0:00
have the be I don't know if you up on it like Tracy and me are oh wow what are you trying to
0:05
say addicted on it my way we are addicted to this is the hottest series
0:11
on dsps right now all facts I say that all facts a hottest series on dsps right
0:18
now I'm mad that the first season is over I don't know what's happening next I'm pissed off and I got friends who
0:25
know Sterling K Brown who's a EP and starring in this series give him a big round of he's also a citizen of s in the
0:31
morning that's our family family Sterling look like he's been in the gym every day every night wow in this in
0:39
this series you know we started out with on muscles goad he's a beautiful person we actually started out with the first
0:46
agent we we had the same agent for a long time before he moved here to Los Angeles yeah and so every time um his
0:55
name would come up I was just like he started here you know and it's just
1:00
beautiful to see how God has blessed him and beautiful to just see his Spirit
1:05
just remain so humble and so gracious and all of it so he's a good one man proud to call him a citizen he's a
1:11
citizen of s in the morning and so I dug deep at the be because there's another person that plays an outstanding
1:18
character uh by the name of Nicole Robinson who has multi layers to her and
1:23
I had to find out well who is this person behind the character you know what I mean and I I've seen her face
1:29
before was it Criminal Minds was it NCS has she worked with Sterling before
1:35
Tracy G right I believe so yes she has
1:40
with this is us Shameless I was a big fan of Shameless my my
1:46
daughter's friend father was the start Shameless you know what I mean they went to school
1:52
together so the kid used to come to my house and I would ask about Shameless Supergirl she's done a variety of uh
1:59
characters that I think is outstanding for her because you can't pigeon her at all and she's continuously showing her
2:06
range in the character Nicole Robinson I want to welcome her to the show for the first time Atlanta's very own give it up
2:13
for Chris [Music] Marshall I mean wait wait wait wait wait
2:19
the last time I was introduced with that kind of Fan Fair was my wedding day I mean wow that was a what move up a
2:26
little closer nobody has ever been that good to me in an introduction I mean I need sway to follow me everywhere I go I
2:32
got you you know you could take a copy of this and just play it back to yourself I need it I'm walking in the Trader Joe's and boom man put some
2:40
respect on my name they got to put some respect on your name come on you earned it you are trem you are this series you
2:48
know it's hard to get captivated sometimes since co co was the the age of
2:53
the DSP Series right that's when we all start binge watching binge watching became a big thing during the co uh era
3:02
and lately there's two shows that I've binge watched
3:07
Fallout right um Round of Applause to them they do big they got big and my latest is Paradise and I think Paradise
3:15
is telling and for so many reasons especially with the condition the global climate we're experiencing right now and
3:22
and for those who don't know what Paradise is can you break down the the plot the concept of paradise I will do
3:28
my best I mean our story begins with um discovering that the president has been
3:33
murdered and Sterling K Brown your boy my boy is uh one of the Secret Service
3:38
agents whose job is to protect him and he's done a terrible job because he's dead so we spend the series sort of
3:46
figuring out who done it and at the end of the first episode we discover there's a big plot twist yeah big twist I will
3:53
save that to the audience who has not heard it yet and not seen the show yet but our show it's a it's a political thr
4:00
it's a complicated family story there's some sexy aspects it's sci-fi it feels like it's a little bit of everything and
4:07
something you and I were talking about before I came in this morning is about how um black audiences are responding to
4:15
this show in a really major way and I think it is so important for people to
4:20
see that having a black lead having black actors we can also be bankable we
4:27
can be cross pollinating not just one story that we're going to tell for one
4:32
kind of audience but everybody can enjoy us and the networks can make money off of it which is great it's a great
4:39
storyline yeah what you want you do awesome in it and as does Sterling K Brown the other thing too is you know
4:46
you guys have created all of this Fanfare because of the show and because of the the aspect of being black in it
4:53
and and and this is kind of a futuristic setting happening now right idea that
5:01
paradise is this artificial city that was dug out of a mountain right and I
5:06
want to say Colorado right color in Colorado and tens of thousands of people actually live there and there's certain
5:13
aspects of it people are wondering because you look great in it you know and the young lady play the Sterling's
5:19
daughter right uh you guys look great in it and your hair is always up you know always done up and they show little
5:26
