Transcript of Joy 101: Alfonso Ribeiro

Hey guys, I'm Hoda Kotb. Welcome to Joy 101, the podcast. So I am constantly seeking. I'm like seeking inspiration. I'm seeking joy. I'm seeking things that just make me feel good. And something crazy happened to me on a flight. Flight the other day. So I was flying back from Miami and it was 7:00 AM. I was exhausted. It was like just another regular flight. I'm sitting down and there's a guy who gets on the plane and he was supposed to be sitting in another seat, but that was occupied. So he just plopped down next to me and we started talking. And so I thought it was gonna be a 2-minute conversation and then I was gonna go nighty night. So the guy goes, You know, I've been feeling kind of heavy lately. And I was like, Oh, I go, what do you mean? He goes, I just, I saw this image on Instagram and it was a child who was an orphan and was hungry and I can't stop thinking about him. Like I couldn't stop. Like I woke up in the night and I couldn't stop thinking about him. And so I did a deep dive on the kid.

So he went on Instagram and he found the photographer who took the picture. Then he found the orphanage and it was in Uganda and he tracked, tracked, tracked until he got in touch with the man who ran the orphanage. And he called and he said, listen, I saw this image, can I send something? And the guy said, send anything. So we sent clothes. And then the guy on the plane showed me a picture of the kids wearing new clothes. And I was getting teary-eyed. I was like feeling that feeling. And he was like, and then they asked, I asked, how much does it cost to feed all these children? You know, an image of like dozens and dozens of kids. And he said, $232 a month. And so we started sending money.

Wow.

So this conversation weirdly like cracked me open. Like we were sharing, it was beautiful. Like I was weepy. It was like one of those weird encounters that you feel like you're just, you have different feelings inside. I get off the plane, I'm walking, and this woman is in a wheelchair. Her husband's pushing her and their 4-year-old daughter is walking along. I'm walking normal. She slips her hand in my hand and just holds it. And I look at her and she goes, "My name is Bree." And I go, "Hi." So I'm walking. This kid is holding my hand. We're walking through the airport and her parents just kind of smile and we keep walking and we get to the elevator and she says, "I have to take the elevator with my mom and dad. Will you wait for me?" Because I was taking the escalator. So I said, "Yes." Wow. So I took the escalator, waited for Bree, and she slipped her hand back in mine and we walked to the door and I said goodbye. And I can't stop thinking about this encounter because I think what happened was on the plane, I was kind of cracked open.

And you know that feeling when you're open, suddenly goodness comes? Well, all of a sudden that little 4-year-old girl and me, we were connected. And I thought to myself, all I wanna do is have more of that. I wanna have more of those moments that open you up, make you feel joyful, show you that there's goodness all around. So joy's in the tiny things, which brings me to our episode today. Who is somebody who personifies joy? You know, the kind of person who when they walk in a room, like, Bam, it's like the lights go on. You wanna be near that person. Well, I know who that person is. It's Alfonso Ribeiro. Alfonso is the guy from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but he's more than all that. This guy is somebody who everyone in Hollywood says is the nicest guy. He's the guy who is kind to every single person. What makes him that way? What's he about? Where does it come from? We're gonna explore all of it in our podcast, Joy 101.

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It's that time to put on your jersey and wave your flag, whoever you root for.

Why do I watch the World Cup? That's like asking me why do I breathe. And it's beautiful.

The guys are young and cute and fit.

It's not just a game. It's your culture.

I like watching it with my dad.

It's a connecting force. From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernanda Echavarri, and this is American Futbol, a show about soccer culture in the US and its underdog roots. Listen to American Futbol on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And for more, follow @TimboSliceLife12 and the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm CJ Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs.

We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season, and I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was fine.

You just understood.

That's how personal it got.

Wow.

Then after that Game 7, Marqueeve coming to you, he's like, "You know I love you, dawg. You know it's all love. This was just playoffs.

This was just basketball." So listen to "Point Game" on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

He left Nigeria. He conquered Hollywood. And he never forgot where he came from. David Oyelowo is one of the most powerful storytellers of his generation. Generation. On this episode of "154," we go deep.

Nigeria identity.

Navigating Hollywood at the highest level. And the responsibility that comes with using your platform to change the world. This is "154." New episode streaming now. Don't miss it. Listen to this episode of "154," available now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is: getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is: getting a new one put up in its place. I'm Akilah Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 is about both of those things.

As I was watching these statues come down, I was thinking about what it meant that I grew up in a majority Black city in which there were more homages to enslavers than there were to enslaved people.

Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So first of all, yay. Yay.

You're here. I'm here.

Yes.

And you were hand-selected when we were talking about guests.

Okay.

Because this podcast is called Joy 101.

Right.

And I was thinking to myself, who? Who's the joy guy? Who's the guy when he walks in the room, everyone goes, oh my God.

Aw, thank you.

And you're that guy. So I do have a question for you about that.

Yes, okay.

Is this a, I wake up in the morning and automatically, bing, I got it going, or is this, does it take a little bit to get where you're going?

I've gotta be awake. You gotta be awake. I've gotta be awake.

Okay.

