Woody McClain: Hollywood Emerging Star on how his pivotal path from behind bars to the big screen landed him a role he never dreamed of, touring with Chris Brown advice from 50 Cent, a mother's love, dancing, Powerbook and becoming a father

In this episode of The Pivot Podcast, we sit down with the multi-talented Woody McClain — actor, producer, and cultural force — best known for his powerful portrayal of Bobby Brown in BET’s The New Edition Story and The Bobby Brown Story as well as his breakout role in PowerBook. Woody opens up to Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor, and Channing Crowder about his journey from viral content creator and backup dancer to becoming a breakout star in Hollywood. He talks growth, rejection, reinvention, and what it really takes to pivot into your purpose. Throughout the episode, McClain shares candid insights into his early career, the challenges he faced in the entertainment industry, and the personal growth that led him to embrace acting as a lifelong passion. The discussion also touches on the importance of mentorship, the influence of Bobby Brown's legacy, and how McClain's experiences have shaped his approach to storytelling and artistry. He shares his what he learned from touring with Chris Brown, advice from 50cent, gratitude for his mother's unconditional support and how this one enlightening experience changed everything for the young actor. The impact of portraying a music legend How becoming a father reshaped his dreams Why he put breaks on dancing to chase acting Mental health, staying grounded, and staying hungry The real Woody McClain outside the spotlight This conversation is a masterclass in transformation and self-belief as Ryan, Fred and Channing share their own insights and experiences about navigating this high stakes business that is sometimes unforgiving. Drop your thoughts in the comments and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more inspiring convos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Thinking about refreshing the carpet in your home? Now's the time to do it. For a limited time at The Home Depot, get 10% off installed carpet projects on trusted brands like LifeProof, LifeProof with Pet Proof Technology, Home Decorator's Collection, and Traffic Master. Plus, with installation starting at just 49 cents per square foot, upgrading your space is more affordable than ever at The Home Depot. Offer valid September 24th, 2026 through October 4th, 2026. Exclusions apply. For licenses, see homedepot.com/license numbers.

• 0:30Channing Crowder?

  What up, dog?

• 0:31Ryan Clark?

  What up, dog? What up, big dog? What's happening with you, man? Good to see you, bro.

• 0:37Fred Taylor?

  He saved from the Bangum, right?

• 0:39Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 0:39Fred Taylor?

  So he gonna even say it like the coach said it? "Duva, duva." You see what I'm saying? He's like, that's official.

• 0:48Ryan Clark?

  It's all about the U's and the A's. Coaches had the long, he had the long A.

• 0:53Fred Taylor?

  He held it too long.

• 0:54Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, that's all it was. It's difficult, man. You gotta really beef them down there, man.

• 0:58Fred Taylor?

  Nah, you gotta know what it is. The Bangum is a special place, bruh. Absolutely.

• 1:22Ryan Clark?

  Wood, man, welcome to the show, brother. Man, happy to be here. Thank y'all for having me. Man, excited to have you here. This is Freddie T., Channing Crowder, I'm Ryan Clark. Pivot fam, thank you for pivoting with us, man. Bro, I got a funny story to tell you, dog. So my mother, big in the church, right? Like, I'm talking about, she just pray, pray, pray. Like, eight days a week, 25 hours a day. And so she sends me these morning devotionals, right? So one time, she sends me this devotional, and it said, "I don't need no ghost, I don't need no power but the Holy Ghost power." And it's Amari Hardwick in the picture. And I say, "Mama, you might not want sending that to the rest of your church people, right? This man's a killer, right?" She sent me a picture of a ghost. So imagine my surprise.

• 2:06Ryan Clark?

  One morning, I get it, you know, my mama sending me songs. And I was like, is that Woody dancing in the church? And so, man, you were in Yolanda Adams' video dancing. People was mad, like, people was like, man, came to Hoda out here? Well, no, they weren't mad. That was the, the talk was, came to Hoda and got saved.

• 2:28Ryan Clark?

  How did that all come about, man? And how cool is that, man? To be so diverse in your talents that you could be the muscle, right? In Power Book series, but also praising God through your talents, dancing for Yolanda Adams.

• 2:43Speaker 04

  Man, Fatima Robinson. Shout out to Fatima Robinson. I love you. She's the one that basically started my career for acting. So she was the one that brought me in. They did the Whitney Houston movie for Lifetime. And I was able to play Bobby Brown's dance double. Arlen, that's my guy. I was his dance double. Angela Bassett was directing it. I was doing all his dances. And after that moment, she was like, yo, you're really, really talented. I'm gonna keep my eye on you. Two weeks later, she calls me like, yo, you should go audition for the new addition story. I was like, nah, I'm dancing. That's what I came to LA for, was to dance. All I wanted to do was just dance. She was like, no, I'm telling you, you should go do it. I'm like, nah, I want my first role to be somebody real, because I don't want everybody to call me Bobby everywhere I go. You know what I mean? She was like, just go do it.

• 3:28Speaker 04

  So I ended up going down there. The producers and the directors were there. Everybody there, it was like five Bobby Browns there. So it was like this boot camp of us all doing it. But all the Bobby Browns could sing. Like, you had to be able to sing to get the part. I was the only one that could not sing. But I knew a whole Bobby Brown routine. So I was down playing everything. I'm like, yo, like, man, I can't sing. And I'm looking at the other guys on the wall. I'm like, can I just try to, like, do a dance or something? He was like, yeah, do a dance. I'm already knowing what I'm gonna do. They pressed play, I blacked out. I ended the dance and just nothing but draws. And they was like, stand up clapping. Everybody on the wall was like, bro, where did that come from? I was like, bro, I don't know. I just blacked out. But I already had it in my back pocket.

• 4:12Speaker 04

  That same day, I got my opportunity to play Bobby Brown in New Edition. So when Fatima called me to do Yolanda Adams, she was like, yo, you need to put your dancing shoes back. I'm like, I'm in Power. She was like, I don't watch Power. I'm like, ugh. I'm a gangster on pop. She's like, ah, it's okay, it's fine. You should come do it. I was like, alright, cool, I'll do it. So Fatima is the one that got me back in my dancing shoes. Cause I was never trying to go back to that.

• 4:35Channing Crowder?

  I love that.

• 4:36Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 4:37Channing Crowder?

  Bruh, and to come out, like, we seen you in so many different things. Bobby Brown, Salt of, like, now everybody know your, what's it called? The discography or whatever that is. But, bruh, like, the progression of even hearing you saying that, where like, I can't sing, but I can dance.

• 4:51Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 4:52Channing Crowder?

  Dancing made you, made you get on the pivot? Like, that's what was the start of it? Cause it's a, it's a bunch of motherf**ers that can dance now, bro.

• 5:00Speaker 04

  But look, I didn't know how to dance until I got to college. Like, dancing was not in my body at all. But my homegirl was like, yo, I went to FAMU. So we had dance crews on campus. She was like, yo, come to this dance, like, concert. I'm like, alright, cool, I'll come, whatever. I get there, all the girls are in there screaming for the same dudes we see every day in class. They got signs up, girls like, ah, Tyrell, Tyrell. I'm like, I need women to scream like this for me. I need this. So that whole summer, I spent online, on YouTube, learning how to dance. And that's how I learned how to dance, in college. I called my mom, like, yo, please come to this concert, see me, I'm dancing. She was like, you don't dance. She came, she was blown away. So I was like, okay, cool, I got something. Then my homeboys, they was in America's Best Dance Crew.

• 5:45Speaker 04

  They moved out to LA, they was on the show. They was like, yo, you should pull up and start dancing, you get paid for it. And that was like my journey to dance.

• 5:52Channing Crowder?

  And you taught yourself how to dance off YouTube?

• 5:54Speaker 04

  YouTube, YouTube, YouTube. I don't wait for nobody, man. If I want it, I'm gonna get it. And I needed women screaming for me, so I was gonna get that.

• 6:02Fred Taylor?

  That's a fact. So, take it, so, I'm gonna get a little messy. Cause RC said something a couple of years ago. Uh, so since we talking about dancing and being a multifaceted talent, Chris Brown and Michael Jackson.

• 6:14Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 6:15Fred Taylor?

  RC said, uh, Chris Brown's more talented than MJ. And a lot of people came at his neck.

• 6:22Speaker 04

  Oh, no, no, that's real, that's real. I agree.

• 6:24Fred Taylor?

  So what are your thoughts?

• 6:24Speaker 04

  No, no, for sure, I agree.

• 6:26Channing Crowder?

  Thank you.

• 6:27Speaker 04

  Chris is the only person I know that can like flip, like graffiti.

• 6:33Ryan Clark?

  Like, everything.

• 6:35Speaker 04

  Right.

• 6:35Ryan Clark?

  Chris can do everything. So I, I'll give it to Chris. Woody McLean. Yeah. Said. Easy. That I was correct because I am. Yeah, yeah.

• 6:44Channing Crowder?

  Chris Brown is more talented than Michael Jackson?

• 6:47Ryan Clark?

  So this is what I said, since we've now started the conversation. Relitigate it, because Fred brought it up, and now Woody talking about it. I don't want to relitigate it, because we want to, we want to talk about Woody McLean. Yes. Who was actually not from England, but people thought he was at one point. Yeah. So, the thing is, I was just saying, if we put them in a talent Olympics, right? Dancing, singing, athletics, artistry, writing, a combine, like, putting music together, rapping, all of those things, I said Chris Brown would have a higher level of potential and talent in all of those spaces than Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson is the biggest pop star of all time. I'm not saying that. It was just a talent thing. That's it. I promise.

• 7:31Channing Crowder?

  He got it with the verbals.

• 7:33Ryan Clark?

  Yeah. I think we can all agree. Yeah, we all get that.

• 7:35Channing Crowder?

  Oh, okay, okay, because he got, he got one now. What's, what's the little, the little, like, what he got, the one that just came back out? The residuals, is that him?

• 7:43Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, The Challenge, yeah, that's cool. He cool. He cool. Yeah, yeah. He the one right now. Like, it's not even.

