Mike Colter | Luke Cage

Hey, everyone. I'm Mike Kulter and you're watching on that note with Sean Stockman. Welcome to another episode of on that note. As you guys know, this is the only place where we speak a language we all understand and that is music. I am your host, Sean Stockman. And my guess today is an accomplished actor, best known for his powerful and charismatic screen presence across television and film born in Columbia, South Carolina and raised in a military family. And please correct me of any of these stats are wrong. I have no pride or ego. Well, well, military family, I mean, I have a brother and I have cousins who serve, but I and I did serve a little bit. I did do some some reserve training RTC. So I guess that's okay. So indirectly. All right. That's fine. Uh-huh. Cool. So enough. For the Secret Service agent. That's pretty good. There you go. There you go. He discovered his passion for acting early and went on to earn his MFA from the prestigious Rutgers University Mason Grove School of the arts. He gained widespread recognition for his breakout role as Luke Cage in the Marvel Netflix series, becoming the first black lead in a Marvel television show. His portrayal of the unbreakable Harlem based superhero made him a cultural icon and a fan favorite across the Marvel universe, also appearing in Jessica Jones, the defenders and obviously Luke Cage. Beyond Marvel, culture is built a dynamic career with impactful roles in both film and television. He currently ship stars as David Acosta and a critically acclaimed Paramount series, Evil, where he plays a former journalist studying to become a priest who investigates supernatural occurrences. That's crazy. Well, I want to know more about that too because I'm always been fascinated about shows like that. Um, his performance has earned praise for blending depth, intelligence and emotional nuance. He's also appeared in notable films such as Girls Trip, Plain, Men in Black 3, American Horror Story, and Million Dollar Baby. Known for his quiet, strength, intellect, and versatility, he continues to push boundaries as an actor while remaining deeply connected to his craft and community. He is a husband, a father, an outstanding actor and one of my favorite superheroes. Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for Mike Randall Colter. Oh, not the Randall. Oh, okay. Mike, that's the best intro I've ever had. That's the best intro I've ever had in my life. It's a real one. That's it. That's a, there you go. It's just just a mirror. My publicist gave you that, man. Yeah, I wrote that. Damn, man. Oh, well, I gotta talk to her, man. I gotta, but I'm like, do you hear what Sean said? Did you hear what Sean said? Because I don't know if you have reached No, I'm just saying, you know, no, it's all good, man. How you been? I'm good, man. I'm good, man. I'm so happy to be here. You know, I never podcasts. It was like, you know, I'm like, I'm always like, oh, you know, podcasts. And then, then I saw you doing podcasts. I was like, man, you know what? I actually have a friend of mine. I have several friends. I was like, I want to do Sean's, man. This one of those things was just like, I don't know what it was. It's like hitting the right note on that note. I'm like, I just feel like, I know you, bro. I don't know. That's weird. That's weird. It's like, sometimes you just feel like you know somebody. Yeah. And that's what it is. I think having, you know, you're, you guys in the zeitgeist, but also a formidable, you know, time in my life where boys, the men was just in the groove for me. Yeah. And I grew up in a, in that time of like, I'm going to college. Yes, sir. And I'm in high school. Yeah. And I mean, I was, you know, I was sitting on, on a couple groups, boy, boy groups, man, there was like, no, we got to do, we were doing boys and boys to men covers, man. We were just like, literally, that's what we were doing. So, so, so, you're saying you do have some pipes? I'm not saying that. I'm just saying we were doing covers. I didn't say we were good. You know, people here, man, it's like, man, you got to, you got to do the mic. I'm like, I don't know, man. I don't know. And I met these guys in Concentrion, you know, Benedict College and we started singing it. Man, I got to tell you, you know, you know, the, you know, the deal, the, the effect of, of singing on everyone, particularly women. But, yes, everyone, everyone, um, yeah, I won't lie. I mean, it's amazing. I mean, you know, especially when you're singing what we, what you guys think about, which is love and heartbreak and just dedication, which is a loss. I mean, I hope it comes back. But back then, it was just like, honest emotions, man. That seems to be an, an ongoing topic. Yeah. You know, on, on, on this podcast, the, the nostalgia, the, the need to hear this type of music again. Yeah. And I don't think it's an accident or a mistake. I think everybody's feeling the same thing. It's just all a matter of just, uh, the people who are currently, uh, running around in this business to actually make it a priority. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's really what it's, it's really that simple. Like, there's no business without music. The music part of it. Yeah. Of the music business. So like, you know, for those songwriters and producers who think that it's, it's kind of past A or, or whatever, it really isn't. And I don't think it'll ever be. No, I think it connects on human emotions and also simplifies what we all need. And I think the sort of, I don't know, I want to call it dumbing down of music and sort of like, all we need is a good beat and the lyrics are not that important. And what you're singing about is not that important. It's the same topic as love is love. Really? It's love, heartbreak, um, um, emotions, pain, suffering, and out of every great tragedy or love comes great music. You know, it's, and that's what it's about. So when you start going like, we're singing about things that I always say, look, I've, I've young daughters. I go, the rule is, you know, and they're pretty good about it. I'm like, can you just, can you just give me the lyrics? Can you read these lyrics out loud without, can you read these lyrics out loud? We talk about that. That's it. Can you read the lyrics? Can you repeat this in front of your grandmother, me, anybody? Can you read this and look at me in the eye? I think this is, that's, that's really it. That's it. You know, this is it. And you can still make music in 2025. That isn't overtly offensive. Right? And it's still very soulful and it's still very good. But again, it's, it's up to the people. It's up to those, those artists, those songwriters, those producers to believe it. Yeah. And then we'll hear more of it. Yeah. I mean, but anyway, thank you once again for being here. I'm excited for many, many reasons and we'll get into that. But first, I always like to open up the segment with a, with, with a little thing I call, we're going to go back, way back, back in the time. Okay? So you come, like I mentioned before, you come from Columbia. Yeah. If we're not mistaken, it's the same hometown as Chadwick Boseman, right? Well, no, so, okay. So I was born in St. Matthew, South Carolina. And then I went to school in Columbia, South Carolina. And Chadwick was born, I think in Anderson. So it's in South Carolina. And if you think about it, so I went to University of South Carolina, not too far from my hometown. And I, I mean, I'm not sure if he went to school, but Clemson is where his, where he's from. That's where Clemson is from, which is an arch rival of the game. So not that I'm going to rival, I don't watch the college sports sports like that. But that's, that's sort of the, you know, geographically speaking. So not too far. No, not too far apart. Okay, got you. Okay, so cool. So we're going to go back. All right, to where you grew up. Let's say, 86, I think you're right, 10 years old. Yeah. I know you're an actor, but again, languages, the languages music. And we all understand it. And we've all been around it. We've all been influenced by growing up in your house. Give me the, the view, give me the picture. Wake up in the morning. Is there music playing? And if so, what music was playing? And what inspired you around that time of growing up in those formative years? What, what, what did you hear musically that just got you going that you fell in love with and possibly helped you go into the career that you're going in? Absolutely. Absolutely. Great question. I've never really had to answer that question. I never really, because because my kids, I mean, I have an eclectic, and I say eclectic musical, you know, palette or taste. I really do mean that. And if you look at my, my, my phone or my iPod or whatever, not iPod, I'm saying iPod like we have iPod. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Song list. Yeah, yeah. I it ran the gamut. So obviously, born from the South, there was gospel music playing on Sundays. Sure. But aside from that, I mean, I grew up in a time where I was listening to things like, let's just say like I was borrowing the cassette tapes from my parents who had all of the Motown, all these artists. So I, you know, Deon Warwick, you know, the Ben E King, the B B King, the Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, all these great artists. I grew up listening to the scene into them, saying, cook. Yeah. And I was, you know, I was in the room, you know, yeah, sure, L, L, cool, Jay, I need love. But I was never been listening to the cassette tape playing that in the background or the phone. You know, I was, you know, I was, you know, I was, yeah, yeah, Mac and Mac and Mac and, but I, our boy, give that phone, you know, doing that thing. And then there was a time where I guess it was for me because music transcends and also takes you places. And a song will always bring you back to a certain point in your life. I was also listening to like Casey Kasim, like the top 100. So that way I was introduced to what my friends would call white music, right? Right. Right. And I was talking with really no right music because most of the white music was influenced by black people. So you keep like rock and roll, like rock a roll. That was us. So, you know, so people always try to sign a color to something. Yeah. So I was listening to all kinds of, you know, back in the day, listen to all kinds of music from then that would not have been something that people would be jamming out to, but, but I was jamming out to it because it's music. It was good music. It was good music. And so I looked forward to that because that was the only way I was going to get a different kind of music because regionally those, those, those, those DJs would play the same kind of music all the time. So yeah, in my region, you would hear the Whitney Houston obviously, the boys, the men, when that time came and things like that. But the other music, because they were like, it's regional. It's like, well, this is, this is not your demographic. So Casey, Casey would give me like a nationwide sort of exposure. That's right. Exposure. You know, life is a highway. You know, I would play all night long. You know, like Brian, Brian Adam, Adam, Adam, I'm not here. I'm going to hear Brian Adam's, unless, unless Casey, Casey, was playing Brian Adams. So yeah. So I just, I just, um, for me, it really wasn't obviously like guns and roses. I mean, literally, nobody was home. You know, that's me. I'm like doing jam jamming out. I'm jamming. I'm turning up the double cassette play and boom box. And I'm recording and doing, you know, my own thing and public enemy. I'm, I'm just just so much, you know, music was, music was life. And I'd imagine myself when I was able to drive because I was only 10 back in 86. Like you said, we had a 1966 galaxy forward galaxy. That was a really cool car. Yeah. And unfortunately, it never came to be for me because it was supposed to be my turn to have that car. And something happened financially did not get it. But I had always imagined myself driving because I was ready to, you know, I was between that and, you know, magic, Mike, you know, and like Luke Skywalker. You know, I'm ready to turn up the bass music. I'm ready to turn it up. And yeah. So I had everything you could think of in my household. That's good. You know, listen, I was the same way as a kid. Like I, I listened to obviously the R&B and all that because of where you from the, the, the proximity and everything. But yeah, I would turn to a station called WCAU and Q102 and Philly and all and listen to the white music and, and, and get just as much joy and out of it as anything else. Yeah. The baby face obviously, and yes, you, I heard you talk about baby face because it's made one a great song, right? Yeah. But I think what happens for me, I think I like to, you know, like Richard Havens is a great example, right? If you look at some of the stuff that he covered, I was tell people it's like he has this cover of, oh, here comes the sun. Here comes the sun. His version was, I mean, it's a one version on YouTube that's so and have the Congo drums. Yeah. And it makes that hair. Oh, I know you said, yes. And he's playing it. And he's riffing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's that rendition. Mix the hair on my, yes. I know. Yes. Yes. Yes. That's that flavor. I want to say, and I could be wrong, guys, correct me if I'm wrong. But I want to say he either performed that or some other record on and Woodstock. Well, yeah. Well, Woodstock, I think the first song was freedom. I believe. Yeah. I think he, because I think he, I think he came in at last minute to cover for, I'm not sure if it was hindered to someone else that was supposed to over. Yes, he was. He did. And he smashed it. And he smashed it. Like, mother, um, yeah. There's another song he had that's a real famous song. A mother something. I think I get like a couple minutes. Yeah. He tore it up. He tore it up. He has a very, uh, unique way of playing guitar. Yeah. If, if you guys ever watch him, like he uses his thumb, his thumb, I love that. Yeah. He puts his whole thumb on the bridge. Yeah. Over the, the fretboard. And that's how he plays his chords. I love, I love how he plays. I think I think he's a Jersey City guy. He passed away in Jersey City too. Oh, wow. Jersey City guy. And I, I had a Broadway off Broadway show. I played a blues singer. And I sort of use him as inspiration because I didn't play the guitar at time. Yeah, yeah. And I had to learn it a little, learn enough to play three songs and blues. Sure. Uh, genre. And then kind of use him as inspiration for that. Because I feel like with music, I tell people, I said, you know, the experience of, of us as a people that flavor, that we put on covers, it's a different thing. But I also love the music like whether it's a strokes or somebody else where the way you experience life, you know, it's like, I like people who haven't had a lot of trauma sometimes. Yeah. Because the music they put out allows me to experience trauma lists. To different lens. A different lens. Now I'm, I know some days I want to feel a certain way. And I'm in that mood. You know, I mean, I'm in the gym. I might want to listen to some hard stuff. But if I'm, you know, driving on the beach, I want to hear something that's uplifting or make me feel light. Yeah. When you do workout, right? Yeah. Because everybody has a workout. And if I has different playlists, whatever, what do you listen to to get yourself into the workout? Workout. I mean, for a while, obviously, I think it was DMX back in, you know, DMX was that was that go to now, I mean, there's so many little Wayne, I think is, you know, because, you know, they things that that have lyrics that I would only do on a regular basis, but it makes me angry. Yeah. Yeah. So I use it. I use it very, very sparingly. And I, and I, and very purposefully, when I'm playing it, because I tell people all the time, you listen to angry music or intense hard music all the time, it's subconsciously programs you. It affects the way you think and the way you talk and the way you behave. So I'm very careful. It's like, I know exactly what that is. And I put that in when I