things like bonnets in the whole nine and so the question is how their hair always up this has been of some Fanfare
5:33
right and but Paradise caters to that I don't know if you guys saw but on Tik
5:39
Tok one of our writers nadra um is a young black woman and she pointed out how on the set you will see that we have
5:46
a black hair salon and black barber shop in the Deep sides of the of the set that
5:51
they built it a braid shop it's a half braid shop half barber shop so it's important because you want to represent
5:58
the reality of what we look like in the future you know so often you see um futuris stories whether it's Star Trek
6:04
or Star Wars or whatever and there's sometimes an absence of black stories like as if we don't exist in the future
6:11
or we don't exist in sci-fi worlds and it's like yeah we exist in sci-fi worlds and we also get silk press and we also
6:18
get individual braids like we're still doing what we're doing today tomorrow that's right let's go it's thoughtful
6:24
it's thoughtful to remind the audience like these are real people we're building out a full wide world even
6:31
though it's a fictional story of course yeah but uh who is it fictional is it is it uh is it telling are there Bonkers
6:38
andan he you tell me like do you feel like there is for the billionaires in
6:45
the world that there is some Escape Route that they know about that we don't know about absolutely even if you just a
6:51
nonillionaire but you know stuff that people yeah absolutely believe it you
6:56
could almost feel it if you're tapped in you some kind you feel like there's definitely something going on above
7:03
Beyond and on Surface I would imagine because it's like no matter how much
7:08
money you have you still only have one life to live you know so you see these billionaires doing this like genetic
7:15
cating trying to get younger with you know whatever it is stem cells and IV
7:21
treatments and all that and I'm thinking like you can't take it with you there's got to be an option maybe it's not in
7:26
the bunker in Colorado but I feel like they're doing something what are you I think absolutely I mean I'm seeing all
7:31
of these shows man that you know like when you look at uh let's take it back to Star Trek and they had the Federation
7:39
right and this was before the United Nations was created and so the the United Nations in my opinion was based
7:46
on the concept of having the Federation on on Star Trek well people from different galaxies represented that
7:52
Galaxy came together people in different continents and countries represent each other in the United Nations so the ideal
7:58
you see shows like Silo you see shows like Fallout you know now you see
8:04
Paradise which is huge and it's all speaking to these subw worlds that are
8:09
being created in case there's some apocalyptic event that Tak that takes
8:15
place M yeah yeah I don't think it's far-fetched at all I don't think so either and you know in our story we have
8:22
um a cataclysmic um ecological event there's a there's a big tsunami this is
8:28
sort of a giveaway but not really you should still watch the show if you haven't seen it yet yeah um so you know
8:33
in doing the show and working on the show you're reading about this sort of global climate change event and feeling
8:40
like okay this is a TV show though we're working on this and then nearly a year later in real life here in Los Angeles
8:46
and you're here in La so you know we had this once in a-lifetime fire that nearly
8:52
devastated all of Los Angeles and so that is a direct event from Mankind's
8:58
effect on Earth the ways in we disrespect our planet so for me it went from art imitating life life imitating
9:06
art in a very disruptive way um you know we live in Tanga so we were evacuated
9:11
for a couple of weeks and just seeing how um you know stories like ours which
9:17
is a fictional story can inform us and ideally Inspire us to do things differently yeah I love this man hey
9:24
Chris Marshall man you spell your name different too who came up with that what is it KR
9:29
y from Crystal okay that was your Hollywood thing I see
9:34
what you did right you would move from Atlanta to Hollywood okay Chris
9:41
with with the French I want to kind of jump from uh I guess fiction to non-fiction you know
9:48
your real life I was pleasantly surprised I smiled when I saw University of North Carolina because um for so much
9:55
we well at least me being a sports fan I Associated as a sports School basketball goar heels all the way what made you
10:03
choose the University of North Carolina uh for your education so the same way that the UC school system has numerous
10:10
campuses all over you know Santa Barbara and la and exactly same thing with North Carolina so there are some campuses of
10:17
course that are familiar with you know their Sports programs but then exactly but then the one that I went to is a
10:23
smaller campus that's an art art school so the focus there is um anything from
10:29
dance to music to drama um Jada pinket Smith went there for the high school
10:35
program so yeah I mean it's an excellent program it's a small program it's in the
10:40
