Origins

So it's happy. Welcome to those amigos.

Welcome to do a media you know, that's that's how we do things.

I am we.

So uh here, we are here, We are there.

You know a little water for them, are we are we switching.

Up in a little while. Yeah, we'll brobably switch it to guns, you know.

But because it's apropos, we are in your speakeasy.

And and and for those.

Of you out there who can't really see this magnificent space, this is Wilmer Valderrama is wonderful speakeasy. I mean, this thing is pretty impressive. I hope that one day we just get the kinda put the camera around. But there's this awesome bar over there.

Hey, Aaron, you went into the yourself a bit.

Absolutely absolutely, what's going on, y'all. My name is Aaron. I'm a producer for Docent Migos. Consider me your third amigo for today's episode. I'm over here. And if you have any questions or things. If the audience out there wants to ask any of our wonderful gentlemen a question, I'll be here to present it to you all.

But I'm excited for the journey. And yeah, let's have a good time.

Yeah, Eron Wilmer, I want to know what the inspiration was behind this thing? And I'm I'm every time I come here, I just I never want to leave.

Me too, me too so much. Nobody can get me to go anywhere anymore. What was it?

What was the inspiration?

Like, you know, I gotta say, I think Timothy Alton discovered me, right, And everybody knows about this guy for a very.

Long time, and I discover him late.

And I just love that every single one of these pieces has said so much, and every piece had an opinion about itself.

Like what would you how would you describe his style?

It's like vintage new, but it's really a vintage, but it's made new.

Right.

He also uses vintage artifacts and then gives it new purpose, right, Like there's just stuff like that, and it's just really you know, the deep collars, I don't know, it feels like something I've never had before, and I feel inspirational to me, you know, in many ways. And but yeah, so so I got my first lamp from him, and

Very indicative of the style.

I mean, even even like this, like I don't know if y'all could see it, woman has this wonderful kind of bronze tin roof here ceiling should.

I Yeah, yeah, it's wonderful.

Yeah, well yeah, it was definitely like this experiment and that you imagine telling your your lady that the room downstairs is something that you even have a stage there man, And yeah, we have a piano there, we have Sheila, he's goes there.

I think one day we'll have Sheil come in and do a thing, you know.

And we had people perform on that day.

Yeah, yeah, I think uh Leo clam who's one of the ex producers. He's just an incredible producers. Done a beautiful, beautiful work. And you know, we had we had a little birthday here and but we had a little piano there. We have she like the bongos that she gave me for my birthday and stuff. So we're I mean, I look, I just I love this. I love music. I love this this corner.

I mean you could have like a full band up there, man, I mean this is like this reminds me of the space that I would see like in New York, somewhere like downtown.

I think.

So, you know, I feel like you know has that you know I you know you talk about the wells covered newspapers.

Yeah, you know what's that about.

So my friends found this guy who was selling thirty years of headlines, real newspapers, thirty years, and he was selling for a one hundred bucks.

So he for the whole bundle.

Yes, he just wanted it out of his garage. So I bought the whole thing. And then I said, uh, you know what am if you put it on the walls. And so we have like headlines from you know, Mike Tyson, you know Mike Tyson in the ear and you know the eighty four Olympics, you know Kobe Bryant joining the Lakers eighty four.

He had eighty four Olympics newspaper.

Yeah and yeah, so that became the one paper of the room, and he just felt like the whole place had an opinion.

But speaking of opinions.

You know, we still and I have some Yeah, we don't know why we're here, we're doing this kind of what we're here?

How do we do this?

Like?

What happened?

Did we do this?

Welcome to those? Am he goos?

Oh?

Yes, welcome to those.

The podcast so you explore the many topics that run through Freddy's and might.

Have our brains, so that you can get a sense of what it's like when Wilmar and I get together and we just talk and all of a sudden it's like three four hours later.

Yeah, well, perfect segway into like how do we ended up here with microphones and speakeasy and like how did this happen?

Yeah?

I feel like there was a lead up to that day, though, because woman and I have known each other twenty five years or so, and I found that every time that you and I got together, whether we're on a plane to London or whatever, it's always like five six seven hours of us just talking and it always seems so seamless, it didn't seem forced or anything, and so I always felt like that was the foundation of why we came

When do we get together? When do we get together?

Finally it was the it was the strike right, and it was Jay goes, come on, I know none.

Of you bastards are working, so let's go and have dinner.

And we finally did it, and we got together and what was that wonderful restaurant.

We went too.

It's a it's an Argentina and restaurant on Marroo's my favorite steak house in Los Angeles. Highly recommend visiting. Beautiful family own. The mom is still doing all the is it really?

