody was doing press and at that time, who was the old guy who used to clear talent on The Tonight Show? Jim. Freddie DeCordova or no, Jim McCauley. Jim McCauley was still there. Yes. And I met with them, Freddie DeCordova was there. And I'm like, I really want to go on one of these late night talk shows. I mean, when's it going to happen? What do I have to do? And they're like, well, you know, in the show, they're going to go with the main guys, you know, Kenan, Damon, because Damon blew up. Yep, he was the first one. I remember when Homie the Clown was like... Right. Have a seat. Let me tell you about what. Entertainment Weekly Magazine, I think it was the number one comedy character. I mean, people loved it, it was great. And once they cycle through them, David, they're going to filter down to your level, which is probably second tier, third tier. Then they'll bring you on. And they kept making that mouth noise? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But still I was like, I'm on a tour. Tier? Okay, cool, let's do it. Yeah, you know, that kind of stuff. Always more, always more. How do you... Don't you? Of course, but what I'm saying is how do you deal with that part of yourself? Do you try to go like, yo, you got to chill because this is very good? Or do you think that's helpful? No, I started doing stand-up. You know, I'd never really done stand-up. I would do stand-up to hang out with Robert and Keenan and those guys, so I started doing spots. Okay. But just for fun. I'd really, there's no longitudinal thinking that I'm going to get on this TV show. It's going to feed my road work and I'm going to do a special. No, I just thought it's fun because after a certain point, Robert and those guys said, you can't just hang out with us in comedy clubs and observe, you have to do comedy. They actually said like, hey, they kind of intervened like, this is enough? Yeah, you can't just- You're funny enough to do this? So either do it or leave. It wasn't even your funny enough. Because it wasn't just you, it was also Eddie Murphy and Rock were around too, right? So it was like- Well, Chris, I'd met when I was in New York. Chris, I met him, what is the special Eddie did? And who- Uptown Comedy Express. Boom, I met him right around there. Yes. And I lived right around the corner from Catcher Rising Star. Okay. That was my last shitty fucking horrible apartment I had in New York. So I knew Chris a long time. Damon, anyway, Damon would go and do stand-up comedy. And I always looked down on it. You're in the saloon telling dick jokes. That's so sad. And he told me how much he made, which I think at the time was like- Tell me more about the saloon. Yeah, you think like 18,000, 25, something like that for two or three days. I'm like, what? Literally within 30 days. Hello, DC. So I wrote my jokes up, I did my spots, and I got an agent and I started going out. And that changed my career for years because that allowed me a cushion to say no. Like, I didn't have to play- What was this dude in this James Spader movie? Radio? It was worse. The gay window dresser- In mannequin. In mannequin, yeah, in mannequin. I remember they called for that. And I didn't have to because I started doing comedy and that allowed me to go make this other money. But I got burned out, man. I got burned out during, in Living Color, I would take two weeks off, then I would tour all summer until, and you're talking about like from probably May to August, clubs, some theaters mixed in grinding. And I would take two weeks off at the end of summer and then I was back on the show. So I did that for like three or four years and I just started getting burned out. Like I wasn't, my income jumped, but my happiness didn't jump. It was just a grind, man. And what is your inner life like? What do people, what are your loved ones, what negative things do your loved ones say about you? It was more me. Or relationships. It was more me because it took a while for me to voice it because I was on a hit show. I was playing sold out clubs and stuff. I'd done Boomerang in 93. And I remember when I was heading to some place like Houston or something, and my ticket sales just skyrocketed because Boomerang was a really big movie and all of that, but inside I just was tired. You get on this plane, go to Milwaukee, go to the press or morning press. It was fucking, yeah. Yeah, man. So I was getting burned out and like everybody, I wanted to do a huge fucking born on the 4th of July, one armed, prison escapee crying, I'm a kid, I'm a kid, you know, all that stuff. And that was, that's not what I was getting yet. So there was always more and always questioning. I did not know in that moment if I was really