ROB
Hello. Hey! How are you?

ROBI
I’m well. How are you?

ROB
I am doing well. Thank you for coming.

ROBI
Yeah. You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.

ROB
Well no problem. So what time is it there? You’re in LA, right? 1:30?

ROBI
Yeah, it’s 1:30. Where are you?

ROB
Cincinnati.

ROBI
Okay. So you guys are Central Time?

ROB
Eastern.

ROBI
“Eastern,” yeah.

ROB
Yep.

ROBI
Cool.

ROB
Things going well in your world? This is a busy time really for… It seems just a pivotal moment in kind of entertainment in Hollywood. Is it?

ROBI
Yes. So everything started getting back up and going, I’d say, toward the beginning of the year, just a little after, with Tyler being the first… you know, creating his bubble and procedures and protocols and everybody else kind of following suit -- Tyler Perry. It has been non-stop. But it never really slowed down for us, so interestingly. You know, where everything else kind of shut down, we kept working. Not that we were in production but things were still trafficking. We’ve been working remotely for over a year now.

ROB
Yeah. I’m curious. I’ll definitely talk to you about that. So I’ll give you a quick introduction and then we’ll just get started.

ROBI
All right.

ROB
Really informal and just go from there.

[START -- 00:02:59]

ROB RICHARDSON
Welcome to Disruption Now. I’m your host and moderator, Rob Richardson. With me is Robi Reed. Honored to have her. She is a legend and a titan in the industry in Hollywood. She’s a veteran. She’s been around for some time -- though I can’t tell. She looks great.

ROBI
Oh thank you.

ROB
Oh you’re welcome. You’re welcome. -- She is an expert talent and casting director -- Emmy-winning casting director.

You’ve discovered a lot of people -- Halle Berry, my first crush, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Foxx. You also have many movies -- School Daze, 125 episodes of In Living Color, which I still think, by the way, is the funniest show ever. I always thought they were funnier than Saturday Night. Not that I don’t like Saturday Night Live. I just thought In Living Color was just the best.

ROBI
Yeah.

ROB
I am honored to have you here. I’ve grown up watching a lot of things that I didn’t know you were behind in helping create. I’m a big fan of yours now that I know.

ROBI
Well thank you. Thank you. Just to correct just a couple of things, I didn’t discover Sam but have been part of some of his most, I’d say, groundbreaking roles -- “Jungle Fever.” But discoveries for me, I would say, Jamie Foxx…

ROB
Yeah, that’s a big one.

ROBI
…Derek Luke. I’ll share Rosie Perez with Spike.

ROB
Okay.

ROBI
So there were quite a few. I’ve been in this game for a long time. I think a lot of folks can look to me saying, “Well maybe that was my first audition” or “my first job…”

ROB
Right.

ROBI
…“first movie role” so on and so on.

ROB
Like you said, “Discover” is kind of a loaded word anyway -- I mean help cultivate, gave more opportunities, no matter what.

ROBI
Oh yeah.

ROB
I think before a lot of these folks were household names, you did see the talent in them from what I can tell…

ROBI
Oh yeah.

ROB
…and cast them. “Discover,” like I said, is a big word but you did see the talent and gave them opportunities and roles which makes a big difference.

ROBI
Mm-hmm.

ROB
I actually read something about you and said that you knew you wanted to be a casting director at 15…

ROBI
Yeah.

ROB
…which is really early to know what you want to do. And you’ve been blessed enough to follow that journey…

ROBI
Yeah.

ROB
…because your brother was a child actor. Correct?

ROBI
Correct. Yeah, he was. My brother... [Crosstalk] Go ahead. I’m sorry.

ROB
No, go ahead. Go ahead.

ROBI
My brother was a child actor. He started in commercials then he did television. I would accompany him on his auditions. While my parents were parking the car, I would run inside with him, sign him up.

And one day, I just asked the receptionist who the person was behind the door that he was going to meet with and she said, “Oh that’s the casting director.” And I said, “Well what does the casting director do” and she explained it to me. I was a teenager and it just was like a light bulb, you know.

ROB
Yeah.

ROBI
And I said to myself, “I can do that.” At that time, I was an avid reader and I could not get through a book without putting actors in the place of the characters that I was reading. Like before I could finish the first chapter, I had to see that, which I did not know at that time, I was just prepping myself for what was to come -- you know, that was casting.

ROB
Wow.

ROBI
Yeah. By the time I was out of college, I pursued it. So I had an early start.