need it. You know what I mean? Yeah. And that, again, that's the the beauty of music. Like it's a frequency. So whatever you need at that moment in time, you just hit play and it'll service it. Whatever is going on. Now at your high school, it's called Calhoun County. Calhoun County. Yeah. Yeah. You founded the drama club and became its first president. Yeah. Yeah. It was, uh, I, I, there was no drama club. And I remember, when I was in this sixth grade, I think it was Mrs. Mrs. Elliott, a language teacher. And we did a, I don't know, class reading of some Romeo or some Shakespeare. And I think I don't know if everyone did Romeo and Juliet. But I just remember reading that part. I wasn't really acting as much as just reading it or reading it in front of the class or whatever. Maybe remember, remember, remember, I said, whatever. But that was part of the spark for me. My mom wanted to be an actress. And she never fulfilled that dream because a lot of things came into being a lot of things gotten away. So I sort of also as a, as a, as a youngest was like, you know, there was always that purpose. Sometimes, you know, your connection to your parents, whether it be to prove them wrong, to, to make them happy, to make them proud, to show someone, there's always a motivation to life. And I think, for me, I think a part of my journey was fulfilling something that she didn't get to do. It was, it was, it was like, I'll do it. I'll do it because you didn't get a chance to. And, um, and it's also being the youngest. I think you have this thing where it's like, you know, I'm, I'm his four kids. How do you, how do you then become noticed? How do you become, you know, seen? And so I was, ever since I was like eight or nine, that was the thing for me. And then I remember getting to high school and Mrs. Caldwell was the teacher. And she had, um, uh, liking for the arts. And I said, you know, we'd love to do a play. And I did a, I did like a mouth, I did a speech for Malcolm X or something like that. My dad. And she said, you know, that was really good. And I said, yeah, I really like this. And I said, we love to do a play. And so I said, she said, well, we could do a play if you could find other people who were interested to do a play. Wow. And so we had like electives. We were doing, you know, you had home, echo, whatever. You had these things you could do. And I think we just sort of created this elective suddenly. And I figured, you know, if I could talk to people, I had a lot of people. I wouldn't say I had a lot of friends. I wouldn't, I'd have a best friend, but I had a lot of people I would, I would be interacting with them when they're in ROTC or whether some sports or whatever. And I found people who had no interest in acting. But I made it cool enough for them to say, that sounds cool. And I remember walking around school, recruiting people, literally going, Hey, man, we're going to do a play. Would you want to do the play? And we, and I literally borrowed like clothes for the play. I borrowed someone's jewelry because we needed to, we needed jewelry. I was literally borrowing things to use for the play. And I'd give it back to them after the show. And we made the entire school come to see this play. And that was like the beginning of it. Young might create a whole new curriculum in his old and it's literally. It was, it was, it was like, it was so necessary. It was destined. Yeah, I guess that's awesome. And then after you graduate, well, first off, do you think that's the reason why you were voted most ambitious? I do think that was one of the reasons I think, I think because I was always around faculty and people who, I mean, whether it was my guidance counselor or whether was the principal, like I wasn't a, it wasn't like I was a brown noser, but I was always in the office because back then, I remember they said, you know, we needed someone to do announcements on the PA system. And I couldn't wait because I was like, oh, this is something to do performative. It was something before me. I was like, so everyone, I got on the, on the intercom every morning, and I would announce the, the sports scores and the, whatever else that they needed to say. And that was the first taste of exposure because everyone's listening to me speak on this intercom and the entire school hears it. And I had my voice that already just drop. I was about to say, it's a pair you have the voice drop by that time. You know, it went through that cracking and and so when I got there, then everyone was like, oh, man, you're like, like Brian Gumball, you know, whatever Brian, that was that was the only dude. Brian Gumball was the only brother on TV that anyone knew. That's right. It was like you Brian Gumball, that was the comparison like that. You know, James Earl, Brian Gumball, whatever that was. Yeah. Right. Right. So that was the first taste of it. That's crazy. I'm thinking more little James Earl. Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, you got, you got those, those undertones. And let me tell you, that that's not a, that's hard. Well, actually, you either have it or you don't. Yeah, yeah. When you have that type of low end in your voice, again, we had a guy in our group. Yes. A Mike McCarrie who, the reason why he was even in the group is because there's some people in singing groups where they try to talk low. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, they try to do do all of that. Late night radio. No, he actually spoke like that. Yeah. Like at 16. Mm-hmm. Yeah. His voice was freakishly low to the point where it's like, you know, you got to be in the group, bro. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause that decibel you're hitting is just ridiculous. Yeah. Yeah. And he's not trying. Like it's just kind of like he'll hit a low note. And it was just like vibrate. That's interesting. Because when I, when I, my instrument changed, I was very, very sensitive and self-aware of it. And I did not like hearing my own voice because, you know, back in the day, we had the, the answering machines, right? Yeah, right. And people would kill. I didn't like it. I didn't like hearing my voice played back. So I was always very self-aware and subconscious of it, you know, of the, of that. And so even in my career, when I'm, there's times where I actually changed the octave higher. I, I don't speak the way my voice really was. Yeah. Because it gives me more range in certain parts. I, the, the very, very resonant voice. It's sort of, it's sort of indicative of a certain character. So I had to sort of change my voice at times, subtly, just to allow me to feel like the character that I'm portraying. But man, back then, did you understand how well that would have went with the ladies? Oh, I used it back. Listen, listen, this was after. I, I, you know, I'm taking it. Yeah. No, we're talking about, when I got to, to be talking about like, you know, after I graduated from, from Mason Girls, and I got into that. No, before that, I was milking it. Yeah, I was not the same. My goodness. No, I didn't even get it when the older women were asking me, hey, come here. You thought, I'm like, what do you, what do you, what do you talk about? I didn't know why do you ask me to speak. You know, you know, it's like a deep voice. Yeah, I'm like, you know, it shook some things, shook some things, shook some things, took me a minute to figure it out. Right. Right. Right. I'm going, I wonder why did he pass it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a vibration. And I was, you know, vibration, leave it to that. Yeah. Right. So after you graduated, you kind of moved and went to school, kind of in my area, went to Rutgers. Yeah. Rutgers University and the same is actually a guy that I did a report on, Mr. Paul Robison. Yeah. Yeah. What was it about Rutgers that made you want to go there? You know, Paul Robison obviously was a formidable presence back in the day. And I mean, he would have been a phenomenal presence today. He was ahead of his time. Yeah. He really was. In many ways, you know, like, you know, there's, there's a lot of figures that