REShow: David Bakhtiari and Wood Harris - Hour 3 (6-1-2023)

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Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Are DeRozan's daughter made the trip to Miami? Oh, by the way. This might not have happened. No, we're gonna go to school. Guess what?

A Friday in April doesn't matter. Earlier on the show, seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. Browns wide receiver Elijah Moore.

Coming up, Packers offensive tackle David Bakhtiari. From Peacock's Shooting Stars, actor Wood Harris. And now, it's Rich Eisen. This is our number three. The Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

Our number one, we had Tom Brady on and it was great to chat with Tom. He sounded done and sounded like he was looking forward to being a minority owner of the Raiders. And he offered to put me on the TB12 system for my annual charity run next year. Kind of insisted. I have, well, he cursed about my run. Twice. He said it was a BS the way I've been running. What the F was wrong with you is basically kind of what it is.

I'm paraphrasing. But if you missed it, the show Ria is right here on the Roku channel, channel 210 on the Roku channel dial. Every single day as soon as we're done, Ria right away. We got our podcast, we got YouTube, we have our Rich Eisen Show video on demand service as well. Our number two, we talked to Elijah Moore of the Cleveland Browns. Wood Harris, the actor who was Avon Barksdale in The Wire. He was left side in Remember the Titans, Big Jude Campbell. He is also in the new Shooting Stars on Peacock, available on Roku about LeBron James's high school team.

He also plays Spencer Haywood in Winning Time. So much to talk about with Wood. I had a very nice chit chat with him during the commercial break in our green room.

He's going to be joining us in a matter of moments. But from the Green Bay Packers, you see what I just did? I went from our green room to the Green Bay Packers. I took the word green. I don't really have to show you how the sausage cuts me.

I just need to cook it up. Joining us from the Green Bay Packers, he doesn't do many of these shows. So I'm always appreciative when the left tackle of the Green Bay Packers for so many years joins us on the Rich Eisen Show. David Bakhtiari is back here. How are you, David? Good. I just finished up today. How are you doing, Rich?

I'm doing good. When you say finished up today, what's finishing up today? You're done with your?

I mean, just practice for the day. Okay. Your organized team activity?

Is that what you're saying? The 100% voluntary organized team activities, yes. Understood. So how organized is the team activity, David? Very organized. Oh, I mean, that's why it's so organized. That's why they put it in the title. So it's redundant, is what you're saying, when they put it in the title like that.

You're just assuming the team activity is organized. Okay. Fantastic. All right. I'm just going to jump right into it. What's with the word rebuilding and why you're having such a crazy time with it?

You know what's funny? I think it's more other people have a hard time with hearing that word, and I guess it's more triggering for everyone else. But at this point, I think it's kind of like, I'm just having a ball. Everyone wants to take it any which way, and I'm kind of here for it. If everyone wants to have chaos in two, great.

Nothing anyone's going to say to me hasn't already been said over my long tenet of playing left tackle. So it's just been kind of funny at this point. Well, I mean, because when folks say, let's just say in management, use the word rebuilding, well, they kind of rarely do.

Because it does imply that there's no shot. You know, like you're rebuilding. It's not like, okay, we feel we can win the Super Bowl. Rebuilding kind of undercuts that. So what's your definition of a rebuild, as you have described this year's Green Bay Packers as potentially undergoing right now? Well, I think you take the word rebuild and break it down and see what you're doing. You're redoing a build.

Okay. For the longest time, I mean, ever since I've been here, there's been one pinnacle person at the quarterback position. And then now there's been a bunch of change. And also when you look at the way money has been, how we pushed out money from previous years to go after keeping the core together. Now there's a bunch of cap hits of guys that aren't here.

And a couple of that, you have a very young team. Now, where people get uncomfortable is like, not all rebuilds are bad. To me, I sit here and I'm like, I'm not going to ignore the past, but I'm also not going to discredit the future. Like, we are changing. And to me, this is a rebuild. And I use the analogy of they rebuilt from Favre to Aaron. So to me, it would be disrespectful to be like, oh, Aaron's gone. You're not rebuilding off a Hall of Fame quarterback. And that's what they did with Brett. I mean, rebuilds can come in all different shapes and sizes.

There's a spectrum of it. Now, I am not Nostradamus. I can't tell you exactly how this season is going to play out. Because right now, we're undefeated, just like 31 other teams.

That's right. And the beauty of it is we have the season to play out and then we can see where we fall. We're all professionals and our goal is to win. I mean, I'm not going out there to lose. That's asinine. Well, and I also know how you feel about Aaron.

Everyone knows that as well. And that's the kind of way I also took your comments is that, you know, you're not denigrating your current team in opportunity. You're kind of paying respects to 12, right, by saying we're rebuilding with another quarterback here. Am I saying, like, if you don't call it a rebuild, you're potentially denigrating Rodgers and his standing and his legacy? Is that one way to take it? I do think that there's definitely weight in that, absolutely.

