Colman Domingo

Colman Domingo has Oprah in his corner. Amy hangs with the 'Disclosure Day' star and talks about Gen X's favorite dance moves, fighting Don Johnson on 'Nash Bridges,' and which peptides he's on. Host: Amy PoehlerGuests: Steven Spielberg and Colman DomingoExecutive producers: Bill Simmons, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Weiss-BermanFor Paper Kite Productions: Executive producer Jenna Weiss-Berman, coordinator Sam Green, and supervising producer Joel LovellFor The Ringer: Supervising producers Juliet Litman, Sean Fennessey, and Mallory Rubin; video producers Jack Wilson and Aleya Zenieris; audio producer Kaya McMullen; social producer Bridget Geerlings; video editor Drew van Steenbergen; and booker Kat SpillaneOriginal music: Amy Miles Palmolive Ultra removes up to 99.9% of grease leaving your dishes sparkling clean. Switch today at www. Visible.com for just 25/mo. Or get premium Visible+ pro plan and save $10 on your first month with code HANG. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

  For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tremfya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tremfya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tremfya, proper training is required. Tremfya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis, serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis.

• 0:44Speaker 00

  Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tremfya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit tremfyradio.com.

• 1:05Amy Poehler?

  Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Good Hang. We have an awesome guest today, the great Coleman Domingo. And Coleman and I have so much fun. We talk about his beautiful mother, Edith, and how she shaped his life. We talk about our shared love of dancing and why it means so much to us. We talk about peptides. What are they and who's taking them? And we also celebrate the fact that he is working with Steven Spielberg in his new movie Disclosure Day, which is coming out this week. Big summer hit, blockbuster baby. Speaking of Steven Spielberg, Steven joins us as our guest today, who's going to talk to us about Coleman. He's going to talk well behind Coleman's back. And if you don't know who Steven Spielberg is,

• 1:51Amy Poehler?

  I don't know what to tell you. You know, 50 years ago, he made Jaws. Last year, he was producing Hamnet, and he's made every single movie in between. So Steven Spielberg, Mr. Spielberg, are you there?

• 2:12Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by Zoom. Many of us have been there. The calls where you zone out for one second and miss six key points. The quick check-ins that are anything but quick. Because here's the thing. Every conversation creates work. With Zoom, though, the conversation itself can actually move work forward. Zoom is now a full system of action that can actually complete work from the context of your existing meetings, calls, and chats. No more post-call panic. No more inbox avalanche. You talked about it. Zoom got it done. Visit zoomahead.com to learn more.

• 2:57Speaker 02

  Hi, Amy.

• 2:58Amy Poehler?

  Hi, Stephen.

• 3:00Speaker 02

  Oh, my God, I'm on good hang. Good Lord.

• 3:03Amy Poehler?

  We gotta get you into the stewed.

• 3:06Speaker 02

  We tried. You, you, we weren't, we couldn't schedule it.

• 3:09Amy Poehler?

  Dang, yeah, we were like, we don't have time.

• 3:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, I tried, I tried. I gotta make a few more hits before I get on your show.

• 3:17Amy Poehler?

  We were like, we, we were like, we just want to see one or two more things from Stephen before we say this.

• 3:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, I know, I know. I love the audition process.

• 3:26Amy Poehler?

  Stephen, you are my subconscious. Like, the, the work that you have made is in my brain. You have, you shaped my entire life. You are a Gen X director through and through.

• 3:40Speaker 02

  Oh, thank you, thank you. I love, I love that I'm in your subconscious and yet you can still be funny.

• 3:49Speaker 02

  With my plethora of comedies, you know?

• 3:52Amy Poehler?

  Well, I mean, I feel like I've gotten a chance to, um, been lucky enough to see you at, um, you know, places and events and shows and stuff. And I got to see you recently at the SNL 50th.

• 4:06Speaker 02

  That was great. That was just great. It was hard to believe. I mean, I, you know, I was there the first show in 1975. I was in the audience.

• 4:13Amy Poehler?

  Get out of here.

• 4:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was in the very first show, yeah. Flew all the way to New York as it was in the air. It was, it was one of those things, you know, where my generation suddenly was being... Included in something that was going to define, define us. And it was just, I just somehow knew I had to be there for it. And I just, you know, got a ticket and went in the audience and watched.

• 4:37Amy Poehler?

  Where did you sit and watch? Were you on the floor or were you up in the balcony?

• 4:41Speaker 02

  No, I didn't know anybody. I just, I was, I was in the stands. Jaws had come out in June. I, I think the first SNL show is in October or September.

• 4:51Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, October 11th, yeah.

• 4:53Speaker 02

  Yeah. And, and I was there and it was incredibly, it spoke to me. And I, after it was over, I'd left with the audience and somebody came running up and grabbed me and dragged me kind of backstage to Belushi.

• 5:10Speaker 02

  And so John said, you the guy that made the shark movie? And I said, yeah. He says, you got to meet Danny. And he dragged me over to Danny. And that was the beginning of my first, the first event that I really became a formal groupie. Cause I, I've always, I've always, I've always gravitated toward comedy and stand up and comedians. And, and, and I go, you know, Robin Williams was one of my dearest, closest friends of my whole life. And Albert Brooks and I sort of started out together. And so that sort of, but I'm not the funny guy. I, I'm a good audience for all of you. I'm, I'm, I'm your best audience.

• 5:47Amy Poehler?

  Well, you're here today to talk about Coleman Domingo. And he's a new friend of mine. I actually met him on, on a dance floor, which I want to talk about because we were kind of, we met just like at a party.

• 6:01Speaker 02

  Makes sense. So makes sense.

• 6:04Amy Poehler?

  But when did you first meet Coleman? Where did you guys first meet?

• 6:07Speaker 02

  I was going to make a movie about Ira and George Gershwin. And I was going to make a movie about the process of writing and staging Porgy and Bess.

• 6:20Speaker 02

  And I had a script and I was excited and I was casting it. And I was looking for Todd Duncan, who played Porgy. And I met a lot of actors. And when Coleman came in to the meeting, that was the first time I became, the first time I met Coleman. But I intended, after that meeting, to cast him as Todd Duncan.

• 6:50Amy Poehler?

  Oh, wow. I mean, Stephen, people must come in to meet with you and you must feel their nerves. So how do you get people to relax when they're having a meeting with you?

• 7:01Speaker 02

  Well, you know, it disadvantages me if somebody comes in and I can't find them in a 15, 20, or 30 minute meeting because of whatever expectations they bring to the meeting, how nervous some of them are. Some of them aren't nervous at all, but a lot of them are. And I had this problem only because of success, because success creates a kind of false front. It's kind of like, you know, I've always seen myself early in my career being successful, but also feeling a little bit like a fake Western street on a Hollywood backlot, where you walk around behind the facade and there's just a bunch of two by fours holding up the facade.

• 7:42Speaker 02

  And people, people only knew how nervous I am and how nervous, stressed I get. They wouldn't be so nervous in front of me. And I really was, and I just, I came up with a method, which I used for a couple of pictures, starting with Raiders of the Lost Ark. And I decided that all the actors that I auditioned in person, I'm going to meet them in a kitchen and we're going to cook. We're going to, we're going to actually cook. And, and, and so for a couple of movies, starting with Raiders, everybody that came in, met me in a kitchen and we were cooking stuff. And that's, that was how everybody relaxed around good food.

• 8:18Amy Poehler?

  That's so smart, because you're also, you're just getting to do something. Like, it's like, what do I do with my hands, basically, is what you're thinking half the time when you're stressed?

• 8:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, everybody becomes so real when they're covered, they're covered in flour and, you know, and there's, and, and you're trying to break an egg and the egg spills out on the counter. I mean, everybody becomes the, the best version of themselves.

• 8:38Amy Poehler?

  Although, there must have been people like, good news, you have an audition. Bad news, you need to learn how to cook in a week.

• 8:46Speaker 02

  Well, the good news is you're gonna be part of a recipe. But the bad news is you're only here for 30 minutes and you're not gonna be able to eat what we made. So all the actors that came in at the end of the day were able to actually feast on what we had prepared, starting at nine o'clock in the morning, right?

• 9:02Amy Poehler?

  So you meet Coleman and now you're you you guys are and did you work together on any other films after that?

• 9:09Speaker 02

  What happened was I was I had actually cast a lot of the movie and then I had a something that doesn't often happen when I'm that far down the line, but I had a kind of second thought about the project and I decided not to continue making it. And that's the only reason Coleman and I didn't work together then. But remembering Coleman as well as I did, I cast him in Lincoln playing Private Green.

• 9:38Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 9:39Speaker 02

  And that was the first time we actually professionally worked together.

• 9:42Amy Poehler?

  And what is it like working with him?

• 9:43Speaker 02

  Kind of like riding in a Waymo where you don't have to do anything but sit in the backseat.

• 9:49Speaker 02

  Because the car drives very well by itself. And Coleman is, when he graces your set, he brings kindness and he brings collaboration and he brings love. And he brings a real sense of let's have fun while we're working hard. While we're working hard to be serious, can we also have fun? And he makes a director look forward to going to work the next morning.

• 10:18Amy Poehler?

  Oh, what a dream. I mean, I'm sure you're at the point in your life and career too where you can tell like sometimes, you know, people are motivated by a lot of things, as you know, as a director, and you have to kind of find out what motivates them. But when someone has talent and ease?

• 10:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 10:39Amy Poehler?

  It's not always the case.

• 10:40Speaker 02

  No, it's not always the case. I've been lucky. I've had actors, I've had a lot of actors who have been such great collaborators, you know, to work with, even on really, you know, trying films, projects. But Coleman isn't about himself. He's about the whole. You know, he's he's about, it's like the play is the thing Shakespeare said. He's about the play. He's about the whole. He's he's as interested in the actors he's playing opposite.

• 11:11Speaker 02

  Even more so than he is about his own role in the in the whole. And and and that's rare. That's really, really rare. He is so full of empathy. And because my movie deals disclosure day, you know, deals a lot with the importance of empathy. Coleman was a very easy choice for me to make to invite him to be part of this company and be part of this ensemble.

• 11:42Amy Poehler?

  We cannot wait for this movie. Another hit, Stephen. Huge.

• 11:47Speaker 02

  Knock on my wooden head.

• 11:48Amy Poehler?

  Listen, I'm calling it right now. Okay, now, I don't believe in jinxes and I call it as I see it. And I'm telling you something, this movie is, everybody is ready for this movie. It looks so good. I still don't really know what it's about, which is great. I think it has to do with aliens, but you tell me. I don't know.

• 12:07Speaker 02

  Well, what can I say? Here's looking at you. Here's looking at you, kid.

• 12:18Amy Poehler?

  Do you have a question for me that I could ask him? Big or small?

• 12:23Speaker 02

  I've been thinking about that. I, you know, he's, he's such a success and he's so consistently successful. I'd love you to ask him, was there ever a film he auditioned for that he didn't get? And he was desperate to get?

• 12:39Amy Poehler?

  Oh, oh, yeah. I mean, he, I bet he has an answer to that because I know that he, I mean, when I look at his career, he's really done a ton of different types of work. I mean, Coleman, talk about, talk about empathy. He can play, he has a huge range. He can play like just a love bomb of a person and he can play a really sinister, scary person, too.

• 13:05Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 13:05Amy Poehler?

  Okay, that's a good one. Well, Stephen, thank you so much for your time. It really means a lot. I know Coleman will be thrilled that we talked and I can't wait to talk to him about what it's like to work with you.

• 13:14Speaker 02

  I can't wait. I can't wait to watch this.

