Joseph Sikora | #GetSome with Gary Owen Ep. 119

hey what's up everybody this is Gary what to get some podcast this week my guest is Joseph Sakura aka Tommy from power I met Joseph last summer you know Terrence J who was on last week he called me I was in Canada shooting this movie called welcome to sudden death which will be out September 29th on Netflix see how I just plugged my own [ __ ] in the intro but uh Terrence called me and said hey can you come to New York we're doing this show called power confidential it's gonna be like a talk show that's gonna recap the episode of power so we was able to work it out and it's funny because it was the first time I met Joe I feel like we've been living vicariously through each other because I've been stopped so many times by people thought I was him and then found out he was going through the same thing and I don't know I think we I think we messaged each other on Twitter or Instagram we just stayed in touch through that we'd be laughing at some of the stuff he'd go through and I go through where people have mistaken identities and then and then we met on Power confidential and he'd be just cool I was cool with changed numbers and we just been in touch ever since so I'm excited that I called him and you know he's living in New York and he's able to come on this week but let me tell you what happened to me last week it was actually a week ago today this happened so I talked about it on my Instagram but let me just break down everything that happened and the comments I got on social media which I think can get a little ridiculous at times we're in a state where society just wants to be angry right now about everything and I get it it's a it's a highly in my lifetime I've never seen this country going through what it's going through its there's just a shift and everything and so I'm let me just get I'm leaving the gym so I got this guy workout with here in Northern California so he only does private sessions so social distancing is an order everything so I'm leaving the gym it's up yeah I won't forget it when I got my card said 624 p.m. I'm walking to my car and his gym as in like this mall so I'm leaving this mall and I went out the back AG park in the back so I'm going out this back exit and as I'm walking to my car there's nobody else around then I see this guy on a bike and it's not a big bike it's a tiny bike and he's got a ski mask on but he's got it down below his nose and um I'm really not paying any attention to him cuz I'm like it's just a guy or a kid on a bike and he might be going to the store or just left the store he forgot to take his mask off I'm not thinking nothing of it we're I know we're in a state now where you're not looking you're not looking to times if somebody as a mask on although it was 97 degrees and he had him at a full ski mask I go that's it's awful hot I remember just think him guys gotta be hot that's all I was thinking of so I walk into my car I see him make eye contact with me and he starts he's so let me try to do with my hand motion I'm walking at like an angle to my car he's coming this way he sees me and makes the turn so we're almost like coming to a point where we're gonna meet so now I'm making sure I make eye contact with them so I'm looking directly at him and I'm giving him a smile I was gonna give him a head nod you know like hey what's up and he goes yeah ah I see you white you see I'm black out of smack the [ __ ] out of you right now and I went I just kind of looked at it right and I just went like I don't know why this came out of my mouth I just went you want a bike and I don't know why I said it cuz I I think I said it because I knew I was closer to my car then he was so as I get to my driver's side door I'm open it and he's if he was gonna slap me he had an opportunity at that point but I think what I made eye contact with them and then I when I spoke especially I think he put two and two together and he realized who I was I don't clearly didn't know my name he doesn't know Garryowen but he knew he had seen me on TV or movies cuz he said oh you'd have funny actor dude yeah I know who you is and I was just like and literally his bike went from coming at me so I'm I'm walking to my car to angle his bikes coming he literally just kind of went around the back of my car then came he's on the passenger side and my windows were tinted so he can't see my car now and I'm in my car at this point and he's just doing like circles out of pads inside of my car so now but he was so close to my car uh the doors lock automatically once I get in the car and then turn the ignition on but he could have literally went for the the door or I don't know he couldn't did anything to my car at this point but he just kind of like had a half smile and I think we both were like what the hell just happened because I think I was in the state of what the [ __ ] just happened and he was looking at me like I can't believe I just he's trying to figure out what's that dudes name it looked like I've seen that face forward people look at me they're like I know him but I don't know how I know him once I'm in my car I called the trainer and I told him I say man so dude just tried to hit me up outside your gym I go he's still out there in the parking lot and the trainer laughed he like was like I said dude I'm not kidding and I said do you need to go out there and see who it is cuz he knows all the kids and all the dudes in the neighborhood I don't think he took him as serious as I thought cuz I'm always joking when I work it out so he texts me back later and said the guy wasn't out there I don't think he went out there right away cuz if he woulda went out there right when I called he would there's no way you could have missed that kid or that man I don't if he was a kid he was eighteen nineteen if he was a man he what he wasn't older than like twenty-two years old I'll tell you that probably between 17 and 20 years old and uh so I don't think he went out there immediately when I said go out there or he would've solved it's weird when you go through something like that because as I'm driving back to my house it's about a 20-minute drive from my house to the gym for the gym of my house and I'm going through all these raises of emotion you go through the yeah we should have [ __ ] woulda came here I would have busted his ass then you go through oh [ __ ] he might have had weapon on him then you go through I'm so glad I got out of there unscathed and your your emotions are everywhere in the car all at once I can't explain it unless you go through something like that I was like what uh [ __ ] what just happened I was literally just walking to my car minding my business and I got it's also this gout of bike just comes at me so I get back to my house and I'm like whoo I'm processing ship and I see my wife and my daughter I'm telling them what happened and I said I'm gonna I said first I texted the trainer I said dude I know the the mall has security of tape they got cameras in a parking lot I said see if you can get it I said I just wanted methanol I want to press charges anything I just want to see did it go down like I thought in my head did it play out like I thought and uh I just I'm just curious to see it and and then I said I'm gonna make a post on social media cuz that's what you do when you go through a traumatic experience traumatic experience you just run this media that's what I did so I made an Instagram post and I literally described everything that happened in order because I said it just happened I know it so I said it was 624 it was a black guy he had a ski mask he went right below his nose and he came to me and said that and I just like may I just it freaks me out so the fact that I said a black guy in a ski mask that's all some people heard to go off on me they was just like you know you need to take down this post that uh cuz i i I made a little funny when I said thank God I'm black famous I said cuz a guy recognized me and I think it I think it saved me honestly if I'm looking back on a week later I think that more than anything saved the situation from getting worse than what it could have been he could have just been talking [ __ ] I don't know he could have been really trying to attack somebody I don't know where this guy's mind frame is but you have to question somebody state of mind when they can go to a complete stranger and just start going at them I don't know why you have to wonder what they're going through that day or in their life or you're just mad because this day the country is you're just mad and I was just the guy that was there wrong place wrong time basically I just couldn't believe people came at me and I I guess because I said black guy in ski mask and I I guess the reason there was a lot of backlash is because the same day the same time this happened to me this Elijah MacLean case became like national news and it was about a young black guy that the cops came after he fit the description somebody called the police on him because he had a ski mask on so basically a black guy died named Elijah MacLean and he had a ski mask on and you know the cops he that comes to made a mistake and they came they you know they came in him and put him in one of their their holes and they gave him some Bisset or something to calm him down and uh any and cardiac arrest any that he died at the hospital but it just came out the same time that this happened to me so some people were upset because I said black guys ski mask that's all they heard they they didn't they didn't bother listen to the whole story about he I minded my business to this guy keep me keep mine I never once said I don't trust black guys with ski masks but I said nothing I just literally described what happened to me and I've always said I've always done this ever since I was a little kid when I tell a story I always would include the color of the person whose story I've like Yodas book guy or this white dude and I'm a white guy I would say this white dude did this or this this agent who did this so this this Latino dude I always describe like the nationality or color of somebody when I total start I don't know why I just always did it and white included I just always did I guess it's because I'm when I'm telling a story I want people to have a visual of their head of what the person looked like if they had a tattoo on her neck a white guy in it it said two on his neck or did I don't know but all I did was say hey this black guy came at me and the reason he came at me was I don't know if he would've did that if it was a black guy walking off the store I doubt it cuz he said yeah you white you see I'm black out of smack the [ __ ] out of you right now so I don't know what the guys go through yeah it was little nerve-racking and it's crazy the the range of emotions that go to your brain as you're driving back and some people said well now you know it's like being black and being profiled and listen I'm one of those guys I empathize completely with what's going on in the country it's unfortunate all the way around but who we talk about sky said a little a little pissed came out the tip I hang a lot little low peaking on the tip of my dick which sounds like