South Beach Sessions - David Alan Grier
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Welcome to South Beach Sessions. I'm going to need your help as a professional entertainer here because I legitimately don't know how to introduce you when you're talking about 40 years of screen and stage. You're talking about Tony Awards. You've worked with everybody in this business. So help me do it, David Alan Greer. Legend. Icon. Living fossil. A dinosaur still alive. The past, the present, the future.

Thank you for the help. I've admired your work for a long time and I will tell the people one of the most legendary interviews in the history of the now dead television show Highly Questionable because you sat in a newsroom in Bristol, Connecticut and just shouted in every direction disrupting everybody's work in a way. You had a part in that. You prodded me. Yes. You know.

Yeah, but it was a busy newsroom. Midday, too. Yes, and you were shouting and fun and funny, and you were making Balmani and I laugh uproariously from a million miles away. It was fun. I mean, I had fun. I had fun being prodded into mischief that day. It was great. Have you always enjoyed performing? Is that something that came to you naturally early in life? I'm going to be honest with you. I was a class clown since I was like a little kid.

And that's just it. I mean, when I found comedy, i.e. acting, that was a way to do what I do. Oh, that's the stuff I shouldn't be doing that people have a career out of. So it was just kind of a funneling into that. But before that, it was very much don't do that. Please stop. You're going to get in trouble. Your mouth is going to get you in trouble is what my mom used to tell me.

And she was right and wrong. Did it? But did it get you in trouble growing up? Yeah. I remember like the average period. I went to Schultz Elementary School in Detroit. The average period was 40 minutes. I remember getting kicked out of one class four times. So that's...

Pretty bad. What were you doing? Just everything, man. Talking, making noises, fart noises, and whispering. Just inappropriate. Mrs. Van Otten was my teacher's name. And she was exactly what you think she was. She looked like the evil, fraulein character from a James Bond movie. Remember the lady? She had to look like the spike, the poison spike in her grandma's shoe? That was Mrs. Van Otten.

- She had Bell's palsy on one side. - You didn't have a choice then, really though, when it came, like if you're saying that's who you were from early on, then this is the path you were gonna take toward a career. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Although, you know, there are two parts to me, just like anybody. I mean, there was a part where I always really wanted to be the serious Negro actor, you know, like play the doctor or the lawyer in LA law, you know, stuff like that.

But I just was funny, so. - But who, like Sidney Poitier? - Of course, there was Sidney Poitier. Like when I started, I did "Soldiers Play" in like '83. This is my second job, you know, out of acting school. Denzel Washington was in that cast. We all auditioned for "St. Elsewhere." He obviously got it. You know, "St. Elsewhere" was about doctors, you know, nurse, I'm in surgery.

Hand me the scalpel. I just never got those parts. I really would try to be earnest, serious black man, but I never did. I never got those parts. So a lot of it was trying to find my lane, find my way, what I'm supposed to do. And with young people, if you have kids, or we've all been young, sometimes it takes you a little time before you find your lane. You even find that there's a lane for you.

Because when I started acting, it was very much a world of there were television actors, there were film actors, there were stage actors. To traverse medium was very rare. Like when John Travolta became a big movie star, half the story was this is a guy who's on Welcome Back, Cotter, and now he's like the number one star in the world, which was very rare in the 70s. You know, now everything feeds everything.

You're doing that hospital show now, though, aren't you? This is the career achievement, the one you've been, St. Dennis Medical is what you're doing. And it's drama and comedy in the form of The Bear, Succession, Barry. You're trying to do, it's The Office. It's more real. Thank God I've never spent a night in a hospital, but I grew up, my dad was a psychiatrist and

I grew up in a community in Detroit with doctors, black doctors and dentists and lawyers. So really straight, proper Negroes. I mean, my mother said, there's three things you never talk about. Religion, salary, and sex. I mean, you just, you know. But to ask someone's salary was really abhorrent. You were not supposed to do that. You just looked around and said, well, I think Dan's doing quite well.

You know, stuff like that. Shh, don't tell. That's the kind of household I grew up in. But I was, you know, I was wild. I didn't want to do it.

But your, so your parents are professionals and I would imagine there was discipline there. What were you acting out against to get kicked out of class four times? Like what were you doing? It was just. And how was that going over at home? It was pretty bad, man. But you know, I, my mom gave me all of my report cards. I got good grades. And at the end of the day, that was it. And then the grand scheme of things was,

These were mischiefs. It wasn't, you know, now it's like I never brought a gun to school. They never found a kill list. I never, you know, that kind of stuff. So it was mischief. It was, like I said, talking in school. We used to, during recess, certain time of year, summertime, you could catch grasshoppers on the field and, you know, you'd

me and other boys we catch grasshoppers and we come back in class you put them on the girl's hair and the shoulder you know stuff like that just constant constant dumb stuff there's more little rascals than you know gang behavior and this is a difficult time in detroit no like it was pre-riot now after 67 i was 12 puberty

They were bigger concerns. But this is when I was really a little third, fourth, fifth grade, you know, like that. About that time your father is writing about black rage. He was a radical black man. Also, he was on TV. So like, you know, in my neighborhood, anyone on TV...

the phones would ring. You know, so-and-so's daughter's cousin down the street. I remember there was an Eastern Airline commercial and there was a black extra, just a young, pretty black girl. ♪ Eastern Airline ♪ Well, my mom, all of her friends, there's a colored girl. Did you see that girl? She was on the commercial. Oh yeah. I remember a friend of mine, distant relative, there was a stereo chain called Stereo City and she was on the radio

commercial for what do they call radio commercials radio spots radio spot for Stereo City go down to Stereo City and I was like that's her I know the dude who's related to that person so that's how fame was man so yeah I saw my dad on TV by then he'd left

you know my parents separated but still he was on tv there was a big he had a big book it was pretty pretty what do you remember about black rage and how much did it have to do with you uh trying to join the black panthers well first of all you know that was the time all of that stuff i mean and as

My mom was a single mom then. She had two boys, me, my brother, my sister, in Detroit. She was just trying to get us safely to adulthood. And the most frightening thing to them was the Black Panther Party. This was a radical group, political group. And I was 15. I went with my friend Ronnie Livingston. We walked all the way down to the Black Panther headquarters. And the door is like bullet riddled.

It painted 850 times. Dude answers, he's like, you know, what can I do? You know, As-salamu alaykum, young black revolutionaries. We're like, we want to join.

Can we join? I think one of us were wearing an army jacket because I wanted the beret. I wanted the sexy part, the leather jacket. Exactly. The accoutrements of, you know, there were no rappers. That's what you did. You know, you had some Black Panther newspapers. But so you were also, I don't know, I don't want to assume this about you, but

if you would gravitate toward a life of performance and song, you were probably trying to be at least slightly more armored than you actually were. Yes, but we hid those. We hid. I used to hide my stuff like that was in the bushes outside the back door. So then I put all that stuff on my little jean jacket. We went over there and said, you know, you too young. You too young, brothers. We only accept membership at 16. So they turned us down. I was relieved, frankly. And we didn't join, but...

Yeah, man, because Bobby Hutton was a Black Panther who was killed by the Oakland police. He was 16. So, you know, the reality of the situation for my parents was very precarious. My dad moved to San Francisco. He bought a waterbed and a dashiki. So I think he was 41. So clearly a midlife problem.

Everybody wanted to go to the circus, man. I mean, please. Yeah. And at that time, San Francisco was probably the hippest place in America. Music, culture, politics, the whole vibe. I remember going there and it was just electric hippies for like for real hippies.

We all wanted to be hippies, black hippies, all kind of stuff. Grow a big afro. But you're also interested in the arts at this point. So your rebellion is in the arts, right? Yeah, well, I mean, then I really loved music. I remember I was showing my mom a Jimi Hendrix album. And it was like I was looking at a picture of RuPaul, you know, in 67, 8. She was like, that man is wearing a blouse.

I was like, no, it's not, Mom. It's just a shirt with flowers. You know, I want to get these silver platform boots. And they had rainbows on them. And back then, a rainbow was just a rainbow. Okay? It was lightning bolts. And she just looked at me like, why would you want that? And I was like, because he has velvet bell bottoms, his music. She said, this music sounds crazy. This man looks crazy. And no, I'm not allowing it. So she tried, but we were just.

That was where the sexy stuff was, man. I wanted to break out. You were rebelling against your... Everything. I didn't want to, you know... Oh, I'm trying to say the good kids. Uh...

Joe Marshall, these are real names by the way. Joe Marshall Jr. just got into Harvard, David. And that kind of thing. That was cool, but I really wanted to join the revolution, man. I wanted to go to Woodstock and rock festivals, all that kind of stuff. - But then it became musicals. - It did. - It went from music to musicals. That came later. When I...

decided, well, you know, when I, I have always been a pretty mediocre guitarist and I wrote songs and stuff like that. I decided, oh, I'll be an actor because I felt acting, I could grow old being an actor. You know, at 19, it was very much, I have to make it

before I'm 30, because that's old. But, you know, an actor, you could be old and graceful and elegant and spend your whole life acting. So that's when I started that whole journey. I didn't know I could sing, really. And it was just at that point in your life when you discover talents, and it was an amazing time. And I was just reveling in it, finding something that I felt really passionate about.

And wanting to go in that direction. Of course, my mom was like, just get a degree, you know, something that will get you a job. Like she didn't want me to major in acting. She wanted me to be, you know, economics with an acting major. So I never really majored in acting until I got to grad school. I was in journalism.

Oh, look at that. That was a switch. So my mom just goes, just as long as it's not acting. Respectable enough. Yes. Barely. Barely respectable enough. Exactly, to keep her pay and that college tuition. Yeah.

And you find out about singing when? How do you discover that you like to sing? Well, you know, like I said, I would write songs and stuff. And by this time I was 17, 18, it was all kind of bubbling. This is early 70s going. All we did, me and my friends, is go to rock concerts. The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, all of it. The Motown Review, everything, music.

At Michigan, when I went to Michigan, University of Michigan, they had just general auditions. So they said, "These are the productions you're doing this year." And I just auditioned for everything. And I opened my mouth and sang, and people told me. Usually that's when you're very young. "Hey, you're good, you're good at this." And I was like, "Oh, wow, okay." And it was fun, it was fun. I didn't really know

about music. Musicals are fun to do. Everybody's singing, there's beautiful women, you know, and it's awesome. So I do love doing them.

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I like talking to people who have your accrued experience and wisdoms about like things they've learned about the business because 40 years is a beast. But before I ask you about that, what can you tell me about how improbable your journey was to get to success? Like how against the odds do you believe it was or wasn't? You know, I recently went back and spoke to the students at MedTech

Michigan, acting students at Michigan. Now these are the facts roughly. As I recall, I think less than 1% of the members of SAG-AFTRA make over $7,500 a year. That just tells you.

