Jason Weaver Meets World

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, Before we jump into today's episode, we wanted
to send you guys a message because I'm sure you
have heard a little bit about what's going on in
Hollywood these days. As you may have heard, the WGA
has been on strike for a while and recently SAG
after It joined in with the fight. Writer Will and
myself have all been a member of SAG after A
for thirty plus years and we fully support this strike.

(00:24):
When the strike was announced, a lot of questions were
opened up. Is doing pod Meets World going against the strike?
Is doing Pod Meets World the live tour going against
the strike? And there were a lot of tweets spelling
out what you can do and cannot do. There was
the SAG after A website that tried to be as
clear as possible, but we did not want to do
anything that could have possibly gone against the strike, So

(00:47):
we reached out individually to our SAG representatives and ask
them directly, is Pod Meets World allowed? Is the Pod
meets World live tour allowed? And we have been given
the green light by our SAG representatives, So with that
we feel comfortable continuing to do Pod Meats World and
going on tour with podmeats world life. So continue to

(01:10):
enjoy our episodes and we will.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
See you on the road. Yes, Keidan, thank you for listening.
We would like to thank listener Jason P.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Who was kind enough to point out something currently living
on the internet that I figured was a perfect look
into the heart and soul of one of us hosts. Oh,
especially when it comes to our likes and dislikes. And
I won't make us wait any longer. Writer, do you

(01:49):
enjoy using the Letterboxed app?

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Oh? I'm obsessed? Do okay? Jensen is too. I don't
even know what this is? What is knsboieq okay.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
So Letterboxed is essentially a movie social media app, a
movie watching social media app. But it's become like the
central database for any movie lover. You can look any
you can look up any movie and ever made like
short films, obscure, you know, silent films, whatever. It's compiled

(02:24):
all of them and it's the best interface. And what
you can do is keep track of the movies you're watching,
the movies you want to watch. You can create lists
of whatever you want. People leave reviews. It's basically like
the entire like film community.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Geeks out together. It's nerd. It's nerd stuff. For this,
here's what I love it for.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
I mean, I'm not like I'm not put posting reviews,
like I've thought about it, and I definitely publicly post
my like my stars movies. So I go back and
but you know, like I've rated I don't know, like
six hundred eight hundred movies.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
There are people who've rated like four thousand films.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
You know.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
It's like people that I follow who are professional film
critics or filmmakers that just the sheer amount of like
film knowledge, it's insane. And then everybody can put their
top four, which is a great sort of like way
to know, like if you agree with somebody's taste or not,
is you get to see their top four just underneath
their Yeah, really what I wish because now this has

(03:20):
become my go to app to like share movies with people,
you know, like I have friends who are like what
should I watch? Or you know, what should I watch
with my kid? Or and so I can just send
them a list that I've curated. But mostly it's to
be able to search my own memory because I forget crap,
you know, I forget what I've seen and so this way,
there's like a place I can go when somebody's like,

(03:40):
I really like this movie, do you have any ideas
or just in a conversation something comes up. I can
look back on all the movies I've watched in that vein,
And I really wish this existed for books, because I
can't do the same thing with books.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Good Reads is just not that great of an app well.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
As I said, one of our listeners was kind of
have to point out that your letterboxed profile and reviews
are viewable by the public, and as he said, I quote,
this is a small glimpse into the most harsh critic
of Boy Meets World and himself, and he has some
absolutely wild beliefs. Yeah, you haven't actually posted reviews, which

(04:22):
I wish you did for some of them.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
So are you ready to defend some of your takes? God?

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Okay, So I want to start with some of your
highest rated films for context and to prove that you
aren't just a hater. Okay, Okay, the department can we
guess some Okay, I was gonna say, all right, I
was five done, Yeah Tomorrow, five stars, Coco, five stars,
Great Movie, Training Day, five stars, uncut Gems five stars.

(04:49):
There will be Blood five stars. Also, Jensen and I
were thrilled to see one of your hot takes is
something we agree with.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Downsizing four and a half stars, terrible movie. I've been
when you revisit it. I have a lot of opinions
about that film. Yeah, that movie. Love terrible film.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yeah, I think it is. I mean, I'm a huge
Alexander Payne like fanatic. And when that movie came out,
I went to like an early screening and I kind
of knew. I was like, oh, there's something. Well, I
don't know if we want to get into it, but yeah,
I love that movie.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Okay, we can discuss that later, but I want to
now onto the.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Bottom of your barrel.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
And I I have to admit some of these are
just shocking, but I I know you will be excited
to defend them. So maybe Top Gun, Maverick one and
a half stars.

Speaker 5 (05:38):
Wrong.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, it's just not for me.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
No, it wasn't It wasn't it. But you just didn't
like it. It doesn't mean it was a bad movie
because it was a great movie. Well, I mean, I
mean I'm making sure yeah, and acting and story, I
mean everything about it was good.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
You just didn't like it.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
I guess it depends on what you by everything about
it being good, like a story as fan service, right
Like I look at a movie like that and I
feel like, Okay, so the Christopher mcquarie, who's in a
great screenwriter wrote a top gun fan service movie, Like
that's not interesting to me, Like that is execute that film.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
I'll tell you this.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
We went to the like it's it's it's incredibly well made.
But like I feel the same way about most superhero movies.
That's why I give them one star or half a star,
is because I'm like what I'm for me my, Like
I evaluate films for how far they're pushing in a
cultural conversation, and I feel like a movie like that,
it's just.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Your only category is just how far we're pushing big one.
It's a big part of it.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
Like I like originality, right Like I like something that
is like my The ideal movie going experience for me
is I know nothing about it. I sit down and
I'm told I'm taken on a journey that takes me
somewhere I've never been before. And then when I come back,
I run and go back there and watch it again
or think about it, you know, afects my life in
some way, And so that's why I revised stuff, because

(07:03):
it's like I'll give something a lower rating, but then
I'll be like, three days later, I'm still thinking.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
About it, so I bump it up.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
So where do you? Where would you come? I'm like,
I will never think about Top Gun. Like when I
walked into Top Gun, I was one person. When I
walked out, I'm the same person.

Speaker 6 (07:16):
Right.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
My thoughts in the world never change if you're talking
about the world.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
If I if I if you said to me, I
really love Top Gun, Maverick, I don't say that tells
me something about Will's view of the world.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
No, but this means nothing. It's popcorn. It's fun. Fine,
it's fun. Where does where does? Where? Where?

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Would it then fall in the review of the movie
that it was the movie that single handedly got people
back into the theater. That's like, it's right, but would
that add to the experience at all? Like the because
you're talking about how it pushing the culture full star
Otherwise it would just be one tough critic, a harsh
I know, I don't.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
We do not need to deep dive on all of
these I just I'm going to a few of them. Okay,
Almost Famous two and a half stars.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
I agree with you on that movie. I think that
movie kind of poopy.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
I'm almost famous, Okay, Ace Ventura one and a half stars.
The Mask a point five star, John Wick point five star,
which is the same rated Sharknado. You also gave half
a star to Heat.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Oh my god, I'm the big anti Heat. I have
opinions about that.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
You're also anti Scarface. You gave one star Big one star?
What No, No, No, that's wrong Big.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
It says Big. That's why. No, but Big should be
five stars. I love Big. I just rewatch it with Indy.
That's a mistake. That's a mistake, a huge mistake.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
No, Biggest is way up there. Why didn't you like
John Wick? I'm just curious. I never finished it. If
I gave it half a star, it means I usually
didn't finish the movie. I think the first twenty minutes
of John Wicker amazing, and then when I was like, oh,
oh he's we're just the fun of this movie is
just a ballet of violence.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
We're just watching him shoot people in the head. I
don't care.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
So yeah, it's just John Wu. It's bringing back the
Asian film did you like do you like John Wu
stuff and all that the kind of old school Okay.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
I don't think I've ever seen that much.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
No, I don't like just like fun killing movies, Like
like you know, kill Bill one is like the most
boring thing in the world to me. Kill Bill two
finally has some story. But like I know that I'm
on the outside of most people on that, Like I
just don't love Like, like I said, I totally tap out.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Why did you give rat Tattuui one star? That's a
good question. I need to watch it. I'm not a fan.
I think it is one of the most awkward.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
Like, like you know, there's always with world building, and
especially with Pixar world building, there's like there's a buy
in factor, right, And like I think with Ratituey there
was a fundamental buy in problem with him puppeteering a
chef with his It never worked for it, Like I
just could never buy in. And I know that they
had lots of problems with that script and with that director,

(09:46):
like they and and it feels it feels like a
cheat to me.