south of course um but for me going to school I knew that I wanted to focus on
10:45
the Arts specifically um I'm great at one thing and terrible at everything else I literally can't do long division
10:50
so the idea of me going to a school and trying to learn everything would it be a waste of time and money so um it's a
10:57
really concentrated program and um you know I didn't know anybody else who was in the Arts I didn't have you know a
11:03
family member you talk about Neo babies I was whatever the opposite of that was my family very much was like you need to
11:09
get a job in government you need to get a job at the post office something solid and I'm sure you guys know where when
11:15
you're working in the Arts in a creative field your family can't see it until you create it and show them there's an
11:21
Avenue for us outside of just working at the post office which is a wonderful job but we can do something different and be
11:28
Entre R preneurial so it was tough to convince my family to send me away to school and spend a bunch of money to
11:34
learn to play pretend but um I'm so glad that's what you sum up your career too
11:39
basic like that I'm a mime learn to play for living
11:47
but when you do it and you're in it and you realize I am in a strange way an
11:52
example for other young black girls to see like okay I can do something different I can leave my town of Smyrna
12:00
Georgia I say I'm from Atlanta but I'm from Smyrna okay um and make something of myself and build something out of
12:06
nothing so yeah thank you for sharing because it never North Carolina University of North Carolina never even
12:12
crossed my mind as a school you know even a smaller campus for acting and drama and literature so and dance so
12:19
thank you for sharing that I'm sure you're going to inspire a lot of women and men to take a look at that University yes I sure hope Tracy G you
12:27
got you I know you're way off in New York but you've been having a smile the whole time we've been talking
12:33
AB Chris Chris yes you said it perfectly sway um we are such addicts of paradise
12:40
I love Paradise so much are bumped into the studio with Sway and Heather are there and I'm like yo did you see this
12:45
episode exceptional acting humongous fan of Dan fogman going all the way this is us um and when I think about your of
12:52
course when I think about your character and how you know she has to really weigh
12:58
ambition um morality mortality and truth and I'm
13:04
wondering what did you personally connect with and also what did you feel
13:10
most challenged to access to bring this character to life Tracy you got me
13:15
sweating in my jumpsuit here because this is a very thoughtful and intelligent question and I want to
13:21
answer it eloquently um the things that I was drawn to are both the things that
13:26
I loved and I didn't love about agent Robinson um I love that she is um a powerful
13:34
black woman in an all-white environment who has to maintain her autonomy and
13:39
agency she has to keep forward her person while also holding back other
13:44
people's persons I think everybody knows what it's like to be in those rooms where you can't say exactly what you
13:50
want to say or act exactly how you want to act because there is um a shield that you're seen through differently because
13:56
you're a black woman so I'm watching her move in those rooms and bringing bits of
14:02
myself into that the things that I don't like about agent Robinson is that oh she's sleeping with a married man so
14:09
really early on that's how I was introduced to her as a character and as a married person I was very thrown from
14:14
that and I immediately judged her and was like w okay I I love this world I love this showrunner and of course I
14:21
love Dan's writing and I I'm excited about working with Sterling again but this woman is a mistress I can't get
14:27
behind that and then it was my work to divorce myself from the Judgment of who
14:33
she is and just play the truth of her um there are people all across America who
14:38
were in relationships with people who aren't available so if I'm to villainize every single one of them then I'm
14:45
villainizing the humanity in myself you know I'm not without fault so going to
14:51
play her and tapping into what is her Truth where is her her morality and not
14:57
just seeing the immorality of this is a mistress so for me I just dove into like
15:04
what's it like to be in love what's it like to want connection and kinship um
15:09
what's it like to feel alone and isolated I know what all those things are like so I held on to the bits of her
15:15
that feel close to me and I allowed myself to um forgive and not judge the
15:20
parts of her that didn't feel like they were me yeah you do it really well yeah cuz then that would be another waste of
15:26
money that you can't play pretend then they yeah a good job they don't they don't give refunds on degrees odly
15:33
enough unlike Nordstrom and Costco you can't bring that back bring it back bring that back Tracy do you want to
15:39
follow it or yeah no absolutely I have so many different questions because now when we start going into thinking about
