LeVar Burton: Level of Excellence

or a level of excellence that I believe I have yet to achieve. Welcome to literally one of the nicest people. We've been in a nice person run on the show recently. Like, just good people. LeVar Burton. I always get mesmerized when I have him on the show. He's got that voice and those big brown eyes. And I just kind of like, I feel like he's hypnotizing me. So let's see if that happens today. He's got a great, his own big time game show, Trivial Pursuit, which is on the CW. He's doing his second season right now. So we'll talk about what it's like to have a game show that people like. Let's do it. Welcome back. I hear you're on a deadline for writing something right now. Today, in addition to beginning to beat the drum for the second season of Trivial Pursuit, that I have about 48 hours before I deliver my first draft of my first memoir. No way. Yeah, Monday. Monday morning. I've been there. Yeah, yeah. I'm on a deadline right now. Right now? As well. Yeah. The pressure was, I don't, it's unexpectedly gnarly, isn't it? Oh my God. So what's going through your mind? So many things. Am I being truthful enough? Am I honoring the people that have contributed to who I am enough and in the right ways? are people gonna how are people gonna respond to to what I I'm putting out there in the world you know some of it for the very first time a lot you know a lot it just it feels like a lot Do you, so, okay, so one of them being, the whole point is one has to be totally authentic. Right. Right. That's right. So that's number one, right? And everything then comes through that prism. Through that lens. But then it's like, okay, it's my story. I'm entitled, it's your story. You're entitled to tell it any way you want. But there are people who may be a part of your story that have never been in the news before. And it's going to be like, how do you handle them? There are so many considerations. It's not just you telling your story authentically through your own lens. You really have to have what I call omnispect. I don't think it's a real word. It's a good one. You sold me. I believe that. The omnispect is really a part of it because you really need to look through many sets of eyes to do this, I think, successfully and to really succeed at what you said. You know, be authentic. Do you have a title? You don't have to reveal anything if you don't. You can't reveal it, but we do, yes. And it was actually a pretty fun process and we had some choices. And the title that we have is not the title I thought we would have. interesting who came up with it or how did it it was a group discussion between you know the folks at my company my editor and and my wife who is you know my wife named my first book is that right yeah I mean our wives are essential parts of our team that's right right yeah 100% 100% who you don't have to name the person if they're they may not even be such a person but I had one or two people I was super concerned about like oh god yeah like how and then the other thing is what if people who were a part of your life that you just you're like I just don't feel like I want to write about that then there's that and then you're like why wasn't I in that have I mentioned everybody that's expecting to be name checked Yes. Have I left anybody out? Yes. Right? Oh, your book's going to be great. Well, I'm... It's going to be great. Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Rob. I can just tell you, I would... It's exactly the kind of book I would want to read. Oh, that. 100%. That is music to my ears, brother. I mean, you have... First of all, anyone who has... continues to be relevant as long as you have and been in so many different disciplines. I'm trying to fit it all in there, you know? I'm trying to get it all in and tell good stories, you know, tell a good story that contains, you know, a lot of stories within. Do you have pictures? Yeah, we'll have pictures. Are you doing a... No cartoons, but there will be pictures. No cartoons, pictures. Are you doing... What's the thing at the end where you can go look at your name and go see what page you're on? Are you doing that? Because I did not because I didn't want people doing that. The glossary. The glossary. I don't want that. I want me. If you want to see if you're in it, you got to fucking read it. Read the book. Read the book. Read the book. Read the book. Yeah. Yeah. No cheat codes here. Okay. Here's the other thing I was super cognizant of. In whatever part of the book you know is going to be controversial, sexy, whatever you want to say it is. writing it in a way that if there's a, that somebody can't just have a pull quote in and of itself that hijacks the narrative of the book. Yes. And you see that