Angie Martinez IRL - Anthony Anderson: How to Claim What You Want in Career & Love

00:00:00
Speaker 1: I've never been upset at another actor or another person getting the gig that I was up for because it wasn't mine. And I always tell people, I was like, you can't you can't compare yourself to anyone else, and you can't judge them or judge yourself. I was like, that's their journey, that's their path, And I was like, that was destined for them, that was predetermined for them, and you can't worry about that no matter how you feel it was going to change your life. No matter how big it may have ended up for them, it may not have been that way for you.

00:00:39
Speaker 2: Thanks for watching, guys. Today's episode is brought to you by boost Mobile. Today's guest has been keeping us laughing for over three decades. As an actor, his work has become part of how we experience film and television, and through shows like Black As, she's helped redefine how we see the Black family on screen. He is currently holding the record for the most NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actor. Yes, he's also a pretty great golfer, depending on the day you know. No, but he's he's been a familiar and trusted presence, and he is now stepping into a new chapter as the host of Netflix's revival of Star Search. Please welcome Anthony Anderson so Ir All Podcast.

00:01:22
Speaker 1: All right, First off, I didn't know I held the record for most nam You.

00:01:28
Speaker 2: Did not know that. No, I'm here to tell you according to my research.

00:01:32
Speaker 1: No, your RESEARCHIP, it's pretty sput on. I got a gang of them. I got a gang of them. I didn't know I had the record.

00:01:38
Speaker 2: There are a lot of other accolades too, but we would be here for so ch and I want to get all in your life.

00:01:43
Speaker 1: We can talk about the thirteen mm's that I'm over thirteen. I'm the black Susan Lucci.

00:01:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, you make jokes, but does that suck?

00:01:52
Speaker 1: No, it doesn't.

00:01:52
Speaker 2: It doesn't suck. You're okay with the nomination. They even give you a plant. Is there at least something to you?

00:01:58
Speaker 1: A certificate that's that acknowledges that you have been selected to be nominated, and people people are like, you should keep that certificate.

00:02:10
Speaker 2: I was like, for why doesn't hit the same on the shelf.

00:02:16
Speaker 1: It's like a participation trophy. I'm like, for why No.

00:02:19
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I have a in ninety seven. What year was that? Ladies? Night. We got a Grammy nomination. Okay, yes, so I have back then Grammys they give you at least a medallion, okay, okay ran a race Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, so I don't have a Grammy.

00:02:36
Speaker 1: No, but you got a Grammy medallion.

00:02:37
Speaker 2: But I have a medallion and I put it in a little case and it looks like something.

00:02:41
Speaker 1: There I go.

00:02:43
Speaker 2: So maybe it's all in the framing of the case. You deserve at least at least five of those at means.

00:02:53
Speaker 1: Ah, thank you. You know what I'm saying to you.

00:02:56
Speaker 2: Do you feel like that?

00:02:57
Speaker 1: We all feel like that. We all feel like you. Look, first off, we don't do what we do for the trophies. Yea, you know, they're they're uh, they're they're great to have on a mantle and you can brag a bottom show, but once you get them, they just sit there. Yeah. But now that's not why I do it. Yeah, I just like talking about it.

00:03:12
Speaker 2: Though it doesn't doesn't humble you. You ain't all that. You ain't even wanted to one. You don't even have heavy all that great television you did.

00:03:24
Speaker 1: But it's good. But it's good.

00:03:26
Speaker 2: Not everybody realizes how much that really was your show. I mean, we know is your show as the start, one of the stars, an actor of the show, but you really at the inception of the show.

00:03:37
Speaker 1: Well can you? Can you? Barras and I, yeah, we did, you know. We we sat down at at a at a table at this little restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood called Laurel Hardware, and we sat there and we talked about the landscape of television and what was missing from that landscape for us, he and I what we like to see and what we missed, uh from television. We were both and still are Norman Lear fans, So we talked about those shows we grew up watching, Good Times, All in the Family, the Jeffersons and then fast forward to Cosby, A Different World and things like that, and we were like, you know, those are the shows that we liked and we grew up on, and those were shows that had social commentary. Those were shows that had leading actors that were unapologetic in who they were and you know, had something to say. And you know, we sat there and we just talked about our families and we had a lot in common. Kenyus from Inglewood. I'm from Compton. Both of us a first generation successful. You know, both of both of our families were living a privileged life. Both of us were the only African American families in our neighborhoods. Our kids were in private school. We were the one of few black families in the private schools that we went to. So we were sharing these stories independent, living, independently of one another, but down walking the same path. And we just talked about that. Yeah. He was like, you know what, man, you know he's like and he made the comment he said, you know, I feel like I went from raising a black family to a Blackish family. And we started laughing. And at the end of our meeting, he called me a couple of weeks later and he's like, yea, you know what. And I thought about what we talked about, and I think I have a show for us and we should call it Blackish. And I was like, let's do it. And eight years later, one hundred and seventy three episodes, two spin offs. Yeah, here we are.

00:05:32
Speaker 2: Wow. When you say that, what was the term you just said? First generation successful? What is that like?

00:05:40
Speaker 1: Interesting?

00:05:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, because a lot comes with that.

00:05:43
Speaker 1: A lot comes with that, A lot of responsibility. Yeah, sometimes a lot of unwanted responsibility. Yeah, and just being being in a position that other people take for granted. Family and friends. Uh, well you got it, so I got it, you know. And it was like yeah, yeah, yeah, for the most part, I have it. So we do have it, but I also worked for it, you know. And it's not about me having it and being in the position to just give it away because or give it to you or handed over because eventually, if I continue to do that, I won't have anything on myself, you know, and then we will all be back at ground zero again. So it's it's a lot of adjusting.

00:06:34
Speaker 2: Family.