Speaker 6 (09:48):
Now.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
The moment the chef has the flashback to his childhood
where he tastes ratatuy is such a phenomenal cinematic moment.
I just think it would have been an awesome twenty
minute short film, like it would have been just a
ate twenty minute short film. Patton Oswald I love so,
I love his voice, so there's lots to be loved.
But I need to revisit it because it's the one
Pixar I haven't watched with Indy, Like we've watched all

(10:10):
of them otherwise, and I usually love them, but Ratitude
is not up there.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Did you like UP? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (10:16):
I did like UP, but I also don't love I
love Iron Giant, but I don't love it's.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Brad Bird as the director.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
I don't love his characterization, Like his animated characters are
a little too extreme for just my taste, like aesthetically,
and like I don't like the way people look in Ratituey.
There's something off about it for me.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, well, I just writer. Would you like to let
anyone know where they can find you on letterboxed?

Speaker 2 (10:41):
I think I'm just rather strong or strong and it's
it's public.

Speaker 6 (10:44):
So no.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
I recently was connected with one of my like film
nerd friends and she was so nice in her stars.
I was like, because you can see where somebody puts
their average, you know, like and like everyone. She gives
three stars and I am like just extreme, Like if
I like it, I go five.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
If I don't have a.

Speaker 6 (11:02):
Star, one star.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Right, So yeah, okay, I think that that's fun because
the point is to spark debate and conversation.

Speaker 4 (11:09):
Yeah right, I can't wait to have lunch with you
again because our entire lunch is going to be talking
about heat.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
So why you're so anti?

Speaker 3 (11:15):
I'll tell you what I've been doing, the secret project
that I've been doing for years now. I have this
weird habit of writing poems. It's based on movies, based
on either they're like biographic, but they're like super formal,
like I'll write like sonnets or villain l's. Like I
give myself this challenge of like, all right, let's take
a movie that I.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Love and I don't know why this is happened.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
So maybe someday I'll start posting those as my reviews
on letter box A different question.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
Great idea, And also will I encourage you to start
a letterboxed because I think between you and writer and
the way you guys feel feel about movies. This would
just one we have endless pre show chatter, and two
I would love to sit down at the table and
hear your different takes on these things. So anyway, thank
you writer for letting us bring some of those up

(12:00):
and defending some of your hot takes. And I want
to talk more about downsizing when we're not on the air.
Welcome to Pod meets World. I'm Daniel Fischel, I'm Rider Strong,
and I'm Wilfredell. There is one film we do all

(12:21):
agree on, and that's the nineteen ninety four ABC movie
Summertime Switch, something we recently recapped right before we started
season three, starring our harsh critic over here, right or Strong,
and our guest this week, Jason Weaver. We couldn't help
but notice Jason was leaps and bounds above everyone else
in the movie.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Sorry.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
Rider obviously encouraged to improv, sing, dance, play basketball, and
act circles around his peers and for good reason. Best
known as Marcus Henderson on the wb sitcom Smart Guy,
a teenage Michael Jackson on the nineteen ninety two Jackson
mini series, and the singing voice of young Simba in
Disney's Lion King.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
Talk about a movie, right, it's some of his later work.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
I want to now rattle off a star of drum
line with Nick Cannon. He appeared in the Coen Brothers
comedy Lady Killers the two thousand and six film atl
alongside rappers t I and Big Boy, and most impressively
singing the hook on One Call Away, a top five
chingy hit single in the United States. And today we
are going to focus on his true moment of artistry,

(13:27):
the Citizen Kane of identity mix up movies that involve
bull from Night Court, Summertime Switch. It's time for the
reunion you've been waiting for, right or Strong? May I
welcome your camp buddy and fellow Freddie Egan Jason Weaver
to Pod meets World.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
How's it coming?

Speaker 6 (13:49):
Man?

Speaker 3 (13:50):
Then?

Speaker 6 (13:51):
Terrific? How are you doing that?

Speaker 2 (13:53):
How are you guys doing We're all right?

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Is this the first time you guys have seen each
other since Summertime Switch?

Speaker 6 (13:59):
Yeah, the time Switch. Yeah, it's been that long since
that that hot summer in Jacksonville.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
It was so hot, it was so hot, it was
you have to dig ditches in the heat. I was
actually we were at like some boy scout camp. I
forget where we were. You were at the like luxury side,
so but.

Speaker 6 (14:20):
I had all the luxury you were, you were dealing
with all the crap.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yes, and see Jason, how how hounded were you on
social media by pod meets World listeners the day the
Summertime Switch podcast was released?

Speaker 6 (14:32):
Yo, it was crazy because, you know, because we're all
like shut down. Everybody's you know, down for the strike
or whatever, so you just have all this kind of
idle time, you know, and things and other things that
we're doing and developing what you guys have with the podcast.
So I'm just sitting, you know, just working on some
other projects, and all of a sudden, I just see
all these notifications coming through. So I'm like, oh my god,

(14:54):
what did I do? What did I say? Oh no,
something's happening. And then when I looked, I was pleasantly
surprised to see you know, all the fans of you
guys podcast just you know, tagging me and let me
let me know that you all were, you know, covering
Summertime Switching. You know, I'm just glad that we got

(15:15):
an opportunity to do this. I will say though, that
you guys, fans are relentless, man like they are all
a joke.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
Well, let me tell you something.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Whenever we mentioned someone on the podcast or we do
we do an episode that involves a guest actor or
something from Boy Meets World, a few people will tag them.
I've never seen a fan reaction quite like the reaction
to you. You are so loved. You have so many fans,
I mean hundreds of people.

Speaker 6 (15:43):
Jason.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
We were j we we were like, okay, great, we promise,
we will. We will.

Speaker 6 (15:48):
Yeah, and I appreciate it. Gods, sorry about that, Like, yeah,
my uh. You know that the people that have followed
my career throughout the years, and you guys know this,
you all experienced this as well. I mean, there's such
a strong connection with those people because in our own
little way, we've kind of all grown up together, although
we don't, you know, really know each other personally, but

(16:10):
there's a there's just this connection there. So when you know,
when they see one of their favorite personalities or celebrities
or childless celebrities that they that they love growing up,
and there's this opportunity to build a reconnection or establish
a reconnection if you will, and just have a moment
where we look back in retrospect and just you know,

(16:30):
show appreciation and gratitude just for how we all have
been blessed and been able to connect with so many people,
in touch so many people's lives. Man, you just got
to jump at that opportunity. So, you know, my fans,
I will say, we're pretty aggressive, but I think for
doing that, because it's it's great being here.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yes, we're so happy you're here.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
Jason did what do you remember specifically about filming Summertime Switch?
I mean, you mentioned the hot Jacksonville. What is your
overall memory of the movie.

Speaker 6 (17:01):
I really just remember I remember having a lot of fun.
It was kind of just like it it felt like
taking a summer break, but yet you were working and
just having that experience of working with so many talented
child actors at that time. I mean, and you know,
when I say talented, that's kind of an understatement. You

(17:23):
know a lot of those a lot of the kids
that are on that show were seasoned actors by that time.
It been in you know, a few films, and you know,
just really understood how to conduct themselves professionally on set,
how to you know, how to show up being prepared.
You know. It was really one of those kind of
all star summer camp kind of things for give the kids,

(17:44):
if you will, in the art so to be able
to you know, share that moment with everybody. Although we
were in most of the time in one hundred degree
plus heat, you know, although those were kind of circumstances,
I think we were all just you know, we had
that youthful adrenaline. You know, I think we all recognized

(18:04):
that this was a unique moment in all of our lives.
You know, I think it's kids, all of us when
we're in that moment at that time, you know, we're
just kind of we're kind of there. I don't think
we have any kind of preak and sived ideas to
where we're gonna go next, and we have some kind
of strategy as to where we're going to take our
careers moving forward forward. We're kind of just in that
moment in processing everything and having fun at the same time. So,

(18:28):
you know, that was my That was my experience as well.
You know with Summertime Switch, it was you know, me
and Wrter, although we really didn't get a chance to
work on a lot of scenes together because we were
shooting in you know, two separate you know, different kind
of scenarios, if you will, But the moments that we
did have that you know, allowed us to come together
and work together and and hang out. It was It

(18:51):
was great, one of the more rewarding experiences when I
look back, you know, of my career. I'll be completely
honest with you. I didn't I know that film was
going to become as popular it become like a childhood
classics as it did. As we were making the movie,
I was like, Okay, they're going to put this out
on ABC, and that's going to do that. Yeah, it's gone,

(19:12):
and you know whatever. But it ended up being, you know,
one of those films that connected with kids who have
now turned into adults who are just fanatical about it.
So it's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
When was the last time you watched it?

