Keegan Michael-Key: Shrimpshramp Reduction (Re-Release)

Hello! Borious! Oh, look at this! I put a collar on! I didn't need to put it on. I know, look at you! They said there's going to be a snapshot at the end, and then my vanity was like, oh, I better put on a shirt with a collar. Oh, don't think I don't have vanity, bro. I've got, I mean, I'm up with, like, my wife's mascara, like, trying to get rid of the gray. Exactly! During corona, all the gray's coming in everywhere. My favorite part about all of this is seeing what celebrities just go, fuck it. Yep, yep. I haven't had much experience with it, but I... I know. Why am I talking about hair? I'm a terrible interviewer. What if we did that? What if we talk about hair for the full hour? You can see why I'm bad at this. I'm like, okay, your guest has no hair. Open up with hair talk. Let's talk about hair. This is going to be so fun today. Oh, by the way, I'm Rob Lowe, in case you didn't know. and you're listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, or is it Rob Lowe Literally? You'd think at this point, I'd know the title of my own podcast, and you'd be wrong. I hope you guys are having as much fun listening to the podcast as I am doing them. I knew that I might have fun. I had no idea that I would have as much fun as I've been having. And if you're enjoying it, if you could do me a favor, I'd love it if you would go over to Apple Podcasts and rate and review the show. because that is really how the word is spread. It helps the algorithm and people hear about us. And then we become a thing. And then I retire from acting. And then you don't ever see me again. What you're going to do is you're going to go to Apple Podcast and tell them you love the show. I would really appreciate it. Anyway, this is going to be great. Keegan Michael Key, come on. funny sports freak I mean mad TV Key and Peel talk about revolutionary and beyond genius but most importantly Donna Meagle's husband on Parks and Recreation I think that deserves the spotlight shine on it and the dude is starring with Meryl Streep right now in Ryan Murphy's new movie Prom and he's making me feel really inferior. Oh, and by the way, we've recorded this episode back in, I believe it was the middle of May. So there's a great story that we share about the amazing Joel Schumacher who directed St. Elmo's Fire. And in the interim, Joel passed away. So I'm dedicating this podcast to Joel. And it's so funny that he was on our minds even before he departed us. So that's why we don't talk about him passing away because he hadn't passed yet. But you're going to love this. Let's have a chat with this guy. I used to have quite a lot of hair, very fine hair. But I was a kid of the 80s. So I grew up, I was trying to rock that El Debarge Prince look, like the Purple Rain look. And I had, I mean, I had cans and cans and cans of mousse just to get some lift. But I didn't have any thickness. No thickness. It was very fine hair. So I could get it to go out. I had that look. I was rocking that look for about three years. Remember Stoney Jackson, the actor Stoney Jackson? Do I remember Stoney Jackson? Remember my man? My man Stoney Jackson dropped 43 points in a celebrity basketball tournament that I played in. He was a baller. 43 points? Yeah. Yeah. Stoney was nuts. In those celebrity games, very often 43 is the high score for one of the teams. I know. That's amazing. I had no idea. And he was a karate guy too, right? Yeah. God, it's so great that you bring him up. He was the best. I loved that guy. He was on, what was the show called, Rob? Profilers, The Protectors. There was a TV show he was on ABC for like a season and a half. That's right. And it was him. And I think it was the guy who was like the bad guy. Oh, I'm going straight 80s here. Who was the bad guy in Dead Zone, that Christopher Walken, Stephen King movie. Yeah. There was a guy in that movie. He and Stoney Jackson were stars of this show. It was at the same time that Stoney Jackson did, not City on Fire, Michael Perret and Diane Lane. Oh, Streets of Fire. Streets of Fire. Streets of Fire and Willem Dafoe. Now it's all becoming clear to me. I'm remembering why Stoney would have been in sort of our orbit at that time because Streets of Fire was shooting at the same time as St. Elmo's Fire, Back to the Future. We were all on the back lot together. They were all at the universal back lot. The universal. The universal. Oh, you guys shot, did you guys shoot all of those street scenes on the back lot? Yes. Like the apartments in Demi's apartment and everything. The, the. All universal back lot. The apartment still exists, that fire, that fire escape. My favorite, Demi trying to commit suicide by air conditioner. By air conditioner. You know, as, as people do. Especially when you really, if you really hate yourself and with that slow lingering death. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That is, that's on Warner Brothers, but all of the bar, all the bar stuff, exteriors, was Universal, and they had tented Universal Inn because they didn't want to, Walter Hill did not want to shoot night shoots on Streets of Fire, which is all nights. So the entire back lot, the entire back lot was tented. For Walter? Yeah. Interesting, interesting. Oh, that's, wait a minute, who directed St. Elmo's Fire? Joel Schumacher. Joel Schumacher. Joel Schumacher. Oh, my gosh. Not his, was not, now if we think about him now, you think it's not his typical bill of fare. But that, yeah, that's different that you did that kind of a personal, grounded human story. Well, I got one for you. Do you know Joel Schumacher's movie before it was? No, I know I don't. And I know this is going to be right in your wheelhouse. DC Cab. Mr. T. Come on. DC Cab. Joel Schumacher did DC Cab and Batman and Robin. In fairness, he may have just written it. He may have just written it. Okay. Somebody's doing the research. I know he either wrote it or directed it. But to me, the fact that that would be in his orbit at all, like his oeuvre, it's clearly he took a big shift in the mid-90s. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, and I love Joel. He was Joel was always so funny. He written by Joel. Devin just says Devin says written and directed by Joel Schumacher. DC cab. Well done. Good. Good. That's a deep dive, Rob. Well, I auditioned for it and didn't get it. We never forget those. You never forget the one that you didn't get. Right. Yeah. No, no. That role went to Gary Busey. Oh, right. Gary Busey, Mr. T. who else is in that movie you know because it was gutenberg time oh it's all but when is it not yeah it's always gutenberg time wait a minute wasn't 309 p.m pacific gutenberg time yeah uh he it wasn't him but there's a guy in the movie who's like a gutenberg archetype gutenberg prototype but i can't remember i can't remember zach galligan is it zach galligan maybe it's zach galligan from kremlins i think it might be zach galligan guys look at look at rob low Dig in. I think it's Zach Galligan. I'm not. I'm going to stay on. I'll stay on my manners and I'm not going to Google it. Listen, I'm not going to Google it. I only remember the actors of whom I hid in their girlfriend's closets when they came home from work. That's that's the only way I. Brian Dennehy. Oh, yes. William Devane. William Devane. Martin Cove. Cove. Burt Young. Oh my God, Burt Young. Burgess Meredith. Burgess Meredith, all those, yeah. Ray Walston, all those. I worked with Ray Walston. You know, and I mean, Mr. Hand, among other things. Yes, yeah. And I worked with him on Stephen King's The Stand. Oh, yeah, yeah. Which, by the way, people should watch that right now. I mean, since we're going through this. Very africot at this very moment. Yes, exactly. And it's very dated, but it's also really, really good. And it's a really weird, cool cast. But Ray was in it and I was just in awe of him. And my favorite thing was that he loved to take all of the food and the silverware off the catering truck every day and take it back to his hotel. Like he couldn't get flatware at the hotel. I know. And maybe even better quality flatware. Yeah. Listen, you don't survive as long as Ray Walston in this business without stealing a lot of silverware. You've got to steal some cutlery. Or why are you even doing this? Why are you even in this industry? No, it's really true. In the 80s, so Prince, did you ever get to know Prince? Did you ever have any dealings with him? I never got to meet him. I never got to meet him. And the funny thing is, we both grew up in the Midwest. I'm from Michigan. And you're from Ohio, which I think of as the proper Midwest, but also the gateway to the east. Yes. 100%. If you're getting over to Youngstown and you're getting toward Pennsylvania, that's the east to me. 100%. If you ask an Iowan or a Nebraskan or a Missourian, Michiganders and Wisconsinites and- They're not Midwest. We're not Midwest. We're the North. Oh, no. We're the North. Yes. 100%. So Illinois, Indiana, they all look at us and go, no, no, no, that's the North. That's the North. Yep. But he's from, you know, he was from Minneapolis. Yeah. And, and I always thought he must be, and to this day is still the coolest person from Minneapolis. He's the coolest American that ever lived, but hang on, hang on, hang on, Walter fucking Mondale. Oh, that's true. Walter Mondale. Come on. Walter Mondale. That's right. I mean, Mondale Ferraro. I mean, you can't, yes, you can't get past that. No, that's okay. When I think of like, like, like funky, cool, iconic fashion forward, I'm going maybe with Walter Mondale. I'm going Mondale. Mondale. Those ties with those jackets? I know. You're right. You're right. He was on the vanguard. The vanguard of fashion. I loved, I also think for me, it was my formative years, but I think that was my favorite Prince era. the the kind of sergeant pepper's jackets and the lace i liked that better than dirty mind and controversy i i got that kind of he was doing because he was coming you know he was in a way like to me a bit of a black urban bowie for sure so he had that androgynous thing going on and then sign of the times and all that stuff i love all that stuff but that but that that purple rain era was so it was just feckened with creativity and and and and and potential of what he would be and the different varied types of genres of music he played on that one album. And the way, I just, I think it's, he was, he and his work were masterpieces during that time. One of the things I always like to remember, because it speaks so much about people's perception and staying your course in this business and being true to your art was, I saw him open for the Rolling Stones. Wow. At the L.A. Coliseum. It would have been 1981. So he just would have had I want to be your lover on the radio probably, right? Right. Yeah, exactly. Yep. And it was George Thorogood, Prince Rolling Stones. And he got booed off the stage, Prince. Did he really? 100%. Oh, my gosh. Which, like, it's one of those memories where I look back. You ever have memories you look back and I go, no, you must have. You're mistaken. You misperceived that. Yeah, right. Exactly. You're being affected. You're being, you're somehow you're experiencing the Mandela effect right now because that didn't happen. You're going, there's no way that happened. People were throwing things. Oh. And it wasn't because he was bad. It was like that, that for that demo. That time. It was people were like he and he and I remember he was uber androgynous on this one. Like it was fishnets, high heels. It was like uber uber uber androgynous prints Right he was wearing the bustier The bustier yes Yeah exactly exactly right And people were not having it They were not having it In L no less In L But you're right, the demographic is stiff. George Thorogood's demographic. Closer to the Stones. I drink alone, bow-do-do, bow-do-do, made by Jack Daniels and J.J.J. Whatever the fuck that song is. He's got, George Thorogood, I feel, I always wonder, did he go through a similar regimen as Tom waits to get that voice. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? I know. They just smoke their lives away. Exactly. Because that's how do you just talk like that regularly? How's that your regular voice? You wake up in the morning and go to bed and that's still your voice. That's something else. I like people who have acting voices. Do you know that you have do you know people like that who are like you meet particularly young up and coming actors and they talk like we're talking right now. I'm like, yeah, are you ready for me on the set? Okay, great. What time's lunch going to be? Great. Okay, okay. And ready and action. I'm not going to do that. It's like. Yeah, the Christian Bale effect. The Christian Bale effect. Yes. Exactly. Yeah. I heard Morgan Freeman on a director's commentary one time for Million Dollar Baby, and he was saying that he actually was putting gravel into his voice for all the narrative stuff, for all the voiceover. And I'm like, you're putting gravel into your voice? oh, I did not know. I always thought the guy was talented. I'm like, oh, so that's a choice. You're doing that. I just thought that that was naturally how he started. He even said he has a VO. There was an atmosphere of mood that he wanted to give to all the VO he was doing. And he kind of said, and he also, he said in a manner of speaking, he was impersonating Clint. Wow. So he was trying to do his own thing and impersonate Clint and do this hybrid voice. that was a little different than, you know, the voice when he's just standing there being the trainer, you know, which is a different feel. It has a little more, a little more tenor. He's got a little more tenor to his voice, you know. That's the thing people go, oh, it sounds like Morgan. You know, because he's got more tenor than you think. It's so good. You know, I could listen to you do impersonations all fucking day long. Oh, that's sweet. I love all your impersonations. There's so, there's something about impersonations impersonations that I just, I don't know. It's like seeing a dolphin in nature or hearing a baby's laugh. It just releases a pheromone. Isn't that funny? I can do the former and I can't do the latter. What does that say about me? But I thought that it was fun when I was on Mad TV. I always, I worked really hard at trying to find, for me, doing impersonations is very much usually it's trying to find an amalgam of two voices and or finding whatever that neat vocal habit is yes yes oh you know what before i tell you that i want to tell you something else i'm not sure if this is true i heard this second hand so so danny glover i can do a danny glover impression and this is this is a story about well i'm gonna here's my so my danny glover story is uh i know i got morgan freeman was making a show recently talking about his films and so danny was like danny was going yeah yeah yeah yeah you know how you doing that i'll do it good to see you good you're doing good you know you you brothers are funny you you brothers are funny so morgan freeman morgan freeman told a story on the show that he was doing that when danny Danny Glover had seen Shawshank Redemption and had come to him to tell him how much he enjoyed Shawshank Redemption. And he walks up to Morgan and he goes, I gotta tell you, man, I started moving that. You were so good in the shrimp shrimp reduction. I'm sorry, the shrimp shrimp? You're telling me I'm in the shrimp shrimp reduction. You were so good in the shrimp shrimp reduction. The shrimp shrimp reduction. The shrimp shrimp reduction. I was not aware that I did two movies last year. Oh my God. Shrimp shrimp reduction. This is Jordan, Danny Glover. There's a bomb on my dick. Wait, wait, wait, wait. That's the best. The fact that he can get that. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We got a tattoo? A tattoo like Popeye? Like Popeye? Like Popeye? We got a tattoo like Popeye? The first little weapon. He says Popeye 74 times in three seconds to the little boy because he's trying to see if someone has a tattoo like Martin Riggs' tattoo. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We got a tattoo. Like Popeye? Like Popeye? Like Popeye? Like Popeye? I'm going to go back. Oh my God. I'm going to go back and look at that. You'll love it. It's a, I worked with Danny on, well, first of all, I used to do, I, when I was younger, I was really, really, really, really, really, really, really deep political active. And, and, and I was on that circuit with all those guys. And, um, Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We were, we were all just to the left of Shea Guevara. Um, and, and then years later, I, I worked with him on brothers and sisters and he was playing Sally Field's love interest. I love it. Who also was my campaign manager as I was like running for president or whatever I was doing. He took three hours to get from his trailer to the set, but he left when they said leave. Really? He wasn't like- Oh, he wasn't holding up in the trailer. He was definitely- Oh, no, no, no, no, no. He was definitely making his way to set. He's a total pro. Yeah. But he's the fucking tin man. He literally. Pre-oil. Is like. Pre-oil. He is a very stiff human. Oh, yeah. He's kind of, yeah, yeah. Yes, the mobility is a factor. There's not a lot of mobility. And he's in great shape. Like he looks like a billion dollars. and still you're saying brothers and sisters and that's 10 years ago years ago years ago he also eats everything