Yeah?

Everybody who you met was you know, brothers, and it's beautiful and it's been there forever. I mean it's like this hidden jam and yeah, it's it's amazing.

But so we we ended up showing up who he said, Hey, you know what six o'clock dinner.

Yeah, because you know we're all like like three old men.

Yeah, we can go bed early. Cut to you know, two thirty in the morning. We're still talking and close to doing and We're on Merrows telling your mama so fat jokes. Like it got to a point where we just started talking about anything.

Okay, hold on, did everybody hear that we were on Melrose at three in the morning telling your mama jokes? So you could imagine the cars that were passing by, and we're watching j Hernandez and Freddie Rodriguez looking like three three delinquents Mels at three. Yeah, which is a quick shout out to a Warmer. First show he produced called Yo Mama, which I was an incredible fan of, and as we're there al Melrose, I brought it up and we fell right into the ya Mama jact. Yeah.

No, I that was my first Frankenstein.

That was my first audacious Uh maybe I could be a producer too, you know.

And then I created this thing and MTV says yes.

But speaking of all the you know, origin stories and all that, I think about our culture, and I think about the likability, the likability, the likability of all of us somehow ended up embracing a life of you know, entertainment. What was that moment for you? Just kind of getting down to it, like, what was that moment for that you you were like, oh, you know, I want to be an actor.

Yeah, well, I mean, and this is the absolute truth. I really wasn't good at anything else.

And I'm dead serious.

I feel like I started acting when I was like thirteen, and I feel like it's such a crucial age where you're trying to find yourself and you're trying to find your identity. And I had cousins who were studious, and I had friends who were athletes and so on and so forth, and I just wasn't really good at any of that stuff. And it wasn't until I found acting and I found the arts that I really found what I felt was my calling, which was in contrast to

But it just it just didn't compute for a long time. You know, did you have the same.

Experience pretty similar? I mean in the sense that you know, we are we see, came here to work. We came from the different country to you know, where'd you guys, where'd you guys come from? Well, we came from Venezuela. So my mother is Columbia. My father's Venezuelan, so you know, we but they had met at Miami, and you know, we'll get deep into that later. But I but I think the moment that I said to myself, oh why not acting right was almost by necessity, in a weird illusion away, you know.

Necessity.

Yeah, necessity.

I felt like you know, I was I was still in high school, you know, but I was always acting, singing and dances just for fun. You know, I never did it professionally. And I remember my dad used to drive this masta, you know, held put up for sales sign on the moss die and yeah, something like that and he would put it for sale sign. And he would use this car to transport parts from shop to shop. And if for sale sign, he will sell the car

Stolen from the front of the house.

Oh wow, and I saw for the first time, you know, the uncertainty and the concern, and the and the fear from my mom and from my dad.

And because that was the money man, that was the money maker, that was the train, right, and that was what was carried in us buy and well that he was selling that he was also making some money and using the car and that was a lifeline.

And you know, in Los Angeles you need a car. Like you to get around, you need a car. And you know, honestly, that was the moment when I saw their concern, I said to myself, I got to get in the game. And I was maybe fourteen fifteen years old, and I said, I got to do this. And you know, remember hearing this commercial. Are you between the ages of sixteen was it? Oh man, are you between the fourteen and sixty years old? Do you think you got it takes to what it takes to to be a TV

Then come to the Hilton and laxah blah blah. We do a showcase where industry.

Experts, industry experts, they are going to deem to see if you got what it is?

If you got it?

Yeah, So I told my dad and my Dad's like, what what is this?

You know? So we go we showed up this showcase and then he was like, but did.

You do it before that? Or did you just have a natural I guess I was doing theater right.

I was singing and dancing, you know, but again because it was like extra codc activities and in school, that was the why I did it, you know, because it was fun.

You know.

I was like, and I didn't know how to speak English. So the more I did that, the faster I was learning how to speak English.

Right.

Yeah, but you know the audacity of thinking that you could be that, That's something that I think culturally we all have. Yeah, but into it takes a certain amount of perfect storms to happen, you.

Know, right, perfect storms.

Yeah, so what you say to your family, Hey, I want to audition and or like I wanted to how does this happen to you?

Decided you in the theater.

Or yeah, I sort of stumbled into it.

In the Chicago public school systems at that time, the arts were practically non existent, just to be honest, And so my school had no arts, no sports, nothing extracurricular. And this is a really important point. You know, what happens to kids at that age if there's no direction, right, if there's nothing that they're necessarily interested in, whether it's the art of sports or something else, then they're susceptible to becoming a product of their environment.