cool I it's just weird when you see it happening when you see when you see the guy make the turn on the bike I was like ah [ __ ] it's just about to happen I think your brain everything when you play it back in your head everything's in slow motion you're going is this really gonna happen to me like I mean is this guy really gonna covet me because you don't know what he wants I thought maybe you know maybe he's asked for a dollar or directions or or he recognized me I don't know but I made sure I just made eye contact I gave him a smile and then then he just came with the you know I smacked the [ __ ] out of you I was like whoa oh that that was random and I don't know why I said you want a bike hello why I came out of my mouth I think I was like I was in a car you're in a bike you're not gonna smack me in my car I think that's what's going through my brain I don't know it was just so unfortunate and I see where the timing was a little hypersensitive with the Elijah McClane thing basically gaining traction because he died in 2019 but it just became like mainstream media news the exact same day that this happened to me last week so it was just unfortunate all the way around you know but I'm okay that's the main thing I was like move I'm glad I always say I don't get in fights for that reason I said because you're the the male ego is something and you got to check it a lot of times because when you're in the moment you're like oh but then we wake up the next day you're like who I'm glad nothing happened honestly I'm glad even if something physical would have happened and let's say I we dig it in a fistfight and what if I beat him up the next day now I got legal problems I got a deal with [ __ ] I don't want to deal with because of this well what if I got hurt what if he beat my ass but then I'm in a hospital I don't want to deal with that [ __ ] either so the best-case scenario happened uh he verbally you know bah bah bah bah somebody said I gave a little smile got my car and I left that was the best-case scenario because now the only things gonna happen is I'm on social media talking about it or I'm on my podcast talking about it but this thing the best outcome that could have come from yesterday I think this is so timely I always do the rap lyric breakdowns you know except my daughter I'm guy in a white guy in his 40s you know I'm just gonna read the lyrics this week and then I'm gonna go right into Joseph because these lyrics are so cut and dry and they're so all point with what's going on in the country at this time so this week's rap lyrics is by lil baby it's called the bigger picture so I'm not gonna make a joke about it I was gonna read the lyrics because a lot of times we hear songs but we don't really hit lyrics we hear the beat or whatever but I think these lyrics are so important to what's going on in the country right now and I hope I do it justice I hope me reading it does hit diffuse cuz it is a great song so here we go seems like we lose in our country but we got to stand out for something so this is what it comes to every video I see all my conscience I got power now I got to say something corrupt the police been the problem where I'm from but I'd be lying if I said it was all of them I ain't do this for the trend I don't follow them altercations with the law had a lot of them people speaking for the people I'm proud of them stick together we can get it up and out of them I can't lie like I don't rap about killing and dope but I'm telling my young uns to go out and vote I did what I did cuz I didn't have no choice or no hope I was forced just to jump in and go this [ __ ] that's all that we know but it's time for a change got time to be serious no time for no games we ain't talking no more let us go from them chains god bless they souls every one of them names it's bigger than black and white it's a problem with the whole way of life it can't change overnight but we got to start somewhere might as well go ahead and start here we done had a hell of a year I'm gonna make it count while I'm here God is only man I fear I'm just gonna rest it at that all right y'all Joseph Sakura on this week's podcast a lot of people say we're doppelgangers you have seen him as a teenager on one of my favorite movies Rudy you say you saw him get his dick shot off in the TV show my favorite TV show Ozark but something possibly very Game of Thrones ish and most people and I will say he'll probably say this himself he became a household name from the show power my guy Joseph Sakura aka Gary Owen aks I guess this speaks what's up Joe what's up Jimmy Egan yeah Timmy and Tommy I like did a whole bit on my last comedy special about being you and getting stopped for you yeah people loved that one were you familiar with me before you got on power yeah yeah I knew of course I knew who you were but my favorite thing was that I guess when I got stopped in airports literally cuz like you know I'm 510 and change and you're you know solid six three people would stop me in airports and just be like oh I saw your comedy show and I'm just like you couldn't tell you really can't tell like I'm the fun size Garryowen well you know depend on their TV they don't know I'm that tall well that's true but if they see you alive which some of these people said they just came from your show like we had just criss crossed when I was doing an appearance at a club and so I attempted a joke and I just said just make sure you follow me on instagram yeah I kept getting like social media was telling me like oh man I'm so happy you got on power I was like what what does this show power like people were really like congratulating me and say I'm so happy for sure that's gone what the hell is going so literally I'm not lying Joe I was calling my agency going Gil did I get casted in something you're not telling me like is there an offer out there I I didn't start watching power till season two because you know I'm on the road I don't it's hard for me to catch shows I like binge watch shows and the first season of power I didn't mean honest I didn't pay attention to it and then all some people like congratulations so happy for you I was like what is going on you're like no no there's a show 50 cent put together called power they're going into season 2 and I was like what is this show and that that's how I started watching and got hooked on it because of you basically they were like it's kind of like you and Michael Ealy but it's these two other guys right now and now uh now you're on my favorite show is ozark eyes a great show I mean the writing on that show Chris Mundy who's the showrunner is the coolest guy in the world Jason Bateman phenomenal but Laura Linney to me is one of the great actors of in America right oh my gosh her and Jason Bateman I can't learn fantastic I can't see them else play those roles I do I do but Jason Bateman and I don't think it's easy to do Jason Bateman after you know just being around him a lot and I do think it's very difficult to do it I'm then saying it's exactly him but he's a lot like Jason Bateman and is he just it's so funny when he's directing because he'll be like okay guys you know we're gonna do it like this and look could come around and then he's just like okay in action hey so what and like right into the scene it's like this same tonality the same thing and I I don't think he's in character I think he's just kind of has played maar dia similar to himself and that's a tough thing to do is not kind of immerse yourself in mask yourself in the character so I got nothing but love and respect for Jason Bateman and he was a huge reason why I played Frank jr. how I played him because I came in with all these other ideas and I'm coming off at Tommy and I'm like okay I got a great ideas for this mob son and I'm gonna do it like this and he's kind of like what I should try this and I'm like yeah right [Laughter] shut down all your brainstorm in the hotel room yeah he's like that's a great great ideas great ideas so here's some other ideas I'd like you to do those instead so when Ozark when it came out and I I just am on Netflix and I hear about it I turn it on that's what it shows the first episode some shows like Game of Thrones it took a couple episodes to get into it Sons of Anarchy for me to cabesnoz Ozark from the first 20 minutes I was like what the [ __ ] am i watch it as soon as I saw that body drop in Chicago when they're in Chicago in the lawyers body drops soon as I saw that body drop I was like I mean and what was what was that lawyer's name I can't remember Gary Gary the guy Laura Liddy was having an affair with was Gary now how did you get those arc was it offered you go an audition they called me in like everybody else I did a pre read and then I read for the casting director and then I got cast and it was supposed to be two episodes and then turned into three turned into however many it turned into and I think the character could have been just a foil for Ruth but um Julia garner I I loved it working with her and I think that you know he's the character was it was a tool for Routh's character and that's fine so my job was to be the most interesting I could be within the parameters I was given and I I loved being on that set I truly loved being a part of that show cuz I first off I was it's the first time I was a huge fan of his show and then I got to go be on the show so um you know I fanned out a little bit at different times but I kind of kept myself together and we'll have to see what the future holds for Frank jr. because we never actually saw everything so we'll see what a Monday has in mind oh I swear and people have watched so we're gonna give away some some stuff when that lady shot your dick off for lack of a better term I just thought you were dead she killed him well it could be the The Powers That Be haven't told me that I'm dead or alive necessarily in the thing because I mean you shoot somebody there I'm sure it's possible to survive getting you know your foreskin and the testicle blown off if or whatever the case is but I mean you'd think although all the arteries there and everything you bleed out so I don't know I'll see let's see what they have planned I mean I hope you come back it'll be interesting to see how how you're such a like you said a tool in the show never come and I never will come back or maybe I'll come there's a million of them listen nothing humble will humble a bit more they get his dick shot off I would think well I mean in a real way it's like you know you're I'm coming off of being Tommy who's all balls all guts all everything and to play a different character who's kind of could be played in the same genre ish but to be such a different character and then to kind of accept the fate of this guy I was happy that my eagle was in check and it was just like dude you're you know you're just an actor play the role and be great at whatever role you're given is and it was it was a good it was a it was a sweet-tasting humble pie is that now is that hard to go from hard see there you go again get right hey man they're not gonna stop keeps going we're gonna stretch this as long as we can though is it tough to go from like you play this like and Tommy is like