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YEAH, BRO.
Search this video
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THAT'S JUST HOW IT GOES DOWN.
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THAT'S THE BEST THING I'VE EVER done in my life.
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Hey, what's going on everybody?
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For First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans and you're watching Hot Ones.
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It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings.
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And today we're joined by Sterling K. Brown.
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He's an Emmy, SAG, and Golden Globe award-winning actor you know from beloved TV and film projects like This Is Us, Black Panther, and many more.
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He's also been very busy this year with a pair of acclaimed films including Biosphere and coming this December the Cord Jefferson directed satirical drama that's riveted festival season.
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It's called American Fiction.
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And on the topic, congrats on the excellent and acting award that you recently received at the Denver Film Festival. And Sterling K.
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Brown, at long last, WELCOME TO THE SHOW. OH, [ __ ] I'M EXCITED. SORRY.
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I got a little carried away.
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It's been a long time coming.
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I'm looking forward to this.
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Happy to be sitting across from you, Sean. Uh I like chicken. I like hot stuff.
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I've never gone this hot before.
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So, it's going to be a new experience for your boy.
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I know there's going to be a little bit of sweat.
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But I've already finished in my head. Mhm.
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Like I'm more So, I'm we're just working from the from the end.
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And we're going to see how we finish this process.
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Well, the hard part's over.
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You ready to get started? it, brother. Come on. Okay. Got you. So, we start right here. This is hot one. Yeah, that's good. I like that. Baby steps. You wade into the water. Okay.
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So, the buzz around American Fiction has been something to behold from winning the People's Choice Award at TIFF to Variety calling it so funny it just might be this year's Oscar Best Picture winner.
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I'm curious, what's your reaction to the reaction?
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You know, it's unique to see this level of critical and audience acclaim, especially surrounding a first-time director.
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Did not anticipate it at all.
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I knew when I read it that it was a good script with a great story.
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And it sort of pokes fun at the Hollywood machine in terms of what kind of stories Hollywood wants to see black people in, and it tends to be sort of trauma porn, and this is not that, and the movie sort of skewers the industry just a little bit by with the satire, while also giving them a family drama in the midst of it.
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I think it's pretty cool.
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I think it's something that me, as someone who grew up in the burbs of St.
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Louis, Missouri, has been eager to see like my life told in a way that doesn't feel sensationalized or utilized to evoke guilt.
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It's just a story, and it feels good. I'm happy about it.
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Is that Angry Goat Pepper? Come on, Angry Goat. What you got for me? Ooh, that's tasty. I like that one.
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Hey, y'all got some tasty food up here in St. Louis, man. I like this.
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You ain't give me enough time to eat all my chicken. Let's go. Come on.
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I'll take my foot off the gas over here. You just dig in. what I got to do.
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You edit it however you got to do it. I'm just eating.
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What role, if any, did your performance in Godspell as a freshman at the Country Day School outside of St.
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Louis, what role, if any, did that play in building your confidence as a young actor?
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You got to do this every every interview, you pull out some [ __ ] that nobody ever asked? And it's always great. It's all of you.
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I I see the people behind the screen. It's huge.
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Um I was just a member of the ensemble, but it was that high that you experience from sort of being on the stage.
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I felt it as a football player, as a basketball player, but this way I was feeling it without getting hit at the same time, which was pretty cool.
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It was also like the first thing that I did and my mom loved it.
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And because my mom is the strong Christian show soldier that she is, I think she was supportive of this artistic journey from the beginning.
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If it had been a more risque show, she may have been a bit more apprehensive.
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So I think the universe brought the right show into my life at the right time for my family to stand behind me as I moved into this sort of artistic world of delineate delineating the human condition, whatever.
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Okay, see I see what you do.
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These first three [ __ ] delicious. Right.
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Like they're really really good. feel so safe. You feel so secure.
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You about to blow my booty hole out in a second, dog. That's all I got.
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Let's go to the next question, slob. How about this one?
