Wesley Jonathan Meets World

The gang welcomes a sitcom legend to the podcast, hopping back on the Train of Fools to chat with former BMW guest star, Wesley Jonathan!

The par-taaaay gets started with “21 Jump Street” and continues on to “City Guys,” “What I Like About You,” and Roll Bounce, stopping along the way to learn what not to buy when you’re first cast on a TV show and why he didn’t have to audition for Boy Meets World.

Wesley also explains why the subway set felt familiar and reveals which Kung Fu legend left both him and Will with stars in their eyes. It’s time to catch up with a TV darling, and a real life example of Sweetness, on this week’s new Pod Meets World…

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:18):
So recently we were in Austin, Texas, and we were
gifted one of the most thoughtful gifts anybody has ever
given us. And we have been the recipients of a
lot of thoughtful gifts because we have incredibly thoughtful, detail
oriented fans who just know us so well and care

(00:42):
so much about Boy Meets World and have given us
so many thoughtful gifts, but we were truly blown away
by this particular gift. It was given to us by
a kind gentleman named Ray Bats. And I'm going to
let the two of you describe what this gift was
so good, I.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Mean, it was so and could you want to start right?
You taught me how to play, so why don't you start?

Speaker 3 (01:02):
So?

Speaker 4 (01:03):
As we've mentioned on the show before, I am a
huge Magic the Gathering fan, and since the age of
twelve thirteen when my brother bought a pack of Unlimited,
which is the one of the early editions pack of Unlimited,
and we learned how to play. So by the time
by first season A Boy, I was already playing Yeah,
And then I got Will into it and we would

(01:26):
play backstage, and then I kind of fell out of it,
but then I got back into it. In my thirties
and have been playing more recently and having you know
so well. We played Let's see, we played after Shiloh's
heart surgery, remember when he was recovering. You came over
and we played Magic all day. So that was probably
the last time. It was like five years ago. Anyway,

(01:49):
we've been talking about playing magic on this show, and Ray,
who is a game designer in his own right, decided
to make us custom Magic the Gathering Decks, where each
card is an original card based on either an in
joke from boy Me's world or a reference to something

(02:10):
that we've talked about on this podcast. And it is
a fully playable deck of magic. Three fully playable we
each got one. We each got one and their commander decks.
So the commanders of the decks are based on us.
So mine is Writer, Eternal night Holder, and uh based
on the mechanics of the game. You add shirt tokens

(02:33):
to my commander, so I am a legendary plains Walker
human director who gets shirt tokens so I can have
too much shirts as my magic character. There's an artifact
card that is the Jacket, which is a reference to
the leather jacket that I've lost. There's a creature called

(02:56):
the Mailbox Bomber based on the like. There are so
many references. It's an endless and and he had artwork
created for every card, for every card, which he did
through Ai. There's a Shady Melon card, Shady Eskimo of
halted Progress, which is a creature who gets in your way,
I mean, and he figured out there's an Angela's purse.

(03:18):
In fact, he figured out all these things like.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
I have I have Duckies, the Horses of the Ocean,
which is a flying creature. There is uh, there's one
that's just called phone acting, which is an instant I mean,
there's all these. The Phenie call the Collar of Feenie
is another instant card you can use. My commander deck
is it's will the Collar of Merchan. You get these

(03:46):
merch tokens as you're going there, So every card is
so clever. And I am not kidding when I say
we got them. He handed them to us. We could
have sat there right then and gone through every card,
but obviously we're doing our meet and greets, so we
didn't have time, so we had to put them aside.
I came home and I spent a joyous hour going
card by card and looking at every single one of

(04:08):
these things. They are incredible.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
And he says you can play it with other magic
decks too, So it's not even like my foot maybe
it was only playable within the three of us, but
it's actually integrates with the regular rules of magic. Oh
so yeah, man, so impressive, so thoughtful and just so
fun and funny and touching, like really genuinely touching, like
the amount of thought and energy. And like, I shared

(04:31):
this with my my, my fellow magic geeks, so I
play with I like immediately like texted those look at that,
and they're like that is insane, Like it's mind blowing.

Speaker 5 (04:41):
It is.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
It's it's so cool. Wait, I think we have one.
Do we have one up?

Speaker 6 (04:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (04:45):
You have a photo?

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Wow at these, I mean, just look at these.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
So we will post these photos on Instagram so you
guys can appreciate them as well.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
The mail box bomber.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, and I'd like to give a special shout out
to I believe his wife who was with him, who
also was putting in She said I was the official sleever,
so she was the person who was putting them in
individual sleeves, and she said, I was a part of
this as well, and she most certainly was so thank
you so much.

Speaker 4 (05:14):
Ray.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
So cool.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
And he also he said to us, he kind of
he like handed us the cards and then he kind
of ducked his head a little bit and he said,
I hope you don't mind, but I inserted myself too.
And so there's a Ray card. There's actually one of
the cards is for Ray and it was just it
was the coolest thing ever. Yeah, yes, very cool.

Speaker 7 (05:30):
Great.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
So you guys continue to amaze us and we just
absolutely love seeing you at our live shows, which, by
the way, we are still rescheduling those live shows that
we had to cancel for December. It has been a
little bit difficult to find a time when those venues
have had availability, so I just want you to know
they are being rescheduled. We look forward to seeing you

(05:53):
all and hopefully being able to announce those dates very soon.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
Hello, Connecticut, Pod Meets World Live is coming to you
my hometown.

Speaker 5 (06:03):
Now.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
My two co hosts have had their fun with their
little jokes and insults, but now it's time for every
single one of you to put down your butter churns
and drive your carriages. I kid, my fellow nutmakers down
to the Bushnell Theater in Hartford on March seventeenth, right
near where I was born. It is going to be
a very special night for a very awesome state. Now
more behind the scenes stories, interactive games, questions and answers.

(06:24):
Those are certainly on the agenda. But I also have
to imagine that our costume contest there where you can
dresses anything from Boy or Pod meets World cough cough,
grappling hook, is going to go off. The winner gets
a legit nineties Boy meets World script signed by all
of us from my personal collection, because as you know,
I don't throw anything away. And tickets are available now, Hartford, Connecticut,

(06:44):
the Bushnel Theater on March seventeenth. I can't believe I
finally get to say that. Go to Podmeets worldshow dot
com right now to join us. Oh, I can't wait
to see you there.

