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Donnie Wahlberg · On with Mario Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're on with Mario Lopez.
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  Speaker 2: What's up, y'all?
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Mario Lopez joining me right now. He's one fifth of
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  Speaker 1: the legendary boy band, New Kids on the Block. My man,
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  Speaker 1: Donnie Wahlberg. What's going on, Donnie?
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  Speaker 2: One slice of the pie of New Kids. I like it.
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  Speaker 1: One slice, man. I love that you guys are still
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  Speaker 1: killing it. Doing your thing. I may have told you
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  Speaker 1: this before, but it's so weird. I vividly remember when
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  Speaker 1: you guys came out on the Apollo way back in
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  Speaker 1: the day right there. I was like, oh, look at
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  Speaker 1: the white boys getting down right there. I remember that.
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  Speaker 1: And to all these years, decades later now, still doing
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  Speaker 1: your thing, kicking off another run in Vegas in October,
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  Speaker 1: The Right Stuff Remixed. I got to imagine the Vegas
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  Speaker 1: residencies are a lot of fun. I mean, touring's cool,
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  Speaker 1: but at this point in our age, right, you know
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  Speaker 1: where you got to be.
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  Speaker 2: It's really cool.
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  Speaker 3: It's difficult because I'm filming my TV show, Boston Blue
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  Speaker 3: in Toronto.
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  Speaker 1: Congratulations.
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  Speaker 2: I was going to get to that later. Thank you.
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  Speaker 3: So I fly in to the Vegas shows and usually
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  Speaker 3: stay for a day or two, then fly back. and
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  Speaker 3: film for a day or two, then fly back to Vegas.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm for that one month that we're doing the
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  Speaker 3: shows in Vegas, I'm zipping around. But I mean, of
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  Speaker 3: course I love it that way. You know, it's like,
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  Speaker 3: it's like what I worked for my whole life is
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  Speaker 3: to be able to do these things.
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  Speaker 2: So no complaints, but yeah.
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  Speaker 3: It was really cool because I went to see Usher's
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  Speaker 3: show in the same theater. He played at the Dolby
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  Speaker 3: Live at Park MGM like we are. And I went
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  Speaker 3: to see his show to sort of decide whether we
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  Speaker 3: would do it or not. And him and his wife
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  Speaker 3: were talking to me and they were like.
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  Speaker 2: Listen, you should do it. It's great. It's fun.
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  Speaker 3: You just come in like the day before the show
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  Speaker 3: and it all comes right back to you. You do
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  Speaker 3: a quick rehearsal and it's just to be in one
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  Speaker 3: place for so long and to come and go. But
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  Speaker 3: know where you're going to perform every day. it's a
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  Speaker 3: really cool experience and it's been everything that he said
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  Speaker 3: it was going to be. And more, you know, it's like,
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  Speaker 3: it's been unbelievable chance to connect with fans. We do pop-ups,
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  Speaker 3: we do all these events and stuff like that to
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  Speaker 3: create more, more experiences for the fans. And it's been,
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  Speaker 3: it's been wonderful. It's been everything he sold me on
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  Speaker 3: and more.
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  Speaker 1: That's awesome. Well, it's, it's called the remixed show. What
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  Speaker 1: can fans expect with this remix?
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  Speaker 3: Well, we really, the, the original show, the original version
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  Speaker 3: of the show is, We kind of threw everything but
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  Speaker 3: the kitchen sink into it.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we're flying around the building.
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  Speaker 3: We got subway cars and cars, and we're doing all
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  Speaker 3: these things in like two and a half hours of songs.
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  Speaker 3: And we decided, you know, for the last bunch of shows,
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  Speaker 3: let's throw the kitchen sink in too. So we added
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  Speaker 3: more songs. We added some special, very... Vegas centric moments.
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  Speaker 3: And we're going to add even more again for the,
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  Speaker 3: for the next batch of shows. Like we just want
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  Speaker 3: to give the fans sort of everything. It means so
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  Speaker 3: much to us that they travel so far. You know,
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  Speaker 3: it's not just like Vegas people show up and a
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  Speaker 3: lot of them do, but our fans are coming from Europe,
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  Speaker 3: from Asia, from you name it. They're coming from all
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  Speaker 3: over the world. And, um, we, we don't want to
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  Speaker 3: do a typical Vegas show. It's like you give them
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  Speaker 3: an hour and a half and, you know, let them
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  Speaker 3: win the casino and, you know, play slot machines all night.
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  Speaker 3: We're trying to give them the ultimate new kids experience and,
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  Speaker 3: and make it worth their effort. We, we appreciate them
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  Speaker 3: coming so far to see us. So we want to
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  Speaker 3: make it worth the while. And that's what the remix
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  Speaker 3: is all about. We're just adding and adding to the
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  Speaker 3: show and making it more of a, of a full,
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  Speaker 3: full on new kids experience.
