Latest / Dos Amigos / What If?! Sliding Doors and Second Chances

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What If?! Sliding Doors and Second Chances · Dos Amigos

0:04
Speaker 1: Hey everyone, I'm Wilmer about the Rama. This is Freddy Rodriguez.
0:08
Speaker 1: Welcome to those amigos.
0:10
Speaker 2: Wimer, how are you man.
0:11
Speaker 1: I'm good, I'm good. What are you sipping on?
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Speaker 2: I am sipping on the coffee that you made me upstairs.
0:16
Speaker 2: By the way, everybody, Wilmer has an incredibly fancy coffee
0:21
Speaker 2: machine upstairs, and he's quite the barista.
0:24
Speaker 1: I take my coffee ritual moist setios, as we say
0:28
Speaker 1: in latinosos.
0:30
Speaker 2: I don't know if you can see that right there.
0:31
Speaker 2: I mean he has a he has a like that's
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Speaker 2: like a Starbucks quaes.
0:34
Speaker 1: It's about the tone too, And you want to a disarming.
0:36
Speaker 2: Brown, ah, disarming brown.
0:39
Speaker 1: You want the coffee to be a disarming brown.
0:41
Speaker 2: You should pitch that color to like bear paints and
0:45
Speaker 2: in the arming brown.
0:46
Speaker 1: About the Rama cafe, dis army in brown is a
0:50
Speaker 1: medium roast.
0:51
Speaker 2: We make it. We make it disarming brown.
0:54
Speaker 1: This army and brown coffee. And what does that mean?
0:56
Speaker 1: It means like it invites you. And once you go
0:58
Speaker 1: to half a cup, it's too late. It's too late,
1:02
Speaker 1: full anxiety with the kefin You've.
1:04
Speaker 2: Been disarmed from the beginning, so now too late.
1:07
Speaker 1: Like we've been seduced by the by the disarming brown. Yes.
1:10
Speaker 1: So this is our new collection of ep U eplur
1:14
Speaker 1: of us unum, which means out of many one. It's
1:18
Speaker 1: actually really exciting. It's our it's our fitness apparel brand
1:23
Speaker 1: that has an impact program. The impact program is actually
1:26
Speaker 1: taking out. We have tons of missions throughout the year
1:28
Speaker 1: has been really beautiful. So we have a partnership with
1:32
Speaker 1: a company that has this beautiful vintage frames and we
1:37
Speaker 1: are honoring those vintage frames with graphics that you know
1:44
Speaker 1: that really reflect on certain times of war. You know.
1:47
Speaker 1: So this seal here, I think this is the seal
1:50
Speaker 1: the ceo you know, is balancing a bomb, right, but
1:55
Speaker 1: these this ceo was technically in the nose of one
1:58
Speaker 1: of these planes that will go into missions and war zones.
2:02
Speaker 1: So this was kind of like you know how the
2:04
Speaker 1: you know sometimes they have like the pin up girl
2:06
Speaker 1: that the side of plane. You know, these were also
2:09
Speaker 1: part of that kind of culture of putting certain graphics
2:13
Speaker 1: on aircraft's helicopters and things like that. So we're embracing
2:16
Speaker 1: that and making it part of the brand. It's really fun.
2:18
Speaker 1: It's just really cool, and you know, if you want
2:20
Speaker 1: to know more APU EPU HQ as in headquarters EPU
2:26
Speaker 1: HQ dot com.
2:27
Speaker 2: Did you design it?
2:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, we had a whole team that kind of brought
2:31
Speaker 1: the sentiment and we're all started going to spit balling things.
2:34
Speaker 1: But our team, a graphics team just aist it, you know,
2:38
Speaker 1: like we were like what if, what if? And then
2:39
Speaker 1: they just pitched this thing and and it's really great.
2:43
Speaker 1: And then also we have a handful of arrows to
2:47
Speaker 1: you know the meaning of the handful of arrows. So
2:50
Speaker 1: if you have if you grab a bunch of arrows,
2:53
Speaker 1: you know, together and you try to break them as impossible,
2:58
Speaker 1: So a number of arrows coming together, you know, becoming
3:02
Speaker 1: an unbreakable you know task. So it's an unbreakable bond.
3:06
Speaker 1: And the idea is that out of many arrows, you know,
3:10
Speaker 1: one invincible approach type of things. So it's become kind
3:13
Speaker 1: of like a new tag and our new our new
3:16
Speaker 1: tag in the back of the sweatist was pretty cool.
3:18
Speaker 2: It looks like a cool sweatshirt that you would buy
3:21
Speaker 2: like it, Fred Siegel.
3:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of right, And it feels like that it
3:25
Speaker 1: feels like that's not going to be as expensive. Guys,
3:27
Speaker 1: you know, it's definitely a lot more affordable. We wanted
3:29
Speaker 1: to make this approbable that the point is that this
3:31
Speaker 1: brand also fuels the impact program good like the ideas
3:35
Speaker 1: as a private company who is pledging, you know, it's
3:39
Speaker 1: it's profit to to also you know, to also fund
3:43
Speaker 1: the change in the mission, the missions and the agendas.