• 7:48Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, no, he's very talented.

• 7:49Ryan Clark?

  It's not even a question.

• 7:50Channing Crowder?

  It's like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady type thing, but, yeah.

• 7:53Ryan Clark?

  I do want to ask you this question. This show is not just about what someone does for their career, but the way, the ways that those things come together. And just in listening to a lot of stuff you did, you talked about manifestation without necessarily saying it was manifestation, when it came to getting the role of Kane Tahada, and there were crystals involved, then visuals involved. Can you kind of explain to me how that process all took place? Because your career started off storybook, so to be able to manifest.

• 8:27Channing Crowder?

  Such a powerful role with the way that you started, especially late, is a huge thing to me.

• 8:33Speaker 04

  Absolutely. I just try not to go against the universe or go against anything. I just kind of like to go with it. You know, and, and at the time, my neighbor, Erica, I was just talking to her two nights ago. She's a director and we always super cool. She was like, one day she was like, yo, just come over. Like, come over. I, I want to pray for you. I get over there, she pauses the TV and we're, she was watching Power. She was watching Power and she paused it, sat down, she put these crystals on me and we just prayed. She was like, say everything that you want. And I was able to say all the things that I want. Then two days later, I got the call for the Power thing.

• 9:09Channing Crowder?

  What, when you said you were able to say everything that you want, what did you say?

• 9:13Speaker 04

  That was more so saying, I'm ready. I'm ready. I want to go to the next level. And yeah, yeah, I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. I feel like I'm ready, but maybe I'm not. I don't know.

• 9:24Channing Crowder?

  That whole process?

• 9:25Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 9:26Channing Crowder?

  From learning how to dance in college to now, people respecting your dancing to now sit with the crystals. I don't believe in none of that shit. The crystals?

• 9:35Speaker 04

  Yeah, okay.

• 9:36Channing Crowder?

  The crystals and the astrological signs and all that stuff. I don't believe in it.

• 9:40Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 9:41Channing Crowder?

  But from that to now being on an international show, everybody knowing you, like you can't walk downstairs right now. Like that process of you becoming an international name from before that, how, how did that all go for you? And what were the struggles in that?

• 9:59Speaker 04

  Well, I mean, the struggles now is I feel like for our culture, I'm like, they, okay, you, uh, Byron Kane, Woody, like, we love you, we love you, but still now to this day in the industry, they're like, who? You know what I mean? He did New Edition Story, uh, they did what? 25 million, uh, BET? I don't, we don't know him. So like, that's what I'm going through right now. It's still like, I have to still fight. I have to still claw my way into these rooms. Like, I don't get the opportunities that I feel like I deserve. But maybe I'm looking at it as if maybe God wants me to keep working on certain things. So I try to like, like, change my brain to like, something positive like that. You know, maybe I need to get in the gym more. You know what I mean? So I'm just always looking at it like that.

• 10:43Speaker 04

  I don't even know if I answered your question right, but.

• 10:45Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, no, I was gonna say the process of it.

• 10:47Speaker 04

  But that's just how I feel right now. Like, to this day, right now, I feel like I've been grinding so hard, and I still haven't gotten the opportunities I want. But I'm like, it's cool, because people like Mahershala Ali, super popping right now, but it came later. You know what I mean? Nisi Nash. I love Nisi Nash, but it came later. You know what I mean? So I'm like, well, maybe God just wants me to keep perfecting my craft before he puts me on that platform to really shine.

• 11:10Channing Crowder?

  You answered the question of moving forward, but to get where you were now, when did it?

• 11:15Speaker 04

  When did it click for me?

• 11:16Channing Crowder?

  When did it click? And what was that lead up to it? Because, you know what I'm saying? Like, when we came out of L.A. to be like, oh, we're going forward. I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. Honestly, I said it. Oh, the Bobby Brown dude, the New Edition guy. Yeah, so you're there now in everybody's mind, but the process of becoming that guy that you want to move forward from, but you famous, bro.

• 11:38Speaker 04

  I was in Tallahassee. I got locked up. You know, I was college, just doing stupid shit. You know, got locked up. I did, I want to say, six months in jail. And every day in jail, I prayed to God. I'm like, yo, if you get me out of this situation, I'll never do nothing bad again. I'll like, stay locked in. I'll just do, be a better person. So once I was able to get released, like, that's all I was focusing on, is being a better person. You know, I really want to be a great person. Like, that's all I think about. Now, you know, I grew up in a church household. My granddad, Reverend, you know, all my cousins singing in the choir. I knew better. So now, I'm just looking at it like, I just want to be a better person. You know, and I'm expecting twins now. So it's like, yo, I just want to be a better person. I'm trying to learn to just be a better guy.

• 12:23Speaker 04

  I want to be a great father. So I'm just out here asking questions.

• 12:27Ryan Clark?

  Woody, how do you get there, though? How are you brought up in the church? Right? How do you have a grandfather that's a pastor? And, you know, for lack of a better word, you were a band geek.

• 12:39Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 12:40Ryan Clark?

  Right?

• 12:40Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 12:40Ryan Clark?

  Those list of credentials don't say hardened criminal.

• 12:44Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, for sure.

• 12:44Ryan Clark?

  To me.

• 12:45Speaker 04

  How did I get there?

• 12:46Ryan Clark?

  How does one make the decisions to get themselves locked up for six months when they had an upbringing that says he should be everything but that?

• 12:55Speaker 04

  For sure. I was broke. I needed some money. So like, that's exactly how I got there. It was like, nothing else that I was thinking about but getting money at the time. And I was like, connected to the wrong... Like influences and that's what got me to that situation. So I knew better. I know better to this day. But I needed to go through that just to get back on track.

• 13:16Channing Crowder?

  Bro, I ain't even hear this story. What, what, what did you do? You were selling dope or you, you ran up on somebody? Like, I ain't even know this story.

• 13:22Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did crime, yeah. Crime.

• 13:26Channing Crowder?

  Okay, so you gonna run from this story? Never mind, you got a friend.

• 13:30Fred Taylor?

  It was crime, it was crime. Yeah, yeah. But even if you look back, and this isn't even what I want to ask you, but just having lived in Jacksonville for 13 years and still been a big part of the community now. And even before I got to Jacksonville, it was the murder capital of the, of the world. You know, for a while. And then my time there, it had a lot of stuff going on. And even now, there's gang violence, this and that. So you can also look at the youth being misdirected or misguided. You know, and then we've all done some knucklehead stuff.

• 14:01Speaker 04

  Yeah. And it was fun at the time. Like, you know what I mean? Growing up in Jacksonville, like stealing bikes and like doing all, that's like activity. It's like fun activity. Yo, yo, yo, y'all wanna go, uh, go on the run? Like, that's just like a normal fun thing. But I wanna go back to Jacksonville. I wanna be able to talk to the, like, you know what I mean? The youth in the community. I just don't know how to do it.

• 14:19Fred Taylor?

  We should get together and do something.

• 14:21Speaker 04

  Let's do it.

• 14:21Fred Taylor?

  I know the sheriff or everybody, I, I got everybody in place.

• 14:24Speaker 04

  Can we please do that?

• 14:25Fred Taylor?

  A hundred percent.

• 14:25Speaker 04

  I feel like, I feel like I'm, right now I'm in a space, I gotta talk.

• 14:28Fred Taylor?

  We can definitely do that, make it happen. But my thought was, when you were talking about you've worked hard, you, you believe you've, you know, created a portfolio where you're just waiting on those opportunities. We had Anthony Mackie on, and he spoke about, um, the hard work, doing all the programs, and saying, success has to be given to you a lot of times, right? And a lot of people kinda took that out of context. You know, basically what he was saying was, in certain spaces, obviously, success is relative to your goals and your thoughts and how you, how you view it personally.

• 15:02Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 15:02Fred Taylor?

  And I can understand that in Hollywood, you guys can be out there grinding and, and can fit certain, uh, roles, but you still have to wait for that perfect opportunity. Do you feel that way about your career and the things that you've done now and, and thinking that? It's just a matter of me just getting over that hump before I really take off in Excel?

• 15:24Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah. I think it's all about creating. You know, I come from social media. Like, I was doing social media as I was dancing. So I was doing like Kevin Hart videos. I took his stand-up and I was able to reenact it. And once I posted that, that got me 10 million views. The next day, Kevin calls me like, "Yo, I want you doing on my Laugh Out Loud Network." So I'm like, "Okay, cool. I need to start creating more of my stuff." But then I started doing industry stuff and that kind of took me away from what I was creating. You know, so now I'm in the mode of like, "Yo, I gotta get back to creating." I just got done finished writing and producing my comic book called The Brotherhood. You know what I mean? And I was able to put that together, send it to my team. They checked it out and they was like, "Yo, can we send this to the next level?" And then like over 30 people want my comic book.

• 16:07Speaker 04

  So like I'm in my bag of like creating the opportunities that I need.

• 16:11Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, I saw, noticed you, you haven't been posting much.

• 16:14Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 16:15Fred Taylor?

  Online.

• 16:15Speaker 04

  Yeah, nah.

• 16:16Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, so with, with that, like, cause you're producing as well. You just did a song with, uh, Jack Keats, right?

• 16:21Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 16:23Fred Taylor?

  So what do you consider yourself like a, a master of? Like you dance, you know, you act, obviously you produce. If you had to say this is the one thing I just want to be amazing and I can just ride off into the sunset with this, what would that be?

• 16:39Speaker 04

  Anything arts. It's art. We're allowed to express ourselves in multi-different ways through art. You know what I mean? If tomorrow if I want to start painting, I'm gonna paint. Cause it's artistic. Like I had to get whatever I'm feeling out. So I don't think I'm a master at anything. I just love to do everything.

• 16:57Fred Taylor?

  I love it.