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Which is a bigger challenge for an actor, right?
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Shooting a scene where you're holding back tears or shooting a scene where you're actually shedding them? Holding back. Holding back for me. Um I hydrate a lot. Drink a lot of water. I sweat a lot.
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So showing the restraint of someone who doesn't want to let something out, but seeing it just under the surface is is a harder thing.
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Like Have you ever seen What's the movie with um Robert Downey Jr. Directed by Ben Stiller. Tropic Thunder. Yeah, yeah. Classic.
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All right, you never want to go full.
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You understand what I'm saying? I follow you. I follow I follow you.
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If you can go right up to but not full, I think the audience feels it even more because they're like, "Oh, this poor guy can't let it all out." Right? Baba cora. Es bueno.
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I'm I'm going to eat all this chicken.
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I want y'all to know if you didn't move so fast, I'm going to eat it all. Go ahead.
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Yeah, I'm I'm going to eat while you ask your question.
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So, for what it's worth, I think you have one of the most underrated death scenes in the history of media when you accidentally blew your own head off with a shoulder cannon in The Predator.
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From an actor's perspective, what's it like to read a scene about your own demise?
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Like, do they give you a heads-up beforehand?
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Are you left to just discover and process that in real time reading the script for the first time?
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This chicken's so good, huh? No, you know.
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Sometimes on TV shows, like in season 3 or 4 whatnot, a producer has to come up to you and be like, "Hey, man, we need to let you know that this is going to happen."
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Hasn't happened to me in a while.
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But, it's happened to me before.
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Uh it's more shocking on TV.
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I got beheaded on Supernatural.
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Uh I got squibbed up on Third Watch.
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I did lethal injection on Boston Legal. I'm black.
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I died a lot on camera before I made it to a certain point, right?
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Um but the cannon was fun because everybody's like, "Did he die?
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Like, what the hell just happened?"
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And I knew because they wanted to sort of save it if there was a two, then maybe he could have came back with like half of a face maybe. deniability there. Plausible deniability. So, yeah, that was fun. I dig it. Mhm. Okay.
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I feel a little bit I feel my body is is starting to perspire a little bit. Same with me.
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We're in the same boat here. But, you wear a jacket.
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Do you do that to catch the perspiration? Or what?
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Like, actually, I have a jacket on?
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Am I doing it wrong is what I'm asking.
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You know, I think you're doing it right.
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I think sometimes I'm just like, you know, I'm getting a jacket off.
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This one's hot, but I still like it. Going in. I still like it. I came to eat. It was free meals.
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You know what I'm saying? God, what's up? Talk to me.
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So as a former copywriter for the Chicago tourism board, I felt a lot of second hand pride in 2017 when you did an explore St.
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Louis campaign for your hometown.
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What makes Ted Drewes different from just like any other ice cream stand? Oh, wow. It's really cool.
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And again, kudos to to everybody.
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First time I've ever been asked about the St.
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Louis advertising campaign in an interview ever.
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This is Repping the hometown.
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You're repping the hometown.
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Um for me, it's just ice cream.
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You know what I'm saying? It's from St. Louis.
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It is delicious, but I'm sure I've had others that are just as delicious. But if you come to St.
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Louis and you don't have Ted Drewes, then you can't call yourself a proper St. Louis. That's right. [ __ ] tastes good. Besides St.
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Louis by Nelly, is there a quintessential St.
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Louis song that should be on any St. Louis playlist?
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This is [ __ ] real, guys.
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Because I can feel like I'm drunk. Like I like I feel it.
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Like that that one is creeps. Yeah. [ __ ] creeps.
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There was a song when I was in high school.
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This I can't remember the sister's name, but the song was St.
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Louis and the chorus went She go, the S the T the L the O the U the I the S. St. Louis.
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She just And that was the whole song.
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But that You got to put that on the playlist. That was the whole song.
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And everybody rocked the [ __ ] out of it. Yeah, great.
