Latest / Dos Amigos / Origins

Transcript

Origins · Dos Amigos

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: So it's happy. Welcome to those amigos.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Welcome to do a media you know, that's that's how
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: we do things.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: I am we.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: So uh here, we are here, We are there.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: You know a little water for them, are we are
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: we switching.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Up in a little while. Yeah, we'll brobably switch it
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to guns, you know.
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: But because it's apropos, we are in your speakeasy.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: And and and for those.
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: Of you out there who can't really see this magnificent space,
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: this is Wilmer Valderrama is wonderful speakeasy. I mean, this
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: thing is pretty impressive. I hope that one day we
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: just get the kinda put the camera around. But there's
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: this awesome bar over there.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Hey, Aaron, you went into the yourself a bit.
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: Absolutely absolutely, what's going on, y'all. My name is Aaron.
• 1:04
  Speaker 5: I'm a producer for Docent Migos. Consider me your third
• 1:07
  Speaker 5: amigo for today's episode. I'm over here. And if you
• 1:11
  Speaker 5: have any questions or things. If the audience out there
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: wants to ask any of our wonderful gentlemen a question,
• 1:17
  Speaker 5: I'll be here to present it to you all.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: But I'm excited for the journey. And yeah, let's have
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: a good time.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Eron Wilmer, I want to know what the inspiration
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: was behind this thing? And I'm I'm every time I
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: come here, I just I never want to leave.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Me too, me too so much. Nobody can get me
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: to go anywhere anymore. What was it?
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: What was the inspiration?
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: Like, you know, I gotta say, I think Timothy Alton
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: discovered me, right, And everybody knows about this guy for
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: a very.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Long time, and I discover him late.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: And I just love that every single one of these
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: pieces has said so much, and every piece had an
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: opinion about itself.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Like what would you how would you describe his style?
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: It's like vintage new, but it's really a vintage, but
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: it's made new.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: He also uses vintage artifacts and then gives it new purpose, right,
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Like there's just stuff like that, and it's just really
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: you know, the deep collars, I don't know, it feels
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: like something I've never had before, and I feel inspirational
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: to me, you know, in many ways. And but yeah,
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: so so I got my first lamp from him, and
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: I was like, oh, this is cool. And then he
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: turned into a couch, and then he turned into a table,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: and then he turned into like a in artwork and
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: it's just start aspiring ball from But I'm like, I'm
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: like a you know, I'm like a Timothy Olton double
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: R L guy, you know. So I love that that
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: stuff is my It's.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Very indicative of the style.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: I mean, even even like this, like I don't know
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: if y'all could see it, woman has this wonderful kind
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: of bronze tin roof here ceiling should.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: I Yeah, yeah, it's wonderful.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well yeah, it was definitely like this experiment and
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: that you imagine telling your your lady that the room
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: downstairs is something that you even have a stage there man,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: And yeah, we have a piano there, we have Sheila,
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: he's goes there.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I think one day we'll have Sheil come in and
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: do a thing, you know.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: And we had people perform on that day.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I think uh Leo clam who's one of
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: the ex producers. He's just an incredible producers. Done a beautiful,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: beautiful work. And you know, we had we had a
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: little birthday here and but we had a little piano there.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: We have she like the bongos that she gave me
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: for my birthday and stuff. So we're I mean, I look,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: I just I love this. I love music. I love
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: this this corner.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: I mean you could have like a full band up there, man,
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: I mean this is like this reminds me of the
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: space that I would see like in New York, somewhere
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: like downtown.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I think.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: So, you know, I feel like you know has that
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: you know I you know you talk about the wells
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: covered newspapers.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what's that about.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: So my friends found this guy who was selling thirty
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: years of headlines, real newspapers, thirty years, and he was
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: selling for a one hundred bucks.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: So he for the whole bundle.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Yes, he just wanted it out of his garage. So
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: I bought the whole thing. And then I said, uh,
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: you know what am if you put it on the walls.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: And so we have like headlines from you know, Mike Tyson,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: you know Mike Tyson in the ear and you know
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: the eighty four Olympics, you know Kobe Bryant joining the
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Lakers eighty four.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: He had eighty four Olympics newspaper.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah and yeah, so that became the one paper of
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: the room, and he just felt like the whole place
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: had an opinion.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: But speaking of opinions.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: You know, we still and I have some Yeah, we
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: don't know why we're here, we're doing this kind of
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: what we're here?