You know, this is the first ballot Hall of Famer, arguably, and to me, one of the best pure quarterbacks the game has ever seen play the game. And that, for me, when I look at it, when you change off of someone like that, like, we have a bunch of new peers. We're so young, and with that becomes new advantages and disadvantages. And like I said, I'm not a fork until I can't see what's going to happen in the season, let the season play out, and then we kind of see where we are. And I use the analogy of, look at Seattle. Seattle rebuilt off of Russell.

And look at them. Their rebuild was a playoff team. So when everyone freaks out on saying, like, oh, we're going to be throwing the season, like, yeah, rebuilds go all across the board.

There's constant change and influx when you have a lot of weight on one certain guy, a pillar guy, for franchise. And I was in Texas Stadium on an NFL Network Saturday night, Romo versus Favre, in 2007. If I'm not mistaken, you were in Junipero Serra High School, or am I saying it? Junipero Serra, yep.

The same high school Tom Brady went to. Okay, there you go. My first hour guest. Look at us coming full circle here. When I say us, I mean us in the studio, but you're part of that right now.

It's like the green room, green bay. That's it. You heard it.

I'm just turning phrases. But, you know, you were in high school. I'm standing there in the end zone, and Favre goes down, and I'm thinking that's the end of this game. And then Aaron Rodgers came off the bench, and I was standing there in the end zone with Mariucci, Marshall Faulk.

I believe Sterling Sharp was part of the NFL Network broadcast that night, and we're all looking at each other, and we go, holy crap. Like, this guy can really not just play football, but excel at it and be special. So I'll ask you, what are you seeing out of Jordan Love? And he's clearly got a lot of, you know, a high bar to clear. But what are you seeing out of this kid that might make everyone think, alright, this is a possibility to just keep on churning forward?

David? I think the biggest thing is the control, the control and demeanor in the huddle from being back here from the beginning of the organized team activities. His ability to go in and out of the different checks, not stumbling over the words of all the vernacular of our play calls, and to really manipulate and go at a more of an advanced level of playing the game at quarterbacks. I think there's a rudimentary level where it's like, I get to play, I have only one check, and that is what I do. And there's also the game within the game that we talk about in preaching.

The longer you play, you kind of can pick that up. Seeing him, you know, really having the full range of the team and having that control, that's been the one big thing I've seen. And the other thing is, finally, not that he was the backup for Aaron, so you kind of know your role and own your role. Now that he is the starting quarterback, seeing him kind of showing everyone himself and being cool and confident in himself is the other awesome thing that I've seen.

I can't wait, but at the end, we're also talking, this is the first stage, so there's only so much you can see. I've seen guys look like they're going to be all worlds in OTAs, and then they absolutely stink it up once the pads come on and when football really matters. So I'm taking everything like a grain of salt.

I've realized that you can't really judge right now what guys are in shorts, helmets, and their minds are swimming just trying to pick up and knock off the rust from the off-season. Is it about the concept as well that Jordan is more of a peer of these young receivers than Rogers? Because they're close in age and maybe close in interests off the field and things of that nature, and that alone might work chemistry-wise this year? I don't think it's that much weight into it other than exactly what you said.

That is a fact and that is an advantage, but I don't think it's like this huge headlining that needs to be making waves. At the end of the day, Jordan is younger. He has grown up in an era more along the lines of most guys that are in the locker room now, so he has a better way to assimilate.

But I don't think it's something that's like make-or-break, like, wow, what a crazy thing. Aaron's an old man. He's 48 years old. Well, I saw him rocking, David. I always made fun of him for his age.

David, I saw him rocking out to Taylor Swift the other night. Yeah, he's trying to be hip. He's trying to keep his ear to the sweet. He's a Swiftie. Did you know that? I didn't know that about him. Oh, yeah. He's a big Swiftie. Okay. Yeah, I mean, back-to-back nights, too. I think he went back, you know, like one night's not enough for him. That seems a little desperate.

Going once, I understand. Desperate. Now, that's an interesting adjective to use.

Interesting. Or he's flexing that, hey, his new spot, they're giving him great tickets at MetLife. He already knows the ticket people at MetLife. We know that.

He's already well-versed on that part. He's my guy. I can't let him have it.

I always get him to bust his chops. I know. Are you the OG of the locker room now, David Bontieri?

Yeah. I'm an old man. I mean, I'm the guy who's trying to keep his ear to the streets now. I am the second oldest by age, but the longest tenured.

So, Pat O'Donnell, our punter, he is technically older than me, but I've been in the league longer than him. So, what is your opinion of that or your thoughts on a role? You know, we always talk about roles in the media. Is this something you relish or you dispense wisdom? How do you view this, David?

One, I think it's awesome. I mean, it's kind of a cool little badge of honor to have. It kind of speaks to my career.