all the time. In my book, I have chapters in my life that are unbelievably, like we're in the public eye, disastrous, whatever, and you got to write about them. but I made sure that I wrote about it in a way that if you were going to do a poll quote, the poll quote was almost too big to be polled, so they never did. Right. So the book doesn't become about that thing where you see, oh, my God, he was, you know, whatever it is, whatever that like dark secret is, and that becomes the entire narrative and everything else in the book gets washed away. Does that make sense? There's not solely one line that can be excised and used to promote as an example of what this book is about. I was surprised, though, to learn that some of the most sensitive stuff will be talked about on the press tour. Will be? Will be. Well, I think you have to. Well, see, that's my naivete. I, you know, I didn't, I thought, you know, that would be left to the reader to discover, but it doesn't. It don't work that way. No, because it, listen, it, you want to sell books. Yeah. It piques people's interest. Yes. Right? Yeah. How, when does it come out? November of this year. Right. Yeah. It's amazing that how long. The long lead time? The long lead time is bananas, isn't it? Yeah, it is. Yeah, yeah. It's like, really? In today's day and age? Yeah, right? I got to put it to bed now? There's a lot. There's a lot. There's a lot. There's a lot. Okay. What are we doing for covers? How are we feeling about the cover? We've discussed it. We've decided. We haven't shot it yet, but we know what it's going to look like. Haven't shot it yet? No. Shot mine already before I started writing. Did you? At least you have a beginning you know you're going to like. For me, it helped frame the vibe. Yeah, it's the vibe. You know what's so funny is we both grew up in an era where we listened to albums and we couldn't wait to get them. And we would read the liner notes. Right. And everything about it was important. And you listen to it from side to side, song to song. Start to finish. So how the first track for an artist was really important. So I look at like the chapters like an album. Like I'll go, do I have a hit here? Do I have too many up-tempo? Right. I feel like I need a ballad here. So when I'm writing chapters, I look at it like that. Like I can't do five super earnest, heavy chapters in a row. I got to throw a radio-friendly hit in there. Yeah, yeah. I have to make that your awareness is encouraging because I hope to be able to master it the way. You've written books, but you've never written an autobiography. No, I haven't yet to be. This is my first time being this subject. Oh, my God. I cannot. Yeah. Have you talked to people, well, I'm sure you have, like who are already going, I can't wait to hear about the X. I mean, obviously, everybody wants to hear about Roots, obviously. And then Star Trek. And Reading Rainbow. And Reading Rainbow. I mean, those are all iconic. They form like they do my life. They are the structure upon which the book is built. Those three. Oh, interesting. Yeah, those three. You picked a, I was going to ask you about structure. Yeah. Because that's the thing that I think so hard in writing. Yeah. You can do chronology, you can jump backwards and forwards, you can do so many different things. Sounds like you have three different. Those three stories aren't told linearly. There is a lot of, you know, jumping around. But those three, what I call jewels in my crown, those major events in my life, they serve as the underpinnings for what transpires between page one. Did you have that thing where you go, you write something, you go, that's pretty amazing that that happened. Wait, did that happen? Maybe that didn't happen. I had that where I would be like, do you know what I mean? It was a story so insane when I put it on paper. And I'd be like, you know it happened. Obviously, you're not making things up. But when you see it in black and white, you're like, that could not have happened. And I would ask, I would call people up and say, for me. To verify. Am I crazy or we did this, right? For me, it was that I flew on a dry run with a 9-11 hijackers. What? That was the one for me. Wait a minute. Yeah, it's in my, I forget if it's my second book or my first book, but. And it's like. How many, how many memories have you written? I written two I written stories I only tell my friends Right It was my first one And then I wrote one called Love Life Wow And I forget which stories were in which books Sure But that story is so insane that I had to call my lawyer and go, this happened, right? Because you then had to call the government. Basically, it was the brief version of this. And when I was shooting West Wing, we would