Speaker 6 (19:25):
Ooh, it's funny. I was hanging out with Okay, this
is gonna sound bad, but I was hanging out with
some friends. We were drinking one night at a friend's
barbecue at their house, and there were some people there,
some relatives who flew out of town or who came
from out of town.

Speaker 5 (19:45):
Man.

Speaker 6 (19:45):
You know, they were really really nice, but they were
excited to see me. They were fans of my work.
And the gentleman, the husband of the couple, he was like, Man, Man,
I hope I don't embarrass you by saying this, but
you know, one of my favorite movies that you've ever
been part of, The Summertime Switch. Man. It's like, oh great,
you know cool, glad you liked the film. Man. He's like, Man,

(20:06):
as a matter of fact, hold on, this is one
of my favorite parts. It goes to like YouTube and
up and it just starts looking at it. So all
of a sudden, you know, after watching a couple like
scenes or excerpts that they had, they just went about
finding a whole movie so that everybody could watch it
because it was like kids started to walk in and
then it became like a gamy thing. Yeah, first it's

(20:31):
craving off, kind of awkward, I will not lie. And
I was like, oh my god, this guy's really about
to put scenes off of this movie I did years ago.
But it ended up being a beautiful moment with you know,
all these kids coming into the room and just you know,
this family having a moment with me watching this film.
So it was dope.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
Man, Now I know you mentioned that you guys really
didn't get to work together too much because you were
in you know, kind of competing storylines. Really, but do
you remember your first impressions of each other?

Speaker 3 (21:09):
Writer?

Speaker 2 (21:09):
If you want, do you remember your first impression of Jason?

Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, Well, like I said, I it's funny because I
googled you this morning. We're exactly the same age, but
in my mind you were so much older than me.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Really, yes, dude, you can't.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
You were so mature and so professional in a way
that like I just I felt like I had no
idea what I was doing, and you just had so
much more experience. I don't know, I mean, I guess
maybe the music, and like you just were so tapped
into like you knew exactly who you were and what you.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Were doing in a way that like I just was flailing.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
So I just remember looking up to you and like
I think, and.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
You were the coolest person I'd ever met.

Speaker 3 (21:49):
And yeah, I remember good conversations, but like we didn't
get to work together that much. I just I do
remember you correcting my basketball skills, because like our main
scene skills were.

Speaker 6 (22:01):
As I was breaking, as I was breaking everything, as
I was having horrible shooting percentage that day. Man, Man,
thank you so much for sharing those kind words. Man,
I mean, you know, the sentiments that you express, Man,
it's mutual, man uh, and the feeling is mutual. I
walked on to that set with such a high level
of respect, you know, for everybody that was involved in

(22:24):
that film, and especially you. I mean, it's you know,
it's it's hard to carry a film, you know, even
as an adult. You know, there's a lot of responsibility.
It's placed on your shoulders. You know, the actual work
scheduling itself is pretty intense. So you know, when I
saw you handling it the way that you did and

(22:44):
and just being just as genuine as you as you were,
and it's still how you are now, I mean, that
was the one thing that really, you know, hit home
me because I'm very uh a p person, if you will,
and and I'm very sensitive to energy. I've come to
recognize that now as I've gotten older, but as a kid,

(23:06):
I was even even more hyper sensitive to it. Now,
I just remember every time I was around you, I
just felt just a genuine, real energy. And you're always
sincere and always polite, same with you, very professional, you know,
I think that's what made me kind of be on
my p's and q's is just you know, realizing that
you're working opposite of seasoned actors. We were kids, but

(23:29):
you know, we weren't playing around. It was. It was
one of those kind of situations where we all came
into it just knowing what our roles were and knowing
what we had to do.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
And yeah, and everybody was coming off of a movie
or a series. You know, you had like Sole Moon, fright,
you had Patrick off of Sandlot, like everybody had like
a resume at that point.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, and it could have gone off the rails very easily.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
I mean, you you get that many teenagers into a
hotel situation, like, but we, as far as.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
I know, it went really smoothly. Nobody, nobody had.

Speaker 6 (23:59):
A nobody got arrested. Trauma, There was no trauma. Yeah,
it was pretty cool. There were no ego trips, you know,
the rare occasions I think where we were all able
to kind of hang out once we wrapped from set,
you know, depending upon if we had an early call
time the next day. You know, I even remember those times.

(24:22):
It just it was just us as kids just having
fun and being in the moment, and you know, I've
really been blessed throughout my life to have so many
experiences like that throughout the course of my career, but
Summertime Switch was definitely a highlight, most most most definitely.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Okay, so they at what point did you get involved
in the project, because it seems they clearly created are
they either changed the character to be for you or
it was written specifically for you because it takes advantage
of all of your talents.

Speaker 6 (24:53):
You know, it's so crazy because it's just that whole ABC,
you know, family thing. So you know, I was, I
think when I when I came on to a Summertime Switch,
I just finished working on the show called Thea that
was on a BBC. Now, mind, we only did one season.

(25:16):
We weren't as successful as you guys were, just you know,
we were just went season for season. But from what
I remember, I made a really good impression with the
executives at ABC because they knew that, you know, I
was going to come and do my job and uh
and on top of that, the I was kind of
riding that wave of the you know, teenage heart thing,

(25:39):
the childhood crushing, they're the heart throb thing. You know,
I was in the right on magazines and the world up.
So there was a there was an audience, I think
as well the demographic that I think they were trying
to bring to the film, which I was, you know,
able to I guess spring and uh and it all
worked out. And so when I when I found out
about it, it was like right after the cancel, A

(26:00):
I believe in our show. And I went back to Chicago,
and then I got a call, you know, from my
agent letting me know that there was this, you know,
offer to come and be a part of this film.
And so I jumped at the opportunity because you know,
I wanted to continue to work and U And once
I found out all the other talent that was attached
to it, I was like, Man, this is once in
a lifetime thing. You know, what are the chances you

(26:22):
get to work with you and you know, with Patrick
and Salaymon Fry and all these people, rich and mall,
so you know, it's dope.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
I wonder if anybody auditioned for the movie or if
they just completely yeah, that was what they do.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
And I wonder, like, because Isaac Letzky was coming off
of Saved by the new Class. Yeah, everybody, And like
Richard Mall, like, I bet you they just completely cast
this thing without a single audition, you know, like yeah.

Speaker 6 (26:50):
Yeah, rightfully. So, I mean because again everybody came to set.
You know, there was there was little amount of risk
I think from a production sign or from a producer
sign at network executive side. You know, they knew what
they were they knew what they were getting.

Speaker 4 (27:06):
Yeah, that's what they do is and you know, even
NBC back in the day, we talked about this. You
know in the eighties, they would take all their talent
that they you know, all the young talent of the day,
and they would make a movie the Week essentially, is
what they would do. And ABC what they what you
would find for a lot of these things were these
were scripts that somebody tried to sell as a feature
and somebody then didn't want to put a whole bunch

(27:27):
of money into it, or they didn't think it could
it could really open in theaters everywhere. So they go, well,
wait a minute, this is a great idea. We'll take
all of our young talent and we'll do it cheaper,
and we'll do it as a movie of the week.
And they would that's what they do. They just started pumping.
So that started really big in the seventies and the eighties,
and this was what ninety five, you guys are forty.
So it's just starting to wane at this point where

(27:50):
they're like, oh well, this still costs a lot of
money and we you know, so by like ninety seven
they were kind of gone. But this was a staple
of TV for twenty twenty five years. Let's take our talent,
let's take some money, let's throw some money at it,
and let's do a movie of the week. So this
is like, you guys are right, you might be one
of the last of exactly what you're saying, where it's
like we're gonna offer all of our talent, Let's get

(28:11):
this person, let's get that person, Let's get this person
and just throw them all together and do a fun
hijinks kind of romp. So yeah, that's television royalty. That's
that was around forever. Yeah, you know, and those were those.