3:46
Speaker 1: But anyways, enough about me. Yeah, so today's episode, we're
3:50
Speaker 1: very excited about Leo, our lead producer of those amigos,
3:56
Speaker 1: had a really good idea. But we're coming back to fundamentals.
3:58
Speaker 1: We had a streak of amazing guess you know, some
4:01
Speaker 1: really great friends of ours with a lot of reflection
4:03
Speaker 1: on our stuff. I hope all of you guys also have
4:05
Speaker 1: taken some from those episodes as well. I know we
4:07
Speaker 1: definitely walked away with a great deal of appreciation for
4:10
Speaker 1: not only our friends, but like you know, the sentiment
4:12
Speaker 1: of starting from scratch and ya and you know their stories,
4:15
Speaker 1: so so you know, we find the relativity in theres
4:18
Speaker 1: and in hours, right, So so that was really cool.
4:20
Speaker 1: But he had this cool idea and this episode is
4:22
Speaker 1: called what If? What If? What if? Everything that happened
4:27
Speaker 1: or those little moments at the beginning of our lives
4:30
Speaker 1: and or the moments where we decided we were going
4:32
Speaker 1: to be what we are now? What if those moments
4:35
Speaker 1: never happened? What is the road? What would have been?
4:39
Speaker 1: And I don't want to call it a plant, plant
4:40
Speaker 1: B or a plant C, but like what what would
4:43
Speaker 1: your life would have been if I don't know, if
4:46
Speaker 1: you had an auditioned for that play, if you hadn't
4:49
Speaker 1: gone into that gotten into the the theater group, or
4:54
Speaker 1: you know, same thing, like if I had audition for
4:56
Speaker 1: this regional Yellow Pages commercial in California, Like, uh, you
5:00
Speaker 1: know what?
5:01
Speaker 2: What? What?
5:01
Speaker 1: You know? What would have happened if I never got
5:04
Speaker 1: to audition again? Like what what would that path be?
5:07
Speaker 2: Yeah? Or what if? Like like what what? What was
5:10
Speaker 2: your earliest what if? Experience? Like did you ever have
5:13
Speaker 2: like a like a near death experience?
5:16
Speaker 1: Like yeah, what if?
5:18
Speaker 2: What if that would have happened? Right? I mean, what
5:21
Speaker 2: was your earliest what if experience?
5:23
Speaker 1: It wasn't so much a death experience for me, but
5:25
Speaker 1: it could have been a really bad experience for my sister.
5:28
Speaker 1: We were at a at a finca, which is you know,
5:32
Speaker 1: our Spanish word for for farm. We had a we
5:34
Speaker 1: had a little ranch, a little farm in the middle
5:36
Speaker 1: of Venezuela, four hours south of you know, Venezuela, and
5:41
Speaker 1: we had horses, and you know, I was to think
5:44
Speaker 1: about maybe eight years old or something like that, and
5:47
Speaker 1: I was my sister was on this horse, and I
5:49
Speaker 1: was pulling this horse, and while I was walking, I
5:52
Speaker 1: kind of slowed down, and all of a sudden, the
5:54
Speaker 1: horse's head came here and he opened his mouth and
5:57
Speaker 1: I saw his teeth at the corner my eye, and
6:01
Speaker 1: he scared me because I thought he was trying to
6:04
Speaker 1: bite me or something. And I screamed and I just
6:08
Speaker 1: like started and then the horse got spooked with my
6:11
Speaker 1: sister on it and took off. Oh wow, and I froze,
6:17
Speaker 1: like I didn't know what to do in that moment.
6:19
Speaker 2: How old are you?
6:20
Speaker 1: I was about eight, I think eight or nine years old.
6:24
Speaker 1: And then another lady that was like probably ten yards
6:28
Speaker 1: in front of me, you know, thought quickly and went
6:33
Speaker 1: and put her foot down on the reins and the
6:36
Speaker 1: realms the reins, and slowed down the horse, and all
6:40
Speaker 1: of a sudden it stopped him from like going into
6:42
Speaker 1: the savannah and just like running aimlessly with my sister
6:45
Speaker 1: on it. And in that moment, I felt such great
6:50
Speaker 1: deal of killed, you know, Like I was just like,
6:54
Speaker 1: what if she would have fallen off? What if she
6:57
Speaker 1: would have broken a leg or her back or neck
7:00
Speaker 1: like what, you know, like all these things, you know,
7:03
Speaker 1: And I just became incredibly protective of my sister and like,
7:06
Speaker 1: get out of get down from there, get down there,
7:08
Speaker 1: don't do that, don't run that fast like you know.
7:10
Speaker 1: So like that really kind of marked me. But but
7:12
Speaker 1: it would have changed the trajectory of my life. I
7:14
Speaker 1: don't know if I would have had the confidence I
7:17
Speaker 1: have now. I don't know, you know what I mean,
7:18
Speaker 1: Like I think about how what what if all of
7:20
Speaker 1: a sudden, you like, I couldn't even protect my sister,
7:22
Speaker 1: could I have my own kids? You know what I mean?