always take, I forget the name of the number of the flight was, but it was the flight that went into the Pentagon. We would always take that flight. It was the first flight out of Washington to LA. And so I was booked on that flight and flew it home 13 days before 9-11. And, of course, when 9-11 happened, and I knew that crew because I flew it so often. And obviously it was traumatizing and a horrible, horrible thing. Fast forward six months later, nine months later, I want to say, I get a letter from Attorneys General of State of Maryland. I'm like, uh-oh, what the fuck is this? And they're like, dear Mr. Lowe, we are prosecuting Zacarias Moussaoui and the trial of the 11th hijacker. We have a manifest for a dry run that they did. You're on the manifest. we would like to talk to you. Actually, it was slightly different. It was Zacharias Moussaoui's lawyer. Wow. Wanted to talk to me. Wow. And it was forwarded by the attorneys general. How did that feel? You just go, how do you process that? First of all, a chill runs down your spine. Sure. And then you instantly go, I was with those guys. Yeah, right. and then you try to remember it, and it had been a night shoot, and the minute I get on a plane, I'm out. It's like, the minute I hear those engines whine, I'm just, like, comatose. So I don't remember anything. I remember it was a really small, I was sitting up a friend in first class. We know that they had at least one guy in first, one guy, maybe two in first class. So what I know is, I do remember going, wow, this is a small plane. Close proximity. Right there. So if there'd been somebody who, quote unquote, looked dangerous or whatever, I would have noticed that. Right. So the takeaway is these guys looked absolutely like, you know, you or me. Yeah. There's nothing about them that you would go, uh-oh. So that much I do know. That makes sense though, doesn't it? Yeah. But I never had to testify because he fired his public defender and defended himself and was found guilty in his serving terms. I never had to talk or testify or do anything, but I did call my attorney to handle it. So then when I'm writing about it years later, going, this sounds bananas. Right? Wow. You're like, was I really on the cover of Time Magazine at 19? Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right? It'd be that. Yeah. You're like, oh, yeah, you were a little bar. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes I turn around at my desk and I see it and I thought, whoa. Whoa. Whoa. do you remember doing the photo shoot yes i do um i do remember doing the photo shoot and a few years ago the daughter of the photographer i ran into her somewhere and she said my dad has a copy of the original that he would love to gift to you. No. Yeah. And I now have that. It's not the version that appears on the magazine. It's the raw footage that that magazine cover was composed with or from. Really, it's like a museum quality photograph. And that, I'm hoping, is in the book. You know what? Can you put it in the book? Maybe if I get Rob Lovai's vibes, there's a second one at some point. I think you will find, if the book ends up, and I know it will be, if the book does well and people are like, if you have that great experience of people saying, I love your book, read your book, which is so gratifying. because at the end of the day, all the other work we do is so collaborative. Yeah. That it's really one of the only things we can do that is completely of us. Yeah. So for good or ill. So when it goes well, Yeah. it's so gratifying. And then you go, I wonder if I have another one in me. It's been an absolutely satisfying personal journey. It has. Do you write, how do you write? Do you write, I write long-handed, like a child. My iPad. On the iPad? Yeah. I don't use the computer, and I certainly don't use my phone. But the iPad seems to be the right combination. Tactile. Of tactile and convenient, right? Portable. Mine are on legal pads, which is what's cool about them, is I get, when they're done, they're bound. I have these big, beautiful handwritten. That's amazing. My penmanship sucks. Mine is ish. Ish? Yeah. It's ish. Mine is almost illegible to me. To you? Yeah. Can you imagine what it's like to you? I know. To you it's illegible. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, that's why I type it. I'm excited for that. The last time you were on the show, we were talking about Trivial Pursuit. Really? You actually told me that you had an idea that you had just taken out. Wow. And now here it is. Right. It's out. Season two. Woo. Let's go. Yeah. And I love Trivial Pursuit. I love that game so much. Well, oddly enough, you come up in conversation all the time because we both shoot our game shows overseas. Where do you shoot yours? London. I shoot mine in Ireland. I know. Wait, I want to shoot in London too. Well, come on over because, you know. We'll trade sets. We'll trade sets. Yeah. We'll do a, what is it when characters from different shows show up? A crossover. Crossover. We'll do a crossover. A crossover episode. Game show crossover. Wow. What has been your, because I find out with everything that when you go into a different discipline, there's a surprise where you're like, oh, I didn't know it was going to be like this, both maybe complicated and then that you love. Have you had anything like that where you're like, I had no idea it was going to be like whatever. I had no idea that the learning curve would be that steep. Right? For me. Yeah. It's a different beast altogether. Okay. So I'm curious to know your point of view because people ask me about doing The Floor. Yeah. And I tell them it is so exciting because I feel for me it's like being, it's part one man show. Mm-hmm. You're part director because you're in charge of the pace. You're in charge of knowing when to lay off. You're running the game. Know when to, and then the game running, someone who's in your ear going, Remember, they've won $30,000. And if they win this one, you're going to be like, uh. Yep. And all of that happening live at once, there's no other place in our world where we get that. And you have to process all of that input, all of that stimuli effortlessly and without showing it. Without it showing. People have no idea what goes on. It's crazy. I think, as I did, and we've been in this a long time, I thought you just got up there and winged it. Yeah. It looks so easy. But the huge surprise and revelation is that it's the furthest thing from easy. It's some of the hardest work I've ever done. Season one was, boy, the learning curve of that. Because I was still trying to learn the game, right? I was still thinking of what happens next, you know? Yes. Season two, you know, when we came back a little bit over a year later, I was much more comfortable. much more able to be more myself. I think in season one, I was LeVar Burton playing a game show host. And in season two, I'm much more LeVar Burton. And that's what people want, obviously. Well, that's what I want. That's my goal, right? That's what I want too. I had them put in the Rob cam, which is a cam down here that whenever there's anything going on, when I hand it over to the contestants and they're playing, I can break the fourth wall. Right. And either roll my eyes or do whatever. And that's so fun to comment. But that's an art form is like, you know, this is life-changing for people. And, you know, there's no game in it. It's like real money that changes people's lives. And it's a dream. And part of my job is to root for these people. Yes. Right? Yes. I'm rooting for the people that come and get to play in the final round. I really want them. And I tell you, I really want you to win this money. Do you play along? No. You don't? You don't in your mind? I don't have time. You don't have time. No, no, no. I have time to read the questions and listen for the answers. That's right. Yeah. But even so, you must have categories where you're like, I'd murder in this. Or I would never, ever even make it on the show. I get to do that when I'm reviewing the questions before we start taping an episode. I sit with one of the producers, John, and go over the questions, especially those that might require special attention. And I'll want to remember and have a reference for when we start taping. So it's John and my wife, Stephanie, and me, and we compete with each other about who gets the most right. Oh, God. Trivia Pursuit. Arts and leisure, isn't that one of the... Yeah, that... I'll take... Your go-to? Take in all comers. Yeah. And then there's like a history, geography. There's history, right? History, I'm... There's sports, science, and nature. Are sports, science, and nature all three? Sports and leisure. Sports and leisure, done. Right. Science and nature. Nature part, maybe? Yeah. Okay, give me some... Right. History. Done. Let's go. Let's go. Art and literature. What's that for? Yeah. You know what? I'm feeling kind of well-rounded right now. Right? Well, you are. Right? You are. As long as we keep away from numbers. Well, geography. Oh, no, let's go. Yeah. Really? Yes. Yes? Yes. Wow. I was thinking about it the other day. I was just thinking about the other day. I was patting myself on the back as I normally do as I go to bed at night. And I was thinking, you know what, dude? You're good at geography. Wow. I mean. That is the. opposite for most human beings, at least most Americans. Most Americans. Yes, most Americans. And you know what I realized is we have a look