• 16:57Speaker 04

  Cause I get bored fast. You know what I mean? Like dancing is cool, dance is cool, but then I found love in acting. And acting taught me I can take all the emotions that I grew up with as a kid and I could put it out through this character. That's why I was able to like give Kane certain things because I'm like, "Okay." I recognize that, you know what I mean? It's not the same thing, but it's, it feels the same. Like I was in this moment when I was a kid, okay, I could take this to set and get it out. I can get it out and it's released and I'm, you know what I mean? And I grow from it.

• 17:25Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 17:25Speaker 04

  So like anything in the arts, I'ma do it. I'm a multi hyphenate character, bro. If I wake up tomorrow, I can produce a number one hit if I want to. You see what I'm saying? Like, yeah, if we want to pad up right now, like, I'mma, I'mma smack all y'all on the field. Like, it's just, it's just gonna happen.

• 17:41Ryan Clark?

  Who, smack who?

• 17:45Ryan Clark?

  Fred. I was vibing. I'm not even, I'm not even. I was vibing too far. Fred, I didn't even, I didn't even acknowledge. Yeah, I see you like that. I'm nodding and then I hit him with the. He said arts. Whenever somebody starts with anything and goes, if I'm gonna do something, it's gonna be in the arts. Never get to the field. Hey, that is, that is why the Michael Vick biopic is a rumor. Oh, wow. And that is why, that's why he's not. That's why he's actually not gonna be playing Michael Vick.

• 18:17Speaker 04

  Tomorrow, I'ma go to the field and I'ma show you and I'ma send you the video.

• 18:20Ryan Clark?

  Please do.

• 18:21Speaker 04

  There it is. I'ma send the video.

• 18:23Ryan Clark?

  We'll put it in the show.

• 18:24Speaker 04

  Whatever you want.

• 18:25Ryan Clark?

  We'll put it in the show.

• 18:26Speaker 04

  What sport you want me to do?

• 18:27Ryan Clark?

  I want you to play football. I want you to run a route.

• 18:29Speaker 04

  Okay, you want me to run a route? I'ma run a route.

• 18:30Ryan Clark?

  We need to do some coverage. I need to see you backpedal, open, go catch a ball, and I need to see you throw it.

• 18:35Speaker 04

  Say no more.

• 18:36Ryan Clark?

  All right. Man, Cordell can help your ass on that field, no more. No stunt double, no stunt double, no nothing. Especially if he ain't Cordell Stewart. Hey, he out of there. You know, you talked about pouring into roles, right? And, you know, we hear all the time, whether it's method actors, all of these things, that sometimes, like, you take the job home. When you become synonymous, which you are now, with Bobby Brown, right? For sure with Kane Tahada and all of the Power Book sort of characters. How much time do you need to spend away from those characters to regain yourself when you play them so well?

• 19:17Speaker 04

  I mean, the way everything has been going for me, like, I won't get a job for like a year and a half.

• 19:24Speaker 04

  That's just what it is. I'll do New Edition, Bobby Brown, and then I would not work for a whole year and a half. And then I would get power and then not work for another year and a half. But now I'm looking at it like, okay, I'm living life. You know what I mean? Like now this, now this journey I'm going on from Kane, now I'm like with my lady, we're living together. Like we have twins on the way. This is new experiences for me. So now the next opportunity I get, the next job I get, I'll be able to take those moments and put it into that character. So that's how I'm looking at it now. But yeah, like for me, they don't be blowing up my phone. It takes like a year and a half for me to get another job.

• 20:01Channing Crowder?

  And Freddie said it, we just, we talked to Anthony Mackie. He was just on the show. And he was saying like, he'll go on Broadway and do shows.

• 20:07Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:08Channing Crowder?

  He'll just keep, like, he was like, I just keep working.

• 20:10Speaker 04

  I want to do it.

• 20:11Channing Crowder?

  You know what I'm saying? Doing that stuff, as an actor, like you're saying, you don't get a job for a year and a half.

• 20:16Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:16Channing Crowder?

  Can you now venture off and do different things to try to expand that portfolio? Try to expand everything? Because that's kind of what Ant was telling us. He was like, a lot of actors really don't want to do the grind.

• 20:27Speaker 04

  I want to do it all.

• 20:28Channing Crowder?

  Of that.

• 20:28Speaker 04

  I want to do it all, bro. And I'm always telling the people that I'm around like, yo, I want to do Broadway. Like the people I look up to, they do Broadway. They do those kind of things. I want to hit the stage. And it's like crickets. So I don't know what that is. You know what I mean? So I'm trying to figure that out to this day.

• 20:44Ryan Clark?

  I have a question. Like, none of us act. I was in Cobra Kai, by the way.

• 20:48Speaker 04

  Okay, okay, yeah, yeah.

• 20:49Ryan Clark?

  Episode 13, check me out. I'm playing Ryan Clark, but I'm in it. You know what I'm saying?

• 20:52Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 20:53Ryan Clark?

  So like for us, man, all I ever wanted to do was play football.

• 20:57Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 20:58Ryan Clark?

  Right? And I did it for free for so long. Then I did it for a scholarship. And then I did it as a career. I was able to feed my family. But there is no way to go from, okay, I want to be this football player. I want to be this football player. Football ain't working. Okay, I'm gonna go hoop. The same kind of way how you like, nah, you know, I went to HBCU, I was in the band. And then I wanted to dance. And then from dancing came acting. How much work is it taking you for people to just view you as a thespian? As an actor?

• 21:26Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 21:27Ryan Clark?

  Right? Because if you go on Broadway, you're a thespian, right? Like, you're doing it for, for the love. You're doing it.

• 21:33Channing Crowder?

  For the art and those people, I think it lends to what Anthony Mackie says. It's like you gotta be chosen for that.

• 21:40Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 21:40Channing Crowder?

  It's earned through hard work, but you're also picked. It's given to you. How much work or how, how much work do you think you have to do to be seen as that? Because me looking at the roles you've played, it shouldn't take a year and a half for the phone to ring. It may take a year and a half for you to choose something.

• 21:57Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 21:57Channing Crowder?

  Do you feel like you aren't seen fully as the actor you are at this point?

• 22:03Speaker 04

  Maybe. I never thought of that.

• 22:07Speaker 04

  I never thought of that.

• 22:12Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 22:14Speaker 04

  I don't know. I, I really don't know how people view me. And I never sit to think and ask myself like, dang, how does this person view me? I don't really care. You know what I mean? I just be locked in on just trying to, just be happy as a person. So I don't really think about those things. So I couldn't even answer that.

• 22:32Speaker 00

  Thinking about refreshing the carpet in your home? Now's the time to do it. For a limited time at The Home Depot, get 10% off installed carpet projects on trusted brands like LifeProof. LifeProof with pet-proof technology, Home Decorator's Collection, and Traffic Master. Plus, with installation starting at just 49 cents per square foot, upgrading your space is more affordable than ever at The Home Depot. Offer valid September 24th, 2026 through October 4th, 2026. Exclusions apply. For licenses, see homedepot.com/license numbers.

• 23:02Channing Crowder?

  It's almost like typecasting.

• 23:04Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 23:06Channing Crowder?

  Do you think they look at you a certain way and this is what he does? Because the roles we've seen you in, I've never seen you as a president.

• 23:15Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 23:16Channing Crowder?

  You know what I'm saying? Like, I've never seen you as a principal. I've never seen you in a powerful role. I've seen you as a hood dude. And it seems like, you know what I'm saying? Like you're from Jacksonville, like.

• 23:25Speaker 04

  Really good at being hood.

• 23:25Channing Crowder?

  You good, you a good hood dude. Like, you know, in power, like, okay, I'll fuck with him. Like, yeah, but, but even to that point where how do you get out of that? What you're comfortable in for somebody to see you as a president? As a, you know, just a higher level thing, as a, a damn police officer? At anything other than like the typecast? We've had a bunch of guys on the show and I've asked them the same thing, like. To get out of being typecast as a black man.

• 23:55Speaker 04

  I think that's somebody's reality. I don't, like, my mental, I'm not thinking about being typecast. I just did a movie with Mel Gibson. I played a sheriff in Desperation Road. So, like, I'm not typecast. I can do whatever it is I want to do. It's just getting in front of the people that can see me do it. That's just what it is.

• 24:11Channing Crowder?

  And why don't you get in front of more people in a year and a half than you do?

• 24:15Speaker 04

  I don't know. I don't know. Seriously, I really don't know.

• 24:19Ryan Clark?

  You learned something early on in acting to hang your wardrobe up.

• 24:23Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 24:23Ryan Clark?

  Right, which I think is super cool because I'm really big on clothing and how I take care of it.

• 24:29Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 24:30Ryan Clark?

  Right? But I'm also really big on how I treat everyone.

• 24:33Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 24:33Ryan Clark?

  The point of hanging up your wardrobe is because the people who do your wardrobe will appreciate it.

• 24:38Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 24:39Ryan Clark?

  Right? And they will see it as, okay, this actor, whether big or small, understands it takes all of us to make this go, and they're respecting me. When you were taught that lesson early on in your career, how did you relate it to everything you do as a human and as far as an actor?

• 24:59Speaker 04

  I just respect everybody. You know, that was my first job. Yvette Nicole Brown, great, great mentor of mine. She was the first person who was like, listen, after every job, she was like, you make sure you hang up your stuff. Be respectful because the people in wardrobe and makeup, they're gonna go to the next job, and you don't want nobody talking bad about you. So make sure you clean up after yourself. She was like, if Will Smith can come to set and know everybody's name and be respectful to everybody, why can't Woody McLean do it? I took that through every job I have.

• 25:31Ryan Clark?

  Do you take it beyond wardrobe in the sense of understanding those relationships? Because, like, I wasn't very good at networking in TV because in football, you don't network.

• 25:43Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 25:44Ryan Clark?

  Right? In football, you show up, you work hard, you do your job. If you're the best player, you're normally gonna play because the coach, making that decision, wants to keep his job. And you playing well allows him to do that. But you see so many times in Hollywood, it's, okay, James Franco and Seth Rogen has this relationship. They're gonna do a ton of movies together. The group of individuals that Adam Sandler loves, they're gonna do movies with him. How much do relationships play a part in the opportunities you're giving in acting?