7:24
Speaker 1: Like maybe turns into that you never know, but I
7:27
Speaker 1: guess this was one of those moments where I told
7:29
Speaker 1: close to something really bad happening. The other one was,
7:34
Speaker 1: you know, and I wrote about it in my book
7:36
Speaker 1: An American Story Everyone's Invited. It was we were in
7:41
Speaker 1: a private plane and you know, oxygen stopped going into
7:44
Speaker 1: the cabin and uh, and we had to do an
7:48
Speaker 1: emergency landing. In that moment was like what what if
7:51
Speaker 1: that would have been it? Right? You know, would I
7:54
Speaker 1: still get a movie, a VH one movie, you know? Yeah,
7:58
Speaker 1: you know, back to do those those really low budget
8:02
Speaker 1: into my movies, A biopigs about some.
8:05
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I do remember that. Wow, that's crazy. I've
8:18
Speaker 2: had a few of those too. Man. I remember one time,
8:21
Speaker 2: and he probably doesn't remember this. I was in high school.
8:24
Speaker 2: It was my senior year of high school. And I
8:26
Speaker 2: grew up in Chicago. Uh and unfortunately sometimes Chicago is
8:31
Speaker 2: the murder capital of the United States, right, And I
8:34
Speaker 2: grew up in that kind of environment, and I had
8:38
Speaker 2: this really vivid dream that I got shot. I mean
8:42
Speaker 2: I'm talking about like vivid where I could like feel
8:47
Speaker 2: like the blast going through my chest and blood coming
8:50
Speaker 2: down and everything. And I woke up from the dream
8:53
Speaker 2: and I couldn't speak. And remember back then when you
8:57
Speaker 2: would have somebody on speed dial, and I had my
8:59
Speaker 2: wife out on speed dial. We were dating, and I
9:02
Speaker 2: speed dialed her but I couldn't speak, and she knew
9:04
Speaker 2: that something was wrong and she talked me down. But
9:07
Speaker 2: the next day I went to school and I had
9:09
Speaker 2: this premonition that something was gonna happen. I just knew it.
9:13
Speaker 2: I just knew something. Y. Yeah, it was too real.
9:16
Speaker 2: It was like God was warning me, you know. And
9:20
Speaker 2: so this was back when I was a store sort
9:22
Speaker 2: of heavily involved in the hip hop scene, and we
9:26
Speaker 2: had heard that Common was having a show on the
9:29
Speaker 2: South Side of Chicago and I live on the Northwest Side,
9:32
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh, man, I said, I don't
9:34
Speaker 2: feel good about going to the South Side. And they
9:36
Speaker 2: were like, come on, man, We're gonna go hang out
9:38
Speaker 2: with Common, and I was like, nah, I feel bad
9:41
Speaker 2: about it, you know. And so I got convinced to
9:43
Speaker 2: go to the South Side of Chicago. And we're waiting
9:46
Speaker 2: for Common and a bunch of people outside of this club,
9:49
Speaker 2: and because I was so hyper aware, I noticed that
9:52
Speaker 2: these two guys were getting into a fight on the sidewalk.
9:56
Speaker 2: And after they got into a fight, one guy jumped
9:59
Speaker 2: into his truck started to take off. The other guy
10:03
Speaker 2: picked up a brick and threw it at the truck,
10:05
Speaker 2: and the guy got mad and went to the end
10:07
Speaker 2: of the block, turned around and came barreling down the
10:10
Speaker 2: sidewalk in his truck. And because I was so hyper
10:14
Speaker 2: aware of that dream, I saw the truck coming a
10:18
Speaker 2: mile away and my best friend Marco had his back
10:22
Speaker 2: turned to the truck, and I grabbed him and I
10:23
Speaker 2: threw him out of the way and we got out
10:25
Speaker 2: of the way. So what if I didn't have that dream,
10:28
Speaker 2: we probably would have still went to the south side,
10:30
Speaker 2: and I wouldn't have been aware, and we probably both
10:32
Speaker 2: would have gotten run over.
10:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean in that's it. I mean, even if
10:36
Speaker 1: you had survived, Like, why would have your lafe been? Yeah?
10:39
Speaker 2: You know, yeah, man, I also think what if, Like,
10:43
Speaker 2: you know, my wife Elsie was pregnant when I was
10:46
Speaker 2: nineteen years old, you.
10:47
Speaker 1: Know, I was.
10:49
Speaker 2: A young man, and what if she would have gotten
10:54
Speaker 2: an abortion? What if? Right she if she would have
10:58
Speaker 2: even gotten pregnant? You know, uh, you know, this December
11:02
Speaker 2: of the thirty years of marriage for me, and I've
11:05
Speaker 2: had such a wonderful relationship with her in a wonderful marriage,
11:09
Speaker 2: and and what.
11:10
Speaker 1: Would have doneationship?
11:12
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, She's kept me so incredibly grounded in this business,
11:16
Speaker 2: I feel, and it saved me, I think inadvertently from
11:20
Speaker 2: like the traps that that this structure is very easily
11:24
Speaker 2: for us to fall into. And so like what if,
11:26
Speaker 2: what if?