going to get to the level that would shut me up. I don't think there is a level. Well, yeah, that's what I'm trying to think of. Like, did you get to the level that would shut me up? No, you know, lead in a movie. I always said my goal was like to be three movies deep. That means you're doing a movie and it's a juicy fucking role. You're going right into another movie that's another juicy fucking role and you're in talks about being cast. Right, in a juicy fucking role. Yeah, you said you like that. And then you think about, let's talk about how many people are living that life. Oh, very few. You're very good friend Denzel. Yes, yes, yes. But back then he was probably the only black dude. Then, you know, Wesley Snipes, you know, the guys who came up. But that's where I was then. And I thought by the time I get to my age now, I thought I would be retired. I didn't think that there- We all thought you were. But I didn't think people would really want me, you know? Well, it's funny to explain to, I know it's funny to explain to people how, like comedians in their fifties, by this point, 30 years ago, we're doing Westbury, like venues you've never heard of, like your parents would go to. Westbury Music Fair. Yeah, Westbury Music Fair, like, yeah. And like Cosby and Bob Newhart and all those guys and Don Rickles would be in that realm. But now, like Dave, Chris, Kevin are doing arenas. Even Jim, like when Jim really blew up, I said, Jim, you should do a two-day national tour. You should do one night in Yankee Stadium. Then you fly out and do one night in Dodger Stadium. And of course, Jim was at the same, no, he says, no, I want to be Robert DeNiro. Why would I do that? Yeah, and I was like, oh God, I don't understand this dude. Well, again, that's like the disease of more and the disease of- I want to be Hamlet, everybody. Right, and did you ever, did you reckon with it? Did you get to a point where you're like, all right, I have to, this is making me miserable. This ambition- It didn't make me that miserable because like I said, I always worked, I always made money. Now I didn't have a $40 million deal at Netflix, but you know, I was flush, I bought a house. I had a nice life, you know? So also there was no other avenue where I said, you know what, I'm gonna bag groceries at Ralph's because it's more spiritual. No, I mean, this is what it was. And I figured I'd be retired. I did not take into account, you know, at my age, I've done my 10,000 hours. I actually know who the fuck I am. Who are you? I'm an actor, man. I'm really comfortable. I'm a dad. I'm an accomplished performer. And meaning the insecurities have melted away? Yeah, most of them, I didn't shave, so you're really seeing the real me. If anyone just turns onto this, they're gonna think it's a, they're gonna think LeVar Burton is on blocks. But I mean, I'm comfortable with who I am and I'm getting really good roles and offered things and considered for things that are probably some of the best roles in my life. I mean, to do the patient that was a limited series, it was so good role. Yes, it was such a good role. The only fucked up thing is I couldn't tell one joke because it was so serious. And I would just sit there and just go to my trailer and yell and scream because it was really, okay, guys, when you're ready, you're gonna take your own action. Yeah, right, we would meditate and then go into these takes. It was beautiful, but part of me was still like, I just wanna tell some stupid joke, we can't. Like, I remember I went in and I was about 10 minutes late because I was trying to find the soundstage. Everyone is there. The patient had already started production. Very quiet, very studious. I come into the soundstage and I said, I was the only black person there. And I just looked around and I said, well, this is clearly racist. Not a harumph. Not a smile. To the HR of sirens. Not an eyebrow raised. And I went, ooh, that was the last joke I told. I was like, dude, just shut the fuck up. This is a great role, just act. But no, after that, they didn't even look up. It wasn't even like, I know what you're doing. It's not the place. It was just, did you hear something? Yeah. Do you read into that at all? Do you read into the idea that- I read the room. I mean, the other way to go would be like, I know I'm fucking somebody up in this bitch. Oh, y'all ain't gonna laugh at my shit. You know what I'm saying? The fact that you now have like persevered, what do you think was gonna happen in your life and what happened? I would probably, you know, be retired. I'd be moved out of LA, take my little savings, get a nice, I don't know, two bedroom and air toilet. Robert Guillaume. You'd be with