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How do you think a dialect coach, a Hollywood dialect coach, would unpackage or explain the St. Louis accent?
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Different places have different regions cuz if it's like South St.
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Louis white, you say things like farty.
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Like yeah, we're going to take highway farty and you're like, you just And you're not pronouncing the word farty.
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No, it's like, take highway farty far and people say like, oh, let's get a wash up, you know, real quick.
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And I'm like, why you keep putting Rs and [ __ ] that's not supposed to be there?
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Then black folks, hair and here, that's all her.
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Like, you know, I need to comb my hair.
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Where y'all going over here?
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It's the same sort of thing.
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So, it's it's it's real specific.
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If you listen to any particular area, each one varies just a little bit.
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But within an hour, you're picking it up pretty fast. Mhm. You can smell heat. Okay.
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It's getting real in the Whole Foods parking lot. It is over here. Oh, I'm over here. I see you. Okay. Going in. Woah. I know.
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You've done this 230 TIMES, DUDE. I KNOW.
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YOU'RE [ __ ] CRAZY, BRO. I'M A CRAZY GUY. I'M CRAZY OVER HERE. INSANE. DOLLY, you're red. You're red. You're changing colors. That just happened. It's mind over matter. You're right. Is it?
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My one of my favorites is David Blaine. Oh, yeah? D.
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Blaine was so [ __ ] cool, bro. Unflappable. Unshakeable.
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Did he just like blow out the back like did he go to the bathroom?
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Well, you know, he moves sort of mysteriously. You know what I mean?
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So, he's just kind of in.
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Did anyone see him come in?
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Then he was just kind of out.
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Like, did anyone see him leave?
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Like, it was kind of like that, you know?
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But one of my favorite pieces of memorabilia like from doing this show is he gave me like the card for like that trick that he did on New Year's where he took the corner.
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And I got that card signed by David Blaine.
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That's a good mantle piece right there. piece, man. He was great.
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The I'm I'm trying to do my best blank.
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What's happening right now? I'm explaining it.
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You know, sometimes in adult entertainment like the star tells you what's happening as it's happening. Yeah.
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So, it's like the way they talk you through it.
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I'm sort of sweating through the head.
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I feel misty in the T-zone.
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That's what the makeup artist calls it through here and here.
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There's a little bit of something happening underneath. The mouth is cool.
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Like the lips haven't gotten hot yet cuz I think I do a good job of trying to wrap these joints around the meat. Pause. Ginger goat.
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WE GOT THAT GINGER GOAT, MAN. COME ON. HERE WE GO.
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Tropic star, mango, lemongrass, and star anise HOT SAUCE. YEAH.
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OKAY, ginger goat, what do you got? Yes. Star. Feel drunk by the fifth.
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Fighting the spice here in seven where it's GETTING REAL. [ __ ] YEAH, BRO.
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THAT'S JUST HOW IT GOES DOWN.
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BEST THING I've ever done in my life. I'm so happy. Okay.
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So, I read that one of the things that drew you to Biosphere was the fact that it was a very non-Randall-esque role.
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Of course, referring to your character in This Is Us for which you've been awarded multiple Emmys, SAG, Golden Globe.
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I'm curious at the end of a six-year run like that with an iconic like Randall.
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When you finish it, does it feel more like a relief or more like a funeral?
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That's a really good question. It's both.
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It's both cuz I think as an actor variety is the spice of life and there's a desire to bring multiple facets of humanity to the forefront, right?
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It's also really cool when people say like, "Hey, that's Sterling K. Brown." versus "Hey, Randall."
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I'm was they think they're saying something that's really sweet and kind to a nurse.
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Like, "Well, that's not my name.
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I'm Sterling, you know what I'm saying?"
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So, when people recognize you for a body of work, it is infinitely more satisfying than being known for just one character, even though I love that character. Ooh, excuse me. Woah. Woah.
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That might have been a mistake.
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You have a very shoot first, ask questions later approach, you know, through this whole thing. you I hadn't finished.