The other part of it, I mean, of course, it comes with wisdom. I help out where I want to help out, but I'm over here just trying to have fun. I've always tried to have too much energy, upbeat, always having fun, busting anyone's chops, but always being willing to have anyone bust my chops. That's always kind of been my demeanor. So, I'm having a good time, honestly, with these young guys. It's always kind of funny, fun and funny to mess with them, especially the younger kids coming in, because they're just trying to just understand the day-to-day operation, what it means to be a pro, and having this be your job, and seeing them sometimes stare through me, not at me, because their minds are just swimming. I always kind of enjoy that, because when you keep doing this so long, I'm sure, like in your profession, everything slows down. Everything's really easy for you.

In the beginning, I bet it was a little you were more on edge, making sure you were hitting your marks where you need to be, saying the right sponsors when they're supposed to, and not trying to fumble over words. So, I use that analogy and how things have been going now. Right, but you're also teaching him how to be a packer, I'd imagine, since Rogers, it appears, took everybody else on the offensive side of the ball, David. Out of there.

Yeah, apparently he has a policy. He's got an entourage, and apparently I'm not it, just like when there was an inner circle with no, and I remember saying, well, I didn't hear anything about this. Well, how about this, David? I'll view this as you're too valuable to be allowed to leave Green Bay. You just know what to say. You know what to say. That's the truth, though, David. You're too damn valuable to be going somewhere else, in their estimation.

That's what I'm looking for. No, I appreciate it, and it doesn't matter to me. I've been here since 2013. We have a great relationship, from my point of view, for myself and the organization, I have a good time. I don't really let things eat me up. I take every day, I face value for what it is, and I enjoy the moment, because I know at some point, you know, the moments can be gone, or changed, or altered, and I was just talking to Goody yesterday. It's fun.

I make the most of it. I said, this is voluntary. I don't exactly want to be here, because we've worked it out in my deal where I have to, for my bonus, but I'm not going to come in and just, like, salt it up. I'm here anyway, so I might as well have a good time.

I like it. Or maybe, hold on a minute, maybe you're still in Green Bay because you have good reception in your house, and Goody Kunst doesn't have to FaceTime you to talk to you, David. It's weird, because Goody always FaceTimes me, so I don't know, like, I guess him and Aaron don't have a FaceTime relationship. I guess not. I don't know. Sometimes, like, I'll pick up and, you know, usually my FaceTimes are usually when I'm in the bathroom, and Goody sees it.

Well, you've got a prettier face. Maybe, you know, maybe it's that. Maybe it could be that.

Yeah. How come, David, you don't have a podcast yet? How come you're not bussing, or doing your, or new heightsing, or just like everybody else?

I've heard, like, how long is it going to take for you to get on there? I see you, you'd rather go on part of my take. I understand that they're, like, the bigger dogs, but, I mean, that really just is a crushing blow to Will and Taylor. You know, listen, as I took, I don't know if you saw, I took Will for a walk the other day on Twitter. I did.

I did, actually. I'm a big fan of the walk. I had to take him for a walk because he thought it was a troll move going on the podcast that was in New York while I was at the Sports Emmys, which is not a flex. It's a humblebrag.

You know, it's just, it's, or facts. And, you know, and I've got three kids, 14, 12, 9, two dogs, a wife, I'm moving, I've got two jobs. Getting to Nashville, and honestly, and I told Taylor this when he said he's getting his pod and it's on a bus, I'm like, oh great, so you're going to come to Los Angeles, I'll go on. And he says, no, there's no motor on the bus. And I made a stand years ago, David.

Ironically, when I was in Nashville for the draft, last time I was in Nashville, I said, you got to have a motor for me to come on. And I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying to get things done properly, David. I respect that you're a man of integrity. Thank you. I appreciate that.

I'll take that. And to answer your question, why don't I have a podcast? Yeah.

I don't know. I kind of have fun kind of jumping on, you know, fitting in where I fit in. It's been pretty saturated.

There's already often people in the area. And I mean, honestly, probably a little too lazy to want to fit up myself. I'll do like you do. I'm not going to sit here and lie. Okay. I mean, if the rich items, so, you know, as far as we talked about this earlier, I mean, I'm not open to it. I'm just also real with, you know, my other ventures and endeavors I am doing.

I'm like, I don't want to put in all that work. Okay, David, I'm picking up a little bit what you're putting down, but look for more of my contact to you about what you might want to do in front of a microphone. And if we do put you on a bus, there's going to be a motor on it.

You're going to take it all over the country and meet people. That's the way I'm going to view it. But there's really, I love Taylor and I love Will.

It's nothing against them. That's my opinion on that front. Yeah. The only request I have is instead of a bus, Nick, if you can just do a private jet. And I'll just do my podcast on a private jet and fly all over. That seems a little more feasible and a little more entertaining. The bus thing might, you know, that seems a little cramped, a little sweaty. I've been in that bus a few times. Understood. Oh, yeah.

You know, I would say tell me about it, but I haven't, as you know, famously been on the bus. PJing with the boys doesn't sound like a bad idea. I like that. Yeah.

That'd be great. And it's a write-off. Look at us, Rich. It's a write-off. We are brainstorming.