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  Speaker 1: That's awesome. Well, perfect timing, 40th anniversary of the debut album.
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  Speaker 1: And that's, that's so awesome. You mentioned Toronto, you mentioned
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  Speaker 1: a blue bloods. uh, congratulations or pardon me, the blue
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  Speaker 1: blood spinoff, I should say season two, Boston blue premiering
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  Speaker 1: in October, your character moved from, um, NYPD to Boston. Uh, and,
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  Speaker 1: and you're, you don't get to shoot in your hometown though.
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  Speaker 1: You get to shoot.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 2: That's what happened. They were like, Hey, you want to
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  Speaker 2: do a spinoff in Boston? I was like, yeah. And
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  Speaker 2: they were like, all right, great.
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  Speaker 1: They're going to Toronto.
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  Speaker 2: And they're like, only we got a filming in Toronto.
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  Speaker 1: That's funny, man.
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  Speaker 2: That's funny.
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  Speaker 1: How's it going?
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  Speaker 2: It's going phenomenal.
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  Speaker 3: We're six episodes into season two, filming-wise.
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  Speaker 2: It premieres October 9th.
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  Speaker 3: I'll actually be on stage in Vegas the night it premieres,
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  Speaker 3: so we're trying to arrange to play the premiere episode
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  Speaker 3: on the screen in the arena before we perform that night.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, that's great.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so everyone can watch it. It's going fantastic. We're
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  Speaker 3: having a great time. We've had a bunch of guests
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  Speaker 3: from blue bloods on the show and carrying on that legacy,
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  Speaker 3: but making our own legacy at the same time. And,
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  Speaker 3: you know, we're, I'm just incredibly blessed to, to have
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  Speaker 3: played this character for 14 years and now to carry
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  Speaker 3: it on and, and to bring Boston to the screen
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  Speaker 3: and to, to get to see this character as a
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  Speaker 3: fish out of water in a new world. You know, it's,
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  Speaker 3: it's been incredible. We have an incredible cast, incredible writers.
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  Speaker 3: And my co-star Sonequa Martin-Green is like, I mean, we're
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  Speaker 3: just like we are.
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  Speaker 2: Just clicking on all cylinders.
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  Speaker 3: And I couldn't have asked for a better person or
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  Speaker 3: overall cast to do this with.
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  Speaker 1: That's awesome, brother. Congratulations.
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  Speaker 2: That is really, really cool.
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  Speaker 1: Personally, professionally, everything's going well. And I just celebrated 12
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  Speaker 1: years of marriage with your lovely wife, Jenny. She's super cool.
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  Speaker 1: I remember when I was talking to her last two,
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  Speaker 1: y'all moved to Chicago, huh?
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  Speaker 2: Yes. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: We've been there for 12 years now. We got married
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  Speaker 3: and she, you know, she grew up in Chicago.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. I know.
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  Speaker 3: And she, she had left LA and was raising her
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  Speaker 3: son in a, with all our college friends and their
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  Speaker 3: kids and, and wanted him to have sort of that
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  Speaker 3: sort of Midwest, Midwest kind of. life growing up. And
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  Speaker 3: then my son came out to visit and he fell
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  Speaker 3: in love with it. So I said, well, we're just
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  Speaker 3: got to stay here. So we, uh, we've been there
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  Speaker 3: for 12 years and, and love it and are having
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  Speaker 3: a great time. And, uh, our blast, our marriage is, uh,
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  Speaker 3: better than ever. And, um, we've really, we've put faith,
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  Speaker 3: you know, at the center of our life now and
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  Speaker 3: at our relationship and it's changed. It was already a
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  Speaker 3: great relationship, but it's gone to heights that, that only
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  Speaker 3: the Lord could provide for us.
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  Speaker 1: That's awesome, man. Y'all are a super cool couple. Congratulations
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  Speaker 1: on everything.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, brother.
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  Speaker 1: I always like catching up with you. And listen, everyone
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  Speaker 1: get more info on the new Kids Vegas residency right
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  Speaker 1: now at nkotb.com. And also be sure to catch season
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  Speaker 1: two of Boston Blue. which is kicking off October 9th
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  Speaker 1: on CBS. Donnie, thanks for checking in, man.
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  Speaker 3: Mario, I appreciate you so much, brother. And I admire
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  Speaker 3: the way you just keep working, bro. It's like we
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  Speaker 3: survived the 80s and 90s, bro.
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  Speaker 1: That's right.
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  Speaker 2: We're still here. I appreciate it so much, bro.
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  Speaker 3: I know.
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  Speaker 2: All right, buddy.
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  Speaker 1: I'll see you. Take care.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
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  Speaker 1: On with Mario Lopez.