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Adam Rodriguez: Reinvention, Representation, and Real Life · Dos Amigos

0:04
Speaker 1: Wilmer Badma.
0:05
Speaker 2: It's Freddie Rodriguez.
0:06
Speaker 1: Welcome to this podcast.
0:08
Speaker 3: This is part two, Part two conversation with Adam Road
0:11
Speaker 3: that it was too good.
0:12
Speaker 2: It had to be too You're still awake.
0:17
Speaker 4: But going back to uh so then that that gave
0:20
Speaker 4: you the confidence to go, I'm gonna pack my stuff
0:22
Speaker 4: up and move to La No.
0:23
Speaker 2: So I did. I did extra work. I was trying
0:26
Speaker 2: to you know, get an agent and hustle for auditions
0:29
Speaker 2: and crash auditions, mostly commercials. At the time, I was
0:32
Speaker 2: doing some theater work. I was, you know, still working
0:36
Speaker 2: as a bellman and uh and doing all these things.
0:40
Speaker 2: And there's a whole side story about you know, getting
0:44
Speaker 2: my stockbroker license and a bunch of other stuff as
0:47
Speaker 2: a whole you know, during that course of time. But
0:51
Speaker 2: I I did background, like I said, between New York
0:55
Speaker 2: Undercover and you know, more movies than I can remember,
0:59
Speaker 2: you know, during that period of time. I guess we
1:05
Speaker 2: call that like two two and a half three years
1:07
Speaker 2: whatever it was. Circle it back now to where I
1:10
Speaker 2: caught it and sort of like you know, digressed for
1:12
Speaker 2: a moment, and back to my pops. Right. So, my
1:15
Speaker 2: pops was in the army, with this guy named Bill Clark.
1:18
Speaker 2: And I'm walking into the house one night and my
1:22
Speaker 2: father is watching TV, which is the norm, and he's like, yeah,
1:27
Speaker 2: you remember this guy. And as I'm walking in the door,
1:30
Speaker 2: he's freaking out. He's like jumping up and I can't
1:32
Speaker 2: believe this. I can't believe it. You remember him? And
1:35
Speaker 2: I'm looking at the Emmy Awards on TV and he's
1:38
Speaker 2: pointing to this guy on stage and he's like, that's
1:41
Speaker 2: Bill Clark. You don't remember him. And I'm like, I
1:44
Speaker 2: don't remember him. He goes the man, I haven't seen
1:47
Speaker 2: him in years. And my father knew this guy from
1:49
Speaker 2: the Army reserves and when he knew him, they were friends,
1:51
Speaker 2: and Bill was a New York detective. And my father
1:56
Speaker 2: cannot put together how in whatever it is ten years
1:59
Speaker 2: that he hadn't seen him, twelve years he hadn't seen him.
2:02
Speaker 2: This guy was now standing on stage at the Emmy
2:05
Speaker 2: Awards winning an Emmy, winning an Emmy with the people
2:10
Speaker 2: from New York from NYPD Blue and so the whole
2:14
Speaker 2: Botch Go crew there. Yeah, and my dad is bugging out, man,
2:18
Speaker 2: and I'm like, I don't remember. So my Dad's like, wow,
2:21
Speaker 2: this is crazy. Couldn't believe it. So every Sunday I
2:24
Speaker 2: mentioned Sonny Volpie to you guys, the teamster my dad
2:27
Speaker 2: used to have. They go to this little diner and
2:31
Speaker 2: my father this guy, Sonny, and another guy, the old timers.
2:34
Speaker 2: You know, they were older than my dad. But he
2:35
Speaker 2: used to hang out with these guys and they sit
2:37
Speaker 2: and bullshit, read the paper, talk smack about whatever, and
2:41
Speaker 2: you know, spend a couple hours on a Sunday morning.
2:43
Speaker 2: So he's reading the paper and there's an article about
2:46
Speaker 2: Bill Clark and my father says to Sonny, He's like,
2:48
Speaker 2: you know this guy. You ever come across him, you know,
2:50
Speaker 2: driving or whatever. And son He's like, yeah, no, I
2:53
Speaker 2: know Bill. Yeah, a nice guy, you know. So my
2:56
Speaker 2: father said, can you can you get me in touch
2:58
Speaker 2: with him? I want to reach out to him, you know,
3:00
Speaker 2: it's been so long. So Sonny gets HI the number
3:02
Speaker 2: of the production office. My father calls, gets a hold
3:05
Speaker 2: of Bill. Bill can't believe it, but ray, oh man, Ray,
3:08
Speaker 2: it's good to hear from me. They're talking, they catch up.
3:11
Speaker 2: Bill's asking about his family, how you know, how the
3:13
Speaker 2: kids or whatever. My father says, yeah, you know, Adam,
3:16
Speaker 2: Adam has been acting the last few years. He's doing that,
3:18
Speaker 2: and you know what my sister's doing, and you know,
3:22
Speaker 2: so they catch up on life, right. Bill says to
3:25
Speaker 2: my father, Look, I'm leaving tomorrow. I'll be back to
3:29
Speaker 2: New York in a couple of months. We've got to
3:30
Speaker 2: come back to Shoot. I'll call you. We'll get dinner
3:32
Speaker 2: when I get back. And if, for whatever reason, you
3:35
Speaker 2: get to LA between now and then, you call me,
3:39
Speaker 2: here's my numbers, let me know. And it turned out
3:41
Speaker 2: that year, this is ninety six. That year we were
3:48
Speaker 2: supposed to come out here to visit my parents' best friends.
3:52
Speaker 2: Their sons were living in LA and so we were
3:55
Speaker 2: coming out to visit them for Thanksgiving. The two families
3:58
Speaker 2: we're going to get together. So we come out to
4:00
Speaker 2: see Ralph and Xavier, and you know ral you know
4:04
Speaker 2: my boy Ralph. So come out to see Ralph and
4:10
Speaker 2: we have Thanksgiving. My father calls Bill and he says, hey, man,
4:13
Speaker 2: I'm in town for Thanksgiving and you know, would love
4:17
Speaker 2: to see you. We're here until whenever, and Bill says,
4:19
Speaker 2: tomorrow tomorrow, we'll get together. Day after Thanksgiving. We'll go
4:21
Speaker 2: to dinner. And my father says, great, So the day
4:24
Speaker 2: after Thanksgiving nineteen ninety six is really the day like
4:28
Speaker 2: my life changed because we go out to dinner and
4:32
Speaker 2: we go to Giorgio Baldi's on Intrada. It's real fancy
4:37
Speaker 2: Italian restaurant that was very Hollywood. It still is, you know.
