Idris Elba

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Good Hang.
I'm very excited about our guest today. It is Idris Elba.

Speaker 1 Idris is in the studio, and we're going to talk about a lot of great stuff. We're going to talk about growing up in the 80s.
We're going to talk about Stringer Bell, of course.

Speaker 1 We're going to talk about cringe comedy. He's going to try to convince me to go to Ibiza.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 there's going to be a lot of fun to be had. And we always start our podcasts the same way.

Speaker 1 We ask somebody who knows our guest to zoom in and give us a question so they can kind of help me get to know them. And we have a real big star zooming in today.
It is John Cena.

Speaker 1 John.

Speaker 1 Look at your suit. You look so nice.
Can you hear me?

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Speaker 2 Oh, you got this.

Speaker 3 You beautiful background. You guys have spent so much money on this production.
I want to be able to see it. It was just a dollar at the corner.

Speaker 1 I want you to be able to see my fake plants and my fake food.

Speaker 3 They're great.

Speaker 1 John, it's so good to see you.

Speaker 3 What's in the fake mug?

Speaker 1 This mug?

Speaker 1 You know what's

Speaker 1 in this real mug? Is Real Berry's tea, a wonderful Irish tea, my favorite tea to drink.

Speaker 2 Awesome. Excellent.

Speaker 1 Not even a sponsor. What do you have?

Speaker 3 Drinking my own urine.

Speaker 1 John's drinking a yellowy liquid.

Speaker 1 What do you got in there? What are you drinking?

Speaker 3 No, it's my own urine. I'm going through a Howard Hughes phase.

Speaker 2 Okay. All right.

Speaker 3 How are you? How's it going?

Speaker 1 It's great to see you. We haven't seen each other in person since we did a movie together.

Speaker 2 Well, we

Speaker 2 bumped into each other.

Speaker 1 We did. That's right.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 Some conversations among friends about wine and good stories and sunsets and all that, which I'm very grateful for.

Speaker 1 I loved working with you. I would love to do it again.
You're constantly working and doing such great stuff. And

Speaker 1 I think of our time together very, very fondly. That was a really good time on the movie Sisters.

Speaker 3 That was a great time where you were busy and I was kind of just playing Pazuzu in the background. So I had a lot of time to hang out and it was really, really fun.

Speaker 3 So, and that was actually the first time I'd been in a location because, of course, Sisters was a massive ensemble piece. So, like, you're in, you're doing work.

Speaker 3 And I'm like in a lot of the shots, just fully tatted up. But a lot of my days weren't a lot of heavy lifting.
So, you kind of gave me my first vacation in like 15 years.

Speaker 3 And I really, I'm grateful for that.

Speaker 1 I know, because no one works harder than you. You are, you work hard.

Speaker 3 Well, you're about to talk to somebody who I think wins that argument.

Speaker 1 Really? He beats you in the hard work category?

Speaker 3 Idris is a robot, period, end stop. Like every, if you think you're working hard, you know, there's always somebody at the next level.

Speaker 3 Idris is crazy. Like he, he goes, he goes.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 That's amazing to hear from you because I know how you approach your work. It's very professional, very serious.
You love it. You have fun and everybody feels fun when they work with you.

Speaker 1 But you work really hard. So you're telling me that Idris is even more of a machine?

Speaker 3 Yeah, he just like, I need to shut down. Like when I'm, when it's time to go, all right, cool.
And I'm like a nine to five person.

Speaker 3 Idris will work a full day and then fly to Vegas to DJ for the whole night and then fly back to work the next morning and then fly, go, go to the studio and make new music.

Speaker 3 Like he just, I'm like, I need to be put in my lane and be like, okay, this is the day's work. Go out and get it.
He's everywhere all at once. I don't know how he does what he does.

Speaker 1 That's one of my questions is literally, how do you stay awake?

Speaker 3 Honestly, he does live an AM and P.M. life, like an A.M.

Speaker 2 P.M. A.M.

Speaker 3 life. You know, like he's doing his last set at 4 a.m.
And then he's on set and

Speaker 3 insane when the camera turns on. Like he's, he's, and he's a, he's a great human being.
I, I, I can't say enough good things about him.

Speaker 1 Your movie Heads of State is coming out on Amazon. And

Speaker 3 thank you very much for that. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 You're so welcome.

Speaker 3 Hope everybody watches and enjoys it.

Speaker 1 It looks so great. And you play

Speaker 1 a fictional president of the United States, and he plays the prime minister of the UK.

Speaker 3 Yes.

Speaker 1 Never know if I should say England, the UK, or Britain. So that's why I hesitated.

Speaker 3 We got all three. So you're covered.

Speaker 1 Great, covered.

Speaker 1 And I have to say, it's so, it looks like such a satisfying,

Speaker 1 timely, and fun and juicy film because I would like you to be president. Will you be president?

Speaker 1 I'm putting you on the spot.

Speaker 3 They don't let folks who wear coats like this have a chance.

Speaker 2 That's true. That's true.

Speaker 1 You did ruin your chances.

Speaker 3 Yes, indeed.

Speaker 1 You're wearing a very striped coat and they're not going to let you in.

Speaker 1 But yeah, that was your first time working together?

Speaker 3 We worked together on a movie called The Suicide Squad,

Speaker 3 where we played superheroes that were like...

Speaker 3 a buddy comedy almost.

Speaker 3 He's the head-down guy. I'm the aloof, ignorant guy.
And Peter Safran, the producer of that movie, was like, this is good. We need to do this again.

Speaker 3 And the thing about heads of state that's very fun, and you said, you know, you play a fictional president, he plays a fictional prime minister, you being a writer, would know that is the sooner you can define those characters and they stand for, the more fun you can have.

Speaker 3 So basically, what we have in Heads of State is a buddy comedy.

Speaker 1 It looks so fun. And also,

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 1 can Idris, I'm going to ask him about accents, but can he do a Boston accent? Because you're a Boston boy.

Speaker 3 Yeah, but my Boston accent sucks.

Speaker 2 It does?

Speaker 3 Like, yeah, I need to.

Speaker 1 What have you lost it, John? What? You think you're better than us? What?

Speaker 2 Yes, I do.

Speaker 3 I do think I.

Speaker 3 It has gone away. It's been, I, I don't know.

Speaker 1 What? You haven't watched the Karen Reed trial and gotten and brushed up on that?

Speaker 3 Family was, my phone would not.

Speaker 1 You have no idea. It's taken the state by storm.

Speaker 3 Maybe a new, if I stop drinking my own urine and start drinking some

Speaker 3 Sam Adams.

Speaker 1 It doesn't come back to you? The Boston doesn't come back to you?

Speaker 3 100% comes back. Every time I go to West Newbery to see my family, my wife is literally like, what happened to you?

Speaker 2 You talk different.

Speaker 3 And it's just you go back and you just get into the vortex.

Speaker 1 There's just some friends who you can't say their name without having the accent.

Speaker 3 You cannot. Yeah.

Speaker 2 I tried, but you cannot.

Speaker 1 Okay, so what question do you want me to ask Idris today? Is there anything you want to know about Idris that you didn't get a chance to ask him or something you think I should ask him?

Speaker 3 So that great question. Idris is somebody I respect and admire.
And a lot of the driving force there is because he's still so motivated.

Speaker 3 Somebody who's been an on-screen performer and a great one for decades and literally has so many achievements. It would be the same question if you gave me a question to ask you.

Speaker 3 Like, what keeps you going?

Speaker 3 And in the stories that Idris has shared with me, he comes from very humble beginnings.

Speaker 3 This is a former automotive assembly line worker who, you know, he was just talking the other day about how he moved to New York and worked the door at a club.

Speaker 3 And then we'd go after hours with all the club folks to a special place that they just lock the door and leave at seven in the morning. Like he's, everybody in life has such an interesting story.

Speaker 3 And Idris is no different.

Speaker 3 But to be where he's at and to still

Speaker 3 go like he does, I just want to know. I don't, I don't want to know the secret because everybody's story is different.
But I really want to know what keeps him so driven.