11:26
Speaker 1: You know, you know, and and also celebrating the different
11:30
Speaker 1: versions they never were about ourselves. You know, those examples
11:35
Speaker 1: were examples that definitely feel I mean feel like just
11:39
Speaker 1: rude awakenings.
11:40
Speaker 3: You know.
11:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was also times in our lives where we
11:45
Speaker 1: were delusional, but like I'll be okay dying now.
11:48
Speaker 2: Right, like you know what I mean, James Dean, Yeah,
11:53
Speaker 2: leave a good looking corpse.
11:57
Speaker 1: Well do you know That's the thing that I reflect
12:00
Speaker 1: is I went on a US SOL tour and I
12:02
Speaker 1: was flying over a bag that I think it was
12:04
Speaker 1: back then. We was I forget what it was. When
12:06
Speaker 1: we were on our way to Iraq and we were
12:10
Speaker 1: funding in Offspry you know, in Ofspry for those who
12:13
Speaker 1: don't know, as a military aircraft that kind of takes
12:15
Speaker 1: off like a helicopter in midair that you know, the
12:18
Speaker 1: the wings start tilting forward and then the jets pick
12:21
Speaker 1: up and then it shoots from midair and he becomes
12:24
Speaker 1: a plane. Uh and the back is you know open,
12:27
Speaker 1: and he has a you know, fifty cow on the
12:29
Speaker 1: side and all that. And we were going in from
12:32
Speaker 1: you know, with those we were going from base to
12:35
Speaker 1: base where we were in the Middle East, you know,
12:37
Speaker 1: entertaining the troops and as we were flying over, I
12:43
Speaker 1: looked throughout the back and the flares shut out right
12:47
Speaker 1: and what that when that does? It looks like fireworks
12:51
Speaker 1: right to the back of the plane. And I was like, oh, interested.
12:54
Speaker 1: I didn't think much of it. Then we did a
12:56
Speaker 1: comeback landing into the base that we're supposed to come
12:58
Speaker 1: in and bring entertainment through the years, and one of
13:02
Speaker 1: the colonels uh, looks up to me. It looks up
13:05
Speaker 1: and he goes because that was crazy, huh. And I
13:07
Speaker 1: was like, we got locked down by a missile. And
13:09
Speaker 1: I was like, excuse me, we got what because we
13:12
Speaker 1: got locked down by a missile? And I was like,
13:14
Speaker 1: what you we don't worries. They never hit anything.
13:17
Speaker 2: I'm sorry you got what.
13:18
Speaker 1: We got locked on by a missile.
13:20
Speaker 2: No. So the flares that you thought were just flares,
13:24
Speaker 2: it was it was it was it was too vade
13:27
Speaker 2: a missile that that was locked on to the thing
13:29
Speaker 2: and whoa.
13:30
Speaker 1: And I was like, wait, what do you mean, like,
13:32
Speaker 1: you go locked don't worry they never hit anything. Yeah,
13:35
Speaker 1: And I'm like, they never hit anything. It made me
13:37
Speaker 1: think in that moment, I'm like, hm, let's see I
13:41
Speaker 1: would have died on this plane right now, the Middle
13:44
Speaker 1: East military aircraft twenty seven years old, twenty eight years old. Maybe, yeah,
13:50
Speaker 1: I'm like, I get my VH one movie. I get
13:56
Speaker 1: me H one. Sure that's what I thought. But you know,
14:00
Speaker 1: like looking back at that, yeah, bro, like I would
14:05
Speaker 1: have been so sad if we didn't have our kids.
14:08
Speaker 1: Yeah right, I wouldn't be.
14:10
Speaker 3: So sad if we But you would have had a
14:11
Speaker 3: VH one movie though, But yes, no kids to watch,
14:15
Speaker 3: damn kids to watch? The w You know, man, if
14:19
Speaker 3: you hadn't gotten into entertainment, what do you think?
14:21
Speaker 2: What path?
14:22
Speaker 1: Because I mean, it's so hard to imagine it because
14:24
Speaker 1: we've done it for so long and since we're so
14:26
Speaker 1: young at the moment we were supposed to make that decision.
14:29
Speaker 1: I know I heard some things that are probably would
14:31
Speaker 1: have explored. But what about for you?
14:34
Speaker 2: Something creative?
14:35
Speaker 1: For sure?
14:36
Speaker 2: Something creative. I don't know if teaching. I don't know
14:40
Speaker 2: if because there's other creative avenues too, right, Like I
14:45
Speaker 2: know you and I have have a passion for like furniture,
14:48
Speaker 2: Like we love furniture. We love to meet furniture, like
14:50
Speaker 2: certain pieces like art pieces to me.
14:53
Speaker 1: You know, they say something yes and something Yes.
14:57
Speaker 2: Man, furniture. I love architect picture you know, I love
15:02
Speaker 2: I love houses. I you know, one of my uh
15:04
Speaker 2: you know your ladies are super gifted and tears. Yeah. Yeah,
15:07
Speaker 2: my wife Elsie's a super very very shout out to Elsie,
15:13
Speaker 2: very talented interior designer. Like I love when people go,
15:16
Speaker 2: what's your guilty pleasure? When you watch stuff on TV?