We are. This whole conversation has been a write-off. David, thanks for the call, man. Like I said, I know you don't do a lot of these. So I appreciate you doing this show, as always. Appreciate it. I appreciate it. It's always a pleasure to talk to you. I'll talk to you again. Right back at you. We'll FaceTime next time.

Let's do that next time. Of course. You got my number.

David Bakhtiarri here on The Rich Eisen Show from the Green Bay Packers. Chopped it up with David. PJing with the boys.

What do you think? I'm into this. So down for this. So down for this. Yes. This is our speed. Oh, you're saying you're the boys.

Yeah. Who are the boys? Who else? Suddenly Mike Del Tufo is like... Who else would be the boys? Oh my God. Look at us.

He's locked in like he's on Ritalin all of a sudden, this guy. I'll do it. I'll mix it.

I'm in. Well, Mike, you're the helicopter to Catalina with the boys. Yeah.

That's true. Worst idea for a first date ever in the history of this program. All right, let's take a break. Wood Harris is in our green room. I cannot wait to talk with this man about his entire career and his latest project called Shooting Stars on Peacock available on Roku. Thank you so much. Thank you. Back here on the Roku channel, our radio audience will rejoin us in a matter of moments.

Thrilled to have here one of the stars of Shooting Stars on Peacock available on Roku. Wood Harris is here on the Rich House. Great to see you, Wood. Thank you. Glad to be here.

I'm thrilled that you are here. Again, this is about LeBron James High School team. You play the AAU coach who put the kids together. Oh boy.

And this is available on Peacock starting tomorrow. What attracted you to this project, Wood? Well, it's a reunion between me, the director, Caleb, who plays Little Drew, and Algie, who is also in the film. We did another project together about the new edition biopic. And then also, I mean, LeBron James and his story and just being a part of that. So I don't know how you couldn't do it actually at that point. Right, of course.

Understood. And you know, it's a story that obviously it's still going on in many different ways. Wood Harris here on the Rich Eisen Show.

And we're back here on our terrestrial radio outfit right here, Wood Harris. We just showed a clip of Shooting Stars available tomorrow on Roku about LeBron James High School basketball team available on Peacock right here on Roku. So how much did LeBron have a hand in this making? I know obviously Mav Carter, I'm sure, as well. I mean, he had everything to do with it. He and Maverick, they produced it. Obviously he wasn't there all the time.

But the young actor who portrays him, Mookie is his name, had a lot to do with LeBron. I didn't have very much, I had more to do with Coach Drew. And you spoke to Coach Drew?

I did, yeah. I spent a lot of time with Coach Drew. What was that conversation like? Well, I mean, in the process, you do a biopic and you want to be, if you're portraying someone, you need to know things that aren't on the surface. So when you're digging, like if I had to portray you, I need to know things. You're a very funny guy.

Excuse me. You're a funny person, so you want to know what makes you upset. So sometimes you can't imagine a person that's funny just frowning. And so I was digging for things like that. And I realized that it ain't a bad bone in his body. So there's a challenge there.

Because I got bad bones. So a couple of them. And he's just really sweet natured person, very compassionate. And I'm like that, but he was able to pull that out of me even more.

Interesting. And did he tell you stories about LeBron that you were able to use? Oh yeah, he told me stories about LeBron.

All of them did. His childhood friends, unique stories. Just for the most part, he's always been kind of amazing at things.

All things sports, football and basketball for sure. Like they had big fish stories football wise about LeBron. So yeah, I think he could throw the ball and go catch it and score. Well, he was a great tight end.

Yes, he was. He could have been a pro player for sure, as we know. I mean, I think he chose the right sport.

He definitely chose the right sport. And now he's the all time leading scorer of the NBA. You're playing the high school coach, the kid who goes and beats Kareem's record. And you also play a teammate of Kareem's in winning time. Oh, that's right.

Which is kind of crazy. And so, you know, you playing Spencer Haywood in winning time. You met with him too, I'd imagine.

I did. What was that conversation about? Because I mean, you played a very difficult time in Spencer Haywood's life and winning time would. You know, I was concerned about making him look. I mean, the authenticity and the honesty of it. I'm always I want that there.

Yes. But not at the expense of the person I'm portraying, you know, so that they maybe have to deal with something away from away from the movie and whatnot. People, the real world. So you portray real life people who are alive and they have to deal with it more than I do. So one of my things after speaking to him was I just kind of knew what kind of person he was. And he gave me the freedom to really express that time in his life. And I felt really good about that.

He gave me the freedom to express his the ills of his life openly and with my interpretation, given his given his recipe to it. So he's a great guy. He's relatively young because he was young. He was the first guy to go pro the way everyone does now. And interestingly enough, would would Harris here on the Rich Eisen Show, I mean, LeBron wouldn't have come straight from high school if it wasn't for Spencer Haywood suing or the league sued the Seattle Sonics for signing him out of high school is the story. And that went to the Supreme Court for crying out.

Unbelievable. And Spencer Haywood was a significant figure in the history of the NBA. And LeBron was able to follow in some footsteps. And Kobe and everyone.