• 13:18Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by Visible. How many of you are currently listening to this podcast on your phone? If you are chronically online, like we all are these days, your wireless network should be too. With Visible, you get unlimited 5G data and unlimited hotspot, all powered by Verizon's 5G network. The perks of big wireless for half the cost. Visible isn't just a wireless plan. It's unlimited wireless designed to always keep you connected and no contract holding you back. Switch today at visible.com. Plans start at $25 a month. Or get our premium Visible Plus Pro Plan and save $10 on your first month when you use promo code HANG, an exclusive offer for podcast listeners. Terms apply.

• 14:03Amy Poehler?

  See visible.com for plan features and network management details.

• 14:09Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God, Coleman Domingo is here and he brought me home.

• 14:12Speaker 03

  I bought you a meal. I bought you a, I bought you an egg.

• 14:15Amy Poehler?

  OK, now I've been starting to get gifts, which is not required.

• 14:18Speaker 03

  That's, that's when it becomes ridiculous, right? When someone finds out what you like.

• 14:23Amy Poehler?

  But, OK, let's discuss this. For the listeners, what did you bring me?

• 14:26Speaker 03

  I bought you a fake egg.

• 14:30Speaker 03

  Isn't it cute? It's a keychain. Look at it.

• 14:32Amy Poehler?

  OK, I'm going to describe this while I show it. It is a fried egg on a keychain.

• 14:37Speaker 03

  Yes. Do you like fried eggs?

• 14:39Amy Poehler?

  I love fried eggs.

• 14:40Speaker 03

  Oh, good. Me, too.

• 14:40Amy Poehler?

  Sunny side up.

• 14:41Speaker 03

  I love a sunny side up because it gets things moving, that's why. Not to start off there and just go to my.

• 14:47Amy Poehler?

  Totally right.

• 14:48Speaker 03

  I guess.

• 14:49Amy Poehler?

  Let me ask you about your sunny side up. Do you like to, because this yolk is very exposed. Do you like to flip it once and get like?

• 14:55Speaker 03

  I like, I like that and a little crunch.

• 14:57Amy Poehler?

  Me, too. A little crunch.

• 14:58Speaker 03

  And then like, so you get, then it bursts with a little, a little hot sauce on there, a little.

• 15:01Amy Poehler?

  This is a rubber.

• 15:04Speaker 03

  Isn't it cute?

• 15:05Amy Poehler?

  Also, Coleman brought me, um, um, plastic silverware in case I wanted to pretend to eat it. I'm not a crazy person, Coleman. I know this is fake.

• 15:15Speaker 03

  Okay. Oh, my God. Okay.

• 15:16Amy Poehler?

  Where should it go?

• 15:17Speaker 03

  This is now going to get ridiculous.

• 15:18Amy Poehler?

  Well, I don't want to brag, but we got a couple A-list stuff up here. We got some Pea Pods from Jennifer Lawrence. We have...

• 15:26Speaker 03

  Where did the raspberries come from?

• 15:27Amy Poehler?

  Oh, the raspberries. Where did they come from? Oh, MoMA. The MoMA sent us fake raspberries. Let's put it next to MoMA's raspberries.

• 15:35Speaker 03

  I think that's good. Raspberries and eggs.

• 15:37Amy Poehler?

  Wait, where's another egg?

• 15:39Speaker 03

  There's another egg there. Look at that. Look at that. Oh, my God. Okay, that's too cute. Oh, my God, I made the board. It's so good. This is already a good hang. A good hang with Amy Poehler.

• 15:49Amy Poehler?

  And you know, Ina gave us... Ina Garten gave us that giant chicken.

• 15:52Speaker 03

  That's... That's actually really good.

• 15:55Amy Poehler?

  Isn't that a really good chicken?

• 15:56Speaker 03

  It's really good. I'm really fascinated by all of this.

• 15:58Amy Poehler?

  I know. Isn't it cool? It's very satisfying.

• 16:00Speaker 03

  It's good.

• 16:00Amy Poehler?

  And I...

• 16:02Speaker 03

  When did... When did... You know, you didn't know I was going to interview you here. When did the fetish start? Tell us about your childhood.

• 16:08Amy Poehler?

  I don't know, but it's like good... It's like good art. I don't know how to explain what I like, but I know it when I see it.

• 16:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 16:16Amy Poehler?

  I love that egg that you brought me.

• 16:18Speaker 03

  You're very welcome.

• 16:20Amy Poehler?

  Because it's realistic. I don't like children's fake food. I'm an adult.

• 16:25Speaker 03

  Grown people's fake food. Exactly. What are you... You're not nuts?

• 16:30Speaker 03

  It's so good. It's...

• 16:33Amy Poehler?

  Coleman Domingo was here. I was really thinking about what to wear because I knew you'd look incredible.

• 16:37Speaker 03

  Do I look good? I'm fine. I'm wearing a lime green sweater situation.

• 16:41Amy Poehler?

  You can wear anything.

• 16:43Speaker 03

  Really?

• 16:44Amy Poehler?

  You look incredible in everything. You have the best style.

• 16:48Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 16:48Amy Poehler?

  And it like... The style is bigger than just clothes. Like, you have a... You have a way of moving through the world where you like... I find clothes and fashion to be kind of confusing for me. Like, I'm always trying to figure it out. I don't always feel like it's a world that I understand or that I'm a part of. But whenever I see you wearing whatever you're wearing... It's like an invitation.

• 17:14Speaker 03

  I think it is. I think literally, that's what I think it is. It's like, okay. Even like what I was supposed to wear, there was a jacket with this. And I thought, oh, no, I'm gonna go hang with Amy. She's a friend.

• 17:24Amy Poehler?

  Gotta show those guns, babe.

• 17:26Speaker 03

  I gotta show the guns. I gotta sex it up a little bit. No.

• 17:29Amy Poehler?

  That's what I emailed you. I was like, if you're gonna come, bring it. You gotta bring it.

• 17:34Speaker 03

  Bring that sex. Okay, so I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. So, but I thought like, I just wanna feel relaxed with you.

• 17:39Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 17:40Speaker 03

  The jacket was just all like, you know, buttoned up. It's a very serious business meeting with you. But I was like, no, I wanna feel a little sexy.

• 17:46Amy Poehler?

  That's, but it's, that's exactly the point. Like, the clothes never wear you. Like, you were always like, how do I get into this feeling? Right, this character.

• 17:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 17:54Amy Poehler?

  And that is what I have learned about, about wearing something, like figuring out how to dress is like, basically, how do you wanna feel?

• 18:01Speaker 03

  What do you consider your style to be? When you wear a suit, I can always tell you look so sexy and beautiful in yourself.

• 18:07Amy Poehler?

  God bless you.

• 18:08Speaker 03

  Exactly. You didn't know that this was gonna happen today, did you?

• 18:12Amy Poehler?

  I mean, I hoped. I hoped.

• 18:15Speaker 03

  No, but you, but you do, because also I can tell that you feel very comfortable in your body and skin.

• 18:19Amy Poehler?

  It's comfort.

• 18:19Speaker 03

  And I think you stay, listen, Diane Keaton did that. Diane Keaton was like, she perfected her style in a way that was just her own.

• 18:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 18:26Speaker 03

  And she was always cool and chic and it had these masculine vibes to it, and that was her.

• 18:30Amy Poehler?

  Who are you wearing?

• 18:31Speaker 03

  Uh, oh, Paul Smith today.

• 18:34Amy Poehler?

  Heard of him.

• 18:35Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 18:39Amy Poehler?

  Okay, we got, we're kinda new friends. We're getting to know each other. And I feel like I was trying to remember when we first met. And I think we first really met, um, non-verbally on a dance floor.

• 18:50Speaker 03

  That's exa, you do remember.

• 18:51Amy Poehler?

  I do.

• 18:52Speaker 03

  It was at a night before party.

• 18:54Amy Poehler?

  Right, one of the Emmy.

• 18:55Speaker 03

  Emmy, the Emmy night before parties. And we just, I don't know, the DJ was killing it that night. And you and I, and you were wearing a suit, actually.

• 19:02Amy Poehler?

  Oh.

• 19:03Speaker 03

  You're wearing a suit, and you and I, we just cut it up. And I was like, oh, my God, Amy Poehler can dance her ass off.

• 19:08Amy Poehler?

  Thank you for saying that. Right back at you. I mean.

• 19:10Speaker 03

  We were killing it.

• 19:11Amy Poehler?

  Why do you love to dance? I always love to ask people who love to dance why they love to dance.

• 19:16Speaker 03

  You know, I grew up, I think, my parents used to always throw the best parties. So, New Year's Eve was. Always at our house and we didn't have, we lived in a row home in Philadelphia. And so the basement, we had a bar down there.

• 19:28Amy Poehler?

  We had a basement too, where we danced.

• 19:30Speaker 03

  Dark dank basements.

• 19:31Amy Poehler?

  Were your poles carpeted?

• 19:33Speaker 03

  Oh, absolutely carpeted. We had a black Sheba velvet on the wall. Like, you know, she's like some black woman with the Afro and tits out in a, in a panther. And I would always look at it and just.

• 19:43Amy Poehler?

  Remember like string art?

• 19:45Speaker 03

  Yes, absolutely. All of that was down there. So everything was down there. Our Christmas toys were in the back, but that's a whole other thing. But it was really, we would have dance parties down there. So we'd go down there and the music was cranked up and we danced to, we just danced. So I come from a family that loved to dance. My mother, before she passed, my mother passed in 2006. One of the things that my sister always loves to tell me is like, just the week before, my, my mom was dancing in the aisles of Pathmark. She was dancing, like, you know, playing whatever music was playing, she was dancing in the aisles. I'm like, so the idea that that's my sister's memory of my mother dancing. So I come from people who like can dance anywhere. Like I have zero shame.

• 20:23Amy Poehler?

  Me, me too. And in fact, you know, I get, it, it actually helps me expel a lot of my social anxiety.

• 20:28Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 20:28Amy Poehler?

  Like I'd rather dance than talk. Yes.

• 20:31Speaker 03

  Same here. We danced like, do you remember that show Dancing on Air?

• 20:34Amy Poehler?

  Oh, well, we had dance, well, you're from Philly.

• 20:37Speaker 03

  Dancing on Air was Philly. Or Dance USA?

• 20:40Amy Poehler?

  Dance USA.

• 20:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly.

• 20:42Amy Poehler?

  With Kelly Ripa.

• 20:44Speaker 03

  With Kelly Ripa. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But like you and I danced like from that generation of dancers.

• 20:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, we're very, we're the same age.

• 20:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, we're same age. So like when you cut, you tear it down.

• 20:54Amy Poehler?

  A 100%. We really move and it's like.

• 20:57Speaker 03

  Cause they don't move like that anymore. We move like we were trying to hurt somebody.

• 21:00Amy Poehler?

  There's a whole thing, a trend on TikTok about how like showing it the difference between how Gen X and Gen Z dance. Because Gen Z barely moves.

• 21:08Speaker 03

  They barely move.

• 21:09Amy Poehler?

  And Gen X like clear the dance floor.

• 21:11Speaker 03

  Oh, we.

• 21:13Amy Poehler?

  Did you have high school dances and what was playing, what music was playing at those dances?

• 21:19Speaker 03

  They had a high school dancers. And I went to high school with Will Smith, by the way. They had high school dancers, but I was a nerd.

• 21:25Amy Poehler?

  You went to high school with Will Smith?

• 21:26Speaker 03

  With Will Smith, yeah.

• 21:26Amy Poehler?