4:44
Speaker 2: It's It was at the bottom of the Pacific Palisades,
4:46
Speaker 2: right where the pch meets in Trada and we walk in,
4:51
Speaker 2: you know, and and right away I'm like, oh shit, man,
4:55
Speaker 2: this is Hollywood, like for real, Like Kurt Russell and
4:57
Speaker 2: Goldie Hawn are sitting there having dinner. Was it. I'm
5:03
Speaker 2: getting confused now because the only murders in the building,
5:05
Speaker 2: I can't remember it was Steve Martin or Martin Short
5:07
Speaker 2: was sitting there in the rest one of those guys.
5:10
Speaker 2: Was there somebody else? But you walked in and you
5:13
Speaker 2: knew it's a small restaurant, so you walked in and
5:16
Speaker 2: you were like, oh shit, like wow, this is like
5:18
Speaker 2: this is the real deal, man, you know. And it was.
5:21
Speaker 2: It was a trip. I'm in there with my family
5:22
Speaker 2: with Bill and his wife at the time, and h
5:25
Speaker 2: and we meet his best friend was meeting us for
5:27
Speaker 2: dinner there. Bill's best friend So Bill's best friend is
5:29
Speaker 2: there with his wife and three kids, and we all
5:32
Speaker 2: sit down at this big table, got the biggest table
5:34
Speaker 2: in the place, and we're all sitting there and uh,
5:38
Speaker 2: his best friend comes and sits next to me and
5:41
Speaker 2: we start talking. And two and a half three hours
5:44
Speaker 2: goes by for dinner and me and this guy been
5:47
Speaker 2: talking the whole time, and his name's David. And at
5:50
Speaker 2: the end of the dinner, I'm just like, you know,
5:52
Speaker 2: he's asked me about my life and we're talking. I'm
5:54
Speaker 2: sharing stuff with him, and we just really hit it off.
5:57
Speaker 2: And at the end of the dinner, I'm like, yes,
5:59
Speaker 2: you know, David, I know you work on the show,
6:01
Speaker 2: but what do you do at NYPD Blue. And it
6:03
Speaker 2: turns out it's David Milch, who is, you know, just
6:08
Speaker 2: a legendary writer in television and tremendous talent, and so
6:14
Speaker 2: he says, yeah, you know, I helped create the show
6:16
Speaker 2: and this is what I did. And he's like, look,
6:17
Speaker 2: I'm writing a pilot for something that Bill and I
6:20
Speaker 2: are doing, and there's a character in the show that
6:22
Speaker 2: I think you would be right for if you wanted
6:26
Speaker 2: to come out in audition. Have you ever thought about
6:27
Speaker 2: moving to LA And I had been thinking about it
6:30
Speaker 2: for almost a year at that point, as Ralphie had
6:33
Speaker 2: moved out here and I was already thinking about I
6:36
Speaker 2: just knew, like that's where you had to go at
6:38
Speaker 2: the time you're going to pursue it. La was where
6:40
Speaker 2: you had to go do it. You know, New York
6:42
Speaker 2: was one thing, and you could stay and go that
6:44
Speaker 2: track in New York. But you know, for some reason,
6:47
Speaker 2: even as a kid, man La just kind of called me. Yeah,
6:51
Speaker 2: you know, I was on the sun, the palm trees,
6:53
Speaker 2: whatever it was. I was like, I know, one day
6:56
Speaker 2: I gotta go. I gotta go that way, you know,
6:58
Speaker 2: whatever it was. And so uh he said, man, David
7:01
Speaker 2: was so kind and generous.
7:02
Speaker 1: Man, so let you audition for it.
7:05
Speaker 2: So not only that, he says, look, you have a
7:08
Speaker 2: place to stay. And I'm like, look, hey, I have
7:10
Speaker 2: a place to stay because I know I could stay
7:11
Speaker 2: with Ralph and his brother. He's like, oh, okay, I
7:13
Speaker 2: would have offered you my guest house. You could stay there.
7:16
Speaker 2: And right then he says, stay in town a little
7:21
Speaker 2: longer if you can. This is Thanksgiving. Let me find
7:25
Speaker 2: I want to just get you on camera. I want
7:27
Speaker 2: to see if we find something on blue on NYPD
7:30
Speaker 2: Blue and just see you on camera. So I hang
7:33
Speaker 2: out for about two weeks and waiting around. I'm just
7:35
Speaker 2: enjoying LA and finally get a call, Hey, we've got
7:39
Speaker 2: something on an episode. I come in and it's a
7:42
Speaker 2: character that like has one line three words and it's
7:46
Speaker 2: a It's in an episode of NYPD Blue called Upstairs.
7:49
Speaker 2: Downstairs with the detectives and the uniform cops are beefing
7:51
Speaker 2: with each other, and I'm a uniform cop that comes
7:54
Speaker 2: up and I'm carrying some boxes and shit and I
7:57
Speaker 2: and I all I say is uh is there's like
8:01
Speaker 2: the sergeant and two detectives Jimmy Smith's and it might
8:03
Speaker 2: have been Dennis Fans talking to the sergeant and there's
8:06
Speaker 2: like a heated exchange. And I come up with these
8:08
Speaker 2: boxes and I'm just like in the corner and then
8:10
Speaker 2: and then one of them says, yeah, in the corner
8:12
Speaker 2: or whatever, and I go, you know, delivery boy again, right,
8:15
Speaker 2: But then I have a stare down with Jimmy Smith's,
8:18
Speaker 2: Like we have a stare down right, Yeah, that's it,
8:21
Speaker 2: in and out right done, Like you know, by the
8:23
Speaker 2: time you recognize me, when you saw it, it was over. Yeah,
8:26
Speaker 2: but I got my minute and I never forget. Man.