Speaker 7 (06:54):
Welcome to Pod Meets World.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
I'm Danielle Fischel, I'm right or Strong, and I'm Will
the caller.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
Of I think we can all agree that one of
the more fever dream episodes of Boy Meets World was
the New Year's themed set piece focused Train of Fools,

(07:21):
and since we hadn't yet traveled through time to the
fifties when we first rewatched Eric force a kiss on
Charisma Carpenter, we didn't think it could get more bananas.
Then mister b and definitely not Potzi came along and
took that title. But Train of Fools had its day
in the sun, and one of the very high points
of this chaotic episode was the work of actor Wesley Jonathan,

(07:43):
who played TJ, a fellow teen stuck with us on
New Year's Eve whose main focus was getting the party started.
And during our season two wrap up with Bruh Meets World,
when we asked who they wanted to see stop by
for season three, they were quick to mention Wesley, a
rare black actor on set who was also known for
starring in the NBC sitcom City Guys Then What I

(08:05):
Like About You opposite Genie Garth and Amanda Bynes for
eighty six episodes. He'd been seen on Sister Sister, Moesha,
Smart Guy, A Different World, Boston Public, and was one
of the stars of the glorious two thousand and five
skating movie Roll Bounce. He has done it all, including
work with one of us a little more recently, and
now we are excited to start the party on Pod

(08:28):
meets World with this week's exciting guest.

Speaker 7 (08:30):
Let's welcome Wesley Jonathan Fast.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
Hello.

Speaker 4 (08:39):
Hi, you doing.

Speaker 6 (08:41):
I'm doing, I'm doing, I'm doing all right?

Speaker 2 (08:43):
Good? And another person coming on who looks exactly the
same eaged Oh well, thank you.

Speaker 6 (08:50):
You guys look good too.

Speaker 7 (08:51):
Thank you. We made you watch your episode last night,
and we will.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
Get into our memories of working together later. But what
did you think about the episode now? Watching it nearly
thirty years later?

Speaker 6 (09:06):
I watched Let's see.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
I have a nine year old little girl and she's
just now I mean, she's always known me to be
an actor, but like it's just now starting to resonate
with her.

Speaker 6 (09:16):
So she's watching all the old shouls on stream streaming.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
She looked at it and the first thing she thought
was the same thing I thought, is like, what's with
the hair? So yeah, man, I look back and was like,
oh my god was I thinking? But when I think
about it, I was like, it was that was people
were doing that, That's what they were doing. But it's
just like my hair was just crazy.

Speaker 4 (09:39):
It was like, oh my god, I was doing that
that's how bad it is.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's also a boy meets World, which is very hair centric. Yes,
oh man, all about the hair.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
I know.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
And we're not even making any measure mention of the
fact that mister Feene is on an ad in the subway.

Speaker 7 (09:58):
Like there's there's just some weird many moments they're just
like not really, they don't really make a whole lot
of sense.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
I mean, Eric is trying to kiss a supermodel who
wants to date high.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
Schooler, which is which that's like the fourth weirdest thing.
So that's that's how you know the episode's bizarre when
that's like the fourth weirdest thing.

Speaker 4 (10:16):
You're on the subway by yourself, Yeah, like just ready
to party, Like what.

Speaker 5 (10:23):
Are what's happening?

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Okay, so let's take it back. We like to start
with some origin story stuff. You were just nine years
old when you started acting, right.

Speaker 6 (10:36):
Yes, I was about nine yep.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Okay, we've noticed that, like nine or ten seems to
be a very common age to like jump into the
entertainment industry.

Speaker 7 (10:45):
Did your parents get you into it?

Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yes, well my mom because I was raised you know,
a single family home.

Speaker 6 (10:55):
My mom and a cousin of mine.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
She was an actress, and they I would always I
was always dancing. I wanted to be a singer and
a dancer. Originally, I've been dancing since I was like
four or five years old. So I wanted to be
I wanted to be bigger than Michael Jackson in my
little mind, and so I was always dancing at like
you know, reunions and you know, family gatherings and weddings
and anywhere I would see a reflection of myself. Grocery store,

(11:20):
I would I would be moon walking or dancing and
doing something so amazing. It came like they had a
conversation and they were you know, like and they sat
me down, and I'll never forget it because this is
like right when Nintendo had just like roughly I guess
came out. It was like the Gold Zelda, and it
was just like, you know, we didn't have any money,
you know what I mean. So they sat me down, like, hey,

(11:42):
would you want to do like commercials and TV and
stuff like that. You know, you can buy Nintendo games,
and they're trying to lure me into this thing. I
was like, you know, and I didn't care. I was like,
I don't you know of course I want those things,
but like I just liked to perform. So like the
first thing, I said, could I sing and dance? And
they're like, well, yeah, it's all you know, it's all

(12:02):
the same, you know, same thing. I'm like, okay, sure,
So what do I have to do? And then they
got some head shots, taking some Ten's old classic black
and white by ten shots and it's I don't know
what they did. They ended up getting an interview with
an agency, HERB Tannon, which is a really popular agency.

Speaker 7 (12:22):
I remember that agent, yeah right.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
And I got an interview with Herb Tennant and I
went in there and uh, you know, it was a
white lady, Joyce Stevenson, who was my agent for many
many years, even up until recently. She was like managing
my commercial area. But she passed away about a couple
of years ago. But she took me in a room
with another white guy, whatever the case may be, and

(12:46):
they asked me questions what did I like to do?
And I sit dance and they were like, oh, you
don't have to dance, you dance for us, and I
said sure, and they were like you want some music
and I was like, oh no, I got the music
in here.

Speaker 6 (12:58):
They're like yeah, sure.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
It was like yeah, They're like, well why, I was like, well,
because yeah, your music is different from mine.

Speaker 4 (13:12):
Keep playing on Peter and.

Speaker 5 (13:14):
Mary Metallica and you know, different different.

Speaker 6 (13:24):
Yeah yeah, I like guns and Roses at the time.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
But I was like I can't dance that, So so
I ended up just you know, doing a little something,
and uh, they ended up signing me.

Speaker 6 (13:34):
I mean right on, you know, right on the spot
pretty much.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
And and and uh after that, we're on a few auditions.
And the one thing about me is I had no
acting experience. The only thing I did have was that
I wasn't. I was one of those kids that could
take direction. I wasn't most of us who are kid
acting with you guys know, we don't.

Speaker 6 (13:52):
We're not normal.

Speaker 4 (13:54):
That's fair enough.

Speaker 6 (13:55):
I think that's about.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
Right.

Speaker 6 (13:59):
So it's like I was one of those kids, like
a robot.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
You tell me to go there, say that, stand over
here and say that and wait for this que And
that was it. And my first job was twenty one
Jump Street, the TV show with Johnny Depp.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Like you're on twenty one Jump Street?

Speaker 4 (14:16):
Which episode job I was?

Speaker 3 (14:17):
I was on an episode of Creative U dude jabbar actually,
and it was a pretty nice role. I opened up
the show with another kid and then we closed the show.
It's about basketball and drugs and crack and yeah, man,
it was a great show.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
That was a great show. Twenty one Jump Street.

Speaker 6 (14:34):
Yeah, it was a great show.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
And I didn't really know the severity, Like we flew
to Vancouver shot for two weeks and when I flew
back and they finally, you know, let us know when
it was gonna air. And I told all the kids
at school, all my friends and teachers that, yo, remember
I was absent and I wanted to go shoot the show,
and you know, and I had never as a kid
watched the show. I just knew the theme song, you know

(14:55):
what I mean, because again I was musically like, you know, inclined.
So the night of the show airing, I watched it
and I cringed. I was just like, as a kid,
oh my god, I sound like that. I looked like
that kidding me? Was it was awful. So again, being
kid act was a little you know, weird. I'm not

(15:16):
you know, the typical kid be like yeah, you know,
but it wasn't that case. I was very like, I
don't like that, if I do it again, I got
to do it better. And when I went to school,
the kids, you know, everybody went crazy.

