Wam Bam's Podcast

Dexter McKinney | How His Judge Judy Mob Boss Impression Became an Internet Sensation | #142

• Phil Beniamino • Episode 142

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This week,

 I sit down with Dexter McKinney... actor, entertainer, and the face behind the viral Judge Judy mob boss impression that’s been blowing up across social media.

We talk about how that character took off online, why it connected with so many people, and what it’s been like seeing the internet run with it. Dexter breaks down the creativity behind the impression, the reaction it’s gotten, and how he’s using the attention to build something bigger.

We also get into his appearance on *The Floor* on FOX, his journey as an actor, and how he’s navigating the momentum from multiple angles. This episode is about virality, performance, and turning talent into real opportunity.



Dexter's Links:

https://share.google/qXxonj4glJh4V6u1S

https://share.google/qDodSqIytUJa6cqut

https://share.google/5fFBJW6dGSLr16V2Q

https://share.google/cYaowKU5l3hxGlh7Q


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SPEAKER_02

Yo yo, it's your boy, it's little wham banamino, baby. It's another Wam Banam Wednesday. You know the show about ordinary people done extraordinary things. And always, baby, I gotta ask you first. Come on. 75% of the people that are watching the show still has not subscribed. Subscribe. Click that button right there, man. It takes zero effort and it's absolutely free. Cost you nothing. Just go ahead and subscribe so we can continue to bring you this great content. Because you know what? I got a special treat for you today. That's right. I got Emmy nominated actor in the house. Now we're talking movies. You might have seen them on Netflix, the series called They See Us, or maybe Miss Marik on Hulu. This guy's even been on Broadway and his skeleton crew. So he's done a lot of work, done a lot of work on TV. You might know a little show called Yellowstone. He's doing a spin-off now with Dutton Ranch. And that's gonna hit May 15th. As well as I think this Wednesday, you might see him on a TV game show. It's called The Floor, Baby. Welcome to the show. We have Dexter McKinney in the house. What's up, baby? Dexter, I know I said a lot of nice things about you. You got you got this movie stuff, you got, you know, you've been an actor, but one of your most successes is actually your channel. You started a social media channel, you got over 450,000 followers, over 400 million views, and you do a sequel. This new show that you created, my boss, you know, Judge Judy as the my boss, and you're the my boss.

SPEAKER_00

What's up with that? I'll get up. Forget about hey man. Um, that's been honestly just such a great experience for me, man. I started a couple years ago when the acting stuff got slow. You know, for those that are in the know, COVID hit the acting industry in a major way. A lot of people describe Hollywood as dead in the water because it's so expensive to make projects out there, specifically like TV shows. Then we got a bunch of strikes. We had actor strike, writer strikes, like it we was it was just completely changed the scope of acting industry as we know it. And you know, for me, I'm one of those scratching and clawing for every part type of guy. Um, you know, you even even the big names have taken a hit. So you see a lot of the big names doing a lot of commercials or Broadway type shows. Sure. Um, you know, they got to eat. So that trickle-down effect to where I was, those roles got swallowed up. And it just got quiet, man. I always wanted to do the content, and I just said, you know what, I'm gonna commit to it. I had done a few things here and there, but as a real actor, I didn't want to like water down or dilute my brand by making content.

SPEAKER_03

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00

And um it just got to a point where it's like, well, I'm not gonna tap out. Like, I'm an actor, I done put so much into it. I gotta get something out of it, right? Um, what and I'm not gonna stop until I've tried everything. And I've I'm seeing certain things with the content working for different people in different ways. I tried a couple things within two weeks of consistently posting on TikTok, I went viral. Yeah, but when you first go viral, as you may know, you know, they that's kind of the algorithm saying this may be a niche for you, this may be a lane if you want it. Right. It wasn't the lane I wanted, but it was one that allowed me to learn what happens when you go viral. How do I convert all of these profile visits into followers and build something with it and monetize it? Like I'm learning this as I go. And then eventually I would say within a couple months, the Judge Judy hit, and it hit so fast. I knew what I was looking at because I had gone viral a couple of times.

SPEAKER_02

I was ready for it. What made you go to Judge Judy? Like what was it that just triggered that thought process that you know what? Judge Judy sounds like a damn boss.

SPEAKER_00

Judge Judy is the boss, she is the boss, she's the boss. You know, you can hear it in her voice, man. And it just it's a mainstream, you know, 48 Laws of Power, um, appeal to the masses, right? Robert Green, he talks about that. It was something that everybody loved, every different demographic, you know, you name it, it was in everybody's household. It was in ours growing up, and um, it was just kind of always in the background. I wasn't a huge Judge Judy fan, more so than the next person, but I watched it, it was funny.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And um, but I knew I just knew good content. And so when I saw it, it wasn't originally a mob boss. I so I work in um the high schools in New York City. I do teaching artistry. I can I work at Rikers Island, I teach playwriting, different things. So one of the high schools I work at, we call it Last Chance High, because this is once you get kicked out of every high school. This is it. If you can't make it here, you have to figure something else out. Damn. Trade school was something. There you go. So I made Judge Judy the dean of Last Chance High. And it was funny, it was good, it was doing okay, but it wasn't an outlier compared to my other content. I had other content doing way better. So it was just something I was throwing at the wall, seeing if it will stick. But when the my boss version came around, the where's the ATV? Uh gave it to a friend. The name of the friend and the phone number of the friend. I don't have that on me. That's too bad. Where do you live? Omaha, Nebraska. You want to get home? Get me the name of the friend. Like, it just it just hit me. Like, I also like I'm looking around, you got a beautiful place. Thanks for having me, by the way.

SPEAKER_02

Of course, of course.

SPEAKER_00

I grew up with the Scarface posters on my in my bedroom. So that's in Syracuse on my wall right now. The the Scorsese, the Goodfellas, anything. You're close to my home, Syracuse. That's when I heard that.

SPEAKER_01

I said, okay, we gotta see what's up. Go orange, go orange.

SPEAKER_00

Go cues. Um, you know, so I without really it being in the front of my mind, I'll I could already recite Goodfellas Casino. I could do these scenes right now.

SPEAKER_02

What got you into the mob feel? I mean, it's not for everybody. It's not for everybody. But people in Syracuse, I gotta ask you, did you grow up in Syracuse? I grew up in Syracuse. So now we were on the South Side and all like grew up on the South Side. So you had a little rough neighborhood. Let's be real. Let's be real.

SPEAKER_01

If you know, if you know what you I know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_02

Tell the viewers what part of Syracuse you were in.

SPEAKER_00

Man, so what we call the South Side or down the way, affectionately, you know, we grew up with um the worst condensed poverty in America. So everything that comes along with that was at my doorstep growing up, right? The violence, the drugs, the gangs, the RICO, all of that stuff. My family, my friends, they were all getting caught up in that. And I was there, you know, I was affiliated, right? But I I had for I was forced to have, I was fortunate to have a good family, you know, a good father telling me how important my grades were in school was.

SPEAKER_01

Amen to that.

SPEAKER_00

Got a chance to go to Syracuse University. Yeah, shout out to my pops, Big Dex, Dexter's senior.

SPEAKER_02

There you go.

SPEAKER_00

Um, but also, so so that was my dad's side, my mom's side. So some people don't know this. I'm actually like part Italian. Okay. So I have like an Italian family. My grandmother's from Italy. Nice. Um, and we have what part of Italy? So my grandmother's from so her so she was born in the States. Her three older brothers were born in Rome. Okay. Right? So they came over, she was the baby. Um, could she make a gravy? She could make a gravy, she could make uh, you know, we just had the pot. We had a lasagna last night. Shout out to my mom. Love it, love it for Easter. Um, you know, we do all the things. But um, so we have this whole Italian family, and yeah, my uncles and they were just like really into it, you know. So I kind of I think I kind of picked it up from them. Um, but I took a liking to it as well. So were you working on the streets in Syracuse when you were young?