Okay, and I grew up in Chicago. I grew up in the inner city.

I grew up wear a lot of gangs, a lot of drugs, a lot of graffiti, a lot of everything that you would imagine is in the urban environment. And I found myself pretty much going in that direction, or saw that I could have gone in that direction if I had no If I had no direction, family saw it as well. And so when I discovered acting, I've

You know.

You got to find the thing that that the thirteen year old kid is good at and then they'll thrive.

What's the strength and how do you cultivate that? Exactly? Yeah, And honestly this.

Is one of the purposes of where I feel this show hopefully be a space for it to explore all these ideas and all these thoughts, all these subjects. You know, how do you demystified? Right, how do you how do you disarm the thought of.

Any ambition you have?

You know, I think that there's so much in culturally that we have to kind of fight against, you know, in order for us to break ground, or break new environments or go into new roads, right take take new chapters that perhaps our family never thought realistic for us, right,

And I think that's the.

Part of this experiment, you know. And we'd like to invite everyone who's who's joining us in this podcast to say, hey, like, remember when you used to dream big?

Right like, is it too late to keep dreaming?

You know, bring some friends, you know, but perhaps the third amigo that can inspire you and me, you know into other ways you know, that can hopefully translate into inspiration for others. You know, this is a show for everyone, and we hope that everyone really really enjoys it.

Yeah, this is a show for everyone.

You know. I want to hear other people's journeys as well, whether you're in the entertainment industry or not.

You know, what's it like to be in business, what's it like to be a doctor or a nurse or a teacher or that.

I want to know what that journey is like and how culturally that's impacted you and how that steered your journey or whatever decisions you made in that journey.

Yeah, and what life hacks you know, what ways do you can you hack the life that was perceived or stereotypically given to you, And how do you break that apart and say, hey, you know, I'm going to rewrite a new chapter, like how can we do that? And then you know, also, let's make sure this is fun, you know, you know, you.

Know, because that's just who we are, you know.

I think one thing I can say about Latinos is that when things get a little complicated, you know, we don't complain about it.

We turn the music a little. Yeah. So let's I had a question real quick, how did you two meet?

Because this is like a dope friendship and I know it's been years in the making, and I just want to say, like, when was the first time y'all connected and knew like, okay, this is going to be like a brother or like life.

Or something like that.

Like how did you all come across each other?

That's a great question, that's a weird question.

I'd say, well, you should go first, because there's multiple instances in my life when you and I crosspass words.

It's like, yeah, this is yeah. I remember I was doing I was doing a show I want to say nineteen ninety eight, maybe ninety nine, and I remember you came to visit a friend and you came on set and I think I was shooting at Sony or something, and I remember the hair person or the makeup person said, hey, you.

See that guy.

He's he's a Latino actor like you.

And I remember them specifically pointing you out as you walked in and you said hello to your friend. And at that point I really hadn't met too many other Latino Latina actors in Hollywood.

Man. I really fell alone, you know. And I just remember looking at you and going.

Like, whoh, there's somebody else like me, you know. And then I believe your show came out after and obviously seeing you on that, I was incredibly proud to see you, you doing your thing. And then I just remember being out and us having mutual friends and meeting through mutual friends. I remember seeing you, I don't know if it was Conan O'Brien or whatever, and you were dancing sad side.

And I was like, he dances sas like man, like, you know, I.

Grew up dancing South Simon didn't get you know, And that you spoke Spanish, and which is crazy. You tell me that Spanish was your first language and you didn't speak English because your English was so impeccable, I would have never guessed that you only spoke Spanish. So there were a lot of elements that you possessed that felt very familiar to me.

And you just felt like somebody that I had grown.

Up with, you know.

And then when we actually met and we started talking, I was like, this guy's the coolest freaking guy in the world, man, you know.

And every time we as I said in the beginning of the show, every time we talked, it was always like three four hours and we always.

Just you know, just enjoyed each other's company.

Well, my mine is very similar, you know.

I think first of all, I remember seeing you a six feet under and I was like, and then see your Rodriguez, you know, Rodriguez and the credits, I was like, damn, you know, and I'm telling you, you what you say to me, I feel incredibly just telling of the environment and the climbing in which we're coming up as performers, you know, I didn't have anything else to compare ourselves to, right, and there was like maybe a few of us on network TV and cable TV, and you know, I saw

This is the same guy I liked in that product.

And so to me, it was like just to see that almost created this mirage that like we weren't just the one person in the room, right, Like we weren't like the only Latino on the show, the only Latino in the movie. And it made me realize that I wasn't that I wasn't that alone. But you know, it goes full circle to say, like, you know, the moment I met you, your your and you know, you were unapologetically Latino, and I was like, dude, like it's really is it was really beautiful.