Robert Guillaume? Yes. Although he worked late. He really did. He really did, but now- He's a bad example, but- I'm at a different place, man. Now, because now I'm at a place that I strive so hard to get. I feel like I'm more well known right now than I've ever been. I forget, you know, as a young performer, I forgot that your audience grows old with you. Yeah. I remember I performed, I forget what city it was in and we drive out to the club, you know, I checked in the hotel and everything. We drive out to the club, no cars. I get to the basement club and the club's not full. And I'm like, damn, what the fuck? Should I sell my merchandise? And one of the security guards, he said, oh yeah. He said, don't worry about it, man. Little brother, these are true fans. And I was like, what are you talking about? Just sell your shit. So the club was maybe two-thirds full. Every person in that audience lined up and waited to meet me. First of all, I never did meet and greets. The first 10, 12 years. I didn't want to, I just, no, I'm not doing that. And- It felt low rent. Yeah, man. I was bringing my actor shit in. When I leave the stage, I get into my car. My driver takes me home, where I drink four bourbons and take three sleeping pills. Why are you going after Denzel like that? No, but what happened is I made these T-shirts and started selling shit. I had Dag merch, the one where it was like, you look like a dictator. Yes, yes, yes. I had one of those shirts. But I mean, in the process of that, I started meeting my audience because to sell merchandise, it's pretty much a meet and greet, you know? And I enjoyed it because I was getting older. So by this point, I'm like maybe 40 or something. And I just had a different point of view. I started to view my audience differently. And these were people, your rider dies, man. And they're still here. They're growing old with me. And I have the sense that- You get new fans and you keep the old ones. I hope so. I mean, but people go, they're just giving me, they meaning the public and the industry, seems to give me respect. And do you, have you accepted- It's humbling is what I wanted to say. It was not like as they should. But it is very humbling and I- Humbling in the truest sense, not in the, I won a Tony Award and I'm so humbled. No, no, I'm gonna tell you something. And this, this happened over and over. I wonder, it was really hot, blistering hot day in LA. And I was just pissed off. I went to the pet store and this guy- Doesn't have a pet, just goes there to talk. But wait, the dog, the dog dude, he was delivering dog food. And this is a black guy, middle age, drenched in sweat. He's picking up 50 pound bags, slinging them. And he stops and looks at me and he said, man, I just want to tell you, you make my life better. What is, what is better than that? This is a fucking laborer. Yeah. Every day- A low laborer. A low laborer. What I'm saying, I'll guarantee you, nobody in that fucking store said, hey man, I just want to thank you for bringing that kibble, man. Yeah. No, every day, strangers at least once a day, stop me and say, thank you, I love you. I've been a fan for many years. No, that is- Can you make sense of it? Do you ever think, why me? Well, yeah, because we're still, I don't know about you, I'm still a fan. Like the first time when I was a little kid, well, let's roll it back. When I came out to LA the first time, this is when they had, I think it was a $5 Monday at the comedy store. And I went, because it was broke. You know, I had $5, I saw Jimmy J.J. Walker. I was like, oh my God, that's a TV star. For real. Like I was seeing these dudes that I grew up watching. And so I still have that part in me. And I think that when people, especially television, they take you in like- What do you think that mean? Okay, explain your life to me. Meaning like, what do you make of it? Do you just go like, wow, this is amazing that I got to be Jimmy J.J. Walker or one of the, do you know what I mean? My version of that thing, I got to be Robert Guillaume. I got to be Sid Portier sometime. Like, what do you make of it? I just feel blessed. I hold it to heart. And it was a natural progression. Because again, when I was younger, I was trying to get what I got. I'm not there yet. I don't have time to talk to you. Yeah, you like what I did on Living Color. I have a lot more in me, you know, but- You only watched 40 sketches of mine, sir. There's so much more to me than the hours of me you watched. I remember when I did Shakespeare in the park, it was Richard III and like 94 or something, Living Color was still on. My goal was to get through a performance and not have someone say, homie, don't play that. Three snaps, you