00:06:35
Speaker 1: I have a big enough family, you know, I have two brothers and sister, my mom, but then you know, at the time, a wife, two children of my own, aunties, uncles and uh so you know, and you feel a responsibility. Uh you know. It was like, yo, this is my family, this is this is where I come from, So you know, it's somewhat of my responsibility to make sure that they are okay. But then you have to learn how to say no. Yeah, you know after a while, you know, and we all go through that with our success and and then you know, it's an adjustment period on both sides of of of the family.

00:07:17
Speaker 2: Because they got to get to know who this version of you. Yeah, because you have to shift a little bit. Yeah, that's like leader position, right.

00:07:23
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:07:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting because when you think about because you've been acting since childhood, we think about child actors trying to find who they are in the world. Sometimes it gets complicated. We hear plenty of stories about child actors who get lost because they never really grew properly out. But you you you were a child actor and first generation successful. There's a lot to kind of sort through to get to who you are and what makes you know.

00:07:50
Speaker 1: I wasn't really a child actor. This was a dream that I had as a child that you know, was pursuing it since then.

00:07:54
Speaker 2: But did you have a commercial at like five?

00:07:57
Speaker 1: It was? It was, it was. It was later than that. But yet my mother had me on stage as a baby, so it actually was in my blood. It started young. So yeah, I was a child actor. Yeah, I take that back. I was.

00:08:09
Speaker 2: You just weren't a success. I just you wouldn't make any money.

00:08:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's something I want to add to that, you know about responsibility you know, I lost my dad or we lost our dad, so you know, I became the head of the household, you know what I'm saying. So I lost my paton. How old am I? Now?

00:08:25
Speaker 2: How old were you then.

00:08:27
Speaker 1: I lost my dad? I was an adult, but it's been it's been thirty years, twenty five years now. But just losing the patriarch of the family, you know, and then me being in the position that I am, you know, then I just like, okay, I got I got I got to step in, you know, I have to step in. So it's that adjustment as well. You know, I am my mother's son, but you know, weird way became my mother's partner and mate in a way, you know, and just navigating those that terrain and all that. So just just to I just want to add that in and.

00:09:12
Speaker 2: What interesting turn in life. Yes too, it's funny as we talk about on this show, a lot of like the roles of women and family and stuff like that. But that that role that you just described can be I'm sure heavy, Like there's a lot of responsibility.

00:09:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is. It is heavy as the head of the crown, heavy as the head that where's the crown and you know, I welcomed it, you know, but it's a lot that that that comes along with that, you know, being the oldest child, you know, being you know, my mama's baby, you know, but also being her protector, you know what I'm saying, but also her son, and you know, sometimes the roles shifted, and you know, I felt, and sometimes to this day, feel that I can't come to my mother as a son. Oh you know what I'm saying. Sometimes I just want to go lay my head in my mother's bosom and just be like, yo, you know, the weight of the world is a lot right now, and I just want to come, you know, be a child again and just you know, it's that it's that you ever.

00:10:26
Speaker 2: Notice how everything keeps going up. I mean, rent is going up, Streaming services are going up. Even like your favorite burrito places all of a sudden wants to charge you for salsa. You go to the supermarket, they want to charge you extra for the bag. It's kind of crazy out here. The good thing is with boost Mobile, you and your phone bill do not have to play that game. You don't have to play the will this go up soon? Game? Why? Because boost Mobile has an unlimited talk text and data plan at a price that will never go up. In fact, it's the same price you'll pay for a life So switching out to unlimited wireless at a price that will never go up only at boost Mobile. After thirty gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay twenty five dollars a month as long as they remain active on the boost Mobile Unlimited plan. I love how self aware you are, Anthony, and like, I've evolved into this.

00:11:16
Speaker 1: I haven't always been this.

00:11:17
Speaker 2: I know, how how did this become.

00:11:20
Speaker 1: Life wisdom, divorce therapy, therapy, all all of that stuff, and you know, having conversations with you know, friends like you and other men, you know, you know, before we started this, you know, you and I just we had a brief conversation about how men don't share and don't talk amongst one another, and I was like, well, you know, I'm one of them, so I'm gonna I'm going to make that call. So you know, it's it's it's that, you know, having a great support group in friends, in my in my brothers, and that I know that I can go to and not be judged, and you know, we can actually just share and sit and talk and sometimes cry and I love it. I love it.

00:11:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, how does that work? Just give me a how does that work?

00:12:04
Speaker 1: It just works?

00:12:04
Speaker 3: You know.

00:12:05
Speaker 1: Sometimes we just meet, you know, just like guy night.

00:12:15
Speaker 2: What happens on guys night, guys night out? What happens? What do you guys talk about?

00:12:21
Speaker 1: Talk about? We talk about everything.

00:12:23
Speaker 2: You talk about emotions, all of that stuff.

00:12:25
Speaker 1: We talk about life, we talk about death, we we we talk about you know, all all of the stuff that that you know, that's going on in our lives and that thing that I believe that's what keeps our sanity, that's what keeps us sane. And we understand that. You know this, Sometimes you're sitting in the group and it's like, this is a rare thing for you know, men to get together.

00:12:45
Speaker 2: I was going to say that, why do you think most men don't do that? What do you what is that about?

00:12:52
Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe because we don't talk about those things, so we don't know that we can talk about those things with people. And then you have a conversation it's like, oh wait a minute, this, I can you know, share this without being judged and without feeling less of a warrior? Less of a man. It's okay to be vulnerable, you know, I don't have to walk around with this shield up.

00:13:23
Speaker 2: You know, that's pretty impressive, Anthony. Yeah, look at you bet all emotionally evolved and to be fifty five years to get here, but I'm here took fifty five. Yeah, well what was it? What did it take? Like, I'm sure there had to be shifts in your life. I'm sure you weren't always like that? Well we how how young were you? How old were you when you get married?

00:13:45
Speaker 1: I was baby hol on, I was. I was in my twenties. My son is twenty six, so I was that young. I was, I was twenty. I was twenty nine when I go I'm married.

00:14:00
Speaker 2: I'm sure there's been a lot of evolution of you as a man's.