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: How do we do this?
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: Like?
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: What happened?
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Did we do this?
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Welcome to those? Am he goos?
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: Oh?
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Yes, welcome to those.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: The podcast so you explore the many topics that run
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: through Freddy's and might.
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: Have our brains, so that you can get a sense
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: of what it's like when Wilmar and I get together
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: and we just talk and all of a sudden it's
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: like three four hours later.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, perfect segway into like how do we ended
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: up here with microphones and speakeasy and like how did
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: this happen?
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: I feel like there was a lead up to that day, though,
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: because woman and I have known each other twenty five
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: years or so, and I found that every time that
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: you and I got together, whether we're on a plane
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: to London or whatever, it's always like five six seven
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: hours of us just talking and it always seems so seamless,
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: it didn't seem forced or anything, and so I always
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: felt like that was the foundation of why we came
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: here today. However, that leads us to the night we
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: got together we had a group text between myself, Wilmer
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: and shout out to Jay, Hernandez and Rock and we
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: had a group text, and for like a year we
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: kept saying, when are we getting together?
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: When do we get together? When do we get together?
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: Finally it was the it was the strike right, and
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: it was Jay goes, come on, I know none.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Of you bastards are working, so let's go and have dinner.
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: And we finally did it, and we got together and
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: what was that wonderful restaurant.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: We went too.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: It's a it's an Argentina and restaurant on Marroo's my
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: favorite steak house in Los Angeles. Highly recommend visiting. Beautiful
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: family own. The mom is still doing all the is
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: it really?
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Everybody who you met was you know, brothers, and it's
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: beautiful and it's been there forever. I mean it's like
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: this hidden jam and yeah, it's it's amazing.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: But so we we ended up showing up who he said, Hey,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: you know what six o'clock dinner.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because you know we're all like like three old men.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we can go bed early. Cut to you know,
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: two thirty in the morning. We're still talking and close
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: to doing and We're on Merrows telling your mama so
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: fat jokes. Like it got to a point where we
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: just started talking about anything.
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: Okay, hold on, did everybody hear that we were on
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: Melrose at three in the morning telling your mama jokes?
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: So you could imagine the cars that were passing by,
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: and we're watching j Hernandez and Freddie Rodriguez looking like
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: three three delinquents Mels at three. Yeah, which is a
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: quick shout out to a Warmer. First show he produced
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: called Yo Mama, which I was an incredible fan of,
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: and as we're there al Melrose, I brought it up
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: and we fell right into the ya Mama jact. Yeah.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: No, I that was my first Frankenstein.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: That was my first audacious Uh maybe I could be
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: a producer too, you know.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: And then I created this thing and MTV says yes.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: But speaking of all the you know, origin stories and
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: all that, I think about our culture, and I think
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: about the likability, the likability, the likability of all of
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: us somehow ended up embracing a life of you know, entertainment.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: What was that moment for you? Just kind of getting
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: down to it, like, what was that moment for that
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: you you were like, oh, you know, I want to
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: be an actor.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I mean, and this is the absolute truth.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: I really wasn't good at anything else.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: And I'm dead serious.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: I feel like I started acting when I was like thirteen,
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: and I feel like it's such a crucial age where
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: you're trying to find yourself and you're trying to find
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: your identity. And I had cousins who were studious, and
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: I had friends who were athletes and so on and
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: so forth, and I just wasn't really good at any
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: of that stuff. And it wasn't until I found acting
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: and I found the arts that I really found what
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: I felt was my calling, which was in contrast to
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: what my parents had planned for me. Right, My parents
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: migrated from Puerto Rico to Chicago, didn't speak English. And
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: I don't know if you experienced this with your parents,