• 26:20Speaker 04

  I think they play a lot. Relationships. And I'm not a, I'm not a person that likes to, uh, go out to parties and like, it's really hard for me to do the Hollywood thing. Go to a party like, "Hey, hi, nice to meet you, uh, take my number, let me hit you up." I, I can't do that. You know what I mean? Cause I realized early on, like, I grew up with my, my, my granddad and my uncle, my, my dad, telling me like, "Be respectful, be a man of your word." And Hollywood is the opposite of that. It's the opposite of that. You know what I mean? I got into Hollywood when I was 22, so like, it's different for me. You know, I took offense to it. So now I'm like, billing this callous over myself, like, now I don't wanna mess with nobody. Cause I feel like everybody's fake. Nobody's ever been a man of they word in the industry.

• 27:03Speaker 04

  So, I don't know, it's, it's weird, it's a weird blurry situation right now.

• 27:07Ryan Clark?

  You know, you know, you know that hood rules don't apply?

• 27:11Speaker 04

  Is that what it is?

• 27:12Ryan Clark?

  And I'm not, and I'm not.

• 27:13Speaker 04

  Wait, is that what that is?

• 27:14Ryan Clark?

  Let me, let me be very clear. I don't wanna call it hood rules because I don't, it's definitely not what people try to make when they say the hood. Right? Like, I'm not talking about the, the level in which you have the monetary means to live. I'm talking about the rules we live by. Right? Because there are rules and the things that like, I see in people, that I find valuable in people that don't necessarily always work in business. Right? Like, your word is important to me.

• 27:41Speaker 04

  Right, right, right, right.

• 27:42Ryan Clark?

  Right? Like, like, your word is gonna go a long way into how I feel about you.

• 27:45Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 27:46Ryan Clark?

  Into how, and into what I would be willing to trust you with, what I would be willing to do with you. Right? Those rules don't necessarily transfer in a world where everybody wants to be something other than what they are. Have you found it difficult to grow up with these foundational beliefs that aren't necessarily beneficial to what you wanna do in life?

• 28:07Speaker 04

  It's so hard. That's what gets me, that's the only thing that gets me frustrated about it. You know what I mean? Like, y'all told me to be here at 12, what, 2:30? I was here at 2:15. Like, I don't play, like, I'm, I'm, that's, that's how I am. So I expect the energy from everybody else to be the same way. But it's not like that. So now I'm just trying to figure out, how do I navigate that? So I'm, I'm asking y'all, can I ask y'all, like, how do y'all navigate not taking it personal? And just like, taking it what it is?

• 28:36Ryan Clark?

  I don't know if you've ever seen me talk. I take everything personal.

• 28:40Channing Crowder?

  Freddie might be the best person to ask this. He does a great job at it. We'd be mad. Kiss my ass.

• 28:49Fred Taylor?

  No, I mean, obviously, if you continue to just put your best foot forward and do good, you know, you're doing what you are supposed to do. Okay. Those things have to find you. And somebody will recognize it. In my opinion, I think somebody will recognize it. My buddy would always say, hold your head high, keep your sun in your face and the wind in your back and just, you know, just keep moving. Good things will eventually happen. So you did what you said you would do. Now, eventually, that, I believe, that'll somehow find you. I guess what I'm trying to say is, the preparation, and when you keep your face clean, you know, somebody will see that. Most times, people would say, it's about who you know. Yeah, yeah.

• 29:32Fred Taylor?

  I always like to flip and say it's about who knows you. Because if they see that you're always doing a thing right, you move, you know, you move by loyalty. You're a man of integrity, a man of urgency, like the way you, you know, you were here for us. And people will recognize that, so they can get in a room and they will speak highly of you without you even being there. Got you. More so than when somebody say, oh, you say you can know somebody else, but can you call on them when you really need them? Not always. I know a lot of people. I know a lot of billionaires too. I just can't pick up the phone like, yo, I need you. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So as long as you keep continuing to move right and you believe you're moving right, shit, that's all you can do. You can't get frustrated. Okay.

• 30:16Fred Taylor?

  You know, that's just the way I think. But my patience, my patience is crazy.

• 30:20Ryan Clark?

  Honestly, Wood.

• 30:21Fred Taylor?

  They know that.

• 30:22Ryan Clark?

  Wood, I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you how I feel, because I know Chan, gonna lead this to a question maybe. You have to realize that life is not reciprocal.

• 30:30Fred Taylor?

  Okay.

• 30:30Ryan Clark?

  Right? The foundations and the beliefs in which you move won't be everybody else's. But you gotta stay true to what you are. You gotta stay true to who you are. And you don't make decisions based on if you're gonna get it back. Right? Like, let's take money, for instance. I don't give away any amount of money I'm not comfortable with never seeing again.

• 30:54Channing Crowder?

  Okay.

• 30:55Ryan Clark?

  Right? When you become the one that made it in your family, you get that call often. Hey, do you have this? Hey, can I borrow this? Hey, can you spot me this? If I give it to you and you give it back, I feel good about it. Thank you so much. But once it's going out of my possession, I never expect it back. I'm not looking for that necessarily reciprocation, but I'm looking for the reciprocation of your word. Because once I understand how much your word is worth, now that's how I treat you. Now I put you in the box in which you have placed yourself based on the way you behave toward me.

• 31:29Channing Crowder?

  Okay.

• 31:29Ryan Clark?

  But when you're talking about the business, though, and navigating that, like, I'm the dude that was making half of what my colleagues were making a while ago because I wouldn't go to lunch.

• 31:41Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 31:41Ryan Clark?

  And I'm not gonna have these conversations and we not gonna be friends and we're not gonna text on the side and we're not gonna do all those things, but I want you to cut the TV on or look at your social media when I'm on TV and watch how it goes. Right? But that was my mindset until I had to understand, okay, wait, that ain't how this is working.

• 31:58Channing Crowder?

  So is that considered playing the game?

• 32:01Ryan Clark?

  But I-

• 32:01Channing Crowder?

  And I never understood what that was.

• 32:03Ryan Clark?

  But the thing is though, I never switched it, though.

• 32:05Channing Crowder?

  Okay.

• 32:05Ryan Clark?

  Like, I never, like, I didn't wanna get out of pocket because in the end, you gotta think to yourself is, what's more important to me? Right? My authenticity, right? Or my bank account? To me, it was always my authenticity. It was, to me, it was always being able to say that whoever people saw day in and day out was the same Ryan.

• 32:27Channing Crowder?

  Got you.

• 32:27Ryan Clark?

  And I was consistent in that. And that was more important to me. But there are people who say, nah, this money is more important because I don't get to leave my authenticity to my kids, to my twins. Right? But what I can leave is what I built monetarily. What I can leave is what I built from a brand.

• 32:41Channing Crowder?

  You say play the game. It's something Freddie says. You gotta play the game. As the game is being played, how you say it?

• 32:48Fred Taylor?

  Kinda like that.

• 32:49Channing Crowder?

  Play the game as the game is being played. So even with them, well, I'm a dude from Atlanta. Like, it's funny, like, I honestly say it all the time. I'm just a dude from Atlanta. Like, I'm a guy from Atlanta. I got taller when everybody got short. I ran a four-five, but couldn't run a four-five. Like, I really, I approached my life like that. And as the success built, and then the ball worked out. Then he got drafted, get all this money and all. And then we start what we're doing now and all. And I've been, we've been in Rome. We're sitting on the Hollywood hills, wearing Beverly Hills on these, these houses, sitting over the city and looking at mountains. And I'm just running around, shit, get me a double shot of tequila and just being me. And they be like, Chan, chill out. Like, this ain't the place to be that, like, calm down.

• 33:34Channing Crowder?

  Like, just, you know, and it's not you're being different, you're just in a different situation.

• 33:38Fred Taylor?

  Got you.

• 33:39Channing Crowder?

  So, you know what I'm saying? Well, these people where this is, this is not where you act like, it's, you know what I'm saying? It's not like you don't act like yourself, but it's almost like you just have to adjust to the room you're in.

• 33:50Fred Taylor?

  Okay.

• 33:50Channing Crowder?

  And you gotta play the game as the game is being played. That's the saying.

• 33:53Fred Taylor?

  Right, because those opportunities will find itself. You don't want to waste time.

• 33:57Channing Crowder?

  Right.

• 33:57Fred Taylor?

  You know what I'm saying? I'm not big on partying and this and that. No, certain parties might warrant, you know, your, your, you know, appearance or whatever, because you might look at it as an opportunity to, to build. Like, I don't like club shit.

• 34:11Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 34:12Fred Taylor?

  I don't, I don't care about all of that. But I know if there's an opportunity for us to, for me to get out and meet certain people that I know might be there, for an opportunity to try and just have a conversation to get them on this show, or either to build sponsorship somewhere, whatever, I'm a, I'm a show up.

• 34:30Channing Crowder?

  Okay.

• 34:30Fred Taylor?

  You know what I'm saying? I might not always want to be there, but I know I'm not wasting my time. It's like a, a small investment. So when I pull things out and look at, all right, now I'm dealing with time. It might not be monetary off the top, but if I'm giving of my time, my time is an investment. Because I know the return, or, or, you know, the return on that, what, what that looks like. There are times when all of us need to be together as the pivot, as a collective. You know, because aesthetically it looks better. I know, sometimes you just gotta show up.

• 35:00Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 35:00Fred Taylor?

  And things will kind of manifest.

• 35:02Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 35:02Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, shoot, you know who shows up? Fifty shows up.

• 35:04Speaker 04

  Every time.

• 35:05Ryan Clark?

  And he shows up as himself all the time. Which is a blessing to have accomplished enough to do that. Have you learned anything from him? Whether it's something he told you, whether watching him move that sticks with you now?