aniconic character especially in the black community and I mean Tommy is that guy and go from him and did you go right in from power to Ozark we were actually shooting at the same time I shot episodes 1 & 2 while we were filming episodes 13 14 and 15 of the sixth season the back five episodes so the last three of the back five they were shooting at the same time I was shooting Ozark so the hair department the I both kind of let me hit grow my hair a little bit longer and then they filled it like in so it didn't look like um you know it looks like a different cut mm-hmm so yeah Phil's same time is that difficult well I used to do theater in rep so you know you're doing different plays at the same time you have to be different characters or even sometimes within a play you have to be different characters so I always had fun and I shot a bunch of other stuff while I was shooting power I did maniac while I was shooting power I did underground on WGN America with my buddy Anthony Hemingway which was a strange fun character frog Jack I did yeah quite a few Chicago PD that a buddy of mine wrote role for me on so I did the guest star on that and just very different characters and doing it at the same time but I always had the luxury of I don't know I guess coming from the theater is you you compartmentalize stuff and you develop the characters and I'm obviously not in it for the fame so I'm in it for the storytelling did um now I know we did power the first time we met was on power confidential last summer and I it was funny cuz what I did I go I was I was excited to meet you because it was like we were like living vicariously through each other for the longest like I chief I was like I made it my personal mission to be like it's Owen no s it what's wrong with you I listen I stopped correcting people if they said love you empowers I appreciate it make sure you want your season six yeah we coming back in August why you shoot so-and-so he had it comin yeah there you go couldn't shut his mouth I asked you this question on power confidential but for me personally I just love hearing the the grind stories of actors and comedians and singers well you had audition what three or four times to get the part of Tommy five five yeah and didn't you say you were like kind of blowing it off at first not blowing it off but I was getting married at the time and when the first auditions were and I read it and you probably you could probably sympathize this as a fellow actor not only a comedian but a multi-talent unlike me I read it and I thought they're gonna [ __ ] this up they're gonna give it to some pretty boy who knows no and about nothing and it's gonna be garbage I you know why whatever I'm getting married I'm done so but then I the after I got married came back to New York it came around again because originally 50 cent was gonna play ghost and then 50 was just like I it's too big of a commitment and then they offered it to Omari that was fifties choice and Courtney was on board with that Courtney a Kemp the show's creator so then they re auditioned the Tommy role they already had another guy for that they had in mind for Tommy which was originally called Eddie O'Neill and that's not four touchdowns in one game four touchdowns in one season red or whatever I'm making the head O'Neill reference and then so we all had to re audition and I ended up getting the role because I'm not part of it is because I clicked with Omari we really got on so well that we were able to play brothers straightaway I think that was a big thing and then if I'm being totally honest Omar he's pretty light skinned I think that the other guy was Italian and dark olive skin and I think that I just made Omar look darker probably - yeah there is something to say about that not just the skin colour but the height though I've had auditions where they asked they call back said now how tall are you again and I was like ah [ __ ] are you trying to dab Michael what are you looking for because I could be yeah put me in flats put them in heels we're good you said go who's the lead and then I'm Wikipedia in the lead like okay the lead is five three I'm gonna say on five eleven yeah now we're the same height that's perfectly yeah this [ __ ] I'll be like Dan you're gay 511 coming in slept over okay so now you get the part in power when did like the first time you're out like out to eat at a nightclub or getting coffee and somebody just stopped you like you Tommy right after season one where it's like um and this is this is gonna be I you know man I I'm surely trying to choose my words wisely in our current climate but it was it was when kind of a barrage of being called the n-word that I was like whoa okay you know you the n-word right as in my n-word right that's there he is out of a this guy right out of affection yeah and so I was like I was like wow you know um that's a compliment because you know luckily and and for whatever reason but it's lucky that I grew up with people of all different colors and creeds but uh you know you you know you know the difference immediately and I will say that uh then this is not belittling to a white community but the black community calls [ __ ] fast so close like good I did a good job you know I'm and and because that's that that's Tommy's that guy yeah like today expect you to act like Tommy yeah that's that's why I always tried to kind of limit my interaction with people because I'm just like yeah that's right that's right good to see you too let's get the [ __ ] out of here I don't blow my cover cuz I would be like oh that's so sweet like can I buy you a drink or you good but you know what here's the fight thing Tommy being such an iconic character especially in the black community you could literally be like I get the [ __ ] out of my face but it's funny a friend of mine and this is not funny but a friend of mine was serving a long sentence and he had just been transferred from singsing he was he did 12 years in his last year and a half he was at Queens correctional so it was finally closer and I I was able to go visit him every week and I was in there talking with him and this guy looks over at me looks over twice and he's like yo that you're Tommy's right there this [ __ ] is real so one of the another person of visiting an inmate yeah another person visiting an ami is telling his buddies like you see that guy that that's Tommy Tommy from poverty that's what I was talking about this [ __ ] is real and depending on how long that his friend was in prison he's like you'll we don't have stars the guys because some of the guys who had just been at Queens correctional who weren't transferred in didn't see the show cuz this is Paul like season I guess this is season 3 but my friend was just like he's like I don't know Tommy I know Joe you know that's my guy but yeah it was it was very it was very funny but he did say yo you blessed me because when I went down there all the COS I would take pictures with them that'd be like yo Tommy you can you wait around for one second and I'd be like yeah they're like after I go get my stuff out of the locker and be like let me take a picture oh man my daughter loves you or this or that and I was like yeah yeah so taking pictures and then they're like who are you visiting I'm like here's his name here's his number and he's like yo that didn't really help me believe me listen I don't want to act like while so where's work she swapping buddies and prison stories I got a buddy also that's a servant I'm in Folsom and I'll now go visit them and it's similar to the same type of things happen the guards will be like who you here to see and they immediately they're not as cold I still got to follow all the rules and regulations but they're not as hardcore like right on the line you're not previous in there like hey gear yeah the lockers back there well fortunately unfortunately to our friends the incarcerated friend is that it I think it forces the correctional officer to humanize that person even more um I mean I wish they did it with everybody and you know I don't know how much we're gonna get into the present state of the police right now but I think that that's a kind of an overriding theme is the humanization of of people I mean especially black people but of anybody incarcerated yeah and I've I've I don't know if you did this but when I went to when I go to visit my buddy it's I guess I think it's like two dollars and they get the pole they can get a Polaroid you get a picture all right I I swear I took at least ten pictures one time which is friends and family and then it was the guy that was taking the pictures that collects the money like gave my boy a free picture that was the trade-off if I take pictures with these other people he was giving him a free picture you know at the vending machine somebody be like yo Tommy you want something yeah be like yeah man let me get let me get a Snickers like I've all right thanks yeah Tommy and Snickers outright uh you know I think for us especially in the climate of this country with the black lives matter movement I think me and you especially in the entertainment world like it made my skin curl and I did a parody of the did you see the we take responsibility mm-hmm yours yours what's yours had me rollin I made my wife watch it with those eyes it's like the first thing I saw in the morning it is and I'll this and I'll quote Omari Hardwick he said there's nothing stranger than seeing white people try to act comfortable around black people you know I mean if like it's there like if they're like yeah yo my brother or like yeah yeah like the word up you know or like something like that where it's just like yeah now you don't have to be that you could just be your authentic self and that'll come across better than trying to connect so what you're I think I know what you're saying and your your response to it was very funny oh my god the responsibility I'd see you the first time I saw in my life Oh a white friend try to be like just change this entire persona around black people I was in a I was in high school going the 11th grade and I worked at this amusement park and some of the other kids at musical park were or black kids and I went to go over where their houses one night and I brought my buddy and I went to a predominately white high school and he came with me and we go down the basement and it's like it was like a scene out of a movie like I go down there and he's down there and he's got these older brothers and his older brothers all play college football's so it was like four big ripped up black dudes they're just bumping weights down the basement and all that I go hey what's up guys I go this is my buddy Pat and my buddy Pat's hand came up Oh what's up man no no no one of the guys go hey man what are you doing and he goes well man I'm just being me and they looked at me and I go I've never heard this voice in my life what who are you right now Pat you've married through the lifeguard you're the lifeguard be a music park in the little pool yeah and it's funny cuz it's some of those things that people don't even real are interpreted in a way like you think you're connecting when you say yo yo yo my man and it's like that is not how