Speaker 6 (15:30):
Man, everybody was bugging out that whole day.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
That was what made me go, ah, now I must
feel that again.

Speaker 6 (15:37):
I got yeah, right.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
That's that drug. That's drug the first time.

Speaker 4 (15:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
So afterwards I was like, you know, after school, I was,
I mean the whole day I didn't do anything. I
was just looking at the clock waiting for like the
belder Ring and mom. That picked me up to be like, yo,
what's next, what's the next audition? I gotta get it,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 6 (15:56):
So that was it.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
That was the beginning of how And then after that
I started watching TV shows really uh uh in more depth,
like you know, Three's Company and Growing Pains and and
just you know that whole the whole genre. Who's the Boss,
And then we can go on and on and you know,
different strokes. Those are the things that you know, you

(16:18):
grew up watching. And I would remember and listen to
the rhythm and the comedy beats, the last the holes,
even at that age, and it was like all right,
you know. So then when I got my shot to
do different shows. It was like I started putting my
little flag and guest star on all, you know, all
the different shows and Boy Meets World. What. I'm sure Danielle,

(16:38):
you're going to ask about that and how it got
that because there was a little story behind now I do.

Speaker 7 (16:42):
I want to get into that.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
But before we get into that, I want to talk
about City Guys because our listeners were very excited when
they knew we would be talking to you. How old
were you when you were the star of City Guys.

Speaker 6 (16:56):
Yeah, I got City Guys.

Speaker 3 (16:57):
I think right when I was seventeen getting ready to
be eighteen. I was like, it was that transition. I
think that from the from the Yeah, I was about
seventeen eighteen.

Speaker 6 (17:08):
Yeah, yeah, and that.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
Was It's funny because City Guys, seeing as it goes
to show you, I had already been in the business,
you know, almost ten years, you know what I mean
pretty much you know longer ten years and even then
just having been on quite a few guest starring roles
and looking at.

Speaker 6 (17:26):
My peers, I didn't I didn't.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
I don't know. City Guys is weird because that was
a very very I didn't want to be I didn't mind.

Speaker 6 (17:37):
Doing one season. In my mind, I was like, cool.
You know. The thing about it was that it was
Saturday morning.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
I wanted to be on Prime Time, right, I want to.

Speaker 6 (17:50):
I wanted to be where y'all was at, you know, right.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
I mean I mean this very respectfully. It was a
little like right or strong on our show? Who was
By the time then he got Boy Meets World was
already this was like his third or fourth major show.
He was a little like, yeah, this is what I
really want to be doing. This is like he felt
a little like he was slumming it a bit. He
was like, this is keeping me from all this real

(18:15):
stuff I'm supposed to.

Speaker 4 (18:16):
Yes, totally well, And did you feel like you were
it was taken away from music too. Were you still
like thinking you were going to be into music or no?

Speaker 6 (18:23):
No, not really.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
Even during that time, I was playing around with it,
but I wasn't really serious because I think once I
got once the acting bug hit, it kind of over
over road. Yeah, it's a go over so for me though,
the same feeling rider was that I felt like city
guys at first.

Speaker 6 (18:41):
For many years, actually I felt city guys.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
That was like, okay, here we are shooting at Sunset
and Gower, whereas stage four think was married with Children's
Old stage and we were shooting in between Moesha, which
I guest starred on, and The Parkers and here are
my peers on you know, Prime Time, you know night
three times as.

Speaker 6 (19:03):
Much money, and it's like and.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
I'm here and I'm like, I'm stuck in this contract
and I'm like, yo, I'm good enough to be over
there or or you know, doing something.

Speaker 6 (19:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
So it was like that immature, very immature kind of
mentality where it was like, hey, listen, your average eighteen
year old is not making the money that you make.

Speaker 6 (19:20):
That's first off. But I couldn't see that at the time.
I mean they told me then when I would I
would cry when I was like.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
I couldn't do a film because we're shooting, or I
couldn't do this. You know that that that tuzzle war, right,
So over the years they would tell me, listen, once
is all over, you're gonna you're gonna look back and
you're gonna appreciate it, YadA, YadA, YadA, you gonna just
other memories and blah blah blah. Yeah, yeah, whatever, and
with to make a long story short, they were absolutely right,

(19:47):
City guys. I owe everything for me to even be
to move on to what I like about you with
the Man of the Bonds.

Speaker 6 (19:54):
Right after that.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
That show gave me a foundation of just everything from
from really really appreciating what you have being taught. I'm
being paid to go to school pretty much. That that
was training, you know, uh and being paid for it.

Speaker 6 (20:11):
You know.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Yes, it was Saturday morning, but I made the best
of it. I said, Okay, look, Saturday morning. It was
the first show on Saturday Morning that a black you know,
black kid or black guy, we was starring it. No
other show ever seen that. They've never seen a female,
a black African American female as a principal, you know.
That was our miss, mister Belding. They had never seen that.
They never seen a rap song in the beginning, you

(20:34):
know those things that. So I said, Okay, I sat
back and after I knew that we were in for
the law, what can I do to make this show
even more different? So I started growing out my hair,
wearing you know, braids and the French braids and corn
rolls in my hair. Then I encouraged, uh, the other
Stephen Daniel, the other guy who played l train on

(20:54):
the shows and grow your hair out.

Speaker 6 (20:55):
Man, let's let's let's let's let's streak this up.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
If they really won't, you know, I'm standing as much
as we can, you know what I mean. And they
gave us a lot of.

Speaker 6 (21:02):
Leadway on that show.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
So I mean, I City Guys was one and then
again people to this very day still remember that show absolutely. Well.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
That's the thing about Saturday Morning is so interesting. It's
a weird combination because it's less people watching but more kids.
So in a way, you're you're you can almost be
more important in people's lives on a Saturday morning show
because kids sit there and they're just stuck to the TV.
And so you know that you get kind of adults

(21:31):
watching the primetime shows and adults and kids, but man,
you've got that audience of kids just sitting there staring.
I mean, you can make a lot of difference on
a Saturday morning show.

Speaker 7 (21:40):
And was created by Peter Engel, who's same creator of
Saved by the Bell.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
The Bell correct, correct, Yeah, So I mean it already
had a following just because of that alone, had the
whole lot.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah, And really amazing of you to recognize even back
then as a teen where you're you know, we all
have that same experience where we look back at ourselves
as teens and we think, man, if I could tell
myself one thing, it would be to appreciate it more. Yes,
but really truly incredible and admirable that you realized even
back then that, even though it wasn't exactly where you

(22:10):
wanted to be, the potential for you to break glass ceilings.