That doesn't even go into people who are making a living. That's a whole other strata and people you don't know. These are steadily working actors. You may see them. You look familiar, something like that. And so to become a just a known

it's almost akin to, hey, I'm going to play in the NBA or, hey, I want to be in the NFL. And I always start with, we know these statistics. You guys are still here. So then I'm not going to dwell on that. And we'll just talk about acting. But that never stopped me. That never stopped me. Also, like sports, acting is very much public ownership.

It's only probably two people. Athletes and actors, that's the only occupation in which the general public is going to stop you on the street and critique your whole life. Like, why'd you do that? You sucked last week. You dropped the ball, you're horrible, and you're being overpaid. So those are the conversations I have. I remember I did Dancing with the Stars, and these two brothers in Whole Foods are like, man, why'd you do that?

you dancing and so yeah they go right in well how did that go over like do you uh yeah how does that one go over where you're making choices and people feel that entitled to tell you to your face when they have no idea who it is you are used to bother me it used I would I would engage I remember my first wife we got a divorce and I was in Dean and DeLucas sold us really hoity-toity

grocery store in the village in New York and I said this Hispanic woman she's Puerto Rican she said how is your wife my first wife's Puerto Rican I said oh we got a divorce her face dropped and she said I deal Samia and I'm like what I didn't know her she said what am I gonna tell my mother

So I was just about to go, well, here's what happened. And then I caught myself. I'm like, you don't even know. That's what I mean. But she said it in a tone, too, like we're family. You need that woman. I remember her saying that. You need to be back with her. You guys need to resolve your differences. Oh, wow, really? And I feel this. Stay vague.

David, you know, and I was I was hurt, confused and like trying to legitimize everything. And I went, I don't even know you. It's those kind of interactions that it just people feel entitled as specifically with television, because television is in everyone's house, in their living rooms, in their bedrooms.

We spend childhoods, years with families, individuals, and they just feel that ownership of your life. I mean, so it took me a while to separate from that in the sense that I don't owe you an explanation. Like I said, when I was younger, I would try to explain everything. Now I don't.

- Yeah, just happened. - Yeah, you learned. - Have a nice day. - What are the best and worst parts of fame after 40 years of being in it? - Well, I'll tell you, that's the weird thing, but the great things are,

Probably every day, at least one time a day, a complete stranger comes up and gives me a compliment. My mother was a Detroit school teacher for 30 years. I don't think people just stopped her, you know, "Hey Mrs. Greer, I love you. You're doing a great job for no pay." No, I remember I was in a pet store and this guy came in, it was a very hot day, he drenched his sweat carrying 50-pound bags of dog food.

And he threw this bag down. I thought he was going to punch me. And he said, man, you bring me such happiness. And I'm like, come on, man. That's a blessing. Nine times out of ten, people give me love. You know, they say, hey, man, I love seeing you. It's so great. Love you. Have a great day. That's the best part.

It's hugely flattering. And the intimacy you're talking about, about being in people's living rooms, them feeling like they know you, and your art is out there not only to make a career out of that is rare to make good money in a career because it's so improbable, but these people feel some sort of connection to you. I also think it's how you carry yourself. You know, I was never...

carried myself in a way that sparked violence or, you know, I'm going to whoop your ass. I just never did that. I never had an entourage. You know, I toured and did stand-up for many decades. And it was just me on a plane. I'd come to the venue and perform and go home. I didn't have bodyguards, henchmen. I never felt a need for it. I never hung out in clubs like...

throwing my weight around. I tried to appear smaller, but not to my detriment. I just wanted to go through the line and go to my seat. It wasn't

I didn't wear jewelry and none of that stuff. I think if I did, it would be very much Chad Ochocinco, gas station diamonds. Because he said, people can't tell. They can't tell. Manny Ramirez used to have a $60 earring that looked like a big diamond. Yeah, really? Really? You know, your dad dies and he comes out, son. Yes, dad, what's your last word? Go get that big gold diamond chain.

it says puppy here you go I'm leaving you this now no so I mean even though in living color was a part of hip-hop to this day and I traversed those circles marginally I was always given love man I was never

Yeah, I was never in a club where people were like, you know, the Crips are going to kill you because of that joke. No, I was never that thing. So I guess it's how you I think a part of it is how you carry yourself, as you know, in sports as well. I mean, there's certain people when they come out, it's a fight.

It's just the vibe, how they come through the room. Somebody's going to get in a fight, pushing, shoving. That's just not been my vibe, you know? What are the things that you enjoyed the most doing when you talk about, because you've had range, right? Whether it's acting, musicals, stand-up comedy, in-loving color sketch comedy. Like what...

When you think of the one thing that this brought me the most enjoyment in just the doing of it. Well, a couple of them.

What I like is the variety because in my business, like you said, I would do stand up, then I would go back to my television show, then I would go and do a movie, then I would do a play. And I was able to traverse these mediums and it was great. What I enjoy most, what gives me viscerally the most joy is live performance because you're getting feedback immediately.

I did The Color Purple, which was the average lag time of a movie. It was between nine months and a year and a half after you wrap that that movie's released. And you have to wait for the audience reaction. No, stage, you go on and people react immediately. People give you love immediately, you know? So feeling-wise...

That is the best. Stand-up comedy does the same thing. Absolutely. I'm saying live performance. So stage and stand-up, I would say, are absolutely this on a good night. On a bad night, that's a long ass time. You stand there. Did I tell this joke already?

You know, you're just flop sweat. But on a good night when the crowd is just humming, you control the crowd to highs and lows. You tell your story. You get these laughs. It's like a musician, like a jazz musician. You riff. You go off. The audience is with you.

