WEBVTT

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Good morning. How are you? Well, you know,

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I am delighted to be speaking with you this

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morning, but I am not happy about what we're

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talking about, Aasif

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I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I take all the blame.

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How could you? You're Ben the Magnificent.

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How could you be ending the show?

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I tried. I tried to fix it. I tried to fix

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it. Yeah, no, we're all very disappointed.

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You know, it is one of those things where

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You know, I feel like we're at the height

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of our success in a way, and the kings want

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to make more, the cast wants to make more,

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but the executives at Paramount, in their

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infinite idiocracy, have decided that, you

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know, you can't keep a hit show going. So

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that's... Hit shows is not what we want.

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We don't want hit shows. We don't want successful

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shows.

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Why would we want that? What is this thing

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that everybody seems to be watching? Take

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it away.

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I know. Everybody wants to watch it. Wait,

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hang on a second. Wait, I think we've got

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this backwards. No wonder Netflix is kicking

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our ass, you know? Yeah, but we're hoping,

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we live in hope that maybe somebody else

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will with more wisdom will take on the show

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and maybe there is a life after you know

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an evil part two you know yes yes so you

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know i i reached out and it was like hey

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you know we're having awesome on what do

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you want to talk about and that was literally

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everyone was like how do we how do we how

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do we mobilize and save evil so i know i'm

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encouraging people to

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The call, whoever they need to call, the

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congressperson, I don't know, the weatherman,

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like whoever it is, just call whoever it

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is. Maybe it can be part of the DNC platform,

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I don't know. Or write to, you know, write

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to Paramount.

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A right to paramount. So what's interesting

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about this, Ossoff, and I was thinking about

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it this morning as we were getting ready

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to talk, is that there is some power in the

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hands of the fans, because we've seen some

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shows that have come back. We saw Lucifer

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come back, Arrested Development, right? So

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I mean, we can do this.

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We can do this. We can do this. Yeah. I think

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that it's a worthy campaign. I think that

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people should, right on Instagram, right

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on Twitter, right on social media, bombard

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George Cheeks or whoever it is over at Paramount

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with messages that they want evil to come

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back, and maybe we can make it happen.

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Well, I, you know, I'm, I'm gonna fully admit

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that I was one of the people who caught on

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to the show because it ended up on Netflix.

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So I do, you know, I feel like and obviously,

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you know, we can sit here and be like, well,

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I, you know, if I was in the boardroom making

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the decisions, I would have waited to see

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how it does on Netflix. But You know, I mean,

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honestly, that was part of it, because there

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are so many people. It feels like there's

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been a great momentum. And I was hesitant

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to watch it, because I'm afraid of everything.

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Like, I don't watch anything horror. People

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are shocked that I'm watching evil. And I'm

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like, look, this is such a great show that

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I will lose sleep over it. It's totally worth

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it. You know, so it's interesting that we

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are in a time. Right, exactly. I know that

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the finale is tomorrow, but I am not accepting

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this. So for people who haven't gotten into

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it yet, like get on board, dude, because

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this is a movement. Let's talk a little bit

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about your experience and what we can control

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right now, which is to celebrate a wonderful

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show that you have been a part of. Can you

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reflect a little bit as on Ben the Magnificent

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and the role that this show has played in

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your life and your career?

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Well, I mean, it's been a tremendous role.

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It's been a tremendous experience. Every

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role brings with it, as an actor knows, every

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role brings with it challenges. You don't

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know how you're gonna do it. Initially, you're

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like, well, how am I gonna play this guy?

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But what supports you is the cast and the

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writing and the creatives, the people who

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create the show, And we have such an incredible

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team on this show, you know, Robert and Michelle

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King are maybe, you know, I would argue one

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of the two of the finest writers in Hollywood

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making television today. And the most interesting

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television, The Good Fight, Good Wife, Evil,

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you know, those books, on and on, you know,

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and I think that having them at the wheel

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and then working with people like Katja and

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Mike and Michael Emerson and Christine Lahti

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and you know the whole Kurt and the whole

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team. They're such great actors, great guest

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stars came on the show. You know some of

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the finest New York actors that would pop

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up on our show. So it just it was such a

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great creative experience and discovering

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this character with the help of all of these

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other people and also just the storylines

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where the writing was immense because actors

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depend on great writing. We can only do so

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much. And if the writing isn't working, then

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it's just not going to work on some level.

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But in this case, you had such tremendous

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writing. I mean, I would read the scripts

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and I'd be flipping, I'd be up at two o'clock

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in the morning finishing the script, you

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know, because it was such a page turner.

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And even for me being on the show, I was

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excited to know where we were going and stuff.

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So that's a rare experience to get to have

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all of that. So I feel like in a sense of

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gratitude, I feel like we hit the jackpot

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and got to, you know, we all got to work

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on a tremendous show, even though It's ending

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and we wanted to continue, but we did that

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for amazing seasons, you know.

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Yeah. I need to talk to you a little bit

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about your co-star, Mike Colter, because

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I am actually heading out here in a day or

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two to PopCon in Louisville, which is a wonderful

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convention that I work with and I moderate,

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and he is going to be there. So you got any

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scoop for me on Mike? Maybe something from

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the set that I could bring up that he would

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look at me and go, how do you know that?

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Oh, see, now you're asking me, you know,

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I get I get paid for this kind of information.

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You know what I mean? Give me the tea. Ask

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him how many cold plunges he's done today.

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Oh, because the man the man does a cold plunge

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every day. And it's insane. He's always got

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some newfangled health thing that he's doing,

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you know. But one of the things that he does

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on a regular basis is his daily cold plunge.