know, tell some dick and pushy jokes, which is Bronx editing if you've ever performed there. But that was my goal. I hope the audience goes with me and allows me. Yeah, man, they went with me. They went with me and it was gangbusters. I didn't perceive all of that, all of us, my crowd, all rolling with me until we all grow old. I just didn't see that far. Well, you don't think about it. No, I thought in Living Color, I thought when we went off the air, I was ready. I wanted my own TV show and it became my goal, you know, the David Allen Greer show or whatever. Without all this dead weight of Jim Carrey, Damon Wands, and Stupid Keenan. Get away from me, Jamie Foxx. Oh, yeah. Sold in to syndication, rich for days, I'd never have to work again. I just couldn't pull it off. It never happened. A bunch of times where... Right, that wasn't meant to be. No. This was. What do you make of that fatalism? What do you make of that? I don't know, man. I know that I feel probably the most secure I've ever felt in my life. Just in terms of the mechanics of my career, because after 40 years in the business, you know who the fuck I am. If you don't, just watch some footage. And you know I can handle this. I can do the job. It's a no-brainer now. And that's what I think has fed into my expanding career. I didn't think it was going to be expanding. I thought it would just be, you know, hey, man, what happened? Is that Neil? Yep. Man. Now, wait a minute. We met when, this is when I remember, when Dave Chappelle opened for me. He meddled at the Carolines. Correct. He was 18 years old. Correct. And you, as I recall, were there every night. You guys were in there. Yes, I was also 18. I didn't know who the fuck you were. I was club rat. I guess, yeah, I guess that's Dave's friend. I was grimy. I was very grimy, stringy. And my friends and I were like, Joe Segal came and he's like, hey man, great. And I say, I wrote two new jokes. Did you see him? He's like, yeah, that's really cool. Who was that guy that meddled? That's what I got. Wow. Yeah. Man, he was really great. Great seeing you, Dave. There was somebody told me to start about Dave that Dave's in high school. And I have two high school Dave stories. Dave's in high school. He's on stage. Martin is in DC for the weekend. Martin's blowing up. He's from DC. Yeah, he's from DC. He was there. Do the right thing and just come out. Dave's on stage and someone says to Martin, what do you think of this kid? Martin goes, I don't know, but I can't stop fucking looking at him. Well, he was great. Yeah. He was professional and I really liked him. Yeah. He was sweet. My main thing honestly was I'm headlining, stay out of my way and don't fuck up the dressing room. Like I didn't know you. I didn't even think he went in the dressing room. He was there. I remember him. He had a different girl, probably brought about almost every night. I'm not gonna throw an opportunity like that away to show off. He was 18. Yeah. And so I remember him and I... Yeah, he was great. He was really good. He was a fucking great comedian. He was very placed and like a professional comic because he was. He wasn't like, you know what's crazy in high school? No, he wasn't doing that shit. He had a joke in high school about Alf to bring Alf back around. It's a good thing Alf landed in a white neighborhood and not a black neighborhood because if he landed in a black neighborhood three weeks later, you would have seen brothers wearing Alf skin coats. Yes, yes. This is a high school kid wrote that joke. Yeah, but I felt that way about him. I felt that way about Chris Rock. The joke that really... Sid James Earl Ray. No, it was the one where he's... When I first saw Chris, he said at catcherizing, sorry. He said, well, you know, we had a science fair at my school and all the kids brought their science projects. I brought my dad under glass because I had one. I had a father. So really smart, really funny, you know. So I was like, oh, I can roll with this. Okay, I found that. Yeah, I can roll with this. And you seem like a sunny guy. Yeah, but I mean... I feel like if someone, if a loved one, a daughter, a wife, a girlfriend wants to talk to you about something, is your attitude like, okay? Or is it like, okay. I'm a human being, man, I'm a human being. I have not gone through... No, I'm not, you know, if you're saying like, just get out of the dressing room because David's known to punch my wife. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm just wondering, you don't... You seem not that interested in your... You don't feel especially sorry for yourself. You don't get in your feelings, so to speak. I do, but I just don't feel like I have a lot to get in them about. Like when I was growing up, I never heard my parents argue. I actually, when my dad left, he came back for that first Christmas and they were fighting, and we were all like on the stairs, but the fight was like, that is a falsehood. Bill, you're avoiding what I am trying to lay out that is absolutely false, and I would like to find my flute. So this was a level... And then he played the flute. Right, this was a level of arguing, man. I mean, I grew up with upstanding Negroes. I didn't grow up with no crazy shit. Even though my friends... Where did you grow up in? Was it middle class? Ever middle class? Yeah, man, my neighborhood looked like Griffith Park around their old house, like old Tudor house, built in the 20s, about 4,000 square feet. No, it was nice, I mean... But I've never... That's who I am. That's who I grew up with. Well, that's what I mean. You're not a dark guy, but you can play. You can play whatever. Yeah, but it's funny. I remember there was a show. It was a musical called Big River, and it was about Huck Finn, you know... It's impossible to imagine it. Looking at you, David, go ahead. Wait, wait, wait. Jim the slave. Yes, well, you know there's a book now called James. Yes. He's real starring. Yes, it's like when a rapper names the album after their real name. Yeah, right, you know. You're like, okay. These nuts. No, this is Damien Luquacious Smith. And there's usually a Sunday school picture. Yeah, that's correct. That's correct. He looks like a human being. So I auditioned for this over and over for Jim the slave, and I didn't get it. And this is after I'd been on Broadway already and I'd been nominated for a Tony. I was just crestfallen. I was really, really devastated. Like if you didn't give it to me, who'd you give it to? Right. Well, they hired a guy who looked like he was a runaway slave, you know, me. And this is a folly of youth. I was like, why didn't I get this role as a slave? You know, hawk. Yeah, hello, Yale. Exactly, hawk. I think I can petition someone for my freedom. You know, I was like, no, bro, no, bro, no, bro. You know, and I look back on that shit and I laugh because in the moment, I really thought I can get this. I can pull it, not knowing where my parameters were. And not, you know what I mean? Where my strength was. You know, it's funny because we, now we're aged men and we've got perspective. And, but you can't get perspective without perspective. Yeah, it takes time. You literally can't, you don't have the ingredients to see a longitudinal thing where you're like, consider one thing and the ups and downs of like, so and so is hot, now they're not. Now they died of a drug overdose. Now that, and you just have to, the older you get, the more you can sort of like be cool. But you don't wanna hear that. You know, in 1920, I actually went to a fortune teller, a medium or whatever. You heard the Mooney, or not, George Wallace and Jerry Seinfeld fortune teller story. Been confirmed by both of them. They drive out here from New York, literally in like a Ford LTD. They're here, they're on Melrose. It's 1977, neither of them are, they're both been doing stand-up two, three years. Go to a fortune teller, and a fortune teller looks at George Wallace's hand and is like, or a palm reader, and says, why you're gonna be very, very rich, right? George's like, fun, great. Next one up, Jerry Seinfeld looks at Jerry's hand and goes, I thought you were gonna be rich. Oh, my life is more like this. As long as I was about Jim Carrey's movie, oh, I auditioned for Seinfeld. And I came away, like, whoa, this sucks, number one. Jerry can't act this way. Fuck the judge was just any joke, yeah. Jerry can't act as we out of a paper bag, good luck. And wrong again. We saw him on Benson. Right, right. But the historical society's coming to dinner. Got some great jokes the governor can use. You wanna hear him? You're not a joke writer, Frankie, you're a messenger. Please, I'm a curry. Then go curry. Wrong again. So whatever I say, go the other fucking way. Yeah. Similar to that story. It was numerology. So he does my wife's numbers like, wow, well, you know what? There's a lot of struggle, a lot of issues. It looks very dark for you now, but you're gonna make it out and there'll be some daylight in a few years, something like that. Hide right in there story. She gets to me and she goes, same thing. Wow. You are, I've never seen numbers like this. You haven't even come into your own. She said, you're probably gonna start really coming into your career and your fame and your fortune when you're 33. I was like, really? And we get- How old are you at this point? 