SPEAKER_02

Say it one more time. Were you working on the streets when you were young in Syracuse?

SPEAKER_01

I was working when you say on the streets, what do you mean?

SPEAKER_02

Well, you know what? If you were connected, you had to work on the street.

SPEAKER_00

So I wasn't I wasn't in it like my friends were in it. I was the guy that was like cool enough to kick it, right? But I'm gonna so I I hang out on the block and I'm from the south side. I went to school on the east side. That's kind of like a rivalry thing, but I was just a guy that was always cool enough to kick it. So I didn't have to get jumped into a gang to hang out. We we grew up playing football together. Some of my friends joined the gang, and we're still friends. So, you know, I don't I don't have to do all of that.

SPEAKER_02

So they didn't force you in a gang or nothing. You never got forced in anything.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, no, no. And I thought about it. I, you know, I I really didn't want to get like I remember one time I was in Levy Middle School, and it was this guy, he was like a charismatic guy, charming guy, um, kind of like a leader. And he was like, Listen, if you're ready, we can jump you in right now. It was at it was at a school dance. I'm coming there, I'm like, you know, I grew up, I'm like a pretty boy type of guy.

SPEAKER_01

Gotta pick up some children. I ain't trying to get beat up in front of all, I'm not trying to do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And but I thought about it. I was in that bathroom, like considering, like, oh man, I could it can be official. Yeah, you know, because that's what the cool guys were doing. They they got the respect, the popularity, the girls. It was it's peer pressure is real.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and that's something important because you know, kids need to hear this today because it it's happening, it's still happening, yeah. And actually, at a younger age than probably when when we were there, you know what I mean? Sure. Type of thing. And these kids don't realize they they don't think that they can get out or they can say no.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_02

Sometimes they feel like they have to say yes because if they say no, they're gonna be the problem. They're gonna, they're gonna be on the other side of the stick. You know, you know what I'm saying? So I think it's cool that you were cool with them and you still have friends. So you know, touching on that.

SPEAKER_00

I was I was fortunate, man. I would say, like, I had some of the guys that were in good positions, good ranks that were already my friends. So because I can hang out, that's like if I'm hanging out with you, I might get a certain amount of cool points just because I'm cool with Phil.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

He thinks I'm cool. That's right. So automatically, Michelle might think I'm cool. I gotta be honest, I think you're pretty cool, man. I appreciate it, Phil.

SPEAKER_01

Like wow. Pretty good judgment of aura. You got a good aura around me.

SPEAKER_00

I appreciate you saying that.

SPEAKER_01

You know what?

SPEAKER_00

You gotta lean into these things when people say cool things about you. And you know, and and honestly, man, like I was I had some jokes, I had a little bit of comedy. I wasn't like the most athletic guy. Like, my best friend grew up to be the franchise player of the Oakland Raiders. So I knew, like, okay, I'm not that. You got a name? Tyvon Branch. There you go. Tyvon Branch. Many years in. LA is my second home. Okay, yeah. Oakland Raiders, man. Yeah, it was crazy out there. It was dangerous. Vegas now. Vegas, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02

So, you know, aging myself a little bit, but go to Amazon today and purchase money management for beginners. A book for everybody, especially younger kids. Kids that get money don't know what to do with it. This is the best$20 you'll ever spend. We'll save you millions. That's right. I said millions of dollars if you start young and earn you the same.

SPEAKER_00

A M A-Z-O-N, Amazon. But yeah, but I was like next to, and he was and so also he was a track star. He he literally, when he went to the combine, um, Chris Johnson, the running back from the Titans, he ran the fastest combine 40. Tyvon was next.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

So he was that kind of, and you know, the Oakland Reddit, I think Al Davis was the owner. Yep, they were about speed. They they they uh scout speed. Yep, they got him, you know, and so get to the ball, baby. Get to the ball. And he and he would do it. He'll figure out how to finish. He would he would lead the lead and tackles, and he was, you know, he was he was a running back. But I'm but I'm saying, like, I knew, okay, I'm not that fast, I'm not that athletic. So, okay, and then I seen like street stuff happening with our other friends, his brothers, for example. I'm like, I don't want to be doing that. I don't want to risk my life and potentially be in prison. And then I ended up having to go to jail because you know, it was a fight, but I just knew like I'm not that. I want to go somewhere where I shine, and that was acting. But there was no act there. We there we had rappers, we had athletes, we nobody was acting, so I would hide that. Um, but I just knew I was not that, and I didn't want to, as much as I would kind of flirt with it and try to get the popularity from it, I couldn't, I didn't want to be there forever. I didn't want to be the guy, we're like 15, we're hanging out with 25 year olds. I'm like, you don't got nothing better to do, right? But hang out with us. Right. I think I'm cool. Like I was a freshman hanging out with seniors, so but I don't want to be you, right? You know, they're trying to recruit, they're trying to recruit the younger crew, right?

SPEAKER_02

And that's part of the problem. Do you see any bullets flying?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, for sure. For sure, man. And unfortunately, like been shot at. Um, you know.

SPEAKER_02

See, people don't even realize what a miracle that is. See, that's why I know, like, you're a special dude. Sure. You know, you got bullets flying at your head, sure, but you're here to talk about it. Yeah. Now you're talking about it, you're saying, listen, I got away from it. I got out of that trap. You know what I'm saying? And you were able to recognize it and not be afraid of it. I think a lot of kids today, they're just afraid, like they join gangs not because they're a gangster, yeah, but because they're afraid of it. You know what I'm saying? They're afraid of saying no.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

You know what I mean? Or they have the, you know, this persona, what a gangster really is. It's that power, right? You know, I'm I'm a gangster, I have power, and that's the only way to get power.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But there's a lot of other ways to get power.

SPEAKER_00

Man, there's so many, there's a thing called soft power. You know, and I got to learn about that later in life when I get to go to school. Yeah. You know, there's there's other ways to be power.

SPEAKER_02

You know what's power? Love is power. Sure. You know what I'm saying? Sure. You know, to be to be loved. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Wealth is power. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? You have wealth. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like you can do things without having to be that gangster.

SPEAKER_00

And that was the tough part, man. I felt like we were just brainwashed to think this is your only option. Granted, there were a lot of obstacles set up, you know, that we can we can talk about that. But at some point, we're adults, we're men, we gotta it everybody has a story. Everybody can tell you about this sad thing that happened to them, and it's like people don't care. Like at some point, you're gonna have to figure it out or move out the way.

SPEAKER_02

You know, that's what's great about this show is that you know, we're able to reveal, you know, some things that have happened in people like yourselves' lives.

SPEAKER_03

Sure.

SPEAKER_02

You know, that people don't realize. Sure. You know, going to jail. Yep. You know, you said you had an instant got in a fight, but what what created that and and what changed, how did that change you as a person?

SPEAKER_00

I would say honestly, what created that was again, where where I grew up, being light skinned, being kind of labeled like a pretty boy, there's soft, um You consider yourself pretty? Listen, I'm just I'm telling you what I consider myself, yeah. Muhammad Ali said it, yeah. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01

I was just doing a confidence check right there. I didn't want to see if you were confident or not.

SPEAKER_00

But see, but see, you you almost tugged at a string. Because it took me back to that negative connotation of, oh, you soft, you know, so I could I could run over you. And so because of that, I think I had to prove that I wasn't. And that was a part of what happened in that fight. Like I was with a couple of my friends from around the way, and a guy just like walked through. We it's like, imagine four guys walking down the street, and some guy like just walks in between you. Oh, yeah, kind of rudely, kind of on purpose. On purpose. You could easily, way easily go around us, especially if you respect us, because you don't want to like test that. Yeah, and then but then he kind of looked back, and I was like, well, yeah, and I just felt like he was posturing at us. And I was just a guy that sounds like every day it's ergy stuff. Well, I'm gonna tell you, too. Also, my uncle owns a boxing uh, so I was able to went to boxing, so it's actually you got some hands, you got some hands. I still got some hands, and he and and I just swung, dropped him, but he pulled out a knife, stabbed my buddy who I was just with yesterday. I hadn't seen him in a couple years. Uh um, sliced him across the forehead.