  Incredible. Same grade?

• 21:28Speaker 03

  He was one right above me.

• 21:29Amy Poehler?

  Oh my God. What was he like in high school?

• 21:31Speaker 03

  You know, he was, he was a cool kid. He was actually a cool kid.

• 21:33Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 21:34Speaker 03

  He was actually very friendly and everybody really liked him.

• 21:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 21:36Speaker 03

  And he performed at the Wynn Ballroom in Philadelphia. He and Jazzy Jeff.

• 21:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 21:40Speaker 03

  But I was a bona fide nerd. I didn't do any of that stuff.

• 21:43Amy Poehler?

  Coleman.

• 21:44Speaker 03

  No, no, no. I didn't come, I didn't turn into this until like second year of college.

• 21:48Amy Poehler?

  Ah.

• 21:48Speaker 03

  Cause I decided I didn't want to be like that anymore. I was very shy and bookish and very awkward.

• 21:53Amy Poehler?

  So you weren't like tearing up the dance floor in high school?

• 21:56Speaker 03

  No, no, no, no. I was dancing at home with my siblings, but in high school, I didn't go to any dances. I know this is where it gets sad. I didn't go to any dances.

• 22:04Amy Poehler?

  You didn't go, you're feeling too shy.

• 22:06Speaker 03

  I went to my prom, but I got there late because my prom date, Teri Hayes, was very late getting her dress made. So we got there very late. So I didn't even dance at my prom.

• 22:16Amy Poehler?

  Okay, okay.

• 22:17Speaker 03

  This has gotten very tragic very quickly.

• 22:19Amy Poehler?

  Well, because I feel like, I feel like that, this idea of coming into your own and like feeling your, getting into your sense of power and like who you are and all this stuff is like the, the theme of the, for me, your career, your life, your interview. Because I find your, my experience with you, I feel like you really have worked very hard to know who you are and to like show that person to the world, basically.

• 22:45Speaker 03

  I mean, I think, listen, that started, I think, one of my first jobs was at Barnes and Noble bookstore in Philadelphia and I would take care of the self-help section. This was when I was 18 years old, self-help and travel. Those are the sections I took care of. And I would be in the corners and I'd be reading these books on how to become a person. To be very honest, because I felt I was awkward, I wasn't, I wasn't gregarious or anything, but I knew I wanted to become something else. And so I went to self-help books and I was like, oh, to become a different person, you had to do certain things or adopt certain traits. And I think while I was becoming an actor as well, it was very useful. So I was actually trying on these different things and the way I dressed, the way I expressed myself, the way I walk into a room, the way I spoke, you know what I mean? Where, where I pitched my voice, all of that stuff.

• 23:27Speaker 03

  So I feel like all of this was, has been a bit manufactured, you know, because, because I didn't have, I was. I didn't have it before.

• 23:35Amy Poehler?

  Well, you know, you've talked so much about your mom, who seems so amazing.

• 23:40Speaker 03

  No, you would have loved her.

• 23:41Amy Poehler?

  Oh, I bet. And what would she tell you in those little awkward times? Like, what would she, how would she reassure you? Or, or just like gently kind of walk by, you know, alongside you while you were feeling awkward? What would she say?

• 23:56Speaker 03

  I'll tell you this, I have, well, I have to tell you a story now because of that. Because you just made me think of this. Um, when I was a kid, I used to always suffer from like really terrible asthma. And, um, and I, one time I was hospitalized. And I was right, and I went in right before, maybe about like November 1st or something like that. And I was in the hospital and, you know, just breathing and stuff like that, getting myself together. And then, uh, when I came out, when I was healthier, I came out and they picked, my mom picked me up at night. And we're driving through the city and there's all these lights up, all the Christmas lights and stuff like that everywhere. And she said, and I said, oh my God, look at all the lights. She says, you know, they all put up their lights to welcome you back home.

• 24:37Amy Poehler?

  Oh, come on.

• 24:38Speaker 03

  And so this, this is the mother that I had. She would make me believe that I was very special and that the world was set up to do me more good than harm. Constantly. She was constantly going against any narrative of what the world was. And telling me that I was special, that I was useful, that I can be whatever I wanted. I can travel. Because I was always, I always had my head in the book. I was looking at images of ancient Egypt and Rome. And she said, well, you could grow up, you can go to those places, go to. So I always had a huge imagination because of my mother.

• 25:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 25:07Speaker 03

  And she always, so, so it was in all those moments where she was just like, when I wasn't feeling great about myself or anything. She would tell me how smart I was.

• 25:15Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 25:15Speaker 03

  Um, that was the thing, she always told me I was smart.

• 25:18Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 25:19Speaker 03

  She always said, you're, you're so smart and you're so handsome.

• 25:22Amy Poehler?

  That kind of early. Conditioning, it makes, I mean, I'm saying the obvious, but it's like, it's like actually a privilege, I'm learning more and more, it's a privilege to have had a parent or parents that said that to you.

• 25:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 25:36Amy Poehler?

  Cause it's.

• 25:37Speaker 03

  Was your parents like that as well?

• 25:38Amy Poehler?

  Absolutely, where they would be like, you can do, that whisper of you can do what you want to do, you're smart, you're capable, you're useful, you're, you, you, you.

• 25:51Speaker 03

  You have purpose, you have.

• 25:53Amy Poehler?

  Yes, exactly, there's a reason why you're here, all that stuff, like, when it's said out loud, it changes the course of your life.

• 26:00Speaker 03

  I think it does.

• 26:01Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 26:01Speaker 03

  I think I've, I've been given so many beautiful moments by people throughout my life who told me something that I didn't, maybe I didn't see in myself, even how I became an actor, one of my early college teachers, I took an acting class just as an elective too, again, my mother said, take a class for fun, take something to get you outside of yourself, and so we thought about an acting class, and I took this class, and then this teacher, Chris Wolfe, he said to me, first time I ever heard this from anyone, truly, he said, have you ever thought about acting as a profession, I was like, I don't even know what that is, like, I don't know how, I'm a kid in West Philly, I don't know.

• 26:33Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, what were your, what were your parents' jobs?

• 26:35Speaker 03

  No, my parents, my mom was, my mom worked at a bank, for a long time she cleaned houses, and then she kept going back to school, eventually she worked in customer service at like First Pennsylvania Bank.

• 26:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 26:44Speaker 03

  My dad sanded hardwood floors, he was my stepfather, and he was just a blue collar worker, I would work with him on the summers.

• 26:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 26:49Speaker 03

  And make some extra money.

• 26:50Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 26:51Speaker 03

  So they were very much like, just like, just good working class folks.

• 26:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 26:55Speaker 03

  And they wanted you to go to college and do better than them, and, you know, so they were just like, really trying to prepare you for things, but I'd never heard, until I got to college, that someone said, I would be curious if you followed this path as an actor, he said, because I think you have a gift, and I realized that I'd never heard someone tell me I had a gift at something.

• 27:15Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 27:16Speaker 03

  And so suddenly I was like, gift, and he said, and then he said this, it was like a challenge, he said, I'd be very curious if you followed that path, that was like mic drop.

• 27:27Amy Poehler?

  I mean, because we, I mean, I don't, I want to get into this, this early, but Coleman and I are both Enneagram eights.

• 27:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, we are. Yeah, we are. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

• 27:34Amy Poehler?

  And we love a challenge.

• 27:35Speaker 03

  We got that from, Tina Fey was like, what's your?

• 27:38Amy Poehler?

  Tina made Coleman take the test on the set of The Four Seasons. He got an A. I was thrilled.

• 27:44Speaker 03

  And, and please explain that again. What, what the eight means again?

• 27:47Amy Poehler?

  Oh, God, my audience is gonna be like, but we're the challenger. We're, I guess the point is, he challenged you. I'd be so curious what you do with that gift. And that is a motivating factor for us is like, a little bit of a challenge is exciting for us.

• 28:01Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 28:01Amy Poehler?

  Sometimes it's like our way through, like, we like a little challenge. I mean, we're so easy. Everyone, everybody has their ways that like, we think we're not manipulated, but we respond well to when someone says, I bet you can't do that.

• 28:14Speaker 03

  Oh, my God.

• 28:15Amy Poehler?

  We're like, I bet I can't do that.

• 28:17Speaker 03

  Yes, it's true.

• 28:18Amy Poehler?

  It's true. I'm the same way when someone's like, hmm, maybe, maybe that's not for you. I'm like, no, it's a hundred percent for me for the rest of my life.

• 28:24Speaker 03

  Oh, my God. Where are you from?

• 28:27Amy Poehler?

  From Boston. I'm right, I'm right around the park.

• 28:29Speaker 03

  It's right in the corner from Philadelphia, exactly. But see, it's a city from, of underdogs as well. Like, like Tina and I, we always talk about that. We're like, there's something that, that Philly in us. Like, yeah.

• 28:38Amy Poehler?

  Philly, Philly makes Boston look like London, England. Tina and I, Tina and I always talk about it.

• 28:46Speaker 03

  It's true. It's true.

• 28:47Amy Poehler?

  Philly is wild.

• 28:49Speaker 03

  It's wild. I mean, look at our mascots. I mean, just like, I mean, Philly's fanatic. I mean, that's insane. I don't even, still don't even know what that is.

• 28:58Amy Poehler?

  It's an insane person. He's a-

• 28:59Speaker 03

  I mean, we have the Mummers Parade. We have the Mummers is like just drunk Irish people on New Year's Day.

• 29:05Amy Poehler?

  The only time I've ever been called a C-word to my face is at the Philadelphia airport.

• 29:11Speaker 03

  Wait, what?

• 29:12Amy Poehler?

  When Tina and I were, when Tina and I were touring and we wouldn't give a guy, um, uh, one of the weird, like, you know, autograph people there when they follow you around the airport and it gets really stressful. And we were like, oh, you're stressing us out a little bit. And, um, and then he, he followed the C-word and Tina turned to me and she goes, welcome to Philly. And I was like, yes.

• 29:32Speaker 03

  It was like a badge of honor though.

• 29:33Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah, of course.

• 29:34Speaker 03

  You're like, yeah.

• 29:35Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 29:36Speaker 03

  They like me here.

• 29:36Amy Poehler?

  But I want to say, but you getting out of Philly, you go to San Francisco, but I just want to stay with one thing that I love Coleman about you is like also there's like these, um, there's a shy kid trying to find his way, mom who told him he was special and the Christmas lights were for him. You go from Philly to San Fran. Why San Fran? Why do you move there?

• 29:58Speaker 03

  Because I had a couple of college buddies. It always happens. This is usually the story. I have a couple of college buddies, actually three of them that were living in a studio apartment in the Tenderloin District. They were like, oh, San Francisco is amazing.

• 30:10Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 30:10Speaker 03

  I was struggling in school. I was working two jobs and trying to matriculate. And I was like, my mom was like, you know, you can take a semester off and you can always go back to school. And so I have these friends of mine that moved out to San Francisco. They're like, come out. I was like, great. Like literally come out because I was also, that's another sidebar. I just made my own joke. I was, I'm gonna come out when I was in San Francisco.

• 30:32Amy Poehler?

  You're like, come out and also, just come out everywhere.

• 30:36Speaker 03

  Sure. I mean, great. So then I moved to San Francisco and it was four guys living in a studio apartment in the Tenderloin District. And if anyone out there doesn't know the Tenderloin District.

• 30:44Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, tell everybody about that.

• 30:46Speaker 03

  You know, ladies of the night and you know.

• 30:47Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it was a really wild and exciting time in the 90s.

• 30:51Speaker 03

  But 90s, that's when it was like crisp.