Speaker 7 (22:14):
Everywhere all around you was there and you you did it,
and you you.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
Like, it's just that's really great. I love that you
were even aware of that back then. Our very own
Trina McGee appeared on three episodes of City Guys.

Speaker 7 (22:27):
Do you remember working with her?

Speaker 6 (22:29):
Yes? I do, Yes, I do. In fact, I still
I think.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
I think me and her follow each other on one Instagram.
I think it is yes Trina. It was weird because
when Trina, I think she done that three episodes as
my girlfriend. And thinking about when Trina got on air
was that I knew her because of the show. But
it was ironic that the episode that I did, she
wasn't or wasn't the.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Season she wasn't there.

Speaker 7 (22:54):
Yeah, she wasn't there.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
She joined us in season five and your episode was season.

Speaker 6 (22:58):
Three three, right, okay, so yeah, that's what it was.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
And I think we talked about it briefly with her
and she I don't think she had any idea, so
I told her. I was like, you know, I was,
I was on Boy Meets World years ago. I just
don't know what what you know, what what year lost?

Speaker 6 (23:11):
What year it was? But Treda was sweet. She was cool, man.
And I would tell her in her face she's crazy
as a role is it? Uh?

Speaker 3 (23:23):
I love her and death crazy. Yeah, man, we had
we had it was it was cool man, you know
what I mean. I thought that I thought it was
great to how she represented, you know, as a young
black woman on Boy Meet's World.

Speaker 6 (23:35):
I thought that was really cool and that was a
nice spot for her. So yeah, she did. Yeah that's
how small those worlds inter Twine. Man.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
Now, you guys had some really great guest stars. I'm
going to name a few other guest stars that you
had and you can tell me if you remember them.
And truthfully, writer and I barely remember anybody, so don't
feel bad. But Adam Brody was a guest star. He
was customer number two.

Speaker 4 (23:56):
Yes, big part, big part, customer number two.

Speaker 7 (24:00):
Of course he remembers that one.

Speaker 6 (24:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
Bravo Housewife. Kyle Richards played Katie Wow. Yeah, Jerry Turtle
Ferrara was delivery boy Turtle yep, yep. Sarah Shaw he
played cheerleader, and Vanessa Lasha was hot girl yes ye.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
Did anybody on this show actually have names? Or was
everybody just delivery guy? And you know.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
What's crazy about this? As a cast, we joke about
this when we get together. We're like, do you understand
we ninety eight degrees? There were oh, there's a lot
of people. You still didn't name everybody but Sherman Hemsley,
who played mister Yes, George Jefferson Smon. Sir Hemsley did
an episode ninety eight degrees. As we know, they did

(24:51):
an episode so ironically, you know, Vanessa.

Speaker 7 (24:55):
You could have set them up, could have you could.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
But but they didn't. Let me tell you, guys, we
laugh because we're like, do everybody, I mean everybody ran
through our socity guys and they all became big bona
fide stars blowing up and then we look at each
other like what happened with us?

Speaker 4 (25:17):
If you guys were holding down the fort and else
was moving through.

Speaker 3 (25:22):
We're the launching path for everybody else's career and they
take off and we don't.

Speaker 6 (25:25):
I mean, Adam Rody, come on, it's crazy.

Speaker 4 (25:28):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
I have to ask because I am a television fanatic.
It is, it's my my first love.

Speaker 4 (25:33):
What was it like.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
Working with Sherman Hemsley, I mean television royalty?

Speaker 6 (25:37):
Yo, when he trust me, I can't believe it.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
I think about it now again, that's me being spoiled
and just I first of all, get grew up watching
jeff Jefferson's.

Speaker 6 (25:49):
When we got.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
Him, I was like, yo, exactly, like, oh, this legendary
is iconic, you know, Sherman Hemsley, George Jefferson, like you know,
and he was such.

Speaker 6 (25:58):
A cool dude.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
Man he was, he was. It was probably one of
the he couldn't get it. Matter of fact, here's a
quick story. There was a scene we did and he
couldn't get his line correctly. And you know, he's getting
older at the time, you know what I mean. He
couldn't get his lines right and he was so frustrated
with himself. We were doing a live studio audience at
that time. That's just back when we all had you know,
the audience, and uh, he couldn't get his line, man,

(26:23):
and he said he must have dropped the F bomb
or something fun. And at the time you had to
be there. But to see George Jefferson cursed out of frustration,
it was.

Speaker 6 (26:36):
So dang funny.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
I was in tears to the points to where they
had to stop and pull met. I was crying, maker,
come off my face, and I said, dude, George Jefferson
and that person and the whole audience to kids was like, oh,
so he was great. It's about as humble as they
can be. Cool as a fan, I'm glad, but I
didn't Here's.

Speaker 6 (26:57):
The things I did. I can't find I didn't get
a picture with him.

Speaker 7 (27:00):
Oh, I didn't get it.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
I didn't get a picture with them. I can't believe
I'm looking through all my old stuff. I mean, yeah,
screen time, but I didn't get an actual still picture
into the barrier. Dale's what was that thinking?

Speaker 6 (27:11):
You know?

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, it's funny because you can't, especially as a kid,
you can't imagine a future where photographic evidence is going
to mean.

Speaker 7 (27:20):
A lot to you.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
You're like, I've worked with I'm working with this person,
I worked with them all week. I have the memories.
It was not you know, I'm living in the moment.
But then thirty years later, when you're still sitting here
and you're talking about these people that are icons and
that you got to share time with them, It's so
crazy how important that like tangible proof of your previous
life becomes to you.

Speaker 6 (27:41):
You know. Yeah, now, you're right, You're absolutely right.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
I promise we're going to get to boy Meets World.
But you have so many things I'm to talk to
you about. So I want to talk to you about
Roll Bounce, where are you Disco Champions, Sweetness Active, Roller
Skated with bow Wow, Megan Good, Nick Cannon, Mike Epps
and Sean McBride.

Speaker 6 (28:14):
And Charlie Murphy and flew of others.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
Yes, Okay, what memories do you have from that set?
And how many bruises did you end up with?

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Oh? Yeah, you know, it's a whole nother podcast for
us to share.

Speaker 6 (28:29):
The how I got that role.

Speaker 7 (28:33):
Talk about it.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
Okay, So I'm going to try to some something, you know,
sum it up. You guys know when they call us
Sometimes you have a relationship with a cast and director
and they'll call you up and to do a table
read for a new project that hasn't you.

Speaker 6 (28:47):
Know, they haven't bought yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
So they called me in uh and wanted me to
come in and just help with this table read.

Speaker 6 (28:55):
They're selling this movie.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
Roll Bounce, and then you know, producers wanted to see
if they liked it, and Yata ytta just you know,
the very very beginning skeletons of it. And it was
funny because me and Dion Bascall, who was on City Guys,
we were a part of this table read. Make a
long story short, They love the film a Fox Searchlight
ends up putting money out behind it to get it up.