SPEAKER_02

First of all, that's good that you you saw him yesterday, so we know that he's a big one. Oh yeah, he's good. He's good.

SPEAKER_00

But imagine so at that time, I'm a freshman in college. I had gone my whole high school without getting arrested. I wait till I get to college to go to jail because I'm still in Syracuse now. Well, no, I was actually in New York City when this happened. So we had gone down, because now I've I'm in Syracuse University, so I'm meeting people from New York. I live in the neighborhood that they brought me to right then, right today. Like I live in Dykeman, which is uptown Washington Heights. Gotcha. But I let a I met a lot of people from Washington Heights. They're like, yo, Dexter, come to New York City. You can bring your boys with you. I bring them, I'm like, yo, wow, this is New York City. Imagine the first time, you know, we from Syracuse. And um, and you know, but we but we we ain't no punks, and now we've now we in New York City, and this guy thinks he just so it it was just it was just the craziest thing that when I think back on it, because that reaction that I have could have cost my friend his life. He was on parole, so that's why he went to prison. That's why he went to Rikers Island for a year. He wasn't supposed to be outside of Syracuse. But that decision to react like that, what if that what if you were to stab me? And I'm a guy that's like I was already acting on commercials, I was I was very like sensitive to acne. Like if I got one pimple, I would freak out. Like two pimples, uh mom, I got an audition, I got two. It would, it would he had a gash across his forehead, 33 stitches. Could have taken him out. Right. Um, but that's how I was reacting. I went back to the university, it was the last fight of, it was the last school of it was the last dance of the semester at Syracuse University. Gotcha. I'm cutting in front of those same friends in that brought me to New York City, they were in line waiting for me. So I'm kind of cutting the line because they're holding the spot for me. The football team happens to be the people I'm cutting. I turn around, we get into it, I drop them in front of the whole school. So now that becomes a huge problem because he's embarrassed. This guy's like a linebacker from Washington, D.C. So now they're running up on me on campus on multiple different occasions, but I wear a lot of jewelry, I keep a knife on me. I back him down twice. Like, you better keep your knife on you. I'm like, I do. That's if I got my jewelry on me, I got my knife on me. I'm like, you guys can be big men on campus and they would beat other people up. But I'm from here. I'm not gonna come to Washington, D.C. in disrespect. You're in my hometown, bro. I'm from here. So fortunately that worked out, but it almost got me kicked out of school. I was I was spiraling. Like I hadn't been reacting to things like that, but I was at a crossroads. I'm in college now. I'm kind of having like survivor's remorse because my friends are not in college or doing these kinds of things, they're going to jail, they're just doing the same things that they've been doing. Um, and it just kind of was a wake-up call of I'm gonna like blow it with my little temper. And I'm not even like tough. Like, I'm not gonna get paid to fight people. I'm not, I boxed, but I wasn't good amongst boxers. But if you've never boxed, I can probably handle myself with you, you know what I mean? But I just knew I was.

SPEAKER_02

Do you feel like that was something that maybe you did out of character? Just to kind of, because you had this hidden side of you in the inside, feeling like, man, everybody thinks I'm soft, everybody thinks I'm a pretty boy, and I have to prove that I can I can go ahead and throw fists if I need to, you know, type of thing. So this is my my opportunity for that?

SPEAKER_00

100%. Especially at that point now. I'm in school. So now I'm like a geek, a nerd. I'm in the acting program.

SPEAKER_02

Let me ask you real quick, when you say that, because there's some people out there that think the same freaking thing, that they're a geek. Do you really think that you were a geek or a nerd? Or did somebody say to you, hey, you're a geek or a nerd?

SPEAKER_00

You just get you get treated like a schoolboy, like you soft. Again, it was just another compounding uh feature that made me soft. I would love to be a nerd now with the understanding of what a nerd actually is. Yeah. Like Mark Zuckerberg is a nerd. Right, right. He's a nerd.

SPEAKER_02

Sure, sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

He's like the coolest person on the planet. Right. You know, Elon Musk is a nerd. Right. It's politics aside. Yep. You get what I'm saying? So now, with at this age, I uh, you know, but when I was that age, I didn't want I I wanted to be old, you know, sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.

SPEAKER_02

But they sting a little. Of course they sting. They sting a little bit. They sting, but you know what? It stings worse when you don't, you know, you don't let that bother you. It bothers a person more. And I'm saying that I'm saying this to the kids out there that are listening that have been picked on and bullied. Yep. Okay, it bothers people more when you don't react. And and it it doesn't bother you. They stop. Yep. It's when they know it bothers you and they see it bothers you, that's when they continue to grind you. They want that reaction. Yes, they want the reaction. So you know what? Sometimes no reaction is better. It it just they're like, ah, well, he ain't gonna get he ain't gonna give us anything back, so we just let it go.

SPEAKER_00

A thousand percent. Especially when you realize that you you think when you in like high school, you think you're gonna be there forever. You think these people are gonna be in your life forever. Right. So it their opinion of you matters so much to you. And as you mature, you get you begin to realize that, like, man, the less I I give people control of what of what they think of me bothering me, the more control I have over my life.

SPEAKER_02

You hit it right there on the nose. Hit it right there on the nose. Don't let them have that control. You know, I I've always even and I've even you know told told my son, like, don't worry what people think of you. They might be working for you someday. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, you got greatness ahead. Everybody's got greatness in them. Right. You know, and you never know when you're gonna put you're gonna pass them again. That's why I always say stay humble. You know what I'm saying? Because you know, you don't laugh at those when you're on your way up because you never know when you're gonna pass them again on the way down. That's a fact. You know what I mean? And and the world is a lot smaller than we all think. It really, really is. And it's so let me tell you that from advice from experience.

SPEAKER_00

And it's so interesting when you cross paths with these people again later in life and you went a different way.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But they went the way really a lot of times what you what you have is the followers, they're the cool kids, but they're following what's cool. They're doing the stuff fast, they're being grown fast. And you kind of like are an outlier, you you're not into that. But then you go to college and you become somebody and you learn how to do this thing, and it starts to work for you. And now when you see them again crossing paths, they're like, man, that was the way to go. Like you, you, you, you were actually on the on the path that we wish we were on. You know, and there was a there was a guy that I was with a couple days ago as well. I remember he was he was a he was a pretty like wild guy, cool guy, but he was just faster than everybody else. And went the street route. But then after a lot of prison and a lot of that hardship that comes with that life, I remember him saying, Man, being smart is the new gangster. I'm like, if that's you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02

If that's what's cool to you, you know, but but yeah, man, like you know, taking you back to that night when you know you got that first fight there and the knife came out. Yeah. Like what was your reaction? Here, here you see your friend just gets knifed. Like what what what how did that all end? I'm just curious. I I couldn't I couldn't believe that it was like it was almost in slow motion. I mean, do you do you go to your friend to try to help him or do you beat the hell out of this guy? Like, what do you got? What do you do?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I go to my his to see it happen. It when you see it now, it's just like a little bit of a scar. But in real time, his skin just like fell over. It was uh you'd have to be like in a hospital to see this kind of stuff and not throw up.

SPEAKER_03

Sure.