it's being heard oh yeah B just say hello yeah how are you it is so simple and I think I know where I got a little sidetracked but especially me and you being white guys but so ingrained in black culture for me the the black lives matter movement that we see going on I think in their tainment field especially like I think we empathize and can connect more than the average white entertainer that just isn't ingrained in black culture as much you spent more time with probably black people the the six seasons of power then you did with your own family half the time the long days on set that's true I was always lucky I mean you you have black people that love you the most in the world but I was always lucky enough to grow up with black people who loved me and I think that it's a different thing just when you when you have that experience that it's never it's again it's the trying thing it's uh I always knew that it was most important to just be my authentic self and never try to you know you emulate what you emulate you pick up what you pick up in a genuine way you don't you don't try trying is always people like I said the black community's suss is out [ __ ] fast so you you don't you don't need don't need to do that you don't want to do that but that whole thing about when all the white actors did that and I'm not mad at anybody because they're trying but I think the lesson there is that they still want to be heard right it's a bunch of white actors that just I want you to hear me rather than hearing white people at this time I think that what we're being shown by the black community is that now is the time that they want white people all white people to listen mm-hm like God not listen listen to me I'm a white guy who wants to do that what I feel I'm here in the from the PI community is we don't need to know how you're feeling right now we need to know that you're listening to us right now there'll be a time to you know be on board and to be an ally but and and being an ally right now it means shutting up and listening I think yeah I agree I agree I mean I probably I've had so many interesting social media conversations with with white and black people you know some white people this they they don't understand it and I I try to stress them I go it's it's not really for you to understand it's like you said it's just for you to listen and empathize like if somebody's in pain you just want to how do you just want to take the pain away especially when it's like your family and friends it's like what can I do to help now you just kind of we just all we can do is sit back and like you said I think you said it perfectly just just listen have you have you talked to anybody in the cast since all this has gone down yeah maybe one on Instagram live actually we were on instagram live maybe last week maybe two weeks ago now and it I just kind of because oh and I are friends I just thought oh you know I'll fine cuz I told them at least I don't want to I don't feel like doing it right now and I'm podcast and Instagram lives out and finally he's just like yo Joe I think it's important for us to do this and actually turned out to be important because I just thought it was like another thing and we were just talking as we do his friends but it was important to see people see a white guy and a black guy talking and listening both and being there was a freedom in me because I've known him so well for so long to to talk just very freely and I think that that was refreshing and encouraging for people to see to see that and and hopefully a little bit inspiring but like I said right now to me and what I'm definitely gonna do is you shut up and listen now there will be a time in the future probably you know and a little bit down low Bay where it will be important to talk as well and and and be listened to but that's that's that's Phase two for you and and I would say myself also is there's also a trust factor when we do talk because it's not like we're an outsider look at it we're like no worry we are ingrained in the culture I mean you bi where you was raised and just by luck of the draw the iconic TV show you became a part of yeah absolutely that you know people always say how did you become a white comic with a black audience and I always say you don't choose your audience they choose you mm-hmm it's just I my first opportunity to be on TV and in movies was on be et and first couple movies that had black lead actors that was just how it was I said [ __ ] I would have audited Telemundo if I knew Spanish and that was gonna get me on TV that when Ivan got the LA and I was 20 21 years old I would've did anything to get on TV well I did the dating game wow did you yeah and I it's white I honestly my first ever TV appearance was the dating game and I asked the switch at the last minute because the other group was three black girls picking a dude and I was talking to the black guy backstage and he was he was telling me like yeah man kinda wish I was on your show I said well I wish I was on yourself and we went man are we gonna switch and they said nah but you're my hero man you moved out to LA at 21 and you you sort of lasted yeah well I was in the Navy I was in the Navy right yeah so I was in a military and my whole plan from from the time I could talk and think was I want to be a stand-up I just want to be a stand-up but I didn't know how I didn't know you could start in Chicago or Cincinnati or Milwaukee or Atlanta I thought every stand-up started in LA I just thought everybody moves to LA and you start telling jokes I didn't know you could start in your hometown so my whole thing was how do I get to LA and I joined the military because I figured all right this'll I can get a job make some money and oh it's only like a four-year commitment and then I can make my way to LA and first chance I got a chance to get stationed in San Diego I took it and I thought the whole state of California was LA I didn't know there were other cities I don't know why I thought that yes David Lee Roth you know I can beat California Gurls it was shot in LA I was like Oaks a great video that's a great great but I thought that was the whole state I was like what is this Fresno mm-hmm Camp Pendleton is that I was in the Navy so I was down in a 32nd Street and I was at Naval Station North Island and any bit Coronado okay I don't even know what I'm talking about all's I know is Pendleton and that what is that the Marines that's the big Marine base that's a huge Marine base yeah San Diego's got a bunch of Navy bases you know I was on I was on BET's comicview I was still active duty I was I was just driving up to LA and filmed and then I was drive back down to San Diego and go to work the next day it was like boom boom boom I would say it like a Walmart and Dana Point and sleep if I got too tired that's a grind man I mean people don't realize but like you did what I couldn't do I I went to Los Angeles and as soon as I went there I kept coming back to Chicago back to New York for work because I I didn't I wasn't even conscious that I just LA didn't work for me and I just kept every opportunity I had to leave I took until finally I was just like the next job that takes me back to New York I'm just gonna stay and that was Boardwalk Empire and I I think 2008 for the pilot that was so LA it's just it's is too tough for me and I still just this year like shook off that I can't stand LA now I'm like that's okay I'm only here when I'm working so it's great I've always got a return ticket anyway see we're completely opposite I the way you feel about LA is how I felt about New York when I first got in the business yeah well I find in New York and I'd be like whoa this is so overwhelming there's so many people in a condensed area huh well I guess moving out to California and get familiar with LA and my way around town I was always comfortable there when I first got the entertainment business and then to prime ever the first time I came to New York which was 98 no it's like what uh yeah we first came here around the same time but it's just to me where I first was in Queens and stuff I and Queens always felt like Chicago to me it felt like you know this is like the north side of Chicago this is you know you know this would be more like the south side down here and that kind of I was always just like Chicago is just like Queens with a third of Manhattan in Long Island City Chicago is like a it's a huge city everybody knows that but it doesn't feel like a big city like New York does you're actually the West Midwest vibes suburban vibe downtown you're like oh okay it doesn't feel like New York and I don't know it doesn't feel as busy when your dish Michigan it's not it's not but it is familiar like when I moved to New York I was just like it just felt like Chicago to me originally and then going to LA I was like this feels so foreign and was the coloring was different everything was different and and also I felt like such a commodity in such a number it was it was really tough it was really way too tough for me you're one of the classic just kept grinding as an actor like you was getting episode here an episode here an episode here and just you know you're working but there's nothing like you're not getting that reoccurring part on a five year run like you did on power I mean what would you say how your life has changed the most since says you know you've you had steady work on power you weren't like you didn't have to worry about oh god I got an audition just to get the bills paid this year well part of it is that I mean the first thing that comes to my mind is that that I can actually pay my bills it's nice to be able to pay my bills and then just more creative opportunities I'm producing gonna be producing a movie soon I'm just in the very beginning stages of I got the rights to a great book written by my good friend Rick Cogan called everybody pays I'm gonna be turning that into a film and it's gonna be Graham it'd be a friggin filmmaker and just to have those kind of opportunities meeting people like Deon Taylor who directed the intruder and black and blue so you know in all these great movies that and you know hopefully working with him again soon in the future and another one of his films but to be presented with opportunities with people that I like to me that's really the dream is to have surround yourself by like-minded people that want to tell stories it's just it's a luxury but people of course didn't like everything on the overnight success because of power it's you know these yeah Oh Tommy got power out of nowhere and then Tommy's famous and it's like no joseph has been doing this for 32 years and my pension and Screen Actors Guild has already kicked in if I wanted it to when I texted you and said hey you wanna be on the podcast I wanted to do my due diligence am I hate and I looked up some of your credits and I was like oh [ __ ] he wasn't Rudy one of the kids I was like that was one of my favorite movies think about now that now that you are who you are from the movie Rudy not to mention I think it was Vince Vaughn's first movie oh yeah I was I was it was one of Jon Favreau's first films it was one of his first films I mean yeah that you look