is that bad factoid earned For sure But also it really easy to be well when you can get in a car drive 90 miles and you in another country Yes, indeed. Yeah, you're right. Do you know what I mean? So, it's like, we've got to really want it. You know, you live in Kansas, and you want to go travel abroad, you've got to want it. That's U.S. geography, which most Americans don't really know to any degree of proficiency. But, you know, our geography category is about world geography. I'm good on both of them. You know what, Rob? I know where Crete is. I know where the Maldives are. I know where Indonesia is. I know where Bhutan is. I know where Georgia is. Not the state. Not the state, but the country. Right? I mean, those are good ones right there, right? Yeah. Capital of Georgia? Of the state? Yeah. No, no, no. The country. The capital of Georgia. Hang on. No, what? Do you know what it is? I believe it's Tbilisi. I could be pulling it out of my ass. It is Tbilisi. No, it is Tbilisi. It is. See, if that were multiple, I'm getting the thumbs up. Do you do... Oh, but there are multiple... Yes, there's... The choices are baked into the game. Yes, they are. So I would have gotten it. Yeah. I know I would have known Tbilisi. as opposed to Paris. Yes. Well, you know what? You're a game show fan. I am. Aren't you? Dude, I was on the $10,000 pyramid. Me too. You were on it? I have. I possess the second least amount of time to get to the top pyramid, to the top of the pyramid. Billy Crystal is number one. I'm number two. It was like 27 seconds, something like that. Unbelievable. That was my favorite game. It was Dick Clark. Loved that man. Loved that man. He was a true icon. True icon. People don't really realize what American Bandstand producer created the Golden Globes. Professional. Company. Professional. World-class professional. Gentleman. Although when I did $10,000, and by the way, $10,000. Right. Like that's how long ago it was. The $25,000, then the $50,000, then the $100,000. I was on $10,000. Did them all. I was on $10,000. Did them all. 1979. Wow. I was 15. whoa well that's a little intimidating do you remember who you played against? what celebrity? yes Tony Danza murdered him wow eviscerated him got to the we played so many games because they wanted somebody other somebody other than me to get to the pyramid why? I got to the pyramid because they you know what it's like when like they're building the story sure there's the game and then there's the story within the game so I think they wanted you know so we played a lot of different rounds but i but uh and i'm not nothing against tonight but he didn't get to the pyramid um but when i here's my my other big memory was um standing behind the flat getting ready to be introduced and it's dick clark with that voice yep and he's like i'm playing from the new ab sitcom a new kind of family please welcome rob lone and i'd walk out And then they, what? Shut, I don't want to shut down. Okay, everybody back to one, back to one. Playing for the new ABC sitcom. Everybody, welcome Rob Loeb. Back to one, back to one. That really happened. No, every, LeVar. Wow. Easily nine or 10 times. What? That sounds so unlike Dick Clark. I know. To me, that's like. I listen, by the way, this falls into the category. Yeah. Of a story I'm not sure happened now. Aha. Now that I'm telling it. Right. Because it sounds so impossible to believe. Right. But it 100% happened. 100%. Ron Logue. That is hysterical. Hysterical. It was the first time I ever came to New York on my own. Right. Wow. Would it seem... No, I met you before that. Met you in 77. Yeah. Weakest Link. Weakest Link. You play Weakest Link? I've never done that. 137,005. One of the highest money winning total for any celebrity. Wow. That's a lot of money on that game. And of course, you're, you know, on, why am I drawing a blank? The most famous game show of all time. We don't mention that name. I haven't seen an episode since. They fucked up. I'm just going to say. They did what they did. They did what they did. But it should have been you. But no, see, here's the thing, Ron. It should have been. Here's the thing that I've learned about life, and that experience really drove this lesson home. That which is mine is mine, and that which is not will never be. And doing that show and campaigning to do that show and getting all of that public support and having that shot was all to get me in the right place so that when it didn't work out, And I had to sit in that discomfort and just stew about not getting what I wanted until the phone rang. And it was Hasbro and Trivial Pursuit. And they said, we're turning our IP into a game show. We can't think of anybody we would like better to host this game. And what Trivial Pursuit has given me is something that Jeopardy never could have done, which is my own show to invent in my own image. I don't have to follow in anybody's footsteps. And that's, come to find out, huge for me. It's a great lesson and true. The hard part, obviously, it's like the serenity prayer. Yes, exactly. It's the serenity prayer. It's baked into the statement is the conundrum. 