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: but definitely like one track mind, right, came from Puerto
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: Rico to Chicago, worked, raised their kids, one of their
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: kids to go to school, one of their kids to
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: get jobs, you know, lead a normal life. And then
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: here I come like, I want to be I want
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: to get altita, I want Yeah, what it is that
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: it's a hobby, you know, because there was so many
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: plays and so much off I was doing in Chicago
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: at that time, and it wasn't until I started to
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: do it professionally that they started to see that I
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: could actually pay the rent.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: But it just it just didn't compute for a long time.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: You know, did you have the same.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: Experience pretty similar? I mean in the sense that you know,
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: we are we see, came here to work. We came
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: from the different country to you know, where'd you guys,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: where'd you guys come from? Well, we came from Venezuela.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: So my mother is Columbia. My father's Venezuelan, so you know,
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: we but they had met at Miami, and you know,
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: we'll get deep into that later. But I but I
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: think the moment that I said to myself, oh why
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: not acting right was almost by necessity, in a weird
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: illusion away, you know.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Necessity.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, necessity.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: I felt like you know, I was I was still
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: in high school, you know, but I was always acting,
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: singing and dances just for fun. You know, I never
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: did it professionally. And I remember my dad used to
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: drive this masta, you know, held put up for sales
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: sign on the moss die and yeah, something like that
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: and he would put it for sale sign. And he
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: would use this car to transport parts from shop to shop.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: And if for sale sign, he will sell the car
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: for a little profit. They would buy another one a
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: little more expensive, would put it for sale sign, then
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: buy another one, put it for sales sign. And that
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: car was just hustling, you know what I mean. And
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: then one day that car got.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Stolen from the front of the house.
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: Oh wow, and I saw for the first time, you know,
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: the uncertainty and the concern, and the and the fear
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: from my mom and from my dad.
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: And because that was the money man, that was the
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: money maker, that was the train, right, and that was
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: what was carried in us buy and well that he
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: was selling that he was also making some money and
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: using the car and that was a lifeline.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: And you know, in Los Angeles you need a car.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: Like you to get around, you need a car. And
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: you know, honestly, that was the moment when I saw
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: their concern, I said to myself, I got to get
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: in the game. And I was maybe fourteen fifteen years old,
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: and I said, I got to do this. And you know,
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: remember hearing this commercial. Are you between the ages of
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: sixteen was it? Oh man, are you between the fourteen
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: and sixty years old? Do you think you got it
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: takes to what it takes to to be a TV
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: personality and commercials and you know morning Saturday morning shows. Uh.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Then come to the Hilton and laxah blah blah. We
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: do a showcase where industry.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: Experts, industry experts, they are going to deem to see
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: if you got what it is?
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: If you got it?
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So I told my dad and my Dad's like,
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: what what is this?
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: You know? So we go we showed up this showcase
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: and then he was like, but did.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: You do it before that? Or did you just have
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: a natural I guess I was doing theater right.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: I was singing and dancing, you know, but again because
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: it was like extra codc activities and in school, that
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: was the why I did it, you know, because it
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: was fun.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: I was like, and I didn't know how to speak English.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: So the more I did that, the faster I was
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: learning how to speak English.
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know the audacity of thinking that you
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: could be that, That's something that I think culturally we
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: all have. Yeah, but into it takes a certain amount
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: of perfect storms to happen, you.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Know, right, perfect storms.
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so what you say to your family, Hey, I
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: want to audition and or like I wanted to how
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: does this happen to you?
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Decided you in the theater.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Or yeah, I sort of stumbled into it.