Speaker 6 (28:21):
Are fun days too, I mean, because you know, there
was there was a structure there where you could you
could be funneled into the next thing if you will,
you know what I mean, based upon the kind of
work and relationship that you had with that network or
with that production company. There were so many different opportunities
that you could kind of just easily transition to, you know,
like that. So no, I think we were the last

(28:43):
of the mohigue is if you will, when it came
to that, you know, those those family movies of the
weeks and you know, the collective cast coming together and
uh and tapping into that particular demographic that they were targeting. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yeah, you had a lot of scenes Jason with Richard
Mall in the camp kitchen.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
He has a little bit of like a little of it.
It's kind of a ridiculous accent. We were discus, like
a real accent. What do you remember about working with him?

Speaker 6 (29:11):
You know what? It was funny because I was so
starstruck We're working with him, To be honest with you,
was all a blur because I was a big Night
Court fan.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Oh me too, me too.

Speaker 6 (29:24):
So you know when I when I found out I
was doing scenes with him, I think I was just
so focused on making sure that I didn't mess up,
you know, because I knew this guy was like you know,
veteran actors been working since the eighties, probably longer than that.
And again, I'm a kid in a professional adult setting,

(29:45):
so I'm just sitting there like, you know, let me
just make sure I just bang out these scenes, and
you know, I don't want to hold the director up.
I think that was another thing I was so kind
of aware of in the back of my mind is
I didn't want a lot of time being taken shooting
my stuff, as I knew that I was, you know,
being given an opportunity, and I didn't want to be
known as one of those actors that took like multiple takes,

(30:07):
you know, to get it right. So I was all
about at that time being like, okay, let me just
be all point. Okay, take this direction, keep it moving
it so you know, oh my god, dude.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
That is you know what's funny about that?

Speaker 3 (30:17):
That is so not what comes across and really come
across so comfortable and relaxed in a way that like
I am clearly not like, yeah, we just rewatched it.
You are so good in this movie. It like I
blew my mind. I was watching.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
I was like, oh my god, he's got like real scenes.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
Yeah, like the second half of the movie is like
a real emotional arc for you and it's good. It's
like honest in a way that's like relaxed, and it
does not feel like you are having any pressure. It
feels like you're just totally and then of course you
get up and you like sing and dance and do
a whole number there too. It's like, oh, oh, Jason
was in like a real movie. I was I don't

(30:54):
know what I was doing that garbage getting dumped on me,
but you were like acting and like, p It's awesome, dude.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
It does not come across like eure uptight or scared
at all. It's great.

Speaker 6 (31:05):
There was always something. I really appreciate you saying that,
because there was always something that was kind of thrown
on the plate at the last minute, like that scene
of performing, Yeah, I performed the song. I think they
had just found out that I signed a deal with
Motown Records, and I think, yeah, and I've been I

(31:26):
think I had done the line king already. Yeah, So
so they were they were aware of that and they
were like, oh man, it'd be just great if you
could just have a song and there signed. I remember
we recorded that at the last minute. So even with that,
it was it was a lot. I was like, oh,
my god, I gotta play basketball, I gotta act and
I got to sing it.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yes, they put it all on you man, it's incredible. Yeah, yeah,
but it was.

Speaker 6 (31:51):
It was fun. We had a good time, and you
know that, to go back to what what Will was
saying to I think they they knew too that it
was going to be successful because we were essentially what
we did was a kids version of like Trading Places. Yeah,
you know what I mean, like that, That's pretty much
what it was. So, you know, I think the natural
feel if people saw that, you know, as as viewers.

(32:17):
And I've never told anybody this, but I played a
lot of that from like Eddie's Trading Places because I
saw that film and I remember when I read the script,
I was like, oh man, this is this is Eddie,
so like just kind of do Eddie, don't do Eddie Edie.
So it worked out and if people loved it, man,
I'm just so so honored and so blessed.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
That I wasn't like to be signed to Motown so
young incredible.

Speaker 6 (32:46):
I signed to them right after I worked on the
Jackson's mini series, The Jackson's in American Dream, where I
played Michael Jackson and you know, it was kind of
just a natural, a natural thing that took place. The
CEO of Motown at that time got rest his soul.
Mister Gerald Busby was always present on set as we

(33:09):
were shooting that mini series because all of the music
that we were doing, you know, it was Motown, Motown owned,
so they really wanted to make sure that the music
in the catalog was being represented properly. So, you know,
just after I guess months of establishing a rapport with
one another and him seeing he kind of displayed my

(33:30):
talent day in the day out on set, that singing
and all of that, I just got this offer to
record with them. I recorded one album with Motown. It
was called Love Ambition. At that time, it was not
commercially successful. It wasn't like one of those albums are
R and B albums that came out in the nineties

(33:50):
that you know, just kind of blew up and went
out of control. But the single, which was the title
for the album as well, Love Ambition, especially in my
hometown Io, became kind of like a classic hit and
what what we at home called a steppers classic hit,
and stepping is something it's like, it's couples dancing in Chicago,

(34:10):
very elegant, very refined, very soulful. So my song has
lived like for thirty years in that space and in
the step of set strictly in Chicago. And now it's
like making this you know, resurging or what have you,
and making people kind of go back and look at
my career with Motown. And so it's just really interesting

(34:33):
right now. I think, just I think for all of
us that you know, we have these these people who
have admired our work for so long in a fan
base has admired our work for so long, to where
now we can we can look back and and be
you know, I know we were proud at the time
of what we did, but you know, even now as
adults and understanding uh fully the moments that we were
in and be able to look back in retrospect and

(34:56):
to share those moments with fans and and you know,
to laugh about them and in the cheer about him
and even at times to cry about those moments together.
It's just awesome. So that my experience with Motown is
that as well.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Writer said he remembered that you had so many great
Michael Jackson stories from I mean working with him to
play him must have been absolutely surreal.

Speaker 6 (35:17):
Oh, it was. It was. That was that was another
you know situation where it was a lot of pressure.
That was another ABC show. But that was another thing
I did with them, and uh man, I just remember,
you know, there was just so much there were so
many eyeballs on just even when we were just in

(35:39):
production it's doing principal photography, you know, because at that time,
Michael Jackson and the Jackson family, it was just pandemonium.
You know, He's like the biggest star in the world
at that time, and so that pressure, you know, for
the fan base alone and wanting to know who's playing
him and if they were going to do justice to
the role. And you know, and even though you're a kid,

(36:00):
you know, these people don't care. All they know is
Michael Jackson and they just wanted to be portrayed the
right way or the way they think he should. Yeah,
so it was it was. It was a lot, but
it was a lot of rehearsal, a lot of preparation,
a lot of support from people in production, a lot
of support from my mother, a lot of support from

(36:22):
the other parents who had kids that were working on
the show, a lot of support from the Jackson family,
from Michael himself, So that took a little bit of
the pressure off on a little bit of the strength.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
It would be a little bit, but geez, I mean,
I mean, he's he's arguably one of the most famous
human beings in the history of the world.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah, yeah, literally, yeah from yeah, I mean up there
like literally.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
So it's one of those things where it's like, oh,
but how old were you when you were playing him?

Speaker 6 (36:50):
I was, what twelve thirteen?

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Okay, so yeah, no pressure, there you go.

Speaker 4 (36:55):
And now wait, you said that they signed you because
of this, So were you actually singing all the songs?
It wasn't It wasn't like lip syncing you were. You
were singing all the songs.

Speaker 6 (37:03):
Now, I was actually singing the material. Now that the
Motown the Motown stuff was actually the original recordings that
Michael did, the pre Motown stuff prior to them getting
signed to Motown. When they performed at the Apollo, the
Regal Theater would have you their their Motown audition. I
sang all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (37:24):
And the only time that I sang a Motown song
was it was Who's Loving You? And I had to
sing that live that day. Because the pre recorded track
or the track that they had, they couldn't get clearance
from the Motown Music publishing company at that time. So

(37:49):
the day that we were shooting, I actually had to
sing it, and so I'm singing it live. And it
was that day that I got the role for the
Lion King because unbeknownst to me, Elton John had come
through the set that day just like visitings and just
so happened to see were performing. He was only there

(38:09):
for a brief minute, I believe, but he showed up
as I was performing. I didn't even get a chance
to see him or meet him. And when we wrapped
from set that day, my mom came up to me
and was like, yo, man, guess who I just had
a brief conversation with and you know he complimented you
on your performance. I was like who, It's like Elton John.

(38:29):
I was like, okay, cool, cool, because you know, at
that time, all I'm listening to is you know, Bell Bivdevo.
You audition like you know, I.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
Really you're playing Michael Jackson Elton John.