Speaker 1 You know what I love about you, John? And by the way, I hope hope someday you come do this.

Speaker 3 Say this houndstooth jacket, I agree.

Speaker 1 It's this houndstooth jacket that you're wearing and the urine that you're drinking. No.

Speaker 1 No, what I love about you is you love people.

Speaker 1 You are a curious person about people. You care and see, like in my experience with you, you're very interested in how

Speaker 1 all different types of people approach life.

Speaker 3 Everybody truly does have a story and you can learn from everybody, you know?

Speaker 1 Thank you so much for doing this. It really means a lot that you gave the time.
And I can't wait to see your movie and see you in person. Let's like have a decant some wine somewhere.

Speaker 3 This is the soft open to an actual good hang.

Speaker 1 All right. Thanks so much, John.
So good to see you.

Speaker 3 Amy, thanks so much. Thanks, buddy.

Speaker 1 Talk to you soon.

Speaker 2 Bye.

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Speaker 2 Wait,

Speaker 2 what?

Speaker 2 Wait.

Speaker 2 Oh.

Speaker 2 We're twinning. Wow.
We cute as

Speaker 2 slow motion music.

Speaker 1 You know, there is a part of me that always tries to think about what the guest would wear. And I do try a little bit unconsciously to just dress for my guests.

Speaker 2 Oh, no way. You're just.

Speaker 2 You did it. Look at us.
We did it. I could take this off and do the t-shirt.

Speaker 1 No, I feel like we have to stay.

Speaker 2 We have to stay in this now.

Speaker 1 I'm so thrilled to talk to you today.

Speaker 2 Wow. Thank you.

Speaker 1 And I, you know, we are the same age.

Speaker 2 I think I'm older than you.

Speaker 1 No, 1972, babe. 1971.

Speaker 1 And we're both Virgos.

Speaker 2 And when's your birthday?

Speaker 1 September 16th.

Speaker 2 I'm September 6th.

Speaker 1 And I saw that. And I want to ask and start asking you a question, which is, what does it feel like to be a Virgo?

Speaker 2 What does it feel like?

Speaker 1 Do you, do you identify as a Virgo? Do you see, do you see qualities in Virgo that you feel are yours?

Speaker 2 Okay, so if I'm really honest, I have this weird statistic thing, right? Let's just get this straight. And that's what I understand.
Okay. There's like, how many billion people on the earth, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Are we suggesting that everyone.

Speaker 2 This is very Virgo of you. I know.
But everyone that was born in that particular time period, around that time, has similar traits. I mean, this is the logic that I find myself wrestling with.

Speaker 1 I understand. You're a challenger.
You're a Virgo. It makes sense.

Speaker 2 Or is it that everyone you've met that says, hey, are you Virgo? I'm a Virgo. Do you do? I do.
And then that becomes the myth.

Speaker 1 Would this make you feel better? Beyonce is a Virgo. Do you want to be in the club now?

Speaker 2 Yep. Okay, okay.
That's what I thought. No, I knew she was a Virgo, actually.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, Virgos see each other. They recognize each other.
Yeah, it is, okay.

Speaker 2 We don't have to get into it. No, we can.

Speaker 1 But you are in your 50s. I want to ask you, what is it like being in your 50s? What do you think of this decade?

Speaker 2 Really interesting, right? Because, you know, we were born

Speaker 2 when we were 10, 11, the 80s 80s

Speaker 2 happened. Our consciousness was born at the same time on the coolest decades generationally ever.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 And we were born into that.

Speaker 2 Some of the coolest things, art, music, culture, some of the craziest world politics that set the dynamics for where we are right now, all happened when we were sort of like our emotions were blossoming and our adolescence were growing.

Speaker 2 I mean, we're a very unique. generation.

Speaker 1 Okay, I agree. I love being Gen X.

Speaker 1 I feel proud of it. Do you feel? I feel like

Speaker 1 exactly what you said. I feel like we straddled these two different worlds.

Speaker 2 Like

Speaker 1 our young world was like our parents, and now we're in future robot times. That's true.

Speaker 2 Which, you know, partly we invented because it's like robots, toys, 2001. What was that going to be like? And we're in it.
That's it. We got it.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I know.
We watched movies about flying cars and it's going to happen.

Speaker 2 And it's happening. Robots that talk and aliens.

Speaker 2 do you believe in aliens

Speaker 1 oh but not astrology

Speaker 2 well

Speaker 2 astrology is based on some weird alien science okay that has left us left behind aliens left behind yeah yeah like you know did you know that these anyway um i was gonna say that the other part about being 50 is that i don't love that at this age the age of being wellness and consciousness is so upon us yet our bodies fail us

Speaker 1 well meggest bummer I mean, the fact that you can get hurt just getting out of bed.

Speaker 1 That is the part that just feels like, well, I mean, what you have to do, you have to use your body still a lot. You use it a lot in this movie that we're talking about, a heads of state.

Speaker 1 How do you stay? Do you have to do

Speaker 1 like, what do you do to stay flexible? That's what we have to do: stay flexible. Do you do yoga? Do you do

Speaker 1 what do you do for your stretching? Because I'm trying to get my more stretching. Really? I'm quite,

Speaker 1 I'm, I'm not I'm not a very flexible. Like, do you have tight hamstrings? Yeah.

Speaker 2 Tight hip flexors.

Speaker 1 Hip flexors. Yeah.
So mine are my hamstrings, which is embarrassing because I'm so short. There's, it's like to not be able to touch your toes.

Speaker 2 Say mine, same hamster.

Speaker 2 Same age. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So do you do pigeon, the pigeon pose?

Speaker 2 Ah, the pigeon. No, but is that a lot?

Speaker 1 It's the yoga pose where you get your, like where you get, you stretch your hips, basically. Do you know that pose?

Speaker 2 So you're sitting on on your bum and you got your legs like that put your knee up and you kind of lean over your knee i don't do that okay good i do uh well it's the squat

Speaker 2 just squatting yeah you know like the like uh before we were homo sapiens yeah squat you know

Speaker 1 you do you can squat yeah that's that's impressive it is actually your knees can handle it no yeah

Speaker 2 getting down's easy that's the thing getting up

Speaker 1 you got you got a guy who helps you get up because you can't get once you get down, you're stuck.

Speaker 2 No, my pride is to, there's no guy helping me go. Of course, I'm like,

Speaker 1 I'm okay, and everyone's like, We're ready to shoot. We're just waiting for Idris to get out of his squat.

Speaker 2 Get out of his squat. Good thing about squatting, though, not to be graphic, it's good for the

Speaker 1 pooping.

Speaker 2 I was going to say number two, but we can go pooping. It's really good.
A lot of people know that.

Speaker 1 But I mean,

Speaker 1 I feel like my 50s, to your point,

Speaker 1 age-wise, like, or like emotionally, mentally, spiritually, I feel great.

Speaker 2 Feel good, yeah. Right?

Speaker 1 I feel finally like I'm figuring myself out in a way that's very real. Yeah, I have a lot, um, a lot, enough wisdom and enough ahead of me.

Speaker 1 And you're kind of the oldest, youngest person, and the youngest, oldest person.

Speaker 2 That's right. That's so true.
And

Speaker 2 you know, your influences change. You know what I'm saying? I think in my 30s and 40s, like I was sort of like blown with the wind a little bit with what was influencing me, what my goals were.

Speaker 2 And in the 50s, I'm like,

Speaker 2 no, that wind have to pass around me. I'm not getting as easily influenced.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yes, exactly right.
You're like a steadier tree.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 But it does hurt to get out of a car after a long hurt.

Speaker 2 You know what, though? I, uh, wellness. Yeah.
So I found people who were like, really, that doesn't work. It's like astrology, but grounding mats.
I love a grounding mat.

Speaker 1 I have a biomat. Do you have a biomat?

Speaker 2 No, grounding.

Speaker 1 Oh, is that the same thing?

Speaker 1 What's a biomat? Well, it's like a heated mat.

Speaker 2 Oh, no, this is not heated. Oh, okay.
This is just grounded.