30. Oh, okay. Something like that. We get in the gypsy camp to go home and she was crying. We just fought for two days, yeah, because I got a better reading. Yeah. Well, no, no, you got it. Sure. Did she get half of the 33-year-old money? She got half or whatever that money I got, you know? And we've built back since then. Fantastic. Yeah, and I hope she's happy. But wait, what did George Wallace do? Was he an insurance salesman? He had some straight jobs. I can't remember. Like an accountant? Yeah, for a while. Dude, when I started going on the road, I think it was Indianapolis, something like that. I come into this club. My shit was I'm doing two shows. I don't give a fuck how many tickets I sell. I'm not doing three shows, because I went through that and I get burned out and three shows a night for me, one of those shows is gonna suck, so fucking bad. The last one. Exactly. Have you ever been on- Now this happened to me. Where you tell a joke and it's like, did I already tell you that joke all the time? Oh my God. Anyway, they said George Wallace- As bad as my concussion is? I can't remember. God damn it. This is what the chick said. George Wallace was doing six shows a day. They started it two in the afternoon and between shows he would have dinner at the bar- And talk to people the whole time. As they were coming in. The most affable guy, literally energized by the presence of people, loves comedy, came to see me in Atlanta last night when I was there, a fantastic guy. I love George, but I could never ever do that. Of course not, but that's just, that's personality-wise. Yes, and so I would perform, I didn't party, I would go back to my hotel, watch TV, and get up again, you know- What's your acting process? I'm in that I don't know anyone that's probably as trained as you. What is your like- It's real basic, I'll tell you this. You know, like when we did The Wiz- The which one? The Wiz Live on TV. That was a couple years ago. Like five, six years ago now. I did The Cowardly Lion. And artistically and creatively, my goal was with every role, I want to make this a three-dimensional person, a complete human being. We're talking about The Wiz. Do you think about results? Meaning like, do you think about I can get a laugh with this? No, I try to start from a neutral place. I try to peel away all the tricks that we know we all have, you know, whatever really goose the joke. And I try to find whatever humor is there organically from the material. But like any other Desperado follows, fails, you know, grabbing the nuts and cluck a little bit. Say what? Hey, no, no, you know. But that's what I try to do. I mean, so- You are a good memorizer? Yeah. Yeah, I can. That's just a muscle that you've developed? Or is that- No, I can, yes, yes, yes. It was hard, but I mean, I didn't really have a lot of lines before. Oh, that's funny. It was not like I'm doing two-page- But you're doing plays. Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. But you're doing Shakespeare? I mean like- Yeah, no, I mean, come on. That's what we do. I can do that. Anyway, that's my basic philosophy is to humanize, find everything. I also don't feel like, you know, these actors who go, oh, you have to be in love with your fucking pedophile fucking vampire role. No, you don't. Because most people I know hate themselves. So I never got in this trap like I have to love my character. No, I just have to understand why this person is doing what they're doing. A lot of times I know you've had this kind of encounter, someone who is emotionally stunted. So in any kind of environment in which they are tested or pressured or needled and emotional, they will revert back to a meltdown. Physical violence, acting horribly. So understanding that is that inside, they're triggered man. They're triggered. They go right back to where they were. And they don't think they're wrong. Or they may think they're wrong in 10 minutes, but they're not like a person. Okay, the real thing is I'm gonna punch Neil because fuck him, I'm gonna punch him when I see him today. So it's gonna be months and months, not when I see Neil, I'm gonna punch him. When we're somewhere, I fucking punch you and I feel just like when I was a kid, ah, I fucked up, I'm an asshole. I just made a fool of myself. I just, why did I do this? You know, you feel terrible, horrible. That's a human reaction. So that's the backstory of a character if I were playing them. That is how I approach it. Not, I love her, I love him. Aw, that doesn't work. And you also don't get too hung up on whatever, a method. There's no right or wrong method. It's just like, how do you get there? Do you, are you ever do scenes with people and be like, this shallow motherfucker is gonna make me worse? Yes, and