• 30:54Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. What was your rent? Do you remember how much your rent was?

• 30:57Speaker 03

  Oh, I do remember my, it was, for that studio was 625.

• 31:03Amy Poehler?

  Split four ways.

• 31:04Speaker 03

  Split four ways. And we're just like there like, and I literally slept, this is also a terrible joke, but I literally slept in a closet.

• 31:13Amy Poehler?

  And every morning you'd come out of the closet.

• 31:15Speaker 03

  Because that was it. We had a walk-in closet and so I was the third guy, fourth guy moving in there and I literally slept in a walk-in closet.

• 31:22Amy Poehler?

  And you're too tall. I mean, for people that don't know or can't or haven't been next, had the pleasure of being next to you, you're 6'2".

• 31:28Speaker 03

  6'2". That's right. Tall drink of water.

• 31:30Amy Poehler?

  Because all these teeny tiny actors, there's a lot of actors.

• 31:33Speaker 03

  There's a lot of little actors.

• 31:34Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, there are. And you know, I kind of get it because like, you know, it's

• 31:40Speaker 03

  It's good for camera.

• 31:41Amy Poehler?

  I love being in a scene with the six two gentleman.

• 31:44Speaker 03

  It's kind of hot, right?

• 31:45Amy Poehler?

  Also, it's just a great view, like it's a great angle. Like when we turn around, the camera's going to be up here. Okay, so you go to San Fran, you're there, you're working as a bartender. You're writing plays. Do you remember the first play that you wrote? What was it about?

• 31:58Speaker 03

  The first play I wrote was called Up Jumped Springtime. And that is the title of a Stan Getz and Abby Lincoln song. And it goes, I was out promenading and high hopes were fading that dreams ever really come true. Then up jumped springtime, I gotta look at you. And it was a play that I wrote. I adapted a bit of a novel and I sort of embedded my work in there as well. It really was about coming of age as a young queer man. And I had three actors. We played all the roles. We played men, women, lovers, mothers, fathers, sisters, whatever. But it was really about the experience that nobody was writing about at the time.

• 32:42Amy Poehler?

  It must have felt so good to be a successful playwright while you were also auditioning and being an actor.

• 32:47Speaker 03

  I think so, but to be honest, I didn't consider myself a play. I considered myself a writer at that time. And then I grew into becoming a playwright.

• 32:54Amy Poehler?

  What year was this that you're writing? What year?

• 32:56Speaker 03

  I started writing about 1997. The last play, I've written plays and musicals. I've written the Donna Summer musical.

• 33:03Amy Poehler?

  Oh, I want to talk about that.

• 33:04Speaker 03

  I wrote a musical.

• 33:05Amy Poehler?

  You wrote the book for the Donna Summer musical.

• 33:08Speaker 03

  Yeah, I know, right?

• 33:09Amy Poehler?

  I mean, again, in that, in that high school world of like the dances we were at or we weren't at. Donna Summer, her music was so important to our generation and to every generation. But I feel like Donna Summer doesn't quite get spoken about enough.

• 33:26Speaker 03

  She was one of the greatest singers, I think, that has ever walked this planet. Because also her voice, she could do anything with her voice.

• 33:32Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 33:32Speaker 03

  She could sing opera, she could sing country, she could sing, you know, disco. I think that her voice, I mean, she even famously talked about her voice, which is like, no, I make music. And you just never know where I'm going to be angled in that way.

• 33:43Amy Poehler?

  And then before we move on to you, like the, the career stuff, I just want to pause to talk about, because is it around this time that you meet your husband?

• 33:52Speaker 03

  Oh, no, I met my husband in twenty one years ago.

• 33:55Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 33:55Speaker 03

  So in two thousand and five.

• 33:57Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so not in San, you met him in?

• 34:00Speaker 03

  No, funny, it's a weird thing, because I lived in San Francisco for ten years.

• 34:04Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 34:04Speaker 03

  Moved to New York.

• 34:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 34:05Speaker 03

  I go back to San Francisco to do a show at Berkeley Rep.

• 34:09Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 34:09Speaker 03

  I go to Berkeley, California. I'm crossing paths, going into a Walgreens with the most beautiful person I think I've ever seen.

• 34:17Amy Poehler?

  Hmm.

• 34:18Speaker 03

  Not even just beautiful aesthetically, but like, just energetically. We never speak. Three days later, I'm trying to buy a used computer on Craigslist. I couldn't stop thinking about him. And I thought about posting one of the Craigslist Miss Connections ads.

• 34:32Amy Poehler?

  Oh, it's so analog.

• 34:33Speaker 03

  It's so analog, right? I used to read them like crazy.

• 34:35Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 34:36Speaker 03

  And I get to the second page and third one down, I remember exactly the placement and it said, saw you outside a Walgreens Berkeley. He placed it just an hour before I looked. So we were looking for each other. And then we met. And I'm so uncool. We met three days later, had our first date. And I literally was just like, I think I love you, you're gonna change my life. That's how uncool I am, though.

• 34:58Amy Poehler?

  But that's so good. It's so direct also. Everyone that took a look at Raul, like, everyone would be like, I love you immediately.

• 35:06Speaker 03

  Maybe you got that a lot, like, I love you.

• 35:08Amy Poehler?

  I get it, you gotta lock that down really fast.

• 35:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 35:15Amy Poehler?

  And I'm sure, like, but that's you, like, you're, I mean, what I'm learning about you. You're in the moment. And also, you're, one of the many, many things that I love about getting to know you is you, there's not a lot of like, like, people know how you feel.

• 35:30Speaker 03

  Yeah, there's no question.

• 35:31Amy Poehler?

  That's a, but that's a love language. Like, I'm gonna just tell you how I feel now, I'm gonna take that risk. I'm like, that's, that's what vulnerability is, is like, I'm just gonna tell you right now, I love you. Like, that's amazing.

• 35:42Speaker 03

  And like, no games at all. And I'm always telling people too, like, don't play any games.

• 35:45Amy Poehler?

  I, me too.

• 35:45Speaker 03

  Just be straight up with people.

• 35:46Amy Poehler?

  Just be straight, if you don't like it, you don't like me, or whatever, just tell me.

• 35:49Speaker 03

  Then move, then, that, that, that takes time away from, you know, just move away, get out the way then.

• 35:55Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 35:55Speaker 03

  Because the people who will receive that, they're gonna be right there with me.

• 35:57Amy Poehler?

  And so you guys have been together twenty two years, twenty one years?

• 36:00Speaker 03

  Twenty one, twenty two years, yeah.

• 36:01Amy Poehler?

  You know, here at Good Hang, we only allow a few, a few spouses to come. Because, you know, you don't wanna have, you don't wanna have everybody's wife and husband around.

• 36:11Speaker 03

  That's true.

• 36:12Amy Poehler?

  And we've had the most amazing group of people. We've had Raul's here today.

• 36:15Speaker 03

  Yeah, he is.

• 36:16Amy Poehler?

  We've got, he's in the green room. Hi, Raul.

• 36:19Speaker 03

  Hey, hey, hi.

• 36:21Amy Poehler?

  I love you. Raul's here today. We had Carol Burnett bring her husband, Brian, and we've had Viola Davis's husband, Julius.

• 36:28Speaker 03

  Oh, that's great.

• 36:29Amy Poehler?

  And that's it.

• 36:30Speaker 03

  That's it. That's it for the good hang. That's it.

• 36:32Amy Poehler?

  That's it. No more spouses. No.

• 36:34Speaker 03

  Raul's like a cat. He's sort of like, you know.

• 36:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 36:36Speaker 03

  You barely even know he's here.

• 36:37Amy Poehler?

  Well, and the cheekbones.

• 36:39Speaker 03

  The what?

• 36:40Amy Poehler?

  On both of you.

• 36:41Speaker 03

  We bought him for the cheekbones.

• 36:42Amy Poehler?

  I mean, both of you guys are like cheekbone city. You guys could open up a cheekbone shop.

• 36:48Speaker 03

  That's our next adventure. Exactly. And it's funny because sometimes when we're with other people, they can't even tell that we're... It's... I guess it's a compliment. They can't tell that we've been together for so long.

• 36:57Amy Poehler?

  Yes, that is a compliment.

• 36:58Speaker 03

  And they can't tell because we're still like very in love with each other.

• 37:02Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 37:03Speaker 03

  And we have fun and we're touchy feely.

• 37:04Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 37:05Speaker 03

  But also then, even when we're in groups of people, they're like, oh, my God, how do you guys know each other? They're like, oh, that's my husband. They're like, oh, my God, that's my bro. But that's also my husband. He's like a lot of fun. Yeah.

• 37:15Amy Poehler?

  And I wish you two could have children together.

• 37:17Speaker 03

  I know.

• 37:19Amy Poehler?

  But just the two of you.

• 37:20Speaker 03

  We'll wait for the science to happen. Many things can happen.

• 37:23Amy Poehler?

  Because just the faces alone.

• 37:24Speaker 03

  You just want those cheekbones on a baby.

• 37:25Amy Poehler?

  Just the cheekbones on that baby. Maybe we'd have four cheekbones.

• 37:33Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by PayPal. Shine at gift giving this year by planning ahead. Shop your favorite online stores with PayPal this holiday, like Sephora for gift sets, Target for toys and electronics, and TikTok Shop for fashion, apparel, and gadgets. Check out with the flexibility to pay now or pay later and split your payments with Pay in Four with no interest, no late fees. Shop now with PayPal. Pay in Four is subject to approval. Learn more at paypal.com/payinfour. PayPal, Inc., NMLS 910457. This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking which group chat you're typing in before hitting send?

• 38:16Amy Poehler?

  Next thing you know, you sent a scalding hot take about the restaurant to the group with the person who picked it. Yikes. Yeah, checking first is a good idea, so check Allstate first for an auto quote. It could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. This episode is brought to you by Sleep Number. Look, we all know sleep is great, but if you're chasing an even greater sleep, Sleep Number mattresses can make it happen. You can make them firmer or softer, cooler or warmer whenever you want, so you can fall asleep and stay asleep easier. Plus, they're designed to last for 25 years, so

• 38:57Amy Poehler?

  you can enjoy it for the long haul. What's not to love? Upgrade your sleep this holiday season and save with code Amy at sleepnumber.com. This episode is brought to you by PayPal. Shine at gift giving this year by planning ahead. Shop your favorite online stores with PayPal this holiday, like Sephora for gift sets, Target for toys and electronics, and TikTok Shop for fashion apparel and gadgets. Check out with the flexibility to pay now or pay later and split your payments with Pay in Four with no interest, no late fees. Shop now with PayPal. Pay in Four is subject to approval. Learn more at paypal.com/payinfour. PayPal, Inc., NMLS 910457.

• 39:43Amy Poehler?

  When I've been looking at your career, which you've done so many things, so many different parts, all over the spectrum, like Coleman, you just, you play really intense, like kind of joyous, love bomb characters. You play deeply complicated and oftentimes scary and terrifying characters. You can do it all. You have done so many different parts. But what I love is your path is, is the one that I recognize, because we're the same age, of like what all actors kind of did to start, because you didn't have an end. You were just like, how do I get started?

• 40:19Speaker 03

  Making the work.

• 40:20Amy Poehler?

  Making the work. And so you do, you're like learning on the job. And I mean, you're even in Law and Order, which is like, you're not an actor if you weren't in Law and Order.

• 40:29Speaker 03

  Exactly, exactly.

• 40:29Amy Poehler?

  What, what, you were on, what did you play? Do you remember your character in Law and Order?