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: In the Chicago public school systems at that time, the
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: arts were practically non existent, just to be honest, And
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: so my school had no arts, no sports, nothing extracurricular.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: And this is a really important point. You know, what
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: happens to kids at that age if there's no direction, right,
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: if there's nothing that they're necessarily interested in, whether it's
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: the art of sports or something else, then they're susceptible
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: to becoming a product of their environment.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Okay, and I grew up in Chicago. I grew up
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: in the inner city.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: I grew up wear a lot of gangs, a lot
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: of drugs, a lot of graffiti, a lot of everything
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: that you would imagine is in the urban environment. And
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: I found myself pretty much going in that direction, or
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: saw that I could have gone in that direction if
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: I had no If I had no direction, family saw
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: it as well. And so when I discovered acting, I've
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: just found my calling. But a lot of that was
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: just because I wasn't good at anything else, you know,
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: and people need to understand that, you know, not every
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: kid is a is an athlete, not every kid is
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: a mathematician.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: You got to find the thing that that the thirteen
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: year old kid is good at and then they'll thrive.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: What's the strength and how do you cultivate that? Exactly? Yeah,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: And honestly this.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: Is one of the purposes of where I feel this
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: show hopefully be a space for it to explore all
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: these ideas and all these thoughts, all these subjects. You know,
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: how do you demystified? Right, how do you how do
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: you disarm the thought of.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Any ambition you have?
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: You know, I think that there's so much in culturally
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: that we have to kind of fight against, you know,
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: in order for us to break ground, or break new
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: environments or go into new roads, right take take new
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: chapters that perhaps our family never thought realistic for us, right,
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: you know. So, so I really hope that this space
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: that this podcast you know, kind of allows us to
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: disarm those thoughts, to create a new a new way
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: of thinking, you know, and I think you think about
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: the generation that we're experiencing right now, and you know,
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: the youngans who are going to carry the torch from
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: whatever we were able to humbly achieve.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: And I think that's the.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Part of this experiment, you know. And we'd like to
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: invite everyone who's who's joining us in this podcast to say, hey, like,
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: remember when you used to dream big?
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Right like, is it too late to keep dreaming?
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: You know, bring some friends, you know, but perhaps the
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: third amigo that can inspire you and me, you know
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: into other ways you know, that can hopefully translate into
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: inspiration for others. You know, this is a show for everyone,
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: and we hope that everyone really really enjoys it.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a show for everyone.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: You know. I want to hear other people's journeys as well,
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: whether you're in the entertainment industry or not.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: You know, what's it like to be in business, what's
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: it like to be a doctor or a nurse or
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: a teacher or that.
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: I want to know what that journey is like and
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: how culturally that's impacted you and how that steered your
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: journey or whatever decisions you made in that journey.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and what life hacks you know, what ways do
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: you can you hack the life that was perceived or
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: stereotypically given to you, And how do you break that
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: apart and say, hey, you know, I'm going to rewrite
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: a new chapter, like how can we do that? And
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: then you know, also, let's make sure this is fun,
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: you know, you know, you.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Know, because that's just who we are, you know.
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: I think one thing I can say about Latinos is
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: that when things get a little complicated, you know, we
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: don't complain about it.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: We turn the music a little. Yeah. So let's I
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: had a question real quick, how did you two meet?
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: Because this is like a dope friendship and I know
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: it's been years in the making, and I just want
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: to say, like, when was the first time y'all connected
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: and knew like, okay, this is going to be like
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: a brother or like life.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Or something like that.
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: Like how did you all come across each other?
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: That's a great question, that's a weird question.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: I'd say, well, you should go first, because there's multiple
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: instances in my life when you and I crosspass words.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: It's like, yeah, this is yeah. I remember I was
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: doing I was doing a show I want to say
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: nineteen ninety eight, maybe ninety nine, and I remember you
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: came to visit a friend and you came on set
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: and I think I was shooting at Sony or something,
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: and I remember the hair person or the makeup person said, hey, you.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: See that guy.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: He's he's a Latino actor like you.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: And I remember them specifically pointing you out as you
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: walked in and you said hello to your friend. And
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: at that point I really hadn't met too many other
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: Latino Latina actors in Hollywood.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Man. I really fell alone, you know. And I just
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: remember looking at you and going.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: Like, whoh, there's somebody else like me, you know. And
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: then I believe your show came out after and obviously
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: seeing you on that, I was incredibly proud to see you,
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: you doing your thing. And then I just remember being
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: out and us having mutual friends and meeting through mutual friends.