Speaker 6 (29:18):
On its feet. All right.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
So I'm like, okay, cool, you know, and I've read
the character Sweetness at that time. And then come to
find out they you know, ended up wanting me to
audition for it. Now in my mind, I'm going, well,
I just did my audition. But ego, right, ego. So
it's like, all right, fine, I love the role. I
loved the film. It was a great you know, great script.
I'll go in and audition.

Speaker 6 (29:37):
For it, you know. My mind like it's fair, but fine,
So I go in audition.

Speaker 3 (29:44):
You know the process call back, come back, and then
you don't hear nothing quiet not the time.

Speaker 6 (29:50):
So you guys know this is intertwine.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
At the time I was shooting What I Like About You,
we were probably are this.

Speaker 6 (29:56):
Was like the fourth seat. Yeah, like third or fourth season.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
So let me pause frame on that because that's a
part of the story of What I Like about You.
So them to find out I don't hear anything for
a while, and come to find out they're shooting roll
Bounds in Chicago, and I'm like, well, the only the
only role hadn't cast it with Sweetness was my character.

(30:20):
And I was like when I found out, I was like,
what's what's up with that? And they're like, well, they're
trying to figure out if they want it's.

Speaker 6 (30:28):
A true story.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
They want Usher to play Sweetness or omar On from
B two K to play these two people were up
all right now that the studio liked me, but they
would have rather had obviously Usher.

Speaker 6 (30:44):
Or o Mario, because why the studios are beating counters.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
They it's all about the draw, right, But me and
as actor, as an artist, I'm saying it's ridiculous. I'm
so tired of fighting this constant battle you know political
issues where it's like, look you got bow wow, who's
are already the start of this film? You put us
or Marian? You got a music video, it's not a
film anymore. You got music artist, You're an actor, thank you.

(31:08):
So it's the struggle we all have, right. So then
it's like malholmily caused me the director and says, hey, man,
I'm fighting for you for this what what's you know?

Speaker 6 (31:19):
What's going on You're life?

Speaker 3 (31:21):
I mean there were he's loft into a show, YadA
YadA YadA. That was an issue so Warner Brothers. I
had to you know, it was crazy. I fought really hard.
So I told him I live, man, So why do
you want to do this role? Because the Road didn't
have my agency managers, nobody wanted me to. They're like,
this role doesn't even speak. He didn't even do anything.
They didn't see what I saw. I said, he doesn't
have to speak. You don't understand. I was like, it's

(31:45):
the character. Every young man, old man, and you know
middle aged man wants to be sweetness. Every young, middle
aged or older woman wants to be with sweetness. I said,
this dude's gotta be funny. He's gotta be sexy, he's
gotta be scary, he's got to be all these colors.
Or you don't have a villain. You don't have, you know.
So he was like, man, all right, I'm sold. Let

(32:08):
me call you back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, da.

Speaker 6 (32:09):
Cleans up the phone. I'm telling now, I'm fighting. I'm
gonna call them.

Speaker 3 (32:13):
You know, everybody execs and you know what like about
you and I'm the writers.

Speaker 7 (32:17):
And I look, man, let me you gotta let me,
let me out.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
I will listen write me out for because it overlapped perfectly.
I just would have missed one episode. So that's one week, right,
we all know that, right, So I said, dude, just
out forfeit the bread. Just you know, the money, just
wipe me out, bail me out, keep the money.

Speaker 6 (32:37):
I don't I don't need it.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
Just just just just make some arrangements to where do
you guys let me go to Chicago for two months
and do this movie. And they were reluctant. They felt
my passion and my pain through it, and uh ultimately ended.

Speaker 6 (32:53):
Up doing it. Keep in mind, I didn't know how
to skate prior to the movie.

Speaker 8 (33:00):
You skating, right, That's exactly what happened, right, I got
the roll, hung up, the phone was like, yeah, I
got it, and I was like, oh, So.

Speaker 4 (33:16):
It was like the most actor thing to do. But
I could juggle. I could do it.

Speaker 6 (33:24):
I can do it all. Don't even worry about it. Right,
So what happened was I ended up.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
I ended up getting the role, and I flew. I
had a week to fly out. So I'm thinking to myself,
I can't I can't skate. So I went and bust
some skates to see how bad I really was. And
when I put them on and went to like I
was living in an apartment in alley, my alleyway, and
I was like, oh my gosh, oh look, because I

(33:50):
did dance, that is an easy part, but skating was
a whole other beast.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
You had a week, you had a week.

Speaker 6 (33:58):
Well, I had a week before I flu out, right.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
But when we got there, though, they put us through
skate boot camps.

Speaker 6 (34:06):
So I trained.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
I trained from like eight am to six pm from
every day with like professional you know skaters, and because
of legal purposes and insurance purposes, we all had doubles, right,
but I was not into that because my double he
was great. He was fantastic, but I wanted to show
people that I did most of my stuff. So I

(34:29):
was like, I was obsessed. I would go from eight
am to six pm at the skating rink, take my
skates home, and I'll be in the hotel skating on
rug in my hotel. So we talked about bruises and
swords and I was soaking and eb some salt and
tire bomb.

Speaker 6 (34:44):
Was my best tire bomb jar. It was a mess.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
So I trained extremely hard. I was probably in the
best shape of my life. And if I wasn't on skates,
I was down there in the gym lifting weights. I
didn't go I didn't really go out with all the
guys and you know, we're party like you know I was.

Speaker 6 (35:05):
I had a mission.

Speaker 7 (35:06):
Yeah, you were there to prove yourself.

Speaker 3 (35:08):
Yes, I was pissed off. I was This is the
best way to describe it.

Speaker 6 (35:12):
I was angry.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
I was fed up with constantly fighting that somebody's got
a bigger name than you. That's somebody, you know, that's
the thing that we do. And it's like, dude, come on,
like yo, just give me give me a shot. Watch
And that was that was that was the whole thing.
So that's how that was a short version of a
robounce and how that came to me.

Speaker 7 (35:31):
Man, Man, that's so cool.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
That was a fun movie. That was a really fun movie.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
Then I want to take the pause off of what
I like about you, because you mentioned that Amanda Bynes
and Jenny Garth yea like working specifically with Amanda, who
was such a genius for those types of comedic roles.
She was always being compared to Lucille Ball.

Speaker 6 (35:53):
And you know, the first year it was like the
sticky thing.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
You know, they took the whole Nickelodeon thing and kind
of was trying to fuse it into her new show
of prime time television. And I don't know behind the
scenes what happened, but I know that I'm pretty sure
Jenny Garth and even Amanda had issues with it because

(36:20):
after the first season, our whole format kind of changed,
like it was a lot more adult like, it was
a lot more driven to you know, the relationships of
you know, Jenny and Amanda and their dating lives, and
it just took a lot more mature kind of air.
And I actually appreciated it because Amanda's she's growing up.

Speaker 6 (36:43):
She's no longer the Nickelodeon. She's a you know, a
young woman.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
So Dan Schneider, who did all of the Nickelodeon stuff
with her and everything else.

Speaker 6 (36:53):
And still doing it run and running the whole kid thing.