15:46
the future and technology and the preservation of like our subconscious
15:52
right opportunities that may be afforded to us obviously easier if you have more money but for you Chris if there was the
16:00
opportunity to extend your life beyond you know God's intentional plan to
16:08
whatever length of time would you take it would you want to be in the year 5025 so we're talking like cryo chamber
16:15
kind of thing cryo chamber Right facts yep and you wake up in a couple thousand
16:21
years you know what Tracy before I my my baby is uh a little over a year and a
16:27
half and before having having a baby I felt like no I'm happy with whatever life expectancy there is you know 70
16:33
years and then after having him I realized like wow life is really short
16:39
like every day that I waited to have a baby was one less day I got with him
16:45
which is sort of a morbid thought but it's the truth um I won't be able to see him be an old man you know at some point
16:51
I'll be gone so um you know if I had the technology to to stay a little longer I
16:58
want to do it you want to do it yeah what about you sway you want to be a floating head in a
17:04
bucket yo Chris you're hilarious know coost to show you're hilarious you yeah
17:12
I wouldn't mind being a no I think I'm done when I'm done I feel like I'm coming back anyway
17:18
oo oh yeah reincarnation done with I'm done with this iteration when I when I'm done with this iteration are there are
17:24
there moments that you feel like oh this feels familiar like a life come back yeah so you think this is not your first
17:30
rodeo no either either either no I don't think so I can see that yeah I've been
17:36
told that too by some of my elders in my family no sway has the energy like he was born old you know what I mean like
17:42
he was like a grown man baby yeah because you grew up watching me I
17:48
know mean honey I don't mean your age I mean your energy you have a sensibility
17:53
like you were a pharaoh or something not just some regular degular back in the day like somebody who really had
17:59
absolutely I like that pharoh yeah I feel that I feel that too to be quite honest with you you know I feel that
18:05
thank you thank you I I'll be remissed if uh well hold on man we got to we G to
18:12
take a call from Lion he's in the ATL lion how you doing lion lion it's Ryan
18:19
man but Ry my bad Ryan the lion all right it's all good um I just had a
18:25
quick question about the about the for sure I had a quick question about the
18:31
barber shops and salons that you said were on set and I was wondering how do you uh go about trying to get on one of
18:37
those sets I guess you mean how does an actor get to play on the show yeah those
18:43
no the barber side you just want to be a barber on the set yeah like I'm I'm a barber for like
18:51
over 20 years and I was just wonder trying to get a job bro I
18:56
seeing well you know Sterling has a tight team of people he's been working with for a really long time who make
19:03
sure that he's looking right every day so he's got his people he got his people man but hey you had to take your shot
19:08
working with Sterling what what are the joys H too many to name and we'd be here
19:14
all day I mean he is both so takes the work very seriously but doesn't take
19:20
himself very seriously which is lovely um often times when you have somebody who's the number one on the call sheet
19:26
they dictate the energy on said Heather what you talking about I see you pointing this way I want you to finish
19:32
your point because then I I'll share something with say and I had a conversation about that thought so he is
19:39
bringing an energy of ease and collaboration every single step of the way so whether you are you know number
19:47
57 on the call sheet or you're a background actor who doesn't have a single line he is making little touches
19:53
throughout the day walking up to people saying how you doing brother you know dapping Folks up so that creates an En
19:59
of like We're All in This Together We all feel empowered our voices matter and
20:04
then that relates to actually better work that you put in the can you know as they say in the business that you
20:10
actually put in film so I am both playing opposite him as his colleague
20:15
and his equal but I'm also like a kid Sister where I'm just like soaking it in and making mental note for myself that
20:22
when I'm in a position to be number one when I'm in a position to be um executive producer that I want to move
20:28
and operate the way that he does I love that answer big round that's good is is that you're saying that about sway CU I
20:34
can see you Sway and I had a Chris you are so tapped in man God bless you I had
20:40
this very conversation yesterday last night in fact and I said to him you know
20:46
coming from various situations and being in cast you know you can't help but to
20:51
know and recognize who's number one or number two on call sheets and it's important that you recognize obviously
20:58
who that is is but the behavior of the one and two possibly on these call sheets it means a lot it sets the tone
21:05