there's one of one. He's one of those people. Yeah. You know, the reason I went to Rutgers was pretty simple. I found my way into the into this career through sort of just, you know, I wasn't prepared when I got out of high school to really figure out where I was going. I sort of, it sort of happened. I had to look just back in the day. There was no worldwide web. You just look in and find out what the top schools are. Sure. That wasn't there. I was excited. All I had was an exyclypidia. Yeah. I had never heard of a Juilliard or a tissue or a part of $1. Yeah. I had never heard of those things. I went to, you know, I basically went to these things called the Erdas auditioning. And from what from there, I had to pick and the pick. I just chose someone who I knew based off of a recommendation. Yeah. You know, hindsight's 2020 had I mean, I probably would have auditioned for other schools, but you know, I got there and it worked out for me. Yeah. Now, it's funny because again, I was going to ask, that's why I asked Rutgers. I mean, they do have a great art program. But it was a top 10 at the time. And I'm like, Gandalfine, that's a great alumni. Gandalfine, and you know, and you know, the same, you know, teacher that taught him taught, you know, Paul Servino. There's a lot of great, you know, people who've come to that school. But I had never heard of any other ones. I just went to Rutgers. Dig. Okay. Now, one Juilliard student that I know of that if I'm not mistaken is your cousin, Biola Davis. Yeah. Wow. That's crazy. It's crazy. Yeah. I didn't know that probably until I was, I'd heard of, I mean, I'd heard of her from my parents. Yeah. And my, and my, and family because I knew people, her cousins, and funny because I mean, literally her, I don't know if it's her first cousin or I'm not sure the relation, my father worked with, worked with him. And he looked just like her. Like, like, like, literally like, I'm like, I didn't, didn't know. But then I saw, I'm like, oh, they, they just look alike. Right. Like, there's so many people I know that favor her. Yeah. But I didn't know they were cousins. Yeah. And so I probably was, I'd already decided I want to be an actor. So hearing about her as an actress and seeing her, her success only, only helped inspire me to keep going. But I had, I did, I met her probably the first time in 2018 or 19. Seriously? Yeah. So I didn't know her growing up at all. And I didn't, I had no access. But nor, nor did I think it was necessary. I think a lot of people, of course, right. It's nice. A lot of people, you know, refer to nepotism or whatever, I mean, you know, or some sort of connection, all who you know. Right. But I think, you know, the way I am and I think the way she is and the way most people are from my neck of the woods, you like, you got to earn it. You figured out, just go out and you just keep working that kind of thing. You know, and it's, and only after I sort of had some success, people started going, oh, you also are connected to buy. Yeah. Obviously, it's in the genes. I mean, because you guys are both extremely skilled and amazing actors. So like it might be in the water too. It might be in the water. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Something from the neck of the woods. Yeah. It's, it's, it's amazing. Now, I mean, outside of that, when you went to Rutgers, you also met your wife. Here, but not mistaken. Right. How was that encounter? Uh, we met in a gym and it was random because I don't think I would never, you know, the gym is just not the place, you know, but it wasn't a place I was. Especially nowadays. Well, yeah, exactly. Especially nowadays. Might be on camera. Right. Don't get much done on that. Yeah, it might go camera. But also, you know, people back then, I mean, I wasn't paying for the gym. It was like I was a student gym. So it was no fear of like if I, if something didn't go well, well, I got to change gyms. Well, I mean, there's other gyms that work out. You know, I mean, it wasn't my favorite gym. It was a gym, you know, um, but yeah, we met there. And, uh, yeah, I mean, it was a long time ago. I was like 27, 23, 24 years ago. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Did it, was it love it first sight? Or was it like, no, she, I mean, you know what? She turned me down just in terms of like I, I approached her to be fair. She was the first sight for her. No, no, no. You know, to be fair, I'm gonna be fair. Yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm being out of fear. So it was, it was, it was, it was an attraction. What happened was I, I said to her what I say, I said, um, I offered to spot her on the bench. Of course. And that was very smooth. That was smooth. It was, it was practical, right? Yeah. You need a spot. Yeah. Problem was she was playing. I got it, like, you know, I'm strong enough to do this. Right. Not really realizing that that was my icebreaker. Right. Right. And so I read it as rejection. And she missed it opportunity. She was really just trying to work out. Well, yeah. So she was trying to show me she could bench this thing. Right. Right. She actually said, I, I, she wanted to talk to me, but she also thought she wanted to show that she could do it. Right. She didn't play. So months go by before I see her again. Wow. And then the next time she saw me, she made sure to correct the situation. She was like, Hey, how you doing? I'm seeing you know, wow. So I forgot about it because I thought that was just a missed opportunity. Right. Oh, wow. Yeah. And she picked it back up. Hello. Hey, yeah. Yeah. I actually do need a little. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. No, hey, you're right. I was working out, but it is still talking. I wasn't really working out that hard. Right. Right. Right. Okay. So you guys get together. Then you graduate. Your first major role was in million dollar, baby. Yeah. First major role. I think it was, you know, that's the one Hillary Swank. Yes. Hillary Swank. He was, he was, he played a big, little, big, really little. Yeah. I remember that. That was a great name. Contradiction. Yeah. Big. That's what that's a great name. I was a big, little man. Right. How was that? Like what was the energy working? I mean, that was a Oscar winning film million dollar. Yeah. What was it like? Worker with Clint and with Hillary? Like, did they give you an ice like? Yeah. When I went for Oscars, man, it gives one as a part of the cast. Do you know? But if you're a producer, you get a part of as a best picture, which is one and Clint won best director and Hillary won best actors and Morgan Freeman won his first Oscar best supporting. And yeah. And to me, I mean, that year, because Jamie was up for Ray, which is just, you couldn't be Jamie for Ray. That was, was against Jamie for the Ray. But that being said, I always say that this was Clint's best performance. Yeah. And, and he could have won if it were not for, you know, transcendent performance of Jamie Faw for Ray. I remember this, this everything about that time, because as a young actor auditioning often not expected to get any parts. Right. I hadn't had a lot of success, but I had audition for Phyllis Huffman, who was Clint Eastwood's only casting director. She had worked with him since outlaw Josie Wales from like 1975 until that moment. Wow. And she went on to work with him until she passed away in like in 2008. You know, God rest her soul. Great woman really helped me change my career, changed my life. Yeah. Um, she auditioned me because I had done a little independent film with Danny I. L.O. called Brooklyn lobster. And I think the director was Kevin Jordan. I can't remember it. But I met, I met, um, that's where she, she cast me in that small part. It was, you know, something, but I met a lot of New York actors. Danny L.O. was, you know, great guy, a lot of great kind words and sort of encouraging. Yeah. But she then after that, I remember having a rap party, you know, I was just happy to be around people who were working actors and just being in the mix. And as she said, I got this role coming up in this movie, um, million dollar