00:14:03
Speaker 1: Then, whole lot.

00:14:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, hold on, because twenties is young, even late TWCE.

00:14:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really. And we met when we were eighteen and nineteen years old.

00:14:11
Speaker 2: So yeah, what did you learn from your about yourself from that experience? Because I find that that changes people dramatically.

00:14:17
Speaker 1: You know, it's crazy, Angie. I uh, you know most people. I'm not going to say I didn't want a family, right, that was something that I never dreamed of growing up in Compton, right. I had this dream of being a successful actor. That was my passion since I was nine years old. This is all I ever wanted to do. This is what I believe my energy was created and put on this earth to do to entertain And I realized that at a very young age. And that is what at that time my purpose in life was. Wanted a family and all of this, let me just say that, but what my driving force was this right here, and I picked up and collected a family along the way.

00:15:07
Speaker 2: It wasn't intentional, It wasn't you weren't intentionally setting these goals.

00:15:12
Speaker 1: No, not at that time. Yeah, yeah, you know, but a family is something that I wanted. I wanted to be a father, I wanted to be a husband and all of that stuff. But my focus was on this. This was that, and so I collected a family along the way. And you know, we make mistakes and we learned.

00:15:26
Speaker 2: It's hard to have that figured out by the time you're twenty whatever. Yeah, no way.

00:15:31
Speaker 1: And you know I met and got involved with with with my ex wife at nineteen and eighteen. I didn't even know who I was, you know, and you just figured those things out along the way.

00:15:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, what was what was the childhood?

00:15:45
Speaker 1: Like?

00:15:45
Speaker 2: What was early Compton life for you?

00:15:48
Speaker 1: I never I never felt like I didn't have or I wanted anything. I mean, you know, you want to you want to fly clothes, you want the Jordan's you you want all of that. You know, but who doesn't want that as a kid. But as a kid, you know, the lights were always on, the house was always warm, you know. Uh, and we always had a meal, so you know things. Yeah, we when everybody around you, I'm not going to say it was in poverty, but everybody around you was doing the same thing and lived in the same way. It's just like we're good. You know, everything is good. Then you get older, it's like we weren't. We weren't that good. You know, you're not good, Like you're not like we weren't that good. But you know, but but we made it. And uh, you know, my my father was a hard worker, my mother was a hard worker. They instilled all of that in us. And you know, it was a loving household. You know. I lost a brother, so it was three, it was it was four of us. It was three boys and a girl. My sister was the youngest. I'm the oldest. Uh so it was six. I was in a household, living our life.

00:16:56
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, but you lose a brother, what age?

00:16:59
Speaker 1: I was in my thirties, Oh you're older. Yeah, I was older. You know, a tragic car accident while he was away at college. Uh and yeah, yeah, and then and then a year later lost uh lost our father, lost my dad. Uh so you know, it was back to back heartbreaks.

00:17:17
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Yeah, that changes talk about life shifting moments.

00:17:20
Speaker 1: Yes, and then me being in the position that I am, you know, taking care of my dad who you know, we we lost him to type two two complications from type two diabetes, and uh, you know, so being in the position to you know, taking over the family as a patriarch, you know, before we lost my dad and so making sure he was good, and then losing my losing my brother and then my dad after that. So yeah, it really puts life into perspective.

00:17:48
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, all at one time, that's that was at that was probably had to be a tough stretch.

00:17:53
Speaker 1: It was. And uh, I remember driving home from my father's wake. I remember I had to pull the car over to the side of the road and just call home and have somebody come pick me up. Because I've never felt emotion like that before. And I felt my heart breaking, m and so I know what it feels like to have a broken heart. So anybody out there whose heart I've ever broken, I apologize and I'm sorry. And I never meant to put you through that, uh and and I apologize from the bottom of my heart because I know how that feels.

00:18:42
Speaker 2: Did you not know before that moment?

00:18:44
Speaker 1: I did not know before that, really, because.

00:18:46
Speaker 2: You had already been through divorce and.

00:18:49
Speaker 1: That was after. That was that was after. But I had no I had, you know, I had. I had no idea what that felt like. And I remember having to pull my car over to the side of the road, not knowing where I was. And I've driven these streets my entire life. I had to pull up said like where my ex wife at the time is like where, Yes, I said, I have no idea, I have no idea. And I just looked around and I couldn't see through the emotion and through the tears, and I finally tell them where I was, and my best friend came and picked me up. But yeah, I felt my heart breaking. Yeah, and yeah, so it was. It was.

00:19:28
Speaker 2: It's interesting because when I think about actors and what you guys do for a living, like you have to pull on these real life experiences. I wonder if that moment you've had to.

00:19:38
Speaker 1: Pull I I can't think if I've had to pull that emotion. Yeah, I've touched upon it. You know. It's interesting in the world in which I live as an actor. It's crazy for what we do because we have to call pawn emotions and everything that the average person wants to forget and keep hidden and never want to relive. But we have to do this on a constant basis. And you know that's why therapy is good.

00:20:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, get in there. Yeah, he's gonna get in there, get to it. It really is freeing, guys. I'm just putting it out there.

00:20:26
Speaker 1: It is. And that's and that's the other thing that you know, my boys, we talk about, you know, especially coming from the communities that that some of us come from. You know, therapy wasn't something that you know, we thought was for us. And and and you know mental health. You know, I'm a proponent for that. You know, that's why I'm out in the community talking about those things, And you know, I just want everybody out there to know that it's okay to not be okay, you know, and in the side of the road, it's okay to put make a phone call, it's okay to talk to your friends.

00:20:58
Speaker 2: Because I'm not good.

00:20:59
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, we need to know that.

00:21:01
Speaker 2: Yeah. It feels so much better to say it out loud than to walk around holding that inside. It does, Yeah, for sure.

00:21:08
Speaker 1: What is that?