• 40:34Speaker 03

  I was on like

• 40:35Amy Poehler?

  I'd love to ask.

• 40:35Speaker 03

  Three or four Law and Orders. I was on

• 40:36Amy Poehler?

  Different characters?

• 40:37Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. Yeah, exactly. I remember the Law and Order Criminal Intent.

• 40:40Amy Poehler?

  Of course.

• 40:40Speaker 03

  And I played a schizophrenic heroin addict.

• 40:42Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 40:43Speaker 03

  I played an attorney.

• 40:44Amy Poehler?

  Perfect.

• 40:44Speaker 03

  I played an attorney in one of them with Dennis Bukaterra.

• 40:47Amy Poehler?

  You went from the schizophrenic heroin addict to an attorney?

• 40:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly.

• 40:51Amy Poehler?

  That's acting.

• 40:52Speaker 03

  Now, that's acting. I also was a bartender at a, at a leather, at a gay leather bar.

• 40:59Amy Poehler?

  Great.

• 41:00Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 41:00Amy Poehler?

  Like, I'm like unpacking the various ball gags as you were telling them about

• 41:05Speaker 03

  Exactly. Because you know, what I love about Law and Order is that they're so busy. They're so busy when the cops are talking to them. Like, they're just like, New Yorkers, they have time for everybody. They're like, I'm sorry, I gotta pack these bags while you're talking to me, officer. What?

• 41:16Amy Poehler?

  I gotta get the fruit off this truck. I don't have time for that dead girl. It's incredible.

• 41:20Speaker 03

  I love watching in particular for that.

• 41:22Amy Poehler?

  Me too.

• 41:23Speaker 03

  The walk in touch, we're too busy for these officers to talk to us. I love it.

• 41:27Amy Poehler?

  Totally.

• 41:27Speaker 03

  So I was a very busy bartender. Yes, exactly.

• 41:30Amy Poehler?

  And was exciting to get those parts at the time. That was a big gig.

• 41:32Speaker 03

  Because if you didn't get Law and Order, you felt like you were garbage. You were like.

• 41:35Amy Poehler?

  I know. I never got, I never got Law and Order.

• 41:38Speaker 03

  No.

• 41:38Amy Poehler?

  Is my dream. If I could go back in a time machine. If I could back to the future of my life, the one thing I would do differently. And maybe it would change my whole, maybe it would.

• 41:46Speaker 03

  Book a Law and Order.

• 41:47Amy Poehler?

  I would book a Law and Order.

• 41:51Amy Poehler?

  I would.

• 41:52Speaker 03

  That was my goal. But listen, when I lived in San Francisco, the gig was to get booked on Nash Bridges. Cause that was, that was, yeah, I played.

• 41:58Amy Poehler?

  With Don Johnson.

• 41:59Speaker 03

  Every dumb criminal on that show. I played one of them. Exactly. And yes, and I, I literally, wait, there's one episode and people can watch it. It's my favorite episode of me, um, I kidnapped Don Johnson's daughter. And then he found me and I happened to be wearing a coogee sweater while I was working out.

• 42:16Amy Poehler?

  Okay, sure.

• 42:17Speaker 03

  I was wearing like, you know that Bill Cosby coogee sweater? I was wearing a coogee sweater like while I was working. And he busts through the door and I'm like, oh, and I throw the weights off and I'm running. Then he kicks me in the ass through the window. And then he picks me up, he slaps me around. He's like, where is she working?

• 42:32Speaker 03

  It's my favorite episode. It's so crazy and rabid and you're like, what is happening?

• 42:36Amy Poehler?

  You're wearing.

• 42:37Speaker 03

  A coogee sweater while I'm working out. I'm bench pressing. I was, I was like.

• 42:43Speaker 03

  But also I was a young actor, so I didn't question it.

• 42:45Amy Poehler?

  Of course, yeah.

• 42:46Speaker 03

  They must know more than I do.

• 42:47Amy Poehler?

  That's what we're wearing.

• 42:47Speaker 03

  At the time I didn't work outside. I don't know. I thought people wore coogee sweaters.

• 42:53Amy Poehler?

  Acting is so embarrassing. I love it so much.

• 42:55Speaker 03

  It was the nineties.

• 42:56Amy Poehler?

  Okay, then you go to New York. You're doing a million plays on Broadway and the West End. And I do have some important theater questions because I, I'm, have such respect for people who do that grind. It is such grind.

• 43:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, it is.

• 43:07Amy Poehler?

  It is the hardest job. I mean, to have the hardest part of your day be at the end of your day. To have, to show up every day and do the same thing. And you're not getting paid a lot of money when you're doing theater. And you are, you know, you're like being asked to do a lot, but I, I'm always curious about a couple of things. I'm like, oh, Coleman will tell me the truth. Okay.

• 43:27Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:28Amy Poehler?

  Have you ever thrown up on stage?

• 43:31Speaker 03

  No, I haven't.

• 43:32Amy Poehler?

  Cause these are some of my stage fears, like my anxieties. What do you do if you have to, in the middle of a scene, go to the bathroom?

• 43:40Amy Poehler?

  You just, you just hold it.

• 43:41Speaker 03

  You, you hold it. You, you hold it. Although I did, there was a situation.

• 43:46Amy Poehler?

  Where your character went the bathroom.

• 43:47Speaker 03

  You, you know what, listen, I like, I make sure before I go out. It's, it's a practice.

• 43:52Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 43:53Speaker 03

  You have to go, you have to make that happen.

• 43:55Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 43:56Speaker 03

  Whatever. Number one, number two, it's gotta happen.

• 43:57Amy Poehler?

  You gotta have, you gotta have a, a egg over easy.

• 44:01Speaker 03

  You gotta make it happen.

• 44:02Amy Poehler?

  You're gonna make it happen. Have you ever forgotten lines on stage?

• 44:05Speaker 03

  No.

• 44:06Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 44:06Speaker 03

  No, but I've, I've had to work with some people who sometimes would flub some things. You'd have to, you have to help support it, make it, make it up.

• 44:16Amy Poehler?

  My biggest nightmare, which is like someone skips ahead.

• 44:18Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 44:19Amy Poehler?

  When you're in a scene.

• 44:20Speaker 03

  Oh, I fully have that. And they skip ahead. I'm like, oh, wait, wait, exactly.

• 44:23Amy Poehler?

  I'm a living stress dream.

• 44:24Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly. Oh, no, it's true. And it happens. But that's, but I think that's the joy of it, too.

• 44:29Amy Poehler?

  For sure.

• 44:29Speaker 03

  So you see, you're like, you got, that makes you wily. And you're like, I gotta work on my feet. I gotta get that storyline back in there. I gotta make that cue happen somehow.

• 44:36Amy Poehler?

  Challenger. I love it. It's such a challenger. Um, have you ever forgotten a prop? Like been like, gone in a scene to see.

• 44:41Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. I've forgotten props.

• 44:43Amy Poehler?

  And you reach in your pocket for the.

• 44:45Speaker 03

  I think, I think I forgot a gun.

• 44:48Speaker 03

  I forgot, I forgot a gun. And I was like.

• 44:50Amy Poehler?

  And you were like.

• 44:51Speaker 03

  I had to hold it like this. I was real strong. They're looking at me like, where's the gun? And I'm like, it's right here. Tough.

• 44:58Amy Poehler?

  You didn't just point your finger?

• 44:59Speaker 03

  I didn't point the finger. I, I, I, I was smart enough to not do that. So, but I just was strong.

• 45:06Speaker 03

  And I was a threat.

• 45:09Speaker 03

  But there was no gun. Exactly.

• 45:11Amy Poehler?

  Have you ever had to say, is there a doctor in the house?

• 45:14Speaker 03

  No, but somebody said that on my flight the other day. And I was like.

• 45:17Amy Poehler?

  They did?

• 45:18Speaker 03

  And I literally thought, well, I played a doctor before. And I thought, I thought, that's not what they want.

• 45:23Speaker 03

  I'm sorry, if someone needs a medical emergency, is there a doctor on board? And I was like, literally for a second, I thought, what? I literally thought I was a doctor for a second.

• 45:33Speaker 03

  I swear to God. I really thought about it. I'm like, I can't do anything.

• 45:38Amy Poehler?

  When did you play a doctor?

• 45:40Speaker 03

  I played a doctor on The Nick.

• 45:41Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah, that show is great.

• 45:43Speaker 03

  Exactly, yeah.

• 45:44Amy Poehler?

  I mean, it must be to be a doctor. And when you hear, this is why you know you're not a doctor. Because when you hear, is there a doctor on board? And you're like, ooh, but a real, a regular doctor must be like, oh, God.

• 45:58Speaker 03

  They must be.

• 45:58Amy Poehler?

  They must be.

• 45:59Speaker 03

  But also you start thinking like, doctors do different things. There's not one, right? So you think like, well, I have a doctorate.

• 46:05Amy Poehler?

  But you really do.

• 46:07Speaker 03

  I have a doctorate.

• 46:08Amy Poehler?

  I have a doctorate.

• 46:10Speaker 03

  You have a doctorate.

• 46:11Amy Poehler?

  I mean, I do not have a doctorate yet.

• 46:12Speaker 03

  I have a doctorate. And I feel like.

• 46:14Amy Poehler?

  But, but it just must be like, oh, God, I can't, can I pretend I'm not a doctor?

• 46:19Speaker 03

  They're like, I'm just watching.

• 46:20Amy Poehler?

  I just, yeah, I'm gonna finish.

• 46:22Speaker 03

  I'm watching this movie, I'm gonna finish this.

• 46:23Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I'm almost done with this season of Summer House.

• 46:29Amy Poehler?

  You, you, you have a doctorate?

• 46:31Speaker 03

  I do, I just, I just got two in a month. Isn't that crazy?

• 46:34Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God, congratulations.

• 46:35Speaker 03

  It's kind of greedy though, too, I think. I just got, I just got one from Swarthmore College. I got, I'm a doctor of arts as of four days ago.

• 46:43Amy Poehler?

  Fantastic.

• 46:43Speaker 03

  And I got one from my alma mater, Temple University.

• 46:46Amy Poehler?

  Oh.

• 46:46Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 46:46Amy Poehler?

  That must have been really something.

• 46:48Speaker 03

  It was really wonderful.

• 46:49Amy Poehler?

  You went, you went back and like, you have to give a speech?

• 46:51Speaker 03

  I gave the commencement address at Temple and I gave a little acceptance speech at Swarthmore. And I think, but what I loved about it, I, especially right now, I feel like something about like being with young people and students and just like, I'm like, because I feel like they really need to hear some words out here. Like, how's it gonna be? And they need to be inspired.

• 47:07Amy Poehler?

  What was your kind of, what was your organizing principle for your temple talk?

• 47:13Speaker 03

  Love.

• 47:15Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 47:15Speaker 03

  I really feel like the more that I distill things of what I care about right now, what I inspire people to do is to love more. And whatever that means, I feel like that, that encompasses a lot.

• 47:24Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 47:25Speaker 03

  But I feel, if I'm talking about love and service.

• 47:27Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 47:27Speaker 03

  And if people can attach themselves to that in whatever way it is for them. So I feel like I'm talking a lot about that because I feel like that's, that's what we need to hear. I don't want to, oh, you know, make this world yours and do this. And I don't need to do all that. But if you do it with love, whatever you're doing.

• 47:41Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 47:42Speaker 03

  Just participate and, and feel like that, you know, you have a voice and you can, you can be the change. You know, there's, and don't be afraid of. What's out there, there's probably jobs out there that aren't even, don't even have a name yet.