brothers and sisters was totally predicated on us eating all the time I hated it it was like I signed up for a show where I got to run for president I ended up on a show where all I did was bake waffles with Sally Field. Right. Anyway, so he would eat, you know, food on a set, as you know. It's supposed to be there for 18 hours. Sometimes you stop, you don't even finish the scene, and you walk away, and you come back the next day. It's the same food. Oh, no. Oh, yes. But. Yes, yes, yes. No, Danny. You're picking up the scene the next day. Yes. Danny didn't, I guess that he must have never eaten in his previous movies? I guess not, yeah. So he would just dig in. Oh, he ate everything? Just dig in. Prop food, your prop food, he'd eat off your plate and then he would go to like one of the little PAs. He goes, hot dogs. There's a hot dog to the craft service. Rob. And they would bring him chili dog. Oh, I'm sorry, it was chili dog. Chili dog, chili dog. Oh, that's me. Okay, you just made the story quantum better. That was... Let me get one of them Chili Pops. That's amazing. You're like, I'm sorry, Mr. Glover, Chili Pops? What are you doing? I'm going to get a side of a Coca-Cola. A Coca-Cola, Mr. Glover. Oh, by the way, and I'll get into that, but my last Danny thing, he's very similar to the actor Edward James Olmos, who I've also worked with. Yeah, I love Eddie. I worked with Eddie too, yeah. Fucking best. The best. The best. First of all, they're great actors. They're just, they're great. Full of integrity. Full of integrity. But he's also the kind of guy that will like hold up production while he's on the phone talking to a third world dictator. No, yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. Guys, I'll be there in a second with Maduro. Yeah, yeah, exactly. 100%. Like 100% talking to Maduro. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, so he's, you know, Yeah, that's all you hear. It's clearly a movie from 19. Oh, it just popped in. Another great I can do. Another great. Yes. The one and only. Billy Dee Williams. Billy Dee Williams did Key and Peele. And where he was, where it was a great, it was a fun little concept too. We did a sketch where we're hanging at the laundromat. I'm an old uncle. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like a Danny. I'm like a Danny Glover. Top of cancer. My nephew is over here at the laundromat with me. I was like, hey man, what's going on? And he's, he's the uncle. I'm sorry. He's the uncle. I'm the nephew. We played so many uncles and nephews and brothers and sisters. So he was the uncle. And he's like, hey, man, what's going on, Nate? And I was like, hey, namas, Uncle Darnell. He's like, man, you know everything's popping off right here at the laundromat. And I was like, and so he's trying to make the laundromat the barber shop in the African-American community. And so eventually I'm trying to be a good nephew and stick around with my uncle. And it's just the doldrums. It's abjectly depressing. and then across the street is a barbershop and there's the guys are having the time of their lives and at one point in time i'm like talking to my my uncle i'm like hey it's gonna be okay uncle don now holy shit that's lando and i see i see billy d williams across the street so while we're shooting so that's the sketch so while we're shooting i'm coming out of my trailer one day and billy's driving up he's driving up in his like his s-class very tasteful black mercedes and not too Not too much, not too little. Not too much, not too little. Nice car. Luxury vehicle, but not too snazzy. Gets out of his car. Black linen shirt, loose black linen pants, loafers with the weaving in them, right? And a beautiful collared scarf. We're talking about a two to three and a half inch thickness, right? Just a nice car. Cravat. Yes, a cravat, if you will. Loosely tied. Devil may care. And he's walking out and he's like, how's it going? And our base camp PA goes, Mr. Williams, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Elliot. So your trailer will be over here. And we just wanted to know if you brought any wardrobe with you. Billy just turns and looks at Elliot and goes, you're looking at it. And he just walks away. He just goes, you're looking at it. And I mean, he's the best. But then he had a very hard out. And sometimes I'm wishy-washy, Rob. Like, I'll have a hard out. And then I just turn into a marshmallow. You know, I give them another 10. I know. You know what it is? I say it's the Midwestern people pleaser. Midwestern people pleaser? No, I'm not kidding. You know. It's 100% the Midwest. I know. I know. It's in our DNA. It's so hard to overcome. And so Billy had, he had an out. He had a hard out. And we were in the shop. We're in the barbershop. And unfortunately, there was a clock, a very prominent clock in the barbershop. And so Billy would just keep looking at the clock. And Peter, Peter was at Video Village about 25 yards away. Right. And the door is open. So Peter can hear us talking in there. And Billy just turns. He looks at the clock and he's like, Pete. I don't know what to tell you, buddy, but I got to go. And he's like, what? What time is it? Because Billy, it's about one twenty. Oh, man. Hard out. One thirty. I got to go. I gotta go I gotta go and then we're like we're almost there like one more set up Billy and he goes alright sounds good and he turned to me and go it's that freeway right there is that the 110 of the 10 he's like I gotta make my way to Santa Monica gotta be there at 2 Pete I gotta go I gotta go I But that velvet you know oh my God You know you a baller when you just hey, you walk out of your car in your clothes, you get on the van in your clothes, you get on set in your clothes, you shoot in your clothes, and you go home in your clothes. Dude, that's, Adam Sandler made a career out of it. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Hold that thought. We'll be right back. By the way, so Billy Dee Williams, can we just take a minute to give it up for Brian's song? Oh, God. Oh, my gosh. I mean, I have a theory that of a certain demographic, the first time you cried as a male was watching Brian's song. Always. You said as a male. For me, it would have been reruns on a movie, so it would have been my formative years. But that's when you certainly don't want to cry. Yes. I'm a little older than you. And when that movie came on with Brian's song with James Caan. James Caan. Mm-hmm. Oh, God. Those movies open you up. Okay, now I'm going to, okay, I'm just going to do it. I'm going to confess. I'm going to confess. It's not because I'm a Lions fan, but I'm going to confess anyway. As big a sports fan as I am, as much as I love a tearjerker, I'm going to admit it right here on the podcast. I've never seen Brian's song. Oh, no. Oh, no. I've never seen it. I said, I'm not afraid. I know who I am. I'm going to say it. I've missed that one. Look, I know it's a movie about the Chicago Bears, so you're going to have to hold your nose. It's hard for me. I understand. I understand. But I am telling you, if you do nothing else with your life. I have to see that movie. I got to see that movie. You have to see that movie, those two in that movie. It's really dated and really funny. It's a great look at what football was like. Like you and I'm a big football guy like you. And to look back on what, you know, Coach Hallis and the whole, it's awesome. Oh, that's right, because he was still alive and coaching at that time. That's right. That papa bear was still there. How do you survive as a Lions fan? How do you live with yourself? You know what I mean? Here's the thing. I am by nature an optimistic person. So innately. So that's really the only way. The funny thing is I am a glutton for punishment for the longest time. My mother came from my mother's from Illinois. My grandfather was a White Sox fan, but I like the Cubs and I wanted to root for the Cubs. My grandfather would watch the Cubs games and the White Sox games. So I was a Cubs fan and a Lions fan. The Cubs gave me hope. And of course, I'm a Tigers fan, but I feel like I'm allowed to have an AL team and an L team. I'm allowed to have a hometown team, an American League team. I'm also allowed to have a National League team. Now, you're from Cleveland. You're from Ohio. From Dayton. You're Dayton. So are you a Bengals fan? Here's what's interesting. Yeah. Hell fucking no. Uh-huh. Okay. To that. Okay. Although with Joe Burrow going there, who I met, he's awesome. I ran into him. He's a good kid? He's a great kid. Yeah. Got his head on straight. He's awesome. And he does legitimately look like a young Tom Brady. We'll see, obviously. No, we'll see. We'll see. Yeah. Definitely his strides and his dropbacks. He looks like Brady. Yeah, he's got similar mechanics to Brady. And it seems like a similar temperament to Brady. But if you're from Dayton, do you typically root for the Browns or for the Bengals? Dayton's a little. It's in the middle. I know. It's in the middle. And here's what's weird. In the era I grew up there, it would have been from when I was born in 64. And I lived there until 70, mid, late 75. So we were- Brian Seip? He was just after. Just after you left. Okay. And I liked Brian Seip. No, you know, we were Steelers fans. Really? Yeah. I mean, you think about it. Pittsburgh is not that far away. Not that far. Not that far. And that was, and dude, I was Lin Swan with the breakaway jersey with my Nerf football. Come on, man. Oh, me too. Lin Swan was my hero. Swanee. Here's the thing. I went to the NFL, my wife went to the NFL honors. So I hosted the NFL honors about three years ago. And my wife was the- By the way, that show is great. I presented one year. I don't remember. It was great. It's such a great evening. Yeah. Yeah. No, it is a great evening. It's like being in a candy shop. So my wife, Elle, was the head writer. So we got to work with all of the, she put the program together and we're both football fans. I've married a football fan. She's a giant- Smart man. Smart. Yeah. I know. Makes life so much easier. So much easier. It does not. I mean, she's there in the couch. next to me. And I just looked at him awningly. I'm like, I love you so much. You're watching the draft. She's like, watch the draft. I told you to come in here and watch the 23rd overall picks happening. So, um, and she's just tech. And also she's tech. So, uh, we have become good friends with, um, some, you know, with certain players and people who work at, on certain organizations. So we can text like the president of the lions and stuff like that, which is really great. It's great to know those people and be involved in that community in that way. But it's, it's the, here's the thing. If I never stopped, if I, I'm trying to answer your question, Rob, if I cheated and I said, Oh, forget it. I'm going to go root for an AFC team or a different, I have other NFC teams that I root for. I have friends on, but I'm a lions fan through and through because let's say I'm 66 years old and the, and the lions go to the super bowl. I want to be able to be one of those guys who has that story, but I've been a fan since Billy Sims played for them when he was rookie of the year in the league in 1980. And that I've been watching since Jeff Chandler, Billy Sims, Eric Hipple to this day. And that I will, the losing is almost, it's almost delicious if they ever get to the promised land. Okay. So then you can answer this question. Why did, and this is awful because he's one of the most famous running backs of all time and I'm drawing a blank. Barry Sanders. Thank you. Suddenly retire. with when he was, because here's what I heard. I heard he retired because