00:21:08
Speaker 2: What do you think as you talk about your father so lovingly, what do you think makes a good and you're a father yourself, what do you think makes a good father?

00:21:17
Speaker 1: Wow? You know what? Okay, I'm going to start out with me as a father thinking that I needed to provide and give my children everything that I didn't have, Right.

00:21:26
Speaker 2: That's that's what you thought that was.

00:21:28
Speaker 1: That was part of it. Yeah, And it's a lot more than that. It's it's a lot more than the tangible things. And I'm having conversations with my children, my son in particular, you know, having conversations and understanding that my presence is needed and more than just me being there, but to also let them know that they are being seen and heard, which is something that I didn't always do.

00:21:57
Speaker 2: But you didn't always do it.

00:21:58
Speaker 1: I didn't always do that.

00:21:59
Speaker 2: Did you received that as a from your father?

00:22:02
Speaker 1: No? No, So you know those are things that yeah, yeah, you know, didn't understand my my dreams and aspirations of becoming an actor because my father worked with his hands.

00:22:13
Speaker 2: He must have been so proud of you though he was.

00:22:16
Speaker 1: He was, but didn't understand earlier on, didn't understand my dreams to become an actor. You know what I'm saying. That ain't that ain't real. That's not a job. You know, didn't understand that. But later on in life he got it. He saw the passion that I had. You know, he saw he saw this from the age of nine. He saw what I was doing. This on my own. It's not like, you know, my mother and my dad took me someplace. You know. I found acting schools on my own and conservatories, uh and all kinds of so, you know, early on, this is this is this. I was like, no, this is what I'm going to do with my life.

00:22:54
Speaker 2: And you were a little kid on a mission.

00:22:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the only thing I prepared myself to do in life. You know, call it now, you call it foolishness or whatever.

00:23:02
Speaker 2: It's one thing to be a kid with a dream to be an actor. It's another thing to actually create that dream to come true, but also then to have the actual talent and the gift. Like, do you believe what you have as a gift?

00:23:16
Speaker 1: I do. I don't call it the talent. You know, it's a gift that I have, and it's a gift that I'm supposed to share with the world, you know, that's my responsibility. And then someone told me about and I was telling him about that, and I'm like, oh, so you must know about the parables of gifts from the Bible. And I was like, no, I don't. And so they explained to me. You know, the three men were blessed with gifts. This is the basics of it. One guy buried his gift in the ground and kept it to himself. The other guy multiplied applied it by five, and the other guy multiplied it by ten. So when the wise man came back, he said, what did you do with your gifts? And he said, I did this, and I shared it and I mult applied it by ten, and he blessed them. And he went on he said, what did you do with your gifts, He said, I did this, and I multiplied it by five, and he blessed me. Moved on. He said, what did you do with your gifts? He said, I hid it in the ground and I kept it to myself. He said, you are to be banished in the corner to grind your teeth for eternity, because these gifts that I gave you weren't supposed to be kept for you. They were supposed to be shared. Had no idea about the parable of gifts this was, but this was something that I believed since I was a child. And so that's and I understood the connection that I had to God, to a higher power, to whatever it is that you may subscribe to. But I realized that I have a connection, and I understood that connection at a very early age. And it was scary at times to understand, to feel that, and to understand and to experience that connection that I have. I no longer want anything in life, because all that ever did was create a want for it. I claimed things as my own, and I that's how.

00:25:04
Speaker 2: I no, no, I have to understand that what do you mean you don't.

00:25:07
Speaker 1: Have you ever wanted something? Want to go someplace something and never got it right. And you want to know why you want those things. You never because in wanting for those things, all you do or all you did, was create a want for it. You never claimed it as your own. You never said I will have this, I will have that bag, I will have that guy, I will have that girl, I will take this trip. You never you never claimed it, You never saw yourself having it. You just said I want this. So you're just creating a perpetual want for whatever that thing is, as opposed to claiming it for yourself. A little thing that I tell myself before every audition or whatnot, or meeting or whatever it is that may have, I claim it as my own if it's meant for me to have, That's all I can do. If it's mine, it's mine, and I'm going to get it, and believe everything in this room can is mine except for this microphone. I'm going to come in here and I'm going to take everything out of here except this microphone, because it's mine. It's not greed, it's not anything. No. I've claimed it and I've been told that it's mine. But you can't can't touch this cool I believe that and that's that's what it is.

00:26:21
Speaker 2: You've been told by who.

00:26:23
Speaker 1: I've been told by the higher power, by whomever. I've claimed it. Yeah, you know, I can claim a lot of things, and I can. I'm claiming that bottle, the glass of water right there. It's like, ah, it ain't yours. Yeah, but I've claimed it. And I was like, yeah, but I understand it's not mine. You know what's you know, what's for you? You know, if that makes sense? Right? Am I making sense?

00:26:43
Speaker 2: You know, if you're claiming something that's not if it's like a false claim, is that what you mean?

00:26:47
Speaker 1: Is that what you mean? You just believe. Sometimes I just put it out in the universe, you know what I'm saying, and I claim it, and if it's truly mine, it will come to me.

00:26:58
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think about what I what is mine that I haven't claimed yet? See how it just to see how I just self corrected. I was about to say, I'm trying to think about what I want.

00:27:06
Speaker 1: No, Yeah, I see and and and and I try to change the way that I speak and stop telling myself I want that because I understand that all by saying that I want this all I'm doing is creating a want for it. I'll never get it. So I'm going to clean this glass of water as mine. Yeah, you know, if it doesn't happen, change And if it doesn't happen, then it wasn't meant for me. And that's how excuse me. And that's all I've been able to get through auditions, wow, and everything and all of that because it wasn't mine. It's meant for you, It's meant for that person right there.

00:27:40
Speaker 2: What was the last big thing you claimed.

00:27:44
Speaker 1: That?

00:27:44
Speaker 2: Actually? Really?