To see that.

And I say, you know, to your point, some of these conversations that we were having, you know, kept untapping and un rambling some of the many layers that we have never been allowed to talk about because you know, you get kind of corner into you know, promote the show and you know, talk about the why the show and about your character, and you never have the space to kind of talk a little bit about what it took for you to have the tools that you did, and back then you were doing some of the most

You were absolutely lifting our community for.

So long, but they weren't that many of us, so the signal was like just brewing, you know, like we were just making them, you know, and but you were part of this community that was just breaking ground for all of us. And I was it was more than proud.

I was.

I just wanted to be like that. I just wanted to continue to aspire to do that, you know. And but it was our conversations. And I remember when I truly fell in love with Freddie Rodriguez was when we were on a flight to London, That's right, yeah, yeah, and we ended up sitting together like just randomly and I'm like, oh, Freddie, nice to see you, and like yeah.

And You're like the same.

And then we did not take one blink of a nap as from the moment we boarded to the moment we landed, to the moment.

We got our bags, we were talking. I don't know how long.

That flight was like thirteen hours, thirteen hours, and we talked about all of it, and that's when I knew, you know, you're gonna be my family for life.

Yeah, thank you, brother. I received that.

And you know what's interesting about that, you know, us talking like that for thirteen hours, I mean, what does that say. It said is that there's a lot that we were holding back. Right. I don't want to say it's like a therapy session, but you know it goes to show that that, at least as I'm speaking for myself, you know, like I didn't really have too many other people that I can talk to like that that understood the journey, that understood the steps, that understood starting how

It's like I gotta let it alone.

I gotta let it out.

But there was a lack of community, right, there's a lack of.

Awareness, you know, And we were all, you know, lone ranger in this thing in different directions, right, we were segregated from each other and not allowed to technically commute artistically because you're right, like tokenly, you know, we were placed in different projects. And by the way, we were also where able to play against stereotypes and so many different ways, you know, and some all that stuff.

So it's pretty unbelievable. For me.

It was like, you know, I had an accent, So when I was looking at you as a Latina and you did not have an accent but also spoke Spanish, I was like, I gotta be like this guy because I literally could have ship my accent. And I think for right now, I think you can hear that I decided to give up on that question.

Yeah, I never but I never felt it was like at the forefront.

Yeah, it wasn't strong enough to be the night in jobs, but it also wasn't like clean enough to play you know, the full American guy, you know. But but I mean, I to your point I think having our journeys, you know, clashing this way, and for us to be able to historically record these moments and and say like, we can leave this behind and you know, not just for our children,

On that level, it's amazing.

And I you know, I invite everybody in the studio system in Hollywood and all other industries to kind of discover, you know, how much of a partner this community can be, how much of.

A partner, how vast our audiences, how big our audiences, The audience that's going to tune in to listen to this, the audience that has followed us for the last thirty years, that have watched all our things.

And we're going to talk about all those things.

We're going to bring all of our friends, you know, to come and validate these stories. Don't take it just from us, but yeah, the idea that we can bring other individuals that were part of that journey and also individuals that may be part of the journey we're going next, and we hope everyone enjoys it.

And that leads me to my next wondrous question.

We've been able to talk a little bit of like the inspiration, what like what kicked our butts into artistry? You know, but I think a lot of people have not had the opportunity to hear who is Freddie Rodriguez?

You know, like where do you come from? Who are your parents? You know, who were you as a kid, who were you as a student?

You know, like what what things happen in your life that kind of shape what Freddie Rodriguez is today? Because although we have to artistry, there's a whole lifetime that happens, the play of factor and the choices you make as an actor in the in the in your views and your.

Philosophies of life. And I love to hear that, Oh, well, thank you.

I hope we have another episode in us maybe maybe we'll well look at that.

We got to refill our cup refilled and we welcome Maryant Episode two.

Who is Freddie Rodriguez?

Salute?

Dos Amigos is a production from WV Sound and iHeartMedia's Michael Tuda podcast network, hosted by Me, Freddie Rodriguez, and Wilmer Valderama.

Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burlison and Sophie Spencer's Zebos.

Our executive producers are Wilmer Valderama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlison, and Leo Klem at WV Sound.

This episode was edited by Ryan Posts and Aaron Burlison and features original music by Madison Devenport and Halo Boy.

Our cover art photography is by David Avalos and designed by Deny holtz.

Claw and special thanks to every single interview for joining this journey and I hope you continue to enjoy us.

For more podcasts from my Heart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

See you or hear us in a week or so.