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: I remember seeing you, I don't know if it was
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: Conan O'Brien or whatever, and you were dancing sad side.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: And I was like, he dances sas like man, like,
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: you know, I.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: Grew up dancing South Simon didn't get you know, And
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: that you spoke Spanish, and which is crazy. You tell
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: me that Spanish was your first language and you didn't
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: speak English because your English was so impeccable, I would
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: have never guessed that you only spoke Spanish. So there
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: were a lot of elements that you possessed that felt
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: very familiar to me.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: And you just felt like somebody that I had grown.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Up with, you know.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: And then when we actually met and we started talking,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: I was like, this guy's the coolest freaking guy in
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: the world, man, you know.
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: And every time we as I said in the beginning
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: of the show, every time we talked, it was always
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: like three four hours and we always.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: Just you know, just enjoyed each other's company.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Well, my mine is very similar, you know.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: I think first of all, I remember seeing you a
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: six feet under and I was like, and then see
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: your Rodriguez, you know, Rodriguez and the credits, I was like, damn,
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: you know, and I'm telling you, you what you say
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: to me, I feel incredibly just telling of the environment
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: and the climbing in which we're coming up as performers,
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: you know, I didn't have anything else to compare ourselves to, right,
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: and there was like maybe a few of us on
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: network TV and cable TV, and you know, I saw
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: you a six feet under and you were I mean
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: incredible in that Then I realized I started then seeing
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: you in so many other movies before that, and I
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: was like, oh, this is the same guy I liked
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: in this movie.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: This is the same guy I liked in that product.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: And so to me, it was like just to see
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: that almost created this mirage that like we weren't just
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: the one person in the room, right, Like we weren't
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: like the only Latino on the show, the only Latino
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: in the movie. And it made me realize that I
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: wasn't that I wasn't that alone. But you know, it
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: goes full circle to say, like, you know, the moment
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: I met you, your your and you know, you were
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: unapologetically Latino, and I was like, dude, like it's really
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: is it was really beautiful.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: To see that.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: And I say, you know, to your point, some of
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: these conversations that we were having, you know, kept untapping
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: and un rambling some of the many layers that we
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: have never been allowed to talk about because you know,
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: you get kind of corner into you know, promote the
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: show and you know, talk about the why the show
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: and about your character, and you never have the space
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: to kind of talk a little bit about what it
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: took for you to have the tools that you did,
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: and back then you were doing some of the most
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: pop culturally moments in history. And I remember seeing you
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: go through the ALBUMA Awards and whatever, and I was like,
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: of course, I mean like you were.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: You were absolutely lifting our community for.
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: So long, but they weren't that many of us, so
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: the signal was like just brewing, you know, like we
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: were just making them, you know, and but you were
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: part of this community that was just breaking ground for
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: all of us. And I was it was more than proud.
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: I was.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: I just wanted to be like that. I just wanted
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: to continue to aspire to do that, you know. And
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: but it was our conversations. And I remember when I
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: truly fell in love with Freddie Rodriguez was when we
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: were on a flight to London, That's right, yeah, yeah,
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: and we ended up sitting together like just randomly and
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, Freddie, nice to see you, and like yeah.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: And You're like the same.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: And then we did not take one blink of a
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: nap as from the moment we boarded to the moment
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: we landed, to the moment.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: We got our bags, we were talking. I don't know
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: how long.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: That flight was like thirteen hours, thirteen hours, and we
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: talked about all of it, and that's when I knew,
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: you know, you're gonna be my family for life.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, brother. I received that.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: And you know what's interesting about that, you know, us
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: talking like that for thirteen hours, I mean, what does
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: that say. It said is that there's a lot that
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: we were holding back. Right. I don't want to say
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: it's like a therapy session, but you know it goes
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: to show that that, at least as I'm speaking for myself,
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: you know, like I didn't really have too many other
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: people that I can talk to like that that understood
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: the journey, that understood the steps, that understood starting how
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: we started and what it was to be there. You
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: said something a minute ago that was really interesting. A
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: lot of the projects that we've done, we're always the
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: only Latino in that project, you know, and that gets
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: lonely man, right, you know, you know, you go from
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: movie to movie, show to show, and you're always the
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: only Latino person, you know, and you don't have somebody
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: else there that you can relate to or talk to.