at the cast of times you're like wow just anxious who knew when that movie came out those like Vince Vaughn very minor role you very minor role Jon Favreau had a good role but I mean just to see the three of you your career trajectories and complete different paths off that one film I mean you have to look up when I tell people you know Vince Vaughn I think he met Jon Favreau on the set of Rudy and then he will be like this fall was in Rudy honey was the running back that didn't was up to his potential he's now on the scout team was that like was that like local casting when you was uh I mean how old were you when you did that movie i order them you think I was 14 and that came out when I was 15 I mean I know I look like 10 but I was a little older than that that was just a local casting you just went down there I was people casting but I you know I had auditioned for I it I had worked before Rudy like I had done other things before Rudy as well small things but you know it was just another step in the process there was all these these little kids who were just man they were so adorable who always used to get the roles like a right above me and I remember even on commercials I remember Fred Savage had already done something but he would be at some of the commercial auditions for bubblicious or whatever and and I would be down there with my mind just being like oh wow like he's already famous in and man it's just I just I wouldn't wish acting on my worst enemy most times because it's such a hard career I thank God for getting into the theater and you know telling the roles cuz that's what I like doing is just telling the different stories and kind of living and learning about life and human beings I mean not to get to our Tea Party but that's why I'm in it and then I just love for Kevin more of these opportunities to be able to do that after power it's giving me that luxury so I'm forever grateful to Courtney and fifty and Gary and everybody else are you or is there gonna be a spinoff oh yeah Tommy's Tommy said not West Gary you could you know you could be on the show that could be Timmy your daddy teddy was a rolling stone man he was but he was when I saw your dad I go he definitely got a couple more kids Tommy's getting some relatives he don't know about for sure wasn't he great I mean Bill Sadler William Sadler he's such a great guy and a great he's so great on the show yeah to be your dad cuz it's so hard to picture with who would be Tommy's dad yeah he was good he was he was people forget he was so good at a shawl shake Shawshank gray and goth and Bill and Ted's oh it's right forgot about that forgot about that let me see I've had Ely on the podcast I've had Terrence J on the podcast I love those guys I know you're the third or fourth person that's brought up the on Taylor and Dion he just texted me last week and said he wants to do the podcast and I'm like Gil let's wait until you got a film coming out because I know you got a couple coming deals one of those guys he's like yeah man let's do it now I just took my 20,000 steps I'm ready to do the podcast this is the best yeah hey Gary man yeah yeah I'll set him in Texas Mike what's up and then he'll text back what's up King glad to know you who would be in your press it's you're one of a kind thank and you know what one time I was just busting his balls a little bit and saying like I'm like do you really believe all that [ __ ] coming on your mouth and like literally was like the one time you took a step back he's like I do everywhere and I was like nah I was just busting your balls like I know you do but he really does he is nothing but positivity he's a freakin great director just a fantastic human being and I can't wait to do another movie with him because after doing the intruder I feel like I know how he works now so I know I can give him even a better performance and if you don't come up with anything to do he'll tell you everything to do if you come up with a ton of stuff to do he'll collaborate with you every step of the way you can't ask for better than that so I can't wait to work with him again that movie I was hard because that was the first time I had seen you and I was with my wife when we went and saw the movie I kept waiting for you to but I'm gonna Tommy the whole movie that was I remember I texted Dionne I go yeah if Joseph if he would have had Tommy in this movie it would have ended probably within the first ten minutes we're gonna kill this [ __ ] he would have a wine with Elia Megan like look I got it this [ __ ] gone he sold you the house kill the other driveway I can't wait for you to [ __ ] him up when you guys took the walk on the driveway at the site it's time it's time Tommy stop man stop bullshitting dad told me the best story he said they were having a screening in Chicago and when it came the time where uh Dennis Quaid kills my character with the ax the lady shows up then she goes [Music] [Laughter] hey you know this is it real right yeah I just love this one is that invested in in Tommy I gotta give it to it I I'm not mad at that when people are like you know that everybody's gonna call you Tommy for the rest of your life I'm just like man it's a it's a badge of honor and when people say Joseph you know that they more interested in your full work but to but to have played a character that people are always gonna call you I'm just like hey I did a good job to compliment Oh without question it's one of the the most iconic characters and especially in an and black culture it's like that dude just because he was he was a white guy not putting on like we've been saying he was just being himself and just ruthless yeah yeah he was literally he lived his life by his own set of rules it wasn't where he won't worry about the law where people thought I was a god the goddamn guy killed his dad yeah but he lived within those rules of a moral compass he was one of the few people that actually had a moral compass from the first episodes of the last yeah I can't you know what I guess I didn't think I take it all back belay everything I said Joseph you were being polite like Gary you don't that's not what the [ __ ] he was doing this bro his own his own which is a little eschewed but you know and it was it was interesting when um when we did power confidential and you had one of the was he there a writer producer on the show Gary Gary Lennon writer and producer Kosho runner of the last season - yeah I caught something you guys said and you know I was just kind of listening where you said you know you he was so collaborative with you and you guys would meet at like a coffee shop and just go over the script you tell him your ideas and how you see it going and then he would he would go back and forth and listen is that what you would do like before the season would start not before the season would start necessarily however Courtney Kemp who's the show's creator and showrunner she always told us a little bit of the trajectory of the character for that season and she always listened to our ideas and wanted to know our input so I'm really grateful to her for that and she's so smart means she made a big hit show and changed my life so I'm forever grateful to Courtney for sure but Gary being on the spot he was able to be there especially when he was directing episodes and Gary's also you know he's in native New Yorker he's got that too so it's it's always good but also 15 was super collaborative 50 is the one who told me before season 1 he's like yo man Tommy's like Tony Montana and I was just like damn he's got big plans for for Tommy so for me season one I came with all of these ideas thank God Bateman wasn't there he would have ruined no I'm joking but I came with all these ideas a season one I I did exactly what they had written in the script I just added my own thing to it wherever I could I added I tried to add the comedy in there right so I tried to find the joke where there wasn't a joke I tried to find the physical comedy of like when Holly comes in the first time into his apartment and he's like oh there's a gun let me just put my coat over that or like type stuff at first and then they started writing to the character so that it became a collaborative process later on but I didn't want to say like this is how I see the guy first I didn't do that until way down the line and mostly when I was asked I always tried to know my not not just my place but I was trying to give credit to to the people who were directing and producing and writing and then tried to play my part as best I could until it became to a point that you know kind of nobody knows the character better than me at this point but you you don't want to put the cart before the horse because you're gonna get fired or killed on the show yeah you you you are you are definitely an actor's actor cuz you be breaking [ __ ] down I am like this takes it serious but also lightly but also lightly you know what I mean it's not salt you're curing cancer here they Kayla said they casted the right guy cuz I would have been playing Tommy like this loves just us walk kill [ __ ] people and stuff that's what I've been doing yo Joe if it'd have been me I don't be looking at Garrity like who can I kill okay yeah let's kill him to you and you and 50 would have been a good Tommy and ghost I'll say yeah I left maybe do a casting every week now what are we gonna do let's just look II kill him kill him Tommy season one he says that about Ruiz he's Tommy says you know he goes I told you was this [ __ ] and ghost says yeah but that's when you thought it was this other guy named Tommy goes yeah yeah I know or whatever I just want to kill a [ __ ] yeah just what killed mother [ __ ] how did you get in contact with Dioner daddy on contact you for the intruder so for the intruder thank God Michael Ealy was in it as well because he gave kind of his seal of approval because we had just done Jacob's Ladder which of course came out afterwards but it was actually shot in Reverse of those two films so I'd already played Mike's best friend in a different film so Omar Joseph who was the second unit director said to mark Berg who was the producer on the film mark Berg also produced two Saw movies and they originally wanted my character of Mike to be a black comedian and Omar Joseph's came with and said all right so I found the character of Mike I know you want a black comedic actor but I found a white dramatic actor and he's like huh he's like no but you got to see this guy it's it's who you want and then Deion was aware of power and Mark Berg wasn't sold so this is seriously what Omar Joseph did for me which is so selfless is he said to mark who wasn't convinced he said mark you got a 18 year old son ask him if he watches power he goes okay and he goes and when he says yes ask him who his favorite character is and he came back the next day and Mark said all right how much can we get the guy for you know when they said Michael Ealy what do you think about Joseph succour he's like all yeah cast them so that was nice to have another friend to have your back like that here's what's great about this business too is a lot of times the the mainstream media they're they're quick to highlight actor selfishness