Speaker 1 Okay, talk to me about that.

Speaker 2 So basically, you know, the Earth's frequency, electromagnetic, magnetic frequency is a thing and it vibrates at a certain thing.

Speaker 2 You know, when you have a radio and it hasn't been grounded into the Earth, it will have static. The moment you ground it, it stops that static.
And our bodies work in a similar way.

Speaker 2 And the

Speaker 2 information just suggests that inflammation and blood circulation works better when you sleep in the grounding mat, or if you're under a desk, you're barefoot.

Speaker 2 And by the way, you can do the same thing if you just stand in your garden in the grass for 20 minutes.

Speaker 1 Well, have you heard the young people say touch grass? It's like a term basically, which is like get off your phones, get off the internet, and go outside and touch grass.

Speaker 2 I didn't think it meant that grass. I thought it was the

Speaker 1 real grass.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I was like, that's the Gen X in you. Just touch.

Speaker 2 Grass. Yeah, you go touch it.

Speaker 1 Pot, touch pot.

Speaker 2 That's what they're saying. Go touch pot.
Okay, that whole touch grass thing, I was like, dude, this is a little much. My algorithm is all messed up.
I didn't realize.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's exactly what it is. It's the idea of just like actually getting your feet on the ground.
But it works.

Speaker 2 And it works for our age because inflammation is a real thing. That stiffness you're feeling.

Speaker 1 Do you cold plunge?

Speaker 1 You've got to get into that, dude.

Speaker 1 I do it all the time.

Speaker 2 How often?

Speaker 1 I try to do 11 minutes a week.

Speaker 2 What?

Speaker 2 Not all at once. Why do you do that?

Speaker 1 It's really helped with inflammation. It is a huge, it is, I don't, it's really helped with anxiety,

Speaker 1 any anxiety, depression, and inflammation, because you're like flooded with a serotonin. You know, you are like, it's like natural.
Yes.

Speaker 2 I'm not going to run.

Speaker 1 I can't run. I'm not going to run.
I've got to get some kind of feeling that I've like had this, you know.

Speaker 1 like big bursts and the cold punch does it for me and like i don't like to do it it's not like i don't like to do it all right then you know It works with, you talk about shrinkage.

Speaker 2 Wait, what? Oh, no. This is not only very uncomfortable, but really killing my ego.

Speaker 2 What? Just do it on your own time.

Speaker 2 Just do it on your own time. Yeah, I'm not doing it like naked at the gym.
No, no.

Speaker 1 I'm telling you, it will change your life. I'm telling you.

Speaker 1 You know what? You're going to look back at this interview and you're going to be like, remember when I was in my 50s and Amy told me to cold plunge?

Speaker 2 And I said, What?

Speaker 1 And now it's changed, it's gonna change your life.

Speaker 2 Okay,

Speaker 2 you know what? I'll listen to you because I think we have a lot in common. And there's some observations that you're making that is really making me think.

Speaker 1 So, also, I imagine something about you, and I tell me if I'm wrong, that you kind of like a forced austerity. Like, you, you don't, you're not afraid of difficult things.

Speaker 2 Right. Yes, no, I am not afraid of

Speaker 2 difficult things or challenges that make me uncomfortable. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And to choose your own discomfort is like like a privilege at our age.

Speaker 1 You're going to be uncomfortable, but I'm going to be in charge of it.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I agree. I agree with that.
I agree. I actually,

Speaker 2 what I also enjoy about my 50s, I'm 52, 53 this year, is that I really want to learn more. Yeah.
I want to learn. And it's about...
Oh, that's new, but how is it connected to what I already know?

Speaker 2 You know what I mean? And that cusp is really interesting to me. You know, like we talk about AI and all that stuff.
I refer to it as like, wow, that's the future that we talked about as kids.

Speaker 2 That was just in our imaginations, and here it is.

Speaker 1 Well, I want to stay in the present, and I want to talk about the future. But if you will indulge me a little bit of past, because,

Speaker 1 and I promise I'll make it fast, but I'm such a huge fan of The Wire. And I know you talk about it all the time.
It is many years ago, 20 plus years ago.

Speaker 1 You've talked about it over and over again. And I won't make you talk about it too much.
But it's a series that changed my life.

Speaker 1 I watched it three times the series three times um i could talk to you about it forever and also i feel like not to keep making comparisons uh we are dressed the same

Speaker 1 but um

Speaker 1 i was on a show that meant something to a lot of people still and like you know almost 20 years later they come up and they keep engaging in it and

Speaker 1 so you must get that too you must all the time have people say to you what i'm saying to you what is that like

Speaker 2 um I mean, the truth is that I actually don't speak about the wire as much as people might think, even though I am definitely at least once a day, someone says, bro, string a bell, the wire, whatever it is.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And, you know, it really does,

Speaker 2 it surprises me how much impact that show had.

Speaker 2 In a good way, it surprises me continuously

Speaker 2 that, you know, multi-generationally, it's still being talked to as people that are weren't even born then yeah watching the wire and be like yo i saw that that's incredible um i feel proud i put a sense of pride i feel a little bit though if i'm really honest like

Speaker 2 i didn't watch the wire i've heard this that you didn't watch it i didn't watch it and i feel bad it's not that i'm not a fan of it i was there i made a show that was you know so intense and so real and so important and even though we didn't realize i didn't realize the importance of the show while making it

Speaker 1 rarely do we right. Yeah,

Speaker 2 but

Speaker 2 I didn't participate in its celebration as a viewer as a fan.

Speaker 2 And so I feel a little bit like well, could you start celebrating it now? No, man. Why?

Speaker 1 I mean, you can't watch it now.

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 1 But I bet, Idris, I bet you have, I bet you have a feeling about it that might, you might be kinder to yourself and it watching it now it's not that okay so what why can you watch it more that um

Speaker 2 again like i felt the presence of it all my

Speaker 2 you know life since the wire right yeah in terms of its impact in terms of what and i also was there making it so to me it was almost a bit like i was stringer bell i'm not stringer bell but yeah i also feel like when stringer bell no spoilers well look at this point okay let's get ready if you're listening spoiler stringer bell dies

Speaker 2 yikes.

Speaker 1 Well, they got to catch up. It's been.

Speaker 2 But when Stringer Bell died, there was a part of me

Speaker 2 that died with that character. And it's weird for me to go back and watch it.

Speaker 2 I don't like being overly conscious of what my performance is like or whatever, because it makes me conscious about doing it. I like being in it rather than watching it.
I hear you.

Speaker 1 That is, it makes me sad that

Speaker 1 you can't enjoy how good you are in the wire.

Speaker 1 You're so

Speaker 2 good.

Speaker 2 Idris.

Speaker 1 Okay, I know I'm, okay, I'm going to turn it into like.

Speaker 2 From my twin, I'm taking this. Thank you.
Okay, okay.

Speaker 1 Because, okay, just a few questions, which is, Stringer Bells, can you just tell me for the super fans that are listening? And again, if you haven't watched The Wire, skip through this part.

Speaker 1 And how dare you? But

Speaker 1 that final scene when

Speaker 1 you were killed by Omar and Brother Mazon, and you just have this moment where you have, it's a beautiful acting moment where you have to decide, where you have to realize that Avon has given you up.

Speaker 1 Like it's just your brother. I mean, it's so Shakespearean, this entire show, but that relationship

Speaker 1 specifically, and you have the tiniest moment that flashes across your face where you...

Speaker 1 You know, you're resigned to the fact that not only are you going to die, but you're going to die, you know, by the hands of someone who you really love.

Speaker 1 And the acting with you and Wood Harris and that scene previously when you're on the rooftop and you're

Speaker 1 is

Speaker 1 such good acting. And

Speaker 1 I just want to, I have no question here.

Speaker 1 No, no. But I guess the last line of

Speaker 2 voice on the crofty table is what you wanted to know. Yeah.

Speaker 1 But I think about Stringer's last line because it's such a, it's such a testament to David Simon and the writers of that show. The writing was so incredible.