Like, I always say there's two sides to my personality.

Okay.

There is the going to sleep, waking up, hangry, right? There's that side of Alfonso that, is the very real side. And then there's, we walk into the world, and in the world I'm happy. And it's not put on, it's not, it's like, I feel so lucky and blessed.

Yeah.

That I get to do what I do still, 47 years later. It's amazing to me when I'm like, I'm still, doing, and I'm happy about it. And I appreciate life so much, you know, especially over the last couple of years, having some really dear friends passing.

Mm-hmm.

It's like you start to really recognize what's important in life. And that's how I live. My kids are everything, my family's everything, right? Like going and being a baseball dad is some of the greatest joys that I have in my life now. Watching my kids do things, that's my— So I live in a space of like true appreciation. So I'm joyous because I'm just happy of all the things. I could have never written this story.

I mean, first of all, I'm kind of admiring everything you're saying because the admission of I get hangry, I have my house me, and then I step out and there's something about the light, something about all of that that coming at you. And you said something else that struck me. You said, you know, you, you've lost a couple of friends. I find it so interesting, and same with me, like the world suddenly snaps into focus when you have a loss. You're like, bam, okay, this is priority. This life is short. How did it affect you? Like, what did it do?

Um, well, it has affected me deeply, uh, especially James Van Der Beek passing. Priorities, right? One of the things— I actually had this conversation with my team this morning as I'm, you know, getting ready for the day. Time, right? When you're on your deathbed, the one question, the one thing you would ask for is more time.

Mm-hmm.

And so then, I look at the world backwards. So I start at what is it gonna be, what's my life gonna be like at the end? And when I get there, what would I want? What would I ask for? And I would say, I'd ask for time. So then what am I doing with it?

Mm-hmm, that's good.

How am I using it? How am I affecting the people around me with my time? Because it's the only thing you're really gonna ask for at the end. Is more of it. So why waste it?

That's so interesting. When you're saying this, it's landing with me too. When I was leaving the Today Show not too long ago, I was thinking about like my time pie. I was like, everyone gets one pie. How are you going to carve it up?

Absolutely.

You're going to put like what goes where, what gets priority, what deserves more.

Absolutely.

So what changed? What did you— what did you alter?

Well, family.

Yeah.

Friends.

Yep.

Loved ones in all aspects, so like my parents. Time with them, you know, focused time, right? One-on-one time. That was the, that's the biggest change, right? Telling the people that you care about how you feel.

That's good.

So you don't ever, if it ends tomorrow, for either one of us. No one goes away—

But you told them—

Thinking about what they could have had. When I was going to see James while he was in his deathbed, literally, you know, we had conversations and it was, I said to my wife afterwards, that's what I want when I go. I wanna be surrounded by people that love you, that are there for you, that want what's best for you and everyone around you. That's what I want when I grow.

Wow, wow.

And so from that day, you can walk around in life going, let's make sure that's available. Let's make sure that can happen, right? And so live every day making sure that's a possibility.

Wow. I love that. I love, that was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

That was amazing.

Okay, so now you're making sense to me. I understand you now. I got your whole vibe.

Right, right, right.

I wanna take it back though, because when I think about you, someone had to like pour into you. So who was the optimist when you were a little boy growing up? Was it your mom? Was it your dad? Who was the glass half full, life is beautiful, we got this?

You know, they were all both. It wasn't an individual thing, right? My dad was my manager. My dad was my best friend. When I was starting in the business and, you know, my dad would put me on in the front part of the motorcycle and I would ride to auditions with him, right? And we'd sit at a coffee shop between auditions. And it was always perspective, right? We're lucky to be doing this. We're lucky that we have this time. And of course, when you're a kid, you don't really get it. No. You don't, it doesn't mean anything until much later, right? But my dad always gave me, you know, logic, right? What's important, you know, priorities. My mom was kind of the same way, but then the love came kind of behind. It was never forward love.

That's interesting.

There was never, you know, we didn't say I love you a lot. That wasn't our relationship, right, my parents. But I understood that there was love.

How did you know? Like, as a kid, you need to know.

Just in your heart.

Ah.

Right? James, I go back to James a lot 'cause we had so many great, incredible conversations. He used to say to me, "Your brain takes credit for all the things your heart does." He goes, "You live your life with your heart, but your brain takes credit." Mm. And And when he said that to me, it became so true because I live my life with my heart. This tells me everything I need to know. Get this out of the way and listen. This will tell you. Yeah.

Right?

Your brain has ego. Your brain has, you know, history and damage and, you know, all of that. But your heart doesn't. It just leads you. And I just knew it. I always knew that I was loved. I knew that I had love. That my parents, the things that they gave up in their lives for me to have my life is love. There's nothing more than love.

You know what's so fun? I just interviewed this woman about this topic and she said so many people say, oh, my parents never said they love me. And so, oh my God, I'm seeking it my whole life. And she said saying it is not necessarily the only way to show love. Like when they picked you up, when they brought you X, Y, and Z. And I think sometimes we all forget. It's like, but I never got the word. It's like sometimes show, don't tell. Like, they have their own language.

Words are words.

Yeah.

It doesn't mean anything unless the substance is behind it.

Yes, right, show me.

You can tell me you love me all the time. There's a lot of people who tell me they love me. I walk down the street, "We love you!" Do you?

Probably, yeah.

You really love me?

Right?

Do we really understand love if we're saying that? You know, I get it. We really like you. I take that. That can be real. But no, you don't love me. You love an idea of me. You don't love me, right? But my family loves me, right? And I know that deep down, and they don't ever have to say it. Now, because I didn't hear it all the time, I say it all the time.

Yeah, I understand.

But I could say it or not say it. And I don't think that would change how my kids feel about how I feel about them.

Yes.

Right? Who was the first person who told you you were talented and you believed it?

My grandmother.

Mm.

My grandmother on my dad's side. Her name was Mumsy, as we called her. And she was a Rikers Island police officer. Hard as can be, right? Wealthy in a time when we didn't have wealth, you know, for people like that. And she had a daughter who was on a show called Laugh-In.

Mm-hmm.

So my aunt was on Laugh-In. My grandfather was a calypso singer. So she knew what talent looked like, and she would say, "You have it. You have that thing." And she would always be, "I'm so proud," and I just, you know, all the rest of it that grandparents do.

But you believed that?

But I was like, I believed it.

Wow.

I believed it. I was probably 4 or 5.

And what did she see? Like dancing, singing?

So I would just, I would sing. I'd be singing all the time.

Yeah. Just—

Anything. Just, yes. My mom was the singer, really, in the house, but like, I would sing all the time. I'd be moving all the time. I don't know whether we call it dancing. Now I would say just moving, it wasn't really dancing. I would, voices and characters and like, I was all of that in my youth, so like, and so I would say she was the first person that I believed it, and then my dad was the one that cultivated it.

He had the structure, the discipline, the, you know, you gotta have work ethic, all that kind of stuff. This is what I'm gonna do. This is how we're gonna get there.

That's what we're doing.

Valvoline Instant Oil Change presents Wisdom from the Road.

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Valvoline Instant Oil Change.

Change wisely.

I love the sounds, the buzzing from the stadium, the chanting from the fans, the announcers calling the plays. Soccer, football, it's home.

Why do I watch the World Cup? That's like asking me, Why do I breathe?

I inherited that fandom from my mom.

I like watching it with my dad.

It's a connecting force.

From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernanda Echavarri, and this is American Futbol, a show about soccer culture in the US and its underdog roots. We go beyond the game to the people and the stories that make it great.

A soccer game is a festival.

It's not just a game.

It's your culture. I took an elbow to my head, which cracked my skull. It is an American game. The Brazilians don't like hearing that though.

Are they the only ones that don't like that?

Nobody likes that.

As we get ready for the Men's World Cup this summer, listen to American Football as part of the My Cultura Podcast Network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight reel. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And for more, follow @TimboSliceLife12 and the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game, is about defying the odds.

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luka and Austin Reeves.

And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luka and Austin Reeves, I gotta manipulate the game.

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

I think Joker's gonna be exhausted this season. Series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randle, and then he has to give us everything he gives us on a night-to-night basis on offense.

And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell, get the flying. He running up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Oh yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you gonna get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I'm speaking with more artists, policymakers, and performers, like composer Marc Shaiman.

Once you've established that you have the talent, it's about the hang.

It's the pleasure of hanging out with the people that you're with. You know, Rob and I was always a great hang. We would sit in Kibitz for hours and then eventually get around to the music. That's what I mostly think of when I think of him, the time together laughing. Lawyer Robby Kaplan.

The great gift of being a lawyer is the ability to actually change things in our society in a way that very few people can. I mean, you can really make a difference to causes in the United States if you bring the right case at the right time in the right—

Marriage equality.

Yeah.

Windsor's the perfect example.

Director Morgan Neville.

Film school teaches you all the wrong things about making documentary.

What do you want to say? Documentary's all about your ear. What do you hear?

I feel like my job is listening really, really hard.

Listen to "Here's the Thing" on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, so "Tap Dance Kid," you on Broadway.

Yeah.

I mean, a kid, what were you, 12, 13?

I was 11 when I got the role. 11. Geez. And I didn't tap dance.

What?

So I didn't, I wasn't a tap dancer. I had never tap danced in my life. And they hired me to be the tap dance kid. And they taught me to tap dance for a year.

Okay, that's insane.

And then we opened on Broadway. I was 12 in 1983.

What's the day in the life of a 12-year-old on Broadway? Just give me one single day of what it was like.

Well, I would, I would say I had the hardest schedule in show business because I'll just give you a Tuesday. Yeah, give it. I wake up at 7:00. Have breakfast, be at school by 8, go to school till 3, get home, do homework, study, have some food, maybe take a quick nap, relax for a second, get picked up at 6, right? Oh, sorry, that's Wednesday.

Tuesday.

Tuesday, I would go half day and then I would leave at 11:30, get to the theater by 12, on stage at 1 to do a matinee, then time to eat, show at 8, off at 11, home by midnight, asleep by 1, up again the next day. And the, and the kicker is Sundays they would be off after the matinee and have Monday off, but I still went to school on Monday.

Oh. I cannot believe you did that as a kid.

So my schedule never stopped.

How did you— I mean, now for kids, we, you know, it's like we're always worried, like, is that— are you too tired? You didn't get your 12 hours sleep. I mean—

I was sick a lot.

Were you?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was sick a lot. It was, it was a— they ended up taking me out of the matinees and letting my understudy do the matinees about halfway through my run because I was constantly sick.

Did you enjoy— were you loving it, or were you— was it just a grind?

I loved moments. I enjoyed most of it. I recognize how hard it was. So when I went to television, I thought television was a joke.

Oh, 'cause it was like lazy people. I was like, really? Yeah, oh my. Really?

We're gonna spend 5 days working on this? Is this how it's really gonna go? Oh gosh, I'm done, it's 3:30 and I'm done.

All these opportunities kept coming to you though. I mean, you were obviously, again, I think it's your discipline, your, you, I mean, you worked for everything, but Silver Spoon, Fresh Prince. Did you just keep getting things or in between were there rejections that I didn't get?

Absolutely.

Oh, there were? Okay, I didn't read about those. What do you got? What happened?

I mean, ton of 'em, right? Like the, I, the life of an actor, is your job is to audition. Your bonus is getting the job. So you audition for 100 things, you get one, you are successful.

Yeah.

Like, you are killing it if you get one out of 100, right? That's 99 rejections. It's 99 times someone said, "Yeah, not good enough." which is just the life, right? So you get used to people telling you that we don't like you. Wow.

Right?

Like, that's— someone says they don't like me, I go, get in line. I mean, what do you mean? Why does that affect me, right? And especially now in this age of social media where people tell you they don't like you all the time and you read it. And I've always said— actually had this conversation with one of my Dancing with the Stars friends last night. I'm like, why would you give the devil an open communication with your heart?

Ooh.

Why would you let them have communication with your heart? Don't read it. Don't care, right?

Right.

So rejection for me is, so? It doesn't mean anything. That's not important to me. What you think of me is important to me.

Right.

What does my kids think? What does my wife think? What do my parents think? What do my friends think? That's important. I literally said, if I said these things to you, it should mean something.

Yeah.

Because I'm your friend. I don't care about your success. I care about you. When I say, hey, how are you doing? I'm not just saying those words. I mean it. How are you?

When you talked about the 99 rejections and getting one, Why didn't, after multiple rejections, why didn't you just say, you know what, some things aren't meant to be?

Because that's just what it is, right?

That's the life of an actor. You knew that even as a kid.

Yeah, it's just, you go for 'em. And for me, the audition was the fun process.

Oh, that's good.

That was, you know, I mean, at the end of the day, let's keep it real. It meant I left school early. I got out of school early to go on a motorcycle ride with my dad into the city to go perform for a bunch of people in a room and then maybe sit at a little coffee shop and have some food, maybe some ice cream. I even drank coffee back then, which is crazy.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't drink it now much, but that was fun. The process was fun. So I didn't look at getting the job as the end-all. It was more of the process.

Carlton in Fresh Prince was a role that I don't think anyone imagined being as big as it was. No one could. I mean, did it become as big as it was because of something you designed? How did that role turn into something that became part of the culture?

I think, so going deep for a second, which I never do, Carlton was a character. That Black people could laugh at white people, but not laugh at a white person.

Mm.

It was a character that white people could laugh at themselves without seeing themselves being laughed at.

Mm-hmm.

So it allowed people to be comfortable with the corny white guy without anyone feeling insulted. And laughing at it and feeling like, oh, I know that guy. I laugh at that guy. That kid's in my school. Yeah, he's smart, but he's not cool, right? Or you're laughing at something that exists in society, but no one gets offended.

Isn't that funny that you don't really go that deep to think about it? You just think, I know that guy, I get his vibe.

Yes, but there's only positive.

Yes.

So there's no negative reaction. To you're laughing at him, laughing with him, you know, all of that, there's no negative to it. So he created a space in television where we could laugh at ourselves in society, but also laugh at that character. Yeah. And they wrote him very funny, obviously.

Yeah.

But that to me is what I believe was the reason that character for decades has such impact.

Yeah, I mean, no one forgets that.

Right.

Was that one of your most joyful chapters, do you think, Fresh Prince?

I'm living my most joyful chapter.

Boom!

So, it was a great time. I loved every minute of it. They were family, right? Everybody on Fresh Prince, that's family. But I'm living it now, and I'm living it because there is, there's both sides, right? It's, I'm the most successful I've ever been career-wise, and I'm the happiest I've ever been in life. So I'm living it right now. But those Fresh Prince days were incredible. Going to set every day, being with Will and James and Karen and Tatiana and Janet and, and, and Daphne and Joe, and those times were just incredible, right? What we were building, what we were doing, the way we worked together, the way we supported one another was very special. And it's part of why I don't really act anymore because that'll never be achieved again.

Why?

That kind of joy, that kind of love, that kind of support. That kind of creative magic that it's just, it's so hard for that to happen. It would feel like everything else becomes a letdown. So now I get to just be me, and it's not a letdown 'cause I can be me.

So if someone knocked on the door and said, Alfonso, I got a role for you, you gotta read for it.

Well.

Would you?

I wouldn't. I wouldn't read.

You would not? Oh, you wouldn't read.

I'm done reading.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Thank you.

No, we're not, we're not, nope.

You wouldn't read for— We're not asking for the job. I got 3 of them. Okay, all right. But I would, if—

If something were to come up.

If the itch started itching, I would absolutely, I would look at it. The desire is not there. The need isn't there. Because I'm doing everything I love to do. And the difference is, is that I'm doing shows that allow me to still have balance in my life with my family, right? We've talked about like, if a job came up here in New York, would you do it? And the answer was no. Like that, just flat out no. I wouldn't do, unless it was very short, I wouldn't do a New York gig because I don't wanna raise my kids here.

Mm-hmm.

Right? So now when my kids are old enough and they move on and they're doing their lives,, you know, independent of mine, anything's possible, right? Can my wife and I move to New York for a little bit to do something?

Of course.

But like the idea of, you know, me getting in the car, telling the boys, hey, you got to be ready by 3:20, we got baseball practice.

Yeah, yeah.

Right? Getting out of my work clothes or whatever clothes I'm, you know, and then hopping on and taking the kids and spending time and talking about the game and life and how their day was and getting there and watching them perform and, you know, watching my daughter. She just won state in gymnastics in California. She's incredible.

Holy moly.

That wouldn't really exist here in New York City.

Are you— you talked about your dad. Are you— what things from parenting did you take from your dad, and what things did you leave behind and say, I'm not doing that?

Well, I would, you know, I'm definitely more I share more of my emotion with my kids. They see all sides, right? They see crazy dad, they see happy dad, they see loving dad, they see all of it. I saw it all, but it was less.

Yeah.

But really, what I took from what my dad did was my dad gave me his time. Gave me his presence, and he was there, and he was listening, and he was involved. And that to me was the gift that I get to give back to my children is being there, listening, being truly part of their lives. Because you don't get the time back. You know, I've got an older daughter from a first marriage and I wasn't there, right? I didn't give her the time. I didn't, I wasn't, I wasn't really part of her upbringing in the way that, that I would have wanted to. And because of that, I'm like, I am not making that mistake again. And so what I've learned ultimately was be there.

Yeah, I love it.

Listen, be there.

Let's talk about repotting because you had you know, this great career in acting. Obviously everyone's, you know, knows your name. The Carl— by the way, do people still ask you to do the dance?

Absolutely.

How many times a day do you get asked to do the Carl thing?

If I go outside in public, it's gonna happen at least 100 times.

Okay, and do you ever do it?

Not a chance. Not a chance. No chance. I was like, it's so much better on YouTube. Just watch it there.

Watch it there.

Does it bother you to be so directly connected to that singular moment?

There was a time when I absolutely hated it.

Yeah.

You know, time, age, wisdom gives you perspective. Now what I'm able to understand is they're asking me to continue to bring them joy with something that I I have already created. It's not an insult. It's not— they're letting you know that at the end of the day, you bring me joy. That brought me joy. And when I see you, I can only think of the joy you brought me, and I would love to have more.

Wow.

So I have the perspective now.

That's beautiful, by the way. That's beautiful. I love that. I love that. So the repotting piece, which is hard for people to redirect a career, anybody.

Right, right.

Because when you repot, you like pull yourself up by the roots, You're dangling in the air. Oh, where am I gonna go? And then you fortunately got planted in like nutrient-rich soil. Like you just came alive. Did you imagine that this next chapter, which has involved all of this, all these cool TV gigs, was to come to pass? And did it surprise you as it was all kind of unfolding?

Never would've expected it. Expected it, right? I never would have expected being not acting, right? Like, that's, that's what I was. I was an actor. That's all I knew myself as, that. And my manager, Conrad Lay, he just was like, there's, there's other spaces for you. You are uniquely qualified for other things that we don't have to just worry about whether you're getting another role.

Hmm.

Right? And for a while it was directing. Right? Like, I've directed over 125 episodes of television.

Oh, really?

People don't really know that.

Yeah, what, which, like, give me a little.

Well, it was In the House.

Mm-hmm, oh yeah.

That was All of Us. I was, I did an episode of Fresh Prince. I did a bunch of Tyler Perry stuff. I did Are We There Yet?

Wow.

A bunch of episodes for that. So all over the place, right? A bunch of Disney shows. UPN, you know, WB, a bunch of them. And so I did all, you know, all I— I got to work with Zendaya when she was just a child.

Oh my God, how fun.

You know, and she was incredible. And so I had a beautiful career doing that. I never would have thought of that, but my manager was like—

Try that.

This is what I think you'd be great at. And I'd gone to film school. But I still was like, you know, I mean, who's gonna hire me as a director, really? And that became a really incredible time for me while the rebranding or repotting could bear fruit, right? Being me, being not that guy. And then the opportunity to do Dancing with the Stars fell into my life.

Did you always wanna do that?

Absolutely, from day one.

Really?

From season 1. It took till season 19.

Holy moly. So what, were you knocking on their door?

All the time. Dina Katz and I became friends before I was on the show. Hey, Dina. How's it looking?

It's not looking good.

Not looking good. There was a person at the network that did not want me on the show.

Oh, please.

And when that person was no longer at the network, the opportunity for me to do the show was that season, right after she, that person, was moved on. And that changed my life because after I won the season, I sat in the office of Rob Mills, who runs Unscripted for ABC, and he was like, "All right, what do you wanna do?" Wow. And there was a picture of Tom Bergeron on the wall, and I was like, "That." And he was like, "You mean you don't wanna do another sitcom?" I was like, "No, no. I spent my whole life trying to get away from a character." where people could see me as me. I did 3 and a half months on this show showing people the real me, and they approved.

That's so—

Why are we going back?

Well done.

To being someone else again? Let's just keep being me. This is working. And then AFE, and now Dancing with the Stars as host.

So America's Funniest Videos, to have Tom Bergeron, by the way, choose you, to have a mentor like him, I mean, what did that mean and what was the relationship like?

Well, he, you know, obviously doing, I did dancing.

Yeah.

And he turned to me maybe the quarterfinals or something like that and he goes, you know, I'm leaving America's Funniest Home Videos and I've made the decision to no longer do this and I think you're the guy to replace me. Yeah. And I was like, He must have died. Oh my God, what? What are you talking about? Like, oh my God. And he was like, I'm gonna talk to the producers and the network and really let them know that I think you would be incredible. And I was like, thank you, wow. And so when the opportunity came and I met with them and I had the meeting with Rob Mills and met with Vin DiBona and did a screen test and the whole bit, And I was like, well, what should I do? Like, how should I approach this? He said, I've already, you already know what to do. Just be you.

Oh gosh.

Just do you, right? And so that kind of validation for me allowed me to walk onto that stage with a confidence that, you know, we always walk in with a little bit of like, am I right? Is it gonna be good? Like, what do I need to do? Like you overthink it, right? I was able to walk in and go, I'm just gonna do it. Maybe that's enough, I don't know, but I'm just gonna do it. Tom already told me that's all I need to do.

I love it.

Right? And then when I got the show, I went to the writers and I said, look, the audience already loves this show, right? I don't think we should do anything different. I want you to write the episode no different than you would write it for Tom. But it will be different because I'm doing it.

Yeah.

'Cause I'm not Tom. I can't do what Tom does. I do what I do. There might be similarities, but it'll be different. But we don't have to write it differently. Because the audience, if it feels different to them, they're gonna be like, ah, I don't know. I've been watching this too long to have something new come into our house. Right? And they don't know the backstory that Tom said he was leaving, and they don't know all that. They just know that Tom's not there, this guy is now there.

Whoa! What's going on here?

I want it to feel the same.

God, that's so smart.

And so they wrote every episode the same, and then as time went along, then they started to slightly write it differently, more for me. But the transition had already been made. Valvoline Instant Oil Change presents Wisdom. From the road.

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Change wise, I love the sounds. The buzzing from the stadium, the chanting from the fans, the announcers calling the plays. Soccer. Futbol.

It's home. Why do I watch the World Cup? That's like asking me, why do I breathe?

I inherited that fandom from my mom.

I like watching it with my dad.

It's a connecting force.

From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernanda Echavarri, and this is is American Futbol, a show about soccer culture in the US and its underdog roots. We go beyond the game to the people and the stories that make it great.

A soccer game is a festival.

It's not just a game, it's your culture.

I took an elbow to my head, which cracked my skull. It is an American game. The Brazilians don't like hearing that though.

Are they the only ones that don't like that?

Actually, nobody likes that.

As we get ready for the Men's World Cup this summer, listen to American Futbol as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight reel. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slice Life 12 and the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luka and Austin Reed.

And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luka and Austin Reeves, I gotta manipulate the game.

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

I think Joker's gonna be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randle. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on a night-to-night basis on offense.

And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell, get the flying. He running up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Oh, yeah.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you gonna get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What did Black music, food, and culture teach us about who we were becoming?

2016 was sort of that last era —of monoculture, where we still consumed things in community.

From Beyoncé and Rihanna—

Everybody wanted to be Beyoncé.

Ugh, I don't think we'll ever see another Rihanna. —to soul food, memory, identity, and the stories we carry through Black culture. What does it mean to be Black and eat in America? So we were this group of people who knew how to work the land, who knew how to live with the land. We make it do what it do. Therapy for Black Girls is bringing together the conversation shaping Black life right now. You will never make me feel bad for being a Black girl, for being a Black American girl, ever. Therapy for Black Girls is bringing it all to the mic. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So this, you said this chapter doing all these amazing things, hosting Dancing with the Stars, you're at upfronts, you're like front and center everywhere. I mean, you had this crescendo with Fresh Prince, and sometimes when you're at the top of the wave, you're like, it's not going to get better.

Right.

But you're on a different wave and it got better.

And it got better.

I mean, that's—

Higher high.

That's pretty astonishing. How do you see it playing out? Or do you just— are you the kind of guy who's like, let's keep on rolling?

Let's keep going.

Keep going. Okay.

I say, you know, I'm Dory, right? Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. And that's literally how I live each day of work. Just keep doing it. And where it ends, it ends. That is— And just keep swimming.

That's beautiful.

Just keep going. Well, I mean, you can't know the future. You can't predict the future. And typically, anytime you try to influence the future, you influence it the wrong way.

Yeah.

Just let it happen. I believe that the story is already written. It's already written. Anything you do can maybe change it, but that doesn't mean change is good. It's already written. Just let it happen. Let it happen. Just don't get in its way, right? Don't do something that changes your destiny from the beautiful destination that I believe I'm destined to achieve by doing something. Just keep swimming.

You know what's so interesting? There's that, you know, the nursery rhyme, it's like row, row, row your boat. Like I spent a ton of my career, like I felt like I was swimming upstream. I was trying, I'm like, if I just work harder, it's gonna get easier. And it wasn't getting easier. And all of a sudden, this was at Dateline when I was in all those kind of scary places, but I was listening to that row, row, row your boat and it's like row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily. Life is but a dream. And sometimes when you're in flow, I can tell you're totally in flow. Like, this is so good.

Right.

But when you are, it feels like a rush. And when you're pushing and thinking, if I work harder, if I'm more optimistic, if I just try harder, like getting out of that and finding like your bliss, it sounds like you hit it.

Yes. I, working hard, first of all, I don't think I can work harder.

Yeah, no, you can't.

Right? Now, I can put more hours in, right? I can take hours away from my life and put it into work, but does that really make anything better? And in my life, success isn't defined by my work. Success is defined by my heart. And if my heart is happy, then I'm successful. And if it's not, then I'm not.

That's it.

And that has nothing to do with what I'm achieving in my career goals. It's life goals, right? We're put here to go through life, not to go through work. Work can be part of it, but it's not all of it.

Yeah.

So, So I row, row, row my boat gently down the stream. The water's already going in that direction. We're all moving together.

We're all going.

Now can I speed it up a little bit? Sure. Come on, speed it up a little bit. I gotta catch up over there, let's speed up a little bit. I'm a race car driver, I can't help myself. But that doesn't mean we have to get into it and start paddling and we're gonna do this. Just be prepared, right? Last season before dancing started, I started taking dance lessons again, right? Now, there was a joy that I found taking the classes, but it was also like, let's you be prepared for the job, right? They asked me to dance every once in a while now on the show. So it's not like, hey, who, you know, like, no, no, no.

I gotta know how to do that.

I gotta remember how to do this.

Yeah, yeah.

Right? And so I have spent— Prepare. You know, be ready, be ready for the opportunity. Right? Will Smith used to always say to me, don't get ready, be ready.

Don't get ready, be ready.

Right.

Oh, that's good.

And so I spend my life being ready and not getting ready. So, but only on the things that I enjoy. So if I don't enjoy it, then what am I getting ready for?

Yeah, I love it.

Right?

Let's talk about love, 'cause you know, that's your sweet spot. You found the girl. You got the family. What— I mean, finding a life partner, finding the soul connection.

Right.

I mean, describe what she means in your world.

I will start with the day that she let me know that I was the one.

Mm-hmm.

So the movie "Eat, Pray, Love." Yeah. The medicine man, she went and saw that person for real.

Oh.

In Asia. And he said to her that you will find your soulmate when you meet the person that has your same birthmark. So we start dating. And deep into our dating life, she sees my birthmark and flips. And I'm like, what did I do? Right? I'm like, what?

Huh?

But she was uncomfortable saying what she was about to say, 'cause it was like, and then a month or so later, she was like, remember when?

Yeah.

She was like, this guy told me that my soulmate has my same birthmark.

I can't.

Look here. And it's identical. Same spot, same shape, same everything.

I have chills. That's crazy.

And I thought that was crazy, for real, when she said it. But then as life has continued to move on, wow, is that true, right? Like she is my other half.

Mm.

And we complement each other in life in the best ways possible. And you're never really ready for that when it comes to you. Yeah. But the earlier you can appreciate it, the better it will be. And, you know, she's a mother of 3 of my children. And like we are together and we spend our time together. And you know, she is my biggest fan, supporter, partner, everything that I could ever want in a partner, she is. She's an incredible mom. She takes care of the kids. She's a superwoman.

Mm-hmm. —Yeah, well, you— it sounds like everything is firing. I get why this is your chapter.

Yeah.

I get why this is your moment. Let's close with, you know, look, there are people who are seeking joy. There are people who are trying to— they feel like it's elusive. And I do think it's a choice. I don't think you just get it or don't have it.

Yes.

But for someone who's lived all these chapters, if you were going to help someone who's kind of saying, like, I feel like joy is out of reach, what would— what would be any advice anything that might help someone who's seeking?

I'd start with the word that jumped into my head. There's two words that jumped in my head. Obviously, empathy, right? When you create empathy for the world, you have the ability to feel what others are going through, right? And when you have that, I believe it puts things in perspective, right? There is no such thing as perfect. It doesn't exist, right? We love our Disney movies, but that— those are fairy tales. Yeah. In real life, there's good and there's bad, right? I believe in, in life, the yin and the yang, right? For all good that comes, bad has to equal it.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm. How do you see it?

Mm-hmm.

How do you choose to see the bad? Mm-hmm. I've seen many people say, when something negative happens, it's an opportunity. You're not a victim of it. It's an opportunity.

Mm-hmm.

It's an opportunity to learn. Opportunity to grow, right? You don't grow in success. Mm-hmm. You grow in failure. Mm-hmm. So if you can view failure and things that are not perfect as an opportunity, when the good happens, you will see it in a joyful way and not see it negatively because you're living in that negative energy.

Mm-hmm. That makes sense. I was just picturing you with James. What could have been like the most depressing and horrible, and it was terribly sad.

Right.

However.

However.

You came out with all these jewels and gems and ways to change your life. Yes. I mean, that's like personified.

James and his wife Kimberly and all the kids have impacted my life in a way that could never really truly be understood by others. And that ability to have joy and appreciation and the wisdom, that man had wisdom. He'll never be fully appreciated. For the man that he is. And the same for Kimberly. She's still with us, of course, so she will have an opportunity to continue to share that kind of wisdom. But it did, it gave me a perspective.

Yeah. Well, I just wanna say one thing. I love how you live your life.

Thank you.

I love the way you view the world, and I'm so happy you're on this podcast, Joy 101, man. It's so you. You were the right guest.

Thank you for handpicking me.

Of course.

I'm so happy. I will say, when the ask came across, I don't do podcasts.

Yeah, you don't? It's not your thing?

I just, well, 90% of podcasts are clickbait. They're looking for that moment. And I was like, this is one that I know is not about that. It's about, And Joy 101 is everything. And I couldn't be more happy that you've asked me and that I got to be able to do this with you. It's a true honor.

Thank you. Love you, honey.

Love you.

Okay, so as we wrap up today, I'm a huge quote person. I love a quote. I love a poem. They stick with me. So Joanna Gaines helped me redo my office for our company Joy 101. And it was like just a few weeks ago that I was walking through the office and in one of the places on a bulletin board was a poem that was left behind, that Joanna and her team left behind for me. And I didn't see it. And this poem is so moving, I'm just gonna read it to you, okay? It says this: Somewhere in some corner of the world sits a seed. Maybe it's tucked in the pocket of last season's chore coat. Or disregarded in the bottom of an otherwise empty hardware store packet, or dropped and left alone on the floor of the garden shed. Wherever it is, it sits there containing within it almost all of the necessary pieces to grow, to burst out of the ground into the beautiful plant it was meant to be. But it will need nurture, to be planted in good soil, to be given water and sunshine and shade. Mm-hmm. And then time to wait and watch as what's always been becomes the fullness of what it was made to be.

And somewhere in some corner of the world sits you. Maybe you're on a park bench getting ready to make your next move, or at your kitchen table after a hard conversation, or in front of your computer with minutes and hours and days of work left to do. Wherever you are, you sit there.

Mm-hmm.

Containing within you almost all of the necessary pieces to grow, to burst forth into the beautiful person you were made to be. But you will need nurture, to be put in a place that makes you come alive, to be given space to sort it all out, tools to learn, to grow, and to be. And then time, time to wait and watch as what you've always been becomes the fullness of who you were made to be. I don't even know who said that poem, but it's a Joanna Gaines special, Left Behind, and I hope it means something to you. It means a lot to me.

It's that time to put on your jersey and wave your flag, whoever you root for.

Why do I watch the World Cup? That's like asking me why do I breathe. And it's beautiful.

The guys are beautiful.

The players are young and cute and fit.

It's not just a game. It's your culture.

I like watching it with my dad.

It's a connecting force.

From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernanda Echavarri, and this is American Futbol, a show about soccer culture in the US and its underdog roots. Listen to American Futbol on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports, and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And for more, follow Timbo Slice Life 12 and the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm CJ Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast Point Game, the playoffs.

We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season, and I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was firing you.

You just Understood.

That's how personal it got.

Wow.

Then after that Game 7, Marqueeve coming to you, he's like, "You know I love you, dog. You know it's all love. This was just playoffs.

This was just basketball." So listen to Point Game on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

He left Nigeria. He conquered Hollywood. And he never forgot where he came from. David Oyelowo is one of the most powerful storytellers of his generation. On this episode of 154, we go deep. Nigeria, identity, navigating Hollywood at the highest level, and the responsibility that comes with using your platform to change the world. This is 154. New episode streaming now. Don't miss it. Listen to this episode of 154, available now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

June is Black Music Month, and on the Drink Champs podcast, we're speaking with the hottest names in the culture, like Sway Lee.

Do you realize how legendary you are?

I appreciate that.

I be seeing it, but I'm like, man, I still got like so much more to do. Like Prince, he dropped like 30 albums.

We dropped like 5 right now.

Like, that's the rate we gotta be going. Yep, that's a good attitude. No matter the era, Drink Champs brings you the biggest names and the most unfiltered conversations. Listen to Drink Champs from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.