and crazy behavior but I've also found it's really why the most giving professions people secure themselves they want to work with people because Ely is funny I got you other podcasts now this is all this full circle because Italy called me before he worked for Dion to ask about the end because I had to meet the blacks with him and I just say yeah Dion's great man he's awesome I said I remember telling he like oh he let me ad-lib and that's all I want in a movie I don't care what the script is just even if you don't put it in it can I get a couple ad-lib scenes I sense the Dion's great D and that you know then Ely met Dion they came about and I remember me telling Ellie when I had Ely on he said yeah that was the second film I did with Joseph Sakura and I go what was the first one he goes Jacob's Ladder I texted Ely and I always try to support my friends and everybody like go see a movie first week or whenever it comes out and I just said uh dude I'm not seeing Jacob's Ladder I saw the first one I'm not [ __ ] with that dude [Laughter] beautiful and iconic and they did try it date I give him credit for trying to do something different with the movie and I don't know how happy Mike was with the movie or not but I got to play a really cool role so and really transform and really hide behind I got to I got to die twice that doesn't ruin anything in the movie at all cuz you know the movies all over the place and you don't know if the guy is dead or if he was a figment of the imagination or whatever but um they they they they swung for the fences I want no part Jacob's Ladder bro none I can't do the psychological [ __ ] I can't if it's a horror movie I want to be able to sure we can kill the killer right I feel that I go I told Mike I do I am NOT like not support you that's why I didn't know you guys work together twice I just assumed the intruder was the first time you guys work together I remember I think I was texted Mike why he was filming I go hey how am i doing am i killing it and my kills I don't hate my etal Mike he's so introspective he was like yeah what do you mean I go not you're working with Joe right working with Tommy he goes yeah I go yeah how am i doing he goes I go now people always mistake us for each other and he goes I don't see it he's being honest he's like he doesn't see it he's one of those 17 people that don't see it yeah he goes ah he goes and then he I talk to you man throws he goes especially after working with them because I really don't see it now yeah I said dude I'm the comedian he's the theatre background he's not he he was like he's not funny at all yeah it would be we've tried to spoon-feed him the jokes it wasn't it just didn't work we little get hit by a wine bottle he was great at that yeah we almost replaced him with bilberry we just went [ __ ] it we're going all the way we're going with Chicago come exactly a Chicago babe hold on I remember reading on Wikipedia you did a commercial with Michael Jordan yeah I did that in I was 13 so that would be 89 was it a Nike commercial Gatorade not all McDonald's McDonald's course okay so we ever look that up oh yeah you can yeah Michael Jordan I figured you could Pike at this point you could play put both of our names in there and it would show up and it's like I'm I'm adorable I don't know what happened but I wasn't Thor of a little kid in like this blond towheaded yeah I'm just like it is Michael Jordan like that was my big Lounger line yeah but the best part about it is my friend in that commercial with me this kid named really is Webb then me and Reid were both graffiti writers so we made up a crew at the time in Chicago which became a big crew in Chicago called da D down-and-dirty and I was the only white guy on the crew and then they so they kicked me a house eventually after the crew thought fitter but Tommy was so bad all right I see how it is yeah it was very funny but reshot sau2 re Webb great person great actor and a great MC you say you're well have rolled your early teens and you get on it well Michael Jordan it's one thing to say like when you said you got on Ozark and you found out a little bit do you fan out as a teenager when you see Mike the first time I was I was definitely in shock I was in shock it was it didn't seem it steamed totally out of body I said I'm gonna get super dark on you real quick Gary I watched the guy shoot himself in the mouth when I was 16 years old and I was just like totally like not dead to it but I was just like what the [ __ ] just happened it was so out of body experience and I'm gonna somehow equate that to a sim same experience at least feeling in my body when I saw Michael Jordan when I was 14 or 13 or whatever it was just like totally like this isn't happening this is is this a dream okay I'm so weird not to dabble in it but especially to be a Chicago guy a kid and Michael Jordan good lord did you get us did you would you able to get a picture with them and everything that's us that's a story for one me and you were just hanging out privately but um no I did not get a picture with Mike Oh some people did phenom me okay okay now well I didn't see that I didn't see that part of the last dance we totally I can't wait what is this is Joe gonna be on with the commercial and they're gonna show that oh here's another Michael Jordan story which is very funny I worked security I was doing a play at Looking Glass Theatre in 2000 and maybe three in Chicago and then I was working late night security at lip Asajj which was this club at the time off a Rush Street in the viagra triangle and I was you know I'm not a big guy so they had me at the backdoor just being like yeah you can't use this entrance or like hey you know your bubble bar just calling the big guy in to take care of somebody but every now and again celebrities would come and I would be the personal security for the celebrities basically like just come on just give him some space get some room bla bla bla I was put on for Michael Jordan one time and I just remember him like in so many words telling me how terrible I was at my job and I I'm not mad at of them at all cuz I probably was terrible because I was just like letting you know beautiful women kind of come up to him and not knowing at the time that celebrities don't when they don't want anybody coming up to them that includes anyone right or whatever and it's like you and something about it just made me appreciate especially after watching the last dance like to these people you have to bring your a-game it's like Tom Cruise you know you can say what you want about Tom Cruise I personally love the guy it's just you have to have your a-game on set or you don't belong there I can't wait to hear that Michaels your story off-camera I gotta said I just I want to end the interview right now okay call you who Ellie Ellie did the same thing Ellie told me a story goes I gotta finish that off camera I know what I signed it what I asked them I might as well ask you the same question my biggest fear is to be on set and just freeze like forget my lines and be like oh [ __ ] I don't know where I'm at right now has it ever happened to you or you know Madison and you're like oh [ __ ] I just Eileen I will tell you this I'll try to make it not this is a long story but I'm gonna try to give a really a bridged version and that is I was doing a play here in New York and I had the director yell at me during intermission telling me that I was the reason that the play got all these terrible reviews which is obviously not the case because the reviews are Dori come out and they gave me good reviews but he was just like you're ruining the play and bla bla bla bla bla you're the reason he who told you to put your hands in your pockets who did you listen to what are you [ __ ] up this whole play and literally I had never had anybody talked to me so crazy during intermission where I basically talked for 15 minutes afterwards and I just went back into the corner and I just I didn't I would say I cried but I didn't really cry cuz I wasn't like who I was just standing there with like tears rolling down my face praying to my dead grandmother to make it through the next 15 minutes of the play and I'll never forget curtains open I'm on stage it's me and a good friend of mine who was in the play with me and it was the first time in my life that I honestly remember remember I've been acting since I was 11 years old and now I'm probably you know nearly 30 during this play or something 20 in the late 20s maybe 30 and it was the first time that I ever remember seeing the audience like that like I'm just a dude up here pretending to be somebody else and there's a bunch of people in a theater right now what the [ __ ] am i doing and I could barely remember the lines it was a total out-of-body experience I was just saying the lines and my buddy comes up to me and he this is on a stage that it's a miked stage and he's supposed to be like just asking me one question here and then I give this monologue a one question here it gives this monologue and he goes up to me and he just looks at me he goes dude are you okay they didn't they didn't hear it he like he was away from the mic and he kind of like went up to me and with his back to the audience just to like what the [ __ ] is going on here and I was just like you know I just shook my head yeah whatever and we kind of went on and he was just like what the [ __ ] was happening man out there I said I was just trying something different I don't know you know and uh so that director gave me I gave myself I'll take the responsibility but because of what that director did I allow myself to have stage fright and I have I have horrible horrible stage fright the next play I did right after that was a plague but by a Neil Dubuque called fat pig that I did in Los Angeles at the Geffen theater and I barely remember doing that play because I was so scared and that this played the next play I did I'm on stage for 90 minutes or a hundred minutes something like that without an intermission just me the whole time and you know other characters me Ashley Atkinson Jon Bernthal it was a great play we've killed it but I barely remember it because I had such terrible stage fright and then progressively I've lost the stage fright a little bit where I have these great moments of where I feel like I'm really in the character but even as Tommy there were moments unless I really focus and like I love to I'm not a I'm not a method actor so when I'm when it's you know cut when I played ginger the shapes had big beard guy a true detective and McConaughey was staying very much in character which I am are very appreciative mari is a method actor too you know he stays ghost but I don't do that but um Martin days ghost the whole time yeah yeah Oh Mari is a method actor he's kind of pretty much stays in that that character that mindset but me I I can't I don't do that I also find to me depending on the character it's really kind of tough for the crew and I just you know I'm a kind of a you know I'm a kind of I always feel like I'm crew anyway so that's not that this custom doesn't work for me but I'm not mad at anybody's process yeah there are times where I will just blank out but like there have been times where I was just like thank god I'm one of the leads I'm just like yeah I'm gonna need another one whatever but it has happened on other shows like it's just that thank God I'm at this part of my process because there have been times even on Ozark where I was like I'm searching for the line but I figured out a million tricks to do to give myself that extra beat or find that stuff and I come 'über prepared I mean I know those lines backwards and forwards but every now and again unless I'm in the pocket and truly focused man I'll [ __ ] up that scene yes my minutes uh it's the it's the the one thing I think knock on wood it has it happy it's happened in auditions for me but not in a not onset in the middle of a scene cuz I I think I think Ely said it was with Anthony Hopkins we need a bad company with him oh yeah he said it took him a minute cuz he was like oh [ __ ] I'm literally doing a scene with Anthony Hodges yeah and sometimes it's like that weird second cited like it did it's that duality the dual consciousness where you're just like yo this is actually happening right now like I hate that thing I think I some people call it the yeah bird I hate that bird there was a guy that was doing Game of Thrones you watch Game of Thrones I did yeah I loved it god I feel like a dick because I came over the guys actor but it was Peter Dinklage and he said one of the guys that played like he defended him against the mountain he got killed by the mountain when the mountain put his his fingers in his eyes and he died huh he goes that guy I was watching an interview and he goes yeah he goes I'm flying to Croatia to film Game of Thrones he goes so I'm on the plane over and he goes literally I land it I'm in the hotel and I get the side for the next day and it's like this 10 paid scene was just him and Peter Dinklage in the prison cell and he was going damn day one oh my god he's into this unbelievable that's crazy Mike dopa did something like that to Mike dopa to play the Serbian gangster on power like he showed up with me to basically new lines for not 10 pages but like 4 page walk-and-talk where guide never missed a beat never missed a line I was like who is this guy he's magical and people know like outside looking in it is it's I don't wanna say it is easier it's probably easier on on the actor just to be a regular character like it's your show you're the main character but to come in as a guest tougher wave effort way tougher ban cuz you everybody else got they got chemistry they got a rapport and you're coming in like I don't want to step on toes but I still want to stay true the character to me that's way harder to get be a special guest mmhmm on a dramatic show I was like I totally I totally agree look at my little curve like being the guest star as always there's only one person throughout my entire career who belittled me and like really talked me down in front of the whole crew I don't know if it's appropriate to say his name but I can't stand this mug so bad I feel like saying his name but it was something like a major Network show and I was just like why would you ever do that to somebody you know how hard this is yeah I would never I I empathize so much Missa yeah well we did listen well we did think like a man too there was there was a scene and I'll say that I'm not thrown under the bus but she was just having a hard time ice tea's wife Coco Coco yeah she's so sweet oh we all were just like pulling for but she was just she was struggling that day with her lime and and it was te ly I was like how I couldn't be to anybody else but there's you can see me on some of the tanks I'm mouthing her lines because I was and I wanted to do it so bad I'm going like this you were just so how do you realise it there's some things I'm like slowly leaning in I'm just God bless our Castle think like a man too cuz we all were just like come on nobody was being a dick like come on you know this last see we got to move on we were all just kind of like getting through it and it was great to have like Jerry on set Jerry's just an actor actors actor Elise and actors actor you know me and Kev or comedians it's whatever and Terence was new but you know those guys were just like I've never talked and they go we've been there man everybody's been there where it's just not coming out right it's not a cast though just everybody you mentioned man like what yeah that's a that's a strong click right there yeah it's funny how a lot well not a lot but I mean I got on power through you and Jerry got all power lolll I got on power I was like Tara's Jay yes here's not like this just they're just nitpicking I just kept waiting for I can't wait for the phone call oh lucky you did an audition I think IIIi think you think you would have got it I figure what it gave me the call idea you were right there yeah that would have been like that if it'll like if we could have just chopped him off at the ankles that would have been Gary Owen vitae Oh gotcha I would audition for ghosts I always said I was gonna do like a spoof where I had a bad agent and they kept on having me audition for roles I had no shot at like the Amistad Blood Diamond yes yes as I always want to do a spoof or I was like he took all my roles and that you're actually mad about it like they would call me a balaiah because this the thing about the entertainment business is this is what I knew they would they're not ever gonna be completely honest with you cuz with especially with auditions and how you're doing is the first time and this is a Jason Bateman story it's interesting it's funny how it's just a small world I had a pilot and we went to do a table reef for the network and Holly Robinson Peete was my wife s essence Atkins was in it I never did a table read before and it was my show and I thought you had to memorize the whole script I didn't know the table read is what it is you're reading this table this thing we just got good but nobody told me I was like okay so I'm trying to memorize these 38 pages and since I'm the lead I'm on damn near every page I got to a pal page nine and I started to stumble my script isn't even opened Joseph it's not even open and then I'm like oh [ __ ] I forgot so now I'm going to the script in everybody's looking at me and it just it just went downhill from there long story short the showrunner which is a vet Lee Bowser god bless her she took a real chance on me I felt like I failed her on this she took me in her office after the tape word everybody clapped there was like great job everybody and I was like that no wasn't i socked around and a vet took peter obviously just what happened and I go I didn't know could just read the script I thought yeah and to memorize it she goes why would you think that it's literally called a table read I got I don't know I've never done one of these I don't know so they had Jason Bateman read my part for another Network Jason Bateman was gonna play Gary Owen oh my god that is taped somewhere I want to watch that how do you get your hands on that thing well there's got to be a table read somewhere uh I never went to past the table read because I videoed that table read they had to they had to I I think it would had to be for Robbie UPN this is like 20 years ago and literally I remember saying I don't have I get Jason Bateman what's he done lately was it his time yet wasn't it that was before Arrested Development all that I remember thinking the guy from Silver Spoons Rickey Schroeder's Fred various blame me but if the show it'll win and most likely would have been Jason Bateman as Gary Owen craziest part is he would have done a good job probably would have this show would have been based on the stand-up of Gary Owen and I think I would have had an executive producer credit and I tell you I avoided Holly Robinson Peete for over 10 years because I didn't want to run into her and her be like oh that's that guy right there oh he's terrible actor I waited to even approach her so think like a man came out and then I literally approached her at like a function I go hey do you remember that table read she just laughed about it because I didn't think it was that bad I go she it and then I never see an essence last year at Gabrielle Union's birthday party and I literally pulled her aside and I had a few drinks to me so it just kind of came in I go essence I've avoided you for 19 years I said because of that table read and she goes and she said the same thing Holly's she goes I don't remember that and I go I do [ __ ] I remember like yesterday oh my god there's never like that feeling man and it's hard to shake oh I avoid everyone in that table read I avoid it like the plague at everybody I avoided everybody I was like oh my god I thought they'd be like this guy is the worst actor on the face of the planet it's like I just didn't know I didn't know the table read meant that just read it from the table so hopefully if you come back for season four of Ozark you can ask Jason hey did you ever do a table read for a lady named of Bentley Bowser 20 years ago remember let me tell you why they came about Jason let me tell you something jason bateman yeah there's a real funny comedian that was a terrible table reader this only follows use a terrible table reader a list about what I keep you too much but there's two things we always do at the end of my podcast I always ask is there one actor or director or both that you haven't worked with yet that you want to work with Michael Shannon for is the actor I always wanted to work with I've been I'd known like and I first saw him do a play in Chicago well in Evanston called killer Joe I was 14 I think and he was 16 and that's one of the reasons why I was just like yeah this is what I want to do with my life like he was the most spectacular performance he played a character named Chris Smith and I've all just have just always been a fair mean were friendly and he's been nothing but incredible to me every time I ever run into him and I he's a great guy to have a beer with but um I'd love to work with him on something great it's always been a dream of mine my cannon Michael Shannon goddess if you're out there Mike let's do it directors I would love to see what Tarantino is all about as a director oh yeah gotta be dope I like to kill [ __ ] I like I can play somebody wants to kill some [ __ ] I think you've done enough yeah my hope of the podcast is in five years from now all my guests are like yo you got to get on Gary's podcast if you want to work with somebody that should happen yeah let's do it man your lips to God's ears that's why I go with the podcast so Michael Shannon and Quentin Tarantino hopefully hopefully another five years about yo you did it Joe did you see Tommy and Tarantino's last that was great Michael Jordan he was so cool friendly it was such a good think it was full circle everything Oh Mari broke character in between takes Gary Owens podcast but it's funny you say method acting because I heard the eel day-lewis's like that I heard yeah he's the same way I was talking to Bruce McGill we were on the set of ride-along mm-hmm and he was coming off Lincoln and he said I said yo I literally asked them because Daniel day-lewis like my