Garnet going on and on. Moses Malone. Sure. A lot of players came right out of high school, a few of them. And he's he kind of gave them the blueprint. But he took a hit.

He took it. People don't know who he is, actually. And so the predecessor to that was so normal today. Right. Is not available, you know, in terms of the NBA. So I think it's more so now, you know, in later part of his life. But we've always heard that name. Spencer Haywood, if you listen to basketball at all, watch basketball. You've always heard that name. But I feel like as time has gone on, you know that name, but you can't associate it to anything like you don't know what he did. Yeah. Well, as you know, Jerry West wasn't very happy with his portrayal in season one of Winning Time. I do know that. So what did Spencer think of? Spencer was happy with me.

OK. I gauged him the whole time. You know, what I would say about that is regarding Jerry Buss, and I think Magic even had a problem with kind of like the portrayal. I understand that because, you know, you're encapsulating these people for 10 minutes or so, because he's only in each episode, 10 or 15 minutes of a one hour episode, maybe 10 minutes.

And I think that that the actor who portrays him is literally amazing. I would have done a little differently. I think I would have did it more my way, which is. Very authentic, you know, more authentic than theatrical. Yeah. And then you got to find the balance, because, you know. Like I said, you know, I couldn't envision Jerry West being the way he was portrayed.

Yes. It might be true, though, but there's a reason why we've never seen that. You know, so you sprinkle a little of that in there. But I feel like that was the overwhelming aspect of his character. So I can see Jerry West being disappointed.

But the performance still was great. No, I truly do love Winning Time. And I'm looking forward to season two of it and on Max, as it's now called, Shooting Stars is available on Peacock on Roku right here on Roku starting tomorrow, June 2nd, about LeBron James High School team and Wood Harris here on the Rich Eisen Show. Well, I'd love to go down some. You are in so many great things, man. So let's just jump into Remember the Titans. Is it true you were a 30 year old guy playing a high school kid?

I sure was. You know, black don't crack, bro. Stop playing. Now I got my little rust.

You know, we call these Gray's rust. I mean, we got a few of these. I'm with you. I'm with you.

Yeah, I can't keep just for men in business. You're your thought. You're authentic.

I get it. What was it like being on the set with Denzel back in your day? But that was just the dreamiest thing, because, you know, I'm very inspired by Denzel Washington. And I had some other instances when I was around him before that, but I didn't get to truly meet him. But I was in The Siege, very small role. I was in college at the time and just got out of college and I got that role in the film called The Siege. And so it was a bit role, nothing he would necessarily even remember me by.

Right. And then I came to be in the final casting between me and one other actor for a film of his called Fallen. And the role went to the other actor Gabriel Cassius. And so I met Denzel in the callback situation. It was just me, Denzel and the director.

And and the next time was about two years later, it was Remember the Titans. And so, you know, I got a lot of love for Denzel Washington. I'm inspired by him and Laurence Fishburne and Sidney Poitier and like the James Cagney's and Humphrey Bogart's and all them cats. Do you have a good Denzel story from the set, from the movie, from the scene? There's a few good Denzel stories, I would say. Well, one thing great about Denzel Washington, at least at that time, we shot Remember the Titans in Atlanta, in Georgia. And when Denzel would come on the set, we'd be in a stadium, football stadium full of people. And you can hear people talking, you know, just regular talk, but it's loud. And literally he could go on the field and be like.

Crowd would quiet up and they'd first be, you know, he could actually go to like a stadium and people would quiet. Yeah, because Denzel Washington. Yeah, he could he could he can make people follow, you know, and what I really got out of him the most is because I'm always like kind of searching for what I can sponge from a person, you know. So his professionality was really great for me to see time on time.

And I just need to see that because I'm artistic. So, you know, you might get in your own zone sometime and just be sort of selfish or just alone in your thinking and not realizing I need to be more professional about things. So at that time early on, I learned timeliness on set preparation from him, pretty much from him. Yeah.

Wood Harris here on The Rich Eisen Show. Let's get to The Wire, which is to me, and I know what I'm saying here. One of the the greatest ensemble drama that HBO has put out, if not ever.

It is sprawling. It is brilliant. It is thought provoking. It is gut wrenching.

It is from year to year as well. It would it would completely change cast members, mostly the same as well. What was it like to receive a script from David Simon on that set with everybody else that you were acting with? Wood Harris at the time playing Avon Barksdale, which is a great character. Well, David is that whole team is just great. David is very thoughtful person.

We know that if you know him at all, he's very thoughtful, not just in his writing, but in general about things going on in life and. At the time that we were doing Remember the Titans, there was you wouldn't know would become, as you say, the greatest project at all or anything like that. You just wanted to you know, we just felt good to be actors working. And we did have a great camaraderie. The entire cast has a great camaraderie.