Speaker 3 (36:56):
He I think he ended up. They ended up, you know,
getting some new producers in there and some new execs
you know, uh in there and uh Will Calhoun and
uh just and and they kind of changed the format
of the show. Amanda at the time was a sweetheart.
She was just you know, like I said, she was

(37:17):
just she was cool. She was I want to say,
not well behind the ears. She knew the industry, but
I felt like she was more well, yeah, there you go,
just kind of with life, you know what I mean,
like kind of just being exposed now to like all right,
you know, I'm driving, I'm doing this and I got
you know, I got some money, and I'm a.

Speaker 6 (37:37):
Young lady and what is this all about?

Speaker 3 (37:40):
You know? And uh And we would always tea you know,
tease and talk about talk. I was talked to her
and tease her about things. And in my role, here's
the funny thing about that.

Speaker 6 (37:50):
They won't tell you this, but I'm gonna tell you.
In my opinion.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
When I was auditioning for What I Like About You,
I tested with like I felt like the three to
five white guys, I was.

Speaker 6 (38:02):
The only black dude.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
I don't think when they wrote that they were picturing
me a black guy being her best friend. They won't
tell you that, but I based on what I saw
on the sides and everything else, like y'all, y'all, y'all pictured,
you know, and y'all picture some white boy, skater kind
of kid, it's gonna be her best friend.

Speaker 6 (38:23):
I look in the room we're testing and going, okay,
here's as we do.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
We signed each other up right the compensation like you know,
you know, and I'm saying, okay, now, I know this
is gonna probably go, but okay, I'm I'm gonna they
got Okay, that's what I'm gonna do.

Speaker 6 (38:40):
This's what I'm gonna do. Now, I'm gonna do my
thing right.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
I'm going I'm gonna be black, but I ain't gonna
be black scary, Whereas it's like, oh.

Speaker 6 (38:49):
Oh my god, he's just he's just a FuG. You know,
I have him on the w.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
Thank you for coming, Thank you for coming, sir, Thank
you for coming. Sir, please please walk out to her.

Speaker 3 (39:02):
So, but I'm gonna but I'm gonna give it a
little spin, a little spice, a little a little soul
on there as opposed to what they're gonna do. I
knew that because these I knew these white guys were
going to pretty much have the same genre of vibe
to their thing. What would be different from me is
being me and just being that cool. You know, hey, listen,
I'm you know, I'm likable on either side from black folks,

(39:24):
from white folks that find in between that middle. That's
what I went for. So I got the role, and
I think I told I think I told Dan Snyder.
I was like, man, you ain't mean that to be No,
you didn't mean this role to be no black kid.
He's like, don't say that, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (39:39):
Shut up here, and we laughed about it.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
But being her best friend on the show, that that,
to me was like one of the things that was.

Speaker 6 (39:49):
Very very cool and very different that, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
And there was no romance, romantic kind of you know,
in your window with that, everybody wanted us to do that.
You could tell people were writing in like, hey, you
guys gonna get together and I.

Speaker 6 (40:01):
Was like, no, it shouldn't. That would be expected, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
It's kind of you know, it's kind of it was
kind of like, uh, with you guys, with with Ben Savage,
right then you gotta start off.

Speaker 7 (40:11):
His friends, right, Yes, he stands me right.

Speaker 6 (40:17):
Right, So no, they kept it.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
It was just like no, Gary, my character had his
own dating life, Jay Garth had theirs.

Speaker 6 (40:25):
And we just all came together and the end.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
But then we brought on new people. Nick Xano and it.

Speaker 9 (40:33):
Was just n was on that show, and I was
just like, I don't want to say that was his
first first gig, but I think that was like I
think first major thing for Like I could be wrong, Nick, so.

Speaker 3 (40:43):
Correct me, but yeah, that's one of his big like
this first big thing, like you know what I mean
on that scale. And Simon Rex was originally on there.
That's first that first year when it was kind of sticky,
and that was tough because I had bonded with because
it was only four of us.

Speaker 6 (41:00):
It was just me, Jenny, Amanda and Signment. It was
only four of us.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
And when they were going in a different direction and
they and he didn't get picked the show.

Speaker 6 (41:11):
I picked up. But he didn't. That was that was
a little tough, especially after he had just bought a horse.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
Oh yeah, by anything season one?

Speaker 6 (41:21):
Never okay, wait right.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
This is what Look this is this is something I
learned prior to this, had already done fifteen years plus.

Speaker 6 (41:29):
I knew the game. So first first season, you chill.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Yeah, don't buy anything season one, don't sign the least.

Speaker 4 (41:43):
Season one yep, month to month.

Speaker 6 (41:46):
That's real. So I was like, well he did it.
I was like, because when we rolled up with it,
I was that's nice. I was like, you.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
Deal with like you know, you don't know.

Speaker 6 (41:57):
He's like that shouldn't be fun. Be fun, and mind
I'm going, been there, done that.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
He's still.

Speaker 6 (42:08):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (42:10):
I want to talk to you about Boy Meets World
and Train of Fools. So do you remember getting that role?

Speaker 6 (42:17):
I do? I do?

Speaker 3 (42:19):
It was okay, so check this out. So Michael Jacobs,
your guys is a big dog, right he he was
doing the show. And I don't know if you got
because typically when we work with a producer, we kind
of know their their whole run, you know what I mean,
They're all their shows, their new shows are coming up
with But he was doing a show, a new show

(42:41):
called Misery Loves Company.

Speaker 7 (42:43):
Yes, it's come up a few times on World.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
Yeah, all right, see there we go. Now see now
Misery Loves Company. H Dennis Boots, Karasu, Chris was a Maloney,
Chris Uh, and Julius Carrey. It was four dudes, right, and.

Speaker 6 (43:00):
That that's where he met.

Speaker 4 (43:02):
He was on our show multiple times.

Speaker 6 (43:05):
So okay, that's what so so you start to see
the connection, right. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:08):
So Julius Carrey, who passed away rest in Peace was
ironically I grew up watching him from a huge film
called The Last Dragon.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
Which is one of the best movies ever made in
the history of the world. Was one of the greatest
characters ever ever.

Speaker 6 (43:27):
So check this out. This is great. Okay. So I audition, No,
I didn't audition. I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
Oh I did audition for Misery lest Company. I got
the role to play Julius Carey's son.

Speaker 7 (43:41):
Okay, I can see that, and it was.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
It was I did out of thirteen episode I was
signed on to do eight, so that technically was my
first regular and I was a regular series regular series regular.

Speaker 6 (43:55):
So I had the job. We shot I don't even
know how many was shot.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
But the only aired I think three yeah, and let
me tell you that was my first that was my
first regular series show. It just didn't take off. And
Michael Jacobs was real cool. He saw I was bummed
or whatever the case may be, and it was like,
all right, everybody parted ways.

Speaker 6 (44:21):
I didn't think anything of it. Got a call.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
I want to say, every guy, the show was my
first offer as an actor.

Speaker 4 (44:30):
Without having to audition, right.