you have to respect it it it all you've kind of not fall in line like in terms of obedience but it's there's an energy
21:11
created around that and he's held that space and that place so well you know
21:17
for all of us for myself as his you know sister and and and colleague as well in
21:23
real life and for Tracy and for everybody involved here and I I was telling him it's it's great to watch him
21:29
but it's also amazing to understand that and when people don't understand that there's always going to be some form of
21:35
chaos and friction for people who don't understand what that means so thank you for the confirmation because we lit this
21:43
wasn't even got 10 hours ago having conversation we were having this convers
21:48
and we and I use call sheets as the example wow well then let me ask you sway because you're first of all Heather
21:56
thank you for saying that because it's not just in entertainment it's around
22:01
it's in every opportunity and whether you are the district manager of the Taco Bell that you work for like your
22:07
responsibility is to set the tone and it's not pure altruism you're not just doing it because you're a good guy
22:13
you're doing it because you want a better product but my question for you sway is as the person who wears the
22:18
crown in this room how do you feel about that responsibility are you consciously showing up to work saying okay I had a
22:24
tough morning my ladies on my case my wife's you know kids giving me crap M do
22:29
you show up and consciously think I'm going to make sure that Tracy and Heather have a good day today that everybody in this room has a good day
22:35
today absolutely oh wow you're going to lie while she's here you had an opportunity to come
22:41
clean I don't show up like wow oh wow I think you got to Le by example I saw my
22:47
grandfather do this Cloud waters you know and under every circumstance amen
22:53
he claw Waters claw Waters claw Waters I watched him under any circumstance keep
22:58
but even till and I think it and I didn't understand it initially it could have been a totally different way but I
23:05
also watched that his temperament helped others find their fullest potential and I think when we're in these walls and
23:11
we're we're also doing a service we're doing a service to a whole network and Community this show is listened to all
23:17
around the world right and I I want to see Tracy um be able to shed whatever uh
23:25
constructs that uh this business sets up when you come into our space you don't have to worry about those things people
23:30
are treated on an equal level when it's time to make certain decisions obviously I make them but for the most part I want
23:36
everybody to feel valued and understand that I value them and to your point that's how you get the best in my
23:43
experience I've seen the most the best productivity come out of that temperament to come out of that approach
23:49
and then secondly that's what's in my heart exactly you know what I mean that's really what's in my heart to do I
23:55
came at I came into the game as an artist who got told a lot of NOS in mean
24:00
ways and I always promise myself and I'll talk to God about it that if I'm ever in a position of power I want to do
24:08
it SL I want to do it differently I want people to feel great when they come into this space and it's going to encourage
24:14
them to be the best people that they can be Sterling by doing that everybody has the same value yeah I walk around these
24:21
buildings and people who never are spoken to I'm giving them high fives I'm thank you I'm doing all that to to me
24:27
we're all human we all have the same value so those are the things I take and I've done this for decades Chris you
24:34
know been in these positions I've done it for decades I like to share I feel like I've been rewarded truly blessed
24:41
right and I want to share that with every I want everybody to feel it to know what it feels like you know PB
24:47
right here you know this dude behind the visuals I want to know he's valued like he was spiky yeah when he's standing
24:54
behind that you feel like that you feel like okay see it worked it worked well James uh James Madden
25:03
salute to James Madden right place the president in this there's one line I got to ask you about yeah can you
25:10
unpack Call Me When You're Sober W there are women across this country
25:19
women across the world who know exactly what I'm talking about this is something you said to him after he professed his
25:25
love for you all of these different things Call Me When You're Sober because it's easy to say the thing you want a
25:32
woman to say to hear when you're in bed when you've had a few whiskies that sort of thing but it takes a lot of strength
25:39
to stand up to somebody and say I deserve better Call Me When You're Sober um and whether that is a person who's
25:45
been drinking or doing drugs or has another woman or whatever but these are the parts about agent Robinson that are
25:52
really love is her strength in the midst of chaos um playing with James Marsen is
25:58
is just so fun um he of course is just really handsome which makes it easy to fall in love with him but um you know we