he respected Walter Payton so much that he didn't want to break his record. That has to be bullshit. I call bullshit on that. Me too, but you've heard it. Have you heard the same thing? I've heard that story. I think it's apocryphal and not true. I mean, it's definitely apocryphal, but it's not true. And I feel like even though, and the reason that's, here's how I think the story got perpetuated because he is such a mild-mannered and soft-spoken person that somehow someone feels that that means he's not competitive. He's an extremely competitive person. I've been at football games with him, and in his own way, there's this fierceness that simmers underneath that you used to see in the cuts and the moves. I also believe that there was a bit of a toxic environment in the Detroit Lions organization at that time, and that environment no longer exists. Some players were frozen out and were not asked. They're not treated like a lump. And now the culture that's there now with Rod Wood and Bob Quinn, the general manager. And I love Coach Patricia. He's a smart, smart, smart guy. Oh, yeah. Brilliant guy. They're trying to bring all the older players back into the fold. They want them to have to feel like they have the opportunity to mentor. The two best players the Lions have had in the last 30 years, both left after nine, after nine seasons when they were still in their prime, Calvin and Barry and both mild mannered guys. So that to me tells me there's some small culture issue and they're addressing that right now, which I'm thrilled about. Absolutely. That's so great. Yeah. Cause I mean, it's a great, it's a great franchise and you know, you'd love to see them do it. Maybe, maybe the bangles will be the same, the bungles, the bungles, the bungles. Right. It's so funny that I didn't, I only noticed right now that you are, you were surrounded by a triangle of three AFC teams. Yeah. So you, you root for the Steelers, but then the Bengals are there and the Browns, all AFC teams. And the same thing. It's a, it's in my area. It's a battery of NFC teams because Detroit and Chicago are about five hours away from each other by car. And it's not, it's it's funny how those had happens regionally like that. How did you, so just a quick sidebar. So the, the, I got turned on to the whole, the East West bowl stuff. by my buddy, Chris Pratt. We were working on Parks and Rec and we got to talk about that in a minute too. Yes, yes, yes. And Pratt was laughing his ass off, just screaming on his phone. I go, what is this? He goes, you got to see this. And so he showed me probably the first iteration of it. What is your favorite crazy real NFL name? I think hands down, I'm going to give you one and then I'm going to give you an honorable mention. By the way, the fact that you have a hands down one has me so excited. I have a hands down and I have a second, but that's based purely on nostalgia because the second person, his name is a favorite of mine and dear to my heart because he's the reason we wrote the sketch. So, okay. So, so number one, a former Cleveland Brown, Barkevius Mingo. I think Barkevius Mingo is a, is, is a masterpiece of a name. And by the way, he has a brother. I don't know if he played in the league or not, but his name is Hugh Tavius Mingo. Come on. H-U-G-H-T-A-V-I-O-U-S. Hugh Tavius Mingo and Barkevious Mingo. Now, the second, the honorable mention, the runner up is, of course, DeBrickashaw Ferguson. First of all, if your first name is Jim or Bob and your last name is Ferguson, Just Ferguson is already spicy. In the normal name world, spicy enough. DeBricashaw, amazing. That is so, okay, my favorite for sure. Yes. He's so famous now that the name is almost, you forget how insane it is. Right. Plaxico Burris. Plaxico, of course. Plaxico Burris. Plaxico. Plaxico, which could be two things. it's like bad dentistry in Mexico. Yes. Or it sounds like, in a way, sounds as if he could be the name of a company that sells like high-end plastics. Yeah, or it's actually, he's plastic himself. Like I thought, is it one of those things where like mom was like, you know what? My son is gonna be a badass. He is gonna ruckus people in the NFL. He's gonna be tough as shit. and a warrior, and he's going to be made of gnarly Plaxico. And they're not going to, like Plaxico, it sounds like an essential, tough element, right? It's Area 51 shit. It's Area 51 shit. Oh. It's what you put in the flying, the mystery flying wing. It's actually. It's like, oh guys, we have a 2.6 on the Plaxico meter. Are you down to clown with the coldest to ever do it? The coldest to ever do it? Oh. Wait a second. He's a high school senior. who's going to LSU, I believe, this next year. DeColdest. Check it out. Read it. Yeah. Oh, now I understand. I'm reading. Oh, it's D-E accent mark, C-O-L-D-E-S-T. My man's first name is DeColdest. I mean. That's amazing. I think it should just jump to the top of the list for me. DeColdest is my shit. to coldest to ever to ever do it hi i'm to cry i gotta go okay i gotta go you're looking at it here's the toughest one here's the toughest one here's some pressure what was my girl thinking when she named her son peerless price wide receiver for the buffalo bills you can't like Okay, so Plaxico, that's inspiring, right? Here's my thing on that. Here's my thing on that. She's got the alliteration going, which is not common. That's true. There's not a lot of alliteration in these names. You're right. Actually, they usually try to go divergent with saps. So I think the alliteration is pleasing to the ear And peerless is actually a nice word I like that Yes But what the connotation Now there two ways to look at it The positive ways to say he's going to be peerless. We're naming him peerless. And the other connotation is you'd better be peerless. See, I get I get it's a baller move. I get you get