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: And so so then when you get on a plane
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: in London for thirteen hours.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: It's like I gotta let it alone.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: I gotta let it out.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: But there was a lack of community, right, there's a
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: lack of.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: Awareness, you know, And we were all, you know, lone
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: ranger in this thing in different directions, right, we were
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: segregated from each other and not allowed to technically commute
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: artistically because you're right, like tokenly, you know, we were
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: placed in different projects. And by the way, we were
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: also where able to play against stereotypes and so many
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: different ways, you know, and some all that stuff.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: So it's pretty unbelievable. For me.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: It was like, you know, I had an accent, So
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: when I was looking at you as a Latina and
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: you did not have an accent but also spoke Spanish,
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: I was like, I gotta be like this guy because
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: I literally could have ship my accent. And I think
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: for right now, I think you can hear that I
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: decided to give up on that question.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I never but I never felt it was like
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: at the forefront.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it wasn't strong enough to be the night in jobs,
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: but it also wasn't like clean enough to play you know,
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: the full American guy, you know. But but I mean,
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: I to your point I think having our journeys, you know,
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: clashing this way, and for us to be able to
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: historically record these moments and and say like, we can
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: leave this behind and you know, not just for our children,
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: but humbly to those who are next. And there's a
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: beautiful community out there that has been waiting for this space,
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: and I dare to say they're inheriting a space that's
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: so much more open, so much more marketable, so much
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: more fruitful. And I think the idea that this podcast
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: can start this conversation in many ways.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: On that level, it's amazing.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: And I you know, I invite everybody in the studio
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: system in Hollywood and all other industries to kind of discover,
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: you know, how much of a partner this community can be,
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: how much of.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: A partner, how vast our audiences, how big our audiences,
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: The audience that's going to tune in to listen to this,
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: the audience that has followed us for the last thirty years,
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: that have watched all our things.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about all those things.
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: We're going to bring all of our friends, you know,
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: to come and validate these stories. Don't take it just
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: from us, but yeah, the idea that we can bring
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: other individuals that were part of that journey and also
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: individuals that may be part of the journey we're going next,
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: and we hope everyone enjoys it.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: And that leads me to my next wondrous question.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: We've been able to talk a little bit of like
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: the inspiration, what like what kicked our butts into artistry?
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: You know, but I think a lot of people have
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: not had the opportunity to hear who is Freddie Rodriguez?
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: You know, like where do you come from? Who are
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: your parents? You know, who were you as a kid,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: who were you as a student?
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: You know, like what what things happen in your life
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: that kind of shape what Freddie Rodriguez is today? Because
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: although we have to artistry, there's a whole lifetime that happens,
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: the play of factor and the choices you make as
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: an actor in the in the in your views and your.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Philosophies of life. And I love to hear that, Oh, well,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: thank you.
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: I hope we have another episode in us maybe maybe
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: we'll well look at that.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: We got to refill our cup refilled and we welcome
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: Maryant Episode two.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Who is Freddie Rodriguez?
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: Salute?
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: Dos Amigos is a production from WV Sound and iHeartMedia's
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: Michael Tuda podcast network, hosted by Me, Freddie Rodriguez, and
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: Wilmer Valderama.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burlison and Sophie Spencer's Zebos.
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: Our executive producers are Wilmer Valderama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlison,
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: and Leo Klem at WV Sound.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: This episode was edited by Ryan Posts and Aaron Burlison
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: and features original music by Madison Devenport and Halo Boy.
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: Our cover art photography is by David Avalos and designed
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: by Deny holtz.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: Claw and special thanks to every single interview for joining
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: this journey and I hope you continue to enjoy us.
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: For more podcasts from my Heart, visit the iHeartRadio app,
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: See you or hear us in a week or so.