15:18
Speaker 2: Like I love seeing old houses being renovated in the
15:22
Speaker 2: like new Like, oh, I'm talking like one hundred years old.
15:26
Speaker 2: Maybe I'd be doing that.
15:27
Speaker 1: I don't know, Like that's I mean, that's a pretty
15:30
Speaker 1: good trajectory too. That was yeah, really fulfilling, creative Yeah, profitable, yeah,
15:37
Speaker 1: living like that.
15:38
Speaker 2: Yes, maybe something with music maybe you know, but but
15:41
Speaker 2: definitely something that that has a creative bet. You know.
15:44
Speaker 2: That's why I love even like producing so much. You know,
15:47
Speaker 2: I feel like sometimes producing could feel like like work
15:51
Speaker 2: or a job, But to me, I feel like, no,
15:54
Speaker 2: You're you're putting the pieces to a puzzle together. You're
15:57
Speaker 2: you're curating something. Although you're not the director per se
16:02
Speaker 2: or the writer or the actor. You're you're curating this
16:05
Speaker 2: like gigantic piece man, And you're putting all the pieces together.
16:08
Speaker 2: To me, there's a there's a form of art to.
16:10
Speaker 1: That, you know, and everyone has a contribution of the
16:13
Speaker 1: piece of the puzzle, right, So like that that there's
16:15
Speaker 1: honor in that as well.
16:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's almost like you're like a conductor in a
16:19
Speaker 2: in a in an orchestra, right, and you have your
16:22
Speaker 2: your horn section and your you know.
16:25
Speaker 1: But I mean the thing is that's so interesting is
16:28
Speaker 1: if the performing arts hadn't worked out for you, Yeah,
16:33
Speaker 1: do you think it would have still led you to
16:35
Speaker 1: directing and writing and producing?
16:37
Speaker 2: I don't know, man, because I can't be available.
16:39
Speaker 1: You would have had like tasted the performance, which would
16:42
Speaker 1: have which would have led to the curiosity of the
16:45
Speaker 1: other jobs on that set or on that stage, which
16:49
Speaker 1: eventually made you passionate over the exploration of directing or
16:53
Speaker 1: writing a screenplay or right. I mean like it's the
16:56
Speaker 1: performing is the gateway to you know, to every everything
17:00
Speaker 1: else that touches the product. Yeah, the entertainment piece.
17:04
Speaker 2: You know, it almost feels like like those Like now,
17:08
Speaker 2: so my nephew, my oldest brother's kid is is in
17:12
Speaker 2: the fall, is starting as a freshman at the Art
17:14
Speaker 2: Institute of Chicago, you know, so He calls me a lot,
17:17
Speaker 2: and we have a lot of conversations about like what
17:19
Speaker 2: that is. And it's really interesting seeing our industry through
17:24
Speaker 2: his perspective, right, this younger perspective, and and he only
17:28
Speaker 2: knows what he knows, right, And so I try to
17:30
Speaker 2: tell him, like, it's so different now in your generation, man,
17:34
Speaker 2: you have YouTube, you could you could film a movie
17:37
Speaker 2: on a phone. And so I think that if we
17:41
Speaker 2: had that, maybe when you and I were younger, it
17:44
Speaker 2: wouldn't have only been acting, right, it would have been like, well,
17:48
Speaker 2: I'm going to go make my own movie. I'm going
17:49
Speaker 2: to go do these other things. But we didn't have
17:51
Speaker 2: those avenues. You know, what about you? What do you
17:53
Speaker 2: think you would have been doing.
17:54
Speaker 1: I was always curious. I was very social, so I
17:56
Speaker 1: was always curious about the human mind.
17:59
Speaker 2: Yeah.
17:59
Speaker 1: I think it's like coology. Yeah, it'd have been interesting
18:02
Speaker 1: for me, the exploration of the why people grow up
18:05
Speaker 1: with certain habits, character traits. You know, where they gain
18:11
Speaker 1: their their ripples of experience. You know how their inheritance
18:16
Speaker 1: informs how they handle certain things, like how they handle
18:20
Speaker 1: you know, tragedy, how they handle breakups, how they handle happiness.
18:25
Speaker 1: You know that that made me because I also think
18:27
Speaker 1: that you have to be a little bit of a
18:29
Speaker 1: psychologist to do this acting thing. You have to the
18:34
Speaker 1: phrase you have to kind of understand where where these
18:36
Speaker 1: characters are coming from in order to predict how they
18:40
Speaker 1: will react based on the performances that you need to
18:43
Speaker 1: bring a character not only to life, but to tell
18:45
Speaker 1: their story in a way that embodies their shoes that
18:49
Speaker 1: are so far removed from the ones you wear. So
18:53
Speaker 1: to me, psychology felt like like I love talking to people.
18:57
Speaker 1: I love getting in people's minds and saying, you know,
19:00
Speaker 1: how do I how can I understand you? You know?
19:03
Speaker 1: What is your love language? How could I communicate the
19:05
Speaker 1: most efficient way?
19:06
Speaker 2: You know?
19:07
Speaker 1: Like that that kind of stuff is something that fascinates me.