00:27:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, even though it was offered to me, doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be mine. You know, hey, Anthony, are you interested in auditioning or not auditioning? Are you interested in hosting star Search? Yeah? Why we say that, Well they just got a call and said, you know you're interested, So yeah, I'm down. So I go through my thing. I claim this as mine if it's meant for me to have, And at one point it wasn't mine. Then I was like, okay, well it wasn't mine. Then all of a sudden it came back and I didn't trip off of it.

00:28:21
Speaker 2: I'm like, ah, it wasn't yours at that time yeah, yeah.

00:28:25
Speaker 1: So you know, I'll tell you, I'll tell I'll tell the story. It's a long story, and I've told this before, but I like telling the story. At one point, I was making I was making I've made fifty three movies in a short period of time in my career.

00:28:40
Speaker 2: Who which is that shit?

00:28:41
Speaker 1: Yeah? Which is phenomenal. And I was always making these movies, and I was going up to Canada making these movies. And I would always say I want to leave the country and make a movie, and I would always end up in Canada. And one day it dawned on me, this is a lesson in specificity and being specific in what we asked for. It dawned on me that I was doing exactly what I said. I said I wanted to make a movie in another country. I wentn't up to Canada and made another movie. But that's not where I wanted to be, you know. I was like, Oh, Canada, Canada. All you needed to enter Canada was a birth certificate. It was like, okay, all right, you know what I'm not asking. I'm not claiming specific things for what it is that I see myself doing. I asked for this, and it came to me in the most general form, which can still be of no use to me because it didn't come to me the way that I wanted it, the way that I needed it to. So at that moment, I said, the next movie I make will be shot overseas and I will need a passport to enter the country. Three days later, I got a call, Hey, Anthony, Jerry Bruckheimer wants to meet with you. You're in a very shortlist for a movie that he's making. It's going to shoot in Australia for six months. Wow. Okay, what's the name of the movie? Movie is called? At that time, it was called Down, Down and Under. The movie eventually became Kangaroo Jack. So before my meeting with Jerry Bruckheimer, I said, I claimed this as my own. If it's meant for me to have, is this.

00:30:29
Speaker 2: In prayer or this is just in your thoughts?

00:30:31
Speaker 1: Prayer and my thoughts? And I put it all out. It's across the board from me. I go to have my I go and have my audition, one of the best auditions that I've ever had in my life. I walk out of the audition was about forty five minutes. I went in with Jerry O'Connor, who was my co star, who was already cast as the lead. And I walked out of the audition drenched in sweat, like I dove into a swimming pool. I don't know what was going on with us in this audition, but that is what happened. I came out drenched in sweat. A week later, I get a call Jerry Bruckheimer loved you your cast in Uh down Under Kangaroo Jack. I was like, okay, cool. I know I'm going to be in Australia for six months. This is how I want to live in Australia. I saw myself living a certain way, and I said, when I wake up every morning and when I go to sleep every night, the Sydney Opera House has to be outside my window. I get to Australia with the family, We're in a hotel. I open up the window. What's outside the window the Sydney Opera House.

00:31:43
Speaker 2: Come on, master manifesto.

00:31:45
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't wannae there you go. I don't. I don't want to sit. I don't want to live in a hotel for six months. I want the comforts of home. So I saw my how I wanted to live while I was in Australia. I never told this to the realator, but I called the realtor up and she took me to some places. The very first place she took me to was how I saw myself living. Took me to a bunch of places and I said, I want the first place. We get it. It's in the place called Potts Point, right in the city on a hill. It's on the twelfth floor. It's a corner unit. The apartment is about three thousand square feet panoramic views ceiling to floor windows, and outside my window was the Downtown Sydney Skyline, the Sydney Opera House, North Sydney Bridge, Sydney Harbor Bridge, North Sydney Island, and Double Bay Water all around it. And so I'm sitting there one day, It's about three o'clock in the morning and I was like, Wow, this is pretty fucking dope. I'm looking around. It's pitch black outside except for the everything that's lit up. Life comes on. I'm looking through the television. My life is my very first movie. I'm looking through the television and Life comes on. I was like, oh shit, smoking a joint. I'm a little high and I was like, oh my god, I haven't even come on the screen yet from my first appearance in this movie. And I was like, here I come. And I'm sitting there, and that's when it hit me. I had an epiphany. And I look at how I'm living, and I look at what I've manifested, and I looked at what I've asked for, and I looked at what I've cleimed. And I'm sitting here looking at my life while I'm watching the movie Life, which was my very first movie, which was, in my opinion, my birth into the movie industry. And because of what I did in that movie, and the success of my movie got me my next opportunities, and those opportunities got me Kangaroo Jack. And this is the life that I'm living now. And I look around and I see it how I'm living in Life and I'm watching Life, the birth into this industry, and that's when it hit me. I was like, Okay, this is powerful, and I understand my connection. I understand how I manifest things into my life and how I understand how I ask for things and I claim things as my own. So when I talk to young actors and when I talk to people. I tell them about that. I tell them about claiming everything that they see for themselves as their own and it will happen. Stop wanting for things and claim those things and you will have them. That's what I do. And I can sit here as a living testament to that.

00:34:50
Speaker 2: I believe. Yeah, I'm going to restructure some ways. I'm thinking about a few things right right after this interview. Yeah, that's so good, Anthony. Yeah, so has that ever failed you? Has there ever been a moment you claim something or really I know the word want, but like really wanted something.

00:35:08
Speaker 1: And I don't. I don't, I don't. I don't see it as failure because it wasn't meant for me.

00:35:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, got it.

00:35:15
Speaker 1: It wasn't meant for me. Yeah, you know, it wasn't going to open up the next opportunity or wasn't going to give me the experience that I needed in my life that I didn't probably didn't even know that I needed, you know. And I've never been upset at another actor or another person getting the gig that I was up for because it wasn't mine. And I always tell people, I was like, you can't you you can't compare yourself to anyone else, and you can't judge them or judge yourself. I was like, that's their journey, that's their path, and I was like, that was destined for them. That was predetermined for them, and you can't worry about that. No matter how you feel it was going to change your life, no matter how big it may have ended up for them, It may not have been that way for you. It may not have. But my reality is I didn't get it because it wasn't.