like if you want to draft him. Yeah. Then the price will be peerless. His name should be Peerless Priceless. Right. Yes. Peerless Price Point. Peerless Price Point. Yeah. Peerless Price Hike. Oh, I got another one. So when I was at home in Detroit, a friend of mine told me a story years ago. That's my favorite story. A guy, her brother was moving into a building in Detroit and he had a hard time getting this chair up the stairs. And this older African-American gentleman came out and helped him with the chair and get it into his apartment. And he said, oh, God, thanks so much, man. I really appreciate it. And he said, hey, man, anytime you need some help, I'm here for you, man. You just call me Bominicious. And this guy's name was Kevin. And he was like, oh, okay. It's a pleasure to meet you, Bominicious. And he lived in this apartment for three years. And he saw, you know, Bominicious every day. And then when he finally moved out of the apartment, the guy said to him, the guy, he said, Hey, Kevin, man, let me ask you a question, man. You're moving out. And it was good having you as a neighbor. I was glad to meet you, get to know you a little bit. But I have a question for you, bro. you live in this building three years every time you see me you call me bominicious now what the hell is that all about he said wait the first day we met that's what you told me to call you he said no boy i told you to call me by my initials i just want someone to hear the story and one day name their child Bominicious Ferguson. That's a quarterback. That's a quarterback. That's a, that's a, that is a, that is an SEC quarterback name. 100%. SEC quarterback name. That guy goes to Mississippi State. Bominicious. Yeah. Bominicious Ferguson. Three touchdowns on the day. Career day. And we'll be right back after this. Now I have to ask you a question about language and pronunciation of words. Were you, did you learn, first of all, I don't know if it was Cantonese or Mandarin. What language were you speaking in Wayne's world? It's, that is actually Cantonese. It's not Mandarin. It's Cantonese. Did you learn it? Did you learn it phonetically? I did. I learned it phonetically. they had, I had a tape that I had to listen to. Yeah. And I, to this day, sometimes, you know, people who speak Cantonese will stop me on the street and hit me with Cantonese. I'm like, I can order cream of some young guy. I can do that. That's the top of my skill list. I love Mike Myers so much. I love Mike Myers. I just thought it was great. And I just think that he's wonderful. I just think that he's wonderful. And I love that they broke with him. You did two movies together. When we did, when we, the first time they previewed Wayne's World. Yeah. When he said cream of some young guy, they laughed so hard and so long they had to go back and recut the movie. That's what's, you know, it's really interesting about movies today. I wonder. Really? Because in the day where comedies were movies and you really only saw them in movie theaters. And maybe a year later, it would be on, you know, Showtime or HBO. Right. It's not that far away. I mean, Wayne's World is in this era I'm talking about. Oh, 100 percent. Yeah. You would literally have to cut pauses for the audience to laugh. That's right. Like, it's interesting. They used to do that. You know, we were texting with Mike yesterday and Mike and I have actually had and we're very good. We're good friends. And we were having that conversation about classic movies. and the Marx Brothers film Animal Crackers was a film was a show that they had done that you know they'd strung a plot together for the movie but it was a show they had done on Broadway so it was a review in a way or a vaudeville review right and because they had honed it so well they cut pauses into that movie all over the place because they knew exactly where the laugh lines were and the duration of the laughs because they had done because they'd done the the stage show for those bits, those routines for a couple of years on Broadway. And, and, and I think it's fascinating that you don't see that anymore. The Nutty Professor, the, the remake, the Tom Shadiac remake with Eddie Murphy in the first dinner scene, you have to go back and see the movie. I don't care how much pausing they put in that. You have to see that movie in the movie theater twice, at least there's no way about it. Too much rolling laughter, too much rolling laughter. It's just the rolling laughter. If you watch, if you watch next time Wayne's world is on TV, Yeah. Just notice that moment. And and literally he says, I love the cream of some young guy. And then it cuts to like Dana just nodding. One thousand, two, one thousand, three, one thousand, four. Like, what the fuck? Jesus. And it's interesting. I'm going to look out for that now because they covered it organically with with Garth laughing at it. Yeah, exactly. Sniggering at it. Right. Yeah, exactly. 100%. But like you don't, we consume things so rarely just in theaters anymore. I wonder if people are still taking that into account like a crowd's rolling laughter as opposed to three people sitting in a living room. Yeah, I know. I think that part, I mean, we would show all of our sketches, we would screen all of our sketches at our interstitial tapings. We would do two days or three days of interstitial tapings for Key and Peele for the first two seasons. And it was always helpful. But then that crowd was already so young. And that's six years ago, seven years ago. that crowd watching the show is already, you know, anchored to these phones. Sure. So that you're going, we took a lot of pride in programming and curating the order of the sketches and where the interstitials would come in and how they came out and what we would start with. What was the lead in? What's the credential scene? What's going to be