• 47:53Amy Poehler?

  Right, that's right.

• 47:54Speaker 03

  So I feel like I just want to inspire that with their imagination as well, you know?

• 47:58Amy Poehler?

  Well, I mean, the word that I've heard described, a word that is used to describe you a lot is empathy. Is the empathetic way in which you not only work with people, because you learn a lot by somebody, about somebody, by how they work.

• 48:14Amy Poehler?

  But that is, that makes perfect sense that that's what you would be talking about. Because, I mean, in all the characters that you've played, you have even characters that feel like they're really the villain of the story. There is, you are always approaching them with that, basically that they're a human being.

• 48:32Speaker 03

  I think so. I think I have to love every character that I play. And I feel even though the villainous ones, or like, whether I'm playing a pimp, or a Mr. in the Color Purple, or Joe Jackson. I feel like I never try to take the lens of what everyone else says about the person. I do my study and my research and I find out who that person is and find my way in. Usually that person's connected to some part of me in some way.

• 48:53Amy Poehler?

  You're working Color Purple, you're working in Michael, like, the work you've done, the work you've done on stage. Rustin, how did that change? I mean, that portrayal was so beautiful and also just like a part that met you at the time when you were ready for it.

• 49:11Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 49:12Amy Poehler?

  Did it feel like that?

• 49:12Speaker 03

  It did. It felt like we were meeting each other when we needed each other. Like this role, this moment to pull by Rustin out of the...

• 49:20Amy Poehler?

  For people who don't know...

• 49:21Speaker 03

  Bye Rustin was the organizer of the March on Washington. He was an openly gay man at a time, of course, when it was not cool to himself or his body, or him having momentum in this world.

• 49:33Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 49:34Speaker 03

  And he defied all that. And he was brilliant. No one could deny that he was brilliant. And he was smart, but he was always on the sidelines of history. And I felt like, and I can, maybe I'll say it. And this way too, I felt that my career was very similar in that way. I would show up, I would do the work. I was a practitioner, but I was always sort of a bit marginalized. And then in a way, just like, oh yeah, that's great, but that that serves that purpose. But it's never the engine or something. But I knew I could be the engine.

• 50:03Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 50:03Speaker 03

  And so when I finally got this opportunity, it felt like we were meeting each other. We're like, oh, I know this guy. I've lived with him. He's a part of me as well.

• 50:12Amy Poehler?

  And then also, I just have to talk to you about Sing Sing.

• 50:14Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 50:15Amy Poehler?

  Coleman. Coleman, I watched that on an airplane. And I love to cry on an airplane.

• 50:21Speaker 03

  Me too. Me too, it's the best thing.

• 50:22Amy Poehler?

  I love, I bet we're similar. I like to cry by myself.

• 50:25Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 50:26Amy Poehler?

  On an airplane.

• 50:27Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 50:27Amy Poehler?

  And like, like, like hopefully under a blanket.

• 50:31Speaker 03

  Exactly, yeah.

• 50:35Amy Poehler?

  That must have felt like such a work of talking about love. Like, it must have felt like a, what was it like to make that film?

• 50:42Speaker 03

  I think that's exactly what it felt like. It felt like I knew that I, I had the opportunity to help tell the story of these men in a really complex way.

• 50:52Amy Poehler?

  Incarcerated men.

• 50:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, these men were incarcerated, you know, with this beautiful arts program in the center of it. And they hung on to it like it was their, um, um, it was, it was a new path for them.

• 51:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 51:05Speaker 03

  To exhibit empathy and joy and dance and art and all this other way, all this other stuff. So it was really like healing them in many ways. And I worked with a group of formerly incarcerated men who went through the program. And I really, you know, led this film and we produced it as well. But I knew it was something that like, you know, I think I got paid like a hundred fifty dollars a day.

• 51:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 51:28Speaker 03

  And we had a very tight schedule.

• 51:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it looks like a labor.

• 51:30Speaker 03

  And this is the kind of work that you're like, oh, this is why I can do that other high profile work. And I can put my attention on work like this, that's very necessary.

• 51:38Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 51:38Speaker 03

  And so we created with like, we locked arms together. And that's what it felt like, locking arms. And it was a great, beautiful challenge for me because these men had the lived experience of being incarcerated and going through this program. And it was the first time that I think I was challenged with actually giving even. More of myself of like putting myself in those circumstances like, yeah, I could be wrongfully accused of something. I could be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A lot of people in prison are not, they don't belong in prison. You know, so I can find that part of myself. So I think it was a bit more bearing of my own soul in that work. And I think that's what the the difference is for me. I can see it, which is why I feel like I haven't watched the movie that often because I feel when I watch it, I feel, you know, when you watch something like, oh, it takes you right back to this.

• 52:22Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it's basically what I always, I have like a a somatic experience. If I'm watching something I've done much more than remembering like even the plot or story. Or like, I just remember the feeling I had making it.

• 52:33Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 52:34Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, that must have been an intense feeling.

• 52:35Speaker 03

  It's pretty intense.

• 52:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I mean, it's so, you're so good in it. You're such a natural leader. And you can tell in that film that you're leading people through the film while being in the moment in the characters.

• 52:47Speaker 03

  Well, the funny thing is I did that movie after Ruston.

• 52:50Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 52:50Speaker 03

  And I really felt like.

• 52:51Amy Poehler?

  Were you doing them at the same time, basically?

• 52:53Speaker 03

  A little bit, a little bit because I had to do the pickups for Ruston right after. And then I started The Color Purple. But I literally felt like sort of that trio of of films really ignited that true leader in me on sets. You know, I feel and and and as a leading actor too, I sort of, I literally moved into my leading actor phase in a way. And like sort of, but I feel like I needed all those years of supporting and and being sort of that utilitarian actor and plays and things like that. I needed all of that.

• 53:23Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 53:23Speaker 03

  And but I was always, even when I was doing work on stage, I was always the equity deputy. So I was always the one that everyone came to to make, to right the wrongs or, you know, advocate for actors or practices or something like that. So I was like always the one looking for being willing. But now I really had the the role and the opportunity. And so then I took that into my leadership of Sing Sing and and it's just kept going.

• 53:46Amy Poehler?

  It's such incredible work. I loved it so much. I wish we were friends then because I would have texted the shit out of you.

• 53:53Amy Poehler?

  Okay. So as we're wrapping up and we're going to talk about your new movie Disclosure Day, which is going to be a gigantic hit, holy shit. And Four Seasons, which I love you on. Let's get to the fact that you've worked with and have been influenced by and shaped by amazing women.

• 54:09Speaker 03

  Yes, truly.

• 54:10Amy Poehler?

  Your mother being the first, Edith. Who I just, everything I read about her, I just love. I love her face and I love, I just, she just seems like a wonderful person.

• 54:18Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 54:19Amy Poehler?

  And I love the story of Edith writing letters to Oprah Winfrey, who of course was a producer and in the Color Purple version that you did. And can you just tell that story about how your mom wrote letters when you were?

• 54:36Speaker 03

  Oh, my God.

• 54:37Amy Poehler?

  I love that story.

• 54:38Speaker 03

  Get this, my mom would, she would, when I was starting out as an actor in San Francisco in the 90s, I would call my mom, we would talk a couple of times a week and, you know, I would have my struggles as an actor. And she's like, she would always say, well, you know, I wrote Oprah today. And I was like, why? And she said, well, you know, she can help you. I was like, what's she gonna do? Well, she's, you know, she helps people, you know? Just write a letter to her. She can help you.

• 55:04Amy Poehler?

  She's the lady that helps people.

• 55:07Speaker 03

  You're so good. If Oprah found out how good you were, she could help you. And I was like, okay, whatever. So anyway, so like over and over again, this was like maybe, I would say eight times my mom wrote Oprah. And I was, and I'm so frustrated, like, oh, my God, will you please stop writing Oprah? I'm like, that's, it feels crazy. So anyway, cut to years later, I just have to sidebar say this. My mother always, she was like, she was so hopeful. And she would say, oh, my gosh, I just need, I just want Spike Lee to know you and Steven Spielberg and they should, they would love you. They would just love you. And I'm about to cry thinking about this. She always had that much faith that people, even if I didn't see it, she thought, if

• 55:50Speaker 03

  they just got to know you, they would love you the way I love you.

• 55:53Amy Poehler?

  Oof, yeah, that's, that's love.

• 55:55Speaker 03

  And literally, I'm like, because I look at my life now and all these people are in my life.

• 56:00Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, amazing. Edith really set it up.

• 56:03Speaker 03

  I do believe that sometimes people have dreams for you, you don't even have for yourself. And at some point, they meet.

• 56:09Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 56:09Speaker 03

  And so I had this moment, I was in Maui with Oprah, walking on her beautiful mountain.

• 56:15Amy Poehler?

  Incredible.

• 56:15Speaker 03

  And we're hiking. And suddenly I said, oh, my God. It just occurred to me, I said, my mother used to write to you. Over and over again. And she says, really? I say, yeah. And she, she sort of stops and she says, oh, I don't know if I got the letters, but I know I got the message. And then we just continued to walk hand in hand. And I, I really do believe it's like, I know that like, how can I say it? I think that, I know that like when I lost my mom in 2006, and I lost my mom and my stepfather in the same year. I just, I, I knew that like, my, my friend Melissa said, um, when I was very bereft. And I said, what am I going to do with all this love? I know that I was a good son.

• 57:00Speaker 03

  If I know, if I wasn't anything else, I was a good son. And she said, well, you're going to put the love into everything that you do.

• 57:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 57:07Speaker 03

  And, and let, and that will be, you'll do it in dedication to your mom. And so literally I feel like, because I've been leading that way.

• 57:14Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 57:14Speaker 03

  I've been meeting every person. It's like in my, my mother's own Wizard of Oz. I've been meeting every person that she laid out for me.

• 57:20Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 57:20Speaker 03

  And that they've loved me the way that she loves me.

• 57:24Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 57:25Speaker 03

  And so that leaves me, like with, like with Disclosure Day is like, she wanted me, she wanted Steven Spielberg to know me. She didn't know, Steven Spielberg would love me. But we love each other now. And he's my family.

• 57:36Amy Poehler?

  Oh.

• 57:36Speaker 03

  You know?

• 57:37Amy Poehler?

  I love that. I love Edith so much. I'm beautiful.

• 57:40Speaker 03

  You want to tell you, you, and I don't say this lightly. You would love her. She was fun.

• 57:44Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 57:45Speaker 03

  And sweet.

• 57:45Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 57:46Speaker 03

  And like to dance. I think I'm a lot like her, to be honest.

• 57:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 57:50Speaker 03

  And she talked to everybody. She would, she would really, when I was a kid, it was annoying. So I was like, mom, can we just go into the in and out of the bank? And she was like, how are you, how are you doing? She flirted with everybody. She was like, look at your legs. You are so cute, Amy. Oh, my God. She would do that.

• 58:03Amy Poehler?

  Well, you know what's kind of fun? When you, when you're a woman of a certain age, I just realized it the other day. I was like, watch it, Amy.

• 58:11Amy Poehler?

  Like you get to a certain age where you start going, you're beautiful. You look at your butt. Wow, he's got nice arms.

• 58:19Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 58:19Amy Poehler?

  And everyone's like, oh, that little old lady is so nice.

• 58:22Speaker 03

  That was my mother.

• 58:23Amy Poehler?

  But you gotta be careful.

• 58:24Speaker 03

  You gotta be careful, exactly.

• 58:26Amy Poehler?

  But you just go, wow, look at her face.

• 58:28Speaker 03

  But also my mother was old school, so she would reach out and touch it too. She would touch her little butt.