ROB
So what advice would you give your younger self? It could be maybe at that time when you're 15 or maybe when you're just getting out of college pursuing it, whatever you want to take, whatever stage in your career. What advice would you give your younger self, looking back now with the experience you have? That's the first part of the question. And then what advice would you ignore given your experience that you have right now?

ROBI
My younger self, I think to really… that it would be okay to take more chances. I guess really not be… I wouldn't say there was a fear of failure but always wanting to get it right and it's okay not to.

ROB
Yeah.

ROBI
I would tell myself that that would be okay -- more of that -- more of that fearlessness.

ROB
Do you think you would have listened?

ROBI
Huh?

ROB
Do you think you would have listened?

ROBI
If I knew then what I know now, I would have listened. [Laughter] Yeah. I think, too, back on some of the things I did, and the most of it was because I didn't know any better, that really was an act of real confidence and fearlessness. And as I got older, I feel like that began to kind of… You know, something else took over. I took more precautions.

ROB
Sounds like you want to tell your older self to tell your younger self to keep that same mindset.

ROBI
Exactly. “Be more of that,” yes. I made lots of cold calls back then. And I called myself a “casting director” long before I became one.
ROB
Is there any moment that you say… because you said you would have taken more of a risk. Is there anything that just sticks out of your mind like, “That's something, looking back, that I learned from that I would have just gone all the way with knowing that now.” Is there anything in particular that sticks out in your mind?

ROBI
What would? Okay. Well this really was more when I was in school but I think it definitely played into my young adulthood. I had an opportunity to go abroad to study as an exchange student. I remember signing up for the program, getting accepted to the program because I had taken Spanish all of my life and really wanted to immerse myself in the culture and the language and learn it as a real second language. And at the 11th hour, I just was like, “No. I’ll wait.” And of course that opportunity did not come back around. So I would say that would have been one of the things I would have done differently, for sure.

ROB
Any advice you got through the years that you would tell yourself to ignore?

ROBI
Oh yeah.

ROB
I’m sure you got plenty of examples to that one.

ROBI
What other people say and what other people think, I would ignore that. You can't listen to everybody. Certainly, be mindful of who's in your close circle. And I hear that now even as this grown woman that I am. You still have to be mindful of that. But growing up because you're so impressionable, I listened and took everything in. So I would definitely have more precaution in that area.

ROB
Well I can add there. There's scientific proof to back up what you're saying. Literally, the people that you're around, even if you're around people that you think that you don't agree with, how they frame the world, their morals and so on and so forth, science has shown that… rather than your beliefs… you being able to protect your beliefs… If you hang around people long enough, literally, they rewire your brain and you think like the group around you.

ROBI
Mm-hmm.

ROB
So what you're saying is backed up by science, too, which is kind of freaky. But it's very important, like you said, who you let in your space.

When you look at what's going on right now in terms of… Hopefully, we're moving past this pandemic. But I know that the pandemic has forced a lot of people to be intentional about their time. I know with me, I’ve cut off quite a few people and I’ve actually been more focused than I’ve ever been. But has this pandemic done anything to kind of highlight clarity of purpose in terms of not only who you hang around but what you're doing in any way?

ROBI
Absolutely, it has. I mean it definitely forced us all to take a seat and gave us plenty of time to think. And I had much I’ve thought about and certainly how I’ve spent my time, who I spend it with and how much more time there might be.

ROB
Yeah.

ROBI
So it just gives you a whole appreciation. And I always believe that I was one that appreciated time and did not take it for granted but I have a whole new appreciation for it.

ROB
Yeah.

ROBI
[A new respect -- 11:45].

ROB
I agree. I agree. When you're telling stories, you have to often fight against this narrative and… Actually, before I get there… Erase that.

I like to talk to you about this pandemic and what you think it could have done for the next normal with the industry. This has been a pivotal moment for our nation, really, the world in a lot of ways -- a combination with the pandemic and also with the world having to watch the injustices that go on every single day for black people, really -- people being forced to not--

They couldn't be distracted by every event every night. You saw it. You just couldn't ignore someone's life being choked out of them for nearly nine minutes -- Ahmaud Arbery, so on and so forth, all the things that just came back-to-back-to-back.

In this moment, I think there's been at least some general greater awareness of what's already happening. Now it may go away. But what do you think is the next normal for this moment, specifically, with the movie industry and entertainment because you spent your career making sure that the full story is told. And not just the narrative from the dominant culture but the full story is told on how the world actually is. Where do you see the industry going from this moment? What do you think the next normal looks like going forward?