SPEAKER_00

Um, like like be used to it, be a doctor. I've never seen anything like that. And I'm just trying to like cover the bleeding. I give him my shirt, I'm trying to like cover the bleeding. That guy, and the guy that we were fighting, had people right behind him. So now they're coming, but then the police and the ambulance are coming. One of my friends that was in the fight kind of left. He was on parole as well. And so I but I couldn't leave my friend, like hurt like that. So he ended up going to the hospital. I went to jail in New York City, and eventually we come back together. Because I have that Syracuse University ID in my pocket, they treat me completely different. They pull his record, he's not even supposed to be out of town, he's been in jail, in prison, and stuff like that. They they, I mean, they talk to us different, they just treat you different. Right. Like I seen it happen firsthand. I was in my own pod for a while. He was in the pod with like a bunch of other people. We didn't know him. Then they put us all together. These guys that were in there, they were so comfortable in there. They were smoking weed in the pod. This was before weed was illegal, uh, was legal. They're smoking it in the jail. And the CEO comes by and she's like, Whoever's smoking that weed? I'm like, but those those guys explained to a T exactly what would happen. They said, Hey, what happened? What y'all in here for? Where y'all from? Syracuse, oh the the orange, my son mellow. Like they were so cool. Yeah, they're all the land. Yeah, they just another day for them, right? I'm like, yo, that's just threw away my life. Like, yeah, mellow. I was I was supposed to be on campus, like with Jerry McNamara right now, you know, and now I'm in here with you. But they were like, Oh, nah, you're gonna get ROR released on your own recognition. They breaking down the law to me, and exactly what they said, what happened, happened. I went to the judge on Monday. We had to sit, it was the weekend, right? Went to the judge on Monday. I went home, my friend went to Rikers Island. Um, it was just so many people in that pod. It was like a toilet right there, we all had to share with gnats flying around it. They gave us milk and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat. People were sitting on the floor. Get a moon pie though? Moon pies are good. I didn't get a moon pie. I don't I don't think I ate nothing they gave me. Man, I was just ready to see the judge.

SPEAKER_01

I'm in college, man, Your Honor.

SPEAKER_00

Let me out of here.

SPEAKER_01

We're judge Judy at.

SPEAKER_00

You know, um, give me another shot. But man, it was just like a very long ride home. My dad really got on me about that. And um, I just felt bad, man. I felt like it was because of me. Like that guy could have just walked through, and if I wasn't trying to like show off, nobody else swung first. It was me. So like I just I just felt like I I had a big part in that. And I it it it bothers me to this day. Um so if you can go back in time, would you change it? Because of what happened to my friend Sterling, um, I would. Um I would. Now a part of that's the first time I ever kind of really thought about it like that when you when you say that, and I answered it kind of quick, because in general, I feel like these type of things really build character. Like if I didn't have that happen, sometimes they say you needed it.

SPEAKER_02

You needed that to happen. I mean Because that changed that changed some of the some of the patterns in your life.

SPEAKER_00

It changed everything, it changed everything. I had you ever seen like scare straight? Oh yeah. So I was one of those kids that was picked to go on scare straight, not the show, the TV show, but the actual program. Gotcha. So I ended up going to like Auburn Maximum Security Prison as a as a kid that was at risk, running with gangs. And I was getting picked on the most, it felt like when we were there. You too pretty to be in prison. You're gonna be my girlfriend if I see you again. Like they were really getting at me. I didn't flinch because I know like I didn't do anything to be in here. This is a program, right?

SPEAKER_01

I didn't commit a crime. Oh yeah, am I?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I guess I'll we'll see when I see.

SPEAKER_01

You know, let me tell you what, crimes can be made as well.

SPEAKER_02

You know, the old thing, I'm innocent. Well, sometimes you're guilty till proven innocent. Sure. Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_00

You know, but you know, again, at that age, I'm with a group of guys that I'm trying to impress.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

I'm putting on. I'm putting on. That's where your active skills come down.

SPEAKER_01

That's where they didn't already doing it. You didn't know it. No, no, I was doing it.

SPEAKER_00

I was doing it, yeah, and um effective, you know. I was uh uh that was a part of I think the reason why I was hanging with those guys, wasn't really like that. I was putting on. Um, and proximity, we grew up together and stuff like that, but but seeing that in that way, it wasn't enough. And they say, like, sometimes it takes a feather for you to wake up, sometimes it takes a brick, sometimes it takes a truck. I think it took a brick for me. Like I had to do something. Okay, no, you you did something, that's why we're here. And you got your friend hurt, and there's real consequences, right? You know, so so because of that, you can't control it at that point. Yeah, I mean, but also being like I got cast, my first big TV project was uh When They See Us by A by Avery DuVernay on uh Netflix, and I played a guy who was in and out of prison a lot, that he had familiarity with the CO and and you know You felt like that might have been a little purpose. I mean, I certain I certainly drew on it, right? You know, I had I had been in and out of prisons before visiting people, but not like okay, close the gate, right? You know, that not that um but I just think bigger picture, it just sometimes you have to like fall on your face to really learn it. I'm one of those people like you could tell me, and sometimes I can see you fall in a ditch and I can swerve and avoid it. But sometimes I gotta feel it.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Yeah. It it becomes real then. It was real, and when it becomes real, then you again you can have you can actually make a choice of change the pattern and say, hey, this isn't what I don't like this feeling. I don't like being this person.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you know, and I and that's when I knew because that was probably important because so many other people would go in and out of prison and they wouldn't tell you the real. They wouldn't tell you that, like, yo, they had a hard time in there, and they were the guy that was getting beat up or worse and picked on, and and all of these bad things that happen. You just see people come in and come out bigger and tatted up and they look cool, right? And that's the story, right? So now I got to feel, if nothing else, just like okay, you need to be here and you can't move until I say you can move. You can eat when I say you can eat, you do what I say you do, right? And I have always been like a free spirit. I've I've lived on like four continents. Like I've been backpacking through South America, through Europe, through Southeast Asia.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

Like I value my wake up late because I'm because I'm a night owl. I I don't I don't work like traditional jobs anymore. Like I I very much value my liberty to do what I want to do. And that's why I want to be successful so that I can also allow other people to be able to do the things that they want to do.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Hi, I'm Phil Benamino, CEO and founder of Cost Plus Processing, the company that provides financial services to your business. We provide things such as POS systems, ATM machines, and check services. One of the biggest things that we strive ourselves here at Cost Plus Processing is our customer service. We are an A plus rated with the BBB customer service, and we're proud to say we're here in the United States with all of our customer service needs. One of the biggest programs that are out there today is our Google Pricing Pro, where you actually can offer your customers now a choice of how they want to pay. Do they want to pay with cash or do they want to pay with card? And if they pay with card, it actually helps you to absorb the card fees so you no longer have to pay the fees like you've done for many, many years. Costless processing aligns ourselves with some of the top POS companies out there in the industry today. For example, we have perfected the car dealership industry, and our dedicated team are equipped to manage a variety of online payment forms and financing options that merchants require in this advanced ecosystem of payments. If you have a restaurant, we're proud to be able to manage the ongoing difficulties that arise from this fast-paced industry, and you're looking for pay at the table where customers can easily swipe their cards, tap their cards, and make their payments with tip, and also have a choice of how they want to pay. We have the solutions for you here at Costco. We want to help other small business owners make their dreams come true from providing the best financial support. From barbershops to liquor stores, having the ability to take payments, schedule online, and make calculating tip sharing an easy task. Only helps business owners put more attention and money into what really matters the most. Also, cost plus processing is on the front end of AI. We can also provide you kiosk for your business. So customers can walk over to the kiosk and order anything that they want. Likewise, if you're having a problem getting employees in the kitchen to work, we can also provide you robots that will actually deliver your food straight to the customer. I want to thank you for the time that you took to learn a little bit about cost plus processing. And most importantly, why we are the future of merchant processing.

SPEAKER_00

You know, it's like we get, for all we know, uh maybe like 80 years, maybe let's say 100. Let's say we get 100 years.

SPEAKER_02

Well, the average male dies of 72 to 74. That's what I'm saying. That's statistics.