19:10
Speaker 1: But if you if you, if you asked my my
19:14
Speaker 1: nineteen year old self, yeah, I would have been a
19:17
Speaker 1: pilot for the Air Force. I would have worn a uniform,
19:20
Speaker 1: I would have been some type of I would have
19:21
Speaker 1: been part of the armed forces, for sure.
19:23
Speaker 2: But then, but then do you feel that those professions
19:26
Speaker 2: would have suppressed your personality?
19:30
Speaker 1: It's interesting if you would have joined the armed forces,
19:32
Speaker 1: there were it would have been I would have been
19:34
Speaker 1: programmed you know, to do something different, you know, being
19:38
Speaker 1: of service. Sure, yeah, but maybe I don't know, maybe
19:41
Speaker 1: like you know, being part of that community. Also, you
19:44
Speaker 1: know there is room for that type of lively livelihood
19:48
Speaker 1: of likelihood of like connecting with others.
19:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, you think you would have you think you would
20:03
Speaker 2: have gone into politics. Let me tell you why. I
20:05
Speaker 2: asked him, because and I remember Gabriel Luna when he
20:09
Speaker 2: was here. He said it best, He goes, Man, I
20:12
Speaker 2: remember when you and I when to meet Obama, and
20:16
Speaker 2: and and he he he let out an interesting observation
20:21
Speaker 2: about you and how your ability to sort of work
20:25
Speaker 2: the room in the way that you did. Uh uh.
20:29
Speaker 2: And he said that he learned a lot from watching
20:32
Speaker 2: you do that. And I feel that those are aspects
20:36
Speaker 2: of a leader. Those are aspects that that perhaps and
20:40
Speaker 2: when I say a politician, I mean it in the
20:41
Speaker 2: most positive way. I don't mean it in the most
20:45
Speaker 2: negative way. But those are attributes that like you either
20:47
Speaker 2: have it or you don't, right like Obama right like
20:50
Speaker 2: he has particular attributes that you either have it or
20:53
Speaker 2: you don't. Write and which is what I feel contributed
20:56
Speaker 2: to him being able to mascial and you a lot
21:00
Speaker 2: of those attributes, and which is why I think Gabriel
21:03
Speaker 2: made those comments about you. And I've always know I've
21:05
Speaker 2: known you, you know, twenty five years, so I've always
21:07
Speaker 2: known that about you.
21:08
Speaker 1: So I always wondered, like if you ever thought of.
21:12
Speaker 2: Taking some sort of leadership or attaining to take a
21:16
Speaker 2: leadership role in that regard because of the natural attributes
21:20
Speaker 2: that you possess.
21:22
Speaker 1: I receive all that. So I appreciate you seeing me
21:27
Speaker 1: with those eyes and that light. It's a great, great sentiment,
21:33
Speaker 1: you know. I've I love being of service. That's why
21:36
Speaker 1: I've been serving with the USO for twenty years. You know,
21:42
Speaker 1: I'm genuinely curious about the science of unity, and to
21:51
Speaker 1: think about politics as a career and the times we
21:55
Speaker 1: live right now feels almost deflating, you know. It feels
22:00
Speaker 1: like it's not a celebration of what we can do
22:02
Speaker 1: when we come together. It feels more like a debate
22:05
Speaker 1: on how we you know, how we chip away at
22:09
Speaker 1: the creability of the system that we have built for
22:11
Speaker 1: so many, you know, a couple hundred years now in America.
22:15
Speaker 1: I've always been curious about, you know that the practice
22:18
Speaker 1: of common sense in the role of a leader does
22:23
Speaker 1: common sense? Is common sense a gift or is it
22:27
Speaker 1: a delusion? When you're a politic, you know.
22:31
Speaker 2: It may start off that way, yes, and then.
22:33
Speaker 1: While somewhere along the way, perhaps he dies, or it
22:37
Speaker 1: gets muted, or it gets put in a shelf, or
22:40
Speaker 1: it gets corrupted corrupted. So but you know, it's it's
22:46
Speaker 1: it's interesting. I you know, I've had so many friends,
22:49
Speaker 1: you know, like Rossari Dawson and my friend my data
22:52
Speaker 1: is a Kumar who you know is the leader oft Latino.
22:55
Speaker 1: And my friend Jane Horden, who knows a you know,
22:58
Speaker 1: goal star wife and you know, advisor to former advisors
23:00
Speaker 1: to Secretary of Defense. She's like, let me know when
23:05
Speaker 1: you're ready to run.
23:06
Speaker 2: Ah. So I'm not hold on a second. So I'm
23:09
Speaker 2: not the first person that's saying.
23:11
Speaker 1: This, no, no, but I but I but look, I
23:15
Speaker 1: receive it with the most almost humble like wow, like
23:19
Speaker 1: that what what an ultimate you know what an ultimate compliment?
23:25
Speaker 1: To get it is a very fragile responsibility, you know.
23:31
Speaker 1: And you also wonder where do you make the most noise?