Speaker 6 (44:34):
I really want I'm thinking back to all the work.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
I really think this is my first time being offered like, hey,
you don't have to audition, it's yours.

Speaker 6 (44:41):
Michael feeling.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
And he I think he said that. He was like, man,
I'm so sorry this didn't work out with the show.
This is political stuff that you know, you know, but
I want you to go. You know, this has a
nice li role on a Boy Meets World. But of
course Boys World, right, it was the hit show at
the time. I know that that's great, you know, so
because I said, yeah, you know, I want you to

(45:10):
do that, and it's like cool, absolutely, So that's how
I got all your guys showing. What's funny is that
that that set the subway set little do you guys know,
we use that same subway set on City Guys. Really,
there's an episode on City Guys where we're on the
subway and I kid you not, I'm looking around and

(45:33):
everybody's like we're rehearsal and just kind of we're.

Speaker 6 (45:35):
You know, looking around and I'm.

Speaker 3 (45:38):
Quiet, and everybody's like, what are you looking at it?
I was like, this is gonna be I said you.
I was on Boy Means World on this exact set.
It's different. Yes, it's got a different little advertisements and
things on it, but I was like, this is it.
This has got to be it. I was like and
just started thinking like, well, actually, studios interchange a lot

(45:59):
of their you know, you know, rent rent this and
rent that. So I'm pretty sure if I can go
back and find the episode of City Guys that you got,
you guys are backmil and go yeah, that's it.

Speaker 6 (46:13):
Yeah, it's so funny.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
I just it's so I'm sorry. I I you know,
me and Tangents. But you mentioned Julius uh and you
mentioned uh I'm his movie. So The Last Dragon meant
so much to me growing up that I just wanted
to be Bruce Leroy and when he came, when he
was on the show we got to do. We did

(46:37):
a scene together where Eric is sneak attacking h to
Panga everywhere she goes, and he and I worked out
a scene where I said, you know, if I jump
on your back, He's like, Oh, if you jump on
my back, I can grab you and flip you over,
do a full flip over the thing. And I looked
at him at one point I went, I have to
tell you how important what we're about to do means

(46:59):
to me, because I feel like your shown up and
I'm Bruce Lee Roy and we're in the middle of
a fight, and he's like, well, that's very nice of
you to say it. I was like, you have no
idea how important this movie was, Like this was my
childhood was this movie. And so the idea that we
did a martial arts move together on set was like
I almost cried that day. It was awesome to me.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
Yeah, dude, I didn't even know I was working with
him until Like, it's just because the hair.

Speaker 6 (47:26):
His hair was low cut and short. That's just so
different and it was so different.

Speaker 7 (47:42):
So back to Boy Meets World, Train of Fools.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
Do you have any Do you have any specific memories
of filming that day of being on set, like, do
you have any cool subway stories?

Speaker 7 (47:55):
Lots of partying extras?

Speaker 6 (47:57):
I remember, yeah, remember that.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
I remember there was a there was a cute French
made uh uh Arima Carpenter.

Speaker 4 (48:06):
Yeah, that was Carpenter.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
Yeah, yeah, I remember that. I was eyeballing her. Uh
let's see.

Speaker 6 (48:15):
I remember I remember thinking, I remember everybody had frush
on you. I was.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
I remember thinking like, man, yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
That was the famous subway episode too. It was the
famous subway outfit to wasn't it, Daniel? Yeah, like the
orange orange.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
The orange yeah, wearing a short skirt like I mean,
white tights or something.

Speaker 6 (48:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
I remember being nervous maybe the first run at it,
but once once I got the gist of what was
going on. Then because I felt this, I felt a
little pressure because I didn't audition for it, you know something,
you know what I mean, Like when we auditioned for us,
all right, we got it, they want me. Yeah, but
it's like yeah to offer and then you do it there,

(49:00):
maybe we shouldn't have gave it.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
So, you know, it's like we're always second guessing ourselves
always always.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
So you remember remember that week though, where we were
getting I mean the direction that week, did we have
an we didn't have an audience.

Speaker 6 (49:17):
That was shot Yeah, that with the audience and we
can't do that.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
Yeah, all the camera angles and there was like a
hundred shots on one page.

Speaker 5 (49:26):
For Jeff McCracken.

Speaker 7 (49:27):
It was no music, but lots of dancing.

Speaker 6 (49:30):
Lots of dancing.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
Yes, yes, yes, it was pre taped and it was
oh my god. Yeah, it was a lot of like
this miming dancing and most uncomfortable.

Speaker 7 (49:40):
Yeah, it's Wednesday at eleven a m. Get your party
on with the music go, you.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
Know, people shaking the subway to make it seem like
it was. It was moving and yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
Yeah. I also remember thinking it was cool to uh
work with Ben because I was such a fan of Friends.
Speaking of which, ironically, Fred directed one episode of What
I Like About.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
You Okay early in his career.

Speaker 6 (50:08):
Yeah, yeah, man, this is yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
So Fred did an episode and when he I saw
his name, I was like, what first to do us?

Speaker 6 (50:14):
That's what I'm talking about. I don't even think. I
don't even think I mentioned to him that I was.
Maybe I did mentioned it.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
I was on Boyman's World, but yeah, I thought I
remember being I was like, that was cool, man, because
I remember seeing Ben as a little kid tag along
right behind Fred on films, and I thought it was
pretty cool. But I was a big fan of Fred,
so I thought that was really cool.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Well, and years after Boy Meets World ended, you would
later end up acting with Right or Strong in a
short film you guys played. You played a cop as
cold Blan. Did you guys reminisce about boy Meets World
when you were there?

Speaker 6 (50:48):
What did we did?

Speaker 3 (50:49):
We talk about that?

Speaker 4 (50:51):
We made the connection. We were like, oh yeah, yeah.
I was like, how could I forget that?

Speaker 3 (50:58):
I feel like I had I feel like I was
whatever because Right, I know how it is when you're
on a series and you've done one hundred and plus
episodes of something and you got so many guest stars
that have run through. I think I had to remind
Rider like yeah, man, yeah exactly, because that was.

Speaker 4 (51:14):
The time when I was like blocking boy me the
world out of my.

Speaker 6 (51:16):
Life when I was a kid.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
We're cops, now, we're cop Please call me Officer Rigby. Please,
oh my god, please refer to me by my character name,
if you would.

Speaker 4 (51:30):
You and me we took a picture. I have I
think it was like one of the right one. Like
I just joined Twitter, so it's one of the first
things I tweeted out was a picture of you and me.
Really yeah, because I was so stoked because I got
like the kind of holster that like yeah, yeah, but
like this is awesome. We're so badass. I was like,
let's take a badass photo. Like, so there's a photo
of you just looking as tough as we can. I'll

(51:51):
post it. Was amazing. It's one of my favorite photos, Like, wow,
we actually look like cops.

Speaker 6 (51:55):
This is great.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
Will me a favorite and send me that, man, because
I remember that. I remember get about the whole.

Speaker 4 (52:00):
Was like we were so stoked.