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No redeeming qualities, really.
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Is the sense that I'm getting. Oh boy. Taking a Yeah.
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You're about to blow my booty hole out in a second, dog. Oh boy. The T-zone. It's not even a T-zone.
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It's all over my face now. Is Is it I'm glistening? Yeah.
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You and I both, you know, even though I'm not a big sweater. I'm going to Ooh, Jesus. Uh lip side. They're warm. Yeah. They're toasty.
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And I start to get like uh like a serious like smoky kind of throat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can see I can hear it.
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I hear it coming up right now.
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I have a bead of bead dripping down the back of my neck right now. Okay. Little girl from there. We got it. We got it. Okay. So, it's crazy.
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I met you at a Chargers game last week.
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And I know before you went to Stanford to study drama that you're recruited to play college football.
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And you know, you're a fan of the sport through and through.
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From Rudy to Friday Night Lights, Jerry Maguire, Remember the Titans, even The Longest Yard, Any Given Sunday, Brian's Song.
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Overall, what would you say is the greatest Hollywood football movie of all time. Wow. My favorite?
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Man, I love Any Given Sunday. Yeah. I love Willie Beamen.
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I love like I love not only that, but I love listening to Jamie talk about like his experience with LL after the movie.
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Oh, did you did you hear about like those fights that they'd have? I'm saying.
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Like LL thought it was a real movie.
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Jamie's like, "We just acting over here, man."
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This [ __ ] was really really fun. I'm so hot, Sean. I know. I know. I know.
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Well, you know they say that that like that scuffle that like happens on field, you know, that that was actually a real scuffle. believe that. I can't believe that.
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Listen, That's according to Bill Bellamy.
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When you're in that sort of performance and whatnot, and there's a lot of young men, and you still have a a a a a proud testosterone is still flowing through your body, you kind of trying to sort of be who's the alpha. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right?
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Like the only time I see red now is if I'm on the basketball court and somebody tries to challenge me in a very particular way.
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If you want the smoke, you can catch the smoke.
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I may have been raised by white people on TV, but you about to catch a case right now, son.
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I shouldn't have said that. Like I'm saying things.
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I see how you guys do it. It's it disarms. This whole thing.
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It makes me say [ __ ] that I'm not cursed way more than I normally do in my life.
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I have to pay my kids like 50 bucks now. Not supposed to do that. Well, you know what?
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We might run it up a little bit more. Okay.
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Because we have a two few wings to go. Dawson.
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We going to have to dab at the end, man. Yeah. You already know. You seen it already. Come on. What we got here? It's Dawson's Creek? Mhm. I don't want TO WAIT. [ __ ] STUPID. DAWSON'S HOT SAUCE.
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ZUZU serving by her, dog. Oh, boy.
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I want somebody to get a on them cuz I'm Yeah.
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I'm doing work, all right?
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I see I see I see I see they're moving it. They're moving it. I appreciate that. Putting in work. What's up?
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So, I was amused to hear a story about you sitting down with your mother to watch your performance in the FX show Starved, where you play a crooked bulimic cop extorting delivery drivers and restaurant workers for food.
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I'm curious, if we were to ask your mom, what would she say is her proudest performance of yours?
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And then which one would she say was the biggest labor of love to watch?
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Oh god, did she hate Starved.
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She hated Starved so much.
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But I think what she hated even more was when my character had an affair on a TV show called Army Wives. Mhm. So, she loved the show.
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She loved the show Army Wives.
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And I I played a psychiatrist who was married to a colonel in the army.
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So, every week she would call me and she'd be like, "I love Roland so much because he's so patient with his wife."
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So, then the week that I blow this other chick's backside out, she doesn't call. She didn't call me.
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And she didn't call me the next week and the week after that because for the three weeks in a row, they'd be like, "Previously on Army Wives."
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And they'd just see me blowing THIS CHICK.
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AND THEN ONE DAY I CALL MOM, I WAS LIKE, "HEY MOM, YOU BEEN WATCHING THE SHOW?