• 35:19Speaker 04

  Man, Fifty's very loyal to his team. Like, I love that. He's a person that's gonna call you and talk to you for an hour and just put you up on game. So like, he's definitely been a strong mentor in my life. Like, I wasn't really like keen on doing like club appearances and stuff like that. But he was like, "Listen, Woody, I put you guys as actors in positions to kind of be seen as like rappers." Because ain't nobody really booking actors to come do, you know what I mean, club hostings. But he was like, "I put you guys in that position to be able to get some fundings outside of the show." Love, thank you, Fifty, I appreciate that. Because I didn't understand that at the time. I was like, "Yo, Denzel ain't pulling up to Magic City."

• 35:59Fred Taylor?

  Nigga, you ain't Denzel!

• 36:00Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 36:02Speaker 04

  But like, these are the people that I wanna like, like get to be like. So I like, I always like to see certain people that's in my field. Like, I wanna be like a Denzel. I wanna be like an Anthony Mackie. I wanna be like a Mahershala Ali. They're not doing it. You know what I mean? But times are different now. So I understand that, yeah.

• 36:17Ryan Clark?

  Being in Scissors and Snooze and, you know, being a part of the, of Yolanda Adams' church doors, sort of some of the other things you've done outside of the traditional acting in TV series and those sorts of things. How much do you think, okay, in doing this, I'm now pulling myself away from what I truly want to be? Right? Because football-wise, right? When I was in year one, year two, you could talk to me certain ways, treat me certain ways, ask me to be on certain special teams. Or put me on certain special teams, right? And I was comfortable with that because I realized who I had to be at that moment in my life.

• 36:57Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 36:57Ryan Clark?

  Right? Fast forward to year 13, I make a mistake at practice. I come in, I tell the D- coordinator, "Hey, tomorrow morning, you should play that play. I did something wrong." And you should cuss me out. And then he goes, wait, like, for real? Like, I can cuss you out? I thought, yeah, cuss me out. That way the young guys can know, like, you can't jump routes. You can't do all those things, right? Because I had gotten to a point where I earned that respect.

• 37:17Speaker 04

  OK.

• 37:18Ryan Clark?

  Jamie Foxx played Wanda.

• 37:20Speaker 04

  OK, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 37:21Ryan Clark?

  Did you ever think, OK, Jamie Foxx was comfortable doing that now to get to where he is? And sort of use that as a way to propel yourself or move forward?

• 37:32Speaker 04

  Man, Jamie is a multi hyphenate, bro. He can do whatever he wants to.

• 37:36Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 37:37Speaker 04

  I would expect him to play Wanda. I would expect him to go do stand up and sing with his piano. I would expect him to do all these things because he's multi hyphenate. I love people like that. So, like, again, like, he's one of those people that's on my list. Like, if he can do that, I can do it, too. I'm gonna do it my way. You know what I mean? I'm gonna go dance with Chris Brown for four years, you know? I'm gonna be Bobby Brown, be in power, universe. I'm gonna produce music. I'm gonna have a number one song that I produced that was, like, number one on R&B. Because I can do whatever the [bleep] I want to do. That's just how I feel. That's how I move. You know what I mean? If I feel like, yo, I want to be like Denzel. You know, matter of fact, I want to take it further than Denzel. I'm going to do it if I really, really want to. It might not be here now, but it's gonna get there.

• 38:22Speaker 04

  We gonna get there.

• 38:23Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 38:24Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 38:24Fred Taylor?

  You're only 12, you're only 12 years in. Like, you, you still got time.

• 38:28Speaker 04

  I'm seven years in. What, five, six, seven years in?

• 38:31Fred Taylor?

  I mean, since you, well, I was talking, I guess, going back. Yeah, you have plenty of time.

• 38:35Speaker 04

  No, yeah, yeah, I still got a lot of time and a lot to grow. And I love to take, I love to have these conversations. Like, I'm always going to the cigar lounge with my, my OGs and just listening. Omar Dorsey, great OG of mine. He always like, yo, Wood, come down to the cigar lounge. And I'm just soaking up game because I just love the arts. I love this shit. You know what I mean? I want my, like, how my granddad is leaving a legacy for all of us. Like, my granddad was a reverend. My granddad was a, a, a radio host. My granddad played in the NFL. My granddad was a security for James Brown. My granddad did all these things. So now it's like, I can do all these things because I've seen it done. You see what I'm saying? So, like, that's just how I'm moving.

• 39:15Fred Taylor?

  Right. What's the biggest lesson you've learned, you know, from Hollywood?

• 39:19Speaker 04

  The biggest lesson I learned from Hollywood? Don't take nothing personal. Can't take nothing personal. Like, the beginning for me, I was taking everything personal. You know, but now it's just like, I can't take nothing personal. Yeah.

• 39:34Channing Crowder?

  Like, you bring up Denzel, Idris Elba. Like, you see them top, top guys.

• 39:39Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 39:39Channing Crowder?

  That's the goal, right?

• 39:40Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, for sure.

• 39:41Channing Crowder?

  Well, what's the path? What's the journey? What's the plan? Because even Anthony Mackie was saying, like, all he does is sleep, think, acting.

• 39:50Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 39:50Channing Crowder?

  Like, if he don't have a job, he's about to go on Broadway. If he don't have Broadway, he gonna go do something like this or acting. Like you just said, like, what's the journey to Woody being Denzel? For us to say Woody one day?

• 40:04Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 40:04Channing Crowder?

  And people think about that shit like you think about when you say Denzel. I know a little ugly-ass boy play on my son's baseball team.

• 40:10Speaker 04

  Right.

• 40:11Channing Crowder?

  I don't think of him when I think of Denzel. I think of Denzel Washington. You know what I'm saying?

• 40:15Speaker 04

  Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 40:15Channing Crowder?

  Like, what, to have your name mean with Denzel? What's the path of that?

• 40:21Speaker 04

  Just being great.

• 40:22Channing Crowder?

  How, though, like, the day-to-day-to-day of it?

• 40:25Speaker 04

  I think you just living your truth. And of course, you can always get better. You can always coach. Like, for me, I'm always coaching with my acting coaches. I have two acting coaches that I work with. I'm always doing that every single day. And I'm living life. Like, you need life experiences to put in these roles. I'm out here living life. Before, I was, like, very sheltered. I was very quiet, didn't like to go nowhere. But I'm really learning how to live life. And I think that's gonna help me get to the path that I want to.

• 40:52Speaker 00

  Thinking about refreshing the carpet in your home? Now's the time to do it. For a limited time at The Home Depot, get 10% off installed carpet projects on trusted brands like LifeProof, LifeProof with Pet Proof technology, Home Decorator's Collection, and Traffic Master. Plus, with installation starting at just 49 cents per square foot, upgrading your space is more affordable than ever at The Home Depot. Offer valid September 24, 2026, through October 4, 2026. Exclusions apply. For licenses, see homedepot.com/license numbers.

• 41:22Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, I mean, speaking of greatness, I heard you're a big fan of the second-greatest basketball player that's ever played.

• 41:27Speaker 04

  That's crazy. Who?

• 41:28Channing Crowder?

  LeBron. Like, didn't you, you like LeBron, right?

• 41:30Speaker 04

  Yeah, of course, of course, of course, of course. You said second?

• 41:33Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 41:34Speaker 04

  Who's one? Kobe's one?

• 41:35Channing Crowder?

  Michael Jordan.

• 41:36Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 41:37Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 41:37Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 41:38Channing Crowder?

  You know, yeah, but I heard.

• 41:43Fred Taylor?

  So it's Michael, LeBron, Kobe?

• 41:45Ryan Clark?

  Yes, and Kobe's my favorite player.

• 41:47Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, okay, okay.

• 41:48Ryan Clark?

  You comfortable with that?

• 41:49Fred Taylor?

  I'm LeBron. They know that. They know what it is.

• 41:52Ryan Clark?

  Because you're a fan of wherever he is, so you like jumping teams as well, so you're not really...

• 41:56Fred Taylor?

  Oh, for sure, yeah.

• 41:57Ryan Clark?

  So, speaking of your loyalty, you're not really that loyal because you've been a Cleveland fan. You've been a Cleveland fan, you've been a Miami fan.

• 42:04Fred Taylor?

  It's really where Kyrie... Where Kyrie go, I go.

• 42:07Ryan Clark?

  Oh, because you're more Kyrie, okay.

• 42:08Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 42:09Ryan Clark?

  I respect that.

• 42:09Fred Taylor?

  Where Kyrie go, I go.

• 42:10Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 42:10Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, absolutely. I might get a T-shirt made. Is that glazing if you do that? Where Kyrie go, I go.

• 42:15Ryan Clark?

  We don't know nothing about that.

• 42:16Channing Crowder?

  I just figured out what glazing means. That's what the young kids say.

• 42:22Channing Crowder?

  My kids just explained glazing. That was you amp somebody up so heavy that you glazing them.

• 42:29Ryan Clark?

  I know what it means.

• 42:30Channing Crowder?

  Oh, you know what it means? I just figured that out two weeks ago.

• 42:35Fred Taylor?

  You gotta add something else to it, too. It ain't just glazing glazing.

• 42:38Channing Crowder?

  That's crazy.

• 42:39Fred Taylor?

  You know what it is.

• 42:39Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 42:41Ryan Clark?

  I don't know. You... Yeah, you're doing too much, Fred.

• 42:43Channing Crowder?

  Pretty nasty.

• 42:44Fred Taylor?

  Nah, it is kind of nasty, you know?

• 42:46Channing Crowder?

  I just said my kids was talking about it, Fred. We're not talking nasty.

• 42:50Fred Taylor?

  No, it just hit me. Mary J, bro, like, how was it working with Mary?

• 42:54Ryan Clark?

  Mary's the best. Super cool.

• 42:56Fred Taylor?

  Monet.

• 42:57Ryan Clark?

  No ego, like, she just always wants to, like, let's run it, let's run the scenes. What are you like, what we doing today? Like, you know what I mean? It was like that kind of energy. You know what I mean? And kicking it with Mary, she's great, man. She makes you feel like family.

• 43:09Fred Taylor?

  You have a favorite scene in the show or moment in the show that, um, between yourself and Mary that you can kind of go back to?

• 43:17Ryan Clark?