ROBI
That's an interesting question. I think that the next normal is people really staying in the space that is more so authentic and true. Because it's the entertainment industry, you can easily get caught up in what isn't real, right? But where we are now with things being so in our face, be it the racial injustices, the pandemic, you can't hide from it. So I think those stories that will be told will continue to be in this authentic space. There's no more excuse. You can't go back, you know.

ROB
Yeah.

ROBI
So like I tell people about self-tapes and auditions, like, “There's no excuse for a bad tape now.” [Laughter] “You have all the information. There's the ring light. There's this. There's that. You got to get it right.”

So yeah, I think staying in that space and really telling stories and seeing the world as it truly is. And that's everybody being represented -- every color of person being represented.

ROB
Yeah. And there's no excuse for the individual who's doing their taping. But there's also no excuse for Hollywood, for Netflix, so on and so forth, to not present greater story which they have been doing, and I think we can do more of. But it's been shown that these things are not only the right thing to do, they're actually very profitable. People want to see them. People want to see it.

ROBI
You can't just do it for a time and stop. This is it. It’s here.

ROB
Right.

ROBI
Just in the accountability and not being able to get away with doing the things that would have been done for so long, being excluded, those organizations and entities can no longer exist in a way without being called out on it and then big powerful people, companies, corporations, studios, however, getting really behind it.

ROB
Yeah.

ROBI
We see it unfolding before our very eyes right now.

ROB
We do. And I also believe part of the next normal is… I love to get your comment on this. Do you see the streaming kind of war in services expanding opportunities or could it actually limit opportunities? What do you see with all these now -- HBO, Netflix, Prime… I don't know. There's probably a ton I don't even know about now. …Disney… There's a whole lot of streaming services out there. Do you think this is providing greater opportunity to tell more stories that are more intentional or do you think it's not doing that? What's your perspective on this moment?

ROBI
I think it's definitely providing more opportunity to tell more stories, to tell just the variety of stories and then the amount of stories too because if you're streaming, you have to have a lot of content.

ROB
True. Yes, you got to give new content.

ROBI
Yes, content. And then if you're linear, there are only a certain amount of hours in a day where you can get things on television. Streaming, it's around the clock. It's definitely here to stay and I think it's a good thing.

ROB
Yeah. I can tell you this is something that I want to do. I will eventually do after I complete the startup I’m working on and a few other things. But I think really having a full Netflix or Prime, whatever, like series on the full life of Malcolm X, like really, because I’ve read all the books about him and there's so much that wasn't told. And really having a breakdown in the episode from like his life when he was “Detroit Red” to his time in prison…

ROBI
Right.

ROB
…to his time growing up as a youth, I think people would be thoroughly entertained. And all the things that happened, that two or three years within his life, right before his life ended, he did so much. Like he did… in that two or three years. It was like a spy movie because he had his fight with the NOI…

ROBI
Yes.

ROB
…and he went overseas and he had to fight the CIA. People don't know that stuff. I think people would find that his life was extremely fascinating. Obviously, we had the movie which was great. But really breaking down, he can literally have a whole series just about--

ROBI
Yeah. You are absolutely right. He was a man… What I loved the most about Malcolm X… We did so much reading and research when we made that film and Spike, of course.

ROB
Yes. I love that film -- one of my favorite films. And by the way, Denzel should have won the Oscar for that, too. -- Go ahead.

ROBI
He deserved it.

ROB
Absolutely.

ROBI
[Inaudible - 17:57] an Oscar winning point. He should have been nominated and won every award for that.

ROB
There's no question that was--

ROBI
He became Malcolm X.

ROB
Yes. I mean he was Malcolm X.

ROBI
It was uncanny. Like on set, he would like every… I remember I interviewed him once and asked him if he was a method actor, what was his technique and he was just like, “I just become.” You know, it's not one where you might have the Meisner technique or the Stella Adler technique. He was just like, “I just become the role. I do the research and I become the role,” and he did it. Like when he was Detroit Red in the club, you didn't see Malcolm. [You didn’t see Malcolm - 18:37].

ROB
No, you didn’t. You saw Detroit Red.

ROBI
On set, in between takes, he never dropped it -- always was it. When he left for the day, he did. He didn't wear it at night or anything like that. So those were great times.

And I agree, Malcolm X, the thing I loved most about him was that he was always evolving…

ROB
Yes.

ROBI
…and always wanting to learn and recognizing that you never know too much. I just really have a lot of admiration for him.