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And then he puts it on Instagram. And Katja

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and I would have a lot of fun with that,

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like, you know, sort of teasing him about

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the fact that we have to watch him sit in

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a cold, a puddle of cold water, you know,

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on Instagram. So ask about his cold plunge.

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Well, and you know, he has obviously has

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had great success and very recognizable for

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his role as Luke Cage and kind of shifting

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over to Marvel a little bit. You also have

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spent some time in Marvel. You were a part

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of Spider-Man 2 and Sam Raimi's version of

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it. Can you talk a little bit about your

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experience with that part of Marvel? Well,

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it was a lot.

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You know, I had a small part in Spider-Man

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2, which which fans seem to love, you know?

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And it was really, you know, I was a young

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actor at the time, and I had just been doing

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theater, and I'd done a movie with Merchant

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Ivory, and I was the lead in a Merchant Ivory

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film, and all this stuff, and then I got

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offered this small part in Spider-Man 2.

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And initially, not being a Marvel person,

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or, you know, having watched those things,

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I turned down the role, actually, initially,

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when I when I first got the offer. I turned

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it down because I didn't. I've been on Broadway

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and I was in an imaginary film and I was

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looking for something a little bit more.

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And so I didn't want to do it. And then they

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convinced me to do it. And I changed my mind.

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I went back and I did the role. And then

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it's like a role that people still talk to

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me about. I think we shot it in 2004. So

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like 20 years later, we're still talking

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about that role. People still come up to

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me. And of course, Just because, you know,

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they did the, the, the, the long cut or whatever

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the long version, the DVD long version of

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it is. And, and they, and they, and they

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decided again, in their infinite idiocracy,

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decided to change one of my iconic line readings

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in Spider-Man. When I tell Peter Parker to

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go, and I, and I did this improvised line,

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which has become a meme and it's all, it's

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kind of crazy how it's all sort of become.

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But then when they made the, what I thought

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was hilarious, when they made the long version,

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the longer cut, they shortened my line to

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just make a regular go. And I was kind of

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pissed off about that. So anyway, that was,

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but it was, you know, it's one of the things

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where they shot that scene in a day and we

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just went down to Baker Sixth Avenue and

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shot there Joe's pizza.

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I did not see the extended version, and I

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never will now that I know that. Awesome.

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I want to shift over to a topic that always

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comes up here. We just started talking, I

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didn't even introduce the show that you're

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on. It's the KJ Today Show. We bring people

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the positive vibes of pop culture, people

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to know, and pets. And I'm also the kiddie

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correspondent for Pet Pals TV. So, I mean,

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I'm obligated to talk to you about your iconic

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role in Paws of Fury and your motivation

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for playing a cat.

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Well, I mean, you get offered a role, you

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get to play an animated cat, you don't say

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no. You know, it's just one of those things.

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And it was a lot of fun. And, you know, I

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got to work with the very talented Gabriel

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Iglesias. I got to work with him. We had

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never worked together before, but we sort

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of got along like, I guess, you know, the

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two cats. But yeah, it was a lot of fun.

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And, you know, it was one of those, you get

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to sort of play this comic duo. It was this

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kind of Laval and Harvey sort of thing. And

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that was great.

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Were you mostly, you know, isolated? I mean,

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I don't mean isolated like pandemic, but

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like, were you doing your lines on your own

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or did you, you know, did you get any time

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with Mel Brooks and Ricky Gervais? I mean,

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Samuel L. Jackson, it was such a, not just

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as an animal lover that I loved this movie,

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but it was just such a cool cast. Every voice

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you knew.

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Yeah, yeah. It was a cool cast. We didn't

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really get to work together on that. It was

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mostly me and Gabriel. We did our lines together.

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Well, we've only got a couple of minutes

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left, and so I know we need to talk about

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the reality that we're living in is that

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we are getting the series finale of Evil.

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If we don't get any more Evil, what's ahead

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for you? How do we keep up with what you're

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doing next?

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Well, right now I'm doing an AMC miniseries

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starring Dan Stevens. It's called Terror,

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The Devil in Silver. It's part of the MC's

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Terror series. So I'm doing that right now,

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which will be out probably next year, which

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is another horror genre thing. So you'll

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have to watch it because I know that's your

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favorite genre.

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Absolutely not.

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Anyway, so I'm doing that. And then this

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fall, if anybody's out in Los Angeles, I'll

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be at the Geffen Theater with Lorraine Olson

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in the office waiting for Goodell. So if

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you're in LA, come check us out.

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Very fun. And you're, you're very active

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on, on social media as well. Is Instagram

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your go-to?

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Yes, mostly. Yeah. Yeah. These days, you

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know, it changes all the time. Right now,

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I feel like Instagram is where I am most

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of the time.

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Yeah, me too. Like there was a couple months

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ago, I was like, Oh, I should go back over

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on Twitter. I mean, x and just see if everybody's

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okay over there. Yeah, they're not by the

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way. They're not okay.

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Don't go back there. No, they're not. They're

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not. They're not. Okay.

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It has been a joy to talk with you. Awesome.

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Thanks so much for being on the show. Best

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of luck and hopefully we get more evil soon

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and we'll have you back.

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Yeah. Fingers crossed. Write in. Write those

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letters.

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Thanks for joining me for another celebrity

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interview. KJ Today, where you'll find the

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positive vibes of pop culture, people to

14:24.372 --> 14:26.893
know, and pets. If you like this interview,

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please make sure you give it a like, rate,

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review, and subscribe, and join us on YouTube

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the first Wednesday of every month for the

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full KJ Today show, where we play trivia,

14:37.938 --> 14:39.899
bring you more celebrity guests, and even

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a pet of the week to keep you feeling the

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positive vibes.