  It probably was episode nine of this last season. But basically, like, we just having a heart-to-heart. It was like no, like, arguing or nothing, you know? It was just like real cool. It was, I think it was the episode before she, she, like...

• 43:29Fred Taylor?

  Right, right, right, right. For the people that I hadn't seen it.

• 43:32Ryan Clark?

  In that mode, when you're a part of something, for me, for lack of a better word, no pun, something so powerful, right, where people became not only fans of the show, but fans of the characters, fans of the relationships. What are the interactions between the cast? Not only with the bigger names like Mary J. Blige, but with everybody? How does that vibe change over time? From meeting them and having readings until being four seasons deep into something that people recognize you highly for?

• 44:10Speaker 04

  Man, it's always been love, man. I've been put in situations where it's just always been the best. Like, I don't have any, like, bad Hollywood castmates experiences. Like, we all around the same age. Like, we'll go to dinner together, have fun, talk about life together, and it just, it just works. Even for New Edition, like, we always just kicking it together. Going to Elijah's crib, watching The Temptations and Five Heartbeats. And The Michael Jackson Story, and we just building a brotherhood, like. Every job I've been a part of, it's just like, I've, I've grown another family. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 44:47Channing Crowder?

  What room have you been in, bro? Because it's funny as you talk about what Mary J. just thought about. What room, and really looking at you like a dude from Jacksonville. And then now you're sitting in a room with some people. Because I've been in a room with a number of people. We've been in a room with a number of people, and you're just like, yeah, I don't know. These motherfuckers want me here. You know what I'm saying? Like, have you, like, that room that you sat in with people and you're like, damn, I've really accomplished something.

• 45:16Speaker 04

  Nah.

• 45:18Channing Crowder?

  You haven't been in nothing. Because you're talking about Mary J. I'm talking about, we sitting with Shaq, we sitting with Charles. I'm, I'm golfing with Dan Marino. We're hanging out with, you know, like Junior Seau and all these dudes I play with. Like, and I'm, I'm kind of sitting back as the kid that's inside of me, looking around the room. When we went to the Steelers camp, I'm with Dick LeBeau and Peasy and, and all these Steelers legends. I'm sitting with, I'm sitting with D Wade, you know what I'm saying?

• 45:46Speaker 04

  Like, I made it, Mo.

• 45:47Channing Crowder?

  We had a party with D Wade, and I'm sitting up there on, I'm sitting up there in the VIP with D Wade. And I'm like, damn, I'm sitting next to D Wade.

• 45:54Ryan Clark?

  Got you.

• 45:54Channing Crowder?

  Who's that?

• 45:55Ryan Clark?

  You know we sat with President Obama, correct?

• 45:57Channing Crowder?

  We sat down with, in this, bro, in the same.

• 46:00Speaker 04

  I played for his first inauguration play.

• 46:01Channing Crowder?

  Really?

• 46:02Ryan Clark?

  Same you, yeah.

• 46:02Channing Crowder?

  In the same setting, you were Barack Obama. Like, you haven't had, like, what was that moment for you, like?

• 46:09Speaker 04

  Damn, man, nah, nah. Because I, I look at everybody, I respect everybody, man. Like, bro, I've worked every job you could think of. McDonald's, Burger King, Steak and Shake, Red Lobster, like, the dog track. Like, I just have respect for everybody. So just moving up, it's just respect. Like, I don't care who it is, it's like, oh, man, I love what you do, bro, respect. It ain't no like extra feeling, you know what I mean? Maybe my mom would be like, "You was way married." My mom make this thing. "You was way married." I'm like, "Mom, chill." But I gotta learn, like, it's different for other... For me, it's just like, I just respect and love everybody. So I don't really put nobody on that, on that thing.

• 46:48Ryan Clark?

  Chan, you waited long enough. Uh, he's having twins in real life.

• 46:52Speaker 04

  Twins in real life.

• 46:53Ryan Clark?

  But, you know, in TV life...

• 46:55Speaker 04

  Come on, man, I need some, I need some, I need some advice, man. This is scary.

• 46:58Ryan Clark?

  We gonna get there, I got a question, though.

• 46:59Speaker 04

  Okay, okay, okay, okay.

• 46:59Ryan Clark?

  So Chan asks everybody that comes on this show that acts about their love scenes.

• 47:05Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 47:05Ryan Clark?

  Right?

• 47:06Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 47:06Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, I seen him, yeah. He was tight hips.

• 47:09Speaker 04

  Tight hips?

• 47:10Channing Crowder?

  He wasn't really, yeah. You weren't really...

• 47:13Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 47:13Channing Crowder?

  You was more back hunch.

• 47:15Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 47:16Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 47:17Speaker 04

  Which one, which one?

• 47:18Channing Crowder?

  The Bobby Brown, he was more back hunch.

• 47:20Speaker 04

  Where?

• 47:21Channing Crowder?

  I don't think, like, I think it's more, like, babies get made lower body.

• 47:25Speaker 04

  Okay, okay.

• 47:26Channing Crowder?

  That dude, that's just off the show.

• 47:28Speaker 04

  Right, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 47:30Ryan Clark?

  But he acting, though.

• 47:31Channing Crowder?

  But that's what I'm saying, so to the, to the sex scenes. I asked everybody, I asked, I asked Omari and all, I asked everybody. Them sex scenes, like, you don't really... Is that your real approach to stroking? Because I wasn't, I wasn't impressed by the stroke.

• 47:46Speaker 04

  Oh, okay, I'm happy you, you wasn't impressed by the... The strokes, my brother.

• 47:54Channing Crowder?

  It's lower body that makes babies. I got, I got a bunch of them.

• 47:58Speaker 04

  Got you, got you. Nah, I'm, I just always take the approach of making sure that my scene partner is comfortable.

• 48:02Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 48:03Speaker 04

  I don't want them to ever feel like, "Wait a minute, he putting too much thrust in me." I'm like, "No, I just want you to know, like, I am not here for that. We're not doing porn, we're like, acting, like, I just wanna make sure you're okay. Are you okay, you cool? Did you not like anything? Did you, oh, yeah, you can put your hand here." So I'm just always consciously thinking about my scene partner. That's it, my bad, I am not thinking about blowing their back out.

• 48:24Channing Crowder?

  I'm not thinking about that. I would not, no, no.

• 48:29Ryan Clark?

  I'm be honest, I'm be honest. If I was acting, if I was acting and I was single, it would totally be an audition tape for me.

• 48:36Speaker 04

  Okay, yeah, yeah.

• 48:37Ryan Clark?

  You know what I'm saying? Like, if I'm a single man and like, it's like, it's this time. You know what I mean?

• 48:45Ryan Clark?

  Because you know what I mean? I'm just, you know.

• 48:46Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 48:47Ryan Clark?

  Chick come over, we on a date and the show's on. And you know, then my, you know, I just get to the episode, my scene, I just look at her like, hey.

• 48:55Channing Crowder?

  And Omar even said, he was like, he was like, Chan, you don't understand during that scene, if somebody standing on the bed and their foot is touching my calf.

• 49:04Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 49:05Channing Crowder?

  And I told him, well, give me that foot too.

• 49:11Channing Crowder?

  We acted after right now.

• 49:13Speaker 04

  No, man, no.

• 49:14Channing Crowder?

  It ain't like that though.

• 49:15Speaker 04

  It's not, it's not a sexual moment at all. You got like 30 people in the room. You know what I mean? You got the lights, you got the boom guy like this in you, you know what I mean? If you stroke too far back, you might hit the boom stick. It's like, you can't really.

• 49:27Channing Crowder?

  I love hit the boom.

• 49:28Speaker 04

  See, that's crazy, man. That's crazy.

• 49:32Ryan Clark?

  Hey, he's just.

• 49:35Channing Crowder?

  Boom man!

• 49:37Ryan Clark?

  Two more, two more serious though, two more serious topics, you know. I had babies young. So my, I was at 24, 25, I was done. Right, so I was 19, 21, 25. And my baby making days were over. I just practiced after that. For, for real, I just practiced. It's, but for, for you, man, what are some of the, whether there are thoughts, the, the fears, the, the apprehensions, the, the goals for you as a father?

• 50:11Speaker 04

  I think right now, because acting is so up and down, it can't be like that no more. I feel like my brain automatically switched over like, nah, we gotta get it, bro. We gotta get like, before I'm just like, ah, just out here chilling. But now I got like. Two mouths coming in here that I gotta take over, that I gotta be able to provide for like my granddad and my dad did. Like, they took care of us, so I gotta be able to provide that. So right now, for me, it's just very, very scary with the acting strike and Hollywood not really moving, you know what I mean, like it used to be. So, I don't know, bro, I'm just, I'm just very, I'm, I'm very scared right now.

• 50:47Ryan Clark?

  Recently, we were talking, like, you know, I hate that we keep bringing up Anthony. He's the most recent actor we had on. But he said that Hollywood no longer makes stars.

• 50:57Speaker 04

  For sure.

• 50:57Ryan Clark?

  Right. He said, like, you know, back in our day, we had them all. Like, you know, you had Stallone, Wesley Snipes was a, was a star. Obviously, Denzel has taken his career from that time when they were making stars and continued to be. In a world where it seems like people are interchangeable, how do you make yourself irreplaceable? How do you make yourself one of those people that the industry goes to when they need something to be done the right way?

• 51:28Speaker 04

  I think right now, the power is in creating for your, for your own self. Like, the guys on Twitch are killing it right now. Like, all those kids are, they're taking it to another level, but they're creating something for themselves. So I think right now, the industry is like no longer in a creative space. It's more so in a number space. So I feel like, once you're creating stuff for yourself that's like making movement, I think then you'll be able to take it to that next level.

• 51:54Fred Taylor?

  You come from that, though, right? You come from the Vine. And then you took off and you got those roles.

• 52:00Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 52:00Fred Taylor?

  Is it harder to go back to that for fear of?

• 52:04Speaker 04

  Yeah, it looked like you're going back, like, it feels like you're going, like, you're backtracking.