00:36:09
Speaker 2: Mine for you.

00:36:11
Speaker 1: And I know, as long as I prepare myself the way that I'm supposed to prepare myself before I enter any audition, any meeting, or whatever. Because I am the only constant in the equation, every equation in life that I'm a part of, the only constant is me. Everything else around me is going to change, but I'm the only constant. So when I go to work or when I go to prepare myself for work, I prepare to the best of my ability and I go in there. And as long as I give it my all and I no idea what I was supposed to do, I can't hands up, I can't do anything else about it, I can't do anything else.

00:36:49
Speaker 2: It's an easier way to live too. It is that's our sleep at night.

00:36:53
Speaker 1: I can't be like a shit, why the fuck it? No, I'm gonna do this. I got it. Boom, I'm here all right. I gave it. Fucking left an audition like I sweaty, like I got out of a pool. I was like, I left it all. I left it all on the floor there.

00:37:08
Speaker 2: Now it's in God's sense. Now it's what's for me, and it's.

00:37:10
Speaker 1: All subjective anyway to whoever is there. I can just be the best that I could be.

00:37:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, that's it. What is it that in your life right now, in this in this phase of your life, Like, what is it that you're manifesting for yourself now or what is it that you're I don't know, working towards or claiming what are you claiming that you haven't received yet?

00:37:33
Speaker 1: Constant not that I haven't received, but I just I just want constant peace in life, you know, and however that that comes from, wherever.

00:37:46
Speaker 2: That comes from, golf course, maybe.

00:37:48
Speaker 1: Golf course, relationships, work, all of that. I just I just want peace. And you know, I'm fifty five now, you know, I didn't know I've been doing thirty years. You just you said three decades and I was like, she lying. I was like, oh, wait a minute, Nope, we have a record of it. Yeah, you know you it's crazy. I think about my last real job before I got my first real book, my first gig, which was in the House with Loll couj and Wi Allen back on NBC. Wow. Yeah. While I did that, I was working for Ticketmaster, and my last job I worked in the phone the call center for Ticketmaster. Thank you for calling Ticketmaster, where master Card is the smart way to pay. This call may be monitored for quality assurance. This is Anthony speaking. How may I help you. I had to do that eight hours a day, five days a week, making five dollars and fifty cents an hour, with a daughter, with a daughter with the daughter wow, and a fiance at the time. Wow. Yeah. So yeah that was that was my last gig, and I think about, you know the things that have happened in those thirty years.

00:39:03
Speaker 2: I didn't realize how much we have a you know, my thirty years ago, I was Hi, my name is Angie. I'm calling you to ask you what songs you listen to on the radio. I'm for a music research program I had to do. I did my version of that. Oh yeah, the space that I'm in the space.

00:39:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's crazy, that's amazing. I was in college. I also had to call you at night and try to sell you encyclopedias and.

00:39:25
Speaker 2: Ship encyclopedias is crazy.

00:39:28
Speaker 1: Sometimes I was like a but it was a gig. But you know, but I just I, you know, I pray for you know what I want. I want more wisdom, patience, You know what I'm saying, peace, understanding, happiness, joy. I want all the things that I would. I would hope everybody else wants that. And that's that's where I am right now.

00:39:49
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00:41:21
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:41:22
Speaker 2: And to be friends with somebody for that long and then start dating them, Ye, interesting.

00:41:26
Speaker 1: How long had this's been going on? And you know it was something that just happened it would you know, we just happened to be in the same place at the same time, at the right time.

00:41:35
Speaker 2: You mean in life?

00:41:36
Speaker 1: In life?

00:41:36
Speaker 2: Oh?

00:41:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, in life.

00:41:39
Speaker 2: Did you always kind of have a crush though, even back in the day.

00:41:41
Speaker 1: No, you know, honestly I did not.

00:41:43
Speaker 2: You did watch one six.

00:41:44
Speaker 1: I watched one O six in parks like, oh she acuty, But never it was like I gotta get with that, you know. We laugh about that. It's like, no, it was. It was never that for me, and we've known each other since. But I met Roxy with Kevin Lyles before She's star arted one six in.

00:42:02
Speaker 2: Part Oh well.

00:42:03
Speaker 1: I remember I was riding with keV and he said I got to go meet somebody, and I was like, okay, cool, and this is just great. I was in New York. I was in the back of his maybox and we pulled up and it was Roxy that he was talking to. And we sat up there and I was like, yeah, I met you, and she said, yeah, I don't remember you. And so we laugh about it. But then we become friends over you know, almost twenty years, you know, play spades games and all that. We're in the same friend friend group and all that, and it just so happened that we just happened to be in the same place at the same time in our lives. And this happened, and I welcome it. And the difference now is I'm learning, or I've learned, to prioritize a better balance in life, in my personal life and not be just strictly about work and about what the next project is going to be, because I'm no longer in that space.

00:43:01
Speaker 2: I do think there's something to be said about timing and you being at a place in your life where you can be in a different type of relationship. It's like, I don't know, I don't think people talk about that enough about the timing of connecting with somebody, right, Whereas like Roxy gets to get like an evolved version of here, Yeah you know, yeah, I'm sure you're not perfect, and I'm not.

00:43:24
Speaker 1: Hell, I get to get an involved version of myself. You know, it's crazy because and things happen again about asking for things and manifesting things in your life. At one point, not too long ago, I sat back and thought about the relationship that I would like to have at this point in my life, and I realized that I was never going to have that if I was to continue doing what I was doing. Not that it was crazy, and I was like, but hold on, if this is what you want, these are the changes that you have to make. And I made those changes. Uh, And I believe you receive what you're asking for. And I asked for this relationship with whoever it was going to be with, and once I cleared a path and a way for that to happen and to come in my life, it happened. And that's what this is where I am right now.