SPEAKER_00

I'm saying. But let's say you live in a blue zone. Let's say you live in Japan.

SPEAKER_02

Sure.

SPEAKER_00

Right? And 100 years is nothing. It's nothing. And then, you know, how I always wonder, like, how many of us know our like great, do you know your great grandfather's name?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, Samuel.

SPEAKER_00

A lot of people wouldn't though. Right. Okay. And you know you're an Italian. Italians are very family. But a bit of us, but you get what I'm saying? Like a lot of people wouldn't know their the name of their great grandfather. And that's you.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Like you, your son probably looked just like you. That's a version of you. Right. If you don't know it, who else will remember it? Right. I mean, you gotta be like George Washington for somebody to remember your name. Right. You know, so it's just like it goes by fast, man. I want to spend it doing what I love to do and figuring that out. Because even if it doesn't work out, worst case scenario, I spent most of my 100 years doing what I enjoy, right? Going for it. Amen. I can live with like, yo, I'm man, you know what? I went all out and it just didn't work out. I can't live with like, man, I could have had that idea, and then I didn't do it because this girl talked me out of it. She talked me into let's do this instead. Or this guy in this gang said, we can make some money. But that's not how I want to make money. I want to make money off this content.

SPEAKER_01

You get what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, 100%. 100%. I've been doing that, I can't and I don't my whole life. You know, and I tell people that all the time. Let somebody say that you can't do something, that should motivate you to go do it. That's your reassurance. If you're working, if you were wondering, I need a sign from God, the sign is when somebody tells you you can't do it. That's the sign. Yeah, he's not telling you not to do it, he's telling you prove somebody wrong. Yeah. Because it's your dream, not theirs. You know what I mean? So at the end of the day, you write your story and you write your book. Yep. So that's it. Now, you know, you went to college, you end up with two master degrees. Let's talk about this real quick. What sure? What'd you master in? What you know, what did you end up going to? Why did you get two masters? What was your purpose, man?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so honestly, I went to Syracuse University. I auditioned to get into the school of drama, right? VPA visual performing.

SPEAKER_02

You knew you wanted to be an actor.

SPEAKER_00

Knew I wanted, well. My I spent most of my college and even some of after my college years trying to change a decision with my mind that my heart had already made. Like in my spirit and soul, I knew like when I was performing, I was lit up in a way that was just unmatched. It was no other way for me to get that feeling. And performers know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_02

Sure. Um but just some of that feeling because you're something that you're really not, but you can you can get outside of yourself, you can get outside of your comfort zone, you could be what you really want to be because you don't believe in yourself being that way.

SPEAKER_00

I don't want to say at the end there where you say you don't believe in yourself being that way, but I think it's everything else you said, and it's just an opportunity to be different things.

SPEAKER_02

Opportunity. Like, I'm like, that's a better way of saying that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, like I'm I'm curious by nature, right? So I want to know what it's like to be a firefighter. I don't really want to inhale the smoke, right? You know, shout out to the heroes out there. Yeah, absolutely. Right? Yeah, but like I want to know what it's like to go down the pole and save somebody like because of because I'm a guy, right? I'm a guy. I want to go and save the day.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You get what I'm saying? I want to be, I want to, I want you to call on me when you when you're in the need. Sure. And I want to come through. But then there's certain things, but also I want to make like millions of dollars and I want to live until I'm 100, and I and I know that there's certain like risks that come with being a or you know, or so I want sacrifices. You know what I mean? Somebody gotta go up in the World Trade Center.

SPEAKER_01

That's right.

SPEAKER_00

Somebody gotta do it.

SPEAKER_01

That's right.

SPEAKER_00

I don't want to do it, yeah. But a part of me wants to know what it feels like to be that guy when you wake up in the morning, like I'm willing to risk it all for a stranger on the street. And I love my wife and I love my kids and I love my life.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well said, man. Well said. You get what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's what being an actor is. Yeah, you get to go and do that. People on different levels. You got method actors, you got people that get into it in different ways. Yeah, but if you always wanted to be like a cowboy and Yellowstone, Taylor Sheridan call, you get what I'm saying? Now you get to throw on those boots you got, you get to get in that mode.

SPEAKER_02

Now you got to be in some some cool stuff. What were some of the actors, some of the roles you played?

SPEAKER_00

Oh man, a bunch. You know, I like I started acting in the sixth grade. You know, I got my first lead role in a play. Um, and that's when I knew. Like, I, you know, I had a friend of mine. We were going to the lunchroom in like the third grade. He didn't say anything. We had a field trip later that day, and we we get to the field trip, and he's one of the lost boys flying around Neverland. And Peter Penn. I'm like, yo, Aaron, you ain't said nothing about you was a lost boy. They had him strung up. I'd never seen anything like it. And it was my friend, like my classmate. I was like, that like I want to be up, I want to go do that. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01

I want to go to Neverland.

SPEAKER_00

Um, so I got a chance to, I mean, you name it, man, Shakespeare, TV, film, commercials, um, a lot of it. And that unfortunately, a lot of times I had with the TV stuff, well, that's not true. Because I got to do like, I got to be Shirley Chisholm's campaign manager, which was cool. Um, Miss America, Kate Blanchant, Roseburne. I get to just to be around these people, man, that are just like phenomenal actors.

SPEAKER_02

Um who's the first actor you were around that was famous that you were like pinching yourself? Like in my career, is this really and acting and working? Yeah, yeah, working with.

SPEAKER_00

That's a good question. There has been a few, honestly, not to like say it like that, but the one that that strikes me was Miss Felicia Rashad, man, on Broadway. Yeah. You know, because the way it happened was it was really in incredible. You know, I was backing up two of the leads. Cosby show, right? The Cosby Show. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, Miss Cosby. I mean, I mean, first of all, she's just such a she's just such a professional. Like, she's warming up in the back. She's a dancer also by trade, so she's stretching ways that like you can't do, and you're like, you can do that, yeah. But she's getting ready. And then when I've when I'm going to meet her, I'm kind of trying to think like, what am I gonna say when I'm meet her? Like, I'm on stage with her, I'm about to go on the stage and perform with her. And she kind of meets me backstage, and I'm like, I'm kind of like doing that, and she kind of does it back, yeah. Like, kind of give her her, like she was giving it back. I'm like, and you know, through the grace of God, man, I did a I did a good job to the point where like I gotta stand in ovation. Congrats, you know, because I was kind of it was like put on the spot, like it was like, you ready now? Go. And I went and and then she asked me, she was like, What are you doing? Like, so let's say we were doing that show from like December to February. She was like, What are you doing in March? Because I'm this was I just from being on stage with her one time, but she directs, she she's like a big thing at Howard University. I don't know if she's like a dean or whatever, but she she directs and not just acts. And um hopefully I'm up for something with her soon too. God gonna take care of it. But um she was like, Yeah, I'm I'm directing something in LA in March. We'll talk. And um, and unfortunately, what I think ended up happening was something that I'm working on, and I'm not uh ashamed of it because we all have our things. Um, there was a couple times, so let's say like our call time, let's say the show is at 7 p.m. And as an actor, so you gotta beat her at 5 30. That's your call time. There was like a couple times, and I wasn't the only one, but it was a couple, but she's she's really about it. And I know, I know like her sister Debbie. I don't know her, but I have a friend who knows her sister Debbie Allen, who's a huge deal. They're really about punctuality. I'm sure you probably about that, I can imagine. So, and I know it's in this, and I don't mean it to be in a disrespectful way. I had a lot going on, but there was like two or three times that I came at like 5 35 at 5 40. And one of the times was like my birthday, so it was very noticeable that like I was 10 minutes late, and I was like, I mean, the trains do, I I don't live a lot of you guys live right here in Manhattan. I live at the end of Brooklyn. Sounds like an excuse. It was, and it was, which are used, which are used to build monuments of nothing. That's right. And those who specialize in them rarely amount to much. But my thing is you learn from again learning. She she didn't like that. Yeah, and I and I respect it now, and and I get it. I'm better about it now, Mr. Shah. So much better. Um, but at that time, you learn from it. I hope so.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well, you did. You just shared it with her, you just told herself. Yeah, like you did.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, you know, and and but uh, but again, one of those things that, like, man, sometimes you gotta learn it the hard way when sometimes you don't have to, but for me, I guess that's been my story a little bit.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you know, it's funny because you know, I'm a Vince Lombardi guy, right? You know, 10 minutes early, you're never late, type of thing. And growing up, you know, a big Italian family, of course. Of course, my father taught me football growing up when I was young. Discipline when I was three, yeah, and it was all about discipline. And you weren't gonna be late. And if you were late, you were accountable. Yeah, and whether it meant running, whether that mean laps, whether I mean like there was a punishment. Yeah, and you realized that you didn't want that, yeah. So you made a decision not to be late, right? You know what I'm saying? So Again, you learn from it. Failure is a thing that you learn from. Yeah, man. You don't get comfortable with it, you learn from it. Yep. Yep. So yeah. You know, acting obviously been a big, big part. Theater and acting. Like, tell me what you like more. Do you like theater more than acting?