23:35
Speaker 1: Do you make the most noise in the inside, or
23:37
Speaker 1: do you make the most noise in the outside. It
23:39
Speaker 1: feels to me like as a storyteller and as an
23:41
Speaker 1: amplifier stories feels to me like, you know, it's a
23:45
Speaker 1: form of of of unity cultivation. How do you get
23:50
Speaker 1: everyone on the same theater? How do you get everyone
23:52
Speaker 1: to tune in together at eight o'clock to enjoy one
23:55
Speaker 1: thing and for that moment you put all our differences
23:57
Speaker 1: aside and we and we all admit that we all
24:00
Speaker 1: like this thing together. We don't have to like our beliefs,
24:04
Speaker 1: our religions, our politics or preferences. You know, we can
24:08
Speaker 1: agree that we like this movie, that we like this show.
24:11
Speaker 1: And there's a there's a power that comes with uniting
24:14
Speaker 1: voices into one room. Now that being said, like have
24:18
Speaker 1: I ever thought about it? I mean, like I would say,
24:20
Speaker 1: it's crossed my mind, like maybe I could do that,
24:23
Speaker 1: you know, and or maybe I should, or perhaps I
24:28
Speaker 1: can contribute something to this country that I never thought,
24:34
Speaker 1: you know, that I had in me, right, But but
24:36
Speaker 1: it's a hard question to answer.
24:37
Speaker 2: In this very moment, I was just wondering if you
24:41
Speaker 2: ever thought about it? Because you you naturally possess possess
24:45
Speaker 2: the attributes that you know, I am and Maria and
24:50
Speaker 2: Rosario all feel that you possess. Right, They're very specific
24:54
Speaker 2: attributes that that a good politician should possess. And you
24:58
Speaker 2: you possess it, and and and an the most positive way,
25:00
Speaker 2: like I said, because obviously being one now is is
25:03
Speaker 2: probably much different than what it was maybe twenty five
25:07
Speaker 2: years ago when.
25:07
Speaker 1: You were Yeah, for sure, for sure. I look, I
25:11
Speaker 1: will tell you this. I love this country. I love
25:14
Speaker 1: what is provided to millions and millions of people that
25:17
Speaker 1: have dreams. Right, It's one of the few places in
25:19
Speaker 1: the planet where you if you dream it, it can
25:21
Speaker 1: be materialized. Right. I love people from around the world,
25:27
Speaker 1: and guess where they're at. People from around the world
25:30
Speaker 1: are in this country too, you know. So there's something
25:32
Speaker 1: really about to go about that I would say never
25:35
Speaker 1: say never, but at this point I think I can
25:38
Speaker 1: make a little more noise outside, you know. But yeah,
25:41
Speaker 1: you know, it's an interesting thing. I mean, it's you know,
25:45
Speaker 1: what would be a really cool thing to become the
25:46
Speaker 1: one of the governors of California and bring all of
25:49
Speaker 1: film and television back. That's one thing.
25:51
Speaker 2: I mean, Arnold did it.
25:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, a little.
25:58
Speaker 2: Light bulb.
26:01
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe, but so yeah, so I think those are
26:04
Speaker 1: kind of the options that I would have taken. But
26:06
Speaker 1: if you so, if you weren't an actor, what other profession?
26:09
Speaker 1: Like I always for me it was like maybe psychologist.
26:11
Speaker 2: Maybe you know, maybe something in real estate, you know,
26:14
Speaker 2: because I dabble in real estate now too, and I
26:17
Speaker 2: love it and I feel like there's there's there's a
26:20
Speaker 2: form of art in it. Also.
26:22
Speaker 1: I love how you mean in real estate? What do
26:24
Speaker 1: you what are you doing the real estate?
26:26
Speaker 2: I own a couple of pieces of property, you know,
26:29
Speaker 2: and and I just I just I just love architecture
26:33
Speaker 2: and real estate and to me that's art. Like like
26:37
Speaker 2: I can walk into a house and like I in
26:40
Speaker 2: order for me to buy a house or to live in,
26:42
Speaker 2: I have to feel the energy. You know, the house
26:46
Speaker 2: we live in now, we've we've been there twenty seven years,
26:48
Speaker 2: and I knew the first thirty seconds that I walked in,
26:50
Speaker 2: I was like, well, well this is it. You know,
26:53
Speaker 2: there's just an energy in that house, you know. So
26:55
Speaker 2: maybe if I wasn't acting or doing anything in the arts,
26:58
Speaker 2: I would have been in real estate. Maybe I would
27:00
Speaker 2: have been developing, Maybe I would have been remodeling, Maybe
27:05
Speaker 2: I would have been tackling, like these old houses in Chicago,
27:08
Speaker 2: and in turn.
27:09
Speaker 1: You would still be living in Chicago, right, I don't know.
27:14
Speaker 1: I you know where if I paint, I paint too
27:16
Speaker 1: for you would have been in Chicago. And you're like,
27:18
Speaker 1: I'm going to New York.
27:20
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe it's that urban.
27:23
Speaker 1: Concrete jungle that I think it's in your veins.
27:26
Speaker 2: I like it. I like the cold. A lot of
27:28
Speaker 2: people don't like the cold.
27:29
Speaker 1: Do you like weather? You like seasons?
27:31
Speaker 2: I like seasons. I like I like wearing a coat.
27:34
Speaker 2: You know, some people are like, no, no, you know,
27:36
Speaker 2: I want to be in the sun. I'm not that guy.