8:28
Speaker 2: I'm sitting in the trailer. I'm writing in this little journal,
8:30
Speaker 2: like I got a line and I'm here on the
8:34
Speaker 2: thing and it's like like this is like really happening, man,
8:40
Speaker 2: you know. And so I do this thing. Great, it's done.
8:43
Speaker 2: I pack my ship. I go back to New York
8:45
Speaker 2: and I'm like, I'm moving to LA. I know I'm
8:47
Speaker 2: moving now, like now, I got to go out because
8:49
Speaker 2: this is the possibility of this audition for this show
8:52
Speaker 2: is going to happen. And I'm like, that's that's all
8:55
Speaker 2: I needed. Like that's enough for me. I'm packing up.
8:57
Speaker 2: I'm moving out. So pack up, I move out. I
9:01
Speaker 2: moved to LA end of January. I get out here
9:05
Speaker 2: and I have a place to stay for a little while.
9:09
Speaker 2: That doesn't work out, things get complicated. I'm trying to
9:12
Speaker 2: and at the lowest point, man, I get a call
9:16
Speaker 2: that the show that that character is not going to
9:18
Speaker 2: be in the pilot.
9:19
Speaker 4: Ah.
9:20
Speaker 2: So I'm like, shit, man, I'm out here. I'm freaking
9:24
Speaker 2: figuring out exists but not yet but not yet. So
9:30
Speaker 2: and I don't have an agent. I don't. I'm trying
9:31
Speaker 2: to get all of this right. So I come out
9:33
Speaker 2: here with that same hustle, and instead of mailing envelopes out,
9:36
Speaker 2: I'm literally driving around in my car handing out headshots
9:40
Speaker 2: at agencies with a Thomas Guide straight up Thomas. Okay,
9:44
Speaker 2: there's an agency here as part of the valley learning
9:47
Speaker 2: my way around LA. And I go to this agency
9:51
Speaker 2: and I think they were no more for repping dancers
9:54
Speaker 2: at the time, but KM something I can't remember what
9:58
Speaker 2: it was, man, but I give my this woman she
10:01
Speaker 2: says she wants to rep me. She asked me for
10:02
Speaker 2: my address, so they like, look, I don't have an
10:04
Speaker 2: address right now. The only address I could give you
10:07
Speaker 2: is where I was selling real estate for first time
10:12
Speaker 2: home buyers out in Riverside, right And I'm like, I
10:14
Speaker 2: can give you that. She's like, oh, you don't have
10:16
Speaker 2: an address. I'm like, no, let me give you this
10:17
Speaker 2: beeper number in this and she was like, okay, you're
10:19
Speaker 2: looking for a place to live. I'm like yeah, and
10:21
Speaker 2: so she's like, okay, call this number later tonight. I
10:24
Speaker 2: call the number. She picks up. Her name was Jennifer.
10:27
Speaker 2: She's like, look, me and my roommate are looking for
10:28
Speaker 2: a third roommate because we're we just want to save
10:31
Speaker 2: some money before we move on to our next place.
10:33
Speaker 2: So I ended up living sleeping on the floor in
10:36
Speaker 2: the living room of this apartment in Burbank for like
10:39
Speaker 2: months and a half.
10:40
Speaker 1: What's an agent?
10:41
Speaker 2: And she became my agent for a while, right wow.
10:45
Speaker 2: And then as I as I'm thinking like damn, when
10:48
Speaker 2: is this pilot gonna happen whatever, Bill calls me and
10:51
Speaker 2: he's like, Hey, the characters back in the pilot and
10:55
Speaker 2: they're gonna they're gonna bring you in for an audition.
10:57
Speaker 2: And my saving grace and I'm going back to this
11:00
Speaker 2: this moment was an acting class that I was in.
11:02
Speaker 2: That Milch again was like an angel and was like,
11:05
Speaker 2: go see this woman. She has an acting class. And
11:07
Speaker 2: I go and I show up and it turns out
11:09
Speaker 2: there's like four or five people in the class that
11:12
Speaker 2: he's paying for Oh wow, to go study. And he
11:17
Speaker 2: paid for me to go study with this woman, you know,
11:20
Speaker 2: And it was what was so great about it in
11:22
Speaker 2: that moment was that it was somewhere to be like
11:24
Speaker 2: and you know, I was lonely as hell out here.
11:26
Speaker 2: I really Ralph was my boy, and that was the
11:27
Speaker 2: only person I knew out there. My boy Ralph was
11:29
Speaker 2: grinding trying to make his career happen, and so all
11:33
Speaker 2: of a sudden it was like, oh, there was community,
11:35
Speaker 2: you know, and and somewhere to be every week and
11:38
Speaker 2: doing something and you know, and it was cool man.
11:41
Speaker 4: And but now but now you're in the pilot and
11:44
Speaker 4: now well, first of all, you're still so you go
11:46
Speaker 4: to not in the pilot yet, so practice is the audition, right.
11:50
Speaker 2: So the audition comes up finally, like the characters back
11:53
Speaker 2: in the pilot, audition for it is coming up. So
11:55
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, this is my moment. I go, I prep,
11:58
Speaker 2: go do my audition, and I walk out, you know,
12:01
Speaker 2: feeling good. But it's really only the second time that
12:04
Speaker 2: I had, like an audition for television. I had audition
12:07
Speaker 2: for something on New York Undercover and get it. And
12:09
Speaker 2: this was really my first audition for something big. And
12:15
Speaker 2: I walk out and I'm an agent, so I don't
12:16
Speaker 2: get feedback. I don't want to bother Bill because just
12:19
Speaker 2: getting to know him at the time. So like ten
12:22
Speaker 2: days goes by and I don't hear anything, and I think, like,
12:25
Speaker 2: I mean each day that I didn't hear anything, I
12:27
Speaker 2: was silence. Was like I was crushed, and at that
12:33
Speaker 2: time my life like to be crushed. The feeling I
12:36
Speaker 2: felt was anger, so like I would express it as
12:39
Speaker 2: I mean, I would literally like bust out in a
12:40
Speaker 2: rage at a red light, just because like you so
12:47
Speaker 2: missed at myself, man, And.
12:50
Speaker 1: Because all the all the boxes were checked.