ROB
I mean it's just so much great to really go and so much to learn from him. And the autobiography was a great book. But there's other books too that really just do a great job of talking about his history. Like I said, he really went through a whole lot and there's just so much that people don't know. We can learn more about America. I think we're seeing more content like that.

ROBI
Right.

ROB
Judas and the Black Messiah -- things like that; getting people to tell the full story of what actually happened in America. And we're not talking a long time ago. We're talking about in the ‘70s. We're talking about in most people's lifetimes at this time. The hope is that people can learn from that.

There's obviously pushback. Part of why I believe why Malcolm X wasn't nominated is because of what Malcolm X was talking about and the fact that people didn't want to be reminded of Malcolm X and it was controversial.

What can we do to make sure that we don't like get too nervous about controversy and make sure that we are still telling the story because I think Malcolm X, the reason why he didn't win -- I’ll still go back to that -- is because the content of what he was talking about wasn't popular. And they didn't want to celebrate Malcolm X. Look, when he actually died, the newspapers said a “hate monger died” or something like that. That's basically what was told which, of course, is not the accurate description.

As we still kind of fight these narratives, how do you advise somebody--
Everybody doesn't have maybe the conviction of -- I forgot the Black Panther --Chadwick Boseman. He said that he wanted to make sure that whatever role he was playing, he wasn't perpetuating stereotypes and that cost him. I remember the speech. It cost him a role because he told he told the director like, “I think we're doing this in a stereotypical manner but can we do it this way?”

How do you advise an actor who has a core belief but there might be a director that wants to perpetuate a stereotype? How do you navigate that, trying to make sure you make it in the industry versus staying true to who you are? You understand my question?

ROBI
I think that what you have to do is… I mean that's tough…

ROB
It is.

ROBI
…because you want to be true but you want to work. It's a real fine line. But I think you have to, as an individual, just be really committed to what your core belief is and your truth and stay there. And then I think everybody has their limit.

Again, I tell people, “This business is hard and so once you make the decision, if you want to be in it--“

My mentor told me a long time ago, when I was a little bit at a crossroads... and so many people were saying, “Oh you should really pursue the performance side of it because you got this. You’re talented. You look this way.” But I always felt like casting was for me. But there was a moment where I questioned it a little bit. “Well maybe I should be listening to people.”

And he said to me, “There are two types of people -- those who think they really want it and those who cannot live without it. Which one are you?” And I could very easily answer that question. So I would give that as advice.

ROB
That’s good advice.

ROBI
When you reach those places of where the decision is, “Do I do it? Do I say something? Do I take the role? What is the decision I make,” where are you? Do you think you really want it or you cannot live without it?

ROB
Yeah. That's great advice. You mentioned the industry being hard in Hollywood. Can you think about a time when it was a really tough moment? Maybe you failed, you had a setback but later on, that ended up being a great opportunity or a great learning lesson? Is there any moment that sticks out?

ROBI
Again, I think I call it the “Fearlessness.” Call it “Ignorance” or whatever. What do they call it? What is that saying? “God takes care of fools and babies.”

But I remember just really thinking I was invincible to a degree. I went to an HBCU. I went to Hampton…

ROB
Okay.

ROBI
…and that’s what they taught us. Like we could do anything. I believed it. You know, when I was given the opportunity, after working really hard, that presented itself for me to cast a big studio film--

ROB
Yep.

ROBI
And the studio film starred a big celebrity who, at that time, was very valuable to the studio and the studio wanted someone else to cast the movie. It was the person’s very first directing opportunity. 2] He was also starring in and there were a lot of hats he was wearing. So they felt that a more seasoned casting person, not of color, would be a better choice.

ROB
Of course, always a more seasoned person. You don’t have the experience but they never give you the experience to get the experience. Go ahead. Yeah, I know how that works.

ROBI
It’s a Catch-22.

ROB
Yeah.

ROBI
So I had to say that I just… I knew I could do it. There was no doubt in my mind. And I just remembered taking this meeting with the studio heads and them trying to really discourage me, telling me all of the things that could go wrong. This really happened.

ROB
Right.

ROBI
You know, “This might happen. This could go wrong. What if? What if?” And I remember just saying, “I’ll do this. This would be the solution to that.” And I just had no doubt, right? Also, that star/direction/writer/producer believed in me and in support of my decision. And when I think back on that, glad I made the choice. I cast the film. There were times when I really thought, “Oh my god, what did I get myself into?”

ROB
Yeah.