And we went to work every day just trying to be. Great without ego, you know, so I think one of the things that that the Wire accomplished was a lot of ego free. Performances like nobody was trying to outdo anyone, no one thought of anything but the script or the task at hand, and it's not always like that, you know, it's actually rarely like that. A lot of the times people may have a personal agenda, try to shine more or whatever they can do, but wasn't like that.

And we were all pretty fresh faces and. You know, getting his script, you realize, wow, this is saying everything you didn't need to embellish, like there's not a lot for me, for me, there's not very much like improvising. So it's everywhere literally from the script, you know, and I like it that way because if I'm improvising, then I'm being more like myself, you know, so I'd rather the lines come from the script, maybe improvise sometimes, but. Not in the wire, like we're really doing the script word for word, pretty much right. And then being in scenes with Idris Elba as Stringer Bell, one of the best antiheroes one would say ever. And at the time, if I'm not mistaken, The Sopranos was out. I believe Oz was also happening at the same time. And The Wire was not getting as much pub run.

And when when did it begin for you to actually hit in a way that is up there with those shows, if not surpass them? It was really way beyond like way after during it, The Wire. This will sound like a lot now because shows don't have as much viewership. But back then, TV shows popped up once a week. You know, there was no streaming.

There wasn't this availability of a show didn't wasn't certainly happening twice and three times a week. Right. And so with that in mind. Wait, I'm falling off on what can you rephrase that?

Sure. When did you realize when it because it hit like The Wire. Oh, right, right, right, right. Slow burn for people to view it as as groundbreaking as it was when it was breaking ground, man. Right. Like it's for real.

Yeah. There was many years after it was done airing. And I was surprised, to be honest with you. And I was surprised that the viewership was the way it was in the first place. But weekly we would get about 10 million viewers, which back then wasn't very now is like a lot.

But back then it just wasn't. TV shows got 20 million viewers easily. Sopranos had way more viewership.

So what I like about that is it really. Its accolades come from a genuine place because it's not even during the time that it's for people who watched it almost hindsight, you know, or people who didn't watch it on the first airing of it, who give it its like props. But people who really got into it, they love the show, literally like what you just said. You know, it's people's favorite shows and of HBO's allotment of shows.

It's the one that's spoken of at Yale and Harvard. And it's the examples are given in so many ways. And I think David Simon is the credit to that because he's very thoughtful and patient with his scripts. His scripts are intense and thoughtful and fairly distributed. The characters are fairly. So you know Mike Williams' character. Rest in peace to the great Mike UK, my guy.

But you know. Omar's coming. Omar's coming, bro. Everybody wanted to be Omar.

I can't front. Omar had the most fun. He had the most fun. It's fun to play a bad guy, Rich. It's fun to play the bad guy.

And he just did such a great job in that role. With the Honey Nut Cheerios? The Honey Nut?

Are you good at Honey Nut Cheerios? But Omar's coming? Omar's coming. He was amazing. We had him on our show in New York City when we were in New York City a few years ago. And I just loved chatting with him.

Me too, man. That was my guy big time. He was coming on to promote Boardwalk Empire. He was Chalky White. Another great show.

A great performance by him. But that's a great HBO show too. It is. There's so many great shows on HBO. When people say The Wire's the best, it's flattering. Because of, what's that, Six Feet Under? Oh, sure. That was another one that I think was on while The Wire was on as well.

At the Tail End, I believe that came out. Yeah. Really, that whole list of shows is pretty phenomenal.

And to say The Wire's the favorite of them, I'm just flattered by that. And then there's, of course, a famous, well, gif that's out right now of you as Avon Barksdale in a car just waving your finger. Oh, yeah. Were you doing Matumbo when you were doing that? I wasn't thinking about Matumbo at the time. You were not?

I wasn't challenging Matumbo, but that is not in the script, obviously. Like, you know, they're just driving by me. And when I see them, I'm like, yeah, that, that, that, that, that, that, that. So you ad-libbed that. Yeah, that's a physical ad-lib. Okay. You're free to be that way. You know, you're free to interpret the script physically.

Like, you might do something physically, but yeah. Yeah. And it's kind of wild that Michael B. Jordan was in The Wire. That's right. I'm forgetting the great Michael B.

And now he's directed you in Creed. Yep. And himself, right? So, yeah. Unbelievable. Yeah. Pretty amazing.

Wood Harris here on The Rich Isaac Show. One other question to ask you about, you've got, do you have a good Tupac story from above the rim? Wow. Okay. Let me see a good Tupac story. I do.

Okay. Well, I, you know, I don't know how good the story is, but I spoke to Tupac a couple of weeks before he passed. And so I spoke to him a few days and he was shot.

And then he lasted a week longer. But my interaction with Tupac was a good one. You know, he was very artistic and he was a mixture of things.

As we know, you can tell from his music and his regular behavior. You know a lot about Tupac from that. I will tell you this about Tupac in the movie above the rim.

That people might not know is. So during that, he got shot the first time during that. All that stuff, the rape allegation and claim that came out and the shooting of him happened during above the rim, right? At the end of it. So at the end, I had the director and the producer come to me and it's like, okay, we're going to change up the end of this movie. He's, you know, he's been shot. So we think we're going to do this. We're not sure, but we think we're going to do this. Well, they had this entirely different path to take on the film.