26:05
had some intimate scenes together as you guys remember in episode three we have some you know booby touching and things
26:11
like that and we have some scenes where we're topless and all that and um when we started the show I was um 6 months
26:19
out of having a baby wow so my body even though it looked like its old self it
26:26
didn't feel like it's old self you know my breast felt like they belong to this little person so the idea of being
26:34
touched and then touched by a relative stranger was like brand new information to me and I was very apprehensive and
26:42
thankfully our showrunners are so cool and they're like we can get you a body double whatever you want to do we want you to be comfortable so I said no I
26:48
really want to play this I want to play the reality of this but I'd love to do some rehearsals so James and I got
26:54
together with our writer and our episode director and we just sort of danced it
27:00
out we moved together we rehearsed together I put a clip of it up on my Instagram of us just working through the
27:06
mechanics of what moves felt right and you know I think back to the days I mean
27:11
I'm sure you guys have covered it a bunch you know on the show of the sort of me too era and the Diddy parties and
27:17
the horrible things that you hear women in our industry people in our industry have gone through and so for me even
27:24
though I can stand on my own two feet Marson is a big fat star you know I am I am I am not a big fat star so I
27:32
was nervous about what this exchange would be like and he made it so clear every step of the way this is up to
27:38
Chris whatever Chris wants to do I'm cool with doing if Chris likes that I'm down with it and so it made me feel so
27:45
empowered to be able to play with him in that way and I'm really grateful for it and I'm hopeful that other actors other
27:51
female actors who put themselves in these positions to be in shows can step forward and say I want an intimacy
27:56
coordinator I'd love to a rehearsal so that I can feel good in my body and feel good with my teene partner so we can
28:02
play and be safe yeah I love that answer Meo and really quickly Chris before you go listening to you how did your your
28:10
partner your you feel about that did it did did he feel better because you had
28:15
an intimacy partner yeah you know both James and I have long-term Partners so
28:20
it wasn't like you know there was real stuff going on there but um I can just speak from my partner he was very happy
28:26
for me you know he we've been together for many years and he is so excited to see my rise and has been um the backbone
28:34
and the Go Go Juice when I didn't have it the times that I came close on jobs and didn't get them and you know sat
28:41
with me and held me while I cried so for him this is all a part of a big win and he was just so happy for me that's dope
28:48
salute to him and James Marston I said it incorrectly I just wanted to make sure you post that you know do your
28:54
thing do your trick um listen we'll fix it and post okay oh wait this is live
28:59
mind this is live okay Chris you are outstanding for real congratulations to
29:05
you you got you one you got you one you've been on a lot you've done a lot of great work but I'm happy to see you
29:11
on this and I can't I I'm not even going to actually what's going to happen next um but I want to thank you for coming
29:17
here and being quite a joy anything you like to say in closing um I just want to express my gratitude I mean this is cool
29:24
like you said I grew up watching you watching you as well Heather oh wow thank are you kidding me real world
29:30
first of all when I was a kid we weren't allowed to watch it cuz it was like too sexy you know and too violent cuz Heather was fighting people it was 92 S
29:37
I wasn't sure it was Chris could you hear my argument really quickly it was 1992 it was the first of his kind the
29:43
set me up that's all I got to say the set me up because they love to make us look a certain type of way and
29:51
even as a kid I was like this is a scam there's edit there's footage we're not seeing six-year-old me was like this is
29:59
BS you knew it did let me see the dailies so but yes this I I feel like I
30:05
am in the I'm sitting in the seat of you don't have the answers sway you know
30:11
like iconic iconic pop culture moments so when I was invited here I'm like what do you mean they want to hang out with
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me this is insane so I'm just so jazzed to be here I'm so honored to take time up in this seat you guys are legends I
30:24
know you already know that but you need to be reminded of that sitting in this seat who cares about them like this this
30:32
wow this is cool that's awesome that's it's a good thing you was fighting on
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real world okay Chris dropped the mic she's out of there she out of there give it up for Chris Marshall
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y'all she one of us sex chocolate Sexual Chocolate all right make sure you watch
30:50
Paradise on Hulu watch it again if you already watched it