Speaker 1 When Stringer says, like, I guess there's nothing I can say to change your mind, get on with it, then,

Speaker 1 you know, paraphrasing, but

Speaker 1 it's his entire arc as a character. He spent the entire show trying to convince people to like that there's another way of doing things.

Speaker 1 Can you just tell me about that scene and shooting it with rest in peace, Michael K.

Speaker 2 Williams? Yeah, man. I mean, it was a really interesting time.
I mean, yes, testament to the writing, David Simon, and the poetry of

Speaker 2 what

Speaker 2 we're saying about beheading the man, the character that is offering a slightly different perspective on this chaotic town, chaotic situation for, you know,

Speaker 2 the residents, the people of Baltimore, but also the...

Speaker 2 the the towns across America in this sort of,

Speaker 2 I would say, what's the word, you know, not culture, but that lifestyle that this is a perpetual thing that keeps going.

Speaker 2 And then along comes a spider where he's like, hey, let's try something different. Let's turn this into this and crawl out of this hole, but we kill that character.

Speaker 1 That's why the wire is so good because the system

Speaker 1 is the

Speaker 1 machine.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 People keep trying to get up out of the machine and the system keeps pushing them down.

Speaker 2 But the system is also also using puppets to do it to each other right all right so the system isn't really prevalent it's the the strings no pun yeah holding brother in zone who you know has his reasons you've got omar who has his reasons but the system has made everyone

Speaker 2 blindfolded And Stringer was like, no, no, no, no, no, take them off. I know.
Right.

Speaker 2 I know.

Speaker 1 Stringer had a plan.

Speaker 2 And what do you ever think about or did you guys ever talk about if stringer stayed on lived as a character what he would go on to do like yeah we did i mean a lot because stringer is a real person who is still alive and stringer went on to become a very successful businessman who you know will remain anonymous forever but successfully built a lot of businesses and um

Speaker 2 you know, crawled out of the hole. So in dramatic terms on the wire, you know, it wouldn't have made sense

Speaker 2 for Stringer to get out. Although in reality, Stringer did get out.
Wow. Okay, but that's not dramatic enough, you know.
I mean, that's not the story.

Speaker 1 No, and it was like a season three gut punch. And it also, I mean, good shows do that, is they sacrifice.

Speaker 2 They sacrifice, yeah. And I was for it.
I, I, I had, I've told the story. I had reservations about how Stringer was dying.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 I mean, you know, that, you know, there's various ways that David Simon wanted to depict that. And I was a little bit against some of that.
But the actual beheading of

Speaker 2 Stringer was an important move. Yeah.
I think, you know, just to illustrate to the world that, hey, man, take the blinkers off. You know what I'm saying? And

Speaker 1 okay, last question. The character of Bodhi that played by JD in your like mentorship with him

Speaker 1 is one of the many incredible relationships on that show. Like that is a heartbreaker.

Speaker 2 It's a heartbreaker what happens to Stringer and it's eventually a heartbreaker what happens to jd's character bodhi yeah what was it like working with him like a young actor like that amazing man like you know we he was a he's a fly dude yeah and he was a fly dude he was the fly young kid on the set um him and michael b jordan actually yeah um and um you know

Speaker 2 because he was a little bit younger than us you know what i mean he was like fresh and green and he would hang out with his big brothers and uh i remember one time he challenged me he was like yo man i could drink you under the table table.

Speaker 2 I'm like,

Speaker 2 Jay, leave it, man. He's like, No, I'll drink you under the table.
And literally, I drank him under the table. Like, he sat under the table.
He was like, No, I can't, I can't fuck with y'all no more.

Speaker 2 Like, did you hear my accent?

Speaker 1 Like, do you know where I'm from? Like, drinking is

Speaker 2 I'm from London, man. Uh, but um, nah, but actually, just in real life, we had that real dynamic, you know what I'm saying? Like, again, he was a young, he lived in New Jersey as well.

Speaker 2 So, we would travel up sometimes together on a train and whatnot.

Speaker 1 Okay. So mentoring is important to you.
Like you've done it a lot now. And before we move on to

Speaker 2 Heads of State, the movie that comes out on Prime.

Speaker 1 Thank you. Heads of State with the great John Cena and Priyanka.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 you, can you talk a little bit about the stuff you're doing with the King's Trust?

Speaker 1 Love, I love the work that you're doing there. And that was an important thing to you when you were young.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah. I mean, basically, I'm paying it forward, you know, like the King's Trust at the time, Prince's Trust, gave me an opportunity via a check and some resources.

Speaker 1 What did you do?

Speaker 1 You, how old and what and they were a scholarship?

Speaker 2 14, 15 years old. I auditioned to get into the National Theatre's youth program, which is called the National Youth Music Theatre.

Speaker 2 And they were doing a production of Guys and Dolls. And I got in, my drama teacher encouraged me to go for it.
I went in and I got the audition, but I didn't realize you had to subsidize your

Speaker 2 board because they flew around the world. We were going to Japan, we went to Greenland.
I mean, we taking this production, it was a semi-professional production, but you had to pay for it.

Speaker 2 My parents couldn't afford it. And my drama teacher said, Hey, you know, the Prince's trust, I'm like, sorry, are you talking about Prince Charles? Well, you want me to audition for Prince Charles?

Speaker 2 No, not for Prince Charles, but he has a trust where he helps young people. And I was like, he's never going to help me.
Why would he? I'm a kid from East London, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 2 Anyway, I auditioned. I got the gig and I got the money that he helped me with and the resources to help, you you know, get me into this theater thing.

Speaker 2 And ever since, you know, I mean, without a doubt, that really structured how I thought my sort of myself as an actor. You know, it was a professional theater.

Speaker 2 I was singing around the world and this was what I wanted to do. Just at that point in my age where I wasn't sure.
I like it.

Speaker 1 What made you think it like for what was the thing? Did you, were you watching movies? And like, what made you know you wanted to be an actor?

Speaker 2 It was two things. Really? It was my teacher.
Yeah. Miss McPhee.
Her and coach. I went to a boys' school.
Okay. She was a lovely,

Speaker 2 blonde, blue-eyed teacher. Interesting.

Speaker 2 See what's going on.

Speaker 2 But she was this really lovely, nurturing figure in my life at the time in boys' school, where no one really took drama seriously.

Speaker 1 Sometimes it just takes one teacher to change your life.

Speaker 2 Real focus, and she was like, you can go for it. It was mentorship, right? And

Speaker 2 also, there was an actor called Paul Barber who was in a film film called The Full Monty. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. And he's a black actor in that film.

Speaker 2 And he came to this school just to sit amongst the boys and say, hey, what do you think about acting? And we were like, aren't you the guy that takes your clothes off in the full monty?

Speaker 2 But I was just like gassed. I was so moved by his

Speaker 2 storytelling and the fact that he came, who's famous, he's on TV. He came to our school to talk about acting.

Speaker 2 So those are the two real, like, if I can remember, junctions where I was like, okay, acting might be a thing, crystallization of that.

Speaker 2 And ever since, you know, I realized that, you know, I can do it exactly the same. It's an intervention moment of just a young person who isn't sure.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Having a conversation and being like, let's examine what you want to do.

Speaker 1 I mean, sometimes it kind of scares me.

Speaker 1 Well, not sometimes.

Speaker 1 What is scary is that the slightest change changes the direction of your life,

Speaker 1 especially around that age. And the positive version of that is what you talk about, right?

Speaker 1 Which is like, you see someone that you want to emulate and you just realize like, this is the way my life's going to be.

Speaker 1 And then in the same way, like the tiniest bit of nudge the wrong way and you're off on a track and then you're that's so true.

Speaker 2 It's, you know, in our generation, right, you know, human empathy, we got a lot of our sort of magic from TV.

Speaker 2 And those are unilateral moments where we all sat, watch the same shows, whatever they were. And those were our influences, right?

Speaker 2 All at the same time, whether it's America, Europe, we were all watching the same sort of thing. The Fons, Happy Days, you know, whatever it was, right?

Speaker 2 Now,

Speaker 2 and if

Speaker 2 an uncle or an auntie spoke to you about what you want to do, you know, that conversation meant something because you weren't getting a phone.