Turns out they found in the crowd a lookalike who looked just like Tupac. So if you look at above the rim at the end of the movie, am I giving away too much right here, Rich? You're supposed to stop people when they're talking to you. You're not the type of cat that's going to stop me from unveiling. Look at you, man.

Your eyes look criminal right now. Stop it. You're supposed to be slowing me down, bro. No, this is. All right.

All right. They utilized the lookalike who happened to look a lot like Tupac was the same stature at the end of the film. And that's how they resolved that other story about Tupac.

What I gained from Tupac as a professional was I realized the power of the actor from Tupac. There's a scene in the film where it's a basic, it's not even a scene. It's a clip where we just drive up, get out of the car, enter the park. And that's the whole that's the whole shot. So it's action. We drive, we get out and walk in.

Cut. In that process, and we're in separate cars. I'm in my own car and Tupac is in another car.

He has a young lady driving him to the game. So he reaches back in the days, they used to have knobs. Oh, sure.

And if you remember the ones without the little thing. So you might slip up. Yes, right.

So Tupac, we're dating ourselves and that's aging us tremendously. But I'm talking about a knob in the car. You have to roll the window.

They had a roll up window. Right. So Tupac grabbed and slip. So there was a rhythm to it. Right. And did it again.

And it was like cut because he hadn't gotten out of the car. So he said, oh, you guys got to fix this. You know, this ain't working for me. So they said, OK, now let's just try it again.

I think you'll be able to get it. So second time, same thing happened, right? He pulls the knob, knob.

Yes. He pulls it. Same thing happens, runs out the car, gets out the car, goes to the trailer, stays in the trailer like two hours.

Right. So what did I learn from that? I learned the power of the actor because they had to come put another knob on it in the car. For him, he chilled out, basically smoked weed in the trailer for two hours.

He had the set smell like whatever it was going around. Yeah. So but I really did gain that because it was a real gain. I realized that once they started filming you in a movie.

They pretty much at your whim after that. Interesting. We had Alan Hughes, the director on last month, because he's also was directing the documentary on Tupac and his mom. And he's you know, he had a history with Tupac as well.

That wasn't very, you know, rosy. So he said that if Tupac had lived, he would have rivaled Denzel in terms of Oscars, is what he said with his acting ability. Now, you've you've worked with both. Obviously, Tupac was in a different state, but that's what he said. He said he was he had a genius about him. That's a fact. Oh, that's a fact. I don't know about rivaling Denzel Washington. I mean, not to say that actors don't rival Denzel Washington. Right. But I wouldn't give him that only because he had more than one career.

And I feel like his career in hip hop music would have been something to not allow him to become a great actor in a sense. Interesting. Wood Harris, you were great in everything that you do. And I could literally sit here for another half hour with all the stuff that you have done. And I cannot wait for everybody to check out Shooting Stars on Peacock starting on Friday, available on Roku. Before I let you go, do you have any two cents on the NBA finals? What do you think is going to happen between the Nuggets and the Heat? You know, it's easy to say the Nuggets might get this done quickly. People feel like the layoff for them is a detriment. I don't know about that.

I don't think the layoff of time is a I don't think it's a big detriment. It might hurt them in game one. But to be honest with you, they have a point center. They had the most unique basketball player I think I've maybe ever seen. And that guy is just that guy's the best. He's he's literally might be the best. We don't give him credit because they're in Denver and stuff like or whatever.

But and he's a center. And and I will say this, I feel like Denver will probably win. It might be a gentlemen's sweep even. But you can't really I mean, Jimmy Butler's and the Heat are tough. They are literally tough. And I wouldn't say that Denver is tough, but they are skilled and they have the best in that position. But they're not necessarily tough as tough as some of the other teams. Right.

I don't know if I can you know, I don't know if I can qualify that completely. But yeah, I feel like the tougher team might be Miami because they've been through much. They've been tested a lot. And I feel like their their connection is brotherly. They bonded together in this thing now. Right.

And I feel like Denver is. They don't have to have those things because they have such a great player. Well, the point centers, one legged off leg, three point shot over the bird joint from back here. Over the over the shooting stars, producer was quite something.

I will never forget that shot from Jokic that helped eliminate LeBron. Hey, Wood, thanks for coming on here. Thank you for having me, Rich.

Greatly appreciate it. I think everything you said, I was hanging on every word. I wasn't you know, what'd you say? I had eyes of like criminalized. OK, criminalized.

OK, rich criminalized. And right here, along with what Harris at Noble Wood on Instagram, check out shooting stars on Peacock available on Roku starting tomorrow. Back to wrap up the show on a Thursday in a moment.

Get an inside look at Hollywood with Michael Rosenbaum, actress Kristin Ritter. Your parents let you travel by yourself was a different time. They just put you on a train as a 15 year old girl. You went to New York.