ROBI
Maybe with a little bit more experience, I might have sought another… not opinion but someone that I knew I could really kind of turn to when there were challenges that I really had to work out myself because I think after putting myself in that position, I thought, “I got to figure it out on my own” when I didn’t really need to.

ROB
Yeah. I think that’s so important. I’ve seen that specifically with the Black community. There’ll be sometimes members of my extended family and… We can help them but they don’t want to seek advice. They feel like they want to do everything on their own. I’m like, “That’s not how people get ahead.”

ROBI
No.

ROB
It’s not. So that’s a… I mean some people do.

ROBI
Yeah.

ROB
You know, some people do get ahead that way but just because that happens… Like if you drive a car and you shut one eye and you make it to your destination, it doesn’t mean you just keep doing it that way. Like there’s an easy way to do it. But I think that’s so important for us to learn. This thing about being self-sufficient is a lie. It really is.

ROBI
Yeah.

ROB
Like it’s the ecosystem.
ROBI
Right. Exactly.

ROB
You’ve cast some big stars. We talked about that earlier. When you cast Jamie Foxx -- you did “discover” him” -- did you see all this potential in him? Did you know earlier on you could just see? If so, what did you see in him that you could just see that it was there?

ROBI
Yes, I did see it. I saw Jamie on stage at a club. I was casting In Living Color, the pilot.

ROB
Okay.

ROBI
Actually, my mentor, who was best friends with Jamie’s… At that time, he’s like manager/mentor person -- Harvey Fuqua. My mentor is Peter Long. I had been around the country with Keenan Wayans. We basically did a six-month search in like six weeks, literally. It was insanity. I don’t know if I could do that today. It was one of those. You kind of just go for it not knowing any better.

ROB
Yeah.

ROBI
So I was at the end of it. We were ready to kind of go into the network phase. We were showing them our choices. And Peter called me to tell me that there was this young kid that Harvey had taken under his wing and he was a student at San Diego State University and he really wanted me to see him. He had been at the Comedy Act Theater the night before and would I come down that day. Just check him out. He would make sure he got on stage. I remember thinking, “Oh my god, I’m so tired.” This was a Friday -- you know, after a long week. And I said, “Peter, I’ll do it for you.”

Oh long story short, I go. It’s Jamie. He hadn’t yet changed his name to “Jamie.” It was still his government name, “Eric.”

ROB
I didn’t even know his name was… I thought it was always “Jamie Foxx.” I guess I didn’t know that. I just learned something new about him. [Laughter]

ROBI
There’s a whole story around that one, too. But yeah, his name is “Eric Bishop.” He’s from Texas. Terrell, Texas, I think it is. Anyway, I remember thinking this -- he was not only just funny but I knew he was an actor and I’ll tell you why.
In one of his pieces in his routine -- that lasted maybe 10 minutes -- he did a whole monologue from Shakespeare. It was Hamlet. And I realized that this person really had a control of this very classic piece of material. “He must be classically-trained.” Well not only was he trained theatrically but he was also very musically-gifted. I saw all that in his routine.

And his characters that he did, he wasn’t just joke, joke, joke, but he had full-on developed characters. To me, that said “Acting ability.” And the rest is history. I just knew though from that moment. Jamie was doing the character on In Living Color, Wanda, the ugly woman.

ROB
I remember that.

ROBI
He was doing that in his routine at the beginning. That was one of his characters. [Inaudible - 30:10].

ROB
Yep.

ROBI
You know, it’s no surprise that he’s still at the top of his game and continuing to evolve.

ROB
Absolutely. Absolutely, yeah. Really quick to have a couple of rapid fire questions. What’s some of the funniest behind-the-scenes in In Living Color? I told you, In Living Color was one of my favorites. Can you think of something that people just didn’t know that…

ROBI
Oh my gosh.

ROB
…behind-the-scenes that’s just hilarious that people wouldn’t know otherwise?

ROBI
I wish you had asked me that before. I would have thought of more things. But one thing I could just think of is how funny it was… Like there were so many takes where we were laughing so hard behind-the-camera that we had to hold our breath. You know, stomach’s hurting. And when they say “Cut,” we were like, “Ahh,” screaming, because it was so funny. Some of the ones that stood out like that were, of course, the Men on Film, Two Snaps Up.

ROB
Oh yeah, yeah.

ROBI
Oh gosh. And them just walking around in-between the takes and character, those were always so funny. And then Homie the Clown--“

ROB
Homie the Clown was… Yeah, I remember that.

ROBI
Yes, “Homie the Clown, Homie Don’t Play That.”