00:44:22
Speaker 2: I love that.

00:44:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's a beautiful thing. Yeah.

00:44:25
Speaker 2: Is it weird for you to be in a pub, for you guys to be so public because because there's so much interest in it.

00:44:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I've always thought it was weird that, you know, people wanted to know about other people's relationships. It's not it's none of my business. So yeah, it's it's weird to be walking down the ship or just I was. We all went to and yeah, the carpet, but even before that, we went to an escape room. Uh, and when it had lunch and but it was my son, myself and Roxy. But you know, in all the photos they cropped my son out, made it made a big news. So it was. But look, we're both public figures and all that, and it's an interest of the public and all that. But everybody wants to be in somebody's business. Everybody wants a story to tell.

00:45:12
Speaker 2: Everybody wants love, a love story to a love story specifically.

00:45:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and hopefully this this, this is a wonderful love story. Yes, but I made a way for it. I made a way for it to for it to happen in my life and for me to have the relationship that I feel I deserve and a relationship that I feel that I need and want at this point in my life as a fifty five year old man, it.

00:45:39
Speaker 2: Must be nice to have someone because she's she's she hasn't stopped working, not at all. Hustle is her hustle is still I see her showing up to set do an interviewing this do it working on this project? Is that a nice That must be a nice thing to have somebody who kind of understands that it is.

00:45:57
Speaker 1: It is uh uh, it's great to have somebody who understands the business, who and who's in the business that you know, supports you and and and I support her.

00:46:08
Speaker 2: Did she have a did she cheerlead the first episode of Star Search? And she like a fan of the show that she the type of girlfriend that comes home and goes, you could have did this better? Or that was really funny day, or like you know what I'm saying.

00:46:20
Speaker 1: You get that. She she is a fan of the show. She was there for our first episode last week. And you're not. She supports it, talks about it on on on her news segment on ABC News and working. You know, we we have a we have a great relationship working and personally look at that.

00:46:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Star sears must be fun, I mean, because you care so much about how even the mentor you talked about mentoring people. Yeah, and just must be not exciting to be around such young fresh talent.

00:46:53
Speaker 1: It is exciting to be there. You know, I grew up wanting to be on Star Search. They used to have an acting competition on the remember that Star Search, and I remember sitting at home it was like, Mama, we got to get me to Hollywood so I can audition for this because I can do this much better than what they're doing. I can do this and we never made it there, but here I am.

00:47:12
Speaker 2: Now do you have a compassion for them? Like, do you are they? I don't know. Do you do you give them?

00:47:19
Speaker 1: Uh? You know, I try to give them notes, the notes as as I can be. I'm not a judge, but I don't want it to seem biased or anything like that. So like like the judges never see any of the performances until the show, until we do the show live, because we do the show live Tuesday and Wednesday nights on Netflix. So in rehearsals or run throughs, in camera blocking, I get to be there with the talent. And so they perform and then they come to center stage and I go through my whatever it is that telling people how to vote and all that, but I also get a chance to have a conversation with them about how do they feel about their performance? You know, how they feel about the judges reaction to them. And in that I asked questions or I'll give I'll give them. I try to give them notes without them being notes, and hopefully they pick up on it and hopefully they're handlers. If they're the young contestants, their mothers or fathers or who was there with them. It's like, Yo, that was a good thing that Anthony said. There was a young singer on there, and I didn't see him connecting with the audience. You know, in rehearsal even though there was no audience. He was up there singing, doing a great job, but there was no connection. So when I brought him center stage, I was like, hey, I love the way that you connected with the people in the audience as if you were singing to them directly. I said, that's going to take you a long way while you're on Star Search. What do you think about your performance? So I dropped little nuggets like that in rehearsals without being overbearing and all of that, because I know what that means, and that's what our judges are there for. That's what Jelly Roll and Chrissy Tiaguan and Sam Michelle Geller is therefore to give constructive criticism and inside as well as judging or giving their one their one to five star. But it's fun to be to be the host of the show, you know, steering that ship live, It's it's crazy.

00:49:20
Speaker 2: It's an iconic, it is institution.

00:49:23
Speaker 1: It is just and to sit there and host this. Look. I've hosted live shows before. I've hosted the Emmys, I've hosted ten NAACP Image Awards. You know, I've hosted this Soul Train in BT Awards. Those shows are live as well, so I have that experience. But to do this with Netflix with no commercial breaks and the world is watching, not just America, the world, and for the audience to be able to vote in real time with these contestants on the show, it's it's it's pretty amazing. Because Wharf's viewing show as a say in it. It's not just the three in studio judges. They have a say in it from watching the show, and I love it.

00:50:06
Speaker 2: You're like the perfect person. You don't know who it was going to when it was out of your wheelhouse. But I can't imagine I can't imagine anybody else hosting. It wasn't meant for them all right, So I have two segments. One is our irl voice note okay, present, it is our It's usually a fan or a I don't know, somebody either from the show or from yours, who has a question or comment.

00:50:30
Speaker 3: Hi, Anthony, I'm a huge fan. I was a big fan of Blackish. Me and my family watch it every week when I was on air. I'm an aspiring stand up comedian and trying to look for acting rules. How do you stay confident saying no to opportunities that don't align with you when you honestly really need a job to pay the bills?

00:50:48
Speaker 2: What's his name? He got no name? Got on nothing?