100%. Which is, okay, but how do I know? Right. Until you know. You know, it's easy when you know. When you've gotten the phone call, you know. Yeah. But while you're sitting in the stew. Between the disappointment and the knowingness is agony. Yes, right? Yeah. And it's true for everybody. It's really true for folks in our business. It's an important part of life, disappointment. it's it's it's one of the things that that helps us grow that forces us to grow to stretch beyond what our perceived limits are our perceived you know um tolerance might be and the notion that you were able to put your own imprint on this yeah do you is there are you doing anything with it like i want to do something with an app on the phone like i want i'm trying to get them to figure how to, how can we, I want to play the floor on the phone right, on my phone. I've so far not been able to get them to figure it out for a lot of different reasons. But like, I'd like to play the trivial, is there such a thing? Not yet. Not yet. It's like, that's such a, to me, that seems like such low-hanging fruit. Well. Like, I'd buy that on the app store. Right. Right? Right. Well, you know. Here's your idea for the day. May you have just spoken it into existence, Romblo. Because you're a manifesting motherfucker. I kind of— You know you are. You think? A manifesting motherfucker. And you know you are. You know you are. Is that just a more feel-good way of saying I'm always grinding? No. No? No. It's not the same? Grinding is different. I've taken grind out of my vocabulary. Oh, wow. Tell me more about that. I talk in the book about, you know, for years, up until, you know, not that long ago, I lived my life in second gear, trying to stay ahead of unemployment, of judgment, of all kinds of things. Racism in America. I mean, I lived my life like someone was chasing me. And what I discovered during the pandemic, during lockdown, was I was on an unsustainable path. I was living life from a place of unsustainability. And lockdown really forced me to stop and reevaluate. Because the world had stopped, you were able to stop. Because the world had stopped, yeah. What do you, like as you say that to me, I get scared because I go, if I extinguish the fire, I often say sometimes I feel like Indiana Jones running in front of the boulder. Yes, exactly. Like I've said that more than once ago. It's the same thing. Living your life in second gear and staying one step ahead of the boulder that's bearing down on you. It's the same thing. Okay. So my worry is if I don't feel that way, then I stop manifesting. That's not true, baby. that's not true how do I do it? you stop you stop you make the change you decide that there is a different way that it's possible to live your life successfully and fulfill all of the powers of manifestation that you possess without that tension right without that tension And is it just as simple as they would say in the program, letting go and letting God? That's it, baby. That's it, baby. Yeah. And whether your concept of God is a force outside of yourself or an internal engine, for me, it's a bit of both. Yeah. I mean, that's simply put a process that is far from simple, but, you know, those are the high points. Yeah, because, you know, the other thing is people who are self-made, like us, who didn't come into this with anybody, any roadmap, anybody helping, no relations to trade on, no nothing. is like we, those are the tools that get you here, but the tools that helps the 19-year-old LeVar and the 15-year-old Rob are not, probably not the same tools that help 61-year-old Rob. Like, I can look back and go, dude, you're going to be fine. Like, history is spoken. Yes, right? That's correct. Absolutely true. I feel that. I get you. Right? Yeah. Yeah. You're not going anywhere. No. I mean I recognize and accept and am comfortable with the fact that I been enormously blessed and remarkably successful in this lifetime in the pursuit of being a storyteller And I don take that lightly or for granted And you know I still strive for a level of excellence that I believe I have yet to achieve. Well, and that's the other thing is we'll never, we want to keep chasing. Yeah. The minute you stop chasing working, it's over. Do you plan to retire? No. Fuck no. No. No. Absolutely not. No. I had a great, I think I might have talked about it before on the