• 52:07Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 52:08Speaker 04

  That's what I was talking about, but I was talking to my boy Cornell. He was like, "Bro, like, that's a part of being a multi-hyphenate." You know what I mean? That's why I created my comic book. You know what I mean? The Brotherhood, I don't know if y'all seen, like, Kingsman? And like Double O, like, Brotherhood is that, but our secret headquarters in the cigar lounge, right? But I wanna surround it with older guys that I grew up watching, like Orlando Jones, LeVar Burton. Like, I want these people a part of Brotherhood. Like, we can get so much information from LeVar, because I grew up... I grew up watching Rena Rainbow. I want them a part of the Brotherhood. And we do missions that Kingsman don't get, James Bond don't get, they give us like bullshit. Like one of the stor- not bullshit, but one of the stories that I have in the Brotherhood is back during the Titanic time, they was like, yo, we need y'all to sink the Titanic.

• 52:52Speaker 04

  It's like, why do you want us to sink the Titanic? It was like, well, because it's filled with opium. And if that opium lands in the United States, it get out and destroy the American families. So of course, Brotherhood members that are cleaning and are the cooks on there, we're really secret agents on there. So like, this is like an alternate- That's really cool. You know what I mean? So like, we made it look like the iceberg sunk it, but it was really the Brotherhood members that had to sink it because we didn't want that ship to land in the States. So I'm creating my own shit like that. So right now, I'm just looking for the people that have the same vision as me to come on board and we make it a real thing.

• 53:23Fred Taylor?

  How do you get it in front of an- an audience, like in front of the people?

• 53:27Speaker 04

  I think you keep talking about it, keep putting it in people's faces, like, not like, you know what I mean? No, I understand you mean- Put the actual thing in, okay. Yeah, I think, I think it's just doing stuff like that. And I think the right energy, you know, I go home, pray.

• 53:41Speaker 04

  And I think the right energy and the right person will come to me to help this project get made.

• 53:46Channing Crowder?

  I think in sports, I really believe you like two phone calls, three phone calls away from talking to somebody.

• 53:54Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 53:54Channing Crowder?

  You know what I'm saying? If I really wanted to get to talk to somebody, I think I can call Udonis Haslem, who can call Dwyane Wade, who can call somebody if I really wanted. How was it like in Hollywood? Could you get in touch with a Burton? Could you get in touch with, uh, one of those top guys? Is it, is it accessible for you to look at the OGs and the guys that done it? And really be able to just, not even ask them for nothing, but just pick their brain?

• 54:20Speaker 04

  It's scary for me to ask somebody for anything.

• 54:22Channing Crowder?

  Why not?

• 54:23Speaker 04

  Just never grew up asking for nothing. You know, it, it could be a pride and ego thing, but I just never grew up asking. Cause I don't want you to feel like I'm using you. You know what I mean? So like, that's just where I'm at right now. But I want to talk about these things in the comic book. I want our mentors to kind of be able to like, talk to the younger folks. I want like little kids that grow up with a single, single mom household to be able to look at the comic book and be like, I can get these information from that book. Like, I want to talk about this stuff in there.

• 54:51Channing Crowder?

  But is that, is that a problem with our-

• 54:54Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 54:54Channing Crowder?

  Our community?

• 54:55Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 54:56Channing Crowder?

  That we don't want to reach out? And like you're saying, bro, I ain't asking for no money, I don't need nothing from you, I just want to- The damn, the Titanic thing is like thinking about going through it, that's dope as hell, but

• 55:08Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 55:09Channing Crowder?

  Why can't we run this past people and really get people involved in it?

• 55:12Speaker 04

  It's hard for us to do it.

• 55:14Channing Crowder?

  But it's ego, bruh.

• 55:15Speaker 04

  You think so?

• 55:16Channing Crowder?

  Is it?

• 55:17Speaker 04

  Because when you talked about creating earlier, you said, I want to say you said Seth Rogen, you said

• 55:21Ryan Clark?

  James Franco, they were together.

• 55:23Speaker 04

  All white people. You ain't named not one black person, you know what I mean? Like, why is, like, why, why do we automatically think about that?

• 55:31Ryan Clark?

  I think history.

• 55:32Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 55:32Ryan Clark?

  Right? Because you have to understand that the positions given to black people are less.

• 55:41Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 55:42Ryan Clark?

  And because there are less positions given throughout history, right? Where you think of generational wealth, like this person's been able to build generational wealth. They're normally white people. When you look at the person in Hollywood that, to me, in my opinion, does it the best is Tyler Perry.

• 55:57Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 55:57Ryan Clark?

  Right? Tyler Perry, Tyler Perry has built this empire on reaching back into our community and bringing people that look like him up, whether it's black women, black men. And he's, and he's done that in a way and been able to keep ownership of that and become a company within himself, right? But there's not a ton of Tyler Perrys, right? And it is about how do we get the Ryan Cooglers who did Black Panther, who I think has a movie, Sinners, coming out with Michael B. Jordan. See, now they've created that synergy to where they do that and they work together that way.

• 56:35Ryan Clark?

  But I, I do have something to say too about like, it's hard for me as well to pick up the phone and say, I need. How you say you grew up and your grandfather did all these things, your father provided. That's how my dad was, right? My, my dad would work any job. My dad would pick up odd jobs on the weekend. Like, I never saw him physically ask for help. I just knew he was always helping people, so when he needed something, somebody was there. But I never saw him pick up the phone, hey, I need you to do this. And in, in your business, like you said, you don't know if it's pride or if it's, if it's ego. Do you think if you had an ability to do that, it could help you in the sense of,

• 57:19Ryan Clark?

  do you even have the right phone numbers to put you in places to ask for those things? Maybe not, or maybe I just need to get out of my own way.

• 57:30Fred Taylor?

  I think that's more of it.

• 57:31Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, for sure.

• 57:33Fred Taylor?

  Because, I mean, with a closed mouth, don't get fat.

• 57:35Ryan Clark?

  Absolutely.

• 57:36Fred Taylor?

  Like, you have to shoot your shot, you have to, you know, those opportunities are out there, but you gotta move. Like, you're so talented, and a lot of times, you can box your own self in. Like, you've worked with 50. It's as easy as saying, "Look, I don't want nothing, but I want to show you something."

• 57:55Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 57:56Fred Taylor?

  You know, can we get on the Zoom, or, you know, I want to send you something, then let's get on the Zoom for 30 minutes. So I can really give you the in-depth, you know, from my brain, I can take it out from here and can lay it out for you and really show you what it is.

• 58:08Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 58:08Fred Taylor?

  And it's really just navigating and networking. Again, being in the right places at the right time, though opportunities will, you know, find you. So don't impede your own progress.

• 58:20Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 58:20Fred Taylor?

  Just go. Like, you just gotta go, and shit will happen.

• 58:23Ryan Clark?

  You gotta make it business, though.

• 58:24Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 58:25Ryan Clark?

  You know what I'm saying? Like, I think, and that's what I hear more about what Fred's saying, because I'm like you, too. Like, I don't ever, like, I just don't. The hardest thing for me to do, to be honest, which I had to learn with this show, is something like what I did with you on social media. Is be vulnerable enough to be like, "Hey, man, I'd love to get you on this show."

• 58:46Fred Taylor?

  Got you.

• 58:46Ryan Clark?

  Right? Like, or be vulnerable and publicly to be like, "Hey, man, I DM'd you." And I DM'd you in 2023, actually.

• 58:53Fred Taylor?

  Damn.

• 58:53Ryan Clark?

  Because I looked at it, you know what I'm saying? But to see you post a comment and be like, "Hey, man, we still love to get you on the show." Because there's, one, the fear of seeming thirsty, right? The fear of saying, "Hey, I'm putting myself out here for you to one, maybe you just ignored the comment." Now, the rejection is public. Damn, RC hit up Woody, man, he ain't even commenting back, you know? And so, and so there is all of those things. And I think, once you get past that, the ultimate thing for me is, I never want anyone to feel like I'm using.

• 59:32Fred Taylor?

  Absolutely.

• 59:32Ryan Clark?

  I never want anyone to feel like I'm hustling, right? And... There are relationships where I don't have to ask people for help. It's like what Freddie said though, it's like, hey man, I'm working on Brotherhood, man, and I got this thing and I'm trying to figure it out. And then because of our relationship, they hear it and they go, hey man, I know somebody that'd be perfect for that.

• 59:55Channing Crowder?

  Got you.

• 59:56Ryan Clark?

  Right, or I know somebody I could put you in the room with. And so I, I think your point of though, the more like continuing to talk about it, continuing to make it a thing, like there could be somebody that hears you on a clip from this and be like, oh wait, that Titanic idea was an amazing idea. How do I be a part of it? Or LeVar Burton now being able to say, damn, this young cat wants me to be a part of this? He watched it and I think that's, that's part of it for you, is it?

• 1:00:21Channing Crowder?

  Just to finish that up, I'm around a lot of different cultures. We think that way.

• 1:00:27Ryan Clark?

  That's it.

• 1:00:28Channing Crowder?

  The other people don't think that way.

• 1:00:29Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 1:00:30Channing Crowder?

  I'm gonna open a restaurant, let me call everybody I have at a restaurant. And ask them if they want to be involved and if they want. Oh, I got a limousine business, okay, I got, let me call my.

• 1:00:40Ryan Clark?

  That easy.

• 1:00:40Channing Crowder?

  We think about the ego, we think about that.

• 1:00:43Ryan Clark?

  Well, we think, we also think about this though, Chan. My mama told me, our business stay in this house.

• 1:00:48Channing Crowder?

  Bruh.

• 1:00:49Ryan Clark?

  Like we, we were never, we were never told to go share all of these things culturally, like it was never one of those things, like if, if I had an idea, oh, go share with him, go share with him, go share with him. It was like, how do I work within myself to make this idea a thing?

• 1:01:05Channing Crowder?

  And, and that's, but that's, that's, I think that's the problem with our culture, that's the problem with our community, is that the secrecy of it.

• 1:01:11Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:12Channing Crowder?