the blow? We did all that work. And I always, to this day, I wonder if it's helpful in this day, In this era, I wonder if it's helpful. A sketch show like SNL in 1975, as opposed to a sketch show like SNL now, or Upright Citizens Brigade, those shows, I still wonder. I mean, they were always crafting it for the role. For the role. And now I don't know that we have. It's so much more fractured now. I don't know that we need to do it. What, tell me about Parks and Recreation. We missed each other, because I think you came in this season. I know, we didn't see each other. I think you came in the last, well, it was I, and Perk, and Perkins and I had moved to Michigan. You must have been happy about that. Yes, always. Always happy when a character moved to Michigan. Yes. We, I had the time of my life. And I love Retta. I just love Retta, for sure, because I did all my scenes with you. I played her husband. And it's fun to be around. It's always fun to be around Amy. Amy's actually a very big inspiration to me. I just mentioned up at Citizen Brigade, her colleague, Ian Roberts, was one of our showrunners on Key & Peele. and such a lovely, friendly set. But it's one of those sets that you know is because that group has spent so much time together. And I remember the day, first of all, I loved the Moho, the fact that people would stay in that motorhome. I thought that was such a great- The Moho was unbelievable. So folks listening, it's traditional on these shows, on any show, every actor has their own place to stay. And if you're a young actor, you might be packed into three little mini apartments called a Winnebago or whatever. But as you get to be a lead in a TV series, you have your own motorhome. Your own motorhome. Your own trailer. Yeah. But on Parks and Rec, we had the Moho and that was one trailer and we all shared it. And it was great. It was such a great idea to have that community, have everybody be there together like that. And I remember Aubrey and I having such a good time improvising on set. I do this often sometimes and maybe more often than I should, where I'll when when you cut the house, I won't come out of character. I'll play a character in the scene. And then if I start a nice improv groove with somebody, I'll play a character when they say cut with that person. And I remember Aubrey Plaza was my acting coach. And she also happened to be in the show I got hired on. So she was like the desperate acting coach who could never get a real gig. It's amazing. So we had our own little storyline that we were only doing for us. And it was me and Aubrey. And so, you know, they say action and we do the scene and it was cut. She's like, okay, not exactly what I was looking for. Listen, the direct, what the director is telling you, I would take more as guidelines than anything else. So great. We'd just go back and forth. And it was so great. It was so much fun, but, but that set engendered that kind of imagination and fun. We were just staying in the moho. I remember my, my favorite moho set thing was, there was a moment when you have to Google it because it's so good. Brad Pitt did a much reviled Gucci ad. Do you remember this? I remember. Where he's like talking gibberish. And it was before Matthew McConaughey stole that whole raison d'etre for commercials. Yeah, exactly. And so we recreated it. We wrote it. We reshot it. I played Pitt, of course. Right, right, right. And we shot that in the Moho. And that's what we did on our time off. We were making fun of people and shooting stupid fake commercials. You shot it in the moho. I love it. I absolutely love it. Yeah, I think Aziz came up with a, because the lighting is so weird in it if you watch it. Aziz came up with a flashlight and a water bottle that if you crinkled the water bottle, it put these sparkles on my face. It was like- Yeah. Amazing. That's absolutely amazing. I know Pratt has it on his phone. It's one of those things that like, I've got to figure out a way to steal it. This is where I need the Russians to collude. I might be able to help. That's the stuff I want off the internet. I will make that me and my wife's mission that we will get that video from Pratt. Will you do that? I think I might have an in. He loves you, as you know, he's a massive fan. And we are massive fans of him. I just adore him and his. But I know I know his mother-in-law. So I know. And as do you. As do you. Yeah. Yes, of course. How do you know Maria? How do you know Maria? um i we are our kids are uh contemporaries of one another i see our family that the schwarzenegger shrivers are like the lowe's second family and vice versa they they they speaking of engendering things that that family does that that family at large does that they're very good about you know we've we have lots of friends in the within the family and it's and it's uh they treat you so beautifully and they're just the loveliest loveliest people yeah oh my face hurts from smiling and laughing i mean he is what a lovely man and just just that energy just even coming off of the computer and the microphone overwhelmingly fun and positive and awesome i'm gonna now spend the rest of my day thinking of more names for nfl players i know you are Come on, because you are DeColdest. You, my dear listener, are DeColdest to ever listen. Thank you, and I will see you next time on Literally with Me, Rob Lowe. You have been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe. Produced and engineered by me, Devin Torrey-Briott. Executive produced by Rob Lowe for Low Profile. Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco. and Colin Anderson and Chris Bannon at Stitcher. The supervising producer is Aaron Blair. Talent producer, Jennifer Samples. Please rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and remember to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.