show, so listeners forgive me if I have, but I had a really great lunch recently with Michael Caine. And I was like, what's the secret? What did he say? He said, well, you're kind of doing it now, aren't you? You just keep doing it and doing it and doing it and you'll be there. That's wisdom, baby. That's wisdom from a master I mean, right? Is that kind of like That's Yoda talking That's some Yoda shit Yeah, it is Yes, it is Right? Because the other thing is The thing about aging is I just work with Nick Nolte And he's 81, 82 He's in his 80s How is he? I mean, he's lived a hard life It's all over his face It's all over his face Lived a hard life All over his face you know got health struggles as a lot of people do in the 80s and he almost doesn't even have to do anything anymore he shows up on camera and it's all there like it's his life has done the work for him I'm not saying that do you know what I mean I believe I know exactly what you mean I think you know what I'm saying it's like getting to a place There is no do, just be. There's just be, right? And getting to that, you know, they wheel me out. You know, they wheel me out for my one great monologue and the next, and the fucking new version of the Marvel movie. Every 15-year-old kid goes, that old man was really great. Right. And then the grandpa goes, well, you know, that old man used to be. Right? Like that's. Used to be the heartthrob of a murderer. Oh, that's what we're gunning for. Yeah. Right? Well. We're gunning for the Oscar they give, they withhold only until the moment where, which it's really clear you got about a year left. You know what that pursuit is? The pursuit of immortality. Hmm. We already made that. You think? Yeah. You did. Yeah. Okay. But candidly, I'm relatively comfortable with the fact that my work will live on, that I'm leaving a legacy that is about something, you know. And as much as I have had a career that has enabled me to portray the Black experience in America from our enslavement to the future. And LeVar, the Reading Rainbow guy, is in the middle of that continuum, right? That's right. I hadn't thought of that, but that's... That's that. What that says to me is I have lived a life purpose. See, now I think this is the book. Yeah, that's right. This is the book. This is the book. This is the book. I watched Roots recently. Really, since we've seen each other. Really? And it's like. It's dated, though. Bro. Visually. Visually. It's like. First of all, I didn't know. The makeup looks so bad. First of all, I did not know that Africa looked so much like Agoura Hills. I just didn't know. Well, we did shoot some of it on the Disney Ranch. Oh, really? I wouldn't have thought. Yes, true. It's amazing. Like, you go back and look at it. Like, I remember it being on TV just like it was yesterday. And you were just like, what? And then you go back and you go, wait a minute. Wait, wait. I think that's the hut from Little House in the Prairie up there in the corner. Visually, it's not the same experience. No, and like when they get to the plantation, the plantation looks nothing like New Orleans or Mississippi or anything. No, that is definitely the Disney Ranch. That's the part. Yeah, right. Which always, it doesn't, never ceases to take me out. And right before I came into the studio, I was working on the section about the whipping scene. And the irony that that scene, that particular scene, which is pivotal for understanding the entirety of the character, the personage of Kunta Kinte, that scene was filmed on the Disney ranch. And that is America in a nutshell. Yeah. It's, listen, y'all out there, if you haven't seen Roots recently, it's still great. It's still great. It's still great. I mean. It's still powerful. It still speaks to the human spirit because it is all about the resilience. It's also the human spirit. And the casting is like, you're like, wow, I forgot so-and-so was in it. And wow, I forgot so-and-so was in it. Part of the brilliance of Roots was David Wolper's willingness to put all of America's favorite dads in the roles of villains. Ed Asner, Lou Grant, Chuck Connors, the rifleman, Papa Brady, Robert Reed. I mean, you go on and on and on. And it was so brilliant because it lowered the barrier of entry. Yes, exactly. For America, right? They were familiar with these people. They were playing a different tune than we were used to, but they were there and they were a comfort because the story was unfamiliar. And we needed an anchor, right? We needed an anchor. And I thought, you know, as the producer, David Wolpe, he was a brilliant man. Brilliant man. Brilliant man. That was like, wow, what an idea. What an idea. I can't wait to read your book. and we've got the, I want to make sure I get the date