12:53
Speaker 2: The dude, you know, you take a shot in the class,
12:57
Speaker 2: the whole thing. And I'm like, oh man, you know,
13:00
Speaker 2: because I didn't think I was bad in the audition,
13:02
Speaker 2: but I didn't know, like I didn't have enough you know,
13:04
Speaker 2: I haven't had enough experience, no barometer yet, you know.
13:08
Speaker 2: And I had no agent to call and go like,
13:10
Speaker 2: well what they say, what's the feedback? Like, you know,
13:12
Speaker 2: tell me something so and like I said, I didn't
13:14
Speaker 2: want to bother Bill because I'm like, man, the dude
13:16
Speaker 2: did more than I could ever ask somebody to do
13:18
Speaker 2: for me. And you know, anyway, those ten days goes by,
13:24
Speaker 2: and at that time I had They used to be
13:28
Speaker 2: a restaurant on Melrose called Georgia's. Oh yeah yeah, and
13:31
Speaker 2: it was a beautiful spot man, and it was owned
13:34
Speaker 2: by Denzel and Wesley Snipes and Norm Nixon and the
13:39
Speaker 2: owner operator partner was a guy named Brad Johnson. Uh,
13:45
Speaker 2: and I love Brad. Brad was really good to me.
13:48
Speaker 2: An ex girlfriend of mine at the time was still
13:49
Speaker 2: a dear friend of mine. Her dad was friends with
13:51
Speaker 2: Brad and he reached out to Brad before I came
13:54
Speaker 2: to LA and was like, Hey, look, this kid's good kid.
13:56
Speaker 2: He's gonna come by, you know, just look out for him.
13:59
Speaker 2: And so I would go to this spot and it
14:02
Speaker 2: was the spot man like it was. It was dope spots,
14:05
Speaker 2: so like you had to get dressed up. So I
14:07
Speaker 2: put on you know, uh, sports coat and slacks and
14:11
Speaker 2: no leather pants. I couldn't afford the leather pants at
14:15
Speaker 2: that time. Man pants. I wish I had some leather pants.
14:22
Speaker 2: But I would go there jazzed up and once a
14:24
Speaker 2: week I would go and sit down and Brad would
14:27
Speaker 2: hook me up with a meal and you know, a
14:29
Speaker 2: drink or two. But what was the best thing about
14:31
Speaker 2: it was like it was a place to post up
14:32
Speaker 2: and I would meet people, you know. So I met
14:34
Speaker 2: some girls and went on my first hikes that I
14:36
Speaker 2: ever went on with That's go on a hike you know,
14:39
Speaker 2: California ship like the hike. I'm like, yeah, all right, uh,
14:43
Speaker 2: And I met some guys that I'm still you know.
14:45
Speaker 2: I mean, I haven't seen it in a while, but like,
14:47
Speaker 2: you know, it was friends with for years, and you know,
14:49
Speaker 2: it was a place again to like feel like okay,
14:52
Speaker 2: like I'm belonging, belonging, right. So one night Bad calls me, like, hey,
14:56
Speaker 2: come back for dinner tonight in the middle of the week.
14:58
Speaker 2: It was like a Wednesday, and and I had not
15:00
Speaker 2: told anybody about this audition, right. I was like, I'm
15:03
Speaker 2: not gonna say anything about this audition till I know
15:05
Speaker 2: what the end result is. And I hadn't gotten the end.
15:07
Speaker 1: And that's the rule of thumb, by the way, just
15:09
Speaker 1: to yourself.
15:10
Speaker 2: And like, so I get a call come in for dinner.
15:13
Speaker 2: So I sit down with Brad and I'm there at
15:18
Speaker 2: a big table with him in about I don't know
15:20
Speaker 2: eight other people and they're all adults, successful people, you know.
15:23
Speaker 2: I mean, this was like one of the hottest restaurants
15:24
Speaker 2: in town. And Brad's friends were all doing it or
15:28
Speaker 2: they're all you know, they were probably in their forties
15:30
Speaker 2: at the time, and they were like experienced and you know,
15:33
Speaker 2: but I'm being invited to the table. We're having conversation
15:36
Speaker 2: and they're talking about their careers, business things, things that
15:40
Speaker 2: are going on for them. And it comes to my turn.
15:42
Speaker 2: Somebody turns like at them, so, you know, what's up?
15:44
Speaker 2: What's going on? You know, what are you up to?
15:46
Speaker 2: And I'm like, shit, man, I didn't have shit else
15:49
Speaker 2: to talk about. I'm like, we talk about this this
15:50
Speaker 2: house that I showed somebody in Riverside, like earlier that day.
15:53
Speaker 2: I'm like, uh, I said, well, I'm like, I'm gonna
15:57
Speaker 2: let the cat out the bag. Fuck it, right, I'm like, yeah,
16:00
Speaker 2: I had this audition for a Stephen Boschko pilot about
16:03
Speaker 2: ten days ago, and you know, I was like, I
16:06
Speaker 2: went in there, I did my best. I was like,
16:08
Speaker 2: but I think I blew it. And I have no
16:10
Speaker 2: point of reference to get any feed. But I'm just
16:11
Speaker 2: telling them what's on my mind. Right. They're like, oh, man,
16:13
Speaker 2: well you got to stick with it. It's you know,
16:15
Speaker 2: it's all good for the process. About five minutes after
16:19
Speaker 2: I talk about this, man, my pager goes off. This
16:21
Speaker 2: is how old. There's a long cage. My pager goes off,
16:25
Speaker 2: and I look at the number, and I thought I
16:28
Speaker 2: was fly because I had an eight hundred number for
16:30
Speaker 2: my pager, right, so anybody could die that page, right,
16:33
Speaker 2: and they didn't need any quarters up for your call, right balling.
16:38
Speaker 2: So I look at the number and it's and I
16:42
Speaker 2: was waiting to see this number. It was three one
16:43
Speaker 2: oh uh you know, uh six six there was the
16:47
Speaker 2: Fox exchange right, and I'm like, oh, this was the number.
16:50
Speaker 2: I was three six nine three one oh three six
16:52
Speaker 2: nine something some something. And I was like, I knew
16:55
Speaker 2: it was from Boshko's office. So I get on there.