• 58:32Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah. My, my grandmother used to be like, oh, look at the chest on him. And I'd be like, Nana, you can't touch.

• 58:38Speaker 03

  Said, now you're becoming that, that lady.

• 58:39Amy Poehler?

  And I'm becoming that.

• 58:40Speaker 03

  Good.

• 58:40Amy Poehler?

  And how is it like working with my, my wife for life, Tina Fey?

• 58:44Speaker 03

  We have such good time together. The wireless thing is, it's funny, when I first met Tina.

• 58:48Amy Poehler?

  She's shy too.

• 58:49Speaker 03

  She's very shy, but I thought. I didn't know what to think of her when I first met, because I thought she's very, I thought she's very, she's like a scientist, especially when it comes to comedy and being very thoughtful, but she's also very, I find her to be very tender and very sweet.

• 59:03Amy Poehler?

  She's very sweet.

• 59:04Speaker 03

  She's very sweet, and she's, she's, she's more touchy feely than I knew, and I love that we've sort of become, I feel like she's becoming one of my good friends.

• 59:15Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 59:15Speaker 03

  Because I love, I text, she texts right back, she's always in my corner, she's just, um, once I found out she's a Taurus too, she's a Taurus.

• 59:23Amy Poehler?

  What are you?

• 59:24Speaker 03

  Sagittarius.

• 59:24Amy Poehler?

  Oh.

• 59:25Speaker 03

  Yeah, Taurus, once she says she, I found out she's a Taurus, I'm like, I got you figured out, I lived with one for 21 years, so I got you.

• 59:31Amy Poehler?

  She wanted me to ask you, uh, what peptides are you on?

• 59:35Speaker 03

  I'm not on any, but I feel like, I feel like I want to, I feel like.

• 59:40Amy Poehler?

  Because she's like, she's like, she's in the writers room right now, and she said, ask Coleman, the writers want to know where does he get his energy, what peptides?

• 59:47Speaker 03

  They all think I'm on something, because they're like, how are you possibly doing all this stuff? But it's just, it's like, natural.

• 59:53Amy Poehler?

  We gotta get peptides, I mean, my dream is that while we're, while I'm recording these podcasts, we're all getting peptides at the same time.

• 59:59Speaker 03

  I feel like, we should, because I think, like, whatever peptides is doing.

• 1:00:03Amy Poehler?

  I don't know.

• 1:00:04Speaker 03

  People are looking good.

• 1:00:04Amy Poehler?

  You know what I love about peptides, is people are like, I'm getting all these peptides, and it's like, what's in it? And they're like, I don't know.

• 1:00:10Speaker 03

  Yes, that's, everyone, everyone's doing the same thing.

• 1:00:11Amy Poehler?

  And you're like, you're just shooting it in, and they're like.

• 1:00:13Speaker 03

  Hope for the best.

• 1:00:14Amy Poehler?

  Hope for the best, I don't know. Okay, you're getting them every day, and it's, what's in it? It's called B128.

• 1:00:20Speaker 03

  Yeah. But you're right, no one can describe what it is.

• 1:00:23Amy Poehler?

  No, no one knows what it is. In fact, it's better not to know, just like, let's just go, let's just peptide it up.

• 1:00:30Speaker 03

  Let's do it, peptide it up, you and I, let's do it, peptide this shit up.

• 1:00:33Amy Poehler?

  Um, okay, you're in the big movie of the summer, it's, I mean, let's, Steven Spielberg.

• 1:00:41Amy Poehler?

  So we have this thing where we talk to people before our podcasts and we find out more about them. We talk well behind their back and we talk to Steven Spielberg.

• 1:00:49Speaker 03

  Oh, you know, you did.

• 1:00:50Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 1:00:51Speaker 03

  You did what?

• 1:00:52Amy Poehler?

  Yes, we talked to Steven Spielberg. I was very nervous.

• 1:00:56Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 1:00:56Amy Poehler?

  I actually, I realized as I was talking to him, I was like, I almost was like, Mr. Spielberg. You know, and I said to him, like, your, your, your work is in, in, in my body, like, your, your, I, your work is in my subconscious forever. You've shaped our childhood every single summer, every version of like an unknown world you brought us into. He's just so.

• 1:01:19Speaker 03

  He's singular.

• 1:01:20Amy Poehler?

  He is. What, and you've worked with him a couple of times.

• 1:01:23Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:01:24Amy Poehler?

  So before we get to the great stuff he talked, he said about you, what, what, what is so great working, about working with him? What's, what's it like to work with him?

• 1:01:31Speaker 03

  He, he's just lovely.

• 1:01:34Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:34Speaker 03

  He's funny and warm. He gives you, he's got a sparkle in his eye that make you believe you can do anything, even if he's giving you the wildest task of saying these lines while going through an explosion and there's, you know, the camera work is all intensive. He looks at you and believes you can do it.

• 1:01:52Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:01:52Speaker 03

  And so you have that belief. You're like, oh, great. We're gonna make something together. We're taking a leap of faith together. He's really just lovely and he's kind.

• 1:01:59Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:59Speaker 03

  And he's right there with you. He likes his portable monitor and he's right in the action with you.

• 1:02:05Amy Poehler?

  Not, no, he's not at, um, chairs. He's not at video village.

• 1:02:08Speaker 03

  No, there's no ego about the work.

• 1:02:10Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:10Speaker 03

  And he's also just like, you know, what do you think about this? Or like, you can, you know, you can bring your ideas. He'll be like, oh, let's, let's think about that. So he's very collaborative and that's what I enjoy about him. He's, he's, it's his kindness.

• 1:02:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:22Speaker 03

  And also he feels like, how can I say, I, he feels like he's just starting out. Like, he's, he's that excited. He's like, oh, let's try that. Let's, oh, I have an idea. Come on, I have an idea. Okay, great. And he's like, okay, let's, let's try it. And so he feels like he, he's a kid assembling his favorite craftsman around and he's playing with you. You're all playing together, you know?

• 1:02:44Amy Poehler?

  I mean, this is like a big, it's gonna be a big summer movie, like a blockbuster.

• 1:02:48Speaker 03

  But also I think it's a movie we all need right now.

• 1:02:50Amy Poehler?

  For sure.

• 1:02:50Speaker 03

  It is a movie, after I saw it, I've seen it twice now and I've cried both times. That'll just tell you, and I won't tell you why I cried, but it really did feel like it's a movie that's trying to connect us again, all of us, you know, especially like the idea of inviting.

• 1:03:08Speaker 03

  The idea that there's, there's something bigger than all of us that we're a part of. So I think that's why I cried. I called him right after and I said, you really care about us. You really care about humanity, you know, and what we're wrestling with right now in our times. And then what can unite us?

• 1:03:26Amy Poehler?

  Well, he said the same thing about you. He basically was like, yeah, let me tell you what. Okay, you know, forget about Stephen. Let me tell you what he said.

• 1:03:31Speaker 03

  What did he say about me?

• 1:03:33Amy Poehler?

  What did he say about you? First of all, he said that, no.

• 1:03:36Speaker 03

  Real Housewives episode now?

• 1:03:39Amy Poehler?

  Okay, that would be really funny. This is the first podcast where I'm like, he actually said some shit about you. He was saying that working with you is like working with a self-driving car. Like you know that you're going to, like you have it, you're, you're in the zone. Like there's very little that he has to do because he has such faith in you. But what you lead with as a person on set in an ensemble is empathy and love and respect. So like what you get is this, this very skilled actor, but also a really wonderful person. And I think the privilege of when you get to a certain age and you work, you get to want to surround yourself with those kinds of people. Like that's important.

• 1:04:22Amy Poehler?

  And it's not always the case. I think when you're younger, you're kind of like, maybe complicated, difficult people are there to challenge me in different ways. And I'll learn something from them. And I know for me anyway, like as I get older, I'm like, also I want to be around people, good people.

• 1:04:37Speaker 03

  That's it. Life is short.

• 1:04:38Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, life is short. This should be fun. How lucky are we?

• 1:04:42Speaker 03

  Truly.

• 1:04:42Amy Poehler?

  So, and his question was, his question was kind of like a, because we were talking about auditioning. And I was asking him, like, how do, how do people not get nervous around him? Like, how does he deal with people's nerves? Because he must have people coming in being like, nice to meet you. And he wanted me to ask you, did you ever not get a part that you tried hard to get? And like, what did you, what did you do with it when you, like, what did you do with the feeling when you didn't get it?

• 1:05:09Speaker 03

  So many. Oh, my God. That was like most of my career. I was booking a lot. I really felt like I was like, even things you felt like you really wanted or you really were skilled for. At some point, you had to divorce yourself from the idea of getting the role. You're like, okay, I'm prepared for this, but it's not up to me. It's like someone, because and maybe that's the thing I pride myself on. I'm like, when they want me, they want all of me.

• 1:05:30Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:31Speaker 03

  So that means they want, it's okay if they want someone else.

• 1:05:34Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:34Speaker 03

  So for me, I, it became a practice of being very sober about it.

• 1:05:38Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:05:38Speaker 03

  And saying, you know, it's okay if they didn't want me. Because like what I give is very different than that other guy.

• 1:05:42Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:43Speaker 03

  It's not that he was better than me.

• 1:05:44Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:45Speaker 03

  Or, but they were like, no, he was useful to them and all that he was going to bring to it. And that's cool. So for me, it was like, and maybe that was a healthy thing that I needed to give myself.

• 1:05:53Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:53Speaker 03

  So I can give myself grace and like, and be, and continue to be a practitioner of this art form.

• 1:05:58Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:59Speaker 03

  And not let it be about my ego.

• 1:06:00Amy Poehler?

  But isn't, doesn't it feel like it's a learned skill? That's hard to do when you're young.

• 1:06:03Speaker 03

  Because also when you're young, but also there are times when you're, I mean, listen, I've had moments where there were things that I thought I was perfect for.

• 1:06:10Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:10Speaker 03

  And I didn't get, and it shattered me. But like, to me, I'll be very honest, Amy, I'd never really imagined the place that I'm in right now.

• 1:06:18Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:18Speaker 03

  In this industry. I just wanted to be a working actor.

• 1:06:21Amy Poehler?

  And also you're so famous and successful too.

• 1:06:28Speaker 03

  I got so famous, Amy.

• 1:06:30Amy Poehler?

  But you're right. And also the contentment part, that's the goal.

• 1:06:34Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:06:34Amy Poehler?

  Like satisfaction and contentment, it's the hardest thing to find. It can, you know, it doesn't matter what you do.

• 1:06:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:06:41Amy Poehler?

  Hell is wanting more. It's like hell.

• 1:06:44Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:06:45Amy Poehler?

  That's suffering, man.

• 1:06:46Speaker 03

  It is suffering. I think the, listen, I got, I got a beautiful, beautiful message from this guy when I was turning 50. This guy was driving me in a car in Toronto and he was 70 years old. And I said, do you have any?

• 1:06:56Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:56Speaker 03

  Any words of wisdom for my 50th? He said, he said, listen, I wish I knew this years ago. He said, it's important to, you want to hope for everything but want for nothing.

• 1:07:08Amy Poehler?

  Hmm.

• 1:07:09Speaker 03

  And I was like.

• 1:07:12Speaker 03

  To eliminate want.

• 1:07:13Amy Poehler?

  Oof.

• 1:07:15Speaker 03

  You know?

• 1:07:15Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:15Speaker 03

  So I know that like, when I walk into a room, like you say, I walk into these rooms or in sets. I don't really want anything.