baby, Clint's casting, of course. And I was like, and I'm thinking, yeah, okay. Yeah. All right. You know, sure. Okay. Yeah. And I think you'll be right for it. I'm like, okay, I've heard that so many, but I'm just like any, any other. I was not actually, I was like, okay, cool. I didn't, because I'm the kind of guy, like we were talking before we started rolling until it's in the bank until we started. Yeah. Yeah. I don't, that's not me. I stay people always say, oh man, you, you sort of even keel, you know, a lot of down, I tell people, I think it's nice to be in a, in an idle position where you're sort of running, you know, not too high at all times, because the highs are highs and lows are low. And you got to brace yourself for the roller coaster ride. So I'm always in a staying spot. And I'll get there when I need to get there, but I'm not anticipating, you know, things. I say, you know, set your expectations low, over exceed, over deliver. That's right. Um, wow. So when she told me that I was like, oh, great. Okay. Cool. I'll audition. And that's, that's going to be that. But he doesn't see anyone in the room, which is his, his thing. And it's a great thing. As an actor, he understands the pressure that he would put on someone being in the room. I mean, you're Clint Eastwood. You're sitting in the corner. Yeah. Like if I'm auditioning, Clint would be back there. You're behind, Clint's behind the camera with Phyllis. And he's there. I can see him. He's dirty Harry. He's dirty Harry. He's, I mean, come on. I mean, he knows. And you know, I mean, like, so because of that, it made the audition experience much better because she would audition. She would read with you, give you a note, give you an adjustment. And then she would send it to Clint and they could would decide based on the tapes. And very few directors would do it that way. Um, so when I, when I heard back, she said, he liked your tape, want to bring you back in, want to do an adjustment, come back in, did it differently. Um, and then he asked me did I box? And I said, of course, I didn't box. But of course, back to that, back in the third age. Oh, yeah. Back in a certain age, before I would say first five, five years of my career for sure, I said I did everything without without even hesitation. Yes. Horseback. Yes. I figured out. Yeah. I'm not kidding. Yeah. Figure it out. That's hustle 101 right? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And so she called me. I was, I was working in a restaurant. I went to restaurant up beside. She called me. I saw the phone ring on my agent call me and said I got the role. I was like, oh, nice. Nice. I read, when I read that script, I knew I read it in January of February. We filmed that thing somewhere probably. Oh, summer. Yeah. About three months later. And then it was in theaters. Just somewhere in December. And I remember everything about it. Why that fast? Oh, yeah. It was so because it was, we shot Clint shot that in 32 days. It was because he was like an ND film. Yeah. It was in the, like, I think the budget was $30 million or something like that. And it did very well. But when I read the script, I told my agent at the time, I said, this is before I got the part, I just read it. And I said, this is going to win all the awards. Yeah. He's like, you think, yeah, I said, this is going to win every the impact because it had impacted was just a simple story. You didn't see that thing coming. You know, I always wanted to ask and actor this because again, me being in a music business, I can hear a song and know, you know, this is going to be a big record. Yeah. Yeah. And, and even being careful on the hit thing. Yeah. Yeah. Just put you looking at good. Yeah. It's going to be a good record. But what's a good script look like? Like, what's like, like, when you read a script, yeah, and you go, yo, just like you mentioned, this is going to be crazy. Like what made you feel that that was going to be like a hit, which it was you can't, you know what it is? It's really just, and this was again, before I knew who was going to be in it, just based on the script alone as a Paul Haggit script. And he also thinking one, the next year for Crash, which is going to hit our nice run for him. And he was trash. Yeah. So, and the crash came up actually before I think it before that came up. But it was just something with the timing. But I remember reading it and I was tell people, it's like, I didn't know Clint was going to be in it. I know Morgan was going to be in it. I didn't know Hillary was going to be in it. I just read the script based off of the characters and what I saw. And when you can't put script down, you know, like, like sometimes just an actor, you go, let me just read my part, see if I mean like that. Let me just read a, have a reskimment. Yeah, skimmit. Like I'm trying to figure out by the like, but I read it. And I'm like, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't put it down. And I read, and then when I, when I got to the part, when you know, if you've seen the film, I made me cry. I was like, okay. And I was like, and I put it down and I was in was that moment where it's like some movies. I think I was talking to, um, because I did men of like three, I remember working with Josh Brolin. Yeah. Same thing. And I just saw him to say this on a podcast or something. No country for old men. There's certain movies. Yeah. And he was like, where if you're a part of it, I don't really care to watch my own stuff. But sometimes something's your part of it doesn't matter if I'm in it. I'm going to watch it anyway. Cause I mean, being in it is actually not going to ruin it because the product itself is so good. I'm, I can actually disassociate from the fact that I'm in it. That's, yeah. And so he watched that. He was like, it's that speechless moment. I put the script down and I was speechless when I read it. I was like, oh, and I just sat there on the couch for like, like 20 minutes. Wow. And I just like thinking about this, this, this, the story. And I was just like, my God. And then I called my agent. I said, who do I have to kill to be in this? Right. Because I'm just, I'm, I'm, I'm not an actor that no one knows me. Yeah. This is an audition. But I, I just loved it. So you just want to be in the energy. Yeah. That's crazy. Like, cause I always wondered like when people say, oh, this script is a minute. I, I guess it's almost like reading a book that you never read before and you can't put it down. Like, you know, when you read it and you're just engulfed with the story and and, and the characters and, and all the other stuff, I guess that makes sense. Cause it's like, you know, I've heard that a million times. But I guess reading a script is a little different from reading a book because in some, to some degree, like they have, okay, seen this boom, boom, you got it. Like, maybe not like, you know, I'm, I'm kind of working this out my hands. You know, I think that's working is that what you're tapping into is that if you, if you think about it, what I, what I found out nowadays and why it's not working and why some things do work, I think there's a lack of obviously creativity and lack of, of, what I would say is courage because, you know, look, to be fair, Clint East would have a final edit, he was a final edit director, which doesn't happen very often anymore, but, which means you get final cut, right? Yeah. You get to actually put the film out that you want to put out. Not what the studio say. Yeah. No one can come in and tell you this is the, edit. This is the cut, right? Yeah. So if you have that kind of freedom, the budget was the kind of budget where nobody's overlooking your shoulder, you know, was overlooking over your shoulder looking at you. Yeah. So people were coming to set, but it was no one that was going to come and tell Clint how to shoot this. Sure. You know, Bert Reynolds was stopped by, you know, you got, you got, you know, people stopping that. I'm like, whoa, but just a list is hanging out, right? Yeah, just hanging out. But nobody's, nobody's helping him deliver this thing. And he