Speaker 6 (38:44):
It's like okay cool. So you know, she tells me
that he wants me to audition for this this new
animated movie that he's doing with Disney called The Lion King.
You know, he explained him and Tim Rice put this
thing together and she good forward if I auditioned, So
I did, and that's and that's how that whole thing
came about. Man like, unbelieva again, it's just just blessings.

(39:08):
Man Like. You guys know, I mean, you know, we've
we've had something. I mean, no, you guys, you guys
want to hit show were real for real. You guys
were with the crew that we were all looking at
as kids who on sitcoms and hoping we could get
a gig like that.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
Like you guys go that is like it doesn't and
you can start planning around it.

Speaker 6 (39:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
Yeah, because when you did The Lion King, that's like
one day or two days in the studio and then
you're done. The job is you did.

Speaker 6 (39:40):
But you guys are coming to work every day, hanging
with each other. That that was something that you know,
I always admired about you all show. On top of
the fact that it was a really good show.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
I just want to ask you one more question about
did you you said that Michael was really supportive of
you did he have any advice for you on how
best to play him?

Speaker 2 (39:58):
Like, what was Michael's advice to you?

Speaker 5 (40:01):
The only advice that I ever received from Michael regarding
the role, because mind you, when we were shooting it,
he was actually overseas in Europe.

Speaker 6 (40:12):
Doing the Dangerous Tour, okay, so he really wasn't like
present like that on the set, but he would see
like the dailies, and you know, he would send notes
if he had any, which were very rare. And I
think the one thing that he told Michael Peters, God
rest his soul as well, who was our choreographer at

(40:32):
the time. Michael Peters are also choreographed Thriller and beat
It for Michael. He was like Michael's choreographers. So Michael
Peters had come up to me one day in rehearsal
and had just told me. He said, you know, Michael's
been looking at the daily He's very very pleased. You know.
He said, you can stick to turn a little bit
harder if you want to, like the famous fan that

(40:54):
he would do. And he actually gave me a note
to do it successfully, which I which I didn't know
at the time, And it's kind of something that all
dancers know, but it's about keeping your eyes like when
you do a spin or you're doing multiple spins, keeping
your eyes on that one point. Ye. So yeah, so
he was like, you know, Michael's advice for that is

(41:14):
just you know, do that, and it just relaxed a
little bit and just have fun. And he knows it's,
you know, really a pressure kind of situation, but you know,
just have fun. And that was all I needed, you know,
to know that he was watching, to know that he
was pleased with the work that was being done so
far at that time. That was reassuring for me and
that allowed me to kind of relax and go into

(41:37):
the role more. And yeah, it worked, thank thank god.
Like none of his fans, you know, ended up being
disappointed with my performance. I was, you know, to be honest,
unless there are a few people out there that I
don't know of, but most of his fans felt that
I did justice to that role, to his legacy, and

(41:58):
so I'm very happy.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
What an incredible feat.

Speaker 4 (42:01):
I mean, well, what one of the things you were saying,
which is so interesting is when that nobody knew Summertime
Switch was going to have any staying power. But that's
The thing is when, especially when you're a young actor,
you never know what's going to work what's not. You
think you're going to a job, you have fun doing
the job, you're really enjoying it, you hope people.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
When you're doing the Lion King, you kind of know
it's going to be really I don't know. Again, you
don't know.

Speaker 6 (42:23):
You don't know.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
That was like a golden age of Disney film. I
mean like, no, you never know.

Speaker 6 (42:31):
No, you you never you guys know this, man, You
you never know. Even when the thing looks like as
you're making it it looks like it's set up to
be a hit, you don't know until the people see it,
until it takes a connection. We and all try to
make our professional prediction as far as where or forecast
where something is going to go, but you never know
until it gets out there. I just knew that it

(42:53):
was Disney, and I knew that it was following in
the same line or Legacy is a Laddin and Beauty
and the Beast, and you know, so I knew they
were gonna pump a lot of money into it. I
just didn't know that it was going to be as
successful as it was because I mean that I just
can't wait to be King to this day. I went
to Disney a few years ago and I was at

(43:14):
the Animal Kingdom resort and that's all that was pumped
this hallways. It was just it was incredible. To this day,
I'm just I'm blown away and again, and i know
I'm probably sound like a preacher on you Guys podcast,
but I'm so thankful to God, you know what I mean,
because this journey so far has just been just extraordinary. Man.

(43:34):
I've really been able to walk into some blessings that
you know, normal kids from from where I'm from, you know,
from the South side of Chicago, and man, not many
of us get opportunities like this, man. So you know,
I'm just so happy and so grateful that I had
all that.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
I went through a period like three years ago, yeah,
probably about three or four years ago. Uh, I got
such major dad points because my son was six years old,
five or six and obsessed.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
With Lion King, and I was able to be like, Okay,
I worked with that guy.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
And then I got so sick of your song, Indy,
I can't Wait to Be King was like five times
a day, and I like to this time, I'm over it.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
Man, I love you.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
I can't listen anymore. They had to tell stop. That
was his obsessive favorite song and I was just like, dude,
and you have to stop. So well, maybe it'll come back.
But man, there's a ban on itto my house because.

Speaker 6 (44:42):
I I get it.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
Every few years you go viral actually for a story
about your Lion King residuals where your mom advised you
to reject a two million dollar buyout from Disney in
nineteen ninety four and instead negotiate a royalty steal.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
So so, sir, news is, this was.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
A genius move and it came for itself over and
over again. But how insanely hard was it to trust
your mom back then when she was you know, two
million dollars in nineteen ninety four is very hard for
anyone to turn down.

Speaker 6 (45:21):
Yeah, oh absolutely, Well, you know, I will say this,
my mother has had had an experience working in the
in the record industry. My mother's name is Marilyn Haywood,
professionally known as Kitty Haywood. My mother experienced, you know,

(45:41):
a great deal of success as a solo artist and
also in a group with my aunts called Kitty in
the Haywoods. They work with Curtis Mayfield. They work with
the Reap of Franklin back in the day on the
Sparkle soundtrack. As a matter of fact, my mother and
my aunts are on the original giving him something he
can feel with the Reap of Franklin. Those are those
that's my mom and my aunts in the background. Yeah.

(46:05):
So my family has a has a history, a rich
history in music. My big up my cousins. Two of
my cousins are multi Grammy Award winning producers. My cousin
Tricky Stewart produced single Ladies for Beyonce and Uh Break
My Soul for her and Umbrella for Rihanna. My cousin
Kou Carell works with Rihanna as her vocal producer. He

(46:29):
works with share just a number of people. So that's
that's my family's business. I was the only actor, you
know what I mean in my family at the time.
And so when that situation came about with the Lion
King and when they presented the initial offer, you know,
as you guys know with negotiating your own deals, the

(46:50):
initial offer comes through, you counter and then you negotiate,
you know, from there. But my mother just offered first glance.
When the initial offer came through for just a straight
buy out of that, you know, I think just the
lights went off in her mind and she was like, Okay, well,
if they're willing to buy you out for that amount
of money, right, I can only imagine, you know, on

(47:11):
a residual basis, which you could possibly generate over time.
And so she was like, look, I know this kind
of sounds, you know, a little bit of a stretch,
and you know, I know this is a huge opportunity
for you, but you know, let's let's try this. Let's
let's make this chest move real quick. And you know,
all they can do is just say is no. And
I was like, well, you know what, I'm twelve thirteen

(47:33):
at the time. Although I understand to some degree what
two million dollars is, I'm not really don't know. All
I want to do is go to the ballpark and
go get McDonald's after you you know me. Yeah. So,
you know, it was like all of us at that
time just you know, trusting our parents to move on
our behalf in the right way. And so she did,
and it just continued to be the gift that just

(47:55):
keeps on giving. I'm so so grateful that she had
had the foresight to just be able to see, you know,
to see that and to understand the importance of setting
her son, you know, upright. And you know now that's
why whenever she calls and she needs anything, she she
got it.

Speaker 4 (48:15):
I think the message is always listening to your mom's
especially when your mom's a pro.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
You know, like you were so fortunate that she had
that experience, because yeah, I mean music industry is brutal,
man Like, if you've been through that, like you come
out with those scars, like you protect your kids, like
that's all again.