right. When does Trivial Pursuit? January 22nd. January 22nd. On CW. On the CW. On the CW. And it's part of the CW's family night because the night begins with Craig Ferguson and Scrabble and followed by LeVar Burton. Two very smart gentlemen. The other thing is, I think if you do a game show, it means you've got to be kind of smart, right? I think. I think that's the, that's the idea. That's what you're selling. Yeah, everybody who's on a game show is like, oh, that's a smart guy, girl. Right. Yeah. Yeah. What else are you watching on game shows? Anything that you... There are a lot of new ones. I've seen episodes of The Wall with Chris Hardwick. I like the game show network. The old school ones? I love seeing old episodes of Pyramid, right? And I love seeing Password, you know? Match game. Match game, Gene Rayburn and that microphone. Can we talk about the microphone? The microphone. The microphone is the world longest microphone, skinniest longest microphone. In the history of the world. And they're all smashed on that panel. Yeah. They're smashed as hell. You know what? I love the new Password a lot. Yep. I mean, Alan Ludden was great. Alan Ludden. Right. but I think that she's doing an amazing job and I'm here for it. Well, we're here for you. Kiki Palmer. Yep, she's great. LaVar, I love having you on the show. You know I do. You're one of our favorite guests. As they say, friend of the show. Well, you know what? We've known each other for a long time, Rob Lowe. It's 1977. First star I ever met, ladies and gentlemen. Right here. You're looking at him. And I have to say, for having lived, you know, the whole of our lives, pretty much, in show business, I think we both turned out all right. Right? I'm serious. I mean, we have our— That's no small feat, brother. I have my days, but, you know, I think— Who doesn't? But I think, you know, on the whole— Yeah, look, you bat 300, you go to the Hall of Fame. You played raw on the floor. You know those numbers. I do. I do. You know what I'm talking about. I understand what you're pitching. Next time you come on, we're doing a deep cut of your career. And I'm going to hit you with like raw on the floor stories. I want to hear about like Hunter was with McQueen, right? It was McQueen's last movie. Yeah, it was his last film. We're saving that for next time. Yeah. Well, that's the second book too because there are so many stories that I don't get to talk about Audrey Hepburn. I just did Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes' podcast. That was their first guest. And it's all about dropping names and other things. That's the name of the podcast. And boy. You're going to do another book because you're going through exactly what I went through. First of all, you will have inoculated yourself against how you handle. The fear of failure. And other people like, oh, I don't want to offend them. Or, oh, I can't really. And so now you'll go, no, I'm going to tell my Audrey Hepburn story. Absolutely. I'm going to tell them about the time Steve McQueen, I'm making this up, I have no idea. It was a fucking asshole. Whatever it is. Not true. He was so good to me. Was he? Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. He was really, really good to me. He was mean to me in the Mayfair market. I'm so sorry. Very mean to me. But that's for another podcast. That's for when we share McQueen stories. All right. Yeah, man. When the book is published. On the book tour. Yeah. Well, you know what? I bet we both have some good ones. Yeah. We'll share them next time. All right. Love you, brother. Thank you. Love you too, Rob. Peace and blessings. Thanks to LeVar Burton, just the loveliest man. Just makes my heart happy having him. Watch Roots, you guys. If you never saw Roots, you're in for a treat. I wish we could go into a time capsule, though, and watch it when it was so groundbreaking. There's been so much groundbreaking television since then. You got to realize that there was nothing like it before Roots. and then of course you'll have a laugh looking at how much how the Africa scenes look like they shot them off the 101 in the San Fernando Valley but the performances and the true story is timeless and amazing alright that's enough for today and I'll see you next time right here on Literally You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe Produced by me, Sean Doherty With help from associate producer Sean Calvano Research by Jeff Fox Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel Our executive producers are Rob Lowe for Low Profile And Nick Liao, Adam Sachs And Jeff Ross for Team Coco Booking by Catherine Cook Music by Devin Bryant Special thanks to Hidden City Studios Thanks for listening We'll see you next time On Literally you