27:39
Speaker 1: Man.
27:39
Speaker 2: I grew up in harsh winters and and I like it,
27:42
Speaker 2: Like when it gets gloomy here in California and then
27:45
Speaker 2: it's cold, like my wife has like two sweaters on,
27:48
Speaker 2: and I'm like, yes, I love it, Yes, the gloomy weather.
27:52
Speaker 2: I love it. You know where do you think you
27:54
Speaker 2: would have been if you were?
27:57
Speaker 1: I love New York. Don't get me wrong. New York
27:59
Speaker 1: is like my my city. I love New York. That's
28:02
Speaker 1: my world that I love so much. I love the people,
28:05
Speaker 1: love the energy everything about New York. Yeah, I mean
28:08
Speaker 1: I'm an la guy. Yeah, you know, but there's something
28:12
Speaker 1: about Miami that wakes up a different version of my Latinius.
28:17
Speaker 2: What do you mean why the food?
28:19
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the music, yeah, the people, right, the multi
28:25
Speaker 1: colored spectrum of all Latinos that gather around there, Argentinians, Brazilians, Colombia, Venezuelan's,
28:30
Speaker 1: Puerto Ricans, Cubans. You know, like there's there's this collective
28:34
Speaker 1: you know, sound, yeah, aesthetic, something different, you know.
28:39
Speaker 2: Yeah.
28:39
Speaker 1: But I mean here in La I'm an honorary Mexican,
28:41
Speaker 1: so I love you know, I feel like I'm a
28:45
Speaker 1: Chicano too, you know, but.
28:48
Speaker 2: Same same. You know, Chicago is one of the one
28:51
Speaker 2: of the only cities I've ever been to where Puerto
28:55
Speaker 2: Ricans and Mexicans like live together. I always thought it
28:59
Speaker 2: was like that everywhere, and I even came to La
29:01
Speaker 2: and I was like, wow, there's no Puerto Ricans here.
29:03
Speaker 2: You know. I have two aunts who are Mexican, so
29:06
Speaker 2: I have I have a bunch of half Mexican, have
29:09
Speaker 2: Puerto Rican cousins. All of my best all my best
29:13
Speaker 2: friend Roger, when I was growing up half Mexican, have Acuadorian.
29:17
Speaker 2: These two twins rich and have half Mexican, have Guatemalan
29:22
Speaker 2: and a bunch of my friends of Chewi, my friend
29:24
Speaker 2: Jose half Puerto Rican, half Mexican and so like, I
29:28
Speaker 2: just thought it was that way everywhere. So I very
29:31
Speaker 2: much grew up with Mexican culture, you know, uh and uh,
29:34
Speaker 2: and it surprised me to see uh that not exist
29:38
Speaker 2: in other cities. But I hear you about Miami. You
29:40
Speaker 2: know what I love about Miami is one of the
29:43
Speaker 2: only cities that I've been to where where where our
29:46
Speaker 2: people are? And how can I word this correctly? Our
29:51
Speaker 2: people are in positions of power, man and positions of leadership,
29:55
Speaker 2: and I don't I don't feel I don't feel discriminated against.
29:58
Speaker 2: I don't feel like you know it. Yeah, I always
30:01
Speaker 2: feel incredibly welcomed when I'm there and not looked down
30:06
Speaker 2: to sup.
30:07
Speaker 1: It's very virant, super do. It's really beautiful. Okay, So
30:11
Speaker 1: closing this episode.
30:13
Speaker 2: Yes, Woomer, what if we never met damn it. I
30:17
Speaker 2: don't even want to think about it.
30:18
Speaker 1: I imagine that.
30:20
Speaker 2: I don't want to forget it.
30:22
Speaker 1: It's a gentlemen. I'm Wilmer Valdorama, I'm Freddi Rodriguez. Thank
30:25
Speaker 1: you for watching this episode of those Amigos. This got
30:28
Speaker 1: very dark, very until the next episode. Thank you for
30:31
Speaker 1: watching error listening. We love you guys.
30:37
Speaker 2: Those Amigos is a production from w V Sound and
30:40
Speaker 2: iHeartMedia's Michael through That podcast Network, Hosted by Me, Freddie
30:45
Speaker 2: Rodriguez and Wilmer Valdorama.
30:47
Speaker 1: Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burleson and Sophie Spencer's Abbos.
30:51
Speaker 2: Our executive producers are Wilmer Valdorama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlson,
30:56
Speaker 2: and Leo Klem at WV Sound.
30:58
Speaker 1: This episode was shot and ended it by Ryan Posts
31:01
Speaker 1: and maxed by Sean Tracy and features original music by
31:04
Speaker 1: Madison Devenport and Halo Boy.
31:05
Speaker 2: Our cover art photography is by David Avalos and designed
31:09
Speaker 2: by Deny Holtz.
31:10
Speaker 1: Claw and thank you for being here third Amigo today.
31:13
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys always listening to Those Amigos.
31:15
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from My Heart, visit the ir heart
31:17
Speaker 2: Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your
31:21
Speaker 2: favorite shows.
31:22
Speaker 1: See you next week.