Speaker 6 (48:35):
And she knew that, and you know, like all of
us at that time with being in the in the business,
you know, there has to be somebody there to protect
you and looking out for your best interest because you know,
all these companies are looking at at the end of
the day, as they should, they're just looking at their
bottom line. They're trying to get the most bang for

(48:55):
their books, so they're not really concerned about ultimately how
it's going to affect you in the long run, whether
it's successful or not successful. You know, that's your job
to make sure that you're protected. So you know, I'm
just glad and fortunate to have my mom there who
knew the business, and you know, and even now, if
there are certain parts of my career where I may

(49:19):
be confused and I really need some real advice, and
I always, you know, I reach out to my mom
because she really is smart like that. She's pretty brilliant
as a businesswoman. So cool.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
I have two more career things I want to talk
about from your history before we get into your current career,
which is you have so many great things to talk about,
but we have a ton of Smart Guy fans, and
so I want to talk to you about when in
nineteen ninety seven you landed the role alongside taj Maori.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
What do you remember from that audition?

Speaker 6 (49:52):
Oh, I just remember having a especially the screen test audition.
I just remember having a great time with the creator
of the show, Danny kalis Uh. Danny also created What's
the Show with the Twins Zack and Cody? Yes, Yes,

(50:13):
Sweet Life with Zach and Coach, because he did that
after Smart Guy. But Danny was so he was such
a pleasure to work with because you know, we were
a Disney show and you know, they wanted to kind
of keep it cookie cutter. I mean, it's the same
basic fourth camera you know, sitcom for man and as

(50:34):
we all know, you know, they there's a formula to that,
and they wanted they want the jokes to play a
certain kind of way. They want the kids to look
a certain kind of way. They want the sets, the wardrobe,
everything to be a certain kind of way. And you know,
me naturally, as just a kid, especially who was so
fully immersed at that time in like the culture of

(50:56):
hip hop and and being a part of that whole movement,
there was so much of that that I wanted to
inject and bring into the role and into the show.
And at first, Disney was a little bit reluctant because
you know, at that time, all they knew about hip
hop was like what they were hearing about Biggie and Tupac.

(51:18):
It was not a lot of negative There was not
a lot of positive energy surrounding hip hop or the
culture of it at that time. But it was something
that I really felt strongly about because I was like, yo,
you know, just keeping it, keeping it enough. Stack with
you guys. I was like, Yo, if I'm going to
be on TV and if I'm going to be representing
kids that looked like me and that come from the neighborhood. Like,

(51:41):
it's got to be authentic, it's got to be real.
They got to be able to see themselves in his character.
They got to be able to relate to them. And
I'm not going to be presenting something that's not real.
You know, we're gonna do this. Let's be real about it.
And Danny was so gracious and so understanding and so
patient with that. And I just remember anytime I had questions,

(52:04):
anytime I had concerns, you know, if there was a
subtle change, of course, I'm not going to rewrite the script,
but if there's a joke or something that I wanted
to try out, I was always given that freedom. You know,
me and Omar Gooding in particular, we were always giving
that freedom to try different things. And I just really
appreciate that because I know that took a certain level
of trust and some young kids that they didn't have to,

(52:26):
you know, really do that with. But that was one
of the things that I remember the most about working
on A Smart Guy was just like the support that
we got from the executives and from the producers to
kind of stretch out and try different things. And test
our range, and then of course you know, working with
the cast, working with Taj, working with JJ, working with

(52:46):
essen z atkins Man. They were fantastic. I mean, these
are people that you know, I still keep in contact
with to this day, who I absolutely love. Well.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
I have a headshot from Taj where he says I'm
his best friend. Did Tash talk about me? Is am
I still best friend?

Speaker 6 (53:04):
I'm sure. I'm sure you are.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
Thank you you're not.

Speaker 4 (53:10):
It's nice that you're Yes, it's very nice Jason, that
you're you're being this this sweet to.

Speaker 3 (53:14):
Day performing Rock and Robin at like every party. Yes,
there was like a period. There was a period where
he was I guess he was under contract with ABC
or something, so every agency of the Disney Tosh would
show up and he would.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
Before Rock and Robin.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
He was amazing because he was he was younger than
us and he was so talented. I remember, but it
was like there was a period where for a couple
of years, every party we went to was like, oh, there's.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
There, you go there.

Speaker 4 (53:45):
That's a perfect example of what Disney does though, because
Disney put him in that and then right after he
and I did Kim Possible together for four years. So
it was just like plugging people in. Let's plug who
we got here, who we got here, who we got here,
Let's plug him in.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
Let's make a thing. I mean, it's like the old
contract day is in the studio. Yes exactly. I kind
of yearned for that, Like I think, I love that.

Speaker 4 (54:04):
I love it. Yeah, it's the best. It was the
best when it was like okay, you're now. I mean
when we were on team working for Disney. You were
part of that team, and it's like anytime they needed
you to host something, they you know, bring you down
to host something, big parties for this, big parties for that.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
You're gonna be on that show, You're gonna be in
that movie. It was great.

Speaker 6 (54:21):
It was to fun. Yeah, I don't know. I think,
you know, we'll see you moving forward because I know
we're all trying to figure out, you know, what the
what the new business model is going to be moving forward,
you know, after this strike. You know, but maybe maybe
something will will eventually reform like that because you know

(54:44):
you're getting met, we're getting met with so much resistance,
if you will, and like you know, the major studio,
well not even major studios, but more like the digital
streaming streams.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
Yeah you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
So I don't know how they maintain an identity like
back in the day, like you knew who Disney was,
you knew who ABC was based on a set of
shows like now Netflix, like do people know like because
Netflix is different for based on your algorithm, Like which
one you know we're watching gets their version of Netflix?

Speaker 2 (55:11):
So this whole notion of like or.

Speaker 3 (55:12):
Even now Max, Like I don't even know what HBO
means anymore. It's just kind of another one of the streamers.
So yeah, that's the idea is like what if what
if a network or a streamer where to contract contractually
like absorb a set of talent, like oh we are
these these like twenty actors are only associated with Netflix

(55:35):
or these.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
That would be one way to sort of brand themselves
and to have like a repertoire of actors you know
at Expose or like you were saying, will to bring
back like a summertime switch, like let's take the stars
from all of our shows and make one big movie
with them to get a brand as a network or
as a streamer. Well hopefully they'll do that with all
the new AI actors. They'll just be able to plug
in the AI actors.

Speaker 4 (55:56):
To whatever they want, and all these computer generated programs
will be in all these wonderful films.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
It'll be us.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
They'll be able to make us from nineteen ninety four
Switch just didn't you.

Speaker 2 (56:08):
Just see exactly? Season eighty Boy meets World starts next week?
Didn't you see? We all look great. We're not making anything,
but I can't wait to see the episode. It's going
to be awesome.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
Okay, I want to talk Chingy with you.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
How did your song with him come together?

Speaker 5 (56:25):
What?

Speaker 2 (56:25):
Wait?

Speaker 6 (56:25):
Wait?

Speaker 2 (56:26):
What just happened? One call Away? He Jason sings Charlie.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
No, Jason sings the hook on a Chingy song called
one Call Away, and it is phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
How dare you will Chingy is a person? Correct? Okay?

Speaker 6 (56:43):
I don't know. You don't listen to hip hop?

Speaker 2 (56:46):
No?

Speaker 4 (56:46):
No, I do listen to I listened to awesome music,
incredible hip hop. But after nineteen eighty seven eighty eight,
everything stops music wise.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
Okay, okay, like when hip hop starts, like a year
one of hip hop at the beginning, d J Rob.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
Bass, it takes two.

Speaker 4 (57:02):
I'm all all day long, original nw A like I
listened to original n w A all the time, straight
out of Compton's one of the greatest albums ever, so
like kind of after that, it falls by the wayside
a little bit for me.

Speaker 2 (57:16):
Yeah, with all well we forgive you, We're.

Speaker 6 (57:18):
Gonna fast forward, We're gonna go to the future, but
yet the past here, okay song. I did a song
with this artist by the Day with ching and he
had his first single he had was called right There
and he and he's from Saint Louis.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
You'll know that song, well, you will know that I will.