I went on a bus and I did get picked up at Port Authority. They thought I was a runaway. What would they do?

They'd detain you and get people on the phone and then they finally let you go to your modeling job. How many times did it happen? Once or twice. It just seems like it wouldn't happen. It happens. Yeah.

Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum, wherever you listen. I cannot believe you watched Charles Oakley get dragged out of Madison Square Garden with your own two eyes. I mean, I could not. Mike Lee was there.

You couldn't believe it. Did everyone just like it during Mike Lee was there. That's that.

Next thing you're gonna tell me. Jack Nicholson was at the Lakers game. McEnroe McEnroe was there. I know he was right there. He was like practically in Oakley's lap.

Yeah. Was Woody Allen there? It was not.

I don't know why that's funny. John Lithcomb. Was John there? Steve Earl was there. So Steve Earl.

This is the new Madison Square Garden. Leon was there. Yeah. Oh, sure. What about Bob Costas?

Costas now. Oh, yeah. Can you tell this story? You got to tell the tell the story.

And I was like 21 years old. I went to the I went to the what was it? The Heisman Trophy at the downtown athletic.

I managed to get invited. Like I had an extra ticket or somebody gave me a ticket. I went to the thing and I went to the bathroom and Bob Costas was in the next urinal. And I was like 21.

So this was nineteen ninety ninety one. And I said and I was peeing and I went I'm a big fan of yours. And he told me anyway. Don't you know the rule? You're not supposed to talk when you're in the urinal. And I was like, oh, I didn't.

That's how I learned the rule. Anyway, I saw him at the Knicks game and I was I never met him before since then. And I said to him, hey, this is Bobby Cannavale.

I just wanted to introduce myself and say when I was 21, I told him the story. And he went, it doesn't sound like something I'd say. Shot me down.

Just please shoot down twice. Well, he was also sitting on the toilet when you told the second. He was he was he was he was he was. Yeah. So what? And shut the door. I don't care that you have two Emmys. Shut the door, Chip.

Oh, yeah, I haven't seen that Cannavale and Rudd clip in forever and a day. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I am sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger is the right product for you. Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by. Fun show.

Great show. Tom Brady says he's going to, you know, try and become the owner, part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. If he does that, he'd need all 32 owners to clear him to play for the Raiders, which he's not going to do. He's basic. He's he's not he's done. He confirmed that today. So plans change.

I know you say plans change. Plus, Jimmy G is going to be just fine. He's going to be just fine because, you know, who's not anxious? The head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Josh McDaniels had this to say on this day where Tom Brady was media available. I have no anxiety. Right.

OK, there you go. You guys might have anxiety. I don't have any anxiety. Is there a confidence level that he'll be there in training camp and ready to go?

Yep. I'm not going to put a timeline or a day on anything. But like I said, I have no anxiety.

They're pretty good about it. Who's anxious? You have anxiety? I don't have anxiety.

Huh? Do you have anxiety? I don't. TJ, do you have anxiety?

I mean, some day. You're the one who's anxious. I'm not anxious. I'm not edgy. I'm not edgy. Are you edgy? You sound edgy. I'm not edgy. Are you edgy? You're edgy. I'm not edgy. I'm not edgy.

Don't yell at me. Oh, that sounded like the you remember. Do you remember the the character Martin Short played on Saturday Night Live, who is in the 60 Minutes commercial of 60 Minutes. Yeah. Spoofs, where he had the cigarettes, a cigarette.

The ash was like dropping three quarters of the cigarette. I'm not I'm not edgy. Are you edgy? Who's anxious? You might be anxious. I'm not anxious. There's no anxiety here.

Do you have anxiety? Jimmy Jeeves. He he knows Jimmy Jeeves can be fine. The autumn wind is anxious. James Garoppolo needed an addendum on his contract after he failed his physical. Tom Brady lays in wait.

The Las Vegas Raiders are going to have to use Brian Hoyer because James Garoppolo doesn't have a healthy foot and required an addendum to his contract. Who's anxious? I'm not anxious. Are you anxious? You have anxiety.

You look anxious to me. And scene. That's it. All right. New poll question. What's it?

Are you are you do you have anxiety? Is that the poll question? More likely to throw a pass for the Raiders this year. Brian Hoyer.

Tom Brady. Stop it. Get out of here. What do you mean?

Get out of here. You didn't learn anything from today's show. You learned nothing from today's show. What did we learn? Today. Today. You learned nothing. Tom Brady doesn't intend to play. Talk to me in September. Oh, here's what I learned. I learned the Patriots are going back to the Super Bowl because Taequann Thornton caught a pass.

Seven on seven on air. Conspiracy theories. Paranormal UFOs. Science teacher Andrew Greenwood stated that a child ran into his classroom and was hysterically screaming and talking about the flying saucer outside. Hundreds of children ran out of their classrooms to go outside and see this unidentified flying object that was just above the school. Just imagine a bunch of kids running out of school. Most of them just ran home. Theories of the third kind on YouTube or wherever you listen.