16:57
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh shit. I get up from the table.
16:59
Speaker 2: I go to the payphone. I call casting as system
17:02
Speaker 2: picks up. His name was Scott Jenkinsjer and he's like, Adam,
17:05
Speaker 2: are you available to come in to read for Steven tomorrow?
17:09
Speaker 2: And I'm like, yeah, of course I'll be there.
17:13
Speaker 3: Now, you have a fax machine because we're going to
17:15
Speaker 3: send your Yeah, yeah, no.
17:17
Speaker 2: I had the scenes. It was the same It was
17:19
Speaker 2: the same scenes, same scene right. Luckily because for the
17:22
Speaker 2: ten days, bro I was going over that scene every
17:25
Speaker 2: single day, one hundred times a day. I was reliving
17:29
Speaker 2: my chance, you know what I mean. It was like
17:32
Speaker 2: I was reliving it because I thought I blew it.
17:34
Speaker 2: So I was like, man, I would have done this anyway.
17:37
Speaker 2: Your chance is actually now coming tomorrow. So I got
17:42
Speaker 2: to go the next day, man, And it was the
17:46
Speaker 2: first time I auditioned. There were a lot of people
17:48
Speaker 2: at this time there were less and maybe like it
17:50
Speaker 2: was down to like fifteen twenty people. Maybe when I
17:53
Speaker 2: got there.
17:53
Speaker 1: You recognize anyone that was in the room.
17:55
Speaker 2: I feel like nobody that I knew well at the time,
17:58
Speaker 2: but I feel like Yancey Arias was there. Yancey is
18:02
Speaker 2: the one that comes to mind when I think if
18:04
Speaker 2: there were any familiar faces, but Yancey and I would
18:07
Speaker 2: run into each other. I'd see him a commercial auditions
18:09
Speaker 2: and stuff in New York. Yeah, yeah, I don't. Yancey
18:13
Speaker 2: comes up. Yancey comes to mind. I don't remember who
18:16
Speaker 2: else maybe, but I go in. It's my turn, and
18:21
Speaker 2: I just felt so prepared, like I already felt like
18:25
Speaker 2: I had lost. So I was like, fuck it, man,
18:29
Speaker 2: like I just let go and.
18:31
Speaker 1: You quite literally lost it once. So this is just
18:34
Speaker 1: like gravy yep.
18:46
Speaker 2: Scene, And I mean I got applause at the end.
18:50
Speaker 2: People in the room were like, wow, that was great,
18:52
Speaker 2: and I just felt I was beaming inside because all
18:55
Speaker 2: I wanted to do was make a good impression, you
18:59
Speaker 2: know what I mean? So I walked out. What was
19:01
Speaker 2: the scene?
19:01
Speaker 1: Like, what was the scene that you had to perform?
19:03
Speaker 2: Oh? Man, I don't even remember, now, okay for the cop.
19:06
Speaker 2: You were playing a cop? I was playing a cop.
19:08
Speaker 2: There was an exchange with somebody, you know it. I
19:12
Speaker 2: don't remember. I don't. I wish I could. Actually, I
19:15
Speaker 2: would have walked out feeling like I walked out on
19:17
Speaker 2: a high.
19:18
Speaker 1: Even if I don't get it, I left it there.
19:20
Speaker 2: I left an impression. I left an impression in that room,
19:23
Speaker 2: Like I know, I didn't let build down because that
19:25
Speaker 2: was my main thing. Like I didn't want to leave
19:27
Speaker 2: these people that gave me a chance, that opened the door.
19:29
Speaker 2: I didn't want to. I didn't want to let them
19:30
Speaker 2: down on it, you know. So I felt like Bill
19:33
Speaker 2: and David at least like I got my respect, you know,
19:35
Speaker 2: like they didn't look foolish for bringing me in. So
19:38
Speaker 2: I walked out, and I'm like, man, I remember going
19:42
Speaker 2: to the bathroom, splashing some water on my face, smiling
19:44
Speaker 2: like you feel good? I feel good now, I'm like
19:48
Speaker 2: walking out and I'm leaving the building and the casting
19:52
Speaker 2: system comes outside and say hey, Adam, Adam come back
19:54
Speaker 2: and calls me back in.
19:55
Speaker 1: I'm like, don't ever come back again.
20:01
Speaker 2: They weren't clapping because you were done, so like, okay,
20:04
Speaker 2: well good luck. First of all, this is what you
20:09
Speaker 2: call us.
20:09
Speaker 3: You're describing like the best standing to a romantic movie ever, right,
20:14
Speaker 3: like them guns and direct him. So hey Adam, wait,
20:17
Speaker 3: come wait.
20:18
Speaker 2: Wait I stopped my checks. I'm like, oh, right, because
20:24
Speaker 2: I got paused the pushing with the guy behind it.
20:28
Speaker 2: You have that moment then turn around like yeah, you know,
20:31
Speaker 2: brings me back in the office. He's like, just wait here.
20:34
Speaker 1: You ever come here again?
20:36
Speaker 2: Yo? You left your water whatever, you left your water again. Yes,
20:41
Speaker 2: we're going to do you a favorite. We're not going
20:43
Speaker 2: to tell any other time about this audition. So only
20:48
Speaker 2: because you're a friend.
20:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, you didn't clean up after yourself.
20:56
Speaker 2: You don't ever leave an audition without taking yourself. Clearly
21:02
Speaker 2: you're a rookie. She comes out, She goes, Adam, it
21:05
Speaker 2: was a guy because Scott the same guy that he
21:06
Speaker 2: comes out. He comes out, he brings me back in
21:08
Speaker 2: the office of a woman named Junie Lowry Johnson, who
21:11
Speaker 2: was the casting director. A minute or two goes by.
21:14
Speaker 2: She walks in and she looks at him. They look
21:17
Speaker 2: at each other and they're like, you got the job.
21:20
Speaker 2: And I'm like, oh my god.
21:22
Speaker 1: I say he told you there that day.