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LIKE, YOU HAVING A GOOD TIME?"
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SHE'S LIKE, "YES, I'm watching.
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I don't know why they have to KEEP SHOWING ALL THAT MESS." SHE WAS SO PISSED OFF.
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IT took her a good six weeks to come back to that.
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So, like Army Wives, she rode like through everything.
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It was an emotional roller coaster.
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an emotional roller coaster for her.
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Her favorite performance of mine is probably not even on screen.
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It's when I did a play called Father Comes Home from the war is parts 1, 2, and 3.
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She saw it here at the Public Theater in New York City and she gave me a standing ovation after it was over and after she I came off stage and she saw me, she goes, "You're real actor now."
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And I was like, "Thanks, Mom. I appreciate it." Aw, that's so sweet.
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I'm crying and it's not the wing. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Uh, last dab. Let's go. Yep, that's good. A little dip action. Right. Cheers. Cheers. They going to me. Unbelievable. What a performance. GET ANOTHER PAN DOWN. ALL RIGHT. HOW YOU DOING?
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I'M alive if you're alive, all right? Same way, Frank. baby. And you know what?
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It's been such a fascinating spice journey through your acting career, you know, going back to when you're doing Kafkaesque operettas to keep the rent alive in your Harlem walk-up to now lining your mantle with the most prestigious awards in acting.
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But I know deep down there is a stage man, a Shakespeare guy at heart.
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So, I'm curious to close things out.
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Is there a soliloquy or sonnet that comes to mind with your brain and mouth slow roasting the hot sauce?
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I have a little more in the dab.
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There's something happening inside my nose. Yeah.
20:50
There's heat and and and mucus. There's a lot going on. Okay.
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There's a a sweet sonnet.
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I can't remember which number this is by by Shakespeare.
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It starts off um When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see.
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For all the days they view things unrespective, but but at night in dreams I look on thee, and darkly bright are bright and dark directed.
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Then thou whose shadow shadows doth make bright, how would I say thy shadows form form happy show to the clear day with thy much clearer night, when to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so?
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How would I say mine eyes be blessed made by looking on thee in the living day, when in dead night thy fair and perfect shade through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay?
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All days and nights to see, till I see thee, and nights bright days, when dreams do show thee me. Sterling K.
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Brown, you doth crush the wings of death today.
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And now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you.
21:58
This camera, this camera, this camera, let the people know what you have going on in your life.
22:03
Please pray for me when I go to the bathroom later on today that everything is is decent and and right and order.
22:10
Uh if you have AMC Plus, please check out Biosphere December 15th sometime in New York and LA.
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There will be American Fiction.
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Uh my wife and I are going to do a podcast coming on Valentine's Day.
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Uh it's called We Don't Always Agree.
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And besides that, you can catch me at a a football field in LA watching my kids do the thing that they love to do.
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Thanks for having me, Shaquille. Appreciate you, bro. Oh, man.
22:41
Michael Ealy, I told you.
22:45
I AIN'T DRINKING NO MILK, SHAQ. LET THE RECORD SHOW. LET'S GO! NO WATER. LET'S GO! YOU DID SO GOOD. YOU DID SO GOOD. Thank you, brother. I appreciate that. That was a blast. You had a good time? I had a great time.
23:03
You guys, honestly, you kudos to you for always asking things that nobody ever else ever asks. It's awesome. Ooh, Jesus.
23:16
Hey, what's going on, Hot Ones fans?
23:18
This is Sean Evans, and 'tis the season to turn up the heat with our Hot Ones 10-pack. That's right.
23:23
The Hot Ones 10-pack, a legendary lineup with two brand-new sauces bookending it on either side.
23:30
We have the Hot Ones Classic Buffalo, as well as the Last Dab experience made with the new Guinness World Records hottest chili, Pepper X. That's heatness. com, heatness. com, heatness.
23:42
com to get your hands on the Season 22 10-pack.
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