Speaker 2 You weren't staring at a phone, which has all these different influences. Now,

Speaker 2 young kids are influenced by so much.

Speaker 2 They're just overstimulated. And a lot of it is negative.
A lot of it's pitting themselves against things they'll never be able to afford or have.

Speaker 2 This elevated sense of self where, you know, in our day, I think, I hate to say it, in our day.

Speaker 1 Well, you were really feeling, we're really sounding really old right now. No, if we're going to talk about phones, we're screwed.

Speaker 2 Oh, we are.

Speaker 1 I mean, my phone is my best friend.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, right.

Speaker 1 I mean, I don't want to talk about my best friend like that.

Speaker 2 I've got an AI voice that's my best friend.

Speaker 1 Yeah, so you know, we're, you know, we're sucked in too.

Speaker 2 Yeah, we are. But the truth is, though,

Speaker 2 we at least had the benefit of the monoculture. And we had human intervention that actually could have that ripple butterfly effect.

Speaker 1 But the monoculture is different in the UK and the us and i'm constantly surprised by how com how comedy when we were growing up we were not watching the same things really there were you weren't watching the funds okay i was watching happy days but there must have been there must be american shows that you comedy shows that you hear about that didn't make it over there because i know when we were watching british comedy it was like contraband like it was given to us on vhs tapes like benny hill well benny hill oh my god that was what we got We got Benny Hill non-stop, which is like, I guess it was Monty Python, Benny Hill.

Speaker 1 But there were like so many shows like

Speaker 2 MASH.

Speaker 1 Okay, I loved MASH. You watched MASH? Did you watch the Norman Lear shows like All in the Family?

Speaker 1 No. See?

Speaker 2 All in the Family.

Speaker 1 Yeah, which was based off of the British show.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 That famous British show.

Speaker 1 Famous British show for

Speaker 2 a family.

Speaker 2 Something.

Speaker 1 I'll get it. But there was like all these

Speaker 1 famous, like the Jeffersons, Good Times.

Speaker 2 Do you know them?

Speaker 2 I know. Later on in life.
They weren't. Yeah.
Did you get Desmond's?

Speaker 1 No. Desmonds? I don't even know what Desmond's is.

Speaker 2 Desmonds is the barbershop show, man. It was a black show.
It was comedy. It was like, I don't want to say the Cosby's, but it was a family that run a barbershop.
It was hilarious.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 So there were versions of each other's comedy at the time that we didn't know about each other, which I think is so interesting because we're so aligned, but there was something specific about UK and US comedy at the time in the 70s and 80s, where you like found out about people's stuff and it felt like you were seeing it for the first time.

Speaker 1 I mean, I can remember like learning about, yeah, Steve Coogan, for example, and no one knowing who he was.

Speaker 2 I remember coming to New York,

Speaker 2 New York City. Yeah.

Speaker 2 In the early 90s

Speaker 2 and speaking with my accent, and black folk, black people saying to me, Wait, what? Why are you speaking like that? Yo, listen to this dude. They didn't know, no idea.

Speaker 1 They didn't think that there were black British people? Yep.

Speaker 1 Wow, America continuing to really represent.

Speaker 2 No, but to your point about monoculture, like our shows, you know, our culture did not, you know, ABC was not picking up Desmonds, you know what I'm saying? Yeah,

Speaker 1 we did not.

Speaker 1 We had really flat versions of each other.

Speaker 1 It felt like Americans were like, you know, confident and loud and taking up too much space and the Brits were reserved and polite, autistic, secretly better than us.

Speaker 1 I mean, and I do think that the accent gets you, the accent gets you,

Speaker 1 people think people with British accents are very smart.

Speaker 2 This is, this is a, this is true, actually. You're right.
We somehow give a sense of that the way we speak

Speaker 2 makes us more intelligent. You're right.
I've dined off this for a long time.

Speaker 1 I would would too. I'm not that smart.
I was going to say that growing up is realizing that British people are not any smarter than you.

Speaker 2 Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not.

Speaker 2 That's what it is. How did we get there?

Speaker 2 That's

Speaker 2 being an adult.

Speaker 2 You're right. You're right.
Facing the children.

Speaker 1 Just because it's so hard easy to get sucked in. But you have to, I want to talk about your comedy,

Speaker 1 like what you were watching as a young person and getting into comedy because you've done quite a bit of comedy and

Speaker 1 you're doing more of it now, which I think is so cool but for a second about accents you have had to do a lot of accents a lot of different accents where you're playing nelson mandela or you're playing like you know uh uh an african warlord and you're playing all and you do them really well is there one that you can't do like american

Speaker 2 that is not true your american accent is

Speaker 1 no one knew you were british well

Speaker 2 you watched the wire no one idris this is you know what it is the truth is when i was doing the wire that i I was not British, I was like, Yeah.

Speaker 2 Living in Brooklyn, then New Jersey, and in the depths of New Jersey near Newark. And at that junction, you know, I'd live in America for four or five years.
Like my accent shifted. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And Alexa Fogel, the casting director of The Wire, she was like, by the way, don't come in here with that British accent.

Speaker 1 Now I see why you don't watch it. Now I get it.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I can.

Speaker 1 You don't watch The Wire because you're thinking about your accent.

Speaker 2 Of course. But also.

Speaker 1 I'm here to tell you. It's...
And I

Speaker 1 have a thing about Brits and their accents.

Speaker 2 You do?

Speaker 1 Yes. Okay.
Because

Speaker 1 they win a lot of awards.

Speaker 1 And their accents are like, let me tell you something, sir. Like,

Speaker 2 you're like, it's like, oh, you know,

Speaker 1 everyone knows.

Speaker 2 And it's like, you are.

Speaker 1 Well, I like how you say HBO. You've said HBO.

Speaker 2 I said that, yeah. H.
H. H.
HBO.

Speaker 1 HBO.

Speaker 2 That's good. Thank you.
I haven't done any sort of regional English

Speaker 2 or

Speaker 2 English accents like,

Speaker 2 you know Wells

Speaker 2 or you know Liverpudlian or any of those I'd love to yeah, but boy if I get them wrong Let's try it right now. No,

Speaker 2 I'll go you go first okay Liverpudlian I'm gonna think about Paul McCartney

Speaker 1 Just think about the Beatles

Speaker 2 Right? That's all you need to do.

Speaker 2 Okay, Liverpool. Liverpool.
Liverpool. Hey, hey lad, what's going on? No, oh my days.

Speaker 1 See, you're too hard on yourself.

Speaker 2 No, because I'm going to get meme.

Speaker 1 I'm asking you to do it. Anyone listening, no one's going to meme you.
Okay, do Wells.

Speaker 2 Can you do Welsh? Tom, Tom, Tom. Okay.
Tom Jones.

Speaker 1 Oh, oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 Hi. Well, I'm Welsh.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 2 Hello, Boyo. Hey, Boyo, from Wills.
Hey, Boyo.

Speaker 1 That is so.

Speaker 2 I can't go back to Wells now.

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Speaker 1 okay so talk about comedy your relationship to it because i think people probably

Speaker 1 think you're very serious

Speaker 1 and i've learned that you're not

Speaker 2 so i bet people assume you're mad you're serious you're tough I'm an actor.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and they come up to you and they and they take you and you probably are like, I like to have fun like everybody.

Speaker 2 I'm a little goofy. I'm very goofy.
You are. You're a goofball.
Yeah, a little bit. But, you know, I like playing dramatic roles.
I do.

Speaker 2 I just also, when it comes to comedy, most of the comedy I've done has been the straight guy that isn't meant to be funny.

Speaker 2 So when I did The Office.

Speaker 1 Yeah, tell us about that.

Speaker 2 How'd you get that job? I mean, I got that job because I think John Kaczynski was a big wire fan. He was like, we need need that guy, we need that guy.

Speaker 2 Paul Feig.

Speaker 1 Yes, Paul Fig, great director, great director.