00:50:51
Speaker 1: Not to the no name actor slash comedian who called in first, I would say, get a name and make sure the world knows your name. But you know, here's an interesting thing. When I didn't feel there were opportunities for me, I'm not going to answer your question in order, but I'm going to answer it. When I didn't feel there are opportunities for me, I went out and created my own opportunities. You know, let's not forget about that. You go out and create opportunities when you don't see an opportunity for yourself. And I have been fortunate enough to have had success in that with Blackish, with my very first television show that I created, all about the Andersons and whatnot. Never be afraid to challenge things and to take on a challenge for yourself. There were many a time when I was up for something in a movie or not even considered for something in a movie because the character was it written black was it written for me? And this is where I go within challenging. I was like, well, I can't it be me? You know, the ethnicity of this character means nothing to the story. It can be anybody, So why can't I come in and read for this? And I was able to change the minds of casting directors and directors and whatnot and get an opportunity to read for different characters than what they saw me as and sometimes even the cast is that. But also, just be true to yourself and be your authentic self. And that's what I would say, And that comes in the form of telling your story. Since you say you're a comic, a stand up you know, be your authentic self and tell your story and have you tell it from your point of view and have a perspective on things, and that's what's going to set you apart. It's not about being a cookie cutter and like, oh, so and so did it this way, So and so did it this way. No, they did it their way, So do it your way as well.

00:53:03
Speaker 2: Hey guys. Support for this podcast is brought to you by Walden University. Have you ever thought to yourself, what if I could go after what I actually want and I could really make a difference. Well, you are not alone, and this is exactly why I want to tell you about Walden University. For over fifty years, Walden has helped working adults like you get the w with the knowledge, the skills and everything you need to build the future that you want. And you can make a difference where it matters most. If you've been waiting for the right moment, this is it. Head to WALDENU dot edu and take that first step. Walden University set a Course for Change, certified to operate by SHIV. Yeah, come on, Anthony, Okay, and not finally are irol bowl of questions brought to you by Walden University. Let's say I hope it's good.

00:53:50
Speaker 1: If we don't, it's a long one. Uh H. If your heart had a rule book, what are two qualities that would be written in bold when it comes to a partner and why mmmm it is my heart had a rule book. First rule would be to be honest, To be honest about what it is about, to be honest about who you are, To be honest about what it is that you're looking for in a partner, and to be honest in what it is that you want in a relationship. That's one thing I'm gonna I'm gonna give you a whole lot. Be consistent in who you are. Be the same person that that person met and that fell in love with. Never forget who that is and what attracted that person to you. You can't switch up midstreams like oh I got you now. So you have to be consistent in all of that, Be patient, be understanding. I think that that's enough. That's good, right. I'm trying to become better at all of those things and now, and to be honest. It's an adjustment. You know, I was in I was in a relationship and in a marriage for thirty three years. So you know some of these things are are They're hard to break, They're not unbreakable. I just said, yeah, just old habits that you have to retrain, retrain yourself or train yourself differently. And you know, some old habits you really don't want anyway, you know, regardless of the relationship. Just like because we talk about evolving, it's like, you know, I want to change. I'm no longer that person, but these habits that I have seem to bring me back to being that person, and I don't want that cycle. So yeah, it's you know, you have to be cognizant of conscious and conscious of that in yourself. So I'm becoming a better me. I'm I'm no longer uh the Anthony Anderson that I was, you know, ten years ago, five years ago, two years ago. So yeah, I I am. I'm getting better at becoming those things. It fun to watch, Oh, thank you. It's fun to be on this journey. Yeah, it's exciting. It's exciting. I'm not gonna lie. It's exciting for me. Yeah.

00:56:38
Speaker 2: What is Anthony Anderson doing in five years? Oh?

00:56:43
Speaker 1: What am I doing in five years? I will tell you this. You and I are going to be playing better golf together five years.

00:56:52
Speaker 2: I love that for your son.

00:56:55
Speaker 1: But you put me in Wait, what the people need to know is that I was there when you don't. I I don't know if it was the first time you played golf, but I was there in the very beginning for you it was, and a year to the date of the year to the day later, I was there when you were playing much better golf at the same event. And we've been traveling the world playing golf with each other and around each other.

00:57:20
Speaker 2: So it's such a wonderful isn't it just like a wonderful thing to do?

00:57:25
Speaker 1: It? Is?

00:57:25
Speaker 2: It is?

00:57:26
Speaker 1: I love it so much, So we will definitely be doing that together in five years. What will I be doing in five years? Hopefully still doing Star Search Live on Netflix and probably wrapping up or in the midst of another successful television show that people will be talking about twenty years down the line, like they will be talking about Blackish like they've been talking about The Cosby Show, like they've been talking about All in the Family, like they've been talking about Martin, like they've been talking about all the great ahead of them. So hopefully that's what I will be doing in five years, and doing another five year reunion on.

00:58:09
Speaker 3: I R L.

00:58:11
Speaker 1: Yay, I'm claiming. I'm claiming it for us. I love that. Yeah, I'm claiming it for us.

00:58:18
Speaker 2: Well, all that's going to happen because you are the master. There you go manifesto.

00:58:21
Speaker 1: Yes, ma'am the Master manifestor Anthony Anderson the Master manifested. It's like an old episode of Seinfeld the Master Masturbader.

00:58:29
Speaker 2: Excuse me, episode that would open a whole other wise, which unfortunately we don't have time for today. But thank you so much. And my final outro question for you, Anthony, it's in the bowl too. It's one of my favorite ones in the bowl. If God were to send you a text today, what would it say.

00:58:50
Speaker 1: Ooh, keep doing what I put you on this earth to do. And it's not just entertaining. I'll say this about about I believe my energy was put on this earth to entertain. I said that earlier, but that is why I'm here to share this gift. And it's crazy that I'm in the medium to do just that, television, stage, film, movies, live shows. I've always said that I wanted to have an effect and an effect on people's lives with my work, and because of my work, that takes me around the world to have conversations like this. So I believe his text to me would be continue to do what I put you on this earth to.

00:59:37
Speaker 2: Do, Anthony, and this and ladies and gentlemen, well done, sir.

00:59:45
Speaker 1: Thank you. This is Anthony Anderson in real life.

00:59:50
Speaker 2: Hey guys, thanks for watching. Make sure you subscribe, like comments, and check out all of the other episodes we have on Edge. Martinez IROL podcast

01:00:00
Speaker 1: Bang Ban