favorite actor I was like yo what's it like working with him he goes yeah it was pretty much the 1860s the entire time even when the director said cut he was like we'd have to talk about stuff in the 1860s and I was like wow he goes and then they had to switch the shooting schedule because when he died its Lincoln he died they go he just laid there for like 45 minutes and it was just silent and we doesn't do reshoots he doesn't do reshoots but he did a reshoot for Scorsese for gangs in New York and I heard I heard Leo tell this story which is a great story so as long as Leo doesn't you know it's not that he has any idea who the hell I am but I had a little role in shutter island' yeah and he was telling this great story about doing reshoots with Daniel day-lewis and he said Daniel day-lewis had gotten um I thought believe was a respiratory infection because he wouldn't take any modern medicine at the time because it was just he wanted to stay time period and they were doing reshoots and he's like no that character is too far gone but then he ended up doing some reshoots for Scorsese and he was still like they'd done this long day and you know he never breaks character and you know he's you know he's doing his build a butchered thing the whole time and then at one point he just looks up at Leo and he just goes this is [ __ ] hard isn't it like whoa so I think that everybody has their breaking point that was a great story for me to hear that like you know nobody is Superman I think one things I appreciate about being an entertainment business is whether I'm a comedian or I want to film or on a TV show or anything is just to hear the stories of other actors or comedians that you respect that are in the business that are just telling stories you feel like you're you're getting an insight that a lot of people aren't getting just that story your think about think about what you just said right there Joe you're like yeah I'm on set with Leonardo DiCaprio and I am now in the loop I'm able to sit around and hear him tell a story about Daniel day-lewis and nobody's lying nobody's added stuff on this is epic it was like this is a great one when we were doing Jack Reacher we're outside and my friend Jai Courtney was sitting outside having a cigarette and Verner Herzog who's in the movie you know he's having a cigarette and I was just like Jai you get just roll with me on this I'm gonna say something okay you just gotta roll with me on this I said hey ferner what's going on he's like oh hello I'm just like what do you how's your day everything's going good he's like everything is fine I'm like you drink red wine me and Jay are about to go up and have a glass of red wine up in his room he got a couple of bottles Kylie he's like yes I drink red wine and he came up and so for the next two hours Verner Herzog told us stories about growing up in Germany and going around to little villages at post-world War two and like that would gangs there were gangs there was he's just like they were you know everybody was a young teenager there were no men they were all dead in the war and so people would have stockpiles of weapons and like his mother teaching him to how to you know shoot a gun because she was in a resistance army and it's just like these stories coming to America being a wrestler in Mexico defecting from the US so he would you know like it was just these the crazy stories in the world and then just thinking like wow that just that just happened that's just a epital these [ __ ] though the moments in this business you're like God how lucky am I you don't mean just to be a fly on the wall now I I worked at Tracy Morgan that was a that was an experience in itself how was that have some drinks with Tracy in his room and uh and you don't know what's coming on that dudes mouth and I I love Tracy to death I had Tiffany Haddish on and I told her I said there's only a few people in this world that don't change personalities whether they're in front of Barack Obama or they're in front of the guy working at chick-fil-a Tracy Morgan is Tracy Morgan just like Tiffany Haddish is Tiffany Haddish he went off on me one night and I don't know why he went off on me but he just started going off on me in front of like the Wayans was there everybody [ __ ] you Garryowen you you like what'd he say you like black woman my mother's black and then he goes I've been a seven year for SNL I'll call Laura Michaels you'll never be on TV this is completely unsolicited everybody's having a good time and Tracy just goes off for me and then in the middle of going off on me to his hotel door rings doorbell and they bring in pizza and chicken wings it's like two of them more and in a little Tracy going off he goes y'all [ __ ] you Gary oh you want to slice in the middle of the attack and I was like now I'm good I was enjoying it because I knew Tracy does it the next morning or then and maybe two days later when we're on set he just come up he gives me a kiss on my forehead like he gives me a big kick cause my youth right here he goes I would all fall on you last night you just took it he goes we party like rock stars gee you might kid you like you know you might use kid you might use what just happened like we're friends at best friends after that but it's also like Gary that is you ma'am for the limited amount that I know you you seem like you're having a good time that you enjoy life here you enjoy your being where you're at at when you're there and like that's those are the people I want to [ __ ] with you know what I mean everybody else the two seriousness the whole I say I just want to be around people who are cool and want to have pardon yeah yeah that I mean I'm glad people think that of me cuz I I know I I don't like those people you go how's your day going oh [ __ ] man like this why did I ask that what am i doing yeah I guess oh my god my wife and my kids and [ __ ] I just had a dog dishes and they [ __ ] I didn't get any of them like great [ __ ] I'm so glad I said hello to you but yeah I forgot so you're a die-hard Bears fan right well I'm not diehard anything anymore man I mean I was diehard all those teams 20 years ago you know after I haven't lived in Chicago for over 20 years and it's just like I loved I like watching sports but I I liked being at the games like I worked at Wrigley Field I used to love going down to Comiskey I mean I did not as much as I liked Wrigley Field because I'm from the north side but I love just seeing games at Soldier Field like it was just like that was always the best to me I watch boxing more than anything else I guess who's mother bear's good family time yeah a long time I would say Sugar Ray Robinson I love watching the old Sugar Ray fights when I loved Roy Jones Roy Jones jr. was I just a great choice jr. actually was the referee at one of a fight of mine in Chicago at Matadors boxing gym Nobel hot box for eye box for a long time man I didn't know like seven years I fought I had only 32 fights on my card like you know like Golden Gloves fights or if we went down state to fight like official fights on my card or park district tournament fights but um we would fight almost every Saturday at my gym so it'd be like other parks would come down and you'd have like little inner park tournaments and I got my ass handed to me a lot but it was you know I know I know how to throw I can work with these so there's literally there's there's there's grown men out there right now like tell me yeah yeah yeah I whip Tommy's ass yeah there's also there's also people who got whooped up by Tommy right that's for sure you didn't fight Tommy no I did I thought I did and I whipped his ass yeah yeah I actually got a great chance I actually sparred and probably David Diaz remember this because I was just another person coming through Hamlin Park that was brought over our coach Rory O'Shea is to bring people down from Matadors to justice bar at different parks he's a southpaw David Diaz and you know Manny Pacquiao took the belt away from Danny David Diaz who's David's of phenomenal fighter a gentleman a great guy and a great mechanic as well but um he he hit me it was the hardest I ever remember being hit in my life like it was just like stars and I I remember having my eyes open but really not being able to see that well and he was you know he didn't he could have destroyed me but he didn't but I just remember when Pacquiao beat him you know he David Diaz and Manny Pacquiao are trading punches and the announcer just saying Diaz just doesn't have the power and I was just thinking god damn did he hit by Manny Pacquiao he just said haven't power yeah I just say I'm gonna it was wise with me to stop boxing is I mean it's one of my favorite sports to watch I like a lot of sports football boxing but I've never sparred I've trained you know just but I'm like do once you get in there and get in the ring and you're like oh my god this is definitely an art form watch it in a whole different light once you've like learn how to throw a punch and yeah oh yeah you watched in completely different light and I'm like dude the level of respect I have for any boxer just goes that much to a even UFC anybody get a ring and you're really gonna fight another man or woman I just the nerves itself I'd probably make it about two minutes and then I'd be breathing heavy cuz just I'd be so nervous nerves are the biggest part about it that was my favorite part about boxing was with the longer you stay in it the more relaxed you are in the ring and the more you can actually work a little bit never not that I was ever great but I got good but I've always had such a respect for boxers and I just you know not to be to say anything else just I just want to give love to my coach Tom O'Shea who just recently passed away a corona virus involved and I love that man I may have saved my life in so many ways but Big Ups to Tom O'Shea Tom O'Shea from Chicago mm-hmm and humble it up originally from Dublin Ireland and and then to to Chicago did he have did he have any other boxers of that oh you know Anthony Stewart Nate Jones Terry McGrew all prose and great fighters Terry probably had the longest career out of all of them and then his younger brother Rory O'Shea fought on Muhammad Ali's undercard Tom was an undefeated boxer he won the Golden Gloves four times he was an Olympic coach Wow the fighting O'Shea brothers out of Chicago just wonderful people his daughters Laurie and Colette are great people he had the Wilson brothers Ronnie Wilson's a great guy yeah all those guys were fantastic human beings I was lucky to be around oh wow well that's a great way to um that's a great way to end the show then man we'll we'll go out to your your old boxing coach all right man I appreciate you coming on and I wish you nothing but the best in the future and I hope I hope you get to work with Tarantino and um mr. Chetty Yeah right okay it's true man all right man take care I appreciate that a scary

Channel: Gary Owen

Views: 124,858

Rating: 4.9380298 out of 5

Keywords: gary owen, joseph sikora, #GetSome, podcast, gary owen podcast, ozark, doppelganger, twin, comedy

Id: 6JQ9bwfN7UA

Length: 93min 39sec (5619 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 30 2020