150%. You know, you talk to them. It's awesome. That's really great. But I don't do it anymore. Do you miss it? I was going to ask you. You know what? I did it for a long time. What I don't, I miss the performance, but I don't miss the travel, the getting there.

6 a.m. flights, the being away from home, from my girlfriend. I have a young daughter and I've really tried these last few years to stay with her and be a proper parent. And that's what I'm trying to just hang around. I don't know if I'll do stand-up. I did it so much.

but definitely going on location and going taking those jobs you know can you be in afghanistan yes i can you know but uh i drove her to school this morning so i'm trying to do that and um right now so getting back to what it is that you've learned uh in the business and about the business uh when you

take the joys in aging of driving your daughter to school. What are some of the things you missed along the way because your ambition got a hold of you and you wanted to succeed and succeeding is hard? - I think, because I had, I didn't have my daughter till I was 50. So she really was not around for the real hustle. Like when I was on The Living Color, we would work from probably August to March.

And we would do over 30 episodes. And I would take two weeks off and then hit the road. And I was gone all summer. And I would take two weeks off and then be back on the show. But I just got burned out. I didn't, although I was making all this much more money, say I increased my income by 200%. I didn't feel 200% happier. It wasn't some deep, dark depression. I just was not happy.

it wasn't worth it. Not fulfilled? Just a little bit of emptiness. Yeah, burned out. Just running on a treadmill. Exactly. And you know, with agents, they go, "Oh, but you could do an interview and then you could do a breakfast performance. You know what? You could do a sunrise concert, then a breakfast performance." Then, you know, they just keep piling more and more and more and all. So, regulation, you know, I can say no.

That's hard, though, when you're really ambitious about success and you know that the chances can disappear at any time. That's the biggest problem. Because at 40, thinking, because I know a bunch of people that I know them from one job.

who the best actor I ever worked with, and I haven't seen him in 20 years. I haven't seen him on TV, anything. So there's that nagging fear of when am I going to work again? But I thought I would be retired. I'm 68 now. I didn't even think...

there would be a place for me in this industry. And I'm finally at a point in which I feel secure. I feel secure in my place and my legacy. And I say yes to the things I want to say yes to. And it's much more easy breezy. I call the shots. If it's too much, that's too much.

I can't. I can't. I'll do Dan next week. And I don't have any guilt. I also don't have a team around me, an agent, a lawyer, who are like, you've got to do this. You've got to do this. This is life science. They're not going to go any higher. Please, please, please, please. I don't have that. So I feel much more content. And a lot of that is just with age. I mean, you know after marriage.

20, 30, 40 years, that's not the last role. This isn't the last venue. Sir Laugh-A-Lot's club in Tallahassee, it's fine if you don't play them, you know, that kind of stuff. - There can't be much left for you to accomplish, though, like in terms of ambition on what it is that you haven't been able to do that you're out here craving? - I still do, you know, it's funny.

I still crave great roles. And in the last few years, I've been able to do a lot of interesting, serious singing, all kind of stuff, a variety of stuff. But I think that's healthy, meaning I still have a desire to do more. I'm not done yet. I don't want to just go home and, by the way, my tomato plants are raging. I'm not ready to just talk about that. I'll talk about it a little bit.

But that's not all. I still need to be stimulated. I was friends with an actor and an artist named Martin Maul, who recently passed away. Now, he was 75 when we did "Cool Kids." And I was like, "Martin, at this point, his paintings were selling for six figures." I was like, "Why do you do these acting jobs?" And he goes, "I mean, I gotta get out of the house. And they're gonna pay me? Why not?" You know? So, yeah, okay.

Bobby Bowden used to say there's only one major event where everyone gathers for you after retirement. So like if you're going to fulfill great creative juices and you can pick your own spots. And I know what I'm doing. I finally I put in my 10,000 hours. I know what I'm doing and it's a lot of fun.

So I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna keep going till the wheels fall off, I guess. I mean, as long as I'm doing it. You know, I don't wanna be that dude where, "We're gonna wheel David in, Dan. We'd ask you not to turn the cameras on till we have him seated."

They're saying, don't mind the smell from his diaper. Exactly. He's fine. If he moans, he's not in pain. Now, I don't want to do all that. I don't want to be like Frankie Valli. We've all seen that. And it's funny. I was at home. I was listening to it. I was like, damn, he's still hitting those. No, he's not. He is not. That is, he is not hitting them notes. So I don't want to go out like that. But I still feel like I'm having fun, man. Let's do it.

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21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Boyd in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG.co slash bball. What is the thing, because you've mentioned In Living Color a couple of times now, that's the thing most people want to talk to you about because it represents a time...

and an electricity of, we'd never seen anything like that. A dynamic black sketch comedy show that is beating up all of the things around it. And you gotta be as talented as Jim Carrey in order to make your way as a white guy into how uproarious this family of people are. - But also it was free.

There was no cable. You didn't have to pay. It wasn't on Netflix. Everybody got, so that meant the audience was bigger. There was no paywall to In Living Color. And a hit TV show, we all know, those people are famous for the rest of your life. I mean, I don't know what TV show you saw when you were a kid.

But until you die, those people are famous to you. Oh, but I remember In Living Color as just a very specific, vibrant energy that wasn't anything... I'd never seen anything like that on television before. Well, I get goosebumps because that was... I remember...