21:24
Speaker 2: Oh my god. I mean, I'm like, I don't know
21:27
Speaker 2: what to do. Man. I'm like, oh my god, this
21:31
Speaker 2: is crazy. You know, I can feel it now. And
21:34
Speaker 2: I'm like, wow, thank you, thank you, you know, and I
21:37
Speaker 2: leave and I run to the first pay phone. I
21:39
Speaker 2: call my mom. She's at work, you asking what my
21:41
Speaker 2: father did for lifing. My mother worked for the United
21:42
Speaker 2: Airlines for like thirty plus years, and she was the
21:47
Speaker 2: ticket agent at like an off site ticket office. So
21:49
Speaker 2: if you wanted to buy a ticket for United, you
21:52
Speaker 2: would go to these offices and purchase the ticket there.
21:54
Speaker 2: And she did that. I called her up and I
21:57
Speaker 2: was like, hey, Ma. She's like, hey, what's up, Mama.
22:00
Speaker 2: My work. I'm like, all right, you got a long line.
22:01
Speaker 2: She was like yeah, it's crowded and a lot of
22:03
Speaker 2: people here. I'm like great, perfect, because I was like,
22:06
Speaker 2: you know, I want to see what her reaction was
22:07
Speaker 2: going to be in front of all these people, and
22:09
Speaker 2: it was on the other line, and I was like,
22:11
Speaker 2: I got it. I got my first show, Mom, I
22:13
Speaker 2: got I got on this show, you know. And she
22:16
Speaker 2: was like, oh my god. You know she was happy.
22:18
Speaker 2: Of course in the moment. I don't think she understood.
22:21
Speaker 2: I always think we're doing you know so, But man,
22:24
Speaker 2: I'll never forget being on that love that lot. Every
22:26
Speaker 2: time I go to that lot, like it's just special
22:28
Speaker 2: to me for that reason. Fox. Yeah, and so I Man,
22:33
Speaker 2: I hang up the phone and I was like, man,
22:35
Speaker 2: this is it, Like, you know, I got a job on,
22:37
Speaker 2: like a series regular on a show.
22:40
Speaker 3: And this show had been already Greenland show had already
22:42
Speaker 3: been green because it was Stephen Botschko at that time,
22:45
Speaker 3: it was twenty two on the air.
22:47
Speaker 2: He was dumb, man, you know, he was remember remember
22:50
Speaker 2: when you Taylor Sheridan. Yeah, I remember when I got paid. Man.
22:53
Speaker 2: I remember doing the pilot, and I remember riding because
22:59
Speaker 2: this is funny too. We shot in New York. Uh
23:02
Speaker 2: and I am on the plane with uh. What was
23:08
Speaker 2: that conversation. I had a conversation with somebody and they
23:11
Speaker 2: were telling me like, oh, you're gonna make like twenty
23:13
Speaker 2: five grand an episode or whatever at that time, you're
23:17
Speaker 2: kidding me. I was like, usually I made ten thousand
23:20
Speaker 2: for No No, and so I was thinking twenty five.
23:23
Speaker 2: It turned out when it came down to the negotiation,
23:25
Speaker 2: I made six grand an episode.
23:29
Speaker 1: Wait wait, wait, that's that's before agent.
23:31
Speaker 2: Fees and all I had no agent. I got this
23:34
Speaker 2: with no agent.
23:35
Speaker 4: But I'm saying, like, you mean like six take home
23:37
Speaker 4: or like six was the number?
23:39
Speaker 2: Six was the number? Six was the neighbor? Yeah, but
23:42
Speaker 2: I had no agent, so all I had to do
23:44
Speaker 2: was pay tax, you know, which, look at that time,
23:47
Speaker 2: no shit, twenty two episodes making over six figures at
23:51
Speaker 2: that time was like yeah, crazy, you were like six
23:54
Speaker 2: g I was like what I mean? You know, I
23:56
Speaker 2: mean it was a slightly disappointing just because Bill called
24:02
Speaker 2: me the contract. The whole negotiation with Bill basically said, look,
24:05
Speaker 2: they're going to call you. The number is going to
24:07
Speaker 2: be low. But I didn't know. He was like, but
24:09
Speaker 2: you just take what it is, yes, because again it
24:12
Speaker 2: was like getting on a Stephen Botchko pilot at that
24:14
Speaker 2: time was also a big deal because it was like
24:17
Speaker 2: it was like, you know, being on an Alan Ball Show.
24:21
Speaker 2: Later on. You know what I mean, they had prestige,
24:23
Speaker 2: there was there was like something to it.
24:26
Speaker 1: So so questions. So you haven't said the name of
24:29
Speaker 1: the show.
24:30
Speaker 2: Oh, it's called Brooklyn South.
24:32
Speaker 1: Brooklyn South.
24:33
Speaker 2: It was called Brooklyn South.
24:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're na by night it was it on.
24:37
Speaker 2: It was on Monday nights at ten o'clock. It was
24:39
Speaker 2: the first primetime show to ever get a TV m
24:42
Speaker 2: A rating. Wow. Yeah, because the guy's head gets blown off.
24:46
Speaker 2: Pieces fall show. It was a fall show. No, no,
24:49
Speaker 2: it was a fall show. It was like the crown
24:52
Speaker 2: jewel of CBS's lineup that year, that Monday night Slide
24:56
Speaker 2: at ten o'clock was there. That was their premos.
25:00
Speaker 1: How long you've been working with CBS?
25:01
Speaker 2: Yeah? What wait? What year was that? What year? Nineteen
25:03
Speaker 2: ninety seven?
25:14
Speaker 4: So you've been at CBS since ninety seven?
25:16
Speaker 2: That was nineteen ninety seven.
25:18
Speaker 1: They've been good to you, man.
25:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, man, all of it. You know, you realize like, yeah,
25:22
Speaker 2: you know they you learn a lot.
25:24
Speaker 1: Man, you know, how many seasons do you do there?
25:27
Speaker 2: So we only did one season and then the show
25:29
Speaker 2: got canceled.
25:29
Speaker 3: And then and then you and then Wendy you snatch
25:32
Speaker 3: up is at Miami. So that would that be your
25:35
Speaker 3: next big break?
25:36
Speaker 2: I would, I mean big break. Yeah. But the next
25:40
Speaker 2: thing that really kept me going was then iron Spelling
25:45
Speaker 2: show in Between, and then I did and then I
25:48
Speaker 2: did as it was called All Souls. It was it
25:51
Speaker 2: was actually also All Souls. It was very cool shows.