  No, we're not reinventing the wheels. You're not reinventing acting or dancing or anything you do. We didn't reinvent football. Why can't I reach out to them OG? Why can't I talk who I did? Ray Lewis, Zach Thomas, Junior Se- why can't I reach out to them in the off season and say, bruh?

• 1:01:28Speaker 04

  Send me some film of what I need to do. Why are, why is...

• 1:01:31Channing Crowder?

  That's the thing.

• 1:01:32Speaker 04

  But why are we, I know football is different, but why are, but why are we so...

• 1:01:37Ryan Clark?

  Because you, you know why?

• 1:01:38Speaker 04

  So egotistical or scared and not ask for help?

• 1:01:41Ryan Clark?

  It wasn't that though. I couldn't call my auntie and ask her for money because she didn't have it.

• 1:01:46Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:01:47Ryan Clark?

  I didn't build the habit of being able to get things from people. Cause none of us had.

• 1:01:53Speaker 04

  We had to figure it out.

• 1:01:54Ryan Clark?

  We was all broke.

• 1:01:55Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:01:55Ryan Clark?

  Like, you know why we all went to church? Cause life [bleep] sucked.

• 1:01:59Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:02:00Ryan Clark?

  Right? And so, no, real talk.

• 1:02:02Speaker 04

  Them four hours Sunday was better than...

• 1:02:04Ryan Clark?

  No, I'm saying like, when you from the south and you grow up in these black Baptist churches, all they talk about is fire and brimstone and eternity because the life you were actually living wasn't a good one, so it had to be better on the other side. Like when my mama was broke or when my dad was broke, they had to go get a job. They couldn't call their brothers and their sisters. So like, we didn't grow up with the habit of being able to reach out. And I hope that it's changing, cause like, Woody's like right under us, right? Like, like we're here, he's in his 30s, right? We're in our 40s, he's right. Hopefully it's changing for people like him where they do feel, but you can already tell his soul is old.

• 1:02:44Channing Crowder?

  Right.

• 1:02:45Ryan Clark?

  Right? Like, he is not one of these young kids that expects like success to be something that he's entitled to.

• 1:02:52Channing Crowder?

  Right.

• 1:02:53Ryan Clark?

  And so I think that's hard. Are you ever around people, Wood, that you feel like can live that life? Or have reached out to others and have been able to get legs up? Whether it be in the business as a whole or stuff that they're doing with their business? That you can look at as sort of a blueprint?

• 1:03:11Speaker 04

  Absolutely. I appreciate y'all. My bad, my bad, my bad. I love these kind of conversations. This is how I be at the cigar lounge. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I need that. But, but like this conversation is changing my perspective of like, it's, it's okay to ask for help. I'm very, I'm very scared of rejection. Like I never was the guy that's like, yo, I'mma pull up on Shorty and try to get the, I just would let it naturally happen. That's how my life has always been. Like, it just would naturally happen. Oh my, I, I, I find her very attractive. Something's gonna happen in the universe to put us in the same situation where we gonna have to talk. And it's always happened like that. It's every single time. So it's like, I've never had to go ask or like, it just, the universe brought it to me. So maybe I can probably double down and just start asking now.

• 1:03:57Speaker 04

  You know what I mean? And not be afraid of rejection. That's what it is.

• 1:04:00Ryan Clark?

  That's why he learned how to dance, Freddie T.

• 1:04:02Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah. I didn't have to say nothing. I didn't have to say nothing. I had, that's all I had to do was this.

• 1:04:09Speaker 04

  That's all I had to do.

• 1:04:10Ryan Clark?

  They had no booty size, dude.

• 1:04:13Speaker 04

  If I see this nigga do this shit again, I'm about to shout.

• 1:04:16Ryan Clark?

  Hey, Chad, hey, Freddie T, he was P-Popping like Lil' Dubon.

• 1:04:19Speaker 04

  I know, right?

• 1:04:21Ryan Clark?

  He was like Lil' Dubon.

• 1:04:24Fred Taylor?

  Absolutely. That, that's part of it, man. It, it just, you grow into it too.

• 1:04:29Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 1:04:29Fred Taylor?

  You know what I'm saying? So hopefully, uh, you can figure that part out. Cause the world, you gotta share with the people.

• 1:04:34Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 1:04:35Fred Taylor?

  Depends, you know, you can have that mindset. I gotta get this out there. Uh, but I always ask all of our guests, right? This one thing. What's your biggest pivot in life? It's like that moment you can look back on and say, without this happening? Or with this happening, I am who I am today?

• 1:04:53Speaker 04

  College, going to jail was the biggest pivot of my life. I needed that to happen. I needed that moment. Cause I feel like everything could've kept going left. You know, I didn't really take life serious. I was just trying to get by. But I feel like that moment happened to me, it put me right on track.

• 1:05:09Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 1:05:09Speaker 04

  It put me right on track. And then me praying every day to God, like helping me get out of this situation and it actually happened. I'm like, okay, cool. Let me keep praying. Let me keep talking to God. Let me keep having this conversation. You know what I mean? I feel like all those moments, every moment that I go through right now in life, I feel like. It stemmed from me getting locked up.

• 1:05:29Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 1:05:29Speaker 04

  You know, so I would really wanna go back and talk to people. We can set something up in Jacksonville. I would love to go. You know what I mean? I'm cool with being typecast right now. If people see me as being the hood dude, cool. That's perfect. Perfect. So put me to some people that I can talk to and let them know like, bro, you don't gotta go that way.

• 1:05:45Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:46Speaker 04

  You see what I'm saying? Cause like, definitely doing power, I see a lot of people in the hood pull up like, bro, you live, you live my life. Like, they kinda glorify it. But for me, it's like, my brain, I'm like, that ain't it, bro.

• 1:05:58Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 1:05:58Speaker 04

  You know what I mean? Like, you don't, you don't gotta do that. So I would love to like.

• 1:06:02Fred Taylor?

  We can definitely link up on that, make that happen, and get back to the city of Jacksonville. But I think also just get out more on the circuit too.

• 1:06:10Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 1:06:10Fred Taylor?

  Having people hear you, hear what you want, and, and your vision, and what you're interested in doing. You really just gotta get back out there in front of people, cause aside from TV and the roles that you've played, and sitting here, you're nothing like those characters. You know what I'm saying? Not everybody probably would recognize that. But that is talent.

• 1:06:30Speaker 04

  That's talent.

• 1:06:30Fred Taylor?

  And not a lot of people can, can see that. You feel me? So really just stand in front of the camera, get back to creating Will Smith. Legendary. You know, he's done it all. Producing, all that rap, all that stuff. Will is making content on social media.

• 1:06:45Speaker 04

  Every day. Absolutely.

• 1:06:46Fred Taylor?

  Staying relevant.

• 1:06:47Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 1:06:48Fred Taylor?

  And engagement and all that stuff. So, but yeah, man, we think you're dope, bro.

• 1:06:52Speaker 04

  I appreciate it, man. Seriously. You gonna bring the durag to the next character, dude? Nah, nah, nah. I just ain't feel like getting a lineup every day. So I'm like, can I put on a durag? I don't want my thing to push back this far. So that was why he always, like, you always. Yeah, I just ain't feel like getting a haircut all the time. And it was like, nah, we don't let durags in the universe. It's a high class. Like, we wanted to feel like a high, you know what I mean? Like, that's why the fashion was so, a durag makes it feel like not that. But they agreed to let me do it and they liked it. Shout out to Frank, costume designer. He, he approved of it and he let me rock the durag. I just ain't wanna keep getting a haircut, bro. Bro. Cause I'm getting older, stressing. My joint be rece- I'm not, I'm not trying to fly to Turkey right now. Freddie T, show them what it can look like.

• 1:07:36Fred Taylor?

  What, when we get the bob? Man, my shit bobbed. I got a zero. I got a zero right now.

• 1:07:41Speaker 04

  Freddie, I ain't.

• 1:07:43Fred Taylor?

  My dog. How you taking that? You got the, you got the head shake for it. Yeah, I got, I got the zero here. I don't got the head shake for it. Sit here, bro.

• 1:07:49Ryan Clark?

  Man, Woody, man, we really appreciate you, man. Thank you too for asking us questions.

• 1:07:54Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 1:07:54Ryan Clark?

  It don't happen all the time, man, but whenever this can become a conversation, I think it's better for everybody to be able to know that like brothers can really sit down, chop it up and learn from one another.

• 1:08:05Speaker 04

  And I think it was at the perfect time and I really do appreciate y'all, bro. Seriously, seriously. This was something I needed to get out at this moment and I appreciate you.

• 1:08:12Ryan Clark?

  No doubt. Appreciate it.

• 1:08:13Speaker 04

  For sure, bruh.

• 1:08:14Ryan Clark?

  Hey, Freddie T, you should have wore durag, man. It might have pushed you back, Freddie T.

• 1:08:18Speaker 04

  You know, I ain't, man, I ain't had durag in forever, bro.

• 1:08:21Ryan Clark?

  Freddie T, did you have? My name, appreciate you, bro. Did you have waves, Freddie G?

• 1:08:25Channing Crowder?

  He solid though.

• 1:08:26Ryan Clark?

  He solid though.

• 1:08:27Channing Crowder?

  My shit was right here.

• 1:08:28Ryan Clark?

  He had a little, yeah, a little dude.

• 1:08:29Channing Crowder?

  Ay, my shit was right here.

• 1:08:30Ryan Clark?

  I sent to you, man. I ain't know.

• 1:08:32Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:08:32Ryan Clark?

  I hit that, that's why I would do that.

• 1:08:34Speaker 05

  Hit the love handle, see if this nigga really do it.

• 1:09:00Speaker 06

  Every game day, you show up for your team. Now, it's your time.

• 1:09:10Speaker 07

  Ask your prescriber about Wegovy. Somemagnitide injection 2.4 milligrams a GLP-1. Call 1-8334-WEGOVIE or visit wegovie.com to view the medication guide and to learn more about Wegovy. Why wait?