always said, you know, I'm making movies that I want to see. Yeah. And if you have a singular vision, you have a bigger, a better chance of coming up with something really unique. And now I feel like everyone's, what this generation or even studios are like, their opinion of what's good is something that reminds them of something else that they know already was successful. Sure. So if you sell or pitch, and I'm sure the music industry is somewhat similar, it's like, can you give me something like, yeah, yeah, all the time. Oh, this reminds me of all the time. This is like, if you do this, oh, what if we put so and so in on this? Yeah. It's just, it's sort of like, I don't know, it's a formula that is pulling away from uniqueness and just originality. It's a it's a yang and yang tug and pull thing. You know, it's like, it's always going to be somebody to say, do it this way that way. You have a vision as an artist. You know, what you want your product to look like or sound like or that whole thing. It's, but I guess it's necessary because, you know, it does bring out certain elements that if those people weren't there, you might have you might not have thought twice about it. Sure. Sure. So you have to stick to what you know, there's how many times have you been told to change certain elements of this podcast, Sean? A few. Yeah, me too. Like you should do this with Sean or Sean. To this. It's like, we have an identity. We're sticking to what we're doing. You know, we're doing because if we start floating in the wind, you know, you don't know who you are. Yeah, you're not trying to do everything to everyone. Right. Even our shows, like when we still do shows and stuff like that, like I have people coming up, the band needs to be like this. And you know, you're like, all right. Thank you. It's nice to have an opinion and it's nice to have someone with input, but it can't be seven or eight cook in the kitchen. No. No. You trust the people. It's awful. That you whose opinions you that matter to you. And that's it. And that's it. That's it. Yeah, I agree. Well, you also played, you know, you moved on. You got a lot of stuff like that, that you've done like in just the past few years. You also played the role of Jamison lot. And the Halo franchise. Did you know anything about the game before you took on a role? No, I didn't know anything about that. And I think, I think, you know, I guess, you know, what it was, I think sometimes strategically in the career and this strategy to everything, right? Yeah. So sometimes I think by the time I got to hover long, you know, I'd been before, I'd been a business a little while, I started realizing, all right, look, I got to do some action at some point. Right. Right. I got to do some action. There has to be some my portfolio. I know what I want to do, but I also know what I can do. And I also know what helps to create opportunities for other things. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. So you got to look at your careers like a portfolio. Sometimes you got to diversify a little bit. And I want to do a lot of stuff. Yeah. So I have to sort of think to myself, don't be too precious with everything. Sure. Sure. I have a niche that I think is specifically for me. Yeah. But at the same time, I know that if I go down that road and open up that door, I can bring in a certain group of people that will now, I can also usher them to this because what I like to do is this, I like just create opportunities in fans. Right. And I don't want to do the same thing over and over. Whether it's this thing, you know, Halo or whether it's a Marvel, whether it's this, you know, the evil, the horror thing, whether it's like, you know, the plane action, I just try to figure out when to sort of read this keep myself a being bored. Yeah. So Halo was my idea in terms of like, oh, I was doing it a good wife at the time, which was I was playing this. What people would, oh, you sort of playing this drug deal. I go, no, I'm playing actually playing a guy who's a businessman who has a diverse portfolio and a lot of businesses. And I hate when people sort of try to, you know, diminish, what did I try to diminish because I'm not playing like a drug deal because I'm black and there's a drug deal. That's not what he is. So, but the person that was developing or producing that also work for really Scott's, Salovision, Scott free productions, they produced Halo. So he came to me and said, I think this might be interesting for you. And I thought this is definitely different. And I'm looking for something action oriented. Yeah. And that turned out to be Halo, which which actually made a great trailer. Right. It was in the movie theaters. People were seeing a trailer. I was watching seeing a thing. They were just seeing a trailer. And I'm going, oh, this is great. And so then Marvel comes not. And so the Marvel thing. So everything played out the way it could have, it should have played, I would say, in my mind. I'm going to tell you one thing that Marvel has done, at least the first regime I like to call it, is they really put it, they really understand how to cast people. Yeah. And I don't know if you notice about me, but I'm a comic book geek. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm a Marvel geek, specifically and a Luke Cage power man, you know, was was one of my first introductions into comics like this guy that looked like me, but obviously a hell of a lot bigger, with his yellow shirt on. Yeah. And a headband kicking ass. You know, I that instantly drew me, you know, to and to be honest, I will say you fit the bed. No one else I think could play Luke Cage, but you know, I was saying from from the way you look to the size, the whole nine yards, you are from when I first saw the series on Netflix, I was like, yo, that's Luke Cage. Yeah. 100% and I instantly got into it. And again, you killed that role. Like is you can tell me is there any, you know, possibility to listen to that? I will say this. I've had conversations. Please. I've had conversations. I've had conversations and I'll leave it at that. I've had conversations. I've had some conversations, which before I was, no, I'm telling you no, no, because I actually was like when it wrapped, you know, look, I like, I love playing Luke Cage, but also just like, you know, look, it's I love acting. I love doing different things. Sure, sure, sure. I just was like, you know, I'm gonna do something else. And so I love the fans and I love that world. And so it's been years now. Yeah. So now like, you know, I'm doing other projects. Yeah. Now I think to myself, I have some unfinished business there. 100% and I talked to Chio about it, you know, he's a creator of and showrunner. And now I think I reached the point where I'm like, you know, get some unfinished business. And I think, you know, there are devils back. So yeah, I'm like, you know, bring the defenders back. Yeah. Jessica back. Jessica's back. You know, she's art. So I'm like, yeah, you know, yeah. I would say we're in a we're in a better position to see this come into fruition faster than we think. And then so yeah, we'll see. You just gave me hope. Yeah. I was giving no, I was giving no one hope before I'm giving hope at least. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You also played in a movie that I really enjoyed with your art butler. Oh, yeah, yeah. Play. Mm-hmm. Okay. Now I have a very specific question asked. Okay. Because you played a Lewis Gaspar, arrested for murder, assumed a villain. Yeah. But by the end of the movie, you were one of the heroes. Yeah. Well, first off, where was that shot? Exactly. We shot then Puerto Rico. I was at Puerto Rico. Yeah. I wasn't the Philippines. The Philippines were not allowed to shoot this. Sure. And when it came out, I think they actually wouldn't let us even they wouldn't even screen the movie there because they thought it was it, it is shine to a light on their government or what the part of their community that seemed and I didn't think that because I have a lot of Filipino friends. You know, look, LA has a lot of Filipinos. Yeah, right. There's also in outside of New York City, Jersey City. There's a lot of Filipinos. I know a lot of Filipinos. Right. No one that I've talked to who I would consider friends or friendly with. They didn't take offense to it. I mean, they did. But again, I speak of all Filipinos. Right. There was no harm or intention intended. Of course. So we needed someone to be the, but yeah. Sure. Sure. And yeah, I got a lot of friends that are Filipinos too. Shout out to my homie, Joe Koy. Joe Koy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But okay. So that's be as be specific. What do you think? This is my your opinion. Where do you think Louis went with that half million dollars? That's a good question. Look, to be full disclosure, we were supposed to shoot a sequel to that. Oh. And it was announced. And yeah, and Jerry, you know, Jerry called me two weeks before pre-production. He said, we're supposed to go to pre-production. And he pulled out. And it was it was based on, it was focused on my character. It was going to tell you everything. I read the script. It was great. It was great. And I could tell you exactly what happened. But I can't tell you because it's it's it's we didn't shoot it. So I'm going to have to pretend I didn't read it. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It was it was a bummer. I really it was a great ending. But we left it. Producers call me pretty much immediately. They said, let's we want to we want to keep the story going. And I was like, cool. Because I thought it was a lot more potential for the character. It was a great movie. Yeah. It was and it was going back to what I'd like to say. It was like to talk about the music. It's like going back to a time where forget about the CGI and all the stuff that we can do. It's like just just a simple story that you can that you can buy that was human driven like people could relate to. It was a time element. They were so I thought it turned out well. And I would love to have seen where was going to go. It did. It went really good. And but you you leaving off with that cash like it was kind of a clip hanger. It was kind of like, okay, where do you go? I deserve that cash man. Yeah. I think everybody's happy. I had that. Everybody was happy. I was like, yeah, even the brother, the guy that was in the the. Yeah. Yeah. But we, you know, come on and play. Yeah. I gave them a look. And he, and he looked he was like, it was like, he looked like, I got. Yeah. Well, because listen to the hotel. Well, he's a thing to be fair. I was like jumping to shark and festive waters. It wasn't like I was that. And that's why I wanted to see the story continue because it wasn't like I was home free. The mercenaries people were on the island. They left me behind. And that's my point. That's where where did you go with that? Listen, now you're making me want to that script was so good. I love that script. Okay. I don't tell me. It was so good. I loved it. It was so good. But maybe you could tell me some stuff off camera. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Off camera. I'm right. We're right. Okay. All right. Cool. Real quick. Top five. Mm-hmm. Favorite actors. They can male female. It doesn't matter. You're top five. Yeah. That's okay. That's interesting. All right. Because I mean, I hate people to say the goat stuff. There's always this goat conversations that I think the goat is so overused. Yeah, it is. I think it's everybody's a goat. Everybody's a goat. Go, go, go. And I'm like an acting which is subjective. And to be fair, I mean, I watched. I just was at the Brazilian festival Bravo. No festival a couple nights ago. Did a movie end up and that woman Tilly who runs the festival last I think 17 years now. She invited me and Brazil has a phenomenal film industry. Obviously City of God, one of my favorite films. The actress won for best actress. I'm still here a couple years ago. There's just there was another second mother which I watched several years ago. There's another great Brazilian film. I know a lot of Brazilian films and I watch it and I just think that there's a lot of culture around the world that is making films that no one in America watch. You know, know about a lot of actors. A lot of you know, so directors, visionaries. So we people talk about favorites. It's a good thing to say because they're not I'm not saying who's the best. I just because that there's just it's just so many people so many artists. Yeah. So just give me so five that that inspired you. So five obviously your favorite. So I mean, to do not say Denzel be lame because it's of course Denzel. Yes. You know, and in in city party. Those are like, city party eight Denzel. I mean, you know, that's just one of those things. I can't, you know, like city party one of one one of one of one of one. For sure. Disturbered love. I mean, there's so many movies. But guess who's coming in and also which is another one. No one really. Patrick Blue. Seeing that one? No. Check that one out. That's probably one of my it's probably one of my favorites. Patrick Blue. The actress won the Oscar for the I believe it that you check it out. I've seen it more than once. Okay. And it's different. It's a different city party. And I think because of the way he is in the film, maybe that's one of the reasons it's not talked about. Okay. We check it out. Okay. Patrick Blue is another one. I like him. He's Paul Newman. Okay. But so let me just take those two out Denzel and city party because I feel like those are just a given because of me because of where I was. But no, because I like my list to be I like my list to be something that expands people's knowledge of me but also in general because I think black act we always say those. Sure. Sure. Okay. So I'll just leave those two out just because of that. That's a given. Okay. That they're my favorite to my favorites. I would throw let's see. I was saying. Hmm. Good. Harvier Bardem. Now please give us a who's Harvier Bardem. No country for old men. Oh, okay. Okay. The guy that played the murderer. Oh, yes. Oh, he's sick. Yes. He's phenomenal. He's sick. Yeah. That scared shit out of me. That movie. Yeah. I thought. Yeah. I mean, he's just, you know, the he was menacing his, but his work is body of work. I mean, he's just a he's just a really, really really great actor. Yeah. Gary Oldman and maybe maybe I shouldn't put it because I think there's a lot of people. Gary Oldman, you know, it's a lot of them for reason. Yeah. Yeah. A lot for reason. He's awesome. Yeah. Gosh. I've never had somebody ask me because most of people just, you know, they just say the same people over and over. Right. Obviously, I'm going to leave Streep out because Streep is just, you know, this may not. Streep is the goal. Streep is the goal. Streep is the goal. Well, what's street? You know what happens? I would tell people. They were only a handful of actors. Like those 20 years ago, once they were only making so many movies or whatever, they were using same actors. Yeah. All the great parts. Yeah. All the great parts. So I'm going to leave the book, you know, but but Streep, obviously, I mean, Newman, you know, yes. Um, you know, that's that's sort of like, you know, of course, I always like to throw in, you know, but Chino because people people think but Chino, see what happens with people like but Chino, they forget the stuff. They forget. They're like, they're like, what's what's what's, yeah, he's and I always go, they go scar face dogs day after noon. Yeah. You know, they don't, they don't know the parts that are like those those parts that made you made him like a household name. He's a real one. He's a real one. Yeah. Like, you know, just because, you know, you get to send a woman and then you start, you start doing, you know, these things where it's like, they're writing strips for a character that you have played that they like. I think people enjoy certain actors in certain situations. Yes. And it's a it's a gift in a curse. Yes. Because as much as for Chino has done a lot of great work, I love them in heat. Yeah. Of course. Of course. And he's playing on you know, but