Coming into the green room. There's a green room like the end of the first year and every big star was in this green room and it was that feeling where you know, I always wanted to be on that really hip cool show and I was on that show so Yeah, man. It was very exciting I remember taking my car to get a burglar alarm installed because we did that back then you know and the kid who is installing and by then we'd only been on a few weeks and

He absolutely went apeshit crazy. The cab driver who drove me over to pick up the car. I mean, it was just such an instant public awareness. That felt...

really great man it was awesome it was really awesome was it as fun as it looked because the hard work people don't understand the amount of work you just described like the months and the calendar and the grind but people don't understand when something looks easy on television people assume that it's easy and they don't see the 80-hour weeks yeah but it was so much fun i'll give you an example i went to jenny craig when i was on in living color everybody knows everything

So I was on a diet, you know, this Jenny Craig diet. And they all said I was cranky. And of course I yelled back, "I'm not!" You know, and Tommy Davidson took, I used to carry this bag with my, you know, script and everything. They filled it with food. There was sausage, hamburger patties, donuts. And so when I got up to leave, all this food fell out. So we were constantly playing tricks and games and you didn't want to miss the fun.

I don't think I missed a day of work until I got injured, like on a movie set where I literally couldn't move. So then they took me out and I missed a day or two. But the thought of missing work, then you didn't know what everybody was talking about. You should have been here yesterday.

There's never been anything like that communally for you. No. And I don't even mean it. Like, plays are great. You've had plenty of work, but I can't imagine that there would be anything that felt like the vibrancy of that with the youth that you had combined with the amount of people who were awed by discovering something. Oh, absolutely. That's the other thing where everybody was on to it. I remember I went to see Chris Rock.

at Saturday Night Live and they treated me like I was the star. Because in LA we would do In Living Color and we would go, like Kim Wayans and I would go to Kate Mantolini's, which was a place on Wilshire, and we would hang out and have cappuccinos. But it was very much like we're gonna have a drink after the office. SNL, they had a fleet of

They had after parties. We didn't have no after parties. They had all kind of famous people. And the way they treated me, I was like, there's just that. I remember thinking, they're treating me like I'm famous or something. So it was a whole different vibe. But sometimes it takes you coming out of yourself to realize the impact of that show. Yeah, the added bonus was all of that. It was fun. We were young. This stuff was popping. And everyone was getting it.

People would stop me in airports. Just all over. It was very much the zeitgeist. It was right tapped into that moment, that time. It was great. It was fun. I heard you on Neil Brennan's podcast talking about just having some errors of judgment as it related to Jim Carrey and his career. Well, he talked about it because, well, Jim and I would,

My big fantasy, I used to sit with Jim and I said, Jim, if I ever win the lottery, like a lot of money, say $5 million, I told Jim, I want to give you this money to make the movie that you were born to make. We would always screw around and do characters just to make each other laugh. And he did this character called Colon Man who could pull his colon out of his ass and lasso Thelma.

and I would just be rolling on the floor. We would make up mating sounds of weird animals, you know, the artichoke. Eee! Eee! Eee!

you know, silly stuff that would make us die. So I said, "Yeah, I want you to do this movie." I went to see, what was it, Ace Ventura? - Yes. - I sat next to him because they said, "We're gonna sit you next to Jim." This movie was so crazy. Inside, I felt bad for my friend because it's too much.

America, no one's going to get this movie. You're watching it. You're one of the first people watching it. I'm sitting right next to him. By the way, Jim is crawling out of his skin. He's being paid nothing for this. Yes, I'm laughing extra hard because I want to support him. But inside, I'm like, it was like someone said to Jim, you're dying in six months and this is your only shot. That's how he was doing it. And I said, no, America's not ready. This movie will flop.

And of course it became huge. So the next week we were back at Living Color in front of a live audience. And I think I said we would go out and play with the audience. And I was like, yeah, I just want to say congratulations to Jim.

Yeah, I don't care. I mean, because, but it was very funny. And if you had to be there, so there was always comedy, always. Yeah, he was. You didn't expect though, like, how could you be that off? You know what funny is. You've been. No, I'm been, I've been, I auditioned for Seinfeld and I said, Jerry can't act.

And I don't think it's gonna make it. As a matter of fact, you should go the opposite of what I tell you because I've been wrong so many times. - But you know funny. You know you can- - Yeah, but I mean, there was nobody. Name another comedian. I guess you could say Jerry Lewis or something like that. But in that moment, I just thought it was too crazy.

people aren't going to get it. You knew when you were with Eddie Murphy and you're doing Boomerang. But he was already established. He'd already been big. No, Jim, this was out the box. No, I'm just telling you, it was out the box. I believe you. I'm not arguing with you. I'm surprised that you... As a matter of fact, not just me. The story is, because Jim told me this, on Thursday, before his first movie came out, he couldn't even get on Letterman.

I think his price was $350,000. By the mid-next week, it was a million, then two million, three million, five million. Just that fast. It was astronomical. I can't think of another performer whose life professionally changed that fast in front of my eyes like what we saw at the gym.

Now, over the years, we've all prospered, you know, but clearly in the annals of show business, I mean...

It was amazing. Who do you regard as the most awe-inspiring talent that you have ever worked with? Like if I put, and these are the famous ones, so it may be off the board, but when I put Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy in their youth next to each other, I can't tell you who's, like, I'm awed by the both of them. I would say, for me, Eddie Murphy, because I remember I went to see Nutty Professor once,

And the scene where he's his mom and he comes out,

He moved me emotionally. It wasn't just like, you know, Groucho Marx or Milton Berle in drag. I was moved emotionally by his heartfelt performance. And in that moment, I was like, oh, this guy is so great, man. I love Eddie Murphy, man. His range, I wish he could have gone farther, more serious, because he could afford to. I would say that.