Speaker 6 (52:02):
Yeah, hilarious.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
Plus, how do you forget the Subway episode? I mean
that week of shooting was is just etched in my
mind almost every minute of it because it was that
was that was a brutal sitcom. Really rarely do you
have a brutal week on sitcom, and so when you do,
it sticks out.

Speaker 4 (52:21):
That was brutal.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
That was a tough week.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
It was I remember it was very very drop because
I like the your Guys lines. I rememorized them as
I was sitting Oh my gosh dude, Rebecca Alexa, Rebecca Alexa, Rebecca.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
Rebecca Alexa, Rebecca Alexa, supermodel who wants to date a
high school girl?

Speaker 3 (52:42):
Right?

Speaker 2 (52:43):
High school guy, guy girl. It doesn't matter, they're in
high school. It's all wrong, it's all wrong. For God's says,
it's all wrong.

Speaker 1 (52:52):
Yeah, I have another thing I wanted to talk to
you about. So, shows like Sister, Sister, Smart Guy, Milisha,
a Different World, all of which you appeared on, have
really seen a massive resurgence in nostalgia because of the
limited representation at the time, when most millennials were growing up,
there wasn't a ton of black representation.

Speaker 7 (53:13):
What did those shows mean to.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
Black actors and their careers and just as important, what
does it mean to a black audience.

Speaker 3 (53:25):
Well, well, it means that our stories, when our stories
want to be heard, they should be told that we
have stories and don't want to sound cliche that it matters,
but yeah, our stories, our stories are important as well,
you know, to be told those shows meant a lot
to me because especially a Different World along the lines

(53:50):
of like the Cosby shows, because of the shows that
I grow watching as well, and to be able to
actually be on a show like A Different World was
huge because it's like, these are shows that I watched,
these are shows that I've never thought in a million
years that I would be on. So it's important as

(54:10):
a community. It's important. It's not even just the black folks,
but it's important that our story is told to other folks,
you know what I mean, everyone's story, you know, everybody
who cultural backgrounds has stories, and that these stories should
be recognized, acknowledged.

Speaker 6 (54:27):
And uh and seeing.

Speaker 3 (54:29):
So uh, yeah, it's just you know, back then again
it was it was like now it's a little different.
You know, it's a lot a little bit, it's a
lot better, a lot better. But back then it was like, yeah, man,
it was Neil and Haystacks here and there. You know,
you get to you know, you get these shows, and
but yeah, it's just it's it's it's it's again.

Speaker 6 (54:49):
It's it's better. It's better. It's got a long way
to go, but it's still it's better.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
It also just showed though, that good TV is good TV.

Speaker 6 (54:58):
There you go, that's what you know.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
A Different World is a great show. The show was
a great show. Different strokes. These are all just good shows.
And I think that's one of the things I think
good is good. You know, they're just good.

Speaker 6 (55:15):
In the end, it's good. It's it's.

Speaker 3 (55:19):
You know, you have again the what's Happening good times
and you said all in the Family and uh Sanford
and Son, all these shows at the end of the day,
taking color out of it. Obviously you have to see
it for what it is. But if you take color
out of it at the end, it's just the darn
good show.

Speaker 6 (55:38):
You know. It is what it is.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
So you can't take that away and try to undermine
it just because oh it's a cast full of black folks. No,
does it make you laugh? That's that's all that matters.
It's entertaining you, that's all that matters. Doesn't matter.

Speaker 6 (55:52):
So yeah, those shows, man.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
Are again that that's in my mind. They all help
me because I didn't take any at my first acting
class or workshop I think I was twenty. This is
like during like City Guys, and I just I went
to do it just because a friend was running in.

Speaker 6 (56:09):
But prior to that, how did I learn?

Speaker 3 (56:11):
I learned by watching the shows that we watched and
the shows that we were on, you know what I mean.
Just that's how I really got uh to understand the
comedy of sitcom at least just by watching you know
what I mean, and mimicking and uh, that's that was
my that was my acting school.

Speaker 6 (56:29):
You know.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
Well, Wesley, you are very important to an entire generation
of kids, and we are so honored that you were
willing to spend your time with us today talking about
some of your favorite memories. You've been an absolutely fascinating
guest and it's been so nice to reconnect with you.
So thank you so much for joining us here today
and sharing so much of your story with us.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
Ah Man, thank you. That meant a lot. Sometimes, you know,
we forget, we get in our way and it's like, man,
you know, you know, it's like all his work just
kick me to the side. But that means a lot.
I appreciate it. And it was great to hook up
with you guys and see you guys again. You guys
look good man.

Speaker 6 (57:09):
We all hanging tough, man.

Speaker 7 (57:10):
Yes we are.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
We are.

Speaker 1 (57:12):
We're hanging in there, and I really hope we get
an opportunity to see you again.

Speaker 7 (57:16):
We've talked about it a few times.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
We really do need to plan it, but we are
planning on having a huge Boy meets World Reunion, and
we are wanting to invite as many people who are
as willing to come. So if you're willing to come
to our party, we will see you in person again.

Speaker 6 (57:32):
Please invite me to the.

Speaker 7 (57:34):
Hey nice, Thank you so much. We'll see you again.
Thank you. Wesley.

Speaker 6 (57:41):
All right, bye bye bye bye bye.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
Man.

Speaker 1 (57:44):
That was so fun, so good to see him. He's
endlessly fascinating.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
We have to have this party. I want to see
these people so badly. I mean, he I want to
talk to him about just being on the sets he
was on. I mean, he worked with Sherman Hemsley. It's like, yeah,
so television Royalty. I love that he just like fell
into acting too.

Speaker 4 (58:04):
Yeah, like oh I just learned how to act by
doing it on every television show that was like casting.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:10):
I wanted to ask him, That's what I want to thing.
I forgot to ask him. I want to ask him
where he was from. Was he born and raised in
la I think so must Yeah, Okay, so he's from
around here. Okay, Yeah, I didn't know. I didn't know
if he was from around here. He had moved in
like the like the.

Speaker 7 (58:21):
Rest of us.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
Yeah, he's from He's from l A and then he
moved to Germany for a few years as a as
a youngster. He lived in Germany as a young kid,
but he didn't talk about that.

Speaker 4 (58:28):
So what story the so cool?

Speaker 2 (58:32):
I love how he remembers Rebecca Alexa too. He had
to say it so many times, Okay, so if we
had to say the name so many times Rebecca.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
Well, thank you all for joining us for this episode
of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us
on Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us
your emails pod Meets World Show at gmail dot com
and we have March March Pod Meets World Show dot com.

Speaker 7 (58:57):
We'll see y'all next time. We'll send us out.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
We love you all. Pod dismissed. Podmets World is Niheart
podcast producer and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and Ryder Strong.
Executive producers Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman. Executive in charge
of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara sudbachsch producer,
Maddy Moore, engineer and Boy Meets World super fan Easton Allen.

(59:19):
Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of typhoon and
you can follow us on Instagram at Podmeats World Show
or email us at Podmeats Worldshow at gmail dot com.