Speaker 2 He, um,

Speaker 2 uh, but it was a part of that casting process for me. And, you know, it was described as this guy who's like a string of bells, real serious as a businessman.

Speaker 2 But, you know, you don't laugh at anyone, you don't suffer fools. And

Speaker 2 I was like, okay. But first of all, the UK office.

Speaker 2 Incredible. Oh.

Speaker 1 The biggest fan.

Speaker 2 Better than the American Office?

Speaker 1 No. What?

Speaker 2 Different.

Speaker 1 Not better.

Speaker 1 But in many ways,

Speaker 1 I've talked about this with Mike Scherr, who created Parks and Rec and who went on to, who started working on The American Office and did Parks and Rec and many other shows.

Speaker 1 And I remember when he was going to do The American Office, I thought, this is a terrible idea. Like, because the British Office was so good.

Speaker 1 It was a complete... specific POV and we thought no way.

Speaker 1 But then we heard that Steve Corell was hired and I knew Corell from Chicago. And I was like, he's funny.
He's really good. And suddenly it was like, oh, this is just going to be a different version.

Speaker 1 So I would say

Speaker 1 I can't compare the two, but I do have a special place in my heart for the British version because it was the first one I saw.

Speaker 2 Me too. And the cringe humor.
This is what is cringe humor. And I think the Brits do cringe humor better, not better, but do it well because we're so repressed.
Totally.

Speaker 2 Anything that's like embarrassing, we're like, oh my days.

Speaker 2 And in America, where where it's large personality.

Speaker 1 America's embarrassing.

Speaker 2 Well, you again, no.

Speaker 1 America's embarrassing. There, I said it.

Speaker 2 No, no. What I mean is that Americans are okay with big personalities coming in.
That's part of the comedy

Speaker 2 fabric. However, I really loved working on the office because I did get to be in a comedy, right? And I...

Speaker 2 The guys working on the show basically tried to make me laugh all the time.

Speaker 2 And the joke was that you're not going to get me.

Speaker 2 and the more silly they got the more I stayed straight and that was became the comedy

Speaker 1 it was amazing it was a lot of fun so you're good at keeping a straight face no I'm

Speaker 2 I'm a proper I want to be in the stupid side I want to be doing stupid shit but the gig was that I

Speaker 2 stayed really serious

Speaker 1 even just now I was very serious

Speaker 2 it was a lot of fun it was amazing it was amazing and then since then some of of the comedy stuff I've done is really playing the straight guy. Yeah.

Speaker 2 In heads of stage. Yeah.

Speaker 1 You get to get in there. Yeah.

Speaker 2 But we're still playing on the trope of repressed British prime minister. Right.
Doesn't like this big American personality, and we're still playing with that. So, but yeah.

Speaker 1 But but but like, do you want to do more comedic stuff? Do you like it? Isn't it fun? It is fun.

Speaker 1 Because I got to say, like, your job, a lot of the stuff you do, it combines a lot of things I don't want to do.

Speaker 2 Running, shooting nights like yes so many night shoots on the wire like I watched and I was like oh crying crying

Speaker 1 like jumping but you've said that you like all this action stuff you like doing stunts I do I do what do you like about it

Speaker 2 it's a choreography it's a dance you know I love learning a new fight and I like I'm always convinced that I can make it look realer.

Speaker 2 So, you know, you see someone that's like kicking butt, but I want to make it look a little bit more real.

Speaker 2 I love it, though. I love the

Speaker 2 technicalities of it. Yeah.
Yeah. I like fighting.

Speaker 1 Do you, well, I mean, I like to fight.

Speaker 2 That's plainly it. I mean,

Speaker 1 I think about like,

Speaker 1 I do, I do sometimes have fantasies about doing an action film that requires very little talking because that's the one thing I like about action films. It's like your day is just walking.

Speaker 2 Like the porn identity, like

Speaker 1 a shooting day is just him walking from one train station to the other.

Speaker 2 Like dialogue.

Speaker 1 Wearing a leather jacket. What a dream.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 So in this movie, you're working with John Cena, the great John Cena. The great John Cena.
Tell me about,

Speaker 1 you and John worked together first in Suicide Squad.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 How do you guys get along? What do you think about John Cena?

Speaker 2 You know.

Speaker 2 I think everyone had a bit of a crush on John Cena, right? The wrestler. You know, he's like this big personality, cool, big wrestling type.

Speaker 2 And then, you know, I watched him transition into acting and thought wow like yeah you know the wrestlers tend to be great at performance regardless so they end up transitioning into acting in really cool ways yeah and I felt John was one of those transitions that did really good yeah I liked him then when I got to work with him in suicide squad I mean first of all when you ever met John Cena I did he was in a movie that me and Tina Faye were in called sisters and we spent like a couple weeks together he's a renaissance man dude he loves wine and art and classical piano.

Speaker 1 He's a very sweet, like artistic, tender guy. Find him to be very emotional and sweet.

Speaker 2 I agree. And it turns out that, you know, when I met him, I thought he was going to be just goofy, big character.
And he's like, hey, Idris, how are you? Nice to meet you.

Speaker 2 I'm a really big fan of your work. And I'm like,

Speaker 2 what's going on? Are we reacting? I'm more goofy than John is.

Speaker 1 You did the thing that happens to you where people are like, Idris is very serious. You were like, John is so funny.
And John was like, I'm kind of serious.

Speaker 2 Yeah, he's very serious.

Speaker 1 And you were like, I'm a goofball.

Speaker 2 Yeah. When I first, when we, when I walked into his trailer one time, we were going to just run some lines.
And then I was like, oh, there's a

Speaker 2 grand piano in here. What is that? He's like, oh, yeah, I'm teaching myself to learn classical piano.
Anyway, so about these lines.

Speaker 2 I'm looking at him like, whoa, what? What now? First of all, he has fingers the size of like, you know, it's like one of John's fingers. Like, you know, so playing the piano.
Yeah. I was like,

Speaker 2 anyway, I was fascinated. Giant finger piano.
But he's a really

Speaker 2 lovely guy.

Speaker 2 I think he and I knew that, you know, working together, we could play into the dynamic of, you know, I'm not naturally comically funny, but I can play against someone that is really trying to, you know, is really funny.

Speaker 1 What is naturally comically funny?

Speaker 1 I mean, like, it's kind of, but, but it's an interesting, you bring up something very interesting, which is like, I think sometimes people don't realize that playing the scene is.

Speaker 1 like pretty much the same if you're doing a comedy or a drama like you just got to play it real yeah that's true have you hosted s nl Yes. And how was that experience?

Speaker 2 It was a classic. Everyone talks about it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, sorry.

Speaker 1 Who was the musical guest?

Speaker 2 Khaled. Oh, yeah.
Khaled, yes.

Speaker 1 What year was that? Sorry.

Speaker 2 What year was that?

Speaker 2 It was the year that I did that very famous film I was promoting.

Speaker 1 Yes. What year was that?

Speaker 2 Because

Speaker 1 we'll never be able to find out. I have a laptop here.
We can never find it out. What year did Idris host? Can we find out? And what is the name of the British show that All in the Family was face?

Speaker 2 You're gonna come back.

Speaker 2 Jenna, please tell me.

Speaker 2 Okay, that's what happens if you can't let things go. I know.
Forget it. I know.

Speaker 1 Memory is, it's done. Because we have too much stuff to think about.
This is true.

Speaker 1 The storage is full. Sometimes I like to think about dragging files in my brain to trash.
Like, I'm not going to need to know that anymore.

Speaker 2 I don't know. Wow.
Because I mean, I'm dragging files.

Speaker 1 I'm dragging it to trash

Speaker 1 to make some room. Don't you feel like all the lines you had to learn as an actor? Like sometimes I'm like, it just has taken up too much space in my head.

Speaker 2 No, I don't. No.
No, that's not. Are you good at learning lines?

Speaker 2 I'm good at learning the sense of things. Yeah.
And then the lines will follow. Yeah, yeah.
I hate when like it's like, okay, you have to go to this address at five o'clock to pick up that person.

Speaker 2 I'm like, what?