SPEAKER_00

Um, theater more than like film. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so I started, and I think most people would argue you you home your skill and your craft in a theater because you can do it so many times. Like, we could imagine us doing this same podcast, just me and you, if we were co-hosting this for three months, eventually we're gonna be finished each each other's sentences, and we're gonna have a chemistry, it's gonna be and we get to try things, we get to play a little more on a TV set, depending on who you are. If you're Al Pacino, you know, you're number one on a call sheet. Yeah, so you do what you want to do, and you get as many takes as you need. You probably don't need as many because you're Al Pacino, but if you wanted them, but like, so let's say um it's us three, you and I are in the scene with Al Pacino. So when the camera's on him, talking to me. You talking to me. You talking to me, talking to me. Okay, it'd be like with the camera be on him, it'll be so we'd be here behind the camera, or let's say if it was us, Al Pacino would be behind the camera, and we would get you know, assume saying we're about at the same level, we get about two takes at it. Right. If you don't got it after that, we're moving on. If if Mr. Pacino need five, ten, however many he needs, sure, he's not going to, but they're gonna take their time. We're gonna get, we're gonna make sure because it's about our Pacino. We're more or less here to support him. He's the moneyman. He's the moneyman.

SPEAKER_01

He's getting paid. He's a he's here to sell the movie. That's right. So we're gonna cater to him. We're gonna make sure.

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely. There's a lot of that. You see a lot of that in the in the backgrounds too, you know, some of these prima donnas, they want to call them, because they require certain things on set and they want things because they want to be, you know, noticed and they want to feel that VIP, like you need me, you paid me, you want me, you know. Of course.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I'm sure you see it in everything, right? That's in everything. Um, I ain't gonna say no names, but um, I was just shooting a film like a week or two ago, and uh a friend of mine, and I was number one on the car sheet.

SPEAKER_03

There you go, there you go.

SPEAKER_00

Shout out to your boy, but um, but there was somebody who is you know up there, and she was like, So, one of the things people do, like after we do a take, they'll watch the gate, they'll watch, they'll want to see the playback. Some some actors want to see it, some actors don't.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Um, but this particular actress, she wanted to see everyone, and it was a huge set. It was a lot of people involved. This was so time is money. Right. And she would not let them move on because she wanted to see every scene, every take. She wanted to approve it. Like, nope, that's not good enough. I don't know, I don't like that. And then 12 takes later, okay, we can move on. I mean, it could be annoying, especially like if you have extras and people are paying their dues. I've been an extra. Some people just dare to be on set with Al Pacino or whoever. Right. Um, but it's like, you know, the crew, these people are working twice as long as you are as an actor.

SPEAKER_02

You know, you know, I have a whole new appreciation for that. I was actually in a movie last year. So then Blood Money 2. That's right. Okay, the Viper, baby, right here. That was a sub role, right? Yeah. Let's go. So um, you know, and you don't realize that's a camera angle. That's a camera angle. That's a camera angle. Like, and and what goes in to the behind the scenes. All people do is they watch the final product, yeah, but they don't see what it takes. And boy, much respect to all those in the back. Because they're the movie makers. Yeah, they're the ones that should have the money. The actors are the front, so they get paid. But the reality is without those people behind the scenes and the edits and getting the right angles and the lighting proper. And yeah, you know, you it does. You sit on set, you could wait 45 minutes, hour and a half before you go out there and and spend, you know, 30 seconds. You know what I mean? Type of thing. Yeah. And you better be ready for your 30 seconds.

SPEAKER_00

Be ready for your 30 seconds. Because, you know, people have been out there. So like a lot of my call times a couple weeks ago was like 6 a.m. That means the crew's been there since like three at the at the latest.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You know, getting everything ready. So, you know, you just want to come and be a professional. Everybody wants you to win, you know, everybody wants you to do well. So you you you stop like seeing that and you just kind of like lock in on what you're doing. But um, but yeah, you get divas, man, in a lot of different ways. I try to be cool. Uh, you know, I'm not I'm not at that level where it's like I can be a diva anyway if I wanted to. But there are certain when you get there, are you gonna be a diva? I don't think so. Yeah, bro. I don't think so, man. I'm I'm honestly like who I am. Get the job done. I want to do, I want to do good work, I want to, I'm a joy to be around, and I want to be. Like, I I I've that's what I'm told, and that's I want everybody to have fun. I don't I don't I want everybody to enjoy you know our time together. Yeah, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02

Those are great goals, yeah. For real.

SPEAKER_00

I mean it. Yeah, I don't want to be tripping on nobody, and I don't I'm not that way.

SPEAKER_02

That's good, that's good stuff. Um, you know, I also realized I was told that you're in a in a in a in a a game show. It's called The Floor. Tell us a little about the floor, and how the heck did you get into a game show? Like, why you? I want to win some money, quarter million dollars.

SPEAKER_01

Why not? Pick your boy Whamben, I'll come do it. You know what I'm saying? Let's go. Vinny the Viper. That's right, Vinny the Viper show up. Yo, man, honestly, if you really want to go, I kind of have some content. Hey, let's go. Put me on.

SPEAKER_00

I'm in. It's not a bad experience, man. Um, it was a lot of fun, and it was it was the content, man. And that was one of the early things that happened where I was like, wow, like having a platform is pretty cool. And that's why I want to, you know, offer different things to help other people build theirs if they if they want to. That's awesome. Uh, it's not something, especially for actors, like you don't sign up to be an influencer or a content creator, and so I get I get that argument of it. You you want to act and you want the work to be there, but you also gotta you don't gotta do anything. But if you want to have longevity, it's nice to be adaptable and to be able to pivot because we never know. We we see ourselves doing certain things, but we don't know how things are gonna shake out, right? And it's just more than one way to skin a cat, right? So for me, I like I said, I started doing the content, it started doing it started on TikTok. That's where Judge Reed the Mob Boss blew up.

SPEAKER_02

And um, you know, I gotta ask because when you say blow up, when did you really look? And you look at things and going, wow, you know, like yeah, people really dig this stuff. Yo, I you know what I mean. I'll tell you what. And was it something that you really dig doing too, or was it like, well, because they dig it, I'm gonna start digging it more. See, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_01

So that was the thing, right? So a couple weeks in, I think you want to be a mob boss. I think you don't want to do a boss. Don't want to be a mob boss. That's right. Come on now.