Speaker 6 (57:38):
No, you'll know, you'll know. I did the follow up
single with him, a single call One Call Away that
actually ended up being like a surprise kind of sleeper hit,
another opportunity that I kind of walked into that I
did not know it was going to turn out like that.
I was actually in Los Angeles. I was working. I

(58:01):
had a small role in a film called The Lady
Killers that the Cohen Brothers kid and that Tom Hanks
starting and Marlon WANs and so I had a small
role in that film. And the night before I was
supposed to shoot, for some odd reason, I was out
because usually I'll be in the bed, like if I

(58:22):
know I got a seven am call. I'm usually in
the bed early, but for some odd reason, I think
I had gone out to dinner or whatever. And it
was during kind of like award season, so everybody was
out and about, you know, partying and hanging out, and
I ran into a good friend of mine who used
to be a famous radio personality down here in Atlanta

(58:44):
with Ludacris. His name was Poon, and Poon and Luda
had a show years ago on Hot ninety seven down here,
and so I've known those guys for years. And what
ended up happening was I ran in a pooling at
this party. He was like, hey, man, up, what are
you doing tonight. I was like, oh, I'm nothing. I'm
probably gonna go back to my hotel. I got to
work tomorrow. He's like, well, come to the studio. I

(59:06):
want you to meet this kid that we have coming
out on our label on Disturbing the Piece. I just
want you to meet them, and you know, listen to
some of the album. So sure enough, you know, went
to the studio. I met Ching as we were, you know,
kind of there hanging and vibing. Ponent said, well, man,
we got this song called one Call Away looking for

(59:26):
this artist, you know, to sing the hook, but we
can't find the right voice for it. Like he was like, man,
you still sing right? I was like yeah, but I mean,
come on, man, the record industry is not trying to
hear Jason Weave on a hook right now. Like I'm
doing movies and I'm on TV. Like they're not tripping.
It's like, just just come in tomorrow, sing down the

(59:48):
song a few times, you know, we'll send it to Capitol.
We'll see if they like it. Sure enough, the next
day I go to work and I'll never forget it.
I got a call like right when I was on
set in the middle of my scene and Pohan was like, man,
we got the studio time. You know, do you think
that you can you can make it here in the

(01:00:09):
next couple of hours. I'm like, dude, I'm gonna set
working with the Cohen brothers.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
Like what are you talking about.

Speaker 6 (01:00:17):
I'm not yeah, Hank, Yeah, I'm looking at Tom Hanks,
you know, getting prepared in hair and makeup, like are
you saring? But as I'm as I'm having this conversation,
Ethan is like next to me, like or he's in
earshot distance, so he's listening. We do a couple of

(01:00:43):
takes of the scene. I think we were getting like
the master shot or whatever. And then after lunch we
were gonna start going in and getting coverage. And so
as we're breaking down for lunch, Ethan was like, hey, man,
you got like a studio session or something booked today.
I was like, oh no, mister coin Man, it's man,
this dude is crazy. I was like, I total I was,

(01:01:04):
I'm just trying to save my job. I'm at this point.
I'm like, this dude's I'm not leaving. Said, I'm right here.
He's like, no, well, I mean we got an hour.
He's like, and then you know the coverage that we're
gonna get, we're gonna do this. You won't even be
in it. Man, where is it? And we were shooting
in Glendale that day and the session that I had
to go to is in Burbank.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (01:01:24):
Yeah not far so He's like, man, it's in Burbank.
I was like, yeah, it's off for Magnolia. He's like,
go and do it real quick. If you can knock
it out, Like, go and knock it real talk man,
and shout out to eat the call for that because
he didn't have to do that, but he was real
cool about it, and so I went. I went to
Enterprise Studios. I sang the song down maybe about five

(01:01:49):
or six different times on separate tracks, and then I
left and went back to work, and then they camped
the vocals and then they sent it to Capital, and
Capital was like, man, we really really like it, but
we have different versions from different artists. And then they
did like a focus group and they played all the
different versions for this focus group, and Mom was the

(01:02:09):
one that, you know, kind of came out on top.
And that's what I got on that record.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Honest fun day.

Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
I did not expect when I asked that question that
the answer to how one call Away with Chiney came
about is actually Ethan Culin.

Speaker 6 (01:02:28):
Brothers.

Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
I love Sorry, I just couldn't love it anymore. That's awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:02:35):
By the way, I will say one of my favorite
bands of all time. I do listen to a little
bit later music. Outcast will always be one of my
favorite favorite groups ever ever. And Jurassic Five. So there's
there's there's kayeties I did. I made it into the nineties.
I could I could listen to I. I could listen
to Outcast over and over and frankly I do so Yeah,

(01:02:57):
I love them, Love.

Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
Jason.

Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
You are also still working on TV. You never really left.
You're on The Shy debuting a new season next month,
and you'll be on Tyler Perry's Sisters for its sixth.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
Season on be Ep.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
Has there ever been a time in your life you
have been doing this for so long. You've talked about
how blessed you've been. Has there ever been a time
where you've thought, Man, maybe I'll just leave this all
behind and go get a quote unquote regular job and
just have a regular old life.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
Has there ever been a time where you've thought about that? Oh?

Speaker 6 (01:03:30):
Yeah, oh yeah, you know, just just being completely transparent
and real. There was a time in two thousand and eight,
two thousand and nine, I was in Los Angeles, me
and my ex girlfriend. We were living in Hollywood at

(01:03:51):
the time, in this little town home that we were
like Rennie. And this was like during the Great Recession,
and you know, so the economy was really really bad.
And then you know, as far as you know, content
in certain things traditionally that I had always been a

(01:04:12):
part of a certain films that I've always been a
part of those opportunities that kind of dried up. I
think just because there was there was really no money,
and there was really not a lot of backers that
were willing to get behind films. That weren't a lot
of studios that were willing to get behind certain kind
of films, and so, you know, the opportunities were far
in between. And I'll never forget I was, you know,
I hadn't worked for maybe six months. I'd had a

(01:04:38):
horrible pilot season. I think that was like my second
second horrible pilot season where I didn't book anything. The
little jobs that I, you know, was was kind of
getting in. They were jobs that were kind of just
keeping the bills paid and keeping your face out there.
But it really wasn't like making a difference. And so

(01:04:59):
I got into point where I was, you know, I
found myself at this point of transition where I was like, Okay,
well maybe this is maybe this is the point where
you know, I kind of segue or transition into something else,
and you know, and I was fine with that because
I made peace with myself that like, okay, well, as

(01:05:19):
an actor that is, or as a performer that if
that was if this was kind of the end of it,
then I'll take it. But what ended up happening was
right across the street from where I was. I was living.
I was on Sunset and Vine and the Arc Light
there was the Arc Light theater. In the areas like

(01:05:39):
this plaza shopping plaza there, and then that shopping plaza
was a Locordon Blue culinary school. Yeah. So I'm in,
I'm in, I'm in this apartment. I'm depressed, not knowing
what I'm going to do, what the future holds. I
have my son out there with me. My son is
like what eight or nine at the time, his mother

(01:06:02):
and I were co parenting. She just she just so
happened to be out in California as well, so we
were able to co parent and raise our child. You know,
even as I was out there, you know, trying to
get a job, and you know, I'm just having one
of those moments and I'll never forget. My ex girlfriend
was like, uh, she said, we know how, you know,
I know it's kind of tough right now, but you know,

(01:06:25):
keep your creative juices flowing. And the one thing that
I know that she do love to do is to cook.
Which I did because I would have friends over. We
would have kind of like these actor pity parties, and
you know, you don't have these, you'd have these horrible auditions.
And so we would get together, you know, in the
afternoon or in the evening, and we just down bottles
of wine and we talked about horrible auditions and our

(01:06:46):
lives were at that time. And so I would do
all the cooking for these pity parties. And so my
ex was like, well, you know you love to cook.
There's a culinary school across the street. Why don't you
just so so you're doing something, you're keeping your creative juice.
Just just go over there and do the orientation. Check
it out, you know, see if it's something you want
to do. Sure Enough, I woke up the next day,

(01:07:08):
I went to the orientation, fell in love with it,
enrolled in culinary school. Ended up doing that for about
the year and a half. I was in the same
as a matter of fact, I wasn't in the same
exact class, but I was in the same graduating class
as Kalise, the singer Calise. She she went to the
same culinary school, and so you know, I was in

(01:07:31):
there for like a year and a half and that
really kept me balanced and kept me sane because you know,
as all of us knows as creators and as actors
and performers, when you're not in that space, it could
be difficult because you know, I know, at least for me,
that's that's a huge part of who I am. And

(01:07:52):
when I'm not able to express myself creatively and to
be around other creatives and bouncing off that energy, you know,
I feel like I'm dying. I feel like I'm like
withering away, you know what I'm saying. So what what
culinary school did for me and and you know, diving
into that world was it gave me the opportunity to