Speaker 2 But if I understand that you and I are having a debate about something, I'll remember the lines based on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But SNL, which was

Speaker 1 classic

Speaker 1 to what, not that far, not that long ago.

Speaker 2 It was a seminal year.

Speaker 1 So in 2019, when you hosted SNL,

Speaker 1 what was that like? Was it fun doing it?

Speaker 2 Man, you had good, you had a good time?

Speaker 2 I had a most amazing time. It was really hard work, but I had the most amazing time.
And I was like comedy giants, you know?

Speaker 1 But see, SNL growing up was not big in the UK when you were growing up, right?

Speaker 2 That's right.

Speaker 2 It's really true.

Speaker 1 It's really true. And now, I think they're starting one over there.
Yes.

Speaker 2 Yeah, Yeah, I'm trying to be a main

Speaker 2 character.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Is that weird?

Speaker 2 You know?

Speaker 1 No, just go in there and say, you know what? If you showed up and said I'm in the cast, everyone would be like, okay, I assume he is.

Speaker 2 Doing it. And they'll see how goofy I am, how the writer's sessions, how really funny I am, come up with the wackiest shit.

Speaker 1 Well, that was always the toughest thing, Idris, is when a host would come in and be like, I'm really funny.

Speaker 2 And he'd be like, okay.

Speaker 2 I did.

Speaker 2 okay.

Speaker 1 They'd be like, I know I'm usually pretty serious, but I love to do characters.

Speaker 2 And I was like, Dude, let me tell you, I was that guy.

Speaker 2 I remember the first writing meeting, I walked in, and everyone was like, Hey, you just met, what you love, you man? What's going on? Drinking that coffee.

Speaker 2 So, what time is it? Do you guys, what are you into? What are you thinking? They're you know, soft and hanging. They're like, Okay, what do you do? What do you want to do?

Speaker 2 I was like, Yo, man, I got this idea about these football presenters.

Speaker 2 And they're like, You mean football as in

Speaker 2 what kind of football?

Speaker 2 I'm losing. Yeah, man.
But they were kind.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they were like, Idris, thank you so much for your ideas.

Speaker 2 You know what? There's so much here to work with. We're going to

Speaker 2 regret it. We're going to come back.
You take a break.

Speaker 1 Yeah. You know what? Do less.
They were like, you know what? Take a break this week. Have fun.

Speaker 2 I had a great meeting with Pete, though, and his office walked in.

Speaker 2 Woo. What's up, Pete? Yeah, what's up, man? What you want? Yo, I love that bitch that you was talking about, man.
I love football.

Speaker 2 It was actually a really good week.

Speaker 1 People don't know that you walk around from office to office and you just kind of go into everybody's office.

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 1 And you're just like meeting, it's like speed dating or something, and you're just like getting people's ideas. And I'm sure you got pitched a lot of like,

Speaker 1 I have an idea where you're a guy who,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 you're a bouncer and you throw people out of a club. Okay, I have another idea where you're a boxer and you beat me up.
I have another idea. I bet you got a lot of like.

Speaker 2 I got a a lot of, what are we doing? Like a James Bond? Yeah, that's a James Bond. I'm really trying to stay away from that.
Like, come on, man, it's James Bond.

Speaker 2 No, I want to stay away from that.

Speaker 1 You're like,

Speaker 1 I just want to play like little giggly characters who are real goofballs.

Speaker 2 I want to be really unrecognizable.

Speaker 2 And everyone's like, oh, fucking hell.

Speaker 1 This guy doesn't want to do his, he doesn't want to pitch his fastball.

Speaker 2 I want to do some stringer bell shit, you know, where you're like stringer bell on the hood, whatever.

Speaker 1 But But before we wrap it up, I want to talk a little bit about your relationship to music because

Speaker 1 I feel like we've been talking a little bit about it today, but you know, like there's this musicality to the stuff that you do, and it's obviously influenced by your, your actual love of music.

Speaker 1 You talk about it a lot, how it, you know, talk about acting coming at a certain time. Like music came to you at a young point in your life.
When did you start, like,

Speaker 2 like

Speaker 1 speak speak to how important music is to you and when you, especially when you were a young person and growing up in East London.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean, definitely music

Speaker 2 was my first love. First, first love.
My dad, I have this record, a picture of me holding a Marvin Gaye album. I'm four years old and I'm about to put it on the turntable.

Speaker 2 That was like my earliest memory of music and listening and being able to put the record on.

Speaker 2 By the time I was like 14, I was convinced I wanted to be a radio host. That was what I wanted to do.

Speaker 2 I wanted to talk on the radio and play music and at the same time i was getting introduced to acting and what and the first show i did was a musical i was singing all right i wasn't musical i didn't play learn to play the guitar i could play the drums but i could i wasn't really a musical guy in the sense of you know making music okay i just loved music and at the same time i was doing uh acting i became a radio host on pirate radio and i was on pirate radio around 15 16 years old, shouldn't say that.

Speaker 2 And it was the 80s, nobody cared. We were all working.

Speaker 1 We had jobs at 12.

Speaker 2 You could go to jail, though, back in the day for being on pirate radio. Oh, sure.
Oh, yeah, man. The mean streets.

Speaker 1 That'd be pretty funny if they were like, what are you in jail for? And you're like, being on the radio. And everyone's like, oh,

Speaker 2 drive time, six to eight. What?

Speaker 2 Yeah, they got me. They got me.
I'm drive time.

Speaker 2 Hard times, but no, you could go to jail for pirate radio. And, but the truth is, you know, I think the music,

Speaker 2 because I really leaned into playing music and then I started buying equipment, drum machines. This is the 80s.
This is where the drum machines were growing and that electronic sound.

Speaker 2 You know, music and acting was like doing this at the same time. So music became my sort of

Speaker 2 my guilty pleasure. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 And like for just for you.

Speaker 2 Just for me, yeah.

Speaker 2 And when I would DJ, I would love it.

Speaker 2 You know, actually coming to new york because the vinyl shops that's when i started to really come to new york late 80s early 90s a lot of time you talk about the spirituality of house music like house music is really important to you yeah yeah really like it's that what is it about it that hooks you and what do you think it how does it hook people it's uh it's the mono moment that mono moment that you know

Speaker 2 everyone feeling that new instrument come in it's a bit like being at church i don't know if you're religious i'm not but that spiritual vibe of adding layers of a mono moment that everyone can join into is like magic.

Speaker 2 When I'm on the DJ, when I, you know, I just played Coachella with Cascade, who shouts Cascades and make amazing DJ. I think we have 15,000 people.
Wow. And we're doing it back-to-back.

Speaker 2 And it's a spiritual moment to have that many people going, let's go.

Speaker 1 I mean, it's just and how do you stay up so late?

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 1 Because you have to stay up so late.

Speaker 2 Yes. Yes.
That's

Speaker 2 what DJs do. I know.

Speaker 1 It's such a nighttime activity.

Speaker 2 Oh, come on, Amy. You got to come out with me one time, man.

Speaker 1 I mean, I would have to go to bed at 7 p.m. and wake up at 4 a.m.
and meet you out. Like, there's no way I could get to the other side at 4 a.m.

Speaker 2 Have you been to Ibiza?

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 1 That is seems.

Speaker 2 Okay, life begins at 50. All right.

Speaker 1 Okay, first of all, I would only want to go with someone who knew Ibiza well.

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 1 But I'm I'm already stressed thinking about how late I would have to stay up. Like, I'm already, like, even thinking about it.
I don't have to take the longest power nap. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 But it's incredible.

Speaker 2 Do you think that whole power nap thing really works?

Speaker 1 No, I can barely nap. I mean, truly, I would have to go to bed at 7 p.m.
and then be like, I'll see you at the club at 4.

Speaker 1 But it is, but I mean,

Speaker 1 I love to dance. I love music, but I just, I can't do the, I can't do the hours.
It's not easy to be an actor and a DJ like it is not no

Speaker 2 I think there's a cell there's a energy cell that gets awakened with the the naughtiness yeah you know then it's like

Speaker 1 Abiza yeah sound Abiza sounds very

Speaker 2 sounds very

Speaker 2 stressful

Speaker 2 Ibiza sounds very stressful no you'd love it trust me you know

Speaker 2 flip-flop sunshine all day

Speaker 2 you can have an ice ice bucket thing an ice bucket thing why do I no you know like the plunging thing.