immediately I start devising how I'm going to act around them. How am I going to preserve my performance? You know, because I'm not in it. Also, I'm trying to be good. You gotta stay above the fray. So how can I repair this? How can I survive this ordeal? I've worked on movies in which, you know what, Neil, you can go home. I don't really need you off camera. For people who don't know, usually in a traditional movie, I do my close-up, you do your close-up when you do your close-up, you need me. But Neil, why did you step on my bunion? Yes. And I've had that because if I feel like the actor I'm working with, which has happened, is trying to undermine my performance. So you've had people try to undermine you. I'm not even talking, yeah. Laughing, giggling. Do you think they know they're doing it? Yeah, we're adults. And it doesn't have to be subversive, like I'm gonna kill you and bring you down. It's just, I did my shit, so I'm gonna take a call or look. Oh, sorry. Yeah, Neil, why'd you kill the guy? Like, you're not giving me anything? It's cool, I got it. I'd rather read with the AD and be by myself. Are there performances where you're judging other people's performance in the movie or show and you can tell? What do you mean? While I'm acting? Yeah. I hope not. No, I hope not. I mean, half the time is, I'm just trying to make it work. I'm trying to make it good. Do you know what the greatest joy is for an actor? Getting pussy? Well, that's what Jonathan Winter said when I finally met him. He came and said, I bet you get a lot of pussy. This is one of my heroes. Yeah, will you hear what Kenan, what Cosby said to Kenan? What? When they were doing Fat Albert, he goes, you're gonna be getting so much pussy, you're gonna need three dicks. Yeah, that hits a little different now, you know, in the present Cosby. I worked with Cosby. He mentored, when we did Damon, I think our director, White Soul, John White Soul, maybe? Yeah. He took us to lunch at Bill Cosby's townhouse and this is one of the most incredible afternoons of my life. It was after Ennis, I think his son died. He was open with all that. He talked about that, he served us lunch. Now, what I was waiting for was for the hammer to drop because he was so nice, so gracious, so loving and mentoring, please don't curse. Why do you have to do crack hits? That never came. Never came. It was crazy. At one point, he took us downstairs and there was a little watercolor and it looked like a child's watercolor and he said, I think maybe his son had painted it when he was a little kid and he said, well, look at it again, I'm looking at it. And he said, that's the site of my son's murder, Ennis. And I just, my heart stopped. And he said, but look again, you see that? In the corner, I'm like, he said, that's the son. That is positive. That means we're gonna get through this. I mean, I didn't know this motherfucker. He was like, when people open like that, I'm like, oh my God, you know, I came out of there like, I wish people could see this and yeah. I know, but people are what they call complex. They really are. And he could mean that and mean the other stuff. Yeah. That's the rub. Yes, yes, yes, but it was really. Have you had the Farrakhan interaction? Well, when we were on Living Color, we all went out. These are the classic, but famous black interactions. Everybody's got a Cosby store and a Farrakhan store. Well, we were all eating out. So it was like me, Damon, Kim, like half of Living Color. And some fish plays. And one of the nation came over and he said, look, we have tickets for you, all you young kings, you know, come see the minister. I was like, oh, where's the point? You know, Dodger Stadium, some shit. They look huge thing in the 90s. And I was like, thank you very much. And I'll just give you these. You ask for brother so-and-so. We going to put you on the dais right behind the minister, which is a place of honor. And I was like, oh, my God, that's incredible. So the dude leaves and I'm like, so should we go our pool? And I'm like, man, I ain't going to that motherfucker. You out your mind? You never work again. You're like, we're doing it. They're just ripping the tickets up. And I was like, my shit, my home, my fucking dome is about to get blown off. We're all this real knowledge. I fucking died laughing. He was like, hell no, what the fuck is wrong with you? We got to wrap it up. No, that's, we got to wrap it up. That's enough. That's enough of your experience and life. David Elger, one of the greats, a great guy as a ray of sunshine genuinely, he's helped us all along the way. He's helped us all along the way. Yeah, just like the dog guy. Yeah, yep. And he's a great, he's one of the greats.