25:54
Speaker 2: It was it's kind of ahead of its time. Actually
25:56
Speaker 2: it was a guy named Mark Frost that was one
25:59
Speaker 2: of David Lynch's partners on Twin Peaks, had broken off
26:02
Speaker 2: and created this show called All Souls and then it
26:07
Speaker 2: aired on UPN and it just wasn't It wasn't right
26:12
Speaker 2: for the network. And the show was kind of even
26:14
Speaker 2: ahead of its time. It was about a haunted hospital
26:17
Speaker 2: and it was really cool and it was really show.
26:20
Speaker 2: But what did makes sense? It didn't exist yet. So
26:23
Speaker 2: I lived in Montreal and I shot that, you know,
26:25
Speaker 2: over the course of a year on and off or
26:28
Speaker 2: ten months whatever it was. But then the next break
26:30
Speaker 2: really was a show called Roswell, and I did the
26:33
Speaker 2: third season of Roswell.
26:35
Speaker 1: I remember when you had.
26:36
Speaker 2: Catherine Heigel was my uh played my wife.
26:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I remember rosswell super well. I remember when
26:45
Speaker 3: he started because I was friends for half of that cast.
26:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were good.
26:48
Speaker 1: Be Brandon were redon.
26:50
Speaker 2: Fair was on it, Jason Bear, Nick Weschler. Mahandra is
26:54
Speaker 2: still a friend love Mahandra Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, Mahandra's great.
26:59
Speaker 2: I actually the her and Brandan have a podcast that
27:03
Speaker 2: I did at some time in the last day.
27:05
Speaker 1: Very hits me up occasionally.
27:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, great, we do we got man, sweet guy.
27:10
Speaker 3: But yeah, it was like it was like the rise
27:13
Speaker 3: of w B Yes, right, Dawson's Creek and then they
27:17
Speaker 3: started this this thing and then Roswell was that first.
27:20
Speaker 2: Like can we do a show up by Aliens?
27:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, around the X Files years and all that stuff.
27:25
Speaker 1: And then I think it was what year was that
27:27
Speaker 1: that show?
27:28
Speaker 2: I joined that show two two thousand and one, so
27:32
Speaker 2: then that show started ninety nine would have been the
27:35
Speaker 2: first year I think for that show in ninety nine.
27:38
Speaker 2: So those guys.
27:39
Speaker 1: Excuse so I just that seventy show in ninety eight.
27:42
Speaker 2: That's what I was going to ask you did is
27:44
Speaker 2: that ninety eight that you started the Yeah that's Fall
27:47
Speaker 2: of ninety eight premiere Fall of ninety eight.
27:49
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, damn yeah, So I remember bab Yeah, it
27:53
Speaker 3: was so crazy, But that's insane.
27:57
Speaker 2: So Roswell was big games kept the ball moving, thank god,
28:02
Speaker 2: because because I had I had bought my my my
28:07
Speaker 2: first place, and I was like, man, I bought my
28:09
Speaker 2: first place, had like two months of mortgage left in
28:11
Speaker 2: the bank and counting on that Aaron Spelling Show and
28:14
Speaker 2: then it got canceled, paying six grand though, and then freaking,
28:18
Speaker 2: and then Roswell hit and kept me going, man. And
28:21
Speaker 2: then when Roswell ended CSI, Miami came along and then
28:25
Speaker 2: that was you know, that was really that took things
28:28
Speaker 2: to another day.
28:28
Speaker 1: How many how many seasons did you do?
28:31
Speaker 2: We did ten seasons of cs and you were doing
28:33
Speaker 2: twenty We did, I mean, depending most seasons, I would
28:37
Speaker 2: say we did twenty two, twenty three. Couple one season
28:41
Speaker 2: we did like twenty five or twenty six one year,
28:44
Speaker 2: but I would say, yeah, average, we did twenty two.
28:47
Speaker 3: And it was one of those shows that really pop culturally,
28:51
Speaker 3: elevated what procedure was What's gonna be?
28:53
Speaker 1: And the location was so sexy and the cast.
28:55
Speaker 2: Was so bad, really set it apart. There was nothing
28:59
Speaker 2: on TV. Yeah, we kind of you know, the original
29:03
Speaker 2: the original CSI, I would say, you know, added something
29:09
Speaker 2: to procedurals that hadn't existed, which is you know, shooting
29:12
Speaker 2: those those those micro shots where they're like, you know,
29:15
Speaker 2: get inside someensics. Part of it really like giving people
29:19
Speaker 2: a visual.
29:20
Speaker 1: Which was which just turns out the proof.
29:22
Speaker 2: Which was amazing, right, But then Miami ratcheted it up
29:26
Speaker 2: another level because it was such a beautiful backdrop for
29:30
Speaker 2: the show. So now you had the you know, the
29:33
Speaker 2: the intricate technical shots that were interesting visually, but then
29:37
Speaker 2: set on top of this beautiful canvas that was Miami
29:40
Speaker 2: with the with the beautiful orange and that the pink.
29:43
Speaker 1: Over to breako the Fancis Hearts.
29:46
Speaker 3: It actually didn't shoot in Miami, shooted in Los Angeles.
29:52
Speaker 2: We would go to Miami. The first five seasons, you
29:54
Speaker 2: would go to Miami for some exterior Yeah, probably like
29:57
Speaker 2: three times a year we would go to MIAMIB four.
30:00
Speaker 2: We'd go down there for like some anywhere between eight
30:02
Speaker 2: to twelve days, fourteen days, get exterior shots and shoot
30:07
Speaker 2: some stuff right there and then come back to LA
30:09
Speaker 2: And then I mean that was that was like.
30:11
Speaker 3: Such an iconic role for you, you know, and yeah,
30:13
Speaker 3: so cuside Miami was a moment and he started like
30:16
Speaker 3: it put you in in household.
30:18
Speaker 2: Numbers, Yeah, for sure.
30:20
Speaker 1: What was your average ratings on that?
30:22
Speaker 2: Oh man, those days.
30:24
Speaker 1: You were probably averaging what seventeen.