Speaker 2 Oh, yes.

Speaker 2 You know what?

Speaker 1 If I could plunge, if I could cold plunge in Ibiza, I would be. You can do anything in Ibiza.
Believe me. Ibiza.
That's what stresses me out, Andreas.

Speaker 1 Okay, so we're going to finish with two questions because we always start our...

Speaker 1 our podcast with asking somebody to speak about our guest. I always talk to somebody who knows our guest to give me a question, ask them.
And so we talked to John Cena before this. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And we just talked, we just zoomed with him. And he wanted me to ask you, and it's such a John question, I think, and it's so indicative of what you talk about.

Speaker 1 Like both of you have such an incredible work ethic. You really,

Speaker 1 you know, you work hard. You're very professional.
Both of you are

Speaker 1 like,

Speaker 1 for lack of a better term, like going for it. You really have a.

Speaker 1 a lust for life and learning, like you said. And his question was kind of like, basically, you work really hard.
What motivates you?

Speaker 1 it's such a it's such a

Speaker 1 straight male question what motivates you

Speaker 2 um okay i mean look i don't want to you know end on a low note right okay i became you know successful around the age of 35 years old okay

Speaker 2 and up until that point you know life wasn't always great

Speaker 2 there were some very tough times you know i've spoken publicly about some of the times i've gone through um both my parents you know working working class, didn't have much at all. All right.

Speaker 2 So I've been, you know, reasonably,

Speaker 2 I would say, poor, just reasonably, you know,

Speaker 2 living a life that is very opposed to where I'm living for longer than I have been famous or successful. And there's part of it which is like, I don't want to let this go.

Speaker 2 So I'll just keep chopping for it.

Speaker 2 But the second thing is, really and truly, is that I used to work nights on the night shift at Ford Motor Company in Dagenham, East London. Okay.
Okay.

Speaker 2 That is grim. It's a grim job.
All right. Nothing compares to doing that.
So when I get an opportunity to come and work with you, to come and work on a set, it doesn't even feel like work. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Now, to everyone else, it's like, you guys are working really hard, but actually. Yeah, it's not that hard.
It's not that hard. I mean, it's not that hard.
It's, you know,

Speaker 1 compared to real, real hard jobs.

Speaker 2 Exactly. It's not.

Speaker 2 I agree. And obviously, we get to do very different things.
You know, in a job like that, I did the same thing every night.

Speaker 2 every night, yeah, for two straight years. My dad did the same job for 25 years, yeah.
So, I consider this a privilege, yeah,

Speaker 1 yeah. So, what motivates you is gratitude, basically, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And what is making you laugh these days? How do you go, what do you watch, read,

Speaker 1 you know, listen to that? Like, like, where do you, where are you finding your comedy? Uh,

Speaker 2 what do you think? The studio was

Speaker 2 really funny to me,

Speaker 2 self-reverential, but I loved it. I thought it was really good writing.

Speaker 2 I'm laughing at myself letting go of some of my tough man shit and being a bit goofy.

Speaker 2 I actually enjoy when people go,

Speaker 2 what? Yeah. I enjoy doing that.

Speaker 1 I've seen you do, like, you're doing some really, like, I have a really fun TikTok idea I want us to do later. Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 I have to talk to your team about it.

Speaker 2 No, seriously?

Speaker 1 No, yeah, I do. And listeners, if you don't know this as we wrap up,

Speaker 1 but Idris and I are wearing the exact same thing right now.

Speaker 2 We're wearing,

Speaker 1 how would you describe this color? Petro Blue.

Speaker 2 Yep. It's a...
I was thinking, you know,

Speaker 2 do you watch football, soccer?

Speaker 2 Ish. Ish, right?

Speaker 2 At the end of a really great game, there's a tradition where the greatest players against each other.

Speaker 2 Okay, let's trade shirts. We're going to trade.

Speaker 2 We're going to trade shirts.

Speaker 2 Let's do it, buddy.

Speaker 2 Okay, this is exciting. This is exciting.

Speaker 1 And I have a feeling this is going to...

Speaker 2 This is not going to fit. No, I get it.

Speaker 1 Let's see how far you can get into my trading.

Speaker 2 Technically, you don't have to wear it because usually it's full of sleep. By the way, the shirt smells great.

Speaker 1 Listeners, if you wanted to know, the shirt smells great.

Speaker 2 Oh, well, okay. Hold on a minute.

Speaker 1 Oh, I like this look.

Speaker 2 I was just trying to get one sleeve in. Just one sleeve.
Just one's good.

Speaker 1 Tiny jacket. But tiny jackets are funny.

Speaker 2 Tiny jackets are so funny. Look, we did it.
We traded it. Okay, this is funny.

Speaker 2 Good comedy where, like, yes, but I don't love.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 1 Okay, very straight.

Speaker 2 I just want to go so.

Speaker 1 Yeah, play it very straight where you're, we're in some kind of shrinking machine. Or, you know what it is? It's a body switch comedy, is really what it is.
Okay. We should be in a comedy.

Speaker 2 Go away, buddy. Let's go.

Speaker 2 It was.

Speaker 2 So.

Speaker 2 The why.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 I enjoyed working for HG.

Speaker 2 Yeah, because, you know,

Speaker 2 I watched it nine times.

Speaker 1 Well, I don't watch it.

Speaker 2 And I have to say, Strunger, when he did that scene,

Speaker 2 I'm just going to show you.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. Okay, sign us up.
We're ready. We're ready.

Speaker 2 I love this.

Speaker 1 Thank you so much for this time together. Good time.
This was so good. My jacket is completely ripped.
Literally, he can't even get it over his wrist. He can't get it over his wrist.

Speaker 2 It's because I'm tired.

Speaker 2 He's just his, his,

Speaker 2 I really can't get it over.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 I'm here to hear from my lawyer because a very expensive jacket.

Speaker 1 Thank you. That was so fun.
Thank you so much for doing this. I really, really appreciate it.
And congrats on your movie.

Speaker 2 Thank you.

Speaker 1 Okay, today's Polar Plunge is brought to you by Wayfair, here to help you make your home your happy place.

Speaker 1 So that was a great interview. Idris is so much fun.

Speaker 1 I hope I wasn't too much of a wire geek when I was interviewing him, but I could have asked a million more questions and made the entire episode about that. But I tried to restrain myself.

Speaker 1 But we did talk about a lot of other things and we talked about British comedies. And so I thought I could use this polar plunge

Speaker 1 to talk about shows that maybe you didn't know about that you should try to find somewhere on your TV or your phone.

Speaker 1 Brass Eye, The Day Today, Alan Partridge, Look Around You, French and Saunders.

Speaker 1 We also

Speaker 1 realized that the show that All in the Family was

Speaker 1 based on was Till Death Do Us Part. It took us the entire episode to get it.

Speaker 1 And it's because we're in our 50s. So,

Speaker 1 but yeah, there's a lot of British comedy. Oh, and Desmonds.
I'm going to check out Desmonds now that Idris has brought it to my attention. So

Speaker 1 a lot of good comedy in the UK, especially in the 80s and 90s that didn't always come over here. So check it out.

Speaker 1 But you know what? You really should check out is Wayfair because it makes you turn your home into a happy place. Express your style.
Create a space you love.

Speaker 1 Cozy sofas, smart essentials, free shipping, easy setup. Head over to Wayfair.com, find something that's just your style today.
That's w-a-y-f-a-i-r.com. Wayfair, every style, every home.

Speaker 1 Okay, thanks for listening. Bye.

Speaker 1 You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler.
The show is produced by The Ringer and Paperkite.

Speaker 1 For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaya McMullen, and Aalaya Zanaires. For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss Burman.
Original music by Amy Miles.

Speaker 1 All I ever wanted was a really good hang.

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