It's funny, I talked to John Landis, who directed Eddie Murphy, you know. He said Eddie Murphy the same. Eddie Murphy, man. Coming to America, when I was doing Boomerang, I got in a cab in New York, and this is an African cab driver, and he said, what are you doing? What's your name? I think I know you. I was like, yeah, I'm doing a movie with Eddie Murphy. He almost drove off the Triborough Bridge. He said, oh my gosh, Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy. He said in his village,

In Africa, when Coming to America was on the local cinema, that meant a tent.

just an enclosure. He said the entire populace would spill over and he watched this movie over and over again. So you have to think about it embodied everything. It embodied all of their dreams, all of what they thought America really was, you know, and their desire to come here. And he said, oh my gosh, will you tell him I say hello?

He is very famous man, you know, and just that. I mean, I think he's the greatest. I mean, I really do. When you look at the body of work that you have in your career, are there any things and places that you look at? Like, that's a choice I should have made. I was so close over there with a little bit of remorse. I mean, there's funny stuff. I remember producers came and they wanted to.

Pair me with Rob Schneider to do Dumb and Dumber. Because again, Dumb and Dumber at that time was a script that had just been passed around. And in the beginning of Jim's career, he took roles in which he said, nobody wants this. I'll do it, but I need absolute freedom. So that was one of those roles.

I don't regret not pairing with Rob Schneider. I just didn't see a success. But you would have done that. When you say Eddie Murphy, you wish he had taken it further. When you say, I've read you say that you wish that you had Richard Pryor's courage of taking it further. Yeah. Well, again, Richard Pryor had that because I remember I watched Blue Collar.

which was a serious Paul Schrader. They played autoworkers. He was really, really brilliant. Just a serious role. Lady Sings the Blues. These were very much inspirations to me. Somebody who was really funny but could also play serious pathos. Jackie Gleason. What was it? The Hustler.

Just really funny. I mean, I always wanted, I think Michael Keaton in one year, he did Clean and Sober, which was a tragic movie about addiction. Then he did Beetlejuice. And so that, in a nutshell, as a young actor, that was kind of what I wanted to do.

You know what I mean? The range. Exactly. But in one year, I think he did both these movies, which are polar opposites, and pulled them both off brilliantly. Always wanted to do that. Yeah, yeah. Still do. Well, this is a drama comedy that you're in now, right? It's what you're aspiring to. Well, my role is Dr. Ron. He's the oldest doctor on staff.

And he's totally given up. And I said, "I know this man." Because I'm sure he was on the vanguard. Big afro, you know, we gonna change the system. We gonna help all the poor people, you know, underprivileged.

Get them medicine. And, you know, and now he's like, just gets chewed up by the industry. I don't care. Set your own leg. OK, I give up. Yeah. So there's some good dark comedy. Yeah. But I mean, you know, just talking to you, I'm still excited about it. And we're in a time where more than any other time in my career, nobody knows what's going to happen in this industry.

Nobody knows no I do know this that there will continue to be outlets who will have to provide Content that's about it. Nobody knows how that's gonna be. It's not gonna be the way it used to be I'm talking about beyond a I'm on this show that I really love but to decide to do it it always comes down to the script

Who's created it? Who am I going to work with? That's why I said yes to St. Dennis, but moving forward, I don't really know. Well, can you explain because I've now talked to enough people in Hollywood over, uh, the last 18 months through the writers strike and everything else. And it seems that Hollywood is being churned up by hedge funds and we're headed toward three or five companies instead of Hollywood that are going to do all the production. And, uh,

they might not be making as dangerous things as if everybody was competing and it wasn't just corporate overlords taking things over. So from your perspective, as you say, I've never seen it like this. - Okay, there are a few things. I made a bunch of money

During the pandemic, because that was a time when streamers were throwing money at people. Everybody had big deals. Of course, we never knew what constituted a hit on Apple TV or Netflix because they never released their numbers. I grew up in a world where the Nielsen ratings say your numbers have slipped. It's so weird that they value and clutch onto the information that way, that Netflix is an information company as much as anything else.

Also, and I think throughout the history of Hollywood, there were auteurs or people who wanted to be artists, who wanted to invest in the belief that if I give you $10 million, you're going to create a piece of art.

But when you bring in IT people with an attitude of we're going to disrupt the way it's always been done, kind of like what Elon Musk did with Twitter, which is like, why are there a thousand people here? We'll get rid of everyone and cut it all down. Also, people who own the studios where that's not really where they make their money. Like, they don't really need...

the income or the profit from this studio they just bought to stay alive. So that creates a whole different paradigm. They're making their money on Wall Street, computers, software. They're not concerned. They're not concerned with that. So I think it's going to settle...

You're not sure. I don't know. You're saying that with no confidence. I say settle. The dust is going to... Don't ask me how it's going to ultimately turn out. All I know is that

Content providers are going to still have to provide content. What that's going to be, I can't tell you. Maybe one dude behind a blue screen with a bunch of AI creations all around him. I don't know. Nobody knows. That creates fear, caution. Everybody's holding their wallet because I don't know what you're going to do. You don't know what I'm going to do. So you go first. You know, that's I feel where we're at.

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Well, let me ask you a little bit about fear because I have, since I've gotten to 50 years old, whether it's, I'm not even talking about fear in business, although that too, I don't imagine you have too much career fear at this point. Even though this uncertainty is unsettling, I find myself with age and seeing just everything that's happening all over the globe, more afraid than I've ever been when I've never considered myself a fearful person.