30:26
Speaker 2: MILLI easy, I want to say, in the early days,
30:29
Speaker 2: we were probably up to twenty two, twenty three, twenty
30:31
Speaker 2: ten million. Yes, and like those pre pre DVR, Yeah,
30:35
Speaker 2: those numbers, we were still posting those kind of how
30:38
Speaker 2: rad is.
30:38
Speaker 3: There for us to have a Latino on primetime hitting
30:42
Speaker 3: twenty two million people a week and then saying like,
30:44
Speaker 3: oh man, he's not only the he's not only the
30:46
Speaker 3: young guy in there, but he's also like a badass
30:49
Speaker 3: bro like you were killing it and making us all
30:51
Speaker 3: little what.
30:51
Speaker 2: I wish man? And you know, you grow older and
30:54
Speaker 2: you look back on things with different perspectives, and I
30:57
Speaker 2: wish that I would have understood the gravity of that
31:00
Speaker 2: at the time. You know, you know, you're on a
31:02
Speaker 2: big show and that feels good, but it's really only
31:06
Speaker 2: with with time and distance, maturity, perspective, whatever you want
31:09
Speaker 2: to say. It is like that you look back on
31:11
Speaker 2: and go like, oh man, the magnitude I understand maybe
31:14
Speaker 2: more now what that must have represented, you know, in
31:18
Speaker 2: that moment, and what a great opportunity.
31:21
Speaker 3: We were all trying to keep the light on at
31:22
Speaker 3: that point, you know, and I think the most in
31:25
Speaker 3: that time, we don't understand the gravity when we do
31:28
Speaker 3: the math of what pop culturally and culturally how it
31:32
Speaker 3: kind of elevated the values of who we were on screen.
31:35
Speaker 4: Yes, and what it's led to, Adam, And and you've
31:39
Speaker 4: continued to be a Latino leading man, and you've done
31:44
Speaker 4: wonderful work since, whether it's magic mic, whether it is
31:48
Speaker 4: criminal minds, whether whether it is all the stuff that critical.
31:50
Speaker 1: Minds are available in paramount plus. Right now, that's.
31:53
Speaker 4: Right, man, And I mean you're you're you're the guy
31:55
Speaker 4: that Latino actors are looking at going like I grew
31:58
Speaker 4: up watching that.
31:59
Speaker 1: They're also time like we need like an Adam Rodriguez type.
32:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, hopefully that's a I always feel like that's a
32:06
Speaker 2: dangerous thing because I'm like, well, is available, probably have
32:11
Speaker 2: a thing that's what you want. But right, yeah, but
32:16
Speaker 2: that's what you know.
32:16
Speaker 4: But that's one of the reasons why we wanted to
32:19
Speaker 4: have you here, man, give you your flowers, and for
32:22
Speaker 4: you to understand how important you've been for Latino culture,
32:26
Speaker 4: for our industry. And and we're just so thrilled that
32:28
Speaker 4: you're here to call you a friend, and and they're
32:31
Speaker 4: very proud of the of the career that you've crafted.
32:34
Speaker 2: And what a beautiful thing right for us to have
32:36
Speaker 2: grown up together in business, right, and and to have
32:41
Speaker 2: you know, been fortunate enough to pave the paths that
32:43
Speaker 2: we've paved, and and to still be here and still
32:46
Speaker 2: be able to do something we love and to have
32:49
Speaker 2: success at it, and and to be able to sit
32:51
Speaker 2: around and talk about that journey is you know, uh man,
32:56
Speaker 2: in a way, it's like it's a dream come true
32:58
Speaker 2: or a dream you could never adam that you could have,
33:01
Speaker 2: that you could have, you know.
33:03
Speaker 3: And so but look, we got to have you back
33:06
Speaker 3: again because obviously, you know, we got to start doing
33:09
Speaker 3: four parts there.
33:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got We didn't even discratch the surface,
33:13
Speaker 2: and I'm talking about it in all the amount of
33:15
Speaker 2: stories we could sit around and yeah, crazy, crazy, we.
33:18
Speaker 1: Didn't we have the leather pants conversation.
33:21
Speaker 2: We didn't. We didn't talk about adult shape.
33:25
Speaker 4: We didn't talk about meeting each other at that audition
33:28
Speaker 4: yeah party by yeah, yeah, you.
33:31
Speaker 3: All can attest by this episode, you're going to see
33:35
Speaker 3: more about the Rodriguez next season for sure, But but
33:39
Speaker 3: I don't thank you so much for being podcasts.
33:43
Speaker 2: No.
33:44
Speaker 3: Hell, yeah, man, it's you know, we we waited for.
33:47
Speaker 3: You know, this is hopefully a big season final, We'll hopefully,
33:53
Speaker 3: but but yeah, but dude, thank you, thank you so
33:55
Speaker 3: much for being part of this thing for us. It's
33:56
Speaker 3: a very special podcast for us because we only want
33:59
Speaker 3: to to people that kind of have changes and you know,
34:02
Speaker 3: contributed and not only pop culture, but for for you know,
34:05
Speaker 3: for us, for for for all of our brown brothers
34:08
Speaker 3: and sisters. You know, so so thank you for being Sahiro.
34:11
Speaker 3: I'm Wilmer Valdorama' Freddie Rodriguez and this is Amigos.
34:19
Speaker 4: Dose Amigos is a production from w V Sound and
34:22
Speaker 4: iHeartMedia's Michael through That Podcast Network, hosted by Me, Freddie
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Speaker 4: Rodriguez and Wilmer Valdorama.
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Speaker 3: Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burlson and Sophie Spencer Zabos.
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Speaker 4: Our executive producers are Wilmer Valdorama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlson,
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Speaker 4: and Leo Klem at w V Sound.
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Speaker 3: This episode was shot and eded it by Ryan Posts
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Speaker 3: and mixed by Sean Tracy and features original music by
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Speaker 3: Madison Devenport and Helo boy Our.
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Speaker 4: Cover art photography is by David Avalos and designed by
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Speaker 4: Deny Holtz Clau.
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Speaker 1: And thank you for being at Third Amigo today.
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Speaker 3: I appreciate you guys always listening to those amigos.
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Speaker 4: More podcasts from my Heart, visit the our Heart radio app,
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Speaker 4: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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Speaker 1: See you next week.