SPEAKER_00

Especially like I got the genetic, you know, background type of thing, which works out for me in ways that are often people don't know. People don't know that until I tell them. Yeah, no, who knows your halftime? Right. Come on. You you is that uh what do you call it when somebody's like um not plagiarism, but like doing something that they shouldn't be doing? Like they're fake. They're they're fake. Yeah, there's another word people they used to say, um it'll come to me when I ain't thinking about it. But um, like, nah, I'm I'm I'm valid to be Italian and whatever this makes me saying like I'm ripping off Italians. What is it called? Man, it's on the tip of my tongue.

SPEAKER_02

Anyway, um but I don't know, let's see. Meatballs or sausage?

SPEAKER_00

I like meatballs.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, you're Italian. I just checking, man.

SPEAKER_00

Whoa, man, I ain't know it's gonna be a buck with gonna be a black wheel.

SPEAKER_02

Threw it out there for you.

SPEAKER_00

Um, but you know, like I said, when you when I first committed to going consistent on posting every day with TikTok, a couple weeks in I went viral. I got a lane that I didn't want to um take. You know, I felt like it was demeaning to it was a it was uh a school teacher, black guy, and uh well, he was a staff member. I don't know if he was a teacher. He worked in the school, and it was um a student, a a female student, maybe in like the eighth grade, and they were arguing it was a bad argument, and they both look bad. Perfect storm if you want to go viral, because as a teacher, I can go right down the middle. Who do you think was wrong? Now I get you arguing in the comments, you know, it don't matter what side you're on, you feed them out, you feed in my post. And so it was kind of that sort of a lane where I would have had to be purposely, I don't want to call it rage bait, but it was it was close to it, right? To where it's like you you can just get people arguing, and that's kind of like an algorithm hack. But I learned a lot from it.

SPEAKER_02

It's funny that you say that because a lot of people don't know that, and sure, and it and it's true, like social media is meant to be social, and and and the algorithms pick that stuff up now. They want comments, they want people talking in community, whether it's good or bad, like you said.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_02

Um, you know, you probably heard you know, John Bobbitt was actually on my podcast. And I don't know if you remember John. Do you remember what happened to John Bobbitt?

SPEAKER_00

No.

SPEAKER_02

Well, he had his penis cut off, his wife cut it cut his penis off way back. So he had like sewed on and yeah, he had to put it back on, and he ended up doing porn afterwards to prove it still worked and everything else. And you know, he was on the show and he talked about it, but yeah, a lot of controversy like that. Like there's clips of him, people are still arguing on a day-to-day basis, you know, over it and what kind of person he really is. And they should have left his penis somewhere in the hills, and somebody, you know, then they come in, they chime back and forth. So it it's unfortunate because the guy's a human being, right? You know what I mean? And it's uh you know, people don't think of you know that was your private part, and so I'm like, how you gonna feel about it all? You know what I mean? Regardless of what he may have done or may not have done, right? You know what I'm saying, to to quote unquote deserve it, you know what I mean? Does anybody really deserve it? That was the argument, oh, yeah, whether he deserved it, yeah, exactly. So you know they were claiming that he cheated and you know he was with another woman and she caught him, so therefore she went and just sliced that shit off, you know, and stuff. So but wow to say the the to say what I'm saying kind of piggyback of what you're saying is is the controversy for some reason is a good thing. Some people social media.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, you can build that way, but again, you have to think about I always want to think about it as like I want my brand to have longevity. I'm not looking for viral, I'm not trying to chase trends and just go viral just for the sake of going viral. Right. I want to build a brand that um is my own, that has integrity, that stands for something. Yeah, you know, I want to do more with it than just make make videos. Like I want to have an impact and I want to help people. So I do have to be, and I make mistakes, and sometimes I may swear sometime, and people don't. Some of my followers, I have like a wide audience, so some people are everybody likes Judge Judy. Right. So I don't want I ain't know you cursed. All right, I'll slow down on the cursing. I didn't know that that was I that's how I talk, but I get so I'm learning it as I go and I'm transparent about it.

SPEAKER_02

But the reality is listen, you're not gonna make everybody happy. Like there's true too. There are gonna be haters for a reason, right? And I and I tell people, you know, the haters that are they're hating on you, they're just fans that are misunderstood. Right. That's what they are. Let's just come on what it is, right? Because they're still watching. That is deep. No, that is actually pretty profound. Yes, it's it's a hundred percent. They are fans, and they're just confused. You know what I'm saying? They're confused fans.

SPEAKER_01

They don't know what to do with this. Yeah, I don't want to love you because they love you. I'm not trying to add on to that. That's right. But at the same time, I can't stop watching you. Correct.

SPEAKER_00

Somebody was like, what you do is when you have when you have those people in your comments, you say, you go reply to them, yo, get out of my DMs. And they're like, I'm not on your DM, and they're gonna kick me. Right. And it just helped feed the out, feed the post, feed the algorithm. Um, but yeah, now like to answer your question with the Judge Judy, um, I knew kind of what I was looking at. I had a couple viral different videos. When the Judge Judy went, it went like the first one is still like my biggest one on TikTok. So it did like five million on five something million on TikTok, and it was happening fast. And and so I was like, oh, okay, I like this because I can act, I can perform, I'm really good at not to be toot my own horn, but I'm good, I I know this mob stuff. Like I don't have to go in like that. That's what one of the things with an actor is an actor. Yeah, it's like the stuff you know, you don't gotta focus on. Focus on the stuff that you're not that you're not familiar with, right? Right. Um, so I don't have to focus on Syracuse. I know Syracuse, right? But Georgia and L. Okay, this is a little new. I gotta focus. Let me focus on that. Right. Um, so I knew it was, and I knew it was a wealth of uh content. Like I knew she had volumes of material and I could have fun with it. I was I was trying, I travel a lot, so I was like traveling, so as soon as it pops, you can do it anywhere I could do it anywhere. Now I'm a boss on the move. You get what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. And then and then people started reaching out. Like, I'm cool with the stenographer on the new show, Judy Judy Justice. Okay, shout out to Whitney. Yeah, uh, I I go out to Calice, come to my house, meet my husband. We go to she take me to the the Rams 49ers game. We got season tickets, we go to the game, meet the producers. I was going um with the producers. I my next trip to LA, a different trip. Now I'm chilling with the producers that Whitney introduced me to. Let's go to this jujitsu Gracie. He's like a big deal. If you're in LA, you know Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Let's go to jujitsu. I'm like, you know, I and I I didn't know all of that, but I just knew that like um it could be it's I could have some fun with it. Sure, I could have some fun with this. And um, and Judge Judy commented like on episode three.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, what'd you say?

SPEAKER_00

So, so like in the first one, it went really cease and desist. No, well, later on, there we go, there we go. We started, you know. I don't know. Let's hear it. Come on, it's different versions of the stories. But I've spoken to some lawyers, so it went on TikTok. TikTok is fine. On um, like Meta. Shout out to Meta. You know, I got nothing but love for you, Mark. I already talked about you. Um it was going, it was going pretty well. And people were saying, oh man, that's how you know you're getting big. Because uh CBS Paramount did send us a they blocked us for one of our videos. And we kind of made a moment of it. It was cool. I think like, you know, there's certain ways to again let it be known because you can do parodies, you can use different content and repurpose it. Um, but you just have to kind of know what to write on the videos. There's certain like laws that were passed, section 107, not to bore you, but you can look it up. Um, that you have the right to like repurpose content. You could talk about it, we you know, as long as I'm not um just doing the exact thing, right? Which I which I was able to prove that I wasn't. Um, but that came later. But so so look looking at them comments, people were like, yo, you need to make this a series. That's where the idea came from. You know, shout out to the mob. Um they they came up with that, they liked the video, they said to make a series. I was like, okay, two, three episodes later, and and we have some we had some momentum. We were going, they were like, Man, the comments were like, it would be it would be so great if Judge Judy, they were always saying, if Judge Judy saw this, it would be so cool. I was like, yo, Judge Judy seeing this is my mission. Judge Judy replied to me, mission accomplished. That was like episode three. So now I'm like, all right, I had plans for the weekend, plans canceled. We got something. Right. We got the stamp of approval from Judge Judy, dog. We gotta work. We gotta work. So I did like eight episodes that day, and I was looking for the right one to show that she commented because on TikTok, you know, you can show the comment. Right. And I picked a pretty good one. I think it was, I mean, the video went. I don't know if it was because of her comment or if the video was good. I think it was maybe a little bit of both. But and once and once people saw that, now they're like, oh man, you're you're the guy, you're the mob boss, it's official. Judge Judy's approved it. So now they're like, all right, so now we got to get you on the show. So you gotta see you, you gotta get Sarah, her granddaughter, and this person and that person. I'm like, all right, well, let's let's team up and get them.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And then it just so happened, Whitney found me on Instagram. Long story, because I actually found her first, but she found me. She reposted it. But you have to with those lip syncs, you have to know how to edit them. You can't just go right from TikTok to Instagram, it'll be off. You could it'll be noticeably off. The words won't match your lips.