• 1:07:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:22Speaker 03

  I hope that it can be, there's other things that I hope that it can be. But I'm not coming to get something.

• 1:07:27Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:07:28Speaker 03

  You know what I mean? I'm coming to hopefully be in service and to, and also to give something.

• 1:07:31Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:32Speaker 03

  And I think that's the best we all can be. So if everyone's coming from that place, we all win.

• 1:07:35Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:36Speaker 03

  You know?

• 1:07:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:37Speaker 03

  The problem is only when somebody's coming in just like to want, wanna take shit. And that's ego in the room. And then it's, that's some dark forces. And you try to just protect yourself against that, you know?

• 1:07:46Amy Poehler?

  Mmm. We gotta talk about those egos offline.

• 1:07:49Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 1:07:50Amy Poehler?

  Those dark forces. Okay, I love that you're, we're the same age, by the way, because I, I've said this before.

• 1:07:55Speaker 03

  We look good, don't we?

• 1:07:56Amy Poehler?

  We look, well, you look incredible.

• 1:07:58Speaker 03

  You look great, you look great.

• 1:07:59Amy Poehler?

  Thank you, but we're making fifty, fifty-five?

• 1:08:01Speaker 03

  We're doing good.

• 1:08:01Amy Poehler?

  Fifty-six?

• 1:08:02Speaker 03

  We're doing great.

• 1:08:02Amy Poehler?

  I'm turning fifty-five very soon.

• 1:08:04Speaker 03

  I'm older than you.

• 1:08:05Amy Poehler?

  You're fifty-six, right?

• 1:08:06Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:08:07Amy Poehler?

  And, and I, like, what's your favorite part about your fifties? I love my fifties.

• 1:08:11Speaker 03

  You know what's funny to me? Lately, it feels like things are moving faster. Like, I just turned fifty-six, but I'm like, I'm not gonna be fifty-seven this year? Doesn't make any sense.

• 1:08:18Amy Poehler?

  And, and I, once you get past fifty-five, I don't like the second half of the decade.

• 1:08:23Speaker 03

  Because, because like, we like, fifty's, I'm fifty-four, fifty-five.

• 1:08:28Amy Poehler?

  And then you're like, and then you're like, and then you're like, you know what? Sixty, sixty, sixty-one, sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four, sixty-five, sixty-six, sixty-seven, sixty-eight.

• 1:08:37Speaker 03

  My fifties are my best.

• 1:08:38Amy Poehler?

  Me too.

• 1:08:38Speaker 03

  Yeah, I thought my forties, I was, it was, it was fine.

• 1:08:41Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:41Speaker 03

  Thirties were awkward. It's getting better.

• 1:08:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I agree.

• 1:08:44Speaker 03

  Also, I feel like we have to, you have to be conscious of, you have to take care of yourself, right?

• 1:08:47Amy Poehler?

  That's right, that's right.

• 1:08:48Speaker 03

  In a different way. Show up in a different way for yourself.

• 1:08:50Amy Poehler?

  That's right.

• 1:08:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, so I feel like we're getting better.

• 1:08:52Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I feel like our, our obsession with youth is, is like, I think it's changing. I think our generation is helping. I think what one of the legacies of Gen X, I've said this before, is that, of which we are proudly, proud members of. We're not boomers, we are Gen X.

• 1:09:05Speaker 03

  We're Gen X. We rock.

• 1:09:07Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. We don't give a shit.

• 1:09:09Speaker 03

  We really don't give a shit.

• 1:09:10Amy Poehler?

  We don't give a fuck.

• 1:09:11Speaker 03

  We don't give a fuck generation.

• 1:09:12Amy Poehler?

  We raised ourselves, we made our own dinner.

• 1:09:14Speaker 03

  We had a key around our fucking neck.

• 1:09:15Amy Poehler?

  Exactly, we had a job when we were eight.

• 1:09:18Speaker 03

  Exactly. We were like fuck around, find out generation.

• 1:09:22Amy Poehler?

  Exactly. Hundred percent. We were tough. We are tough.

• 1:09:24Speaker 03

  You really are.

• 1:09:25Amy Poehler?

  And we, and we, and nobody remembers us and nobody gives us any respect.

• 1:09:30Speaker 03

  Nobody gives any respect. It's, it's true. We're the toughest generation.

• 1:09:34Amy Poehler?

  We're never gonna have a president, a Gen X president. Anyway, um, but we don't care. We don't care.

• 1:09:40Speaker 03

  We don't care.

• 1:09:40Amy Poehler?

  The system is broken. We always knew that.

• 1:09:43Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 1:09:46Amy Poehler?

  But one of the things about it is like, is that, um, we've, oh, I've completely lost my train of thought.

• 1:09:51Speaker 03

  It's okay. It's okay.

• 1:09:52Amy Poehler?

  I'm too old. I forgot what I was talking about. Who cares? You know what? Who cares?

• 1:10:01Amy Poehler?

  Who cares? Who cares? Okay, last question. Last question, Coleman. What has been making you laugh these days? I know you love to laugh. You love comedy.

• 1:10:13Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:10:13Amy Poehler?

  What are you listening to, watching? Like, what do you go to when you wanna check out, laugh? Like dumb, highbrow? What is the thing?

• 1:10:23Speaker 03

  I always go back to watching Melissa McCarthy in Spy.

• 1:10:28Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God. Okay, let's watch her right now. I got a laptop.

• 1:10:31Speaker 03

  Spy is my, any clip, Spy is, I will watch it.

• 1:10:35Amy Poehler?

  Melissa McCarthy is so funny.

• 1:10:38Speaker 03

  She's so funny.

• 1:10:39Amy Poehler?

  Have you guys met?

• 1:10:40Speaker 03

  I love her. Yeah, we, we, she came to, uh, I saw, I met her backstage at SNL when she was there for Jack Black. And I just like, I really, I think we're becoming friends because we exchanged numbers, but I really wanna be her friend.

• 1:10:52Speaker 04

  Give us a little credit. What do you think I'm gonna do? Run over there and be like, hey, I'm a crazy lady. Where's the buffet? I'm from the Midwest. Where's Blue Man Group?

• 1:11:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, because she's like, she comes across as this mousy woman who works for, um, the CIA. And then you find out she's an agent as well. And then she goes on this whole journey. Like, she was like, really like, you know. Laying back and then she you find that she's like the most wildest one of them all.

• 1:11:22Amy Poehler?

  She's wild.

• 1:11:23Speaker 03

  Yeah. You like. All these great disguises, which are really one is funnier after the next one. Rose Byrne is in it. She's out of control.

• 1:11:29Amy Poehler?

  This is a comfort movie for you.

• 1:11:31Speaker 03

  It's a comfort. I will watch it at any time. That and The Color Purple. I know it's very weird. I very.

• 1:11:35Amy Poehler?

  Ooh, Color Purple.

• 1:11:36Speaker 03

  I'll watch like the whoopee version of it.

• 1:11:37Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God.

• 1:11:38Speaker 03

  Or this. So either I want to cry hard.

• 1:11:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:41Speaker 03

  Or I want to laugh harder.

• 1:11:42Amy Poehler?

  Oh, God, I'm with you. I kind of that I I'm the same way. I want to cry or I you know what I don't want to be anymore?

• 1:11:47Speaker 03

  Bored.

• 1:11:47Amy Poehler?

  Scared.

• 1:11:48Speaker 03

  Don't want to be scared. No.

• 1:11:50Amy Poehler?

  I don't want to be scared.

• 1:11:51Speaker 03

  No, I don't want to be scared. I don't want to horror anything.

• 1:11:53Amy Poehler?

  No more horror movies.

• 1:11:54Speaker 03

  No, no, no, no.

• 1:11:55Amy Poehler?

  No more. I just saw the other day. There was some new thing. I want to. I won't even say it. And I was like.

• 1:12:00Speaker 03

  You don't want that. I don't want that.

• 1:12:01Amy Poehler?

  I don't. No more movies about being attacked in your own home.

• 1:12:05Speaker 03

  No, no, no, that's terrible. Those are terrible movies. I never watched those movies.

• 1:12:10Amy Poehler?

  Me neither. I never. I don't want that.

• 1:12:12Speaker 03

  No.

• 1:12:13Amy Poehler?

  No more. We either want to laugh or we want to cry. Pea like laugh or cry. Period. The end. That's it. Um, well, I feel like you should do a movie with Melissa McCarthy.

• 1:12:23Speaker 03

  I think I should too. I would love that.

• 1:12:25Amy Poehler?

  God, you're so funny, Coleman.

• 1:12:26Speaker 03

  Oh, thank you.

• 1:12:27Amy Poehler?

  You can do anything.

• 1:12:28Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 1:12:28Amy Poehler?

  You can wear lime green. You can pull it off.

• 1:12:34Amy Poehler?

  Well, thank you for my egg.

• 1:12:35Speaker 03

  This oh, this has been so great.

• 1:12:38Amy Poehler?

  So fun. We've been talking for an hour and a half and it just went by so fast.

• 1:12:41Speaker 03

  It's so good.

• 1:12:42Amy Poehler?

  And I I just love being able to call you a new friend.

• 1:12:45Speaker 03

  I feel that way too.

• 1:12:46Amy Poehler?

  Thank you for doing this.

• 1:12:47Speaker 03

  My pleasure.

• 1:12:48Amy Poehler?

  Congrats on everything. I'm always excited about whatever you're doing and like a true, true fan of your work. So thank you.

• 1:12:54Speaker 03

  I'm a fan of you in every single way. Thank you.

• 1:12:56Amy Poehler?

  Thank you so much for doing this.

• 1:12:59Amy Poehler?

  Coleman, thank you so much. It's so fun to be around you. You're just a joy and and thank you. Thank you so much for doing this show. And you know, Coleman and I talked about a lot of things. We have a lot of shared similar experiences being pretty much the same age, growing up in the East Coast. But we did mention Dance Party USA. And for those of you that haven't seen any clips of that, do yourself a favor and go to YouTube and watch Dance Party USA. It kind of was like. A very suburban version of American Bandstand, like Soul Train, you know, without the soul. And it was on in the 80s. Just, there's such incredible hair,

• 1:13:38Amy Poehler?

  such 80s hair, tons of hairspray, incredible outfits, and it's just kids dancing to the hits at the time. And what was so fun about Dance Party USA was, of course, Kelly Ripa was on there. That was the first time I saw Kelly. I think she went by a different name.

• 1:13:56Amy Poehler?

  But also, they just would like, talk about the relationships that they were having, and that people were dating and breaking up. So it was like a, it was like a soap opera with no lines and lots of dancing. Dance Party USA, check it out. It's a time capsule.

• 1:14:12Amy Poehler?

  Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Good Hang and all the episodes, and can't wait to do more for you. Thank you. Bye. See you soon.

• 1:14:21Amy Poehler?

  You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paperkite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaia McMullin, and Aleia Zaneras. For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.

• 1:14:47Amy Poehler?

  Say hello to smooth, sugar-like sweetness with Truvia Alulose Plus Stevia Sweetener and Monk Fruit Sweetener. This blend delivers balanced sweetness that minimizes aftertaste with zero calories per serving. Designed to fit everyday moments, Truvia Alulose Blend measures cup for cup like sugar, making it effortless to swap into beverages, baking, and even savory dishes. Find Truvia Alulose Plus Stevia Sweetener and Monk Fruit Sweetener online and nationwide at Kroger, Target, and your favorite local grocery retailer.

• 1:15:17Speaker 05

  Observe. The North American Dad. 50s. Great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, dang, that's a good offer. The highest form of approval. No haggling, no hassle. No one called him boss. He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply.