Of food. The food. The food. Yeah, I gotta cut it out. Good host, you are good. I'm here with the fabulous Derek Luke. Welcome back.

Oh, I'm taking it. Thank you for fabulous. What's up?

You were just in my home. You were just in my own town. You love it? Yes, Toronto.

You know what? The only negative part about Toronto. Oh, wait, you were just before we started rolling, you were throwing them around. No, no, but this is what you got to hear. The only part about Toronto is that when I first started shooting, I was not the same way that I am now. Of food. The food. The food. Yeah, I gotta cut it out. Anyway.

Yeah. Well, you look fantastic. Actually, it's funny that you say that because I just saw you on an interview and you were wearing a man scarf and I was like, I love a man that can wear a man scarf and wear it proud.

Oh, my God. Thank you very much. Yeah, I'm calling it my my love wrap.

Oh, that's even better.

Yeah. My my my wife gave me that word. I'm I'm adapting it. And then, of course, Empire.

Hm. What about it? Oh, my God. We were talking with, you know, you were talking with James about, you know, kiss and cookie.

Well, love scenes is tough for me because my mom, when we were kids, me and my other two brothers, we'll be walking down the street and we will see a girl. We were young and me and my brothers, you know, we get all giggly. My mom will be having a purse and she'll turn around and rack us, right? And she would say this to us until we got older. She said, I'm gonna teach you how to be men and husbands and learn how to look at women from the neck up. So, because we learned that and developed that habit, it's sometimes very uncomfortable to look at, you know what I'm saying, another woman outside of the respect of a regular friendship. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. So that makes sense. Yeah. That makes sense. I love your mama. She's a good lady. She's a good lady. That's a that's a good mama. Obviously, the show has been a phenomenon on so many levels. I mean, the two of the lead actors were assigned to, you know, Columbia Records and and it sort of expanded beyond just a TV show. It's like life imitating art now. Why do you think this show has been such a fresh take on anything we've seen before and why do you think it has resonated with people so much?

What I love about the Empire uh narrative is like there's two worlds that meet. I think the film world, you're constantly after these real moments. And TV, you're after bringing this this thing home to people. So, on set, every scene, you know, Taraji and Terrance and the whole cast, they were fighting for something real. And what was cool about it was that the crew was behind it. Where normally the crew can be like, hey, man, you know, I got to go home. It's getting late. But you just felt the magic on on the set. Yeah. You felt it at the, you know, as you're shooting. It just felt like an audience pleaser. And it felt really good to be associated with that.

Okay, now, you're also Rogue. Yes. Direct TV's first original series. You're joining the cast. Wow. This season. Yes, yes. Now, you supposedly have a chandelier shop.

That's right. Hi. How can I help you? Here on business. Mine, not yours, unfortunately. Let me see, what's this about? Do you recognize this man? Hmm. No, I don't think so. You don't think so? I'm sorry, but we get a lot of people coming in and out of here. I play a guy, uh, his name is Marlon Donard and he supposedly runs a high-end chandelier shop, but there's more than meets the eye. He is uh, somehow connected to his past life, sort of the gang issue. But on a on a greater level, he has this relationship with this lawyer. The lawyer feels like he owes him something he doesn't. So, it brings conflict and tension between the two characters. How you doing? Good. So, how long have you been working for Marty? Hmm. You think I'm a lawyer? No, this party and Sedans are pretty good. I don't know about that.

So, there was a scene that I that I saw from the show and, um, you're talking about, you know, somebody comes into the shop. She's sort of like, um, do you really do this, is this really what you do for a living? And then she says something about having a light bulb moment. Yeah. Mhm. So, I want to know as an actor if you had a light bulb moment.

The light bulb moment is when you've worked on a set or a stage in the capacity of being an usher or or you've, you know, you've done like a smaller job outside of acting and then you come back to a place and you're like, you don't realize why it's familiar, but it's the place where you actually worked, where you served in a different capacity. So, it's like going from prison to the palace.

How so? Give me an example.

Yesterday, I had, uh, an interview with James Corden. Yeah. And when I got on,

You were the love rap.

Yeah, the love rap. But I got on the set and I remember, I was just like, wait a minute. This lot is familiar because I used to walk audiences and take them to the bathroom on that on that lot. And so, it was it was wow because I was just like, wait a minute. This is really vivid. So, coming back on that capacity, that gave me a high. That was an aha moment.

Wow. A lot of actors get pigeonholed or like get like typecast. Yeah. Between Alicia Keys' video love interest playing Sean Puffy Combs. Oh. Between the Direct TV show Rogue, between Empire, between Captain America, Badgesley, how have you managed to like escape the Hollywood cycle of being typecast?

Good host, you are good. We'd read that again. It's crazy because you you you're always feeling like you're trying to shed and become somebody else. And I think

Which is what actors want to do, but they don't always get that opportunity.

Exactly. And for me, I had, you know, mentors from Denzel, Pacino, to Gary Oldman. To me, their one note was they were always true on screen and I'm always trying to fight for more. So, when you you read that, it's almost just like, man, that that is a total blessing. So, it was just good hearing that from you. You know what I'm saying? Because I had a different perspective on how I look at what I've done.

How you look at it?

The way I look at what I've done is constantly want to be challenged, constantly want to work with good uh filmmakers and be stretched. And sometimes, you know, uh acting can be like an X-ray. It can be uncomfortable for you and good for other people.

Isn't that usually the case? Because I've been told that before. If you're actually uncomfortable in a scene, it means you're alive and you're there and you're, you know, if you're too comfortable and you feel like sometimes I I hear that from actors that go, oh, I nailed that. And then they say when they watch it back, it's the moments that they felt uncomfortable that they watch back and go.

Yeah. And I I've been I've been doing that. It's like I've been a student of this game because um, sometimes when I felt like I should have spoken out, um, I became quiet. And vice versa. And then I I look back and go, somehow, there was a wisdom in that thing. And it kind of humbled you, you know? Yeah.

Yeah. You were just in Jersey City. Yes. Giving a motivational speech. Oh, wow. Where'd you get that? And talking to kids about fulfilling their dreams and stuff. So, you were talking at the beginning of this interview about receiving advice. What advice did you give?

The advice that I gave them is the wisdom that I got from so many people. Someone said that to a question, if you ask somebody a question, it's the easiest way to solve depression. So, we was on the street and a lot of times how you see your signs for depression is people going in the opposite way of how they were created. So, many of those guys, um, a lot of them just said, hey, nobody never stops and talks to me. Everybody always judged me. So, we started just talking about hope. And I realized that you don't need money, you just need some hope. So, that's what it was about. Keep it real. Holla, holla.

Holla, holla. Thank you for coming in.

Thank you for having me.

Great seeing you again. You're the bomb. You're the bomb. Toronto.

That's right. Toronto. We'll go have a meal there sometime. That's right. Come. Five pounds. Come on.

Thanks again. All right. Take that candy. Take that candy.