ROB
Jim… the Firefighter… What did Jim Carrey play?

ROBI
Wanda.

ROB
No--

ROBI
No.

ROB
No, no, Jim Carrey. He played the firefighter.

ROBI
[Crosstalk - 31:32]. One of the… I think she was the weight… Oh gosh, what am I trying to say… lifted the weights -- the “Bodybuilder.”

ROB
I know what you’re talking about. Yes. Yes.

ROBI
That was Jim Carrey, too. Jim Carrey. Yeah, he was hilarious. Everybody had something really special and funny. And I remember seeing Crystal T'Keyah Keymáh’s audition -- really wasn't an audition for In Living Color. But at that time… You have to remember, this was late ‘80s so we didn't have, obviously, the internet. And the tapes that anybody was fortunate enough to make, they had to put in the mail, you know, and send.

ROB
Wow.
ROBI
They were all half-inch tapes so you had to like watch it from beginning to end. And I remember just sitting in a sea of half-inch tapes, myself and [Chamin - 32:22] who was my associate -- half-inch and three quarter inch. You might not even remember what three-quarter is but they were really big tapes that mostly were used in television -- and having to watch them and working into the wee hours of the night.

And this one tape, I put in and it was Crystal T'Keyah Keymáh doing all of these different characters. And the character that she did that stood out was the little girl. I can't think of a little girl's name. But that character ended up finding its way on to In Living Color and becoming a favorite where she lived in black world and she told this whole story about how beautiful black world was.

ROB
Yeah. You know what… Yeah, that's awesome. I just had an idea kind of in my head, something I’m working on right now and I’ll show you after this tape very quickly.

ROBI
Okay.

ROB
I’m creating an NFT… You know what NFTs are?

ROBI
Mm-hmm.

ROB
So I’m creating an NFT platform that is focused on diverse creators and collectors.

ROBI
Okay.

ROB
We’re about done. But a good idea would be to really feature some of those moments, if you have them, in a way in In Living Color. I bet people… That would be awesome -- some of the takes from those moments. Just a thought.

ROBI
Yeah.

ROB
Yeah. All right, a couple of rapid fire questions. “What’s an important truth you have in your life or a conviction that you have that a lot of people don’t agree with you on?”

ROBI
Wow. An important truth that a lot of people don’t agree with me on?

ROB
Yeah. It’s a hard question on purpose.

ROBI
Everybody agrees with me. No.

ROB
[Laughter]

ROBI
Gosh.

ROB
Yeah, this one gets people a lot.

ROBI
Yeah.

ROB
All right, I’ll try to come back.

ROBI
I have to come back on that one.

ROB
Okay, how about this? “You have a committee -- they can be living. They can be dead. They can be a combination thereof -- of advisors to advise you on, whatever -- life, personal, spirituality. Who are these three people and why?”

ROBI
Dr. Maya Angelou.

ROB
That’s a good one. What would you want to talk to her about?

ROBI
Oh gosh -- how she went from the experiences in her life early on to becoming this woman of such great wisdom and stature. You know, where she got her confidence from because it didn’t start up that way.

ROB
Sure.
ROBI
Who else? Malcolm X.

ROB
Yeah, Malcolm is a good one.

ROBI
Mm-hmm.

ROB
And we've already been over Malcolm--

ROBI
Right.

ROB
Okay, who's your third?

ROBI
Oh gosh, who'd be the third one? This is a tough one because it's only one more.

ROB
It could be anybody. It could be advisor you have, whatever.

ROBI
Peter. Peter Long -- he was my mentor. I think because I was so young, I listened to him. But there were so many times, when I think back on it, that I should have asked more questions.

ROB
Yeah.

ROBI
I used to think he was so bull-headed. My thought was always like, “You think you know everything.” But he knew more than me.

ROB
Yeah.

ROBI
Peter Long so I can ask him more questions.

ROB
Okay. Any questions that come to your mind you'd like to ask him right now?

ROBI
Yeah, I’m not going to tell you though.

ROB
[Laughter] Hey, I’m supposed to ask…

ROBI
You're right.

ROB
…so why not? Okay, a final question here. “You got a logo billboard that sums up your theme in life or saying that you believe in. What is that saying and why?”

ROBI
The logo theme in life? What would I want it to say? “With God, all things are possible.”

ROB
All right, Robi Reed, thank you for coming on the show. I appreciate you having you on.

ROBI
You're welcome. Thank you.

ROB
Thank you.

ROBI
Rob, this was great.

ROB
All right. Hold on. One second.

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