And so I wanted to ask you as somebody who has lived and seen everything from your dad writing about black rage to like, what the hell is happening with race relations in this country now? Listen, man, when I was 12, I remember I ran in the house and this is Democratic Convention. They were beating the students. They put them in padded paddy wagons. And my best friend, I was telling you, Ronnie Livingston, I ran around the block.

and I ran in the house and he was with his mom was making dinner I was like they're they're beating the students in the world you know like the whole world's watching and Ronnie's mother turned around she went David that ain't nothing but some white folks they beat they all right now you gonna stay for dinner it was like that or when my mom having lived through world war ii the holocaust uh lynchings all kind of stuff when we were fired up about 1968 she was like

Okay, I mean, you know, this too will pass. I'm older. I grew up in a time where everybody got assassinated. An entire movement.

But these are scary times, man. I do know what I'm going to do. I try to concentrate on what I can do. My daughter, my family, I'm going to vote for who I'm going to vote for. The last election I got really hung up on, well, who are you going to vote for? But how are we going to be friends if you're not...

If you're not going to vote for who I'm voting for and you live right across the street from me, at this point, I'm going to do what I'm doing and I don't get in arguments. I don't ask. I just...

I'm going to do what I'm going to do. - Oh, but so many people are doing that one because they've learned of where families are broken apart and, oh, we can't be friends anymore. - Right, we lived through it though. Also, we've lived, this is act two. This is not the first act, you know? But I don't know. Israel, the Ukraine, Africa, America,

I've been left out Haiti. I mean, there's famine, war, destruction, hatred. I try to reach out to people I know and in my daily life. I try to walk in grace. Just don't be an asshole. Just be kind of nice. I say please and thank you. Not a corny thing, but just...

Cool out. Cool the fuck out. You don't have to argue with the fucking Uber driver and all this kind of bullshit. Real basically, that's what I'm trying to do. I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen November 7th, 6th. I just got in a nice house. I just fixed it up. I'm not trying to move.

But I don't know. Maybe you do. No, I don't. But what do you do with the fear? Are you any more afraid or do you have the peace of knowing? Look, I've lived.

lived a good life. I'm not in control. Accomplished many of the things that I wanted to know. Of course we're not in control, but the absence of control is one of the things that creates the fear for me. When, when we're talking about guns in schools and things happening in America that don't happen anywhere else. And, and your experience is different than mine because you've seen more and you've lived more. Uh, but, uh,

where it is that the divisions are today, you and I both know that if January 6th had happened and those had been black people in an insurrection, they'd be stacked up like logs on the front of-- - I'll give you a micro example. I was online.

It was a guy sprouting all this right wing stuff on my feed. Now, before I would call him out, ridicule him, we'd been in a big fight. And at this point in this day, I was like, well, you know what? We just don't agree. It's fine. We don't agree. And his reaction was shock and dismay. And he said, you didn't call me any names. You didn't curse me out.

He was flabbergasted and he said, I wish more people did that. I didn't I didn't sacrifice. I didn't subvert or prostitute myself in any way. I just said, I don't agree with you. I never will. And that's fine. And you're OK with how and where that can feel either helpless or hopeless. No, I don't like it. I mean, I don't like that. I just don't.

I'm flummoxed that Harris and Trump are neck and neck. After all the stuff we've done, I'm like, really? Like, I don't know. But I tried to calm myself this time because, again, that last election, until Trump got on that helicopter and it flew in the air, I was not convinced he was getting on a helicopter.

And it was, you know, that long period in which Biden won, but they still have to trend. There has to be the transfer of power. I'm just not as emotionally chained, listening constantly to every update, every this, the polls. That's another thing. We as a populace have gone through this before. When Hillary Clinton was running, I would at the end of every day, I would look at the New York Times poll.

And it said Hillary Clinton has a 98 percent chance of winning. And I'd go to sleep quelled with that. I mean, you could give me a poll, but I don't put stock in polls like because we've already been through it. I think very securely that we're going to see what we see when we see it. I can't tell you who's going to win. I know who I'm voting for.

I don't know how it's going to happen. I know one thing, you better get some popcorn because either way, it's going to be buck wild. And everybody with sense would tell you that. I don't know how it's going to turn out. I think...

that I'm happy that we're having more serious and adult conversations as opposed to last time. Oh, it's going to be okay. America would never do that. You know, this isn't in our blood. No, it is. Yeah, it is. We've already seen it. So I think going through this process, that is a maturity. You and I, we've already been through this cycle. We really don't know what's going to happen. And stand by. I mean...

- What are the ways that you were most obviously shaped by Detroit? - Wow, Detroit, I call it, this is a compliment I got by this older black man when I was in Michigan. He said, "You know the reason why I like you "is because you can talk to white people and black people "and you're the same." Like I'm not selling out. I think part of that, I'll say to some because

I'm sure some people think I have sold out. There's always someone who thinks that. I think it's called self-imposed schizophrenia. I went to predominantly white prep schools and I went to public school.

I saw and intermingled with both sides, which makes you uniquely aware of both parts of society. So I'm comfortable. I remember in my freshman year in college, black kids, and for them, it was really weird. This is the most white people they'd ever been around.

And for me, I really wasn't phased. And I thank my parents for exposing me to both sides of our society, the top and the bottom. I mean, not everybody gets that. It was to my benefit, man. I don't take anyone for granted. I always introduce myself. Half the time, they're like, we know who you are. I don't assume that. That's not how I was brought up anyway. My kid, my daughter, all her friends, how you doing, David? I'm like...