the near one, it's like, you know, it's hard because when you become so famous, what happens? They do pick a role and they want you to play that role. So they insert that character that you play that they like the most in all the movies now. Yeah. You're that guy. That's true. And that's what happens. Yeah. I mean, Morgan Freeman, he switched, you know, driving his daisy that year. He had driving his daisy and that year he did and and and and streetsmart around the same time. Christopher Reeve where he's playing a pimp. Right. You know, people don't see him. No, he don't remember him. He got rams. You got range. Um, so one more. One more. Go pipe a lorry. Pipe a lorry. So if you've seen a hustler, the first, she was, she was a love interest in hustler. Okay. You know, she did a movie with Mel Gibson where she played this sort of spinster who was sort of sort of, I guess she was a, I would say taking advantage of a slower young man, but he was not the brightest. Okay. And she sort of used that to her advantage. Yeah. Sort of, you know, she was a mother in carry. Yeah. You know, she, she's okay. Yeah, she's, she's a great. I mean, like, there's just people like her, like, where I go, oh, you know, they're just, I mean, my mind is racing now. Top favorite actor. I'm like, oh my god. No, it's a tough thing. It's a tough one. Especially being put on this spot. Yeah. I like to pay a march to the people who other people don't talk about because they forgot about them. You know, I mean, like, you know, I could put like, you know, Alfred Malena, you know, I'm just like, you know, just throw him in there. Way, you know, who's Alfred Malena, Alfred Malena, you know, John Luthgaugh, you know, just so many great actors. So diverse too. Yeah. Okay. All right. What's your favorite restaurant, sir? Oh, favorite restaurant. Give me one. Well, why did you like to eat it? I hate to say that because now people, you start telling people about great restaurants, the next, you know, they like, they start going there. You know, I'm always like, I was like, I kind of feel a restaurant up. It makes me sick, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sin and there. Yeah. No. Okay. So so if it went out, went out without fail. So I spent a lot of time in New York without fail. If I can't think of anything like what I'm interested in because my favorite cuisine is sort of like Japanese. I go for blue ribbon sushi blue blue rib sushi on Sullivan. I know, you know, I'm sure they get enough business. They don't need anybody telling you about blue ribbon. But well, I don't, it's not even sushi. I call that it's blue ribbon and then everything else is sushi. Okay. So when you have blue ribbon, there's two locations, three in New York, but the one of Sullivan is the one I frequent the most they do. So that is the right right. So only a more aside, but that's low. The one I go to doesn't do that. These places, and they also make the blue ribbon at the grow get the ox to a fried right. So that makes there and then the one on the lower side, but the one I go to doesn't make the ox in a herchafeliance. Wow. Yeah. But then that's sushi. That's not sushi. That's like that's blue ribbon and everything else is sushi. So if you eat there every every time you eat sushi anywhere else for the most part, you're like, you think about blue ribbon and you go, this is good. But it's not blue. Do you like Matu? He said, where's that one? On La Siena guy here in LA, it's nobu's original restaurant. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, I was so I was was it called that the whole time? Or was it his name is Nobu Matu? Yeah, yeah. I've eaten there. I've eaten there. So everybody goes to Nobu because it's trendy and cool. But Matu, he says like their OG spot. Yeah, I don't go to Nobu because it's trendy and cool. The food is good. But go to Matu. He said, Matu, he said, I think it's better than Nobu. But he said, I'm just telling him different. I'm a fundamentalist. I eat do you eat uni? I don't know. I do. You eat the question. Yes. Because some people draw a line of sea urchin. And that's why I tell you you're not really you're not really a fundamental sushi guy because you're just eating yellow tailed yellow tailed yellow tailed in California rolls. Amen. That's not so I'm calling you out. I guess. Yeah, I guess I'm a yellow tailed. But I take away a leg raw quail egg. No. My favorite though is Toro though by far. Toro. Toro. Yeah, they're levels of Toro. It's like my meat and fatty fatty. I'm eating the fat. Yeah, but I like the it's like a dessert. Yeah, it's like I'll order at the very end of my meal. Yeah, as like a see all the way to ambitious. Yeah, no, I'm right there. I sit at this chef's table and it liked me because I eat it all. Yeah, I've eaten sushi since I've eaten the mussels. I've got to be the mussels. Listen, man, it's it's it's you got protein and you got rice. That's that's literally all you need. You look at the Japanese people, man. It's the five food groups. I'll watch I'll eat that. Anyway, cool, cool. Let's get to that because we got a wrap up here. Okay, so so we're blue ribbon. Yeah, you're you're you're having a nice meal. Uh-huh. You look at the entryway of the door of the restaurant in walks a younger Mike. He's been looking for you. Yeah, he's been trying to find out what the future holds for him. Yeah, so he sits down across from you. He asks you. He's looking waiting you to give him some jewels of wisdom. What would the older Mike culture say to the younger Mike Randall culture? I think I would like to think that this happened anyway, but I'm probably wrong, so I would just share with him. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy the journey. I think I always I tell people now, you know, making it or whatever that is in your mind, you should never give yourself a goal post. You should always just come up with something you want to do next or something you'd like to do to challenge yourself, but enjoy the journey because it's nothing. It's more fun, the ride than the arrival 100%. You know, because once you're there, I tell people all the time, it's like once you're there, you're there, whatever there there is, and then you have no place to go. So never be there. Always be on your way. And I always feel that way. Someone says, oh, you've done a lot. I always think I haven't done anything and I'm just getting started. I don't, you know, that's what I feel all the time. I never feel like I've done anything. I feel like I'm just getting started. And unless I talk to someone who's literally green and hasn't done anything, do I think, okay, yeah, maybe I've done something. But most part, I feel like I'm a novice at this. I feel like I haven't even started. I'm just breaking the ice. I'm literally, I don't feel like I've done anything. And so that makes me feel a certain way all the time. I never feel necessarily accomplished. I always feel like I have something to prove. I always feel hungry. I always feel inspired. I feel like the next thing could be something that's unique. The next opportunity could be something that's going to change the way I feel. Not necessarily a trajectory of career, but just how I feel as an artist. I feel like I need to do a play. I feel like I need to, I'm like, I'm like, I got hobbies now. I get up. I just re-strong and re-bridge the guitar. I'm trying to pick up the guitar. I started skateboarding a couple months ago. I started, you know, I took tennis lessons. I'm archery. I'm shooting pool getting lessons. I'm doing anything to enjoy, you know, creating new moments for me because I think life is that. You know, you talk about aging, like, whatever you're doing really is about new moments. It's just don't keep doing the same thing over and over forever. It's true. Yeah, forever. Enough said, guys. And on that note, ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for Mr. Mike. Paul Ted. Thank you guys. Hell yeah. Hey y'all and that was on that note. Hope you guys enjoyed it and if you did, here's a couple more videos for you to check out. Do not forget to like, comment, and subscribe.