(01:08:14):
form new relationships that I probably normally, you know, wouldn't
have been able to. I learned a new skill set,
you know, something to do professionally and just in case
I may hit another law or a space where I
still got to provide and keep a roof over my
head and you know, take care of my family. That's

(01:08:35):
what it did. And it also gave me another creative
outlet to where you know, even now, when I when
I think of projects or things that I may want
to do or develop, That's also another world that I
could kind of pull into my wheelhouse because I do
have that experience of going to culinary school and working professionally,
you know, in the back of the house at certain

(01:08:55):
fine dining establishments and you know, knowing knowing what it
is to you know, worked the line. And so I
did that. I did that from like eight to twenty ten,
and it really was it was a humbling experience for me,
but it was much needed because when things begin to

(01:09:18):
kind of pick back up work wise, and the industry
was providing more opportunities for performance like myself to be
seen and be heard, I went back into it with
a you know, a new energy and reconnecting with my
real purpose, you know, really understanding just how truly fortunate
and blessed I am, you know, to be working in

(01:09:39):
the industry. And so I, you know, although I've always
taken it seriously and I've always been grateful, coming out
of that chapter of my life, it just lit an
even bigger fire up under me. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
So to bring it back to summertime, switch, well, your
character fast Freddy Egan.

Speaker 3 (01:09:56):
Is in the kitchen, and will you point it out
You're like I did perfectly poaching eggs.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
I'm like, how is going to poach?

Speaker 4 (01:10:02):
You learn how to perfectly poach these, Like he's a chef,
how is your chef?

Speaker 2 (01:10:06):
All of a sudden you.

Speaker 6 (01:10:10):
Back then don't do their c I'll give it. I
guess it was somebody in the arms department of props.
They did that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
It was perfectly poaching.

Speaker 6 (01:10:17):
It was shadow and that's so hard to do.

Speaker 2 (01:10:20):
It's incredibly hard to do. That's what they say.

Speaker 4 (01:10:23):
It's like the way that you you show the skill
of a chef as you go poach me an egg.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
I mean, that's one of the things they do is
poach me an egg.

Speaker 4 (01:10:29):
So I'm like, he's he's twelve and he's perfectly poaching
these eggs every days, Like, how is that happening?

Speaker 6 (01:10:35):
No way? Because that that's what I got hung up
with in culinary school because in order to like graduate,
you have to be able to prepare eggs five different ways,
and your knife cuts have to be precise. So I
could get eggs every other way. I can make a
frenchime like it's nobody's business, but poaching an egg o, no.

Speaker 4 (01:10:57):
No, that two thousand, two thousand and eight thousand and
so there was always an old adage that the only
two businesses in the world that were recession proof were
the mafia and the entertainment industry. And then two thousand
and eight, two thousand and nine hit and that all changed.
I mean, obviously, I'm not speaking for the mafia.

Speaker 2 (01:11:12):
I have no idea. They probably did very well.

Speaker 4 (01:11:14):
But the entertainment industry, I mean it was struggling, I
mean really struggling.

Speaker 2 (01:11:20):
So yeah, it was bad.

Speaker 3 (01:11:21):
We had the strike too, I mean that's the thing, like,
it was all, yeah, we're kind of we're kind of
in it again. I know, I don't know how people
make money, like I don't understand it anymore, or I
don't know how you and how the companies make motes.

Speaker 4 (01:11:33):
They don't either, which is why a lot of these
companies aren't. They're losing money hand over fist, and you
know it's it's the Netflix model isn't working. Eventually everyone
has a subscription, and where do you go from you
so you know it's yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:44):
Well, Jason, we cannot thank you enough for coming and
spending this hour with us reminiscing about your incredible career,
most notably the phenomenon that is summertime switch yeah, the fans.

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
Of the shoe.

Speaker 6 (01:12:02):
That's right, That's right.

Speaker 1 (01:12:04):
Absolutely. I just thank you so much. It was such
a pleasure talking to you. You are so inspiring and
motivational and all those things. So thank you for being
a person we can all look up to and for
spending some time with us.

Speaker 2 (01:12:16):
So great to see you, and thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:12:18):
No writer, Danielle will thank you guys so much. This
is This has been a fantastic hour and I've been
able to spend with you all. You know, I've admired
you guys so much throughout the years, and to be
able to share that with you all face to face
and do via zoom to let you know how much
I've enjoyed you all's work over the years and and

(01:12:38):
just even now this this chapter and this this time
in our lives as adults who were able to reconnect. Uh,
this has just been a joy for me.

Speaker 5 (01:12:45):
Man.

Speaker 6 (01:12:45):
This has really made my day. And I wish you
all continued success. This show is hugely popular. I'm going
to continue to support it. I love it because you
guys are going on tour as well. Are you guys
coming to Atlanta?

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
Not on this first round?

Speaker 6 (01:13:02):
Will do me a favorite if you guys are ever
in Atlanta or Chicago, make sure you call me because
I would love to come and see you guys lives. Yes,
because this is great.

Speaker 1 (01:13:12):
Absolutely do that. Also, I just want to throw it
out there. What about summertime? Switch to you guys are
counselors and this time it's sum time here some time.

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
I don't have to play basketball.

Speaker 3 (01:13:27):
You do not.

Speaker 2 (01:13:28):
You can give me a basketball.

Speaker 1 (01:13:30):
We will, don't worry. We know you're not into the
sports ball, I promise.

Speaker 6 (01:13:35):
But I would definitely be open to working with writer
a cat that wants to be a ball, I'm down
for it as long as.

Speaker 2 (01:13:44):
All right, that's what they wanted to hear. All right,
Thank you, Jon, Thanks.

Speaker 6 (01:13:48):
Jason, good afternoon.

Speaker 2 (01:13:50):
Thank you too. Oh man, what an absolute unsant human being.
Oh you went a different way.

Speaker 4 (01:14:07):
Just a confusion O God, yeah, God, what a pro.

Speaker 3 (01:14:12):
I mean you talk about being a triple threat, like
you can sing, you can dance, you can act, you
have insane success in all three areas by the age
of fourteen. I mean, that's why I felt like, you
know he was so much older, is because when we
showed up on that set, like he was there to
work and knew what that.

Speaker 2 (01:14:29):
Meant, and he stole it toole.

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
He stole the meeting, and like I had no idea
what I was doing, you know, it was just like, oh,
plug and Plush show up and I'll figure out what
acting means. Like he was already and it really you know,
like having a mom like his, you know, because we're
all protected by our parents, Like we've all talked about
it on the show, but when you're protected by your
parents and they have a little bit of knowledge about
how the industry actually works, it can go a long way,

(01:14:54):
I know for you, Like, my parents had no clue
what was going on, and we just got lucky that
my first agent was Judy's Savage again no relation to
events Savage and she was still to this day like
one of my parents' closest friends. Like I just got
so lucky because she was such a pro and protected
me in a way that you know, my parents couldn't
because they didn't have the knowledge, they didn't have a

(01:15:15):
skill set, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:15:16):
Yeah, but he's also I mean, in any career, especially
when you start as a child, anything that you do,
if you get one project that endures where thirty years later,
people still remember it you have hit a home run.

Speaker 2 (01:15:29):
He's got like five, I know, he's got all of them.
I mean, it's insane.

Speaker 4 (01:15:33):
You get when when the third thing you talk about
is the Lion King, right, It's like, are you kidding me?

Speaker 2 (01:15:39):
That was third of It's incredible, amazing, amazing. And he's
still working, he's still just playing great shows, two shows, right,
He's just he's a lifer.

Speaker 3 (01:15:49):
You know, it's so great.

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:15:50):
Well, thank you everyone for joining us of this episode
of Pod Meets World. You can follow us on Instagram
pod Meets World Show. You can send us your emails
pod Meets World Show at Gmail, and we have.

Speaker 2 (01:16:01):
Merch merchandise at the Rich Kids.

Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
Camp Podmeetsworldshow dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:16:08):
Well send us out. We love you all. Pod dismissed.

Speaker 4 (01:16:13):
Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted
by Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and Ryder Strong.

Speaker 2 (01:16:18):
Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman.

Speaker 4 (01:16:20):
Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor
Taras Sudbach, producer Jackie Rodriguez, engineer and Boy Meets World
superfan Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton
of Typhoon and you can follow us on Instagram at
Podmeets World Show or email us at Podmeets Worldshow at
gmail dot com.

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