It's Mr. Greer. Hello, Mr. Levitard. Can Suzy come out to play? No, kids don't do that. How you doing, Dad? I got to imagine, though, that laughter is the thing that made you fit everywhere. Yes. Well, that's always because, you know, since Tartuffe, since Roman times, there was, you know, for years I thought, well, why is the...

the clown, the most dangerous and powerful character in Shakespearean plays because he can tell the truth under the guise of comedy. If you make someone laugh, you can talk all about them. I know who you are. I know what you did. But you put a laugh on there and people laugh. Ha, ha, ha. You get away with that.

What would you want people to know about what you were trying to accomplish with the American society? Let me finish the question. I haven't finished the question yet. I've got to tell people what you're laughing at. The American society of magical Negroes. I was intrigued by the character. You know, this is a guy that offered a way out. It's not what I believe in. It was basically for people who didn't, you know, see the movie and,

This is a guy who could shape shift. I see this young artist played by Justin Smith. I bring him in and I say, I think you could do what I do. Basically, they come and they intercede in racially tense situations. You know, the Jedi mind trick and cool it out.

in order to survive for black people under the premise that what's the most dangerous thing to black people in America, white people? Well, you can imagine. I remember my girlfriend, she goes, what's this movie that just got released? Some white dude on Facebook, man, this is the most racist movie I've ever seen in my life.

The other day, a woman on threads, black woman, you set us back 50 years. So I said, you know, and then there's some people who liked it. I mean, I didn't say everything I did was brilliant or whatever. That's the choice I made. It's not my political belief. It's just a character. But now...

Sometimes you do something, I mean, black folks, young black folks, they wanted it to be like they cloned Tyrone. They really wanted it to be like a secret society of black people who killed all racist white people. It's like, yeah, okay, well, that's a different movie. And so there, you know. So that's that. And as a matter of fact, I grew up around older black people with the attitude of my character. My grandmother was born in 1900.

She would tell me about the world she grew up in, in Mississippi, in which a caste system, a racial caste system was such, you know, as a little kid, I would be like, well, why didn't you do anything? And my grandma said, well, that's just the way it was. You know, that's not a message or a point of view that

black people want to hear, you know? But it was a reality in a certain time in our country. So, yeah, that's all it is. This is one movie. I was 40 years. I think you're assuming I didn't like it. No, you didn't like it. You didn't like it, Daniel.

- That's you, that's you man. - You making up these questions. - I asked you, you didn't even let me finish the question before you started battering my face with laughter. You're assuming I didn't like it and I'm simply asking you about your choice. - I'm laughing because usually when I do something wild, my brother, he calls up, "I didn't see this yet, but just tell me what the fuck is going on." - No, that's not what I was asking you that. - Okay, I'm gonna go see the movie, but just you tell me what the fuck.

That's not what was happening here. I want to tell the people that St. Dennis Medical on NBC is something that he is proud of, and he has had an enormous body of work that has a ton of range in it. And I don't know if you exceeded your expectations, but I got to imagine that you did on whatever it is that you thought your career would be, four decades of growth and with

all the range from laughter to dramatic to song, the Carmichael show, like a lot of range in everything that you're doing. So thank you for this time spent together. - Thank you. You know what, the greatest compliment I get

is when a total trained stranger, I'm promoting a new show and they say, "Well, look, I don't know anything about this, but if you're in it, I'm gonna give it a shot." That's great, man. - Yes, well, the reputation is earned. So thank you so much for spending this time with us. - Thank you, Dan. See, this was much more low key. - It wasn't till the end, until I offended you with a question that had a lot of scars on it. - There's one last thing I gotta mention. You talked about when you had to put your dog down

And it was very moving. Oh, thank you. I went through the exact same thing. And this is fame in a most awkward position. I'd gotten this new puppy. He had encephalitis and I was carrying him into urgent care. And there's an older white woman. She goes, is he all right? I said, I don't know. You know, they just told me he's dying. And as I was leaving, you look familiar.

I'm like, yeah, but I was getting my dog. Can you tell me what you've done? I was just like, and I stopped with the limp body of my dog crying going, well, I did some stuff. I did some plays. I was on Living Color. That's kind of a comedy. It was on in the 90s. I don't know if you've seen it. All the time she's like, no. Anything else? Well, I was on Broadway

I did this. I was just... And I was like, I gotta go. And she just kept going. Is there anything else? I did a commercial, a Dewey Stevens commercial. So I thought about you. And it's right, man. That is a brutal...

I should tell the audience that that story involves me being in a convertible, 2 o'clock in the morning, I'm trying to find an emergency vet, dies in my arms when I'm telling him it's okay to go, but the person who pulls up next to me can't see that the dog has died in my arms. So it's a shirtless me, 2 o'clock in the morning, sobbing at a stoplight, and the person then says...

Dan levitard. But my story is easier than yours. I don't feel the need to then engage with that person and go through my resume. My better story on that front was being - having a testicular exam where somebody is waving a wand, I've got my legs up in the air and at the end of it he says, "Hey, love your work."

People don't have, people ain't got no chill. It's always like that. Always in the most fucked up situation. My legs were up in the air. Speaking of booty holes, Dan, is that you? I love your take on the giants. You know, you're like, damn. Oh, yeah, it was brutal. It was brutal. But what are you going to do? Pleasure, sir. Thank you for the time. To finally meet you. Tell Poppy I said hey. Yes, I will pass along your regards. All right. This will be for

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