SPEAKER_02

Are you doing all your work work yourself, or you got an editor doing this? I don't know. I'm still I'm I'm doing everything. You're doing everything.

SPEAKER_00

I gotcha. Gotcha. Respect. But um, but once I figured that out, because I was like, damn, she posted one, she reposted, which was great, but it's better than that. And she she liked that one, which was great, but it it's it's actually like a pretty accurate lip sync, and that doesn't look like it. So then I fixed it, and then we started DMing and talking, and now we like friends.

SPEAKER_02

But but yeah, it was just you and George Friends, you tight. Not yet, not yet.

SPEAKER_00

We're working on it, and so this is the thing. So she's at season 49 of doing her show, uh-huh, and everybody wants her to you can come back and do 50. Right. I might as well do the 50.

SPEAKER_01

Sure.

SPEAKER_00

But I don't know. She's got like other shows, like her families are involved. I think her son is like doing a show. She and so I don't know if she's gonna come back and do 50, but we had it kind of set up if she did. Yeah, so we'll see. We'll we still may well you got plan B.

SPEAKER_02

If she doesn't do 50, you got Judge Mathis out there, right?

SPEAKER_00

You know, I mean, people want me. People want me to get on the math. I mean, the thing is, we could still do Judge Judy, but we want to get Judge Judy in one. Sure. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, that would be key. And people be like DMing me.

SPEAKER_02

That's like a Saturday night live sketch right there.

SPEAKER_00

I know, that's what I'm saying. Like, I wanted to do it in a courtroom, but like if I could meet her at a lunch somewhere.

SPEAKER_02

I could see it. I could see it. Um I love it, yeah. So you know what? We never did really talk about the floor, the game. Oh, we had a floor because we were talking about it. We went there, and I don't want the viewers to miss out on that piece. Trust, tell real quick, tell how that all happened and how that came to play. Sure, so what that game show's all about.

SPEAKER_00

Because you get shot at winning$250,000, and even more, because every episode there's a chance to win money if you have like the most territory. So for those who don't watch, because I've never I don't want to say that, but most people don't know what the floor is. I've never met somebody that's like, oh, you're gonna be on the floor. Yeah, okay. I love well now because I posted it, some people have commented, but when I talk to people that I know, they don't know the floor. It's in season five. It's they say it's the biggest game show on Fox. So it'll premiere Wednesday, I think at 8 p.m. on Fox.

SPEAKER_02

It's a wham bam Wednesday, baby. That's wham bam Wednesday. Just think of that way. Wham bam Wednesday.

SPEAKER_00

That's it. Um, so basically, like there's a hundred categories, right? So let's say my my category, I'm an expert in water bottles. I'm an expert. Your category is um smartphones, okay, right? And we have a square. Think of like a cement block that has a square. So this is my square, you're right next to me. There's somebody in front of me, behind me, depending on where you are on the floor, all around me. So let's say the randomizer chooses me. And my category, my expertise is water bottles, but I gotta choose somebody around me to battle them and their expertise. So yours will be mobile phones, let's say Michelle's here and hers are like flights and airlines and Rocco's behind me, and his is rap music. Okay. Right? Yeah. Uh Rod wave.

SPEAKER_02

Um He is a Rod Wave man. Right? So he is his number one fan. I ain't gonna lie. Rod, if you're listening, get the boys some some backstage meet and greets, man.

SPEAKER_00

I heard he went to two of the same shows back to back in Atlanta. Oh, yeah. Same show. And he said he loved both of them. Um, but um, so I would have to choose who I want to battle. Now, I could just do it based on like, I know phones more than you. Or um, I just think Michelle is nervous. Not that she should be nervous, but I'm just saying, like, hypothetically. Right. Like, whatever it is. Who do you battling over? Like, what are you doing? I gotta know phones better than you. Okay. So, so questions, questions, so the catch-right. So pictures will come up and it'll be like iPhone. Ah, gotcha. Android.

unknown

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00

So you'll see it and I'll see it. But I wouldn't do well on that show at all. It's a fun, but you get a little well, it's not really. It's it's tough too, because depending on how it shake out, you might be prepping for these people, but then the show done developed. Now you're battling somebody and their sh their category is yacht rock. Yeah. And you don't know what yacht rock is. Oh, I do. I love rock. Okay, you do, but this, but the hypothetical person don't know nothing about it. And so now you gotta battle like yacht rock, or you gotta battle Rocco and Rod Wave, yeah, and when you don't have a chance. Right. So, but if you so you so if I take you, take On you, I beat you. Now I get your square, your character. I don't like the way you said that. Let me let me rephrase it. Let me rephrase it. If I had to battle you because I gotta battle somebody.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't mean to come back to you that way. I'll be honest. You the first person that if we're gonna do a mob boss, you might be the you might actually play the boss. I'm the boss. You got more lines, though.

SPEAKER_02

I appreciate you. Well, listen, you know what? This type of the uh the the part of the show, I should say, that we like to do some rapid questions, some rapid fire questions. All right, so you tell me which thing comes to your mind first, what's more important to you, how you feel about it. All right, you ready? I'm ready. Discipline or motivation? Discipline, Netflix or social media social media, social media, or rapid, social media. Social media, he goes. Loyalty or money? Domping the boss. Loyalty. One word that describes your past. Triumphant. One word that describes who you are today. Inspired. What are you cher what are you chasing right now? Legacy. Football or basketball? Football. Snow skiing or the beach. Beach. Love or career. Career. Love or health. Or I'm sorry, wealth or health.

SPEAKER_00

Health.

SPEAKER_02

Creating or talent. Say it one more time. Create creator, creating or talent?

SPEAKER_00

Creator.

SPEAKER_02

Creator. All right. If you had to face one judge, who? Judge Judy or Judge Mathis? Judy. And why? I'm the mob boss. Ah, there you have the bug. There you are. He's the mob boss. Well, listen, Dexter, man. It's been a pleasure getting to know you today, man. I know we need to go deep in this. Um, anything you want to say to the viewers before you go?

SPEAKER_00

Uh, yeah, honestly, thank you for having me, man. This has been um a great experience. I appreciate the invite. And um, you know, just kind of if you have a dream, you know, in my opinion, it's worth you exhausting every option, every um rock being turned over um to to to crawl, fight, and scratch for your dream, because the the feeling of getting closer to it is just to me one of the best feelings you can experience in this world. So if you have a dream, uh find a way to keep breathing life into it and be creative and and don't take no for an answer.

SPEAKER_02

Well, there you have it, folks. You heard it right there from Dexter himself. You know what? Don't ever take no for an answer because of no means K N O W. You need to know more. That's about it. And fight for those dreams. And as your boy Wham Bam always says, if your life was a movie, would it be worth watching? And if the answer is no, stop being ordinary and start being extraordinary. Till next Wednesday, baby, stay positive and keep testing negative.